Here is some more info from a barcelona resident. Jodie he gave some great recommendations for restaurants.
From Roger: (US Citizen living in barcelona and stephanie's "taysmom" stepdads friend)
Here are some recommendations. The "not to miss" thing in Barcelona is the architecture, especially the unfinished Sagrada Familia Basilica. Here's some notes I did recently for a visiting friend of a friend:
One good way to start out and get an overview of the city is the Bus Turistic. There's two lines, and you can hop on and off them wherever you like. For example, they take you past most of the art museums in Barcelona--the Picasso, Miro, Contemporary, etc. It's a great museum town. What many tourists want to see--and the Bus Turistic is a good way to start--is the modernista Architecture--Gaudi's unfinished Sagrada Familia (on the red line) and dozens of other fanciful and ornate buildings from the 1890s-1910s. The staff at your hotel can tell you how to catch the buses.
The largest upscale shopping area in town is the Passeig de Gracia, north of Plaza Catalunya. Your hotel will have a map. There's lots of other shopping areas, of course. The best bargain shopping is probably in the Old Town or Barrio Gotico next to the Rambla. The Rambla is the city's famous walking street, a walk you will want to take (it's another "not to miss" thing). If you are walking down the Rambla from Plaza Catalunya (the center of town more or less) towards the sea, the Old Town is to your left. The Gothic cathedral (different from the Sagrada Familia) is in the Old Town.
A few restaurants:
Pricey: Casa Calvet, Casp, 48, tel: 93 412 4012. Catalan food in a gorgeous Gaudi modernista building.
La Dama, Diagonal, 423, tel: 93 202 0686. Located in another beautiful modernista building.
Casa Dario, Consell de Cent 256, tel: 93 453 31 35. Great seafood.
Medium: Tragaluz, Pge de la Concepcio, 5, betw. Passeig de Gracia & the Rambla, tel: 93, 487 06 21. Go upstairs (there's a Japanese restaurant downstairs)
Cal Pep, Plaza de les olles 8, 93 tel: 310 79 61. Old town seafood. Tiny place, hard to find, but worth it.
Senyor Parellada, Argenteria 37, tel: 93 310 50 94. One of our favorite places for Catalan food. Inexpensive.
Tapas: Txapela, Passeig de Gracia, 8 -10, no need to phone ahead, big touristy place, but a good place to sample Basque tapas.
P.S. Here's another, larger restaurant list done at another time with some of the same restaurants as above and some additional ones:
Medium:
Tragaluz, Pge de la Concepcio, 5, betw. Passeig de Gracia & the Rambla, tel: 93, 487 06 21. Go
upstairs (there's a Japanese restaurant downstairs)
Cal Pep, Plaza de les olles 8, 93 tel: 310 79 61. Old town seafood. Tiny place, hard to find, but worth it.
Medium/Inexpensive:
Senyor Parellada, Argenteria 37, tel: 93 310 50 94. One of our favorite places for Catalan food. Try the lamb dish if you like lamb.
Cafe de L'academia, C. LLedo, 1, Plaza Sant Just. Tel: 93 319 82 53 or 933150026. Tiny little place, reservations required, great food.
Salero, Calle Rec, 60. Tel: 933 198 022. This is the place we went to last night. Good vaguely Asian food, noisy young crowd. We had a good time there
Inexpensive:
Casa Aragon, corner of Ronda Sant Antoni and C. Joaquim Costa. Good place for mid-day menu del dia. Also open at night.
La Bella Napoli, good pizza from a wood-burning stove, pastas and meat also. On C. Villarroel between Arago and Consejo de Ciento.
Montello, Via Laietana 42, Tel 93 310 35 26. Good pizza and Italian food.
Taverna Can Margarit, C. de la Concordia, 21, Tel: 93 441 67 23. Fun atomosphere--seems to be a former stable or factory or something. Good Catalan specialties. Open only at night, and not on Sundays or holidays.
La Tomaquera, C. Margarit (corner of Magallanes). No phone or reservations taken. Sometimes you have to wait in line outside. Best Catalan-style snails in Barcelona.
Tapas:
Txapela, Passeig de Gracia, 8 -10, no need to phone ahead, big touristy place, but a good place to sample Basque tapas
Ok...eww snails? ugh!
Hope this gives everyone some additional ideas for on their own or as a group.
Steph