Three Gaudi houses in one morning is a lot of walking, and by the time we came out of the last one, Casa Batllo, the kids were happy with the tour and ready to be done with it. They wanted lunch. Our guide pointed us down the next street and told us to go look at the restaurants there, so we did, and honestly nothing grabbed us. So we did what you would probably do. We pulled out a phone, searched for something close with good reviews that the kids would actually eat, and walked into an Argentine steakhouse seven minutes away.
I am going to give you the ending first, because it is the reason this post exists. The steak tartare at La Cabrera is a top three tartare of my life, and I am not somebody who says that about food. Lunch for the four of us came to 148 euros, which is roughly double what we paid the day before at a neighborhood place across town, and I would pay it again tomorrow.
Updated August 2026. We paid for this meal ourselves. Nothing here is sponsored.
A Seven Minute Walk From Casa Batllo, and We Walked In Without a Booking
La Cabrera Casa de Carnes sits on Carrer de la Diputacio, in the Dreta de l’Eixample, a few minutes south of Passeig de Gracia. From the front door of Casa Batllo it is about a four hundred meter walk, which took us seven minutes with two tired kids. If you are doing the Passeig de Gracia houses in a morning, it is close enough that you can decide on lunch while you are still standing on the sidewalk deciding what to do next.
We had no reservation. Four of us, Monday, a little before two in the afternoon, in the first week of August, which is about as peak as Barcelona gets. We walked in and got a table. I want to be careful here, because most places will tell you to book and they are usually right. What I can tell you is what happened to us on one specific Monday lunchtime, and it was fine. If you are going on a weekend or in the evening, book it.
The Room Is Argentine, and Quieter Than You Expect
This is not a copy of a Buenos Aires steakhouse, it is the actual thing. La Cabrera started in Palermo in Buenos Aires more than twenty years ago under a chef named Gaston Riveira, and his name is up in lit script on the wall inside, over a plaque that translates roughly to grilled meat and friends always welcome. The menu carries a Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants badge listing five different years, though the brand’s own site only accounts for three of them. There are more than twenty of these across nine countries, and this is the Barcelona one.
It is a proper Eixample building, which means there is a courtyard in the middle of the block, and the back dining room opens onto it through a wall of glass. We were sat back there, near the green. When we came in the place was still on the empty side, and it filled in around us over the next hour.
Here is the part that mattered most to us. Even as it filled in, it stayed quiet. The music sat underneath the conversation instead of on top of it, and nobody at our table had to raise their voice. If you have eaten in a loud restaurant with a tired kid, you know how much that is worth.
Our waiter was Sebastian, and he was excellent. We speak almost no Spanish, and he switched to English without making a thing of it. When we could not pick a steak, he is the one who went and came back with the chef’s recommendation, which I will get to.
The Bread Costs Money, and Nobody Warns You
A basket of bread lands on the table early, along with olives, a tomato dip and a seasoned butter. It reads as complimentary. It is not. It came through on our bill as pan y aperitivo at 2,50 euros a head, ten euros for the four of us.
I am not complaining about it, and you should not either. It is itemized, it is not hidden, and this is normal in Spain. But it is the exact thing that surprises people after the fact, so it is better to know going in. If you do not want it, say so when it arrives.
For what it is worth, it was worth the ten euros. Every bread in that basket was good, the olives were perfect, and the seasoned butter was unlike any seasoned butter we have had. The real surprise was Josh, who does not like tomatoes and puts ketchup on his ketchup, going back for the tomato dip and telling us it was delicious.
The Board of Little Warm Pots Is Free, and It Is More Food Than It Looks
This is the La Cabrera signature and it is the thing I most want you to know before you order. Partway through, a waiter sets down a wooden board covered in little metal pots of warm sides. Ours had creamed corn, mashed potato, mashed sweet potato, a fruit puree, a pot of glazed garlic and carrots, plus a small pastry on the side.
It is free. It shows up on the bill as a line called calentitos at zero euros. Nothing we read before going mentioned it was coming.
We finished almost all of it. The only thing left on the table at the end of the entire meal was some of the sweet potato, and even that was fine, just nobody’s favorite. If you are ordering for a table with kids, factor this board in. It arrives before the mains and it is more food than it looks.
The Steak Tartare on a Marrow Bone Is the Reason to Come
If you order one thing here, order this. The steak tartare is Argentinean sirloin, and it does not arrive as a scoop on a plate. It arrives piled along the length of a roasted marrow bone, split lengthways, with grilled flatbread alongside. You are eating the tartare and the marrow underneath it in the same bite.
I have had a lot of tartare. This is a top three of my life, and it might be number one.
One honest note. Vika was with me on the tartare and not on the marrow, but she has never liked bone marrow anywhere, so that is a her thing and not a kitchen thing. If bone marrow is not your family’s thing, the tartare on top still stands on its own.
What Is Bife de Chorizo, and What You Actually Get
If you are looking at an Argentine menu for the first time, bife de chorizo is the one that trips people up, because it has nothing to do with chorizo sausage. It is a cut of beef. La Cabrera’s own menu answers the question for you by printing it as bife de chorizo slash lomo bajo, which is the Spanish butchery term for the sirloin or striploin. In American terms, you are looking at a New York strip. It is not ribeye, and it is not tenderloin.
Here is the useful part. It comes as a full portion or a half, and we took the half. That was the right call, because by the time it landed we had already worked through the bread, the free board of warm pots, a tartare and two salads, and we were full. It is also the one order I keep thinking about, because on taste alone we would have happily eaten the full one. If you are a family sharing rather than four adults each wanting their own steak, the half is enough. The full is about half again as much.
We asked Sebastian what the chef would recommend for the steak, and the answer came back the bife de chorizo, cooked medium rare. We took the recommendation, and it was the right call. It arrives on a cast iron plate that is still hot enough to keep cooking, so it moves along while it sits. Sebastian cut it at the table. The inside was exactly what the chef promised, and the seasoning was spot on.
It comes with chimichurri and a couple of other condiments on the board, plus a paddle with three different finishing salts. That sounds like theater and some of it is, but everything on that board was good.
Both kids thought the steak was fantastic. Emily did want it on the record that she still prefers the steak I cook at home, which I am choosing to take as a compliment, but she also said this one was right up there. If you want the other end of the European steak conversation, we wrote up a bistecca alla fiorentina in Florence that plays the same game very differently.
The Fries Are Cut in House, and They Beat Five Guys
We ordered a side of papas fritas and they were a genuine highlight. They are cut in the kitchen and you can tell, thick and slightly irregular rather than uniform.
The closest thing our family could compare them to was Five Guys, and I would say these take those a level up. If your kids are fry people, order these and stop worrying about whether they will eat.
Ordering Two Salads Was Our Mistake
Here is the thing I would change. Vika and I share everything, and we mainly came for the two salads, a Caesar with chicken and a rocket salad with pear and goat cheese. We also figured the kids would not finish the steak and we would be picking at what was left. Both were genuinely good. The Caesar dressing was thick, creamy and rich, though we did add more pepper, which is just us. The pear salad was good and not sweet.
The problem was arithmetic, not cooking. Between the bread, the free board of warm pots, the tartare, the steak and the fries, two salads was one salad too many. We ended up holding the pear one back and eating it at the end instead of dessert, which actually worked because it is not a sweet salad. But we were full long before it got there.
If I were doing this again, I would order one salad instead of two and spend the difference on something else from the menu. The tartare is not up for negotiation.
They Bring a Tower of Lollipops Instead of Dessert
We were too full for dessert and said so. Instead they brought a stand covered in lollipops to the table and let everybody pick. It arrived without our asking, and it lands very well when you have kids.
It did not disappoint the kids. I took the blue one expecting blueberry and got something much closer to bubblegum, which I am not going to pretend I minded. Vika passed.
It is a small thing, and it landed better than anything we could have ordered off a dessert menu.
What a Family of Four Actually Spends at La Cabrera
Our bill came to 148 euros for four people, tax included, which is 37 euros a head. That covered the bread and aperitivo cover, the steak tartare, two salads, the half bife de chorizo, the fries, a beer, an Aperol Spritz, two waters and a Coca-Cola that the kids shared. The board of warm pots was free.
That number is worth putting next to what is online. The scraped Tripadvisor menu leads with a dry aged cut at 140 euros a kilo and a tomahawk at 90 a kilo, which makes this place look like a blowout. Listings put the average spend anywhere from thirty five to sixty euros a person. We over ordered, we drank, and we still came in at thirty seven.
The photo is our actual bill if you want to see where every euro went. For contrast, the day before we ate at a neighborhood place out in Poblenou and fed the same four people for half this. Both meals were worth what they cost. They are just not the same meal.
Is La Cabrera Worth It With Kids?
Yes, and I would go further than that. We would all recommend it.
Nothing that came to our table was a disappointment, which I do not get to say often. The room is calm enough for conversation, the service is unhurried and speaks English, there are fries and a chicken Caesar for a kid who is not feeling adventurous, and the meal ends with a lollipop. Two kids who had just walked through three Gaudi houses in the August heat sat there for the best part of an hour and a half without anybody getting scratchy.
It is more expensive than eating in a neighborhood off the tourist track, and you should go in knowing that. But every single thing on that bill earned its place, from the bread bowl down to the very last bite. We would come back and keep working through the menu, and the tartare is not up for discussion. That is getting ordered again.
Do You Need a Reservation at La Cabrera Barcelona?
Not necessarily for lunch. We walked in with four people on a Monday around two in the afternoon in the first week of August with no booking and were seated immediately. That is one data point, not a rule. For dinner, for weekends, or for a group larger than four, book it through their site or by phone. The room does fill up, we watched it happen.
What Is the Dress Code at La Cabrera Barcelona?
We could not find a dress code published anywhere, and at lunch nobody seemed to be working to one. We came straight off a morning of walking tours dressed for the heat, with two kids in the same, and it was not a problem. The tables have white linen and the staff are in aprons and caps, so the room is smarter than we were, but you do not need to go back to the hotel and change to eat lunch here.
What Is Bife de Chorizo in English?
Sirloin, or striploin. The closest American equivalent is a New York strip. Despite the name it has nothing to do with chorizo sausage. La Cabrera’s own menu writes it out as bife de chorizo slash lomo bajo, and lomo bajo is the Spanish butchery term for the same cut, so the menu is effectively translating itself for you.
Do Restaurants in Barcelona Charge for Bread?
Often, yes, and La Cabrera does. Ours came through as a per person charge for bread and aperitivo at 2,50 a head. It is legal, it is normal, and ours was itemized on the bill. If you do not want it, you can decline it when the basket lands. Just do not expect it to be free because it arrived without being ordered.
Is There Anything on the Menu Kids Will Eat?
Plenty. The hand cut fries alone will carry a picky eater, the Caesar comes with chicken, the bread basket is generous, and the free board of warm sides is mostly mild things like creamed corn and mashed potato. Add a steak cut at the table and a lollipop at the end and you have a meal that works for a child without anybody ordering off a laminated kids menu.
How Much Is Lunch at a Barcelona Steakhouse?
At La Cabrera we paid 148 euros for four, tax included, which works out to 37 euros a head for a shared steak, a tartare, two salads, fries, a cover charge and four drinks. You could eat here for less by skipping a salad, and you could spend a great deal more by ordering a dry aged cut by the kilo. Elsewhere in Barcelona you can obviously eat for far less. We fed the same four of us for about half this at a neighborhood spot out in Poblenou the day before.
La Cabrera Barcelona: Address, Hours and Booking
La Cabrera Casa de Carnes
Carrer de la Diputacio, 239, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
Phone: +34 938 78 32 30
Website: lacabrerabarcelona.es
Neighborhood: la Dreta de l’Eixample, about a seven minute walk from Casa Batllo and ten to twelve from Casa Mila
On hours, I am going to be straight with you rather than pretend. The restaurant does not publish opening hours on its own website, and the listing sites all give different ones, somewhere in the range of half twelve to half four in the afternoon and seven to midnight. We ate a late lunch and were seated comfortably. If your plans depend on it, call ahead, because right now nobody online agrees. And that is not just advice for this address. Across Europe, especially at smaller and more local places, posted hours run closer to a suggestion than a contract. They shift with the season, and people will close a shop or a restaurant to go on holiday or simply to spend time with their families. Not saying this place is like that, but two minutes on the phone before you cross town is always the reliable move.
Planning the rest of the trip around food? Our write up on what a family of four actually spends eating in Europe covers how we budget these meals without skipping the good ones.
Have you eaten at a La Cabrera anywhere in the world? I want to know if the tartare on the marrow bone is the same everywhere, or if we got lucky in Barcelona. Tell me in the comments.
