Tickets

The food was really amazing!
They were full inside, so sat outside. Wish they did more with the outdoor seating. But the service was still wonderful.

I read TICKETS fine dining closed over the pandemic. It is now "re-branded as Teatro in 2022, with 5 of the classic Tickets dishes, and a new menu heavy on the stews and modern snacks."

This is a must do when in Barcelona !!! Amazing!!! Food Service and ambiance is all 5 star !!

Are you ready for the hottest ticket to the world's best ranked #20 restaurant? Entering the amusement park of avant-garde and contemporary food art, this @albert.adria.acosta Michelin-star concept of "La vida tapa" is an experience one will never forget.

We recommend watching @chefstablenetflix Albert Adrià season 5, episode 4 to truly grasp his innovative techniques and fiery courage in pushing the limits of food.

Starting with the best part - Dessert, duh!
Cheesecake - served with butter cookies, this hazelnut rind is unlike any other cheesecake you've tried before. Hands-down.
Lychee & Raspberry Sphere - molecular gastronomy takes this rose water gelatin bite to another level. (The rose itself is not edible)
Choux w/ Coconut Popcorn, Vanilla Cream Banana & Basil - a personal favorite
Pear, Nut Butter, Brioche - we're still obsessed with how everything melted together so perfectly.
Stroopwaffle Ice Cream Sandwich - imagine bites of warmth & happiness

Tapas:
Crunchy Octopus, Picked Cucumbers Filled w/ Celery & Apple Gelatin - the tapa of the night. Absolutely delicious.
Foie Gras Stuffed w/ Smoked Eel - a perfect & unique combo.
Stracciatella di Bufala w/ Sea Urchin & Black Truffle - rich, fresh, aromatic.
Olive-S - a delightful explosion of olive juice.
Torta de Inés - we drowned, in the best way possible, in this mountain of goat, galmesan, and Payoyo cheese. Reserve at least a month in advance. Portions are mostly one bite each so don't come starving. Enter with an open mind and curious tastebuds!

Absolutely loved our meal here! Reservations are extremely tricky. You can make them online, but they are available once it is 2 months in advance at midnight Barcelona time. I was on their website exactly then and was able to make a 10pm reservation. After that, it was fully booked for the day.

Service was pleasant and attentive. The place feels very casual. Doesn't feel dressy or formal, which makes it more comfortable in my opinion. We did the "chefs choice" option which is where they keep serving you dishes until you tell them you're nearing full, so they wrap up the courses. If you do want something in particular you could let the server know. It was really hard to decided what all to get, which is why we just left it up to them to decide. We had about 10 or so items and 3 desserts.

Loved the creative ways things were prepared. Quality of ingredients was also great. They also had the best sangria compared to all the other ones I've had during my entire 2 weeks in Spain. It's the least "watered" down. I really wish we had more room in our stomachs because the desserts were also super good! I would've loved to try more. Didn't know how much the bill would come out to be, but to our surprise, it wasn't too bad for the food and experience. 210 euros for 2 people.

If I could've made a second reservation on the spot, I would've wanted to eat here again during our few days in Barcelona!

This is hands down the best restaurant I've been to in Barcelona. I did their tasting And it was killer. All the staff is super friendly and accommodating.

My first experience dining in at a "World's 50 Best" listed restaurant was here (rated #20 as of this writing). Actual dine-in date: 3/6/2019.

Whenever traveling internationally I try my best to experience one "special occasion" meal. It may or may not be a chef's table or fine dining experience, but the restaurant would have enough accolades for people to schedule their itineraries or even plane tickets on a reservation. In the case of Barcelona I am a huge Europhile and a United Cyber Monday deal had me already going here but it was in the case of Tickets that I scheduled my entire trip around the reservation.

Compared to TFL and Noma scoring tickets here was slightly easier... but not by much. Reservations are available up to 60 days to the date of dine-in and open up at 12AM exactly. At the time you had to not only be on the website at midnight local time, your computer time also had to match the local time in order for the reservation system to work. You could be SOL as early as 5 minutes afterwards so it's best to try out a "practice run" beforehand.
Also keep in mind that the minimum party size is 2. Being a solo traveler I reached out to a girls travel FB group for a dining partner. This ended up being one of the best things that ever happened on my travels.
Dress code: smart casual.

For background research I highly recommend watching Netflix's "Chef's Table" season 5 episode 4 on Albert Adrià. As one of the two Adrià brothers he was instrumental to the success of El Bulli as its pastry chef and eventually its creative director. As the creative director he was the one that spearheaded all the avant-garde techniques that to this day define molecular gastronomy (foams, spherification). No longer wanting to be in the shadow of his famous brother Ferran he left El Bulli and went to start his own collective of restaurants in Barcelona. Think of Tickets as a scaled down El Bulli.

My friend and I first started off in the main restaurant where the savories are served. Technically there *is* a menu but most people who go to Tickets opt for omakase style - once you tell the server your allergies and dislikes they'll proceed to give you "la vida tapa" until you say stop. There is no mention of any budget concerns, but considering you are eating at a World's 50 Best restaurant I assume you saved enough to splurge on the experience...
Once you are done with the savories dessert is served in a separate room that reminds you of something from either Willy Wonka or Alice in Wonderland. Again the same concept applies here - dessert is served until you say "stop". The dessert room itself is a very unique experience amongst all restaurant experiences - I'd rather not say what I thought but rather experience it for yourself.

Between my friend and I we shared approximately 20 tapas.
- Anchoa (anchovies)
- Olivas Gordal Adobad (the famous olives from "El Bulli" that are made from olive juice via a spherification process)
- Caballa simesabe (their take on "pan de cristal con tomate" accompanied with mackerel)
- Calamar raifort (squid in 6 grains)
- Duo atun (two preparations of tuna: tuna tartare plus tuna bonbon)
- Airbaguette de Rubia (their take on jamon iberico on a baguette - I think the jamon is from Galicia)
- Ostra escabeche (pickled oysters)
- Mini Airbags de ques (think cheese puff with manchego cheese foam on the inside)
- Viaje nordico (Beet and tartar on a cracker - their take on something you would see at Noma's game & forest menu)
- Gamba Steackmar (aka amaebi - sweet shrimp)
- Maracusante (little peas inside of a passion fruit seed - another molecular gastronomy trick)
- Albondigas de habita (peas that look like meatballs?)
- Berenjena lacada (lacquered eggplant)
- Mollete papada (a sandwich made from pork chin - think dumpling)
- Codorniz wellington (quail done in the beef wellington style. Filled with spinach, mushrooms and ham)
- Bikini trufa (sandwich of Coulommier cheese and black truffle)
- Rosa de ambar (one of the signature desserts, a gelatinous ball resembling dew sits on the center of the rose. The dew tastes like lychee and raspberry).
- Tickets cheesecake (a cheesecake that looks like a cheese wheel. Served with "crackers" I am not a cheesecake person and this is one of the best things I've ever eaten. The rind is super delicious; very hazelnut rich)
- Tarta Choco Pasion (regular chocolate tart)
- Sandwich Helado (stroopwaffle ice cream sandwich)
With drinks, grand total came out to €335.30.

Favorites: the olives, sweet shrimp, cheese puff with manchego, truffle cheese sandwich, cheesecake.

I didn't get to go to El Bulli when it was open so going to Tickets is the next best thing. A few years back I also went to another "El Bulli" alumni's restaurant - é by José Andrés, aka Tickets as a chef's table. I prefer tickets over é because even though the techniques may be similar, the focus remains on the food.

To this day one of my favorite foodie experiences.

Hype can be dangerous. Some places live up to it, while others fall on the sword of their own making. Thankfully, Tickets completely lived up to the hype! It actually surpassed the hype, to be fair.

Sadly, we've only been able to get in once on our growing number of visits to the city, but I really can't say enough positive things about the restaurant. From the staff to the food, everything was excellent. The atmosphere is fun, and completely unpretentious, which is the best. It's casual, which may surprise some, but that really helps take a sometimes-intimidating world of gastronomy and make it relaxing. Easily the most relaxed "fancy" meal we've ever had!

We allowed our server to simply pick whatever he felt would be best, and he didn't let us down! We had a wonderful variety of dishes, spanning any number of textures and flavors you could want. He answered any questions that we had, explained the dishes well, and was just a generally pleasant server with a fun attitude. I could run through the list of items that we had, but I'd just say let them pick and enjoy. The pacing is great, and they'll constantly check in to see if you want to continue or if you're too full. Again, it's a very chill place!

Also, while Tickets isn't "cheap," I can say that we were amazed at how fairly-priced our meal ended up being. We've spent far more on meals in the States that weren't even close to deserving the fanfare that Tickets does. So, at the risk of making our chances of getting in even harder, I can only say that Tickets is a must-visit if you can get in, and enjoy the experience! It's worth the splurge, for sure!

Tickets. A very good meal, but honestly given the reputation I was a little underwhelmed by the creativity of the dishes (except desert, which was exceptional). Still enjoyable, and honestly I probably would've rated this very high if I hadn't gone to Disfrutar a couple days prior.

It's very hard to get in - you have to book reservations two months out on Spain's time at the moment they release. When you show up, you check in and get your 'tickets' for the meal and head to your table. You can order a la carte, or have them choose a selection of dishes for you (not advertised as a tasting menu, but similar concept). We went with their choice, overall the courses were well executed and flavors were on point, but some weren't particularly exciting. Favorite courses were all of the desserts - the cheesecake, ice cream sandwich, pizza, tart and key lime pie were insanely good. For savory bites, my favorites were the olive spheres (obviously - they're most creative/innovative dish), the squid, eel and foie gras, meat on the cone, and carrot canape.

Only issue with the meal for me, was the timing of courses. It started out good, but then more and more spaced as if they were dragging out the meal on purpose (which, they probably were to space out timing for the dessert room). The last few courses took what felt like forever, and by the time we got to the dessert room we wanted to go (overall, not an overly long meal maybe 3 hours, but without knowing how many courses or what the plan was it made it difficult to judge timing of everything.

I would definitely come back to Tickets, but would probably want to try the other Michelin restaurants in BCN first (that are easier to get into).

Getting a ticket to Tickets Barcelona is no easy feat. The word is out - this may be the best value fine dining in the city, if not the world. The tapas here are a mix of elBulli's greatest hits, along with equally impressive new creations. You can order a la carte or opt for the tasting menu. After dinner, you may even be invited to the secret dessert room, a willy wonka-esque wonderland complete with a ceiling covered in gigantic berries and candy canes.

We weren't able to get reservations at first and my husband had to practically beg Enigma (the latest and greatest elBarri family restaurant) to help us. Enigma came through and got us a 10:30pm weeknight seating! It definitely helped to make a reservation at another elBarri restaurant and leverage that.

Still full from the 40+ tasting menu at Enigma the night prior, we opted for the a la carte option at Tickets. With two drinks each, a satisfying amount of tapas, and plenty of dessert, the meal ended up being a reasonable €100 per person. Considering Tickets is ranked #25 on the World's 50 Best, holds 1 Michelin star, and is one of my top meals ever, this was quite a steal.

A highlight were the King Crab Tacos - this was a fun, make your own dish. Not to mention the crab was the best crab I've tasted, with the most tender texture! I also loved the Mini Airbags, which had an awesome Manchego foam center. The eye-catching Crunchy Octopus was also a hit with a zippy wasabi-panko breading that went nicely with the tender octopus.

The bright white wine we enjoyed with dinner was also standout and a great value at €8 a glass. The craft cocktails were well-balanced and equally as enjoyable.

As good as the savory courses were, I thought the desserts were even more impressive. On first bite, the cheesecake immediately took the title of the best dessert I've had! Shaped like a cheese round, it had a subtle hazelnut white chocolate outer "rind" and the fluffiest, yet decadent center. The texture, along with the balanced sweetness was better than any cheesecake of my dreams.

After that legendary showing, I wasn't sure if I could enjoy any other dessert, but the ice cream stroopwaffle and chocolate passionfruit flower were nearly as good! Like the cheesecake, there wasn't one particular thing that stood out, rather every single aspect was just incredible. A very sweet ending to what will most likely be my favorite meal of 2018.