Restaurant in Tarragona, Spain
Port-fresh rice at mid-range prices.
La Xarxa is Tarragona's most reliable rice and seafood booking at mid-range prices, backed by back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand listings in 2024 and 2025. The kitchen draws on daily-caught fish from the chef's father's own boat, and the updated room sits two minutes from the port. Book it for a celebratory lunch or a straightforward, well-sourced meal without the tasting-menu spend.
La Xarxa is the right choice if you want a serious rice-focused lunch near the Mediterranean waterfront, at mid-range prices, with a Michelin Bib Gourmand behind it. It works for dates, family celebrations, and anyone visiting Tarragona who wants to eat well without committing to a full tasting-menu spend. If you need a formal, white-tablecloth occasion or are after modern Catalan tasting menus, look elsewhere. For everything else, this is one of the most reliable bookings in town.
La Xarxa sits on Carrer de Sant Pere, a short walk from the port, in a room defined by its large round windows that frame the neighbourhood rather than shut it out. The atmosphere reads as confident and unhurried during lunch service: the energy is sociable rather than hushed, with the kind of ambient noise that suits a celebratory table of four but still allows conversation. It is not a quiet, intimate room, and if you need low decibels for a business meal, book a weekday lunch when the pace drops. Evenings and weekend lunches run livelier.
The restaurant's roots are a fishermen's bar, and that origin still shapes the menu in practical terms rather than decorative ones. The current chef, Diane Gallardo, has taken the family operation through a genuine update. The à la carte has absorbed Asian influences — dumplings appear, Thai sauces turn up alongside Catalan technique , without abandoning the rice dishes that are the clearest reason to be here. What keeps this grounded as a booking rather than a curiosity is the supply chain: the chef's father operates his own fishing boat out of Tarragona daily, which means the fish arriving in the kitchen has a direct, traceable provenance that most restaurants at this price point cannot match.
Two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand listings, in 2024 and 2025, confirm what the Google score of 4.5 across 865 reviews already suggests: this is a kitchen cooking with consistency, not just on good days. The Bib Gourmand designation specifically recognises good food at moderate prices, which makes it a more useful signal for value assessment than a starred listing would be. You are not paying for ceremony here. You are paying for well-sourced fish, properly executed rice, and a room that has earned its reputation through repetition.
The seasonal logic at La Xarxa tracks the Mediterranean catch rather than a printed calendar. Rice dishes built around locally caught fish will shift with what the boat brings in. If you are visiting in spring or early summer, the range of available seafood is typically broader along the Costa Daurada coastline, and the kitchen has more to work with. Late autumn and winter visits are worth making for different reasons: the room is quieter, weekend availability is easier to secure, and rice dishes cooked low and slow suit the season well.
The Asian-influenced elements of the menu are consistent year-round and offer a secondary reason to visit if rice-forward Catalan cooking is not your primary interest. That said, the rice dishes are what the Bib Gourmand is anchored to, and they should be your main order regardless of season. Coming here and skipping the rice to focus on the fusion elements would be the wrong call.
For a special occasion visit, a weekend lunch is the most atmospheric option , the port proximity, natural light through the round windows, and the livelier room energy all work in its favour. If you are planning an anniversary dinner or a quieter celebration, a weekday evening will give you more room to breathe.
Tarragona does not have a deep bench of Michelin-recognised restaurants, which makes La Xarxa's back-to-back Bib Gourmand listings more significant in local context. For broader Spanish rice benchmarks, Arrocería Maribel in El Palmar is the Valencian reference point, and Antoni Rubies in Artesa de Lleida represents Catalan inland rice traditions. La Xarxa sits between those reference points: more contemporary than a traditional arrocería, more grounded in product than a fusion-led concept. For top-end Spanish cooking in the wider region, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona and Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona operate at a different scale entirely. La Xarxa is not trying to compete there, and that is not a weakness.
Within Tarragona's mid-range category, Barquet Tarragona is the closest peer: both sit at €€, both draw on local Catalan product, and both are good choices for a long lunch. The difference is format. Barquet leans into traditional regional cooking; La Xarxa has a cleaner, more contemporary room and the Asian-influenced elements give it more range if your table has mixed tastes. La Xarxa's Bib Gourmand gives it a slight edge as a first booking if you are visiting Tarragona once and want the more verified choice.
El Terrat operates at €€€ and offers modern Catalan tasting-menu territory. If budget is not the primary concern and the occasion demands a more formal experience, El Terrat makes sense. But for value-conscious diners or anyone where rice and fresh seafood is the specific draw, La Xarxa at €€ with two Bib Gourmand listings is the sharper choice. You are not trading down by choosing it over El Terrat; you are trading format.
Aromatic, Vergel Veggie, and El Cup Vell each serve different parts of the market. Vergel Veggie is the call if you need a plant-forward option. El Cup Vell and Aromatic suit different meal types and occasions. None of them directly compete with La Xarxa on the rice-and-seafood axis. If that is what you are in Tarragona to eat, La Xarxa is the booking to make.
Booking difficulty is low by Tarragona standards. For weekday lunch, you can likely book a day or two out. Weekend lunch fills faster given the room's port-adjacent location and the Bib Gourmand pull, so aim for three to five days in advance to be safe. There is no evidence this requires weeks of planning, unlike starred restaurants in the wider Catalan region.
The venue's mid-range price point and sociable atmosphere make it well-suited to group lunches. The room's energy supports celebratory tables. Seat count is not confirmed in available data, so for larger parties (eight or more), contact the restaurant directly before assuming availability. Groups of four to six should have no difficulty booking through standard channels.
La Xarxa operates an à la carte format rather than a dedicated tasting menu, which is part of what earns it the Michelin Bib Gourmand rather than a star. At €€ pricing, the à la carte gives you more control and typically better value than a forced menu. Order the rice dishes: that is where the kitchen's strength and the supply chain advantage are most visible.
Yes, with the right expectations. The Bib Gourmand recognition, the port-adjacent setting, and the updated room with large round windows make it a genuinely good choice for a birthday lunch, anniversary meal, or celebratory dinner. It is not a white-tablecloth formal experience, but the combination of reliable quality and mid-range pricing means you are not compromising on food to keep costs down. Weekend lunch is the leading occasion slot.
The rice dishes are the primary reason the kitchen has earned back-to-back Bib Gourmand recognition, and they should anchor your order. The freshness of the fish is a direct result of the owner's father fishing daily from his own boat, so any seafood-led rice is your leading bet. The Asian-influenced elements (dumplings, Thai-style sauces) offer worthwhile contrast, but they are secondary to the rice programme. Do not visit and skip the rice.
At €€ with a 4.5 Google score across 865 reviews and two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand listings, La Xarxa delivers well above its price tier. The Bib Gourmand is specifically awarded for good food at good value, so the quality-to-price ratio is the venue's core credential. Compared to El Terrat at €€€, you are spending less and getting a more casual but similarly well-sourced experience. Yes, it is worth it.
For regional Catalan cooking at the same price point, Barquet Tarragona is the closest comparable. For a step up in formality and spend, El Terrat covers modern Catalan at €€€. Plant-forward diners should look at Vergel Veggie. For the wider Spanish rice context, Arrocería Maribel in El Palmar is the Valencian benchmark. See the full Tarragona restaurant guide for more options across categories.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Xarxa | Rice Dishes | €€ | A restaurant that has been passed down from the parents to their children and, as a result, is enjoying a new lease of life! Despite this, its true essence, from its early days as a simple fishermen’s bar, remains. This impressively updated restaurant with huge round windows just a few metres from the port boasts a thoroughly modern à la carte with a nod to Asia (dumplings, Thai sauces etc) and an excellent choice of rice dishes. One of its unique features is that the chef’s father is himself a fisherman who has his own boat that he takes out every day, hence the quality and freshness of fish served here.; Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025); Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) | Easy | — |
| Barquet Tarragona | Regional Cuisine | €€ | Unknown | — | |
| El Terrat | Modern Cuisine | €€€ | Unknown | — | |
| Aromatic | Unknown | — | |||
| Vergel Veggie | Unknown | — | |||
| El Cup Vell | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between La Xarxa and alternatives.
Book at least a week in advance, particularly for weekend lunch, which is peak time for a port-adjacent Bib Gourmand at €€ pricing. The room has large round windows and a specific character that draws repeat locals, so tables fill. Weekday lunch is a safer bet for shorter-notice bookings.
La Xarxa is a realistic option for small groups of four to six, but check the venue's official channels before assuming capacity — no group booking policy is publicly documented. The à la carte format suits groups well, since the rice dishes are designed to share. Larger parties should confirm availability well ahead.
La Xarxa runs an à la carte format rather than a fixed tasting menu, so the question doesn't apply here. That actually works in your favour at €€ pricing: you can anchor around the rice dishes and add selectively without committing to a set progression. Order what the kitchen does best rather than a prescribed menu.
It works well for a low-key celebration where the food matters more than the formality. Two back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand listings (2024 and 2025) give it credibility, and the setting near the port with large round windows has enough character for the occasion. For a more formal special-occasion dinner, you'd likely need to look outside Tarragona's mid-range tier.
The rice dishes are the reason to come: this is a rice-specialist kitchen with Michelin recognition, sourcing fish daily from the chef's father's own boat. Beyond the rice, the menu has a modern à la carte with some Asian-influenced touches including dumplings and Thai-style sauces. Focus on whatever rice dish uses the day's catch.
At €€ with back-to-back Bib Gourmand recognition in 2024 and 2025, La Xarxa is one of the better-value propositions in Tarragona. The direct supply line from the chef's father's fishing boat means the fish quality is genuinely above what the price point typically delivers. If you're comparing it to a similar-priced meal without that sourcing story or the Michelin credential, La Xarxa wins on substance.
Barquet Tarragona is the closest like-for-like comparison: also €€, also Catalan-product-focused, and worth considering if you want a different room. El Terrat and Aromatic offer mid-range options with different cuisine emphases. Vergel Veggie is the choice if plant-based is a priority. El Cup Vell suits those wanting a wine-forward experience alongside the food.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
