Público has everything a modern wine tavern is supposed to have: two hundred–odd references, thirty-something by the glass, shop pricing plus a modest corkage, a sommelier team, a grill in the back room turning out market fish, and a big polished space on the city's most restaurant-dense street. A year of reflection hasn't changed our verdict, which is that having everything is not the same as meaning anything. The list is broad and fairly poured and almost entirely without a point of view — you can find something good, but nothing here reaches out and insists. The kitchen has the same problem in a more expensive form: the tapas are competent and the fish is treated respectably, but the prices are written as though the food were the reason you came, and it isn't. And the room, for all the staff's attentiveness, is simply too large to feel like anywhere; you are served well inside a space that never quite warms up. There are worse ways to spend an evening on Enric Granados, and the late hours are genuinely useful. But loyalty is built on either conviction or value, and Público keeps declining to choose one.
Address · Carrer d’Enric Granados, 30, Barcelona 08008 Type · Restaurant District · EixampleBudget · 85€/pax
The 2025 Review
Huge list, fair pours — and food priced like it’s something else
Público is a large, polished wine bar built around a simple promise: lots of bottles, plenty by the glass, and an easy, late-friendly rhythm. The wine offer really is extensive, and pricing on the wine side feels relatively reasonable for the neighborhood. That said, the selection doesn’t always scream personality—more range than “you have to try this”—but it’s still an easy place to drink.
Food sits in modern Mediterranean tapas territory and works as support… until the bill arrives. The plates are fine, but the pricing is high enough that we start expecting a bigger payoff than the kitchen actually delivers, which turns ordering into a cautious exercise instead of a pleasure.
The space is the other challenge. It’s huge, and that scale can make the atmosphere feel a little cold, even with attentive staff doing their best to add warmth. We hope we’re wrong, but in Barcelona it’s hard to build real loyalty on “fine” plus expensive food.
