As the saying goes “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”, or another way of putting it would be “you get what you pay for”. Both these phrases were running through my mind during my recent visit to Granada. I’d been there a few times before but this time it was a work trip and I was paying more attention to detail, especially as some of the research I was doing was on good places to eat in the city.
Pretty much everyone has heard of the “free tapas” system in Granada, in which you are given a tapa with each drink you purchase. Sometimes you can choose the tapa but more often the bar sets up a range of 1st, 2nd, 3rd tapas to be served with each drink you order. Of course you can also order other food on the side, and this is where things get a bit muddy.
The first thing you should bear in mind is that even though the bars in Granada don’t charge you outright (honestly?) for a tapa, my experience there was that most places gave you something much smaller than a typical tapa in Sevilla would be and also charged far more for drinks. You may end up paying the same at the end of the night, but you also end up with much less food, and usually food that is nothing to write home about. A bit of tortilla, a dollop of salmorejo, a smattering of tinned sausages… the most extreme example was at Puerta del Carmen where I paid 3.50€ (!!!) for a small glass of white wine and my “free tapa” was a mini burger about the size of my thumbnail. And that eensy bit of tortilla onna stick was my “free tapa” after ordering a glass of wine for 3.10€ at Tragalios. Like, why bother?
On average a small beer (caña) in Granada will cost from 1.20 – 2.20€ (.80 – 1.40€ in Sevilla) and a glass of house wine will set you back anywhere from 2.50 – 3.50€ (2.00 – 2.75€ in Sevilla). One may argue that the food makes up for the difference in price, but even if you order other tapas and raciones separately you continue to pay the premium drink prices and, as happened more than once to me, you are no longer given “free” tapas. When I finally asked about this at Taberna Gambao the waiter looked (feigned?) surprise that we hadn’t been brought more “free” tapas after ordering a 12€ dish of gambas and another glass of wine and said we should have asked for it. Huh?
In fairness I *only* got to about 15 bars in 3 days, and so of course many of those were just a quick drink and 1st tapa experience. But when out with friends a couple of times at first I thought that we hadn’t paid much until I got home and did the math. Turned out that although we’d been mostly eating “free” tapas we were still paying on average close to 3€ a drink. I was told by my friends that there are plenty of places where you can eat and drink well and cheaply and I guess I’ll have to take their word for it (and wonder why I wasn’t taken there). The thing is I didn’t just stumble upon any of the places I went to – they had all been recommended to me by locals and foodies. So what chance does a typical short-term visitor have of finding a decent dining experience in Granada?
[click to enlarge]
Personally, I prefer to eat more than I drink when I go out for tapas, and I also prefer to choose my own food. Perhaps because Granada is a university town the emphasis is placed on drinking? In any case, I was not impressed by the tapas there in general, though of course there were some pleasant exceptions: El Mentidero, Taberna Gamboa, and La Moraga. And I still have fond memories of my first visit to the original Los Diamantes in calle Nava a couple of years ago, though a visit this time to their new place on the Plaza Nueva was disappointing. Worst experience was some dried up pork with a bit of nondescript sauce slopped over it and rudely served to us at Casa Torcuatro in the Albaicín. Best experience was sitting in the sun-dappled garden terrace at Senzone in the Palacio de los Patos hotel. The rest was largely forgettable, food-wise, though I was in very pleasant company and also enjoyed getting to know the neighbourhoods a bit better.
[bars and restaurants visited: Bar Ávila, Posada del Duende, Puerta del Carmen, Los Diamantes, Taberna Gamboa, Tragalios, Bar Aliatar, Casa Torcuato, Om Kalsum, Bodega Castañeda, La Trastienda, El Mentidero, Senzone, La Moraga, La Tana]
Interesting … I think it may be an idea to send this post to people we know in the Granada area and see what they come back with, don´t you?
That way, on “our” next visit to Granada, we may have more luck 😉
I’d quite like to hear back from people who live in Granada, or who know it well. I’m well aware that you can’t get the whole picture in just a few days, but on the other hand first impressions also mean a lot. I think the Granada drink prices are also much higher than in Málaga.
I live here (Granada)!
Well there are good and bad places and of the good places there is variety.
Sometimes we go to bad places just because they’re there or on the way to somewhere. We’re not really selective because quite often the moment is close to perfect anyway with the trickling fountain in the plaza and the view of the mountains our company and the tapas seems secondary somehow.
We like the “free” tapas (of course we know we’re getting charged more for the drinks). We think its civilised. You have to have something savoury to go with your drink – otherwise you’re just DRINKING (my God how I have changed after 20 years in Spain!)
It is notable that the free market system seems to break down at the sharp end. For example there is a good bar with excellent tapas in Campo de Principe and its right next to a bad bar with crap tapas and bad service. Every night the one bar is full and the bar next door is empty. All the tables and chairs are arranged outside both bars with people queuing up at the one and the other totally empty. The waiter or owner of the one which is empty stands in the doorway with nothing to do looking on at the scene nonchalantly. This has been going on for years. It seems not to have occurred to the waiter or owner of the empty to imitate in anyway the fill bar. They seem perfectly content with the way things are.
In a funny kind of way I admire the “fuck you” attitude of some Spaniards when foreigners coming in waving money and shouting for service. They have their lives to live and tomorrow the American will be gone. But this situation in Campo de Principe Granada strikes me as really interesting.
There’s at least one similar situation here with a very successful bar and a very unsuccessful bar next door. The next door bar actually ended up copying the menu from its successful neighbour but it didn’t change a thing. You can’t copy heart.
I live in Granada (for the last 6 years) and the free tapa is free. Each bar welcomes you with a complementary nibble to accompany your drink (wine, beer, coca cola) I think that the problem lies in the fact that people want to pay for the beer and get the free tapas rather than buying additional raciones to eat a better meal. The tapa is to compliment the drink rather than be your main meal.
It is also a sample of the food that a place can offer. If you like the tapa you may order a portion (racion) of something or even stay for dinner.
The bars and restaurants differ, some allow you to choose from a list your tapa and others have a 1, 2, 3 system as you drink more the tapas get better. Others give you something according to what they have available. I tend to go to the ones with a list of tapas to choose from.
I mainly have tapas in the evening if I have had a big lunch and am not too hungry. I usually have 2 drinks with free tapas and then order 1 or 2 raciones.
My issue with the “free” tapas in Granada is that the bars have inflated their drink prices in order to provide these “complementary nibbles”, which means they aren’t actually free. It seems to me like a system that may have started off as a good thing but has deteriorated into a situation where both bar owners and customers are trapped into offering and receiving food that is neither interesting or desired.
As one friend told me about La Moraga, which recently opened in Granada – “they wouldn’t dare not offer a free tapa here” (even though this isn’t the practice at their other successful locations). Curiously this was the only place I visited that had drink prices in keeping with other cities in Andalucia, and so their complementary nibble was actually complementary, as well as delicious and well-presented. Unlike that unappetising bit of tortilla in the photo above, which “cost” me a euro (the difference in the price of the wine at those two places).
Also, when you order raciones at most tapas bars it seems the “free” nibbles stop, though you continue paying the premium drink prices.
I revisited Granada last year after nearly 30 years. And it is obviously still the most fantastic city with great places,food and people. Tapawise except for a couple of bars alot seemed more commercial(tourist orientated) than I remember. In those days everywhere did tapas as standard and the prices were amazingly cheap(the same as in the rest of Spain). I think between the Euro introduction(hiking of prices) and the major influx of tourists maybe the prices are higher.Also what Molly says is true…alot of people drink to get more tapas when a free tapa with every drink is probably not economically viable for the bar without some other order of a “racion”.
What really hit me in Granada were the number of tourists! Amazing! I remember saying to my wife……i dont think hotel,bars and restaurants in the centre of Granada have heard of a crisis.
The centre of Sevilla has also become a tourist haven and there are easily twice as many tapas bars in the barrio Santa Cruz as when I first moved here in 1993, with new ones opening up all the time. Crazy.
Yes that’s right because in England Spanish tapas means raciones. If you go to a tapas bar in London they serve you plates of Spanish food which you pay for like you do raciones in Spain. Actually in Spain, sorry in Granada, a tapa is a little something to accompany your drink.
Good advice – we’ll be there soon!