Barcelona restaurants ban solo diners, to disgust of visitors

Restaurants in Barcelona have begun turning away solo diners, to the chagrin of locals and lone travellers. Photo / 123RF

A group of Spanish restaurateurs in Barcelona have begun banning patrons from booking tables for one, arguing it is bad for business.

‘Mesa para uno?’ is a guidebook phrase that gets a chilly reception by waiters in Spain. Now, some more popular restaurants have begun turning solo patrons away.

Along the Carrier de Bali, outdoor tables are a precious commodity. Giving one to a lone diner does not make business sense, they argue, when there are tables of tourists waiting to snap them up.

Eating alone is a very un-Iberian tradition. Solo diners are often treated with suspicion or, worse, pity.

Restaurants have traditionally reserved tiny tables at dingy indoor corners for solo diners but the practice of turning them away is controversial.

It’s not just solo travellers but locals who have been stung by the new hospitality practice. It’s a hot topic on Spanish social media.

National newspaper El País interviewed scorned solo diners who claimed to have been turned away for having nobody to eat with.

One said they were mistakenly seated at a table for two, only for the waiter to realise nobody was coming. They were asked to leave.

L'altre dia a la terrassa d'un bar a Barcelona:

- Podéis sentaros pero tenéis que iros en 45 minutos.
- Per què? Tanqueu ja?
- No, es el máximo de tiempo en la terraza, hacemos turnos.
- Adeu-siau.

Fiqueu-vos el Port Aventura Barcelona Experience aquest per on millor us càpiga.

— Patrick Urbano (@PatrickurbanoR) August 4, 2023

“On the first terrace where I got a table, a waiter quickly arrived and told me that it was reserved. It was not. As soon as I got up, a group of foreigners who were behind me sat down,” said the would-be diner.

Being stood up on a dinner date just got even more awkward for Barceloneses.

Some Catalonians have described being told there’s a 45-minute cap on solo tables, before they are turfed out of the terrace bars.

One of Barcelona's many Tapas Restaurants. Photo / Getty

Another solo diner told El Pais that it was not simply a matter of money. Having been refused multiple times she offered to pay the difference, only to be shooed away.

“The last time I got very upset and told them that if it was a matter of money, I was willing to play their game; that if we were going to go into voracious capitalism, how much was the minimum that I had to pay to be able to sit on the terrace and have dinner. They told me that it was not because of that, I simply could not sit alone.”

Solo travellers left with slim pickings but takeaway for one

It’s become a political issue for the city. With the arrival of mass tourism, table space and bar stools are in scarce supply. Some cafes have introduced ticketing systems, others have introduced separate dining times for foreign patrons to accommodate locals.

The birthplace of the “lazy grazing” tapas restaurant is now leaving patrons feeling harried.