Residents are facing growing resentment towards restaurants seeking to capitalize on the tourist influx during the peak summer season. Travelers who come to Barcelona alone may be left without lunch, as some restaurants refuse to serve single guests.
Outdoor summer terraces are very popular in spring and summer when millions of tourists come to the city. However, for individual visitors, this can be an unfavorable situation: restaurateurs prefer group bookings, which bring them more income.
In the center of Barcelona, in particular on the street Carrer de Blai, famous for its tapas bars, as well as in the Eixample district, some restaurants began to refuse single visitors. The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the waiters justify this by saying that all the tables are occupied and refuse to provide seats on the terraces.
Terrible tables and excuses for solo diners
For travelers who prefer to dine alone, an unpleasant reception is not uncommon. Placement next to a toilet, kitchen, or even in a secluded corner is common. But now, Barcelona’s locals, too, are grappling with the impact of tourism on restaurants. One of the residents said that one evening he could not find a place in several establishments, despite the availability of tables.
“On the first terrace, where I was able to take a seat, the waiter came and said that the table was booked. It turned out not to be. As soon as I left, foreign tourists took my place,” he said.
At another restaurant, he was told that he could only stay for 20 minutes, and at the last establishment, he was told that the terrace was for groups only.
Why do restaurants refuse single guests?
Refusal to serve single visitors is explained by economic motives. Groups are more likely to spend more money at tables than single guests. Tourist groups also leave more funds than locals. And if earlier locals could just sit outside and drink coffee in the afternoon or evening, now they are faced with a refusal to do so.
“Four o’clock in the afternoon. We want to have coffee before visiting the MACBA (Barcelona Museum of Modern Art),” journalist Noemi Vilaseca wrote on social media in July. “But they don’t serve it to us on the terrace, because it’s ‘aperitif time’.”