Telefèric Barcelona

For years, we’ve been hunting for a truly superb and authentic Spanish tapas restaurant in or near Orange County, a quest that’s had occasional ups, downs, and close calls. So we were excited to visit Telefèric Barcelona, first at a Los Angeles location, and later at Long Beach’s shopping center 2nd & PCH. With seven total restaurants spread across California and Spain, Telefèric’s menus and interior designs looked authentically Spanish enough to hook us. While our experiences across the two locations were mixed, we preferred the newer Long Beach restaurant, and would certainly return for more.

Though the menu isn’t huge – fewer than 35 items including all appetizers and desserts – virtually all of the classic Spanish tapas are included, and then some. From ham or crab croquettes (croquetas) to tomato-smeared bread (pan con tomate), crispy potatoes with red pepper sauce (patatas bravas), garlic shrimp (gambas al ajillo), and premium Spanish ham (jamón ibérico de bellota), you can easily have the same meal here you’d order in Barcelona; rice paellas and a collection of entrees are also on the menu. When we visited the LA location in 2024, Spanish-style French toast (torrijas), flan, and churros (atypically injected here with Nutella) were also on the menu; in 2025, there were some different items on the Long Beach menu, though our server mentioned they’re synchronized between locations.

Both the LA and Long Beach restaurants are so beautifully and authentically decorated that we could easily have been walking into spaces in Barcelona or the Basque Country; each spacious, well-appointed dining room was bright and earthtoned, with standout woodwork on the Long Beach location’s ceiling, and gorgeous ceramics throughout. Though the LA restaurant was almost empty throughout our meal, the Long Beach location continued to fill up as we dined for 90 minutes.

Similarly, most of the serviceware and plating was consistent with mid-level tapas restaurants we’ve visited. As our photos illustrate, Telefèric is truly on a different level from, say, Southern California’s Cafe Sevilla restaurants. On both of our visits, service was generally very attentive, though we did need to flag people down a couple of times near the end of our LA meal, and drink refills were absent at the Long Beach location.

At the LA location, the actual dishes we tried – a pretty representative sampling – ranged from okay to good. As just a handful of examples: Pan con tomate arrived looking pretty much spot-on, with a layer of tomato pulp topping sliced bread, though the bread was somewhat thinner and harder than the ideal. A $19 portion of octopus consisted of one overcooked tentacle in a large puddle of sauce; a $19 garlic shrimp plate included three shrimp, each as much shell as meat. One of the best presentations, Paella Bombs, were served as rice balls with salmon roe on top and injectable shrimp bisque – the sort of whimsical touch seen in Spain’s better tapas bars. They tasted a little overcooked on the outside, but great when mixed with the bisque. Unfortunately, they weren’t available on our visit to the Long Beach location.