Wrote the lead review above.
Restaurant · Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
Hijos de Javier
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Our take
Perfectly adequate, which is not at all the same as good. The crowd gives the game away: uptown regulars who have plainly been coming for years and stopped noticing what's on the fork, plus the odd family celebration that would be just as happy anywhere else. Nobody in the room looked excited, and frankly neither was I. The cooking suggests no one is minding the details too closely; plates arrive, plates are cleared, nothing offends and nothing lingers. To be fair, the damage to the wallet is modest, and if you keep to the plainest, most classic thing on offer the kitchen has little room to go wrong. One visit a year, if I'm passing and undemanding, will do. I shouldn't plan an evening around it.
Order this: Keep to the plainest classic on the menu; it gives the kitchen least room to wobble.
E
Eleanor W.
Lead critic · We Know Barcelona
Lead critic · We Know Barcelona
Our score
6.9/10
Our score
How often we'd come back
WeeklyMonthlyQuarterlyYearlyNever again
ELead: Eleanor W. · panel of 3 · avg 7/10
Food
7
Wine / Drink
6.8
Service
6.8
Ambiance
7
Experience
6.9
Scored on our five facets. Last visit: .
What the guides say
MichelinNot listed
RepsolNot listed
Barcelona à Table5/10 ↗
MacarfiNot listed
TheForkNot listed
Observación Gastronómica 2Not listed
Guide ratings are facts, linked to each source. ObsG2 = Observación Gastronómica 2.
The panel — every critic who went
Unanimous — all agreeSkipped the special, because both regulars at the bar heard it announced and ordered their usual anyway, and regulars always know. That's the story of this Sarrià spot: the people who eat here weekly have quietly mapped which dishes the kitchen still bothers with. Nothing offends. Nothing gets loved either, and you can taste the gap. Next year I'll ask those two at the bar whether anything's changed.
On its prosperous stretch of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, the street does most of the selling: polished doorways, the sort of address where you assume a kitchen minds its details. Inside, I'm less sure anyone is minding them. Ask what the house does best and you get a shrug dressed as an answer; the cooking is competent in a going-through-the-motions way, and no plate steps forward to claim the place. No disaster, either. Just nothing that calls you back before a year has slipped by.
Each critic scores, verdicts and writes independently after their own visits. Where they disagree, we leave it on the page.
Good to know
Questions
Is Hijos de Javier worth visiting?Eleanor W. scored it 6.9/10 for We Know Barcelona and would come back yearly. Our panel of 3 rated it 7/10 overall.
What guides feature Hijos de Javier?Barcelona à Table: 5/10 ↗.
Where is Hijos de Javier?Hijos de Javier is in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district of Barcelona, at Carrer d'Amigó, 30, 08021 Barcelona.
How expensive is Hijos de Javier?Mid-range for Barcelona: a proper dinner without a special-occasion bill.
Reviewed by our panel of 3 critics · a living guide, updated July 2026.