Lunch in Seville is a mid-afternoon meal and dinner a late one, and that timing decides more than any restaurant ranking. Across the ten places mapped below, lunch service begins between noon and 1.30pm, and dinner rarely before 8pm. A visitor who walks out of the Real Alcázar hungry at 5.30pm finds most kitchens shut until evening.
Seville’s eating day runs in two shifts, lunch until about 5pm and dinner from about 8pm, at seven of the ten places on this map. The other three, Las Teresas in Santa Cruz, the bars inside the Mercado de Triana and Espacio Eslava in San Lorenzo, keep serving through the gap. The ordering rules matter as much: tapas are a bar format, bread is charged per person at several places, and a terrace can double the price of the same dish.
Where should I eat in Seville? For tapas, order at the bar of El Rinconcillo on Calle Gerona, open daily since 1670, where spinach with chickpeas costs 3.50 euros. For a seated meal, Blanca Paloma in Triana opens Monday to Saturday. For a special dinner, Cañabota near Las Setas holds one Michelin star and opens on weekdays.
Seville meal times and the 6pm gap
On a weekday, between 5.30pm and 7pm, only three of the ten places here are serving: Las Teresas, open from 10am to 1am; the bars inside the Mercado de Triana, open until midnight; and Espacio Eslava, which serves from 12:30pm to midnight Tuesday to Saturday.
For pizza in the afternoon gap, Ricca on Calle Dos de Mayo serves from noon to 11pm straight from Friday to Sunday; the other pizzerias and their margherita prices are in the best pizza in Seville.
Cañabota reopens at 7pm and Freiduría Puerta de la Carne at 7.30pm. Most of the rest open at 8pm, and La Brunilda, the last, at 8.30pm. Lunch runs late too: El Rinconcillo serves until 5.30pm and Cañabota until 5pm. In July, with an average high of 36.0 degrees according to AEMET, a late lunch indoors and a late dinner outdoors is the sensible pattern, laid out hour by hour in Seville in August, by the heat data.
If the plan after dinner is a lit-up monument rather than bed, the late openings are in Seville’s monuments after dark.
Tapa, half plate or full plate, and what lands on the bill
A tapa is the smallest portion, served mostly at the bar; a ración is a full plate meant for sharing; some bars list a media, half a ración, in between. Prices on these menus are published per format, so the choice is visible before you order.
Full plates on the same menus cost roughly three times the tapa at the classic bars: the ración of spinach is 11 euros at El Rinconcillo and 10.50 at the Dos de Mayo bar, rising to 12 on its terrace, and ham croquettes go from 4.50 to 13.50 euros at Blanca Paloma. At La Brunilda a full plate of croquettes is 15 euros, and at Espacio Eslava the honey-glazed ribs are 7.50 as a tapa and 14.50 as a ración. To pick a tapas bar by plan rather than by area, standing at the bar, a booked table or a kitchen that stays open in the afternoon, the best tapas bars in Seville compares nine bars with their rating, closing day and booking policy.
Bread, VAT and tipping in Seville restaurants
Three things on a Seville bill surprise first-time visitors, and all three are printed on the menus before you order.
- Bread is charged per person. Pan y picos, bread and breadsticks, costs 1.50 euros per diner at Blanca Paloma, 1.80 at La Brunilda and 1.90 at Espacio Eslava.
- The seat changes the menu. At Blanca Paloma the dining rooms take no tapa orders, and Espacio Eslava books only its dining room, leaving the bar and outdoor high tables to whoever arrives first.
- Tipping is a choice, not a charge. Espacio Eslava and La Brunilda print that VAT is included, and no service line appears on their menus or on Blanca Paloma’s, so the price listed is the price paid.
If Triana is a ride from your hotel, the single bus fare is 1.40 euros according to TUSSAM, and the rest of the ticket options are in Seville’s transport fares.
Where to eat in Seville near what you are visiting
The ten places fall into four areas, and Espacio Eslava, the northernmost, is about 1,800 metres in a straight line from Blanca Paloma in Triana: crossing that line on foot takes at least 24 minutes. Choose by where the sightseeing leaves you.
Near the Cathedral and Alcázar. Casa Morales, a tavern founded in 1850 on Calle García de Vinuesa, is 213 metres from the Archivo de Indias tram stop. In Santa Cruz, Las Teresas and Freiduría Puerta de la Carne sit about 220 metres apart, and the Menéndez Pelayo (Puerta de la Carne) bus stop, served by seven TUSSAM lines, is 81 metres from the freiduría. The lanes around them are covered in Santa Cruz, what to see. For a drink after dinner, Terraza Doña María, 86 metres from the Giralda, pours a Cruzcampo for 4.50 euros and serves non-guests until 1am; it and five more are compared in Seville rooftop bars with cathedral views.
North of Las Setas. El Rinconcillo is on Calle Gerona, 52 metres from the Santiago stop of bus C5. Bodega Dos de Mayo faces Plaza de la Gavidia and Espacio Eslava is 264 metres away on Calle Eslava. Cañabota, on Calle Orfila, is about 165 metres from Las Setas and its 2-euro Antiquarium.
The Arenal. La Brunilda, on Calle Galera, has bus lines 40 and 41 at the Reyes Católicos stop, 71 metres away.
Triana. Blanca Paloma is on Calle San Jacinto with bus C3 at the door, and Plaza de Cuba metro station 10 minutes on foot. The Mercado de Triana is 60 metres from the San Jorge (Altozano) stop of line 43. The rest of the neighbourhood is in Triana, what to see, and the bar-by-bar tapas route is in tapas in Triana.
Nine places to eat in Seville and what to order first
Google ratings across the nine restaurants and bars range from 3.9 to 4.6. The table pairs each with a first order taken from its own menu and the reason it might not suit you; the tenth stop on the map, the Mercado de Triana, is a market rather than a restaurant.
| Place | Order first | Google rating | Might not suit |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Rinconcillo | Spinach with chickpeas, 3.50 euros a tapa | 4.3, over 14,000 reviews | Diners who want a quiet table without booking |
| Espacio Eslava | Egg yolk on boletus sponge, 5.20 euros | 4.6, over 7,000 reviews | Monday visitors, as it is closed |
| Bodega Dos de Mayo | Salt-cod dishes and Andalusian fried bites | 4.5, over 9,000 reviews | Anyone sitting outside to snack, at terrace prices |
| Cañabota | Fish and shellfish, à la carte or tasting menu | 4.5, over 2,000 reviews | Weekend plans, as it closes Saturday and Sunday |
| La Brunilda | Idiazábal and mushroom risotto, 8.90 euros a tapa | 4.5, over 5,000 reviews | Diners who want classic Sevillian cooking |
| Blanca Paloma | Salt-cod fritters, 4.90 euros a tapa | 4.5, over 5,900 reviews | Tapas lovers who sit in the dining room |
| Casa Morales | Stew of the day | 4.3, over 7,000 reviews | Sunday plans, without phoning first |
| Las Teresas | Spinach with chickpeas | 3.9, over 6,000 reviews | Anyone choosing on rating alone |
| Freiduría Puerta de la Carne | Mixed fried fish, 12 euros for 250 grams | 4.1, over 1,800 reviews | Tuesday visitors, as it is closed |
Cañabota holds one Michelin star, and its menu changes daily with the catch, according to the Michelin Guide; La Barra de Cañabota, at Calle Orfila 5, serves the same produce in bar format. The olives that arrive with a drink at many counters are manzanilla or gordal, and Seville’s two olive varieties explains how to tell them apart. How ordering fried fish by weight works, and what a quarter kilo of each fish costs, is in fried fish in Seville, freiduría by freiduría.
Sundays and Mondays, which Seville kitchens close
Sunday is the hard day: Blanca Paloma and Cañabota are closed, Espacio Eslava serves lunch only, from 12:30pm to 5pm, and the Mercado de Triana building shuts at 5pm. On Monday Espacio Eslava closes, and on Tuesday Freiduría Puerta de la Carne.
For Sunday, El Rinconcillo, Bodega Dos de Mayo, La Brunilda and Las Teresas open as usual, and Dos de Mayo serves without a break from 12:30pm to midnight from Friday to Sunday. Markets have no fresh-food stalls on Sundays, which is the whole point of Seville’s food markets and their two clocks; the stalls of the Mercado de Triana trade from 9am to 3pm, Monday to Saturday. Burger Food Porn Bermejales serves sit-down burgers until midnight on Sundays, while Atticus Finch in the Feria market charges 11.90 euros for any burger with fries; the rest are in the best burgers in Seville.
Frequently asked questions about where to eat in Seville
What time do people eat lunch and dinner in Seville?
Where a place splits its day, lunch service starts between noon and 1.30pm and ends between 4pm and 5.30pm. Dinner starts between 7pm and 8.30pm, with most kitchens opening at 8pm. Only Las Teresas, the Mercado de Triana bars and Espacio Eslava serve straight through a weekday afternoon.
How much is a tapa in Seville?
El Rinconcillo charges 3.50 euros at the bar for a tapa of spinach with chickpeas and 3.30 for a salt-cod fritter. Blanca Paloma charges 4.50 euros for a tapa of ham croquettes, and La Brunilda, a modern tapas bar in the Arenal, charges 7.50 for the same dish.
Do you tip in restaurants in Seville?
A tip is optional. None of the menus that Blanca Paloma, Espacio Eslava and La Brunilda publish adds a service charge, and the last two state that VAT is included. What does appear is bread: Blanca Paloma charges 1.50 euros per person, La Brunilda 1.80 and Espacio Eslava 1.90.
Is it cheaper to eat at the bar or at a table in Seville?
Usually the bar, by a wide margin. Bodega Dos de Mayo publishes two menus: spinach with chickpeas costs 3.70 euros as a bar tapa, while the smallest portion on its terrace is 7.75. Blanca Paloma serves no tapas at all in its dining rooms.
Where can I eat in Seville on a Sunday?
El Rinconcillo, Bodega Dos de Mayo, La Brunilda and Las Teresas all open seven days, and Dos de Mayo serves nonstop from 12:30pm to midnight on Sundays. Blanca Paloma and Cañabota are closed, and Espacio Eslava serves Sunday lunch only, until 5pm.
In Seville the clock picks the restaurant before the reviews do, and the bar stool is the cheap seat.