Sato i Tanaka
Japanese / Sushi Omakase · Eixample, Barcelona · €€€
Awards: 1 Sol Repsol
Open since 2017
The Delekta Review
Sato i Tanaka opened on Carrer del Bruc in 2017. The third address from the Kenji Ueno and Neus Busquets group (Can Kenji 2010, then Aiueno, then this), and the one where Aki Tanaka and Ryuta Sato shared the room across two parallel sushi counters. Ryuta left in 2021 to open Sensato up in El Putxet i el Farró; Kazutoshi Komuta took the second bar; Aki has held the original. Each itamae runs his own omakase in front of his own diners, fewer than twenty seats total, no tables. Edomae-leaning nigiri — gamba roja de Palamós, navaja, toro, uni gunkan, monkfish liver — with seasonal small plates drawn from the group's deep Catalan-Japanese supply. Time Out gave it five stars in 2023; Repsol awarded a Sol in 2021 and renewed it in the 2025 cycle.
What works
The Kenji Ueno group's flagship sushi house — top-of-Barcelona Edomae nigiri (gamba roja, navaja, toro, uni in two registers) with a seasonal small-plate program that draws on the group's deep Catalan-Japanese supply. Two parallel counters mean a small, attentive omakase rhythm for every seat. Repsol Sol since 2021, renewed in 2025; Time Out five-star review in 2023; Philippe Regol on record from 2018. Lunch from twenty-nine euros is rare access at this product level.
Before you go
Reservations are the hard part — booking around a month out is normal; the room is NOT on OpenTable, route through satotanaka.com (CoverManager). Counter-only with sixteen-ish seats: no groups, no kids, no lingering. Two itamaes work in parallel — service is identical in spirit but Tanaka and Komuta have slightly different rhythms; both bars are equally regarded. Diners chasing 'the Ryuta Sato experience' should book Sensato directly — Ryuta left this counter in 2021. Philippe Regol's 2018 caveat about the soy-mirin glaze occasionally over-sweetening some pieces is a stylistic call, worth knowing if you prefer cleaner Edomae.
What the critics say
- Sato y Tanaka — Time Out Barcelona
- Sato i Tanaka — Macarfi
- Sato i Tanaka (Barcelona)
- Sato i Tanaka — ComerJapones
- Sato i Tanaka — barra de nigiris
- Sato i Tanaka — Barcelona Secreta
- Sato y Tanaka — FoodyinGourmet
Visit
- Address
- Carrer del Bruc, 79, La Dreta de l'Eixample, 08009 Barcelona, Spain
- Phone
- +34 938 09 92 74
- Website
- satotanaka.com
- Reservations
- Book a table
Nearby restaurants in Eixample
- Batea — Seafood, €€€
- Besta — Seasonal Seafood Bistro, €€€
- Mordisco — Modern Mediterranean, €€€
- Embat — Bistronomic Mediterranean, €€
- Topik — Japanese-Catalan Fusion Tapas, €€€