PizzaLuna

Sant Martí is the part of Barcelona that doesn’t give a damn about your Instagram feed. It’s a neighborhood of real people, laundry hanging over balconies, and the kind of grit that the city center scrubbed away years ago. In the middle of this unvarnished reality, on Carrer de Besalú, sits PizzaLuna. It isn't a place for a light salad or a quiet conversation about your feelings. It’s a Uruguayan-inflected pizza joint that understands the fundamental, visceral human need for melted cheese and pounded meat.

When you walk in, the first thing that hits you isn't some curated playlist; it’s the smell of yeast, sizzling fat, and the low-frequency hum of a neighborhood that knows exactly where the value is. This is a place where families congregate, where friends argue over football, and where the service is as fast and unsentimental as a subway door. You aren't here for the décor, which is functional at best. You are here for the 'Pizza a la Pala'—long, rectangular slabs of dough served on wooden boards that look like they’ve seen a thousand Saturday nights.

But let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the fondue pizza. This is not a dish for the faint of heart or the high of cholesterol. It is a glorious, unapologetic architectural feat of dairy. It’s thick, it’s gooey, and it demands your full attention. If you’re looking for the best pizza in Sant Martí that challenges your will to live, this is it. Then there are the milanesas. In Uruguay, the milanesa is more than a meal; it’s a birthright. At PizzaLuna, they treat it with the respect it deserves—breaded, fried to a golden crunch, and topped with everything from ham to fried eggs until the plate beneath it starts to groan. It’s soul food for the hungry traveler who has spent too long eating overpriced tapas in the Gothic Quarter.

The empanadas are another story entirely. Hand-crimped pockets of dough filled with meat or cheese that actually taste like they were made by someone who cares. They are the perfect opening act for the raciones—generous portions of nachos or fries that are designed to be shared by people who aren't afraid of a little grease. This is one of the best cheap eats Barcelona has to offer, a place where you can fill your belly without emptying your wallet, provided you can handle the noise and the sheer volume of food.

Is it perfect? No. The acoustics are terrible, the lighting is unforgiving, and if you come during peak hours, you’ll be elbow-to-elbow with a local family celebrating a birthday. But that’s the point. PizzaLuna is honest. It doesn't pretend to be a 'gastronomic adventure.' It’s a restaurant in Sant Martí that serves heavy, delicious, Uruguayan-style comfort food to people who appreciate the difference between a tourist trap and a neighborhood staple. If you want to see how this city actually eats when the cameras aren't rolling, get on the L5 metro, get off at Camp de l'Arpa, and follow the smell of melting cheese. Just don't expect to want to move for at least three hours after you finish.