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Telefèric Barcelona is built by the Padrosa family. It has been — for more than thirty years.

It started with a mother from Pamplona who carried the pintxos of the Basque Country to a small town north of Barcelona. It grew when her children — Xavi and Maria Padrosa — took the restaurant to Barcelona, and then, seventeen years later, across the Atlantic.

Today, every Telefèric in the United States is run by Spaniards. The chefs. The managers. The people who pour your wine. They didn't learn Spain from a textbook. They brought it with them.

34 Years family‑owned
3 Generations
100% Spanish team
200+ Spanish wines
Soledad Urabayen Arza and Ramón Padrosa at Rondes, the original family restaurant in Sant Cugat, 1992
The Beginning 1992

A mother from Pamplona opens a restaurant in Sant Cugat.

Soledad Urabayen Arza grew up in Pamplona, in the Basque Country, where every family on her side ran a restaurant. In 1992, she and her husband, Ramón Padrosa, opened Rondes in Sant Cugat — twenty minutes north of Barcelona.

Rondes did something nobody in Catalonia was doing: it served pintxos. Small, skewered bites from the north, eaten standing at the bar. In Barcelona, people still called that "food from somewhere else." Soledad put it on the map.

The Torrija on our dessert menu is still her recipe.

The toy cable car from the Swiss Alps that hung in Rondes restaurant — the origin of the name Telefèric
A Symbol Is Born 1993

A toy cable car from the Swiss Alps.

Ramón and Soledad had brought back a souvenir from a family trip to Switzerland — a miniature telefèric, a cable car, hanging from the ceiling of Rondes. Guests couldn't stop looking at it.

Years later, when the family opened their second restaurant, they named it for the toy.

Telefèric — the cable car, the thing that carries you across a distance you couldn't cross alone — is the idea behind every restaurant we open.

Xavi and Maria Padrosa at the family restaurant, taking over the second generation
The Second Generation 2012

Xavi and Maria grow up inside the restaurant.

Xavi and Maria worked at Rondes from the time they could carry a plate. Xavi, the youngest, played competitive tennis. Maria studied interior design.

In 2012, the siblings opened the first Telefèric Barcelona in the center of Barcelona — built around the pintxo tradition their mother had brought from the north. Barcelona took notice. A year later, Telefèric won Best Tapa in Barcelona for the Ma Premiere Foie Gras — the award that put a family restaurant on the map of a city that doesn't hand those out easily.

Xavi's Creed

I don't call it a dream. I call it a plan.

Xavi Padrosa · Founder & CEO

Xavi Padrosa as a young tennis player before moving to the Bay Area on a scholarship in 2003
Across the Atlantic 2003

A tennis scholarship changes everything.

Xavi was seventeen when a tennis scholarship brought him to the San Francisco Bay Area. He stayed. He studied at the University of Miami. He married. He raised his kids here.

But he kept thinking about something else: there was nowhere in California where a Spaniard could walk in and feel at home. No jamón sliced at the bar. No paella arriving in the pan it was cooked in. No porrón passed around the table after dessert.

He called Maria. They made a plan.

The Journey

From Barcelona to California — and beyond.

1992
The Beginning · Sant Cugat, Spain

Rondes opens its doors.

Soledad Urabayen Arza and Ramón Padrosa open the original family restaurant twenty minutes north of Barcelona. A mother from Pamplona brings pintxos to Catalonia for the first time. The movement starts here.

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The Founders Today

Xavi and Maria Padrosa.

Siblings. Co‑founders. Still running every restaurant.

Xavi Padrosa, Founder and CEO of Telefèric Barcelona

Xavi Padrosa

Founder & CEO

The youngest Padrosa. A former professional tennis player, Xavi moved to the Bay Area at seventeen on a scholarship and stayed. He opened the first US Telefèric in Walnut Creek in 2016 and has led every opening since. He lives in Palo Alto and is in the restaurants most nights of the week.

Maria Padrosa, Founder and Creative Director of Telefèric Barcelona

Maria Padrosa

Founder & Creative Director

Maria designs every Telefèric restaurant personally. Tile, chairs, light fixtures, table linens — chosen in Barcelona, shipped to California. The bar in Walnut Creek comes from the same workshop as the bar in Sant Cugat. If you've ever noticed the Mediterranean quiet inside a Telefèric room, that is Maria.

Recognition

What others have said.

Best Tapa in Barcelona

Awarded for the Ma Premiere Foie Gras, 2013

Best Restaurant in the East Bay

Telefèric Walnut Creek, within two years of opening

Featured: Eater, Phoenix New Times, Long Beach Post

Plus Silicon Valley and Bay Area editorial coverage

Oscars Viewing & After‑party Host

Telefèric Los Angeles, coordinated by EGEDA (Ibero‑American cinema)

Questions

What people ask about the family.

Who founded Telefèric Barcelona?
Telefèric Barcelona is founded and run by siblings Xavi and Maria Padrosa. The restaurant continues the family tradition started in 1992 by their parents, Soledad Urabayen Arza and Ramón Padrosa, who opened the original family restaurant Rondes in Sant Cugat, Spain.
Where is the original Telefèric Barcelona?
The original family restaurant, Rondes, opened in 1992 in Sant Cugat — twenty minutes north of Barcelona. The first restaurant under the Telefèric name opened in the center of Barcelona in 2012. The first United States location opened in Walnut Creek, California in 2016.
Why does Telefèric Barcelona only hire Spanish chefs and managers?
Every Telefèric Barcelona location is run by Spanish managers and chefs who moved from Spain to open it. Executive Chef Oscar Cabezas leads every kitchen across the United States. The Padrosa family considers this the foundation of the brand — Spanish restaurants run by people who grew up eating what they now serve.
What does "Telefèric" mean?
Telefèric is the Catalan word for cable car. The restaurant is named after a toy cable car from the Swiss Alps that hung from the ceiling of Rondes, the family's original restaurant. Guests couldn't stop looking at it, and when the family opened their second restaurant in central Barcelona in 2012, they named it for the toy.
How many Telefèric Barcelona locations are there?
Telefèric Barcelona operates nine restaurants: seven in the United States (Walnut Creek, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Roseville, and Scottsdale), and two in Spain (Barcelona and the original family restaurant in Sant Cugat). Two additional California locations open in 2026 — La Jolla and Newport Beach.
Is Telefèric Barcelona a chain?
No. Telefèric Barcelona is a family‑owned restaurant group run by siblings Xavi and Maria Padrosa. Maria personally designs every location, importing tile, furniture and lighting from Spain. The ingredients — jamón ibérico de bellota from Extremadura, bomba rice from Valencia, more than 200 Spanish wines — are sourced directly from Spain.
What makes Telefèric Barcelona authentic?
Authenticity at Telefèric Barcelona means three things: the people who run it are Spanish, the ingredients come from Spain, and the recipes were passed down inside the Padrosa family. The Torrija dessert on every menu is the mother's original recipe. The jamón is sliced to order. The wine list is chosen by Catalan sommeliers. The brand holds the Certified Quality Restaurants from Spain designation.

One family. Nine restaurants. No passport required.

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