Meaning of “bar”

I read that “bar” was considered a place for drinking alcoholic beverages. In Spain, there is at least one place labeled “bar” on every street. People have generally added these to the map as “bar” because of the signage, but in Spain they serve sandwiches, tapas, pastries, and coffee as much or more than the alcohol. Sometimes they even offer full meals.

When I encounter one not mapped, I have been tagging it “restaurant” or “café” but I am not sure which is better.

Distinction between bar, pub, restaurant, fast_food, cafe can be tricky. Read the wiki and decide for yourself which one matches the place best.
And you can add more tags to describe what they have to offer.

Seems many others are not doing so, as using “bar” just because of the sign outside is almost always not the best fit in Spain.

it’s better to ask on talk-es I think. Different cultural usages will affect what is meant by amenity=bar (for instance in the UK we do tend to distinguish between bars & pubs as places to drink). I think the Belgian community had long discussions about tagging café-bars. I’ve certainly mapped one which could have been interpreted as a bar in Madrid: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/5781880580.

In talk-es there are long discussions about amenity=bar because for the spanish community this classification is confusing.
According to the Spanish legislation two types of premises are distinguished:

“Bar” (or “Pub”), with musical ambience and that does not offer meals (labeled in OSM as amenity=bar).
“Bar”, where meals and tapas are served and usually have a kitchen, but it is not a restaurant (the most similar tag at OSM is amenity=pub).

Although incorrect, many spanish mappers apply the tag “bar” according to the sign that appears on the facade.
In JOSM’s Spanish translation, these two labels carry an explanatory text about their use.