Guide Spain | Restaurants in Spain | Alicante
Alicante city and province offers visitors a surprisingly large variety of excellent restaurants. Aswell as the inevitably large number of restaurants in Alicante offering sangria and rice dishes - paella - , there are lots of restaurants specialised in new innovative cuisine, excellent fish and seafood restaurants along the coast, mountain restaurants offering traditional stews and roast meats, and, because of the relatively large non-Spanish population in the province, many international restaurants.
Read our reviews and recommendations restaurants in Alicante city and restaurants in Alicante province below.
Visitors to Alicante might also be
interested in our guide to hotels
in Alicanteand restaurants
in the Costa Blanca.
| Restaurants in Alicante Spain | |
| Restaurante
La Querencia Avda. Países Escandinavos, 9 Playa San Juan, Alicante Tel. 96 515 47 66 |
We have just discovered this excellent restaurant in Alicante specialised in Argentinean cuisine. First class quality Argentinean cuts of meat, mixed grills, excellent steaks, traditional starters, delicious deserts, attentive service in a simple, no-frills restaurant near San Juan Beach in Alicante. Outstanding value for money and highly recommended. Open all year, Thursday-Monday. It is getting more and more popular so booking table in advance at weekends is advised. |
| Restaurante
Darsena Puerto de Alicante, Marina de Deportiva. Tel: 965 207 589 |
Alicante's best known fish and paella restaurant recently moved to the end of the new port to a new, modern building more stylish than the previous one. Alicante is famous for its rice dishes (arroz), especially those based on seafood and stock made from local fish. The Darsena boasts the best rices of the whole of Alicante, offers over 100 different varieties and is very popular with visitors and locals alike. We actually think it is over-rated. It gets very crowded, especially at mid-day when the noise levels can be rather deafening and you may be forced to listen to neighbouring table conversation rather than your own as tables are very close. However, if you want to try a typical Alicantino rice or local seafood, Darsena is probably the restaurant for you. If you are not a seafood person, try their arroz con magro y verduras (pork and vegetables) which is also excellent. Delicious desserts, including "helado de turrón", another local favourite. It is ice-cream made from almond and honey nougat. |
| Restaurante
Casa Pepe Avd. de Cataluña, 14, Playa de San Juan, Alicante Tel: 965 154 523- |
Pepe Conesa and his wife Isabel direct this small restaurant treating visitors to real quality Mediterranean dishes at a reasonable price. Pepe goes to Alicante market each morning himself to purchase the freshest produce on offer, and the all dishes served in his restaurant use the highest quality ingredients. Try the "ensalada Pepe", a mixture of raf tomatoes, fresh cheese, olives and marinated sardines. All the rice and paella dishes served in Casa Pepe are delicious, although we prefer arroz a banda (sea-food) and arroz con verderas (vegetable and pork). Excellent fish (let Pepe advise you) and meat dishes if you don't want rice, and a simple dessert menu of home-made rice-pudding, flan, natillas. Highly recommended, but it is small and very popular amongst "alicantinos", so make a reservation. |
| Casa
Emilio Av. Caja de Ahorros, 16 Vistahermosa Alicante 965 155 556 |
Casa Emilio is a relatively new restaurant in Alicante which has rapidly become popular with locals. The building years ago used to be a brothel and then a pizzería, but has been totally refurbished into a stylish, spacious restaurant offering good food, traditional recipes, friendly service and good wines all at a very reasonable price. We recommend croquetas or fried anchovies for starters, the seabass baked in salt, wonderfully tasty and tender, or one of the rice dishes. There is a special menu for children and the set menu for adults costs 27 euros. And as for the the warm chocolate cake for dessert........ Highly recommended. |
| Restaurante
Azahar Alberola 57, Alicante. Tel: 965 121 348. |
Paco Ramón, who has collaborated in some of Alicante's most prestigious restaurants for over 30 years, opened his own restaurant about 5 years ago, and it has quickly become a firm favourite among many alicantinos. Small and tastefully decorated, the Azahar (which is the Spanish word for orange blossom) offers traditional Alicantino dishes from the coast and from the mountains, including stews, rice dishes, soups, grilled vegetables etc. Adventurous (and hungry) visitors might like to try the arroz con costra, a version of paella made with sausages and black sausage baked in the oven with a layer of beaten eggs on the top which becomes hard, forming a crust (hence the word "costra). |
| Restaurant
El Bocaíto Click on name for full description. |
Restaurant
La Finca Click on name for ful description |
Restaurante
La Vieja Encina |
Just on the outskirts of Alicante along the road to Valencia in San Juan Pueblo, this small unassuming restaurant was a surprise to us when we were first taken there by friends. Alicante cuisine is renowned for its rices and seafood rather than its meat (although roast lamb is a popular mountain favourite), and it is unusual to find somewhere serving such excellent meat. The owner of La Vieja Encina is from Salamanca, and she buys the meats from her native province. Let her advise you on your first visit - all the meats are delicious. For starters, try her home-made croquetas, tomato and rocket salad, quiche, anchovies or pickled garlics. Prices rather high, but the quality is too. |
| Restaurants in the Province of Alicante | ||
| Casa Alfonso Restaurant Dehesa Campoamor | Casa
Pepa Restaurant Ondara-Denia |
Al
Zarak restaurant Benissa-Calpe |
| Restaurante
La Sirena Avda. Madrid 14, Petrer (Alicante) Tel: 965 371 718 |
Carmen Vélez directs this charming restaurant in Petrer, a small inland town just a 20-minute drive from Alicante along the A3 motorway towards Madrid. Wonderful rice and paella dishes. According to "Lo mejor de la gastronomía 2005, La Sirena's "arroz a banda con gambitas" is the best in the whole of Spain (arroz a banda is made with fish stock and served with garlic mayonnaise and is very popular in the whole of Alicante). But Carmen also offers delicious seafood (the seabass in a sea urchin sauce), meats, irresistable creative dishes (eg fresh tuna with a spiced crust) and mouthwatering desserts (our favourite is the coffee icecream with hot chocolate sauce). Try the "menú de degustación" which offers a taste of La Sirena's most popular dishes, or "menú del viajero", a cheaper option for travellers. Or, if you prefer a less formal visit, try the wonderful tapas served at the bar. Before or after eating at La Sirena, visit Totel which belongs to Paco Torreblanca, Spain's most renowned chocolatier, famous for his mouth-watering deserts, cakes and chocolates. | |
| Restaurante
L'Aplec C/ carretera nº 35, Benialí, Vall de la Gallinera, Tel: 96 640 65 10 / 649 639 813 |
L'Aplec looks like a typical small (scruffy) village bar at the side of the road leading out of little Benialí (in the Pego area of Alicante, inland). But appearances can certainly be deceptive, and as soon as you sit at one of the few tables inside, you will understand how. Eating at L'Aplec is an experience you won't forget. Tony and German own, cook and serve with style and rather than offering a menu, they serve whatever they have prepared for that day. Authentic traditional recipes from the alicah is surprising in every sense - in tastes, in colour ..... and in size. Don't plan anything but a long siesta after a lunch at L'Aplec. Good wines, friendly atmosphere and all at very low prices. Highly recommended. | |
| Restaurante
La Montaña Partida dels Algars, 139. Tel.: 965 590 832 |
Just outside the village of Concentaina (near Alcoy in the Aitana sierra), this charming restaurant is set in a lovely country finca-style building. Delicious local dishes cooked using traditional methods and skill. Friendly service, lovely garden, generous portions and reasonable prices. Only opens at lunchtime except at weekends. | |
| Venta
la Montaña C/ carretera de Alcoy 9, Benimantell Tel: 965 885 141 |
Just over 1 km. away from popular Guadalest and 19km inland from Benidorm, Venta la Montaña has been serving food to hungry visitors since 1910. Interesting restaurant decorated with rural ornaments, Venta serves a set menu for 25 euros with a selection of its most popular dishes. Traditional recipes with top quality ingredients. Worthy of mention are artichokes with garlic, grilled vegetables, red pepper salad and roast lamb. Also "olleta" a typical vegetable broth cooked in Alicante's mountain village. Slow service, especially at weekends and in the holiday season, so don't be in a rush. |
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