Chiringuito Bueno — Restaurant in Almuñécar

Went there last night with my family of 5. It looked busy but by no means full and there looked to be plenty of staff. We arrived just before 10:30pm. Drinks arrived and the waitress knocked one off the tray and mopped up some of it but didn't replace the soaking table mat so I did that from another table which was empty. Also had to ask for another glass as there was a huge chunk out of mine. She brought another chipped glass so had to ask again and 3rd time lucky. Personally I don't think it's unreasonable to expect an intact glass. Ordered our food which took a fair while to arrive. 2 of our children ordered pizza which when our son asked for it without mushrooms the waitress said it comes with mushrooms. Yes it was a shop bought frozen pizza. Eventually our daughters pizza arrived and I still had to ask for our sons pizza twice before they finally bought a pizza, the wrong pizza. When I mentioned this the waiter he said it was the correct pizza and went off to fetch the menu to prove it was correct. Realising it was the wrong pizza he took it away. After 15 minutes I went and spoke to a waitress and said we've finished our food and our son still doesn't have his pizza. They eventually brought the correct pizza to the table at 11:45pm.

The food was passable, they need to make sure the fish is cleaned properly otherwise it's disgusting so I found.

The waitress had the decency to take his pizza off the bill but even so I would not recommend and won't return. If I'm going out for dinner with my family I expect to eat at the same time as them otherwise we may just as well visit a fast food chain.

Oh and I forgot to mention that neither the mens nor the ladies toilet facilities have...

I don’t even know where to start. I mean, you expect a burger to at least be… edible, right? But what was served to me in this "place" was the absolute pinnacle of culinary horror. The moment the plate landed in front of me, I had a bad feeling. The first thing I noticed was the bread. Oh God, the bread.

But now, onto the onions. What’s the deal with these onions? I mean, onions should just be onions, right? Fresh, crunchy, maybe a little sweet or sharp. But this? This was a whole new level of "weird." These things were neither raw nor cooked. Something in between. But not that "between raw and cooked" that you get from caramelized onions, oh no! It was as if someone had tossed them into a hot pan for a moment, then quickly yanked them out in panic, leaving them in some strange limbo between raw and soggy.

Now for the "highlight" of the burger: the 200g beef patty. On paper, that still sounded okay, I thought when I ordered it. But after the first bite, I immediately felt cheated. The patty wasn’t just bad, it was… odd. It had the consistency of a hockey puck but the moisture of a soaked sponge. It was dry and greasy at the same time in a way that confused my brain. How is that even possible? And then the taste. Yes, the taste! Remember that weird honey flavor from the onions? Exactly! The beef patty also tasted like honey! But not like delicious, natural honey, more like that artificial, overly sugary honey imitation you might find in those awful cheap cornflakes. Why would a beef patty taste like honey? Who decided this? And why? Maybe the chef wanted to try something "new," but the result was an explosion of flavor… in the worst...

4.5* is a decent score for this little fish fancier. This place is as basic as a 1989 mobile phone. But that can be what the doctor prescribes. Pick the fishy and they cook da fishy. Importantly, they don't overcook the snapper which at €35 feeds two comfortably. The salad follows the pattern of southern Spanish underwhelming salads. I blame a bunch of Brits that moaned (as they do) about the abundance of flavour, to the degree that the Spanish sold their souls and just gave them what they want. You'll get plasto pak oil and vinegar to save the fate of the boredom in a bowl, but it hardly respirates these gasping salads. Nevertheless the braised veggies are a good addition and the "bed hair" fries (ie cooked in a fry basket, without the required shaking, thus yielding a clump of fries) are pretty yum...but yes, you add the salt yourself after. God love this area. Everything else has enough salt to harden an artery on impact, except the one thing that needs it added as it emerges from its oily fate. The service is family friendly and we leave well fed enough to...