Mesón Marinero — Restaurant in Castro-Urdiales

A real classic. Very good quality of "raw materials". Traditional food preparations and (on top of all that) sort of a romantic memory for me as I was here back in 1996 in my first "trans Cantabric" gastronomic route.

However, service (in summer "top" season and at the restaurant -don't know about the bar) is pretty horrible (well intentioned, nice manners but completely inefficient and slow).

Were it not for that, and according to food level, this would deserve 4 or 5 stars which is the level I remember from 17 years ago.

In practice, beautiful calamares a la romana (refreshingly not called rabas as they usually are in Santander where they don't differentiate vs calamares -as they do in Bilbao for instance), wonderful anchoas frescas rebozadas, very nice almejas a la marinera, delicious pimientos del País (verdes fritos, Guernica style) and absolutely wonderful lomos de merluza rebozados.

Familiar atmosphere at Sunday lunch, quite appropriate for children (apart from overall bad service level, albeit with good intentions I insist). Decoration / style and service level makes it a bad option for, say, a romantic rendez-vous.

Quite recommendable anyway (feasible in...

We had our first meal here when we arrived in Castro Urdiales and we weren't disappointed. We ordered an arroz con bogavante (lobster rice) to share. The rice didn't seem to be made in a traditional way, for example it didn't have that lovely flavour that comes from a good fish stock and it was a bit odd to see peas as an ingredient in it. Still, the lobster was fresh and delicious and the service was impeccable. A huge point in meson's favour was the excellent champagne price. This made it even easier to drink! We would recommend to those who are struggling among all the possibilities. It won't blow you away but nor will you leave...

Disappointing. Stopped off for dinner. Entrecote was tough and unedible, it was impossible to eat even with a steak knife, none of it was eaten. It was unfortunate that it was still on our bill and there had been no effort to rectify the situation. (I wish I had taken a picture) Gambas and patatas were fine but very small. Service was unfriendly, unhelpful and dismissive. Maybe they were having an off night or we were unlucky but I could not recommend this restaurant. We left hungry. I only gave it a 1 star because there is no option to...