Cafe-Bar Benarrabá — Restaurant in Estepona

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The Bar Benarrabá (with the accent on the last syllable) is named after the home town (well, village more like!) of the owner Damián, up in the hills outside Ronda.

When we were there, Damián was inside having his own late lunch - a perfect example of the "Le patron mange ici" sort of small restaurant that it's always pleasing to find.

And it was a pleasure to find this, a local bar with local customers who have high expectations that are met.

This ain't posh, but it's friendly and with good home-cooking sort of food.

The only drawback we found was the size of the portions - we couldn't manage to eat it all.

Sited in a small square between the Camino del Padre Cura and the seafront, the Plaza Miguel Angel Loren Mendez, it might seem from afar as though you are eating in a car park. Don't be put off by that, it's not so!

Actually it is the other side of the car park, there is a nice wide pavement outside the bar, and the cars hardly ever move, so there's no bother from fumes. They don't move because parking spaces are few and far between, so if they get a place they stay put!

The wide pavement, well away from the road which is the other side of the car park, was peaceful and very pleasant indeed. You can see that from my photo.

The staff were very pleasant and friendly, there was a very wide selection of cold tapas to choose from, and the usual sort of hot tapas and raciones - raciones being a larger portion of food, often having several raciones to share between a table of people - as well as pinchos, small servings.

We had tomato salad, to pretend to be healthy, and mixed fried fish.

Deliciously crispy and fresh.

Well worth visiting for a snack, tapas or a meal. Here is the list of Tapas available when we went; this is in addition to the Carta of actual dishes.

Pimiento Asados Ensaladilla Rusa Ensalada Delicias Pipirrana Ensalada pulpo Pipirrana Ensalada de pulpo con Patatas Ensalada de pimientos Huevos de codorniz Huevos rellenos Tortilla de patatas Gambas rebozadas Patatas rellenas Muslito de cangrejo Pechuga rebozada Pincho de cerdo Pincho de pollo Pincho de gambas Pincho de butifarra Salmorejo de carne (Estilo Benarrabá)

A very good...

We have tried to go here twice and the curly waitress tells us we have to sit at the barrels or else leave even thou the restaurant is empty, all the tables are set and someone else is sitting at the table just drinking which is what we wanted to do , I don't understand ? I think you need to get better staff, she turns away business for...

Quiero hacer constar la falta de empatía y atención por parte del dueño del local tras un incidente que tuvo lugar ayer mismo y que yo pude presenciar durante la cena en este local con mi mujer y mis hijos… Resulta que a la camarera se le cae un plato al suelo y causa una herida a una señora mayor que está cenando con su marido. La señora no deja de sangrar y pide los primeros auxilios, es decir, alcohol, agua oxigenada…algo que corte la sangre, según sus palabras. El dueño del local mal humorado y más pendiente de su negocio que de otra cosa, viene con un bote de agua oxigenada, se la deja en la mesa y le dice a la señora: Cito textualmente: “Ahí tiene” sin mirarla, sin preocuparse, sin preguntar ni empatizar… Me pareció indignante y de muy poca educación actuar así, siendo el propio dueño del local, por este motivo no pienso volver a este lugar, ya que deja...