Restaurante ALMA de Miguel — Restaurant in Estepona

At first glance Alma looked a really nice classy restaurant. We booked on line for that night. When we got there we found the atmosphere rather intimidating as there were lots of old men in suits standing about watching as well as a few of the usual type of waiters. Like something from The Godfather. I don’t think most of them spoke very good English as I had difficulty making them understand that we had booked on line. They passed us to a young lady waitress who eventually found us on her screen.

I have never known so many problems ordering as we encountered there. I ordered an entrecot steak, I said it in English and Spanish and pointed to it on the menu. However the waiter was going to leave without taking my husband’s order. He said my meal was a sharing one but it wasn’t and we looked on the menu again and confirmed that it was for one person. I asked what it came with and he said fries and salad.

My husband ordered “marinated dogfish” which was on the menu with the normal fish under the heading Fried Fish and we had no reason to expect anything other than a fillet of fish. We said it in English and Spanish and pointed to it on the menu. We asked what it came with and they said fries.

Then another waiter came with some different cutlery and asked who was having the Turbot! We said no, it’s dogfish! No idea how they could have mixed up those two!

When my steak came it was actually with fries and soggy over cooked veg, not salad as they had told me.

We couldn’t believe what turned up for my husband! It was a plate full of small cubes (not much bigger than Oxo cubes), bright yellow, and with such a strong acidic taste that he could only eat a few. No flavour of the fish at all and he loves dog fish. There were no fries as promised but they brought some when we queried this.

Nobody asked at any point if our meal was ok or asked what was wrong when my husband had left almost all of his fish.

Then the bill came and there was a charge of “2x servicio/ mesa mant. @ €2.50”. Total €5. We asked what this was and one of the old men in suits followed by the young waitress followed by what appeared to be the manager all told us that it was a charge for use of the tablecloth and napkins! We said we had never heard of anything like that before! The manager said most restaurants in the area charge for them. We said we go to Estepona and nearby resorts two or three times a year and have never been charged that. I later checked all my receipts for the week and there were no such charges. He reluctantly took it off the bill but said we would have to pay next time. Well I can assure you there will never be...

Terrible experience!! I booked this restaurant for my wife, myself and our daughter before going on holiday as it had some of the best reviews for restaurants in Estepona if a bit pricey. We told them it was our daughter’s birthday and would like a nice table please.

We were quite excited and in high spirits as we arrived to celebrate the occasion. That didn’t last long! First, a pushy waiter calling himself the ‘sommelier’ was forcing expensive sparkling wine on us and was visibly miffed when we opted for one of the less expensive ones - at €45 !! A hulk of a waiter in a shabby tattered suit then came to take our order. We ordered our starters and had decided on our fish mains which we explained to the waiter. It was turbot for my wife, sea bass for our daughter and monkfish for me. The waiter spluttered in half English half Spanish that the monkfish was not available and recommended that my wife and I share a scorpion fish which we agreed to instead as it is one of our favourites. He didn’t take any notes of our order. After our starters, which were only ok, our daughter had a plate of fish presented to her. It wasn’t sea bass so we told this to the ‘sommelier’ waiter who seemed put out and walked off with the plate. Our scorpion fish arrived and the hulk came over to insist we had ordered that fish which was turbot. He eventually remembered his earlier recommendation and without apology went off to see about the sea bass. Vegetables arrived and we waited and waited as our food got colder. Some of the staff were gathered discussing the situation and rudely glancing our way. Eventually a way-overcooked sea bass was brought. All our food tasted awful and we just couldn’t eat it. I called for the manager and explained the situation to him. We left without paying for the mains. Our daughter was very disappointed and we were very upset. Some birthday celebration!!

We recovered from this disaster and spent a very enjoyable week in lovely Estepona with many great meals out. In our experience you’d be hard pressed to find a worse restaurant than Alma de Miguel in Estepona! How on earth it gets anywhere near good reviews is...

I don't know if I'm just lucky in finding all the best restaurants in Estepona, or if indeed they are all great.I loved Alma de Miguel, the food was delicious, the portions were generous, the prices were fair and i must say they have a great selection of wines.(Santa)Pepi covers the reservations but i didn't have one and she was nice enough to sit me anyway.The whole staff was just a pleasure to interact with, very friendly, very polite, very kind, open to communicate not just for the regular exhange of words concerning your order, but also talking about life and joking with you.I loved their vibe and i would genuinely like to thank them for offering me such a pleasent experience. The restaurant itself is very beautiful, they pay attention to detail, the food arrives very fast and the location is a few minutes away from Plaza de las Flores as well from the beach, on a lovely narrow, old street. About the food, i ordered millefeuille foie gras, croquetas de jamon and i was very happy to find Gillardeau oysters, but MOST OF ALL, PLEASE try for dessert "platano a la leña".I have no words to describe it.It is cooked banana with melted chocolate, salted caramel and vanilla icecream, all together in a bowl.One of the best desserts i have ever tried! For all of these and a bottle ow white wine Capellania Blanco Reserva (Marqués de Murrieta) i payed about 145 euro, the wine solely being 95 euro, so the prices are fair for what they offer. The only thing i would advice, for the Gillardeau oysters, serve them with Mignonette sauce. Congratulations for your efforts in giving each client an experience they...