Restaurante El Pescador — Restaurant in Estepona

Been coming to this restaurant ever since it opened. Great food, great service, the best position anywhere, right on the seafront. Everything about it is wonderful.

We love it, come regularly.

Yes, it is pricey. Yes, you can get meals elsewhere at a much lower price. But this restaurant is worth every euro that you spend!

First because of its amazing position, on a pedestrianised section of the seafront promenade, with gorgeous views from its outside terrace or its elegant dining room with floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

Secondly by the professional yet friendly service that you receive from its staff.

And above all for the quality of the fish and seafood that you get here. Unbeatable!

Fried, grilled, or baked. Or even raw, if you like your tuna that way. Simply prepared and served, or in interesting combinations, always beautifully presented.

Add to that an impressive wine cellar, and you are set for a wonderful meal

Mind you, we never know how much we are going to pay until the bill comes. That's because we don't bother with the menu. By the way, it's called the "carta" in Spanish, not "menu". "Menu" means fixed-price menu, and is offered in cheaper restaurants. Not here.

So in true Spanish style, we just ask what they have got in today. You see, as Alfonso the owner is down at the fish market when the bidding starts early in the morning, he buys different things depending on what's been caught overnight. You ask what he's got, he reels off a list, you choose, and perhaps say how you want it cooked.

We asked for "Voraz". That's pronounced Bore-ath. It's a local name for a local fish which is a bit like one of the varieties of sea-bream in appearance, but with a big black mark by its head. It doesn't taste like sea-bream, however. We asked for it cooked "a la espalda" - on its back, i.e. split open and grilled. I also specified "Seco - sin aceite", dry without olive oil, because sometimes they sprinkle fresh oil over the fish once cooked.

It was wonderful, just wonderful.

While that was being cooked we had almejas - little baby clams in a wine and garlic sauce - and gambas. Wonderful fresh prawns, we had them a la plancha - grilled with sea salt. A pale delicate pink - nothing like the frozen ones that you can buy in the supermarkets.

And before that first course came, we had a little free aperitivo (you don't get to choose it - you get what you are given!) of olives, and prawns deep fried in filo pastry, and Atún en manteca - tuna in pork fat. It was delicious, but we didn't touch the fat, thank you.

The prawns were pricey - €25 for the dozen, but they were worth it. The Voraz was €48 the kilo. Ours was just over a kilo (to be honest we could have fed three . . .) so total cost for the two just for the main course was €52. With bottle of rose wine, water, coffee, two desserts (and free glass of sweet wine at the end) we paid €120.

It's not cheap eating, but as I said, we have never ever been disappointed here, coming a dozen or more times a year, as a couple, group of 4, family table of a dozen or so.

We just LOVE it!

They have opened another branch in Guadalmina, just outside San Pedro. We haven´t been there (this one is so convenient), but since Alfonso does the buying, is there often keeping an eye on things, and some staff from here went there, we guess it´s...

Sadly you can’t give a zero. So I’ll tell you how my experience was at this restaurant, everything was great besides the waiter. My mother and I, two females went to the bathroom and before going out, a male waiter opens the door against my arm and says sorry, until then no problem. But after it he proceeds to enter the bathroom of females as a male, we both felt completely uncomfortable with the situation. We went back to our table and made clear that we were not comfortable with the situation, the same male man comes to our table and my mother asked to be a different waiter because we felt uncomfortable, he proceeds to insult my mother calling her stupids and other things and we went to complain. After it we tried to have a good time and everything was going well, after our dinner the waiters not one but more asked us to remove one of our comment from the view but this was our experience. Never again coming to this place. They proceed to give excuses instead of apologising and treating us like the way they treated us didn’t matter. I feel very disappointed and I felt very comfortable as a woman that can’t even go to the bathroom and without a male waiter walking in. By the way they also have female waitress that could have gone to the bathroom to check whatever was there to be checked but they sent a male waiter to the female bathroom whilst my mother and I were in there doing our own necessities. The male waiter who entered the bathroom could have left it aside but he still went to our table with our whole family and insulted my mother by calling her names for no reason! All we asked was to be talking to somebody else because after the encounter in the bathroom we felt very uncomfortable with his presence. Whilst females are working there is no necessity of a male waiter going inside a female bathroom. As I said, we tried to take all easy after what happened but at the end of our dinner they requested us to remove one of our bad review even tho that was our experience. The food is great, but as long as they work like that I don’t recommend. It could be your daughter in the bathroom changing and a male waiter just walking in like it’s normal. I expected more from a...

The male server entered the female bathroom, even tho there are other female waiters to check the bathrooms. The waiter insulted us as stupid when we when we asked him not to serve us, because we felt uncomfortable with him after the fact. The food is great but service is of the lowest standards and disrespect. And to add, as if that wasn’t enough they tried to confront us to remove this review, as I wrote it whilst eating. Also the translations on the menu are completely wrong, my napkin had stains from earlier use. And there was a waiter walking around with his zipper open. The male waiter who entered the ladies bathroom also insulted us. If you want a nice night out with your family I wouldn’t suggest this place, it looks nice but don’t let that deceive you. And if you want fresh and well prices fish, go to Escollera, might not have the looks, but it has better food and service. Yes we did leave a 10€ tip for the 3 waiters that sang happy birthday, as they did so nicely. Nevertheless, there is nothing to excuse the insults and not even an apology. Someone that can’t control their mouth shouldn’t be working in the public sector. The fact that you continue to find excuses for what happened and that you had the audacity to try and ask me to remove my review is unprofessional and disgusting. If you don’t want bad reviews then make sure your restaurant and your workers have the qualification and temper to work as professional as you claim to be. I would expect this behaviour from a little bar in Jimena, not from an restaurant claiming to be the...