La Cantina de Fontibre — Restaurant in Hermandad de Campoo de Suso

A hip place at the top of a section of nice restaurants leading to the fountain source of the Ebro which is absolutely worth a visit if you are near. They had very nice seasonal tomato on offer as well as interesting croquettes de calamar which were mostly made special by squid ink and though tasty would have benefited from at least some teeny bits of calamari meat. The tripe (callos) were also not bad, but more than half potato. Where we went astray was thinking that most of the mains being tacos and fajitas might have had semblance of the Mexican. We inquired first if they could provide an authentic Mexican spicy sauce, but in the end after all the mayonnaise and processed cheese stuff was served admitted that the best they could do was sirrachia or cocktail sauce and the kitchen has no time for such special requests. That it was all wheat taco with no corn options made it blander still. If they had been up front when we asked, of course we would have stuck to local dishes which are invariably ok. We were fooled by some restaurants in Santander offering proper sauces if they served Mexican or other spicy cuisines, but perhaps it is too early to trust ostensibly exotic menus in cantabria...

This night we had dinner at Cantina de Fontibre and the service was really bad. We reserved te table at 9pm and at arrival they told us that there are shifts for 1.5 hour, which is at our opinion OK but they told us this every 15 minutes. The food was good and we had a nice time together. 1 hour later they said we had to leave soon and without questioning if we wanted a postre or coffee the waitress gave us the bill. After a discussion about how they treated us really bad, we decided to leave because they didn't understand anything about what service mean. We have been 3 weeks in Spain and we did go to many restaurants, but never had this bad service before. At least we went for a coffee to a restaurant around the corner, so if you are looking for a nice place with good service go to...

As the name suggests, La Cantina de Fontibre nods to Mexican cuisine. You’ll find tacos on the menu with a Spanish twist, but beyond that, it’s more of a traditional Spanish restaurant in terms of flavours and dishes. And don’t get me wrong: the food is excellent.

We ordered several smaller plates to share, and enjoyed every one of them. Highlights included the Oliviere Salad (Ensaladilla Rusa), the wild mushroom croquettes, and the pulled pork tacos, which were simply outstanding. The food overall was thoroughly enjoyable, though the desserts were a bit of a letdown. That said, portion sizes are generous.

Service was generally good, although the staff could be a touch snappy at times. Would I return? Absolutely — I’d love to work my way through the rest...