Mesón Alai — Restaurant in Labastida/Bastida

At lunch at least, 3 different dining options are available. 1. Pinchos and small plates in the bar area 2. Menu del dia in one dining room 3. Full menu in another dining room. Full menu seemed mid-range in price and intriguing in quality and style

I very much wanted to give 5 stars, but only 4 for now, but I will absolutely be back. This place was well recommended to me by knowledgeable folks in rioja food and wine.

We did menu del dia. My plates (amazing seafood garbanzos and grilled whole lubina) were 5 star worthy. My wife’s dishes (paella de carne and ham hock) sadly were not. Many bites of the ham hock were tough and dry, though the bites that were tender were delicious, and the sauce was great. She should have known better than to get paella here, but she saw another table have it and it looked good. It wasn’t bad, but not a special paella. Still a tremendous value for lunch. €13 each for two well sized plates and a small dessert, plus water, (bad) bread and a bottle of forgettable but decent wine to share. I loved that high quality olive oil and exquisite 30 year old rioja wine vinegar was on the table too

Servers worked very hard, but there were not enough of them for the very busy dining room.. I felt bad for how...

Ate here on Saturday night, June 4th with my wife and an old friend from Madrid. It doesn't look like much as you enter - a simple bar serving tapas and locals drinking canas or wine. The dining rooms are, however tucked away at the back - and a very welcoming, well laid out and neat place it is - pressed, white linens, proper napkins and shiny clear glasses. Menu is very typical and traditional, and inexpensive. It is also very good indeed. Our beef was cooked to perfection, tender enough to cut like a knife through butter. Special mention about the wines. We ordered the Muga red, labelled Crianza, but a Reserva by any other measure as it is barriqued and bottled longer than most Crianzas. Better still, this restaurant has only the tiniest of mark-ups on the wines listed. I paid €17.50 at Bodegas Muga earlier. Here it is listed at €19.00!!!!! Our service was warm and attentive. Highly recommended if you are travelling through Labastida or staying...

Lo que sucede conviene.No tenía pensado comer aquí ese día, pero tuve que buscar dónde comer, y había pasado por delante de este restaurante un rato antes, y me pareció que podía ser un buen lugar para ello.

Pues ¡ qué estupenda sorpresa ! Desde fuera barruntas que será un barcín, con su barra y algunas mesas, pero oye, que barra tiene, pero tiras pa’dentro ¡ y tres salones que gastan ! Enormes. De primeras tienes que decidir si vas a comer el menú del día o a la carta, porque en función de eso irás a un salón u otro. Yo, ya metido en harina, dije que carta. Salones tradicionales del todo. El mobiliario y la decoración. Con sus yuntas, calientacamas de esos de picón, palas y cestas del frontón.

Bueno, pues al asunto del comer. Que miras la carta, y a poco que te guste la comida tradicional se te empieza a poner una sonrisilla de marrajo de arenal que es pa’verla. Y yo ahí vi biutiful mandanga que agarrar. Vaaaaamos con unas pochas con sus sacramentos. Sacramento testimonial, eso sí, pero es que las pochas estaban buenísimas. Adeplús un plato de esos que si te caes en él, y sales, te convalidan segundo de natación en aguas abiertas. ¡ La viryin qué plato como pa’dos personas humanas ! Sigo con unas manitas con boletus. También generoso plato en que las manitas vienen deshuesadas, y acompañadas de enooooormes boletus loncheados (laminados no, ¡ loncheados !); y todo ello con una salsa para rebañar bien rebañado con pan. ¿ De postre ? Habíamos quedado que el balón al pie, ¿no? Pues tradición: Riquísimo goxua en formato ¿pastel? ¿tarta? Quiero decir, que no es de los de formato natilla, es de los otros, y eso, riquísimo.

Pues este inesperado encuentro, que me arregló el día que venía torcido, junto con agua y el pan, claro, que somos personas civilizadas, fueronse a unos...