El Merendero de Antonio Martín | Restaurante Málaga — Restaurant in Málaga

We stopped in here, without a reservation, after having been around one of Malaga's fantastic art galleries then on a long walk from the Old Town down to the beaches. We were seated at one of the high "bench" type tables, to wait for a table in the main dining room to become vacant. We had a look at the menu while waiting, but were anxious to eat as it was getting quite late for lunch and we were hungry after our long walk. There did not seem to be any prospect of any of the relatively few tables in the dining room being vacated. Just as we began to consider leaving, two large glasses of ice-cold white wine appeared, as if by magic - complimentary drinks from the management. They were just what we needed, accompanied by some crusty bread and olives, and before we knew it, we had our table for lunch, too. It was overlooking the beach and the Med. The view is lovely. Lunch turned out to be superb. We both chose the sea bass and it was simply the best we had ever eaten, anywhere. The fish was luscious, so very fresh, white and incredibly thick. It was the thickest cut of sea bass we had ever seen! It came with a truly delicious accompaniment, a sauce made of virgin olive oil and chopped black olives, onions, garlic and cherry tomatoes. It was rich and thick with these ingredients. We had a couple more of the excellent ice cold white wines. Puddings too were delicious, as were the starters. We decided immediately to return the next day for lunch, and did so. Service was very friendly and very professional. This is a seriously good restaurant. A serious restaurant. One of the best in a city packed with very good restaurants! Just go...

The environment and setting are beautiful - right by the sand in front of the ocean. Beautiful light wood, white linen and sparkling clean glasses. But part of our view was blocked by a giant black cat decal in the window - who thought that was a good idea?! The waiter seemed condescending. My Spanish was about as good as his English, I’d been getting by fairly well all week, but he had trouble understanding me. The food: really disappointing. The boquerones were delicious, but in a fine dining restaurant they could have been elevated - dipping sauce? Garnish on the plate? My shrimp dish included about 6 shrimp that when their heads were removed were smaller than my pinky finger. It supposedly included grilled avocado and Swiss chard. There was a quarter of a non-grilled avocado and a piece of chard about the size of a €1 coin. And it was cold. Not not hot, but cool, room temp, as were the sautéed vegetables on the side. Which were in reality, steamed. The waiter never approached until we were done and when I informed him that the dinner was cold his only response was “why didn’t you tell me?” I told him I didn’t tell him because I couldn’t see him, and I didn’t want to wait the hassle to have my (mediocre) meal warmed up. I added that I didn’t expect him to do anything, I’d eaten the paltry meal, I was just letting him know. My dinner date has shrimp ravioli where the shrimp were completely raw, translucent, not touched by heat. Despite the ambience, I’d never return to this restaurant. The one star is for...

We ate lunch here in late November. We did not book so had to wait for a table, but this is fine as they have an area outside where you can have a drink. We were seated reasonably quickly at the front in the sun, but the waitress warned us of this, so this was a nice touch. Waiter recommended turbot but later said they had run out, so we opted for sea bass and vegetable paella. Fish was brought to the table before cooking. When cooked it was returned, filleted (also at the table) and served with potatoes and tomatoes. Food was lovely and setting was perfect so far. Waited a bit longer for the paella, nothing arrived. Finished the whole fish and vegetables, and still no paella. Asked the waiter and he explained it had been burned and was being redone. Waited again and saw quite a few more paellas served to others. Eventually (after waiting about 1 & 1/2 hrs) it was too late for us as we has another appointment so we had to cancel the paella. Pity they made a mistake with the paella, but these things happen. Everything else was perfect and would have continued waiting/eating had we...