Abrasa Grill — Restaurant in San Bartolomé de Tirajana

The best steak I've ever had!!!!

We went to Abrasa yesterday to eat, I like to look up restaurants that are high in the ranking and Abrasa is very high in Gran Canaria.

I'll be honest I had my doubts at first. At first the restaurant looks somewhat German or Austrian and has the interior of a classic eatery. When we entered, we also noticed the owner and owner walking around in a normal t-shirt (one with a Batman logo on it and the other with comic book texts). But this is exactly what makes the restaurant so nice. It doesn't want to exude luxury fancy dining but it just wants to be and serve great food.

We hadn't booked so we had to sit inside. And yes it was hot. So my tip would be to book in advance so that you can look out over the panorama with mountains and get a breath of fresh air in your face.

Then the appetizer. I had chicken sticks with Aioli and a baguette. Very tasty although I think it's a pity that the sandwiches are regular bake-off rolls and not homemade.

But then... the main course (drum roll) I'm a big eater myself, and I'm always hesitant when I see 200 grams of steak on the menu. For that reason I asked for advice from the owner and she has recommended to me take the flat iron steak. (this one is actually for 2 people)

My goodness, when that device arrived I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What a huge thing I was served and I enjoyed it to the fullest.

The taste, structure, way of baking and garnish was perfect. I've eaten quite a bit of cow in my whole life, but this was by far the tastiest piece of meat I've had in my life. So I can't give anything...

It all started pretty bad from the moment we arrived. We were barely able to get in the door because of some people standing there talking, and after waiting for a few minutes without anyone showing us a table, or even tell us whether there were any available tables, one of the girls we had to squeeze past to be able to get into the restaurant turns and asks if she can help us. It turns out that she works there. Employees should not make it hard for customers to enter. Then she showed us a table.

We decided to get one of those big meat plates for two people, which according to the menu should come with vegetables, and two different sauces. My wife made it clear that all the meat had to be well done since she's pregnant. After a while we got most of the food. Everything except the two different sauces we picked. We pointed this out, and they apologized, but it still took them about 15 minutes to get us the sauces. By that time the food was starting to get cold, so luckily we had started eating before.

Then to the worst part... The food...the meat was like chewing gum! The taste was bad. And to top it off, they had completely ignored my wife when she asked for it all to be well done, so there was barely any of it that she could eat. Luckily for her I would say!

The restaurant visit ended with us getting a bill where we were charged extra for the sauce that was late, and that the menu said was included.

This was the most expensive restaurant we visited during our week here, and the worst food we had during that week.

Stay away...

After many years of wanting to try Abrasa, I finally went last night. The decor is very cozy, and spotlessly clean, just a little noisy due to the acoustics. The noise was 100% forgotten when we saw the menu, excellent selection of steaks from over the world, we wanted to try everything. We had the croquettas of morcilla (blood sausage) and tempura of aubergine to start. The aubergines were the best I’ve ever had, thick slices of creamy aubergine in the lightest tempura, with palm honey. The croquettas were incredible, so light and delicate, a must try!

We then had the ‘parillia’ of 3 fillet steaks, cooked over fire, an amazing concept, which gives you the chance to taste and compare 3 pieces of meat from 3 different counties. I cannot express how good this was! Meat cooked to perfection, and so so tasty, beautiful garnish of salad and homemade fries with the skin on. We ordered chimichurri and bearnaise sauce alongside, but didn’t use it as the meat was so tasty.

I’ve lived on the island 29 years, and this was without doubt the best steak I have ever eaten in a restaurant here. I 100% would recommend!

Staff, including the owner, super attentive, knowledgeable and very experienced. If you appreciate very good fresh meat, cooked on the open grill, and like to try restaurants away from the tourist areas of the south, get yourself to Abrasa! Just wow -...