Restaurante El Tesoro Experience — Restaurant in Tarifa

If Hell had a bistro, this would be it.

If I could give this place negative stars, I’d punch a hole in the rating system and do it. Zero doesn’t come close to the bottomless pit of disappointment, chaos, and outright disrespect that this so-called "restaurant" offers.

We booked this disaster-zone-in-disguise for a family dinner, thinking it would be a lovely evening. Instead, we were served a full-course nightmare. Despite confirming our menu weeks in advance, what arrived was a Frankenstein buffet of mismatched, low-grade slop that we never chose. The food was unrecognizable, cold, and possibly scavenged from God knows where. They promised elegance; we got gas station leftovers.

Now let’s talk about the wine — or rather, the liquid insult they dare to call wine. We were served bottles that probably retail for €10 at best, but were later charged almost ten times that amount. That’s right — a glorified wine scam, complete with a laughably smug owner who probably moonlights as a street magician, because he made our money disappear fast.

Oh, and did I mention the owner's dog? A lumbering, mangy creature that roamed freely between tables, begging for food with the same sad expression I had by the end of the evening. It was large, unkempt, and frankly, looked like it hated the place as much as we did. I can’t blame it. (And this is coming from a dog lover, who has been an owner of a German Shephard and a Belgian Malinois)

As for the owner himself, imagine the worst combination of arrogance, aggression, and incompetence. When I respectfully inquired (and I do mean respectfully) why the food we were served bore no resemblance to what we had ordered, he escalated into full-blown rudeness, then got physical. Yes, PHYSICAL — in a restaurant. Over a menu, he botched himself. Unbelievable.

And let’s not forget the location. It’s supposedly known for “the view,” but unless your idea of a good time is getting lost on winding, unmarked roads for a foggy glimpse of disappointment, skip it. Not worth the fuel or the frustration.

Bottom line: Avoid this place like a contagious disease. There are better experiences to be had in prison cafeterias. Do not be fooled by positive reviews — this place is a tourist trap, a culinary graveyard, and a financial ambush all rolled into one.

WARNING: Prepare to be overcharged, underfed, disrespected, and possibly mauled by a sad dog while being stared down by a deranged...

Firstly the owner said that he had no idea me and my guests were coming even though we had a booking for months and confirmed twice 2 weeks before and 1 day before.

We had an agreed set menu which they did not provide and they provided only thinly sliced tomatoes as the main vegetarian option. Which is NOT a suitable option or even what we discussed as the veggie option.

The lowest cost house red wine which I found in the shops and retails for €7 was priced at €98!!!! Insane mark up!

There was also a huge horse sized dog that roamed in and out of the kitchen and drooled at the table and the restaurant staff did nothing to move this beastly dog away (and I am a dog lover, but i do not want a horse drooling over me while I'm eating at a restaurant).

Also the steaks we ordered was brought out and it was just provided raw, and they only gave us 2 tiny BBQ's for us to cook 4 x tomahawk steaks ourselves! So the heat of the BBQ ran out after cooking just 1.5 of the 4 steaks. And they wouldn't replace the coals!

The service was super slow and they didn't swap out the plates from start to mains. And we paid for desert and didn't get any!

Then the owner told us to leave immediately as soon as we finished eating and paid the bill. No idea why as we were polite guests. And there were other guests still sat down drinking.

We told the owner that we have already paid for the wine and we are just finishing what we have paid for and we are also waiting on our taxi's to arrive. (Also it's a super remote location, very hard to get to and expect a 45 min wait for a taxi).

The owner then became super aggressive with us and threatened to call the police because we were still standing in the carpark, even though we were literally just peacefully waiting for a taxi.

Overall, this place is very expensive, especially for what you get and just a horrible man that runs it.

This is not a restaurant, this is just a blokes back yard.

Please avoid this place...

I had arranged to have a special pre-wedding dinner at this restaurant that looked like it had some amazing views and served some authentic southern Spanish food. I WAS WRONG. From the moment we arrived (26pax, all pre-arranged and even confirmed by restaurant the day before), it was almost as if they didn't even know we were coming. We had 3 kids, 23 adults (6 of which were vegetarian) and we had agreed to a set price menu as requested by the restaurant. The service was the worst I had ever experienced. The owner almost seem mad that we wanted to spend good money eating at his restaurant. He was not accommodating at all. We were treated with such disrespect. The vegetarian food was some tomatoes, artichokes and grilled zucchini and that was it. No real main. The mains for the meat eaters was simply marinated meat, which we had to finish ourselves on a small BBQ. Portions were off. Kids got some chips. After complaining, we agreed to a price and paid for the meal and were leaving when the owner came out and shouted slurs at us, with the kids present too. It was ridiculous. Not to mention the GIANT dog which roamed around and wanted to be fed, staff just let it roam about all the food. The chef in the kitchen was miserable and didnt want to provide any decent food. It was the worst restaurant experience of my life. Don't ever book...