Santander Restaurants

This is an Italian restaurant situated in the centre of Santander's old town district. The restaurant looks quite small from outside as there are only a few tables on the ground floor level but there are more tables in the basement area.

Although quiet when we arrived the place soon got busy, mainly with locals. The menu wasn't translated into english and the staff spoke only spanish so we were glad of our phrase book as our spanish is very limited to say the least.

Favorite Dish: Both our starters were good but our main course pizzas were a little disappointing. We noticed that the locals seemed to be sharing starters & main courses so perhaps we just ordered the obvious and a little local knowledge would have gone a long way.

Our wine was reasonable value as were the coffees and the one shared desert. The overall experience wasn't bad but I was left feeling that the grand total price seemed just a little more than expected.

Tricky Dicky's rating 7 / 10

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This restaurant looked appealing from the outside and had menus displayed - but only in Spanish. After using our phrase book long enough to realise that the tapas on offer and the menu of the day were enough to tempt us inside, in we went, only to find that the menus inside were also in English.

Once inside we were not disappointed with our choice. The atmosphere was friendly, service was really good and the place was spotlessly clean. Although the 3 course menu of the day was tempting at 18 Euros we decided to go for a selection of tapas dishes.

Favorite Dish: We ordered shrimps in garlic, a chorizo dish, red peppers stuffed with meat & some albondigas ( meatballs )

Everything was good. The shrimps were more like large prawns sizzling in a delicious garlic oil. Both the chorizo & the albondigas were just as good but our favourite was the stuffed red peppers ( pimientos rellanos ) There was also plenty of crusty bread to mop up the juices. Nothing went to waste.

The wine was a real bargain. We had a bottle of nice dry white and half a bottle of house red which came to a total of 12 Euros. This was our lunch on my birthday and was a good choice. We were full up and went back, happy, to our hotel for a siesta. We would go back again if in the area.

Tricky Dicky's rating 9 / 10

Not really a restaurant, it is more like a fast food or a tapas bar.

Near Cañadio and a restaurant area, the place is most visited at night, but it's always a good option whenever you want a portion of its famous "patatas bravas", either as tapas at lunchtime, for teenagers and families in the evening or busy at night.

Favorite Dish: Patatas bravas!!
Patatas alioli or
Patatas with several sauces

Charming English speaking proprietor, pleasant non-smoking restaurant but vastly over priced items on the menu. Would only recommend if you have won the lottery. One small portion of hake cost 24 euros(cheapest item on the menu)with vegetables extra. If you like fish we would recommend the restaurants in the Fishermen's Barrio for value and local flavour

Called into several cafes on our travels around town, no full meals for us but enjoyed snacks on offer.
Special mention to the friendly cafe Feve at the feve railway station.
"Thumbs up" also to cafe Espanyol close to the rail and bus station and Cerverceria Cruz Blanca on Calle Hernan Cortes

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Not too far from our hotel and welcome on a rainy evening.
Good tasty Chinese food with plenty to tempt Mrs Bonio in the vegetarian offerings.
Friendly and comfortable, pretty busy on a Monday evening too.
Enjoyed our meal here.

Set back slightly from El Sardinero beach this was a bit of a splash-out as it was our last night in Spain. As in most restaurants in Spain, cigarette smoke is a problem, although it is illegal, but here there is a large part reserved for non-smokers. The bar was crowded as the local Santander football team were playing Real Madrid that evening but we had no problem with a table .

Favorite Dish: We both had Calamar for our hors d'oeuvres and they were superb. Followed by a Chateaubriand in a delicious pepper sauce.

We paid 58 euros for two inc coffee and wine.

This is the best Chocolate con Chorros I had in Spain. It's made from high quaility chocolate.
They also did chocolate fondue and lots of other chocolatey concotions.
Don't plan to eat for a few hours afterwards!

Favorite Dish: Chocolate con Chorros