We loved eating tapas at the Chiringuito beach bar at Arrieta but it’s sadly no longer there.
We checked out Casa de la Playa and there were a few tables free outside but shortly after we were seated the restaurant filled up. The Casa de la Playa is very popular with Spanish families, it was a weekend and by 2 o’clock people were queuing for tables.
Disappointingly there were no tapas sized portions on the menu, sowe opted for three starters between the two of us selecting queso frito, puntillas de calamares and boquerones fritos.
The service was quick and attentive at first, our drinks arrived with some delicious fresh bread and mojo sauces and almost as soon, all three of the dishes were served to the table. We had planned for a lazy lunch, picking at tapas whilst enjoying the ambience of being right on the beach, it had all been a bit too quick for us!
The surprise of the dishes was the boquerones fritos, these small fried fish were absolutely delicious, similar to devilled whitebait and just melted in the mouth. Baby squid or puntillas de calamares is one of my favourite tapas dishes, the squids were slightly larger in size than I normally like but crispy and very tasty. The disappointment for me was the fried cheese, it was just uninspired, with large slabs of bland goats cheese fried and served with a dollop of raspberry jam. It would have been much better if the cheese was cut into smaller portions before frying and served with the local fig marmalade.
We struggled to get served a second drink, admittedly the restaurant was busy, but we waited over half an hour for a waiter to check everything was ok before finally signalling one over. There were some fabulous looking fresh fish dishes being served to other tables. We had wanted a tapas style lunch but another time we’ll definitely try the fish. Price wise the starters were €8.50 – €12.00 each, large beer €5 and a glass of wine €4. We weren’t charged for the bread & mojo and we did enjoy a chupito of Ron Miel on the house at the end.
Casa de la Playa is right on the Playa La Garita beach in Arrieta, you can either turn down the dirt track just past the junction for Tabayesco or drive around through the village to the beach and walk to access this restaurant.
Tel: 928 173 339
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