It was a pretty long road trip through southern Spain, obviously a beautiful experience, but we…read morewere looking forward to stopping in Ronda for some local cuisine. After looking up guides and online searches, Tropicana seemed to be the place to go. Three of us went in with no expectations, and three of us went out thoroughly impressed! It was funny, the chef/owner waited on us, us being ignorant to the fact. We asked him what he'd recommend to which enthusiastically responded to get the ox tail. When we said we weren't feeling it, he trailed off in a stiff Spanish that our table mate translated as sadness for rejecting his signature dish. Well, I'm not usually guilted into things, but this did make me pause, if he's this passionate about his ox tail dish, why not give it a try. Well, we did and hot dang if it wasn't actually delicious. We apologized out of admiration which made him really excited. Funny, this one feels a lot more food bloggy of a post, but hey, it tells a fun story of the personality and food of this place. If you're looking for a delicious place in an iconic Iberian destination, stop in at Tropicana. Be sure to ask the chef for the ox tail. It'll make his day!

Estuve de visita hoy con un grupo de 12 en total. Este negocio es familiar y todos hicieron de…read morenuestra visita una experiencia maravillosa. El menú esta actualizado y tiene elementos de influencia asiática. De entrada Gyoza de verdura y taquito de pulpo al ajillo. De principal huevos rotos con patatas, aguacate y tartare de atún ¡delicioso! Tenía 3 tartas caseras y las probamos todas. Mi favorita la de zanahoria. A la hora de apertura estaba completo el cupo por el resto del día así de bueno es. Hay que reservar!!!

Travel around enough in Spain, and you will eat at plenty of forgettable tapas bars. Either the…read moretidbits are the same, or a rehash of the same ingredients in different forms, or the ingredients just are not stunning. Then you come across La Cárcel, it was not outstanding tapas, but it was memorable b/c they made theirs different, perhaps even a more gourmet element. 1. Many Spanish locals and tourists eating away, good sign. 2. The tapas were more inventive or just had a unique twist which is what stuck in my head. We knew a few we wanted to try from TripAdvisor reviews, but honestly it's better just to order 1-2 to start with, then order whatever catches the eye as it's being served around you. Tapas is suppose to be just relaxing and nibbling, not full on dinner meals ordered all at once.. so try this method and you will eat a greater and better variety than blindly ordering everything all at once.

Great tapas bar close to the top of arcos de la frontera's Santa Maria church. Very friendly and…read morehelpful service. I enjoyed the octopus served in olive oil, paprika, and spices; Iberian ham toasts with the omnipresent salmorejo (tomato, olive oil, and herbs) sauce and poached quail egg; and lightly fried shrimp spring rolls. I was disappointed with the mushrooms which had almost no mushrooms and instead ended up like a potato frittata with a few mushrooms sprinkled in it. The oxtail croquettes tasted fine but I couldn't taste any oxtail at all. Very affordable at around 2 to 3 euros per tapa. Some outdoor tables (albeit about a third of the block up from the restaurant). Very happening bar on the weekends. It's busiest between 9:30 and midnight.

We love this place and this town. The central place is great - the whole city meats there in the…read moreevening and there is a fantastic atmosphere. The bodeguita is realy nice, the food is very delicious and very economically priced. A real insider tip!

I ordered a "tropical salad" and it was little more than iceberg lettuce with the contents of a can…read moreof fruit cocktail (I saw the can on the counter!). No fresh fruit included.

24 euro for the vegetarian paella. It was good for two people but we only ate half of it. Good…read moretaste but not amazing. Pretty typical place in the area. But we did like the hot tomato soup, which they normally serve cold.

We were having a hard time with the wifi all over Spain so we were just trusting our gut (haha) to…read morefind restaurants. We walked by and saw this little restaurant up the hill, a bit tucked away and decided to check it out one night. Holy moly people!!! Easily one of our best meals in Spain! Our server was so nice and the owner was amazing and attentive. We ate early (old American habits die hard) and we were some of the only people in this little cave restaurant. You can just tell that the chef takes immense pride in their food. It showed, both in presentation and taste. We ordered a cheese plate, a jamon plate, the eggplant croquettes (with salmorejo and jamon), and the stuffed mushrooms. I go on TripAdvisor when I got home and see it's rated #3 in Arcos restaurants! Yay! Don't be like us- read restaurant reviews before you get there ;-) This is truly a gem that you don't want to miss. This restaurant is what prompted me to review both on Yelp AND Tripadvisor. It was THAT good. Oh gosh! I just remembered that we ordered paté as well. I guess I forgot to take a pic. It was HUGE for the price and absolutely delicious. I thought we were overly stuffed when leaving and didn't think we got that way from those 3 things- haha. Forgot the paté!! If you're in Arcos you really should check this place out.

What's different about Alcarvan is that it's a former dungeon of a castle - I don't think they do…read morequite enough to capitalize on the distinctiveness of that (instead, it can feel a bit like a sports bar as there are a bunch of folks watching soccer on television). The food is the standard Spanish tapas menu - heavy on fish, ham, and the mixed salad (which, of course, comes with tuna). To put it another way, Alcaravan is not a place to take your vegetarian friends. What we had here wasn't quite as exciting or inventive as other tapas places (probably the best of what we sampled was the salad) and some of what we sampled was simply unpleasant. The "meatballs" of squid had the consistency of wet bread, and the tuna was among the fishiest I have encountered in terms of both taste and smell. The folks at Alcaravan seem perfectly nice, but slightly confused. At first, they sat us as a table that was entirely too small for four people. Then, they tried to squish all of our food (three dishes) onto the too-small table, and then they moved another table between us so that two of us were sitting a good ten feet apart from the other two.

This was one of our favorite meals on our 10-day Spanish and Portuguese road trips!…read more We had the following: - FRIED MARINATED SEA BASS, LETTUCE, PICO DE GALLO AND ADOBO MAYONNAISE - FRIED SQUID SANDWICH W. ALIOLI AND SPICY SAUCE - RAF TOMATO W. CANNED TUNA BELLY AND ONION - GRILLED ARTICHOKES W. SHERRY WINE REDUCTION, EGG YOLK AND PORK JOWL Everything was absolutely delicious - our favorite was the marinated sea bass. It came with lettuce leaves perfect for making a taco. The tomato salad was also delicious and I loved the tuna in it - the only non-perfect part of the meal was that there was a sticker on one of the tomatoes - ha! (And also they forgot one of our dishes and it came out at the very end after we had to remind them but no biggie). The service was also very nice - I was trying to practice my spanish and our server was very patient and kind. Loved this restaurant so much!

Our guide told us Ronda has Michelin starred and rated restaurants and Google said this place was…read moreMichelin recommended with reasonable prices so I stopped for a bite. Everything was well prepared and Pedro provided excellent service with a smile. He also helped me with selections. Liked that they have indoor/outdoor seating with a nice ambiance. Nice days it's hard to get seated outside, but I had no problems getting seated inside.

CLOSED on MONDAYS…read more MUST TRY their signature Oxtail Brownie! This restaurant has hundreds of reviews on other sites, so I was surprised to be the first on Yelp. Nonetheless, I am happy to get them highlighted here, because they were our FAVORITE restaurant in our entire trip through Spain and Portugal, and they were responsible for my husband's "best meal of his life" (so far at least). Another reviewer said this is "a landmark for tapas" on her regular visits to Ronda, and I could not agree with that more! As the saying goes, this is where God goes for tapas! These dishes are traditional while innovative, creative while hearty, and totally DELICIOUS in every bite! For tapas, we had the Smoked Salmon Cannelloni, Hake Croquette, Flamenquín Croquette, Abergine with Goat Cheese, and for larger dishes, we had the Foie Gras, Pork Sirloin, and Fried Egg, on toast, and the Oxtail Brownie. Every little bit on every single plate was just scrumptious! ********* The OXTAIL BROWNIE is the best dish my husband ever ate in his life! *********** It is basically pulled oxtail meat, formed into a brownie shape, and smothered in pan gravy. The meat is SUPER tender, immense beefy flavor, with super-soft texture that melts in your mouth. This is the house signature dish, talked about in almost every review, and there is more than legit reason for this. Just the most amazing dish my husband ever had! Postres were a deep-dish kind of flan, and a tres leches type of cake. VERY good, as well. They stuck white chocolate-coated wafer sticks in them, which were extremely good too. Bill was about 50€ before tip (which we did throughout Spain). Prices are extremely reasonable, especially for the quality they offer. Amazing deal! If/when we return to Ronda, our EVERY SINGLE MEAL will be at La Niña Adela, no joke! I found La Niña Adela through RestaurantGuru, basically a kayak for review sites, combining all reviews from various big-name sites (including Yelp, of course), and its cumulative rating was very high on the list for food in Ronda. We found this to be completely true, and it was the BEST food experience we had across two countries!!!!! Could not recommend it more!

Fantastic tapas. World class service and food. Highly recommend the octopus, risotto and duck…read morebuns. Cheese cake fr desert

Watching the sun go down from a table outside Ian and Laurie's bar is an experience not forgotten…read morein a hurry because the views are absolutely stunning. Inside the reception is always warm and friendly and the food that comes out the kitchen is first class. If you're passing through and only have time to visit one bar in Olvera, make it this one!!!

Popped into Bar Valentinos Olvera to say Hi to Ian and Laurie and to wish them well on their new…read moreventure and recieved a very warm welcome. The Bar is tasefully decorated and has viwes to die for. Having tried a few of the many Tapas dishes I must say they where very tasty indeed, and also the Special Chicken or Fish Paella which was so yummy I had seconds. Really looking forward to my next vist