As a writer who has written Marbella restaurant reviews for more than 15 years I am often asked to recommend the top eateries in town. I do this with the understanding that I am neither a professional food critic nor a culinary mastermind, but rather a well-respected writer who simply loves to enjoy good food in a great setting.
You can imagine that a luxury resort town such as Marbella has a great many different restaurants to offer. What’s more, they cover the full range of cuisines from Europe to Asia and the Americas, and in a young, dynamic environment such as this, many try but only a select few succeed.
Some of my favourite Marbella restaurants
In my work one occasionally has the privilege of enjoying remarkable hospitality, and as a result I have been fortunate enough to dine in truly outstanding restaurants here and abroad. Such moments are special and they are lodged in your memory, but it isn’t always luxury and prestige that make the most lasting impression.
My favourite Marbella restaurant reviews are therefore not simply made up of the most exclusive dining spots in Marbella, but also include 
restaurants that impress on the basis of ambience, setting, value, charm and overall experience. After all, an A-rated eatery may fail to meet high expectations, while a more humble one may exceed them with a flourish.
I love imaginative restaurants such as Skina in Marbella’s Old Town and Messina on the main avenue. Places where the passion for food is evident in everything, but for sheer elegance and fine dining my favourite is Kabuki Raw at the Finca Cortesin resort hotel near Casares. It’s well worth the trip, but if you want quality and ambience closer to home there many fine spots, such as: Sutton’s on the Golden Mile, Momo and Casanis in the Old Town, classic service and quality at the Hotel Kempinski’s Alminar, and for steaks and fantastic wines El Rancho near Las Chapas.
And the rest…
The tapas and lively charm of El Asador near my office in Guadalmina are also legendary, while Urban in San Pedro is a fun place to meet up with friends for a light meal and I am really looking to the new smokehouse concept at Jack’s in Puerto Banús. There are many, many more, and I apologise for the lack of space to mention all the good restaurants and tapas bars in Marbella, but the above is already a fine cross-section of what this region has to offer in gastronomic terms. Try them out and let me know what you think!
-Michel Cruz-
Image credit of: Kabuki Raw/Sutton restaurant
