While there are several fine seafood dining spots in the city, Rafa is the classic, family-run seafood/product-driven restaurant that we’ve most enjoyed over the years. It sits in the tavern/restaurant-rich Retiro district, the area offering some of the city’s best dining.
The service at Rafa is “old school” with the white jacket clad veteran wait staff most welcoming and attentive in our experience. The ambiance is classic, not contemporary, most veteran diners are on the older side, many neighborhood families having been Rafa devotees for 3 generations. Dining is on two floors (request the lower level), adorned with handsome paintings and well spaced, crips linen-covered tables.
It’s not inexpensive, as the finest wild caught fish/crustaceans demand a steep price at Spain’s fish markets.
We dine at Rafa once or twice a year to enjoy its impeccably prepared fish dishes and limit ourselves to one order of crustaceans. One can throw caution to the winds here, choosing goose barnacles, razor clams, clams in garlic sauce from Carril, spider crab from O Grove, small prawns (quisquillas) from Motril and those very pricey elvers (angulas) in season. Two bar standards that we enjoy: its famous ensaladilla rusa con ventresca (one of the city’s best) and salpicón de mariscos (lobster salad)—don’t miss these!
For carnivores there are also several options: baby lamb chops, solomillo, steak tartare, partridge and to begin the meal, a plate of hand carved Joselito ham.
At lunch today, our meal began with complimentary small dishes of olives and creamy croquettes, along with the bread service. For our starter we chose the vaulted red shrimp from Garrucha (Almería province). Our waiter explained that they usually serve two to each diner, which is what we ordered. They arrived hot off the grill and delicious. For our 2 mains, we chose the monkfish (6 medallions) battered and delicately fried and served with a bed of zucchini and red pepper and baked hake along with patatas panaderas, thinly sliced onions, onions and garlic with a splash of white wine, slowly roasted until tender, my favorite way of serving potatoes with any baked fish. To accompany our coffee we were served a small plate of Easter sweets Our bill with 4 glasses (€4.5 each) of Godello from Valdeorras: €75/p.
Standout desserts that we’ve enjoyed in the past: their tocino del cielo, cheesecake and panacotta. Portions are quite generous and we had no room.
One Repsol sun. Recommended by Macarfi, OAD and Tapas Magazine. Closed Sunday evening and all day Monday.
