Restaurant in Alacant, Spain
Mexican-Greek fusion, Michelin-recognised, easy to book.
A Michelin Plate restaurant at €€ pricing, Steki serves Mediterranean cooking with Greek and Mexican influences in a relaxed sharing format on a pedestrian street in Alicante's old quarter. With a 4.8 Google score from 862 reviews and a minimum of five sharing dishes for two, it is one of the clearest value calls for food-focused visitors to the city.
Yes — and more directly than most restaurants in its price tier. Steki holds a Michelin Plate (2024), scores 4.8 from 862 Google reviews, and prices itself at the €€ level, which makes it one of the most accessible Michelin-recognised options in the city. If you are looking for a relaxed, sharing-format meal in Alicante's old quarter that goes beyond the standard Spanish tapas circuit, book it. If you want a full tasting-menu experience with elaborate service, look elsewhere — this is a neighbourhood spot with a clear point of view, not a destination restaurant.
The restaurant sits on Calle Argensola, a pedestrian street in Alicante's old quarter, and the format is direct: Mediterranean cooking with Mexican and Greek influences, served sharing-style. The name itself signals the intent , Steki is Greek for a meeting place, and the room reflects that: informal, unpretentious, and built around the table rather than the spectacle. The sensory experience here is quieter and more intimate than the larger restaurants on the seafront or around the Mercado Central. Expect conversation-level noise at lunch, and a slightly livelier room in the evening as the old quarter fills up , but never the kind of din that makes you lean across the table.
The à la carte menu requires a minimum of five dishes for two people sharing, which guides the experience toward exploration rather than single-plate ordering. That minimum is worth knowing before you go: it means you will eat more broadly than you might plan, and the bill reflects that. At €€ pricing in Spain, you are still looking at a very reasonable spend per head by Western European standards , considerably less than Baeza & Rufete or Nou Manolín, and with a more distinct culinary identity than many spots at the same price point.
Mediterranean base is the anchor, with the Greek and Mexican threads used as seasoning rather than gimmick. That is an important distinction for the food-focused traveller: this is not fusion in the sense of novelty combinations, but rather a kitchen that draws from two specific culinary traditions and applies them to the produce and techniques of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. For a broader view of where Steki sits within Spain's fusion-leaning restaurant scene, you might also look at Jae in Düsseldorf or Soseki in Winter Park as international reference points for what thoughtful fusion can look like at a similar scale.
This is the most useful question for a first visit. At lunch, Steki's informal register works in your favour: the old-quarter streets are quieter, the room is more relaxed, and you can pace the sharing dishes without the evening pressure of a full room turning over. Lunch is also the lower-commitment visit , you are not committing the full evening, and if you end up wanting more, the neighbourhood has enough around it to continue. For first-timers, lunch is the smarter entry point.
Dinner sharpens the experience in a different direction. The pedestrian street comes alive in the evening, and the mood inside the restaurant shifts accordingly. If you are visiting as part of a longer Alicante trip , or if the meal is the centrepiece of the evening rather than a stop along the way , dinner makes more sense. The five-dish minimum also lands more naturally at dinner, when you are settled in rather than watching a clock. Neither sitting is the wrong choice, but they serve different rhythms. Couples making a dedicated food trip should go at dinner; solo travellers or those combining lunch with a walk through the old quarter should book the midday slot.
For context on the wider dining scene, Spain's most serious kitchens , Quique Dacosta in Dénia, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Arzak in San Sebastián, Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, and Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria , operate at a different scale and price tier entirely. Steki is not in that conversation. What it offers is a specific, well-executed version of something smaller and more personal, at a price that does not require a special occasion to justify.
Booking difficulty at Steki is rated Easy. Given the Michelin recognition and the strong Google score, same-week bookings are likely possible for most dates, but do not assume walk-in availability on weekends. Alicante's old quarter draws steady visitor traffic year-round, and a 15-seat restaurant with a 4.8 rating will fill on Friday and Saturday evenings without much notice. Book two to three days ahead for weekday visits; a week out for weekend dinners is prudent. There is no indication from the available data that Steki takes online reservations through a platform, so direct contact is the assumption , check current booking method when you arrive at the city.
Alicante is not short of good places to eat, and the old quarter in particular has a density of options that can make the choice feel harder than it needs to be. Steki earns its place in the shortlist because it does something specific that most of its neighbours do not: it brings a cross-cultural perspective to Mediterranean cooking without losing the locality that makes Alicante restaurants worth visiting in the first place. For further exploration of the city's dining options, see our full Alacant restaurants guide, and for planning the wider trip: hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences in Alacant. Other contemporary options worth considering alongside Steki include Alba, Celeste y Don Carlos, Distrikt41, and El Portal Alicante - Krug Ambassade for modern cuisine at different price points.
The sharing format is the main thing to prepare for: the à la carte menu requires a minimum of five dishes for two people, so plan to eat broadly rather than choosing one or two plates. The cuisine is Mediterranean-led with Greek and Mexican influences , not a tapas restaurant, and not a tasting menu. It holds a Michelin Plate (2024) and a 4.8 Google score, which at €€ pricing makes it one of the more direct value calls in Alicante's old quarter. Go with an open brief and let the menu range do the work.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy, but that does not mean walk-in guaranteed. Two to three days ahead is fine for weekday visits. For Friday or Saturday evenings, book a week out. The Michelin Plate and strong online reputation mean the room fills reliably on weekends, and at this price point there is consistent local and visitor demand. Same-day walk-in is a gamble , worth asking, but do not plan around it.
The available data does not confirm whether Steki has a bar counter seating option. The restaurant is described as simple and small-scale, on a pedestrian street in the old quarter. If bar seating is important to you, contact the restaurant directly before visiting. For a venue where bar dining is a confirmed option in Alicante, La Taberna del Gourmet at €€ is a reliable alternative with a gastrobar format.
Yes, clearly. A Michelin Plate restaurant at €€ pricing is a strong value proposition by any measure. The five-dish minimum means the bill will be higher than a single-dish lunch, but you are still well inside the mid-market range for a Michelin-recognised experience in Spain. Compare that to Baeza & Rufete at €€€€ , a legitimate splurge , and Steki sits comfortably as the value pick for food travellers who want quality without a special-occasion budget.
It depends on what the occasion calls for. Steki's informal, sharing-focused format and simple room make it a strong choice for a relaxed celebration , a birthday dinner with close friends, an anniversary for a couple who prefers personality over ceremony. It is not the right call if you want white tablecloths, extensive wine service, or a multi-course tasting menu. For that level of occasion in Alicante, Baeza & Rufete is the more appropriate choice. Steki rewards diners who value a distinctive, well-executed meal over formal dining production.
At a lower price point, La Taberna del Gourmet (€) offers strong seafood and regional cuisine in a gastrobar format , the easiest wallet-friendly alternative. For a step up in formality and Spanish regional cooking, Nou Manolín (€€€) delivers farm-to-table Spanish at a higher spend. If rice dishes are the priority, Piripi (€€€) is a focused choice. For a peer comparison at the same €€ level with a different format, El Portal Taberna & Wines offers a tapas bar experience in a similar price range.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steki | Fusion | €€ | Easy |
| Baeza & Rufete | Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| La Taberna del Gourmet | Gastrobar-Seafood, Regional Cuisine | € | Unknown |
| Nou Manolín | Spanish, Farm to table | €€€ | Unknown |
| El Portal Taberna & Wines | Tapas Bar | €€ | Unknown |
| Piripi | Rice Dishes | €€€ | Unknown |
How Steki stacks up against the competition.
Come prepared to share: the format requires a minimum of five dishes for two, so this is not a place to order solo starters and call it done. The cooking is Mediterranean at its core, with Greek and Mexican influences woven in — a combination that earns Steki a Michelin Plate (2024) at the €€ price tier, which is genuinely good value for recognised cooking. The restaurant sits on a pedestrian street in Alicante's old quarter, so arrival on foot is easiest.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy, so same-week reservations are realistic for most visits. That said, Michelin recognition and a 4.8 Google score from over 860 reviews mean weekend evenings fill faster — aim for a few days' notice if you have a fixed date. Midweek lunch is your safest window if you want walk-in flexibility.
Bar seating is not documented in available venue data for Steki. The restaurant is described as a simple space on a pedestrian street in the old quarter, which suggests a focused dining room rather than a counter-bar setup. check the venue's official channels to confirm seating options before arriving without a reservation.
At €€ with a Michelin Plate (2024), yes — the value-to-recognition ratio is strong by Alicante standards. The sharing format (five dishes minimum for two) means the bill scales with appetite, so costs stay predictable. For cooking with verifiable culinary credentials at this price point, Steki is one of the cleaner decisions in the old quarter.
It works for a low-key celebration rather than a formal one. The setting is described as simple and the register is informal, so if you need white-tablecloth gravitas, look at El Portal Taberna & Wines or Baeza & Rufete instead. For a relaxed but genuinely good meal that you can point to a Michelin Plate to justify, Steki delivers.
For a step up in formality and wine focus, El Portal Taberna & Wines is the comparison to make. La Taberna del Gourmet and Nou Manolín both cover Alicante's traditional Spanish register if the Mexican-Greek fusion concept is not your format. Piripi suits larger groups comfortable with a classic local tavern feel. Baeza & Rufete is the pick if you want the most ambitious cooking in the city.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
