Restaurant in L'Ametlla de Mar, Spain
Serious seafood at a working fishing port.
La Llotja is the most serious place to eat in L'Ametlla de Mar, a working Tarragona fishing port. Chef Marc Miró holds back-to-back Michelin Plates (2024–2025) for ingredient-led, market-fresh seafood — with rice dishes and tuna tartare that consistently deliver. At €€€, it is honest value for the quality on offer and the right choice for a special occasion on the Costa Daurada.
L'Ametlla de Mar is a working fishing port on the Costa Daurada — the kind of place where the catch still arrives by boat before noon. La Llotja is the restaurant that earns that geography. If you want to eat fresh, seasonal seafood with enough technical ambition to make it a meal worth planning around, book here. The Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms it is cooking at a level above most of what you will find on this stretch of the Tarragona coast, and the 4.6 rating across 619 Google reviews adds weight to that verdict. This is not a special-occasion compromise — it is a genuine destination.
Some restaurants earn their place in a town. La Llotja has earned its place in L'Ametlla de Mar over years of consistent, ingredient-led cooking that reflects the port directly outside its door. The town has been a commercial fishing hub for generations , its fish market, the llotja, gives the restaurant its name , and the kitchen under chef Marc Miró treats that heritage as a working brief rather than a decorative theme.
The approach here is seasonal and market-driven. The à la carte is supported by daily specials that reflect what came off the boats that morning, which means the menu shifts with the catch rather than holding to a fixed script. If you are visiting the Costa Daurada and want to eat the fish the region is actually known for, this is the format that delivers on that promise. Peer comparisons matter here: Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María applies avant-garde technique to Andalusian seafood at €€€€, and Ricard Camarena in València brings a similar market-first philosophy to a larger urban stage. La Llotja sits below both in price and ambition, but it is also doing something those restaurants are not: feeding the town it belongs to, in the style that town demands.
The rice dishes are the clearest expression of what the kitchen does well. Rice cooked with fresh shellfish or fish stock from the day's catch is a benchmark dish across coastal Catalonia and the Valencian region , and La Llotja's versions consistently draw attention. If you are building a meal here, start with the tuna loin tartare, which the kitchen maintains at a high standard, and let a rice dish anchor the main course. The tasting menu option is available for those who want a more structured progression through the kitchen's range.
As a special-occasion venue, La Llotja works leading for couples or small groups who want a meal with real culinary substance rather than a tourist-facing seafood restaurant with good views. The €€€ price point is honest for the quality on offer. You are not paying for theatre or a famous name , you are paying for well-sourced ingredients cooked with care. For L'Ametlla de Mar, that is exactly what you should want. For anniversary dinners or a meaningful meal after a day on the water, this is the right choice in the area.
The restaurant's two consecutive Michelin Plates signal cooking that meets a defined quality threshold without reaching the star tier. That framing is useful for setting expectations: La Llotja is not trying to be El Celler de Can Roca in Girona or Azurmendi in Larrabetzu. It is a serious regional restaurant with a clear identity, and within that frame it delivers reliably. That consistency across two Michelin editions, combined with a large volume of positive public reviews, makes the booking decision direct.
L'Ametlla de Mar itself rewards the detour. The port is less visited than Cambrils or Salou to the north, which means the town retains a working character that feeds directly into the quality of what is available to cook. For the broader context on where to eat, stay, and explore while you are here, see our full L'Ametlla de Mar restaurants guide, our full L'Ametlla de Mar hotels guide, and our full L'Ametlla de Mar bars guide. If you want to explore the wider food culture of the region, our full L'Ametlla de Mar wineries guide and our full L'Ametlla de Mar experiences guide are useful starting points.
For context on how La Llotja fits within the broader Spanish seafood and coastal dining scene, Gambero Rosso in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and Alici Restaurant on the Amalfi Coast offer comparable port-town seafood seriousness at a Mediterranean scale. Closer to home, Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona sets the bar for market-led cooking in Catalonia at the starred level, and Quique Dacosta in Dénia shows what the Costa Blanca's seafood tradition looks like when pushed to three-star ambition. La Llotja is not competing in that league, but for a port town restaurant with honest cooking and real regional character, it holds its ground.
Booking at La Llotja is rated Easy. Given the Michelin recognition and the 619-review volume suggesting consistent demand, reserving a table in advance for weekend visits or during summer is sensible , but this is not a venue where you need to plan months ahead. For a special occasion dinner, booking a week or two out should be sufficient outside peak season.
| Venue | Location | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty | Michelin Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Llotja | L'Ametlla de Mar | Seafood, Market | €€€ | Easy | Plate 2024, 2025 |
| Aponiente | El Puerto de Santa María | Progressive Seafood | €€€€ | Hard | 3 Stars |
| Ricard Camarena | València | Market-led Spanish | €€€€ | Moderate | 2 Stars |
| El Celler de Can Roca | Girona | Progressive Spanish | €€€€ | Very Hard | 3 Stars |
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Llotja | At La Llotja, chef Marc Miró pulls out all the stops to ensure that ingredients and flavour are very much the stars of the show here, as showcased in recipes based around fresh and seasonal market cuisine and a strong maritime feel. The à la carte is well supported by excellent daily suggestions and, if you’re looking for a more extensive dining experience, a tasting menu option. The rice dishes never fail to impress here, while the tuna loin tartare is always of excellent quality.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | €€€ | — |
| Quique Dacosta | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| El Celler de Can Roca | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Arzak | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Azurmendi | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Aponiente | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
A quick look at how La Llotja measures up.
The venue data does not confirm bar seating at La Llotja. Given the Michelin Plate recognition and the format — à la carte plus a tasting menu — this reads as a sit-down dining operation rather than a casual counter. check the venue's official channels before turning up expecting bar service.
Book at least one to two weeks ahead, more in summer when the Costa Daurada fills with visitors. La Llotja holds a Michelin Plate (2024 and 2025) and sits in a small fishing town with limited comparable options, so demand outpaces the number of covers. Pearl rates booking difficulty as Easy, but that rating assumes you plan ahead — same-week tables in July and August are a different story.
Within L'Ametlla de Mar itself, La Llotja is the clear anchor for serious seafood dining. For broader comparison, Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María represents the pinnacle of avant-garde Spanish seafood with three Michelin stars, but it is a different category and price point entirely. For the Costa Daurada region, La Llotja sits at the top of what the local town offers without requiring a trip to a larger city.
It works for solo diners, particularly at the à la carte — ordering a rice dish and the tuna loin tartare gives you a focused, well-priced meal without committing to a full tasting menu. The tasting menu is possible solo but can feel like a long sit without company. At €€€ per head, solo dining here is a reasonable call if seafood is your focus and you are already in L'Ametlla de Mar.
At €€€ in a small fishing port on the Costa Daurada, La Llotja delivers value that most similarly priced coastal restaurants in Spain do not: two consecutive Michelin Plates, a chef (Marc Miró) focused on seasonal and market-led cooking, and a menu built around the catch that arrives locally. You are not paying a city premium for atmosphere — you are paying for consistent, ingredient-led cooking. That trade-off works in your favour.
If you want to understand what Marc Miró's kitchen does across a full sitting, the tasting menu is the right call — it extends beyond what the à la carte and daily suggestions can show. That said, the rice dishes and tuna loin tartare alone make a strong standalone meal, so the tasting menu is not mandatory. Go for it on a dedicated dinner with time to spare; skip it if you are eating light or on a schedule.
Yes, with one caveat: L'Ametlla de Mar is a working fishing town, not a glamorous dining destination, so the occasion needs to fit the setting. If the celebration centres on exceptional seafood in an authentic port environment, La Llotja with its Michelin Plate credentials and tasting menu format delivers the substance. For a celebratory dinner that also needs visual spectacle or a grand dining room, you would need to travel further along the coast.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
