Restaurant in Marbella, Spain
Tableside theatre, tasting menu, Michelin-recognised.
Areia is a Michelin Plate farm-to-table restaurant in Marbella with a Opinionated About Dining Classical Europe ranking of #208 (2025). Chef Pablo Berzosa runs a classically grounded kitchen with tableside theatre — carved veal shank for two, flambéed soufflés — alongside a tasting menu. At €€€, it offers stronger awards credentials than most peers at the same price point and is easy to book outside peak summer season.
Yes, if you want a Michelin-recognised farm-to-table dinner in Marbella with tableside theatre and a tasting menu option at the €€€ price point. Areia holds a Michelin Plate (2025) and sits at #208 on the Opinionated About Dining Classical in Europe ranking for 2025, up from #257 in 2024 — a meaningful climb that signals the kitchen is moving in the right direction. For most visitors weighing a serious dinner in Marbella, Areia represents one of the stronger cases in its tier.
Chef Pablo Berzosa runs a kitchen built around farm-to-table sourcing with an international accent rather than a strictly Andalusian one. The setting does a lot of work: light tones throughout, artisanal fabrics covering sections of the walls and ceiling, and a dining room designed for occasion meals rather than casual drop-ins. The décor reads warm rather than austere, which makes it a more comfortable environment for a long meal than some of the starker modern rooms you find elsewhere on the Costa del Sol.
The menu leans on a few signature anchors. A veal shank served for two is carved tableside. A beef sirloin Rossini is one of the more classically framed dishes in the city at this price point. And a rotating selection of soufflés, finished tableside with a flambé, gives the meal a specific rhythm that diners either love or find a little theatrical — know which camp you fall into before you go. These are not dishes built for speed; the format rewards diners who want a full evening rather than a quick pre-club dinner.
The à la carte runs alongside a tasting menu, which gives you flexibility depending on how much you want to surrender control to the kitchen. If you are visiting Marbella primarily to eat well, the tasting menu is the better argument for Areia's position on the OAD list. If you are here for a business dinner or a celebration where the group has mixed appetites, the à la carte gives you more room to manoeuvre.
Areia is open Monday through Saturday for dinner (7–10 pm), with lunch service added Wednesday through Saturday (1:30–3 pm). Sunday is closed. For the most relaxed experience, a weekday dinner , particularly Tuesday or Wednesday , tends to draw a quieter crowd than peak weekend slots. If you are visiting Marbella in high summer (July–August), weekend dinner reservations at any Michelin-recognised restaurant in the city fill quickly, so book further in advance than you think you need to. The lunch service is a practical option if you want to try the kitchen without committing to a full evening, though the tableside theatre of the soufflé and the carved veal shank makes the dinner format the stronger case for a first visit.
For the explorer visiting Marbella specifically to eat across multiple restaurants, lunch at Areia on a Friday or Saturday is a sound way to fit the kitchen into a wider itinerary. Compare this approach to Skina, which has a tighter format and less flexibility on timing.
Farm-to-table as a label covers a wide range of actual practice, from genuinely hyper-local sourcing to loose marketing positioning. Areia's internationally inspired cooking sits at the more eclectic end of that spectrum , this is not a restaurant anchored exclusively to Andalusian produce or technique. If you want a kitchen that interrogates local terroir in the way that, say, Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María or El Celler de Can Roca in Girona do, Areia is not that restaurant. What it does offer is a consistent standard of ingredient quality with a classic-leaning technique , Rossini preparations and flambéed soufflés are not the language of avant-garde cooking, and that is entirely deliberate. This is a kitchen that values craft over provocation.
For farm-to-table enthusiasts who want to cross-reference Areia against the broader European category, Au Gré du Vent in Seneffe and BOK Restaurant in Münster offer useful data points for how the format plays out in different national contexts.
Booking difficulty at Areia is rated easy by Pearl standards. That said, easy does not mean same-day , a Michelin Plate restaurant in Marbella during the summer season will fill its weekend dinner slots. Aim for at least one to two weeks ahead for a summer weekend dinner, less for midweek. Lunch windows are more accessible year-round. No booking phone or website is listed in the available data, so check the Google listing or a reservation platform for current availability.
For broader context on dining in Marbella, see our full Marbella restaurants guide. If you are building a full trip around the area, our Marbella hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the rest.
Areia is at Edificio Marbella House II, C. de Ramón Gómez de la Serna, 23, Local 1, 29602 Marbella. Price range is €€€. Google rating is 4.5 from 151 reviews. Lunch is served Wednesday to Saturday, 1:30–3 pm. Dinner runs Monday to Saturday, 7–10 pm. Closed Sunday.
Other Marbella restaurants worth considering alongside Areia: BACK for modern cuisine, Messina for creative cooking, Nintai for Japanese, and Andala Marbella for Andalusian. For Spain's broader fine dining context, Arzak in San Sebastián, Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona, and DiverXO in Madrid mark the upper end of the national spectrum. Also see our Marbella wineries guide if wine is part of your trip planning.
Quick reference: €€€ price range | Michelin Plate 2024–2025 | OAD Classical Europe #208 (2025) | Lunch Wed–Sat 1:30–3 pm, Dinner Mon–Sat 7–10 pm | Closed Sunday | Easy to book.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Areia | A Mediterranean-inspired restaurant with a striking decor of light tones and original artisanal fabrics adorning sections of the walls and ceiling. In the kitchen, the emphasis is on internationally inspired cooking, including dishes such as veal shank (for two to share and carved up in front of you), the unmissable beef sirloin Rossini, or the surprising variety of soufflés (with the final flourish and flambé in the dining room). The à la carte is complemented by a tasting menu.; Opinionated About Dining Classical in Europe Ranked #208 (2025); Michelin Plate (2025); Opinionated About Dining Classical in Europe Ranked #257 (2024); Michelin Plate (2024) | €€€ | — |
| Skina | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Kava | €€€ | — | |
| La Milla Marbella | €€€ | — | |
| Leña Marbella | €€€ | — | |
| TA-KUMI | €€€ | — |
Comparing your options in Marbella for this tier.
Groups are manageable here, but Areia is better suited to small parties of two to four than large tables. The venue's format — with tableside carving and flambé service — works best at an intimate scale. For a group of six or more, call ahead to confirm the layout can handle your party; the address is Edificio Marbella House II, C. de Ramón Gómez de la Serna, 23, Local 1. Shared plates like the veal shank for two are designed for smaller groups, not big-table sharing.
Solo dining at a €€€ Michelin Plate restaurant with tableside carving is an unusual call, and Areia's format leans toward couples or small groups. That said, the tasting menu is available to solo diners and is a more natural fit than ordering à la carte alone. If you are dining solo and want a lighter commitment, the lunch service (Wednesday through Saturday, 1:30–3 pm) at €€€ will cost less than a full dinner sitting.
Yes, if tableside theatre is part of what you are paying for. Areia's tasting menu sits alongside an à la carte that already features signature dishes like the veal shank carved at the table and flambéed soufflés — so the tasting menu is the format that puts all of that on one bill. At the €€€ price point and with Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025, it represents a fair trade for the format. If you want à la carte flexibility rather than a set progression, the menu is strong enough to skip the tasting format.
Bar dining is not documented in the available venue data for Areia. The restaurant's format centres on the dining room, where tableside service including carving and flambé is a key part of the experience. If bar seating matters to you, confirm availability directly when booking.
At €€€ with Michelin Plate status in both 2024 and 2025, and an OAD Classical in Europe ranking of #208 for 2025, Areia delivers on price for what it offers: internationally inflected farm-to-table cooking with genuine dining room theatre. It is not the cheapest route to a Michelin-recognised dinner in Marbella — Kava sits at a lower price point — but if the tableside carving and soufflé flambé are part of your evening's appeal, the premium is justified.
Yes. The combination of tableside carving, flambéed soufflés finished in the dining room, and a setting with artisanal fabrics and light tones makes Areia a practical choice for a birthday or anniversary dinner. It carries Michelin Plate recognition (2024 and 2025) and an OAD Classical in Europe rank, which gives it enough credential to feel like an occasion without requiring a two-Michelin-star budget. Book dinner rather than lunch for the full experience.
Dinner. Areia is open for lunch only Wednesday through Saturday (1:30–3 pm), while dinner runs Monday through Saturday (7–10 pm). The tableside theatre — the carved veal shank, the flambéed soufflés — is the venue's strongest selling point, and that plays better over a dinner-paced sitting than a midday service. Lunch is a reasonable option if your schedule is tight, but it is the secondary format here.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
