Restaurant in Sobarzo, Spain
Generous plates, honest prices, easy booking.
La Yerbita earns back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition (2024 and 2025) with copious traditional Cantabrian cooking at a €€ price point, near the Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno. A 4.7 rating across nearly 1,500 reviews reflects consistent quality rather than a one-off performance. Book for weekday lunch to avoid the weekend Cabárceno crowd, and use the small plates format to cover more of the menu.
Seats at La Yerbita fill up, and the reason is simple: it delivers copious, carefully prepared traditional Cantabrian food at a €€ price point, with back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025 to confirm the kitchen earns its reputation. If you are visiting the Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno and want a lunch that justifies a proper sit-down rather than a roadside stop, this is the booking to make. It will not challenge you with technique or surprise you with conceptual cooking. That is not the point, and that restraint is precisely what the 4.7 rating across 1,497 Google reviews is rewarding.
La Yerbita sits on C. el Dueso in Sobarzo, Cantabria, positioned close enough to the Cabárceno nature park that it functions as the natural endpoint to a morning in the park. The setting signals its intentions immediately: this is a room that keeps things uncomplicated. What you see when food arrives at the table is the real argument for booking — generous portions, presented with more care than the price bracket would typically suggest. That gap between expectation and execution is exactly what the Michelin Plate designation is designed to flag: cooking that does not reach starred ambition but consistently delivers quality above its tier.
The kitchen works within traditional Cantabrian and broader Spanish culinary grammar. Simplicity is treated as a discipline here, not a shortcut. The menu leans on careful preparation and honest presentation rather than elaborate technique. Crucially, almost all dishes are available as small plates, which means returning diners have a genuine reason to work through the menu differently on each visit rather than defaulting to the same order. For a regular who has already done an initial pass, that format is an invitation to go wider across the menu rather than deeper on one or two items.
The portion sizes are worth noting practically, not just as a point of praise. At a €€ price point with copious plates, the cost-per-satisfaction calculation here runs strongly in the diner's favour compared to what you would spend at the €€€ and €€€€ end of Cantabrian dining. The Michelin Plate in 2025 means an independent authority has reviewed the kitchen and found it credible — not at the level of a Bib Gourmand for exceptional value, but recognised nonetheless. Two consecutive years of that recognition suggests consistency rather than a single strong performance.
If you have been once and ordered conservatively, the practical move on a return visit is to use the small plates format as a menu-spanning exercise. The range of traditional dishes available in that format gives you genuine flexibility to cover more ground without committing to full portions of everything. That is a meaningful advantage over restaurants in this price tier that present the menu in a more rigid structure.
Timing matters here. Midday to early afternoon on a weekend, when Cabárceno visitor traffic is at its highest, will make this the hardest booking of the week. If your visit is flexible, a weekday lunch will be considerably easier to secure and likely quieter inside. Booking ahead is advisable regardless , a 4.7 rating on nearly 1,500 reviews draws consistent custom, and the relatively small-town setting means there is no meaningful overflow of comparable alternatives nearby if the restaurant is full.
For context across the wider region, Cantabria sits within a stretch of northern Spain where serious food is taken as a given. The Basque Country to the east runs some of Europe's most decorated kitchens, and Asturias to the west has its own strong traditional food culture. La Yerbita does not compete with that fine-dining tier, nor does it try to. Its competitive set is the honest, well-run traditional restaurant that treats local ingredients and preparation with respect. Within that set, two Michelin Plates and a near-perfect crowd-sourced score across a large sample make a strong case. You can find the broader dining context for Cantabria across our full Sobarzo restaurants guide, and if you are planning a longer stay, our Sobarzo hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the rest of the area. The Sobarzo wineries guide is worth checking if the wine list at the table sparks curiosity about the region.
For diners who want to extend a northern Spain trip into Spain's most decorated restaurant tier, the reference points worth knowing are Arzak in San Sebastián, Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, and Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria , all operating at a different investment level but within driving range. Mugaritz in Errenteria is the option for those who want to push further into conceptual territory. Elsewhere in Spain, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Quique Dacosta in Dénia, DiverXO in Madrid, Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María, Ricard Camarena in València, Atrio in Cáceres, and Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona represent the country's highest-end options if a special-occasion meal is also on the itinerary. For traditional cuisine in a similar register to La Yerbita, Cave à Vin & à Manger - Maison Saint-Crescent in Narbonne and Coto de Quevedo Evolución in Torre de Juan Abad are worth benchmarking if you are building a broader trip around this style of cooking.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy. That said, easy does not mean walk-in-whenever , a restaurant with this level of consistent recognition near a major nature park draws reliable traffic. Call or visit in advance, particularly for weekend lunches. Weekday visits are the lower-friction option.
La Yerbita is located at C. el Dueso, 3, 39627 Sobarzo, Cantabria, Spain. Price range: €€. Cuisine: Traditional. The small plates format means the menu is flexible and well-suited to groups who want to share across several dishes. Hours, phone, and website are not confirmed in current data , verify directly before travelling.
Quick reference: €€ traditional Cantabrian dining near Cabárceno, Michelin Plate 2024–2025, 4.7/5 on 1,497 reviews, small plates format available, weekday lunch easiest to book.
Casual is appropriate and expected. This is a €€ traditional restaurant near a nature park, not a fine-dining room. Smart-casual covers the full range of what you will see in the room , clean outdoor or travel wear is fine, a jacket is unnecessary. If you are coming directly from Cabárceno, there is no need to change.
Groups should do well here given the copious portions and the small plates format, which makes shared ordering across the table direct. That said, seat count is not confirmed in current data, so larger parties , say, eight or more , should contact the restaurant directly before assuming space is available. In a small-town Cantabrian restaurant at this tier, calling ahead is standard practice regardless of group size.
The format is traditional Cantabrian cooking at generous scale and a €€ price. The kitchen has held Michelin Plate recognition for two consecutive years, which means independent reviewers consider the quality consistent and credible. Almost all dishes are available as small plates, so first-timers should resist ordering too much on a full-portion basis , the portions are described as copious, and the small plates option gives you more range for the same spend. Come for lunch, especially if you are pairing the visit with Cabárceno.
A confirmed tasting menu format is not documented in current data. What is confirmed is that almost all dishes are available as small plates, which functions as a self-directed tasting route at a €€ price point. Given the portion sizes, building your own progression through the menu via small plates is likely the better value move than any fixed set menu even if one is offered. The Michelin Plate recognition confirms the kitchen performs reliably at this tier.
Sobarzo is a small village, and direct like-for-like alternatives within the village itself are limited. For traditional Cantabrian cooking at a comparable level elsewhere in the region, you will need to move into Santander or the wider Cantabrian coast. If the trip is part of a longer northern Spain itinerary and you want to step up to the highest tier of Spanish cooking, Arzak in San Sebastián and Azurmendi in Larrabetzu are the natural reference points, though both require a different budget and a separate journey. For traditional cuisine at a similar register in a different part of Spain, see our listings for Coto de Quevedo Evolución in Torre de Juan Abad.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Yerbita | Traditional Cuisine | A restaurant with no little charm located close to the Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno. Here, simplicity is lauded as a true gift, hence the focus on simple traditional cuisine but with careful attention paid to preparation and presentation. The dishes here are copious; almost all, however, are available as small plates.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Quique Dacosta | Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| El Celler de Can Roca | Progressive Spanish, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Arzak | Modern Basque, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Azurmendi | Progressive, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Aponiente | Progressive - Seafood, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Dress casually. La Yerbita is a €€ traditional restaurant close to a nature park, and its identity is built around simplicity — there is no dress code pressure here. Clean, comfortable clothes are entirely appropriate; this is not a formal-dining setting.
Groups are feasible given the small-plates format: almost all dishes are available as individual portions, which makes sharing straightforward and flexible for different group sizes. Call ahead if you are bringing more than four people, as the restaurant draws consistent traffic from visitors to the nearby Cabárceno nature park. Booking in advance is advisable regardless.
Go expecting copious portions of carefully prepared traditional Cantabrian food at a €€ price point — this is not a place that performs sophistication, it earns Michelin Plate recognition (2024 and 2025) by doing simple things well. Order broadly: the small-plates format lets you cover a lot of ground without overspending. Proximity to the Cabárceno nature park means it can get busy on weekends, so book ahead.
La Yerbita's format centres on traditional dishes available as small plates rather than a structured tasting menu, so the decision here is less about committing to a set progression and more about how much you want to order across the menu. At €€, the value case is straightforward: Michelin Plate recognition two years running at this price point is hard to argue with. Order several small plates and let the kitchen's attention to preparation do the work.
La Yerbita is the main dining option worth noting in Sobarzo itself; for the broader Cantabria region, options exist in Santander and surrounding towns. If you want to stay in the traditional Spanish cuisine category but step up significantly in formality and spend, restaurants like Arzak in San Sebastián represent a different tier entirely. For the specific combination of casual format, regional cooking, and honest pricing near a nature attraction, La Yerbita has little direct competition locally.
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