Restaurant FAQs
Restaurant Frequently Asked Questions
We'll always do our best to help...
Our Reception Team is always on hand to help with any questions, however, you might find the information you need here.
- Email: info@oceanohotel.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oceanohotel
- Telephone (+34) 952 587 550
Note: Our Reception Team is always very busy and sometimes, the phones may not be answered straight away. Contacting us through Facebook is probably the most effective way of asking questions.
"Can non-residents use the hotel facilities, such as the restaurant and salon?"
"Do I need to be a hotel guest to attend the Full Moon Gala Dinners?"
"Does the restaurant menu cater to vegetarians, vegans, or gluten-free diets?"
"Is there a dress code for the El Oceano Restaurant and Martini Lounge?"
"What is the 'Sunday Experience' at El Oceano?"
Book your Restaurant Table at El Oceano
Great food deserves a great atmosphere, and at El Oceano Restaurant, we believe that live entertainment elevates dining from merely excellent to truly unforgettable. Book your table at teh Costa del Sol’s finest beachfront restaurant.
El Oceano Restaurant — Award-Winning Dining on the Costa del Sol
El Oceano's restaurant is, by any measure, one of the finest dining destinations on the Costa del Sol. It has the food — ambitious, beautifully executed, built around the best of local and Mediterranean produce. It has the setting — a beachfront terrace with uninterrupted views across the sea, as good a backdrop for a meal as exists anywhere on the Spanish coast. And it has the atmosphere — warm, lively, and lifted most evenings by live music and entertainment that transforms a very good dinner into a genuinely memorable occasion.
The restaurant is open to hotel guests and non-residents alike, which means it draws a wonderfully varied clientele: guests staying at the hotel for whom it is the natural heart of their holiday, local residents for whom it is a regular and treasured destination, and visitors from across the Costa del Sol who make the journey to Mijas Costa specifically to dine here. That mix of people — the different reasons for being there and the different ways the evening means something to each of them — is part of what gives the restaurant its particular energy.
The Menu — Mediterranean Excellence
El Oceano's kitchen takes its cooking seriously. The à la carte menu is built around the finest available ingredients — fresh seafood that reflects the restaurant's beachfront setting, quality cuts prepared with care and precision, and the broader repertoire of Mediterranean flavours that make dining in this part of Spain such a consistent pleasure.
The menu changes to reflect the seasons and the best of what's available, and the kitchen team brings genuine passion and skill to every dish. This is not food designed to impress on paper and disappoint on the plate. It is food that delivers — course after course, visit after visit — on the considerable promise that El Oceano's reputation represents.
Dietary requirements are handled with the same care and inclusivity that runs through everything the restaurant does. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are clearly marked on the menu, and the kitchen is highly experienced in adapting dishes to accommodate allergies and specific dietary needs. Simply inform the team of any requirements when making your reservation and they will ensure your meal is everything it should be.
The wine list is carefully chosen and well-priced, with a selection that ranges from excellent Spanish regional wines — including bottles from Ribera del Duero and Rioja — to broader international choices. The cocktail menu is exceptional, with the Martini Lounge offering a full range of expertly mixed drinks both before and after dinner.
Live Entertainment — The Soundtrack to Your Evening
What elevates El Oceano's restaurant beyond even its excellent food is the entertainment. Most evenings throughout the season, live performers take to the stage — singers, musicians and tribute acts of genuine quality who understand exactly what poolside and beachfront dining entertainment should be: engaging enough to lift the mood and add energy to the occasion, but never so loud or demanding of attention that they intrude on conversation or overshadow the food.
Regular performers include established favourites such as Johnny Baker, Zing!, Georgie O'Neill and Gary B Poole, alongside a rotating programme of special guest acts — tribute evenings, themed performances and visiting artists that keep the entertainment calendar varied and consistently worth checking in advance.
The Full Moon Gala Dinners are among the most celebrated evenings in El Oceano's calendar — spectacular occasions with special menus, elevated entertainment and a sense of occasion that draws guests from across the Costa del Sol. They sell out reliably and well in advance; if a Full Moon Gala Dinner falls during your stay or visit, early booking is strongly advised.
The Sunday Experience — A Costa del Sol Institution
Sunday at El Oceano is, quite simply, the best lunch on the Costa del Sol. It is more than a meal — it is an event, an institution, and for many guests the highlight of their entire holiday or season on the coast.
The Sunday Experience combines an exceptional menu with live entertainment that begins at lunchtime and carries the afternoon forward in the most pleasurable possible way. Tables fill early and the atmosphere builds steadily through the afternoon, with the music, the food, the wine and the company of a room full of happy people creating something that is genuinely greater than the sum of its parts. It regularly extends well into the evening for those who are not quite ready to let the afternoon end.
Booking for Sunday lunch is essential — and the further in advance, the better. Sunday tables at El Oceano are among the most sought-after reservations on the Costa del Sol, particularly during the peak season from spring through to autumn.
Reservations & Dress Code
Restaurant reservations can be made directly through the El Oceano website at oceanohotel.com, by email at info@oceanohotel.com, or by calling (+34) 952 587 550. Booking direct is always recommended, and for popular evenings — particularly weekends, Full Moon Gala Dinners, and Sundays — reserving well in advance is strongly advised.
El Oceano operates a smart-casual dress code in the restaurant. Guests are asked to dress with a sense of occasion — elegant and relaxed rather than formal, but with the care that reflects the quality of the setting. Gentlemen are kindly asked to wear long trousers for dinner. The dress code is part of what maintains the sophisticated atmosphere that El Oceano's guests value and return for.
Where Exceptional Food Meets Outstanding Entertainment
Great food deserves a great atmosphere, and at El Oceano Restaurant, we believe that live entertainment elevates dining from merely excellent to truly unforgettable. Throughout the season, talented musicians, singers, and performers transform our beachfront restaurant and Polynesian Pool area into vibrant venues where the joy of live performance enhances the pleasure of exceptional cuisine and beautiful surroundings.
This isn't background music piped through speakers or a solitary guitarist playing the same tired repertoire. This is carefully curated entertainment featuring genuinely talented performers who understand how to create atmosphere without overwhelming it, how to engage an audience while respecting the essential purpose of the evening—exceptional dining in beautiful surroundings with people you care about.
Evening Entertainment in the Restaurant
As the sun begins its descent toward the Mediterranean and the Costa del Sol sky transforms into shades of pink and gold, El Oceano Restaurant takes on a magical quality. The beachfront terrace, already stunning during daylight hours, becomes even more special as evening approaches. Candlelight flickers on tables. The sound of waves provides a gentle backdrop. And as dinner service begins, live entertainment adds another dimension to the experience.
The restaurant features regular evening entertainment throughout the season, with talented performers carefully selected for their ability to enhance rather than dominate the dining experience. These aren't loud, intrusive acts that make conversation impossible. They're sophisticated musicians and vocalists who understand the art of creating ambiance—engaging enough to enjoy, skilled enough to impress, yet never so loud or demanding of attention that they interfere with the essential pleasure of good food and good company.
You might find yourself enjoying dinner accompanied by a talented acoustic guitarist whose repertoire spans decades and genres, their playing adding texture and emotion to the evening without overwhelming conversation. Or perhaps a skilled vocalist whose voice carries beautifully across the terrace, performing classic songs that everyone knows but delivered with such feeling and technical excellence that familiar becomes special again.
Jazz ensembles bring sophistication and style to certain evenings, their improvisations and interplay creating a soundtrack that feels both timeless and perfectly suited to the setting. Duos and small groups offer variety and energy, their chemistry and musical conversations adding life and warmth to the atmosphere. Every performance is different, yet all share that essential quality—they enhance your evening rather than dominating it.
Weekend Afternoons by the Polynesian Pool
While evening entertainment in the restaurant creates one kind of magic, weekend afternoons around the Polynesian Pool offer something different but equally special. This is where "Awesome Afternoons" truly come alive, where the already appealing combination of heated pool, swim-up bar, VIP Sunbeds, and beachfront location gets elevated by carefully selected entertainment that captures the essence of Costa del Sol living at its finest.
Weekend afternoons feature DJs and performers who understand the delicate balance required for poolside entertainment. The music needs energy and vitality—after all, this is a celebration of sunshine, good times, and the sheer pleasure of being alive on a beautiful day in southern Spain. But it also needs sophistication, never descending into the kind of aggressive volume or relentless beat that transforms relaxation into endurance.
Our DJs bring skill and musicality to their selections, reading the crowd and the moment, understanding when to energize and when to allow breathing space. They create soundtracks for your afternoon that span genres and decades, mixing familiar favorites with unexpected discoveries, building atmosphere through thoughtful curation rather than simply playing the obvious hits at maximum volume.
Live performers add special touches to weekend afternoons, bringing that irreplaceable quality of human performance that no recording can quite match. Vocalists, musicians, and entertainers who know how to work a crowd without demanding constant attention, who can create moments of genuine engagement while respecting that many guests simply want to relax with a cocktail and enjoy the music as part of the larger experience rather than the sole focus.
The Perfect Balance
What distinguishes El Oceano's approach to entertainment is understanding that balance matters more than volume, quality matters more than quantity, and enhancement matters more than dominance. We've witnessed too many restaurants and pool venues where entertainment becomes an assault—so loud you can't hear your companions, so attention-demanding you can't simply enjoy your meal or your afternoon, so relentless there's no space for conversation or quiet appreciation.
Our entertainment philosophy centers on enhancement. The music and performances should make your evening or afternoon better, richer, more memorable. They should add texture and emotion and energy to your experience. But they should never overwhelm the fundamental pleasures we're here to provide—exceptional food, beautiful surroundings, comfortable luxury, and space for genuine connection with the people sharing your table or your sunbed.
This means our performers are carefully briefed on our expectations. Volume levels are monitored and maintained at levels that allow conversation. Set lengths are structured to provide entertainment without exhausting the audience. Repertoire is varied enough to appeal to diverse tastes while maintaining consistent quality and sophistication.
Special Events and Themed Evenings
Throughout the season, El Oceano hosts special entertainment events that showcase exceptional talent and create memorable occasions. These might include tribute performances celebrating legendary artists, themed evenings built around particular musical genres or eras, or appearances by well-known performers whose reputation draws guests from across the Costa del Sol.
These special events maintain the same philosophy—quality over volume, enhancement over dominance—but with added production value and that sense of occasion that comes from experiencing something beyond the everyday. They're evenings when you dress a little more carefully, arrive with heightened anticipation, and leave with stories to tell and memories to treasure.
Past events have featured stars from television talent shows, accomplished musicians with impressive credentials, and performers whose skills and stage presence transform a lovely evening into something genuinely special. These events often sell out quickly, attracting both hotel guests and local residents who appreciate the combination of exceptional entertainment and the El Oceano setting.
Creating the Complete Experience
Live entertainment at El Oceano represents just one element of the complete experience we strive to provide, but it's an important element. Music and performance have unique power to enhance mood, create atmosphere, and transform ordinary moments into special ones. A good meal becomes better when accompanied by beautiful music. An afternoon by the pool becomes more memorable when talented performers add their artistry to the mix.
The combination of our beachfront location, exceptional cuisine, quality accommodation, and carefully curated entertainment creates something that's genuinely greater than the sum of its parts. Each element supports and enhances the others. The setting makes the food taste better. The food makes you more receptive to the music. The music makes the setting feel even more special. It's a virtuous cycle of enhancement that leaves guests feeling they've experienced something rare and valuable.
Planning Your Visit
Our entertainment schedule changes throughout the season, with different performers and acts rotating to provide variety and ensure returning guests always experience something fresh. The best way to stay informed about upcoming entertainment is to check our website regularly or contact the restaurant directly when making your reservation.
For weekend afternoons by the Polynesian Pool, we recommend booking VIP Sunbeds in advance, particularly during peak season when these premium spots fill quickly. Evening entertainment in the restaurant is included with your meal—no cover charge or additional fees, just exceptional dining enhanced by live performance.
Hotel guests enjoy the additional advantage of being able to simply wander down to the restaurant or pool area to see what's happening, making spontaneous enjoyment of our entertainment offerings easy and natural. For non-residents, we encourage advance reservations for both lunch and dinner, particularly on evenings when special entertainment events are scheduled.
The Soundtrack to Your Costa del Sol Experience
Music and performance have the power to lodge moments in memory more effectively than almost anything else. Years later, you'll remember not just what you ate or where you sat, but the singer whose voice carried across the terrace as the sun set, or the afternoon by the pool when the DJ played that perfect song at exactly the right moment and everything felt absolutely ideal.
At El Oceano, we understand this power and take our role seriously. The entertainment we provide becomes part of your holiday story, woven into memories of exceptional meals, lazy afternoons, romantic evenings, and those precious times when life feels exactly as it should.
Join us for dinner and discover how talented performers can elevate an already exceptional meal into an unforgettable evening. Spend a weekend afternoon by the Polynesian Pool and experience how the right entertainment can transform relaxation into celebration. This is El Oceano at its finest—where the Mediterranean meets music, where exceptional food meets outstanding performance, and where every moment feels designed to create memories that last long after the final note fades.
El Oceano Restaurant, Mijas Costa, spain
Find El Oceano right on the water-front between Marbella and La Cala de Mijas, on Spain's beautiful Costa del Sol. Getting here is easy, we are just a 30 minutes drive from Málaga Airport.
El Oceano Beach Hotel
Km 1026, Calle Cádiz de Torrenueva 31
Mijas Costa, Málaga, Spain.
Telephone (+34) 952 587 550
oceanohotel.com . info@oceanohotel.com
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