Lunch by the Sea — Beachfront Dining at Its Most Relaxed
Relax, unwind, and enjoy a leisurely lunch as the waves lap against the shore. Our beachfront terrace offers the ultimate setting for a casual yet sophisticated midday meal.
A Mediterranean Lunch Menu
to Remember
So good, you won't want to leave.
There are lunches, and then there are lunches at El Oceano. The kind where the Mediterranean is right in front of you, the food is genuinely exceptional, the service is warm and unhurried, and the afternoon — which you had every intention of keeping short — stretches pleasurably on until early evening without anyone minding in the slightest.
Lunch Menu
Restaurant
Polynesian Pool
Reserve your Lunch Table
Not every lunch calls for three courses and a wine list. Sometimes what you want is something beautifully made, generously portioned, and easy to enjoy in the sunshine without ceremony. That’s exactly what the El Oceano lite-bites lunch menu delivers.
From Peking Duck Spring Rolls and Prawns Pil-Pil — that Spanish classic of juicy prawns in hot garlic oil — to a Tuna Poke Bowl, a Crispy Buffalo Chicken Wrap, and the Oceano Club Sandwich, the lunch menu covers a satisfying range of flavours and styles. The Caesar Salad, available with chicken or grilled prawns, is a perennial favourite. The Traditional Paella — saffron-infused rice with a medley of fresh Andalusian seafood — is available to pre-order and is about as good a reason to plan your lunch in advance as you’re likely to find on the Costa del Sol.
After Lunch — The Afternoon is Just Beginning
One of the particular pleasures of lunch at El Oceano is what comes next. As a lunchtime guest you have full access to the terrace and the Polynesian Pool area, which means that a long lunch can flow naturally into an equally long, equally enjoyable afternoon by the water. VIP sunbed packages are available to book alongside your lunch reservation — a premium sunbed position with personal waiter service, luxury towels, and full access to the heated Polynesian Pool from midday onwards. The swim-up bar is on hand throughout the afternoon, the entertainment team brings the pool terrace to life from Thursday to Sunday, and the combination of a well-fed afternoon and warm Costa del Sol sunshine is, frankly, one of the more civilised ways a day can be spent.
Book your table, book your sunbed, and leave the rest of the afternoon open.
Lunch at El Oceano — What to Expect
Lunch at El Oceano is served every day throughout the season, from midday onwards. The full à la carte menu is available for those who want the complete El Oceano dining experience in the middle of the day — starters, mains, desserts, and the full depth of a kitchen that takes genuine pride in everything it produces. For a lighter appetite, the lite-bites lunch menu offers a carefully chosen selection of dishes that are anything but lightweight in terms of quality — fresh, flavourful, and priced to reflect the relaxed nature of a midday meal without any reduction in the care taken in the kitchen.
The lunch service runs across all three of El Oceano's dining settings — the Ocean Room, the Veranda, and the Waterfront Terrace — with your choice depending on the weather, your mood, and your preference for the view. Every setting offers stunning sea views. Every table receives the same standard of warm, attentive service. And every dish, whether it's a quick Chicken Quesadilla or a full three-course à la carte lunch, is produced with the same commitment to quality that has given El Oceano its reputation as one of the finest restaurants on the Mijas Costa.
Reservations are recommended, particularly for weekend lunches and throughout the peak summer season.
Why Lunch at El Oceano is Worth Making Plans For
The Costa del Sol has no shortage of places to eat lunch. What it has rather fewer of is places where lunch becomes an occasion — where the combination of setting, food, service, and atmosphere conspires to turn a midday meal into one of the memories you bring home from a holiday. El Oceano is one of those places, and the lunch service here has a devoted following that includes both hotel guests and local diners who make the journey specifically for it, week after week throughout the season.
It's a reputation that has been built on a simple foundation: very good food, served in one of the most beautiful dining settings on the coast, by a team that genuinely enjoys looking after people. The details vary — the menu changes with the seasons, the setting shifts between the Ocean Room, the Veranda, and the terrace depending on the weather and the time of year — but the quality and the warmth of the experience remain entirely consistent.
The Setting — Three Ways to Have Lunch by the Sea
El Oceano offers three distinct dining environments, each with its own character, and each of them available for the lunch service.
The Ocean Room is the heart of the restaurant — bright, spacious, and oriented almost entirely towards the Mediterranean, with large glass walls that open fully on warm days to dissolve the boundary between inside and outside entirely. Lunch in the Ocean Room on a clear Costa del Sol afternoon, with the sea visible in all directions and the light bouncing off the water, is a genuinely uplifting experience. It's the setting most guests encounter first, and it rarely fails to impress.
The Veranda is a slightly more intimate proposition — a glass-enclosed dining space that gives the impression of being suspended directly over the sea, with views that extend south towards the mountains of North Africa on a clear day. It has a particular quality at lunchtime, when the light is at its strongest and the views are at their most dramatic. For guests who prefer a quieter, slightly more private lunch, the Veranda is often the preferred choice.
The Waterfront Terrace is, simply, one of the finest outdoor dining spaces on the Costa del Sol. Positioned directly on the beach, open to the sky and the sea breeze, it is the setting where lunch most naturally becomes an afternoon — where a glass of wine becomes two, where the dessert is ordered without any sense of hurry, and where the combination of warm Spanish sunshine, salt air, and genuinely accomplished food produces a state of contentment that is very difficult to argue with. The terrace is open throughout the summer months and on suitable days during the spring and autumn, and it is, when it's available, the first choice of many regular lunchtime guests.
The Menu — Something for Every Appetite
The lunch offering at El Oceano is designed to accommodate every kind of midday appetite and every kind of lunchtime mood. The full à la carte menu is available throughout the lunch service — an ambitious, carefully constructed menu of starters, mains, and desserts that represents the full capability of the El Oceano kitchen and is entirely appropriate for those who want a proper, multi-course lunch experience.
For lighter appetites, the lite-bites lunch menu offers a selection of dishes that are casual in format but serious in quality. The range covers considerable ground — from the delicate Skagen Toast with shrimps and crab, and the classic Prawns Pil-Pil in hot garlic oil, to the generously built Oceano Club Sandwich, the Baby Back Pork Ribs with El Oceano's own BBQ sauce, and the Tuna Poke Bowl with cucumber, avocado, seaweed, and edamame. The Caesar Salad — available with chicken at €16.50 or grilled prawns at €17.50 — is a consistent lunchtime favourite. The quarter-pound Steak Burger and the Kentucky Style Chicken Burger, both served with hand-cut chips, take care of heartier appetites with considerable success.
The Traditional Paella deserves a special mention. Saffron-infused rice with a medley of fresh Andalusian seafood and shellfish, prepared to order and available as a pre-order for two or more — it is, at €26 per person, one of the best-value and most authentically satisfying dishes on the lunch menu, and a very good reason to call ahead.
The full lunch menu is available to view on this website, and the à la carte menu is available for those who want to plan in detail before they arrive.
The Kitchen's Approach
The El Oceano kitchen does not operate differently at lunchtime and dinnertime. The same sourcing standards, the same preparation care, and the same commitment to presenting every dish well apply across both services. The head chef takes real pride in what leaves the kitchen, and it shows — in the freshness of the ingredients, the balance of the flavours, and the consistency that regular guests have come to rely on across many seasons.
Daily specials are prepared according to market availability and seasonal interest, and your server will be happy to describe and price them. If you have dietary requirements — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or otherwise — please mention them at the time of booking and the kitchen will ensure you are well looked after.
A 10% optional service charge is added to the bill. Prices include all applicable taxes. A cover charge of €2 includes a selection of bread.
Lunch for Non-Residents
El Oceano's restaurant is open to everyone — you don't need to be staying at the hotel to join us for lunch. A significant proportion of regular lunchtime guests are local to the Mijas Costa, Marbella, and Fuengirola, and many make the journey from further along the coast specifically for the combination of food, setting, and atmosphere that the restaurant provides. If you're visiting the area for the day, El Oceano is one of those lunch stops that tends to become a fixture of future trips.
Booking and Practical Details
Lunch reservations can be made directly through the booking system on this website — simply select your preferred date, time, and party size and we'll take care of the rest. Walk-ins are welcome when the restaurant has availability, but for weekend lunches, the Sunday Experience, and throughout the peak summer months, advance booking is strongly recommended. The best tables — particularly those on the terrace and with sea views in the Ocean Room — go to those who plan ahead.
For groups of eight or more, please contact us directly on (+34) 952 587 550 or at info@oceanohotel.com and we'll ensure everything is arranged to suit you.
And if you're planning to follow lunch with an afternoon at the Polynesian Pool on a VIP sunbed — which we'd thoroughly recommend — you can book both at the same time. It makes for a very good day indeed.
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
facebook.com/oceanohotel . instagram.com/oceanobeachhotel
Frequently Asked Restaurant Questions
If you have any questions about El Oceano Restaurant, we’re always here to help. You can contact El Oceano with any specific enquiries, however our comprehensive FAQs should answer most of your questions. See all the Freqently Asked 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?”
