chapel

Hello all
I am driving up to Seville with some friends in a few weeks and want to treat them to a special meal. I would welcome any suggestions on where to dine, in the evening and not tapas. We have a generous budget and am looking for top end.
Many Thanks

Dxf

Hi

There are several "luxury" hotels in Seville where a meal can cost an arm and a leg. Hotel Alfonso X111 for example.

Davexf

fionamw

And if you were going, no expense spared but wanting good food good ambience good service without paying just for the name/star rating?

Dxf

Hi Fionamw

I am into tapas - locally I can get for between one euro and 1-20. There is a wonderful tapas bar in Sanlucar de Mayor just outside Seville on the Huelva road - that´s where I go by preference - I felt out of place in the Alfonso and also LaCasas de Justica - I´m just an ordinary working bloke with no airs or graces.

I also like the WOK restaurant (buffet libre) in the Aire Sur complex next door to IKEA. Just good food and well cooked. The new WOK in Camas is just too large for ambiance. I have tried several restaurants / Cafes / bars in Seville and to me the working men´s bars are excellent.

Davexf

The Beast

I have eaten in these two and they were highly and rightly recommended....It has been a while though...

El Giraldillo
Meson Don Raimundo

fionamw

Tapas, wok etc., are fine but sometimes somewhere otherwise ordinary becomes extraordinary because of location, view, ambience, or a chef working his/her little cotton socks off. That's the kind of place to aim for. Besides you don't need airs and graces to go into an expensive restaurant, you just need money. I'm not sure OP was looking for expensive per se, but luxury maybe....

Dxf

Hi Chapel,

If you are driving "UP to Seville" then if you pass Medina Sidonia, then there is a wonderful restaurant atop of the hill that gives you FREE bed & breakfast if you spend over 50€ a couple!

And the views are wonderful

Davexf

Lynn R

Not sure it would meet the OP's criteria as I wouldn't describe it as top end, but for location and ambience we like the Italian restaurant San Marco on Calle Meson del Moro in Sevilla. It is housed in converted Moorish baths and the building is really lovely inside. The food and service is good and not expensive. I couldn't give any recommendations for expensive restaurants serving Spanish cuisine, we never get to go to any as they don't have anything on their menus for my vegetarian OH!

noelrosie

I would second San Marco as a restaurant offering good food in a lovely setting. We ate there several times whilst visiting our daughter during her year at the University in Sevilla, and it was always good (although can get quite busy).

cricketman

It's a bit sad going to visit Seville and then eating at an Italian restaurant isnt it?

Controversial?

OK, its fine if you go regularly to the city or live there, but presumably the OP wants to sample food from Seville?

Lynn R

It might be sad, but if you don't eat meat or fish your options in Sevilla (or anywhere else in Andalucia) are pretty limited and in Italian restaurants at least you are guaranteed more than one option to choose from. And in restaurants that do claim to offer a vegetarian option, said option is vegetarian lasagne more often than not, totally bland according to my OH. There are a couple of options we use in Sevilla such as La Huerta (small tapas bar, very good) and Habanita (Cuban, good vegetarian options) but neither of them are remotely top end so I wouldn't recommend them to the OP.

noelrosie

We mostly ate in Tapas bars (El Rinconcillo, where everything seems to be done with chalk on a blackboard, being a particular favourite), which is traditional Sevillano food, but the OP specifically expressed a desire not to eat Tapas.

cricketman

Sure. I have no idea where to eat in Seville, I've only been once and that was 10 years ago

There will be plenty of Spanish restaurants that arent tapas. After all Spaniards love formal dining too and normally only eat tapas when at a bar

Lynn R

The Hotel Rey Alfonso XIII which Dxf mentioned is somewhere the OP could perhaps consider, I know it has quite recently reopened after complete refurbishment, it was still closed when I was last in Sevilla in November.

The menu in the Restaurante Alfonso looks nice, you would be looking at a minimum of 60€ per head for 3 courses without wine. Personally, I would take some persuading to pay 20€ for a serving of salmorejo no matter how plush the surroundings!

Dxf

It keeps the riff-raff out

Davexf