When I visited: August 2017

Location: Marbella

Rating in the Michelin Guide: Not in the Guide

Dining Owl Hoot rating: 3/5

What to wear: Could go casual

Ambience: Chilled

Course of the meal: Gourmet burger

If I could change one thing: Lighter dessert options

Review:

Soleo is a great choice if you want a casual lunch or dinner by the beach in Marbella. We went for dinner and started with a glass of Cava each, along with a selection of breads with olive oil (including a dense Danish bread).

We shared a starter of tuna carpaccio with little grana padana cheese slices and pickled onions dyed red, which was full of flavour. My partner Owl went for the Secreto pork for a main course (tender, served with small potatoes) while I enjoyed the gourmet burger with fries and a coleslaw salad. For dessert, we shared a caramel cocoa pod with milk chocolate ice cream – this was far better than a standard chocolate dessert as all the chocolate elements tasted like the cocoa content was high (rather than padded out with sugar and vegetable oil).

The food was good and the service was friendly, but the selling point of this restaurant is really its setting – amazing views of the sunset and sea, crashing waves and live guitar music (the guitar player also sang some chilled versions of old-school hits like Stand By Me, Fly Me To the Moon, and Girl from Ipanema).