Venta La Choza (tel 952 89 0925 ) is situated at the bottom of the road leading up to the Doña Julia golf course and all the Doña Julia developments. In fact, this restaurant has been in situ way before the golf course was even built and any of the development started. I remember taking my daughter there when she was about 3 and she’s now 26!!
There is a small car park to the side of the restaurant, but if this is full, there is plenty of parking nearby.
Don’t be put off by the exterior, once inside, it opens up to reveal a really rustic Spanish decor, like being in someone’s own dining room, with lots of little side areas and corners where you can dine in relative privacy if you wanted to. Years ago, there was a large outside terrace but a few years ago the owners enclosed the terrace and made a large water feature, which allowed them to seat more people inside during the winter whilst still giving an “outside” feel. If you still want to sit outside, there is a small terrace at the front of the restaurant.
As you enter the restaurant, there is a pleasant bar area where you can enjoy a pre lunch or dinner drink or you can go directly to your table. We were greeted and seated straight away and our drinks order taken.
The menu is extensive and it was quite difficult to decide what to have. I did like the fact that we were asked if we wanted bread and only the required portions were supplied – it’s one of my pet hates when the waiter just puts bread on the table and you are charged for it regardless of whether you wanted it or not..! There is a separate children’s menu with options with names that will certainly appeal to the kids such as “Noddy”, “Spongebob” and “Pingu” and several vegetarian options as well.
In the end we settled on avacado with prawns to share for a starter – it was so good that we’d eaten most of it before we remembered to take the photo :))
To follow, 2 of us has BBQ ribs and the other had beef strogonoff. I was expecting half a rack, not the huge full rack of ribs that arrived. The BBQ was tangy and delicious …my colleague summed it up as “finger lickin good!”
From previous experience, I can also recommend the onion soup – only downside is, it’s so filling, you can hardly eat a main course afterwards.
We were too full to have dessert but did have a coffee which we took outside on the small terrace
The portions are very generous and it’s not too expensive either. Starters ranged from 4.50€ to 15.00€ with mains from 10.00€ to 23.00€ . They do offer a menu de dia from Monday – Friday but you need to ask for it as they don’t actually offer it to you.
Venta La choza is open every day apart from Tuesdays from 11.30 – 16.30 for lunch and 18.00 – midnight for dinner (although this will be much later at the height of the summer). For reservations call (0034) 952 89 0925 or book online via their website http://www.ventalachoza.com