Where do you eat the best arroz in Alicante?

We are still choosing the specific places the proper way: by eating in them, with people from here, no rush. As soon as the list is ready, it will live on this page. The rule that never fails: rice ordered in advance, a 45-minute wait, and no paella photo at the door.

What is the difference between arroz a banda and arroz del senyoret?

Arroz a banda is cooked in fish stock and served with the fish on the side (on a second dish). Arroz del senyoret has the seafood already peeled inside the rice, so you do not get your hands dirty. Both are dry rice dishes.

How much does an arroz cost in Alicante?

Between €18 and €25 per person at a decent neighbourhood place. Between €25 and €40 at a reference restaurant. Above €40 per person you are into fine dining. It has to be ordered in advance (45 minutes) and is usually for a minimum of two people.

Can you have arroz for dinner?

At serious places, no. The rice is cooked to order and at night they only serve reheated leftovers. If a tourist terrace offers it to you at 9pm, run. Exception: some serious restaurants accept a night-time order with 48 hours notice.

Is Alicante paella the same as the Valencian one?

No. Valencian paella has chicken, rabbit, garrofó (a flat white bean) and green beans. The Alicante version has meat (pork, chicken) and local vegetables, sometimes with snails. Asking for "Valencian paella" in Alicante is sometimes read as "the Alicante version with chicken and rabbit": it is a good idea to ask.

Alicante guide · Alirena

In Alicante, arroz is serious business

A banda, del senyoret, with costra, with lobster. And the paella, which here is not the same as in Valencia. The six rices that matter and the rules you respect at an Alicante table.

In Alicante, arroz (rice) is not a dish. It is a whole affair. There is a way to order it, a way to cook it, a way to look at it when it arrives at the table and a way to eat it (with a spoon, from the edge towards the centre, without lifting the rice off the bottom until the end). You learn all of that by eating it. But there are places that cook it well for you and places that do not. That is the first battle.

Three rules before you start

One. Arroz is ordered in advance and takes 45 minutes. If they have it ready in ten, it is not arroz: it is reheated rice. Your table pays for it and nobody should.

Two. Alicante arroz is dry. The paella is dry, the arroz a banda is dry, the arroz del senyoret is dry. Soupy rice (caldoso) and creamy rice (meloso) are cousin dishes, they are not the arroz. If you want a soupy one (delicious) ask for it specifically.

Three. It is eaten at midday. Full stop. Rice dinners are a trap or, at most, a night-time order with 48 hours notice. Any place that offers you arroz at 9pm without waiting 45 minutes is the wrong place.

Arroz a banda just served in a paella pan

The six rices of Alicante

1 · Arroz a banda

The most Alicante of them all. Rock-fish stock (gallineta, scorpion fish, morralla), bomba rice, a sofrito of tomato and ñora pepper. Served dry in a paella pan and, in some places, it comes with a second dish holding the fish from the stock on the side. Hence the name: "a banda" means "on the side". Eaten with alioli alongside, not on top.

2 · Arroz del senyoret

The same idea as the a banda, but with the seafood already peeled inside the rice: prawns without heads, mussels without shells, chopped squid. The "senyoret" (the little gentleman) is the one who does not want to get his hands dirty. More expensive: paying for the peeling costs between €4 and €8 more per person, and it usually pays off.

3 · Arroz con costra

A traditional dish from Elche and Alicante. Rice with cured meats (longaniza, butifarra, blood sausage) covered with a layer of beaten egg that sets in the oven: it forms an omelette on top. Spectacular when done well, a stodgy brick when done badly. Order it at specific places.

4 · Arroz con bogavante

The grand one. Lobster split in half on top of the rice, concentrated stock. It pushes up the price (€50–80 per person at serious places) and the festivity. Order it to celebrate something, not for an ordinary meal.

5 · Alicante paella

The local version: chicken, rabbit, garrofó, green beans, artichoke when in season, sometimes snails. It is NOT the Valencian paella: no seafood, no peas. Whoever asks for "mixed paella" breaks an Alicante grandmother's heart. If you go to a serious place, order it as they describe it; if they do not describe it, better order arroz.

6 · Arroz caldoso (soupy rice)

The cousin of the dry one. More abundant stock, a texture more like soup than a side dish. The soupy lobster rice is a dish for tributes and anniversaries. The fish one is a good winter meal.

Where to eat them

So where do you eat? We're choosing the places the proper way: by eating in them, with people from here, no rush. When the list is ready, it will live on this page and on the welcome card. At Alirena we don't recommend anything we haven't eaten. In the meantime, one tip that never fails: beware of the paella photo at the door and the rice that arrives in ten minutes.

What you do not do at a rice table

Ask for ketchup. Never.
Ask for it "well done". Alicante rice has a firm bite to it. If you want it softer, leave it in the paella pan longer, but ask for it that way explicitly.
Serve red wine with an arroz a banda. Good: cold white, fino, manzanilla, white vermouth.
Order it for just one. Almost all serious places serve rice for a minimum of two.
Eat it the first day you arrive, with jet lag. Rice demands a siesta. Take a siesta.

If you come with time on your hands and want to do it right, book a table for Saturday or Sunday at 14:30, order arroz del senyoret for two, a cold white, a starter (red prawns, grilled baby cuttlefish or a gilda), and finish with a café cortado. The bill will land between €60 and €90 for two. It is the best way to understand Alicante in two hours.