Our favourite place to eat lunch with our toes buried in the sand is open for the 2024 season. Ponderosa Beach is today a very different business from that started by the current owners’ grandparents back in the ’50s to offer refreshments to people spending time on Playa de Muro’s gorgeous beach. We first discovered the contemporary Ponderosa Beach – an establishment serving surprisingly good and interesting food and drinks – back in 2014 and have been every summer since then.

Some sadness was behind our first visit. One of my uncles had just died. He had dementia and had been in a home for a while. The news of his passing was not entirely unexpected but felt like a wake-up call: Life is too short to spend it all working. In the middle of writing some articles for a magazine, I took the afternoon off (no deadlines were missed) and we made our first visit to this place that friends had recommended. It was also a chance to raise a glass of something chilled to my late uncle.

How to Get There

A family-friendly establishment, Ponderosa Beach is located between the cluster of summer houses known as Ses Casetes des Capellans and the Mediterranean – which often resembles the Caribbean here on Playa de Muro. The entrance to Ses Casetes des Capellans is signposted off the roundabout by the Eroski supermarket,

In previous years, beachgoers and Ponderosa Beach visitors could park in the rough parking area between the houses and the beach, but from mid-June to mid-September parking is now restricted to those who are staying in the casetes. Beware: fines are issued for inappropriate parking (cameras are in operation). Free parking options now are the huge library car park or along the service road parallel to the main road (opposite Eroski supermarket) – only a short walk away.

After a period when the coastal authorities banned Ponderosa Beach and other neighbouring establishments from putting tables onto the sand itself, things went back to normal in 2023. Once again, you can sit at a table with your toes buried in the sand.

The Team

The third generation of the founders is in charge. Carlos, Marga, and Balta are hands-on at Ponderosa Beach – with an extra warm welcome for regular clients (of which there are many). The service team has changed over the years we’ve been going, but staff members have always been professional, with a friendliness that makes diners feel relaxed, and several members of the team have been there for a few years.

Chef Rafael Serrano heads up the kitchen, which produces a constant stream of paellas and other dishes throughout the busy service period.

Cocktails (10€), mocktails (8€), vermouths, wines, beers, and spirits, are also available and Ponderosa Beach is a popular spot for an early-evening drink once the kitchen has closed at 17:00h. Perfect after a long day enjoying the soft sands and crystalline waters.

The Food

The menu offers starters, salads, paellas, dishes ‘from the land’ and ‘from the sea’, kids’ dishes, sides, and desserts – it’s worth saving space for a sweet end to your lunch. Each dish on the menu is marked to show potential allergens. Daily suggestions are offered in addition.

Favourite starters include the zingy sea bass ceviche, croquetas, and Mediterranean squid with an orange-almond alioli dip – which can be gluten-free on request. 

Steaming paellas and fideuás are constantly leaving chef Rafael Serrano’s kitchen, and if you crave a well-made paella, it’s a place to satisfy that craving. Freshly cooked to order, prices range from 19€ to 30€ for the indulgent Barroco, made with queen scallops, red prawns, crawfish, prawn tails, cuttlefish, and mussels. The 20-hr ‘Duroc’ pork ribs are a sticky-fingered delight if you prefer meat. Fresh fish is always good too. For our visit 2024 visit, I chose grilled, free-range chicken thigh glazed with chilli and tamarind sauce with roasted red peppers and coriander alioli; The Boss had John Dory.

Good to Know

You need to book ahead for a table at Ponderosa Beach and once you’re at that table, it’s yours for two hours. Be sure to turn up on time – only 15 minutes’ grace is given before that lusted-after table becomes someone else’s.

There are currently a couple of children’s dishes (15€ each) on the menu.

More dishes will be added to the menu in May, when the season really gets going.

Open daily: Kitchen 12:30h­–17:00h; Restaurant 12:30h–19:00h. Closed in winter.

Jan Edwards©2024