The long wooden bar inside The Hairy Lemon

Since 2011

Our story

One of the longest serving restaurants in Sotogrande — still run by the same family that opened it.

Lorenc & Lizzie

Heart-warming food, year after year

Lorenc and Lizzie arrived in 2011 to manage the restaurant, and liked it enough to buy it a year or so later. What they wanted was straightforward: somewhere families could relax and feel welcome, where children could explore the plaza while their parents took their time — and somewhere that became a hub for the people who live here, rather than a place you visit once.

Lorenc started in the kitchen and has never really left it. He builds the menus with Lizzie, buys from local suppliers wherever he can, and keeps the pies, the desserts and the tapas being made in-house. These days he moves between the kitchen and the floor, which is usually the fastest way to keep both of them honest.

Brigita, part of the management team, behind the bar
A waiter serving a guest at a table under a parasol

Every guest is treated like a regular — because most of them become one.

The team

Lorenc and Lizzie own The Hairy Lemon, but they are not the whole story. Robert has run the kitchen for over a decade, Alfonso the floor for just as long, and Antonio, Brigita and Marilyn have been part of the management for years. A restaurant that keeps its people tends to keep its regulars.

Owners
Lorenc & Lizzie
Taken over
2011
Head chef
Robert, over a decade
Front of house
Alfonso, over a decade
Management
Antonio, Brigita & Marilyn
Open
Every day of the year

The room

Inside, outside and everywhere between

An industrial-style bar, a quieter bistro, and a terrace that opens onto the plaza. Most days, people drift between all three.

Brass beer taps along the bar
The bar
The Bistro dining room with wooden floors and arched window
The bistro
Guests seated on the terrace among the palms
The terrace
The Hairy Lemon frontage and terrace tables on the plaza

Where to find us

Plaza de los Naranjos, Puerto Sotogrande

A few steps from the water, on the square with the orange trees. There is parking around the port, and shade on the terrace for most of the day.

The Hairy Lemon sign above the terrace, framed by flowers

Reservations

Come and sit with us

Call, email or simply walk in. We are open every day from nine in the morning until late, and there is almost always a table in the sunshine.