La Perla de Jávea

A family at the Arenal since 1984

La Perla opened in 1984 on the Arenal beach, run by Dolores Candela and Antonio Box. When they retired, the restaurant passed to their children: today María Victoria runs it and in the kitchen is Sonia Box, who joined as a young woman to help her parents. It is at number 21 avenida de la Llibertat, the promenade that runs behind the sand, with the sea in front. The restaurant insists on local produce and the menu reflects it: red prawns from Xàbia, gambusí from the bay and fish that changes according to what the fish market has brought.

The rice menu, dish by dish

Almost half the menu is rice, and all are served for a minimum of two people, priced per person. Among the dry rice dishes, the vegetable paella costs €19; the arroz del senyoret and the black rice, €20; the one with market cuttlefish with monkfish and artichokes and the chicken and rabbit one, €22; the paella valenciana, €23; the marinera, the mixed and the one with Dublin Bay prawns and spring garlic, €24, and the blue lobster one, €36. There are two soupy ones, with cuttlefish, prawns and spring garlic (€22) and with blue lobster (€36), and three fideuàs: del senyoret (€20), seafood (€24) and lobster (€36).

For nibbling beforehand, the menu separates cold, hot and fried. There are oysters and anchovies by the piece, semi-roasted tomatoes with ajoblanco and the house's cured fish (€17), semi-cured sea bass (€19), red prawns with garlic (€27), grilled octopus with romesco (€26) and, among the fried dishes, red prawn or ham croquettes, salt cod fritters, baby squid (€19) or fried gambusí from the bay (€17.50). Grilled red prawn from Xàbia is sold by weight, at €260 a kilo.

If someone at the table does not want rice

The fresh fish from the market is cooked on the grill over olive wood and comes with garlic, extra virgin olive oil, sautéed vegetables and small potatoes. It has no fixed price: the type and weight change every day, so ask the waiter before ordering. The meat is also grilled: acorn-fed Iberian pluma (€28), beef sirloin or low loin (€30), crispy suckling pig (€33) and a one-kilo high-loin steak for two (€78). For dessert, tarte tatin, cheesecake, lemon pie, brioche torrija or a Valencia orange cream with rum, from €6.50 to €10. The menu does not publish a children's menu, set menus or allergen information: if you need them, ask when you book.

Calendar: closed Mondays and autumn holidays

It is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 13:00 to 16:00 and from 19:30 to 23:00. On Mondays it is closed. In 2026 it closed for holidays on 19 October and does not return until Tuesday 1 December. In December it opens on Monday the 7th, closes on Wednesday the 9th and on Mondays the 14th and 21st, and on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January it only serves lunch. The website has no online booking: book by phone on 966 47 07 72.

If you are spending the day at the Arenal, the Hotel VillaNaranjos is a few minutes' walk along the same seafront. At the other end of the bay, about two kilometres away, is the fishing district of Duanes de la Mar, with the fish market where the bay's fish is auctioned.