Hostal Taberna La Villa

The patatas bravas were so good, and it was a lovely spot to enjoy Rioja with the locals. We had a great day and stayed the night at Canales de la Sierra. The warm welcome and wonderful hospitality at La Villa made the visit even better. Thank you 🙏❤️🐶🐄

Lunch starts around 13.30, the usual Spanish lunchtime. For €11, you get a rustic menu del dia with the usual three courses and a bottle of wine, water, or beer. It’s not fancy, just generous portions of good home cooking.

We hadn’t realized when we booked from home just how remote the place was. There’s only the small village around it, and just two places were open, including this little bar, café and restaurant with 4-6 rooms. The guests seemed mostly local rather than international. The young couple and older couple working there didn’t speak English, but we managed fine with gestures and the few words we knew in each other’s languages. It always amazes me how well people can communicate without sharing a spoken language. If you’re after an unusual taste of local life, I do recommend giving it a try. Our room was small but clean and had what we needed, including good beds and a small, nice shower. There was no air conditioning, and the window looked out toward the nearby mountain and some cows grazing. They roam freely, sometimes on the road but mostly in the fields on the mountainside. They seemed calm and friendly, never threatening. We spent the late afternoon relaxing, drinking fabulous coffee and taking a slow walk around the village. We looked at the dogs lying about, the church on the hill and the historic buildings. It was completely quiet apart from the soothing sound of cowbells from the cows grazing up the hills. Dinner wasn’t served until 9 pm, which is late for me, though that’s how dining works in Spain. Until then, the whole village gathered in the bar to watch a football game on the big screen. The quiet suddenly gave way to shouting, chatting, laughter and drinking, filling the room and street, really the whole village. Thankfully the dining room was separate from the football crowd, though they do seem to like having big TVs near dinner too. This one was showing a Spanish dating program, without subtitles. The young hostess showed us a little notebook with the dinner menu written in English, which we hadn’t expected. I’d assumed we’d get a set meal of two or three courses, but there were four choices each for starters, mains and desserts, as well as a burger dinner for the safer option. We chose the pork “cheeks” and the dish called “veal,” both with fries. The meat was tasty, though the fries were soft and spongy rather than crunchy, as they often are in Spain. The starter called Asparagus turned out to be a delicate salad with mayo, potatoes, carrots and some asparagus, a nice surprise since I’d expected just the vegetable. Dessert was coffee pudding with cream, a little heavy but very nicely homemade. Breakfast was average, with lots of spongecake, which I don’t like, and toasted bread with butter and jam. The coffee was lovely, and we’d already had plenty of it. The smell of fried eggs and onions we’d noticed early in the morning wasn’t breakfast, unfortunately. The older man was making tapas for the bar display, which looked nice, along with some ham and bread. We were really glad to find this little extraordinary place, and I’d happily return even though it’s a bit off the beaten track. Go if you get the chance, and enjoy the quiet, friendly atmosphere and good food.

I had a nice time in the restaurant, stopped to rest for a bit and enjoyed a beer.