Nobu Marbella Restaurant Review 2026: What to Order, What It Costs and Where to Sit

Nobu is the restaurant visitors ask us about more than any other in Marbella, usually with the same question: is it worth what it costs, or is it a famous name in a resort? We have sent clients there for years, and the honest answer depends on the evening you want. Nobu Marbella is worth booking for a lively dinner of famous dishes done properly: expect about €200 for two before drinks, or €95 to €130 a head for the omakase, in a loud room at Puente Romano that is better for a first date than a quiet one.

This review covers the restaurant only; the Nobu Hotel around it has its own guide. If dinner is part of an evening with a Marbella escort, our guide to Marbella escorts explains how the booking side works.

Is Nobu Marbella Worth the Price?

For the right evening, yes. The signature dishes follow the same recipes as in Nobu's other restaurants, the service is quick and well drilled, and the room has energy. It is not good value per plate, and it is not quiet. Book it for fun and the famous dishes, not for a long talk.

What Dinner Costs: Four Ways to Order

These are our working totals from the 2026 menu, before the tip.

Our Verdict

Nobu's own directory lists 60 restaurants worldwide, five of them in Spain, and the point of the brand is that the black cod tastes the same in each. That is both its strength and its limit: there are few surprises, but nothing goes wrong. In Marbella the advantage is the setting, a terrace over Puente Romano's square with a bar and DJs a few steps away. If you want Japanese cooking to talk about, the starred counter at Nintai or PurOsushi's omakase will interest you more.

What Should You Order at Nobu Marbella?

Follow the kitchen's own advice: three or more of the house highlights, shared. Start with two or three cold dishes, move to two or three hot ones, then finish with sushi and a dessert. Four dishes for two people, plus nigiri, is about right before the plates start arriving faster than you can eat them.

Cold Dishes and the Crispy Rice

The yellowtail jalapeño is the opener the restaurant itself recommends: six slices of yellowtail with garlic purée, jalapeño, coriander and a Japanese citrus soy, €32. The sashimi salad with Matsuhisa dressing, seven pieces of seared tuna on leaves, is also €32, and the new-style sashimi €28. Crispy rice topped with spicy tuna, yellowtail or crab costs €28. The toro tartare with caviar at €39 is the luxury order; the Nobu-style caviar at €250 is for a celebration.

Hot Dishes: Black Cod and Beyond

Black cod miso, marinated for days in miso and finished under the grill, costs €48 and is the dish most tables order. Rock shrimp tempura with creamy spicy sauce is €38, or €42 with all three sauces. For meat, the Chilean wagyu miso anticucho is €54, and Japanese A5 wagyu costs €80 for 75 grams as tataki or tacos and €160 for 150 grams as a steak. Edamame is €10 and the umami chicken wings €25.

Sushi and Dessert Prices

Nigiri and sashimi are priced by the piece: sea bass €8, salmon €9, tuna and yellowtail €10, toro €12, o-toro €14 and Japanese wagyu €15. Hand rolls run from €7 for cucumber to €23 for the California, and cut rolls cost about €2 more. Desserts cost €13 to €18, or €6 for ice cream; the chocolate fondant with matcha ice cream at €17 and the miso cappuccino at €13 are the two we would order.

The Omakase Menus, and the Autumn Menu

Nobu Marbella runs two set tasting menus: Signature at €95 a head and Marbella at €130, with sommelier pairings of €65 and €85. No discounts apply to them. This autumn the kitchen has added a seasonal omakase, a six-course menu by chef de cuisine Yannick Lohou, served every evening.

Signature or Marbella?

The omakase suits a first visit better than ordering: the kitchen chooses and the bill is fixed. The courses change with the market and are not published, so ask what each menu includes when you book. For two with pairings, Signature comes to €320 and Marbella to €430 before the tip, against about €300 for the classics shared with a mid-priced bottle. The executive chef is Eleni Manouso, Nobu's first female executive chef, according to Puente Romano.

The 2026 Autumn Omakase

The autumn menu opens with the cocktail of the month, then Chilean sea bass tacos with jalapeño miso and salmon tataki rolled with shiso and pickled radish. The sushi course brings toro, red mullet Matsuhisa-style, white prawn new-style and mackerel tiradito; grilled octopus on kabocha follows, then wagyu ribs on a hoba leaf with orange-ginger yakitori sauce. Dessert is a chocolate choux with hazelnut praline and roasted pear sorbet. The hotel does not publish a price for this limited menu, so ask for it when you book, and note that the six courses come at a set pace.

Where to Sit: Sushi Bar, Dining Room or Terrace

Three choices, three different evenings. The sushi bar is the best seat for two, the minimalist dining room is usually the calmest of the three, and the terrace over La Plaza is for watching Puente Romano's evening go by. Name the one you want when you book, because the restaurant will otherwise seat you where it has space.

The Sushi Bar

Two people side by side at the counter, watching the chefs cut, is the best way to eat at Nobu: the sushi arrives seconds after it is made, conversation is easy, and you can order a few more pieces as you go. It suits a first date particularly well, since there is always something to look at. Book it specifically, ideally for 20:00 or 20:30, before the room fills. Prices are the same as in the dining room, nigiri from €8 a piece, so the best seat in the house costs nothing extra.

The Terrace Over La Plaza

The terrace looks over La Plaza, the resort's square, where Bar La Plaza serves cocktails and Nobu small plates with DJs from 18:00 to 03:00. It is the liveliest seat in the restaurant and the hardest place to have a quiet word after 22:30. On a warm night it is the reason people book. In autumn bring a layer: by early October the sun sets at about 20:00 and the terrace cools quickly after 22:00. Our Puente Romano guide maps everything around the square.

Lunch at Nobu Beachside

The restaurant serves dinner only, but in summer Nobu Marbella Beachside opens daily for lunch on the beach from 13:00 to 17:30, last booking 16:30, around its own sushi counter and bar. In season, the menu keeps the yellowtail jalapeño and the crispy rice with spicy tuna, and a table on the sand at 14:00 is our suggestion for a first taste of Nobu. Puente Romano lists the same terrace as Nobu for lunch, with afternoon sushi and cocktails; you can book, or simply take a seat at its sushi bar.

Opening Hours, Booking and Dress

Dinner starts at 19:00 every night and the last table is booked for 23:30; the room stays open until 01:00 early in the week and later from Thursday to Saturday. Book online or by phone through the restaurant, a week ahead for a summer weekend, and dress smart: Puente Romano at night is not a beach-shorts resort.

When to Book

From June to September we book Saturday tables about a week ahead and ask for the sitting by name; in October and spring, two or three days is usually enough, and a weekday sushi-bar seat can often be found the same day. Arrive on time and give the name the table is under. The Nobu Bar opens from 19:00 until midnight, or 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, and its gin cocktails with yuzu, sansho and sakura are a good place to wait.

Hotel Guests and the Kisetsu Menu

Guests booking the Taste of Nobu package at the hotel receive a complimentary Kisetsu menu on an evening of their choice. Kisetsu means season in Japanese, and the hotel describes the menu as Marbella's newest seasonal dishes, which makes the package worth pricing against a room-only rate if dinner was planned anyway. The hotel itself, its adults-leaning pool and its rooms are covered in our Nobu Hotel Marbella guide.

Nobu or Somewhere Else?

Choose Nobu for the famous dishes and a buzzing room. Choose a sushi counter such as PurOsushi or the starred Nintai for more precise Japanese cooking, COYA for Peruvian food with a club afterwards, and an old town room for a quiet conversation. Our other guides compare each of those in detail.

Nobu or a Sushi Counter?

Nobu is Japanese-Peruvian fusion built for sharing; a counter is about the rice and the fish, piece by piece. Nintai, ten seats and one Michelin star, costs €275 a head and feeds everyone at once from 20:30; PurOsushi, also at Puente Romano, runs an omakase counter and a lounge. Nintai's Zen lunch, €155 on Fridays and Saturdays, is the cheapest way to compare the two styles. Our sushi and omakase guide compares the counters, and our Michelin guide covers Nintai.

Nobu or a Quiet Room?

If the evening is about conversation, Nobu is the wrong room after 21:30, when the music on La Plaza and the full dining room make talking hard work. For that kind of night we send clients to a patio in the old town or a lakeside terrace instead, all listed in our guide to the best restaurants in Marbella for a date. Nobu earns its place for the opposite evening: busy, social and quick.

Dinner at Nobu With a Companion

Book it as a dinner date: a minimum of three hours, so from €900, at the same price on a Saturday as on a Tuesday. Nobu suits a companion who enjoys a busy room and a late night; tell us the time and the seat you have booked, and we suggest who will enjoy that evening.

Shaping the Evening

A 20:30 sushi-bar table, a drink at Bar La Plaza at 22:30, then COYA Club or NYX on a Friday or Saturday is the classic Puente Romano night. That runs past a three-hour dinner date: extra hours are €300 each, paid on the spot in cash or by transfer, and a night that goes on into the early hours is better booked as an overnight, €3,000 to €4,000 depending on the companion and the length. Meet at the bar rather than the restaurant door if you prefer. Our dinner date companions and party companions are the two groups who enjoy this evening most.

Staying Nearby

Most clients who book Nobu are staying on the Golden Mile, at Puente Romano, the Nobu Hotel or the Marbella Club next door, which keeps the evening on foot: Puente Romano is about 500 metres west of the Marbella Club, a few minutes along the beach path, as our Marbella Club to Puente Romano walk shows. Golden Mile outcalls are €300 an hour, the same as anywhere in Marbella, the client pays her taxi to the booking, and the dinner date covers the restaurant time. See who is free on your date on our Golden Mile companions page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is dinner at Nobu Marbella?

About €200 for two before drinks if you share the classics: yellowtail jalapeño at €32, rock shrimp tempura at €38, black cod miso at €48, six nigiri and a dessert. The omakase costs €95 or €130 a head, with wine pairings of €65 and €85. With a bottle of wine, plan on €280 to €350.

What are Nobu Marbella's opening hours?

The restaurant serves dinner every night from 19:00, with the last booking at 23:30, and the room stays open until 01:00 early in the week and later from Thursday to Saturday. In summer, Nobu Marbella Beachside serves lunch on the beach daily from 13:00 to 17:30, with the last booking at 16:30.

Does Nobu Marbella have a Michelin star?

No. Nobu Marbella holds no star in the 2026 Michelin Guide. The only starred Japanese restaurant in Marbella is Nintai, a ten-seat omakase counter on Calle Ramón Gómez de la Serna, with menus at €275 for dinner and €155 for its Friday and Saturday lunch.

Do I need to stay at the Nobu Hotel to eat at Nobu Marbella?

No. The restaurant is open to everyone and books like any other, through its own website or by phone. Hotel guests on the Taste of Nobu package receive a complimentary Kisetsu seasonal menu, but non-residents pay the same menu prices and can sit at the bar, in the dining room or on the terrace.