Mi2por1
There is a new 2 for 1 APP for the Costa Blanca and Torrevieja! We started using these types of dining books back in the early 90’s in San Francisco and Sacramento, California. We love these books, that are now Apps on your phone. In addition to saving money, which allows you to go out more often, they also will take you to new restaurants you may not have normally tried and to visit new neighborhoods you may not have gone. They showed us around San Francisco and helped us to learn that city as if it was our own. Now, we are very excited that the new Mi2por1 App will do the same for us here in Torrevieja!
In this blog I will attempt to visit every participating restaurant in Torrevieja all within walking distance of the town center and possibly some that are accessible by bus or bike. The App also has “Leisure and Attractions” and “Health and Beauty” sections but this blog will focus on the dining. One more thing, most restaurants have more then one offer so you may come back on numerous visits to try other items.
I will also be keeping a tally of the savings. When you download the App it is free and comes with 1 free redeemable offer of your choice. Once you use the App for the first time you will be asked to purchase the App for $25 euro. Lets see how long it takes for the App to pay for itself. Here we go!
Cafeteria Joaquin Chapaprieta
Calle Joaquin Chapaprieta, 1, Torrevieja +34 965 71 41 06
This was our first restaurant to visit using the Mi2por1 App. We have eaten here many times actually as they have a very good value menu Del Dia (7.90 euro drink not included) and a nice location near the visitor center looking at the harbor. This is a new App so our server had to take our phone inside and ask the owner about it. Upon returning he was very friendly and happy to honor the coupon.
The offer was 2 for 1 Spaghetti Carbonara or Bolognese so we ordered one of each.
Spaghetti Carbonara 
Spaghetti Bolognese
They were both very good. We have had good luck here in Torrevieja with both of these dishes. The Carbonara was quite creamy so I am not sure how authentic it is and they may have added some heavy cream. Usually Carbonara is of course just bacon, Parmesan, raw egg and pasta water for the sauce. The flavor was exactly what it should be and we both thought it was delicious. The Spaghetti Bolognese had a nice amount of meat in the sauce. The dishes were $7.95 and $8.50 so you will always be charged the more expensive of the two. The house wine is quite good and the bottle is $10 euro. So for $18.50 we had a lovely lunch. The location is very nice. It was a good start.
Savings: $7.95
Subway Torrevieja
Avenida Rosa Mazon Valero, Torrevieja +34 966 70 99 25
It has been at least 25 years since I have been to a Subway sandwich shop. As I said at the beginning of this blog one of the fun aspects of using these dining Apps is that you may find yourself visiting restaurants and neighborhoods that you may not usually go. It is August and it is HOT here in Torrevieja so today it was all about AC! We took the bus out towards the Habaneras shopping center and Carrefour to walk around in the air conditioning. We took out our phone to see if there might be a restaurant nearby that had AC. We found Subway. OK, this will be fun.
Like I said it has been awhile and there have been new additions to the menu. Our coupon is for a 2 for 1 Sub. I should mention here that almost all the participating restaurants have multiple offers. There are a few bread options that looked pretty good and a few new specialty sandwiches. Terri-Lynn chose the herb and cheese bread with steak and melted cheese and I had the semolina bread with turkey, cheese and numerous vegetables. They were both pretty good. The bread was good. The overall taste of my sandwich was like a salad, I enjoyed it. And of course, they had AC!
Savings: $4.50 Combined savings so far: $12.45
Amor Fino
Avenida de los Marineros, 9, Torrevieja (Playa Del Cura) +34 633 61 17 03
As you can guess the offer here is 2 for 1 cocktails. Amor Fino is located on Playa Del Cura so the view is superb, the people watching always entertaining and the restaurant itself is quite nice. We are not cocktail drinkers. Our daily choice of beverages is almost always wine with the occasional beer. Therefore I was excited to do something different. Again, a real bonus about these 2 for 1 Apps as they get you to step out of your comfort zone.
I had the Magic beach: tequila, triple sec, blue curacao, lemon juice, orange soda. It is the green one on the right. Terri-Lynn had the Pineapple colada: white rum, Malibu, pineapple juice, coconut syrup, cream. They were both delicious and a very tropical way to spend the afternoon watching the palm trees sway in the wind.
All the cocktails here are $7 euros so this was another good savings.
Savings: $7.00 Combined so far: $19.45
Esmeralda La Playa
Avenida de los Marineros, 15 Torrevieja (Playa Del Cura) +34 605 88 28 69
Some of the participating restaurants have very simple small offers and that is great! If anything it allows you to stop in and enjoy the surroundings and perhaps plan a return visit for something more substantial or maybe order a few other dishes while you are there.
A daily routine of ours is to take a break walking through town and have a cana or small beer. They usually come with a free tapa and we have our favorites here in Torrevieja all based upon the quality of their tapas. A future blog post will be of a tapas route that we put together featuring the best free tapas in town. Canas here are always 1 euro to 1.70 euro so you may as well go where they give you the best tapa.
The Canas at Esmeralda La Playa are $1.70 and they usually come with a free Montadito (small sandwich). Ours did not. I am guessing it is because we were using the App. Part of the reason restaurants participate in these types of promotions is to showcase their products so that you will come back. So unfortunately I can not tell you whether the sandwiches are good or not. The restaurant also sits on Playa Del Cura so it is a very nice place for a drink and the service was very friendly so we will definitely go back.
Savings: $1.70 combined so far: $21.15
New Volcan Doner Kabab
There really is very little fast food in Spain. There really is no fast here at all, it’s Spain and we love it. You take a coffee and relax and talk for hours. The food you eat is fresh, cooked to order. I have however found what I consider to be a recurring theme in the fast food realm and that is the doner kabob. I like doner kabobs. Not all the time, in fact I usually will eat this maybe 3-4 times a year. When I do though I really like it. It’s kind of like that McDonalds hamburger, there is a neuron attraction that satisfies the receptors in your brain and makes you happy, but something you may not want on a daily basis.
We went to New Volcan Doner Kebab for their 2 for 1 small rollo. Doner Kabobs are essentially like a gyro. The meat comes compressed on large vertical rotisseries and here it is usually Beef, chicken or a mix. Fresh lettuce and tomatoes are added and rolled in a wrap and served with a spicy red sauce and a garlic white sauce. These were very good and fresh. Note: This is a Halal restaurant so no alcohol is served.
Savings: $3.00 Combined so far: $24.15
Emilia Corazon
Calle Torrevejenses Ausentes, 6 Torrevieja +34 688 37 01 82
This is another restaurant that is offering 2 for 1 canas. We have been here before during some of the yearly Tapa’s routes. The restaurant is located in a nice pedestrian area of restaurants that makes a very good destination to walk around and make your choices for a menu of the day or a nice evening meal.
Savings: $1.70 Combined so far: $25.85
New Pantasana
Plaza Isabel II Torrevieja +34 966 70 73 43
The new Mi2por1 App is indeed new. We have found that on most occasions we are the first customers that are coming into these restaurants and using our coupons. For the most part this has gone pretty well and most everyone has been very friendly. For example the New Volkan Doner Kabob restaurant above thought the APP meant we buy 2 doner Kabobs and we get a third one for free. It took a bit of explaining to make them understand how this works and in the end it went fine, they got it. So as usual when we arrived and showed the server our APP he was not aware of how it worked. But he was very friendly and went out of his way to make sure we did not feel uncomfortable. The offer was a 2 for 1 Fritura de Pescado y Vaso de vino. That is kind of what arrived but not quite.
He first brought out two glasses of wine. The wine was very nice and the pours quite good. About 15 minutes later 1 plate of fried fish arrived. This is a very typical dish here that you will see in most restaurants. I rarely order it as I cook this at home at least 2-3 times a month. It was nice to have it out, actually I’ve always wanted to enjoy this dish outside of my own casa.
So, the savings and value. When the bill arrived it was only $6 euro. Very confusing. The bill said $3 euro for 1 glass of wine and $3 euro for ‘variados’. We know the fish dish is usually $10 euro. We were expecting two fish dishes of course and two wines and were thinking the bill would be around $12 euro.
I am not really sure exactly what we were charged for but it was fine really. $3 euro for a glass of wine is about twice what it should be here but it was a good wine and a good pour. The dish should have been $10 and there should have been two. But we were charged $3 and only served one. So I think we got a very nice deal and it was plenty of food for our lunch. Therefore I am going to calculate this savings as 1 glass of wine at $3 euro and a savings of $6 euros for the plate of fish.
Savings: $9.00 Combined so far: $34.85
There are many more participating restaurants and also other offers on this new App. I will continue to try out more locations over the next few months and publish a “part 2” blog of the Mi2por1 App before the end of the year.
Thanks for reading and if you have experience using this App please leave a comment below and tell us what you think!
