Granada · Since 1979
The house Carmen lit
What began as a place to make whoever sat at the table happy has been cooking for forty-seven years, without a single day's pause. This is the story.
Timeline
Forty-seven years, day by day
1979
The first fire
Carmen López Morales and Manuel Fernández Vílchez open Los Mariscos on Plaza del Carmen. The beginning.
1995
The Mesón is born
On Calle Moras, next to Teatro Isabel la Católica, the holm-oak charcoal oven is lit for the first time. The family's masterpiece.
1998
1st Tapa Fair
We launch the gastronomic fair that changed the way Granada eats tapas.
2006
Lyric dinners
Glasses clink with arias. The Mesón fills with music and with Estrella, Enrique, El Cigala.
2014
Corpus stall
We bring the embers to Granada's biggest fair. Every year since.
Today
Always loving, never forgetting
Carmen, the daughter, continues her mother's work. The fire has not been out a single day.
In memoriam
Carmen López Morales
Founder · 1979 — eternal
She was the secret behind the flavours that have charmed every guest since 1979 — yet she never wanted to leave the kitchen to collect a medal. By five in the morning she was already kneading the migas, cleaning the fish, mapping out the day. A woman who will live forever on the palates of those who loved her cooking.
«She was a woman of the house. Always inside the kitchen. The maker of everything, but never one to take the credit. By five in the morning she was already preparing the migas, cleaning the fish, organising the day. A patient soul, devoted to her family's faith.»
Carmen, daughter of Carmen López Morales · Ideal
Always loving
Always loving, never forgetting
More than a slogan, it is our way of seeing life. We still cook with the same excitement as on the first day.
In the press
What's been written about the Mesón
Five articles in Diario Ideal capture what this house means to Granada — from the lighting of the oven in 1995 to the farewell to Carmen.
- 17 August 2020
La reina granadina de la carne al carbón de encina
Read on Ideal - 12 March 2022
Una joya gastronómica en el corazón de Granada
Read on Ideal - 4 November 2021
Tradición, historia y buena gastronomía
Read on Ideal - 15 September 2019
Cuarenta años manteniendo la esencia de la mejor cocina granadina
Read on Ideal - 22 June 2023
«Mesón Alegría es casa, a donde puedes venir con amigos o solo»
Read on Ideal
The house, in short
The story of the grill house: from 1979 to Calle Moras
Mesón Alegría opened in 1995 on Calle de las Moras, next to the Isabel la Católica Theatre, with the first holm-oak charcoal ovens in Granada. The family had been in Granada hospitality since 1979, when Manuel Fernández Vílchez and Carmen López Morales took over Los Mariscos, on Plaza del Carmen.
How long has Mesón Alegría been open?
The mesón opened in 1995 on Calle Moras, next to the Isabel la Católica Theatre. The family had started earlier: in 1979 with Los Mariscos, on Plaza del Carmen, and in 1988 with the Las Copas tavern, on Calle Navas.
Who founded Mesón Alegría?
Manuel Fernández Vílchez and Carmen López Morales, who came to Granada in 1979. Their daughter, Mari Carmen Fernández, runs the house today, with the same cooking and the same ovens.
Was it the first holm-oak grill house in Granada?
Yes. When it opened in 1995 it was the first grill house in Granada with holm-oak charcoal ovens. The two ovens have not gone out for a single day since.
What is the Establecimiento Emblemático distinction?
In 2024, at the first Gala del Comercio, the Chamber of Commerce named Mesón Alegría one of the 34 emblematic establishments of Granada.
What else has happened in this house?
In 1998 we drove the first Feria de la Tapa in Granada. Since 2006 we have held operatic dinners — Florinda Chico, Estrella and Enrique Morente and El Cigala have all passed through the dining room. Since 2014 we have set up the Caseta Alegría at the Corpus, and in 2021 the Porque me apetece food weeks were born.
Keep going
Mesón Alegría