This was our first dinner in San Sebastián, made reservations ahead of time, because I heard so much about their Txuleta steak. It lived up to expectations in every way. This steak is a much older cow (8 to 18 years old) than your normal US cow (1-2 years old). It's literally aged beef all those years while grazing, working, and milking. Such an amazing flavor. This is what we came here for. 40 oz of bone in ribeye for the table. Tabla de Iberico (half portion). This was the best charcuterie we had while in Spain. 4 amazing meats, definitely start your meal with this. Jamon Iberico de Bellota - stole the show, due to eating nothing but acorns, has such a nutty taste to it. But loved the other 3 as well. Chilled Spider Crab - this is another don't miss dish, although you can get it on Pintxos here and other places, this presentation in the crab shell is great. And it was the best crab salad we had anywhere. Txuleta 44 oz Bone-in Ribeye. They don't ask how you want it, it comes beautifully rare, nice crust on the outside, only topped with some course salt. It's not the most tender steak you've eaten, but the flavor makes up for it. You actually want each bite to last a bit. The fat has truly rendered into the meat here, delicious. Had to try both cheese cakes side by side Cheesecake #1 - House made Basque cheesecake with hazelnut ice cream. This was the winner of the two for me. Maybe not as fancy as the 2nd one. Cheesecake #2 - Rafa Gorrotxategi "Gandarias" Cheesecake with butter ice cream. This had an interesting top that was an apricot caramel glaze and an almond crust. It wasn't as sweet as the first one. Pretty though. We did return a few days later for their Pintxos and everything was delicious at the bar side as well. Can't see myself coming back to San Sebastián without eating here. read more

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Mistral Coffee & Bakery has some very good ensaimadas and is definitely worth stopping by. I tried a few, but my favorite was the one with the cream filling. Soft, buttery, and perfectly balanced without being overly sweet. read more

Gandarias - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

Not underrated but somehow still the most underared pinxtos in San Sebastián. Everything they do is excellent. Outdoor standing tables next to the handball courts and church; just gorgeous. Went back twice in a short trip because the food was so good. Window pinxtos were excellent; especially the crab. But the hot ordered pinxtos were better; solomillo, chuleta, skewers; incredible! read more

We decided to try and make reservations as getting a bar table is sometimes near impossible unless you happen to go at the right time. But I have to warn you, the menu is not the same. We actually wanted the pixtos, but you need to order at the bar for those (sad face). Interior looks really nice and looks like fine dining-ish inside. Food was still good, but quite pricey. I honestly would just stick to the pixtos because that's what we came here for and that's what they are noted for. read more

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Their Pinxtos was so good and delicious! My favorite is the squid, if you're also looking for the sea urchin, this is another place since bar sport is temporarily closed. Service is pretty good even if the bar is very busy and pretty chaotic but in San Sebastian, the busy bars is where you wanna be! read more

Gandarias - Squid - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

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Loved the pintxos here, and the man behind the counter was great. They recommended a great local basque wine, as well read more

Gandarias - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

This is a very popular pintxos bar in San Sebastián, it's known for the txuleta, or beef. Their kitchen doesn't close, so ointxos are available all day, which is rare in the area. Service is fast and respectful. Nice place to sit, seating outside too. read more

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This is a review for the sit-down restaurant ... not the more casual Tapas. Unfortunately, this was our worst meal during our entire time in San Sebastian. (or Spain for that matter) Our hotel recommended this spot because we made the mistake of visiting San Sebastian on a Sunday and Monday, when most of the best restaurants/tapas places are closed. We had the cod ... which was utterly disgusting. It was like eating bland rubber. The only part of the cod which was moist (slimy, actually ...) was the skin side. If I were to equate one dish with the word 'uninspired', this would be it. Despite the fact only 2 bites were taken, the waitress cleared the plate without even asking if there was an issue with it. The waitstaff was terrible. We had two waiters splitting our table ... the 20-year old dude looked like he didn't care to be there and said 2 words to us the entire meal. The waitress was very rude. I think it was because we did not know that you HAD to order an appetizer ... not just two meals and a side. Given that a single glass of wine (we had two each) was 18 Euro, it was pretty ballsy that they forced us to order an appetizer. (in fairness, it says it on the menu, but I've never seen this at any restaurant before) The appetizer we chose (under protest) was a 20 euro plate of sausage and Iberico ham. It wasn't anything special. We bought sausage at a grocery store later in our trip and it tasted pretty similar. The ham also was unremarkable. I ordered the suckling pig. Again ... very average. Although not as bad as the cod, there wasn't that much meat ... it was mostly bone and lots and lots of grease. The entire bottom of the plate was full of liquid fat. It took a while to cut the meat off and though the portion was small, there was so much grease, it filled me up. The best part of the meal was the homemade french fries that came with this entre. The cod came with bland steamed vegetables. The wine list was very good ... per glass, it is quite expensive. An 18 euro glass was from a 20 euro bottle that you'd buy anywhere else. Maybe the tapas is better here (we saw plenty of food left on plates when walking in, so not a great sign). If we had it to do over, we would have skipped the dinner and tried the tapas outside. The meal was very expensive and very mediocre. read more

This was one of my favorite pintxo places in Donosti. The staff was really friendly and attentive, even though the place was packed every time I went. They have a large pintxo menu posted on the wall in four languages, so you can pick what you want. I got a T-bone steak and a lamb chop pintxo the first time. I loved the steak one, the lamb one was just OK. Many people around me were getting the fried squid and it looked great. The second time, I got their sirloin and t-bone. Excellent choices.. The prices were reasonable and the quality of the food was outstanding. They also have a sit down restaurant for those who want to have waiter service and a more varied menu. read more

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This was our very last stop on our last night and it did not disappoint! 11pm and the most flavorful mushrooms warm and aromatic! Always be prepared to stand and embrace the experience! read more

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Went w friends for a dinner on vacation. Need reservation in advance. It has 2 sections - tapas and a restaurant. Both delicious! Good fast service, good vibe and yummy delicious fresh food! Definitely recommend! read more

Gandarias - Stuffed peppers - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

A good place for celiac and great small plates. A good atmosphere and the place was hopping. The meat seemed very high-quality and everybody loved it. read more

Service is typical... order your drink and pintxos then find a spot to eat. Ate the uni and anchovy toast- both excellent!!

Our first tapas/pinxtos stop in San Sebastián. This place was highly recommended (on multiple "recommended lists" in the various guide books and by our hotel manager). It did not disappoint. At 6 pm, half of the restaurants on 31 Agosto (the well known tapas/pinxtos walk) are closed. Luckily, Gandarias was open. It was already four deep at the bar, where the pinxtos are displayed. Huge blackboards are on the left wall that list the available pinxtos and prices, written in Spanish, English, French and Basque (?). To the right of the bar, is a blackboard listing their wines by the glass. If you know what you want, just tell the server what you want and how many and they will assemble your plate/s efficiently and get your drinks. We got two glasses of different Riojas (reds), two duck breast pinxtos (on a thin slice of cooked peach and caramelized red onions), fried cod on roasted padron pepper, poached shrimp on Russian salad and grilled goat cheese on sun dried tomato. Yum. We will be back at least one more time, so will add more photos and update this review read more

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Excellent food, but the waitress was pretty grumpy. Would not let us order additional Pinxo's to our restaurant order. Didn't explain the dishes very well. Excellent wines at reasonable prices. Would definitely go back. read more

a popular pintxo bar and sit down restaurant (although must order from menu for the seating). great fish entrees with cod and monkfish but no turbot. also baked crab delicious. t bone steak thicker and heavily salted but prefer entrecôte. always arriving early better than late lunch read more

Ok. Been in Pasai a week, cooking 10 eggs a day and eating a baguette to leave, you know I needed something authentic. This was fun fresh and fancy, The vibe was suprisingly uplifting considering the busy busy downtown and interior, and we found ourselves mad comfy. The food was excellent. We both from the east coast and this fish was unlike anything I've ever had before. I highly recommend the crystal fish. Our waiter was kind and chill and understood why we aren't getting wine and desert. A cool 68 euro for an app, and 2 entrees, and a seemingly extreme authentico basque must visit. Going to remember my time here for a long time Me and adelyn read more

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I still daydream about this meal to this day! I'd love to transport back there and destroy this steak and entree read more

Gandarias - Tomato salad - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

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The pinchos culture has reached a level of sophistication difficult to match else where in the world. Donosti is the world's food capital, and Gabdarias is Donosti's gastronomía people's palace. This is a must while in Donosti. Don't get a table, the fun is in standing around the bar, both inside and outdoors and not leave until you taste all the pinchos. Classic things, like the croquets or the ensaladilla rusa pincho, are close to perfection -tells a lot of the standards being high here-. Unique options like the erizos. Overall, amazing, with a slight tendency to the beschamel trapo and a bit of bread dependency. Not the most creative or sophisticated pincho bar in Donosti in terms of gastronomic refinement, but definitively the one you want to experience. read more

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Great food, great prices, quick service. I enjoyed this pintxo bar very much, had 3 pintxos and a coffee and only spent 13 Euros! read more

Gandarias - Txuleta, gambas y solomillo pintxos - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

4.5 stars With an entire menu and display case of pintxos and raciones, Gandarias is the perfect place to belly up to the bar and just point to what you want! There was the impressive looking jamon slice stacked with three whole button mushrooms; the baby eels with red pepper (one of the most unique ingredients I've ever eaten); and the slice of duck paired with peach (of all things). But my favorite pintxos were the thick slice of goat cheese paired with a vinegar reduction, pistachios, and walnuts; and the crab tart, made of a creamy puree of crab in a flaky pastry shell. This place can certainly get busy for dinner service, but there's nothing like ready-made pintxos for a quick bite to eat! read more

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We went to many of the Tapa bars in San sabastian. This was one of our favorite that we went to several times. Don't mind the unfriendly employees it's how most people we came across in spain were. It's the food that really matters and they had both cold and hot that were great. Definitely suggest this as a must stop in read more

This was the final stop of a food and wine tour of San Sebastián! This was delicious. We were given skewer of steak on top of a bed of crispy French fries, it was so good. This was also paired with a glass of red wine! It's busy so I recommend finding a table outside after ordering. read more

Great place for a pintxos stop. This place gets really crowded, so be prepared to wait and approach the bar to place your order. Good sea urchins pintxos. Definitely recommended read more

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Stumbled upon this place as it was open at 5pm (I had skipped lunch.) Asked the people behind the counter to recommend... had the foie, the duck, the artichoke, carrillera and chipirones. 2 glasses of nice wine followed by coffee and cheesecake! 100% satisfied! read more

Gandarias - Divorciados and goat cheese - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

This is my favorite pintxos place in town. Ema is a wonderful server. The foie is very good as are the picante dishes. If you want a full meal reservations are a must, more than a day out. The ambiance is your typical upbeat pintxos bar. read more

You want Pintxos. They got Pintxos. Gets busy. Solomillo is great. Erizo uni is great. Risotto is good. Mini burgers, ok, patty needed to cook a little longer. Tried the Sidra here, ok. (Written by husband) read more

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An enjoyable experience in the restaurant section of this popular pintxos bar. We ate early (5.30 pm) by special arrangement before it became busy and enjoyed the quiet ambiance. It was a Sunday and few restaurants were open. After countless seafood days and nights we all went with meat dishes of either suckling lamp or pig. It was pretty good and we had two excellent wines. Our party was 7. Service was attentive and efficient throughout. It is a highly regarded establishment and I concur. The Pintxos looked really good and two of my party enjoyed some earlier in the day. read more

the hot pintxos at this place was really good. bit of a wait for food to come from the kitchen but well worth it because the carilleras were delicious. read more

Gandarias - carilleras - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

So delicious and in style. We loved it. Popular place. Old town San Sebastián. Recommended. read more

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As good as they say. This is on every list of must-try pintxo places. It's a long list. One way to deal with it is to take a food tour at lunch or dinner, hit 5 or 6 places, have one item and a drink. Then go back to the hotel plastered and stuffed. If you have more time and are willing to do a little research, both online and in person, on where to go and what to order, then you can spread the joy over a few stops a day over a few days. Those signature items are rarely the cold dishes on the bar, rather the hot pintxos caliente listed on the wall. That's how I ended up ordering the two items in the photo here: foie gras and risotto. Both were excellent. A little foie goes a long way for me, so I spread it out over a couple of slices from the perfect baguette they served. Risotto is almost as filling, and their portion was spot on. With "aqua del grifo" (tap water, which is fine in Spain) it came in at 5.45 euros. PS - if a place refuses to serve aqua del grifo, it's a tourist trap, get back in the truck. it's rare but not unheard of PPS - the couple next to me shared a very tempting larger grilled squid and fish plate, which was pretty tempting, but not on a pintxo crawl read more

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I think this was the best steak I've ever had. We walked around old town on our first night in San Sebastián and it was already pretty late, so when we dropped into Bar Nestor and tried to order a steak, they said they were already closed. Instead, we found Gandarias on yelp and I'm so glad we did! Their txuleton was amazing in every way and it definitely hit the spot, while also being more spacious than other joints. We initially tried ordering the big steak but ended up getting a pinxto of steak on bread, with a little green tomatillo topping (solomillo?). We corrected our order once we learned that it was called txuleton, but even that small steak pinxto was so yummy, it had us excited to eat the real deal. Our big steak was cooked to perfection, so juicy and flavorful, and the fries it was served with helped to balance the saltiness. Amazing meal here and the service was friendly. They also helped us choose a wine to pair with our steak and it was delicious as well! read more

Gandarias - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

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Walked the st James trail and stopped by here. Staff wasn't welcoming, told us several times we need to hurry. The older waitress was short and unhelpful to my pregnant wife when she was asking about an item on the menu. Overall food is ok, staff is terrible, prices are high. read more

These reviews are not lying, Gandarias is one of the best pintxo bars in San Sebastian. It was located in a prime spot and busy almost all hours of operation. They are open on Sundays and Mondays, which is a huge plus given most Spanish cities rest on these days. The way it works is pretty simple: order a drink at the bar, ask for a plate, and start taking down some of the best bites of your life. You eat what's on display. The food is fresh and prepared daily. Some items are meant to be heated and someone behind the bar will assist you with this. There's also an actual food menu, which includes things like steak and risotto. read more

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Best place in San Sebastián! Delicious food, you must get the steak pintxo! Little gem, we will be back. read more

Gandarias - Steak pinxtos, Risotto and simple salad. - Basque Near Me - Donostia / San Sebastián, SS

No service because you speak English. Do not go to this bar. Many good choices down the street. Such as Txakolina.

As a former long timeNYC Restaurant owner I usually forgive kitchen errors and hate to post bad reviews but this was so outrageously bad I must: Worst meal I had in Spain. The roasted lamb was deep fried fat. I Love lamb and have had lamb all over the world and this was garbage. We had 5 people for dinner and I explained that the other food was just ok but the lamb was just gross. No apology no explanation and it was still on the bill. I would happily pay to never have to eat here again. read more

Food is great, service not so much. Of course being American we came in before the standard dinner rush, but they also did rush us to finish eating by a certain time. Also if you sit down for dinner you're expected to order a full entree per person (without option for takeaway). We were able to get away with three entrees and two starters: - shrimp and egg appetizer (7/10) - asparagus (9/10 - the sauce is amazing) - oxtail (9/10 hearty like beef stew) - seared tuna with tuna carpaccio (8/10 with seared tuna and crispy seaweed being the best part) - grilled monkfish (10/10 star of the show) The food was more than enough for five people and prices were high but fair. The surprising thing is that the wine is cheap as dirt!!! For an amazing local bottle of white wine, it was 10 euro, and most bottles were around the same price if not cheaper! As with many places, they give you bread without you asking, and will charge you for it. It was a filling and delicious first dinner in San Sebastián, but wish we had a better experience with the servers. I'd still come back to try more wine and food one day. read more

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Good, but average compared to other restaurants in the area. This was the "we're hungry, let's just eat" spot that we realized was just fine the more we ate elsewhere. Baked sea urchin was ::shrug:: beef wasn't the most flavorful, tomato and cheese was wonderful. Caramelized foie gras was memorable! If something stands out then get it! But we liked other spots a bit better. Bar Sport was our fave. read more

We couldn't get last minute reservations at our first choice restaurant so went here right at 8 on a Saturday night. They seated us immediately. We had the crab salad to share, the filet mignon and the roast lamb. 1 Coke and 2 glasses of wine and a large water. We got a dessert at the recommendation of the waiter. It was good, the traditional Basque cake and should have gotten the chef's choice cheesecake instead. Looked better going by. Total for all this deliciousness was 95 euro. Lots of seafood choices on the menu. Will try fish next time. read more

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