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This menu was too intellectual. I was looking for a meal, and I got a piece of art instead. And even as an art piece, it felt discombobulated and unfocused. I couldn't tell what the central theme of the meal was, if there was meant to be one in the first place. Pro: Every dish showcased technique and innovation, and challenged the diner to rethink the way we interact with our food, and introduced new ingredients and methods of cooking. Con: Besides the clear oyster soup, I didn't think the taste of any of the dishes were particularly exciting or satisfying. 1. Fortuna: mille-feuille of abundance; Bunch: chives and butter; Green chickpeas 2. Bunch: chives and butter 3. Ama 4. Bon apéttit: oyster mantle soup 5. Wrapped up: codfish bonbon; Origin: seeds an eggs 6. Lukewarm: neither here nor there 7. Potatos with white tuna; White tuna belly tucked in dahlias 8. Misfits: fried sea cucumber 9. Tenderness: beef hump in sauce 10. Gut feelings: sweetbreads and watercress 11. Mellow milk skins 12. Dive in: exposed octopus 13. Face to face: the skin I live in 14. Latxa sheep: black curd 15. Memories of the future: sweet vigor 16. Serenity: fishing for flavor 17. From nose to tail: norwegian lobster 18. Pasture: shape and depth 19. Ritual: piña colada 20. Candy: gluten ball
After securing our reservation for dinner two months in advance, I was really looking forward to our dinner "experience" at this famous restaurant. Several emails were traded back and forth after food allergies and dietary preferences, the 4 of us were ready to have an incredible evening on the side of the mountain in San Sebastián. The taxi took us to this beautiful home which had been modified to an elegant indoor dinning area, a charming outdoor eating place, plus a cozy tea room. So far, so good. But then the experience took a rather un pleasant turn. First, the servers kept emphasizing "the unique experience", "the unique ingredients" and "the unique preparation", but their English was so heavily accented that we all had a difficult time understanding them. This undoubtedly had lowered their presentation and hence we missed many nuances our unique experiences. Then of the 25 or so bites we had, only two or three were liked by all of us. And that is not a good sign. The fact that we were not offered eating utensils was the last straw for me personally. I just couldn't "handle" picking up soft slippery food items. I finally told the servers that I need utensils for every food item, no matter how unique!! As for the food itself, like I mentioned earlier, only a handful were well liked. I just cannot give more than 3 stars. Still, I have to agree that the experience was unique. So if you are looking for that, you've got it. But if you want great tasting food, you may find them on other Michelin stared restaurants. Sorry and no second time for me.
I was really nervous the day before our reservation because I decided to read the mixed reviews on Yelp. I couldn't believe the difference but I told myself to experience the restaurant with an open mind and I'm glad I did. I had a wonderful experience and meal at Mugaritz. When we sat down, we were given a tiny booklet that was filled with words and Mugaritzs' definition of each word. The words in the booklet were tied to dishes that Mugaritz creates. There was so much thought and time put into these unique dishes. It's no wonder they're rated so highly by critics. The staff were very polite and accommodating. They carefully explained each course and was always ready to share which words were tied to the dish. Aside from the food, my favorite part of the evening was being shown the kitchen and given the opportunity to speak to one of their chefs. Another treat that Mugaritz offered to us was to enjoy cigars and dessert in one of the smaller buildings. We were the only couple in this building and was allowed to spend as much time as we wanted! It was a great surprise. I felt the number of courses and portions were just right. I didn't leave hungry and I didn't leave stuffed. All of the vegetables and herbs came straight from their garden. So if they ran out of an ingredient, they would create a completely different dish. You'll definitely see tables receiving something different than yours. A lot of the courses were definitely a surprise and it's not what you expected which made it really enjoyable. I also really appreciated that Mugaritz offered both a wine pairing and a non alcohol pairing. You don't see this too often so I had to try the non alcohol pairing. They created different types of kombucha, tea, and flavored sparkling water. I can see why Mugaritz isn't for everyone. Some have said the dishes are flavorless and I completely disagree with that. There was always at least a hint of flavor. It takes great skills to mask flavors and transform textures. Mugaritz has mastered that. If you're expecting a typical restaurant with extreme flavors, then this may not be for you. If you're looking for a great experience and something new, you should definitely try Mugaritz.
Kind of a sadistic meal...My husband calls it total anarchy. From someone who's eaten at 75% of the Worlds Best restaurants list, I have to corroborate the bad reviews regarding the food. The tasting menu is challenging, uncomfortable (read: THE FOOD IS NOT TASTY), but that's the point. It's not as if the chef doesn't know what he's doing, he is deliberately trying to deny you the very thing you expect. He's not there to please your taste buds. He wants you to feel frustrated; he wants to push you and give you a different experience than you're used to or expect. For that I give a star, because it's a bold and daring incursion, a total aggression against sensibilities of propriety and pleasure. You can't say the dishes aren't creative or interesting, and the non-alcoholic pairing was quite special. The other star goes to service, because the staff are lovely, and for the presentation/plating because it was pretty cool and unique for some dishes! We spoke with someone who once worked there for several years and he confirmed that at Mugaritz "there's no taste, it's about texture". And yes, that definitely makes it challenging. So, if you're up for the challenge and are willing to spend money on food that may be hard to swallow, come! Otherwise if you want a good tasting meal, I preferred Extebarri and Azurmendi (both are on the Top 50 list also).
This place deserves zero stars. Worst. Dining. Experience. Of. My. Life. None of the dishes were edible. You can't even pay me to eat any of the dishes that were served to me. It's outrageous they charge so much for inedible food. It was so bad we actually left early and didn't get the last three of the 27 dishes. No desserts here. No utensils are used unless they give you one. I should've known this place was going to be bad when the first two people had no idea what they were saying when I asked about the wines. Do they even have a sommelier here? How is this a top 10 restaurant in the world? Must be some political game that critics play with these restaurateurs. The first dish started off with shredded asparagus that was bland. There was a dish that looked like and tasted like grass. Reminded me of cow dung actually. There was an extremely bland consumme that you suck out of a straw. At one point they served us a chip. Lol. I can't even tell you how disgusting the yuca dish was with its warm gooeyness on top of frozen ice that I had to chew through. It was so bad we all started laughing. Someone must be playing a joke on us. I had enough when we got to the shrimp dish. No joke but it tasted like toothpaste. The shrimp itself was fine but the sauce that it came in straight up tasted like toothpaste. After tasting that, I couldn't stand it anymore and told them to stop serving us dishes. The service was also bad. We asked for sparkling not flat. They didn't do a good job of explaining the dishes. This was far and away so different from the Azurmendi experience I had a couple days earlier and the Asador Etxebarri experience I had just earlier in the day where the servers were very well trained and very knowledgeable. Seriously who actually tasted these dishes before they were served? They probably think they're being extremely creative by serving ingredients that people have never had before and in ways that people have never seen, but there's a good reason why. I don't think I'll ever have another experience that can top this one. It's so comical. Don't go. Just don't waste your time. Did someone here get to the top of the world list and just have creative license to do anything, including serving inedible food? It just feels like another version of the Emperor's clothes.
As you've probably read by now, people who have lunch or dinner at Mugaritz either really love it or hate it. We stopped here for lunch while visiting Basque Country, and was prepared to either love it or hate it. Having sat through almost a 5 hour lunch, I have to say that going to Mugaritz is not for amateurs or foodies who haven't had a broad set of experiences at places with similarly designed menus. If you're expecting a traditional meal with traditional flavors that appeal to the masses, you probably won't find it here. There's a lot of weird things that come out of the kitchen - like a frozen hake fish wafer called "Communion" or organ meats like heart and liver. At the same time, Mugaritz is one of the best restaurants in the world, and everything that comes out of the kitchen is innovative, creative, and whimsical. I can't think of a more conflicting experience - not everything I ate was fantastic, but everything I had was like eating art. For lunch, I opted for the non-alcoholic beverage pairing, while my husband went with the mid-tier wine pairing. Everything he had was well above his expectations, and the amount of pricey and rare bottles that were brought out was staggering. Mugaritz has been around for about 20 years, but it's run like a test/concept kitchen. The menu is only around for a certain period of time, and the staff is also only around for a small period of time. Service was a little choppy, and not everything was clear or well explained, so I understand the reviews that complain about the service. After all of that though, I thought our experience at Mugaritz was unique and memorable. I loved walking in the garden after lunch, and really felt like I got to enjoy a lot of what Basque Country has to offer through the lens of the chefs at Mugaritz.
*Read this before u book the table* This is probably the worst restaurant I've been in my life. I am a foodie, I've been to so many restaurants with Michelin stars or on the world's 50 best list. Traveling to San Sebastián is always been on my list, since I got a chance this time, I can't wait to try this award winning restaurant. I am so regret I did this, because I only have 1 night in here, could've been to much better place like a tapas bar or something. Dining experience is about 4-5 hours, I arrived on time at 8:30 p.m, left at 1:15 a.m with a very hungry tummy. I have attached some of the photos below, and trust me it's even worse than how it looks. Starting with the appetizer, the "melon"-ish food was disgusting, first bite, I almost throw up, black asparagus was bad, I can't eat this. Raw lettuce is okay. I guess because they don't need to cook it. Following with some dishes has none flavor, or just bad. There plain, empty or taste like piss. One of the worst dish was a cup of "foam". They call it Coffee but not made of coffee. It's sour, smells bad and I only had 1 sip and start to feel weird in my stomach, that was already at 11 p.m, and I was so hungry. At that moment I already let the waiter know that I'm very disappointed with their food. I left for a bathroom break, asked a lady there about her thoughts about the food. She was so agree with me she said "my entire group hate the food here" When I get back to the table, I was lucky enough to be invited to the kitchen to meet the chef, I guess he has received my complains, he was being very pleasant and trying to explain why their food is taste so bad. "Our food is famous for being tasteless"- that's his original words. How funny is that, u are a Michelin rated restaurant, no.9 of world best 50, cost at lease €250 per person, and u can't cook something taste good? The chef was patient enough to listen to my feedback of his food, he advices that sometimes restaurant isn't really for good food, or being delicious. Sometimes it's just there to surprise people with how bad it can be. He compares this restaurant with a horror movie, and told me when people go watch a horror movie they are expecting to be scared. I doubt that's the meaning of a restaurant, isn't it supposed to be bring people joy and happiness from the food itself? And after it's only gets worse, so I guess the chef has listened to my advice their food is being very tasteless, and plain. So every single dish after the meet up in the kitchen was extremely SALTY... oh my Jesus, at that moment I just wanted to run away. But guess what, the restaurant is built on a mountain, middle of no where, unless u drive there otherwise u need to wait for a taxi. Finally, the dessert part, so after I split out half of the whole menu, dessert was finally come, 7 plates of chocolates. Yes - 7. I'm glad I do not have diabetes. Bill- for two people cost €510 Worst 5 hours in my life, do not go there to waste your life.
DON'T GO- INEDIBLE. Not one dish tasted remotely good. What a disappointment. I cannot believe this place is regarded so highly to this day - I am so upset I did not look at the yelp page before going, I would have canceled my reservation immediately. Aside from the fact that the courses do not taste good, they are laughably small and there is no real creativity going on here. I have been all over the world to many Michelin restaurants, and not once did I leave as upset as I did here. Worst of all, after eating around 15 disgusting courses, the restaurant invites you outside for a tower of 5 different types of completely inedible chocolates. I've never not liked a chocolate and this place managed to ruin even that.
I had such high expectations for Mugaritz. I was in San Sebastian 5 years ago, and wasn't able to get a reservation here. So, it's always been on my bucket list to come back, and try out the restaurant. Well, I kind of wish I hadn't. Nearly all the dishes ranged from disappointing to outright terrible. Our final dessert course was literally a single drop of bitter chicken stock on a giant white platter. Not only was the taste acrid and not dessert-like at all, they also gave zero utensils. You had to eat the goop with your fingers, or by licking the plate. Now don't get me wrong, normally, I'd have a lot of fun with that. But not when you're paying hundreds of dollars for inedible food. Speaking of no utensils, the first half of the entire menu was served with zero utensils. Again, this would have been fun if the food had been good. They don't necessarily aim to make all dishes delicious. Instead, they're using their customers as guinea pigs for their creative genius. They highlight of our visit was a tour of the kitchen. They have chefs from 12 different countries, and these guys are clearly skilled. It's just a bummer that the result of their talents this evening was so disappointing. No two tables get the same menu. On any given night, they prepare 70 different dishes. The staff then figure out how to combine these different dishes for each table in unique ways. I guess we may have just gotten really, really unlucky? There seemed to be a consistent theme of repeated ingredients and techniques throughout many of our dishes: 1) Fat emulsion 2) Sherry 3) Fermentation 4) Meat sauce 5) Red peppers My recommendation: save your money, and go spend it elsewhere at any other restaurant in San Sebastian. Here was our menu: 1) Chickory leaves in hummus spread 2) Beef tendon with shisha mushroom, draped in a thin veil of bacon 3) Baby carrots in Danish yogurt 4) Bonbon of fresh herbs and flower petals (marigold, dahlia, agastache, mexican aster, nasturtium) in a tart cream, cooked tableside in liquid nitrogen. Really interesting result. Cold and crunchy on the outside, and soft and creamy in the inside 5) Frozen Kiss of the Oyster. Oyster tartare perched on top of a spherical ice ball. You're supposed to pick up the ice ball, kiss it, and then eat the oyster. Fun, but the theatrics of the ice ball didn't really do it for me 6) Vermouth gelee in a kamquat 7) Fermented Mexican mole, dried and pressed with chilies, chocolate powder and bone marrow butter. This was the first dish I really enjoyed. It was creative, flavorful, and fun 8) Minestrone soup filtered 3 times, and served with the seeds of the vegetables in the minestrone soup. The first dish that came with a utensil 9) Hake with unfiltered Japanese sake. Individually, the ingredients were delicious. The combination didn't work for me though. The sake was way too strong for the dish and overpowered the fish 10) Roux of octopus served with red pepper sauce. Too bitter 11) Baby shrimp from southern Spain deep fried in powdered lemon and pepper 12) Mugaritz Creme Brulee. Crust on top with two types of cream: sweet corn and a red cream made from the head of a large prawn 13) Sliced potato kombucha with baked parmesan cheese, served with green tea kombucha 14) Red mullet tartare served with a red mullet reduced sherry. This dish was pretty bad. The tartare was nothing special, and the sherry overpowered the fish 15) Flaky bread with garlic and powdered potato topped with blue fish roe 16) Tempura mushroom marinated in sherry and covered in meat sauce 17) Bone marrow with lamb broth and raspberries 18) Smoked lobster with beef sauce and vanilla 19) Emulsion of beef tendon and beef fat, served on a beef bone. To eat, you lick the emulsion off the bone. Fun concept, but the taste was pretty terrible. You're literally just licking thick fat off a bone. 20) Grilled grouper with local red pepper with emulsion of cow fat. The fat was just unnecessary. Unfortunate, because the fish was quite good 21) Lettuce heart with chorizo sauce and powdered red pepper. Salty and not great 22) Squid with Iberican pork sauce 23) Ice cream with toasted rice 24) Beef marshmallow with toffee sauce 25) Bread and smoked cheese 26) A single dollop of chicken broth reduction. I thought this was a joke when it arrived on the table, but nope, this was really the last course. What a joke!
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Amazing 25 items tasting menu. Love the service, food, and atmosphere! Definitely will come back here when I am back in San Sebastián. Love the location of the restaurant too read more
14 years ago
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3.5 stars. sorry don't hate me. I traveled from the states which HIGH expectations for Mugaritz... well honestly for all of spain which we fell in love with, but I only wish Mugaritz had better met them for me. I think my "lower" rating amounts to not meeting "3rd best restaurant in the world" expectations in addition to over-salted, extra congealed tasting food and at the highest priced of all my michelin visited experiences, it all amounts to 3.5 stars. Not going into detail of the menu because it probably changes pretty often. I uploaded a few of my favorite shots. I do agree Mugaritz is doing interesting stuff with food. Its not straight forward. I can tell its very well thought about and experimental. But ultimately, I want my "experimental" food to taste DAMN GOOD. Not surprised Mugaritz has been snubbed by Michelin. Most of my entrees really were over salted, some I didn't even finish. Also a lot of the sauces were just so thick -- perhaps I missed something. Service was as good as a fine dining restaurant should be, main waiter was funny/entertaining but not overly intrusive. The visit to the kitchen was fun and a nice surprise. The grounds where the restaurant is located is beautiful, view into the kitchen from the outside was also a great site. I tried several other 3 star restaurants in San Sebastian and were more impressed in these places... perhaps my palette just didn't agree with Mugaritz. I will return one day for a 2nd try. read more
10 years ago
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9 years ago
First time I've ever discontinued a tasting menu in my life. My friend and I came to San Sebastián to have the 25 course menu at Mugaritz and it was AWFUL! Each course ranged from inedible to underwhelming. The ingredients were for fresh, but poorly seasoned. As an example, one course was a baby redicho lettuce dipped in an over salted duck reduction with an unseasoned wagyu beef (see photo). I've loved my experiences at other tasting menus around the world (Eleven Madison Park in New York, Quintonil in Mexico City, etc) and I took some non-professional classes at ICC (fka the French Culinary Institute in New York). If I produced dishes like these my instructors would have been appalled. The maitre d took about €30 off our check per person for the 3 courses and one wine pairing we didn't have and refused make any further accommodation. We paid $300 each and my friend bought a sandwich at a bar afterward because we sent so many courses back that she was hungry. I plan on emailing some food critics to suggest this restaurant be reevaluated for lists like the Pellegrino's 50 best so other diners don't make the same mistake I did. read more
15 years ago
15 years ago
Mugaritz is considered one of the best restaurants in the world, in fact, it was voted number three in the San Pellegrino top restaurants (2011). It is a place that divides people sharply, polarising the opinions to be either one of the best restaurants they have ever been to or just plain meh, a wordless disappointment. For me it wasn't the best I have ever been to I have to say but it wasn't a disappointment. It is the restaurant of chef Andoni Aduriz, who apprenticed at El Bulli and is located about 15 minutes by car outside of San Sebastian in the middle of green, lush hills. It was a gloriously sunny day which meant that the lunch started off with drinks outside and a few of the dishes while basking in the sunlight. There is only one menu at Mugartiz, an 18 course tasting menu, but you are able to tell the kitchen that you would like more or fewer dishes. Also if there's something that you would like to try that you have seen another table have. The dishes included things like - Starch And Sugar Crystal Spotted With Pepper Praline And Corals a delectably delicate sheet of sugar with some very subtle flavours to go with it. - Home Made Honey Vinegar, Fermented Barley And Ripe Tomato Heart a most refreshing dish for such a hot day with the sweetness of the honey vinegar and the tomato. - Fig, Cooked In Clay And The Scent Of Tonka Beans Sweet and sticky with a very interesting texture to it from being cooked in the clay. Overall though I wasn't really swept away by the dishes. Maybe I was expecting too much from it. Perhaps I was expecting fireworks and got Christmas crackers. In the end it was a very interesting experience but I am not sure that I would go again, at least not with the same menu. read more
8 years ago
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I am by no means a foodie, but I am extremely open minded, and wanted very much to enjoy the food here. For me, either food tastes good or it don't, and most of the umpteen courses today did not. An average $250 per person to experience a 3 x Michelin Star awarded restaurant and the service one would expect from such an establishment is fair. However, the food sucked and the service was no better. I would have been 100 times happier with a $50 meal at Denny's. For example, the chef managed to intensify the fishiness of a shrimp dish to the point where I could not eat more than my first bite, and this comes from a person that loves saba (mackerel); probably as fishy as it gets! The courses were inadequately explained by the wait staff, and the wine parings came so quickly and out of sync with the food, that they stacked up, causing a great deal of confusion. I would've saved myself a good chunk of money and 4+ precious vacation hours by skipping this place! Sadly, I failed to read the Yelp reviews beforehand. read more
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