We found ourselves here at least 4 times during our two-day trip - the atmosphere, the staff (Eduardo!!), and the food was just fantastic. A lot of the bars had the same exact pintxos, which were nothing special and borderline unappealing. Honestly, I care the most about the food and if that's a win then I could give two flying...bats about the atmosphere. But when you combine mediocre food with a dark, stale interior? No go.
Txondorra, however, had some really interesting hot pintxos, like kangaroo skewers with raspberry sauce and shark skewers. PLUS there was a good variety of cold pintxos on the bar (some of which they warm up of course), and they were fresh and everything we had was really yummy. The inside of the bar is so crisp and clean that when you walk in there you almost forget where you are. We loved Eduardo, one of the bartenders. He IS the party and we had so much fun around him even though we speak barely any Spanish. Great energy! :-)
My boyfriend and I are the kind of people who jump through hoops to try and avoid "touristy" places. The whole pintxo bar scene could be considered touristy, but it's hugely popular with locals as well. I mean it's a part of the culture in San Sebastian. The trick is not going into the places that have the mediocre pintxos. So watch out for ones with giant servings of cheese or crab salad on bread. They're just putting a lot of stuff on the bread to make it look as if it's good and it's a better deal. And then they charge you more. Opla!
At Txondorra we hung out for a while in the afternoon (best time to go because it's not crowded and the staff isn't too busy/stressed!) and got multiple glasses of txakoli, which is white sparkling wine. We felt very comfortable there and loved even passing by just to see Eduardo say, "Eyyyy Washington D.C.!!" Of course, you could experience something completely different, but without a doubt it's a place worth visiting. Cheers! read more