My wife and I had a fabulous time in San Sebastian in April. So much awesome food and drink on the cheap, you’ll have a great time.
A couple of our favorite pintxo bars and favorite dishes that I didn’t see on your list:
Squidghetti and poached egg dishes from Kapadokia
Basically everything from Antonio but especially the tortilla, the shrimp ravioli, and the crispy oxtail were fantastic and we went back multiple times for those.
Beef cheek, and Torrijas from Atari. Oh man those torrijas… they’re like this extra gooey, brioche french toast with a carmelized sugar crust, just insane.
We also tried a bunch of vermouth aperitivos which we hadn’t tried before but really enjoyed.
As for the nicer retaurants, we went to Arzak and Rekondo and while those were very unique experiences… the pinxto hopping was a lot more fun in our opinion… the staff at Rekondo seemed so busy and we only really had like 60 seconds with the sommelier so if you plan on going there I’d try to study the wine list in advance because if they are busy you might not have a lot of time to really chat about it with the somm. That was just our experience though, and we were able to get a tour of the cellar after dinner which was really amazing.
Happy to answer any other questions you might have Gregg!
Thank you for the recommendations. We have reservations for Kaia Kaipe, Ganbara and Etxebarri. We plan on doing our big meals for lunch and grazing pinxtos in the evening.
We have a reservation at Lasala Plaza Hotel. What hotel do you recommend?
We will also be in Barcelona, Rioja and Bordeaux if you have any recommendations there for hotels/dining.
My wife and I had a fabulous time in San Sebastian in April. So much awesome food and drink on the cheap, you’ll have a great time.
A couple of our favorite pintxo bars and favorite dishes that I didn’t see on your list:
Squidghetti and poached egg dishes from Kapadokia
Basically everything from Antonio but especially the tortilla, the shrimp ravioli, and the crispy oxtail were fantastic and we went back multiple times for those.
Beef cheek, and Torrijas from Atari. Oh man those torrijas… they’re like this extra gooey, brioche french toast with a carmelized sugar crust, just insane.
We also tried a bunch of vermouth aperitivos which we hadn’t tried before but really enjoyed.
We also went to Arzak and Rekondo and while those were very unique experiences… the pinxto hopping was a lot more fun in our opinion… the staff at Rekondo seemed so busy and we only really had like 60 seconds with the sommelier so if you plan on going there I’d try to study the wine list in advance because if they are busy you might not have a lot of time to really chat about it with the somm. That was just our experience though, and we were able to get a tour of the cellar after dinner which was really amazing.
Happy to answer any other questions you might have Gregg!
We stayed at Lasala in the summer of 2019. I absolutely loved it. The room was one of the nicest I’ve ever stayed in and the location was perfect. I know that people talk about the Maria Christina, but the Lasala is in a much better location to old town and the beach. It’s a two minute walk to Ganbara. Have the best time!
I don’t think you can go wrong location-wise anywhere in Donostia, it’s all very walkable. We stayed at Hotel Arbaso and had an incredible time and would certainly recommend it but I’m sure anywhere you stay will be good. Lasala looks gorgeous so I’m sure will be great.
We rented a car and drove to Haro for the day. We had a morning English speaking tour of La Rioja Alta which was really good. I felt that our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we saw the real winery, not just a Disneyland facade if that make sense. The tasting at the end was also educational - as well as tasting two Gran Reservas, the guide detected that the first bottle was corked so after opening a good bottle she passed the corked one around so we could smell what that is like.
If you do go to Haro you have to eat at Terete - it’s a well known roast lamb restaurant with a very good wine list. We had a bottle of LdH Rosado for about €100 and some of the best roast lamb I’ve ever had.
In addition to some of the others mentioned in SS, we greatly enjoyed our lunch at Bodega Donastiarra. Also for a quick breakfast on the fly, any of the locations of the Loaf Bakery are good as is the coffee.
Thank you all for the recommendations! I’m feeling much more confident about the San Sebastián leg of our driving adventure.
The La Rioja Alta website indicates that they don’t have Saturday tours. If anyone has another recommendation for a winery tour/tasting and/or hotel, please let me know.
Thank you again. This board has been incredible for travel information.
I just got back from a few days in the Basque country. It was very enjoyable. We used Basque Luxury travel for a car service, and they were fantastic. It was just a lot easier to have someone take us around in a Mercedes to see Bilbao, Bayonne, Biarritz, and St. Jean de Luz. And Rafael helped us and he was born and still lives there. He was a great tour guide and driver. I know they will also take you to wine country. It was about $75 an hour which I thought was a pretty fair price for an excellent service.
Good question. I haven’t experienced it for dinner and we were only in town for the afternoon so we went for lunch. If you are staying around Haro I don’t see why you couldn’t have a fabulous dinner, perhaps you’d try to make a reservation in advance though. I believe it’s a well known restaurant in the area and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets busy in the evening.
If Terete was done for dinner, what do you think one should do for lunch? something lighter with more vegetables?
alternatively, was planning Terete for lunch and then La Vieja Bodega for dinner.
La Vieja Bodega looks good, I’m sure that’d be a great option. We didn’t go to any other restaurants in Haro so I’m afraid I don’t have any other suggestions there. Sorry about that!
Oh my gosh, I didn’t realize Terete was where I went when I was in Haro a couple weeks back (a friend booked it, and I just remember it by location)!!! I can highly recommend it for dinner!
The food is very well prepared. They have a really fantastic Rioja wine list at very fair prices (for example, LdH Tondonia Gran Reserva tinto (with age) and Tondonia Reserva Blanco at less than UK retail. Reasonable markup on Gran Reserva Blanco, all things considered. And the wine service was great. We talked about their list for a couple minutes, and they made sure to call out that the LdH Blanco shouldn’t be chilled on ice - it’s meant to be served closer to room temp. Their passion in food, beverage and service really came through.
Agree on a need for a reservation. We went there our first day there, with no resi, but it was before tourist season (just under a month ago), and it was early, and on a Wednesday. By the time we’d left around 9pm they were quite full. And some of the other restaurants nearby we couldn’t even get into for lunch all week.
A fine lunch (or even dinner) option a short drive (around 30 minutes easy driving, more or less) from Haro in Ezcaray is Restaurante Echaurren (either the self-explanatory “Tradicion”, or the more modern “El Portal” the latter 2* Michelin as far as I recall - I personally prefer the former).
One restaurant that we enjoyed I haven’t seen mentioned is Zuberoa. An old Farmhouse out of the city near San Sebastian. Excellent food and interesting wine list.
I was in Haro a couple weeks ago and had a fantastic lunch at Restaurante Alboroque. A bright, modern space, with beautifully executed food. Particularly tasty dishes were:
Beef carpaccio with soy/truffle vinaigrette, pepitas, pistachios, and Parmigiano
Octopus with aji blanco espuma
Caramelized piquillo peppers with bacalao
Smoked sardine loins with guacamole, coconut, and lime cream
A wide selection of wines that are reasonably priced, but vintages are not listed on the menu. A bottle of 2019 Roda Rioja Reserva was 33 Euro, which was more than fair.
It’s right in the center. The front door is about 30 feet from the Haro sign.
+1 for Alboroque. Had lunch there back in December. Over-delivered for what I expected. Great location, but easy to miss as the front is rather understated.
Thank you for all the research on this thread. Below are my notes from our recent trip. As an overall comment, I wasn’t blown away from San Sebastien’s culinary scene (and will also note I wasn’t blown away from Ernestos in NYC either, a popular restaurant based on the region). To be clear, the food was very good… my expectations were too high and I found many menus to be repetitive. If I went back, I would do more tapas and try a Michelin star. That said, everything was good and I would happily return to Ganbara (twice), Atari and Kaia Kaipe, and would pass on Gandarias/Rekondo.
Gandarias - I appreciate the gluten free awareness of the menu (although I feel many other restaurants are as aware). No real standouts and everything was ‘good’. Ordered a bottle of wine off the list and was presented different vintage and a lower end base bottling (1/5 of the value of the ordered bottle). I don’t think the service made the mistake intentionally; just seemed not to be as focus on the wine.
Ganbara - Excellent small wine list. Ulysse Collin, Nathalie Vigot, and many other reasonable priced desirable producers (I posted a couple photos of list). Really fun list (although vintages are not listed). We ate in the basement restaurant and enjoyed everything. Service a little gruff/English challenged, but I felt that added to the charm. Fresh ingredients, prepared simply and excellently. I’d go back.
Rekondo - Others in my group enjoyed the restaurant more than me. Positively, they are super friendly… willing to convert any appetizer/entrée into a tapas sized portion for all the table. The oysters had the most beautiful shell on them. All food was prepared well, just lacking a bit of excitement for me and the prices are higher. We toured the 65K bottle wine cellar which was fun. The wine list was best, to me, for a huge selection of older Rioja. I didn’t see many ‘deals’ on the Burgundy section (although Mugnier Fuee is there for 400 euro, multiple vintages). Wines weren’t decanted for sediment, and the last glass of each bottle of wine were cloudy/full of sediment. Overall, the price of the dinner didn’t make sense to me but others in my group enjoyed it. I’d have done Ganbara again, but others I suspect preferred Rekondo.
Kaia Kaipe - Lovely, freshly grilled seafood. Big wine list, although the first couple of wines I chose were sold out. Was able to snag the last bottle of Lafon below the low end of retail.
Raviolina - Last minute gluten free Italian walk-in. Nothing remarkable, but very gluten free friendly (would go with the ravioli over the GF pizza).
Atari - Great table outside near the Church. Great allergen friendly service and food. Would return. Food here was more tapas style.
Instagram photos below (more wine focused). Not sure how to make these photos come in smaller (I tried hiding/details as well but that didn’t work).
Shan, my gut reaction is ‘what were you expecting?!??!?!’ as San Sebastian is one of my favourite cities on this planet, for all the culinary treasures it has to offer. But then, it’s not easy to get to at all, and if you’re coming from the US, that’s quite a journey, given that there’s no direct way there. So it makes sense that there’s high expectations that come with it.
I agree with your thinking about doing at least one of the higher end places there. I haven’t yet, but will when I go back next year (I’m so lucky that it’s a quick plane ride + bus/rental car for me).
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