Ganbara Jatetxea

My first and favorite pinxtos stop. Smaller and more comfy feel than the others. 4.75 stars
Food: 5, Service: 4, Atmosphere: 4
Cost to worth it rating: 4 (believe was a bit less expensive than others)
Return worthiness: yes
Highlights:
— Ham and cheese croquettes: my fave pinxtos and this place had the best ones. Crispy on the outside and substatial ham and cheese fillling that was delightfully melty on the inside. 5 stars
— Croissant jamon sandwich: another favorite – the soft buttery croissant added to the deliciousness of the cured ham that was busting out on the sides and the cheese to compliment it. A big step up from the standard plain piece of bread. Small size so you could enjoy this as well as other dishes. 5 stars
— Shrimp, scallop, and monkfish skewers: fresh grilled seafood combo. Heavenly. 5 stars
— Crab tart: a specialty of this spot was a pasty tart crust filled with shredded crab in a reddish sauce. Lovely eaten right after it was warmed. 4.5 stars
— Sausage pastry: felt almost English except the pastry was extra flaky. 3 stars
— Seating: scored a small circular table outside and it was lovely on a nice afternoon
— Wine: got a refreshing bottle of local white wine for 15 euros
Midlights:
— Calamari: fried in french fry looking strips. Not much seasoning so they were just ok. 3 stars
Lowlights:
— Russian salad: too greasy. 2 stars
I could enjoy this every Saturday afternoon and would love to come back. :-)

The pinxtos here are excellent. If not for the extremely bad vibe from the guys behind the counter, I would return here and recommend it. However, as such, I do neither. There are plenty of other incredible pinxto bars in the old quarter: go to those. I am!

We loved Ganbara so much, we made it our first stop for pintxos every day!
Their tiny bacalao sandwiches were the best — the succulence of the oily fish pairs so beautifully with the flakey, rich croissant — I can still taste them now!
We asked one of the servers (the tall fellow with glasses) for advice on ordering and he pointed us to the following:
Seared man-​steak — I forget what this was called, but it was juicy and delicious (according to my dining partner) and the half portion was enough to feed two, but he managed to down it all.
Fois gras — a plateful of savory, plump bites, plopped down into their lovely brown juices mixed with a bit of olive oil. I didn’t want to share this.
Grilled calamar — yes, just yes.
And ask for wine suggestions to pair with your food.
Oh, I almost forgot — order the mushrooms with the egg. Sauteed fresh mushrooms are served with a golden yolk in the center.

A friend told us about Gandarias in old town San Sebastian and we were not disappointed. They have a wide variety, with emphasis on fish, and offer a large selection of wines and sherries by the glass. We will definitely visit here again before we leave San Sebastian.

War eigentlich auf der Suche nach dem in Unilocal gelobten Tapas Restaurant «La cuchara de san telmo».
War aber geschlossen!
Das ebenfalls gelobte «Gandarias» war völlig überfüllt.
Einheimische lobten das «Ganbara», in dem ich einen guten Platz gleich am Tresen fand.
Meine Suche nach dem richtigen Tapasrestaurant wurde mit super leckeren Tapas, auch Pinchos genannt, und leckerem Rioja belohnt!
Mein Favorit war Riesengamba auf Lachs, Ei und luftiger Majonaise.
Der Rioja war ein 2010er Vivanco.
Preislich war ich mit 7 exklusiven Meeresfrüchtetapas und 2 Gläsern Rioja für 23Euro absolut zufrieden und pappensatt.
Und das flanieren durch San Sebastian ist echt herrlich!

group lunch was held downstairs and everything that came out was more than enough food, wine was delicious and one thing most people who don’t like rare meat needs to know before ordering the ox, it comes out rare!

Order the Hongos Plancha. One of the best dishes in town. Pintxos were also excellent. Friendly staff.

We ended up coming back a second night in a row. Who can resist € 2.10 wine and bocadillos?
We were able to get some more counter space this time. Can I point out that purse hooks are really nice? I appreciate that they have them for those who eat at the counter.
— Assorted mushrooms with egg yolk: we couldn’t help but get this dish again, but I don’t think it was worth ~ € 20, which was half our check
— Jamon mini croissant sandwiches: again, flaky and light croissants fresh out of the oven…
— Padron peppers: our sad attempt at vegetables; this was a generous plate. It could have used a little more char
— Croquettes: we saw this go by and had to order it. It turned out to be like a cream of ham soup inside, and it was good but a bit monotonous after the first bite and very very rich
— Fried asparagus: the white asparagus was so beautiful on the counter. Once fried, it was crispy outside and still so tender and juicy inside. It comes with mayo, but it’s great just on its own
The people working behind the counter were really helpful, and eating here is a lot of fun without being as stressful as some of the other places.
I think the croissant sandwiches and asparagus were undoubtedly the best dishes.

Who posted the single euro sign? If you want the good warm stuff you have to put out some good warm euros. We ordered the foie with asparagus. I cried a little from happiness and from handing over the many euros for this experience. It was worth it. It was the best foie I ever had. A couple of Gildas to cut the richness and we left satisfied.

Des pintxos goûteux, langoustines a la plancha à tomber !! Et un service très amical

This place was recommended to me and I’m so glad I went. Had some wine and a few different pintxos. The favorite was definitely the grilled chanterelles! Oh. My. Goodness. Amazing. Not a huge selection to choose from but everything I had was super tasty.

Just had a great meal. It is a little pricey, but the owner and the server are so friendly and warm. They started us with battered shrimp (on the house), which were fine, then we had the asparagus, which were the usual. Then… The mushrooms and foie were superb; a nice assortment and the foie cooked perfectly. Then we had the lubina for two, which they brought out to show us before they cooked it. It was so tasty, grilled with salt, oil and butter, moist and delicious. Our friends from Barcelona recommended this place to us, and now I recommend it to you.

Loved this place! The food is awesome. This was the first place we hit when we got into town. Food was awesome, prices are cheap. Thinking that all the bars in the area were as good, we left and tried them out. Boy were we disappointed. Grabbed our friends and dragged em over and insisted they try the offerings.
The guys who run the place are awesome and add a lot of character to the place. Folks there are pretty chill, lots of locals, and patient.

Situated bang in the middle of one of the Parte Viega’s main streets Ganbara is well worth adding to anyones pintxos itinerary. As with all of the other places we visited, Ganbara was busy and making your way to the bar (and then finding a spot) was a bit of a struggle.
However, for fungi fans, braving the crowds is definitely worth it. First, part of the bar is given up to an amazing display of fabulous fresh ceps and girolles. In addition, the kitchen knows how to treat these ingredients with the respect and the combination of a plate of pan fried ceps accompanied by a perfectly soft egg yolk (which you then broke to act as a sauce) was simply superb. Everyone else appeared to agree as I saw little else leave the kitchen on either of our visits and Ganbara is worth a pit-​stop for this dish alone in my view.

Ganbara was recommended to us as one of the many stops in the old part of the city. Apparently it is Quentin Tarantino’s favorite place in town, who knew? When we arrived there was a good crowd of people there and we had some of the pinxtos and some txakoli to start. The food was alright but I was looking for something with the mushrooms that they had everywhere, including their advertising. The problem was that a plate of mushrooms was close to 20 euros. We were looking for small bites late at night and felt that was a little pricey. Looking at what everyone else has stated, I would recommend going with an appetite and grabbing some fungi.

Another excellent choice for pintxos and other fine foods in the center of Parte Vieja. It’s crazy crowded so you’ll have to fight your way through during prime eating hours. Luckily we ended up right next to the bar towards the kitchen. Since they’re so popular they’re not as warm as most of the hospitality I’ve encountered in the area, but definitely the food is worth checking out.
The Jamon croissants, sauteed mixed mushrooms, pimientos with anchovies, kokotxa, squid in ink and muxarra are some of the solid eats to be had. Again, crazy crowds but the food is definitely pushing through for.

OK, so a non-​Basque really has no right to say this, but this must be the best pintxo place in all of San Sebastián. The evaluation is based on variety, size of portion and quality of ingredients, as well as the place itself, the service, and visual appeal of the food. There’s not a lot you can say about pintxos except that you have to try a lot of them in a lot of different places with a lot of different wines before you can really know whether they are good or not. So I meet all those criteria (speaking humbly) and insist that in the parte vieja of SS or Donostia, these can’t be beat. It’s also fun trying to get a word in edgewise with the waitress who is incredibly sharp.
Do go — but leave me some pintxos for my next visit.