While cured pig legs dangle from the ceiling like stalactites and the floor-to-ceiling windows are great for people watching, the chefs here churn out gooey and crunchy jamon croquetas, tender pig cheeks, and flavor-bursting head-on prawns, among other saliva-inducing morsels. But the main reason to point yourself to Gandarias is for the beef. Order a pintxo of medium-rare solomillo, or sirloin, and be prepared for this umami flavor bomb to explode when it lands on your tongue.

Snacks at this Old Town hang emphasize the classic preparation of well-chosen ingredients. On any given night, you might sample seared sirloin atop a slice of toasted baguette, a trio of braised beef cheeks smothered in rich brown gravy, or a skewer of grilled baby squid dressed in sauce of its own ink. Trust your eyes and pick up whatever looks best; no matter what you choose, you’ll develop an excellent baseline for what pintxos should be.

The hallmark of the Old Town Gandarias restaurant is its fantastic pintxos bar, offering a wide array of both hot and cold options. Think bruschetta topped with grilled duck; risotto made with Idiazabal cheese and wild mushrooms; and clams smothered in a salty seafood sauce.

A traditional bar cum restaurant very popular with locals and tourists alike. This was the very first pintxo bar we visited on our own and I relied on sign language and luck to order a crostini type pintxo of goat cheese and pistachios, roasted red peppers with a sweet balsamic dressing, and fried guindilla peppers dusted with rock salt (My perception of myself as a picky non vegetarian hadn’t yet been shattered). R had a ham and cheese tart with soft cooked eggs and we shared a hot shrimp tart in bechamel sauce, washed down with txakoli.

But each and every one is characterised by its own speciality; some of the top-rated and charming pinxto bars not to miss include the traditionally-upholstered Gandarias, whose piéce de resistance is the endlessly juicy Solomillo atop a slice of artisan bread; Borda Berri, who pride themselves on Las Orejas de Cerdo Crujiente (crispy pig ears), their bestselling pinxto; Casa Vergara and their cigar-shaped black pudding, habanito; and Haizea, whose ‘cod brick’ is a daily winner.

Our first stop is Gandarias, a beloved institution in the city’s Parte Vieja (Old Town). We walk along the bar, eyeing all the delectable plates or pintxos (PEEN-chos) as they’re called: Mushroom Tarts with Pata Negra Ham, Peppers stuffed with Crab, Anchovies & Prawns, Cheese & Mushroom Risotto, Artichokes, Beef Cheeks — the choices are endless. We make a selection and enjoy one plate after the other, while chatting with equally enthusiastic diners.

A parade of jamon legs dangle over the lively bar at Gandarias while the bar top heaves under the weight of many eye-popping pintxos that look like works of art. Gandarias serves plenty of classic Basque-style pintxos, many of which features slices of crusty bread topped with mayonnaise based salads. I ordered the speciality, Warm Mushrooms with Jamon on Toast covered in a creamy sauce with a glass of local white wine for just 5 EUR.

Wonderful pintxos bars like La Vina, Txepetxa and Gandarias offer a fun, lively ambience to graze on tasty, simple food and affordable Spanish wines. The city and its surrounding towns are filled with fantastic seafood restaurants, many with excellent, great-value wine lists. The best turbot I had in my life was at Zelai Txiki – simply grilled with just a sprinkling of salt and lemon.

Gandarias, situated in the old town of San Sebastián, is a traditional pintxos bar and restaurant renowned for its excellent Basque cooking. Choose to eat in the laid-back bar, surrounded by endless plates of pintxos and legs of jamón ibérico hanging from the ceiling. Part of the fun of going for pintxos, is sitting in the cosy bars with the locals enjoying the buzzing atmosphere.

Heading downwards on the 31 de Agosto street, just a few steps after La Cuchara de San Telmo you can find Restaurante Gandarias, one of the oldest and well known restaurant sin San Sebastián. Here you can indulge a nice Basque meal at the restaurant, taste their delicious pintxos at the bar or order some hot pintxos on their menu. You can have a nice drink of Txakolí with a Gilda.

Bar Gandarias, located in the historic center of San Sebastián, is renowned for offering traditional Basque cuisine and top-quality pintxos. Despite having undergone several management changes over the years, it remains a favorite among both locals and tourists. I had the opportunity to try their culinary offerings and was impressed by the creativity and quality of their pintxos.

One of the most perpetually busy bars in San Sebastian, Gandarias is the place to go for both reliably good pintxos at the bar, or a full dinner in the dining room. The seared foie gras (foie a la plancha) here is great, as well as the beef (solomillo) and shrimp (brocheta de gambas). We’ve also reserved a table in the restaurant to have Txuleta steak in a more relaxed way.

If you’re looking for somewhere that serves traditional Basque food and is a little easier to get into, then Gandarias is the place for you. They have a wide variety of pintxo available, from the classics through to raciones (plates) of jamón ibérico. If you want a more traditional dining experience, there’s also a dining area where you can order from the a la carte menu.

You may walk past and see a buzzy crowd standing outside enjoying pintxos and wine, but Gandarias is actually a restaurant and pintxos bar. Don’t let the crowds deceive you; your table is tucked away on the other side of the restaurant, so there’s no pushing shoulders or fighting for space. You’ll have your own space to enjoy your meal with other seated diners.

As soon as you step foot onto this famed pintxos street, Gandarias will stand out as it is the most crowded spot on the block. Although always full of people, the bar servers have devised an efficient system to get you your pintxos fast. Here make sure to order some rations or raciones which can be found in chalk on the blackboards lining the bar’s walls.

Casa Gandarias was hot on every list of “top ten” places to try for San Sebastian food and boy oh boy was it good. There is a restaurant in the back which unfortunately was jam packed full of locals on the night we were there, always a good indication. To the bar we went and the selection of pre prepared and made to order pintxos was out of this world.

Take a walk around the old town and you’ll notice that Gandarias Jatetxea is one of the most popular pintxos bars in San Sebastian. It’s a good-sized restaurant with two sections – a bar area for pintxos and a more formal area for sit-down diners. Within seconds of entering the bar area, these enticing-looking sea urchin shells caught my attention.

The bar was covered with a tempting and colourful selection of pintxos – especially seafood, the highlight being the cream of sea urchin served in a black spiked sea urchin shell and topped with fish roe and crispy pieces. Address: Gandarias 31 de Agosto Kalea, 23, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain Website: http://www.restaurantegandarias.com/

As one of the bars open a bit later into the night in San Sebastian’s old town, Gandarias has become a popular destination for after pintxos cocktails. This makes it the ideal spot to end your pintxos tour. Gandarias is also a bit more upscale than the previous bars you will have visited with a bustling ambiance and “contemporary chic” vibe.

Instead of ordering one or two pintxos, we walked out with a plateful. In our defense – it was lunchtime, we were hungry and the place was RAMMED with people. By the time we’d squeezed our way to the front, salivating over a counter filled with tempting treats and dreaming about the hot pintxos, it was impossible to walk away with less.

Another excellent traditional restaurant, Gandarias is a classic when it comes to where to eat in San Sebastian. Located in the heart of the Old Town, they offer beautifully prepared traditional dishes prepared with locally sourced products, including plenty of menu options for customers who need or choose to follow a gluten-free diet.

Another old-school pintxos bar, we adored the relaxed atmosphere and the hanging Iberico hams above the bar. We couldn’t resist scoffing two platefuls of their sublime, melt-in-your-mouth beef cheeks. We also enjoyed their sirloin steak pintxos and black pudding, and managed to tuck into a lot of charcuterie with fresh crusty bread.

Gandarias: order the sirloin steak cooked perfectly rare; the melt-in-your-mouth griddled foie gras; and the Gilda, named after Rita Hayworth’s character in the film of the same name. It’s a comforting combination of gently spicy guindilla pepper, green olive and anchovy – all cured in vinegar. You’ll find it in many pintxo bars.

And at our next pintxos stop, Gandarias, we sampled the specialist skill of txakoli pouring. To aerate the wine in the bottle it is traditionally poured from a great height. We naturally had to try our hands at txakoli pouring and let’s just say that it’s harder than it looks, so I stuck to drinking my new found favourite tipple.

El restaurante Gandaria s es posiblemente uno de los más conocidos de San Sebastián por sus numerosas y cuidadas opciones sin gluten. Aunque lo he metido en la sección de comer de mesa, es uno de los lugares donde los celiacos podemos disfrutar de una extensa carta de pintxos. ♦ Están avalados con el sello FACE Restauración.

Gandarias is often referred to as the "Aladdin's cave of Pintxos" with its vast selection of traditional meat, seafood and vegetarian pintxos. One not to be missed dish is the Fisherman's Style Clams, Littleneck Clams in a simple yet fragrant sauce of white wine, clam juice, olive oil and parsley - often called "green sauce.

Gandarias es un restaurante de comida tradicional vasca muy popular que queda en el Casco Antiguo de Donostia, es ideal para los amantes de las tapas y pintxos y lo mejor es que tienen opciones sin gluten. ¡Qué digo, es el templo de los pinchos sin gluten en San Sebastián!. Y os lo digo yo que he estado muchas veces.

Borda Berri is a little more pricy than the other pinchos bars, but it is worth it… I swear. Nearby, there is a quaint and lovely square called Constitución Plaza. It is lovely to walk around and there are also many restaurants and pinchos bar surrounding it, but everything we saw there didn’t look too great.

Gandarias- Holy moly, I could have stayed here all night eating plates of buttery soft savory jamon iberico, tomato salad and pimientos de piquillo (roasted peppers). I had a steak pinxto I could have lived without, to be perfectly honest. Great meat quality, poor butchery skills at least the night I went.

Standout dishes include the sea urchin & the morcilla (blood sausage) with egg & pepper. They also have a nice selection of wine by the glass, and unlike many pintxos bars in San Sebastián, they remain open in the late afternoon. Address: 31 de Agosto Kalea, nº 23, 20003 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain ( map)

Some of the most famous places to eat pinxtos in San Sebastian are: La Cuchara de San Telmo, Zabaleta (Spanish omelette), Bar Sport, Borda Berri (risotto), La Viña (cheesecake), Atari, Goiz Argi (skewered prawns), Txepetxa, Dakara Bi, Txuleta, Gandarias… There are many places to choose from!

Option two was Gandarias Jatetxea (also great reviews, and now one of my favorite San Sebastian restaurants), and they had a seating-- at 11:15 pm!. Somehow, I just couldn't imagine rolling into bed at 2:00 am with a T-bone steak in my stomach, so we let that one go to another lucky caller.

After a quick search on Google Maps, we went to Gandarias, which was said to have a separate gluten-free menu. Furthermore, it was rated as one of the best Pinxtos bars in town. Intrigued, we entered the very busy restaurant, and could not figure out whether there was a logic to the chaos.

I had been to Casa Gandarias on my solo trip years earlier, and I knew I wanted to come back. I remember everyone tucking into red wines for very little money. We made it back, and while the wines were still excellent value, I wouldn’t describe them as “very little money.” Inflation, eh?

Locals recommended me Zeruko and A fuego negro and I personally loved the food and service at Gandarias. Actually, it is not of great importance where you will try pintxos. The selection of good food here is so vast that you have a pretty good chance of stumbling across a nice place.

Stop number four on our pintxos tour is Gandarias, one of the more famous and popular stops. Gandarias has also done what many of the other pintxos bars in the city do: In addition to selling traditional pintxos in the bar, they have a restaurant section where you can reserve tables.

Gandarias (31 de Agosto Kalea, 23) – although for some reason (perhaps their indifferent attitude) I didn’t warm to Gandarias as a place and did not return. Service aside, I found the scallop with honey to be cooked beautifully and the honey vinaigrette to be judged perfectly.

When we first walked into Gandarias, which was heaving with people and incredibly popular, I thought there was no way they’d be able to cater for coeliacs. However an Instagram friend had reassured me they did gluten free croquettas so I was determined to find out.

Finally, the well-known Gandarias bar, an essential destination for the most refined palates. Among its wide selection of pintxos, the kidney skewer or salad stand out, although any option will be notable thanks to the high quality and treatment of the products.

Like the Gambara, this is another traditional and familiar bar in the Old Part. It has been in operation for almost 50 years and continues to be a success among those who visit it. Here you can’t miss their sirloin pintxo or their shrimp or kidney brochette.

You can discover these dishes in La Cuchara de San Telmo, in Bar Txepetxa, in Gandarias, one of the classic bars of Donostia, in Borda Berri or in La Viña, which are the most traditional bars, but the whole city has excellent places to discover its flavors.

We'd had some delicious sirloin bites from the heaving bar counter at Gandarias Jatetxea, so when Ania recommended the restaurant at the back as one of the best places in town for the local specialty prime rib, we booked on the spot for the following night.

During the trek, you’ll experience the more traditional Bernardo Etxea, which specializes in local seafood like txangurro (spider crab) and Restaurante Gandarias, known for its buttery jamón Iberico and perfectly grilled squid drizzled with squid ink.

A few doors down at Gandarias they serve this tapas called the Duo. I’m not sure it’s a very traditional dish, I didn’t see it served at any of the other bars, but it certainly is delicious. Bacon comes wrapped around a hunk of goat cheese.

The patrons of Casa Gandaria swear by their stuffed pimientos (pimiento del piquillo rellenos) and goat cheese on peppers. We also had sea urchin and a mushroom croqueta with 2 glasses of Ribera de Duero red wine. All together for 16€.

Ganadarias is a well-established brand that has been around for years. It’s a favorite among the locals and a great place to take in the ambiance, especially so at the bigger one of their two venues. It’s always crowded and happening.

We stopped here for lunch on our beach day, and I waited around 30 minutes to even place an order, but if you go for pintxos at a good place at 1pm that’s the price you pay!. The food here was nice. We stood outside and ate.

Savour gorgeous vegan lasagne or mushroom risotto in this charming restaurant. Adorned with hanging cookware, Ganarias provides a homely establishment offering a unique culinary experience. Open daily from 11 am to 12 am.

This lively bar located at the top end of the old town is one of my favourites and does the best solomillo – a small piece of well-seasoned fillet steak served on a piece of bread, topped with a sliver of green pepper.

In particular, GQ recommends starting at Beti Jai Berria on Calle De Fermín Calbetón and making your way door-by-door towards the famous Gandarias or A Fuego Negro on Calle Del 31 De Agosto. Explore, consume and enjoy.

Gandarias is fine for what it is, old school (with both a pintxo bar and a sit-down restaurant), open on Sunday night, not closed for vacation, and pretty good food. We'd had a good time once before, so off we went...

This place is always popping but we managed to get one of the outside standing tables. We were quite full so we didn’t order as much: duck bruschette, scallop and shrimp bruschette, beef skewer, and beef cheeks.

Discover the essence of Basque cuisine at one of the most popular spots in town: Gandarias. Tucked in the heart of the historic Old Town, this family-run gem is a cornerstone of San Sebastian’s culinary scene.

These were: Gandarias Jatetxea, Bar Nestor, Casa Urola and Atari Gastroteka. I visited all four steakhouses/pintxos bars within a 48 hour period between Friday and Sunday night, eating over 3kg of steak.

An Aladdin’s cave of Pintxos of Gandarias… Credit: Gandarias Facebook. The best option in San Sebastián to enjoy a good lamb chop at any time of day, as the kitchen here stays open until midnight.

One lunchtime and back the same evening as we had to have another one of the exquisite little parcels of courgette stuffed with crab. The waiter teased us about coming back so soon.

Another favourite pintxo bar on the strip is Casa Gandarias (C/31 de Agosto 23) serving up an array of classic and creative pintxos.

They visit some of the best places to eat pintxos in the Basque Country, including Gandarias, Txepetxa and Bar La Cepa.