Eneko Atxa is a celebrated Basque chef, owner of the 3-Michelin-starred Azurmendi restaurant, renowned for his innovative, sustainable, and culturally-rooted approach to gastronomy.
I had an amazing dining experience at Azurmendi. The staff were attentive, friendly, knowledgeable and provided exceptional service.
The food was outstanding. Some of my favourites were the small bites that start off the experience (especially the various tomato presentations), shrimp, spider crab, iberico pork and an amazingly inventive partridge chocolate. The petit fours presentation at the end is outstanding.
There are several beverage pairings offered. There are two wine pairings and also a cocktail and non-alcoholic pairing. While it is almost shocking to not choose wine when in Spain, after so many days of wine a change was refreshing to see. I opted for the cocktail pairing. The drinks are prepared tableside and are flavourful and pair well with the courses.
I was previously at Azurmendi in 2019 and was excited to come back. The same level of excellence, taste, presentation and customer service that I remember are still there.
Thanks again to the entire Azurmendi team for making the evening a memorable one.
So the experience and setting is spot on in a very unique place, where they make you a strong show.
Where it is lacking a bit is the food and other part of the service:
Food: The menu has a lot of bites/dishes and they make an effort towards making these all unique and with that they succeed but when it comes to the individual quality of the complete dishes I would argue that a strong one Michelin place would do better then Azurmendi. The menu just simply lacks standouts (perhaps the oysters being an exception) and both the lobster, pork and pistachio dishes were bland/lacking fantasy in my view.
The wine pairing would be considered bland/boring at a one Michelin spot in my point of view so it's quite disappointing at this level.
The service was kind and thoughtful but a little bit fake in my opinion with some of the waiters trying (in my view aggressively) selling us additional champagne/cheese etc.... Exception being the dessert chef with the Petit fours, he was truly exceptional
2
Not worth it, and not sure how this res is known for 3 stars. The service is terrible .
During the course, they will serve you different kind of bread. The waiter dropped the bread on the table twice and the bed crumb felt into my full glass of water. And no reaction or even a single apology (unacceptable)😅 and at the end the restaurant still charge you for water.
This restaurant is kinda pushy to order course and drink. Even tho, we order the large course and they only add a rose dessert and bird chocolate bonbon as in savory course. A bonbon!?!? This is very funny for 3 stars res serving chocolate bonbon as main course… (last photo)
For the taste, i would say average. It has japanese influence which I did not expect it in Spain. For three stars res it is more toward service and experience side which this restaurant is not yet delivered. They tried to impress you with just presentation.
The location is far from San Sebastian you need to detour or if you are happen to go Bilbao route.
Not worth it, 800 euros for this experience i would say no thanks.
5
The concept and quality of food and service deserves its 3 Michelin Stars. Outstanding experience and I love the herbs from their own gardens and the local products. The dinner experience starts in the welcome room with a "picknick" basket followed by a kitchen tour and via a surprise room to the main restaurant. The building itself is perfectly giving you a vibe of local, green, sustainable experience and the food and it's presentation is gorgeous. I can recommend!
5
Amazing experience right from the moment we walked in. Before the tasting menu, we enjoyed delightful small bites in three themed rooms — Picnic, Ocean, and Rose Garden. Both the small bites and main courses are expertly crafted and stunningly presented, appealing beautifully to all the senses.
