El Callejon Biarritz — Restaurant in Bayonne

What a lovely evening at El Callejon. We were the first people in at 19.00 but warmly welcomed by the team and shown to our table. Clearly a busy night ahead as every table was reserved. We ordered a selection of Pinxtos to start - confit duck, jambon croquettes and anchovies. All delightful. The Gigondas red wine was also delightful. Main course - we opted to share the milk fed lamb for two - wow!!! Absolutely amazing and the highlight of this trip. Absolutely recommend. Succulent, tender, crisp on the top - just as it should be. A little salt on the accompanying beans added a high amount. We even stretched to deserts - Crème Brûlée and the Rice Pudding with Apricots. All wonderful. The final “l’addition” was very reasonable for the evening and food we’d had. Would definitely go here again. Busy place but all well managed by friendly, efficient and welcoming staff....

After completing the French Camino de Santiago (Via Podiensis) and wearing hiking shoes for over 30 days, I decided to spend a couple days in Biarritz to celebrate and spoil myself with nice hotel and food. El Callejon, a few meters from the Hotel Café de Paris, where I had checked in, looked interesting- fine food and a Brazilian chef! I was dying to try her version of Moqueca and farofa. So I came in my Havaianas and relaxed outfit - there were no customers in, as the restaurant was opening and it is Monday - only to be sent immediately away by one of the staff members - as a stray dog - claiming I didn’t have shows on. So this is a shoes only restaurant, don’t go if you don’t feel like wearing shoes. I went then to Chez Coco, very close by, had great food and service 😃 It is SO LAST CENTURY to have such a strict and ridiculous dress code in a beach city where people...

The location and atmosphere are good and the wine as well. The food is bad and the service even worse.

We are a family of 4 and we came here because of the great reviews. Sorry to say but the octopus (le poulpe) was really bad and I was not able to eat it, I couldn't even chew it. Clearly there was an error on the part of the cook. At the end I told the waiter about my problem and he did not care. He just said he would have had reported it to the kitchen. Then no feedback or apology of any kind. The wine was really good though, while the desserts were average. Even my parents told me that their food was not excellent. In fact, many mussels were closed and could not be eaten.

Overall a very negative experience considering the high prices as well. Probably we were just unlucky but I would have appreciated more kindness...