Abando y barra — Restaurant in Bilbao

My husband and I along with our vegetarian 16 year old thought it would be nice to take a trip to Spain. After a visit to the Guggenheim we strolled the area on a lazy Sunday afternoon around 4:45 in the afternoon. As we quickly learned most places close during these hours and reopen for dinner service. We decided to stop here for a coffee and a snack. Big mistake!

My husband ordered a pintxo and two coffees for us and we sat down outside on his “terrace” to nibble our snacks and sip our coffee. After several minutes, our vegetarian teen started to get hungry but there was nothing here for her to eat and so she decided to grab a chocolate croissant and iced coffee from across the street. Neither of these items were available at this place.

After about 15 minutes and as we were finishing our coffee and pintxo, a very agitated large man with facial hair came out and began to loudly lecture us about bringing other food to his place. At first he did it in Spanish. Then I told him I could not understand him. He proceeded to lecture us in broken English. All the other patrons were staring at us while this was happening. Mind you we paid and then our kid got hungry and all the dishes had meat. This behavior from him was completely unnecessary. It’s not wrong for him to have rules for his business but there is a way to conduct yourself that does not create a spectacle and embarrass people who came there with good intentions and their kid got hungry.

Don’t waste your time or money here. The bad treatment/attitude aren’t worth it. Try the place across the street. You might have...

One of the worst places in Bilbao. Rude and uneducated owners spoke English only when convenient for them. The pintxos were sort of ok but nothing to impress us. The beers were also nothing special. I understand they believe that the fact that they are near the Guggenheim (not really, just on the way between there and the gallery) has made them believe they are entitled to be rewarded for that and that alone. We sat outside and had to clean our own table and...

Place was filthy. Looked like they hadn’t cleaned in fifty years. Owner shouted at us for getting a croissant across the way and eating it at this restaurant after we had gotten food and paid. Owner is extremely aggressive, and very likely racist. Go to the restaurant across the street. Much more variety and no miniature Hagrid barking at you (just look at his responses to other reviews). I felt like I was being colonized. Not much of a surprise… it is...