Demaio | Pizza Gourmet - San Francisco — Restaurant in Bilbao

We were treated badly today. It is sad that a restaurant describing itself as a restaurant from passion and experience - allows its customers to be treated this way. We entered with a smile and were greeted by an unpleasant waitress with a face and behavior as if we were bothering her. She asked if we wanted a table for two, we said yes and she said there were no free tables, that the restaurant was full. When we asked how long we had to wait for a table she said that there would be no room for us until closing because they were so so so full. (we saw a few free tables). I want to add that it was 9 pm, just after the pizzeria opened and two hours until closing. We said that we would order a pizza to go and she said in a rude tone that we couldn't take a Neapolitan pizza to go, only a Romane. We were surprised and ordered romane because we wanted to try their pizza, even though she was very rude to us. What happened next is very strange. We saw tables being vacated and no one came… we waited for pizza outside for almost an hour, even though there were about 6 pizzaiolos in the pizzeria. In the meantime we saw tables being vacated and no one came… another couple who came to eat pizza were invited to one of the free tables… we watched through the window as they baked pizza and suddenly we saw that they were packing pizza neapolitan to go, something that the waitress had rudely said a moment ago was impossible… we went and asked what was going on why we had been lied to twice. To which another waitress started acting nervously, checking her watch, started looking around and sad that there are free places now and we could eat our pizza in a box at the table. I call this behavior gastronomic pathology, as I'm a chef myself. This will be reported to the appropriate authorities. It's a shame for the 50top pizza organization that this place is on their list. I hope it won't be on their list...

This place deserves to call themselves gourmet. We visited them on a Sunday in July, and the place was packed from when they opened at 8:30 PM… People were waiting in the street after a few minutes. Still, they greeted me and coughed up a table for four - immediately or after 30 minutes - so we took the latter. Half an hour later, the table was indeed ready and we were seated.

Everyone that I met spoke English, and gave us time and help to make our choices. They explained the differences between napoletana (round, typical thin pizza with crusty edge) and romana (square double baked pizza with a crusty bottom). The latter was out of this world! They also served .33 liter cokes and Italian wine by the glass, from bottles on rotation, for about €3 a piece. We had three pizzas, two cokes, a sparkling water and four glasses of wine for a mere €50, including great service from at least three friendly folks (meeting, greeting, seating, eating)…

Next time you want to be taken to a happy place - go to Demaio! It’s in the hip part of Bilbao called San Francisco, adjacent to the old town market hall, just across the walking bridge on the West bank of the river and a stone throw up a hill. The guests were mostly young...

Wow! Where to start... I have been on missions to pizza restaurants in Napoli, going to the top ten. I have a habit of asking pizza restaurants that I fall in love and get to know where the owners absolute favorite pizza comes from. I ... You get the point I LOVE pizza. Demaio was astounding. I will travel back to Bilbao just to go here for pizza...

And to end. I have a collection of tests... The Tetlow test is would you eat two meals in a row at a restaurant. I did the next best thing as I was leaving the next day. I cancelled dinner plans and took a takeaway pizza...

They serve traditional pizzas and pie type pizzas. The pie pizza was off the charts.

Can't recommend...