Irrintzi — Restaurant in Bilbao

Visited on Aug 2nd 2016

What a disappointment! Seduced by all the nice reviews we went there in search for an interesting pintxo, but we ended up getting stale, cold, deep fried stuff. It was like a slightly healthier Minnesota State fair, but with cold food and  a day old bread. Flavour combinations are promising, and would be worthy the 3 star review had they been well made/fresh. The only thing worth mentioning was the octopus which although cold (and on a stale bread), was well prepared and quite tasty even cold.

I'm sure there are good pintxos bars, this just isn't one of them.

Tldr if you are willing to pay a bit more, go to Guggenheim's bar. Otherwise...

Genuinely a disaster. Found this place as a top suggestion on-line to try montaditos but were shocked to find a decrepit venue with very little variety and all poor quality. The bread the montaditos were served in was stale and the produce cold and not very fresh.

By far the climax was in the service which has to have been one of the worse we’ve ever experienced. The man at the bar hardly acknowledged a thing we said or asked and behaved as if he were a xenophobe who just wanted us out of his establishment… and I am Spanish!! Guess it’s one of these famed closed-minded Basques…

Avoid at all cost and visit one of the nearby...

I almost didn’t go in as it was early and the bar somewhat empty, but I’m so glad I did! The tapas piled up on the bar fresh from the kitchen and having planned to have one and a beer and move on, I ended up having five, as they were just outstanding, and different to the normal offering. The duck with caramelised apple crisp and the leak carpaccio with Serrano ham and octopus especially stood out, as well as the great value and delicious red wine. Highly recommended! Just make sure you go with space for several tapas as you won’t be able to stop at one! Friendly and attentive service just topped it...