Restaurante Mina — Restaurant in Bilbao

Overall impression; a parody of fine dining. an unmitigated travesty of culinary art.

This restaurant can be characterized as the exact opposite of what a Michelin restaurant should embody. A Michelin star is supposed to be a prestigious award for outstanding cuisine. In the case of Mina; it must have been awarded as a "participation medal". As a fine dining enthusiast; I place a lot of stock in the Michelin award system because fine dining is an expensive proposition to say the least. In this case, I went for the long-form menu with wine pairings precisely because I had so much faith in Michelin's rigor; trusting that I was in for another treat. However, after surviving this experience, I must say my confidence in Michelin has been shaken; that I will never cross Mina's threshold again should go without saying.

From start to finish, apart from the amuse-bouche, this entire menu was a disaster. Reflecting on this "dining" experience, I can only conclude that my meal would have been no different had they simply given me a cold bowl of bitter tasting gelatinous soup, a bottle of vinegar, and a straw. Throw in a small slab of rubbery, un-sliceable "fish" and that is now what passes for Michelin's idea of a one-star performance. (No hyperbolae involved...) By the end, I was sending dishes back because they were so overpowered with the taste of vinegar.

The Sommelier was young, but enthusiastic. He seemed to know his wines. The selections, in-and-of-themselves, were fine. But the pairings were completely off. Only one time did the selected wine actually go with what I was served. When I asked him if he was responsible for the wine selections with each course, he replied in the affirmative. Given the circumstances, however; I find that very hard to believe. I suspect he was overridden at every turn. In any case, the final decisions always come back to the Chef who I hold entirely responsible for this fiasco.

The staff was young and kind but clearly inexperienced. In any other circumstance I wouldn't have had anything negative to say about their coordination as a team. But this is supposed to be Michelin. The service was severely rushed. These were not professionals. And frankly; neither is the Chef. If Michelin has any regard for its reputation it will rescind Mina's one-star award. If the Chef of Mina has any integrity, he or she will surrender it without Michelin...

The 4-star review is an average of 5s for the front of the house and 3s for the kitchen. Let’s start with what went well. As mentioned, the front of the house worked seamlessly together to serve the courses and keep the table looking fresh at all times. The sommelier was engaging and was passionate about his wine pairings for the 14 courses. We enjoyed learning about and tasting new wine regions in the north of Spain. As for the food, the two best dishes were the amuse-bouche, which was a corn soup served with chili oil. Sounds simple, but it was a perfect way to start the meal. The other star of the dishes was the onion reduction soup with caviar. The reduction was intense, and the caviar simply elevated it to further heights. So why the 3* - my husband had two peppercorns served with his bonito. I had the same but without the peppercorns and it was delicious. He didn’t see it and ate one of the peppercorns which killed his palate for several more courses and wine. We pointed it out to the staff, but nothing was done, not even an apology. The other critical error was the baked sea bream. Unfortunately, it was overdone and rubbery with no crispy skin. We had sea bream the night before and it melted in your mouth with a delicious crispy skin at a local parrilla. To recap, service was as to be expected at a Michelin Star Restaurant, and we enjoyed the presentations with the sommelier. The two food errors equaled a major faux pas for us. We’ve dined around the world and can’t remember getting peppercorns on our plate or being served overdone fish at a luxury restaurant, forget about a...

Really enjoyed our visit as a group of six for a birthday - it felt very special and worthy of the Michelin star based on similar level experiences we’ve had. Menu was interesting with excellent flavours, great cooking and the wine pairing introduced us to new Spanish wines that were superbly matched to the food. Service was professional, warm and friendly and they were clearly very passionate about local Basque products. There were lovely touches like locally made pottery and cutlery. They presented each wine and dish well. We went for the 14-course tasting menu - half our party had the full wine pairing and half had a reduced pairing (less wines, same quantity per glass). The 10 course option loses some of our preferred dishes. I’d looked around at other similar Michelin star restaurants and found this one to offer a great setting, nice dishes and good value for the experience that lasted nearly four hours in total. I’d say the website is not as good as the restaurant itself, photo wise, and we were pleasantly surprised on arrival. Their Instagram is worth a look. They can accommodate up to two tables of six per setting, it was small and intimate - I think around 25/30 covers maximum. We were able to take away the Petits Fours, a copy of the menu and wine flight wines. Would definitely recommend and...