Restaurante Zapirain — Restaurant in Bilbao

I´ve never had a bad experience in Bilbao - but this was just dreadful. AVOID.

We had a reservation for 9pm, the curtains were shut and the door was locked. So my colleague rang the doorbell at 9:01pm. The owner opened the door shouting at us, asking if we were going to make a scene for not being open yet - at this point we hadn´t said more than "hello". We tried to explain that we had only rang the door because at other places you lose your reservation if you are running late, that had been our concern. She kept on yelling and saying that it was rude to want to ring the door before 9pm and that one is allowed in whenever she decides to open the door. - At this point we would have left, but it was a Saturday evening and we were a party of 7, finding a different restaurant would have been impossible. I asked her to lower her voice and stop yelling at us since we hadn´t complained about anything nor had we been disrespectful, but that hit deaf ears.

We had booked the table because we were going to have dinner with important business partners and the company I work for used to be a good client here (we will never book a table here again).

They sat us next to the kitchen and the toilet.

Then they took the orders of everyone that arrived after us and were finally allowed to order food at 9:42. We got to order drinks before that only because we requested it from the waitress.

We said we wouldn´t have starters as we had late lunch - the owner got mad again and told us that in that case we shouldn´t have come to her place for dinner. After ordering she informed us she would let us wait as long as if we had ordered a starter (?!?). We couldn´t really complain much as we didn´t want to cause a scene in front of our guests.

4 people ordered individual dishes and 3 a fish which was actually recommended for 5 people. The fish arrived first - and got put on individual plates, we requested 2 smaller tasting portions for our guests (also to not have them sitting there without food). The owner said no, they should wait for their own dish and they can then serve themselves. Totally rude.

Our guests had brought a bottle of wine which they wanted to share - I asked if we could drink it paying a corkage fee (I would have been happy to match the price of one their wine bottles for this, I just wanted to make our guests happy), which is something totally normal at any other upscale restaurant. This was again taken as an offense.

The food was pretty decent. The owner and waitress are nightmare. Avoid at all costs, there are so many other great places to eat...

This restaurant was a terrible experience for us. I ordered a soup (it was really a cream, but it was very good, 44 euros), and a bottle of wine. There were ONLY 5 tables with people eating, and the owner of the restaurant told us that we had to order more food because she couldn't have a restaurant open for people to order only soup (44 euros). The owner of the restaurant was claiming that if we do not have enough appetite then we should go to a bar and order tapas. She was very rude and unfriendly. I do not recommend this place if you are not going to order several dishes so that you do not have a bad time. It was a bad...

Pocas veces un restaurante ha satisfecho mis requerimientos cómo lo ha hecho Zapirain en Bilbao. La sala es moderna, alargada y estrecha. Pero lo resuelven muy bien poniendo todos los espejos en un lateral lo que le quita la estrechez. Decorada en blanco le da serenidad; quizá demasiada, pero es agradable. Las mesas no son grandes pero hay muchas y las sillas muy cómodas. Mesas con mantel y vajilla cuidada. Pedimos de primero una ensalada de cigalas, calabacines, judías verdes todo mezclado con una salsa avinagrada super buena. Y añadió un huevo poché. Un plato exquisito. Lo pedimos para compartir. De segundo ella pidió una merluza en salsa verde exquisita, con almejas y yo un plato de kokotxas de merluza super buenas. A la brasa y luego golpe de horno y con guindilla. Super rico el plato. Ver fotos adjuntas. De postre hemos pedido los canutillos de Idiazabal con crema que estaban buenos pero no es lo mejor. Si te gusta el pescado éste es tú restaurante. Increíble pescado en sus diferentes formas y razas. Al frente está la dueña con su hija y una señora que les ayuda super simpática. Da gusto cenar aquí.

El restaurante es una joya.

Regresamos una segunda vez con Inés y comimos un Rape que estaba de 10.

Hoy, 25 marzo 2025, hemos regresado a cenar. Increíble la calidad de este sitio. Una ensalada de verduras y bogavante increíble. Un sapito bueno bueno y un ribera del Duero Alion que estaba de morirse de bueno.

Cada día me gusta más este sitio!!!

Si vienes a Bilbao no dudes!!!!

Hoy día 10 de junio 2025 hemos vuelto a comer y el rape era de 10, la ensalada de ventresca y pimientos de 10, las patatas del rape de 10, el postre (helado de vainilla con café y whisky de 10, el tomas Postigo de 3 años un 10. La mesa perfecta, Izaskum, jefa de Sala, impecable y Amaya al frente del Rte. Es un 10. No hay otro sitio como este en Bilbao. 80€ por...