Casa 887 Jatetxea — Restaurant in San Sebastián

Had an amazing and memorable experience @ Restaurante Casa 887. As soon as you arrive at the discrete restaurant door really well located in the heart of Zurriola Beach, you open the door and are met with the cool red artwork that stuns and introduces you to the energy of the restaurant.

This is a MUST GO destination in San Sebastián.

The chef's identity is everywhere: The ambiance, the music, the lights, and the disposition of the restaurant: welcoming space that gives off a very cool and modern vibe. but don't be fooled! The best is yet to come. We were welcomed by Belotti who quickly made us feel at home. We asked for the full experience. We were a 6 people crew. Belotti suggested a 8-stage menu harmonized with the seasonal wines they had. He introduced Mica, the sommelier, to guide us through our experience.

Starter: olives and artisan bread. I highlight this because I had never liked olives as much as this time around. The bread also was very tasty - everyone ordered 3 to 4 rounds of bread. 1st dish: sardine and tomato tostada, extremely fresh, soft, crunchy, savory; 2nd dish: croqueta de jamón ibérico with black truffle and a jamon gelatin. BEST CROQUETA EVER!! 3rd dish: nigiri trio - fat tuna, scallops and red prawns. simply amazing. a classic of the house. 4th dish: tiradito de atum. bluefin tune sashimi, a great way to extend the wonderful tuna nigiri taste. 5th dish: steak tartar. the best one I've had in my life, not kidding. 6th dish: guioza with two wonderful sauces. a mayonnaise with red aged misso and ponzu sauce. 7th dish: vegetarian station dish. guisante lagrima, artichokes and asparagus soup, amazing, original, unexpected and surprising. maybe the best dish in the whole night 8th dish: chuletón, fries and red peppers. amazing dish, medium rare, soft and good taste. fries very crunchy and soft, everything on point.

For dessert, a flan and the torta basca. Amazing way to finish the night. it was the first flan I have ever eaten that beats a good old pudim.

French Champagne to end the amazing night and experience. Some of us had a Japanese whiskey to end...

I was expecting a lot, seeing all the other reviews and food in this town must be really good to make it. However, we were quite disappointed. Let me explain.

We ordered the tasting menu and just sparkling water. The water came, but short of a glass, which we had to ask 2 waiters before the glass arrived. The bread served was nice, this costs extra - which wasn’t told to us until the bill. The campo olives served was actually quite nice, for people who don’t normally like olives. The fried piparras was interesting.

Then came a trio of oyster, scallop nigiri (came with truffle and wasabi, but the wasabi overpowered the truffle unfortunately) and steak tartare. Nothing too spectacular.

Red tuna tiradito was next, which was quite nice. Wasabi emulsion was mild. Best dish of the night.

The prawn tempura in a squid ink bao, was very mid. I’ve had better tempura in a mall restaurant. Feels like Asian food for non-Asians.

Fish of the day was sea bass. Decent but I had 2 large fish bones (about 1 inch each) in my piece. This was really disappointing for a restaurant of this caliber. Told the waitress, who said she’ll inform the chef. No service recovery.

We opted for the ‘premium old cow’. I think they need a better copy writer. This strangely came with a very plain salad of lettuce, and fries. This portion (1 kg of beef) was very large, a whole meal in itself which is unusual for last main of a tasting menu. Beef was decent, but I didn’t think worth the extra 30 euro.

Last dessert was flan (very ordinary) and basque cheesecake with straws ice cream- which wasn’t told very nice.

All in, nothing spectacular. Service was not super great, food was very ordinary and poor attention to detail (the 2 bones). Was not worth the...

We had high hopes for this restaurant. We skipped the tasting menu and started with the tomato salad which was good as was the amuse bouche.This was followed by 2 pieces of scallop nigiri. The delicate scallop was entirely overwhelmed by the truffle flavor and what seemed to be wasabi. Next was the Toro, seasoned slice of red tuna. It was doused in some flavored oil the flavor of which was difficult to define. It had a bit of a petroleum vibe and also completed overwhelmed the rich Toro and its subtle flavors. We had luckily kept it simple after this - the pork gyozas and 4 sides - the lettuce and onion, creamed potatoes, fried kale and the glass peppers. The gyozas were tasty on their own, but the two dipping sauces were once again over the top, with the dark one tasting downright nasty. Combining the lettuce with the crispy kale made for a good combination. Loved the kale, but again this was also drenched in oil. As were the glass peppers which we combined with the creamy potatoes. All the oil that the chef adds to these high-quality ingredients destroys much of what was there in flavor to start with. It is not a good way of being creative. I have eaten much Japanese and Italian cuisine where the ingredients and their integrity are key. We concluded with the basque cheese cake and strawberry ice cream. A great desert, but it didn't much repair my impression of the...