Danena — Restaurant in San Sebastián

In Donostia, there has always been a debate about whether Juantxo or Danena is better. Honestly, when I was younger, I preferred Juantxo; it had more atmosphere, and I thought the tortillas were better. However, after one time when the tortilla at Juantxo didn’t sit well with me, I switched to Danena during Semana Grande, and since then, I've liked it more. That said, I want to emphasize that both are safe, reliable, and recommended options. It's been a while since I last went, but Danena never disappoints.

The pintxos, portions, and sandwiches tend to be made to order, and the staff is hardworking like no other. If you're someone who only enjoys a bar/restaurant experience if the staff smiles at you or treats you like royalty, this is not your place. It’s usually quite busy with a lot of movement, especially during high season or on holidays—there’s barely any room to sit, and hardly any space to stand. You might feel a bit overwhelmed, but that’s just how things are here.

I think you can call ahead to have them prepare your sandwiches and pick them up when they tell you (they’ll say 10-25 minutes at most - at least thats my experience). It’s best to go when they say they'll have them prepared to avoid inconveniencing anyone and to let them clear your order as soon as possible. Good price, competitive, affordable, and respectful. It doesn’t hurt to make things easier for them when...

I was visiting the sandwich shop next door for breakfast, which shares a back patio with Danena. The table I was sitting at with my wife, on the furthest row from this bar, closest to the sandwich shop, apparently has one chair that belonged to the bar at our table, and one chair for the sandwich shop. We were almost done eating and funnily enough when I had one bite left the worker came out of nowhere and started pulling the chair out from behind me demanding the chair back because it wasn't for the sandwich shop. It was a shared patio so I didn't think to check the name on the back of the chair before I sat down, the chairs were mixed when we sat down. They had so many open chairs and tables on their side there was no reason to demand the chair back right before I was about to leave anyways. Unnecessarily rude behavior, hope you enjoy the now empty chair and hope this review leads to...

We came here at the end of our pintxo-hunt, so it was already quite late. The kitchen was closed for the hot pintxos, so we got two of the little bites that were pre-prepared. It was salmon and crab, and tasted amazing. It appeared to be busy here the entire night, and it is super affordably priced. Most pintxos were somewhere between 2 and 3 euros. Our little salmon bites were 2,50 each, which is a steal in my opinion. Service not the best, but hey, it was a busy night and temperatures were high so understandable. All in all...