Topa Sukaldería — Restaurant in San Sebastián

Heaven knows why this is rated 4.2?! It’s a rather mediocre restaurant. When we walked in my wife and daughter said the entrance smelled but since it has a good rating I said come on let’s try it as it’s getting late and we are all so hungry. The blonde haired male waiter was so uninterested in his job and the opposite of what you would want in a restaurant. Do you have reservation he asked. No, we are just walking in I said. We turned the corner and discovered an almost empty restaurant. What a start to poor service. Despite almost no one else needing service, 5 minutes later he brought 1 english and 1 Spanish menu to the table of 4 people. I asked for more and he brought them. We ordered and the food came out quickly and some of the items were good and not so good. My vermouth with ice, orange (and olives!) was good but hard to mess up. The kids drinks were tasty but very sugary. My wife’s drink with ginger beer, lime etc was surprisingly dull. We got the make your own guacamole which was fun to do and quite good, the chips are double friend so pretty hard. We got el pastor tacos which were mediocre as the pork was just little deeply fried bits. The ceviche was not good looking chunks of fish and mediocre flavor. Would definitely suggest not getting it. The special tongue tacos were quite tasty but had too much fatty grizzle on the meat. The sauce was very good though. We also had the grilled avocados with cooked tomatoes and anchovies which were good and we used in our tacos. We didn’t take pictures as we...

Edit after I talked with my wife, reduce to 3 stars.

Glad we went but we wouldn’t come back. Would recommend others to come but only if they picked “star” dishes. Value was ok.

Edit. They do 2 seatings a night for dinner. Our reservation was for 20:15 but we didn’t know until we saw a note on our table that we were expected to finish at 21:45. After living in Europe for 1 yr, it felt rushed. American style of flipping tables.

We went here because a chef was on the Final Table on Netflix. Really, just ok. It would be 3 stars but one dish brought it up. I think the key here is to only get the things on the menu which are stars: what they do well, they do really well. The other are just ... ok, and below expectations.

Best thing we had was Txoripan de txistorra, by far. This was excellent.

Ceviche was also good. Not surprising, but well done.

Causa de txangurro was underwhelming, needed salt. You should pass.

Queso Topa y setas de temporada was second best, worth it.

Al pastor taco had a lot of positive reviews but was also middle of the road for me.

Grilled avocado was good, very nice.

Mamia con guayaba y garrapiñadas was nice. Light. And the toasted pumpkin seeds brought it to the next level. My wife said it was different, worth a try.

Quesadillas de chocolate de Venezuela was messy. not sweet (just FYI, we we appreciate non- sweet desserts). But tasted mostly of flour tortilla. Only ok.

Service was excellent. Drink menu good. Atmosphere is like on the classy end of...

Incredible. One of the best meals we’ve had in Spain! The attention to detail, plating, layers of flavor, and just frank deliciousness of every dish was exquisite. It makes me sad to see the negative reviews due to service - our waiters were kind, helpful, and attentive. They recommend 3-4 plates for 2 people. We had the 2,500 day mole was rich, flavorful, and had great depth (with a little kick!) and the tortillas were soft, warm, and great chew 10/10 Then we had the al pastor basque style tacos that were just fantastic. The meat was the real fusion of basque flavor with sweet salsa - makes you want to order one per person (it comes with two per order) 11/10 We also came on Sunday when they have Lumagorri chicken (also on Thursdays) and it’s an absolute must! Slow roasted for 12 hours and drizzled with a sticky sweet sauce over crispy roasted potatoes and served with gravy and a yogurty chimichurri on the side. It was flavorful, tender, and great to dip in extra mole 10/10 Finally, we had the eclair with chocolate and mole and it might be one of my favorite desserts ever. Trust me - about 4 tables ordered this at the same time. The presentation is gorgeous, the flavors are light but warm drizzled chocolate and the cold mole mousse are so incredibly good together! We paired it all with some cider...