Atari Gastrolekua — Restaurant in San Sebastián

Basque Pinxtos with a twist!

We got a reservation for Atari Gastroleku after my parent's friends recommended this particular pintxos bar in San Sebastián. It is located nearby Koruko Andre Mariaren Basilika and as we approached the area, we saw a line of people at the bar for Atari's cold pintxos.

Food- While we tried both the cold and hot pintxos, we preferred the latter much more. For the warm dishes, we had the Prawn Brochette with vinaigrette, beef cheek with mashed potatoes (we got the one for sharing), and Grilled Octopus with potatoes, onions, and spice aioli. We enjoyed all these dishes which had slight twists to the traditional dishes without overdoing it. My family particularly liked the beef cheeks which I found to be tender and very rich. The staff also recommended the slow cooked egg which was okay. We tried the Roasted Pork Belly with Hummus, Lemon & Mustard Vinaigrette and Toast Hazelnut- and the dish is as funky and new as it sounds! It was interesting but we didn't enjoy this one much as we felt that the tart flavor of the vinaigrette and nutty component didn't bode well with the roasted pork.

For the cold pintxos, we had one with cod and one jamon with brie. We didn't enjoy these much but we typically don't prefer the...

Atari Gastroleku is a local pintxos and wine bar located just across from Basílica de Santa María at the corner of Calle Mayor and 31 de Agosto. They have a fair-sized indoor area as well as outdoor tables and are open from 12.30pm to 1am daily.

We visited around 2.30pm on a weekday afternoon and found them full up. However, waiting 5 or so minutes a table was freed up and we were able to enjoy a very good late lunch here. There is a menu barcode on the table with Spanish and English menu, wait staff were patient and helpful taking our orders, dishes were served in a timely manner and everything tasted very good. Ham croquettes were just fine. The pork belly in citrusy hummus was absolutely delicious, we decided to order another round. Pork was tender, succulent and tasted great on its own, with the hummus, it was heavenly good.

We also very much enjoyed the octopus serving of roasted potatoes along with grilled peppers, onions and roasted potatoes. This was a solid main, one we would happily return next time around. Our lunch was finished off with a delicious chocolate dessert. We left with very good impressions of this pintxos bar in San Sebastion. Atari seems to be a very good place to eat in...

Well apparently we entered San Sebastián without any prior knowledge of Samana Grande and entered this restaurant without any ideas how a pintoxs bar works. But we were lucky to be helped by a super nice waitress (the one with light hair and bright smiles), she probaly saw me because I was getting stressed out as my 5 year old daughter couldn't reach the high table while standing, she got us a sit-down table quickly. She recommended us delicious dishes and her warmness really made a difference on the overwhelmed three of us. Later the parade came by the church and she explained it's the "big week" a big festival (we were absolutely clueless). The restaurant is situated in the perfect spot to immerse in all the festivities. Truly an memorable evening and turned around our experience of San Sebastián. We wanted to return before we left town but unfortunately it was closed that day. Already making plans to return to San...