Café Bar Bilbao

Honestly, the restaurant wasn’t as good as the reputations. Maybe it was because I ordered only pinchos. The cod in peli peli sauce was too salty for me. The atmosphere at the terrace wasn’t bad. It was easy to come in and ask for orders at 6 pm in the low season.

Fantastic place, loved all of the Pintxos here. Morcilla was very good by my favourite was the truffled cheeses. Friendly service and good prices, a must visit.

I’ve been 3 times in this restaurant.A quiet and pleasant place, the staff are friendly and the pintxos are very delicious

Happy to have stumbled upon this gem. The pinxos and the atmosphere is filled with authentic charm. The staff made the whole experience unforgettable, they were playful with their regulars and smiling to the travellers. Recommend for a quick bite and authentic Basquan experience

Tasty pinxtos / red wine. Had seating available which was great. So many places to eat tapas...stop in for a tasting!

A real disappointment, stale bread slices at pintxos, even no olive oil. One of the worst in the town in terms of taste.

Funny story, came here and asked for a flat white (word of advice: don’t do it), and got a glass of wine. Nobody really speaks English here, but pintxos were good, and if you want a coffee ask for a coffee or a coffee with milk. Also really enjoyed their tortilla though not pictured.

Had one fabulous beef check pinxto here and haunted we didn’t get more! Cool vibe, tasty drinks.

We saw this place as we were walking around town and one of my friends said he heard about it from somewhere so we decided to try it out. The place was pretty busy and we waited for a little bit before we got a seat. You have to just wait until somebody leaves and then you snag the table. We ordered the pintxos, the calamari, and the special platter. I had never heard of Pintxos but they were delicious. It's just small bites of different items and they were all good. The calamari was cooked perfect and with some good seasonings. The service is different but good. You sit down and a waiter will come to your table with a menu. The drinks were good too. I tried a local beer (La Salve) which was tasty. The restaurant is in a plaza area along with other restaurants. If you are in the area you have to come check this place out.

Fantastic pinxtoe! service was topic notch as were the drinks. A classic cafe on the square With great ambiance.

It was tasty! They squeezed us in at the last minute, without a reservation, and had a pleasant lunch. Yeah it's crowded, you feel a bit rushed, but overall, the dishes were flavorful.

I've heard good things about Café Bilbao, and I wanted to see it for myself. I arrived just when rush hour (14:00) was dying down, and I managed to get a table next to the colorful blue-and-white tiles. Seriously, come for the interior architecture itself: very photo-worthy! The food was to die for. In fact, I loved it so much that I had two rounds of it! Serving both pintxos and tapas, Café Bilbao serves high-quality, bite-sized dishes that's sure to live in your dreams for the rest of your life. I highly recommend the codfish with Hollandaise sauce on bread, along with goat cheese and jam on bread. Paired with a glass of wine, and you've got yourself an incredible tasting experience. Not to miss while in Bilbao!

Fun place. Very busy and for good reasons. Located in a beautiful courtyard away from traffic.

Ive tried spanish tortilla at various places. I enjoyed it very much along with the gracious customer service. They offered to make me something special from the kitchen since vegetarian options were few.

A life saver in the morning. They open before 7 am for the crowd that is still drunk or for the folks who have to leave town early. All the food here was much better than average and the breakfast choices were excellent.

Charming decor but so-so food. I had high expectations but was disappointed in the tapas. It's in the big square with a dozen other spots, worth stopping in on a tasting cruise, just for the scenery and decor.

One of the best little places to grab a bite to eat. Located in the Plaza Nueva with lots of little restraints and a cute courtyard surrounded by a beautiful building. It tends to be busy so prepare to wait for a place to sit. Highly recommend!

I was very underwhelmed by the food here. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I found most of the Pinxtos I had to be pretty mediocre, forgettable. The duck confit was good, and the duck larange would have been perfect if it wasn't coated with so much sauce. The atmosphere is fine, and the wine is good, but it was easily the worst pinxtos I had all day.

A charming little pintxos bar in the heart of the old city, Cafe Bar Bilbao is well worth stopping in. One of my favourite things about Bilbao was hopping between pintxos bars sampling little bites and drinking far too much wine, but whereas I have no dietary restrictions and was happy to grab nibbles at will (even if I might not know their contents) my travelling partner was pescatarian and needed a place that was a bit more english friendly to navigate the food on offer. Cafe Bilbao proved to be a happy medium - though no one seemed to speak a lick of english, they were charmingly and hilariously good natured in dealing with our broken Spanish - even while facing down a throng of customers - and we happily tucked into wine and some of the best pintxos of our trip after a simple exchange. It's one of the oldest bars in the square and though the tiles inside are worth gawking at, but we preferred to sit outside and people watch while we gushed over the goat cheese pintxos and planned our next culinary attempts. If we had been staying in the old city for the remainder of our trip, I would daresay this place would become a safe staple in our evenings.

If there is one place in Bilbao which simply must be visited, it is the Café Bar Bilbao. This attractive, small bar is covered in hand painted tiles and is just brilliant to look at, both inside and out. You should graduate from simply gawping at it, however, since the huge range of tapas available inside is just great. The bar is full of people wandering around looking at all of the freshly made tapas on offer, deciding what to try next, and it is great fun deciding, comparing your choices with your friends and taking a piece of each of theirs to see if you made the right decision! This place is such an institution that it is the only place in our travels through Cantabria and the Pais Vasco that we met some fellow English! Its location, on the northern edge of the Casco Viejo (Old City) and on the south side of the Plaza Nueva, is perfect for beginning an evening tapas crawl through the winding alleys and passages of the Casco Viejo and around the Siete Calle. Just make sure this is where you kick your evening off though, the Café Bar closes ridiculously early, around 2200 most nights.

One of my favorite pincho bars in Bilbao. The mussels were out of this world. They go fast when they are out. Relaxed atmosphere and friendly service. Fantastic location to plan your next stop. 10 out of 10.

Charming place, service was good and good variety of tapas. Tables outside are limited so be prepared to wait.

Nice people, tasty pintxos but nothing faa cy out of this world. Did not try the raciones