Txalupa Smokehouse

My type of interior plus rally nice service and good food. And this is like 13th??? Bar during last 3 days ;)

Really good tapas we ended up going back for more and recommending to others outside with a great atmosphere.

Nice tapas, great service from young lady who speaks well English

Txalupa Smokehouse was a great dinner spot! All the food was delicious and the staff were very fun and kind. We especially loved the beef and pork cheeks, fried potatoes, and the mashed potatoes that came with the pork cheeks. With the Euros on in the background, the atmosphere was also unbeatable. I'd definitely recommend a visit!

Very good! As most of the other places around the choice of food is good, menu for warm dishes is quite big and variated. Service is friendly and the place is warm with nice fishing decorations. I consider the prices reasonable. 15€ for several tapas, big ham dish and drinks. Recommended

Interesting boat shaped bar but not a great choice of pintxo.

Stumbled into this cosy restaurant for our first night in San Sebastián. The staff were welcoming, helpful and friendly. The sparkling sangria was excellent. Pintxos was among the best we had during our stay here.

Amazing decor, great food and drinks however the downstairs speak easy was completely disappointing. We went (albeit on a Sunday) down to the speakeasy. We were told it was only for dinner that night (despite the fact this is the designated bar part of the wider restaurant?! But ok). Strange policy. They lost income now as we went elsewhere for evening drinks. Wanted to love this place but this policy was just stupid

San Sebastian is famous for its many bars offering a dazzling array of tapas, called Pinxos in Basque. Basically you belly up to the bar, point to what you like, and munch away (with a Zurito (small Beer) to wash it down). Don't worry, they'll keep track of what you eat and drink. Bars present their Pintxos mid day and again in the early evening. Txalupa wasn't our first choice, but it was certainly a favourite during our recent trip to Spain. When we arrived in San Sebastian, we consulted Rick Steves' Spain 2011 and other Tour Book information, but unfortunately (and repeatedly) discovered that all the favourites were closed on Monday. So after observing another rolled down metal door, we walked around a bit, saw a place that looked interesting (and busy), and chose. Txalupa was causal, friendly, and the Pinxos were excellent. We chose a wide variety and really didn't know half of what we were ordering. But it sure was tasty fun!

I don't know what to say every place I go is Great and this place is as good as the rest you cannot Strike out anywhere in San Sebastián food is awesome anywhere

I don't know if I like monkfish and I definitely don't like prawns but there's a heavenly pintxo with both of these things and possibly a brûléed cheese crust and it's delicious and 100% worth whoever your have to fight at the bar to eat it.

We ate at about 10-12 different pintxos bars, and sadly, this one was the worst of the bunch. It's the first bar that you see when you start to walk down the main street, so I think a lot of tourists get suckered into coming here because they have all the pintxos out on display, and it looks so enticing. Save your stomach space and go elsewhere - the best pintxos are the ones that you order and get fresh out of the kitchen. The food here looks like it's been sitting for hours (because it probably has), and I don't think they get very much traffic other than poor tourists who fall into this trap. There's a reason why there's a lot of food on the counter/plates all the time, and lots of seating. Luckily, we only got 2 things here and then moved onto the next bar - neither of which I thought were that great. One was a piece of bread with a pepper that had been soaked and hollowed out, stuffed with a tuna salad. The second thing was a piece of bread with ham, topped with goat cheese and caramelized onions. The cheese was rather strong for my taste and overpowering. Neither thing was memorable, nor did it seem particularly fresh (and we went around 1 or 2 pm, so I can't imagine what it tastes like later in the day). Save your time, money, and more importantly, stomach space and go elsewhere for pintxos!

Tried about 5-7 different pinxos places in San Sebastian, and this was in the top two, possibly the best. We loved it. It's easy to spot the good ones because you'll see a crowd of people spilling out onto the street eating and drinking. That's how you know it's good. It's commonplace to walk up to the counter, order a couple pinxos and a drink and take it onto the street to hang and eat. A lot of pinxos places will give you one free with every drink. Txalupa one-upped a lot of them with all cold pinxos being free with one drink. I think this is only Thursdays and Sundays or something like that, not every day, but ask around to double check and be sure to pinxo hop on those days. Lots of people out and you can try all sorts of pinxos from all sorts of places. Cold pinxos would be little sandwich types mostly. Then you pay for any hot ones you want (which were much tastier). But the cold ones were not bad at all, just only 5-6 options and pretty typical stuff, none of the really good items are cold. A beer or wine is a couple euro and a hot pinxo is anywhere from 2-5 euro. So you can spend a bit if you're putting down a bunch of them, but we usually found our eyes bigger than our stomachs and were satisfied after a couple. I'd highly recommend Txalupa to anyone. Start here on the edge of old town, and then wander your way in trying drinks and pinxos at any place that looks fun.

Midnight on a Saturday and while the party starts late in Spain, the kitchens DO close here at midnight. This was the last place we wandered into (after five others) and settled down even though the kitchen was closed. The selection at most pintxo places is pretty similar. Asking at most of them what something is does not typically yield a response a non-native can understand. Fortunately most average about €2.50 - €4.00 each with the hot ones being more. There were several people behind the bar but the leader of them was kind. Probably the nicest of all the people we had met at throughout our day of pintxo and sangria crawl. He did give me an itemized bill but I didn't walk through it. A glass (glasses there are small, a half glass per se) of sangria apiece, and 2 or 3 pintxos each was €40. And we had some hot ones on here, not just sandwiches with cheese. I noticed he did serve calimocho (huge plus for me). And when the skewer of turkey was not fully cooked, no questions they cooked it in the back for me. We did see them use a microwave to heat up some of the 'hot' pinxtos - jamon croquette. Maybe this is normal, but probably not needed during the day when business is in full swing. It wasn't an issue either when we asked if we could pull stools to sit at the bar (in front of the options) because the tables were taken. I can't say there was a standout here because I ate little (full from earlier). We did see the turkey skewers and chicken fajita which I did NOT see anywhere else - good for those not terribly adventurous folks. But they have food, alcohol, and a smile.

Worst of the city The food was bad, and I got overcharged by maybe double or triple. Couldn't really argue it due to language barrier. I saw nobody else eating here but clueless and tired looking tourists who chose it because it is empty and has seating.

Another great pintxos bar! Food for champions. I had a great time here. The pintxos rocked. This is a great place in a great town. Stop by for a beer, wine and a couple of pintxos next time in Old Town. Highly recommend.

No es bueno! This is the worst place I tried. The pinxchos are not fresh and all taste like they have sat in the fridge for days. It's too bad because they have a decent selection but maybe they make too much before hand and that's why they have to refrigerate the leftovers - so maybe there is hope. But for now it's so bad that you can smell the fridge smell from outside the bar... :-/ This probably discourages many people from going in at all, which means less turnover, and more fridge - a vicious cycle. The service is also not incredible. Ultimately, there is no reason to go here because there are plenty of great places just next door!

Not sure about the bad review as it was a great spot for me. probably had about 50 different tapas options when I was there. most of these places are very similar, small with a few tables. guy working the counter was nice and poured a good beer. I would recommend it for your typical tapas joint.

probably the only place we visited in san sebastian that we both thought was actually bad. tried a million things. no bold flavors. no stand out dishes. also more expensive than the other spots. right across the street from bar goiz. go there instead.