amsdon

Yes nice. Thank you for that.

Robert2533

Mikel,
Any recommendations for a late lunch around Zeanuri on the 28th?

ribeirasacra

Robert...are you not using Maribel's wonderful guides? ;-)

petertherabbitt

echnaton just for info. what did you expect when you ordered rocky mountain oysters?????? what were you served???? around here in the usa we consider the name just another alternative to ordering bulls balls(testicles) perhaps you ran afoul in what you asked for

Ronael

We found the service and arrogance in Spain ABSOLUTELY shocking. Where ever we went, we found the food to be totally substandard. We found San Sebastian to be well below our expectations. Tapas in most bars/restaurants consisited of preprepared deep fried food that was nearly past it's used by date! Disgusting. And guess what.....we won't be going back or recommending it to anyone as a tourist destination. With the current 20% unemployment, we found Spaniards in general to be very down on the world. Especially down on tourists. And I must mention the fact that being an English speaking tourist certainly doesn't help. We were told in plain English!!!! that we couldn't be served in a restaurant in Zaragoza because we were English - too bad we're Australian! We loved visiting Spain itself, but I can honestly say that I've made better tapas here at home and I've been totally put off Spain because of it's ignorant, arrogant and chippy people. Honesty and trust was also a problem.......I'll say no more.

kimhe

This thread ended with yestravel on Jun 6, 10 at 4:16pm

Aduchamp1

Ronael

We have been traveling to Spain since 1972 and have never had the problems you have had. In fact, I do not remember having many fried tapas in San Sebastian at all.

kleeblatt

Were the menus in German? Were the daily specials in German? If not, why not? Spain has a tremendous amount of German speaking tourists too.

And what about the Russians?

I still sniff arrogance in the air. There is not usually enough qualified staff to translate menus into English on a daily basis.

That's what dictionaries are for.

jubilada

OP was not looking for the degustation menu to be in English. The OP simply wished to be given the menu upon request, expecting to need to translate on his or her own (perhaps with a dictionary.)

kleeblatt

"We replied that we preferred it and they brought us the degustation menu."

Thanks for clarifying jubilada. The above sentence from the original post was not entirely clear.

Ronael

Aduchamp1 - deep fried (think potato covered in breadcrumbs!), festering, poor quality and VERY ordinary tapas is a VERY real thing in many, many bars & restaurants in San Sebastian & many other places in the region. Rude service, poor attitudes and a dislike of tourists is also VERY real. We spent enough time there over the winter to realise that we were wasting our precious travel time. I've had better quality food AND service in a third world country! We ended up cutting our trip short in Spain because of all of the things I have mentioned. Lovely scenery and an interesting history was overshadowed by crappy food and rude people. Spain is a beautiful place, but I'm concerned that the current custodians are adding to the current economic downfall by their lack of enthusiasm and slack attitudes towards tourists. Everyone knows that there's money to be made in tourism......get with it Spain!

GaryCA

I got in trouble on another thread for saying how deplorable it is that many Americans on this forum can't seem to spell and use correct grammar in their native language. It seems on this thread that many of them expect more of people in other countries than they expect of themselves when they want to be catered to in restaurants.

Aduchamp1

Roneal

Of course, I have encountered stupid Spaniards here and there but not as a national trait. And in San Sebastian, the tapas places we visited had tiers of tapas with different varieties both in the old section of town and others.

To me San Sebastian has the best food in all of Spain and we have visted every region, some many times, save Valenica.

ribeirasacra

I think tourist should learn that what is rude to one nation is not rude in another. What is bad service in one country is not in another. Learn to accept this and you will become a better traveller. I have to accept your critique is part of your everyday life.

I assume that Ronael will not be back to visit Spain again.

Revulgo

Roneal, your post sounds to the grouch of a tacky social-climber-jailbird marooned in the other side of Earth

Cowboy1968

I have been in Spain some 25 times, and just got back again from Barcelona, but I still have to find that Spain which Roneal experienced.

Rude?
A waiter is a waiter and not some clown engaged for the entertainment of the customers. Some waiters may be more chatty than others, but I would not judge a more silent waiter as rude. Actually, I prefer the latter.

Ignorant? Arrogant? Chippy?
I simply lack the imagination what that is supposed to mean. Even in areas where there were few to no tourists (but me), I experienced helpful and friendly people. I'm not so naive to take my anecdotal experiences as proof to believe that there are no unfriendly people in Spain, but you find those everywhere you go.

Honesty and trust?
Well, the only time I got scammed in Spain was by a fellow German, probably an ex-pat.

Robert2533

Based on the description of the cuisine, service and general nature of the locals, I double seriously that Roneal has ever set foot in Spain, let alone the Basque country.

Robert2533

That should be doubt seriously!

mikelg

Yes Robert, there are at least a couple of fine places not far from Zeanuri for a late lunch, I´ll come back to you later.

Yestravel, it was a pleasure, I´m so glad you liked Bilbao!

Robert2533

We await your recommendations. See you in Bilbao!