Xarma Cook & Culture

I LOVED IT!!! Their tasting menu was just excellent! Not my best meal in San Sebastian but definitely in my top 10 so far. It's a culinary delight and is located in Gros (just few meters walk to the beach). The food looked fantastic as you can see in these pictures and the service was great. Highly recommended!

I had the worst tasting menu ever - poor value for money. I was interested in the tasting menu on their website and that’s why I booked it. Unfortunately the menu they served was not the menu on their website. The food was below average. We had two pieces of ‘sushi’ as an appetizer - the rice was hard. The chocolate dessert has no chocolate taste at all, butter only, it was only creamy. Soup was good and the chicken was the best dish from the menu. The service was also not good. When we walked in no one greeted us. When we were leaving no one said goodbye. The waitress was friendly, but that’s it. She didn’t provide any service though.

Great experience! Not sure why there are so many negative reviews because my husband and I had a lovely meal. He had the tasting menu and I chose a few other items from the menu. Everything was well prepared and presented beautifully. It did take a while (almost 3 hours for lunch) but that’s what life is about...taking time to enjoy the things around you.

I would leave 2.5 if I could. Wish I could leave more but just wasn't worth it after much thinking about it. Staff were friendly, but service was poor. Almost 3 hours to eat our meal, 25minutes of this were waiting for the bill, which in the end we stood up to get ourselves as we couldn't wait any longer. Translations on menu from Spanish to English were off also. Lobster was actually prawn which was very very fishy. We didn't finish it. The ideas are lovely and the place itself is fabulous, we took photos but the execution of the dishes just weren't to the level of expectations, considering the price. Had ordered drinks before our meal in the lovely bar upstairs where we had the red pepper pintxo plate. Absolutely delicious. We ordered the same in the restaurant, as a starter which was 6 euro! (We thought we would get 2 for this price! And the menu said pepperS) Compared to the 3.50 upstairs, the dish we received downstairs was much the same however one elements of the dish (the black crumble on the side) was given in a fraction of the portion upstairs. Not worth the 6euro we paid. We spoke to the staff after the meal about the lobster/prawn translation issue. Overall, the place itself was beautiful to look at but the food and service just didn't meat expectations, considering we had been recommended to go there. Very disappointed.

The service was super friendly. The menu is only in Spanish, so you either ask for English speaker waiter help or Google translate. Food was delicious, and very well presented. I recommend the place.

The pintxo bar that comes with a restaurant. We ate in the bar area and it was refreshing to see that they only stock a few pintxos and continually make them fresh throughout the day. We tried the crab + shrimp as well as the salted cod. They were both quite delicious and left us wanting more.

Based on a sample size of two pintxos, the food here is the equal of anywhere in the city. Our Spanish is bad so there was a small communication problem but this place has the potential to be famous.

A place with a lovely atmosphere and really sweet and good service. Tasteful decor. And the food is as expected. At the very top and characterized by great curiosity and imagination. The 7 course menu is highly recommended. They really do it proff.

I LOVED IT!!! Their tasting menu was just excellent! Not my best meal in San Sebastian but definitely in my top 10 so far. It's a culinary delight and is located in Gros (just few meters walk to the beach). The food looked fantastic as you can see in these pictures and the service was great. Highly recommended!

I had the worst tasting menu ever - poor value for money. I was interested in the tasting menu on their website and that’s why I booked it. Unfortunately the menu they served was not the menu on their website. The food was below average. We had two pieces of ‘sushi’ as an appetizer - the rice was hard. The chocolate dessert has no chocolate taste at all, butter only, it was only creamy. Soup was good and the chicken was the best dish from the menu. The service was also not good. When we walked in no one greeted us. When we were leaving no one said goodbye. The waitress was friendly, but that’s it. She didn’t provide any service though.

Great experience! Not sure why there are so many negative reviews because my husband and I had a lovely meal. He had the tasting menu and I chose a few other items from the menu. Everything was well prepared and presented beautifully. It did take a while (almost 3 hours for lunch) but that’s what life is about...taking time to enjoy the things around you.

I would leave 2.5 if I could. Wish I could leave more but just wasn't worth it after much thinking about it. Staff were friendly, but service was poor. Almost 3 hours to eat our meal, 25minutes of this were waiting for the bill, which in the end we stood up to get ourselves as we couldn't wait any longer. Translations on menu from Spanish to English were off also. Lobster was actually prawn which was very very fishy. We didn't finish it. The ideas are lovely and the place itself is fabulous, we took photos but the execution of the dishes just weren't to the level of expectations, considering the price. Had ordered drinks before our meal in the lovely bar upstairs where we had the red pepper pintxo plate. Absolutely delicious. We ordered the same in the restaurant, as a starter which was 6 euro! (We thought we would get 2 for this price! And the menu said pepperS) Compared to the 3.50 upstairs, the dish we received downstairs was much the same however one elements of the dish (the black crumble on the side) was given in a fraction of the portion upstairs. Not worth the 6euro we paid. We spoke to the staff after the meal about the lobster/prawn translation issue. Overall, the place itself was beautiful to look at but the food and service just didn't meat expectations, considering we had been recommended to go there. Very disappointed.

The service was super friendly. The menu is only in Spanish, so you either ask for English speaker waiter help or Google translate. Food was delicious, and very well presented. I recommend the place.

The pintxo bar that comes with a restaurant. We ate in the bar area and it was refreshing to see that they only stock a few pintxos and continually make them fresh throughout the day. We tried the crab + shrimp as well as the salted cod. They were both quite delicious and left us wanting more.

Based on a sample size of two pintxos, the food here is the equal of anywhere in the city. Our Spanish is bad so there was a small communication problem but this place has the potential to be famous.

A place with a lovely atmosphere and really sweet and good service. Tasteful decor. And the food is as expected. At the very top and characterized by great curiosity and imagination. The 7 course menu is highly recommended. They really do it proff.