Karlos Arguiñano Restaurant

Villa Aiala, on the Mendilauta promenade

The restaurant is in Villa Aiala, an early 20th-century mansion at Calle Mendilauta, 13, facing Zarautz beach, in the same house as the family's hotel. Karlos Arguiñano does not work in the dining room or the kitchen: he films every day outside Zarautz and drops by from time to time. The kitchen is run by his son Zigor Arguiñano and María Torres, with seasonal produce and updated Basque recipes. The dining room looks out to the Cantabrian Sea and also has two interior rooms; the tables by the window are few and not guaranteed when you book.

The tasting menu and the à la carte

You choose between the à la carte and the tasting menu, which are not mixed at the same table: the menu is ordered for everyone, although if you are with children only the adults may take it. It is five half-portions that change three times a year. The current season's begins with an endive salad with Dublin Bay prawn, pear and blue cheese, continues with a low-temperature egg with onion cream and foie, salmon with velouté, rib with truffle mayonnaise and ends with a goat's cheese foam with quince and tangerine ice cream. Drinks and coffee are extra. The website publishes neither the price of the menu nor of the à la carte: ask when you book. There is no set menu or children's menu, but they adapt dishes for children and for allergies if you tell them when booking and at the table.

The terrace bar, no booking

Next door, the bar with a sea terrace is the informal version: pintxos, sharing plates and sandwiches from its own menu (they do not serve dishes from the restaurant), with gluten-free and vegetarian options. It opens at 8:00 with breakfasts until 11:30; the kitchen runs from 12:00 to 15:30 and from 19:30 to 22:30, until 23:00 in summer. Tables are not reserved: you sit where there is room. It is also the only place in the house where you can go with a dog, on the terrace.

Hours and seasons

Lunch from 13:00 to 15:15 every day except Wednesday. Dinner from 20:30: from 21 June to 12 October, every night except Sunday and Wednesday; the rest of the year, only Friday and Saturday. Restaurant and hotel close from 21 December to 5 February. They recommend booking, especially at Easter and from 15 June to 15 September, which is their high season.

Parking in a residential area

The house has no parking for the restaurant. Leave the car in the Kortazar or Munoa car parks, or in the OTA zone if they are full. The building is wheelchair accessible. From the door the promenade along Zarautz beach begins, and along the coast you can walk to Getaria on the walk from Zarautz to Getaria.