Bilbao on Spain’s northern coast offers much in terms of beauty: wondrous food, glorious architecture and museums, and attractive weather in summer. In short, it’s a tourist’s delight.

But like any tourist destination it can be expensive for people who choose inappropriate restaurants. Join me at some of the worst and best during a 10-day visit in July 2023. This was a self-funded holiday with no benefits associated with being a journalist apart from free entry to the Guggenheim (shown above) which welcomes media workers and teachers.

Our worst meal was at La Olla in Plaza Nueva in the old city. We shared a starter of grilled artichoke that cost €16.50 for six pieces of a vegetable more like leather than leaf.

Bilbao has wondrous meat that is inexpensive by European standards, as the image from the main market here shows.

My steak, advertised as an entrecote that had been aged for 35 days, defied two different kinds of knives. Neither was able to cut through the gristle.

The meal was a gustatory form of agony. I should have detected a problem when the waiter did not ask how I would like my steak prepared. When I complained about the steak the maitre d’ recommended a replacement meal of pork.

I asked for the other steak on the menu, a sirloin. The waiter nodded, again not bothering to ask how I would like it cooked. Minutes later several slices of pork arrived accompanied by vegetables that had long given up trying to look attractive. The waiter lost his charm. At this point any attempt to converse logically in English stopped. I surrendered and ate.

Spain has magnificent wines, many moderately priced. The wine list at La Olla defies that notion. No bottle on the list had a vintage. Prices ranged between €21 and €250. I chose a Conde San Cristobal (€27) shown in the photo.

The waiter pulled the cork and filled my companion’s glass without allowing me to taste. I asked to see the cork. The waiter shrugged. The bottle had been stored upright. Luckily it was still drinkable. I feared the consequences of sending it back.

The meal cost €91 for one shared entree and two main courses, including €4 for a bottle of lukewarm sparkling water and €2.80 for two bread rolls that could have been used as projectiles in a riot.

The Victor Montes restaurant on the same plaza is famous. Our meal there consisted of lovely food and another bizarre experience with a waiter.

We arrived on time but waited at least 15 minutes to get a menu. Via our broken Spanish we explained we wanted an older red wine. The waiter opened the menu to reveal about a dozen wines. Only two of them, and both were magnums, had a vintage date.

I repeated that we wanted an older wine. He took me to the wine fridge that sits on the ground floor of the restaurant.  I found three bottles that had some age: 2001, 1999 and 1997. I asked how much for those wines. Not for sale, he said, but “for display only”.

I asked again about older wines. He pointed at a 2020 and a 2021. I said much older. He pointed to a 2017. I said much older. He pointed at a 2009 whose label I was not familiar with and I asked the price: €89. I queried the price of two others. He shrugged and disappeared.

The place was so crowded it was impossible to get help from anyone else. So I chased the waiter and chose a 2011 for €49. He looked impressive in his pristine white jacket. The jacket shrugged again as he walked away.

Back at the table we waited. The wine arrived and the waiter pulled the cork, put it into his pocket and filled the glass of my companion, Julia. I asked to see the cork. He gave me the cork and proceeded to fill Julia‘s glass even further. The restaurant has large and fine glassware and by now a quarter of the bottle was in the glass.

I said I would like to taste the wine. He shrugged, poured a dribble into my glass, and walked away. Luckily it was fine. To suggest otherwise might have sparked an international incident.

Another 10 minutes later he returned to take our food orders. We chose meat and again the waiter did not ask how we would like it cooked. The restaurant only has seven tables on the ground floor inside and those tables are crammed together so it’s easy to see what others are drinking. The people on the table to my left were drinking a 2020 riserva rioja, which for a wine of that style is infanticide. The American couple on my right were drinking sangria with their steak.

The food itself was good though I believe overpriced. The meal cost €143 for one bottle of Amaren rioja (€49), six crab croquettes (€18) to start, plus two meat mains (€27 each) and a cheese plate (€16) to finish.

That plate consisted of 10 small triangles of cheese plus six cubes of quince jelly each the size of a casino die. A plate of stale crackers with the Victor Montes logo arrived with the cheese. The bill included lukewarm water without ice and rock-like bread rolls.

In the room upstairs (shown above) that their website says has hosted scores of famous people I saw hundreds of old bottles in glass cases. But all were empty or filled with coloured water: That seemed a sad commentary on a once-renowned wine list.

But all was not frustration. A meal another night at Amaren (Diputacion 6, Bilbao) cost almost the same as at La Olla (€94.75) but was immensely better. The steak was tender and juicy, the bread soft, and the water served with ice and lemon.

Best of all the wine waiter, Carlos Esteban, was happy and keen to talk about aged reds and knew how to present and open a wine. The wine was magnificent (Pierola reserva 2011) and reasonably priced (€26.50) and the waiter even asked how we would like the meat cooked. The aromas from the in-house BBQ (see above) were captivating and the service impressive. Amaren is a delight.

The best-value dining experience was at La Vina del Ensanche (Diputacion 10, Bilbao) in the same street as Amaren. They offer a degustation menu for €45 a person that consists of six courses of superb food cooked by a chef only 10 metres away in the open-air kitchen. The flavours were rich and generous. Such wondrous food.

This restaurant is very popular so you need to book in advance. You have a better chance of a table if you eat from 8.30pm because locals tend to arrive from about 10.30pm. The restaurant’s bar next door is lively and you can sometimes snaffle a table there if you have not made a booking. But it tends to be noisy compared with the elegance and tranquility of the restaurant.

The service was friendly and efficient. The wine list was extensive, easy to negotiate as the photo below shows, and inexpensive. A bottle of Attis Lias albariño was €16.35 and a half bottle of rioja (2017 Marques de Riscal reserva) was only €10.30. And the bread rolls were soft, too.