Asador Ibaiondo, a restaurant to recommend.

Asador Ibaiondo, one of the best value for money restaurants in Bizkaia.

We went to Asador Ibaiondo on the recommendation of several friends, and is that in recent months, after the remodeling to which this restaurant located in Maruri – Jatabe has been subjected, everyone is talking about it. And not only for this change of image that has had such good reviews, but because after the change of image, after the facelift, has managed to maintain the same prices and quality to which we were accustomed. Many of the people who visit this Basque establishment daily describe it as a brewery where you eat better than many restaurants in our territory, however, they define themselves as a steakhouse, to us, the type of establishment does not seem so important, as long as the quality of their dishes and the price we pay for them pleasantly surprises us, conditions that are met to perfection in the Asador Ibaiondo.

According to what they tell us, the project of the Ibaiondo steakhouse was born on July 7, 1989, hence, in most of the sites this restaurant is referred to as “Ibaiondo 1989”, and Antonio and Pilar, the architects of this project, wanted to make clear the year in which they started this exciting stage of their life. Since then, this family from Bizkaia, together with their team of workers, has created some of the best traditional dishes of our gastronomy, or as they like to say, “we offer the visitor the traditional food of our amamas (grandmothers in Basque)”. And it is that, taking as a reference the magnificent products obtained from the orchards and ports near Maruri – Jatabe, following the ancestral recipes of his family and based on a self-service system, they have managed to offer visitors a great dining experience.

The Asador Ibaiondo does not have the best dishes in Euskadi, nor is it one of the most striking establishments, but even so, it has managed to attract the attention of all those people who travel to Euskadi with the intention of enjoying one of the best cuisines in the world. Its success has no secret, offering quality dishes at low prices, or at least, prices that have nothing to do with those of restaurants that offer similar quality. If you want to eat in good quantity and good quality, we strongly recommend you to book a table at Asador Ibaiondo, we are sure you will not regret it.

Fast service, no waiting, an attractive, nice place and a 5 star quality cuisine, make Ibaiondo one of the most demanded restaurants in the surroundings of Bilbao. A fact that makes it very easy for us to recommend it to all the people who write to us asking for a restaurant where to eat during their stay in Bizkaia. But not everything is so easy, recommending any of its dishes can become an impossible mission, because, although some have a higher quality than others, all of them are recommendable. Asador Ibaiondo does not have a menu, or at least not for small groups. All their dishes are a la carte, from the typical brewer’s chicken to the best turbot they have. But don’t worry, whatever you order, you will eat very well. As for its spaces, the terrace, the parking and the small playground make it a perfect restaurant to go with the family or a group. We repeat, a place to recommend.

Self-service: The service mechanism established in the Asador Ibaiondo is like that of many breweries in our environment, self-service. Order, wait, pick up and eat. We will try to explain in more detail how to order, but it has no mystery.

It is curious that one of the best value for money restaurants in Bizkaia, has this management model, with this self-service implemented, but the truth is that it works very well, very fast. It is all a question of adapting. Although it is self-service, there is a more than correct attention by the human team that works every day to give the best of Asador Ibaiondo, ask what you need, we are sure that they will respond to any problem that you find during your stay.

No mobile network: Throughout our experiences we have seen restaurants with wifi, restaurants with wifi that recommend not to use the phone, restaurants without wifi or restaurants that directly do not reach the mobile network. The Ibaiondo steakhouse belongs to this last group, to the restaurants in which the cell phones indicate the so typical phrase “emergency calls only”, words that make the hair stand on end to anyone who is part of the “generation Y”, better known as millennials. So, you know, no mobile network, no wifi. It’s time to abandon technology, relax and enjoy gastronomy.

Products: Raw material from km 0, “bertokoak” as we say in Euskal Herria. Local products, which in addition to helping to know and taste our products also offer higher quality to the creations of this restaurant. We must not forget that with this type of actions we contribute to strengthen the local economy, to promote the primary sector, an indispensable sector to maintain the great gastronomic level that we have in all Euskadi. Without them, without the producers, the restaurants lose much of their essence. In this case, in the Ibaiondo grill, they have two fronts, the sea and the vegetable garden, the sea products, the so precious wild fish, arrive through the port of Armintza, about 10 minutes by car. While the products of the land, from the vegetable garden, beans, tomatoes or lettuce, are obtained in the baserris (Basque for farmhouses) of the surroundings, from Maruri-Jatabe itself.

As you can see, all the products are from here, from home. We also highlight the wine cellar, a space where we find a nice variety of wines of all kinds, in which prices are perfectly marked.

Our menu: Our recommendation for the Asador Ibaiondo is very simple, order whatever you like, everything is a good choice. In our case, we opted for croquettes, green peppers, black pudding and salad as starters, while the main courses (to share) were turbot, hake with squid and chop.

Although everything was very good, we must highlight the black pudding as part of the starters and the turbot as part of the main courses, both dishes of great quality, very good. Regarding the desserts, we ordered a good variety of all of them, but among all of them, there was one that left us enthusiastic, the baked cheesecake, brutal, highly recommended.

Price: We never tire of repeating it, Ibaiondo is, in our humble opinion, one of the restaurants with the best quality/price ratio in Bilbao and Bizkaia. It is not to go crazy, but it is to be grateful to be able to find places with a very good relation in the vicinity of the Great Bilbao. And we are not the only ones who think so, after doing a small survey, we have come to the conclusion that our great culinary experience at Antonio and Pilar’s house is not an exception, all the people who have gone to this place, highlight the same aspects.

Location: The Ibaiondo grill is located in the municipality of Maruri-Jatabe, in the foothills of Mount Jata, just 20 minutes from the center of Bilbao and 15 from the airport. A perfect location to enjoy charming villages such as Gorliz, Armintza, Bakio or Bermeo and unusual places like San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. In our case, we wanted to take advantage of the day by extending our stay in the lands of the region of Uribe, so we went to the Larrakoetxea cottage, a perfect place to have a drink on the terrace overlooking the sea.

For all those who want to visit Ibaiondo during your trip along the Basque coast, tell you that it represents a great option to eat while enjoying some of the most representative places of the region of Uribe and Urdaibai. Here are some examples.

Restaurant: The Ibaiondo steakhouse has 2 indoor dining rooms and a nice outdoor terrace. Inside, the larger dining room, the one in front of the bar, has tables and benches like those found in sagardotegiak (cider houses in Basque), while the smaller one, a more intimate and cozy space where diners can feel at home, is usually reserved for special celebrations. This dining room overlooks a hillside and has direct access to the children’s playground. Outside the Asador Ibaiondo, we find two different spaces, on the one hand a large number of outdoor tables surrounded by trees and on the other hand a kind of closed terrace, glazed, in which to enjoy the beautiful summer days. From the terrace or the small dining room you can access the swings, the playground, where the smallest of the house can enjoy safely surrounded by nature.

We finish by saying that we even liked the bathrooms of Ibaiondo, and this Bizkaia steakhouse makes a nice nod to our traditions and history through its bathrooms. From the way of indicating the services of women and men, to the materials used in each of its corners. Very successful.

Schedule: The winter schedule of the Asador Ibaiondo is striking, since on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays it is closed, a somewhat peculiar schedule that proves once again that Ibaiondo is totally different from the rest of the “jatetxes” (restaurants in Basque) that we find all over the Basque Country. Remember that at Christmas this restaurant also makes a small festive break. On the other hand, if you come to visit us in summer, in summer, it is open every day except Tuesdays.

We end these lines thanking the entire team of Asador Ibaiondo for making it possible to enjoy this dining experience, Zorionak lagunak! To the rest, to our readers, we recommend you to make a reservation before going to this Basque restaurant, because the demand is so great that sometimes it is difficult to eat without a reservation. On the other hand, as usual, we encourage you to leave us a comment with your opinion or suggestion, we will try to answer you as soon as possible.