A no-frills, standing-room institution devoted almost entirely to mussels from the Galician Rías Baixas and towering plates of patatas bravas. There is nothing refined about it — the room is loud, the turnover is furious, and you eat elbow to elbow — but with a 4.3 rating across some 2,400 reviews, La Mejillonera has proven that doing two cheap things extremely well is its own kind of excellence.
Location
Casco Viejo, Pamplona
Map
Insider Intel
Mussels — tigres (stuffed and fried) or steamed — and a plate of patatas bravas. That's the menu that matters, and it's why the room is always full.
Whenever you want a cheap, fast, high-energy stop mid-crawl. It's busiest at peak pintxo hours; the churn is part of the experience.
Cash-friendly and high-turnover — do not expect seating or ceremony. It's the deliberate low-brow counterpoint to the old town's competition-award bars, and it earns its crowds.