I'm surprised to read so many bad reviews here. I went last Friday with my boyfriend and we had a great experience. We walked in at the right time and got 2 seats at the bar right away. The place was packed and atmosphere was very nice. We sat in front of the pig leg, which was weird for a minute, but then I got over it...after all, that really is how they display meats in Spain! As for the person who said it was sneezing distance...well then just don't sneeze on it and it will be fine! Anyway, our server was great, fast and very knowledgeable. The owner Joe was behind the bar helping and was very friendly. We got several things... The dates wrapped in bacon with the cabralas cheese was very good as was the croquetas de pollo (fried, creamy and fattening, but very good!) along with a variety of other things. I will definitely go back!

My wife and I have been hooked on tapas since our trip to Spain in 97. But a good unpretentious tapas place in LA is hard to come by. We went to this place when it was first reviewed by LA Time and was giving flying colors. Now, maybe some one can clear this up for me. In Madrid and Andalucia, I never encountered tapas on top of the bread. I just returned from Barcelona, since the last time I was there, there were non of this open sandwich thing, But it seemed to be everywhere now. My feeling is maybe food prices start to climb once Spain is on par with the rest of the European Union, they started adding the bread to make the customers feel fuller? Supposedly this is the style that inspired the chef at Bar Pintxo. Anyway, on my visit, we arrived at the restaurant and was told we only had 40 min. to eat since they were hosting a private event. No problem for us, it's tapas, right? Seated at the bar. At that time, to appear authentic, they wrote the menu in Espa?ol. Sure, I speak some Castellano, and ordered them in Spanish. It was a joke. Our order of olive (acentuna or olivas, depending on which part of Spain you are in) became open face canned tuna sandwich. Or order of Jamon Ibirico plate was two skimpy strips of Jamon on bread. Frankly, I can do better and more authentic tapas at home. The waitress kept rushing us, eventhough we were eventually out of the place 10 min before their private event. The whole time we were sitting there, the three chefs behind the counter did not once greet us, or even looked us in the eyes!
A few weeks later, I was at the Spanish Market "La Espa?ola", I told the se?ora my disappointment with the place, she seems to like Joe the owner quite a bit and was defending him. I actually had tapas at Joe's Venice joint. It is much better, in my opinion. But to have authentic tapas in LA. Unfortunately, you have to drive to Claremont. Also, my last review on this place was rejected by Citysearch 3 times.....

I'm a local Venice/Santa Monica resident and at first I liked Bar Pinxto. Until I noticed that they serve Foie Gras, which is a 'delicacy' created by torturing geese by force feeding them with a medal feeding tube that causes regurgitation, painful lacerations, organ failure, lung failure, and sometimes the explosion of internal organs. These birds are kept heavily confined, force feed, and die long painful deaths. As a local resident I know that many residents would never support such an awful practice if they knew more about it. Bar Pinxto should follow in the footsteps of Wolfgang Puck and refuse to serve it. I am so very disappointed that a new small restaurant would support this practice, and I will not recommend the place to anyone until they take it off their menus. I'm not against meat being served, but i am against this very excessive torture of animals just so their livers are a bit more fatty for peoples momentary enjoyment. Bar Pinxto take this off your menu!

I will have to get back to you all and let you know how it goes tonight. I am invited to a dinner there for a women's wine group and I hope it is better than I have read. I'll let you know later. I gave it an average rating since I have not been there yet. We will see how it goes. Wish me luck!

I've walked by this place several times, so last night my boyfriend and I decided to give it a try. Considering it was a Saturday night it wasn't very crowded, now we know why. We got a seat at their "sushi bar" and had a slab of meat sitting in front of us, and an egg dish sitting out on an open platter. To our disgust, the chef was actually using this food that was within sneezing distance of us to serve other people. The place is really small, and not worth the wait. We had sangria which was merely watered down red wine with a slice of orange in it and served in a shot glass. What the food lacked in flavor, they made up for in salt. The tomato stuffed with tuna tasted like tunafish from a can. I don't have any thing positive to say about this place and will never return.