Valencia · Spain
La Pilareta (Bar Pilar)
A practical guide to La Pilareta, the Bar Pilar of El Carmen in Valencia: open since 1917, what to order, what it costs, what time to arrive and how to eat clochinas.
Yes, it's worth it, especially from April to August, when clochinas are in season. It's a bar for 30–45 minutes at the counter, not for a long dinner.
La Pilareta, the old Bar Pilar, is one of the oldest tapas bars in Valencia. It opened in 1917 on Calle Moro Zeit, in El Carmen, and still has its zinc bar, its tiles and its chalkboard. People come for one thing: steamed clochinas, which are only around from April to August.
Our experience
We went twice. On Monday, May 25, we stopped in the middle of our walk through El Carmen, between the Torres de Quart and the Plaça del Tossal, for clochinas, esgarraet and a small draft beer. On Tuesday, May 26, we came back at 18:30, after resting at the hotel, for a second round: clochinas again, esgarraet with toasted bread and the house white wine. We went back because clochina season is short and in May we were right in it, and we arrived before 19:30 to get a spot at the bar. From there we walked to Café Madrid for an agua de Valencia. It’s in our arrival day and our big day in Valencia.
A bit of history
On August 8, 1917, Pilar Contell opened a grocery and liquor store here. Her customers called her la Pilareta, Valencian for “little Pilar.” Little by little the food overtook the shop, first olives, cheese and salt-cured fish and then mussels, and by mid-century it was a tapas bar. Pilar ran it until 1983. The family never remodeled it: the bar, the tiles and the wood are the same as always.
Clochinas are the native mussel of the Valencia and Castellón coast, smaller and more intensely flavored than the Atlantic kind. Their season follows the fishermen’s traditional cycles and runs from mid-April to late August. A few steps away are Plaza de la Virgen and the cathedral.
What to see, in order
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Steamed clochinas
The small Mediterranean mussel, steamed with garlic, lemon and bay leaf, in a clay dish. Only from mid-April to August. You eat them with your fingers: open one, sip the broth, eat the mussel and set the shell aside.
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Esgarraet
Shredded salt cod with roasted red pepper, garlic and olive oil, served cold to eat on bread. The best thing on the chalkboard after the clochinas.
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Toasted bread
For dipping in the clochina broth and for the esgarraet.
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House white wine
Dry and cold, from Utiel-Requena or the Valencia DO, and what goes with the clochinas. If you want the full sequence, start with a white vermouth.
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The bar and the walls
The long zinc bar, the blue and white tiles, the dark wood and the chalkboard menu. Photos from the 1930s show almost the same room.
Tips we wish we’d known
Tips
- They don't hand you a menu: you order from the chalkboard. If a price isn't clear, confirm it before ordering.
- The waiter sings your order toward the kitchen. It's the house custom, not a show for tourists.
- Shells on the floor at peak hours are normal.
- They take cards, but at the bar cash is faster. Rounding up €1–2 is plenty.
Do
- Walk in without waiting to be seated and find a spot at the bar.
- Order everything in one sentence: "Una ración de clochinas al vapor, una de esgarraet, dos copas del blanco de la casa y un poco de pan tostado."
- Keep your bag in front of you: standing in a crowd, it's easy for it to disappear from the floor.
Don’t
- Don't confuse it with other El Carmen bars that use "Pilar" in their name: the historic one is at Calle Moro Zeit 13.
- Don't expect a long sit-down dinner: here you eat standing up and move on.
- Don't order the "international" tapas, the croquettes or the pricey bottles; stick with the Valencian dishes and the house wine.
Frequently asked questions
Are Bar Pilar and La Pilareta the same bar?
Yes. It was called Bar Pilar for most of its history, and a few years ago it took on its founder's nickname, La Pilareta. In Valencia both names are used.
When is clochina season?
From mid-April to late August. Outside those months there aren't any.
Do you need a reservation at La Pilareta?
You can't make one. Get there before 19:30; after 20:00 you sometimes have to wait with a number.
What are the hours?
Roughly 12:00 to 24:00 every day; on Sundays it closes earlier and hours sometimes change, so check on the day you go.