Iluna Basque
San Francisco, CA 94133
Phone: (415) 402-0011
- Price:
- $$$
- Cross Street:
- Columbus Avenue
- Best of Citysearch:
- North Beach Restaurant 2007
- Hours:
- Sun-Thu 5:30pm-10:30pm, Fri, Sat 5:30pm-11:30pm
Message from Iluna Basque
Iluna Basque offers traditional and festive Basque cuisine.
- Basque Tapas
- Happy Hour
Instant Offers
Paid advertisement by Iluna Basque.
Editorial Review for Iluna Basque – by Saida Benguerel
The Scene
Several European dialects waft through the brushed-steel and lipstick-red dining room, which has banks of tall windows with views of Washington Square. The staff has off nights, whether it's not bringing a dish or bringing leftovers too soon. Otherwise, diners experience attentive service.
The Food
Helmed by rising young chef Mattin Noblia, this tapas joint zeroes in on regional flavors of Basque country. Traditional dishes do justice to the esteemed culinary tradition, especially piperade, served in a small cast-iron pan filled with roasted red peppers, crispy Serrano ham and a soft-cooked egg; and brandade, a pot of thick and creamy salt cod with wafer-thin crostini. Crab croquettes are delightfully crispy outside yet meltingly creamy within, and steamed mussels loaded with garlic and fines-herbs, are sweet and succulent. The Spanish tortilla is a perfect balance between salty chorizo and earthy potatoes, while less traditional seared tuna with blue-cheese sauce confounds the palate.
Editorial content is independent of paid advertisers. Any expenses are paid for by Citysearch.
Insider Tips
Where to SitA family-style table is available for solo diners, or you can reserve it for a large group of up to 10.
Know Before You GoReservations are only available for parties of six or more.
ParkingParking can be had at 1636 Powell, but there is no validating or valet service.
What to DrinkThe wine list features a nice sampling of French, Spanish and Basque wines by the glass.
User Reviews for Iluna Basque
08/19/2008 Posted by tatianem
I read some reviews before going to this restaurant, but ignored the bad ones about horrible service. Don't make the same mistake... I went on Friday August 15th with my friends for a surprise bday party. My main complaint is about the service, the food was good. The server seemed pushy right from the start. We all arrived at different times and it seemed like every time another person showed up, the server got more and more impatient. I guess they wanted us to get through it already, i don't know... Well everyone ordered just fine, but when it came to me and my boyfriend, we only ordered one plate to share (we were there for the drinks mainly). Apparently he didn't like the idea too much so he's response was "one for both?!" and rolled his eyes sideways going "oooooookay...." Seriously... what kind of server does that?!? especially at this kind of restaurant... we didn't even order any more drinks, and I should've canceled our only plate too... ON TOP OF THAT... after the 18% gratuity that he did not deserve, he actually charged an extra $15 on my friend's card without permission for extra gratuity... who does that?!? SO BOTTOM LINE IS... don't bother coming here... they lack honesty and professionalism
Pros: ambience
Cons: everything else... they should seriously consider their customer service problem....
07/18/2008 Posted by faney
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars This restaurant is not worth worth any stars for service. If you want tapas go to the one on Haight called "Cha Cha Cha " The waiter was very impatient. He should know that it would take up some time for everyone to order, especially a group of 12 people. What restaurant pushes underage girls to drink? We had people that were the age of 21 and up and people that were 19-20. Yet, they still wanted them to purchase their expensive drinks. They also try to push and make us order more food because they felt as though it wasn't expensive enough?! That wasn't the worst part, the worst part was CAKE FEE!! What restaurant charges costumers for CAKE FEE?!! We didn't purchase a cake from them, we brought the cake our selves and they charged us $51.00!!!! To cut the cake?The cake was only $20 for crying out loud. They didn't tell us that there was a cake fee, they didn't have it written in the menu, nor did they tell us when they took the cake in to cut it. If they told us and had it written in the menu, we'll be more than happy to pay for it. But not when they didn't even breathe a word about it, would we want to pay. After arguing with the waiter and the manager, they couldn't even speak English so it was hard to understand. They raised their voices, and instead of just dropping it, they still had to charge us $20! What type of restaurant is this? They were so disrespectful, they said that every restaurant charges CAKE FEE and they looked down at us like we've never been to a good restaurant. Come on! We've been to plenty of nice restaurant, and they would help us cut the cake as a gratitude to say thanks for coming. We would simply just leave more tips. But this restaurant was just over the top RUDE & does not know how to manage their way of running the restaurant. Maybe they're just hating because of our race.
Pros: awful thumbs down
Cons: thumbs down all the way
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