Leku Ona

Food is meh, owner is an entitled jerk!
I’ve eaten at Leku Ona a couple of times, and both times I found the atmosphere blasé, the food mediocre at best and overpriced. Two redeeming factors were a server (who is no longer there) and the sausage and peppers.
Today, while trying to eat a quiet lunch at the next door restaurant, the General Manager, Andoni Artiach, verbally accosted one of the employees of the Basque Market. It escalated until Mr. Artiach was yelling at the Basque Market cook. The subject of his ranting was irrelevant, as his actions were inexcusable as someone who considers himself a «Manager.»
As if the first rant was not enough, Mr. Artiach returned a second time yelling and ranting about the neighboring restaurant’s lunch service and employee behavior. It was so bad that several diners were asking him to calm down and go away.
Bottom line, Leku Ona will never get another chance with me. It has only passably good food that is overpriced and management that blames the neighbors for its poor business.

I came here while on a business trip a while back. The hotel I was staying at had a shuttle service to restaurants and when I asked the concierge where to eat some good basque food this was the place they recommended.
I arrived a little after 8pm and it was still light out because it was July and up north it can be light after 9 – 9:30p. I was seated outside on the patio and there was a brother and sister who were out at dinner together and we struck up a conversation… Super nice people.
The waiter came out and I told her I was starving and she suggested the chorizo bean soup to start and I told her I loved lengua and she said that I just had to try theirs which was in a tomato type sauce (had a vinegar back bone which is amazing).
After talking with my new friends for a while the food came out and it was fabulous. The soup was so flavorful and chorizo was out of sight, reminded me of the chorizo I get when I visit my uncle in Carson City, Nevada. The lengua was moist, tasty and tender, like the best pot roast you’d ever had in your life.
After the meal I headed back to the hotel satisfied and sleepy. When I’m back in Boise this will be my hang out!

This restaurant appears to be on the way down … and should close sooner rather than later. The food was terrible … steaks were tough … honestly, there was 4 ice cream scoops of mashed potatoes on one of the plates that looked gross. plopped there. We’ve eaten there numerous times, but it’s obvious something is happening in the kitchen … there can’t be a «chef» anymore … plates looked terrible, and there wasn’t one person in our large party who was pleased. Also, it was apparent the wait staff tried, but they weren’t experienced, or on top of it, whatsoever … extremely slow for anything and everything … cocktails took forever!!! We watched the table behind us wait for almost 30 minutes to even get a wine menu! Then it took another maybe 5 minutes for the waitress to stop back by, and, there was no one else in the room!!! They never cleaned up our plates after dinner … I finally took them off myself and placed them on the table behind ours, so we might enjoy our dessert. We could have spent the exact same and gone to a great, clean fun restaurant … never again. The whole thing was embarrassing for us to take our friends from out of town to enjoy some Basque food … gross. One star is actually too high. Sorry, as they used to be great … no more. Sad state when the owner is there yet spends his time at the bar, smooshing and doesn’t take care of all the details that need to occur to keep a restaurant going.

Great place, great service… Awesome peppers. Beer was cold and our service was perfect! Thank you Leku Ona… Great experience!

Came in on a Wednesday evening at about 7pm with a group of people from a conference I was attending in Boise. The restaurant was almost completely empty with just a few people sitting at the bar. Still, the server seemed extremely annoyed that she had to serve us. Our drinks took about 20 minutes to come (and all we ordered were glasses of wine and beer) and when our food came, it was pretty disappointed across the board. In summary, the food was way overpriced and bland, and the service was rude.

The food was good but the service sucked. I won’t be coming back. Very rude when I just asked if I could have some more water.

Terrible service and the food wasn’t too great either. The clam chowder was the only thing that was good about this place.

Boise is known for having a large Basque population and hosting a huge Basque festival every five years or so. That being said, I am not sure that there is a Basque chef in the kitchen at Leku Ona.
Let me start by saying that nobody in our party had ever been here before, it was a spur of the moment decision.
Our party of seven (it was a business dinner for my husband’s company that was hosting an out-​of-​town client) wandered down the Basque block after Alive After 5 last Wednesday evening planning on going to Bar Gernika. Bar Gernika was crowded to the brim and the group still wanted Basque food, so we kept going until we found Leku Ona. The restaurant was fairly empty with scattering of occupied tables on the patio. We went in and the hostess stand was empty. We had to wait for them to realize that there were seven people standing in the foyer. After another few minutes, we were seated outside. We waited ten minutes for waters and menus.
When the waitress came back to take our order, we ordered two orders of croquettas for an appetizer, four orders of meatballs, one lamb shank, one lamb meatloaf (that was supposed to have a choice of roasted or mashed potatoes-​no choice was given), and one beef tongue. All seven of us ordered salad to which the waitress remarked that ‘they’d probably run out of salad then’.
Croquettas: $ 8.75/order (2 orders). They came out about twenty minutes later. They weren’t terrible, but they definitely weren’t great either. Sort of bland with very little sauce. One member found a piece of chicken back bone in his.
Twenty minutes after that we were brought two plates of salad served ‘family style’. The kitchen couldn’t be bothered to make each of us a separate salad and what they did serve us was barely enough to feed four people, let alone seven.
After the salad, the wait for the entrees was interminably long for the obvious lack of customers in the restaurant. Twenty-​five minutes later we were brought our dinners. The meatballs, lamb shank, and beef tongue all appeared to be (overly) coated in the exact same sauce, so while I didn’t taste all of the dishes, I am pretty sure that I tasted all of the dishes.
Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes: $ 17.50/plate (4 orders). Visually they were small and uneven in size, drowning in vats of gravy and overcooked mixed vegetables. The mashed potatoes were dry, so good thing there was a lot of gravy to rescue them. Comments from my fellow diners were that each meatball seemed to be a different texture?
Beef Tongue with Mashed Potatoes: $ 18.95/plate (1 order). Thin slices of chewy beef tongue drenched in same gravy/​veggie mess as the meatballs. I tasted this one (as my husband had ordered it) and the gravy was over-​reduced and salty. Husband said that the beef tongue didn’t seem to be properly cleaned and had ‘flaps of skin’ all over it.
Lamb Meatloaf with No Choice of Potatoes: $ 19.75/plate (1 order). Meatloaf is supposed to be moist, tender, and flavorful… this was not. It was coated in ketchup (that they called homemade tomato sauce?) and was crunchy and tough like a hockey puck. It seemed that they had sliced it into half inch slices and then seared it to a crisp in a hot skillet and then used a squirt bottle to put ‘decorative’ designs of ketchup on it. The green beans were over-​salted and the potatoes were cold with little flavor. Not that I was missing anything with the potatoes as I had tasted the mashed potatoes and they weren’t good either.
Lamb Shank: $ 25.95/plate (1 order). This was really the only appealing dish on the table, even drowning in the same sauce as everything else. The lamb flaked off the bone clean and the diner said it was good and well seasoned. We weren’t well-​acquainted enough for me to taste his dish though.
All in all, this restaurant would be a good candidate for Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares; I’m not sure what’s going on in that kitchen, but the quality of the food did NOT match the prices that they were charging for it. It almost felt like the chef had given up. If you’re going to serve something that bad, it might be better to close the restaurant rather than try and cram in a few more guests to use up the last of your ingredients.
I’ve eaten at a lot of restaurants in Boise and can honestly say that this is one of the worst meals I’ve ever had downtown. (Maybe even the worst.) If my husbands’ company hadn’t paid for the meal, the manager would have gotten a piece of my mind the next day. For what was spent, I could have made lamb meatloaf and mash for a party of twelve and still had enough to pay for alcoholic beverages for everybody.
If you want some Basque food and an ice cold beer, try Bar Gernika down the street. The spicy lamb grinder and croquettas will wash away all doubt that Boise CAN and DOES serve good Basque!

Food is average at best and pretty overpriced. I ordered the half roasted chicken, which was actually two pieces of really overcooked chicken thighs. Paella was nothing remotely close to a paella. My husband’s fillet was seasoned and cooked well and the mashed potatoes were alright. Croquetas were decent. I expect much better food for the $ 20-​$ 30 per entrée price point, however. Their drink specials on the other hand — $ 5 for a ginormous pitcher of premium beer, $ 1 mimosa, $ 2 sangria and $ 3 bloody mary. The sangria was pretty good for 2 bucks, didn’t try the mimosa or bloody mary so can’t give you much there. We’ll probably go back for drink specials but getting food here just makes zero sense. I’d rather go to Fork for better food and ambiance for those prices.

Came here with my family for a late dinner.
My mother had suggested this restaurant to me a while back and we decided to take the time off to check it out.
Our server Trisha was absolutely amazing, she made sure that our food was delicious.
Would definitely recommend this restaurant to all of my friends!
Can’t wait to come back!

Most of the food was very good. I was a little shocked when the family meal showed up with a giant plate of french fries. The meat and cheese platter was excellent. The red bean soup was excellent. The paella was excellent. The pork loin was so dry. The cod and beef steak were very good.

Leku ona? Leku onena! Had a fabulous meal here, served by great waitstaff. I had never been able to find the squid in its own ink in the U.S. like you get in the Basque Country. Here it was served with some rice on the side, and abundant sauce. I tried some of my buddy’s codfish, which was battered and fried, with red peppers on the side and it was delicious. I liked the lentils so much that I had three helpings, and then took some home with me. They have a great bar, and can serve libations ranging from local craft brews to the sort of before, after and during dinner drinks that you’re used to in the Basque Country. I can’t wait to come back.

What an enjoyable evening. Our first time eating basque food and with the help of the manager, we sampled our way through the menu. My favorites were the bean and chorizo soup, the lamb stew, and the paella. The food and service were both excellent.

Condescending service — blah-​whatever-​good enough food.
I was extremely excited to try a Basque restaurant in Boise on their Spanish block, as I was (am) über familiar with the Reno Basque scene. So, on this whirlwind buying trip to Boise, I decided to try Leku Ona, as I’d seen tons of patrons exiting in good spirits during the lunch rush.
We were seated in the bar area (unbeknownst to my companion ad I) — but when I told our server I’d left my ID in my car in Utah, we were told we would have to move. I get it, liquor laws — so, after being led into a separate room, at another table we sat.
My boyfriend ordered a kalimotxo, and together we decided on what to get for lunch (some croquettas and paella). I, noticeably, took a sip of the very missed kalimotxo, even though I’d been shamed and forced to sit in the kid’s section. The waitress approached the table — «Don’t drink his drink,» talking to me, the novice who’d forgotten the ID. Amicably, my boyfriend moved his drink to his side of the table.
With the drink ¼ of the way gone, the waitress reproached. «My manager doesn’t feel comfortable with you having the drink at your table.» Somewhat astonished as she took the drink and left the table, I said, «Okay, that’s fine, as long as you take it off our bill.»
I understand that there are rules of life, I’ll be 30 soon, just like the person I was with is. We’ve had plenty of experience and we get it – in states where you are treated like children, you can’t drink without your ID, and let’s put an emphasis on these small-​time, aimless human inhabited joints in the mid/​mountain west (like Boise). After she took the drink, we could hear the simpleton server and her manager (eager to utilize their only experience of authority) talking smack about us within earshot of our table. «She said ‘if you take this off our bill – but like, we can’t take it off if they already drank it.’» Okay, so, you win. We got a drink without an ID, someone well above age took a taste, and you take it away, because, duuuuh, you’re so smart and are in charge and win, and you will MAKE US pay for it.
Seriously, we only drank ¼ of the extremely inexpensive to make beverage. But, after we got our mediocre/​forgettable food, I apologized for not playing by the rules and for putting the server in an uncomfortable position, explained we were in Boise for a day and I’d left my wallet and no one cared — and in the end, we tipped 20%. We paid for the drink that no one got to drink, the food that was meh, and the service the most condescending service of all time. Bravo, Leku Ona. At least you have that.

The food is amazing here. From Asparagus appetizer, chicken wild rice soup, seafood soup to the best I have ever tried Stuffed Squid with squid ink. You won’t regret if you decide to eat here. Service is slow a little bit, but tasty food covers everything

Basque food. Big portions. Beef tongue was amazingly tender. Chorizo and bean soup was good. I had lamb chops ordered rare– they were extra extra rare/​raw on the inside. Combined with the wet dog smell that typically accompanies lamb, it initiated my gag reflex. they gladly threw it back on the burner for a little bit longer. I should give this place another shot

We had such an amazing dinner, the food is wonderful and our server was attentive and so sweet! The restaurant itself is a gem, it’s beautiful and cozy. If you haven’t been here yet it’s a definite must try, you will love this place!

Came here for a birthday party last night, so I’m really reviewing the service and the few cocktails /​appetizers I ate.
Ashley, our server, was awesome. At some point, the birthday boy had enjoyed himself a little too much and I think he spilled a drink on her. She was totally magnanimous about it, saying there was no problem. She provided great service, speedy drink delivery, gave cool recommendations and, again, was super friendly.
A fun, cheap little cocktail called the gin kass was what most of us enjoyed. Fizzy, vaguely tasted of gin and with a slight citrus presence. They made a passable manhattan with, I assume, well bourbon. They also had some fun little appetizers, basically fried stuff, croquetas, calamari and onion rings, with a big bowl of fry sauce or something similar in the middle. The calamari was totally unassuming, but had great flavor.
I think I’m finally convinced to come in and have a meal. Great job with the rowdy crowd, leku ona.

This restaurant deserves 4.5 stars, which is about as high as I usually ever go. Food and service are superb! You will love the freshness and quality of their food. So much to offer.
I’d like to encourage the staff to study how the standard «set up» menu is done in Basque restaurants in northern Nevada and Bakersfield, California, with their appreciable Basque restaurants and people, and consider the same. Family style bowl of beans, soup, bowl of hot salsa (all go into your bowl together in this order), and plenty of hot French bread and butter to start. Then a big tossed garden salad with Italian or oil/​vinegar dressing, cottage cheese, pickled tongue, and basque hard cheeses. All washed down with wine or beer. Then your entrees, with endless French fries like only Basque make them.
This restaurant is different, but quite delicious! The lamb stew and cod entrees were very good here. Garlic chicken is good, but different than other Basque restaurants in the West. Pears poached in Cabernet over rice pudding was terrific dessert.
This restaurant is terrific, I recommend it, and cannot wait until my next trip to Boise to explore more of the menu.

I came for lunch and had the Tuesday special, Arkume: a sandwich with sliced leg of lamb, Swiss cheese and a lamb au jus. The sandwich was very tasty and the au jus had a lot of flavor. Served with a chorizo-​red bean soup that was also very good.
Service was friendly and attentive and the dishes were brought quickly, perfect for lunch.