Bask

A very nice restaurant, love the décor. Tons of windows allow a lot of natural sunlight.
I’ve been a few times during lunch and it is not too busy and the prices are decent. About $ 15 for a salad which is average for the downtown area. The salads are amazing, especially the
Chef. They have amazing desserts too, I recently tried their Spanish Churros and it was very fresh and not too sweet. They fill the churros with some custard making it very creamy and not dry. Have not tried their tapas yet, but I see a lot of people ordering it and it looks good, will try next time.

Got a few tapas here after one one day. The dishes we tried were okay, nothing that amazing.
We tried:
1. Spanish tortilla with chorizo $ 11 — Very small bit of chorizo in an eggy pancake thing. Not my fave.
2. Meatballs — beef and lamb — $ 11 — this was pretty good. The meatballs were very moist and the tomato sauce not too acidic
3. Patatas Bravas $ 9 with homemade spicy sauce (kind of like a spicy mayo). This one was good, but a bit too greasy. There was a lot of residual oil at the bottom of the dish.
4. Pulpo a la gallega — traditional Spanish style octopus $ 14. Although it was not tough, the texture was a bit mushy on the octopus and the whole dish lacked flavor (salt)
Service was attentive and friendly. Especially from the nice bus boy who always kept our water glasses full.

Wanted a steak and got a juicy, delicious, enough for two, rib eye, served on a wooden plank with roasted vegetables! Wait staff attentive and friendly! :)

Best service! Best food! Best drinks! You must come. Regulars for sure now. Thank you Susan and the crew!!!

I’ve been here numerous times. I usually sit at the bar.
I’ll start with the service. The owners are always there, and tent to your every need. They are fun and friendly. It’s very welcoming here.
The food it a hit. It’s never been disappointing. Consistent and delicious every time.
The bravas, prawns, padrons, mushrooms, croquettes, foie gras, the charcuterie, the cheese, the tartare. It’s so good.
It’s a unique place in SF and always feels like home!
I’d highly recommend it !!!

Was pleasantly surprised to try this tapas place in the Financial District. I had family in town and it was the perfect time to try a bunch of tapas. Great place for groups! Nice warm and bright place giving it a vibrant relaxed atmosphere. My aunt ordered practically everything in the menu so I was happy I got to try all the delicious dishes. Great place for gluten-​free options. Started with the Sangria, a little too sweet for my taste.
Cold tapas:
Salmon & Ahi Tuna Tartare
Homemade Duck Foie Gras Torchon
Loved the warm tapas:
Beef and lamb meatballs in tomato sauce
Gambas & Mussels Al Ajilo — loved the sauce, make sure you dip the bread in the sauce it is spicy and flavorful
Squid in ink
Goat Cheese with pistachios & honey — my favorite one yet
Fried:
Patatas Bravas — a little lacking in flavor, have tried better in other restaurants
Entrees: Duck Magret was a little dry but the Black Angus Ribeye was succulent and spiced well
Black Paella with tiger prawns and calamari, mussels in squid ink was outstanding I liked this more than the Paella Royale which was the classic paella with prawns, calamari, mussels, chicken but the spanish chorizo gave this dish some kick
Dessert: Churros to top it off was ok, I have had better
All the food was very satisfying not outstanding but good. Nice neighborhood restaurant near the North Beach area of SF. Service needs improvement. For a big group like ours more than 10 people we had to constantly call out to servers to fill our water and ask for extras. We would think they would attend to a big group ordering so much off the menu. Would I come here again, yes I would for the fun vibe and ok food but may try other options in the future. Three stars!

I have live in Spain Bask has the best tapas in the USA very fresh sauces very friendly staff amazing location away from the bad part of town felt very safe there highly recommend the best bar for good cocktails.

We have been meaning to try this place for awhile. Last night we came here for our anniversary. I would say 3.5 stars. We have five tapas and two drinks.
Food was close to 4 stars.
— Spanish tortilla with chorizo 4 stars. Hubby loved it and even I like it and I don’t like this anywhere.
— frisée salad. 3 stars. Great presentation but the flavors wasn’t quite balanced. Too much avocado. Never thought I would say that. The citrus in the middle was a random surprise. The pomegranate seeds Was a little to much as well.
— stuffed peppers — yumm. 4 stars. Didn’t know what to expect but this was good.
— grilled tiger prawn skewers. 4 stars. Recommend.
— grilled mushroom. 4 stars. Decadently rich and flavorful. Great sauce for the bread.
Sangria. 2 stars. I am really surprised that this was bad and it’s hard to be bad at sangria. It was watered down and fruit was newly soaked in it. Disapp this was so off
Bask cider. Pretty good.
Olive oil — don’t ask for this as I think they get this by the big bottle from Safeway or something. No flavor at all.
I really want to give this place a 4 stars but alas not quite there yet. Service was friendly. I did see great dinner plates come out to the next table with steak, sliders etc. will be open to try it again and do the full dinner plates.

In true fashion, I came here with the sliiiiiiightest hangover and Bask HIT. THE. SPOT. We had a reservation for 4 at 8 PM on a Saturday, and the restaurant was mostly full, with maybe one or two empty tables. We changed our reservation twice (two to four people, 8 to 8:30 – see aforementioned hangover note), and the hostess accommodated us no problem. The selection of tapas is pretty phenomenal, and 95% of the menu is gluten free! I think they have pintxos available at the bar, though, if you’re about that carb life.
Down to the nitty gritty, we got the meatballs, shrimp/​mussels with garlic, stuffed peppers, patatas bravas, grilled octopus, chorizo, and paella royale. There really was nothing I didn’t adore, though the scrimps were a lot smaller than I thought they’d be, but still delicious. The stuffed peppers had mashed potatoes and cod – yes, it sounds strange to have bits of fish swimming around in pulverized potatoes and stuff inside the cavity of a mediocre vegetable – BUT. IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. I’m pretty sure they put crack in the broth for the paella because that, too, was amazing. The chorizo was actually a last minute addition because for once we underestimated our appetites. It came right after the peppers, so me and the homies took some bread, dipped it in the stuffed pepper sauce, and topped it all off with a piece of salty, cripsy chorizo because no regrets!!!
Oh, and the sangria was bomb.

Pleasantly surprised! That’s how I would describe my experience at Bask. We were a group of 12 and had reservations at 5:30 in a Thursday night. There weren’t too many people dining at 5:30 but by the time we left which was around 7:30, the place was probably a third filled.
I was pleasantly surprised because with a group of 12, the service was quick and precise! Pleasantly surprised because they offered 50% off all bottles of wine during happy hour. Pleasantly surprised because the quality of the food was beyond my expectations.
We made the ordering easy and ordered 2 of everything so that everyone could sample a little of everything. We ordered the black tiger prawns. The prawns were grilled perfectly and were flavorful. I had my mind on the veal sweetbreads so that was my pick. Out of all the dishes, the sweetbreads were my least favorite. I was expecting the sweetbreads to be breaded and fried but they were sautéed. Not bad but not what I had in mind.
The meatballs were tasty. The baby eel was good too, the calamari was small and your standard fare. The crab croquettes were muy Bueno! The anchovies packed a lot of flavor. We ordered the stuffed peppers although I didn’t try them myself but my coworkers seemed to like them. The patatas bravas was prepared a little different than what I am used to and they weren’t spicy.
As for dessert, because we owe it to ourselves to at least look at the menu, we decided to order a few a split amongst the group. The Bask cake was pretty damn delicious and the churros, well how can you go wrong with churros with chocolate dipping sauce.
I recommend Bask. They’re good for groups, the ambiance casual, the service was quick. I would definitely be back! Kudos Bask!

A great little Spanish Basque restaurant. The food is good (details below) but what really made our dining experience a treat was our waitress. Unfortunately, I do not remember her name. She is a young French woman who deserves a 5++.
She was friendly, attentive (I ordered a dish for the kids and she double checked who it was for to make sure it was not too spicy) and overall had a warm and open vibe.
The food was good too with classic Spanish tapas with a slight Californian twist (think avocado and ceviche). The portion are much larger than the usual tapas and are a size of an appetizer. The sliders plate was enough for both of children and it came with 3 relatively big sliders and French fries. We also ordered patatss bravas, ceviche, fresee salad, halibut cheek and a berry and cream topped cake. Ceviche aside all the food was season perfectly with elements of salty, spicy, tangy and sweet. Ceviche was a bit of a miss but it might be because I am used to s very tangy ceviches which this one was not. The presentation almost compensated for it. Overall, a lovely place which I will be back to soon.

Tried Bask last week on a visit with friends for some dinner time tapas and a drink. I have to say that I really disliked the vibe of the place. I was really hoping for a more intimate setting but I felt like I was yelling across this big table to talk to my friends.
I think my opinion of this place went downhill immediately upon entering as we walked in and were asked how we could be helped — OBVIOUSLY– we wanted a table for 3. Then we were asked if we had a reservation… it was a Wednesday night and there were plenty of tables open, we said no. The hostess/​server seemed to think to herself about her options and then finally said, sure okay right this way.
I expressed how we weren’t sure of the size of the portions and started of with just 3 items. I understand what tapas are — but the server offered no suggestions on the food nor did she express that perhaps we didn’t order enough food.
I honestly don’t remember if she ever came back to check on us because we were too busy trying to figure out how to split the items we ordered in a way that wasn’t messy. I would have appreciated if the server would have expressed that some of the items we ordered were not friendly for sharing. Not only that, but our $ 15 cheese plate had exactly 3 slices of cheese (not sure what kind as we weren’t offered any description) and having worked at a cheese shop, I have to say these portions were ridiculous. I guess the thing that I disliked the most about this cheese plate was the lack of variety. If you’re only going to offer 3 cheeses, perhaps a semi-​soft and a bleue as well?
Finally, we thought we would get a dessert… our server was talking to the table next to us, for a solid 15 minutes. Some long story about her life. I don’t know if she was holding the table captive or if they were genuinely interested in her story… but by the time we finally got her attention we just wanted to leave.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand is being hungry WHILE in a restaurant, over-​priced apps and crap service to boot?
I can’t possibly recommend. Unless you are here on a date so crazy in love that nothing could bring you down, I suggest you skip this place.

We enjoyed our meal… Maybe Basque style isn’t my thing? There were a number of dishes that were good, but nothing wowed me. I think a big part of it was that we were excited for Fois Gras, but had never eaten it basically straight, they may have seared it… and cold at that.
They are on my re-​try list though!

Made a reservation for lunch today (Wednesday) at 11:45am. There was only one other table in the entire restaurant so we felt a little silly for making a reservation… but 20 min later the entire restaurant was full so the reservation was not a bad idea after all.
We ordered 4 tapas plates to share and everything was good but nothing really stood out too much. We ordered the Spanish Tortilla with Chorizo, Roasted Mushrooms, Patatas Bravas, & Mussels with Fries. I didn’t try the mussels because I don’t eat much seafood but my friends really enjoyed them.
I would love to come back and try one of the entrees or sandwiches!

There is a special place in my heart for Basque cuisine. It stems from a neighborhood staple on Broadway named Des Alpes, our family’s Thursday dinner spot for many years.
It was a family style atmosphere with a Thursday menu that included ox tail as a shared large plate and a choice of chicken and rice or roast lamb for individual main courses.
Fast forward thirty years, these type of restaurants save the Basque Cultural Center in SSF no longer exist. So, this was my choice for a post holiday weekday business lunch. The dining room was packed with several tables combined to make a large one for one work party. As a result, we were seated at one of three or four bar tables (high stools); fortunately, we were all guys and weren’t wearing dresses… that’d be a sight!
After a quick scan at the menu, I chose the crab sandwich (
), which came with a choice of soup (a cup of beef barley was my choice), salad, sauteed veggies, or fries for $ 13.00. Breaded on dutch crunch, the sandwich was filled with a creamy, rich crab spread; which flavor was a nice mix of tart and tangy. If you’re expecting something comparable to Nick’s in Pacifica, you’ll be disappointed. We also shared the veal sweetbreads (
) from the warm tapas section and French fries. Not being a big liver or offal fan, I had a few pieces of the sweetbreads and mainly placed the mushroom pieces atop the complimentary bread for munching.
In reading the dinner menu, there is a larger variety of menu choices, of which the paella caught my eye. Service was perfunctory and cordial. For those who grew up in the area, the location is best remembered as Clown Alley, all day and late night burger joint. It’s not quite the same cuisine that I remember from the old days, but I can get to like the modern version of Basque food. Hope to come in for dinner to try their paella.

The food was lack luster lacking in flavor and the service was atrocious on all fronts as though they were doing us a favor. So yeah my first review ever is to say, eat across the street from here and definitely skip this place.

Service was impersonal and slow, food was pretty good though! 3.5 stars if I could give it that.

The sangria here is dangerously amazing. Walking distance to concert venue Doc’s Lab, it’s easy to have a few cocktails before a show. Better for groups than individuals, tapas gets expensive as a solo. The meatballs were a little bland but I still love this place!

I’d give the place 3.5 stars. The food was decent, but the service was mixed. I had been seated for 35 minutes, albeit waiting for the rest of my party to arrive, but wasn’t asked or offered anything. Finally I had to grab a waitress on the 3^rd time she walked past me to even get a wine list and the 5^th time before I could order something only for her to forget. I finally had to ask another waiter for the exact same thing that he got right away. He did proceed to offer a free tapa and passion fruit liqueur for the table that somewhat made up for it, but it took a really long time to get our desserts after that. Looks like they’re just understaffed.
Recommended dishes:
–Roasted Brussel sprouts with cherry and almonds
–Goat cheese with honey and caramelized onion
–Pulpo was the best I’ve ever had (and I lived in Barcelona)
The paella royale & black paella were just OK. The paella royale had better flavor, but neither had the right consistency. I’m pretty sure I’ve made a better version, and that’s saying a lot.
The HH looks like it would be a good deal that I’d come back to try, but they shortened their Happy Hour to 4:30 — 6:30PM.

My first dinner at SanFran and my friend picked this tapas place for me. Loved this place inside out (except for one reason).
We ordered four small plates to share — the baby eel with garlic, squid cooked with its own ink (oh no!), shrimp skewer and its specialty ham (came with the flavored bread, yummy!) Haven’t had baby eel before so that turned out to be a real (and delicious) surprise!
The one reason that I mentioned above has something to do with our waitress. After we tipped and she showed us with comments about our nationality — her original words were: oh you guys must be Chinese. I’m not quite sure what she meant here, but I hope she would learn how to communicate without sounding like a discrimination.
Would not deduct any star here given the food quality was outstanding. But I do hope this kind of instance will not happen again.

This place is conveniently located next to where I work and went here for Happy Hour with my company.
We found seating at the back and unfortunately, the maximum seating of one table was 6 so we had to split up and have some sit on the bar.
Throughout the evening, I tried the mushroom croquette, calamari, meatballs, cheese, and Brussels sprouts. I would say that the calamari and the Brussels sprouts were the best. The calamari tasted amazing with the sauce that it came with. Sprinkle with lemon and it made it more flavorful. I liked the Brussels sprouts because it wasn’t bland at all.
For drinks, I had the Gewurtztraminer (white wine). I highly suggest this if you like sweet drinks and hate red wine.
I rated this as an average bar just because the customer service itself was average. It took a while for the server to come to us and replenish our food and drinks, however, they were friendly.

Food is tasty and environment is comfy to me. I love sitting here and spending time enjoy food, light music and relax. It’s not too crowd but not quiet either, a perfect spot in the city to hang out with friends.

TL;DR: $ 5 sangrias. Good tapas.
After trying Pícaro in the Mission the other week, I was convinced that no other tapas bar could top it. I walked into Bask a bit skeptical. We didn’t have reservations so the only spots that were open were at the bar. Keep that in mind the next time you try to go on a Friday night.
What initially attracted us was the $ 5 sangria happy hour. They were great! The original sangria was sweet and went down easy. You can also get their white sangria for $ 5 during happy hour, something that they don’t quite advertise. That one was good as well; it had a primarily pear/​pineapple flavor. They didn’t seem strong but we felt the alcohol after 2 of them!
I didn’t get tapas, but my friends did. They were average priced, around 9 – 11 dollars. I had a few bites and they were pretty good. The patatas bravas were tender and slightly spicy. The chicken croquetas were warm and crispy on the outside. It’s a shame they didn’t serve any bread with the tapas.
While not as good as Pícaro, this place is also worth trying out!

Hands down the best paella in sf plus the tempranillos are amazing… Dont forget to have jamon iberico, it is to die for

One of my favorites «spot» in SF!
The paella royale is to die for!
Other favorites:
Jamon iberico, mmmmm delicious!
Ask for pulpo a la gallega, patatas bravas, cheese plate… But in general everything is good here.

How I discovered this place is an interesting spur of the moment story. I checked my Unilocal app for restaurants in the area and the first two turned out to be closed for private events. As I walked down Columbus I noticed this restaurant and said «Tapas!» out loud while reading through the menu. A man walked past me and asked «Topless?»
After a 30 minute wait, a table was available in the fully packed restaurant. I decided to try a red wine: Tempranillo | Campo Viejo Reserva | Rioja | Basque 2009, which was aromatic, slightly spicy and balanced. I decided on two tapas plates, warm and sautéed.
Stuffed Peppers: whole piquillo peppers stuffed with mashed potatoes and fresh cod, which was comfort food and delicious. Pulpit a la Gallega: Traditional Spanish style octopus and potato, paprika & espellette pepper was smooth and subtle to the taste.
Being an adventurous foodie, I am glad I ventured forth spontaneously and tried Basque cuisine.

Located right near the Transamerica tower, Bask is a Spanish-​French tapas place in the heart of the Financial District. The food was great! We had a couple of appetizers – the heirloom tomatoes and the crab croquettes. Both were excellent! The tomatoes were lovely and ripe, and the croquettes were super delicious – crunchy and crabby. We also had the salmon (they were out of the steak mid-​evening on a Wednesday), and that dish was excellent, too – a huge slab of salmon, perfectly cooked. They were even able to substitute a veggie for us, since they were out of asparagus.
So the food was awesome but the service was kind of wonky. First, we had to wait at least 15 minutes for our reservation, then once we were seated, we didn’t get water or bread or a server coming over to say hi for a while. It was a bit awkward. There were also long gaps in service throughout the evening, especially when trying to get the check. Maybe it’s the European style? At any rate, it did affect our evening, but the delicious food made up for it (mostly). I wouldn’t go here if I were in any kind of rush.

Loved it here! The prices were affordable, and the food was amazing. I found the place in a list that suggested that they were participating in a free corkage promotion, but that wasn’t the case. However, it seems that this was the fault of the list maintainer, not Bask.
Baby eel was a pleasant surprise of the things we ordered. Who knew?

Tapas are my favorite food and I was super excited to try this place as I drive past it daily on my way to work. Our group had the iberico, croquettes, baby eel, and seafood paella. I had never had baby eel before but was so pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it! Everything else was outstanding and I would love to go back to try their sangria + red wine selection. Note: there is one bathroom for the entire restaurant so there tends to be a wait during peak hours.

Super équipe et l ensemble des plats est excellent. Nous retrouvons les recettes du pays basque. A faire a tout prix!

Having lunch at Bask was one of my first forays into the North Beach area, and the first impression left me wanting to come back to the area for more!
While everyone else ordered a rib-​eye steak, I went for the The Bask Burger ($ 15), which consisted of a beef (most likely grass-​fed) and lamb patty on Serrano ham, Montego cheese that was aged for a year, lettuce and tomatoes. It also came with a side of wide sized garlic fries.
Overall, I was quite satisfied with my order! The medium-​rare beef/​lamb patty was cooked to my liking, and was delicious. The ham and cheese, while unexpected additions to the burger, complimented the patty with a nice smoky, mozzarella cheesy flavor. The fries were evenly crispy and had enough garlic flavoring without overwhelming the fries themselves and leaving a bad taste in your mouth afterwards that will earn the ire of all the people you come into contact with afterwards.
This is yet another nice date spot, especially for dinner, as the interior of the place seems like it is better suited for night time. Very satisfied with not only my first foray into North Beach eats, but to the Basque cuisine (more or less) in general.

I had the most wonderful dining experience here! Prepare to be amazed by the service, the food, the drinks and the atmosphere. Bask is the friendliest and most welcoming restaurant in San Francisco. It feels like you’re stopping by a friend’s house for dinner.
We were ushered in by the nicest host and sat at a quaint table where we proceeded to order more than enough food. Our dinner started off with of course, the Iberico ham (which comes with a plate of tomato bread) and a complimentary basket of bread. The heirloom tomatoes came shortly after and we made the most perfect open face sandwiches by ourselves with the bread + manchego & heirloom + iberico ham.
And if that wasn’t enough already, we got great sangria and kalimotxo. Finally, a sangria that reminds me of Spain! The kalimotxo was a mix of I think wine and coke.
By the time we finished our calamari as the last appetizer, we were stuffed. Our entrees were the ribeye with homemade foie gras torchon + bone marrow and the paella royale. Both splendid! But it was impossible to finish so sadly no dessert for me.
After getting the check, each table received a shot of restaurant-​made pineapple wine to wrap up the meal. That was a cute addition and left a great impression.
MUST GET:
— Iberico ham
— Heirloom
— Sangria
— Paella
I’ll be coming back! This is the perfect place to get tapas, wine, cheese, and chat the night away.

A friend and I met up for an early dinner on a weekday. We made a reservation but it totally wasn’t necessary. Given the location I think this would be a nice spot for an after-​work happy hour. The tapas are also the perfect size to snack on during HH.
We ordered:
— Heirloom tomatoes: I’m not a tomato person by any means but these were delicious. Beautiful presentation and the tomatoes were fresh and sweet.
— Chicken skewers: I liked the chicken and veggie skewers but my friend thought they were a bit dry. She asked for hot sauce but I don’t think they had any (?).
— Brussel sprouts: You can’t go wrong with brussel sprouts smothered in bacon and cheese. :)
— Angulas (baby eels): This dish was our attempt to be adventurous with our meal but I don’t think I’ll be ordering again. They were ok, but I learned that I prefer eel in sushi over garlic sauce.
Overall the food was pretty good but service was quite slow considering it wasn’t even a full house! We ended up walking up to the register to pay for our meal after failing to get the waiter’s attention several times.

Delicious food. Highly recommend. Definitely order the paella — not a lot of «filler»…small portion but all good stuff.

Tapas place on Columbus in FiDi. Strange interior with all sorts of random stuff inside.
Meatballs — ²⁄₅ — Couldn’t really taste the lamb.
Prawns in garlic sauce — ³⁄₅
Crab croquettes — ⁴⁄₅ — Very good. Order again.
Chorizo — ²⁄₅ — Overcooked, too dry.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Bask despite not usually liking tapas. «A-​OK.»

Came here for a lunch and was not disappointed. The restaurant looked nice inside and appears well kept. I had never had a mixed meat burger like the Bask burger before but it was awesome. The food comes out timely and is hot and fresh when it hits your table.
Definitely stop by for a try, well worth the trip.

A découvrir absolument !
Ce petit coin du sud ouest en plein cœur de San Francisco offre :
Des tapas succulents .
De bons vins .
De bons plats .
Un accueil chaleureux .
Le seul hic, les chaises devraient être recouverts de coussins pour être plus confortables !