Baso

We had a lovely time at Baso for drinks and appetizers. The restaurant is very pretty, and the food and service were great.We enjoyed the bread service and bluefin tuna with rice appetizers--I'd highly recommend both dishes. The tuna had a nice and spicy kick to it! One tip--the restaurant was a little hard to find, as the signage isn't super obvious. Just note that it's right next door to the Reata Celllars wine bar.

When I think of writing a true 5-star review, this place truly deserves 5 stars without a doubt. We celebrated my husband's birthday dinner here and it was a delightful experience overall. Milton, our server, was very attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable about the entire menu ensuring that our dinner turned out to be more of an intimate experience versus just plain ol' dinner. We're fairly new when it comes to Basque cuisine, and we both enjoyed how easy everything was to understand after Milton broke down the menu to us.We tried the following:1. Potato: twice fried potatoes atop a cheesy sauce - loved the texture and cheesiness!2. Cabbage: the lamb bacon and salted creme fraiche paired with the charred cabbage was such a treat!3. Shrimp: 6 pieces of shrimp with Calabrian chili was very flavorful!4. Ribeye: 13oz of perfectly cooked steak on top of the most luxurious burnt onion au jus5. Arashiyama Midori cocktail: fruity, fun, and bubbly6. Basque Cheesecake: the literal star of the show! I wanted to take one for myself to go.In case anyone's asking, I will absolutely accept anyone's invite to return to Baso!

We had an amazing time at Baso. Staff was top-notch, dishes were inventive, and the space has a stripped-down elegance that allows you to focus on the craftmanship of the dishes being served. We came as a party of 4 and enjoyed the sharing-plates approach. You absolutely must get the Bread Service (could have easily eaten 3x as many rolls as came on the board, they were that good). Other high points from our experience included the potato, cabbage, maitake, and ribeye (we also ordered the vermilion fish, but fish isn't really my thing although the rest of the table loved it). Of course when it came to dessert we figured 'why choose' and ordered all 3 they had on offer at the time - my favorite was the tarta de queso. You kind of have to look hard to find this spot, but once you do it is well worth it (non-obvious signage makes it feel all the more special)! Parking - street

I'd round up to 3.5 stars. We arrived on time for our 730 pm resy, only to be told that our table still had guests dining. We were told to wait at the bar. I proceeded to ask how long the wait would be since it sounds like other yelpers had this issue too. They kept saying oh it will be quick since they're on dessert. Nope, apparently the table was just hanging out so they put us in a corner table meant for 3 people or less. We waited about 15 min for this corner table. I sat at a chair that they pulled up in the corner and every waiter who walked by ran into or kicked my chair so that was a really annoying part of the meal. Overall, I thought the food was ok. Pricey for what you get. We got the oysters, bluefin tuna, quail, ribeye steak, cabbage, and both the desserts. The oysters and tuna were good. The quail had an interesting seasoning on it. Didn't love it but didn't hate it. The steak was the star of the show. Super tender but also lots of fat so beware. We only ordered the cabbage cause the waiter said we needed a veggie.....only for it to come out covered in bacon LOL so yeah so much for a "veggie". The basque cheesecake was the better dessert. The "pandan" tres leches tasted nothing like pandan and we joked that it tasted more like the milk from fruity pebbles cereal. Honestly I was disappointed cause the meal wasn't cheap.

This food was absolutely amazing, probably one of my favorites in Houston. The food flavors were all unique and exquisite while the cocktails were well balanced.We started out with the bluefin tuna for an appetizer and that was incredible! It had a hash brown potato that the tuna was on top of and it complimented each other very well. I would definitely recommend getting this dish!We also had the venison which was great too! My only complain was that the bread was too hard (it was intentional) but that is a personal preference. The venison had wonderful flavors when eaten alone. We had the martini and robot raff which were so smooth. The martini was the best I've ever had, it was very smooth and did not taste like straight up booze. The robot raff was well balanced also. Next we had was the pork chop coupled with potatoes. These dishes were incredible. The potatoes were spicy and lacked salt which the pork chop had. The flavors were all so settling, I loved these dishes. We will definitely be back!!

Aside from a minor Ventilation issue, this was probably the most elegant and sophisticated meal of 2024. We started off with a neat cocktail and wine made from grapes salvaged from the fires of Napa (accompanied by the sweet music of the 90s). Next, our waitstaff member explained the menu to us and how it looks, allows for allergy substitutes (for some but not all allergies), and the suggestion of how to "course-it" for an enjoyable meal experience. Without much pause, we ordered PEI raw oysters and they came with interesting accoutrements. We are not fans of accoutrements on raw oysters, because oysters from different parts of the world have their own identity in taste but this was different: pepper cocktail sauce and dashi vinegar. Surprisingly, this didn't take away from the oyster experience! Then, we opted for the Caviar service from Siberia (sturgeon) and it was an interestingly accompanied by stropwaffel with Baso caramel. I thought that it was a neat twist, but it took away from the taste of the caviar, but WOW the amount of caviar for this price is nearly impossible! Switching to land raised food, we went for the Venison tartare that came on an egg yolk base and some scrumptious toast. Probably some of the best tartare I've had this year. Since I have an allergy to pork products and food, I was thrilled to see lamb bacon mixed with cabbage! This was both delicious and filling, but we packed half it up to eat later- more food was on its way!As marketed, the belle of Ball was the crab mixed with rice, shredded, and served in a delicate crab shell with a hollandaise sauce foam. This was my least favorite, because tasted more hollandaise than crab or rice. The presentation, however, was top notch. Alas, we didn't have any stomach space for dessert and only one option for offered: house made cheesecake. I'm sure it would have been beautiful but my stomach convinced me to decline. We hope to be back, especially if the menu has new items. What a great addition to the Food Scene in Houston!

Every dish was great, from the bread service to the ribeye. Typically don't order steak at a non-steakhouse... This one was incredible.

Everything about our visit to Baso was on point. At 6 PM on a Saturday parking was available in their lot which was nice. We booked our seats at the kitchen counter which runs most of the length of the restaurant. They've done a great job of putting the kitchen front and center with a great view of the action going on. Watching the flow of the kitchen makes a meal more interesting in my opinion. We had stopped at Eight Row Flint for a cocktail before dinner, so opted for a bottle of wine at Baso. Our server directed us to a nice, reasonably priced French Sauvignon Blanc that went very well with our menu selections. Service throughout the meal was attentive but not overbearing. We started with the excellent bread service that is sometimes Sourdough, but on this night was "Baso Buns" with manchego cheese butter. Addictively good, especially when you are hungry at the beginning of a meal. For starters we enjoyed the grilled oysters and the scallop and bluefin plates from the raw section of the menu. I like how you can order the oysters by the "each" - we chose 3 and they were excellent. Just cooked through with a very tasty green garlic sauce. The bluefin Tuna over crispy rice might have been my favorite bite of the night. very flavorful, and the crispy rice gave that nice texture to accompany the tartare. The scallop dish was also very good, but interesting. I didn't know if I would like the iberico lardo that was prevalent on the dish, but it added a little smoky flavor and didn't take away from the scallop taste. We then had the "Lettuce" salad. It certainly was a large pile of lettuce. For $18 this could have easily fed a party of 4. It was dressed perfectly so that the dressing didn't overpower the 5 different lettuces on the dish. We liked this dish a lot, but could not finish it. For our entrée we selected the butterflied whole snapper. Normally we don't order whole fish so we don't have to deal with the bones, but this was butchered well and we dealt with very little bones. The fish was flavorful and the anchovy sauce provided a nice acidic punch. For dessert we had the signature Basque cheesecake. Excellent end to the meal. Thanks to Jorge for excellent service and to the entire staff for an excellent and entertaining meal. We will return to try out some of the more meat forward dishes. One interesting thing to note is that the steaks are priced by the ounce. I assume this means if you can order smaller cuts.

This is definitely a unique restaurant in Houston! We had no trouble getting reservations for 4 the same day. Vibe is classy, but low-key at the same time. It's fun to see the cooking over the open fire. Our group was pescatarian, and the menu is actually quite small, so we essentially ordered every dish that we could eat. We wished there were a few more options for us to pick from. Dining is family style.Our favorites were definitely the bluefin and oysters! Shrimp, vermillion, scallop, o-toro were also good. Potatoes were pretty standard. Cabbage (sans lamb bacon) was pretty meh.

Very interesting place. Yes, expensive and full of flavors. Cool place and enjoyable atmosphere. Bread/Baso buns with manchega butter - so good, glad they only serve 4 rolls in the order. Bluefin was good. Shrimp, yes you can and really have to eat shell since the meat doesn't separate from the shell. These would have been better if these were meatier/jumbo sized shrimps.Lettuce was ok - too bitter for me but others didn't mind. Beets were so delicious- might have been favorite from the night.16oz ribeye - salty and was an ok piece of meat - I like em thicker but was still good.Dessert was the cheesecake- light and not overly sweet. We enjoyed.Unique place with tasty flavors.