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Wonderful dining experience
Posted by Lindsey123 on 10/27/2009
wonderful restaurant with amazing flavor in a beautiful location. I have travelled all over spain and their receipes are bang on authentic. I will be back soon when i dont have to rush out to make a movie at the metro next door
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AMAAAAZING!!!!
Posted by ACMilan21 on 10/05/2009
The atomosphere is great, the food is amazing and the Owner is so lovely. He pays special attention to all of his guests. He'll also sing and bring a birthday guest dessert. A must try for everyone who loves culture!
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Terrible service, mediocre food
Posted by seattlejuan on 02/13/2009
The service was horrible and the food was kind of sad if you are expecting more than what a mid-western housewife would serve as a 'hot-dish'. My wife and I ordered $50 worth of tapas and were impressed by none. The only one that was 'tasty' was the fried goat cheese, but come on, how can fried goat cheese not be tasty? The server raved about the oxtail and it was no different than a crockpot potroast. There were no unique spices or anything that suggested spanish cuisine. The service was the worst and actually somewhat offensive. We were seated and got no water or server for quite awhile. The server never asked my wife if she wanted a second drink. On the menu it described tapas as dishes that came out quickly. Well, it took 20 minutes for our first one to arive and another 5 minutes for numbers 2 and 3. The rest arrived a few minutes after that. I hope that this was an abnormality or that they were understaffed, but they did not make any excuse or explanation as to why the service was so bad. If the food was spectacular, I would totally excuse the bad service, but it was not. Complete. Waste. Of. Time.
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What a scary place
Posted by 7667 on 08/04/2008
Do yourself a favor. Avoid this place at all costs!
While the food is you typical tappas food (which has been the saltyiest I've tasted in Seattle) the wait staff doessn't really give you that feel you should be getting with these prices.
When the owner came over to our table my husband noticed he was very drunk. Later into the night we watched him get into unprofessional arguments with his staff in such a way it became hard to enjoy what little food by then had arrived to our wobbly little table. It is a pretty restaurant to be in and might be more enjoyable if the owner acted more professional. The food was not as impressive as some of the other tapas in this city for sure.
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Provided by Citysearch
Authentic Spanish Cuisine
Posted by itsthemirrors on 07/25/2008
I've not been to the Basque region of Spain but I have lived in Andalucia for three years and so I was excited to try out this Spanish restaurant last night. I was not let down. My girlfriend and I ordered a bottle of the house tempranillo, Torres, which was fantastic for $28. A slew of tapas ensued including the Chorizo al Jerez, Tortilla Espa?ola, Chuletas, Champi?ones, Patatas Bravas, and a couple of ensaladas. Everything tasted authentic and reminded me of being in Spain. The actual entrees on the menu were quite limited so I would recommend visiting and ordering several of the tapas as they were each very generous in size. I found them to be much (about twice) as large as tapas in Spain and would therefore be akin to ordering "raciones" on the Iberian peninsula. On a side note, the service was outstanding and there was a live band that rather enhanced the already impressive ambience (this was on a Friday evening). Two things I would love to see as improvements would be to offer Fino and Oloroso as sherry choices and perhaps to add an ensalada with tuna, corn, and sea salt, the ensalada staple of Andalucia (I know, I know, its supposed to be Basque but that would be an amazing addition for me).
Finally, I noticed that another reviewer named "diamondbride" blasted this restaurant with a one-star review tattered with poor grammar and misspellings. When pulling up diamondbride's review history, one notes that this individual has given Macaroni Grill a 5-star review. If that doesn't dismiss the credibility of this philistine's 1-star review for Bilbao, I don't know what does. People who adore the kitschiness of American chains are doing a disservice to cuisine in this country. As Americans, we should go out and support fantastic independent restaurants like Bilbao.
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Great afternoon getaway
Posted by suburbaner on 05/16/2008
My wife and I hopped in shortly after the lunch hour on a Saturday. Our experience was fantastic. The restaurant was almost completely empty so I'm not surprised the service was as good at it was, but I was impressed that we were not overwhelmed with visits.
We ordered 4 dishes and each was good to great. The bread they served was fresh and the olive oil very fruity and delicious. We the best of the dishes for me was the braised ox-tail which was perfectly seasoned and meaty, while my wife enjoyed the shrimp in a roasted garlic and chili-oil sauce. We both enjoyed a dish of toasted bread with three different spreads, while the potato dish was plentiful and and good.
We will make this a stop on our frequent visits to Seattle and I look forward to having dinner there with a group of friends.
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Fantastic Wine, Food & Service
Posted by bigmedicine on 04/14/2008
I have been several time for a pre-movie drinks, and 3 other times for dinner. Each time the staff, atmosphere, wine and food have been excellent. The music on weekends sets just the right tone as well.
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Provided by Citysearch
WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!
Posted by diamondbride on 01/20/2008
My husband and I went to this restaurant two days ago. And I have never been so insulted in all my life. We went in and first the man who was our waiter wouldn't even listen when it came to what drinks we wanted. Once he figured out we didnt want alcohol that night, he barely paid attention to our food orders and ended up bringing out the wrong thing. I'd ordered the Lamb Shanks dinner, and I got two small things that couldn't have been more than an appetizer. He never checked on us till we were getting ready to go. The owner who I saw walking around to every other table, laughing and being amiable flat out ignored our table the moment he saw that we weren't happy. Now granted we only got charged for the Lamb appetizer but thats not what I ordered. The sauce for on top of the ox tail was nothing more than a thick gravy from a packet that my mother used to make and I'd had not a week ago at her house. Same flavor and everything. 50 cents at the grocery store. On top of that they never even bothered to come back and refill my coffee cup though they were sure to run around and refill the wine glasses. I understand its a tapas restaurant, but that shouldn't mean you give crappy service. I will NEVER be back and given how much i go to the theatre thats alot. To top it off, I walked outside and slipped off their curb. When I looked behind me as I was getting up and through the window two servers were pointing and laughing at me as I got up. Not so much as an attempt to go out and help or anything. I will never be back to that place again I dont care what the occassion is. I'd get better customer service at Denny's.
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Excellent atmosphere, awesome food, great service. Romantic.
Posted by soleu on 01/06/2008
As a basque decendent that has been living in the United States for a few years, I was impressed by the qualtiy of food and extremely friendly service. In this restaurant, the owner (who is basque, that is where the name "Bilbao" comes from) visits the tables at least 2-3 times to check that everything was OK.
The tapas are fabulous with the interesting flavours that remind me of Madrid's tascas. My husband and I just loved the chorizo al jerez, queso frito (fried cheese with pine nuts and glazed onions, which doesn't sound very appealing....but was a tasteful surprise), great empanadas filled with cheese (very flaky). About desserts, we tried the crema catalana, which is a desert to die for, if you like lemon. It's a very rich cream, with a flambed thick sugar coating on top. Something similar to Creme Brule, but with another taste.
The first time that we went, we order 4 tapas, a pitcher of Sangria and a dessert. The price for the tapas ranged between 6-8 dollars each (better prices than many of the other tapas places that I have visited). The most expensive item of our order was the pitcher of Sangria (which was also excelent), which was 20. Our total meal was $60, including tax.
Great multi-level atmosphere. Very typical spanish table settings for fine dining, which includes table cloths, napkins made of cloths, several wine glasses and, of course, plenty of olive oil to have with you bread.
We have to apologize for a mess that my husband did at our table: He accidently knocked out the olive oil container, leaving a very big olive oil stain in our perfeclty mint table (oh, oh). They were nice enough not to say anything to us. It was embarrassing, so we left a big tip...
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Why the Basque name?
Posted by dlach on 11/25/2007
I haven't been yet - but from everything I've heard its a Spanish restaurant (Flamenco, paella, etc.) - so why did they name it Bilbao? If you want Basque food, go to the Harvest Vine.
