Aatxe

Visiting San Francisco and friends recommended we try out this gin bar. My husband is a huge gin and tonic type of guy so it sounded perfect on so many levels.
The space is pretty intimate — they sat our party of 7 at a communal bar — spacious enough for us to sit comfortable, close enough we felt like we were at a friends house having some drinks.
By far, what made our experience so excellent was the amazing service. Our waitress Lauren was simply amazing — had solid recommendations, super polite and accommodated all requests we had. It was super phenomenal service all around, the kind that makes you keep wanting to come back.
The gin and tonics themselves were wonderful — the descriptions and flavor profiles describe by the «gin color wheel» were on point and the tonics they offered to pair with were all different and tasty — you will definitely find something that appeals to any pallet here.
Lastly — food. We ordered some small plates. The tapas are done well — by far the octopus stands out vividly — super delicious and highly recommended. E

Overall great dinner. My boyfriend & I went for my bday dinner– the bartenders are very nice and welcoming when you first get in. we chose to sit at the food bar (watch first hand everything that is coming out; would recco this if you are a foodie) They have a great (almost overwhelming) gin and tonic selection, brought me right back to spain.
prices are reasonable — we got the pinxtos flight ((recco)) One of the best Oysters I’ve ever tasted (got 2 more). Not a fan of the lardo, or any of the charcuterie ((very fatty and almost tastes like vasaline)). but the pâté is amazing — Spanish fried rice was great and the octopus didnt disappoint. try this place out

Apparently the head chefs are friends who spent a couple months in Spain studying the art of tapas. I personally think they should have spent more time there.
The food was good but I was hoping for a more traditional tapas restaurant. I guess I just miss Spain. I miss when you walk into a hole in the wall in Madrid and its smoky, crowded and full of delicious unpretentious food. You order amazing little plates of food and its just enough.
Came for restaurant week (menu in my pics). They offered their «best of» in the $ 65 prixe fixe and the standouts for me were the dessert for sure but really liked the banh mi and croquetas most. Had the Mali cocktail which was sweet yet sour. Great wine list as well.
Located on market street next to café du nord. When we arrived, there was a nasty fight between a homeless couple and about 4 cop cars blocking the street in front of the restaurant and cops pinning a guy down. But hey that’s a typical SF evening, I suppose.

Another relatively new restaurant on the block, and apparently it’s related to Café Du Nord next door. I came here with Nina Y the week before SF Restaurant Week started, and we had a blast! We were seated at a barstool area in the back next to the kitchen and facing a mirror which was kinda weird but endearing. Who isn’t a little narcissistic?
We started our meal with glasses of red wine (obviously) and the Pintxo Flight. The Pintxo Flight comes with one of each Pintxo listed on the menu, but it was perfect to be shared between two people who just want a little taste of everything. The waitress recommended that we add one more oyster since it only comes with one, and that’s difficult to share.
We ordered the Gambas al Ajillo next, which is shrimp, garlic, and nora chili. The waitress brought us bread so we could use the nora chili oil as dipping sauce. This was fairly tasty, though our final small plate was my favorite… the Spanish Fried Rice. The rice has chorizo, tortilla espanola, cuttlefish, and bonito. This is definitely going to be on multiple «must-​try» food lists in 2016. The texture and combination of flavors blew me away. Would recommend!
Overall great culinary experience. Pretty pricey, but the tapas seem more sophisticated than other places, so if you’re looking for a fancier Spanish experience, give Aatxe a try!

dinner at aatxe was pretty freaking awesome. brought me back to spain! nomsies.
2 of my girlfriends visited on day 1 of restaurant week. huge menu for $ 65 — a steal, i thought. we got so much food, starting with pintxos — fried puff of cod, calamari on toast, the quail egg, and sardine with olive. good selection! next was the mussels and clam escabeche — good flavors, but i thought the seafood was a bit too grainy and chewy. on to the hamachi crudo! YUM — perfect mixture of textures and flavors — crunchy and bright radish contrasted the hamachi nicely. im not typically a fan of tortilla espanola, but gf’s liked it. next up — fried chicken montadino! this was pretty good, but a bit too much sauce. the trumpet mushrooms with potatoes and sauce, and the jamon croquettes, were also delicious bites! mushrooms had so much flavor and croquettes a good texture — as they sometimes get soggy and no bueno. last savory item was the chicken albondigas. by this time we were pretty effing full, but i finished ALL of them. spicy and saucy paired with chickpeas Mmmmmm… i didnt have any of the dessert, but gf’s devoured my portion too :)
drinks were delicious as well! i had the mari cocktail, and gf’s tried a variety of their MASSIVE selection of gin & tonics. so fun! wine was good too — i had the tempranillo. it was a bit young but pairs nicely with food. WILL COME BACK TO THIS SPOT.

It was fun celebrating a bday here couple weeks ago. Location is awesome but it took a few min to find the door/​entrance. Discreet, not a big deal!
Hostess was nice and led me to our party of ten, table in the back, next to the hall that leads you to the restroom. Across our long table is the other side of the restaurant and an open kitchen/​large stone stove. Which is cool cuz you can see the chefs in action but, it’s a bit warm/​borderline hot especially if you are having cocktails. I am not keen on gin so I stuck with two glasses of white. Tapa style so you can share portions with your guests but since we had a party of 10, we had to order the chef’s choice tasting menu. The clam dip and the last course (kind of paella) stood out the most, everything else was just ok for me. A bit on the oilier side. Our waitresses were nice and quick to serve. Cozy ambience with low lighting which I dig. Bill was about $ 135pp. Not sure if I’ll be back anytime soon.

High hopes, just alright.
People have been talking this place up, but i was not crazy impressed. They have a lot of small dishes which are easy to share, but the meal definitely adds up. I’d recommend more for an adventurous eater, because it’s pretty creative, and we definitely got dishes that didn’t seem to be quite how they were described. They have great service and a good selection of drinks.
Atmosphere-​wise, I’d say it’s a little better for friends than dates.

A++
the drinks: holy shit what a selection of gin and tonic! not my thing but husband was in seventh heaven. the sherry selection and recommendations were spot on and delicious with all the yummy nummy tapas.
the eats: i was with the herbivores but we were still pleased with the selection of small bites. the mushroom croquetas were sinfully good, and the quail egg pintxos, yum! the green olive flatbread was also delicious. perfect place to grab drinks and nosh a little.
the soundtrack: 90s rap, what what! husband was thrilled with the tupac to not tupac ratio — which was something like 5 to 1.

Ahhhtey? Hmmm, not sure how to say the name of this place as I forgot to ask, but it is a good solid one. We sat at the chef’s counter, and this was somewhat of an experience. I imagined it would be sort of a show of what they do behind the counter, a bit more of a grandiose demonstration of their food prep, but the chefs sort of did their thing turning out tapas after tapas after tapas all evening — perhaps they are just too busy. It was a good experience, but I think I will ask for a regular table next time. Although! We would not have seen the anchovy tapa that they don’t yet have on the menu but had plated at the counter, so that was a definite plus being there in front.
I love how they printed out their music playlist (RUN-​DMC, Jay-​Z, Outkast) for the evening! Be careful ordering all those tapas as they do add up quickly, especially if you add a sherry and couple glasses of cava!
I wanted everything seafood. We got pintxos — I got the salt cod bunuelo (crispy fried, I wanted a little more flavor though, no picture, was too hungry and excited). We then got the clam escabeche verde — this came in a glass container that you spoon out (very tasty, acidic just right to complement a sherry, nice, I would get this again). I had to get the Quimet and Quimet salmon, yogurt and truffle honey montadito (open-​faced sandwich/​tapa) as I’ve been to Quimet y Quimet in Barcelona where I had this very same tapa (my favorite tapas place in the world and this was one of my favorite tapa there). Aaxte’s version is very good, very California, SF style with super fresh ingredients — they did everything right, but it’s missing that Mediterranean, deep, salty flavor of the salmon, which can’t be replicated without having the salmon sent straight from Spain or the area — but why would they do that when the salmon here is so light and super fresh. It’s good, given our ingredients, and I would get it again.
Then, we got the squid and blood sausage (flavors go well together, get this one). My wallet can’t handle the jamon Iberico right now, so we got the cured lomo and olives (love the balance of the meat and olives, nicely presented, I wanted to eat all of it). We got the octopus (light, fresh, good balance for the heavier tapas). I couldn’t resist the fino steamed mussels in tomato broth and bits of chorizo (get this for sure, love all that flavor from the mussels and the broth, note though that there could be less butter on the accompanying piece of bread as it was drenched, I could not eat it all).
Towards the end of our meal, I spied the aforementioned anchovy dish at the counter and immediately flagged our guy for it. Those anchovies in Barcelona were tops so I had to try it here! Light, fresh, nicely balanced with the olives and olive oil — it’s still missing that deep, Mediterranean saltiness, but I will take SF/​CAs freshness. Get this too if you can!
Overall, we had a great meal! The total $ was a bit more than I anticipated on my budget, but as first-​timers here, we needed to try everything — it just added up and that’s all right (plus the one sherry and two glasses of cava, you know). Service was knowledgeable, patient and good to us. Thank you — I will be back! This place was hopping, even on a Wednesday night!
Please note above that in my opinion, the counter presentation could be a bit jazzed up and please hold the butter by at least half on that bread. ;)

I really really REALLY want to give this restaurant 5 stars. But something is wrong (maybe I am just too old) with listening to the word ni**er when I am eating delicious tapas and drinking wonderful cocktails.
Seriously, what is up with the rap music up so loud we couldn’t hear each other speak? Such a pity because the service was exceptional, the food amazing, lighting, location… spot on!
Music sucked. Clearly not being played for the patrons.
Change it and I will be definitely be back.

It’s kinda funny because if you read the reviews for Aatxe — I mean really read through them — they are truly ALL over the map. Some people swear by the authenticity of the food, others trash the food. A few reviewers give props to the service, while other people say a lot of not-​so-​nice-​things about the wait staff.
So take my review for what you will.
But on this day — September 7, 2015 — Aatxe treated my mother and I to quite a nice dinner.
I must begin with the music. Obviously not everyone is going to be on the same page about the music, but it is a well-​known fact that the old-​school rap group known as A Tribe Called Quest is one of my all time favorites. And what’s more, having The Tribe mixed with some De La Soul, Biggie, Common, The Roots, N.W.A and the one and only Illmatic all on one night? Yessir.
Foodwise, there was also plenty to like. Here’s an overview of our order:
Patatas Bravas ($ 7) — Despite the so-​so reviews the patatas bravas had received from other diners here, we opted to go with them anyway because of the great experiences we’ve had with this dish in Spain. The gripe by many other was that they were swimming in sauce. And while I can’t say they weren’t a little on the saucy-​side, they were also delicious, so we can put that one to bed.
Pintxo Flight ($ 15.50) — Do it. All Five. Go.
Spanish Fried Rice ($ 18) — A Basque food experience wouldn’t be complete without a little salted cod action. Good-​but-​not great, but still worth it to me though.
Surprisingly, the service was excellent as well. There was one woman that served us who, while not even being our «official» waitress, absolutely blew me away. Hand picked several different wine flights for my mom — on her birthday no less — and hit on almost every one of them. And that is for someone who is notoriously impossible to please. Highly impressed.
All in all: Perhaps not worth the price, but still a unique and memorable experience.

Came here with a friend last night and we had reservations for 5:30pm. We stood outside for a few minutes before the place opened exactly at 5:30. The restaurant is small and quaint. It felt very cozy, but space was definitely limited and people were crowded in the bar area/​area to check in.
We ordered: Spanish fried rice, patatas bravas, black trumpet croquetas, trumpet mushrooms a la plancha, and smoked quail egg and mushroom pintxo. The spanish fried rice was my favorite dish. It was hands down amazing and delicious. It had chorizo and cuttlefish among other things/​flavors. Everything else was well done, tasty and flavorful, and presented well. Be aware that the pintxos are very small!
Service was pretty good. Nothing above and beyond. Our server was friendly enough, and service speed wasn’t exceptional, but decent. He gave good wine recommendations based on the plates we ordered.
They didn’t have a physical dessert menu, so the waiter recited it to us. There was only a flan and a rice pudding. (So we ordered the pintxos)
The quality of food was good, but portions were on the smaller side and still pretty pricey.

I’m proud you’ve come so far as to read my review of Aatxe, one of the best hidden tapas gems in SF we found in 2015. You may wish to stop now and go devour the following dishes prior anyway, but should you proceed reading, here is what we ordered:
–Conserva Flight (Clam Escabeche Verde + Smoked Tuna Confit + Mussel Escabeche)
–Jamón Ibérico de Bellota
–Salt Cod Buñuelos
–Pork Bocadillo
–Mushroom Coquetta
–Spanish Fried Rice w/​Chorizo
–Pedro Romero (Cocktail)
–Son of Mari (Cocktail)
Holy moly, your taste buds may go flying off the wall if they are not anchored down here somehow — every single item we tried was fantastic! As if there was a standout, I absolutely must recommend the Mussel Escabeche from the fully gratifying Conserva Flight, as well as the Spanish Fried Rice sizzling dish, much like an original spin on okonomiyaki!
Slow and savory seemed to be how we defined consuming each successive dish, as if a climax would eventually be reached by our final bite. In the background, such musical tracks as «To Zion» and «That Thing» by the Great Lauryn Hill emphasized the jive romantic vibe of the hour.
Great service and obviously great menu selections here. We were alive that night at Aatxe. Hope you get such an experience.

I like my food the same way I like my men — a little taste of this and a little taste of that. Aatxe provides the perfect setting for food commitment-​phobes. My smörgåsbord of a meal included:
— Conserva flight (the clam was my favorite out of the three)
— Olive bread to complement the conserva
— A couple of pintxos
— Octopus (minus the pork)
— Trumpet mushrooms a la plancha
— Olive oil cake
Everything tasted phenomenal. My only gripe is we were not offered any complimentary bread to go with the conserva (I saw some at our neighboring table), which meant we had to order TWO olive breads to sop up the generously portioned trio. And if you’re the sort of person who cares deeply about restaurant music, then you might find it helpful to know that they played A Tribe Called Quest non-​stop during my visit.

Don’t listen to anyone whose main gripe here is with the service… sure, it’s a bit odd, but it ended up working just fine. A server introduces him/​herself, but then mostly other people take care of you the rest of the evening. I’m sure there’s a very good reason they do things this way. Deal with it.
Onto the food. Start with the Jamon Iberico. It’s the best possible beginning to a meal here. The patatas bravas are good, though I wouldn’t call them essential. The green olive flatbread is wonderful, especially with a nice beer. The pork bocadillo is absolutely delicious, and was one of the highlights of the evening. The Spanish fried rice was excellent, if not quite deserving of the hyperbolic praise it’s received on here. Both glasses of red that I had were perfect. And don’t even think about leaving without having the arroz con leche for dessert. TRUST ME. And I’m not much of a dessert person.
All that being said, the real stars of the evening were the ham croquetas. There are no words to describe just how perfect they were. Order this first and foremost!

Good service and tasty food. Was able to get reservation a few weeks in advance and even got super lucky with parking in front (since I was worried about that). There were 3 of us and there was way too much food leftover but I’m glad I got to try a bunch of different things.
We ordered the pintxo flight — I was hoping they’d have more selection.
Tomato & Cucumber salad — delicious, light, and a good combination of different textures
Halibut Crudo — didn’t get to try
Patatas Bravas — delicious
Gambas al Ajilio — tasty, especially w/​the accompanying flat bread for dipping
Trumpet mushrooms — ok
Octopus/​Squid — can’t remember which one we ordered but I also didn’t get a chance to try it
Meatballs — very filling, tasty

Unfortunately, I’m a little behind on writing my reviews and my dinner at Aatxe was just over a month ago. So, not every recollection will be as sharp as I want it to be. However, in short, I absolutely loved this dinner. My ( Unilocal elite) friend and I sat at the chef’s counter and were treated to a wonderful collection of dishes. Our server recommended 5 – 6 items for two people, and he mentioned some we hadn’t been considering. I’m glad we followed his advice as the roasted cucumbers, in particular, were a standout.
I thought the melon gazpacho was delicious — light, just barely sweet, and a cool starter. The mussels escabeche was one of my favorites. The combination of flavors was outstanding. I also loved the octopus and pork belly.
The dessert menu that night was slim: either an arroz con leche (rice pudding) or olive oil cake. I’m not a big cake fan, so we went with the rice pudding. Not that either of us were especially excited about rice pudding, but we wanted to see what their desserts tasted like. This thing was crazy good, and I have high standards for desserts. This rice pudding was sweet, but not cloying, with a wonderful texture and mix of textures from the chocolate crumbles on top, the perfectly caramelized meringue and flavors of cinnamon and vanilla. Super yum!

Dinner at Aatxe was lovely. It brought back memories of vacationing in Barcelona and San Sebastian. I think I will be coming back here regularly.
The dishes were all visually pleasing as well as delicious. The staff knew the menu very well. Despite the restaurant being completely full, service did not miss a beat.
The impressive gin and tonic menu is worth mentioning too. With 5 flavor categories, 6 tonics, and 60 gins (plenty of them local), it was very much an SF spin on a Spanish obsession.
* Pintxo flight (pintxo glida, salt cod chip with avocado, smoked salmon deviled egg, mushroom croqueta, corn toast with chorizo alioli) — $ 13
Every single one of these was a delight. They were delicately made and super flavorful. I would gladly eat many more flights. The salt cod chip had the airy texture of chicharrón. (You can also order individual pintxos for $ 2.50 or $ 3 instead of getting the flight. The flight actually does not come at a discount.) Much better than the unsatisfyingly small pintxos at Coqueta.
* Boquerones + olives — $ 7
So so tasty. The olive oil prompted us to ask for bread to mop it up.
* Salt cod buñuelos with seaweed + horseradish — $ 7
Light fried fish. The seaweed + horseradish sauce was very interesting.
* Trumpet mushrooms a la plancha — $ 14.5
I could eat this all day. The melty Mahón cheese over the mushrooms was perfect.
* Charred octopus with sungolds, fingerlings, salsa verde — $ 16.5
Tasty. The sauce was also mopped up greedily with bread.
* Spanish fried rice with chorizo, cuttlefish, tortilla española — $ 18
The flavors were very intense, the chorizo was very salty, and the dish was piping hot. I wish there was more rice in this dish to balance out the toppings a bit.

After reading all of the hype about Aatxe, and in reading up a little bit about what Basque food is comprised of, I was really excited to try all of the delicious items here. In going with another Unilocal Elite friend, we knew we had our work cut out for us but that trying as many things as possible was our only strategy. Our server recommended 3 – 4 dishes each, which was easily one of the best recommendations and pieces of advice. I’m no expert in Basque food by any means, but everything I had at Aatxe was absolutely delicious. Here’s what went down:
— Mussel Escabeche: This came recommended by our server and while I’m not a huge mussel/​seafood person, the tastes on this were truly amazing. I found myself going back for more and more, and dipping bread into that amazing oil/​sauce was definitely a secondary treat.
— Melon Gazpacho: I loved the bright color of the melon, and the gazpacho was creamy and not overly sweet. Despite it being cold outside, this was a great way to kick things off. I was surprised with how much of the melon flavors came through in such a tiny bowl.
— Halibut Crudo: Not a lot of fish in the crudo, but definitely a pretty dish to look at. I would have liked a few more chunks of fish to go with some of the other vegetables in it, but the peaches and olives that were in the crudo were definitely delicious!
— Gambas al Ajillo: LOVED the shrimp and all the garlic tastes that came out of this dish. Eating this with a little bit of bread to mop up some of those amazing garlic flavors is an absolute must on this!
— Roasted Cucumbers: Who knew that cucumbers could be roasted and eaten hot like this? I normally wouldn’t have tried this but since it was also a recommended item by our server, I was so glad to have tried it!
— Octopus & Pork Belly: I’m on an octopus kick right now, and this is definitely a must-​get item if you come here. The fatty pork belly with a grilled/​charred octopus is definitely a wonderful combination and shouldn’t be missed!
— Cinnamon-​Vanilla Arroz con Leche: Being that my friend is a pastry chef, he was definitely impressed with this dessert! The textures on the dish were amazing! I loved the crunchy topping, the creamy meringue, and the soft but delicious rice that came with this.
All in all, I thought the number of dishes that were ordered left me feeling satiated — not too full, and not starving. The only thing that I would say is that it’s definitely a little pricey, and unlike other tapas experiences where going with a large group is recommended, I can see how the tab adds up pretty quick here so going with a lot of people means that you’ll be paying a lot of dishes that aren’t that big in volume. That being said, this makes for a perfect two person dining experience, so if you have a chance, bring a friend and sit at the chef’s counter!

Friday night I broke one of my normally hard and fast rules: Don’t eat at restaurants where you can’t pronounce the name.
Couldn’t help it, I love Basque food.
Pintxos are the name of the game at Aatxe and they do it right. My favorite Basque dining experience in the U.S. was in Bakersfield, CA (look it up, they have killer food in this small town), but Aatxe is a solid second.
What we ordered:
+ The Sickle — a fun and tasty cocktail with pisco, Ancho Reyes, and Licor 43. Several of my favorite cocktails feature Licor 43, must purchase a bottle and try to re-​create at home.
+ Sparkling rose — a very good pairing with our small plates
+ Pintxo flight — get two of ‘em if you’re dining with three or more people. You’ll want to try them all. My favorite was the croqueta filled with mushroom and ramp.
+ Cheese plate
+ Octopus salad
+ Spanish fried rice — a Basque version of my favorite dish at Mission Chinese, complete with salt cod
+ Gambas and flat bread — Nicely cooked shrimps in one of the best dipping sauces I’ve had in a long time.
Overall, the dishes were succinct, tasty and sophisticated. Three of us had no problem cleaning each plate. And the list above had us pretty full by the time we were finished, though it was a pretty hefty price tag. But that’s what tapas has become, though they weren’t intended as such and certainly aren’t treated this way in Spain. But hey, we aren’t in Spain right now, are we?