Chalet Basque Restaurant — Restaurant in Bakersfield

Horribly disappointed. My husband and I arrived for a late lunch and found staff laying across the benches. Also, it seems like we disturbed some clandestine meeting, because people scattered.

Our waiter reeked of smoke, when he brought us menus. He returned within a couple minutes with water and asked for our orders. We hadn't decided yet, so then he disappeared for about 10 minutes. Did I mention we were the only customers at the time?

He returned and took our orders. Later he came back to say they were out of the orange roughy I'd ordered but I could have salmon or halibut, instead, still getting the basque tomato sauce. He leaves, and my husband starts cleaning gunk off the outside of his water glass.

We get the "setup" first course dishes, though they're brought by a member of the kitchen staff, as our waiter had disappeared (another smoke break, perhaps?). The server is nice but never tells us how we're supposed to eat the items--do you mix the beans and salsa into the soup? Or just eat them individually? Also, we weren't given butter for our mediocre bread. So we wing it. Soup was decent. Other stuff was confusing but tasted okay.

Then we get the salad course, delivered by the same guy. I am allergic to red meat so I didn't try the tongue. The rest of the salad was fine.

The same staff member brought our entrees. Mine was wrong--they'd brought the right fish (halibut, substituted for the roughy) but with the wrong sauce. So my husband gets through about half of his lamb brochette before I get my correct entree.

I got my fish and it was rather bland, even with the basque sauce. Also, there were lots of pin bones in the filet. My husband liked his lamb, though.

While we're already disappointed by the dining experience, someone turns on loud country music in the bar area (again, we are the only customers in the entire restaurant). I know Bakersfield has an affinity for it and I just don't, so I wasn't going to make an issue of it. But then our first waiter reappeared at the bar, and the other server started playing horribly profane rap on his phone on top of the country music. My husband had to say something about how distracting it was to have dueling loud music, none of which was for our benefit. The server turned off the profane stuff, and the waiter came for our dishes, smelling like even more smoke.

My husband got the check. To add insult to injury, they charged us a substitution fee for my fish. Needless to say, the tip reflected the service.

On another day, during a main mealtime, things might've been different. But I have no way of knowing that. All I can say is that I will not be returning to that restaurant. And I am reluctant to try Basque food again (I don't think I've said that about any other ethnic food because of a single experience). What a HUGE blow to an otherwise happy...

We were in Bakersfield and had a taste for Basque food. Chalet Basque was the only place open on Monday so we decided to try it out. The restaurant is very attractive on the outside. They had a sign directing patrons to two different entrances: one for the dining room and one for the bar. The bar had a nice patio area attached. We went into the dining room entrance, and were pleased to see how lovely the interior was. The first room was very elegant, booths set with linens and dinnerware. We could see two more adjacent rooms that were more casual but also nicely presented.

I noticed on the menu that the entrees were served more or less "plain" and if you wanted any kind of sauce it was an additional charge of $2.00. On literally everything. My husband and I both ordered lamb chops which are shown on their website photos with butter and garlic. This is the traditional Basque preparation so we wouldn't expect to be charged extra for this but we were. $38 for the chops, plus $2 for butter and garlic? In a fine dining establishment? Afterwards, I looked online and the menu photos on Yelp didn't have all of these upcharges, nor do the menus on their own website. I know, seems silly for me to complain about $2 but it also seems silly to charge it.

The food was absolutely delicious though! The soup, salad, bread, beans, fries, all amazing. The lamb was cooked to perfection. The wine was a nice full pour.

Unfortunately the service was really lacking. Two young girls checked on us a couple of times, but our waiter took our order, came by once, then never again.

I think the worst part was the bar being wide open to the dining room; just a partial wall in between. We were so pleased with how beautiful and elegant the place was, true fine dining, just getting ready to enjoy our soup, when all of a sudden a loud rap song came blaring from the bar. There were a few patrons in the bar and no doubt they were feeding the juke box. It was so loud we could barely talk, and this was during the time the waiter had vanished so there was no one to ask to turn it down! Next came traditional Country, which was better; then on to 1980s rock. I like listening to these in my car, except for rap, but not at ear splitting levels in a very nice restaurant.

There are five Basque restaurants in Bakersfield; that means lots of competition. It seems like they could do better than this. Keep the food as it is, get rid of the upcharges, better enclose the bar. Work on the service too. I'm sad to say that we will...

I feel like this place is very polarizing. Either you love it or you hate it. My review is for the food as I had very minimal interaction with the place and the staff.

I phoned in an order and the guy who took my order seemed like he was in a hurry. He sounded cold and curt, as well. He got my order right, though. When I arrived at the place, he spotted me right away after serving food to a couple, then disappeared into the kitchen for about 5 to 7 minutes. He came out with my order and he was talking. I thought he was talking to me! Apparently, he was also on the phone taking orders. He processed my order, gave me the receipts to sign, and left right away without waiting for me to finish signing. Y'all, this guy is multitasking! I can understand why he would be frazzled. We would be too if we're the waiter, cashier, and receptionist, as well, all rolled into one.

The place itself could use an update and some deep cleaning. It was quite dark, with an old world feel to it. I can understand the bar area being dark, but the tables were not well-lit, either.

Now the food! Escargot: very good! Shrimp scampi: good! Pickled beef tongue: excellent! The beef bourguignon was disappointing. The meat wasn't as tender and the sauce itself lacked depth of flavor. It looked sad. You're better off making it yourself at home.

The fried chicken with garlic butter was good! Well-cooked and well-seasoned, I couldn't find anything negative about it. It was very crispy and the meat was tender. They were very generous with the butter, as well. Lastly, the pork chop a la creme was very rich and flavorful. However, the meat was tough. Although the sauce was a joy to have, the toughness of the meat takes away so much from the meal.

Will I recommend the place? For food yes. With a little caveat about the ambience...