Mattin Nobilia, a native of the Basque country, has been enamored with cooking since the age of 5. Spellbound by the aromas, flavor & color of dishes prepared for his family by his father, he began a dream of becoming a chef.
At 14, Mattin set out to make his dream a reality by entering a 3 year culinary training program, which culminated with an apprenticeship. After completing the apprenticeship & receiving a ?chef de cuisine? diploma, he enhanced his skills through stints at restaurants in France & Switzerland.
In 2002, Mattin came to San Francisco to become a great chef. A year later Mattin opened his own tapas restaurant in North Beach, Iluna Basque. Mattin's cooking has long been guided by his unique feel for the way diverse ingredients can be assembled to form a savory dish. His food is presented in a manner, which is modern, yet cozy, comfortable and filled with life.
The Scene Several European dialects waft through the brushed-steel and lipstick-red dining room, which has banks of tall windows with views of Washington Square. The staff has off nights, whether it's not bringing a dish or bringing leftovers too soon. Otherwise, diners experience attentive service.
The Food Helmed by rising young chef Mattin Noblia, this tapas joint zeroes in on regional flavors of Basque country. Traditional dishes do justice to the esteemed culinary tradition, especially piperade, served in a small cast-iron pan filled with roasted red peppers, crispy Serrano ham and a soft-cooked egg; and brandade, a pot of thick and creamy salt cod with wafer-thin crostini. Crab croquettes are delightfully crispy outside yet meltingly creamy within, and steamed mussels loaded with garlic and fines-herbs, are sweet and succulent. The Spanish tortilla is a perfect balance between salty chorizo and earthy potatoes, while less traditional seared tuna with blue-cheese sauce confounds the palate.
Iluna Basque is a great restaurant with a nice atmosphere. The offer smaller sized portion so you don't so stuffed when you leave but its plenty to fill your tummy. The food is good and so is the service
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Latest reviews by Citysearch:
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horrible experience
By tatianem
I read some reviews before going to this restaurant, but ignored the bad ones about horrible service. Don't make the same mistake... I went on Friday August 15th with my friends for a surprise bday party. My main complaint is about the service, the food was good. The server seemed pushy right from the start. We all arrived at different times and it seemed like every time another person showed up, the server got more and more impatient. I guess they wanted us to get through it already, i don't know... Well everyone ordered just fine, but when it came to me and my boyfriend, we only ordered one plate to share (we were there for the drinks mainly). Apparently he didn't like the idea too much so he's response was "one for both?!" and rolled his eyes sideways going "oooooookay...." Seriously... what kind of server does that?!? especially at this kind of restaurant... we didn't even order any more drinks, and I should've canceled our only plate too... ON TOP OF THAT... after the 18% gratuity that he did not deserve, he actually charged an extra $15 on my friend's card without permission for extra gratuity... who does that?!? SO BOTTOM LINE IS... don't bother coming here... they lack honesty and professionalism
Pros: ambience Cons: everything else... they should seriously consider their customer service problem....
Posted 08/18/08
Avoid ever going
By faney
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
This restaurant is not worth worth any stars for service. If you want tapas go to the one on Haight called "Cha Cha Cha "
The waiter was very impatient. He should know that it would take up some time for everyone to order, especially a group of 12 people. What restaurant pushes underage girls to drink? We had people that were the age of 21 and up and people that were 19-20. Yet, they still wanted them to purchase their expensive drinks. They also try to push and make us order more food because they felt as though it wasn't expensive enough?! That wasn't the worst part, the worst part was CAKE FEE!! What restaurant charges costumers for CAKE FEE?!! We didn't purchase a cake from them, we brought the cake our selves and they charged us $51.00!!!! To cut the cake?The cake was only $20 for crying out loud. They didn't tell us that there was a cake fee, they didn't have it written in the menu, nor did they tell us when they took the cake in to cut it. If they told us and had it written in the menu, we'll be more than happy to pay for it. But not when they didn't even breathe a word about it, would we want to pay. After arguing with the waiter and the manager, they couldn't even speak English so it was hard to understand. They raised their voices, and instead of just dropping it, they still had to charge us $20! What type of restaurant is this? They were so disrespectful, they said that every restaurant charges CAKE FEE and they looked down at us like we've never been to a good restaurant. Come on! We've been to plenty of nice restaurant, and they would help us cut the cake as a gratitude to say thanks for coming. We would simply just leave more tips. But this restaurant was just over the top RUDE & does not know how to manage their way of running the restaurant. Maybe they're just hating because of our race.
Pros: awful thumbs down Cons: thumbs down all the way
Posted 07/17/08
Great place to eat before seeing Beach Blanket Babylon
By theseyb
What do want from a restaurant? Friendly, helpful service? Excellent food? Great location? Good prices? Fun menu choices?
This is the place to experience all of that.
They have a very good menu of small plates and petite entrees. My wife and had a wide variety of excellent food and a bottle of wine for under $70!
Posted 01/11/08
Audience Choice, SERIOUSLY???
By dreadpirate
Did the owners of the place get all their friends together to nominate this place as the best N. Beach restaurant??? It's alright, but nothing special. Been three separate times, twice for dinner, once only for dessert. The dessert is the reason I gave it two stars instead of one. Last time I went the waitress that didn't really ever pay attention to us got our dessert order wrong. We ended up with three desserts instead of two because of her f up. So it was one of those rare occasions where I actually tipped more because of waitstaff incompetence (typically it's because I feel bad for the clumsy, shy waiters that seem like they need a rest).
With all the options within 5 or six blocks, I could easily name 20 N. Beach restaurants that I'd rather go to than this place.
Posted 08/09/07
unique
By audreyjl
This is a pretty good place for some unique tapas choices. I would suggest just doing the tapas rather than ordering a main course as I think all the small plates are better. They have some tasty salads and wines too. the atmosphere is nice and service is good. Nice place to start an evening in northbeach with a group of friends but overall nothing too special.
