Not the way to run a Basque eatery.
A prior review posted on 3/17/09, reported that they were out of two items on the menu. On our visit at 6PM on a Saturday night two weeks later, they were out of Chicken.
We had twenty people in our party and the food was uniformly disappointing.
The entrees arrived 1 1/2 hrs after ordering. The steaks were served cold, thin and underdone. More fat and gristle than edible meat. Attempts to slice them resulted only in shredding. An order of pork chops turned out to be very thin and dry - the very opposite of what one finds at Tahoe Joe's for a lessor price.
The steaks were topped with deep fried shrimp, some which were fairly tasteless while others were inedible due to a very off flavor. Likely one batch of the frozen, pre-breaded, shrimp had been left out too long.
The salad was skimpy, a single bowl was allotted for each ten person table. The tongue was tough as if it had not been cooked long enough before pickling.
The cabbage soup was very good.
A single overworked waitress and one assistant had to tend to the 50 people in the dining room. I suspect that there was only a single cook working on a very small grill which precluded getting any large orders of entrees cooked properly and out at the same time.
Although the steak entree prices averaged at $26.00, the quality of the meat was not at all on a par with what one can find for that price in the majority of local restaurants.
There are two ways of serving fine Basque cuisine. Offering entree selection from a menu, which requires a such a large, well staffed kitchen with and a full experienced waitstaff. The success of Woolgrowers is an excellent example of this approach properly carried out.
The other is, to provide a fixed entree and a dedicated serving schedule. This allows a smaller kitchen and waitstaff to accomplish the magnificent family style servings, the forte of the Noriega hotel.
The quality of the ingredients, the food preparation and the wait staff's timing, are nearly always impeccable at both of the two aforementioned examples.
The Pyrenees appears to have cut their staffing down to an embarrassing minimum and greatly lowered their standards in ingredient procurement.
We locals all greatly enjoy introducing out of towners to the wonders of Bakersfield's Basque cuisine scene. Pass on taking them to the Pyrenees.
