Alicia W.
Yelp
We came here on the feast day of St. Ignatius to celebrate his Basque heritage! This place has been on our list for a long time, I'm glad we finally got to come. Louis' opened in 1967 and carries on traditions including family-style seating and traditional homemade Basque food. I can see how people would knock down the rating on place like this if they came in expecting a regular restaurant experience. If you know what you're signing up for, it's a fun and unique experience to try! While the family-style seating is a bit uncomfortable since you sit at long tables next to people you don't know, I think it's fine because you are partaking in Basque traditions. However, be aware that it gets quite loud in here because of how close together everyone is sitting; it can be hard to hear your own friends across the table from you.
Dinner mostly consists of a fixed menu, you just select which entree you want. Every meal comes with the same side items that are served family-style: red wine, french bread, soup of the day, Basque beans, salad, fries, a first course, and dessert. You can opt for the "no entree dinner" which just comes with the sides listed previously. However, know that you only get a little bit of each item since it's all family style. I'm not sure if they are bottomless refills or if you just get what is served? We were never asked if we wanted more of anything except for the first course (for us, this was a rotisserie chicken). The entree we tried was one of their daily specials, the lamb stew. I thought it was delicious! The broth was rich and flavorful. I don't have lamb very often, it was tender and went well with the broth and veggies it was mixed with. The dish itself was on the smaller side. Entrees that are meat dishes range from $36-48, so it's a little bit pricey. However, this does come with wine, all the sides, and dessert. We got ice cream with hot fudge for dessert. We did not get additional drinks, but they do have other wines to choose from, a full bar for cocktails, and the traditional Basque "Picon Punch" for only $7.
Overall, I enjoyed this experience! It was quite unique to most other restaurants in the area. The main downside is how loud it can get, I wish the long tables were a little more spread out to help with this. Service can be kind of slow because of the family-style setup. We asked to speed things up when we realized we'd be cutting it close to an event we were going to afterwards. The waiter was super nice and brought out our check right away and even brought out dessert with our entrees so that we could get through it all quickly without missing anything. I'm glad we got to try this Reno staple!