We went for dinner at the Brass Rail since they had a full bar and the Wagon Wheel where we were staying did not serve alcohol with dinner. The BR had about 6 beers on tap, including a fruit flavored one. The bar keep was great, and offered a sampler of the unusual brews. The bar serves a few items, but we opted for the full meal in the restaurant. I grew up with Amish restaurants nearby so knew generally what to expect with the family style Basque fare. We filled up on the salty chicken broth based tomato soup with corkscrew pasta, iceberg lettuce that had been marinating in its dressing for awhile, fresh home baked bread, and a side dish which turned out to be peas, potatoes, carrots, and lamb chunks in a tomato based broth. It was only after all these courses were presented that the order for our meat entree was taken. Needless to say we boxed up most of the meat to take with us. Everything was tasty in a heavily-salted kind of way. The small bottle of chilled burgundy style was a good accompaniment to the meal. Nothing elegant, but it worked for us. read more

We had dinner tonight at Brass Rail. Food was okay, and house wines better than expected. One waitress was covering the whole dining room, and she was hustling, which was okay, except she was so fast in her interactions with us we ended up feeling rushed. We enjoy Basque restaurants, but this one isn't a favorite. read more

So so. Waitress very attentive and nice. But I go to a restaurant also to eat. Expect quantity if not exactly quality. "Salad" was lettuce only drenched in Italian dressing. Bread was bread. Lamb stew (served before dinner was ok. I didn't try the soup. The Top sirloin steak was more well than medium done, and a little tough. And thin. The baked potato was good, as was the coffee ice cream for dessert. Coffee was ok. Menu was interesting: limited options and no prices listed. If I ever return to Alturas, I'll try the other restaurants. read more

Amazing food served family style! Great service! Loved it! Try ii! Multiple courses all made from scratch. Wine coffee and spumoni included. Excellent Basque food! read more

Worst ever payed thirty dollars for a take out order a rare steak came home well called and they didn't care took our money and too bad not what I call customer service read more

So disappointed, we ate there years ago when the basque were cooking there. Certainly not basque food anymore. Soup was water with possibly tomato paste for color, rotelle noodle and that was it! Salt and pepper couldn't help. No flavor to the beans, steak was so tough you couldn't eat it. The place is very clean and great atmosphere, our waitress was awesome and offered to replace the steak, but I felt there wasn't another good one back there and the cook was incapable of cooking it anyway. I realize times are tough and help is hard to get, but they really need to stop advertizing this restaurant basque restaurant JT's in Gardnerville is great Martin in Winnemucca is awesome!! read more

Yes, this is not a 5-star restaurant, but it gets very high marks for value and food choices, quantity and quality. The Brass Rail isn't a classic Basque restaurant (no ox tail soup, sweet breads, etc.) but you do get soup, salad, bread, a stewed garbanzo bean dish, complimentary red wine, and your entree, followed by ice cream and coffee. The good-sized rib eye was nicely marinated and cooked with garlic. All this for $28, which was the most expensive thing on the menu. Service was friendly and the atmosphere brought back memories of classic dinning when I was a kid. The bar crowd was friendly, too. I'll be back. read more

Basque dining, very down home. Good food & service. Family style. Steak with garlic is really good!

I make it a point to eat here whenever I'm in the area. Family dinning at its best. Great food and friendly service. My favorite is the ribeye with garlic. You won't leave hungry read more

This is really the worst food I have ever had at a restaurant. First course started with soup, noodles in water with a splash of catsup. Why not just serve some canned soup?!! Would have been edible!! Then Spanish rice...it was a gooey ball of slime with weird cuts of blah meat mixed in. Then salad, tore up pieces of lettuce with tasteless salad dressing. Also, the bread was stale and tasteless. Then came the entrees...the steaks were overlooked and tasted old, the prawns were the little frozen kind and were tough and gummy. If I had not been with family I would not have paid for this. They charge over 25 dollars a plate!! DO NOT EAT HERE!!! Also the bathrooms were disgusting and the air conditioner vents in the ceiling were covered with something...probably mold. read more

The Crew and I were up in Alturas again working on The DC line and ate at the Brass Rail again. Once again the food was great and service fantastic. The side this night Friday was Garbanzo Beans, I was a bit Leary to hear that at first until they arrived they were more like a stew with hunks of meat and vegies in it. Seamed like the portions have gotten smaller as there were 6 of us and it is family style and there was barley enough to go around on the soup, salad and side. The waitress said no seconds on any of those items also. I had a Rib steak as my entre and it was wonderful it also came with a baked potato. Wine is still included but 1 750 ML bottle for 6 people is kind of small. We had 2 others join us late and they got the same size bottle for them. They make their own bread there also and it was good and refillable. The prices are not on the menu but they are $25 for Rib steak and Lamb, $20 for Fried Chicken and $22 for all others. Would I go back again? Yes and I would recommend it for all. read more

Passing through on a trip and stumbled on this place (recommended by hotel). Bar was run as a separate business and seemed to have limited knowledge of what was going on behind the "curtain". But Vanessa put us onto a basque drink called a picon punch which was wonderful thanks to her skills as a mixologist. The main ingredient, amer, is elusive outside Alturas CA. Guess we'll have to go back. Dinner was family style and as there were two of us, we were well provisioned. Side was lamb stew. Yum. Homemade bread was heavy and dense in a good way. Half carafe of mystery wine was a titch on sweet side but good. Salad dressing made a lettuce salad memorable. Great experience made better by being unexpected. Would seek this place out next time we pass through!!! read more

We made it a point to stop here on a Sunday at noon to try Basque food. The Basque part of the restaurant, but all that is open for lunch is the pub. The details shown for this restaurant is misleading. We walked in and said hello to the bartender who also serves food at the table, but never got a response. We were hurried through lunch which was very average pub food. He did warm up to my family after we asked a few polite questions. Next trip we would choose another restaurant in town. read more

Service is excellent. Nice place to sit down for a family style meal. Each day of the week the fabulous soup and side dishes changes.... Beans or pasta etc. The menu has several items to choose like huge tender rib eye steak, lovely lamb steak, and chicken. The prices have gone up in the past few years which makes choosing this place to eat is lower on my the list of "where shall we go eat for dinner?". The wine comes with the meal, so one can't be too critical about how good it is. Dessert is included which is a nice bowl of ice cream. read more

Horrible food no prices on menu ( can charge anything They feel like) ice tea was instant & made wrong-was given a salad limp ,soaked in oil, just lettuce. Fried chicken ,so salty inedible just deep fried no coating, no breading, just bare. Top sirloin steak cooked on griddle & poorly tasted terrible. We left all food on table & had to pay full price ( over priced ) don't go if you do bring ipecac this was the worst food I've ever been served. read more

Ate at the bar. Good steak & fried chicken with decent fries and a green salad. Good selection of beers. Friendly atmosphere and bar tender. OK in my book... read more

I have been by this restaurant several times the past 5-6 years and thought about giving it a try. Read the reviews so this year several friends and myself went. I really wanted to like it but it was not that great at all. The steak was like "shoe leather", the Shrimp was good. But, for the price Not Good. Sorry, I really was hoping for a good experience. BTW, if you don't drink wine you still pay for it. Why? No substitute either. Still trying to figure that out. Bummer read more

A very good place to eat. We look forward to coming here for dinner when we go through Alturas.

Stopped here for a bite and a sip of scotch after a long drive through Nevada. Wrong choice for that.....we ate in the bar - per another customer's recommendation. My husband had the chef's salad; good but a lot of Chef and not enough lettuce. I had a lettuce/tomato salad, but believe it or not - the blue cheese was too rich, for me. I had a glass of merlot - reasonably tasty. My husband had the last drops of a bottle of scotch whisky-can't remember the name. The country Western music was really loud. We'll try somewhere else next time through. PS- the bartender -female was very pleasant and helpful. read more

I have to say that the restaurant was a disappointment. Our server Melissa was very pleasant and the room was nice, but the food was pretty poor. Are french fries, spaghetti and iceberg lettuce Basque? All lamb was tough. The bar looked like fun and maybe we just ate there on a bad night. read more

I lived in the area all of my younger years in my life..I cannot tell you how many peopIe I run into who know o f the Brass Rail Many tell me they go out of their way to eat here,,Three times I have lead a group of flatlanders to my beloved high country..They always look forward to eating here( i have taught most of them to love rare lamb chops with extra garlic)I look at other basque resturants,and find that very few know the bread they are eating is very special bread made in dutch ovens..One of the main complaints in most reviews is about the bread...It's too bad they have no knowledge(I has to explain the first time to some of our group that it is a very simple bread,served cold) I also make it all the time... I love you Joesphine,may you live forever I'll come help you clean garlic read more

We had din here tonight. We always enjoy Basque food. All included soup to desert. $25. this includes wine. Soup and salad, simple and just OK by me. Side on Tuesday is lamb stew.... Really good. There's a choice of mains... unfortunately they were out of lamb - really sad............ We had the rib steak that was excellent served with good fries. Desert ice cream and coffeed... all good. Good service, decor needs some help... but you won't go away hungry. read more

Horrible food! Cheap wine! Used to be good but Skip it. Over priced. Substandard food..so skip it and you will be great full! Not like it used to be... Food is brand and over priced. We make a mistake eating there. Totally substandard to say the least! Soup is out if a can, chicken and stars and bread it dry.. read more