Very nice restaurant. We only went in here to order some sharers for us having fun on the terrace…read moredown the street. No worries, and especially the chipirones and croquetas were very good.

From the owner: Néobistrot total look... Un lieu très tendance où la moyenne d'âge se situe plutôt vers la…read moretrentaine.

Northern Spain is known for its amazing cuisine; in particular the cities of Bilbao and San…read moreSebastián. Every restaurant, every meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) I've had in these two cities on this trip astonished me, and I'm pretty unastonishable [sic]! The pastries, seafood, meat, fruit and vegetables produce overwhelmed me in a very good way. This was the case with Casa Rufo. This 80 year old butcher shop / sundry store surprises you until you start heading to the back of this dwelling and this old school, nothing fancy area restaurant appears that's divided into different rooms - it's a jaw-dropper that takes you back to a completely different era of time and space - I LOVED IT!!!! The staff working (especially the steak griller) here were masters at their given functions. I was dying to take a million pictures of what was going on inside this old world restaurant, but just the quietness of the environment here told me not to. That said, we had so many things on their menu that I couldn't possibly translate into English, let me just say everything was jolted me it was so good. My ten days in "The Bilbao" area was a culinary revelation that I will NEVER forget, Casa Rufo being at the head of my list

This is more like a 3.5 star review. Casa Rufo was recommended by multiple people so I had high…read morehopes coming here but it may sometimes backfire on you. Casa Rufo is a quirky little restaurant tucked inside a market giving you nostalgic vibe. It's sectioned off in multiple rooms and each room has its own charm. We ordered their smoked salmon, croquettes, white asparagus, cod fish, ox tail stew and t bone steak. The smoked salmon was fresh and nicely marinated. The citrus marinate helped open up our palate and we definitely were looking forward to our next dishes to come. The croquettes were nicely fried, without being too oily but it's nothing special and just like where we can get them in any other places. The white asparagus was a disappointment. Although the asparagus itself was fresh, it was way overcooked to the point you can mash it with your knife. The cod fish, although the texture was ok (not too dry but not moist and flaky either), I didn't like the pepper sauce as I think the flavors are too strong and overpowering for the fish. But this is just my personal preference and others may be fine with it. The ox tail stew was our favorite. The meat was tender and falls off the bone easily. It's hearty, flavorful and I particularly loved the sauce. It also came with fries which was so good after soaking up all the sauce. The And last but not least, the T-bone steak. It was cooked just like Peter Luger style, a big piece of t-bone, basically came rare on a hot plate and you need to flip and let it sit on the plate more to cook it a little more. You have to also make sure to flip all pieces at once before the plate cools down or else you're left with rare steaks at the end. It is evident that the steak was dry aged for weeks as it gave off an intense nutty flavor. It is a very good piece of meat. However, I found it a little dry so I ended up eating it with the ox tail stew sauce. Yes this meat is nice but it's nothing we can't get in the US so it wasn't a wow factor for me. Our server was nice but it was also minimal, maybe because we don't speak basque or Spanish. It did not stand out and was pretty standard. The AC was also minimal so it wasn't very comfortable in the middle of summer but this is common in Europe. Overall, I would say the food was good but no wow factor and not memorable at all. It's pretty standard to other restaurants around the country.