BOCĀO Basque Izakaya - Basque restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

Good service and atmosphere, delicious food, and nice staff, especially Liem and his colleagues, we had an awesome dinner here.

As a solo traveller, I appreciated the service and attention I received, especially by the manager with his food recommendations and helpful local knowledge of the area. After 178 days in Vietnam, I'm on my last two days before returning to Australia so I chose Bocao to celebrate my time in Vietnam and was not disappointed. The Tiger Prawns served in a Mustard & Espelette Brown Butter Sauce were sensational. I happily licked my fingers. Followed by a single delicious skewer of Lamb Tsukune with Herb Wrap and Pickles. And who could resist the Basque Cheesecake? Not me. Perhaps I should also mention the glass of champagne and the glass of Lady Trieu Gin, sitting, sipping as I admired the colourful Landmark 81 tower. Yes, more than I normally spend but what a celebration to be remembered when I'm shivering back in cold, wintery Melbourne.

Really really good! The service was perfect and the staff adorable! I canceled a 5 pax booking for 2 on a busy Saturday night and the team was still very sweet about it! The food was delicious, I missed Spain and it’s the first time I found it back culinary speaking 🫶 Will be back for sure!!

I came here for the first time and had a very good experience, but the second time was not very pleasant. I arrived around 5:30 pm, before dinner time, just to have a beer and enjoy the sunset. There were only about five to six guests dining and chatting, but the tables by the riverside were all reserved. The staff seated me at a table in the middle of the area and told me I would need to leave by 6:30 pm because the table had been booked. I agreed happily since I only needed about 20 to 30 minutes to relax. Later, I noticed that the riverside tables were still empty, so I asked if I could move there since I would be leaving soon anyway. The staff asked the manager right in front of me. The manager, a man wearing glasses and a shirt, made an annoyed expression and said no in a polite but clearly irritated tone, as if to say please stop asking, I already told you no. It made me feel like I was begging for something and had to quietly sit where I was told, as if he might ask me to leave at any moment. The space and the food here give a very relaxing feeling, and it would normally be the first place I think of when I want to chill in the afternoon after shopping or a tiring day. Staff at places like this are usually friendly, flexible, and polite even when they are busy. However, this manager did not match the atmosphere of the place at all. I suddenly lost all my good impression. I quickly finished my beer and left as soon as possible. *The first photo was taken during my second visit. The photos that follow were taken the first time I came here.

We were excited to visit the restaurant because it was at a very good location with a nice view . However the restaurant was anything but great as the staff and the owner was not professional and a bit rude as well. When we walked in we asked for a table and they told us that if we wanted to eat there we had to leave by a certain time which was perfectly fine but they weren’t very nice when they said it. We asked if we could smoke cigars there as they are an outdoors restaurant and they confirmed that we could. We asked the owner of the restaurant as well as the manager of the restaurant and they both confirmed we could. We started smoking and mid smoke and meal they told us we couldn’t smoke there because the cigar smell was strong and a table that are coming don’t want to smell cigar smoke . We then refuted that we asked beforehand if we could smoke there as that was the entire point of our visit and they just apologized and told us to forgive them. We would have been more forgiving had they not been so rude to us the entire time. They spilled water over me and never apologized and the overall vibe was quite bad. They then later blamed us saying they thought we were smokin cigarettes and not cigars which was why they allowed us. However we asked beforehand about smoking cigars and they also saw us cutting our cigars and smoking it and it was very obvious they were just trying to make excuses. Now the food was very overpriced for the quantity and quality. The food wasn’t very good and the portions were very small. We spent a bit shy of 200$ and the food was mid at best. The pork was very dry and the beef wasn’t well seasoned . We wouldn’t have mind if they weren’t so rude in the beginning. Idk why they mistreat us then expect us to forgive them when they apologize. Not great service and I wouldn’t recommend. Literally there are better places next door with better service.