East Bay With Reservation?

Regional Dining Discussions SF Bay Area, NorCal, Tahoe
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I happen to be in a (rare) situation where I know I’m going to be in the east bay saturday night so I can make a reservation.

I hop around and search for what’s good these days… and almost every guide highlights bites and informal food. (Gold Palm, Friends and Family. Chron: no dinner spots in all of berkeley worth eating at, etc). [ I mean, I think places like CP upstairs and Comal are pretty tasty…]

Sure, Commis, and they do (did?) have one slot open, and I seem to end up at Mua more often than I should, but

Where else would you send me between El Cerrito and Oakland for a fairly fancy sit down date night with ++ food kind of meal?

[ I understand the economic forces that are making it hard for full service restaurants… but I think there must be some… ]

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The pastas at Belotti are outstanding and it’s a cozy place for a date night.
I haven’t been but Snail bar is a place I’ve been wanting to try.

Sierene is new from The Morris folks, looks good.

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Thanks for the reply!

Snail bar appears to be light small plates. Just my cup of tea, usually, but looking for something fancier.

Belotti would be out because I had the pasta tasting menu at flour+water this last weekend (a complete lark, the wait at True Laurel was too long so we checked in and they had a spot for us)

Sierene seems good.

(oh, sun moon studio is getting a lot of press but appears full that night)

Here’s some that show up - opinions?
Almond and Oak
Parche
The Wolf (old Baywolf)
Ramen Shop

Other options?

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A few other options:

Sun Moon Studio, Mago, Bardo, Creekwood,

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Juanita and Maude in Albany and Fish & Bird Sousaka Izakaya.

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Juanita and Maude, yes. Maybe Zut on 4th street? Recently had cocktails at Study Hall (nice view from the roof at sunset) and then dinner right across the street at Ippuku.

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Mago looks perfect but apparently I’m too late, no reservations available.

I might give them a ring when they open, sometimes a call works when OT doesn’t…

Bardo has tables. Looks about my speed.

Oooh, Juanita and Maude looks like a very interesting menu, has some tables.

Also, to that point, I’m always really down for something more “fusion” / inventive. Eg, Juanita and Maude. Fancy doesn’t have to mean cal/french/ital. Places like Rooh are in regular rotation down here on the peninsula. I looked at JooDooBoo but it seems too casual. Fiskue same.

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Are you an Amex member?

Ask their concierge to make reservations for you.

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Not at the moment, recovering a $700 annual fee by cobbling together a lot of benefits seems like a lot of mental load, compared to no-fee cards that pay me 1% to 1.5% cash back (which adds up over the course of a year). No concierge tho :slight_smile: Maybe I should look into fee-for-service concierge …

A quick search lead me to this page about the current abilities of Amex Concierge… small data point but… https://travelupdate.com/my-experience-using-the-amex-platinum-concierge-service/

I did get Google Duplex to get me a reservation in NYC on my behalf… it was a japanese place, the japanese fashion is to often do only phone based… it seems that usually works for places that don’t have online tho… AI’s all hip with the kids these days, I hear… but the old school “just call” has its place… I’ll give it a shot…

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How about

Revival on Shattuck
Zino, in the Hotel Shattuck
Limewood, in the Claremont

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Depends on how much you travel on a regular basis but you have different interesting benefits for hotels, flights etc. which can save you quite some money (and the concierge service for restaurants is quite helpful for difficult restaurants)

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Via Del Corso, on Shattuck.

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I don’t keep a list of places any longer but Burdell, modern soul food, keeps coming up.

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Yeah, i did take a moment based on this discussion to reread the benefits. I travel a lot but don’t think i would get my 700 bucks plus what i am earning on cash back, just given my travel style

There are services without any fees that will charge you 50 bucks a reservation…

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Pomet

+1 Juanita & Maude

If you have another East Bay weekend and willing to venture farther north: Michael Warring, in Vallejo/American Canyon

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Only if you like Indian, but if you do and are serious about chile heat, then I’d recommend Pippal in Emeryville’s Bay St. Mall.

Here’s the quickie write-up I just did. Will add to it later when we get back from our current trip:

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Thanks for the tip. I can see you are enthusiastic.

Here in the South peninsula we are in the thick of upscale indian like ettan, rooh, eylan, khazani, countless smaller more casual spots (varam, zareen’s) and i have an excellent down home dosa spot within 100 yards with some unusual dishes. My company had a small office in bangalore, and more than a few customers, so there were frequent visits where they would argue incessantly over where to take me, knowing how much I enjoy eating generally. I had fond memories of Ajanta’s rotating menu, and I see they still exist, the generally subtle nature of their dishes had me going only rarely.

It’s good to hear there’s somewhere worthy north of san leandro. My first look at their menu was they weren’t quite “fancy” as I was thinking, a closer look at the pictures on Google say they probably are.

Thus, I will keep it in reserve, I have reservations at Juanita & Maude.

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Is Yoshi’s still there in Oakland?

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Yes, yoshis is still there. I still eat there occasionally when there is a show i want to see. I am always happy to eat there but it’s not quite a destination on its own.

There is a really interesting music show at the sound room, but it conflicts with dinner, and i ate once at the sound room. Never again. Beer, yes, music hell yes, but food will be somewhere else.