I am bored of my usual haunts and need some ideas of places to pick up dinner to go, but where there is a bar so I can have a class of wine and read a bit while waiting for the food. For example, Soi4 in Rockridge is my standby, but I need other ideas. Any thoughts? I am open to much of Oakland and Berkeley.
In the downtown area I like to get a cocktail at Longitude while waiting for food to pick up at Kamdesh (or for that matter Togi’s Mongolian or Aria)
You can also get a drink at Bar 355 while waiting on your order at Parlour. They’ll even let you bring the food to eat in the bar since it’s the same owner.
Kamdesh
332 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612
Longitude
347 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612
Parlour
357 19th St, Oakland, CA 94612
Bar 355
355 19th St, Oakland, CA 94612
The Star on Grand has a full bar.
Tay Ho on 12/Webster has pretty good Vietnamese and punches well when it comes to cocktails
I forgot about Tay Ho - great idea!
For some reason I had thought Longitude had closed. That’s a great idea - I love Kamdesh. I’ve been to Bar 355 but haven’t checked out Parlour yet.
Longitude is not closed. I went there for drinks last night after dinner at Abura-Ya. Dinner was good, and people did take the chicken to go, but I am not sure how well it would hold up sitting in the bag for very long.
What area? Most places have a bar. If you prefer rockridge, going all the way down to 14th street seems a haul.
Notably, A Cote, which has an excellent by-the-glass wine list?
Mua? Pican? Hawker Faire? Blind Tiger? Pizziaolio?
I am pretty open to location from downtown Oakland to Rockridge to downtown Berkeley. North Berkeley is too far for me usually, unless I have something to do over there.
My problem is finding good food to go at places that also have a bar and don’t mind me hanging out for 30 minutes or so.
A Cote doesn’t really like to do to-go … they will, but they always seem a little angry about it. PIcan is also not a big pro-to-go place. I agree the bars at both are great, tho.
Hawker Fare has no bar, so you need to take a table to do a drink and to-go order. Not ideal, but doable if I really really crave those peanuts. PIzziaolio’s too crowded to make it work. And they hate devices, so if I need to be on my phone or want to read my ipad while waiting, they will ask for it to be turned off.
I’ve done Mua before… kind of forgotten about it. I like the idea of Blind Tiger …
Ah! I get it ( and you did say it ). Places that are really OK with hanging out at the bar.
Places that I mentioned, the bar is really seating for people having dinner, and they are expecting to make a full dinner off the seat… and will be a little surly if you’re waiting. Even if they allow it.
I was thinking of Hopscotch, but I think they’d be in the same league. It’s a small joint, and they have the bar as dinner seating. Mua, on the other hand, does have the little bar tables next to the bar, and most bar people are just hanging out. I think that is a reasonable option.
What about Oghane? As I remember, they have a bar in the front area that’s poorly frequented and not part of the main flow.
Is there enough on the Cato’s menu to be an attractive dinner option?
The pizza at Paisan on San Pablo in Berkeley is pretty good, they do takeout and they have a bar.
China Village has a bar, but they’re outside the area.
I forgot about Paisan. Longbranch may also work.
Cato’s is my weekend lunch haunt, so doesn’t work for me, but I like their food menu.
