My dad requires close, easy parking and prefers to reserve ahead. We’ve had good family dinners at Townhouse in Emeryville and the Boathouse at the Berkeley Marina (yes, it’s attached to the hotel). The food is better at Townhouse, but my son approves of the cocktails at both places. My dad still likes to eat outside and both places have heat lamps, if that’s matters to you.
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Thanks!
Nearby and with a parking lot there’s Skates by the Bay. Also a drop off zone at the front door of the restaurant. I’d call it a “view restaurant”, food is okay…going for the view and ease. Lots of Thanksgiving business, lots of seniors.
Down the road, there’s Hong Kong East Ocean in Emeryville. Dedicated parking lot, ADA spaces. View of the Bay and Bay Bridge. Can’t comment on the food since it’s been at least 10 years. Kinda pricey if I recall…also a “view restaurant” but a nice room.
Side note, I was at the Berkeley Marina yesterday, took a walk at Cesar Chavez Park. My god…they finally fixed the access road (University Ave, past Frontage) to the Marina and CCP. That road has been a disaster and F’ed up for 30-40 years. Couldn’t go over 5 mph. I saw it earlier this year…but I’m still surprised they repaved it after all this time.
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As I recall, Daimo’s dim sum menu is very limited. It isn’t their specialty, the way dim sum is for Saigon Seafood Harbor. Service at both is typical for Chinese restaurants, neither is quite as upscale as Harbor View - they are family-style restaurants. Saigon is a little more polished than Daimo, but bathrooms at both are on the iffy side at times.
I’d second Belotti but much as I love them - and I adore Michele Belotti’s Northern Italian food (do NOT look for typical Neapolitan or Sicilian dishes here; Michele (pronounced Mee-kay-lah) is from Bergamo and trained in Milan) - the place is really, really tiny. Six is the absolute max that will fit and that’s about 1/3 of the total DR, not counting the bar.
ACRE in Rockridge’s Market Hall replaced Oliveto and can be up&down, but it is very nice inside (you want the upstairs) altho parking can be tight sometimes (does anyone know if BART allows outsider parking at night??) and when it’s “on”, it’s quite good.
If you are up for Japanese there is Iyasare on 4th St. Berkeley. Parking can be a bit tricky at popular times; we often park on 5t St. and cut through one of the several parking lots that allow one to shortcut from 5th to 4th.
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In the last few months I’ve had some pretty good lunches with > 6 people at the Left Bank location in Jack London Square in Oakland. French brasserie fare from chef Roland Passot. There is parking around JLS. They also have a patio.
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Thanks again everyone! Nothing available at Beotti when I checked on Tuesday. Right now it’s looking like Hong Kong East Ocean, but we have a reservation at Townhouse as well (which I will probably cancel shortly).
As is often the case for us, this outing is not mostly about the food, but my hopes were buoyed when someone here on HO said they had “upped their game” of late. I can’t seem to find that post now.
ETA Here it is! From the last time I asked about places in the East Bay. From @Lethe2020 . Thank you!
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Yoshi’s in Oakland?
Yoshi’s! I always thought of it as a place for entertainment! I’ll have to check it out again.
ISTR hearing about Yoshi’s (and environs) having increased trouble with vehicle burglaries recently. Is that the news overhyping it, or has it really gotten worse?
Hi shrinkrap, just FYI the dim sum restaurant I said had “upped their game” lately is East Ocean Seafood in Alameda, not HK East Ocean - all too easy to confuse the two, I know!
Also, for those who are fond of them, East Ocean Seafood is now offering the Portuguese egg tarts (Pasteis de Nata). Their regular custard tarts, the dan tat, have a shortbread-like crust. The Portuguese egg tarts use the traditional Chinese lard pastry, delicate crispy layers around an incredibly rich, barely sweet filling. We love them, along with the sai yun, sweet donuts.
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We’ve dined at The Fat Lady several times recently (they do have the best steaks, from a quality and execution standpoint), and they also recommend parking at the city garage. Said vehicle break-ins have been a serious problem recently.
We were brave enough last time to park on the street beside TFL, but we were right outside the front door where people are coming/going, and it was early enough in the evening that it was still daylight. Also, it was midweek, not weekend. Had no troubles, but I wouldn’t do this on a weekend or in the dark. For that matter, I probably wouldn’t do it in SF either, LOL…
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A neighbor in Oakland told me she and her husband will take an Uber to restaurants in Oakland to avoid driving their car and the break-ins. Kind of crazy but it makes sense.
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East Ocean in Alameda is good and has its own parking lot…but it’s small and gets crowded. Generally it’s safe to park a car in that part of Alameda.
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Everywhere in the BA has their troubles. Travel in groups, Uber or Lyft from a safe neighborhood and you should be fine.
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Many recommend travelers do that instead of using public transportation or just walking a few blocks. Add it into the total entertainment cost.
Now we’re reminded that when we knew Townhouse it was a lively music venue.
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I think East Ocean in Alameda has the best dim sum around, with lots of flavor combinations you don’t see elsewhere. But parking along the Alameda commercial streets is brutal. The parking lot holds maybe eight cars, with another six in the spaces reserved for another store but available on Sundays.
http://eastoceanseafoodrestaurant.com/lunch/
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Yeah, we’re fortunately to be retired so we go during the week and eat at non-crush times. Parking almost everywhere in the SFBA is a hassle, LOL. The price of our collective success, I guess… 
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Sorry for that. I have great memories of walking without a care in the world through SF, Oakland, Bezerkely, San Leandro and Hayward. Had some great meals and strolls afterwards to work off the meals. Especially after those meals at Fisherman’s Wharf and desserts the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory.
Well…the parking was okay; we might have gotten the last two spots! The peking duck was good, and the shrimp and chive dumplings. They had a dim sum menu at 7 PM
To their credit, I apparently accidentally ordered one dish by pointing at words instead of the number, and when I said I hadn’t ordered it, they took it off the table and the bill, so there’s that.
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