Oliveto
| Address: | 5655 College Ave, Oakland, CA 94618, USA |
| Phone: | +1 510-547-5356 |
| Site: | oliveto.com |
| Rating: | 3.9 |
| Working: | 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9:30PM 8AM–9:30PM 8AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
JO
John Wren
Maybe last night was an "off" night, but the service was mediocre and the food was just okay in this well-known, often publicized restaurant as an institution on College Avenue. We dined last night for the "tomato" season menu, I had the Burrata stuffed Prince tomatoes, a salad of lettuces (which did NOT come with tomatoes, even though it was a tomato-oriented menu, and it would have been nice, not to mention "classic" -- but maybe they didnt have tomatoes to spare!) and the "Tortellini" with vodka sauce. The portions are "gourmet" - read that as tiny portions served on big plates. This would have been redeemed if plate for plate the food was out of this world - but it was not. The Burrata dish was exactly one small-to-medium sized tomato, the lettuce salad which was the best item of the night for me, was fresh, lightly dressed, and would have been excellent, except it was over salted. I usually ask for "dressing on the side" in restaurants where I cant trust the kitchen not to either under- or over-dress, and did not think I needed to do that here. WRONG. The "Tortellini" as the last and main dish was served after nearly a 30+ minute hiatus from our last course. Our table ate a lot of bread in the interim and order a round of drinks!) After this wait, all our last courses finally appeared. My Tortellini looked like ravioli -- in fact looked suspiciously very much like my friends first course of appetizer -- exactly the same plate, with exactly the same number of little Ravioli "pillows". My sauce looked a little darker. When I asked our waiter if this was in fact "tortellini" he snapped "yes" and walked away. The "Tortellini" was supposed to be stuffed with gorgonzola cheese -- could have been Monterey Jack, for all the favor it had, but then again, the Tortellini" had less than 1/8 teaspoon stuffing in them, so who knows. We were all hungry and the event was one of good friends getting together, so I let the issue pass -- no use marring a jovial congregation of friends with bad vibrations emanating from an icky waiter and a kitchen trying to pass Ravioli off as Tortellini -- the difference in dollars between my "Tortellini" entre and my friends first "Ravioli" course was $3 - $16 vs. $19, not worth making a fuss over. And besides, by this point I already was of the opinion that this place was "much ado about nothing". Another friend at the table remarked that her Bucatini was disappointing. My part of the check came to $65 (we brought our own wine, but in the 30+ minute wait for the last course, many in our table succumbed to ordering drinks.) For 3 non-meat courses (one of which consisted of one tomato) thats pretty ridiculous. Gratuity was tacked on (we were a party of six); I think they know they cant meet the overhead any other way -- certainly not with repeat business.
NI
Nina B
Ive dined in here before. A few times, actually. I live right down the road. The food is ok, but nothing special and definitely overpriced. If you want amazing Italian food, go down the street to Trattoria La Siciliana. Im writing this review because of the way we, my partner and I, were treated the other day. We came in straight from a long day of work, still in our work clothes, to pick up some takeout. The hostess was nice enough and directed us to the back counter to order our food. There was a customer sitting there at the bar, having a glass of wine. We watched her get served and the waiters bustle around for at least 15 minutes, completely ignored. Like, they willfully ignored us. Not even a hello. They were not that slammed, and they definitely saw us- two random people standing in the middle of the restaurant, waiting. So... we waited. Finally someone deigned to acknowledge us, sort of. We ordered but they didnt put in the order, just chatted with the lady at the counter. Soooo... we left. Because who wants to get treated like that just because theyre not dining in, or dressed nicely enough, or whatever? There was a tangible air of snooty disinterest coming from the couple of servers and bartender in our proximity. Our money is just as green, and we were just as hungry. And we tip well. Thankfully one is spoilt for food choices in Rockridge (and the Bay Area), because Oliveto will not be getting my patronage again. Never going back.
AD
Adele Leonard
I ate at this restaurant last week. Had great service but the food was horrible. Every dish was extremely attractive, but the flavor never matched the presentation. I started with the crab soup the flavor was. really off tasting, and I could only eat four bites, my husband tried it but couldnt finish either, so he gave me half of his sand dabs, which I liked. Next I ordered lobster sausage, thinking something delicate but flavorful would arrive. The sausage seasoning overwhelmed the small amount of lobster, I was very disappointed, especially as it was $ 35.00 for two sausages. I ate one, saved the other to take home, not too impressed with it. I was with husband and daughter. We ordered drinks from the very limited special drinks menu. They were out of two of the three, poor planning. Playing it safe I ordered strawberry shortcake for dessert, thinking no one could ruin that dish. Think again. The shortcake was not shortcake but a slab of very dry flaky sort of like layered fillo dough, with very little unsweetened cream and a layer of sliced strawberries, NO SAUCE. This dish was so dry I had to remove the top pastry layer, and then drink coffee just to swallow it. I give this restaurant two stars because the service was excellent , food was not worth a rating.
TR
Trish Crawley
I really want to love Oliveto cafe. Like REALLY want to love this place. Its an incredible location and the upstairs restaurant puts out pretty good food (you pay for it, but fun for a romantic night out in Rockridge). But try as I might ( Ive been here dozens of times since its close to my home), I just cant get behind it. The food has good intentions but execution is very hit or miss. Service is laughably bad and aloof in spite of having plenty of servers standing around. I even wrote the owner expressing my troubles and woes (but high hopes nonetheless) and did receive a cordial response from the cafe manager. But nothing has improved. Last time I went, I waited an HOUR for soup - my friend had a cold sandwich so that was not the hold-up. Just ridiculous and inexcusable. I will forever come back for the coffee and pastries in the morning because theyre just that good (also breakfast is very good) but will have to skip lunch and dinner as its just not worth the time and money.
A
A Private User
Ive always enjoyed the breakfast, admittedly Ive not been there for a while. We took a friend their and were disappointed in the offering. The poached eggs were steamed and the proscuitto is not anything like we expected. The proscuitto was ice box cold and was over powered from the rosemary this should have been noted on the menu as I would have selected something. I expected traditional proscuitto. The eggs were dull and the generous 1/16 of a teaspoon of salt we received was not enough to revive the eggs. The comment from the waitress that "this is our proscuitto" was not helpful how about an offer for a replacement as we were not happy with what we received. The pizza my husband ordered was fine as were our cappuccinos.
