Chez Panisse Cafe

It’s been forever since I ate at the restaurant downstairs and a LONG time since I ate at the café BUT Chez Panisse is still «as good as it gets» in my book.
Happened to plan to be in Berkeley this past Saturday and called the Café just to see if they had an open table for 2 for lunch. Never had any luck doing this before but what the heck and amazingly they had an opening!!! We were in!!!
Got there on time. The place was VERY busy!!! Took a few mins to get our table in the small front 4 table «patio» overlooking the street. It was worth the wait. The menu always changes almost daily so I won’t go into great deal about the meal, except to point out what we had: 1) ½ doz oysters — they were extremely fresh and chilled w/​a mignonette sauce (fantastic!), 2) green salad w/​orange slices and parsnip soup w/​truffles (great salad and soup but truffles were hard to see/​taste, could have used more), 3) roasted quail (pigeon sized quail perfectly cooked and leg of lamb; both were good but the quail was better and 4) chocolate mouse and meyer lemon sorbet (perfect!). Also had a glass each of the Chez Panisse zin; don’t know who actually makes it but it was very good.
$ 150 for lunch (for the food and drink) and it was worth it. The food and service were excellent. The only quibble I have is the 17% service charge that they add to the bill, which (according to the bill) does NOT include the tip. Not sure what the 17% is for but didn’t want to add 15−20% on top of that and the sales tax, so I just added the tip on top of the cost of the meal itself, which amounted to 20%.
Call me cheap but a total of $ 220 including sales tax, service charge and tip for lunch (even at Chez Panisee) is pushing my things a bit — would have been more like $ 240 if I added the tip on top of the meal, sales tax and service charge, which I was NOT inclined to do even though the meal was exceptional. Perhaps in the restaurant but not in the Café. French Laundry or Meadowood it’s not but still excellent in it’s own right.

The food is nothing special in my opinion and quite overpriced for the oh so precious menu.
The prices aren’t really bad, but the portion sizes lead to the overpriced tag.
Worst, though, was the service. Our party of 4 waited at least 30 min for an ordinary entrée order to be delivered while others who were seated well after us were served. To make it worse, 2 servers each brought 2 of the entrees to our party of 4, but … first 1 came with 2, then a long long time before the 2^nd brought the additional 2 orders. Why not at the same time? We did, after all, come to eat together at the same time. The staging needs work.
All in all, vastly overrated.

Had a wonderful dinner w my berkeley undergrad daughter. Great setting, perfect service and the food was up to the reputation. We had an arugula salad, small pizza, tagliatelle, and duck breast. All were good, duck was perfect. We had a ribera by the glass which was very nice and finished the evening with meyer lemon cream puffs. Looking forward to returning.

Dinner was such a grand affair — Chez Panisse — a place that I have been wanting to visit since college years. And trust me, it did not disappoint. Yes, the boyfriend said that the impact would have been greater if he had brought me during college since I have had the opportunities to eat well in my current consulting role. I actually disagree. Because I have tried good food, I know what is REAL good food, and Chez Panisse was absolutely delicious.
We were first served with delicious bread, but beware, the crumbs just fall all over, and if it’s your first date, you would probably do better not eating it. Since my boyfriend and I were college sweethearts, we couldn’t really care less. After some deliberation, we ordered the Clam and Shrimp Chowder with Leeks, potatoes, pancetta, and crème fraîche and Riverdog Farm Chicken tagine with chickpeas, cauliflower, couscous, and harissa. The chicken was divine and marinated so well, apart from Cocotte, this was probably one of the best chicken I have ever tasted. The seafood was to die for. I was initially worried because it had clams and I thought it would be a clam chowder (think Boudoin), but then I was able to happily clean up each clam and the shrimps were so so so fresh. I wish I had better words to describe my experience but my taste buds sing whenever I think about it. Now whenever I eat shrimps, I hold this unreasonably and unrealistic high expectations of what shrimp should taste like. I will never forget this taste.
For dessert, we had Hachiya Persimmon pudding with fuyu persimmon and Crème Chantilly. It is truly the best dessert I have ever tasted. They coated the persimmon in a sugary syrup but it wasn’t overpoweringly sweet. I really could eat this dessert over and over again. (JK, my new year’s resolution is to eat less sugary foods…)
Thank you Bae (and Berkeley for having this wonderful Chez Panisse)!

Chez Panisse Café was a wonderful experience… from the moment we arrived until we walked out the door afterwards. Leonard was our server and he was so kind, helpful and attentive.
We each ordered the butter lettuce salad with crème fraiche, baby carrots and ginger. We also ordered the pork vindaloo and scallops. The salads and each entrée were beautifully prepared and simply amazing.
I cannot wait to come back! It was an experience and one that I will never forget.
Thank you Chez Panisse and Leonard!!!

Gravy and a biscuit, by itself is like a dish
Everything is made with extra fat and butter

What can you say about Chez Panisse, it the Birthplace of FROM FARM TO TABLE philosophy.
The food is fresh fresh fresh no matter what you order. It seems like they just made it and made it for you. We had a parsley pizzetta for an appetizer, sounds weird not so crispy and soft crust with a flat leaf parsley salad on top fresh and delicious. Grilled quail and a white clear based seafood stew.
If you want a good dinner and don’t want to worry about quality upstairs at Chez Panisse is for you.

Superb dinner from start to finish! Excellent service for our birthday dinner of eight people. Starters, entrees, and dessert were enjoyed by all in our group — from the 12 year old to the 74 year old. My baked goat cheese salad was delicious, my petrale sole entrée was perfectly cooked with the most flavorful veggies on the side, and my dessert of persimmon pudding was moist and delicate. We all can’t wait until the next extravagant occasion when we can return!

Compared to similar restaurants that we have tried like Greens, Plant and the now closed Millennium, I felt the flavors here were one notch above. We tried the butter lettuces with creamy garlic dressing, the chickpea soup and the squash and kale pizzetta for appetizers. The soup was just ok, but the lettuces were great. I was afraid that there might be too much dressing to maybe cover up a lack of flavor in the lettuces, but that wasn’t the case. It was perfectly balanced elevating both ingredients. The pizzetta was great as well. For main course, we had the pasta with mushroom ragout. It was fantastic. I was expecting sauce to be a little creamy or to have some roux to thicken/​flavor it up, but it was extremely light and tasted great. For dessert we had the chocolate pudding which was awesome. It came with a topping of light cream and again the balance of flavors was spot on.
A couple of small negatives — service was too efficient for my taste, but definitely not overbearing. Also, a tip was encouraged (circled in the check) over and above a 17% service charge.
All in all — the best «Californian» cuisine I’ve ever had.

The good news is that it’s not crazily expensive and the service was impeccable. The wines by the glass were very reasonably priced and the setting was warm. The bad news is that the food was good bordering on very good but not as stellar as I thought it would be. It was a half-​notch above Tigerlily next door for prices that were a half-​notch above as well. I’m still interested in trying out the main dining room and the Fixe Prix menu because it’s Chez Panisse but not necessarily because I was blown away by this visit.

Disclaimer: When I review restaurants I only review the taste of the food. Good/​bad service, décor, or ambiance may be referenced but do not factor into the review unless it effects the experience of the food itself.
I would like to first start off saying that what Alice Waters has done is great. Creating the idea of locally sourced organic food and starting generations of cooks to follow this is nothing short of amazing.
But despite these wonderful things I’m not here to talk about the ideas behind starting off something so wonderful but about the food itself. I’ve been to Chez Panisse’s Café a handful of times and I have to say the food was only… meh. Now maybe I could mark this down as «I just ordered a bad dish» but the different table of friends/​family at each outing have never been particularly thrilled either.
One of my more memorable times I’ve eaten is having sweet potato mash with charred collard greens and sausage. I think the best way I can describe this dish is by describing three 6 year old kids who have been in a car for twelve hours straight. They did not get along and were snippy towards each other (and me.) The sweet potato mash was very buttery and sweet, but so sweet that it was overpowering to every single other part the food. The bitterness of the collard greens didn’t really add anything to the dish and would take away the more mild flavor of the sausage which just felt bland in and of itself. Each bite I had I kept trying to find some way they would all work and create some beautiful harmony in my mouth. Instead by the time I just ate each one separately I just felt like I had overpaid for diner food flavors.
Now this isn’t to say that any one particular thing I’ve ordered was bad, but every dish I’ve had there has completely lacked depth and complexity of flavor. I get letting the food speak for itself, but I love it more when food sings to me. It just feels like the food has been branded to be this kind of «Alice Waters» experience, but there are so many other restaurants in Berkeley who have taken this wonderful idea and run so much father than Chez Panisse’s Café. Maybe the downstairs restaurant is better, but I’ve never really had the ability to reserve out for a table given my schedule.
The wait staff is amazing and the atmosphere is great, but honestly the flavor of the food feels dated and overrated. However if the experience of the restaurant is as important as the food then this might be more your thing. As for myself I think there are just much much much better places for the price point set by this restaurant, while using the same mindset and ingredients.

We had a solid, delicious meal for lunch here today. We were seated promptly for our 1:15 reservation and the service was good. Our dishes were brought out promptly, our plates cleared when we were done, and my water refilled constantly (which is saying a lot since I’m currently a thirsty pregnant momma). But what really counts here is the food. The menu changes daily so if you like to be adventurous and eat seasonally than this is a fun place for a meal.
Sunchoke soup:
I love the flavor of sunchokes. This soup did not have as much concentrated sunchoke flavor as a version that I’ve made at home with nothing but sunchoke, broth, an cream. This version definitely had notes of celery, maybe carrot and onion too and perhaps did not have any cream at all. However, it was still a silky and delicious soup and I wouldn’t turn down seconds.
Buttermilk fried Devils Gulch Ranch rabbit:
One leg and two boneless breast pieces. Delicious! If you’ve not had rabbit this was like eating fried chicken. But the «white meat» was denser, moister, and juicier than a chicken breast would be. Super delicious and the tomatillo salsa and vinegary slaw was a great pairing it.
Grilled sonoma duck breast with delicata squash gratin, green beans, tapenade:
I’ve never had duck with olives but it was a great pairing. The duck was delicious. The fat nicely rendered down, it tasted as if it had been brined because it was evenly salted throughout, and it was just very tender and flavorful. The only problem with it was that I wanted more of it! 5 slices for my hubby and I to split just left us craving more.
Ginger cake with wine wine poached pears and chantilly cream:
I saw this at another table and thought it was chocolate cake and it looked so good. I was disappointed to read that it was ginger cake on the menu, but we decided to try it and I think with the coming of fall it was even better than a chocolate cake. Moist, just enough sweetness, deliciously spiced, and so good with the pear and cream.

I’ve eaten here three times and there’s always some choice the chef’s have made that I question. The last time I went I ordered a fried chicken entrée. It was served with a bell pepper salad on top. Everywhere the salad was, the buttermilk breading on the chicken was soggy. So I got 2/​5ths of a fried chicken that was crispy and more than half that was soggy.
Service was great, but the kitchen was slow.

Service was slow even after 1:30 on a Monday. Food was good but a bit expensive for what it was.
Halibut w green beans. Fish was soft and tender. Flavored well but nothing spectacular.
Their verdion of spaghetti and meatballs. Thick noodles cooked al dente w delicious meatballs.
Pear sorbetto w muscat giclee or jello w grapes– loved the pear flavor.

My wife and I went here for our anniversary. Had reservations for 8pm and it was packed. The service was perfect: helpful, kind, and checked in just the right amount of time. I forget the wine that was suggested bit it was an amazing velvety red. I want try the downstairs section.
This was by far the best restaurant we’ve been to in the East Bay. Wish there were more like this. A real gem.

I really enjoyed my meal here and thought the service was excellent. We shared a roasted beet and carrot salad to start which turned out to be my favorite part of the meal. For entrees we got a duck dish and a dish with poached eggs, polenta, and pork ragu — both had a number of components and were nicely portioned (though unfortunately one of the eggs was overcooked). The only thing is the tables were very close together in the section we were seated so it was easy to listen to neighboring conversations.

Pretty disappointed after hearing hype about this place for so many years.
The service was excellent, but the food was just ok. Nothing special.
We had pizettas, pasta, salad and duck. Everything was pretty mediocre. Nothing bad, but nothing great. Even the chocolate dessert was forgettable.
They do have a nice wine list with good wines at decent prices. Overall I wouldn’t waste my time here, with so many good options in Berkeley.

Really yummy lunch place! I’ve been here a few times.
There were great choices from appetizers to main course to desserts. The salads and tartars for appetizers were amazing. Very fresh and well made. The main courses were delicious as well, but not the best I’ve ever had. The salmon was good. The pork was great though! And overall, desserts were great too.
The people there are super friendly and there is great service. Don’t forget to make a reservation ahead of time!

When one has the day off on their birthday, and their other half (cough, cough) just so happens to be lucky enough to get the same day off — and they already feast like kings — it is only right they choose a place living up to par for the celebration.
And so we chose to head to Berkeley, not to step out of our SF comfort zones, but so we could be near the UC campus and revisit it. Surely had lunch reservations, arrived early, and got seated upon arrival when the doors opened.
We each started out with a glass of wine — I had a Timorasso. We first shared 6 oysters with lemon and shallot vinegar dip, very exquisite. Next (and already perhaps best, really hard to beat), was the Side Dish of Anchovies served in Fresh Olive Oil. Holy cow, I bow down to those in the kitchen that create this, as the flavors erupt upon your taste buds!
Still delicious was the prefixed Menu du jour. While mushrooms tend not to be my BFFs, I decided that I would honor the genuine fungal favorite of my other half. The Garden Salad was just the right mix of ingredients. The hand cut noodles with wild mushroom ragù alla chiantigiana and Parmesan (i.e. the daunting dish in question) actually tasted above-​grade with such subtle mushroom flavors amidst the rest that I could not help myself in devouring it. The dessert dish of blood orange sherbet with coconut tapioca and langue de chat was fantastic and refreshing, and I’d like some more!
A half bottle of Talley Chardonnay closed our meal with a smile. Very good service from multiple people. Was a mandatory 17% service fee, aside from an optional tip. We paid both — totally worth it this special occasion — I’m simply not withholding anything from the masses.

Although I went to Cal and lived in Berkeley for many moons, I had never tried Chez Panisse (café or dinner). It was too expensive for this college kid, and fine dining environments tend to make me nervous anyway. I have many of Alice Waters’ books, and I have always admired her since she overhauled elementary school menus in Berkeley and played the leading role in the sustainable food movement. So you can imagine my excitement when we were able to make a reservation for this past Saturday at 1:45 p.m.
We BARTed in from San Francisco and walked from the Downtown Berkeley BART station to the restaurant in the Gourmet Ghetto. The Café is located upstairs (dinner downstairs). We were warmly greeted and asked to wait a moment while our table was prepared. I’ve said this before, but I hate when I go through the effort of making a reservation and then am sat at a terrible table without special consideration — it makes me wonder why I bothered making the reservation. CPC (extra «C» for «café») gave us a wonderful table in the corner of small backroom — it was private and romantic.
We were immediately provided with water, bread and butter. We then ordered beers — Allagash for him, and a Prairie Hop Ale from Oklahoma for me (expensive, but a lovely choice). Our server was able to comfortably answer our questions regarding beers on the menu. We started with the California halibut tartare with marinated beets, anise hyssop, and shaved fennel, as well as the celery and sunchoke soup with chives. I loved both of these appetizers — CPC split the soup for us, which was a nice touch. I could really taste all of the flavors in the soup — it was impressive. The halibut tartare was lovely — I thought the use of olive oil was perfect. I wish I knew what brand of olive oil that was — it was transcendent.
For my entrée, I ordered the fried petrale sole with meyer lemon sauce. It was hard for me not to inhale this dish — the batter was unobtrusive and the fish was fried lightly and cooked to perfection. YUM. My boyfriend ordered the pappardelle with crème fraîche, mint, pancetta, asparagus and peas. I loved his dish — but of course, I’m going to be hard-​pressed to dislike a dish with crème fraîche (unless it has mushrooms). All of the ingredients were fresh and palatable, and I love the texture of pappardelle.
The bathrooms are hard to find after a rather large beer with 8% ABV, but I’m pleased to report I made it.
The service is a bit formal, but I guess they cannot be Chez Panisse without formal service — they tout themselves as fine dining, after all. The prices are expensive, as one might expect, but since this is not somewhere you go on the regular, you can splurge for a meal this good. CPC is definitely worth a visit. Loved it.

Wir hatten hier ein großartiges Mittagessen. Wir hatten Salat mit gebackenem Ziegenkäse, gebratenes Fischfilet auf leckerem Wurzelgemüse, Muscheln und Scampi mit Aioli, Apfel-​Quitte-​Tarte mit einer Kugel Eis. Und leckeres Brot mit Butter gab es satt. Alles hat klasse geschmeckt. Der Service war zudem unaufdringlich und super freundlich. Alles ist sehr gut organisiert. Okay, der Espresso am Schluss war doch etwas grottig. Trotzdem: Sehr empfehlenswert — rechtzeitig dran denken, einen Tisch zu reservieren, denn spontan geht hier nichts.

There is a reason why this place has a solid 4 stars and the restaurant 4.5 and over 1,000 reviews: Chez Panisse c’est tres bien, c’est tout. Impeccable service, incredibly delicious food — the menu changes every day, comfortable and artful ambiance. There isn’t much else to say other than it’s worth visiting if you haven’t yet.
I am a big fan of Alice Waters’ mission to use only ingredients sustainably and locally produced. There was a little bee house outside my window on the roof top — apparently they make their own honey too? Awesome.
Be sure to book your reservation well in advance. It can be difficult to get one.