Musical Offering

Great music. Great coffee. Very relaxing place.

I really like this place. Good food, good coffee, good atmosphere. Café and music shop (CDs and vinyl) combined. Really amazing.

An oasis of gentility: clean, roomy, serene, polite service, a small but fine list of dinner selections. I was thrilled to find this place after rejecting the many blocks of crowded noisy places nearby in the U district. Had wine, salad, seared salmon on poached asparagus. Excellent.
This Saturday night, many of the patrons were apparently dining before scheduled performances, and the woman in charge was striving to accomodate their schedules and provide related information. She suggested to me a scenic route thru campus to my destination for the evening: Aurora Theater. Much appreciated.

First off, I think your IQ jumps about 50 points just by walking in the door. The lunch crowd looks mostly academic (professors, researchers, etc). I would not be surprised if the cure for cancer is discovered over a lunch discussion here. Probably due to the «mature» ambiance, the classical music playing in the background, and the fact there is no wi-​fi, you will see few students dining here.
The food is very fresh, healthy and well presented. I usually get their salads (tuna nicoise or cobb) but they also have great sandwiches. It’s a comfortable place to grab a bite alone, or catch up with a friend/​colleague. The staff is friendly — you order at the counter and they deliver to your table. Lunch seating can be busy but I’ve always managed to get a table. Since there is no wi-​fi, you don’t get people hanging out for hours on their laptops after buying a coffee. Generally people who come here eat lunch, chat a bit with friends, and then go, so the tables turn fairly swiftly.
It’s a nice café with very much a «Berkeley» feel to it. Definitely recommend it, especially for a healthy lunch by the campus!

This is a lovely café with a comfortable ambiance and friendly service. I came here for lunch and the special of the day was a roast beef sandwich, and it was yummy with a mustard/​wasabi sauce.

In the need for some me-​time, I took a book to Musical Offering thinking it would provide a comfortable atmosphere for reading. I was 100% right. It’s an adorable little place. The classical music streaming from the speakers was at just the perfect volume to block out the voices around me while giving me masterful accompaniment to the story in my book.
The service was very friendly.
I ordered the tomato soup which was pretty good. I also got a salad with balsamic dressing which was good. The baguette and butter deliciously satisfied my carb craving for the day.
I’d order the same meal again, although I’m pretty sure I’d try something new in the future just to test more options.
I didn’t do any exploration of the store part of the shop.
The key to the bathroom is buy the register. The bathroom is actually next door in the book store.
I recommend this experience and atmosphere. The food is satisfying too!

As a café and a lunch place, they do fine. The lighting and atmosphere are great. However, the wifi is pretty bad. I almost always end up using my hotspot here. The wifi will seem to doing fine one minute, then suddenly slow down or put me offline. This can be a bummer for you if you plan on actually doing work here.

I walked in here today needing a place to sit down, warm up, work on a paper, and wait within reasonable distance of a place I needed to meet someone within the hour. The barista was friendly and while I was in line, before I was up at the register, she asked what I would like (a mocha), for here or to go, what size, etc. Then when she told the cashier my order, the cashier flat out told me «We are only serving for lunch entrees inside right now. You either have to sit at the tables outside, order a lunch entrée, or take it to go.» I have never been so rudely addressed at a business in Berkeley where the main business function is serving customers, nor have I been told to leave because they refused to serve people making «my kind of order» at that time of day. Like seriously, if you want my business, don’t tell me I have to sit outside in the 40 degree weather, pay you more money just to sit inside, or leave completely. That is very poor customer service. I do understand that they consider themselves a classy business establishment and want to discourage students from flocking here during finals week (which, unfortunately, was what I was trying to do), but if they didn’t want student customers they should have chosen a different storefront location. They are literally across the street from the busiest part of campus. End of rant.

Five stars for their amazing «homemade» baked goodies! Never too sweet and made with love.
The berry-​berry muffin and slices of pumpkin cake always make my day.

Always a pleasure to have their hot chicken and focaccia sandwich. It never disappoints! Their agues frescas are quite refreshing (ask for lite or no ice to get your money’s worth).
Seating is limited so get there before the lunch crowd does during week days!
What does disappoint is the banana nut bread. Dry and salty. Bakery where it is procured could use a half teaspoon less on each loaf and some additional ripe bananas. It’s a hit or a miss with the banana bread. Be warned.

Good food (get the baguette and brie breakfast toast) with a scooch or pretentiousness that I guess could be mistaken for character. That being said, it’s a nice spot and I suppose it’s nice to not have wifi sometime.

Such a lovely café! I really enjoy working here because it has such a nice ambiance, but even when I’m just in need of something on the way to class, I often stop in. You can reserve tabkes too which is great for meeting with professors and classmates.

Note: This is only a review of Musical Offering as a lunch place. As a café, it seems like a pretty cool place, although I’m not one to study in cafes.
The sandwiches offered on the lunch menu at Musical Offering are nothing special, and are way overpriced. I ordered the BLT with avocado for $ 9.50, and it was a big disappointment. If you are going to charge ten dollars for a sandwich, you better not use bland un-​toasted wheat bread that could be found at any grocery store. Acme Bread is located in Berkeley for crying out loud. The bacon was not fakin’, but the sandwich could have used more of it. The LT and avocado were fine, but the sandwich really needed another element. This was something that I could have just made at home. The proprietors at Musical Offering should make a trip down to Summer Kitchen and order their BLTA to learn what a decent sandwich should be.
The side salad that came with my sandwich was nothing special either. The dressing was cloying and the salad could have used some more ingredients (perhaps something creamy or savory or crunchy; really anything would have improved it).
For a place that promotes the arts so strongly, it is especially sad that the lunch at Musical Offering lacks any bit of creativity.

A pleasant option if you are in the neighborhood, and very convenient if you are seeing something at Zellerbach. Pleasant service, and good (but nothing special) food. As the name implies, it is located in a music shop, with a good selection of CDs, etc., with an emphasis on classical.

Great Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado on Multigrain Bread! And of course, listening to The Town Quartet playing Beethoven String Quartets! The Latte was well made and I love their Baguette and Butter. Casual but very nice. And The Town Quartet, what a treat! Listening to chamber music the way it was intended. Very nice Sunday Morning!

It’s good if ur into musical things but their waiters sometimes could be a bit moody. I go there a lot just because it is not crowed as other café around the campus

Very cute café.
While most cafes in Berkeley have a hipster vibe, Musical offering distinguishes itself by going for a more sophisticated, classy atmosphere. The café is of course still very casual, but the classical music playing in the background is a nice change.
The brunch menu is very enticing. I ordered a baguette with melted brie and honey. The incorrect order was initially brought to my table. The delicious-​looking, melted-​cheese croissant sandwich tempted me as I internally debated to speak up or simply let it go. The stuff corrected their small mistake before I had finished my internal quandary.
The tasty food and nice atmosphere make it perfect for a casual coffee date or a pensive solo brunch.

I have studied a couple of times at this café and although it isn’t one of my preferred locations for studying, it is a very nice and cozy café. It is more of a European style café, and they even have live music sometimes. I really enjoyed listening to the small string ensembles that played there a few times while I was studying, it was a refreshing study break. I love the ambience of the place and the way the interior is set up.
Onto the food. Their sandwiches are yummy, warm and cheesy, but a bit on the pricey side (it is a fancier café after all). I would highly recommend their hazelnut mocha, which basically tastes like a mocha with nutella in it. It is just the right ratio of sweetness to bitterness from the coffee, and you can definitely taste the hazelnut flavor. I’ve ordered the hazelnut mocha many times and they consistently make the hazelnut mocha taste just as I expected so they have great service as well.

A nicely decorated café that serves solidly good food and beverages. Also a classical music CD shop. There are students studying, but in my limited experience, there are lots of the older Berkeley clientele, having lunch with friends. It’s a convenient location near UC Berkeley campus and has a pleasant vibe overall.
Note: The beautiful art on the walls are for sale and are affordable. At least, when I was here, the smaller paintings were $ 100. I presume there is some sort of rotation and this supports local artists, so feel free to support and buy some art.

I LOVE MUSICAL OFFERING.
Their sandwiches are so freakin’ delicious. I find an excuse to eat here every time I visit Berkeley. The bread, the filling, the spread, EVERYTHING.
Fave sandwiches:
Roasted Eggplant & Caramelized Onion ($ 7.50) on toasted focaccia with melted Provolone cheese, tomato & balsamic dressing
Hot Chicken on Focaccia ($ 7.50) with melted Provolone, tomato & garlic aioli
NEED I SAY MORE?
Portion size is on point, atmosphere is great but does get quite loud so wouldn’t recommend it as a study spot, also service is a little on the slow side so I wouldn’t hit this place if you’re on a time crunch.
Perfect place to catch up with friends & enjoy a delicious «get in my belly» sandwich :3