Haven

One of my favorite places in Oakland. My sweetie took me here for my birthday last year and I loved how everything was seasonal and dependent on what was fresh at the time. I had a salmon dish, and my fiancée had a vegetarian pasta dish. Most of the appetizers were meat, but they went out of their way to give us some vegetarian options as well. The cocktails were strong and delicious. Definitely will return for a special occasion.

I tried to email this directly to the restaurant using the email at the bottom of the receipt, but I got a bounce message saying that the email has been disabled. Sigh.
Here’s what I wrote:
Hello,
I absolutely love Haven. I have dined there a handful of times this past year, and every time it has been stellar, until this past Saturday night.
The food as usual, tasted wonderful. In particular the breaking bread course was above and beyond my past experiences, and I am so happy to have access to such fresh, simple, and delicious food. Thank you for that.
The reason I am writing is because of our service experience. We were seated at 8:30pm, and there was a large party finishing up nearby. This meant we got a mediocre table, but we were happy to sit there since I knew the food would be worth it. Simon was our server, and the meal started off fine. We ordered a bottle of wine and waited for the first course.
There was a small delay in getting the first course out, which was fine since I figured the kitchen was catching up after the large party and we had some wine, and Simon apologized for the delay. But he blamed the kitchen for being a «new group of people, so who knows what’s going on in there.» This was marginally distasteful, but I let it pass.
We got our first course about 40 minutes into our seating, and loved every morsel on the plates.
Then we waited.
A table near us was seated around 9:30pm, ordered and received drinks, took their first course and finished it, and we still did not receive our main course. At about 10:00, Simin came by and apologized for not filling our wine glasses, and that we had to do it ourselves. He did not pour any additional wine at that point, or offer to get us any more wine or drinks.
At 10:30, we got our main courses at the same time the new table did. The food was good, but we had run out of wine by this point. We couldn’t get anyone’s attention to order more wine, so when the meal came we ordered cocktails because we figured they would arrive by the end of the meal and be delicious with dessert.
When we had finished eating the main course, Simon came by and realized we didn’t have our drinks, and yelled across the bar to the bartender for our Manhattans. The bartender jumped on it and we got the drinks really quickly after that, but Simon leaned over and said to me, «you heard me say that the first time, right?» At this point I didn’t really know how to interact with him. Dessert came, and we were the last people in the restaurant. Even the table that came in after us had received their dessert and paid their bill before us.
I am not a review queen. I don’t like posting negative reviews, because I don’t like tainting a place that I generally enjoy. I did feel compelled to share my experience with you directly because it left a bitter taste in my mouth. I’ll be back, and my so will my dining companions, but it did break the magic of Haven.
The highlight of our service was a young man who was running food, and very polite and gracious with us. He felt like our de facto server because he explained more of the food to us server, and came by to check in on us when Simon was gone for a solid 45 minutes before our main course. He was fantastic, and I hope he gets tipped out by the servers because he deserves it.

This place was delicious! I love the breaking bread plate. It was unique and surprisingly fulfilling with the bread. I enjoyed every dish. The skin on the fish was perfectly crisped. They even made me a strawberry lemonade by request. I only wish they had more fruity flavors for their dessert selection.
Service was great. I called on mothers day and they were able to squeeze me in for a late lunch. I would definitely love to come back

This is a review for the dining room/​prix fixe menu. We had a really nice time at Haven and, across the board, the food was excellent. My main complaint was that it was too much food and, judging by the plates we sent back heaped with food and noting that other guests were doing the same thing, this seemed to be expected.
The «breaking bread» course was lovely and diverse, and our favorites were the burrata and the octopus. The octopus and I became BFF forever — it was smoky and just a bit spicy with a light acid bite and each nibble sang show tunes in my mouth. The salad that followed was fine, although a bit underdressed and ungenerous with the toppings (cara cara oranges in this case).
Sadly, for our main course we were already really full from the bread, and despite the plates being not gruesomely packed, the contents of said plates were remarkably decadent and so it was an overwhelming course. We couldn’t get through the side of asparagus and the waiter whisked it away without offering to pack it up for us, which to me indicates they are used to people not being able to finish.
Dessert was thankfully quite petite, with little dabs of cremeux (essentially pudding), piles of crumbled sable, and a perfect sphere of roasted strawberry ice cream.
Other than that? The cocktails were superb. Service was fine. It was a quiet night but the server seemed totally absent for most of it, although he was informative and pleasant when he did come to the table. The ambience is lovely, a nice balance of bay area upscale casual.
Just. Don’t. Fill up. On bread.

Haven… was… HEAVEN!
My husband made dinner reservations for my 40^th (ah yes the big 4 – 0!) :) and I’m SO glad he did. First-​timers at Haven, we opted for the 4-​course pre-​fixe dinner.
The food started trickling onto our table served by our courteous, professional maître d’s beautifully orchestrated. Water (flat and sparkling) and libations never left unfilled.
The food was amazing. Perfectly seasoned. Perfectly flavored. I feel guilty because prior to arriving I looked up Haven and by the looks of the serving sizes in the pictures online I really thought we would need to stop by In-​and-​Out afterward — NOT the case at all! We left Haven with our tanks overflowing!
We love the ambience at Haven and plan to return soon! Hats off to Executive Chef Matt Brimer.

What’s not to like?
Awesome food! (Pre fixe)
Awesome drinks!
Tried about ~4 diff cocktails… All were first rate. Try the one with bee pollen. Pretty unique.

This made my third visit to Haven and I am glad I came back. The menu is very different from what I remember from my previous visits. I came to find out that the chef has only been on board for about five months and I really like the changes I saw. The cocktails have always been good, but this was first time enjoying the four course prix fixe menu. The menu seems to change often but we started with an absolutely beautiful bread board. All three «breads» were delicious, the pates, mousse, hummus combinations were very different from each other and it was great fun mixing and matching with the breads. One note here, we were on the earlier side of dinner and the timing of the initial dishes seemed very rushed, but this seemed to correct itself as the restaurant began to fill up. Also with the initial course, was a squid dish that was as beautiful as it was flavorful. Alas, the crab fritters were not up to the other food presented, they were not very crabby and a little too salty.
Next came the asparagus dish that was just annoying. It came in a chipped bowl with what was described as a muffin. The «muffin» was too big to eat in one bite, there were no knives left to cut it with and the bowl did not allow the fork to get a flat edge to cut it either. Beside all that, we just had a ton of bread in the previous course.
The next course of beef short rib made me happy again. The portion was not huge, but by this time I was getting full (did you see all that bread I ate). This little main was super tasty and succulent, served with yummy greens that were the perfect foil for the richness of the short rib. The smoked spring onion on the side was served whole and may have been better if some of the green part was left behind because it ended up being a little stringy and slimy.
Lastly, we the pomelo sherbet which was just the right size and super refreshing. We loved all of the staff; they were friendly without being intrusive and it felt like all of them were keeping a close eye on us to make certain things were flowing smoothly. One of them smelled really good too!

I was recommended by a friend to try this place out. I know that Jack London Square has been rising into the Oakland spotlight as a destination when visiting the Town, with a variety of new restaurants opening up shop near the waterfront.
Haven was one of those places I just had to try, and my boyfriend and I make it a point to try out a new restaurant at least once a week.
Ambiance was great, the restaurant was decorated with a modern, yet intimate touch. We made a reservation for the three course prix fixe. Which included a bread course with a selection of rillette, mousse, and hummus and a variety of house made bread. Also a dungeness crab fritter with scallion and togarashi. A salad, with pear, sunflower seed, mint and a honey lemon vinaigrette. I was only a fan of the hummus, it has a nice kick to it and wasn’t overpowering, it paired well with all of the bread choices. My boyfriend enjoyed the chicken liver mousse and the smoked trout rillette.
For the main course, we had a choice between a mussel stew with japanese rice, fennel, and green olive rouille. The other was a stone valley pork with turnips carrots and a yogurt sauce. We ordered one of each to try both. The rouille in the mussel stew was good, a little bit on the creamy side, but it was good. The mussels were cooked nicely, however I wish there was a little more rice to add to the texture of the dish.
The pork was cooked perfectly, just how I like it. The yogurt sauce and carrot was delicious, probably my favorite course of the night.
Dessert was a honey date cake with ice cream and whipped mascarpone, with slices of mandarin orange. The cake was little too salty for my taste, and the cake was a little dry to be honest. The mascarpone was delicious, and the presentation was beautiful.
We tried the moscow mule made with house-​made ginger beer. He had the «Overnight Mail» with aged rum, honey, line, champagne and bee pollen. That was probably the better of the two drinks, and luckily they were free of charge because our server spilled both drinks upon bringing them to the table! We were the first guests in the restaurant that evening and it wasn’t a bother at all, if anything it made us chuckle.
After dinner we headed to the bar and enjoyed a couple of shots and called in a night. Again, the ambiance was great, and the vibes were quiet and more personal.
I don’t think we’ll be visiting again for the food, but maybe drop-​in for a drink or two.

Not cheap. But the quality of ingredients and cocktails is pretty high.
Would go back, probably when I am near Jack London Square.

Overpriced and bad service. Had the chicken wings, black cod fish and the burger. The fish was the smallest fish I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. It was 1.5″ x 1.5″ black cod. Ate it in 2 bites. Sure it tasted okay, but was not worth 26 bucks. The burger was also so small! Service was so slow, food took over an hour to get to us, we devoured in less than 15 – 20 minutes. Our server was also nowhere to be seen.
This place use to be good, with items on the menu, like bone marrow. All of that is gone now. Possibly switched owners or chef. Not coming back here for sure

We were just there on Saturday while still during restaurant week we opted for the lounge menu. We had the smoked trout rillette for our appetizer and it was incredible, one of my favourite things we had. The bread was some of the best I’ve ever had.
For entrees I had the pork belly pasta agnolotti (similar to a ravioli) it was NOT good, the texture of the filling was off, the salt content was unbearable and I could not finish it mostly cheese no beef. He had the bucatini, which was delicious! Definitely would have this again.
We skipped dessert since the choices were not appealing to us so we went to another spot we like to chat and have our sweets.

I came to Haven when they first opened and I’ve been back a few more times now. I keep getting more and more impressed. Everything from the bread (by request only) to the agnolotti ravioli was properly portioned and the flavors spot on. I’ve also had their rib eye with duck fat potatoes… amazing!
Service is friendly and non-​pretentious. A total win in my book!

I love restaurant week! Haven’s menu offers a cocktail, an entrée, and a dessert.
I ordered the Negroni cocktail — a bit too sweet for my taste but it was still good. If you prefer darks, the Boulevardier is a good choice. My roommate and I split the Black Pepper Rigati (with pork belly, smoked cipollini, brussels sprouts, and sunchoke) and the Haven Burger. The Rigati was tasty but nothing spectacular. The pork was way too overcooked and hard to bite into. It couldn’t had a bit more sauce. The burger was good — apparently they slow cook the patty on low heat overnight before they grill it. Impressive.
The highlight of this meal was the butterscotch pudding — with olive oil cake, chicory ice cream, and granny smith apple. Oh my gosh! This was so delicious! I would’ve licked the inside of the little mason jar if I could. Mmmm.
Not a bad place to try during restaurant week.

Awesome prix fixed menu and great wine selection. Staff not exactly the most attentive, but mostly friendly.

Stopped by for a drink after walking around Jack London Square. Great place. Had a boulevardier to drink, the black pepper ragati, and the chocolate mouse+Douglas fir ice cream to finish. Great food.
Good vibe too. Oldies on the speakers, and cool nature ambiance with the dried out plants and moss covered branches on the ceiling. Friendly staff that paid just the right amount of attention.
Definitely worth coming back to.

Oakland Restaurant Week Review: $ 30 prix fixe menu.
Cocktail:
Boulevardier — this drink tasted just like black licorice upon the first sip, but ended up being tolerable the longer I let it sit and dilute. It’s served in a petite glass with a huge ice cube, which means the portion is just large enough for you to sample the drink as opposed to feeling it. :-)
Shared Entrees:
Haven Burger — my favorite dish
Black pepper rigati — this was ok, but it was a little disappointing as it seemed like fancy macaroni n cheese.
Shared Desserts:
Butterscotch Pudding– (butterscotch the consistency of pudding over a shortbread cookie and garnished with pear. ok, too sweet for my taste.
Chocolate Mousse– light fluffy mousse with circus chunks, covered with chocolate cookie crumbles. — unexpectedly delicious.
The ambiance here is nice, dim lights with an upscale, yet casual scene. Overlooks the jack London peer. Servers were nice and seemed to take pride in their work.

First time visitor and this place was amazing! I came to Oakland from Los Angeles to visit some friends, family and just to get out of town for New Years. The boyfriend and I made reservations to this place (on ½/​16) and I was blown away. The food was spectacular, the service was excellent and the overall experience was incredible! The décor was pretty awesome too =-)
We were dining with some friends and while we were waiting for them to arrive, our waiter gave us a complimentary shot of a new drink they were working on for the season. Just extremely nice! For dinner I had the beef dish, which I paid a little extra for, but it was well worth it. Even the salad was amazing! I honestly felt like I was being treated like royalty. You can tell the chefs there pay close, close attention to detail and taste.
I will dine here every time I visit Oakland!

I came here for my birthday a couple weeks ago, it was some of the yummiest foods I’ve had. Everything was cooked beautifully and delicious. Definitely super excited to come back someday for dinner. Staff is super friendly and professional.

Second visit… and once again, a full 5.
An intimate space where you immediately feel welcomed, the appetizer plate, a diverse array of spreads and breads, sets the tone for food that’s lovelingly made, artfully presented, and delicious.
I had the king salmon, my companion had the waygu steak. Both were melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. But the salad and crab cake intermezzo were equally memorable. As was dessert.
I should mention that the drinks were large size, came quickly, but with unique little service touches.
We end 2015 with Haven at the pinnacle of our personal Top 100 List. Location, ambience, warmth, service, abundance, this small restaurant has a unique take that makes all patrons feel the way we did… feted and pampered by creative food and a dedicated staff.
It’s been quite a while since we did little other than talk about a restaurant on the 20 minute drive home… can hardly wait to return to Haven.

I’ve been to Haven twice the past few months. Both times we received top notch food and service. Breaking the Bread course is amazing, my favorite being the sardines and pâté that accompanied a variety of breads. I also loved the charred squid, salmon and short ribs. Yum! The GM, Massimo is always friendly and was there to make sure that we were content. I’m looking forward to my next visit already! Thanks Haven team!

Our first experience with Haven, was incredible. This past time, not so much.
For $ 65/​person, I would like to believe that the wait staff would be consistent with customer requests, and actually made sure that the entrée was at least WARM when it was delivered to the customers. We almost wanted to pay and leave, because our main dishes took so long! When they finally came, they were almost cold, and the Halibut was slimy. I know that we probably should have sent it back, but, we were so sick of waiting. I was really hoping to have the same great experience, but, I don’t think I will be coming back to this place.
P. S. Chop your lettuce more consistently. We are not dinosaurs.

Was very anxious to come here tonight for dinner.
After reviewing their menu for dinner, I was disappointed. It was misleading with the different menus they had online and in restaraunt. I wanted to ordered their rib eye they had online but in store they didn’t serve that anymore, so k decided on bone marrow and also now which they don’t serve. So I was frustrated and ended up paying $ 14 for chicken wings that was just regular sweet wings. I feel as if they try to build a sophisticated menu and is quite not there yet, my girlfriend pasta dish was overly salty. Ehhh I don’t thinks I’m coming close to this restaraunt ever again, unless it’s to pass by to enjoy the scenery of jack London.

My boyfriend and I came here for a personal special occasion and had the four-​course tasting menu.
Highlights:
– The charcuterie meats. The pâté was lovely. The bread itself was not as impressive as it could have been for a course labeled «breaking bread» (plus we ran out of bread).
– Winter squash soup with pomegranate inside. Yum! Both of us agreed this was the absolute best bite of the night.
– The chocolate spectacular we had for dessert. So good! Really great texture with this caramel/​nutty brittle addition.
– Drinks: my barrel-​aged Manhattan was divine and my boyfriend’s martini was delish (although, more than one olive! Com’mon!) and our bubbles + wine were lovely.
Lowlights:
– Salad was super boring.
– Mains. We had chose to each have one of the main course options: a pork dish with bacon lardons and the trout. Both were small and underwhelming. The trout was particularly «meh.» The greens on my pork were just chewy mush. For a pork + bacon dish I wanted it to be much more decadent. Maybe some sort of sauce would have helped? Everything was cooked correctly, though.
It was a celebration night so we really appreciated the beautiful atmosphere and wonderful service. Everyone was extremely helpful and attentive.
I’m not sure that this would be my first choice for a special occasion next time but it did feel fancy and special and we enjoyed the night. Definitely some happy highlights!

What I really enjoyed about this little gem is that it felt very intimate. Pre fixe menu with breaking bread appetizer and a choice of two entrees and dessert. The breaking bread appetizer was very delicious, but the entrees were a tad bit on the small size. No problem though because I filled myself up more with some drinks from the chic bar. I would go there on a date with one other person but I think it may be a little awkward with a larger group or with someone I don’t know very well since it is a little «family style». Good service and we were checked up on enough where we knew they cared, but it wasn’t overbearing.

I only had the salad and a couple of drinks. place was nice. ambience was a little loud, but overall better than what it looked like from the outside. however, it was a little too dark for my eyes. would have been nicer if it was a little brighter.
rating:
food: 3 (had a salad. was good.)
service: 3
ambience: 4
price: 2
overall: 3
wouldn’t come back here. it’s not my style… it’s more for older people…

WOW!
What a gastronomic extravaganza with the updated prix fixe menu at Haven. For a very reasonable $ 65 per person, we were treated to an innovative gourmet four course meal overlooking the harbor. The first course was called «Breaking Bread» with a platter of wonderfully different yet complimentary items including burrata, pickled sadine, chicken liver mousse, pâté campagne, bay shrimp, harissa hummus, Monterey squid, gem lettuce and watermelon radish. This was the largest and most diverse first course that we’ve enjoyed at a restaurant. The next course was a dry farm tomato soup with haricot vert, and parmesan cream. The choice of entrees was oxtail roulade or seared swordfish and we both opted for the swordfish served with squash, smoked eggplant, green olive vinaigrette accompanied by a marble potato and new onion, The dessert was a dark chocolate cremeux with lavender meringue, hazelnut sable, and raspberry ice cream. We paid a corkage with our own wine but a Nero Cellars Wine Pairing was available for $ 30 per person. The atmosphere is very contemporary and youthful. Jack London Square has become a haven for great food and Haven is leading the pack.

6÷1÷15: I haven’t given a 5 to a fancy restaurant in a long time. A very long time. But this one has that rare combination of great ambiance, great service, and of course simply amaze-​nutz food!
Not much choice the night we came – just $ 49 /​person for a prix fixe meal. And at first glance the menu looks really lean. I mean, I looked and thought, «really??? $ 49 for 3 courses… sigh…» Well, let me tell you, it’s a TON of food. Unless you are still eating a whole medium pizza at a sitting, you WILL BE STUFFED.
Got some drinks:
Italian Smash $ 12: A sweet and slightly tart cocktail tasting like a combination of a mojito with tea. Very balanced but personally I would have liked more alcohol flavor for kick. REALLY small though – probably about ½ a cup worth of drinkable liquid. ⁶⁄₁₀.
2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, Brea ‘Margarita Vineyard’ $ 14: Not dry, pretty fruity. It’s okay. ⁵⁄₁₀.
And then your King & Queen’s meal begins…
«Breaking Bread»: … This is The Very Most intricate charcuterie /​cheese plate I have ever had. Completely amazing…
Breads:
Large cracker type: You’ve probably had many of those cracker-​like breads at some of the fancier restaurants (which I personally usually don’t like), BUT you’ve never had one like this! The most flavorful variant of this ever. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Hot savory flavored flat roll thingy: This reminds me of the warm savory breads you can get at various Chinese bakeries where they mix in green onions or chives and other stuff for flavoring. ⁸⁄₁₀.
Sliced rustic bread: Unlike the other 2, not all that special and served cold. ⁵⁄₁₀.
What’s on the huge plate:
Burrata: OMG burrata heaven… a TON of the delicious supple and wet cheese. And it’s the good stuff. Some flavors mixed in too, along with plenty of olive oil. ⁷⁄₁₀.
Pickled sardine: Of all the various choices on the large plate, I think this one was the weakest. Was certainly fish, and I think maybe slightly pan fried. The smashed avocado was kinda just that. Not sure if it worked perfectly with the fish. ⁵⁄₁₀.
Chicken liver mousse: Wow… I think this might be the very best chicken mousse /​pâté I’ve ever had! ULTRA smooth. Very deep flavor with some alcohol-​sourced complexity. Beautiful rich color. The chicken crackling was very interesting too – we’ve all had pork rinds and salmon skin sushi, but chicken? Why not? Chicken chips! ¹⁰⁄₁₀.
Pâté campagne: Not as impressed with this one as the chicken liver mousse. This pâté is closer to a head cheese – kinda a crumbly sausage. Flavor is not nearly as intense, somewhat mild. ⁵⁄₁₀.
Harissa hummus: That’s some great hummus. Very smooth and rich, yet light and refreshing at the same time. ⁷⁄₁₀.
Other accompaniments to Breaking Bread:
Cider glazed brussel sprouts: DAMN GOOD. Hell, might be the best brussel sprouts I’ve EVER had. Lots going on there, including some sweet and sour, and some spice. Personally I would have liked the sprouts to be crisped more, but my gf thinks they’re perfect the way they were. No bitterness whatsoever. As good as it ever will get. ¹⁰⁄₁₀.
Monterey squid: Nice squid – briny and flavorful. Pieces are tender and perfectly cooked. ⁷⁄₁₀.
Young greens: Fancy title for salad. No over-​the-​top ingredients here. Just ULTRA fresh veggies. I meant, really dang fresh. Tastes like they just plucked this stuff from a private garden. ⁸⁄₁₀.
Foie Gras $ 20: This was not part of their prix fixe, and was what they called «optional.» I’ve not had foie gras for a long long time, but finally our politicians reversed their senseless law and got something right for a change. Welcome back oh delicious fatty liver!!! Their version celebrates this delicacy well, not meddling with its purity, but surrounding it in lots of accompanying flavors. Very nice for the very reasonable price. ¹⁰⁄₁₀.
Main:
Braised Short Rib: Mmmm. One of the better fancy short ribs I’ve had. Very generous amounts of fat give it very good richness and tenderness. I can tell it started with a nicely marbled specimen. ⁷⁄₁₀.
Mushroom Farro: It’s vegetarian. What can I say… ha ha… alright, well, all the ingredients taste harmonious with each other, and like the salad, tastes fresh. Loved the shishito pepper which worked marvelously well with it all. Too bad it’s vegetarian, ha ha. Alright, personal bias aside, I think it still kinda feels like a side dish, but a very good tasting one. ⁷⁄₁₀.
New Potato: I think this is the most disappointing of all the food. Kinda plain veggies. The «curry yogurt» was interesting – I don’t really taste any curry. ⁵⁄₁₀.
Chevre Cheesecake: Yeah, I’m not a fan of goat cheese. But this cheesecake definitely tamed its sharpness and used it in the best way possible. Wonderful taste, and very creamy. Not your standard cheesecake though – kinda like one turned upside down with the crust on top. And I LOVED the crust. ⁸⁄₁₀.
So full…
Such a heavenly night.
#american #frenchfusion #french

Visited Haven for a girls’ brunch.
Hungry and hungover, I ordered the burger with a fried egg, which sounded like perfection. (Looked it, too:
).
I ravenously dug in. With runny yolk running down my fingers, I thought the burger was just OK. The potatoes, though… yum! Something about the salt/​flavoring on the skin was divine (kinda drooling right now just thinking about it). Nicely done, folks!
Since a coffee the size of my head was in order, I opted for the two-​cup carafe… all to myself. It was perfection.
Other than that, service was fine and the location was nice. Probably won’t be running back anytime soon, but if I do, I’m getting a basket of those potatoes and another two-​cup carafe of coffee, please and thank you.

Pretty cool place located in unsuspecting Jack London. It’s been years since I’ve stepped into Jack London because it was always really ghetto and I never felt exactly safe there or leaving my car there either. I just remember the super ghetto movie theater and sketchy people from over ten years ago. Just several years ago I came back for a Unilocal event and it seemed a lot better but never had the desire to want to come back. But in the recent years there’s been a lot of new restaurants that have been popping up so we gave it a whirl.
Haven, super cool and sorta hipster. We came for a dinner reservation on a friday night but it wasn’t packed with about four other parties there. We were seated immediately. I couldn’t help but admire the grape vines and bay leaves (I think that’s what the server said?) hanging from the ceiling as soon as we stepped in. It looked like a little piece of the wild in a restaurant.
The pre-​fixed menu started with a large platter of breads and spreads. Everything on that menu was given to us, the only decision we had to make was the main entrée option and we both went with the braised beef. The beef was okay, i wasn’t amazed but it was good. The appetizer spreads platter was interesting. The octopus with red pepper sauce was so delicious, it was like a korean dish my mom cooks a lot. The bowl of salmon with rice crisps was a mouthful of bursting rainbows and lucky charms. It was heavenly. The rice was what made it. Crisp on the outside but such full airiness on the inside. Loved.
In addition we had the option to add on a special plate of foie gras for an extra $ 15 and it was so delicious, so worth it, you need to get you some.
The dessert cheesecake was the deconstructed kind with a side of a fresh lemon icy slush, whatever it’s called, it was delicousssss. I prefer an actually constructed cheesecake but it’s not even something I think about if the dessert is amazing, but this one was just okay. When the flavor isn’t 100% there for me, it makes it a little better if it was visually pleasing.
Before the meal ended I was so stuffed and I was surprised. I didn’t think I would be so full I wouldn’t be able to eat every bite but it was a struggle to. For a pre-​fixed menu for two, plus a special foie gras, the price was pretty decent and cheaper than other places we’ve had for prefxd menus. AND we were stuffed!

Meh, my dinner experience here was definitely not as satisfactory or amazing as the other reviews on here.
First, we made a reservation for a group of 6 and even when we got there on time, we still had to wait about 45 minutes for them to clear a table for us. Unacceptable in my opinion. I would have been ok with a 15 – 20 minute wait but 45 minutes was just too much. If it wasn’t for my friend’s birthday we would have definitely left and went elsewhere.
The waitress made up for the wait by giving us complementary appetizers on the house. (Her personality also made up for the wait because she was just too darn cute).
COCKTAILS:
(+) Yuzu Sour: A+ It’s really refreshing and light if you’re looking for a «girly drink». Love love this! Maybe I’ll come back here just for the cocktails.
FOOD:
(/​) Monterey Squid & Chorizo. This was the most popular appetizer and so we had to get it but to be honest, it wasn’t anything to rave about. Very simple dish and lacking some flavors. It’s a good dish to start and clean your palette but definitely wouldn’t recommend this if you want to try something new.
(+) Pickled Sardine on Toast. Definitely do recommend this dish though! The salty-​ness of the sardine and the pickles surprisingly complements each other well. Very interesting dish. I would definitely come back again just for this dish.
(/​-​) Salmon. Portion size was just right but the salmon was nothing spectacular compared to other places I’ve tried it at (and believe me, since I’m a pescetarian, I’ve tried a lot of salmon dishes).
(-) Trumpet Mushrooms. Even the waitress warned us to try something else besides this dish because it can be very bland after awhile. My friend got it because he insists that he loves mushroom. It comes in a congee like consistency an while the flavors were delicious, it definitely gets boring after while. Don’t recommend if you want something that burst with flavors.
Overall, the menu and the food did not «WOW» me. Very mediocre compared to other places. The brunch menu definitely looks better so I’ll try that in the future if I’m ever in the area! The food took way too long for them to bring out to us (probably 45 minutes wait after our appetizer for the main entrees). The service was just meh. I think it’s a hit or miss for some people depending the menu and what you get, but it was a miss for me. Don’t know when I’ll be back, but I rather try other restaurants around the area before coming back here for a second round.