Stanford’s Restaurant & Bar

This was my first time trying this place out and it was okay. Right now they have construction going on so the parking was across the street which wasn’t too bad of a walk. The waitress sat us right away and the waiter asked us for drinks the minute we sat down. Brunch offers mimosas for about $ 5 and refills after are about $ 1 I figured why not just order it. They were super strong mostly just champagne and a hint of orange juice.
We started off with the calamari appetizer and artichoke and spinach dip which came with chips and pita bread it was so good. The prime rib hash brunch entrée sounded good so I ordered it. It came with a cinnamon roll which was great on flavor but hard as hell. The dish was good but the roll it came with again was hard as hell, it crumbled apart when I tried cutting it in half. The homemade jelly was super good so made up for the cons. I will have to try this place out again for sure.

Probably my most visited restaurant ever. Been coming here since 1999. At some points in my life, I’ve eaten here 5 nights a week.
The happy hour is the most well rounded of anywhere.
The new deals like ½ off bottles of wine on Wednesday are fantastic.
Rotating soups have come back to being very tasty from years of them being all bland.
Inventive cocktails and overall happy staff make this a great place for lunch, dinner, late nights and a great steal date.
I know the current parking situation is killing them, but that’s why it’s empty, not because anything is less than stellar. Even weekend brunch is super tasty and under attended.

Not too bad of a place. Service is great. Buffalo wings are always on point here. Crab cakes are okay… very fine meat and lots of breaking and filler.

Ate here a couple of days ago with my fiancé and I have to say that their ribs were delicious! He even commented saying they’re probably the best ribs he’s had in the Bay Area, and trust me, for him to say that was a huge statement.
The ribs literally fell off the bone every time I picked one up– definitely recommend it! They also have happy hour which seems to be around the busiest time, but overall it’s a great place to catch up with people for a few drinks and good food!

For happy hour or if you want to catch the Warriors game it is a great spot. We sat at the bar and were treated very attentively for the 3 hours we were there.
My Caesar salad with salmon was delicious. My drinks were great. Our party of 7 was well taken care of. 4 stars because some people got their food a little more overcooked than usual. Their salad with seared tuna looked great, that will be my next item to try.

Wow, what a mess.
We were greeted politely by the hostess who showed us to a table with her favorite waiter. The table was sticky, as though it hadn’t been wiped down.
The waiter appeared and didn’t know anything about the hostess or why she would say that he was her favorite. Okay, so we’re either starting with lies or we have communication issues.
We were told about the specials. A drink order was taken.
While the service was slow, it was reliable.
We ordered. I wanted an entrée size salad to go with my meal because I’m odd and actually really, really like big salads.
When the plates came out, mine was a larger plate than my wife’s, but the difference in the amount of lettuce on each plate was indistinguishable. That is, I got a bigger plate, but not more salad.
After our salad plates were taken, we waited 27 minutes (yes, I counted) before the food was brought. The waiter suggested that my food would be tasty «and cooked to perfection.»
My beef tips in a sauce weren’t cooked medium-​rare to perfection, but were well-​done and in a goo that must’ve been a sauce that had simply super-​reduced over the course of the evening.
I sent it back. I requested a filet mignon instead. The topping was to be sautéed mushrooms.
Almost 20 minutes later, as my wife was finishing her meal, my food arrived. A perfectly cooked and seasoned filet mignon with just barely warmed up raw mushrooms.
While apparently the fish with shrimp special was good (my wife’s order) they just showed failure after failure on my order.
What’s worse is that both the manager and the waiter are conflict avoidant. After the first incident, they deliberately avoided even having eye contact. If you’re the manager, you have to own the bad with the good.
They took care of my portion of the bill.
I think the comments that note that this place tries to be more than it actually is are spot on. This was the ONLY restaurant on OpenTable that had any availability and there’s a reason for it. They earned the emptiness of the place.
I suppose you could say that it’s like a Claim Jumper restaurant but trying to be fancier. At least Claim Jumper is consistent in its offerings and can get the differences between a side salad and an entrée salad and medium-​rare vs. well done.
They have a loyalty program (like, get your card stamped for coming here) which only tells me that they’re looking for a client base for whom that’s the driving reason to come.
Yeah… Glad I went and now there’s no need to come back.

Have been here several times and tried a variety of things off the menu.
Not bad, not great, just ok.
The ambiance is nice, the restaurant looks classy than it’s prices and have good customer service.
Probably won’t be back.

I was introduced to this restaurant by my fiancé when we first started dating over 5 years ago. They have an awesome happy hour menu with food and drinks with great prices! Their Mac and cheese with bacon is everything!!! So cheesy with a lot of real bacon chunks, not dinky sized bacon bits. This is one of our go to places when we’re in Walnut Creek.
On our recent visit here, which was about one week ago, we went in during lunchtime for the first time. We usually go during happy hour. But at the time we went, they didn’t start happy hour yet, so we settled with their lunch menu. I ordered the kale salad and a side of Mac and cheese with bacon. The kale salad was so delicious, and it was a big portion. My fiancé ordered the Ahi tuna, however paid an extra $ 6 to get extra ahi tuna — I took a bite of the ahi tuna and it tasted very fresh with a good amount of flavor. The only thing is, it came with too much salad. lol. The plate was pretty much all salad with a few pieces of ahi tuna, even though he asked for extra. So I’m guessing the ahi tuna portion would have been a lot smaller if he didn’t ask for extra.
Overall, we love going here to eat, but we’ll wait until happy hour to go again — the food is great, atmosphere is cool, and the parking garage is right next door. They used to have a parking lot right outside of the restaurant, but it’s currently under construction.

I expected our second Easter brunch together to be even better than the first. Unfortunately I was very wrong based on my restaurant pick. Typically we go to Danville since they have our favorite places but this year everything was booked way in advance. So I found Stanfords on open table and made a reservation. The reviews were mixed however being in Walnut Creek I assumed it was still pretty good. Once we arrived I couldn’t help but feel I was cheating on the city of Danville. Our reservations were for 11:30 but despite arriving 20 mins early we were seated right away. It’s a nice place, friendly staff, clean atmosphere something just felt off about the whole experience. We started with the buttermilk chicken strips with 3 different dipping sauces, chicken was perfectly cooked and actually saved the entire meal. I ordered the prime rib hash which I sent back almost immediately, the meat was fatty, overly seasoned with pepper and tasted awful. The waitress was very apologetic, even the manager came over to ask if I wanted anything else. I politely declined and ate some of my girlfriends French Toast with bananas, which is worth a try. 3 stars for the good service, 1.5 stars for the food. Again not a bad place to try just didn’t fit into our high expectations for when we dine out. I guess I will stick to the Danville area from now on.

Stopped by for a late lunch at two. The place is lit dim and has a cool look. The menu is short and sweet and almost hard to choose cause most sounds delish.
We started off with some specialty cocktails which were poured well and the buffalo wings. Eight wings with a good amount of meat.
Then we split the chicken club and it came with options we opted for a salad. The Sammie was awesome, with thick cuts of chicken and avo. The salad itself was a surprise. House salad with bacon, croutons and egg.
A little pricey but at least it was good and our server was great.

The service was great from the moment we walked in the door. Our server made great suggestions.
The crab cakes were fantastic. Great flavor and presentation.
Try the onion rings. They are huge and come with great sauces. It’s really an elevated version of a classic.
The Mac & Cheese was lovely. It had a bold bold flavor and the pasta was perfectly cooked.
I also had the tacos with chicken and they were good. I think they would have been better with the fish so I will have to try that next time.
Great experience all around and I would highly recommend this place.

I am actually thinking this is more like a 3.5 star review. 3 stars for food/​service but extra half star for even providing a late night happy hour!!! Very rare in walnut creek and will have me coming back.
We came on a Friday night at like 10 pm for late night Happy hour. We were able to grab a booth (4 person group).
One person ordered their cup of chili. It looked super good with shredded meat and lots of cheese on it! Came with tortilla chips too!
We all got the pomegranate margarita and hated it!!! Sent them back. They literally tasted like cough syrup and cheap tequila! Yuck. We got the desert cocktails after that, more expensive but tasted better. The chocolate martini is super strong. Its $ 10.
We ordered deserts, also not on happy hour. Friend got the chocolate cake, and wasn’t super impressed. It looked like a chocolate cake you microwave in a mug. It literally came out in a mug. There was a mountain of whipped cream on it and very little cake. It deflated.
I had the cookie skillet. Nothing any more special than a pizookie at bjs. Both deserts ran $ 8.
Overall, it was okay. Probably one of the lower end places to go in WC. But if you are looking for late night happy hour you cant beat it…

Delicious food, great deals, very friendly and courteous host, server didn’t get couple of our orders right but overall It was a pleasant experience.

My husband and I tried this place for the first time and were so pleased with the service ambience and food. The food was prepared so well and was tasty. Drinks were good as well. Prices were very reasonable. Had the spicy ahi tuna roll, popcorn shrimp, meatloaf and the steak Cobb salad with a few cocktails. Definitely will be back.

Stanfords is a great spot to eat late in Walnut Creek. It has the same quality food you would expect from a place that serves post-​volleyball meals. We love the Happy Hour Specials and there is plenty of seating.

This place needs to get it together. After our disappointing experience almost 2 years ago, we went back. This time, food was just ok, service was friendly but disorganized. Having worked in many estaurants in the past, there is clearly poor management going on here. We were a group of 10 plus a baby. I ordered a dirty martini, it arrived clean as a whistle. Whatever, not a big deal. I ordered the tenderloin tips off the nightly specials menu. It was supposed to come with sweet potato and kale hash, and asparagus. It showed up with the hash and mashed potatoes. The server was clueless about it when I asked, then told me he’d have to check the menu because they don’t have asparagus. What? Why would you put something on your specials menu that you don’t have? Plus, who wants sweet potatoes and regular potatoes? I ended up with green beans, fine, but there were only about 6 teeny tenderloin tips in my meal, it was mostly mushrooms and sweet potatoes. My husband ordered the crab and artichoke sandwich which was runny from too much mayonnaise and had almost no crab in it. At the end of the meal, about 4 of us had food left and only one person was offered a to go box, I had to ask twice to get one. My sister’s drinks (she had 2 American Mules) were inconsistent in both appearance and taste, water wasn’t refilled, plates weren’t cleared. It wasn’t an unpleasant dining experience by any means but at a place like this I expect better. It felt disorganized and chaotic, not how a high end restaurant should. I’m not expecting perfection by any means, but there is clearly a lack of communication among the staff, which results in inconsistencies.
Get it together, Stanford’s!

It may be a chain but we enjoyed it. How often does it happen where everyone loves their food? We all loved it.
Casual, comfortable, good service and food.

In the Walnut Creek area shopping? Stop by Standfords! Their happy hour is from 3pm-​6pm daily and again from 9pm-​close! I was in the area for quite some time when my tummy started telling my brain I was starving! I needed to refuel my body, and I did it at Standfords.
So happy it was happy hour because I wanted everything. We ended up getting ribs and rings, prime rib sliders, and the Mac and cheese. For under $ 30 I got to fill my belly. The ribs and rings were actually ribs and ring. We only got a giant ring. Haha the onion was breaded and fried to perfection. The ring didn’t crumble as I was putting it on my plate. Their fall off the ribs was great. I could eat that again. The prime rib sliders were okay. I probably wouldn’t get that again. It was served with waffle fries though. The Mac and cheese was perfection! We finished the entire bowl. Even added it to the prime rib sliders to finish it up.
Service in the bar area was great. Our server was attentive and friendly. She refilled my water without asking, didn’t rush us since she knew we might want to order more, and she was prompt with giving us our bill.
I will definitely be back again to try other items.

A nice little place, that tries to be a bit more fancy than it actually is. We were in the Walnut Creek shopping district (or whatever it’s called) and eventually our tummies started talking to us, and they weren’t happy. They needed food. We were very close to this place so we made the venture over.
For a Sunday afternoon, there was absolutely no wait. Service was on the average side. I ordered a long island ice tea, and let me tell you this thing was watered down with syrup. I couldn’t taste any alcohol, at all. No joke. I’ve never had a long island ice tea where I didn’t feel anything at all.
The burgers we had were pretty good. They must really have fresh cows in the back, as the meat really did taste pretty fresh. I’m a huge burger guy, so when the burger is good, I’ll typically give the place four stars, which is exactly what I’m going to do right now.
Not the best place you’ll ever go to, but they do make good burgers.

No, no and double no. We came here with a group of 8 and the only thing good about this meal was our sweet server and our friend’s chocolate martini. It is sad, because the menu looks and sounds delicious, but everything we ate was bad.
The meatloaf sucked — the only thing good about it was the mashed potatoes, and those were just OK. The little wonton things were awful and sat atop a duo of questionable sauces. We questioned if there were possibly previvously frozen, as the middle of one of them was a lil’ cold. The chocolate lava cake (which was really more like a soufflé) was lackluster. My cucumber gin drink was unnecessarily sour.
A guest’s pulled pork sandwich was concerning — it tasted like they used a fajita seasoning packet instead of, ya know, bbq sauce, etc. She loves pork but hardly touched this sandwich. I, like others, agreed that the garden salad was the best part of the meal.
I have to say, this establishment really needs to fix their menu, get a new head chef, or do SOMETHING to improve the quality of their dishes. Again, the menu SOUNDS delicious, but is executed poorly.
It is no wonder this was the only place in Walnut Creek where we could get a reservation for 8 on a Saturday night!

This review is entirely based on their awesome happy hour.
(I have yet to try their regular menu, maybe anytime soon since I’m a satisfied customer.)
Their HH is a whole entire section with booths, high tables & bar. You can walk-​in, & if luck is on your side you can choose the best seats.
The food & drinks are good & the prices are not bad. Order the baby back ribs & prime rib slider & avocado roll, their awesome! The service is quick & efficient. My only concern is, the ambience is a little dark & it lacks the clean & neat feel (but maybe this is my OCD, kicking in though)
But nwy I’ll come back for sure, esp they gave me rewards card & I’ll get points for every dollar, also accepted with their sister companies. Great right?! ;)

This was my first time here. Price is reasonable. Clean and nice décor. Server was very professional. We received the food within an average time. Good! Taste of the food was okay! Nothing to exciting. The booth table is a bit tight! Overall experience was good.

This review will be only for the dinner menu– excluding service and HH. I used to love this restaurant, would always come here for special occasions. I recently come here on a double date, and wtf happened?
So our table of four ordered the calamari appetizer, a spicy pepperoni pizza, a rib eye steak and a filet mignon with mushrooms. I think the total was approx $ 100. In my opinion, sooo not worth it!
1. The calamari was super soggy and luke warm. It as if the oil they fried the calamari in wasn’t hot enough or its been sitting out for a super long time and it was microwaved. Either way– yucky. $ 8.95
2. Pepperoni pizza was average– $ 13.95 (i think)
3. Rib eye. Uuuuugh not worth $ 28! First of all, the steak was cut very rugged, and thinly. The side of veggies was WAY under cooked, the green beans still had the taste of ‘raw veg’, it was basically a salad. The worse part about it was the sauce that came with the mushrooms. My GOD! It was a mix of thickly cut onions, mushrooms, KETCHUP, and wine. I have a feeling that maybe it was because they were so busy that the chefs did not have a chance to properly make the sauce.
Imagine the sauce that comes with the Chinese style tomato and beef dish, now put in some splashes of wine, simmer until warm– but not enough for the alcohol to cook off, and that’s what was on top of our steaks.
It was such a shame that our possibly awesome tasting steaks were disguised in ketchup :(
Oh i just remembered, last time i was here they served this awesome cheesy bread, they didn’t have it this time.

Upon approaching the restaurant, i expected a fancy steak house type of ambiance but it was more on the casual end, which is great — I came with a group of 17 people.
The hosts were friendly and helpful and explained that because they were booked with bigger parties, our table was not yet ready and directed us to the bar — fine with us!
The rest of the party came and we slowly took over one side of the bar — Oops. Although we were loud and enjoying ourselves, the bartenders and cocktail servers near by were lenient and understanding and still offered us good service.
When we got to our area, our server Melvin allowed us to settle in and let us determine the pace of our visit. We moved our tables around since we had such a big group, some of us had to sit in booths rather than the round tables. — Thanks for letting us do that Melvin.
He immediately got us more drinks from the bar and our appetizer orders in, quick service was much appreciated since our reservation was at 8:15pm — we were all ready to eat.
Several orders of calamari came in, I indulged in crab cakes and onion rings. Both were tasty and would go back for HH for drinks and appetizers the next time I’m in Walnut Creek.
We were all about halfway done with our appetizers and Melvin announced he would take our entrée orders. Very organized and, once again, quick. There was 17 of us, he did a very good job at quietly checking in and making sure we’re taken care of but not completely disrupting our conversation but to be quite honest we were all fairly loud so maybe we wouldn’t have heard him very well anyways. Haha
Overall, the food was tasty and good. No complaints, no send backs with any of our dishes and many of my friends know better than to eat food that’s disgusting — none of the dishes were. Melvin was phenomenal in taking care of us. Friendly, humorous and attentive.
This place helped make out annual Christmas dinner get together memorable.

Stopped in for lunch while doing some Christmas shopping. Always love lunch here. I ordered the soup and salad. Salad is great and includes big pieces of bacon. Soup today was tortilla. It was delicious. Love the beers on tap. We sat in the bar and had outstanding service.
Definitely made holiday shopping a better experience!

This place is just plain GROSS. The only thing I really liked here were the onion rings. Those are really outstanding.
The carpets here are REALLY GROSS, Place is drab and dingy, the steaks are NEVER cooked to the right temperature the first time (At least for my wife and I) they are mostly dry with no seasoning whatsoever. The wait staff never comes by on a regular basis, even when the place is slow.
Reminds me of the old steak houses in the 1970’s, sad and depressing.

I have only been here for happy hour twice.
— So, this review is on its HH ONLY.
One late afternoon, I dropped by here for HH, while my wife was shopping at Macy’s. I had such an excellent HH experience that I went back there again 2 days later for more!
MY ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCES
— Details you can skip, just go enjoy!
The small FREE parking lot is conveniently located across its inviting front entrance. Its small, nice, comfy patio is on the side of the building visible off the curb.
Its entrance gives the impression of a high-​end restaurant, yet quite inviting, what with its red brick façade and beautiful plants, not to mention its prominent HH sign. Inside the entrance is a stylish, classy foyer, with 2 very friendly hosts there to welcome guests. There’s a relaxing bar counter and lounge at the corner of a large dining area. The popular cozy patio is off by the street side, accessible through the bar. On a week day afternoon, I was impressed to see that it was very well staffed even during HH!
During HH, draft beers were only $ 4 each. I first had a Stella, pretty good as usual. Then my nice young lady server told me about the local brew, Lagunitas IPA. I took her advice and tried it out. Indeed, it had the smoothness and right bitterness! I liked it so much that I bought a case from Costco’s later!
— BTW: I found out that Heineken had just bought out Lagunitas! — A smart move for Heineken!
For food, my nice server recommended «Baby back ribs», $ 8, off the HH menu. It was tasty and tender; the meat fell off the bone and melted in the mouth. The single, large onion ring added flavor and presentation.
This friendly server also introduced me to the restaurant’s FREE loyalty card, which included several restaurants. I signed up, as it looked like a good deal and it was FREE.
Two days later, on a beautiful early Sunday evening, I worked up a thirst and appetite from my long walks on the Iron Horse Trail and around town. My GPS App somehow led me back to Stanford’s for HH (ALL DAY Sunday’s) again! This time I had 2 Lagunitas IPA draft, Baby Back-​ribs (yes, AGAIN), AND an order of Onion rings! Yup, the single onion ring in the Baby ribs order was so good that ONE ring was simply NOT enough! They hit the spot!
I had a different server this time. She was just as good and friendly as my previous one. At departure, I was pleasantly surprise that my previous server from 2 days ago actually came to say goodbye, said she remembered me! She also made sure that I had presented my Loyalty Card to earn the points. Wow, their staff surely knew how to make the customers feel welcome! I’ll be back next time in town, probably even bring my wife along, and stay for dinner after the HH.
HH SCHEDULE
— ALL DAY Sunday!
— M-​Sat: 3 – 6; 9-​closing.
Sept 2015
—

What attracted me to this place was the name of this restaurant. I thought it would be expensive here but an average meal for less than 30 $
Staffs were friendly, but slow on the service even though there wasn’t much customers around. The inside is much bigger than it looks, kind of dim and has a outside patio.
Food was ok, loved their drinks

First stop of three on the Friday Happy Hour Hop.
The service was great, we were greeted upon our entry and seated immediately, well patio seating is first come first serve and there was an empty table with our name on it. The only minor setback was the wait staff didn’t know how to adjust the umbrella to block the sunny sun.
Crispy Cod «Street» Tacos m
Avocado purée, fire roasted tomato salsa
Hickory Seasoned French Fries m
Served with chipotle-​ranch dipping sauce
Buffalo Potato Wedges m
Crumbled blue cheese, green onions, blue cheese
dressing
Classic Caesar Salad
Romaine, parmesan, housemade garlic croutons
Pulled Pork Sliders m
House BBQ sauce, southern slaw, brioche roll
And of course some libations.
Stanford’s Georgia Peach
Southern Comfort, Peach Schnapps, fresh lime sour, honey & plenty of wine.
Overall the food was good, service was good and the so were the prices.
I will go back, not too sure when, but I will.

I hear that the happy hour is good here but this review is for dinner. I came for a early mother’s day dinner with a party of 10 and it was ok experience. The service was a bit slow at times which was surprising being that it was not very busy in our section.
I had the full rack of baby back ribs for $ 27.95. A bit high on the price but they were good. The ribs were nice and meatey but without any smokey flavor. It didn’t have too much sauce being that it was a dry rub but I would order it again. The 10 oz sirloin looked small and didn’t look worth ordering for the $ 25.00+ price tag. If I came again, I would order either the ribs or burger. The burgers looked tasty as well.
If you don’t want to a step up from Outback steakhouse but don’t want to spend Fleming’s prices than Stanford’s is the place. I’ll be back for the hh!

Made the happy hour tonight here and it was amazing! Lots of great food to choose
I got some amazing ribs, Mac and cheese and spinach artichoke dip! Good service too !!

So I’ve been here a few of times, and I’d like to think of this place as sort of an above-​average version of TGIFridays. Don’t get me wrong, Stanford’s is a great place during happy hour, and really dig the HH prices. But the day I actually dined in, instead of sitting at the bar, I just didn’t see anything special about going here. Basically meaning, nothing on the menu stood out in my opinion.
~ Things I’ve ordered:
~~ Country Fried Calamari ($ 10.95) — I have no idea what happened to this. It’s good’n’crispy, but dayam these were some tiny squid rings! I’ll probably never order these again.
~~ Stanford’s Mac & Cheese ($ 15.95) — Now this is always a winner. The swiss, fontina, cheddar, and bacon bit pieces simply make for a great combo. OK, so if you are craving this, my suggestion is to order it during happy hour. They practically give the same amount with the happy hour order, and only cheaper.
~~ Baja Style Fish Tacos ($ 17.95) — Love these crispy pieces of halibut, sitting on a soft corn tortilla, topped with coleslaw… Mmm, mmm, I dig it!
~~ Widmer Beer Battered Fish and Chips ($ 18.95) — Only I ordered mine with broccolini instead of chips. I need to lose weight, so the greens should help. Not sure what’s up with these halibut pieces, but mine were small. Again, if you want to save some dinero, get the cod instead for $ 13.95.
~ Service: I’ve usually received fair treatment at the bar, in which I have no complaints. The last time, dining in, was with Courtney. Her service was helpful and excellent, only there were a few times she missed my water glass not being filled. Twice it was filled by another waitress, not sure ‘water duty’ was someone else’s duty. But no biggie!
~ Dining in: The dining area seemed clean and is nicely set up with booths and tables combined. This is great as you do feel a bit of privacy. Some of the booths even have hooks on the side for you to hang your purse or jacket just in case. A comforting date night type of place. Maybe a good second date, but this wouldn’t be my choice for a first.
Overall, yes I enjoy this place. It’s clean, it’s fun, the food is decent, but I’ll only return for the bar during happy hour.