Oakland's Restaurant Week came and went. It was nothing to write home about so it's ironic that I'm doing just that.
We kicked things off with Millennium, a very highly rated vegetarian restaurant. A for presentation, C for taste. When the most memorable part of the meal was the carrot-shaped door handle, it's not a particularly compelling place for return visits.
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| Millennium: A for presentation, C for flavor |
From there we went to Mama in Adam's Point, Oakland. I couldn't complain about the food - the portion size was the only thing lacking - but was a bit let down to realize their Restaurant Week "offer" was just the same prix fixe menu on offer every other weekend. A solid Italian restaurant at a reasonable price.
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| Mama: solid Italian fare. Pasta game not on point with Passione Emporio, but a wider selection and a greater mastery of the dessert menu. |
We wrapped things up with attempt #2 at the Berkeley Boathouse as part of Berkeley's Restaurant Restaurant Week, which kicks off at the tail end of Oakland's. Last year, having explicitly made a reservation for Restaurant Week, the hostess seated us and casually informed us that they were "all out" of their Restaurant Week offerings. No substitutes, just a regular menu. That disappointment led us to Passione Emporio, an excellent Italian place that we have revisited, so it wasn't a total loss. This year, after seating us, the hostess impatiently swung by every couple minutes reminding that there was only an *hour* left in which to place our order, and then she dropped that Restaurant Week was only for the dinner hour. Cute.
