SF Bay Area eateries

Ratings are on a scale of 0 to 24. The scale used to be 0 to 10, so restaurants written about before 2012 may have only had their ratings adjusted by formula and not by hand (hence all the 2s, 5s, 8s, etc.) The scale works as follows:

An asymmetrical 0 to 24 scale may not be intuitive, I realize. But as a rule of thumb: a double-digit score means I liked it, while a single-digit score... less so. Also, as you might expect, scores from many years ago may not be very reliable, so do check the dates.

Click on the column titles to sort the entries!

Name	Cuisine	Address	Last update	Score
Zaika	Indian	University btw Shattuck/Milvia, Berkeley	2012-02-09	9
I had the buffet here. The pea curry and chickpea curry were not to my taste at all, but the dal makhani was fine and the bhaturas were a guilty pleasure.
Platano	Salvadoran	University btw Milvia/Shattuck, Berkeley	2012-02-08	11
This place was pretty good. I got the lunch special with a pupusa stuffed with beans and cheese, a side of plantains, and an avocado salad. All were tasty.
Alfonso's Cafe	Cafe	San Pablo btw Bancroft/Chaucer, Berkeley	2012-02-06	8
This is a little shack tucked away between a liquor store and an auto body shop, and looks to be a one-man operation (and presumably the man in question is Alfonso). Apparently the crepes are the main draw, and I had a savory one with artichokes and tomatoes and things. It was okay. The crepe was very crunchy/crumbly; I'm used to them being a lot spongier even when they're cooked relatively long. The proprietor seemed nice.
Christopher's Nothing Fancy Cafe	Mexican	San Pablo btw Marin/Dartmouth, Albany	2012-02-04	7
The food here certainly looks good, but the heavy hand with the tomatillo sauce is a killer — I've had three things here (chile relleño, enchilada, chimichanga) and they've all been drowned in the stuff. That said, the food tends not to burst with flavor otherwise, and it's quite expensive, so I don't think this place will be joining my regular rotation despite its proximity. (The chips and salsa are good, though.)
Bowl'd	Korean	Solano btw Santa Fe/Curtis, Albany	2012-02-03	13
This was actually my introduction to Korean food — it had long been the biggest dark spot in my culinary map, like North Korea on a nighttime satellite photo. As noted elsewhere on this page, I generally don't like East Asian food. But this place is now in my regular rotation. I pretty much always get the dolsot bibimbap with the mixed rice, mung bean pancake, and citrus dressing. I still haven't developed a taste for most of the little side dishes, though. (Exceptions: I really like the radish soup and the spicy fried tofu. But the various kimchis and jellies... no thanks.)
Ideale	Italian	Grant near Vallejo, San Francisco	2012-02-02	7
I got a pizza margherita here, and while it was not bad, it was also about as bad as a pizza can be while still meriting the term "not bad." Very thin crust, uniform orangey smear on top. Tartufo for dessert was pretty good, though not $7 good.
Slow	California	University near Milvia, Berkeley	2012-02-01	9
Here I got what was billed as a caprese sandwich with truffle aioli. It was reasonably good for a small croissant sandwich with out-of-season tomatoes, but if there was any truffle essence in that aioli I couldn't taste it.
Tangerine	Deli	Solano & Tulare, Berkeley	2012-01-30	4
This place has soups, sandwiches, a daily frittata... and a case of salads. I ordered the combination of three salads, and the proprietor even let me have a fourth; in fact, the main reason I'm not giving this place a 1 is that the proprietor seemed like a nice guy. And I would bet that some people would really enjoy the food here. But I'm sad to say that apparently I'm not one of them. Of the salads I got, two fell into the "meh" range and the others I actively disliked. (I think the pasta salad may have had a goat cheese base or something, for instance.) I'm not going to warn people away, but I can't see myself becoming a regular customer.
Riva Cucina	Italian	Heinz near Seventh, Berkeley	2012-01-24	6
Not many points for the food, as my meal here wasn't good — I got gnocchi (which was bland mush) in an artichoke sauce (which was bitter). But bonus points for the service, which was excellent — attentive and pleasant without being obsessive or unctuous.
Pizzetta 211	Pizza	23rd & California, San Francisco	2012-01-22	12
I went here a few times in the late '00s and was never tremendously impressed; the pizzas looked pretty but didn't pack the extravaganza of flavor I'd expect given the prices. But the one I had most recently (mascarpone and arugula) was very good, so things are looking up!
Montero's	Pan-Latin	Solano & San Pablo, Albany	2012-01-21	11
There used to be this Mexican restaurant near my house that became one of my favorites; it was called Montero's, and was nicely low-key with a wide variety of vegetarian options. Heaping plates of awesome Mexican comfort food with just a dash of panache. Then Montero's was renamed Timbao, the menu was switched over to a list of hit-or-miss Pan-Latin experiments that were a huge step down, and I had to remove it from the pantheon. But now it's back to Montero's! And some of the old dishes are back, so though it still looks more like the Timbao menu than the old Montero's menu, I'm going to call that progress!
Cream	Dessert (ice cream sandwiches)	Telegraph & Channing, Berkeley	2012-01-19	10
This place serves a scoop of ice cream (many flavors to choose from) in between two warm cookies (many flavors to choose from) for two dollars. Kind of amazing given that at most places in the Bay Area a cookie will cost you two dollars all by itself. It's also open till midnight — or 2 a.m., on some nights. Hard to imagine a place more ideally situated next to seventeen dorms.
Troya	Turkish	Clement & 5th, San Francisco	2012-01-15	7
Here I had a "vegetarian moussaka," which turned out to be some odds and ends of eggplant and zucchini baked in a shallow ramekin of bechamel sauce. Unmemorable in either direction.
B Star	Asian fusion	Clement btw 2nd/3rd, San Francisco	2012-01-08	7
I happened to be in the Inner Richmond on a Sunday, so stopped here for brunch as I was intrigued by the prospect of azuki-bean-stuffed French toast with bananas and almonds. But it turned out that the azuki paste was gritty and not to my taste (East Asian food so rarely is). I was also intrigued by the vegetable samosa soup on the menu, but at $7 for a small and $13.50 for a large, I elected to pass.
Taqueria Monte Cristo	Mexican (taqueria)	University btw Sacramento/Acton, Berkeley	2011-12-28	13
This is a respectable taqueria. Not great. So why a 13? Because it offers that rarity: respectable taqueria food after 10 p.m. in Berkeley. Plus a sizeable breakfast menu (and I do love me a Mexican breakfast).
Pancho's	Mexican (taqueria)	Durant btw Telegraph/Bowditch, Berkeley	2011-12-01	5
This is a place is that little alcove on Durant, notable mainly for being open until like 2:30 a.m. or something like that. Not much else to recommend it, it turns out... the nachos are supposed to be the house specialty and they're pretty weak.
Jerusalem Organic Kitchen	Mediterranean	Solano & The Alameda, Berkeley	2011-11-23	5
Here I got a falafel sandwich that was bad in two ways: one, it didn't seem to contain any of the eggplant or potato I had ordered and paid for, and two, the falafel itself was really no good at all — blobs of gritty beige mush. The hummus and bread were okay, I guess. It's weird to think that on the other side of the San Rafael bridge is this exact same item done a thousand times better.
Khana Peena	Indian	local chain: Berkeley, Oakland	2011-11-09	8
This place had a bad rep among people online, but I decided to give it a chance and tried the buffet lunch; it seemed find it me, so I gave it a 4. Then I came back for a second visit and everything was really bland. I'm tempted to give it a 2 on that basis, but I guess I'll split the difference.
Bagel Street Cafe	Bagels	regional chain	2011-11-03	5
Stopped here because I'd run across a positive review and it was on the way to campus. Won't be doing that again. If you want repeat business from me, you don't have to be as good as a bagel shop in Manhattan... but you do have to be as good as Manhattan Bagel. Which this is not.
Jodie's	Breakfast/lunch	Masonic near Solano, Albany	2011-10-30	13
This is a real hole in the wall, with very tight seating for six, and most of the customers have come there pretty much every day for twenty years. So if you're into chatting it up with a bunch of jovial old characters, including the proprietor, this is your place. I find it a little taxing, myself. But it's one block away from my house, and I've had some really good things there — two standouts are the vegetarian Eggs Royston, which comes with artichokes and an herbed cream sauce on an English muffin, and the vegetarian Skip-A-Roo, eggs scrambled with a seriously tasty homemade green salsa. Even something as simple-looking as the pancakes turn out to be winners.
Tacos El Autlense	Mexican (taco truck)	San Pablo near Garfield, Albany	2011-10-30	8
I went to Gordo on a Sunday night only to find it closed due to a power outage. Now where would I be able to eat before everything closed down? The Internet suggested this taco truck and it was close enough to my house that I gave it a try. It was decent but I doubt I'll be diverting any trips there when Gordo is actually open.
Gypsy's Trattoria Italiana	Italian	Durant btw Telegraph/Bowditch, Berkeley	2011-10-27	8
This place in Berkeley's undergraduate district apparently gets rave reviews, and while I can't concur with them, I can see why it gets them. Like, when I first got to Cal, I thought Blondie's Pizza was great: for a dollar you could get a huge slice of pizza, and it was better than Little Caesars!! Twenty-odd years later, you can come here and for six bucks you can get a plate of pasta, and it's better than the Olive Garden!! Then eventually you get around to eating at some restaurants that aren't suburban chains and you realize that these weren't exactly high bars to clear.
Fresco Burrito	Mexican (taqueria)	University & MLK, Berkeley	2011-10-20	8
This was a taqueria called ïAy Caramba! when I lived three short blocks away up MLK in the '90s, but when I returned in '05 the space had been taken over by the Udupi Palace next door. Now it is a taqueria again, but run by the Udupi Palace, and feels sort of like the kind of place you might find in a country where the people have read about burritos but haven't ever had a chance to try them. This place uses saffron rice, mozzarella cheese, that kind of thing. (It also, as of this writing, doesn't seem to be completely finished!)
Saul's	Deli	Shattuck near Vine, Berkeley	2011-10-13	8
This is a Jewish deli and restaurant whose existence I somehow just registered after six years back in the East Bay. I had a pretty basic plate of eggs with caramelized onions; it was all right. Next time I'll be more ambitious.
Cafe Panini	Sandwiches, etc.	Shattuck btw Center/Allston, Berkeley	2011-10-11	8
I had a pretty good sandwich here (pesto, artichokes, tomatoes, melted mozzarella, and some other things on a toasted baguette) but, man, how long does it take to make a sandwich? Having come here directly after Saturn Cafe's flameout I started to wonder whether I'd become unstuck in time.
Saturn Cafe	Vegetarian	Allston & Oxford, Berkeley	2011-10-11	2
The first time I went here I tried the "nacho fries," thinking that the notion of steak fries with nacho toppings sounded intriguing. Turns out that there's a reason that most places use tortilla chips. But hey, that's just one item, so I decided to give the place another try. On my second visit, I just sat at my table in a mostly empty restaurant and it quickly became clear that no one would be coming by to take my order ever. So fuck 'em.
Masse's Pastries	Bakery (desserts)	Shattuck btw Vine/Rose, Berkeley	2011-10-09	8
Some very complicated and pretty desserts for reasonable prices, though it appears that the top layer of all of them is rendered hoof. I discovered that this place is actually open for breakfast and tried one each of the almond and chocolate croissants; the chocolate one was pretty good, but the almond not so much.
Inn Kensington	American	Arlington & Amherst, Kensington	2011-10-06	16
This has become one of my regular breakfast spots. I went through the following cycle with it: 1. "Wow, that meal was great! Now I want to try everything else on the menu!" 2. "I've now tried a bunch of other things on the menu and some of them were pretty blah! Maybe this place isn't so great after all!" 3. "You know, if I walk in knowing that if I order my favorite thing (the chilaquiles with that awesome simmered salsa) I will have a spectacular breakfast... shouldn't that alone be enough to land a pantheon rating?" For now I'm saying yes.
Ristobar	Pizza	Chestnut & Scott, San Francisco	2011-10-02	8
The pizza here is decent. But let's get real. I can go to the Cheese Board and order two slices, and the Cheese Board folks will throw in a third for three. This will amount to more food than a full Ristobar pizza... probably even without the free slice. The Cheese Board pizza will be significantly better ("excellent" rather than merely "decent"). And... it'll be $5.44, rather than, at minimum, $14.53+tip.
Remy's	Mexican	Haste near Telegraph, Berkeley	2011-10-01	8
So first Mario's moved from its spot on Telegraph to this place on Haste, and then closed after more than half a century... but it was never actually very good, so I didn't exactly lament. I saw this place had taken over its new space, and decided to take a flyer on it. Verdict: lots of food for quite cheap, but unlikely the much more dearly missed Montero's, it's just okay.
Tacos El Rey	Mexican (taco truck)	near Ashby & Seventh, Berkeley	2011-09-20	14
This truck doesn't serve the best Mexican food in town, but it may offer the best value: a very respectable veggie burrito, with avocado, for $4.50, and a decent taco for all of $1.25. It's usually parked on Ashby west of Seventh but is sometimes a block north on Potter.
Cinnaholic	Bakery (cinnamon rolls)	Oxford btw Center/Allston, Berkeley	2011-09-15	5
I'd passed this place a few times and decided to give it a try. The cinnamon rolls are the sort of thing you would get at the mall, and while the chance to choose your own frosting flavor is a neat twist, it really just means that a few drops of flavored syrup are mixed into your white slop. (I got macadamia.)
La Mission	Mexican (taqueria)	University & Chestnut, Berkeley	2011-09-14	11
I thought this place had pantheon written all over it after I went down late at night and got a taco that was huge and awesome, but since then I've tried an also huge but merely good burrito, mediocre enchiladas, and mediocre nachos... ah well. Guess I'll stick to the taco, then.
the Musical Offering	Café	Bancroft btw Dana/Telegraph, Berkeley	2011-09-13	11
At this place (half café, half classical music store) I had a pretty darn good eggplant sandwich on focaccia, along with some lentil soup that needed salt.
Maoz Vegetarian	Mediterranean	international chain	2011-09-01	11
After reading someone hailing this as the best falafel stand in Paris, I thought, "Oh, there's one in Berkeley — I guess I'll see whether it's any good." Falafel is decent but not revelatory; free toppings bar is an interesting concept but not exactly overflowing with delicious options; service is friendly.
the Sunny Side Café	Breakfast/lunch	local chain: Albany, Berkeley	2011-08-31	8
The portions here are ridiculously huge — the breakfast burrito is essentially a midsize sedan filled with black beans and scrambled eggs, and one dish, I kid you not, is a mix of broccoli, spinach, roasted tomatoes, and mushrooms between two pieces of French toast and topped with two eggs and hollandaise sauce on a bed of balsamic reduction. But there is no synergy of flavor in these creations; on the contrary, everything is really underseasoned. I wind up giving the salt shaker quite a workout just to conjure up some flavor.
Picante	Mexican (taqueria)	Sixth btw Gilman/Camelia, Berkeley	2011-08-27	14
It occurred to me that I hadn't updated this entry since moving to Albany, a move that turned this into one of my neighborhood places and which I go to quite regularly now, especially for brunch. It's a big, gringo-friendly taqueria with pretty decent food and a vegetarian menu.
Bacheeso's	Mediterranean	local chain: Oakland, Berkeley	2011-08-21	14
For under ten bucks this place offers a brunch buffet with an impressive array of offerings, a little different every weekend: I've seen pesto penne, vegan lasagna, stewed peaches with kale, eggplant and tofu stew, stuffed artichokes with aioli, moussaka, French toast, scrambled eggs with spinach, and much much more. It's all quite good, too.
À Côté	Small plates	College btw Taft/Lawton, Oakland	2011-08-20	5
I can't say this place is completely terrible, but I can say that it's stupidly expensive ($40+ per person) given its propensity to turn out clunkers (e.g., roasted eggplant flatbread that's mediocre at best) and to run out of food.
Bay Wolf	Upscale	Piedmont btw 40th/MacArthur, Oakland	2011-08-20	5
You know the drill: big prices, small portions. This is okay when the food is great, but nothing here has really impressed me. This was a coin flip between a 2 and a 3, but having the server flat-out forget part of my order tipped it to the bad side of the fence.
Oliveto	Italian	College & Shafter, Oakland	2011-08-10	16
Oliveto offers two menus, one for its swanky upstairs and a smaller one for its no-reservations downstairs. On either floor, expect tiny food: this is an upscale place, so while the prices look reasonable the portions are amusingly small. The $14.50 cannelloni, for instance, turns out to be four tubes the size of dry-erase markers. I guess when you order from the pasta column it's supposed to be a brief course before you plunge into your ribeye steak or whatever. Of course, the reason a place like Oliveto can get away with charging so much for so little is that the food tends to be pretty goddamn tasty. I would go so far as to say that the pizza in particular may be the best thin-crust pizza I've had in the Bay Area. I've become a regular visitor to the casual downstairs cafe portion of Oliveto, particularly during those periods when I'm up past sunrise and am in the mood for pizza at 7 a.m. (Yes, they really do serve pizza at 7 a.m. and it is awesome.)
Gather	Crunchy	Oxford & Allston, Berkeley	2011-08-06	8
The regular menu looked a little too crunchy for my taste (the pizzas with cashew byproduct instead of cheese tipped me off there) so Elizabeth and I went for brunch. I had polenta with lentils and it was pretty good, but I didn't care for the veggie scramble she got — it tasted like it had goat cheese or something in it.
the Hot Shop	Mexican fusion	San Pablo near Solano, Albany	2011-08-01	14
I'd been here a couple of times during my time in San Leandro just because I had to check out what Afghan/Mexican fusion was like; now that I live a five-minute walk away, it's more than just curiosity that makes me a regular visitor. I'm particularly partial to the artichoke burrito, but the honey-curry burrito is a winner as well.
Cafeina	Cafe	Solano near Carmel, Albany	2011-07-26	14
The breakfast wrap here is small and kind of expensive — but it's delicious enough that I keep coming back.
Lanesplitter	Pizza	local chain	2011-07-07	2
Had some bad pizza here in 2005: clumpy, mealy cheese, and the sauce and crust were not so hot either. Decided to give it another try six years later. It was just as bad. Avoid.
Casa Latina	Mexican (bakery/taqueria)	San Pablo near Delaware, Berkeley	2011-07-05	5
Passed this place, realized I pass it a lot and had never gone in, looked it up on Yelp, read a lot of rave reviews. "Nachos are crazy good!" "The vegetarian nachos here are delicious!" No, they are slightly below average. Inferior chips, gloppy orange cheese, bad guacamole.
Barlata	Spanish	Telegraph & 49th, Oakland	2011-07-01	8
Heard about this place, decided to give the vegetarian paella a try. It was okay but skippable. Giving it a 3 rather than a 2 because the bread was pretty good.
Sweet Adeline	Bakery	Adeline & 63rd, Berkeley	2011-07-01	8
Here I got a slice of almond cake. It was kind of dry.
Gaumenkitzel	German	San Pablo & Cowper, Berkeley	2011-06-30	5
Tried the broiled egg breakfast here. It turned out to be a blackened on top but severely underdone pair of eggs along with a few slivers of fruit, three pieces of brown bread, and a single spoonful of citrus spread. (I wonder about the potential longevity of this place because it's huge yet always empty — I was the only one there and I got the sense they were flabbergasted to have an actual customer.)
César España	Small plates	Shattuck btw Vine/Cedar, Berkeley	2011-06-19	5
This is mainly a tapas place, so the dishes are very small. They are also very expensive. You pay eight bucks and out comes this tiny little dish of food. The first few times I came here those tiny little dishes of food were so delicious that I gave this place a top score. But each visit has been less impressive than the last, with fewer vegetarian options, and at this point I'd say that César has crashed through "disappointing" and into flat-out "bad." Can't really see myself going back.
Homeroom	Macaroni and cheese	40th & Shafter, Oakland	2011-06-07	11
This is a place that offers mostly various preparations of macaroni and cheese, with a handful of other items (salads, specials). I got the garlicky one; it was decent. And since I forgot to bring my lactase pills I won't even blame the restaurant for the fact that it made me sick for the better part of a week.
Amici's	Pizza	regional chain	2011-05-24	11
This is a Bay Area chain that turns out pizza far superior to your typical chain pizza — and in some places where I spent a lot of time in my tutoring days, like San Mateo and Dublin, it was actually one of the best choices when I needed to grab something before teaching a lesson. But not really the sort of fare that could compete in a city with better choices (e.g., Berkeley).
Emilia's Pizzeria	Pizza	Shattuck & Ashby, Berkeley	2011-05-17	11
The pizza here looks gorgeous, but it's not the transcendent experience one would hope for. Mid-list.
Chocolatier Blue	Dessert	local chain, Berkeley	2011-05-16	5
This place took over Sketch's storefront on Fourth Street. The ice cream is nowhere near as good, and the chocolates are $1.50 for a morsel barely larger than a chocolate chip... I have no idea why the chowhounds are over the moon about this place. Whutevah.
Arinell Pizza	Pizza	chain: Berkeley, San Francisco	2011-05-12	14
When I went to Cal in the early '90s there was basically only one place to get anything resembling New York pizza, and this was it: large, irregularly cut, very flat slices served by the drummer for Crucified Vomit. It looks like the sort of place where they drop the pizza on the floor and the pick it up and brush the cigarette butts off it. And yet it's actually surprisingly good! At least, I'm always surprised when I venture in.
La Bedaine	French	Solano btw Peralta/Tacoma, Berkeley	2011-05-08	14
This place has vacuum-packed meals that are almost exclusively for carnivores, and the few vegetarian entrees I have tried have not been to my taste really at all. But La Bedaine also has a lot of surprisingly inexpensive desserts — $2 for a chocolate tart, for instance — and many of them are just heavenly.
PIQ	Italian	Shattuck & Addison, Berkeley	2011-05-05	8
This is an Italian bakery/cafe with some significant usability problems. See, there's a menu board, but you can't actually order off it, because the actual food for sale is in a display case, haphazardly labeled and bearing little resemblance to the aforementioned menu board. Food ranges from subpar to decent.
Mama's Royal Cafe	Breakfast/lunch	Broadway & 40th, Oakland	2011-05-04	8
This place apparently opened the month I was born, and, dang, I sure hope I've aged better than it has. The food isn't bad, but I've had such bad experiences here (once I was seated near a mentally ill homeless man a delivering violent monologue to no one; another time the service was so slow that I got a $66 parking ticket) that I can't give it a very high score.
Taqueria Talavera	Mexican (taqueria)	Solano & Peralta, Berkeley	2011-04-25	11
Here, despite the skepticism of both the cashier and the cooks, I was able to get a vegetarian burrito with mole sauce. It was interestingly different. Other selections haven't been so hot, though, and prices are rather high.
La Palmita	Mexican (taqueria)	San Pablo near Gilman, Berkeley	2011-04-22	5
I got nachos here, and they were pretty inexpensive and the chips were fairly suitable for the purpose, but the guacamole was dubious and the beans were very bland.
Au Coquelet	Cafe	University & Milvia, Berkeley	2011-04-21	8
This place's big selling point is that it's open fairly late — you can go in at 1 a.m. and still avail yourself of a well-stocked dessert case. If I find another selling point I'll let you know.
Zaki Kabob House	Mediterranean	San Pablo & Dartmouth, Albany	2011-04-21	11
I liked the ful I got here: the beans were a good consistency, and the generosity with the garlic was much appreciated. Lentil soup with leeks was pretty much your generic lentil soup.
Iscream	Dessert (ice cream)	Solano near Colusa, Berkeley	2011-04-16	11
Small ice cream shop that replaced "Presto Prints 1-Hour Film Developing" — talk about your dead industries. Selection is small, but the ice cream is good.
Sophia Cafe	Mediterranean	Solano & Masonic, Albany	2011-04-14	8
I liked the very fluffy pita bread used in the falafel sandwiches, but filling was far too cucumber-heavy for my tastes.
Toot Sweets	Dessert (bakery)	Gilman & Santa Fe, Albany	2011-03-31	8
This is one of those places that offers "fine desserts" yet closes at six o'clock — yo, you might want to check into when dessert is traditionally eaten. But I finally did manage to swing by before it closed, and while I wasn't impressed by the cookie I got, I can't be too down on any place that offers mini German chocolate cakes.
Fatapples	American	MLK & Rose, Berkeley	2011-03-29	8
This is a landmark, at least to real estate agents who will often cite proximity to Fatapples in their ads, but, uh, it's just a little "family restaurant" like you'd find in Indiana in 1982. I got a waffle with a little thing of spreadable apricot sauce. It was okay.
La Note	French	Shattuck btw Durant/Channing, Berkeley	2011-03-26	20
Breakfast is a meal I was once reluctant to eat out for, figuring that I could make an omelette just as well at home. This Provençal place showed me how much better a restaurant breakfast could be. The Cote Nord is one of the finest breakfasts I have ever had: cream cheese on toasted levain bread with herbed scrambled eggs on top, red potatoes with rosemary, roasted tomatoes... seems simple, but it is awesome. The Cote Ouest, which swaps in an astoundingly fluffy omelette topped with delicious ratatouille, is another peak gastronomic experience. I will concede that not everything is a winner — I didn't care for the raspberry oatmeal, for instance — and I've even had, over the course of 5+ years, a couple of meals whose preparation was subpar. But all in all I have to give La Note the top spot on this page.
Meal Ticket	Breakfast/lunch	San Pablo btw Gilman/Harrison, Albany	2011-03-24	11
This place has a vibe not entirely unlike that of an east coast diner, but the food is ever so slightly highfalutin: your scrambled eggs might have roasted asparagus and sundried tomatoes in them, for instance. Quality is up and down.
Zut!	Mediterranean	Fourth btw Hearst/Virginia, Berkeley	2011-03-12	8
The menu didn't match the one online — grr. So I wound up just getting a regular margherita pizza, which was okay but not really noteworthy. A real shame that Eccolo, which used to be in this space, closed down in the economic collapse.
Bonfire Pizzeria	Pizza	Theatre Square, Orinda	2011-03-11	8
The 3 is generous: I like pizza. And, sure, it's a hell of a lot better than Domino's. But we're looking at a stiff, half-fried, weird-tasting crust with toppings that don't really meld. (The service, though well-meaning, is amateur hour: a bunch of Miramonte High kids getting confused about every step of the transaction of selling a pizza. They were seriously befuddled about the fact that I had the same name as someone who worked there — they kept trying to give him my order, and it wasn't a joke.)
Octoberfeast	Bakery	University btw Milvia/MLK, Berkeley	2011-03-01	16
Not the world's widest selection, but this place offers up what are probably the best croissants I've ever had, and yes, this is in fact a German bakery I'm saying this about. I also can't think of a better almond danish than those I've had here.
Venus Restaurant	California	Shattuck btw Bancroft/Durant, Berkeley	2011-03-01	8
The 8 is a compromise score, since my meals here have ranged from really quite good (lemon-ricotta pancakes with fresh blackberry syrup) to fairly bad (a quesadilla full of undercooked, underseasoned vegetables; burned chocolate/raspberry pancakes) to just plain ugly (don't run out of food!).
Addie's Pizza Pie	Pizza	Adeline & Alcatraz, Berkeley	2011-02-14	11
Decent mid-range pizza (i.e., not gourmet, not Domino's). Sauce/cheese combo above average; crust not quite as flavorful as one might wish.
Luka's	Southern	Broadway & Grand, Oakland	2011-02-13	11
(I guess only the brunch is explicitly Southern, but that's what I went there for.) Quite good, but also pretty expensive: e.g., $1.50 for a single slice of regular red tomato to be added to a sandwich... and the sandwich itself, at $13.50, was smaller than the equally tasty $5 sandwich I got at the similar named Luca the day before.
the Xocolate Bar	Dessert (chocolate)	Solano btw Tacoma/Ensenada, Berkeley	2011-02-13	8
I guess this is a decent enough chocolate shop, though I always feel stupid after I gape at the ridiculous prices for high-end chocolate bars in stores and then get a few pieces at a chocolate shop that weigh less and cost more. (Here I got seven for $11.) This is especially true since I don't like dark chocolate. Anyway, I recommend the dulce de leche, vanilla, and gianduja, and very much do not recommend the Aztec.
Luca	Italian	San Pablo & Addison, Berkeley	2011-02-12	14
Though the ingredients are high-end — Acme bread, organic olive oil, etc. — this is still downscale Italian: low prices, hole-in-the-wall ambiance, and messy food with big gobs of sauce and cheese. And it's delicious.
Bakesale Betty	Bakery	Telegraph & 51st, Oakland	2011-02-08	11
I guess this is mostly wholesale/catering? I walked in, saw several trays of unlabeled baked goods, had some awkward back-and-forth with the staff, and finally was able to get a scone and a cookie. They were pretty good... maybe a little cloying, but still worth an entry in the plus column.
Westside Cafe	American (Southwestern-inflected)	Ninth & Parker, Berkeley	2011-02-04	11
Here I've had some very good chilaquiles, plus some that were just okay. The gingerbread and coffee cake draw a lot of raves but I didn't find them noteworthy.
Everest Cafe	Indian (Nepalese)	Solano btw Tacoma/Ensenada, Berkeley	2011-01-28	11
On my first visit here I got a few different items, which turned out to be a good thing because if I'd just gotten the eggplant dish I'd think this place was mediocre. Instead, I switched to the navratan korma and discovered why this place gets raves. I guess we'll see which of these the other entrees come closer to.
Flavors of India	Indian	College near Alcatraz, Berkeley	2011-01-13	11
More options than usual — on my first visit I got a pinto bean curry — decently but not memorably executed.
Sam's Log Cabin	Breakfast/lunch	San Pablo btw Solano/Marin, Albany	2010-12-22	5
This place isn't terrible by any means, but the "corn cakes" I got (which were really very similar to regular pancakes) had an oddly metallic tang to them that I didn't care for.
900 Grayson	Breakfast/lunch	Grayson & Seventh, Berkeley	2010-12-20	8
Small menu, small portions (or maybe it just looks that way because of the big plates?). Tries to be whimsical but whimsy is neither delicious nor filling.
Bette's Ocean View Diner	Breakfast/lunch	Fourth btw Hearst/Virginia, Berkeley	2010-12-18	14
The first time I went here I had the scrambled eggs with salsa, which wasn't the best, but then I tried the soufflé pancake, which was very good —and which I got for free because they ruined it the first time and felt bad about making me wait (which I actually didn't mind at all because I had something to read)! I got a free fruit cup too! So big ups for the customer service.
Rick & Ann's	American	Domingo & Russell, Berkeley	2010-12-15	8
I've been here a number of times (frequently in 2007, when I was at the Claremont a lot) and have tried a number of things... orange-cardamom French toast was very much like regular French toast, and potato cheese pancakes were too heavy for me, but I seem to recall that some of the specials were pretty good.
Picoso	Mexican (taqueria)	Shattuck near Vine, Berkeley	2010-11-22	16
Burritos are nothing special, but the rajas tacos are outstanding. Nachos are very good, specials (huaraches, mole enchiladas) are very good, service is very good (friendly and efficient). Winner.
Breads of India	Indian	chain: Berkeley, Oakland, Walnut Creek	2010-11-13	14
I went here the first time expecting to find a standard Indian restaurant that happened to take pride in its breads. Instead, this is an Indian version of those places that offer a very short menu that changes every day: you generally get five curry options, two of them vegetarian, and five unusual breads along with the more standard ones. The curries I've tried have been merely decent, but some of those breads are dynamite — the spiced pea kulcha in particular was a huge winner. Prices are very good as well.
Paisan	Pizza	San Pablo near Dwight, Berkeley	2010-11-09	8
Not a particularly distinguished entrant in the high-end pizza arena. My "paisan pizza" — their name for a standard margherita, for apparently their own "margherita" cuts some corners — was pretty good, but Lizzie and I had to giggle at how her potato-artichoke pizza was clearly just a matter of someone boiling a potato, cutting it into wedges, and throwing it on top. No special seasoning, no attempt at the sort of alchemy you get at places like the Cheese Board.
House of Curries	Indian	local chain: Berkeley, Albany, Oakland	2010-11-04	11
Like the very similar Naan 'N' Curry, this Indo-Pak chain is a fairly big step down from Shalimar... which makes it a huge step up from Café Raj, the other Indian place near my house. And unlike Naan 'N' Curry it seems to have a lot of interesting daily specials. I imagine that this will be one of my main haunts in the new place.
Café Raj	Indian	Solano & Stannage, Albany	2010-11-02	5
Figured I might as well try this place because it's right next to my house, but the bangan barta I got was far too reminiscent of baby food for my taste. Wonder if Shalimar might be inclined to open a Solano outpost...
San Francisco Soup Company	Soup	regional chain	2010-09-24	5
San Francisco Bland Nutritive Medium Company.
Little Star Pizza	Pizza	chain: Albany, San Francisco	2010-09-14	11
The local pizza snobs seem to prefer this place to Zachary's, and years after trying it in SF and not being very impressed, I moved to Albany and discovered that there was a just-opened branch in my new neighborhood. I gave it another try, and while it's not bad, I still prefer Zach's. The crust is a crumbly cornmeal job which does not appeal.
Ike's Place	Sandwiches	regional chain	2010-09-09	N/A
This place has been in the news a lot because the long lines in the Castro location have led to an eviction fight. Me, I just went to the one squirreled away in a huge corporate office building in Redwood City (phone orders only). The sandwich as a whole was very tasty, with the baked-to-order bread and the house sauce as particular standouts. It was cheap, too! ($6 for a large sandwich, chips, and a beverage.) So I originally gave this place a 5. Then I went back a second time, tried the grilled cheese, and was violently ill for a day and a half. So I highly doubt I'll ever be able to bring myself to go back.
Rotten City Pizza	Pizza	Hollis & 66th, Emeryville	2010-09-07	8
An attempt to clone a typical NYC slice shop in Emeryville. Not up to Arinell's standards, let alone the genuine article.
Urbann Turbann	Indian fusion	Euclid near Hearst, Berkeley	2010-09-03	8
This place is an assembly-line taqueria, except the ingredients are Indian instead of Mexican: naan instead of tortillas, chutneys instead of salsas, etc. So far I've only gone once and thought it was about as good as Chipotle.
Caffé Delle Stelle	Italian	Main & Lincoln, Walnut Creek	2010-08-31	14
I don't normally get pasta in restaurants, figuring that I can almost always make better pasta at home, but the pasta rustica here is a concoction of orecchiette, fontina, potatoes, and truffle oil that's hard to beat. Service suffers from the lack of waiters — at lunch, at least, it's just the proprietor dashing around.
A16	Pizza	Chestnut btw Divisadero/Scott, San Francisco	2010-08-26	8
This was the only place on Robert Lauriston's list of "best of breed" pizza spots in the Bay Area that I hadn't been to, so my hopes were high. Sadly, they proved unjustified. I've been here twice, ordered pizza both times, and come away unimpressed on both occasions. The fact that I was left with a plate full of watery soot on both occasions tells some of the tale. The fact that I disagree with pretty much all of Lauriston's pizza calls tells a bit more.
Jimmy Beans	American	Sixth & Gilman, Berkeley	2010-08-23	8
The menu's description of my breakfast burrito included many ingredients that turned out to be comically small dollops on the side; the burrito itself was just a solid mass of eggs and potatoes. Lizzie ordered a waffle with seasonal fruit; Meal Ticket's pancakes are piled high with a bunch of different fruits, but this was just a few plain waffles with a couple of pieces of melon on the side. Unimpressive.
Sakoon	Indian	Castro btw California/Dana, Mountain View	2010-08-21	11
This place is extremely hit-and-miss. I very much like that it's got a lot of unusual dishes: I'd never seen avocado jhal muri before, or a peanut, coconut, and sesame seed curry. But while some of the unusual combinations are quite good, just as many are terrible. The service also has some glitches, with things coming up at weird times, waiters leaving food on a nearby stool but forgetting to actually put it on the table, etc.
Ici	Dessert (ice cream)	College & Ashby, Berkeley	2010-08-20	14
This is my go-to East Bay ice cream shop sort of by default now that Sketch no longer has a retail location. The ice cream isn't revelatory but when it's as intrinsically good as caramel pistachio it doesn't have to be.
Pizzaiolo	Pizza	Telegraph btw 51st/49th, Oakland	2010-08-20	8
People keep talking as if this is the Bay Area's premier pizzeria, so much so that I go back every couple of years only to be disappointed anew. I finally decided to try it while Elizabeth was in town so we could sit down and try some of the non-pizza options — we got an heirloom tomato salad with black-eyed peas that was quite nice, and a dish of rigatoni that I thought was okay if overpriced, but then the pizza arrived and, yup, unimpressive as ever.
Va de Vi	Small plates	Mt. Diablo & Main, Walnut Creek	2010-08-17	5
Here I got a tower of insufficiently roasted vegetables and a chile relleño filled with a cheese that was too strong for me. They were both quite expensive.
Shalimar	Indian	Walnut & Liberty, Fremont	2010-08-11	17
The food here is very good. The one sticking point is that it's full of inedible bits that you have to spit out: cardamom pods, bay leaves, giant peppercorns. But other than that, the food is of pantheon-level quality. For a while I was reluctant to score this place appropriately because the atmosphere is so unpleasant: shredded chairs, styrofoam cups, squalling babies. Then I discovered the wonders of the to-go order.
Reposado	Mexican	Hamilton btw Emerson/Ramona, Palo Alto	2010-08-09	5
Here I got the vegetarian sopitos, which turned out to be corn cakes topped with an impressively unappealing combination of unidentifiable pale rectangular crunchy things.
Bobby G's Pizzeria	Pizza	University near Shattuck, Berkeley	2010-08-05	11
Wasn't impressed by the slice I got a couple of years ago, but I went back and tried a full chile and avocado pizza and it was above average.
Annapoorna	Indian	El Camino Real & 23rd, San Mateo	2010-07-03	8
I used to be a big fan of this place, having been wowed by its lunch buffet, but the last couple of times I've gone there it's been a big disappointment. The entrees seem to be just a bunch of broths lately.
Boot and Shoe Service	Pizza	Grand btw Santa Clara/Mandana, Oakland	2010-07-02	11
This is a spinoff of Pizzaiolo, which I've never liked... but, hey, I can't not try new high-end pizza in the East Bay. And for some reason I found this a bit of an improvement over its parent. The margherita pizza I got was not a lot of food for the price — it's smallish and very thin — but it was a respectable pie. (And if you're wondering what's up with the name: this was an old cobbler's shop and I guess they didn't want to change the sign.)
the Slanted Door	Vietnamese	Ferry Building, San Francisco	2010-06-25	8
It took me five years to make it here because, despite this restaurant's status as a local institution, I just don't like East Asian food. But after a fresh round of recommendations I finally tried it, and... I just don't like East Asian food.
Comforts	Breakfast/lunch	San Anselmo btw Pine/Woodland, San Anselmo	2010-06-12	11
I'd like to give this place a higher score because the dessert case features the best macaroons I have ever tasted, but I've been to the cafe twice now and my food was seriously underseasoned both times.
High Tech Burrito	Mexican (taqueria)	regional chain	2010-05-07	8
In 1994 I thought this place was the bomb. I was a regular at the Orinda branch, back when there was an Orinda branch. Usually I got the quesadilla with pinto beans, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. Anyway, I was out in the sticks and saw one of these, so I went in to see how it was after all these years. Answer: it's a totally standard chain taqueria.
Nopalito	Mexican	Broderick btw Fell/Oak, San Francisco	2010-05-06	8
This is a modern, semi-upscale place with some decent dishes (a pretty good blue corn quesadilla filled with braised greens) and some misses (a really bland tamal dulce). It's all quite expensive for what you get: $14 for a mini-quesadilla and a single quartered taquito, for instance.
Caffe Riace	Italian	Sheridan btw Birch/Park, Palo Alto	2010-05-05	8
There are several Italian places I have tried over the past few years that serve really tiny amounts of food with really light textures and sophisticated flavors, accompanied by a high price tag. This isn't one of those. I got the cannelloni and they were huge, solid, extremely mainstream... and accompanied by a high price tag. Seems to be a local special-occasions place. The way the Olive Garden was for September Young.
Taqueria El Grullense J & G	Mexican (taqueria)	El Camino Real & Kendall, Palo Alto	2010-05-04	8
Not really noteworthy in either direction.
Satura Cakes	Dessert	local chain: Palo Alto, Los Altos	2010-05-03	5
Not remotely good enough to merit the high prices.
Consuelo	Mexican	Santana Row & Olsen, San Jose	2010-05-02	11
Another place with a stack of corn tortillas and three dipping sauces — I guess that's the new thing these days. I went here for brunch and got scrambled eggs with mole on a huarache. It was okay, but it said it came with potatoes, and seriously, it was like 1/6 of a single red potato. C'mon.
Humphry Slocombe	Dessert (ice cream)	Harrison & 24th, San Francisco	2010-05-01	5
Not many appealing flavors the first day I went — I tried the salty chocolate and the peanut butter curry but could barely get down the sample spoonfuls. In the end I had to go with vanilla. Huge flavor, but the texture was kind of icy. I tried again three months later and this time most of the flavors were already gone by the middle of the day, and the line wasn't moving nearly fast enough to stick around. It looks like this place gets by on weirdness and amplitude.
Starbelly	Pizza/Eclectic	16th btw Market/Pond, San Francisco	2010-05-01	14
I've grabbed a couple of pizzas here. One I didn't care for, since I didn't realize that the sauce would be black garlic and that black garlic is awful. But I went back and tried a regular margherita pizza and that was quite good. The inner crust is too thin — it's basically a sheet of soggy paper — but the outer crust is close to ideal. And I do like that there are numerous vegetarian options.
the Little Chihuahua	Mexican (taqueria)	Divisadero near Page, San Francisco	2010-04-27	11
This place had a plantain burrito I wanted to try. It turns out to be a burrito with a giant plantain in the middle. Maybe not the way I would have gone. I've also had the nachos and as I recall they were fine.
Marzano	Pizza	local chain, Oakland	2010-04-25	11
Pizzas here are big (I could only eat 2/3 of one) and cheap ($10 if you go at off-peak hours), but the crust is kind of bland.
Falafel Hut	Mediterranean	4th near A, San Rafael	2010-04-24	17
Quite possibly the best falafel sandwich I have ever had! Falafel, hummus, eggplant, potato, tomato, and lettuce meant that every bite had a different combination of flavors. Later I tried the ful and it too had been put together with uncommon care. Big ups to this place.
Sangria's Restaurant	Mexican	Monterey near 2nd, Morgan Hill	2010-04-23	5
It's very nice how they bring out fresh tortillas for you (and keep doing so!), and I could tell by the unusual flavors that they were trying for something high-end, but unusual doesn't equal good. This place would be a 3 if there were more vegetarian options or if it were just a little cheaper, but as is, in the end I couldn't justify it.
Om	Indian	4th btw E/Shaver, San Rafael	2010-04-22	11
This is South Indian place that seemed very promising on my first visit — the vada appetizer I got was terrific, and the dosa I got had a potato-lentil filling that was not what I expected but which grew on me. Second visit was just kinda enh, though.
Papalote	Mexican (taqueria)	24th & Poplar, San Francisco	2010-04-18	11
Tried a couple of burritos here in the '00s: a vegetable one dominated by dry potato chunks, and a regular bean-and-cheese that was good but nothing special. I can now also report that the nachos are pretty middle-of-the-road. But, man, the chips and salsa they bring out to placate you while you're waiting for your food (and it can take a while) are really top-notch.
El Metate	Mexican (taqueria)	Bryant btw 22nd/23rd, San Francisco	2010-04-17	11
This place might have a higher rating if not for the fact that the vegetable mix in the vegetarian burrito consists of carrots and broccoli that seem just about raw. Similarly, the nachos are generally pretty good, but what's up with that goopy guacamole?
Sweet Pea's Cafe	Crepes, etc.	chain: Los Gatos, Capitola	2010-04-16	11
I got the veggie scramble crepe. It was all right. The fillings didn't blend very well, though.
Gialina	Pizza	Diamond & Kern, San Francisco	2010-04-09	5
Not good. Ketchuppy sauce, cheese like deposits of paste, crust that tasted almost entirely of flour. And by the time I finally got my pizza it had clearly been sitting around a while.
Sol Food	Puerto Rican	Third/Fourth & Lincoln, San Rafael	2010-04-07	8
This place has two locations, a sit-down spot on Third and a take-out spot a block away on Fourth. I got the one vegetarian thing, the beans with olives, rice, avocado, and plantains. It's decent enough but expensive for what you get — I could make this at home for $1 but it costs $10.
Tomatina	Italian	regional chain	2010-03-08	14
Here you can get piadine, sizeable pizza-like flatbreads that you stuff with lettuce and other toppings and eat sort of like gigantic tacos. It's a chain but I'm pretty fond of it.
Tony's Pizza Napoletana	Pizza	Stockton & Union, San Francisco	2010-03-05	14
This place has positioned itself as the Bay Area's pizzeria for the connoisseur: stacks of awards (World Pizza Cup, Pizza Champions Challenge, International Pizza Championships), specialty flours, multiple types of oven. Also multiple styles of pizza: Neapolitan, Roman, Sicilian, New York, New Jersey, and more. So far I've tried the limited-edition margherita (pillowy soft crust, cheese bursting with flavor, still somehow less than the sum of its parts) and the New Jersey style (tomato sauce on top, instantly cold). Certainly very good, but not without flaws, and very expensive: that margherita pizza, sized for one, was $21.
Cafe Durant	Breakfast and Mexican	Durant btw Telegraph/Bowditch, Berkeley	2010-03-04	11
Twelve years ago I used to come by here in the evenings for chimichangas, and the place was always deserted; it's more active in the mornings, when white chocolate strawberry pancakes are a more common order. This place feels like Berkeley's answer to Albuquerque's Frontier Restaurant; the food isn't quite up to that standard, but it's pretty good — I liked the nachos I got on my last visit, and wasn't expecting to — and has a vaguely similar sort of vibe.
Yogurt Park	Dessert (frozen yogurt)	Durant btw Telegraph/Dana, Berkeley	2010-03-02	8
This place is a time capsule from 1977. I lived across the street from it for three years and went in maybe twice (and one of those times was to talk to a girl I had a crush on). The last time I randomly popped in I got the chocolate coconut, which was initially quite good but had a bad aftertaste.
Gordo Taqueria	Mexican (taqueria)	chain: Berkeley, Albany, San Francisco	2010-02-28	14
This is a pretty bare-bones outfit, but after several years back in the Bay Area (how did that happen?) I have finally settled on a regular burrito shop and this is it. Delivers the archetypal burrito that I wrote about back in 2000, though quality can be a little inconsistent.
Beretta	Pizza	Valencia & 23rd, San Francisco	2010-02-17	8
Lots of vegetable antipasti, though the two we got (cauliflower for Lizzie, zucchini for me) weren't especially inspired. The pizzas are also quite skippable — indifferent crust rolled really thin to make a cracker with toppings. And the toppings we tried (burrata, roasted vegetable) weren't really anything to write home about either. A decent (but really expensive) rhubarb-almond cake knocked this up to a 3.
César Latino	Pan-Latin	Piedmont btw 41st/40th, Oakland	2010-02-14	5
This used to be a clone of the one in Berkeley, but as of 2010.02 it's serving a new Pan-Latin menu. The squash fritters were bland, the avocado sandwich came on subpar bread and was crazy expensive, the mushroom empanadas were flat-out bad, and worst of all, the flan in the flan chocolate cake was made with fuckin' goat milk! Grotesque. The rajas tacos were pretty good but laughably tiny for $3 a pop.
Goat Hill Pizza	Pizza	Connecticut & 18th, San Francisco	2010-02-13	5
Not appreciably better than any other pizza from the "bread with a giant slab of congealed cheese on top" school. This is the sort of pizza I would expect to find if I were driving through Kansas.
Pizza Nostra	Pizza	De Haro btw 16th/17th, San Francisco	2010-02-06	8
The pizza itself isn't too bad, but I'm pretty bummed out that the vegetable sides are gone — they made for better toppings than the official ones. Boo.
Nizza la Bella	Pizza	San Pablo btw Solano/Washington, Albany	2010-01-30	11
This place also serves Niçois food (hence the name) but is known for its artisanal pizza, which may not be the flavor explosion I would like from a pizza this expensive but is still pretty good. I'm also pleased to report that the desserts are of generous proportions.
La Calaca Loca	Mexican (taqueria)	51st & Telegraph, Oakland	2010-01-25	14
I wasn't a big fan of the burrito or the agua fresca that I got here in 2007, but I came back to try the nachos and they were much better. Like the burrito, they're sort of odd — in place of the usual jack, the nachos come with a dusting of sharp white cheese — but the chips are first-rate and the other toppings aren't bad either.
Cafe M	American	Fifth & Delaware, Berkeley	2009-12-30	11
Decent but unremarkable. On my most recent visit I was surprised to find the place packed, because I'm used to there not being a soul on the premises other than the servers.
Emporio Rulli	Bakery	chain: Larkspur, San Francisco	2009-12-30	14
I'm just grading based on the pastries, since the separate case with the cakes and cookies has (sigh) no labels. C'mon, Italian bakeries, stop with the mystery food. Anyway, the pastry case, which does label at least a fair number of the items, contains a number of very good offerings: a rice pudding cake with orange zest and a chocolate frangipane number with a raspberry center spring to mind. By the way, only go to Larkspur — the service at the SF and SFO locations is terrible.
Tacubaya	Mexican (taqueria)	Fourth btw Hearst/Virginia, Berkeley	2009-12-28	14
This place has gone downhill a fair bit since I first gave it a rave review back in 2005. Though there's still a decent chance that any given visit will include a dynamite tamale or chile relleño or something, a lot of the vegetarian options aren't so hot (tostadas tend to be bland, fideo and frijoles con todo are just okay, torta is hit and miss), and there aren't enough of them. And when the place is busy the distribution system tends to break down — I've watched dishes sit on the counter for fifteen minutes as the confused servers try to figure out what goes to which table.
Pizzeria Picco	Pizza	Magnolia btw William/King, Larkspur	2009-12-26	8
The regular pizza is a little overcheesed, underspiced and charcoally, and the toppings on the more ambitious pies never seem to amount to anything good.
Amber	Indian	local chain	2009-12-02	5
I went to the Amber in Mountain View back in '05 and got an expensive thali platter full of weirdly tangy dishes — tangy as in "this broth appears to have been made from boiled pocket change." Four years later I thought I'd give the San Francisco town location a try, since it's right across from where I teach and had some unusual menu items. And once again, not only did the food not merit the crazy pricetag ($3 for rice!), but it wasn't even good. I got the asparagus with Yukon Gold batons, which some online reviews had praised, and was seriously unimpressed.
Green Chile Kitchen	New Mexican	McAllister & Baker, San Francisco	2009-11-30	8
I really like New Mexican food, but this is not really a great representative. I stop in occasionally to get some green chile to take home. When I have tried eating in, I've had the most luck with the nachos.
Turmeric	Indian	Murphy btw Evelyn/Washington, Sunnyvale	2009-11-15	11
I like the variety of the buffet here, and there's always something good (on my last couple of visits it was the cauliflower), but the curries seem to be distinctly off in that peculiar Amber way.
Nopa	Eclectic	Divisadero & Hayes, San Francisco	2009-11-07	11
Elizabeth and I wound up here after she landed at SFO on a late-night flight. It was a bit odd to be eating dinner in a packed restaurant, watching the cooks whip up fancy appetizers and entrees, at well past midnight. The highlight was a tasty vegetarian tagine; I was significantly less fond of the overly smoky tomato sauce in the egg dish we got.
Pizzeria Delfina	Pizza	local chain, San Francisco	2009-11-02	14
I've been back in the Bay Area for a while now and have tried many pizzerias. Of those I've tried, Pizzeria Delfina makes some of the very best pizza — the crust in particular is terrific. Which makes Delfina's insistence on limiting itself to a handful of frou-frou pizzas (a few variations on plain cheese, a too-bitter broccoli rabe, and some meaty ones) very disappointing.
Cheese Board Pizza	Pizza	Shattuck & Vine, Berkeley	2009-09-22	17
The Cheese Board is a worker-owned collective with a pizza shop next door to the cheese shop. Every day from Tuesday through Saturday it offers exactly one kind of pizza (always vegetarian); the only decision to make is how much you want. I'm pleased to say that its quality has improved noticeably since the pizzeria moved into its new, expanded storefront: the crust is better, the toppings are better, there's more variety in the pizzas offered from day to day, and the web site is now updated reliably. What a nice change to be able to say a place has been going uphill instead of down.
Tara's Organic Ice Cream	Dessert (ice cream)	College & Alcatraz, Berkeley	2009-07-27	8
I guess this was okay, but it was just ice cream. Hardly a substitute for the late lamented Sketch on Fourth Street.
Sketch Ice Cream	Dessert (ice cream)	Fourth btw Hearst/Virginia, Berkeley	2009-07-26	21
In memoriam. Highish prices, not the longest hours, only a few flavors on any given day, but I was frequently gobsmacked by how good this place was. Let me put it this way: I don't know whether this was the best ice cream I've ever had, but it was the best burnt caramel ice cream I've ever had, the best hazelnut ice cream I've ever had, the best peach ice cream I've ever had, the best apricot ice cream I've ever had, and most definitely the best blackberry ice cream I've ever had. Also the best Meyer lemon sorbet I've ever had. And the granitas were the platonic ideal of an Italian ice I'd been carrying around in my head since 1979. Good cakes and cookies, too.
Flame	Burgers	College btw Ashby/Webster, Berkeley	2009-05-06	5
Was tempted by a menu full of many vegetarian choices, but first they got my order wrong and then it turned out that the garden patties just aren't very good. Maybe the tofu ones are better, but I'll probably just stick with Bongo.
New Eritrea Restaurant	Ethiopian	Irving btw 10th/11th, San Francisco	2009-04-11	11
Flat, square, delicious lentil sambusas; pretty standard vegetarian combo.
Mission Street Food	Eclectic	Mission near 18th, San Francisco	2009-03-12	14
Mission Street Food only exists on Thursday and Saturday evenings, and not even all of those, taking over a not particularly distinguished-looking Chinese restaurant in order to serve up whatever the proprietors and that night's guest chef want to try out, with profits going to charity. After a number of failed attempts to try this place, I finally managed to get in and had a delicious flatbread with potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and charred scallion sour cream. You have to monitor the blog to watch out for random closings and the latest menus, but I imagine I'll be back at some point when misfortune finds me in San Francisco town.
Tommaso's	Pizza	Kearny btw Pacific/Broadway, San Francisco	2009-03-04	8
I recall liking this place when I went with Elizabeth in '06, but when we attempted to return, it was closed even though the web site specifically said that it would be open that day. I really hate that. When I finally did give it another try I got a vegetarian pizza and it wasn't that great: topping overload. Throw in its location and I doubt I'll be back.
Icing on the Cake	Dessert (bakery)	Main & Lundy, Los Gatos	2009-02-27	16
This place is terrific! The best bakery-bought cookies I've had since Campitelli in Anaheim went downhill, and they also have cupcakes and brownies and all sorts of crazy things. I cannot go to Los Gatos without stopping here.
Katrina Rozelle	Dessert (bakery)	chain: Oakland, Alamo	2009-02-25	11
Service was very friendly; cookies were good but maybe a little oversweet.
Ti Couz	Crepes, etc.	16th & Valencia, San Francisco	2009-02-23	11
I've now tried both the savory crepes and the sweet ones; my verdict on both is that they're decent but not hugely memorable.
Pizz'a Chicago	Pizza	chain: Palo Alto, San Jose	2009-02-12	5
Yes, I actually felt like deep-dish (as opposed to stuffed) pizza when I tried this place, so it wasn't that I didn't get what I was expecting. It's just that it wasn't very good.
Holy Land	Mediterranean (Israeli)	College & Ashby, Berkeley	2009-01-28	5
Forgot to write this up when I went here, which pretty much sums up how much of an impression it made. Much better places around for falafel.
Tandoori Oven	Indian	regional chain	2009-01-20	8
This is a Indian entry in the "relatively upscale fast food" niche. I guess it was okay, though I didn't care for the shredded cucumber they seem to load into everything.
Zachary's Pizza	Pizza	chain: Oakland, Berkeley, San Ramon	2009-01-09	18
Zachary's stuffed pizza was once my favorite food, bar none, but I have since tacked on over a decade of culinary experience and I'm less hyperbolic about it now. It's still pretty awesome, though, and those who prefer other stuffed pizzas (such as those at Little Star with their lamentable crust) are stuffed with crack.
Flora	American	Telegraph & 19th, Oakland	2009-01-07	5
Finally made it to this place, which is trying to establish a beachhead for upscale-ish dining in a dismal section of downtown Oakland. I can't really recommend it — my meal wasn't awful, but half the ingredients listed on the menu were delivered in homeopathic quantities.
Salang Pass	Afghan	Fremont & Rose, Fremont	2009-01-06	14
It turns out that Fremont of all places has the largest Afghan population in the US. It also has a number of Afghan restaurants, but I keep coming back to this one. I like the vegetarian ashak, but Elizabeth likes the eggplant enough that given the entire Bay Area to choose from for her birthday dinner, she went with Salang Pass eggplant.
Café Fanny	Breakfast/lunch	San Pablo & Cedar, Berkeley	2008-11-29	2
The first time I went here I paid over six dollars for two half-slices of toast and a pair of eggs that were virtually raw. Pretty gross. Second visit: I wanted to try the beignets. They were out. Third visit: I wanted to try the roasted eggplant sandwich. They were out. It wasn't even one o'clock yet! Sorry, but you don't get to run out of food twice in a row when I already suspect you suck. Verdict: FAIL. (Oh, yeah, and the $8.15 granola is mediocre too.)
Homemade Cafe	Breakfast/lunch	Sacramento & Dwight, Berkeley	2008-11-29	11
This place has a dish that is basically nachos using home fries instead of tortilla chips. I thought that was a pretty good idea.
Lalime's	Upscale	Gilman btw Neilson/Tevlin, Albany	2008-10-26	2
We got four things here and none of them was good. Tomato soup tasted like burning; stuffed chile tasted like sheep cheese; pizzetta tasted like water; salad tasted like mold. Cost: $60.
Trattoria La Siciliana	Italian	College btw Ashby/Webster, Berkeley	2008-10-24	5
Very friendly service, and the entire meal wasn't a bust, but wow, was I ever wrong about the pesto gnocchi. I thought, "Hey, at worst it'll be like the gnocchi I make at home with some pesto out of a jar." But no: the "pesto" was a slightly gritty, day-glo green liquid that tasted no better than it looked, and the gnocchi were gummy little pellets.
Fonda	Small plates	Solano & Curtis, Berkeley	2008-10-11	14
Almost gave up after sitting for ten minutes without anyone coming to my table, but in the end I was glad I waited because the huevos rancheros I got were very good. Though I'm not a big cheese person and even a sprinkling of manchego was a bit much for me.
Taqueria Pancho Villa	Mexican (taqueria)	chain: San Francisco, San Mateo	2008-10-10	8
This is a friendlier space than other Mission taquerias: clean, brightly lit, with an expansive, readable menu and no lard... but that's like praising a McDonald's in Nebraska for not being a meth lab. So I'll just say that I've had some good burritos here (I mainly go to the San Mateo one) and a lot of mediocre ones.
Yung Le's Fusion	East Asian	Winchester & Payne, San Jose	2008-10-09	8
Samosas in egg roll wrappers are an interesting idea, but otherwise this seems like a standard East Asian restaurant, meaning that I didn't much care for it.
L'Osteria del Forno	Italian	Columbus btw Green/Union, San Francisco	2008-10-02	8
I've heard of restaurants that didn't have an oven; this place has only an oven, so everything's either uncooked or baked. This basically means roasted vegetables (which have been okay when I have gone, though the cauliflower gratin was bland), focaccia sandwiches (okay, but a sandwich is just a sandwich), and pizza (which I haven't tried).
Aqui	Mexican fusion	local chain: San Jose and environs	2008-09-10	11
This is Mexican fusion, so you get stuff like artichoke enchiladas and wasabi wraps and things. It's okay. For some reason I tend to leave feeling not so hot.
West Coast Pizza	Pizza	University & McGee, Berkeley	2008-08-22	2
This was served at an office meeting. Laughably bad.
Escape from New York	Pizza	local chain, San Francisco	2008-08-08	8
This pizza appears to have very recently escaped from Blondie's.
Zona Rosa	Mexican (taqueria)	Haight & Shrader, San Francisco	2008-08-08	5
Zona Rosa was on Telegraph and Durant when I lived in Spens-Black Hall, and it was therefore my introduction to Mission-style burritos. So does the fact that I now place it firmly in the "meh" category mean that it was better then or that my taste was worse?
Coupa Cafe	Cafe	Ramona btw University/Hamilton, Palo Alto	2008-08-06	8
I got a mediocre danish here and was intercepted on the way out by a dog who was clipped to a chair but who just dragged the chair around in pursuit of me and my danish. Several years later I went back in and discovered that there's a menu full of Venezuelan stuff; I got an arepa, but it wasn't much better than the danish.
Laïola	Small plates	Chestnut near Fillmore, San Francisco	2008-07-21	8
At this tapas place I got one of those potato/egg cakes, which came with a preposterously small amount (less than a teaspoon) of fava bean compote, and some fried sticks of chickpea batter; I thought about getting corn cakes, but I'd had my fill of fried food by that point. I also had a cheesecake served with pistachio brittle on top and blueberry compote underneath.
Palo Alto Baking Company	Bakery	California btw Ash/Birch, Palo Alto	2008-07-20	8
This place came up on a list of places to get a good croissant. It probably shouldn't have.
Bi-Rite Creamery	Dessert (ice cream)	18th & Dolores, San Francisco	2008-07-15	14
Fresh-tasting artisanal ice cream — very good mouthfeel, to use the Newspeakish food writers' term. Big ups to roasted banana.
Coco 500	American	Brannan & 4th, San Francisco	2008-06-30	5
Here I had a "truffled squash blossom flatbread" that was like an overdone pizza and an almond pound cake that was okay but nothing special.
Basque Boulangerie Cafe	Deli	1st btw E. Napa/Spain, Sonoma	2008-06-12	14
One day I got to Sonoma very hungry but in a hurry. No time to sit down and eat. And I'd already had one crappy meal that day and wanted something good. If only Sonoma had some kind of casual yet interesting place where I could get maybe some pasta salad and a fancy cookie, I thought. And then there it was! After that I've returned often when I've been in Sonoma. The baked goods and desserts are great, and best of all: they're labeled.
Mirchi Cafe	Indian fusion	Fremont & Papazian, Fremont	2008-05-28	11
So far all I've had at this place is pizza, and hoo boy is it a mixed bag. Pizza is, fundamentally, part of the bread kingdom, and this is one of the best crusts I've encountered in California. The masala sauce used on the pizzas is also pretty good. But, gyah, the toppings! Too much cheese, and vegetables are thrown on at the end and come out almost completely raw. Seriously, you'll bite into a slice and find that it contains like half a raw onion. Awful. I thought I could avoid this by getting the palak paneer pizza — toppings should be precooked, right? Nope: paneer cubes, raw onion, and a few charred spinach leaves. Maybe I'll just have them make me a plain cheeseless masala pizza and top it myself at home.
the Red Grape	Pizza	1st W near W Napa, Sonoma	2008-05-26	8
Ultra-thin crust pizza that failed to impress. Supposedly the white pizza is better than the red, so maybe I'll give it another chance if ever I'm in the mood for white pizza.
Arizmendi Bakery	Pizza	San Pablo btw 45th/Park, Emeryville	2008-04-29	14
This spinoff of the Cheese Board often surpasses its parent collective in the quality of its pizza, but you have to be extra careful about making sure you show up when it's fresh; unlike at the Cheese Board, which has enough turnover that you always get a high-quality slice, at Arizmendi you run the risk of getting one that's been sitting around for a while.
Robeks	Smoothies	national chain	2008-04-15	11
I got a smoothie here and it was pretty darn good, which surprised me because this place was within walking distance of my house back when I lived in kind of a wasteland. It soon disappeared, though.
Ubuntu	Vegetarian	Main btw Pearl/First, Napa	2008-04-10	8
The 3 is basically just for the experience of looking at a menu and having less than 90% of it off limits. And a lot of the offerings at least sound promising. But I got an appetizer consisting of a dollop of romesco sauce that tasted like water and a plate of fried "sunchokes," which turn out to be evil incarnated in vegetable form; "delicate greens with grilled strawberries" that came with two (2) strawberries and which consisted of a tangle of needly stems; and a "rhubarb citrus float" in which the rhubarb and citrus turned out to have sunk, making it into a fruity soda with some junk at the bottom. Total cost: over $30! And I even had to specifically ask for a fork and a napkin. And the menu did not warn me that sunchokes are evil incarnated in vegetable form! Man, why did I give this a 3 again?
Pomegranate	Mediterranean	University btw California/Sacramento, Berkeley	2008-04-08	5
My food was marred by gritty spinach, but the main problem was that the restaurant was woefully understaffed — it looks like the proprietor attends to every table. I realize that in our wintry economic climate it may not be easy to hire a waiter, but I wasn't the only customer exasperated by the slow service.
Rosso	Pizza	Montgomery near 2nd, Santa Rosa	2008-04-07	11
The Chronicle said "Those determined to track down the best pizza in the Bay Area should put this new Santa Rosa spot on the list." That does not speak well of Bay Area pizza. Rosso pizza, like the very similar Picco pizza, has no synergy. Throwing expensive cheese and olive oil onto a pizza doesn't make it good — the toppings must meld to become something greater than the sum of their parts, the way they do at places like Di Fara and Luna.
Ben & Jerry's	Dessert (ice cream)	international chain	2008-04-03	5
Wow. Friendly service, but the ice cream I got... if you had given me a blind taste test and asked me what flavor it was, I would have guessed battery acid. Slightly sour, metallic, vaguely fruity. It was supposed to be coconut!
Just Desserts	Dessert	chain: San Francisco, Oakland	2008-03-29	8
I stopped at the SFO location on the way to the baggage claim. The person in front of me ordered a slice of carrot cake and received a slice of coconut cake. Then I ordered a peanut butter cookie and discovered after I had left that I had been given some kind of pecan bar. Buh?
Finfiné	Ethiopian	Telegraph & Blake, Berkeley	2008-03-20	11
Quite good! Like Café Colucci, Finfiné has a more elaborate vegetarian combo than most Ethiopian places. Thumbs up.
Dollar Curry House	Indian	Fulton btw Center/Allston, Berkeley	2008-03-11	5
Everything here is either $1.00 or $1.99. How do they afford such low low prices? By not actually bothering to make the food all that good. I mean, I've certainly had worse, and I suppose you could make the case that if the food at Naan 'N' Curry costs 400% as much but is only 250% as good, then Dollar Curry House is the better deal. But I wouldn't make that case.
Citizen Cake Patisserie	Dessert	Grove near Gough, San Francisco	2008-02-27	8
Okay dessert place, but too pricey for what you get.
Saha	Yemeni	Sutter near Larkin, San Francisco	2008-02-27	2
To give you a sense of how far short this place fell of my hopes for it — they managed to screw up water. Water should not taste like cucumbers! Horrible. Anyway, we ordered four things: bland fouel that had been turned into a paste (it's not supposed to be like refried beans!); vegetable baklava, kind of gross; mushroom ravioli in a mango sauce that were okay if you took the mushroom mixture out; and "Middle Eastern pizza" topped with vegetables that were both charred and way underdone.
Specialty's	Dessert (cookies) and cafe	regional chain	2008-02-27	11
This place apparently serves things other than thick wedges of cookie, but I haven't tried anything else. The cookies are quite good.
Almare Gelato Italiano	Dessert (gelato)	Shattuck & Center, Berkeley	2008-02-26	11
New management, but so far pretty much identical to Gelato Milano, which was in the same space. I have sort of forsaken the Shattuck gelato places in favor of Sketch, but maybe I'll give them another shot on BART days now that it's getting warmer.
Bongo Burger	Burgers and Mediterrean	local chain, Berkeley	2008-02-26	11
Quite a few vegetarian options considering that this is a burger joint, among them a very tasty veggie burger made primarily of black beans.
Brazil Cafe	Brazilian	Shattuck near University, Berkeley	2008-02-26	5
I was dubious about this place because almost all the glowing write-ups centered on the meat, and sure enough, the avocado sandwich I got was eminently skippable.
Sunrise Deli	Mediterranean	Bancroft btw Telegraph/Dana, Berkeley	2008-02-21	11
Tasty falafel, with unusual add-ins such as avocado.
Imperial Tea Court	Chinese	chain: San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland	2008-02-14	5
I just got some scallion pancakes here. They weren't too great.
Turkish Kitchen	Turkish	Shattuck btw University/Berkeley, Berkeley	2008-02-14	8
I came here because I'd heard the baba ghanoush was great; it's okay. But it's kind of strange — much closer to the color and texture of whipped cream cheese than of hummus. Also, the waitress with the pigtails is super cute.
Le Croissant	Diner	Bellam & Castro, San Rafael	2008-02-10	2
I keep hearing great things about this place, but give me a break. This is the sort of place that you dread having to stop at while stuck in Wyoming on a cross-country drive. Oh, and the prices! I cannot believe that I spent $11 on one English muffin, a rectilinear brick of hash browns, and a bowl of pea-green slop that they called spinach. Oh, and the service! Or lack thereof, rather. This place sucks. I'll give it a 1 because I wasn't actually traumatized, but man, avoid.
Table Cafe	Indian fusion	Magnolia & Estelle, Larkspur	2008-02-08	5
Forced to change a vowel by a Danny Meyer lawsuit, the former Tabla Cafe is a highfalutin wrap shop using dosai instead of tortillas. But the dosai are too bitter for my tastes, and the fillings, while very intriguing on the page, have not been very good in practice. I've gone several times thinking that the next dosa will be the really good one, but no luck yet.
El Huarache Azteca	Mexican	International btw 38th/39th, Oakland	2008-01-18	5
I have read reviews of this place praising it to the high heavens for years now, but always thought it was off-limits because it is an "authentic" Mexican restaurant situated in the barrio and therefore bound to use tons of lard. It was only recently that I learned that it is a lard-free establishment. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that there are many vegetarian options — I was stuck with a plain huarache (corn tortilla stuffed with beans) and sope (corn tortilla topped with beans). They weren't terrible but I have no inclination to go back.
Tamarine	Vietnamese	University & Tasso, Palo Alto	2008-01-04	11
Upscale Vietnamese fusion, yet good. (Apologies to MA-B.) The highlight was the banh mi roti, pan-fried flatbread with a bean dipping sauce and a delicious curry dipping sauce. The fact that it has disappeared highlights the fact that making a satisfying vegetarian meal out of Tamarine's menu is difficult. Yes, asterisks indicate that many of the menu items can be made vegetarian, but this is only true in the sense that a hamburger bun is a vegetarian hamburger.
Sultana	Turkish	El Camino Real btw Santa Cruz/Oak Grove, Menlo Park	2007-12-17	5
The red lentil soup and the bread were quite good, but the "spinach manti" turned out to be a small scattering of tiny thick ravioli swimming in an ocean of yogurt. Almost insulting for the price.
the Bread Workshop	Bakery and cafe	University & Acton, Berkeley	2007-12-04	5
Points for having savory scones, though the one I got wasn't great. Neither was the croissant, which tasted sour (and not in a good way). And man, really unfriendly service.
Zand's	Persian	Solano & Carmel, Albany	2007-12-04	5
The sign in the window advertises that this place has the "Best Falafel Sandwiches in Town." I had eaten half my mediocre sandwich when it suddenly struck me: this place is in Albany.
Paragon	American	The Claremont, Berkeley	2007-11-25	5
I gather that people come here (a) for the views, (b) for the drinks, (c) because it's located in the swanky hotel where they happen to be staying. Without these advantages, I can't imagine that the Paragon would get much business — the food is much more expensive than its quality would merit. Such a heavy hand with the rosemary!
Ethiopia Restaurant	Ethiopian	Telegraph near Ashby, Berkeley	2007-11-15	5
It is interesting to me that some Ethiopian restaurants are much better than others. Why? Because Ethiopian food, at least on the vegetarian side, consists almost entirely of stews! Stews don't require much in the way of technique, do they? And if skill doesn't enter into it, then really it's just a matter of finding a good recipe... and Ethiopia Restaurant needs to keep looking.
Tucker's Ice Cream	Dessert (ice cream)	Park btw Central/Alameda, Alameda	2007-11-09	11
Elizabeth said that the ice cream here seemed to be only slightly better than storebought. I think that's actually pretty good!
Ephesus	Kebabs	Locust & Mt. Diablo, Walnut Creek	2007-11-05	5
The kebab I got was actually pretty good, though it better have been after I paid ten bucks for a stick with some mushrooms and zucchini on it. The white bean salad I got was bad, the beans almost rock hard.
La Cumbre	Mexican (taqueria)	chain: San Mateo, San Francisco	2007-11-02	11
I've been here twice and it was like two different places: once the tortilla was grilled and the filling was dominated by bean liquid. The second time the tortilla was steamed and the filling was actually a little dry (but tasty). So I dunno!
Talavera	Mexican (taqueria)	Solano & Peralta, Berkeley	2007-10-30	8
This place apparently used to have psychotically bad ownership. It might be better now, but the burritos are just okay.
Speederia Pizzeria	Pizza	Laurel & Cherry, San Carlos	2007-10-04	8
I read a number of reviews that said that this place was like an authentic New York slice shop. I've lived in New York and can verify that this is the case. It is like an authentic New York slice shop — specifically like the New York slice shops that make too many pizzas for the amount of turnover they get and consequently offer up pizzas that look as though they've been sitting around for days. Tastes all right, but unappetizing.
Kabul	Afghan	El Camino Real & Hull, San Carlos	2007-09-26	5
It takes a while for the staff here to notice that you've walked in the door, and even longer to get you a menu. From said menu I ordered a really quite bad bulani appetizer and a better but still not stellar vegetable combo. I will say this: even a mediocre Afghan restaurant like this knows its way around a pumpkin.
Mario's La Fiesta	Mexican	Telegraph & Haste, Berkeley	2007-09-25	5
When I was a small child my mom used to make me and my brothers accompany her to the mall all the time. Often for lunch I would go to the food court and get a big hunk of cheese dipped in batter and fried. By the time I got to college, my tastes were much more sophisticated, and I would frequently go to Mario's La Fiesta. There I would order a big hunk of cheese wrapped in a tortilla and fried. I tried it again out of nostalgia. It is not so tasty as it was when my only basis for comparison was the Buena Park Mall.
Osteria Cucina Toscana	Italian	Hamilton & Ramona, Palo Alto	2007-09-18	8
Passed it many times but never went in because I looked at all the vegetarian items and thought, "I can already make all of those." This time I thought, "Hmm, well, they have ravioli, and when I've gone to Dopo and Eccolo the ravioli has involved these ethereal pasta sheets and hasn't looked like something out of a plastic case." So I gave it a shot. Osteria's ravioli looked like it came out of a plastic case. I was unhappy until I received my dessert, a gianduja flan that made up for the mediocre main dish.
Naan 'N' Curry	Indian	chain: Berkeley, San Francisco	2007-08-15	11
The fare at this Pakistani fast food joint is way better than you might expect looking at the low prices, and some of the dishes really wowed me: the baingan bharta here was an order of magnitude better than any similar dish I'd had before (though I've since had even better). My experiences here have been all over the place, though: sometimes I come out thinking that this is top-notch and deserves a 5, and at other times am distinctly underwhelmed and am more inclined to go with a 3. Guess I'll split the difference.
Zante	Indian	Mission & Cortland, San Francisco	2007-08-14	14
Most of Zante's menu is your usual Indian food, but the place has become famous for one thing: Indian pizza. I'd meant to try it for a while, but seeing a mention of the place in Y the Last Man of all places motivated me to finally give it a try. It turns out that Indian pizza is delicious! The crust is meltingly soft naan, crunchy on the bottom; the toppings (mostly spinach, green onions, cilantro and cheese, but with a bit of eggplant, cauliflower and ginger as well) are also most excellent. It looked like there were some tomatoes and lentils thrown on there as well. Definitely a must-visit in San Francisco town.
Juice Appeal	Smoothies	Shattuck & Center, Berkeley	2007-08-13	11
This is probably the best smoothie place I've tried so far in the Bay Area, but (1) it's still worse than the places I got smoothies in Orange County and even Holyoke, and (2) the first time I went the guy behind the counter was a complete ass. It looks like he's gone, though.
Mijita	Mexican (taqueria)	Ferry Building, San Francisco	2007-08-13	11
It's slightly more expensive than La Super-Rica. Its selection is significantly smaller than that at La Super-Rica. But the fact that I feel I can compare it to La Super-Rica indicates that this place is very promising! I had the closest thing I've had to a quesadilla tradicional in the past ten years; Elizabeth had a vegetarian taco; we split an agua fresca; all were great.
Recchiuti	Dessert (chocolate)	Ferry Building, San Francisco	2007-08-13	14
Not really an eatery, but since I usually buy a few chocolates and eat them immediately, I'll put them on this list. Very good chocolates — labeled and described! THANK you! — in a wide variety of interesting flavors.
Pizza Antica	Pizza	regional chain	2007-08-10	11
Artisanal pizza comes to minivan land. Interesting combinations such as "Bartlett Pear, Sweet Garlic and Mt. Tam Triple Cream Cheese" and "Heirloom Potato, Caramelized Onion and White Truffle Oil" made me giddy at the thought of how suburban kids who otherwise order in Domino's must react. But there's been some downhill motion as it has expanded into a chain.
Phoenix Pastificio	Pasta	Addison near Bonar, Berkeley	2007-08-08	17
This isn't really an eatery, but as with Acme it's too great a treasure not to be on this list. It's a tiny, hard-to-find pasta manufactory that seems to exist mainly in order to sell its wares at the Berkeley farmers' market three times a week, but you can also just swing by and stick your head in to place an order. The fresh pasta here is at least an order of magnitude better than any other pasta I've had.
Noah's	Bagels, etc.	regional chain	2007-07-29	5
Noah's is a chain that offers bagels in such varieties as chocolate chip and peppercorn. And there's nothing wrong with that! Just because H&H didn't think of it first doesn't make it a heresy. Noah's also steams its bagels — in fact, I've seen banners outside the place that say "IT'S THE STEAM!" — and there's noth— actually, wait, there's something seriously wrong with that. Noah's "bagels" are basically hamburger buns. That's bad. Not because it deviates from New York orthodoxy, but because who wants to eat a toasted hamburger bun with cream cheese?
La Finestra	Italian	Lafayette near Whitten, Lafayette	2007-07-20	2
The bread came with a dish of dipping oil full of herbs and garlic and cheese and things. It looked delicious. I tried it and it was very bitter! I kept trying different parts trying to find a better flavor but it was bitter all the way through. And then when my bad, gummy gnocchi arrived, it was in a sauce that was even more bitter. At that point I became somewhat bitter myself.
Acme Bread Company	Bakery	regional chain	2007-07-19	16
I go to the Berkeley location, at San Pablo and Cedar, to get sweet baguettes. What usually happens is that I buy a baguette to use for a meal later that day, and then I can't resist biting off the top end as I walk out the door, and then it is so delicious that I end up eating like half of it.
Caffe 817	Breakfast/lunch	Washington & 8th, Oakland	2007-06-22	11
Here I had a sandwich of mozzarella, artichoke and peppers. It was okay. I wish I could have had a glass of water with it.
Dopo	Italian	Piedmont btw Echo/John, Oakland	2007-06-20	11
I found myself in the mood for upscale Italian, so I decided to give Dopo another try. The first time I'd gone, the menu was extremely meaty and I had to get a plain pizza, but this time one of the main courses was summer squash and ricotta ravioli in pesto, so I got that. It was quite good — the pasta sheets especially so. But it was pretty small. Then I got dessert, a sludgy strawberry gelato that I did not care for. But I was still quite hungry! So I ordered a Calabrian pepper and garlic pizza to go and ate it in the car. I suppose that Italian dining does feature the idea of primi piatti and secondi piatti, but still, I am unaccustomed to having to order multiple main courses.
Junnoon	Indian fusion	University & High, Palo Alto	2007-05-25	5
MA-B described New York's Tabla as "upscale Indian fusion, yet good." Junnoon really wants to be Tabla — there was a huge display of cookbooks by Tabla's Floyd Cardoz — but I went to Tabla a few times in New York and it was not actually all that great. Junnoon is worse. I saw "shells filled with spiced chickpeas" and they turned out to be half a dozen tasteless pastry shells filled with a couple of cold chickpeas and drizzled with an indifferent tamarind sauce; "avocado raita" suggested slices of avocado floating in a light yogurt sauce, but was instead a thick pudding the color of a plastic chair from the 1970s; "spring vegetable tahiri" was a box of bland rice with a few odds and ends of carrot and brussels sprout. I've never used a restaurant's salt shaker, but I really wanted one at Junnoon... yet none was provided. Verdict: upscale Indian fusion, and, uh, drive safely.
Mission Pizza	Pizza	Washington near Paseo Padre, Fremont	2007-05-16	8
Here the crust and cheese are merely an incidental foundation for overwhelming piles of toppings. In the case of the two vegetarian pizzas I've tried, the toppings appeared to be nearly raw. Meh.
Crepes A-Go-Go	Crepes	regional chain	2007-05-15	11
I came here a lot when it first opened in the early '90s, and it was very inconsistent: great one day, lousy the next, mainly depending on which of the brothers who ran the place was working the griddle. Now it is run by entirely different people and... is still maddeningly inconsistent.
Golden Gate Bakery	Bakery (Chinese)	Grant btw Pacific/Jackson, San Francisco	2007-05-06	8
I've heard people say that the custard tarts here are the best foodstuffs available in San Francisco town, so I finally got around to trying one. The custard was okay (if a bit too gloppy for my taste) but the shell was waaay flakier than I would have preferred.
Taqueria Tlaquepaque	Mexican	Lincoln & Curtner, San Jose	2007-04-23	8
This isn't really a taqueria but a full restaurant with table service, which came as a rude surprise when I first came in hoping to grab a burrito and be out the door in five minutes. That time I left because no one even came to show me to a table. On my second visit I was eventually seated, but the service remained questionable as what arrived at my table bore only a passing resemblance to what I had ordered. It was a heavy 1970s-style Mexican meal, but not too bad, I guess.
Chow	American	Lafayette & Whitten, Lafayette	2007-04-22	11
I got a pizza here whose crust was fair at best but whose toppings were surprisingly good. I also had a decent if unremarkable rhubarb cobbler. I wouldn't make a trip to eat here but if I were standing in front of it again I'd be happy to go in again.
Citizen Cupcake	Dessert	Stockton & Market, San Francisco	2007-04-21	2
First thought after hearing this place recommended: "Wow, $3.50 for a cupcake! They'd better be huge!" First thought after seeing the tiny cupcakes: "Wow, $3.50 for a tiny cupcake! They'd better be good!" First thought after eating the cupcake: "Wow, $3.50 for a tiny, crappy cupcake! This place sucks!"
Habibi	Lebanese	Washington btw Fremont/Roberts, Fremont	2007-04-20	8
This place got a crazy high rating on Jatbar. I have no idea why. The food here is totally pedestrian. Not bad, just... there are a million Mediterranean places no worse than this.
Taqueria la Familia	Mexican (taqueria)	Shattuck near Ashby, Berkeley	2007-04-19	8
Unremarkable burrito. Shredded iceberg lettuce = bad.
A Slice of New York	Pizza	Stevens Creek btw Tyler/Cypress, San Jose	2007-03-27	8
Standard slice: pretty good! Sicilian slice: seriously wretched!
Canteen	Upscale	Sutter near Jones, San Francisco	2007-03-24	11
At this tiny establishment (for once being alone was a huge advantage! no wait for a spot at the counter!) I had what was billed on the menu as "a big pancake" and turned out to be of middling size. But it wasn't your standard flapjack — it was kind of custardy, and different enough to be interesting despite the subpar strawberries. Also, I was overcharged, but not by enough to be worth complaining to the waitress about.
Blondie's Pizza	Pizza	Telegraph & Durant, Berkeley	2007-03-13	8
When I moved to Berkeley, it was this place and not Zachary's (which I discovered much later) that I was writing home about. It's not actually all that good! But it is a notch better than the chain pizzas which were all I knew as a kid in OC. It's very bready and greasy, but not in an entirely bad way. And I see they've cleaned the place up at some point in the past fifteen years.
Pizza My Heart	Pizza	regional chain	2007-03-10	8
This is a Bay Area chain with passable slices.
Extreme Pizza	Pizza	national chain	2007-03-08	11
Mid-list pizza. While it has a long way to go to catch the avocado quesadilla pizza at Antonio's in Amherst, I recommend Extreme's similar pie with black beans, tomatoes, cheese, onions and two kinds of chiles.
Passage to India	Indian	El Camino Real btw Rengstorff/Clark, Mountain View	2007-02-27	11
This place has a vegetarian buffet every Tuesday, so I thought I'd go check it out. I was astonished: I counted around fifty items, possibly more. And not just the usual suspects, either: we're talking Indian pizza, roll-your-own dosas, adapted Chinese food, finger sandwiches, puff pastry, birthday cake... sadly, the quality does not match the variety. It's not bad, but it's nothing special.
Rivoli	Upscale	Solano btw Peralta/Neilson, Berkeley	2007-02-20	11
Dinner for two here included purée of sunchoke soup with toasted pumpkin seed oil and crème fraîche (which ultimately I came to regret eating, because it led me to believe that sunchokes were okay, only to discover later that they are evil incarnated in vegetable form); sweet potato gnocchi with yellow foot and king royale mushrooms, brown butter cream and toasted hazelnut gremolata; wild mushroom, baby artichoke, mozzarella and ricotta lasagna with rouille, fonduta, mint salsa verde and grilled asparagus; warm chocolate brioche bread pudding with whipped cream and blood orange caramel and chocolate sauces; and mascarpone cheesecake with sour cream topping, shortbread cookie crust and fresh strawberries. It was pleasant enough, but it paled in comparison to the previous day's lunch at La Super-Rica in Santa Barbara, where dishes cost an average of $3. At Rivoli I paid $72 and only eating lots of bread kept me from leaving hungry. That's the thing about upscale places: you're paying for service and presentation. Those things are nice, but to me flavor is infinitely more important.
Stacks'	Breakfast/lunch	regional chain	2007-02-16	11
Here I had a very good smoothie and banana macadamia coconut pancakes which were also pretty good.
Priya	Indian	San Pablo btw University/Addison, Berkeley	2007-02-06	11
I was initially impressed by the wide array of options at the lunch buffet here, but the quality is fairly pedestrian.
La Ultima	New Mexican	Hartz & Short, Danville	2007-01-24	5
I love New Mexican food, but this place had almost no vegetarian options. I was stuck with a bunch of overdone and underseasoned broccoli and carrots wrapped in a dry tortilla and a sopaipilla that wasn't worthy of the name.
Plátanos	Pan-Latin	Guerrero & 18th, San Francisco	2007-01-14	5
Every time I went for pizza at Delfina I passed this place and thought, "Hmm, maybe I should go here instead! I have been to Delfina many times!" And then one day Delfina was way the hell too crowded, so I decided to try Plátanos. And I'm glad I did... because now I won't have that dilemma anymore.
Café Colucci	Ethiopian	Telegraph btw Alcatraz/66th, Oakland	2007-01-08	14
The vegetarian sambussas here are easily among the best foods I have ever eaten. However, the red yellow green and cabbage that follows is nothing extraordinary, and so after the sambussas it's always a little disappointing.
Rose Pistola	Italian	Columbus btw Green/Union, San Francisco	2007-01-07	8
Not too much for me to choose from here. I got the cheese-stuffed focaccia with truffle oil, which turned out to be a very flat flatbread (I was expecting something fluffier) for which I was charged $2 more than the menu indicated.
Gelateria Naia	Dessert (gelato)	regional chain, Berkeley	2006-12-28	8
The selection is quite varied, but the gelato is just not all that great. It's grainy and often has icy chunks in it. Too bad, because I wish I could find chocolate orange and even Ferrero Rocher elsewhere.
La Boulange	Bakery	regional chain	2006-12-23	11
Here I got a chocolate hazelnut croissant. It was good! It was also tiny! It was also expensive!
Mekong	Thai	O'Farrell & Larkin, San Francisco	2006-12-18	8
This was the first place I found in the Bay Area promising vegan Thai food. Just as well that it turned out not to be all that great — it's in a pretty crappy neighborhood.
Mantra	Indian fusion	Emerson btw High, Palo Alto	2006-12-03	5
Good service, but unsuccessful food. I tried the paneer cuboid, which was a single piece of cheese with a shot of soup that tasted pretty much entirely of cucumber, and the fall stir fry, which was potato chunks in a blah sauce.
Taqueria El Balazo	Mexican (taqueria)	regional chain	2006-11-26	11
I had a chile relleño burrito at the San Ramon location of this chain. It was pretty good.
Crepevine	Crepes, etc.	regional chain	2006-11-19	5
When I first walked into one of these and looked at the huge menu board, I wanted to order about half of it. But this place has proved a disappointment: the crepes themselves have been bland and rubbery; the Florentine crepe was filled with a mass of unseasoned spinach; the Santorini dessert crepe could hardly have had less flavor. Even the peanut butter fudge cookie was bad.
Favorite Indian	Indian	A & Richard, Hayward	2006-11-17	11
This place looks like a cheapo establishment where the chef is a stack of boxes of boil-in-bag entrees, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food, at least at first. Later prices went up and at the same time quality went down: the navratan korma started to be made of mixed bagged vegetables, for instance. The lunch buffet was also disappointing. Still, this was the only decent restaurant anywhere near my old San Leandro place and it served me well back in '05 and '06.
Gioia Pizzeria	Pizza	Hopkins btw McGee/Sacramento, Berkeley	2006-09-23	11
This is floppy, sometimes oily pizza (this is not an insult, just a description — Di Fara Pizza, my favorite food in the world, could be described the same way) whose chief clientele appears to be the student body at the local North Berkeley middle school. There are some good slices available here: in addition to the cheese and margherita slices, there's a mushroom slice that's loaded with thyme, and my favorite so far is the (seasonal) asparagus and spring onion slice.
Chez Panisse Café	Upscale	Shattuck & Vine, Berkeley	2006-09-21	8
I have been here twice. The first time was part of my pizza quest: I've been trying to sample every notable pizza spot in the Bay Area and Chez Panisse was a notable omission. I have read some people rank it #1 for Bay Area pizza, so my expectations were high. I was unimpressed. The pizza was overfloured and not even half as good as the pizza at the Cheese Board across the street. But I figured I shouldn't rate Chez Panisse as a pizzeria, so I went back and got a fixed menu. Salad: too bitter. Spaghetti with arugula pesto and oven-dried cherry tomatoes: okay, but not as good as the pasta I made at home the evening before. Strawberry ice cream with strawberries and biscotti: the strawberries and the biscotti were good, and the ice cream had a nice flavor, but was a little icy. Now, sure, you might say that the reason some consider Chez Panisse the best restaurant in North America is downstairs dinner, not upstairs lunch. But some of the best meals I've ever had — okay, I'm chiefly talking about dessert here — have been in the outer room of Gramercy Tavern at lunchtime. So far it doesn't look like Chez Panisse is even in the same league.
Maya	Mexican	East Napa and First, Sonoma	2006-09-17	8
I really like the selection of vegetarian small plates here, but I do wish they were actually, y'know, better. The chile in the chile relleño was way underdone, and the flash-fried artichokes weren't much better than the ones at Giant Artichoke.
Soop	Soup	Shattuck & Vine, Berkeley	2006-09-15	5
In my review of A Beautiful Bowl of Soup I mentioned that I'd been to many restaurants that started by serving up an amazing bowl of soup and then a mediocre meal. At Soop, soup is the mediocre meal. I've had a few varieties now and they've all been pretty bland.
La Burrita	Mexican (taqueria)	local chain, Berkeley	2006-09-12	11
I've had some excellent burritos here, as well as the best chips I've had since returning to the Bay Area. But it's hit-and-miss. The nachos are terrible, for instance, and I've had some subpar burritos along with the really good ones.
Round Table Pizza	Pizza	regional chain	2006-08-24	2
Very bad, but I'll give it a one because it is the sort of badness that prompts amusement rather than anger.
La Costeña	Mexican (taqueria)	Old Middlefield & Rengstorff, Mountain View	2006-08-23	11
This small Mexican grocery has a burrito counter in the back. Apparently the locals consider it legendary but I found it merely passable.
Cocola	Dessert (bakery)	Santana Row btw Alyssum/Tatum, San Jose	2006-08-18	11
Cheaper than Fleur de Cocoa, and the desserts seem to be of roughly the same quality. The croissants aren't quite of the same caliber, though.
Dishdash	Mediterranean	Murphy btw Washington/Evelyn, Sunnyvale	2006-08-03	14
I ordered something here thinking that I was going to get a big pile of vegetables and rice, and instead it was an artfully crafted vertical stack surrounded by a moat of tasty herb-tomato-yogurt sauce. And for what turned out to be an upscale place, there was a surprisingly decent amount of food for the price. One exception: the baklava, while impressively varied, is $6 for four very small pieces.
Estrellita	Mexican	San Antonio btw Loucks/Sherwood, Los Altos	2006-08-01	8
This place seems to have only one vegetarian offering, the "vegetarian plate" which consists of three items: a quesadilla full of undercooked zucchini, an enchilada full of undercooked zucchini, and a tamale that is actually quite good.
Viognier	Upscale	4th & B, San Mateo	2006-07-31	8
Here I got a "margherita" pizza that turned out to be a dinner-roll crust topped with mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes and then absolutely drenched in balsamic vinegar.
Dasaprakash	Indian	Homestead & San Tomas, Santa Clara	2006-07-28	11
The lunch menu at this vegetarian South Indian place used to look like the outcome of someone doing a permutation problem by brute force, but even if you can't tell a vada from an iddly you couldn't go too far wrong. But Dasaprakash was devastated by India's ban on exporting lentils, which took out a huge chunk of its menu. The waiter suggested I try "The American Combination" but it was bad.
Taqueria Guadalajara	Mexican (taqueria)	14th & 143rd, San Leandro	2006-07-25	5
This is like a little piece of the Mission right in San Leandro. That isn't a compliment.
Fleur de Cocoa	Dessert (bakery)	Santa Cruz btw Bean/Bayview, Los Gatos	2006-07-21	11
Many interesting jewelbox desserts, but not an explosion of deliciousness or anything. Croissants are good but comedically small.
Chili Palace	Chinese	Lewelling & Washington, San Lorenzo	2006-07-18	5
I was seduced by the promise of scallion pancakes. They were not very good. Neither was the undercooked broccoli in oversweet garlic sauce.
Grégoire	French	local chain: Berkeley, Oakland	2006-07-11	14
This is a tiny place that serves everything in takeout containers. By "everything" I mean things like "salad of hearts of palm and Wilgenburg tomato stuffed avocado" and "peach bread pudding with sour lemon cream." Not the sort of place I'd want to eat at every day, but every month? Sure, especially because that's how often they change the menu.
Andalé	Mexican	University btw Ramona/Emerson, Palo Alto	2006-07-09	11
Burritos are okay, but pretty expensive and not really noteworthy. I was pleased to see vegetarian flautas available, but they were also expensive and the "veggies" promised on the menu turned out to be mashed potatoes.
Peninsula Fountain & Grill	Diner	Emerson & Hamilton, Palo Alto	2006-07-08	5
Hrm, bad news. Spent $6 on a milkshake that was full of ice crystals.
Bucci's	Italian	Hollis btw 59th/61st, Emeryville	2006-06-20	8
Perhaps the Italian dishes are good, but I got a pizza and it was not so great. Just a wee bit too far on the fried side. The one I got seemed promising (onion, peppers and pesto) but the toppings just didn't come together.
Kirin	Chinese	Solano btw Colusa/Ensenada, Berkeley	2006-05-17	8
My quest for a Chinese place like Red Hot in Brooklyn brought me here a couple of times, but while it's not terrible it's also not even close. It's also extremely basic food. If you order noodles you get a big bowl of noodles with a few scallions. If you order asparagus you get a big plate of asparagus. I expect restaurant dishes to have a little more interest.
Cactus Taqueria	Mexican (taqueria)	local chain: Berkeley, Oakland	2006-05-16	8
I had a really good burrito and agua fresca my first time here, and so thought this would be one of my favorite places, but since then I have had a bad enchilada, a bad quesadilla, a bad mejor plate and bad tamales, so maybe I should stick to the burritos or maybe I just got lucky the first time.
Udupi Palace	Indian	national chain	2006-04-27	8
This is a vegetarian South Indian place, so the dosa and utthapam sections dominate the menu. On my first visit I got a bowl of tomato soup, hoping that it would be more interesting than Campbell's, and it was. But I also got an utthapam, and that was a disappointment, full of undercooked onion. I returned months later and got a dosa, which was slightly better. In all, this place is okay but doesn't merit the raves.
Flora's Gyros	Greek	Golf Club & Old Quarry, Pleasant Hill	2006-04-14	2
Rule 1: don't stand out in front of your restaurant smoking and giving incoming customers the hairy eyeball. Rule 2: don't be out of food in the middle of the afternoon. This was an East Bay Express suggestion. What a fiasco.
White Lotus	Vietnamese	Market near St. John, San Jose	2006-04-12	5
Typical fake meat place. Cha-Ya and Brooklyn's Red Hot have proven that vegetarian East Asian food doesn't have to suck, so why does it everywhere but those two places?
La Cascada	Mexican (taqueria)	Center btw Fulton/Shattuck, Berkeley	2006-04-04	5
Dodgy nachos — mediocre chips, mediocre guacamole, drowned in sour cream. And the breakfast burrito's eggs and black beans are whisked together into a thin gruel.
Johnny's Donut Shop	Donuts	Mount Diablo & Happy Valley, Lafayette	2006-03-14	8
Johnny's is regularly chosen as having the best donuts in the East Bay. But donuts are just not a good food.
Mehak	Indian	Sacramento near Dwight, Berkeley	2006-03-09	11
I read something that said ranked Mehak right behind Priya on a list of Indian lunch buffets. Interestingly, it's pretty much the opposite of Priya in every way: tiny selection, unoriginal vegetarian dishes... but also fresh naan and hand-cut vegetables in the very good navratan korma.
LaVal's	Pizza	Euclid btw Hearst/Ridge, Berkeley	2006-03-08	8
The slice I got wasn't bad — not nearly enough sauce, but the crust was good — but the wait was long and I'm not a huge fan of the 1970s pizza parlor aesthetic.
360 Gourmet	Mexican (taqueria)	national chain	2006-03-05	11
This is a chain but not a completely bad one. And if you're walking past Gate 8 at 5:25 in the morning and are very hungry, you might well find that the breakfast burrito with eggs, cheese, sour cream, ranchero sauce and potatoes is exactly the correct food.
Lo Coco's	Pizza	local chain: Berkeley, Oakland	2006-03-03	8
Bready, unremarkable pizza that, based on the prices, seems to think that it is much better than it actually is.
La Farine	Bakery	local chain: Berkeley, Oakland	2006-03-02	11
Good, very buttery breakfast pastries (including a "Swiss twinkie" packed with finely chopped nuts); decent but unremarkable bread; too-chocolately macaroons; pretty good chocolate hazelnut cake; bad whipped-cream eclairs. Also many other options.
Jucy's	Smoothies	College & Miles, Oakland	2006-02-28	5
Weak smoothies. Why isn't Juice Stop in the Bay Area?
Vegi Food	Chinese	Vine btw Shattuck/Henry, Berkeley	2006-02-27	5
There are only two Chinese restaurants I have ever liked. This one is definitely not the third.
Ajanta	Indian	Solano & The Alameda, Berkeley	2006-02-23	8
I was giddy upon discovering "lobhia aur khumbi" on the menu, as that was what I ordered at Chapel Hill's late, lamented Silk Road before I left North Carolina for good and it was one of the most memorable meals I have had. This one, not so much: the black-eyed peas were gritty and sauce had no detectable flavor apart from "hot." (Who knew "medium" would be so daring?) On trip #2 I got the palak kofta and again was very far from impressed. I'm pretty astounded at how overrated some of the famous Bay Area Indian restaurants have turned out to be.
Walker's Pie Shop	American	Solano btw Curtis/Santa Fe, Albany	2006-02-23	5
The newspaper clippings in the window rave, "Like eating dinner at Grandma's house!" and "A little slice of the Midwest right here in the Bay Area!" Might as well complete the effect by promising that the waiter will kick you in the head. Still, the word "pie" was in the name, so I stopped and got some pie. It was no different from the pie across the street at the Safeway.
Greens	Vegetarian	Fort Mason, Building A, San Francisco	2006-02-22	14
This is among the most hit-or-miss places I've ever been. Some items are among the best food I've had in the Bay Area: black bean chili, caldo soup, pasta e fagioli... and yet I've also had a fair amount of bad food here, including a mushroom and leek tart that tasted not so great and vegetable brochettes that tasted like not much at all. Yet I will certainly keep coming back, if only for the novelty of a menu from which I can order anything.
Dona Tomas	Mexican	Telegraph btw 51st/49th, Oakland	2006-02-17	11
This place bills itself as being not an American-style "Mexican restaurant" but rather an example of the sort of thing you'd find if you went looking for a good restaurant in Mexico City. Overall the food is quite good, but I didn't like the thick, oily chips, the underdone squash, the prices, or the actual space. I think I'll stick with Tacubaya.
Caffè Strada	Cafe	Bancroft & College, Berkeley	2006-01-31	8
The pastries are nothing to rave about, but this place has a prime location on College and Bancroft, and hot white chocolate sometimes seems like just the right beverage on a chilly morning.
Chipotle	Mexican (taqueria)	international chain	2006-01-31	8
This used to be one chain whose food I actually enjoyed. But it seems like every time I go it's worse than the last.
El Sombrero Taqueria	Mexican (taqueria)	University & Shattuck, Berkeley	2006-01-24	5
For sixteen years I never went in here because, even in 1990, the sign looked really outdated. I figured the whole place would be stuck in a time warp, like going to a Mexican restaurant in 1977. Then I finally poked my head in and it looked like any other taqueria, so I decided to give it a try. They say you can't judge a book by its cover but in this case I probably should have trusted the sign.
Long Life Vegi House	Chinese	University btw Shattuck/Fulton, Berkeley	2006-01-21	5
I got vegetable wonton soup, thinking fondly of Red Hot in Brooklyn, but these wontons were full of a harsh combination of raw mixed vegetables. With no scallion pancakes on the menu either I don't think I'll be back.
Chaat Cafe	Indian (fast food)	regional chain	2006-01-20	8
I got pesto naan here. It was cooked well, but I can't say I recommend pesto naan.
Cafe Brioche	French	California btw Ash/Peral, Palo Alto	2006-01-18	11
French seems to be almost exclusively a carnivorous cuisine, so I rarely eat it. Here I got an eggplant and polenta napoleon with mushrooms. It was about par for the course for upscale places: unusual, but not actually any tastier than more pedestrian fare, and in no way worth the extra price.
Zeni Restaurant	Ethiopian	Saratoga btw Payne/Colombo, San Jose	2006-01-12	5
I went here after reading a rave review that began, "Once a year two friends of mine, my boyfriend, and I rank our top favorite 20 restaurants in the whole world. Zeni ranked #5 on my list, #3 on my friend Brendan's list, and #1 (for the second year in a row) on my friend Lila's list." So I guess I'm with the boyfriend, because this place sucks. It's interesting how Ethiopian places can share 99% of their DNA and yet one's veggie combo is delicious and the next one's ranges from bland to bleah. Oh, and the sambussa here is like a croissant! As they say in Ethiopia, wtf?
Gelato Classico	Dessert (gelato)	regional chain	2006-01-07	8
I liked the spumoni I got in New York. Palo Alto beats New York in most regards but spumoni isn't one of them.
Patxi's Chicago Pizza	Pizza	Emerson btw University/Lytton, Palo Alto	2006-01-07	5
The pizza here is like Zachary's, only with smoother sauce, and about 700% more salt.
Vik's Chaat Corner	Indian (fast food)	Allston btw Fifth/Fourth, Berkeley	2006-01-06	11
This place is part of a warehouse that also includes a wholesale Indian grocery next door. The restaurant offers specials A, B, and C and regular menu items 1 through 10. I tried the 1 (garbanzos and crackers in a cold tamarind yogurt sauce) and the 6 (puffy crackers with cold garbanzos and potatoes) and was not impressed. But then I noticed that everyone was ordering the #9 — the orders at the cash register sounded like the end of the White Album. So I tried the #9, a huge puri with hot garbanzo curry, and it was quite good. A nice alternative snack to a burrito or slice of pizza. And with no matter what you order, you can have any cutlery you like, so long as it's a spork.
Cha-Ya	Japanese	Shattuck & Virginia, Berkeley	2006-01-02	19
This all-vegan Japanese restaurant, which proudly declares that it does not even serve "honey made by the hard-working bee," has given me a chance to enjoy a cuisine that was previously inaccessible to me. I had never had miso soup before, and didn't even know how it was supposed to be consumed; fortunately, I was right in my guess that you just pick up the bowl and drink out of it. It was delicious! I had also never had sushi before; the nigiri sushi with avocado was quite good, and I am sure I'll be trying other varieties here. Even a big bowl of vegetables and soba noodles in a light broth turned out to be extremely good. The only misfire has been the pineapple chunks with some dubious gritty sauces on top. I'm still not a fan of East Asian cuisine in general, but this is a winner.
Cancún Taqueria	Mexican (taqueria)	Allston btw Shattuck/Fulton, Berkeley	2005-12-30	8
Here I have had an unimpressive, expensive burrito that seemed curiously empty somehow, and nachos made with bad chips.
Addis	Ethiopian	Telegraph & 61st, Oakland	2005-12-22	8
I really like Ethiopian food, so it's tempting to give any Ethiopian restaurant at least a 5 right after digging in. This isn't bad, but I've had better, and the glacial service — it looked like one person was covering the entire restaurant — was a serious negative.
Loard's Ice Cream	Dessert (ice cream)	regional chain	2005-12-22	8
Decent ice cream, I guess.
Tartine Bakery	Cafe	Guerrero & 18th, San Francisco	2005-12-19	8
Lots of amazing-looking tarts and pastries, but I haven't been too impressed when I've stopped looking and started eating. Croissants are overdone on the outside; the banana cream tart has too much whipped cream, excessively bitter chocolate, and a crust included more for scaffolding purposes than for taste.
Real Ice Cream	Dessert (ice cream)	El Camino Real & Calabazas, Santa Clara	2005-12-09	11
This Indian ice cream shop offers many unusual flavors and a few usual ones concocted for a different palate from that the supermarket brands aim for. Interesting but not really worth a special trip if you're not in the neighborhood.
Taqueria la Bamba	Salvadoran (taqueria)	Old Middlefield & Rengstorff, Mountain View	2005-12-08	8
I found a web site giving the burritos here a 9.88 out of 10. That strikes me as about 6.88 too high. Underdone tortilla, blah mix of cold fillings.
Stan's Donut Shop	Donuts	Homestead & Layton, Santa Clara	2005-12-07	8
Significantly better than Happy Donuts, but still, just donuts.
Taqueria Can-Cún	Mexican (taqueria)	Mission & 19th, San Francisco	2005-12-06	11
I am getting the sense that actual Mission burritos are not for me. Can-Cún supposedly has the best vegetarian burritos in the Mission, and the one I got was better than the one from El Farolito, but c'mon, it was worse than Chipotle and Chipotle's a chain. The flaky tortilla was an interesting change of pace, but not as good as a steamed one. The mix of fillings was okay but somehow less than the sum of its parts.
Milano Pizzeria	Pizza	9th btw Irving/Judah, San Francisco	2005-12-03	11
This place distinguishes itself from the pack with better than average cheese and a sauce that is more like an arrabiata than a typical pizza sauce. The crust is good also. But it somehow comes together as less than the sum of its parts. And what is it with the raw peppers?
Tart to Tart	Dessert (bakery)	Irving btw 7th/8th, San Francisco	2005-12-03	8
I got two muffins here. The first was coconut, and it was good but a little over-sweet. The second was chocolate cream cheese, which turned out to be stuffed with filling like an enormous Hostess Ding Dong. One-word review: cloying.
Planet Juice	Smoothies	regional chain	2005-12-02	11
Decent smoothies, with a surprisingly rare create-your-own option.
La Mediterranée	Mediterranean	chain: San Francisco, Berkeley	2005-11-28	11
I am used to having to get a plate of hummus and baba ghanoush at places like this, and I was considering doing so here until I noticed a more interesting plate further down the menu. So I got a plate of little phyllo bundles stuffed with cheese and spinach and such... and came away feeling an awful lot like I'd just eaten a plate of hummus and baba ghanoush. I dunno, I guess I find eastern Mediterranean food kinda samey.
Manhattan Bagel	Bagels	national chain	2005-11-27	11
The big local bagel chain is called Noah's, which sells hamburger buns with holes in the middle. The bagels at Manhattan Bagel (owned by the same company, apparently) are a bit bready themselves but are at least chewy enough to be passable.
Cicero's Pizza	Pizza	Bollinger & Miller, San Jose	2005-11-21	8
This is pizza of the "small fried disc" school, like that served at the pizzeria within walking distance of my old place in Massachusetts. Of course, even though it was only a couple of blocks away, I only went to it once, which tells you something.
Happy Donuts	Donuts	chain	2005-11-21	5
I went here because I was still hungry after the pizza and had read that this place had been declared by one newspaper or another to have the best donuts in the Bay Area. If that is true then I guess it means that I think all donuts are gross, which is entirely possible.
Crixa Cakes	Dessert (bakery)	Adeline btw Ward/Stuart, Berkeley	2005-11-20	8
A handful of cakes were on display when I came in, but they looked to be mostly soaked in alcohol or full of gelatin, so I ended up going with a bite-sized almond-flour dealie with raspberry jam. It was pretty tasty but this doesn't look like my sort of cakery.
La Canasta	Mexican (taqueria)	Buchanan & Union, San Francisco	2005-11-17	5
The vegetarian burrito was a big tube of refried beans and rice in a dry, powdery tortilla. Friendly service, though.
Tabla	Indian	Pimlico btw Santa Rita/Brockton, Pleasanton	2005-11-11	5
"I've been to Tabla next to Trader Joe's," wrote one reviewer. "It's wonderful, comparable to any of the places in the South Bay." I misunderstood. I thought he meant the south end of the San Francisco Bay. But based on the navratan korma with its limp vegetables and dull sauce, I have to assume the Bay in question was Hudson's.
Jackson Fillmore	Italian	Fillmore & Jackson, San Francisco	2005-11-09	11
Pluses: very quick service, an interesting menu (I got penne with avocado and almonds), and the food is almost as good as my own, which is saying something where pasta is concerned if I do say so myself (though the credit goes to Jack Bishop). Minuses: it's not quite as good as what I make and I wouldn't charge myself sixteen dollars after tax and tip for a bowl of pasta.
Fat Slice Pizza	Pizza	Telegraph btw Durant/Channing, Berkeley	2005-11-08	2
I think I heard somewhere that this place was just another branch of Blondie's, yet I always found it to be significantly worse (and that's saying something). It sure was worse this time. I threw out my slice after eating about 1/3 of it.
Ryowa	Japanese (ramen)	University btw Shattuck/Milvia, Berkeley	2005-11-07	8
I guess I'll give this one a blue rating because I can't say that I rue my decision to come here, but I am really thinking that East Asian food may just not be for me. The noodles were fine, and the broth was acceptable, but the various sprouts and seaweeds and soy products in my ramen were just not to my taste.
Sweet Adeline	Dessert (baked goods etc.)	Adeline & 63rd, Berkeley	2005-11-03	8
I got some cocoa-covered hazelnuts here that were too overpowering and a mini cake that was uninteresting and dry. But maybe I just made bad selections.
El Farolito	Mexican (taqueria)	Mission & 24th, San Francisco	2005-11-01	8
My first burrito from the actual Mission Street. Meh. This was lacking. It was a large tube of mostly rice in a hard-on-the-inside supermarket tortilla. Best burritos in the Bay Area ten years running? Scary thought. But maybe the beef head is really top-notch or something.
Emeryville Public Market	Food court	Shellmound btw Shellmound/64th, Emeryville	2005-10-28	2
I went in figuring I'd be able to find something that would strike my fancy. This turned out not to be the case. Basically what we're dealing with here is a glorified mall food court with lots of neon and people waiting to scoop glop onto a styrofoam plate for you. It may be high-end glop, and it may even be good glop. But I found the experience too unpleasant to find out. The competitive aspect of having so many stalls in the place meant that every time I tried to look at a menu the people behind the counter would bark at me to approach and take their meat on a stick. When I finally did try to order something the woman behind the counter just shook her head and said no. Feh.
Great Harvest Bread Co.	Bakery	College & Birch, Oakland	2005-10-26	11
This is the only Bay Area branch of a national chain, and unfortunately it's a small one — small enough that it only has a few plastic-wrapped scones for sale instead of a rack with a dozen different kinds like at other branches. I'll still go for a honey wheat loaf from time to time, I guess, but for a chocolate caramel scone I'd be showing up weekly.
I.B.'s	Sandwiches (hot)	Durant near Telegraph, Berkeley	2005-10-22	11
I went to this place a lot when it first opened fifteen years ago. I always got a plain cheesesteak, sometimes with mushrooms, but never with lettuce or tomato or onions or condiments or any of the other things that would have livened up the meat and bread. "Someday I'm going to make you a real sandwich!" insisted the girl who worked there. Fifteen years later, I am finally ready for all the stuff I used to leave off — the only problem is that I don't eat steak anymore. So, just to get some closure, I went in, I got a veggie sandwich (mushroom, avocado and bell pepper instead of steak) with all the trimmings, and it was quite good and unmistakably an I.B. hoagie. But it's entirely possible that I will never get another.
Michelle's Yogurt & Sweets	Dessert (ice cream etc.)	Durant near Telegraph, Berkeley	2005-10-22	11
This place serves Bud's Ice Cream, which is pretty darn good. But I remember when it was Christopher's and had even better ice cream and wonderful cookies. What happened to Christopher's?
Golden Lotus	Vietnamese	Franklin & 13th, Oakland	2005-10-21	11
Now that I am back on the Pacific Rim I would like to try to develop a taste for East Asian food, which I generally don't much care for. This all-vegetarian place seemed like a reasonable place to start, since I could try things without worrying about what they were made of. To start I got the banh xeo, a Vietnamese crepe; the crepe itself was delicious but it was wrapped around a blob of fake pork and bean sprouts the size of a football. I quickly ended up eating around the filling. Then I had spicy garlic green beans with tofu. I dunno. I know people who go crazy about the sauces at Chinese and other Asian restaurants but they just don't do much for me. All in all it was a pleasant meal but I'm still not a convert.
Blackberry Bistro	Breakfast/lunch	Park & Wellington, Oakland	2005-10-20	14
This looks like it's primarily a breakfast place, but I came at lunch and got some grilled polenta with zucchini slices and cheese, topped with herbs and some very good tomatoes (even in late October — man, it's good to be back in CA), all served on a bed of black beans. This is what I call a highly acceptable lunch.
Fentons Creamery	Dessert (ice cream etc.)	Piedmont & Entrada, Oakland	2005-10-20	11
Fentons (apparently with no apostrophe) has been operating in Oakland since the 1890s but has aimed for the 1940s in its current incarnation. If you are in the area and looking for a much-too-large sundae, this would be a good candidate.
Taqueria Los Pericos	Mexican (taqueria)	Pelton Center & 14th, San Leandro	2005-10-19	5
I kind of liked the vibe of this place — apparently it's where a lot of the local Latino high school kids come to grab some chow, listen to the jukebox, play video games and flirt with each other, like an updated version of a malt shop on a 1950s TV sitcom — but the food was not so good.

Return to the Gastronomy page!