In The Wood

I truly love this place. There’s plenty of parking on any side street and a lot in the back. The pizza is always delicious (they’ll crack an egg on it if you ask.) The truffle fries are some of the best fries I’ve ever tasted and the mimosas… the staff. Everyone here is just really lovely and so is the owner. I really appreciate how much effort is put into making this a nice experience for us. It shows. 10/10 will be back again and again.

Went here on a Saturday afternoon during Berkeley graduation weekend. The atmosphere was lovely, and the background chatter was at a fun volume. People are seated both inside and outside the bar, and you have to go inside to alert a server if you wish to dine outside. The food was lovely, and they had a good selection of boozy brunch drinks as well as alcoholic ones. There were a variety of vegetarian options as well, and one vegan meal plus many vegan sides. Many meat and salmon dishes as well. The rating is 4 out of 5 stars because despite the nice food and atmosphere, the service left something to be desired. As previously stated, I went during the Berkeley graduation weekend , and it appears as though they were understaffed because the owner himself was bussing tables and seating people. However, this lack of staffing and extra customers led to a rather irksome communication breakdown. Many times we had to ask for a second bottle of water, and many times more did we have to ask for a third bottle of water, and we left quite a bit of time between the many requests. The biggest flaw was the fact that half the meal arrived, and the second half only came 15 or 20, minutes later, after we had asked the owner twice where the second half of the order was. No one came back to check on us. We had to try and alert staff who walked away from us to attend to another task. After delivering the check the waitress was apologetic and offered to get us a drink as an apology, but we were finished with the meal at that point. I don't blame the staff themselves - they were kind and courteous and overwhelmed - but I wish there had been more communication with us once the issue was raised.

Stopped by for lunch. I had the fish and chips with a side salad. The salad was good. The fries were were very good. The fish was disappointing. The fish itself was mushy and the batter was doughy. The overall flavor was different, not bad, but definitely not good. The service was good and the people friendly. If I go back, I will not order the fish and chips.

I can say I had a solidly okay experience here. The food is fine, but it's not worth the price. I ate here with a group and the first thing we ordered were salads for the table. The caesar salad was very wilted, to the point where parts of the lettuce were brown. I ordered one of their burgers, which was about $17, which comes with a side salad. I asked to substitute fries and was told "we don't do that here." While I understand some places don't do substitutions, I can't imagine buying a $17 burger and then a $5 side of fries. Once again, the burger left something to be desired. The description of the "In The Wood" burger sounded great, but in reality it's a burger, cheese, greens, and two condiments for $17. Any add-on to make this an interesting burger cost another $4. The side salad was very boring, and the arugula on my burger was also wilted. There was so much aioli on my burger that I couldn't pick it up without spilling aioli on my shoes. This restaurant is okay, but I don't think I'll be going back.

First time in and my husband and I were impressed. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. We felt comfortable with their handling of covid too. I had the salmon toast and my husband had the breakfast pizza. The pizza was outstanding, highly recommend! The salmon toast was delicious too, I would only add a little seasoning on top. Outdoor seating with great people watching views. We will be back!

This place is great. We grabbed fish tacos and a pizza in between laundry loads (2 min walking distance from Elmwood Laundry) and had ourselves a little laundry date night. Honestly, this place blew me away. The staff was super friendly and the fish tacos might just be the best I've had in Oakland. We got there late but they didn't rush us at all and even let us come back for a (phenomenal) flourless chocolate cake after they had cleaned up the tables. Instant date night spot. We will be back!