Oliveto Cafe and Restaurant

November 2, 2007 - We were invited to a birthday dinner at Oliveto's in Oakland. The place is right across from the Rockridge BART station, so it was very easy to get to. One of my coworkers had mentioned that she had been there before and that it was good, but kinda loud. I was ready to see for myself.

We arrived pretty early and figured that we were probably the first ones there. Though we didn't expect a table to be ready yet, we approached the host anyway and he promptly lead us upstairs, through the dining room up there, to a private room in the back. To our surprise, there were already people there!

There were menus printed with "Joanne's 30th Birthday Bash" at the top and we were to order a antipasti and main dish. We didn't know what most of the things on the menu were. The waiter was very knowledgeable of the menu though and answered all our questions very well. Since it took so much time to swim through the exotic menu, we started with glasses of chardonnay. Delish.

Finally the guest of honor arrived and their orders taken. Not long after, the first course was brought out. I had a delicious salad of fennel, apple, and pine nuts. It was really delicious and I loved the texture of the fennel with apples. It was great and probably the favorite thing that I had. Next came a pasta dish. Not sure what kind of pasta it was... But it was good, slightly al dente in a gentle meat sauce. It was a nice second to the salad. Then came the main course. I ordered the sole dish. It was good but I thought it was too much fish and not enough "other stuff". I ordered it because it was fish with mushrooms on the menu, but when it came, there weren't many mushrooms at all. So it was mostly fish in a light white sauce and with nothing to really accompany it, I got a little bored of the taste. It tasted good. I just need some variety or I get bored very easily.

For desert the restaurant transformed one of their desserts into a birthday cake. The brought it in with the candles and all and we sang. Then they took it out and came back with slices. The cake was this very dense yet soft and fluffy chocolate cake with a very light whipped cream like icing. It was good though I was too full to really appreciate it. I just thought it was too dense for my liking and maybe not as moist as I like cake to be. Though, it wasn't really a cake, more like a lighter than cheesecake texture. Anyway, it was fine but I wasn't sooo wowed like others were.

So the food was good but nothing I'm dying to go back to try again. The location was perfect and easy to get to. It's right on college near all those cutesy restaurants there. The ambiance was simple elegance. The service was excellent. They were very accommodating for the large group and varying arrival times of all the guests. The food was served promptly and water glasses always full. The main waiter that helped with our orders was very good and I hope got a great tip for the evening. Nice place. Probably won't be going back soon unless for another event.