Alley & Vine — Restaurant in Alameda

I really wanted to like this place because I have heard so much about it and friends recommended it, but we had 2 kind of crappy experiences. The first time my husband and I went for brunch. Waiter was fine, ordered food, got it and there was a dead fly in my hollandaise sauce. I had to flag someone down because despite trying to make eye contact with everyone who worked there, no one seemed to be paying attention. They didn't seem too bothered by it, which was a little irritating, and I got my new dish about 15 minutes later. We tried to give the place another chances last night with our kids. We made a reservation for 6pm, and got there at 6:01. There were 14 other people in the restaurant. We got our order in 5 minutes within sitting down (so before 6:10) and we didn't receive our food until 6:57. So that's 47+ minutes to make our 4 dishes (2 risotto, chicken marsala and a plain cheeseburger). My risotto was at best lukewarm (it had clearly been sitting out for some time), my clam shells were cold, the clams and mussels were crusted over (again, sitting out for some time) so I didn't eat them and the cheese on my daughter's burger was hard (sitting out for a long time). There was also a drunk lady sitting next to us yelling repeatedly at a fly because, "Little fly, you can't fly out of a window!" Our meal was $190. I get it's a nice place and I totally understand the cost of their product and labor, but spending nearly $200 on a meal for a family of 4 (one of which is a plain cheeseburger) that we had to wait almost an hour for and had been sitting out was a super big bummer. We definitely won't...

New Management, New Menu, Not the Same Alley & Vine

My fiancée and I revisited Alley & Vine, curious about its new management and updated menu. We were the only ones there when we arrived at 4:10 PM on a Saturday, so we settled into the patio with our dog.

The service was slow, although we appreciated our server's helpfulness with my fiancée's allergies. The menu seemed basic, with typical dishes like steaks and chicken breast.

I started with three Blue Point oysters at $4 each, which were plump but flavorless. They came with cocktail sauce and lemon, which were necessary to add some taste. My non-alcoholic mockarita was too tart and surprisingly came with a sugar rim instead of salt, which thankfully made it a bit more palatable.

We shared a 16-ounce ribeye steak for $62, which was a letdown. It was overcooked, not the medium-rare we asked for, and lacked the quality one would expect for the price. The broccolini was nicely done, but the chive oil mashed potatoes and pepper jus were too salty. The shoestring fries were crispy yet needed more salt, though the ketchup was good.

Dessert was uninspiring, just like the rest of the meal, and the smaller patio space was a disappointment compared to what it used to be.

Overall, our experience was underwhelming. The previous charm of Alley & Vine seems to have been lost with the new management. We won't be returning, and it's sad to see a former community...

Update (Dec 12, 2021): Decided to give them another chance and tried their brunch, this time we picked it up. We ordered: BBQ Sandwich: The sandwich itself was good but a bit small, it came with potatoes on a creamy sauce that were completely inedible (very bitter). Baby Kale Salad: The dressing solidified (Potentially from being left on a fridge?) and it was very intense with mustardy flavor, to the point where we were wondering if it was the dressing. There was no other container in the bag. The buddah's hand felt very off in this dish and there were little pieces of burnt and soggy croutons that were very unpleasant to eat. French toast: This came with the driest lamb patty I've ever seen, I think this dish could be good if prepared properly.

Overall, not a good experience, we won't be coming back.

I would give them another chance.

We ordered through Doordash for a specific time but the food arrived right away, not sure who was at fault for that.

We got the mixed greens salad, Duroc Pork Chop, the cheesecake.

The salad was lovely and seasonal. The pork chop was awful, it was completely white and really bland, the mole was not nearly enough and it got mixed up with the other ingredients of the dish. If the pork was properly seasoned and seared, and they gave us more mole it would have been a hit. The cheesecake was delicious, nice crusty bottom and the berries...