Gather in Berkeley — Restaurant in Berkeley

Gather is a celebrated farm-to-table restaurant located right in downtown Berkeley in an open, appealing, large corner space. Fresh ingredients are definitely on the menu, with a variety of sandwich, salad, pizza, and grain bowl options. Dinner adds starters and entrees.

The inside feels like a cabin with lots of reclaimed wood, and the outdoors patio is covered to keep warm and flowing with plants. It’s quite inviting. I went at lunch, and it wasn’t immediately apparent that ordering at the register is how lunch operates as a podium with “wait to be seated” was stationed right at the entrance. Dinner is, indeed, seated with waitstaff.

My friend ordered the soup of the day, which was white bean and potato. She thought it absolutely delicious, savoring each bite. I ordered the BBQ pulled pork sandwich, topped with a slaw and dill-cucumber yogurt and served up with fries. The coleslaw crunch made clear the quality of Gather’s ingredients, but I was surprised that the dish ended up tasting closer to a sloppy joe than I what I’d expected—this may partially be due to my eight years spent in North Carolina, where vinegar sauces on pork reign supreme. Or it may partially be that the tomato in the sauce was so fresh and bright, it simply dominated the dish.

I was disappointed that the dill-cucumber sauce contributed little in terms of flavor. I love dill, so I was looking forward to it, but alas, it barely raised its head. The fries were solid.

Definitely would go back but would probably skip the pulled...

While visiting Berkley, my cousin and I took a leap of faith by trying this place. We were not familiar with the area and we didn't even bother to look online what restaurants were good. We drove by it twice and noticed the name "Gather" and thought it was inviting. It was also the only restaurant on the strip that looked busy.

Walked in and was immediately greeted by the host. He gave us 2 choices. Sit in the main dining or sit by the open kitchen. Of course, we sat by the open kitchen because we both love to watch people cook our food. A couple sitting next to us ordered a pizza and we were both like "Wow that looks good". So we decided to try a vegan one called Spicy Tomato (olive, caper, cashew puree, chili oil). One bite and we were speechless. This was a different kind of pizza. The ingredients were tasty, well balanced, and spicy and the crust was perfect. We also shared a Roasted Chicken which I was very hesitant to order because "it's just chicken". Again, I shut the hell up after taking one bite. It was super tender, simple but delicious served with cranberry beans, collards and Massa brown rice that's similar to risotto. Dam this was good! For cocktails, I got a couple of rounds of Manhattan with Four Roses. They were very good and only $11 each. The vegan pizza was $21 and chicken was $27. It's pretty steep but so worth it because the quality was really impressive.

I'm glad that we stopped here for dinner. We didn't know what to expect but we were amazed by the food, service and...

I googled vegetarian restaurant berkeley ca, and the very first listing was Gather.

When you walk in this place it has a Very Heavy delicious smell of deep robust MEAT..

to be specific..

STEAK...

Because...

THIS IS A STEAK HOUSE. This is not a vegetarian restaurant, infact the one ACROSS THE STREET CALLED SATURN CAFE is a Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant. and Herbivore also is veggie/vegan a block away.

Although I am sure that Gather is one of the very best restuarants in Berkeley, for a non-vegetarian, to a true vegetarian however, it could be quite offensive walking in due to the fact that they are listed as vegetarian on the internet.

(when they are infact... A STEAK HOUSE.)

They may have some vegetarian side options on their menu, but if you are looking for the real deal there are Several (other then listed.) TRUE VEGETARIAN restaurants that are not Boldly Plainly Obviously and Seriously MEAT based.

I work in hospitality in the area, and luckily am aware of the area and the restaurant. However to a new hire in our industry, if they were to google vegetarian and hand this information over to a tourist, not knowing send that tourist who requested vegetarian to Gather ... A STEAK HOUSE... it would be an absolute fiasco of a disaster for our industry worker the day anything like that were to happen.

Someone needs to...