The Berkeley Boathouse — Restaurant in Berkeley

Oh my. The service was absolutely terrible.

The 3 stars are for the view and the food, though not everyone at the table was happy with their order. We ordered drinks, a Ceasar salad, the green curry mussels, and the standard kid items - french fries and chicken strips.

The good: the view is beautiful, the tables and deck and serveware, linens, etc., are all lovely and nicely done. Care is taken to maintain the area, which in a marine environment can be exceedingly difficult. The green curry mussels were outstanding. So delicious, and so much food! Ordered off the starters menu and it was plenty for a meal and then some. Delicious! Drinks were expensive, as you'd expect - a beer, a glass of red, and a lemonade - but well poured and tasty. Kiddo loved the lemonade! The kids food was as you'd expect - bland and white, or else they wouldnt eat it, lol, but served with a yummy house ketchup they loved!

The not so good: the Caesar salad was absolutely drenched in dressing, thereby ruining what would've been a crisp, light main dish. Reminded again to always ask for the dressing on the side!

The absolutely terrible: the service. God awful. We were seated in a section with 2 other tables where we all had the same server. This was June 21st at about 5:30. Every table had such a horrible experience that when we bumped in to each other later, we actually stopped each other to commiserate! Unfortunately, the server was a walking plank of wood. We waited for 20 minutes for our drinks to arrive, and it just got worse from there. We ordered our food when drinks came and it took another 30 minutes from there. We were never once checked in on. We didn't even see him out at other tables. When we finally asked for the check after flagging a different server down (it's now 7:00pm) it took another 25 minutes to get it. The other tables reported waiting 45 minutes for their food and not seeing him either. One man told our server how awful the service was and he apologized and tried to comp them a glass of wine but they didn't drink wine so they comped them cheesecake. Still, the restaurant wasn't that busy and it should never have happened. I have never in my life not tipped well and for the first time ever, I only left $5 on a $90 tab and told them why.

Overall: I can only give 3 stars until they figure out their service. Summer is busy and this doesn't fly. Might have to go back and just sit at the bar to try again, but reluctant to be inside as well. Too bad - the view is amazing and it feels like...

We ate and drank here for multiple meals over a 4 day stay in the hotel. The cocktails were good but not great. The atmosphere gets a higher rating for the view. Service is strange - nice enough people serving but they're also experts at not looking around at anything but their immediate task. They'll get to you - when they want to but, good luck getting anyone's attention when they're doing anything else. I've never seen people so skilled at avoiding eye contact, not hearing people saying excuse me, looking down at the floor as they walk between tables, etc. Now for the prices.... $32 for a double Woodford Reserve 😳, $8 for a glass of tonic water, easily $50 - $80 per person for a couple of cocktails and some average appetizers. Crazy over pricing for average quality food and drink.

Uodate: on the last morning of our stay we went down to the restaurant 20 minutes before the breakfast service was ending. The restaurant was empty, all the tables were cleared, and the staff was standing in a group talking. We asked if we could still get breakfast and the hostess, who never even got off of her chair, suggested that we go to the convenience shop and get food there because they needed to set up the restaurant for something. I asked if maybe we could get something for take out and one of the servers said, "yes - you should do that". While we stood there looking at the menu to decide, more people arrived asking of they could get breakfast and, I guess the staff gave up on turning people away because they led them to a table. We still thought we were supposed to just order take out until a very nice woman named Maraki came up to us and asked if we'd like to stay and sit at a table. She said she would set one up for us and it would be okay to stay and order food and eat there. After that, 3 more tables filled up with people coming in for breakfast and we received good service from Maraki until we were done. We were made to feel very much like we were an inconvenience to the restaurant staff until one of them had the decency to step up and treat us like paying customers who, by the way, spent $50 on breakfast for 2 people. This is what they are charging luxury hotel and...

Food was 5 service started a 2 then went to 4. Waited atleast 13 mins before acknowledged by waitress and hostess. Onky to tell me to wait while they talked and poured juice doe other clients. It was only nly after being noticed by by wonderfully Kimberly who was doing her side work and came out of her section to check if I had been helped did they lightly step up there service. Kimberly went out of her way while doing her job and came over and sat me (someone else's job). Then told me about the buffet complement my shirt and asked me if I wanted an omelet. It's only because of her wonderful customer service that I would ever think of returning here for breakfast. She should really be training the others on customer service which is key and so rare these days . Also multitasking and follow up is not the wait staff strong point but again kim showed excellent knowledge in this area coming to tell me my omelet was on the table in a non disruptive manner that is very valuable trait that can be used frequently in food service as well ,while the waitress were trying to figure out which table did or did not have spoons. ( I'm still eating my oatmeal with a fork though) the fps was good the waitress did try and make up by punishingly insistent she get me my juice from the buffet when I asked her for a cup which was also lacking from the table. Then another waitress asked if I want coffee. I still need a spoon and some water but I'll survive Wrap it up good 4/5 service 1/5 hopefully Kimberly can assist management in some age or racial sensitivity biases training. Customer service and possibly basic restaurant run down like . See customer say hi sit at empty table as fast...