La Veranda Cafe — Restaurant in Clayton

We went to La Veranda on Sunday, June 15 2025 for a father’s day brunch. First a word about Clayton CA. This is an older town in the east bay, next to Concord and Walnut Creek. This is a town that hung on tenaciously to its small town charm and looks very much the way it did fifty years ago. They still have some wooden sidewalks, a saloon or two, a lovely tree shaded park where they hold small summer concerts. It has a small central downtown and feels very much like the old fashioned small town that it is. People are friendly and relaxed; traffic has been cleverly engineered out. This restaurant with its wooden entry steps fits right in. It has a veranda with outdoor tables along the side of the restaurant as well as a casual covered patio for outdoor dining. Upon entering we could see a big square dining room to our right and to our left was the other smaller rectangular dining room. We were greeted promptly and cordially and taken to our table in the room to our left. It was filled with black tables and chairs, the wall were tan and the ceiling tiles were a pleasant burnt red. The restaurant is surrounded by trees and bushes so the view from the many windows made us feel as though we were in an arboretum. The table was neatly set with two forks; a butter knife and side plate per seat as well as perfectly folded white linen pyramid napkin folds. Very quickly an attendant arrived to get us waters, coffee or tea. Shortly after that, our waiter Yousef appeared and took our orders. We had some substitutions and he took it all in stride. We ordered three eggs benedicts and food appeared in a very short time. The eggs were perfectly poached with firm whites and a hint of white vinegar and the yolks were perfectly runny. The muffins underneath were lightly toasted and easy to cut with a butter knife. I have been making fresh hollandaise for years in restaurants and at home and I am always suspicious of canned or powdered some restaurants resort to but this was definitely fresh and the real deal. The sauce was topped with a dusting of paprika and presentation was perfect. Yousef was an efficient and quick waiter, very professional. As is always a challenge my wife takes on we eventually got a big smile out of him. Overall I got the impression this was a tightly run restaurant that had taken pains to see to all the important touches. It was bright, sunny, and clean and the staff was friendly and attentive. I would not hesitate to go back for dinner...

We ordered a takeout meal for a family of four yesterday. The food was good, but the treatment by the owner at pick up was shockingly bad. My husband ordered by phone at 5:50pm. The restaurant said it would be an hour, so hubs and father-in-law arrived at 6:53. Owner doesn't acknowledge them, and continues to talk to the staff and look at his phone. When hubs asks for help, owner says the meal will be ready at 7pm. When our two bags were brought out, hubs counts the items and notices one item is missing. Owner scoffs that it'll be out shortly and then turns to my father-in-law to comment...."Is he your son? You need to teach him more patience." Rather than apologizing for super slow and late service, the owner chose to simultaneously insult my husband and father-in-law in a single backhanded blow for expecting better customer service. Further, when paying the bill, we learned that the prices on the restaurant's online menu are far lower than reality (e.g., Veal Tre-Funghi published at $29, but billed at $36 for a 24% price difference). We will never be back, but will certainly share the story with others. It's no wonder that La Veranda is not flourishing as the single midscale Italian restaurant...

7/26/15

My husband and I went to La Veranda Cafe for dinner a couple of months ago after watching our friend's kids play a little league game at Clayton Community Park up the road. The Warriors game was on and we'd already missed the first half to watch the Littles play, so we cozied up to the bar where a small, silent TV sat in front of us. But it was better than nothing.

Delicious, delicious bread soon came out. I think one of the types was rosemary - it was my favorite. I ordered the calamari appetizer and Casey had a personal pizza. My calamari was served with warm marinara sauce and it was really flavorful. The pieces themselves were tender and good but the sauce was especially memorable. I'd definitely return for more food.

Service was good I guess - employees were friendly but probably could have made a little more effort to interact with us since we were already sitting so close to them (and there was some food prep going on in front of us since the kitchen isn't far from the bar either), and it's not like we had volume on the TV. Hostess was pleasant but not especially warm...