Black Forest Kitchen — Restaurant in Oakland

Döner made by someone who has no idea what a döner is. If you're looking for authentic döner, this is NOT the place. It was more like a giant taco than anything you would get in Germany. The food was tasty, but almost entirely wrong, and not at all what I expected. The bread was right, but the döner was poorly constructed with completely wrong proportions. It was almost entirely meat and lettuce. Practically no feta - just a tiny little piece at the bottom. The sauce was good, but was sprinkled on the top of the lettuce only, so there was no sauce on 90% of the döner. Everything was layered like a taco - a ton of lettuce on top of a ton of meat. There was way too much stuffed into the bread, like they were trying to make it look huge without a thought given to how anyone would eat it. The food was tasty, so I gave it an extra star, but really disappointing, if you know...

This missed my expectations - which were low. I was looking for doner that at the least met London fast food quality.

The flavor was off - the meat was underwhelming and/or under seasoned. All that was detectable was the cream sauce - no salt, no spice, no garlic, no spices. Just cream sauce and turmeric on bread.

This was also very bread heavy, both the doner and doner burrito were mostly carbs and lettuce by flavor and by proportion. There was at most one and a half small thighs worth of chicken in both meals. Given this, the prices were completely off. $16 for tortilla and mayonnaise-y cream sauce and lettuce is ridiculous. $38 total for a don and burrito.

This wasn't worth the drive...

Dare i say it, but on average this is a far higher culinary experience than you would find in Germany, period.

Doener is perfectly cooked, staff is great, the owner is from frankfurt and paid his dues apprenticing back home before taking this food to the states, and he also just has a friendly vibe that makes your time here great. Also isnt afraid to share a fact or two about his Heimat or speak german with you if you so desire.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in the bay area to spend time at and i wish this biz the most success...