Harvest & Ale — Restaurant in Oakland

We tried this place on a Sunday evening to avoid the insane Friday/Saturday crowds, and to avoid the silly valet parking on those nights (the parking lot is tiny and the restaurant is 10 feet from it - makes no sense!) Anyway! We initially tried to sit outside but failed to realize how noisy it is due to the road traffic. I also felt a bit unsafe out there because the road is literally about 15 feet away. If a car went off the road... yikes! We moved inside, and sat downstairs by the low tables, where only maybe 10 people can fit. We loved that because we are still very Covid-cautious but felt safe in that area with very few people. It only had two other couples and they were a safe distance away. The vibe was what you would expect from a craft bar: dim lighting, lots of wood and metal, etc. We liked it. Classic rock was on the radio - a bit loud but a fine choice.

Our waitress, Scarlet, was such a sweetheart. She was kind and funny and had lots of knowledge of the menu.

We are vegetarian and were looking forward to the brie but they were apparently unable to make it without the bacon. Very disappointing! It always makes me crazy when plates that are so easy to prepare without meat products, like the corn chowder here also, are not vegetarian. Why alienate people like this when very little of the menu is veg-friendly already? Make non-meat dishes actually vegetarian, please. We would be back if there were more options on the menu but as it stands, we pretty much tried all of the veg options besides sides.

We started with a mocktail - love that there are mocktail options! - and a cider. There were two ciders on tap, which was awesome. That's rare. I had the plain one and it wasn't very flavorful unfortunately but that's just personal taste.

For food, we had the burrata appetizer and the side corn souffle (it's just cornbread). Both were delicious, as was the provided bread and particularly the whipped butter side. I asked for a second butter for the cornbread. These were very good.

There are only two vegetarian options for dinner: a grain-based veggie burger and butternut squash ravioli. We tried both. The ravioli was flawless - I loved it, truly delicious. Unfortunately, the burger was flavorless and soggy. There are so many options for a veggie burger: black bean, veggie based (peas, carrots, potatoes, etc.), mushroom-based, etc. This grain version was a terrible option and poorly executed. My husband ate the fries and the topping but left the burger. Since there are only two main course options for vegs on the menu, I can't imagine we'll be back because that gets very boring very quickly. I suggest switching up the menu seasonally or even more often so that we have some options and can continue to support this business, which I would love to do!

There were only 3 dessert options. We tried the creme brulee (my favorite dessert) and a mousse cup. The creme brulee was spot on for flavor but the topping was weird granulated sugar, like brown sugar in the raw, instead of the traditional carmelized sugar crust. This was a bad choice and made the whole dish weirdly crunchy. The chocolate cup was such an odd texture as to be very off-putting. We both tried a bite and left it there.

Overall, I am still giving this a 5 stars for the great appetizers, atmosphere, excellent waitress, and...

Harvest and Ale is a brand new Oakland restaurant serving a variety of dishes made with locally (relatively) sourced meat and vegetables. This is the eatery's opening week and, as is often the case, nothing is running at 100% yet. I took my mother and fiancée here on a Wednesday night and it was crowded. I made reservations for 6:15 pm by emailing them at 3:30 pm the same day. Don't expect to just show up and be seated quite yet, but reservations aren't necessarily hard to get either.

We were promptly seated at arrival and the waitress set us up with bread and water while we checked the menu out. It is a soft opening, so not everything was available. The three of us each decided to order a different signature cocktail and dishes from three different categories (salad, sandwich, and entrée). The cocktails, while flavorful (initially) were VERY strong. To some, this could be a positive aspect, but for us it was negative. Out of the three we ordered (Cherry Lux, Mango Heat, and Charred Pineapple) the mango heat was the best. Beware though! These each cost about $16 and the price is not on the menu.

Unfortunately it took a tad bit too long to get our food brought out to us... around 25 or 30 minutes. It felt even longer because the management had yet to figure out how to properly set the air conditioning for a packed house. In the end though, the wait was mostly worth it. My dish, the Barnwood Salmon, was absolutely amazing. It's crab meat crust made it different and it was extremely flavorful and cooked excellently. I would highly recommend it. My mother got the Free Burger which is a chicken burger. She enjoyed it and I can say that we all enjoyed the fries it came with. In fact, the fries are up there in terms of the best fries I've ever had. My fiancée had the Quinoa Chickpea Salad and, unfortunately, did not like it. It was completely missing the dried cranberries it was supposed to come with and she claimed that the quinoa was overcooked/soggy and generally made the whole salad soggy.

One other thing that I would like to add is that the restaurant does not give you good sized portions of the sides and the plating needs to be improved. Comes across as sloppy and lacking, not minimalist and fancy. See the pictures I've included.

I can honestly say that I want Harvest and Ale to succeed. Oakland needs new restaurants like this one. As of now I am giving 4 stars with the hope that I can bump this up to 5 in the future after some of the kinks are worked out. I definitely do recommend that you give this...

Overall positive experience. Not sure I would rush back but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to a friend. Great beer menu, limited cocktails, when asked for a cocktail off the menu my wife was told they didn't have that available (apple martini) - a group next to us also attempted to order something off the menu and also were denied. The bar area looked really cool so I was surprised the bar was lacking popular options.

If I could comment on one thing here, it would be with the staff. While the manager/owner up front was friendly with us, the way he spoke to the young (probably very new) hostess was unnecessary. He then asked the hostess "would you help with these" and pointed to my wife and I. Our waitress was friendly but needed a lot more training with menu options. I asked for some recommendations but she was having trouble. I can't be too hard on the restaurant because we all know there is a labor shortage and many restaurants have new staff.

Overall our meals were great and I love the idea the restaurant is about. I just felt a disconnect with the staff and the food. I will give it...