Lovely’s — Restaurant in Oakland

I wondered how I never heard of a burger joint within a 5 minute walk from me, until now. I went last night, had a super weird time ordering the food, because the dudes kept staring me down super hard no matter how many "first time here, just give me a minute"s I could say could not get them to back off as I read the menu.

Dude at the register couldn't really tell me a difference between two nearly identical burgers, one with "griddled onion" and one with "slow cooked onion". He said "one is cooked under the burger, the other is cooked in beef fat." I asked which burger has which, (and I almost considered asking the difference, since it sounded identical, but he seemed... out of it,) and he couldn't tell me. Staff doesn't know their own menu, but whatever, I ordered my food happily regardless.

Anyway, I placed an order, 10 bucks, sure. I sat down on one of their benches and the seat entirely FLEW UP, like a see-saw, and I almost totally busted my butt on the pavement but thankfully caught myself. A very bored looking staff member girl with blonde curls, dismissively said "Here you go", and I ask if she saw the seat entirely fly up. "Ah, yeah....." ....After an odd pause, I say "I think that's really unsafe for it to be unsecure like that?", and she goes "Well its probably since you sat all the way on the edge like that", in a very much dismissive your-fault tone. I asked if every single bench was not secure like this one, she said yeah then strolled off with an eye roll.

I was steamed, and figured I may as well talk to someone about her being rude + the seats. Pretty much got a similar sentiment of "Yeah, you sat on the very edge of it", and "yeah all the seats do that", from the dead eyed worker. Never in my life has I been gaslighted to believe it's my fault for believing a bench would???? not self-destruct with my butt on it??? Why have a restaurant with outdoor seating that cant hold a person on it? Too lazy to even glue it to the base? Just basically plywood loosely sitting atop some metal frames.

The burger, which I got a box to-go for, was tasty but unfulfilling. The meat was literally paper thin, I've had eyelashes thicker than the meat. Was it good? Yeah, but 10 bucks for a burger and still leaving hungry after it AND pissed? Not fun. I could've gone to Shake Shack, and at least been 25% more filled and 90% more respected, with seats that work. So bad. It's a shame since the indoor part of the venue looked really cool, would've made a nice chill spot had it not been for the...

Tl;dr The food here is delicious, high quality, and all around good vibes. I’d come here again to chill with friends!

I came here on a Friday around 5:45PM and drove by first to see if there was the long, dreaded line that many folks have mentioned - lo and behold it was short! So I had my girlfriend and dog join the line while I circles around the neighborhood for parking - which was difficult and I ended up parking in a resident garage. However, that isn’t recommended as they are expensive, like $3 per 30-minutes expensive.

After parking, I came back to the location and the line was now all the way at the gate door - time check around 6pm. First thing I noticed was that tons of people brought their dogs and lots of kids running around, chill family vibes.

I ordered a lot: a drive thru double burger, onion rings, coney dog, mexi coke, and soft serve swirl in a cone. Logistically you get in line to order at the window and then they give you a number to place on your table. If you get soft serve, they give you a ticket so you can pay now and pick up after the meal.

Drive thru double burger 4/5: well constructed burger with the smash patties and secret sauce. The sesame bun made a difference here and you could test the quality of ingredients. I just wished the patties were smashed a bit more for some extra crisp.

Onion rings 4/5: super delicious onion rings and some of the best I’ve ever had. The batter is perfectly applied to the onion rings and they serve it with a ranch dipping sauce that was really tasty and fresh. Some of the onion rings though were a bit oily.

Coney dog 4/5: pretty simple and served with a few fries. Super classic with the chili and mustard but you could taste the quality in the ingredients which takes it up a notch.

Soft-serve swirl 4/5: this was so perfect and tasty to finish the meal! They really stacked it high.

All in all the food was pretty good and the vibes were chill. Not sure I’d come back here unless I was going to hang with some friends. The location makes it difficult to park and I wouldn’t be willing to wait in line...

I've been so dozens of times now and can definitely say the drive thru burger is exceptional. I either get a double (it's a really nice right ratio of smash burger patty to squishy bun), or a single and another favorite like the westerner or fishwich. The shredduce and sauce really round out the experience too. On occasion you may be blessed by her burger gods and be served patties that are browned to the point of being crusty at the edges and it will be glorious. The meat tastes very good, comes from local supplier Cream and Co, and they're using a very nice grind for the purpose.

The corn fritters are nearly a must-have item. They should be crunchy on the outside, and soft and fluffy inside. On a couple occasions, they were a little underdone. They usually come out hot and perfectly salted, which nicely complements the sweet corn. I think they are best double-dipped in the hot sauce and either special sauce or ranch.

I've had the fries lots of times and was not a huge fan. They were undercooked to my sensibilities, which resulted in mostly floppy fries. The smaller ones were crunchy though and had the nice creamy inside I look for with french fries. Frying oil tasted fine and seemed fresh, or at least unflavored each time I went.

People behind the counter have been very nice and my food always came out quickly, so points for that too. Overall one of my new favorites for smashburgers.

Even after so many times here, the food is just dependably excellent. I've leaned into the Westerner with a side of ranch, which really satisfies a kid who grew up going to Carl's Jr and getting the bacon western cheeseburger. I eventually realized the fishwich is also amazing (as non-fan of tartar sauce I order it dry/no sauce, with a side of ranch or special sauce).

Still great staff, the only change in the last few months is that now you get a buzzer and come pick up your food yourself. As a result, food seems to come out faster (this adjustment makes more sense with the general atmosphere of Two Pitchers anyway). 2 burgers and a beer (+ tips for...