Marica Restaurant — Restaurant in Oakland

These stars are well deserved. Reservations are done through email. I contacted them Friday morning and was able to get a spot for 2 at 8:15.

The restaurant is pretty small, and there'll most likely be a wait when you come. We only had to wait about 10 min until we were seated.

We started off with their $6 happy hour drinks: a gin martini with a twist for me and a manhattan for him. I'm always apprehensive ordering happy hour drinks cause they're diluted and usually taste blah. But these babies were STRONG. Can't complain there.

We decided to do a few appetizers and split an entree. We ordered half a dozen of the oysters, calamari, and mussels. We split the seafood stew for our main course. Oh! And put in an order for the dark chocolate soufflé.

The oysters were delicious, a bit on the smaller side but for $1 it's worth it. I was a bit disappointed when I took a bite of the calamari and it wasn't crispy (I didn't read the menu description, just ordered based on what the yelpers said) but the flavors were PHENOMENAL. So tender and flavorful. I was sorry within the second bite that I was initially disappointed in this dish. Then the mussels. YUM. Have you ever has $5 bowl of mussels?! Yea, me either. I loved the sauce. It went perfectlyyyy with the bread. Even when we were done our server knew to keep the bowl at the table so we could still use it for dipping. Good woman right there.

Then the seafood stew came out. Ugh. So. Freaking. Delicious. The bf didn't even speak the entire meal, he was too focused on eating.

Now for the finale, the soufflé. The last chocolate soufflé we had was at Gary Danko's, and that was also the bf's first time having soufflé, ever. So we had high expectations. Oh my. They were definetly exceeded. He even liked this soufflé more than Danko's! I'm not sure if I would go that far....but it was different in itself and the ice cream just added that special something something.

Before our dessert came in, bf wanted to try the basil gimlet. Bad idea. Obviously the sweetness from the soufflé outshined the refreshing drink, making it taste bitter. But that's his fault =P

Service was friendly and attentive. Even though our server was also the bartender , she made sure we were taken care of.

Tip: bring cash!! You get 10% off. I completely forgot. But I won't for next time!

Do yourself a favor, come here and eat!!! You'll be...

I had dinner here on a Saturday night with my two fav. girlfriends, spending the day in Oakland.

This local seafood place is right at the border of north oakland and berkeley area. It was in a quaint downtown area, with lots of shops and bars. We quickly found parking a block away (watch out, the sidewalks are HIGH!!!) - scrapped my door twice getting in and out ~

HIGHLY RECOMMEND RESERVATIONS!! You can do it very simply by emailing them, your total no. of party, date and time. They are quick to respond and very accommodating. We arrived early, check in and because it is a very SMALL space, there is a limited bar area (3-4 seatings only) - we ended up going across the street to the indian restaurant/bar to hang out until our reservation.

Inside, it is a small space, with about 2 dozen tables only. The back-area toward the kitchen and restroom hallway is very small, bad in case of a line for the restroom.

We waited about an additional 10 min for our table, and were seated in the middle. They brought bread and water to the table promptly. The bread was good. We ordered a bottle of wine and multiple dishes to share:

oysters - $2 each - was a great deal, very fresh w/ a champagne vignnette. clams - great, smooth and slightly creamy sauce. Lots of flavor. Good amount for appz. especially to share. Seafood Stew: Lots of fish and a few shrimp. Strong tomato broth. Fish was very good. Soft-Shell crab - I think this was my fav! Perfectly fried, the shell chewable w/o sticking to you. The sauces (an orange and green sauce) was fab. w/ a little mixed rice and veggy. Lobster - great sauce, but very hard to eat - I would think they would pre-break specific spots for you - so it would be easier to get out, but the flavor was wonderful. Wished we had more veggy besides sugar snap pea that were in all the dishes to eat w/ it. Another starch side would have gone wonderfully well with this since the sauce was so good!

Service - We had a great waitress who was attentive, despite a busy Saturday. Line out the door when we arrived at 7, and came back at 7:30, there was still a lot of people waiting!

A great experience, and great seafood. Everything was fresh, and the attention of the staff was...

We have been here several times for date night and have enjoyed the simple food, ability to walk in and get a table and the throwback late 90s vibe.

Sometimes when it’s hard to pick options at a restaurant it’s the menu and not the diner and it felt like that on this recent visit.

In the past we have both enjoyed the pan fried calamari. The potential is so high, but the execution so critical to what a cook is capable to produce. And does it make it out of the kitchen? It did for us and it was not nearly anything like previous visits. It was greasy and the breading wasn’t there it was really odd like the oil was too cold but warm enough to cook the food but not set the crust as it all looked like it was rolled in oily bread crumbs. And a server served it. We hadn’t been there in a year. We’re hungry. Wasn’t horrible.

And next our entrees were presented and after a few bites determined they were severely burned. Not like when you order something blackened but more like when something cooks on a grill in a grease fire for 5 minutes and the products is grey on the sides and has a thick black crust of char on one side. Not only did the cook prepare this but they decided to serve it! Both seafood entrees were grossly burned. Motioned to the staff and showed them. They immediately acknowledged this and offered to prepare new dishes. It was late and you could tell they were closing the kitchen and still… the cook (doubtful with experience or care) didn’t inspire confidence for a round 2. We said we’d eat around it and they said they’d comp the entrees. Generous and appropriate, we managed to enjoy the best we could.

The soufflé was tasty, firmer, but was the one element of the meal that was wasn’t egregiously wrong. Smidge ironic.

Well, they took one entree off the bill and sometimes you just don’t feel like giving real time feedback twice in an evening. Finding talented staff who care is hard, boh and FOH no doubt, but when there are such huge gaps in the preparation and service it is really concerning. The offer to hold themselves accountable fell short at the bill, based on their promise, and I know date night would have been much better spent at home that night eating...