Plank — Restaurant in Oakland

Plank was a cool vibe. It was my first time there while in attendance for a retirement party. The upstairs space was reserved and the area quaint and cozy enuff to hold at least 40 plus people (not sure how many rolled through over 3 hrs). There were several high top tables and stools throughput the space. On the other side of the space were a couple of sofas and tables creating a kickback mood. The bar area was staffed by the same individual who was bussing and responsible for food, therefore causing a momentary wait to snag a beverage. However her mood was on point making for an overall good experience. There was a pool table and or fuzz ball table. The only two drawbacks was the positioning of some of the seating tables as they were placed near the service lift causing folks to be interrupted while staff used the service lift to bring up food and bus tables. The other drawback was our inability to hear the speakers even with a mic due to noise flowing up from downstairs (however it added to an already festive mood). Since I know the heart space and work ethic of the person we were celebrating I leaned into the beautiful, spirited energy of the crowd and followed the bobble head nods and smiles of those who could hear. Additionally, I realize, the mic volume could have been an event host issue and not a reflection of the venue🤷🏿‍♀️. Keep that in mind when you book so you will be adequately prepared for your event.

Please note I did not participate in any arcade activities this trip and therefore have no info on that process. I will update you after my next visit as I plan on returning!!

In all the Plank was an awesome experience and the venue worthy to consider for family gatherings or other office type events.

Wait! Huh? Oh you wanna know about the food?! The event food was a mexican theme and really tasty. I had "standard fare" expectations yet was pleasantly surprised by the flavors and quality. The steak fajitas omg 🤤 on my second helping I ditched the fixins (veggies) and heaped the meat over fresh tortilla chips, lettuce and presumably fresh guacamole, salsa, sprinkled some cheese and mmm mmmm delish. Sorry, not sure what other foods they serve.

Hope your experience is just...

I am absolutely appalled by the service and help received at this restaurant. I came from San Diego to visit my friend and celebrate my birthday. Not only was the service extremely slow and we waited 35 mins after our lane ended for the server to bring the bill (while others were waiting for our lane), but I also had an incident of a THEFT. Some low life stole my purse and committed some serious damage with my banks. I asked and pleaded with the manager on serval occasions (while i was in absolute tears, had a plane to catch the following day ON MY BIRTHDAY and my ID, all of my personal info, was all taken from me… i was panicking as I thought I wasnt going to be able to get home), to please do me a simple favor to help check the cameras in hopes the thief was still there and I could confront him. She claimed “I won’t do that without a police report.” Soooo what did i do??? Yep, called the police and filed the police report and showed proof of the report and she still continued to give me a nasty attitude not wanting to help me. I even offered to give her every dime in my purse if she was willing to help. Fast forward, the thief called my bank pretending to be me… and took everything from me. The fact that plank has security, management, and cameras, security is worthless, management worthless, and cameras….. worthless. Instead the manager (Italian looking lady with dark hair) responded to me with.. “ummm im the only manager on duty I don’t have time for this. I don’t know what to tell you.” But had the audacity to check a few trash cans thinking some one dumped it outside. Well homegirl, it would’ve saved getting your pretty little hands dirty if you just would’ve sat your butt down and reviewed the few seconds of footage. Your selfish, narcissistic, better than anyone attitude, won’t get you very far. Clearly… I mean look where you’re working (sorry low blow.. don’t care.) I highly suggest next time something like this happens, you have a heart to help someone else in need. But if not… I know karmas got my back. If I were you looking to come here… expect slow service and a possible crime committed to you. Go at your own risk because you never know if your gonna come home with what...

I came here on a Tuesday with my boyfriend to bowl and have a couple beers, but we were pretty disappointed unfortunately. We had such a hard time getting service, to the point where we wondered if we were being actively avoided. There were a fair amount of people around who worked there, but somehow nobody seemed to be available to help us after we paid for our bowling games. We really just wanted two beers, so at first we tried to just order them at the bar since there’s one right in front of the alley where we were bowling. But evidently you’re only allowed to order drinks from the server who’s supposed to come to your lane and take your orders, but after a while there was still no server around for us, so I started asking around if someone could come over. When a server did finally come, we ordered two beers but they ended up taking a really long time to come out and when they did they were pretty flat and not very cold.

The bowling alley itself was nice though, and we would have stayed and played a few more games but we were pretty put off by the lack of service and reluctance of our server. I mean I get it, this is probably more of a weekend spot and they’re probably better staffed Thu-Sat. But then why bother being open at all during the week if they don’t have the bandwidth to offer adequate service?

The arcade looks pretty fun, maybe it’s worth checking out on a Friday or something. But personally I’d rather go somewhere like Emporium for a bar/arcade experience and better service. And if you’re just looking for a classic bowling experience without all the extra hype, you’re definitely better off going to one of the more classic-style bowling alleys in the area.

Can’t speak to the food quality because we didn’t stay long enough to find out. I gave 2 stars instead of 1 since the place itself is actually pretty nice inside. It has so much potential but in reality it’s just a waste of your time and money— There’s so many better options in the area that are just a...