Sequoia Diner — Restaurant in Oakland

Great ambience and good plant-based breakfast, but wait time for food and overall service were issues. I was looking forward to going here. I’d heard great things about the plant-based breakfast. Even though it was a Sunday morning our wait wasn’t too bad. Love the general ambience of this place. Our orders were taken and our drinks arrived and then…we waited. And waited. No one said anything to us. After 25 minutes we asked someone, thinking maybe our order had been lost. Another 15 minutes and the food arrived. By that time we were starving and our drinks were nearly gone. We were sitting near the kitchen and from what I could see, the long wait for our food had to do with many to-go orders interspersed with in-house orders. And maybe short-staffed? Not sure. The plant-based breakfast was delicious except for overly salted potatoes which had been sitting on the grill for a while. The toast was very good as well, but the size of the slices was tiny, that was a minus. Also, sausages not thoroughly cooked but it had been so long of a wait at that point, my friend didn’t want to send them back. The bill for 4 was $142 (4 breakfasts, 4 non-alcoholic drinks). At that price I really would have expected a bit more. I didn’t mind the 20% surcharge per se (and I appreciate 1% going to a local charity)—but I found it odd that no one ever checked in with us during our long wait. Staff was definitely available if we flagged them down, and friendly enough, but I guess I like having a dedicated server who makes sure we’re having a good...

Today I had breakfast at Sequoia which I hadn't been to for a while. Unfortunately, it was the worst experience I had in years anywhere. The food was expensive and arrived cold. They over charged us for biscuits. When we questioned it the young Latina waitress was rude and dismissive. She had to recalculate 2x. Then when we were told that a 20% tip was added to the bill automatically 🙄 we were so surprised and asked if that is posted somewhere. She said it's on the menu. I asked to see the menu and found the notice at the bottom of the menu in really small fonts and the ink was also really light and hard to read. I asked to speak to the owner, who I know and was my neighbor for many years. I was told he was too busy. I went to the back to talk to him and he did not look busy 😕. He offered to remove the 20% tip . When I got back to the table the waitress was really rude and argumentive. I told her I would not be coming here again and she said that's fine with her?? I told her that was a rude unprofessional response and I explained i used to be a regular customer and didn't like her attitude. Especially since her job is to be nice to customers. I really used to enjoy eating at this spot for many years. I hope the owner replaces her with someone who really cares about the job and customers. It's unfortunate but I will not recommend this place to anyone. The bill for 2 people was $77.80 for a basic breakfast. It's soo expensive to eat out these days and adding a 20% tip is outrageous especially for...

Came here on a recommendation through a friend. Went on a Saturday late afternoon. Was quite busy. The food was DELICIOUS! We ordered the pastrami breakfast sandwich as well as the chicken salad sandwich and a biscuit. We also got an orange juice and the turmeric tonic.

My favorite was the pastrami sandwich and the breakfast potatoes. Their potatoes were probably the best breakfast potatoes I’ve ever tasted! It was a mix of mashed and hash brown potatoes that were crispy on the outside and super light and fluffy and packed with flavor on the inside. Bread on the pastrami was super buttery, and nicely toasted.

The chicken salad was really tasty as well. The version to me wasn’t a classic chicken salad per say but a rotisserie style chicken that was super juicy with a hint of Mayo and then all the fixings on the actual sandwich. It was really good.

I would highly recommend this place but tiny downside was the service. It was a little slow but I’m going to blame it covid protocols etc to keep things safe an distance etc. everyone there was super nice and the hostess even came out to the car to grab us when it was our turn to order and be seated.

Overall would come back again. The food was delicious and the staff was really...