Snail Bar — Restaurant in Oakland

**Establishment does NOT offer Take Away Food!

Unfortunately this was a miss for me. Came here by myself and since there was no wait, I was quickly seated outside (it was about 7pm). I noticed there was one heater for the whole outside area, but figured I was gonna get a quick bite, that the 60 degree weather wouldn’t get to me. I was seated right next to the entrance and it took a while to have a server get to me (I personally had to ask if I could please order). I ordered a single glass of wine, the scallop tostadas and the Spice Olive cake; spent $75 that includes the 20% gratuity they automatically add.

Wine and tostada came out quickly! To which I will give credit and say that the tostada was delicious ($27 for 2). After that I sat there and waited for the cake to come out, to which at one point I asked to be checked out, as I wanted to pay and head out after the cake came out. 10+ min after paying, I was getting pretty cold and asked if they could just wrap up the cake as I wanted to head home since I was getting pretty chilly. Server told me he would be right back and he would get and estimate for the cake. When he came back, he told me that it was taking a while to be ready due to the Strawberry Granita (shaved iced) that wasn’t ready and it went on top of the cake. I was also told that the Chef WOULD NOT box my item to go, because of the granita. I asked if they could just remove it and he said no; My options were to be reimbursed for the cake or wait for it to be served and ready to eat, by that point I had been waiting close to 20 min for the cake, so I waited another minute or so after that. Y’all!! When that cake came out, I was far from impressed with the presentation. Just the cake served with whipped cream and a small bit of shave iced over it (this could have easily been packed up to go). I quickly ate it and hoped that the taste would have been worth the wait and I was very much disappointed by the dryness of the cake.

All in all, unfortunately I will not be returning back, even though I was recommend by friends about this place and only living 4 min away from the location. I want to go to a place where being able to pack up my items to go in the event I can’t finish it, is an option; along with being acknowledged and served accordingly and not having to grab someone’s attention to be served

*Responding to the Reply of the Owner:

I’m glad you guys remembered me, but again, I was only acknowledged after I’d asked another staff member about placing my order and about the ETA of the cake. As noted by other customers/reviews on here, the lack of acknowledgement at times is something that is a current issue at your establishment, and not just an isolated event. I did ask what the Granita was and even said “y’all can’t just take it out?” I was so in shocked that an establishment didn’t offer to go boxes, that I suppose it didn’t sound like a request. By the reply of my review, I’m assuming you’re the one that took my order, so with that being said: You could have just told me your establishment DOESN’T offer any take away, instead of pinning that on your Chef! Not once was I told that the “Granita is the most important component of the dessert,” I was only told that it would...

I've been here a few times now, on regular service evenings and on a night where they hosted another chef called "homie night," which they do periodically.

The food is solid. However, service here is unfortunately super weird. It's unlike anything I've experienced with a restaurant with such a small team. It leaves you with the feeling that the restaurant itself is more of a "flex" to show off to fellow service industry peers, rather than a genuine effort to provide a great overall experience to patrons. It feels entitled and makes you, as a customer, feel invasive and excluded.

For example, every single time I've been here, this absolutely bizarre string of events occur: we get our last dish at the end of the dinner, and the entire staff disappears for 45 straight minutes to socialize with each other before offering up the bill. The first time, everyone, including front of house and kitchen staff, went outside (a part from one single person) leaving the restaurant almost deserted. The second time, everyone was just chatting in the kitchen and no tables were checked on for almost an hour. As a customer, this leaves you with the distinct feeling that you are an afterthought. It also makes zero sense, especially on a weeknight-why not just finish service and then chat? That way everyone is happy...but then you'd have to call your "2 hour prix fixe" dinner what it actually is: just a little over an hour of rushed food.

Second, every time we've been here, courses get rushed to the table by various people, who very quickly explain to you what's in the dish. On the night where the chef was being hosted, we weren't given a menu that showed courses, so this was the only info we had to go off of. Half of the time, we missed most of the details of the dish from the rushed explanation.

To add insult to injury, they really only offer one dessert, and it is truly bad. Serving a custard that is flat in flavor, with cheap pudding-like texture, that certainly takes next to no effort to prepare, for the price of $15, is criminal...and I love custard! As a dessert person, this combined with the service experience above is enough to leave me with a bad taste in my mouth and dragging my feet to...

The wine is great but I do not recommend the food if you have any sort of food allergy or dietary restriction.

I have celiac disease which is an autoimmune disease triggered by eating gluten. I asked the servers if certain items on the menu were gluten free and they did what any responsible server would do- they asked the kitchen. Once confirming what was gluten free with the kitchen, I made my food order. The first food out was the arpea. Luckily I didn’t dig in immediately and instead I checked with my server one more time that it was gluten free. They said “let me check” and checked again with the kitchen. It turns out the arepa they had just served me after checking if it was gluten free was not actually gluten free (it contained soy sauce). They informed me of this and I luckily had not eaten it yet. Next out was the scallop crudo. Again I checked if it was gluten free and it was confirmed that it was. I ate a couple bites of it and drank some wine with my friends before the server frantically ran out and asked “you haven’t eaten any of this yet, have you?” My stomach sank because I knew why they were asking. They said the chef/owner, Andres, would be out soon. Andres informed me that the sauce on the scallops was made with bread. He said it was “just a little bit of bread” and that he “hoped my allergy wasn’t that serious”. I informed him that I have celiac and that it is in fact serious. He apologized and then stayed at the table expressing how terrible he felt. However terrible he felt is nothing in comparison to the pain I felt for the next couple days while I was sick

The servers did everything in their power to ensure the meal was gluten free so I do not hold them responsible for this. The servers here are great and they are very knowledgeable about the wine. The responsibility lays with the kitchen and the owner who sent out not one but two items containing gluten. I would expect a place like this to know what they put in their food and I am very disappointed that I had to get sick in order for them to realize the importance of food allergies. I hope in the future they label the allergens on their menu and take more care with...