Sobre Mesa — Restaurant in Oakland

Please read this before making a reservation!

We made a reservation for 6 and 2 couldn’t make it last minute due to an emergency and they still charged the $20 cancellation fee for showing up with a smaller party. This feels like theft and unnecessary. They also made us wait for all of our party before seating us, which just made them miss out on more food and booze that we would’ve bought as we were waiting for our 4th to arrive. I’ve never dined somewhere with such weirdly strict policies that are anti hospitality. The host was super rude to me when explaining the cancellation of the 2 guests that couldn’t make it. He said loudly “wow are y’all serious! That’s $40 of cancellation fees!” Trust me sweetie, money’s not a problem with us. You don’t need to shame me for your weird cancellation policy.

I’ve worked in hospitality for a decade before my career took off and this place felt like it has potential to be something great (super good food and ambiance) but with such bad service and management (stupid policy) that will ultimately drive it into the ground. If you’re going to have policies that cause so much drama, perhaps don’t take reservations.

When the host seated us, he turned our table of 6 into a table of 3 (probably in the hopes they could re-sell that table to a walk in, even though we were paying $60 in cancellations for that part of the table.) this feels so unethical and icky. We also my friend who was running behind had to sneak in in order to sit with us. We ordered a ton of food and could’ve used that extra space to dine more comfortably.

The food was really good but overall the service was so garbage that it didn’t make it worth it. They never once came over to refill our waters, no plates or silverware were on our table until we asked (after already having food ran to our table 2-3 times...how could they not notice we needed share plates at a TAPAS place.) We had to flag someone down to ask for drinks, as our server completely forgot about it. Nobody bussed our plates off our table until we had no room left, even though they had come to the table many times to drop off food, and could tell there wasn’t room. You can’t take plates with you as you go? This is service 101...

This place needs to take a hard look at themselves if they want to survive. The entire wait staff needs to be re-trained, and their cancellation policy should be re-evaluated.

My advice for if you want to experience the food and ambiance is to not make a reservation unless you know everyone will show up on time, and to not expect much from...

I’ve never given a place less than 5 stars, and honestly I really wanted to give this place 5 stars. The vibe in here was unmatched. Easily one of the coolest, most curated spots I’ve been. The music was cool, the people were cool. Even though it was a small restaurant the tables all felt intimate. Everyone in there was having their own conversations. The lighting was dim and romantic but sexy. The music wasn’t too loud but it added to the atmosphere. The reason I gave the service a 3 was because although our server was so super sweet, she forgot the specials mid sentence and it took FOREVER to get anything we ordered. We just sat there for 30 mins after putting in our drink order. I don’t mind if a place is busy and they are short staffed, but it seemed the people next to us had two rounds of drinks and two plates before we even got our first drink. That kind of sucked. The food itself was so close to perfect. The skirt steak tasted perfect but was over cooked for my liking, and the lamb osso bucco was cooked perfectly but it was crazy salty! So disappointing honestly. It was almost there! Then last, another reason that affected my service score, the host came up to us and told us they had to seat another party at our table in about 5 mins so we basically had to kick rocks. And I get it, I would totally be cool with it because they have to make their money, but it wasn’t cool that it took so long for us to get everything. We still had a full plate when they came up to us. They came right back and told us nevermind but we got the check and left anyway. Overall, I really really love this place. If the food and service were just a bit more polished I would not only recommend this place but I’d...

The most dreamy dinner @sobremesaoak last night. I blindly made reservations for an indoor table in this beautiful space a couple of weeks back and it was pretty easy to find friends who were down to ball out at this chic Afro-Latino spot. We ordered a lot but I only have 10 spaces for photos, so bear with me... Firstly the Bone Marrow was probs my fave dish with pickled cassava and jerk chimichurri. The Stuffed Ripe Plantain with @impossible_foods meat and soy chorizo 😗🤌🏽 These amazing duck fat chicken wings 🍗 drenched in a Nigerian 🇳🇬 Red Sauce (obe ata dindin, made from tomatoes and peppers) were also a huge hit. Lobster Thermidor with squid ink, the Gulf Shrimp with garlic confit. The Pernil Pork Tenderloin was so delicious and had a wonderful BBQ-like flavor to it. We ordered several of the Steak Empanadas, the meat inside was so flavorful and satisfying. Tostones with nduja and anchovy. Oysters on a half shell with pineapple sofrito and smoked trout roe as well as these juicy marinated olives. And we had to ask for the dessert specials as they weren’t on the menu but I’m sure glad we did because these little confectionaries were heaven: Passionfruit Mousse and Carrot Cake with Pineapple mint relish. WHEW 🥵 Not pictured but also enjoyed are the padron peppers, several pitchers of cocktails and a seriously gorgeous ambiance. Reservations recommended, but they also had outdoor tables with heaters avail for walk-in diners. Every dish was spot on I highly recommend eating here!!!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️IG:...