The Fat Lady Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Oakland

TLDR: terrible service and attitude towards a large party and imposter syndrome rissoto Large groups beware.

A large group of us travelled to SF for a NYE show from all over the country. The Fat Lady was recommended and had amazing reviews. As someone who has worked years in kitchens and the service industry I have never witnessed such a massive flaming dumpster fire than this experience.

A member of our party called in advance about reservations for New Years Eve at an early time ( like 4/430, when normally no restaurant is busy). Immediately the person on the phone had an attitude as if it was a huge burden to bring this many people and told us we had to place a non-refundable deposit. Understandable, it was a large reservation (14) however they said that WOULD NOT apply to the bill which is Ludacris.

We finally get to the day and show up, we have to sit outside because they couldn't find a way to accomodate us inside, mind you there were maybe 2 people at the bar...that was it in the whole resturaunt. The tables werent set up or ready and the heat lamps weren't turned on or set up so there was about 10 minutes of them scrambling to move them and turn them on and get their shit together. It then took probably 30 minutes to get our drink order in. Again the waiter and staff made it feel like it was unpleasant and burdensome to wait on us. They were not serving their normal menu everyone had looked and planned off of (and never informed us of a special menu in place of their normal one). The prices were also DOUBLE what the SAME dish is on their menu!!! They flip flopped multiple times telling us the deposit would actually count and then taking it back saying it won't be applied to the bill. My friend got a like $16 cesar salad that was a single head of romaine cut in half with a small drizzle of dressing in the center 😂. They did not even have a vegetarian option on the menu (other than french fries, side asparagus, and scalloped potato) but said they could make their mushroom rissoto vegetarian.

Firstly . This was NOT.A.RISOTTO. It was literally like cooked regular rice mixed with some beet sauce and a giant handful of arugala. It had NO flavor which the server defended that they don't "season" their food that's why there's salt on the table. Please don't put rissotto on the menu if you cannot cook it. Judging by photos that consistency is normal for theirs.

The service also took so long we got there at 4 and didn't leave until almost 630, when the reason we made a 4pm reservation was to be done early enough to make VIP entry for the show.

I don't think I have ever experienced the trifecta of terrible atmosphere, the worst service of my life, and absolutely terrible food.

Absolutely wild to have someone say we want to pay you tons of money to bring a large party to your restaurant and bring you business at an otherwise very slow hour and then to...

Here's a July 2021 update. We got there early on Sunday since we anticipated the popularity. They have expanded the side seating outside to include part of the street fenced off with a wood lattice. All the 2 person tables are there on the street on kind of an odd slant. It gave lots of room for people to wander through the restaurant seating on the sidewalk itself. And if you haven't been here, trains happen. With the trees and umbrellas it is nice and shady. We did miss the wonderful tiny muffins they used to start brunch with. We ordered crab cake appetizer, side of crispy bacon, french toast and a blackstone benedict. My Irish coffee was a bit on the sweet side but very enjoyable. Everything was fine but the benedict which came out as a traditional benedict. I should have realized that the waiter did not understand the order when he was puzzled that I wanted the bacon crisp. I sent it back and subsequently got a blackstone with very limp bacon. Since they were doing their best to get the corrected meal out quickly the tomato didn't hit the grill, although the spinach was fine. The waiter did his best to correct it but it was rather disappointing. I give it a 3. We may try again, not sure.

Original review Feb 2020: I gave this visit a 5. I should have written this review right away, not waiting 3 weeks. We had a reservation for 8 fairly early in the evening, so we had no wait at all for our table. Our waiter, Stephanie was patient and helpful as we negotiated appetizers and wine. We had three appetizers: the cheese plate, kabobs, and calamari. I especially liked the cheese plate. For dinner, there was a ribeye, a rack of lamb, crab with goat cheese gnocchi special, and another special I don't recall. The entrees were very good, but the lamb was perfect. The clam chowder was good. The very last of it was mopped up with a bit of bread. We did not neglect the dessert menu either. We tried the sorbet, bread pudding, Meyer lemon pudding cake, and baked hot chocolate pudding. The surprise here was the perfectly flavored house baked cookies. They were carefully shared out among us all. We had pinot noir with dinner, sorry don't recall exactly, a couple of cocktails, a couple of coffees, and an ale. The decor is amusing, especially the ladies room. The eight of us agreed that coming back would be an...

My partner and I are in town for a funeral and we had to kill a little time between our vrbo check out time and our flight home, so my partner found a place for us to get some food and a drink or six. 😉

Luckily for us, they found The Fat Lady and it was SUCH a wonderful experience!

Our server, Elizabeth, was so incredibly delightful and helpful. She made great recommendations and didn’t hesitate to tell us that she wouldn’t mind if we had to camp out for a couple hours, or more, despite our profuse apologies. And that’s not to mention that she was incredibly fun/funny, and dare I say she was a bit cheeky (😉) but in a safe and super respectful way. Not only that, she made our dining experience even better than it otherwise would have been - coming and going with the flow you just instantly know is a true mark of high intelligence and skill in the profession.

Now, the food. Gawd. The food was so tasty.

I very much enjoyed the oysters, that came with lemons, real horseradish, and garlic butter. And I had the Atlantic salmon fillet as my main. My partner had the French onion soup and a baked potato that they found to be delicious on a cloudy/drizzly Bay Area day. As for the drinks… We very much enjoyed the Bees Knees and Cupid’s Arrow cocktail, as we did a spicy mezcal cocktail that Elizabeth suggested for us.

By the way, the ambience and atmosphere is absolutely fantastic. It’s almost like being in your kooky rich aunt’s mansion, it’s incredibly ornate and beautiful inside, with art and curtains and lamps. I was in a seat where I could see a stained glass window featuring a rose pattern, making it that much more special.

Needless to say, after our time at The Fat Lady, we’re both adequately prepared and smiling before our flight home after a handful of difficult days. Thanks for your hospitality and patience with us, Elizabeth & Staff. Hope to see you again, someday...