Oyo — Restaurant in Pleasanton

This cannot be allowed. What tomfoolery takes place in this establishment!

I am flabbergasted by what poor quality and depressing service I received today. This restaurant is undeniably overpriced for the flavor and quality received. The waitress was also really lagging with taking our order and bringing us our check, resulting in us waiting 20 minutes extra. I was really disappointed after reading numerous reviews raving about this unique cuisine in Pleasanton.

To start with, we ordered the Fried Green Plantains that were overhyped by our swindling waitress. I must admit, my party was extremely dejected when the plate of what appeared to be chips arrived. The plantains were sliced inexplicably thin with excess amounts of batter coating it. This is indubitably a sad attempt at making the plantains as crispy as possible whilst reducing the total amount of produce needed in making this particular dish. In all honesty, I am sad to note that they even failed to make the plantains crispy; it was a soggy disaster of a palate. I noticed, in addition, that the plate underneath our FOUR plantain DISCS were unattractively splattered with some kind of unidentifiable white sauce; NOT to be confused with the advertised chimichurri which by the way, was near non-present save a few small dollops randomly strewn on -at most- two of the four plantain discs. Absolutely not worthy of the $9 premium for an appetizer that promises larger portion sizes and vastly superior flavor. In fact, I would veritably price the Fried Green Plantains at $4, a great change from their demanding cost. Let it be reminded that only four extremely thin discs of plantains constitutes the entire dish.

Moving on, I still regrettably cannot recommend the next few plates. We first tried the Oyo Pepper Pot and then the Oxtail Stew; both of which had exceptional flavor. The Pepper Pot was not overcooked and the pepper leaves complimented the sauce. The cast iron bread served with it was decent and was useful in soaking up the remaining sauce. I thought the Oxtail Stew was made quite well, with the exception of a few things: when the plate was served, I saw the fat had already congealed a bit on the sauce (meaning the dish was not just made), the stew was a bit too rich, and the "dumplings" were atrocious. i really wanted to give the dumplings more chances, but after choking down two of them, I conclude the dumplings were a starchy mess, leading them to be out of place in an otherwise very strong and impressing dish. My premiere issue with the two dishes are again, the price. $25 for each of the two plates is grossly over what any customer should pay in a restaurant of this caliber. Due to the remarkable flavor, however, I would price the two dishes near $17 each.

I then witnessed something shocking at the bar. The bartender filled a glass with ice and then poured nothing but juice directly from a SunTropics Passionfruit Orange Guava juice carton. She then proceeded to serve the drink as is, with no other additives. Astonished, I searched through the menu for what this order could possibly be. I hoped that this was nothing serious but a special customer request. It is very unfortunate that I found a non-alcoholic drink item on the menu labeled P.O.G., clearly directly inspired by the juice carton from which the drink originates. Standing for Passionfruit.Orange.Guava., the menu demands an appalling $6 for a glass full of ice and not even a whole cup of processed consumer juice. After doing some quick research, I found one whole carton of this "POG" from SunTropics sells for $4 on Amazon. Potentially this lone carton netting more than 8 orders of "POG", take a moment and think of the insane and offensive profit margins of this drink and then apply that to all other dishes Oyo offers.

Although it appears Oyo has no trouble with filling customers on a weekend, lowering the prices, increasing the quality, and a quick training refresher for the staff would net new waves of customers and potentially make Oyo the most popular restaurant in...

We chose this restaurant specifically because it advertised that it accommodates dietary restrictions, including vegan and GF options. Unfortunately, our experience was deeply disappointing and concerning.

During our meal, one of the vegan dishes that was served clearly contained chicken. To be sure, I had someone else in our party taste it, and they confirmed it was indeed chicken. We informed our server, who was polite and took the dish back to the kitchen. He later returned to say the chef insisted it was mushroom. We pushed back—there was no question this was chicken—and the server took it away again.

Shortly after, the manager came out and instead of handling the situation with understanding or accountability, he was condescending and dismissive. He insisted it was bamboo shoots (it very clearly was not), and that we should just trust the chef because he’s a chef. When I mentioned that someone in our party is also a chef, and that the item was unmistakably chicken, he doubled down and said, essentially, that we were wrong and he was sorry we “felt that way.”

Food mislabeling, especially with dietary restrictions like veganism, is not a small issue—it can have serious ethical, health, or cultural implications. But what made this worse was the complete lack of respect in how the issue was handled. We were talked down to, not taken seriously, and ultimately left with a strong sense that the restaurant does not take accountability or guest concerns seriously.

I cannot recommend this place to anyone who needs to trust that their dietary needs will be honored.

The manager’s attitude about the entire thing shows you the value the place has...

The last thing I was expecting to find in Pleasanton was a Caribbean restaurant, but it turned out to be the perfect place we needed, at the right time. We initially sat outside, in the uncovered area, as my friends had their wiener dogs with them, but with the blustery San Francisco weather and the threat of rain, the staff were super helpful and understanding and quickly moved us to the covered patio area. This was cosy and ideal as we had our own personal space heater and were sheltered from the elements. We began our Caribbean journey with the West Indian/Trinidadian street food staples of doubles and phoulourie as appetizers. We also had some of their signature cocktails from their fully stocked bar while waiting for our food to arrive. The combination of the flavors and condiments were the prefect beginning to whet our appetites for our entrees. We ordered the oxtail stew, the goat curry, and the jerk chicken. Each dish served with sides that complimented the presentation, like rice or fried plantains. The oxtail was so succulent and tender, the meat fell off the bone, as was the goat. The jerk chicken was crispy on the outside, with the crust of seasoning keeping the meat moist in the inside. The seasonings gave the meal authentic and traditional feels, complementing the warm island haven we experiencedin the midst of the less than perfect weather. As the night went on, we had some last drinks before bracing ourselves to walk around some more. Oyo provides a shining taste of the Caribbean without needing a passport. Be sure to check them out if you're in need of some sunshine when the weather gets dreary in...