Assemble Kitchen — Restaurant in Richmond

I've been to Assemble several times now and I love it. It's right next to the Craneway Pavilion and directly across from the Rosie the Riveter museum. On a clear day, you get a wonderful 180 view of the Bay Area (Berkeley, Oakland, Treasure Island, San Francisco, and Marin). It's worth taking a nice stroll after having a delicious meal at Assemble.

I have had both lunch and brunch at the restaurant. Everything had fresh local ingredients with some housemade items and everything was so delightful. These are the items I have had at Assemble:

Assemble Breakfast - A simple breakfast that I loved so much. I got my eggs nicely poached and opted for the bacon instead of the ham. I loved their homefries because they dice the potatoes into small pieces so you get a mouthful of crispy potatoes. And the sourdough they serve with it is nicely toasted on the outside, but super soft on the inside.

Fried Chicken Sandwich - Oh. My. Gosh. I loved this chicken sandwich. It's a good portion and the chicken is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Perfectly cooked with a nice balance of heat from the pickled jalapeños. The fried basil is a fantastic touch. I need to have another one of these sandwiches very, very soon.

Grilled Chicken Citrus Salad - This is a pretty salad. It's very light, but filling. There's slices of orange and blood orange, which were fresh and flavorful. I loved the dressing.

Avocado Toast - Ermahgerd! I loved the avocado toast. I wasn't sure how the chia seeds and pumpkins would work with the dish, but they did! They added a nice, crunchy element to the dish. The egg was poached perfectly. The dressing on the mixed greens was so good.

Smoked Salmon Salad - This is a hearty salad. This was another dish I really loved. You get a nice portion of the smoked salmon, but it's a nice balance between that and the mixed greens.

Miso Roasted Eggplant - Another light, but hearty dish. There's a lot of nice flavors that compliment each other. The eggplant was nicely cooked.

Shrimp Fried Rice - I've had this both with and without shrimp. One of my friends is allergic to shrimp so they made sure to not include it in the dish. It was both good with and without the shrimp! The rice wasn't too salty and the soft boiled egg was a very nice touch.

Bread Pudding French Toast - Wow. This was pretty amazing. I don't think this is something I could eat by myself. It's definitely worth sharing while having a cup of coffee. It was very delectable.

Orange Cardamom Creme Brulee - This was a very nice creme brulee. The orange is very subtle. The portion is a nice size, where you don't have to share if you don't want to. Actually, don't share it. Have it all to yourself!

Cookie Plate - A nice assortment of cookies made in-house. There's even a potato chip one. Potato. Chip. Cookie. Get it!

Chocolate Ice Cream - This ice cream was amazing!!! They make the ice cream in-house and it was the best. I loved it.

Aperol Spritz - Nothing wrong with a good old fashion Aperol Spritz! They added a thick slice of blood orange, which you could really taste in the drink. I really liked this drink.

Clementine Gin & Tonic - I love a good G&T and this one delivers. You could tell it's made in-house. I really recommend this drink.

I really love Assemble. There wasn't anything I didn't like. The service here is fantastic as well. I...

I really wanted to love this place. My husband and I came here because we were starving and wanted to have a nice lunch by the water before visiting the Rosie the Riveter Museum. We literally stood at the hostess-less front door for 10 minutes. The only two employees that got close enough to where we were standing were clearly trying to avoid eye contact. It wasn't until we finally caught the attention of a busser who, clearly way too busy to look up from what he was doing, unprofessionally mumbled that he didn't know where the hostess was before walking off. I then overheard the two aforementioned employees annoyingly ask each other where 'she' was. Just as I turned to my husband to say, "This was a mistake," the plain-clothed hostess arrived. I had no clue she was even an employee by the way she was dressed in a tank top and jeans (apparently everyone else was required to wear a professional-looking uniform?) until she started to grab menus. She was obviously as equally annoyed as her coworkers and caused me to feel as if we had inconvenienced her by showing up. By this point, we're already at Strike #2 in my book in less than 15 minutes. Surprisingly, the server came quickly to take our drink orders. Our two waters came and we put in our food orders which I think were simple enough: a burger with fries and beignets (accompanied by jam per their menu). The food came quickly, but not as quickly as the server dismissed us after putting our food on the table. She never offered ketchup for my husband's fries, and when I tried to call out to her to ask for my missing jam, she completely turned her back on me and tended to another (a.k.a. bigger ticket) table. The food was mediocre, but in trying to see the silver-lining of this highly disappointing situation, I was really impressed with the view. What a waste of a beautiful and historic building (Ford...

We arrived after 3pm on Thursday. There were perhaps 5 total tables with people and a couple at the bar. Assemble has a great space to work with , a bar and plenty of parking. Today was quieter than previous visits. I still got the impression the people were new and /or the restaurant had just changed hands. The menu was the same as our last visit 3 months ago. We ordered a Mediterranean happy hour appetizer . They were out of an east brothers draft beer and a red blend wine. Our host admitted a darker beer option would be nice for winter but was not offered .The Cabernet was nice. I got the tomato bisque with a salad. The young male waiter couldn't give me a choice of dressings; when asked it appeared they have ranch but not balsamic. I settle for the chimichurri dressing, present also on my companions salad. The food arrived fairly quickly and was okay. My green salad was fresh. The presentation in the tri-tip salad was nice, but the corn seemed canned rather than roasted. The bisque was also just okay. Another side of warm pita was ordered ie a single 5" pita cut into 6 pieces . The service was courteous and adequate.

One slight annoyance was how the bill amount was presented without an ability to see or review the receipt. The amount, presented electronically didn't seem to have a summary review option. It was disconcerting to not know how much was charged for the second pita, for example. Overall a pleasant afternoon in a nice location 3+ stars for.the food which may be better during...