Fieldwork San Ramon — Restaurant in San Ramon

Decent-ish food, incredibly rude and dismissive service, to the point where I felt like I was being discriminated against. The entire vibe of the serving staff is "You're being a nuisance to me." Is there a class of people who aren't wanted at Fieldwork? When you first arrive, there's a sign that says "Please wait to be seated." Two women were standing at the table, talking to each other. I walked up to them, with my two other friends, and were ignored. Like plainly. They knew we were there, and did not signal to us in anyway. So we went inside, and told the friendly woman behind the bar, "Hey, we want to eat here, do we just order here, or...?" She said, "Talk to them at the table, they should seat you." Okay. So we go stand at the table again, and get ignored. We have to say, "Hey, the woman inside told us to get seated by you?" Finally they give me the pleasure of being recognized and say, "Yeah, inside or outside." We say outside. They say, "Just sit where ever, scan the QR code on the table for the menu." We aren't seated. We're not given a menu. We're not given utensils or napkins. We're not given water. How is there a sign, "Please wait to be seated?" For what? To be told to sit where ever? Anyway, we sit and scan the dumb QR code, that makes you put in your phone number so you can be texted a receipt. This is so dumb. Now I need to have a phone, and get a text to eat here? There's no menu to read, they won't take cash. Not only am I never going here again, there are a lot of friends and family (over 55) who won't be able to eat here, just because it's convoluted insanity to even access the menu. Not to flex, but what if I just had my apple ultra watch? I’m banned? The food and drinks are okay, the food is a bit soaked in oil. I got the shistio peppers, the hummus plate, the goat cheese plate, a mushroom pizza and a tater tot pizza. I don't think the food was offensive, even if it was too wet with oil, but I was, again, kinda put off by the service. When the servers drop off food, I'd say "Thank you," and they'd respond with "Okay," or "Yeah." My friend asked for salt and pepper (something a nice place has on the table), and the server sighed loudly and said, "let me see if I can do that." Huh. It felt like we had walked in 5 minutes before close, not at 5:30. Another server brought out two drinks, when I ordered 1. I said, "I only ordered one." They told me that I ordered 2, because that was in the app. I opened up the app, to show them that I had only ordered one. Instead of saying it was their mistake, the server said, "I'll just take it off your tab." What? It's not on my tab. I didn't order it. I'm showing you the proof. "I'll just take it off your tab," aka 'you made the mistake.' Very rude to blame your QR system and lack of staff on me. At the end, they expect a tip, starting at 25 percent. I don't mind tipping for the food, but we were not seated, we ordered through an app. We had to get our own waters, napkins, and generate our own menus via our smartphones. I should be getting a discount. I will not eat here again. My total was $104 (I was one of 3; my friends ordered additional stuff on additional tabs). Casa has a nice menu and staff, the ramen place is good, Curry up has good food, and the Lot has good food and service. I will go to all those places instead of Fieldwork.

EDIT: Changed to 1 star. I’ve gotten so many spam texts and calls since eating here. What an insane inconvenience. Avoid Fieldworks like the plague (they don’t want to seat...

Went on a Sunday around 7pm. We really enjoyed the vegan pizza. Garlic fries were generous with the garlic, so look out. Drinks were nothing special, only had one round as a result. The host was polite and tried to be helpful, looked frazzled. Fent sorry for him. The servers were in a rush to the point of not even speaking to us other than announcing the food item they were placing on the table. We needed an additional plate and forks and waited several minutes for a server, but we had to get up and go inside as servers were not available. This is likely due to understaffing, but will hopefully be resolved. Food is tasty, but expensive compared to other similar establishments. Leaving a 20-25% tip when we order ourselves via the QR code on the table, get our own water (and utensils as it turns out), have a couple questions about drinks, but can't get anyone's attention didn't make for the enjoyable meal we anticipated. Atmosphere is basic, just ok on patio. Noisy intersection, not Fieldworks' fault - we knew where it's located. Very windy and cold, also not their fault, but we politely asked for the gas heater to be turned on like everyone else's and were told by host that it's broken and doesn't work made for an uncomfortable evening as we didn't bring heavy jackets knowing there are patio heaters. It doesn't take much to smile and ask if the food is as expected, or to ask if there's anything else we needed, even encouraging us to check the menu for more drinks, apps, etc, but servers are really kitchen runners. This isn't intended as an insult at all as runners are very important. Point is that there is no real "service" here, and if that's your expectation, consider going elsewhere. If you just want to order via a QR code, have no questions, don't need forks :D, then you won't be disappointed. We'll come again as we've come many times already and always give second it third chances as things don't always go as expected, but this was quite...

Maybe I am a little old school, however the idea of me having to order online while sitting at a table, and then the default tip of being 18-20 percent is fairly offensive to me. Basically what I am tipping for is for someone to bring my food to me at my table and then ignore me for the rest of the time that I am there. Also, had to give my name and phone number to something that is probably going to sell my info as well. :( I can get that kind of service from a fast food restaurant. Aside from that, the pizzas were pretty small and not that cheap. to feed my family of 3, I needed to spend $48 pre-tax/tip on pizza and that was with us not being radically hungry and I am not talking a teenager either. The pizza was not bad though not as good as some of the better pizza in the tri-valley, but definitely better than some of the more advertised chains. The beer I had was pretty good too. I would come back for a beer, probably not for food. I know everything has a tip now, but since you don't have actual people taking orders, I think a much lower tip default of say 5-7% is much more inline. My bill for 3 people ended up being $75 and with the default tip being 20% that is $14 for what took the employees about 3 minutes work. I don't know about you, but I don't make that kind of money, and I can't see why I should be paying someone that kind of money. This is on top of the $20 an hour CA minimum wage they are already getting. If I am the only one that feels this way, then maybe I am the only one that can do math... Or maybe I am just poor or something, but the idea of me paying kids significantly more than I make in the tech industry is...