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Dining Room - Burdell, Oakland, CA
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Burdell

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Visa Dining Collection

$50 and over
Soul food
4640 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

Make a reservation

2 people
7:00 PM
Booked 45 times today
Experiences are available.

About this restaurant

  • Neighborhood gem
  • Charming
  • Innovative
Burdell is a Soul Food restaurant in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland from James Beard Finalist, Chef Geoff Davis.

Named for and inspired by his maternal grandmother, Burdell, the restaurant reflects her love for well-set tables, entertaining guests, shared meals, and laughter. Burdell is centered on nostalgia, family recipes, thoughtful and sustainable sourcing, and the forgotten impact of Black farming, ranching, fishing, foraging, and culture on American cuisine and hospitality.

The menu highlights farmers and artisans harvesting and creating excellent products around us. Paired with the food is a robust list of wine and beverages from producers around the World-focusing on wines that are farmed and crafted with care and sustainable practices.

Why they're an Icon

Executive chef: Geoff Davis

From the OpenTable editors: Fine dining vet and James Beard finalist Geoff Davis returns to his roots with this totally fresh take on California soul food. Expect iconic dishes like barbecue shrimp and boiled peanuts alongside heirloom tomato salads and slow-simmered collards. The retro design and vintage plates make every meal here feel like Sunday supper with family—no wonder Food & Wine named Burdell its 2024 restaurant of the year.

Dining areas

Additional information

  • Dining style
    Casual Elegant
  • Price
    $50 and over
  • Cuisines
    Soul food, Californian
  • Hours of operation
    Brunch Sun 11:00 am–2:00 pm Dinner Wed–Sat 5:00 pm–9:00 pm Sun 5:00 pm–8:30 pm
  • Phone number
  • Payment options
    AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
  • Dress code
    Casual Dress
  • Neighborhood
    Oakland
  • Cross street
    46th Street
  • Parking details
    Street Parking
  • Public transit
    Macarthur BART station
  • Additional
    Bar/Lounge, Beer, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Gender Neutral Restroom, Gluten-free Options, Non-Smoking, Private Room, Vegan, Weekend Brunch, Wheelchair Access, Wine

Experiences

  • Family Dinner Menu

    $90.00 per person

    Multiple dates available
    For parties of 7-9, your group will partake in our market-driven, multicourse Family Dinner Menu, instead of our regular a la carte menu. The price per person varies depending on what's on the menu for the week. Menu substitutions to this menu are politely declined. Kindly include any dietary restrictions on your reservation when booking so we can prepare appropriately for your visit (not all dietary restrictions may be accommodated). We do charge a cancellation fee person of $90 per person for no-shows and late cancellations as we hold the physical space in our small restaurant in anticipation of your larger party. As with everything, we charge a 20% service charge that supports livable wages for all staff as well as healthcare.
  • Family Brunch Menu

    $85.00 per person

    Multiple dates available
    For groups of 9-15, we offer a market-driven, multicourse Family Brunch Menu for $85 per person (excluding taxes and 20% service charge). The three-course, family-style, Chef's pick meal includes a starter, main, and dessert, with menu offerings tailored to dietary restrictions (substitutions not allowed, not all dietary restrictions may be accommodated). Please inform us of any dietary needs when booking your reservation. We charge a cancellation fee of $85 per person for no-shows and late cancellations as we hold the physical space in our small restaurant in anticipation of your larger party. As with everything, we charge a 20% service charge that supports livable wages for all staff and healthcare.
  • Private Events

    Multiple dates available
    Parties of 10-20 for dinner, please visit our website and post an inquiry using the link at the bottom of the page for private event details, availability, and pricing. We look forward to hosting your special event!
    Private Events Photo

What 359 people are saying

Burdell reviews from people who’ve dined at this restaurant. Based on recent rating.

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.2
4.2 based on recent ratings
  • 4.3Food
  • 4.1Service
  • 4.3Ambience
  • 3.8Value

NoiseModerate

Review summary

AI-generated from verified diner reviews
Burdell offers a "delicious, creative menu" with "superb" service and a "lively, hip and fun" vibe. Highlights include the "best cornbread," "outstanding" chicken liver and waffle, and "delicious" shrimp and grits. While some found the service slow, the "food was amazing." Perfect for brunch or dinner reservations.
359 Reviews
  1. Annette VIP

    San Francisco Bay Area15 reviews

    3.0

    Dined 2 days ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 2
    Food excellent and unique. Service excellent and staff very friendly and helpful. Seating not comfortable with a bench as hard a a church pew. No atmosphere at all but with the very unique dishes to enjoy that wasn’t a big deal. No convenient parking but we did get very lucky parking a couple blocks away in the local neighborhood.

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  2. Sabin

    San Francisco Bay Area3 reviews

    1.0

    Dined 3 days ago

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 5
    The food was delicious. The peach salad was a bit too small considering the price. The corn bread is very tasty and done right with the butter moose. The lamb came perfectly cooked served by the chef and that was a nice touch. The down side of the story is their customer service. A very unwelcoming experience from the beginning. While my partner was parking I had to wait to be seated and that’s fine but not even asked if I would like a glass of wine or water. The hostess was direct and nothing else. After we order the wine the salad arrived and it was so tiny that it was almost an empty plate. Corn bread was perfect but the lamb arrived almost an hour since we were seated. Nobody said anything and we were just waiting for the food to arrive. We asked for the check since we did not felt welcome and it was just an absolute mess looking at the energy and vibe of the place. The check has 20% service included which is totally fine if the service was done right. Chef Geoff Davis please have a conversation with your staff and address this issue. It’s unacceptable for how much passion and dedication you put in this restaurant to be ruined by your staff that seems pretentious and there for the 20% tips. They have attitude and lack of customer service. No genuine service. I hate to say this but I will probably not return soon. Or at least not with guests.

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  3. Gerald

    San Francisco Bay Area4 reviews

    5.0

    Dined 3 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Black Cod with grits, whole bbq shrimp, cornbread all outstanding!

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  4. Chahra VIP

    San Francisco Bay Area2 reviews

    1.0

    Dined 4 days ago

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 1
    This was the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had in the Bay Area. The service was horrible. Everything about it was poor & underwhelming. I’m very disappointed.

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  5. Jessica VIP

    New York City8 reviews

    2.0

    Dined 4 days ago

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Both my husband and I got sick after our meal last night. We shared everything so no idea what it was. Very overpriced. The service and atmospshere was excellent!

    1 person found this helpful

  6. katrina

    San Francisco Bay Area1 review

    3.0

    Dined 4 days ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 3
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 3
    I live in the neighborhood and have wanted to try this restaurant for a while. Unfortunately, they are a very meat heavy menu, so I haven’t come in. They had an eggplant gumbo that sounded delicious, so we booked a reservation. We stood at the front for about five minutes, until somebody acknowledged our presence. Almost every server in the room, just walk straight past us with the vibe that they had no interest in our presence. I understand that they’re busy and have tables. They’re waiting on, but some acknowledgment and a simple “ the hostess will be right with you,” would have been appreciated. Then when we sat, it took another fairly long time for our server to come over. We ordered quickly as we had plenty of time to peruse the menu and with a limited vegetarian option, we ordered quickly. The drinks were mediocre. Nothing particular special. My partner’s wine was nice. The Pluto salad was fairly bland and small. The gumbo had a good flavor, but the okra was woody and we have had to spit out pieces. The eggplant had significant completely charred skin that just created a weird texture. They also wasn’t a lot of eggplants and it was a pretty runny dish. There was some rice to go with it, but it was a very small amount. It seemed a bit over priced at $38. The three sisters side and the cornbread were both great. I’m sure it’s much better for meat eaters. If I had friends that were dying to go, I would go back, but there are many other options in the neighborhood that are better and friendlier.

    1 person found this helpful

  7. Billy

    San Francisco Bay Area3 reviews

    5.0

    Dined 4 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Get the braised rabbit. The beans and corn appetizer is also excellent. If you aren’t getting cornbread, idk what you’re doing here. They were very accommodating to our 3 year old. Will go back.

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  8. Laura VIP

    San Francisco Bay Area8 reviews

    5.0

    Dined 5 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 4
    Excellent restaurant with a delicious, creative menu. Food and service was superb! vibe was lively, hip and fun! We will return!

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  9. Thao VIP

    San Francisco Bay Area1 review

    3.0

    Dined on June 30, 2025

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 3
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 4
    We went as a group of four for a friend's birthday, with an 8 PM reservation. When we arrived at the scheduled time, we had to wait for our table to be ready. The appetizers were served in a reasonable amount of time, but our entrees took over 30 minutes to arrive after we finished the appetizers. The restaurant was not full, which made the delay more disappointing, especially after speaking so highly of it.

    1 person found this helpful

  10. leslie

    San Francisco Bay Area13 reviews

    5.0

    Dined on June 30, 2025

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    We loved everything about Burdell. The fried chicken and caviar, the cornbread, the pork, and the cobbler were terrific. The waitstaff was lovely.

    Is this helpful?

FAQs

Burdell is rated 4.2 stars by 359 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

  1. Home
  2. United States
  3. San Francisco Bay Area
  4. East Bay
  5. Oakland

Make a reservation

2 people
7:00 PM
Booked 45 times today
Experiences are available.
Google Map for Burdell

4640 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

Dining areas

Additional information

  • Cross street
    46th Street
  • Neighborhood
    Oakland
  • Hours of operation
    Brunch Sun 11:00 am–2:00 pm Dinner Wed–Sat 5:00 pm–9:00 pm Sun 5:00 pm–8:30 pm
  • Price
    $50 and over
  • Cuisines
    Soul food, Californian
  • Dining style
    Casual Elegant
  • Dress code
    Casual Dress
  • Parking details
    Street Parking
  • Public transit
    Macarthur BART station
  • Payment options
    AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
  • Additional
    Bar/Lounge, Beer, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Gender Neutral Restroom, Gluten-free Options, Non-Smoking, Private Room, Vegan, Weekend Brunch, Wheelchair Access, Wine
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