Limewood Bar & Restaurant

Great hotel. Fabulous Views. Bar area very chilly and loud. Dining room was crowded and loud. Menu is small. Very few options for someone with a wheat allergy/Celiacs. Food was very good with the exception of tofu dish. Waiter was scattered. Bus person cleared plates and dribbled sauce on table and bench by husband. Knives clanked down on the table. Water not refilled unless requested. Expensive. Won’t come back for dinner again. Disappointing.

Celebrating with a party of 8. Service was awesome, food and wine choices and preparation were top notch. Very memorable evening. Thank you!

Wyatt is great. I love the Claremont!

We went for lunch. the food was excellent and reasonably priced. Moreover, the staff was particularly attentive to my six-year-old granddaughter. As she sat down, the hostess handed her crayons and a sheet with a castle design to color. The waiter brought her food, ordered from a kids' menu, immediately, rather than make her wait for the grown ups' food. Much appreciated.

The food and service were great. The view - especially at sunset is spectacular.
Only thing was that I had mentioned in my reservation that it was for a special occasion - my daughter's graduation - and except for the hostess confirming this - nobody on the staff recognized the special occasion.

This was my second time at Limewood. It is a gorgeous place. The food is very good. My only complaint was the service. It took over 20 minutes for the waiter to even come to our table. He seemed totally disinterested in waiting on us. He would be gone for long periods of time. He literally brought our party of 8 one drink at a time. It put a damper on the evening. I honestly think because we were a party of 8 so the tip was already included, is why he could care less. At this price point, I expect excellent service like we had on our first visit. Also, we ordered the exact same thing we ordered on our last visit, but the portion was much smaller. The menu price listed two prices, $17/30 for example. I believe we paid the $30 price for the $17 portion size. I would recommend Limewood because the food is great and the ambiance is superb. For me, this last experience has me on the fence. If I'm paying this kind of money, the service better be on point.

Go for the view not the food and certainly not if you want to talk with your companions. My medium rare burger came very well done, because I was a guest I refrained from sending it back. The noise level in the bar drove us to our table early. There's energetic and then there's impossible to talk! Once we were seated our waiter was MIA and we had ask two staff members to track him to order a drink.

The dinner menu was very limited so we asked for the bar menu.

This was my "go to" place but now it's my "go not".

Great place to meet with friends and enjoy the best food and service! Excellent drinks!

Fanny Bay oysters weren’t shucked well- ate (and then tried to non-chalantly spit out) pieces of shell with each one. Not pleasant.
Pulled pork sandwich was dry and didn’t taste fresh, more like it had been pulled out of a deep freezer.

My server was great, and had a nice view of the SF Bay from my window table.

My father and I had a great time, enjoyed the delicious food and were grateful to have a meal at your restaurant.

We had a lovely dinner once the hostess honored our reservation request for a view table. We had to reapproach them after they put us in a back room corner. After that the waiter and the ambiance was lots of fun!

I love the Hotel and the ambiance. Service is wonderful and the personal are kind and friendly.

Breathtaking views. Great food. Wonderful table service. A bit hard to have a conversation due to noise level. Front desk could be more friendly and better organized.

Excellent food and service. Desperately need heaters on the patio. Spent the entire meal wrapped in a hotel-issued blanket. Crazy!

For the first time in over fifty years, after having lunch at Limewood, the only restaurant at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer recommend any eatery at the Claremont. Sad, because the Limewood space, through all of its iterations, has been a favorite watering hole of mine for decades.

The location remains spectacular, the structure imposing, and staff accommodating as always.

However, the location and structure now commands the equivalent of San Francisco prices just for bringing your car and parking it on the grounds. This means one should be prepared to pay for another entree per car. For a location in the East Bay, that is outrageous.

And then there is the menu and the food. The menu is as interesting and has about the same number of choices as one gets at a Burger King. When everyone at the table can only be inspired to order the hamburger, it indicates how appealing the rest of the dishes were.

Nothing about the hamburger was notable. It is smaller than a Burger King Sirloin Burger. The fries weren't quite as crispy, nor as generous as Burger King.

No one had even an iced tea. I did have two glasses of sparkling water as opposed to still.

The bill was $90 before tip.

I feel I was insulted and injured, and will avoid a childhood icon from now on.

The setting in the venerable Claremont Hotel and the great tree-framed view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate are fabulous. On a nice day, one can eat outside on the terrace adjoining the dining room.
Unfortunately, the restaurant has gone for a TV in the bar area to attract the sports bar crowd, which doesn’t fit well with the gracious ambience of the rest of the space.
This restaurant is overpriced at dinnertime. A modest dinner for two set us back $120 before tip, to cover 1 shared salad, 2 appetizer portions of pasta, 1 shared dessert, 2 espressos, and 2 glasses of wine. $24 for a glass of pinot noir? $16 for a glass of Anderson Valley bubbly? Yes, really.
The food was good, but not distinguished as one would expect at these prices.
At these prices, parking should be complimentary, but even with restaurant discount it was an additional $7.
Service was excellent, but noise level too high to enjoy good conversation.
If you want to try Limewood for a special occasion, try lunch there. It’s not quite as wildly expensive as dinner. The restaurant stays open all afternoon, so you can go late when few customers are there and the noise level is low, and enjoy the view and good conversation in relative peace and quiet.

Food was excellent. The bone marrow appetizer was delicious. Fish and pork chop was cooked perfectly. The waiter could use some extra training. He reached over the table between two seated guest to pour the wine. He placed the appetizer plates down on top of the menus. Attention to detail was lacking on his part. Otherwise, it was a fun evening.

I love the Claremont Hotel and Limewood! The food is delicious, the views are the best in the East Bay and they have great service. Breakfast and brunch food is beautiful!

Unfortunately, this restaurant has gone downhill since the hotel was taken over by The Fairmont. The brussel sprouts and the beet salad were very good, two pluses. The server was friendly and competent. Entrees were mediocre and the choices were fairly limited. The prices were high and certainly not in line with the quality of the entrees. A glass of wine was $14-17 and they had limited choices that unfortunately did not include Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. It was also pretty noisy.

Too loud for our adult b-day celebration. Excellent attentive service.

Outstding food atmosphere and service.

Early evening Saturday reservation but food was very slow to arrive from kitchen.

Having dined at the Clairmont numerous times in the past, we were very disappointed with the Limewood. We made a reservation for Easter brunch and found nothing special on the menu or about their food. Possibly this new venue will appeal to a younger dining audience.

Great food, excellent service, amazing view. What a perfect Easter breakfast with my son in Berkeley. Thanks!

Overall a fantastic experience from the hostess being very gracious to Francisco, our server was was professional and engaging. The room and views of the bay are beautiful, and we plan to return. Highly recommended!

Had dinner here while staying at the Claremont Resort Club and Spa to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Host and server remembered that I had noted our anniversary celebration in my reservation, so we were greeted warmly. We had the Hamachi Crudo for an appetizer which was delicious! Both of us couldn't help but order the New York Steak with Pomme Puree, and we were glad we did because I don't know if I would have been able to share any of mine! We actually didn't have room for dessert, but they brought us a chocolate torte that had this coulis sauce that perfectly balanced it as an anniversary treat! We had a table right next to the big windows facing the Bay views, the only drawback was that our reservation was prior to sunset, so the shades were down to protect diners' eyes from the sun. We didn't say long enough to see the view when the shades came up. We will definitely return to get to see that evening Bay view!

I actually came here on back to back days for lunch with members of my family as a close friend is in the hospital and we have all been very stress e and exhausted. Limewood proved to be a perfect place to talk and process everything going on. The food is phenomenal and the staff are outstanding. Everyone was extremely kind and professional from the valets, to our brilliant server. Thank you for the hospitality.

First time back in the hotel in decades. Very disappointed with the modern decor in such a charming old edifice. Food was good, service was great, and parking fee was exorbitant.

Birthday breakfast

We waited over an hour for our food. During that time no one came to our table to refresh our drinks or to even communicate what was going on with our order. One of the dishes was inedible. For what we paid and what we experienced it was a waste of time and money.

Gorgeous Views. Food was very good and imaginative. Service was a bit slow to begin with, but got better. A fabulous experience overall.

We enjoy the Limewood as it is close to home and has fantastic views of San Francisco and the Bay.

The brunch weekend menu is lacking. Not many options. It wasn’t much of a brunch but more just breakfast.

Excellent venue for a quiet business lunch. Great view and good menu.

Our server Mario recommended the rigatoni with beef cheeks and it was amazing. Super flavorful, with meat that was so tender and pure heaven. The steal was also delish. Service was exceptional with Mario and Jesus taking care of us.

There was 6 of us and we all ordered a few different entrees. Everyone loved their meals. We had a table at the window with the beautiful views. Service was excellent. We brought a nice bottle of wine. The corkage was $35 even though we all had cocktails before. Also, parking is $7 with validation. Seems like it should be free.

Nice vibrant atmosphere and good service, but the food was meh. Prices reflect paying for the incredible view.

I guess, overall, I'd characterize this as a mediocre, overpriced place that you go to if you're staying at the Claremont Hotel or if (like us) you got an unsolicited 20% coupon. That at least brought our dinner tab down from astronomical to just regular-ripoff. The food was so-so. The place is noisy and, other than the view, doesn't have anything I'd characterize as ambience. And the service is on the slow side and "weird."

First, although we had a reservation, when I requested not to be seated at a table with counter-height stools (as I am short, and that would be uncomfortable for me), the hostess had to "check" with someone to see if she could give us a different table. That took an eternity while we were left standing in the middle of the restaurant. She eventually seated us at a comfortable table with a booth-bench on one side, but it was right next to the kitchen. We arrived at 6:00 and the place was practically empty so I don't see why we couldn't have gotten a booth in the back. It was my wedding anniversary, so that sort of smarted. Maybe I should have complained, but the first table change was already a big deal so I kept quiet.

Then, our server, who was perfectly nice and efficient, thought it necessary to tell us off the bat that everything was "freshly made"--nothing from cans. Excuse me? Was that condescending comment proffered because my husband is black, or am I being paranoid? Then, after I ordered the beet salad, he hovered to see how I liked it before I had even taken my first bite (it was just okay). When I gave him the brush-off, I think he got the message because we didn't see much of him after that.

The prices are obscenely high for what you get, especially considering how small the portions are. My tortelloni was uninteresting and excessively al-dente. Hubby's sea bass was just okay, nothing special. A glass of wine starts at $14 so I abstained. As I said, I'm glad we had the coupon.

Beautiful venue, but the chef uses too much vinegar and it took a long time to be served!

The Claremont Hotel is a truly unique piece of Northern California history. The Limewood Bar and Restaurant offers a great view of the Bay Area accompanied by amazing food and service. I first visited the Claremont in 1977, it was a very different atmosphere, shabby elegance, however today 2019, the experience is completely renewed and vibrant. If one is looking for a chance to enjoy wonderful food with a priceless view, I recommend the Limewood Bar and Restaurant.