Oliveto Café & Restaurant

Great place for friends get together, quiet , good food

The atmosphere, food and wine were terrific.
The waiter was coughing and sneezing at the table. He was very spaced out, brought salads twice. Then a very long time for entree. It was an odd experience as I have dined there for about
30 years or from it’s opening.
I have no desire to create an issue for an employee, but several of the wait staff were homing around at the cash register, tossing hair around, not watching tables and not taking the diners into first priority

We have eaten in this restaurant since it opened years ago. The food is as good or better than ever. We would have rated the food as outstanding except that there was almost no dressing on the salad. The paté was very creative and delicious. However, there was very little of it.

The wine list was not gigantic, but very well chosen. There are gems at every price level.

Our concern is that the noise level was very loud. Obviously, many of the guests enjoyed that. However, sitting at our little table for two and facing each other we had trouble hearing each other. We will not be regulars, but will check it out every year or so to see whether the noise level has improved.

Very good and unique pasta dishes. Attentive and friendly service

Prices are a bit high for pasta.

This is a solid neighborhood bistro that perfectly interprets the sensibilities of its clientele. Delicious, carefully prepared and crisply served cuisine makes for a relaxed, enjoyable evening “upstairs.” Hard to maintain this quality level over the years. They’ve done it b

Food was good, but they seated us at a table against a wall with no view when there were plenty of tables available with nice views next to a window. Not sure what they were thinking, especially since I had a reservation and we arrived when place was empty. I didn’t want to complain because I was with a client. People who arrived long after us were seated at the better tables.

Service was wonderful! Food was lovely (only suggestion is more salad/veggie options-healthier). Special celebration for sister’s retirement after 33 years—she lives near by and had never gone! Particular pleasure was being able to converse comfortably.

The food is great here as always even though the portions are very small for the price. I went on a slow Monday night and there was only 1 server for the entire upstairs. He got very busy by himself and we never saw him again after he took our order until the end of the night when he presented the check with a built in gratuity for my party of just 2. The manager and the bartender came along to help the server throughout the night and they did well but this should never had happen. I understand its hard to find good help but this upscale restaurant should of had more servers scheduled. In order to ask for these kind of prices, the service should be as good as the food but it was not. It was not a good evening to spend my birthday.

Four diners, all delighted with their food. Special complements on the pasta dishes. The wine list is varied and accessible. Our wait staff was charming and helpful. Really, an all-around pleasure AND we were able to carry on a conversation! ...without yelling!

Reservation nearly on time with about 5 minute wait. Service was slow to the table (unfortunately second time we experienced questionable prompt service as expected from this level of restaurant). Appears that wait service carries too many tables per server as an example, waiter had to apologize he was not able to go through explanations of the menu after he started to take our course order. First course was a avocado salad, very good. Second pasta course was the Red Winter, wheat penne pasta in a bolognese sauce, excellent dish. Third course were the Tuna and the pork porterhouse, both were perfect. So, food was very very good, service was unfortunately marginal. Ambiance was a challenge as our two top was positioned so closely to a four top and it was at times difficult to carry on our personal dinner conversation without constantly feeling we were part of a six top table.

For years Oliveto has been our favorite restaurant in Rockridge. The menus are always innovative and distinctive. The service is outstanding. The atmosphere warm and inviting. The highest recommendation.

Poor service. Very low energy. Took too long to place order, failed to deliver a drink order
Room was cool.

Surprised sing given past positive experiences

Great place

Have always had an exemplary meal at this restaurant. Everyone from the bartender to the servers are top notch. It can be pricey, but the food is beyond compare. The atmosphere is very casual, yet refined and you can actually carry on a conversation.

New Year’s Eve. Simply outstanding, all 6 courses as well as the service. Also perfectly sized portions sonas not to make 6 courses too much,and perfectly paced to allow enjoyment without rushing.

I'd normally rate this restaurant a lot higher, as it has been excellent in the past. But I wasn't a fan of the New Year's Eve prix fixe meal. We went to the early seating, where a 5 course meal was $90 per person. Most of the courses were tiny portions of so-so food.

The first course, a mushroom soup, was served in a demitasse. It was too rich and salty. The second course, crab salad, was exceptionally good. The next course was pasta - 3 tortellini. Not bad. The main course was tuna or venison. The venison was a really small portion. The tuna was a better sized portion. Decent, nothing special. The dessert course was a lemon creme brulee or a chocolate torte. The chocolate torte was dry. The lemon creme brulee was quite good.

We had a nice bottle of wine, and a 20% gratuity was automatically added. So for a $309 tab, we got a nice bottle of wine, a tiny but delicious salad, and four other courses that were pretty average. But we got to go out for New Year's Eve. So while I'd highly recommend this restaurant under normal circumstances, we just didn't get a whole lot for $300 on New Year's Eve.

We went there for the New Year's Prix fixe menu. We are very disappointed with most of the dishes. The crab was fishy. The risotto was very undercooked. Are tuna was extremely overcooked. No one explained the dishes to us. No one asked us if we were enjoying ourselves. Just to check at the end with 20% gratuity added to our terrible experience... huge letdown. It was quite an expensive mistake going there.

Our experience was extremely disappointing. Service staff were very confused and brought many guests, us included, the wrong course and out of sequence. It was a price fix dinner because it was New Years Eve and the staff and kitchen just couldn’t get coordinated. Our server did not know his courses and there were big gaps in time between service. Additionally, it was expensive and the food underwhelming and flavors were off. Portions very small too. Also the descriptions of the food items were simply incorrect. My bundino dessert was cold, flat and like a cold brownie. My husband’s creme brûlée was solid and actually a cheese cake. Also they added 20% on top of prices and taxes—seems inappropriate. And finally, they charged us $2.00 for bread even though it was already an expensive meal—seems tacky. Would not recommend this restaurant for special events. We go here regularly o this review give me no satisfaction.

Amazing food and service.

Food was good but not excellent which it was way back with Paul Bertoli. Waiter was distracted by larger table and wait for main dish was long.

The RibEye looked huge we ordered the tagliatelle it was good

Terrible service.
Even though the food was great, the service was horrible. I will not go there again.

The food was delicious – each dish.

Hadn't been to Oliveto in several years. It was outstanding!! Will go back again soon.

Always a lovely time. Service is great. Food special

The dining room was lovely and inviting. But there were few non-seafood (we are worried about the state of the ocean), and few gluten-free options. We were not offered work-arounds either. It was a nice evening and some dishes were great but not as interesting or satisfying as we were expecting. With no pasta, soup or desert options other than ice cream, we ordered much more sparingly.

Service was terrible and you are required to tip 18% regardless of party size. Definitely will not return.

I have dined at Oliveto dozens of times. This was the first time that the food was only mediocre. Everything else was wonderful.

Great food and atmosphere. Able to talk with everyone around our table despite the fact that there were lots of other people at tables near us.

Very disappointed in this restaurant. Won't eat here again. Slow service, waited 45 mins for main course. Had to ask twice for bread. It was ridiculously small portions and the chicken roulade tasted like processed meat from a store, and sat on top of sparse vegetables How they can charge $33 for this dish I don't know. Vegetarian option was rather tasteless and again tiny portion. Wished we'd gone somewhere else for this special occasion or even eaten downstairs where menu looked more robust and much less expensive. I think Oliveto was ok at one point but standard has dropped. Would not recommend.

Striped bass was excellent. Lemon tart dessert was outstanding! Service responsive and attentive. Nice evening. We will go back.

It was good food. But the service was a little slow.

I have been going to Oliveto for years and have never been disappointed. The menu always has some wonderfully intriguing items on it and they never disappoint. It is not inexpensive but in my opinion it is worth every penny.

The $25 lunch set with soup or salad, main and desert is a great deal.

The dishes were wonderful; portions were just right (not too large or too small), and seasoned perfectly.

Overall we were surprised that the meal was not as good as we had remembered. The green salad was described as the size of a big red ad dish but was quite large, 100% baby lettuce, with minimal salad dressing- way overpriced, too plain. Pasta with crab and the fish was tasty but not extraordinary. The lemon dessert was fabulous! Very tasty and wonderful texture: plenty for 2.

We ordered a number of dishes (apps, pasta, mains, dessert) and everything was seasonal and delicious!! Ambiance was nice, noise level was perfect. But the bad service marred our experience. Our waitress was incredibly unfriendly and unhelpful. She was cold in each interaction, and acted annoyed when we asked questions about the menu. She was not outright rude, but was far from welcoming. The downstairs host had a similar attitude. The service is, unfortunately, more memorable than the food.

The food was excellent, nice decor and comfortable environment. Service started out well but got very spotty. Got two orders mixed up, had to go back to the kitchen. He was rushing and ignored three obvious calls for attention; water glasses not kept filled, slow coffee request delivery.

We live in Rockridge and come over to Oliveto every 6-8 weeks. Food and ambiance were great as usual last night, but the pacing of the service was slow. We’ll be back anyway.

Creative and delicious food
Lovely environment
Great service
Great for special occasions