The Cafe Carnegie

our first experience at Cafe Carnegie was excellent. we had guests with us from England to visit the museum, and they were duly impressed with both the museum, and with the delightful menu at the Cafe, as were we. we will be back, surely.

Nice location in the first floor of the Carnegie Museum, opportunity to sit outside

Had a wonderful meal at the Cafe Carnegie. Was catching up with two old friends who were briefly in town, and we wanted someplace in Oakland that was quiet. The Carnegie certainly is that, but it also has the food genius of Sonja Finn behind it, which made for great meals for all of us.

Another pleasant Sunday brunch experience. Nice to see new items on the menu. A tasting sample from the chef was a great start. Excellent service. Always look forward to a return visit. The Cafe Carnegie never disappoints.

We both had the Croque Madame and it was delicious. Bery enjoysble.

Great place for a business lunch or special lunch while visiting the museum. Great variety on choices and interesting options. Service was friendly and efficient. top notch coffee bar.

The food is great and the atmosphere interesting, if slightly cavernous. The service was a bit uneven and the waitress unnerved me by bringing me the wrong credit card back. My sense is that at peak times they could use more staff. But all in all, a lovely place to lunch.

nice location, nice to be able to eat outside. Very poor service--40 minutes to get salads for 3 people and burger for one. burger did not come with the side that was requested.

Pleasant place for Sunday brunch. Food and service were excellent. The chef provided a sample tasting of a chilled zucchini soup - a nice and tasty surprise! The Cafe Carnegie is always a great stop during a visit to the museums.

Súper savory food, cool setting!

Unable to find close parking. Food is pricy.Waitress very pleasant and efficient.

The location and ambience were perfect for my group of friends. The food was more avant garde than I was accustomed, but the success of this lunch with my friends outweighed the gourmet menu.

Like most museum cafes, the prices are on the high side but your purchase benefits the museum so you can feel good about eating there. We had a chickpea-based, cold veggie sandwich which was just OK. It was bland and rather dry. I would eat here again but I would not order the veggie sandwich again. Service was very good, the ambiance was acceptable and the noise level was low.

Such a major improvement over the old cafeteria they used to have. It's always a delight to stop for lunch, a drink, or to go to one of their special evening dinners.

Delicious food and great service..lovely setting. Would go there just for lunch even without a collection to see.

This it my second visit this month. Everything was superb.

My former colleague & I celebrated our birthdays & had a wonderful meal!

I had the turkey club and the meat and toppings were delicious and fresh but the bread left something to be desired.

I took my daughter here for her birthday and our brunch was delightful! Our server, Joshua, made sure our experience was perfect and the manager came over to double check we were satisfied. We started off with donuts and the cinnamon buns, and I had the French toast. We were all very happy. Definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a special occasion.

The place is pleasant, but I thought the food was mediocre--I expected it to be better, but it was not as good as the nearby Porch and more expensive.

Very delicious food! It was pretty quiet as we were there before 11 am, but overall it was a nice experience in a beautiful setting.

Great menu and atmosphere! We sat outside by the fountains, which is why I gave it a lower rating on the noise level. We didn't mind, though because we were happy to sit outside on a nice day.

Excellent place for lunch. Great food, atmosphere and service.

Great fresh & creative food. Professional servers. Always a delight to eat here!

Great as always!

I was very disappointing with the quality of the food. I had a salmon omelette that was dry and tasteless. The friend I was with had their chickpea salad sandwich and it too didn't have much flavor. We were also unsatisfied with the simple side salads and dressing that only tasted of vinegar. However the service was wonderful and the space is beautiful. It would be nice to have a really delicious restaurant in the museum.

Horrible. I'd never go back. our server didn't realize that we were her table. The deviled eggs were bland. The grilled artichokes were inedible. The salads were also bland and over-dressed. The bread on my sandwich was burnt to the point of not being able to eat side of the bread. My husband's french fries were cold. It was over $100 for 2 drinks, 2 apps, 2 salads, and 2 sandwhiches. This at lunch, too. I'd never go back. Stay away!

Our waitress was excellent, but someone split the bill wrong and if one of my party hadn’t caught it we would have overpaid by over $40. It was corrected, but only because we caught it.

The food is good, but overpriced and the salmon salad was small—those of us eating that left hungry.

We’ve been meeting at the cafe for years, but since the new restaurant opened there’s been no parking available in the museum lot. So between that and the high prices, we usually choose to go elsewhere.

Very disappointing experience. I would be hard pressed to recommend. Food was generally unimaginative and failed to deliver. Given current food scene, much better alternatives.

Kids Menu advertises buttermilk pancakes, but they are wheat based. Both kid gave them thumbs down and left hungry. Should certainly be disclosed, especially on kids menu.

Entire menu seems to be wheat based. Donuts also were.

I ordered the poached salmon omelette, which the salmon and eggs were over cooked and dry. Would have needed some kind of sauce to rescue it.

On the flip side, we were running late and they were nice to accommodate us for a later time on a busy, booked Mother’s Day. The view of the water fountains is serene and loved the midcentury modern interior.

Outstanding customer service. Accommodated our large party with ease. Made our party feel welcome.

We made a special trip based on reviews on line, and from family in Pittsburgh. The chef must have been on vacation. 3 of the 4 meals at our table were awful. The seafood crepes were very small and bland- with a few tiny scallops, if that. Two poached salmon omelets were also ordered, both were overdone with very dry salmon. Thumbs down from both patrons. My daughter had the croque madame which she loved, and the cinnamon buns were great. Ambiance and service was also great.

Must have been an off day, I guess.

Excellent flavor, small portions.

Lovely setting. Food was great, but portions very small. Our server was prompt but a little less than friendly.

The café services was quick, attentive and well coordinated between the host, server and kitchen staff making sure we received our drinks and food quickly.

Great food, great service!

I made reservations for two, and we were led to the banquette seating against the right wall. I requested to sit at one of many open tables. I did notice that they were tables for four. but there were many that were open. I was told those tables were reserved. During lunch, I noticed that no-one was being seated at any of those tables. So, I spoke to the next manager who was on duty and explained what I had observed that in spite of being told that the tables were reserved, no one was sitting there. This manager explained that they were being saved for walk-in.
Later, I realized that if that was truly the case, I should not have made reservations. Instead I had to endure feeling crowded, imposed upon and disappointed because I was unable to converse with my friend because of a lack of privacy.

In addition, with everyone lined up on either side of the banquette seating, it was like eating at a trough. I was really disappointed in the whole experience.
I will not go there again.

We had come here last September and had wonderful homemade soup. The crepes and salad we had at the time were just so-so, but we remembered the soup and the ambience, so went there with 2 friends Sunday, April 7. I ordered seafood crepes this time, but again, not great. Fishy and cloyingly rich. My husband's shredded chicken salad didn't have much taste. The very pretty layered wine drink I got and my friend's prosecco/aperol drink also not very tasty. I don't know how our two friends liked their dishes, but they certainly didn't rave about them.
Maybe we ordered the wrong things--would have done better with typical brunch dishes.
The ambience is lovely and quiet enough to talk in a civilized manner. Our servers were very pleasant and available.

Excellent lunch menu and specials. As always, great service - and a perfect part of a visit to the museums.