Hard to get in to, but well worth it when you do. Sensible portions of well prepared and presented food. Service is unmatched in the Bay Area. For 2 to have app, salad, two glasses of wine each, plus main course...for $135 pre-tip, in this quality of restaurant is amazing! Plan ahead and Enjoy!!!

Complicated by the fact that the neighborhood only allows one hour parking, our table wasn’t ready when we arrived for lunch. By the time we were able to order, we were half way through the parking meter. I made three trips to the meter during lunch. The noise level was so high we were both hoarse by the end of our two and a half hour lunch. The food is always good but the parking and noise level make it difficult to enjoy. If you go try to get one of the tables at the very front of the restaurant so you can hear each other speak. I wish I could be more positive but I found lunch yesterday exhausting and stressful.

After having the most amazing lamb shank at my last visit, I was extremely dissatisfied with the dry, overcooked double-cut pork chop, despite the exquisitely seasoned sauce. If I weren’t being treated to a birthday meal by someone else at the table, I likely would have sent the dish back. The chef should not have let that leave his kitchen.

You can count on Wood Tavern for a consistently superior meal. It's one of our favorites.

Seafood stew was absolutely delicious!!! Enjoyed the blood orange upside down cake with pistachio cream.
Attentive service.

One of my favorite restaurants for years, never disappoints!

Steak “medium rare” was essentially raw. This is a very annoying trend in restaurants.

We love the pastrami sandwich!

Fabulous. I have enjoyed many great meals there. Wood Tavern never disappoints.

We love this restaurant, we have lunch here to three times a month.

Delicious food, great service, and a fun vibe. But the space is small and feels a bit cramped.

This place was a great experience. For drinks the Bartini was great. For food the prime rib dish with the mash potatoes, mushrooms, and asparagus was really delicious. However, the pork belly could have been more crispy, but the veggie mix with it was great and the fries although tasty were almost like crumbs.

Service was nice and friendly. Very prompt on refilling drinks and bringing new utensils.

Overall, great time and would go back.

I’ve wanted to try this restaurant for a long time, and it did not disappoint. The food is fresh and very well done. The ambiance is diffinately Tavern style, fun and full of energy. I’d go back in a heart beat!

Enjoyed a birthday celebration with my best friend and the food was delicious! We both had the half chicken entree with the butter lettuce salad of strawberries and asparagus! We started with the pate which was so creamy and complex with a Camembert cheese and ended with the blood orange upside cake that was to die for! Our server Katy was sadly leaving to SoCal but their entire staff is wonderful. Just love this place!

Wood Tavern is a great spot for lunch. Varied menu offers a lot of choices, portions are very generous, and the food is delightful!
Tables are close together which raises noise level, but also provides an opportunity to see what other people are eating and to get their input : Adjoining two tables found the food to be of generous proportions and delicious! Must return to try some of the dishes they had ordered.
Service left room for improvement.

A great all round experience. Superb food quality and great service from the waiting staff combined to make it one of our bay favourites. Lively and Bubbly atmosphere. Thoroughly recommend.

This was our third time here. We love wood tavern. It’s our special place to go with our friends to celebrate anniversaries. So for our 10th, we again chose wood tavern and sadly was a huge disappointment. We had a 5:45 reservation. I called the day before to see if we could move it back and was told we had to be out by 8. In the end, we made it and sat down at 5:49. We ordered a cheese plate, salads and entrees. At best, it took 35 minutes for the cheese plate, then another 30 minutes after that was cleared for our salads. So by 7:40 as we waited for our entrees and tables next to us That sat after us finished their entrees, our waitress came up and told us not to worry, she got us “an extra 15 minutes”. We didn’t have to give up our table until 8:15, nevermind we still didn’t have our entrees. When we questioned why it took so long, she blamed that we got the chicken - again others seated after us also had the chicken. No apology. To put it mildly, it ruined our night. And our food didn’t come until 7:55. The hostess did tell us not to worry and drink more wine. The waitress never apologized or even acknowledged how long it took. We finally left at 9, no celebratory dessert. We had to get back to a babysitter. Very disappointed in what should have been a special evening. The food was good- the service was abysmal.

Food was okay it was not the best. The experience was great.

Always have a great meal here ! But the noise level is ridiculous !! Don’t like shouting to my dining partner !!!

Pork belly app - crispy cube of deliciousness
Ling Cod - pan seared perfectly, flaky, light texture. Nice veggies.

Great food and great service

Amazing food and service. Everything we ordered was super flavorful! Great date night.

Outstanding hamburger and pastrami sandwiches!!!
Very tasty. Great crispy fries! Inventive desserts!

Consistently amazing....between the food, service and ambiance, it is the perfect place for a mid-week dinner with that special someone. Order several dishes and share. The chicken and pork chop are staples at dinner, but never miss a seafood special.

Wood tavern never disappoints me. This is one of many times I’ve been and tho it isn’t cheap it is a value. Wonderful service and the food has a attention to detail one rarely finds. I always have the chicken but have tasted many things on the menu and all are a treat. The meats and cheeses to start are beyond amazing and save room for desert! Desert is always different and always a taste explosion. I don’t hesitate when I say Wood Tavern is one of the top 5 restaurants in the Bay Area. If you haven’t gone go! Oh and they make the best manahattan in the land.

Waited several weeks to get a reservation, but experience sure worth it! We were celebrating two birthdays. Wonderful food, had the pork belly appetizer, great sauce. For entrees we had the one-half chicken, wow so tender, the double pork chop, yum and the monk fish , moist and delicious. Dessert was the chocolate, chocolate cake and the pous de creme- scrumptious!

Probably not the place for a quiet intimate dinner, but the quality and taste of the food is worth it.

Dining at Wood Tavern is always a great experience and a great meal! My husband and I live on the East Coast, but whenever we're in Oakland visiting family, we make a point of having dinner here at least once during our visit. The menu changes daily, so it never gets old, and the servers are enthusiastic and professional.

Food was reasonable. Steak was cooked perfectly and delicious but soup was brought out super hot and the bowl was basically the size of my half of the table. Seating is a bit uncomfortable and tables are small. Super noisy but overall nice atmosphere.

Love this restaurant. I really enjoyed my cod dish and my husband loved his steak! Great salad. And our waiter was right on top of things. The bartender made my husband's drink just the way he likes it. What's not to love about Wood Tavern?

Food was really excellent, especially the chickpea and squid stew. Very interesting well priced wine list as well. Will absolutely be back! A great meal.

Great food, great service, great atmosphere. If you want to try it without the higher cost of dinner, their lunch sandwiches and appetizers are great. I went with a friend for lunch and it was so much better than going out for brunch somewhere else!

Excellent food and service, consistently. Would recommend for any occasion. Lots of fun!

Delicious blue cheese hamburger on a baguette roll with
skinny crispy fries! Yummy! Enjoyed the coconut cake with blood oranges and sauce. Beautiful presentation!
Very attentive service. Comfort food!

Pastrami sandwich & fries are the best! Service is good. Enjoyable each time we go.

Always looking for a restaurant halfway between Benicia and San Bruno for our twice-monthly lunches. This will be our new favorite. Easy to the freeway and parking simple. Excellent service, good menu, great drinks. Can't wait to try the Hot Pastrami Sandwich. Cheese/Chacuterie selections excellent as was the cod sandwich. Give it a try!

Great food. Good service

Food was excellent...delicious crab salad and pastrami sandwich, out of this world!
Rhubarb dessert not so much (too sweet and runny)..but overall very good and just the right amount, as we shared each dish.

Afterward walked up and down College Ave in and out of fun shops...great day in Rockridge~

Extraordinary food and service.
But fior us: loud.

Way too loud!!!

This was our first time at Wood Tavern, but it won't be our last. Our whole experience (other than trying to find parking) was fabulous. The service was excellent (a glass was never left empty for long), the food was yummy, and the restaurant was hopping, a sure sign of a popular place. We all loved our dining experience.