Marica, Oakland, California Restaurant Details

Food:

Expensive and pretentious. Nothing special in terms of food.

Food:

ALL NIGHT LONG HAPPY HOUR - margarita, Cosmo, whiskey sidecar, or manhattan for $6.

They ran out of seafood stew :( wth!!

Anyway, the lamb and swordfish - adequate portion and a bunch of sauces and sides.

Food:

Really solid French seafood spot with surprisingly fair prices. I had the opportunity to try their off-menu chef's tasting and was completely blown away. They do both surf and turf well, have a great wine list, fantastic cocktails and their dessert... Oh, their dessert. Be sure to put in an order for their German chocolate souffle when you initially put in your food order (since it takes a while to bake). Served with a generous scoop of gourmet vanilla ice cream when the chocolate souffle is fresh out of the oven... You wouldn't regret it.

Food:

These stars are well deserved. Reservations are done through email. I contacted them Friday morning and was able to get a spot for 2 at 8:15.

The restaurant is pretty small, and there'll most likely be a wait when you come. We only had to wait about 10 min until we were seated.

We started off with their $6 happy hour drinks: a gin martini with a twist for me and a manhattan for him. I'm always apprehensive ordering happy hour drinks cause they're diluted and usually taste blah. But these babies were STRONG. Can't complain there.

We decided to do a few appetizers and split an entree. We ordered half a dozen of the oysters, calamari, and mussels. We split the seafood stew for our main course. Oh! And put in an order for the dark chocolate soufflé.

The oysters were delicious, a bit on the smaller side but for $1 it's worth it. I was a bit disappointed when I took a bite of the calamari and it wasn't crispy (I didn't read the menu description, just ordered based on what the yelpers said) but the flavors were PHENOMENAL. So tender and flavorful. I was sorry within the second bite that I was initially disappointed in this dish. Then the mussels. YUM. Have you ever has $5 bowl of mussels?! Yea, me either. I loved the sauce. It went perfectlyyyy with the bread. Even when we were done our server knew to keep the bowl at the table so we could still use it for dipping. Good woman right there.

Then the seafood stew came out. Ugh. So. Freaking. Delicious. The bf didn't even speak the entire meal, he was too focused on eating.

Now for the finale, the soufflé. The last chocolate soufflé we had was at Gary Danko's, and that was also the bf's first time having soufflé, ever. So we had high expectations. Oh my. They were definetly exceeded. He even liked this soufflé more than Danko's! I'm not sure if I would go that far....but it was different in itself and the ice cream just added that special something something.

Before our dessert came in, bf wanted to try the basil gimlet. Bad idea. Obviously the sweetness from the soufflé outshined the refreshing drink, making it taste bitter. But that's his fault =P

Service was friendly and attentive. Even though our server was also the bartender , she made sure we were taken care of.

Tip: bring cash!! You get 10% off. I completely forgot. But I won't for next time!

Do yourself a favor, come here and eat!!! You'll be happy you did!

Food:

I had dinner here on a Saturday night with my two fav. girlfriends, spending the day in Oakland.

This local seafood place is right at the border of north oakland and berkeley area. It was in a quaint downtown area, with lots of shops and bars. We quickly found parking a block away (watch out, the sidewalks are HIGH!!!) - scrapped my door twice getting in and out ~

HIGHLY RECOMMEND RESERVATIONS!! You can do it very simply by emailing them, your total no. of party, date and time. They are quick to respond and very accommodating. We arrived early, check in and because it is a very SMALL space, there is a limited bar area (3-4 seatings only) - we ended up going across the street to the indian restaurant/bar to hang out until our reservation.

Inside, it is a small space, with about 2 dozen tables only. The back-area toward the kitchen and restroom hallway is very small, bad in case of a line for the restroom.

We waited about an additional 10 min for our table, and were seated in the middle. They brought bread and water to the table promptly. The bread was good. We ordered a bottle of wine and multiple dishes to share:

oysters - $2 each - was a great deal, very fresh w/ a champagne vignnette.
clams - great, smooth and slightly creamy sauce. Lots of flavor. Good amount for appz. especially to share.
Seafood Stew: Lots of fish and a few shrimp. Strong tomato broth. Fish was very good.
Soft-Shell crab - I think this was my fav! Perfectly fried, the shell chewable w/o sticking to you. The sauces (an orange and green sauce) was fab. w/ a little mixed rice and veggy.
Lobster - great sauce, but very hard to eat - I would think they would pre-break specific spots for you - so it would be easier to get out, but the flavor was wonderful. Wished we had more veggy besides sugar snap pea that were in all the dishes to eat w/ it. Another starch side would have gone wonderfully well with this since the sauce was so good!

Service - We had a great waitress who was attentive, despite a busy Saturday. Line out the door when we arrived at 7, and came back at 7:30, there was still a lot of people waiting!

A great experience, and great seafood. Everything was fresh, and the attention of the staff was really good.

Food:

Rockridge locals are "blown away" by this "small" neighborhood New American serving some of the most "inventive" seafood "for the price" in the East Bay; add in "a cool, old wooden bar", a "friendly staff" and specials like "$1 oysters" and an early-bird prix fixe, and it's no wonder it's a bona fide "favorite."