camino

we went here for a special occasion and had one of the worst expensive meals we've ever experienced. we had let them know ahead that we were celebrating a special occasion, yet we were sat at a communal table. our server was surly and unfriendly, our starter was never brought, no one asked how our meal was or even if we wanted another drink. the food here is good, but far from amazing which it would need to be to make up for the poor service. i truly can't emphasize how bad our waitress was. i don't think she smiled at us once. we went here for a special occasion and frankly, the whole experience left a bad taste in our mouths and ruined what should have been a very special night celebrating my son's graduation from berkeley. 

we eat in every major city we visit and dine in los angeles frequently, and i've rarely, if ever, had such a bad experience in such a highly rated restaurant. there is no way this place will be around long at this rate. there are so many good restaurants in berkeley and oakland, i would recommend finding another.

i'm never disappointed. i love this place. they always have interesting and delicious things on the menu and their house manhattan or whatever they call it (i call it the manhattan that's not a manhattan) in which they use an italian fortified wine in place of the vermouth is one of my favorite things to drink.

even though the interior is big, which is usually a turn-off for me, the farm tables give it an unexpected intimacy. i dig it.

food is great but the service is inconsistent and often lacking, enough to prevent me from visiting more frequently. sometimes feel forgotten by wait staff. depends on who you get. but the food brings me back! also the cocktails.

the open brick kitchen with big open fire added to the allure of the place. in other words, camino is attractive, rugged yet elegant.

boy, after reading some of these reviews i almost cancelled my reservation last night. so glad a didn't. i was hosting three work colleagues and had not been to camino in a while. the host was super accommodating, our server was excellent and everyone was very pleased with what they had ordered. three of us had the paella, which was fresh, well seasoned and the soccarat done to perfection. our fourth had the trumpet mushroom en papillote and thought it was fantastic. the three with the paella also started with a tomato gazpacho which, again, was fresh and had just the right amount of zing.

having visited tartine on a recommendation and been thoroughly impressed, my friends and i were given another california restaurant suggestion to try and squeeze into our trip. this time  camino  was our destination. heading up there late on a sunday we were slightly worried it might be closing up or there'd be no one else in there. when we got there however it was really buzzing. a large dining room done out in a rustic-industrial style, all over looked by the main feature: a huge wood burning oven in the open kitchen at the back. with soft lighting and a laid back atmosphere this is a great setting for a social gathering or a date. smoky quail with roasted apples, sauerkraut and horseradish a platter of rustic sourdough bread arrived at our table with a big wedge of butter for us to get tucked into before our starters arrived. i kicked things off with the quail. i was surprised to see this on a menu in america, i'm not sure why, i guess living in the essex countryside i just associate game with being a very british thing. the bird was chopped up into breast meat, legs etc and had so much delicious meat on it with perfectly crispy skin. i'm not usually a huge fan of fruit in savoury dishes but the hot roasted apples balanced well with the sharpness of the sauerkraut and the whole dish came together perfectly. also on the menu were oven baked oysters. i know oysters are a delicacy but i really can't get my head round necking back raw oysters as is the traditional way, however in america you quite often see them on the menu cooked so i gave it a go and tried one. it was really tasty and accompanied by a lovely fresh salad. wood oven baked oysters with absinthe, breadcrumbs and belgian endive-celery salad california is a great place for fresh fish and seafood so i chose the sea bass for my main course. i've never seen such a huge, meaty fillet of sea bass in my life, the ones we get at home are so small this was a real treat. it came served in an extremely tasty broth

camino’s brunch menu offered the food you crave on a saturday morning: homemade donuts, stoneground oats, poached eggs, and french toast. there were so many items we wanted to try that we ordered enough to share. in many circumstances, if you order five dishes you might love three, which still makes for a good meal, but we couldn’t stop gushing over every dish strewn across our table.

should have taken a pass.. a friend recommended my girlfriend and i try the brunch at camino, so when my parents came into town we brought them here. i really wish we hadn't

the service at camino was severely lacking. after placing our orders, it took nearly 20 minutes to get our coffee, and after that we did not hear from any server for another hour. after a good hour and a half, i was about to stand up and ask on the status of our order (attempts at eye contact were avoided and ignored), when our entrees began to come out. i asked the woman serving us (not our original waiter) about the donuts we had ordered as an appetizer, and she snapped at me that she, "only had two hands" and that they were coming out with everything at once. minutes later she returned to say that that order never went in, and did we want to wait for them. we declined.

the entrees themselves were very expensive, laughably small, with little or no side dish or garnish to speak of, and full exotic/unique ingredients that came together for mediocre dishes in the end.

the coffee was sour/burned, came in tiny glasses, and refills were not free, which is just cheap in my opinion.

if you want a nice brunch, go elsewhere.

never again!!!. we chose to have a special birthday dinner at camino. we chose a monday night, so that we would not have to deal with the weekend crush. there were four of us and on the whole it was a very disappointing experience.

the menu selection was much too limited and for minuscule portions, the prices were exceedingly high.

with the exception of the "stuffed trotter" the food was not very well prepared nor tasty. 

the paella was a disappointment. the dish was bland, the chicken in the paella was overcooked and dry and the sausage in that dish was undercooked. we've eaten paella in homes and restaurants in spain ... the idea is to cook the dish in one pan and have the flavors meld, it is not to assemble the improperly and separately cooked ingredients on the plate. what you served was not paella. the tomato soup was good but the serving size was tiny.

the petrale sole was bland and uninteresting, the skin was not crispy, it was soggy, not what one would expect for fish cooked over an open fire. the tastiest part of the meal was the dessert. although we had appetizers, a main dish each and 2 shared desserts, when we left we were still hungry, which was ridiculous after spending $180 on a dinner that included no frills except one half filled glass of wine.

the service was mediocre, the main meal was long in coming, and although we had 2 identical desserts, only one was served, and it was consumed by one couple before the other was brought to the table...we had to remind the waiter that two had been ordered.
seating was at tables in long rows, wood surface, no tablecloths. seating was next to strangers.
frankly, we will never eat there again.

great brunch!. i love the atmosphere of camino. the wood & brick decor with woodburning ovens in the open kitchen, and the community tables are very comforting and welcoming to me. that i haven't had lunch or dinner here, but sunday brunch was delightful!

we started with a couple of the doughnuts with bronx grapes, which were a great pair. the doughnuts were light and not greasy at all. we also shared the pork & herb sausages (juicy and flavorful), potatoes roasted in duck fat (mmm, umami) and a pair of baked eggs with herbs & cream. everything was super fresh, and you could taste it. we enjoyed it all with a cup of single-origin coffee. my perfect breakfast.

dissapointing experience. large, inviting space. somewhat noisy, but not bad. creative menu and mixed drinks. food and drink portions are very small. very high prices for what you get. dinner for three, with one drink each, plus tip, ran us almost $140. and we left hungry, this restaurant was designed by professionals in the food, interior design, and finance business who want (or need) to make a nice profit. i'm sad that our experience was not a good one, because the environment is lively and attractive. won't return soon.

warm, rustic setting and novel-enough concept (i'm guessing the theme is wood burning oven), but as so many have said, the menu is way too limited, the prices way too high ($6 for a 3-oz. cup of green-tinted water?? actually, the tea was one of the best things.), and the service abysmal (on my way to the restroom i finally spotted our waitress hanging in the back with some pals and suggested that she offer my dining companion dessert; on my way back from the restroom, she still hadn't budged). now, mind you, i've only dined here once (and may still venture the brunch), but i'm beginning to realize that if i wait to revisit a forgettable place before reviewing it, i forget all about it!

opened for more than a year, the natural wood-furnished restaurant with two long communal tables and fiery wood-ovens in the back looks like the perfect space for friends and family to feel at home when gathering for a simple california meal.

give it a chance. the wood oven here dominates the menu which is limited to some but clean and simple to me. i am filled with millions of choices that i have to make and having a menu with few choices all done to perfection, a limited drink menu that encourages trying something new and a restaurant decor that helps you focus on your meal is so relaxing to me. the brunches are fantastic, again an oven baked egg dish is devine. this is not for the uber picky sorts but for real fresh food done well. the whole octoberfest thing was marvelous and the boudin blanc specials are some of the soul satisfying meals i have had this year. these folks are craftspeople with hotpads.

in all likelihood, my life in san francisco has followed a trajectory familiar to many other recent arrivals. we came here to join that vain, preening flock cavorting in "the city". as if there were only one city by the bay. east bay crowds are not so craven. they have concluded themselves as urbane and sophisticated as the flock in "the city". they need no one else's affirmation of it. nor does camino. this unassuming storefront gives way to a space that trades on warmth. in the kitchen, pots cluster around the leaping flames of an open fire. in the dining room, unvarnished redwood pillars and old brick walls shelter long communal tables and benches that feel almost like pews. there's a sense that you're here to break bread, and experience a meal in an old way. there's nothing old or fussy about the menu. locally sourced ingredients find an assured hand in the kitchen. grilled squid with faro was delicious. so was a lamb ragu. swordfish with butter beans and turnips set me afloat. robust chanterelles were paired with artichokes and sunchokes. this kitchen is one to keep an eye on. i confess the service was uneven. some elements of the decor seem incongruous. the medieval chandeliers draped with laurel boughs, for example. that said, there's an integrity to all these disparate elements that works. camino was born of one man's vision. so many of its cohorts are glossy with the telltale sheen of pr and design shops. it's refreshing to find an altar of earthiness. and where else, but in oakland!