luka's taproom & lounge

just came to see what beer they had on tap, the food looks good though. standard beer list but there's a pool table so that's cool. definitely want to come back to try the food! i hear their brunch is off da chain 😝

this is not my favorite place and i probably won't go back. they have a good selection of drinks and some soul food style menu items (lots of fried stuff). the fried chicken sandwich tasted good but i felt gross afterwards. the fries are seasoned and the same--too much salt and fat for my taste.

bustling fun atmosphere. attentive service. wide selection of excellent beers on tap. great belgian style fries. the only thing not to like is limited options for vegetarians, but otherwise a great pick.

omg yes!. it's hard to find a real authentic muffaleta, but lucas pulled it off nicely. thanks for keeping it traditional.

i hesitate to say like. i have a love/hate relationship with luka's where i have gotten very irritated by their attitude (i.e. insisting that my husband and i to pay the after 10pm $10 cover at 10:01 when we were meeting a group of four friends who were sitting at a booth and had just ordered dinner, saved us room, and were waiving us over to join them!). i do enjoy their food for the most part. i usually get the mac n cheese which is consistently delicious. the drinks are pretty good, some are waaay too sweet but i'm sure some people really enjoy them. i like the vibe here and feel like it has mellowed in the few years. (that incident was two years ago).

amazing mac and cheese, burgers, and french fries. (in an upscale urbany sort of way)

the place to go in oakland. luka's is at least four different places wrapped into one, and succeeds at all of them. during the day it's an excellent lunch spot, with one of the best burgers and the best fries around; in the evening it's an after-work hangout for a diverse crowd, with a fantastic beer selection and excellent pours on well drinks; at dinner the food never fails to delight; and at night it turns into a happening dance club.

the primary drawbacks are related to its own success: it can be very noisy (normal for a club but makes conversation difficult at dinner), and the service can slow to a crawl when packed, as it is before every paramount show. there are some newer restaurants opening in the area that should compliment and relieve the stress on this uptown trailblazer.

this is the place to go in oakland for good food and drink, and a cosmopolitan crowd to share them with.

a note on another review here: every decent restaurant will charge you for place settings if you bring in outside food like a birthday cake.

insulting service. while the food was good and the atmosphere bustling and busy, the service was basically absent. after bussing our own table repeatedly, the kicker was the manager's snarky assertion of the per person "cakage" fee. our party of 6 there to celebrate a wedding was made to feel like outsiders. i guess our patronage didn't really matter to them.