We went to La Veranda on Sunday, June 15 2025 for a father’s day brunch. First a word about Clayton CA. This is an older town in the east bay, next to Concord and Walnut Creek. This is a town that hung on tenaciously to its small town charm and looks very much the way it did fifty years ago. They still have some wooden sidewalks, a saloon or two, a lovely tree shaded park where they hold small summer concerts. It has a small central downtown and feels very much like the old fashioned small town that it is. People are friendly and relaxed; traffic has been cleverly engineered out. This restaurant with its wooden entry steps fits right in. It has a veranda with outdoor tables along the side of the restaurant as well as a casual covered patio for outdoor dining. Upon entering we could see a big square dining room to our right and to our left was the other smaller rectangular dining room. We were greeted promptly and cordially and taken to our table in the room to our left. It was filled with black tables and chairs, the wall were tan and the ceiling tiles were a pleasant burnt red. The restaurant is surrounded by trees and bushes so the view from the many windows made us feel as though we were in an arboretum. The table was neatly set with two forks; a butter knife and side plate per seat as well as perfectly folded white linen pyramid napkin folds. Very quickly an attendant arrived to get us waters, coffee or tea. Shortly after that, our waiter Yousef appeared and took our orders. We had some substitutions and he took it all in stride. We ordered three eggs benedicts and food appeared in a very short time. The eggs were perfectly poached with firm whites and a hint of white vinegar and the yolks were perfectly runny. The muffins underneath were lightly toasted and easy to cut with a butter knife. I have been making fresh hollandaise for years in restaurants and at home and I am always suspicious of canned or powdered some restaurants resort to but this was definitely fresh and the real deal. The sauce was topped with a dusting of paprika and presentation was perfect. Yousef was an efficient and quick waiter, very professional. As is always a challenge my wife takes on we eventually got a big smile out of him. Overall I got the impression this was a tightly run restaurant that had taken pains to see to all the important touches. It was bright, sunny, and clean and the staff was friendly and attentive. I would not hesitate to go back for dinner and plan to.
Luis Warrior
My wife and I came here for the first time on a recommendation from our Italian friend. Friendly staff and the food was delicious! The bolognese is a must!!
Jim Cornelius
Stopped in for a first time lunch here. One of us ordered a crab Louie. The crab was not fresh and had a very funny taste. One of us had a small house salad. It was a plate of greens (sticks and weeds) thrown on a plate with nothing else, not even one cherry tomatoe. The crab Louie was gladly exchanged for another food choice no questions asked. Not sure why they served this to their customer to begin with knowing the crab was not fresh. The crab was gray in color. We brought along a guest which was their first time experiencing this establishment and they unfortunately are the one that ended up with the unpleasant crab Louie. Was very disappointed and very embarrassed that we suggested this place.. We had many other restaurant choices that we could have gone to that day. Our choice for this day turned out to be the wrong choice.
moe martines
I came down for the celebration of life for my good buddy Skip Burns. After driving 3.5 hours, the atmosphere, service and especially the food was more than welcome. Next time I come to the Bay I will make a point of stopping in to grab some grub.
Bernabe Lara
People in Clayton must be smoking crack the food is no good here save your money people. We order the sea food sampler it's hard and no flavor stay away from it. It's not a café it's a restaurant with over priced food with out a coffee menu.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Kim Cortez
I ordered a Dungeness Crab Louie Salad and Smoked Salmon with Goat Cheese appetizer. They were both tasty, fresh, and packed perfectly in their take out containers. The gentleman who took my order was friendly and quick to answer my questions about the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amber Overstreet
Everything is good, but the Reigna Salad is a must! Fresh bread and focaccia. Oil and balsamic vinegar. I'm getting hungry. See you tonight, La Veranda!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bread Basket, Veranda Salad
Michel Motheral-EAndi
I've been enjoying this restaurant for years. Food is good, service is friendly. It's a real restaurant with tables, chairs, and tablecloths...the way life was before COVID. It's my #1 choice.
Wheelchair accessibility: Easy ramp, large doors, easy for elderly or disabled patrons
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Linguini Alla Vongole, Margherita Pizza, Eggplant Parmigiana
I love this place The food is amazing and the service was exceptional.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Robert Bohrer
Nice looking place, but $4.30 for a cup of the worst burned coffee I've had in years...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Erin Azevedo
I wanted to love this place, but the food was really bad. I ordered the petrale sole with polenta and veggies. The fish tasted like it was cooked in egg and had the strangest texture. My husband ordered a pasta dish and it had a few too many cloves of garlic for it to be enjoyable. When we got the bill, I was even more disappointed at how much it was per person.The redeeming quality was the service. Our waiter was incredibly friendly, responsive, and had great humor.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 4
Priscilla
We ordered a takeout meal for a family of four yesterday. The food was good, but the treatment by the owner at pick up was shockingly bad. My husband ordered by phone at 5:50pm. The restaurant said it would be an hour, so hubs and father-in-law arrived at 6:53. Owner doesn't acknowledge them, and continues to talk to the staff and look at his phone. When hubs asks for help, owner says the meal will be ready at 7pm. When our two bags were brought out, hubs counts the items and notices one item is missing. Owner scoffs that it'll be out shortly and then turns to my father-in-law to comment...."Is he your son? You need to teach him more patience." Rather than apologizing for super slow and late service, the owner chose to simultaneously insult my husband and father-in-law in a single backhanded blow for expecting better customer service. Further, when paying the bill, we learned that the prices on the restaurant's online menu are far lower than reality (e.g., Veal Tre-Funghi published at $29, but billed at $36 for a 24% price difference). We will never be back, but will certainly share the story with others. It's no wonder that La Veranda is not flourishing as the single midscale Italian restaurant in Claycord.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
J D
Lovely restaurant. Good foodOutstanding service for a group of ten at
We went to La Veranda on Sunday, June 15 2025 for a father’s day brunch.
First a word about Clayton CA. This is an older town in the east bay, next to Concord and Walnut Creek. This is a town that hung on tenaciously to its small town charm and looks very much the way it did fifty years ago. They still have some wooden sidewalks, a saloon or two, a lovely tree shaded park where they hold small summer concerts. It has a small central downtown and feels very much like the old fashioned small town that it is. People are friendly and relaxed; traffic has been cleverly engineered out. This restaurant with its wooden entry steps fits right in. It has a veranda with outdoor tables along the side of the restaurant as well as a casual covered patio for outdoor dining.
Upon entering we could see a big square dining room to our right and to our left was the other smaller rectangular dining room. We were greeted promptly and cordially and taken to our table in the room to our left. It was filled with black tables and chairs, the wall were tan and the ceiling tiles were a pleasant burnt red. The restaurant is surrounded by trees and bushes so the view from the many windows made us feel as though we were in an arboretum. The table was neatly set with two forks; a butter knife and side plate per seat as well as perfectly folded white linen pyramid napkin folds. Very quickly an attendant arrived to get us waters, coffee or tea. Shortly after that, our waiter Yousef appeared and took our orders. We had some substitutions and he took it all in stride. We ordered three eggs benedicts and food appeared in a very short time. The eggs were perfectly poached with firm whites and a hint of white vinegar and the yolks were perfectly runny. The muffins underneath were lightly toasted and easy to cut with a butter knife. I have been making fresh hollandaise for years in restaurants and at home and I am always suspicious of canned or powdered some restaurants resort to but this was definitely fresh and the real deal. The sauce was topped with a dusting of paprika and presentation was perfect. Yousef was an efficient and quick waiter, very professional. As is always a challenge my wife takes on we eventually got a big smile out of him.
Overall I got the impression this was a tightly run restaurant that had taken pains to see to all the important touches. It was bright, sunny, and clean and the staff was friendly and attentive. I would not hesitate to go back for dinner and plan to.
My wife and I came here for the first time on a recommendation from our Italian friend. Friendly staff and the food was delicious! The bolognese is a must!!
Stopped in for a first time lunch here. One of us ordered a crab Louie. The crab was not fresh and had a very funny taste. One of us had a small house salad. It was a plate of greens (sticks and weeds) thrown on a plate with nothing else, not even one cherry tomatoe. The crab Louie was gladly exchanged for another food choice no questions asked. Not sure why they served this to their customer to begin with knowing the crab was not fresh. The crab was gray in color. We brought along a guest which was their first time experiencing this establishment and they unfortunately are the one that ended up with the unpleasant crab Louie. Was very disappointed and very embarrassed that we suggested this place.. We had many other restaurant choices that we could have gone to that day. Our choice for this day turned out to be the wrong choice.
I came down for the celebration of life for my good buddy Skip Burns. After driving 3.5 hours, the atmosphere, service and especially the food was more than welcome. Next time I come to the Bay I will make a point of stopping in to grab some grub.
People in Clayton must be smoking crack the food is no good here save your money people. We order the sea food sampler it's hard and no flavor stay away from it. It's not a café it's a restaurant with over priced food with out a coffee menu.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
I ordered a Dungeness Crab Louie Salad and Smoked Salmon with Goat Cheese appetizer. They were both tasty, fresh, and packed perfectly in their take out containers. The gentleman who took my order was friendly and quick to answer my questions about the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Everything is good, but the Reigna Salad is a must! Fresh bread and focaccia. Oil and balsamic vinegar. I'm getting hungry. See you tonight, La Veranda!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bread Basket, Veranda Salad
I've been enjoying this restaurant for years. Food is good, service is friendly. It's a real restaurant with tables, chairs, and tablecloths...the way life was before COVID. It's my #1 choice.
Wheelchair accessibility: Easy ramp, large doors, easy for elderly or disabled patrons
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Linguini Alla Vongole, Margherita Pizza, Eggplant Parmigiana
The restaurant was clean and well maintained.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food, all around great place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
I love this place The food is amazing and the service was exceptional.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nice looking place, but $4.30 for a cup of the worst burned coffee I've had in years...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
I wanted to love this place, but the food was really bad. I ordered the petrale sole with polenta and veggies. The fish tasted like it was cooked in egg and had the strangest texture. My husband ordered a pasta dish and it had a few too many cloves of garlic for it to be enjoyable. When we got the bill, I was even more disappointed at how much it was per person.The redeeming quality was the service. Our waiter was incredibly friendly, responsive, and had great humor.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 4
We ordered a takeout meal for a family of four yesterday. The food was good, but the treatment by the owner at pick up was shockingly bad. My husband ordered by phone at 5:50pm. The restaurant said it would be an hour, so hubs and father-in-law arrived at 6:53. Owner doesn't acknowledge them, and continues to talk to the staff and look at his phone. When hubs asks for help, owner says the meal will be ready at 7pm. When our two bags were brought out, hubs counts the items and notices one item is missing. Owner scoffs that it'll be out shortly and then turns to my father-in-law to comment...."Is he your son? You need to teach him more patience." Rather than apologizing for super slow and late service, the owner chose to simultaneously insult my husband and father-in-law in a single backhanded blow for expecting better customer service. Further, when paying the bill, we learned that the prices on the restaurant's online menu are far lower than reality (e.g., Veal Tre-Funghi published at $29, but billed at $36 for a 24% price difference). We will never be back, but will certainly share the story with others. It's no wonder that La Veranda is not flourishing as the single midscale Italian restaurant in Claycord.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Lovely restaurant. Good foodOutstanding service for a group of ten at
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
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