Wish I had taken pictures of the food. Everything was delicious from the appetizers mains and dessert. This is a restaurant I’d like to come back to you to try out other items. My favorite were the rice cheesy balls, meatballs & the margarita pizza.
I went on Valentine’s Day horrible service and very unorganized. Our reservation was at 8:00 and we weren’t seated until 8:40 and they had a preset menu that wasn’t appetizing
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 1
Bre Thurston
We had the unfortunate experience of having reservations on Valentine’s Day at 6:30. We were not seated until 7:10 and dozens of others were still angrily waiting, crowded inside and outside also waiting for their tables. We were led to an ugly, cheap looking back room that felt like a conference room with cardboard walls. The pre-fixe menu was handed to us but not a drink menu, and when I asked for a drink menu (which I saw on other tables) I was rudely told it was pre-fixe. Which clearly, but can we get drinks?? The pre-fixe menu was honestly full of disappointing choices including none of the things most people typically order off of their full menu. The mains were duck, seafood, or vegetarian. Only the margaritas pizza was offered.
A bread course was supposed to arrive. It had now been an hour and 15 mins after our initial reservation and no bread. We had to ask, where the waitress walked into a back room and gave us a tiny plate with the smallest, most stale looking pieces of bread with two radishes. The appetizers were gross looking room temp oysters, flavorless caviar dip, and a grey mush with greens that smelled like a dish rag.
The service was so slow, not at all trying to make up for the horrific wait we all had to endure, and the food was not great. After the first course was set down we asked to leave. Every single table around us was miserable, having something go wrong, and were clearly as upset as we were.
Our waitress did end up only charging us for the drinks but our entire Valentine’s dinner was ruined and we went to a dive bar across the street where we got 10x the level of service. We will never come back. Not quite sure how a restaurant can blow it this badly.
Atmosphere: 2
Service: 1
Kevin Hutcheson
Had a reservation on Valentine’s Day 2/14/2026, right when they opened at 5:00pm. We were, I think fourth, in line and were seated a little after 5. The couple in front of us didn’t have a reservation but were seated at the bar, seemed like no big deal but more on that later. We were seated right next to the front door by four other tables, odd spot for an empty restaurant but we didn’t make a fuss. A couple that came in just after us was seated 2 tables down, and asked if they could switch to one further from the door (it was pretty chilly) the hostess politely but sternly turned them down - seemed like they had a system for seating which is fine if that helps the back of the house.
For the night they had a mandatory pre fixe menu, $132 per person with 2 fixed courses of appetizers, followed by 2 entrees you choose, and a dessert you split.
After we were seated, our server was quick to take our order and the first three courses came out within 25 minutes. The lasagna my wife had (first course after appetizers) came out cold, pizza I had seemed burnt and still under cooked/flimsy, like the oven temp was too high. Despite this, still both fairly tasty dishes I should note.
This is where the dinner started to fall apart. By this point the rest of the restaurant had filled up. Someone came by to box our pizza and clean the table. Our server came to put down new silverware and then left for the next 30 minutes. When she came back she took off our silverware and put down dessert spoons, which we had to point out to her we hadn’t had our primary course yet. She apologized and then disappeared for another 15 minutes. At this point it was approaching 90 minutes into the dinner and about an hour since we had our last course. We had other plans for the night so we told the waitress to just box our remaining courses and take the check. She was kind and apologized for the night, but clearly the kitchen was very backed up.
The couple next to us got their first appetizer and from what we saw nothing after that. The other couple who sat two tables down when we did, also never received their mains.
Our final check of two diners, one drink, came out to about $350. When they got around to boxing and taking care of the check we were about an hour and 45 minutes into the dinner. To top it all off, once we got home we noticed they left out the dessert. Get that it’s Valentine’s Day and you should expect restaurants to be slammed, but really they needed to do a better job of managing the reservations and seating walk-ins especially if they aren’t able to turn tables at that capacity. Really ruined the night for us and the others around us.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
nes atayde
Chef Yosuke and his culinary team made our night very special.
Simple and delicious food, beautiful restaurant, great selection of Italian wines, and delicious cocktails.
Dolce Whisper or Dolce Whisperer? I can't rememberbthe name 😁, but that cocktail was so good.
100% recommended!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Erin
One of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area. The food is excellent and the wood fired pizza is amazing.
Ginger
Nice selection of non-boring pastas and pizzas. We enjoyed a salad of little gems with radishes and white anchovies. Lots of happy people having dinner - it was packed on a Friday night. Be aware that it's not the place for a quiet conversation. Go for the food!
In retrospect I'm probably late to this realization, but A16 is no longer great. It definitely used to be. I'd been noticing it seemed a lot easier to get reservations lately and now I believe I understand why. This is at least the third time in a row that we've had a disappointing meal l my with some combination of poor service and declining food quality. This time, even though our food was slow coming out and our server uninformed about the menu, we still had an auto gratuity added for a party of 6. This of course would explain the server's ambivalence in getting drinks and desserts wrong and food out late. This place has become average at best when it used to be truly special.
Stacy
carlo is great and the food is always excellent. it was a bit louder than usual which made conversation challenging but otherwise, excellent meal as usual.
Derek Bromstead
The restaurant was amazing! However, our only issue was that when we came out completely satisfied, our car window was smashed in. Major bummer! But that's Oakland for you, it's happened to us before, so park in the street not in a well lighted parking lot!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Praveen
Food is fresh with variety advertized but taste is poor. too bad. Nice neighboord, nice ambience but thats about it. Not worth the price
Wish I had taken pictures of the food. Everything was delicious from the appetizers mains and dessert. This is a restaurant I’d like to come back to you to try out other items. My favorite were the rice cheesy balls, meatballs & the margarita pizza.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Margherita, Margarita Pizza, Steak, Ceasar Salad
Very nice
iT WAS GOOD
The Best!
I went on Valentine’s Day horrible service and very unorganized. Our reservation was at 8:00 and we weren’t seated until 8:40 and they had a preset menu that wasn’t appetizing
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 1
We had the unfortunate experience of having reservations on Valentine’s Day at 6:30. We were not seated until 7:10 and dozens of others were still angrily waiting, crowded inside and outside also waiting for their tables. We were led to an ugly, cheap looking back room that felt like a conference room with cardboard walls. The pre-fixe menu was handed to us but not a drink menu, and when I asked for a drink menu (which I saw on other tables) I was rudely told it was pre-fixe. Which clearly, but can we get drinks?? The pre-fixe menu was honestly full of disappointing choices including none of the things most people typically order off of their full menu. The mains were duck, seafood, or vegetarian. Only the margaritas pizza was offered.
A bread course was supposed to arrive. It had now been an hour and 15 mins after our initial reservation and no bread. We had to ask, where the waitress walked into a back room and gave us a tiny plate with the smallest, most stale looking pieces of bread with two radishes. The appetizers were gross looking room temp oysters, flavorless caviar dip, and a grey mush with greens that smelled like a dish rag.
The service was so slow, not at all trying to make up for the horrific wait we all had to endure, and the food was not great. After the first course was set down we asked to leave. Every single table around us was miserable, having something go wrong, and were clearly as upset as we were.
Our waitress did end up only charging us for the drinks but our entire Valentine’s dinner was ruined and we went to a dive bar across the street where we got 10x the level of service. We will never come back. Not quite sure how a restaurant can blow it this badly.
Atmosphere: 2
Service: 1
Had a reservation on Valentine’s Day 2/14/2026, right when they opened at 5:00pm. We were, I think fourth, in line and were seated a little after 5. The couple in front of us didn’t have a reservation but were seated at the bar, seemed like no big deal but more on that later. We were seated right next to the front door by four other tables, odd spot for an empty restaurant but we didn’t make a fuss. A couple that came in just after us was seated 2 tables down, and asked if they could switch to one further from the door (it was pretty chilly) the hostess politely but sternly turned them down - seemed like they had a system for seating which is fine if that helps the back of the house.
For the night they had a mandatory pre fixe menu, $132 per person with 2 fixed courses of appetizers, followed by 2 entrees you choose, and a dessert you split.
After we were seated, our server was quick to take our order and the first three courses came out within 25 minutes. The lasagna my wife had (first course after appetizers) came out cold, pizza I had seemed burnt and still under cooked/flimsy, like the oven temp was too high. Despite this, still both fairly tasty dishes I should note.
This is where the dinner started to fall apart. By this point the rest of the restaurant had filled up. Someone came by to box our pizza and clean the table. Our server came to put down new silverware and then left for the next 30 minutes. When she came back she took off our silverware and put down dessert spoons, which we had to point out to her we hadn’t had our primary course yet. She apologized and then disappeared for another 15 minutes. At this point it was approaching 90 minutes into the dinner and about an hour since we had our last course. We had other plans for the night so we told the waitress to just box our remaining courses and take the check. She was kind and apologized for the night, but clearly the kitchen was very backed up.
The couple next to us got their first appetizer and from what we saw nothing after that. The other couple who sat two tables down when we did, also never received their mains.
Our final check of two diners, one drink, came out to about $350. When they got around to boxing and taking care of the check we were about an hour and 45 minutes into the dinner. To top it all off, once we got home we noticed they left out the dessert. Get that it’s Valentine’s Day and you should expect restaurants to be slammed, but really they needed to do a better job of managing the reservations and seating walk-ins especially if they aren’t able to turn tables at that capacity. Really ruined the night for us and the others around us.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
Chef Yosuke and his culinary team made our night very special.
Simple and delicious food, beautiful restaurant, great selection of Italian wines, and delicious cocktails.
Dolce Whisper or Dolce Whisperer? I can't rememberbthe name 😁, but that cocktail was so good.
100% recommended!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
One of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area. The food is excellent and the wood fired pizza is amazing.
Nice selection of non-boring pastas and pizzas. We enjoyed a salad of little gems with radishes and white anchovies. Lots of happy people having dinner - it was packed on a Friday night. Be aware that it's not the place for a quiet conversation. Go for the food!
Restaurantji Recommends
Great food, service and atmosphere
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
In retrospect I'm probably late to this realization, but A16 is no longer great. It definitely used to be. I'd been noticing it seemed a lot easier to get reservations lately and now I believe I understand why. This is at least the third time in a row that we've had a disappointing meal l my with some combination of poor service and declining food quality. This time, even though our food was slow coming out and our server uninformed about the menu, we still had an auto gratuity added for a party of 6. This of course would explain the server's ambivalence in getting drinks and desserts wrong and food out late. This place has become average at best when it used to be truly special.
carlo is great and the food is always excellent. it was a bit louder than usual which made conversation challenging but otherwise, excellent meal as usual.
The restaurant was amazing! However, our only issue was that when we came out completely satisfied, our car window was smashed in. Major bummer! But that's Oakland for you, it's happened to us before, so park in the street not in a well lighted parking lot!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food is fresh with variety advertized but taste is poor. too bad. Nice neighboord, nice ambience but thats about it. Not worth the price
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