Definitely has a low key, cousin's house type of vibe. All the staff were cool and friendly but running around. I was just out by myself and luckily got seated at the bar within about 10 minutes. It's restaurant week, so it could've gone either way and they were definitely busy!I got the $45 pre-fixed menu. Forgive the absence of pics, I forgot ?- Dominican Curry Rice Salad: idk what I was expecting, but this was essentially a cold rice dish with a lot of ingredients and a lot of flavor! 9/10- Gallina Guisada: Chef's Kiss ?!! The plantain, the beans, the curried chicken. 10/10- Tres Leches Cake: the cake was very thick, almost like a pudding. It was super tasty but not like the light and fluffy tres leches cake I'm used to 7/10I will be coming back with friends!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
So glad this is no longer just a seafood restaurant. The food is just as exceptional as the menu descriptions! We had a sampling of many items, though not necessarily on the ORW special menu and neither of us was disappointed. Tomato salad, pork chops, camarones, squash, even plantain chips were outstanding. Had to take the Tres Leches cake home for breakfast! Will definitely come back and eat outside in the warmer weather, as inside is a little too cozy for lengthy conversations.
Renée J
Absolutely delicious. Their serving sizes are perfect for sharing a few dishes, and the cocktails we had were great. We’ve walked by on our way to Lovely’s so many times and have been tempted by the amazing smells, and finally went on Valentine’s Day. The service was top notch and even though the tables were a bit close together we loved the atmosphere. I did think the corn in the vegetarian dish was hard to eat and a bit odd to have on the menu in February, but it tasted good. My partner got the oxtail - I can say the beans with it were amazing and it was a but portion. They have a smaller menu but with a few vegetarian and fish options.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Michael Lin
the food was tasty but I would not want to support a place that does such outrageous price gouging (+29% service charges..)I'll start with the good, the menu is good, there are a lot of dishes, I came with a group of 6 so we got to order several dishes. The food was also very good, the fried red snapper dish in particular was a favorite of mine. The service was ordinary, the server took our order and gave us a water refill container for us to self-refill our water. that's it, so there's some service but nothing good to speak about.But then the bill came... and I've never seen such outrageous bill charges. They added:* 25% auto gratuity* 1% donation to local food kitchen* taxed the gratuity and 1% donation.that's +29% on top of the original bill !!! And none of it was mentioned anywhere in the menu, or on the restaurant wall, or communicated to us in any way...Since the service was very ordinary to us, we all thought the 25% was a bit too much, especially since this mentioned to us ahead of time, it felt very much like a bait and switch. But despite us being a large group of 6, and having , we made the awkward call to raise the concern to the manager.I called for the manager, and asked him to please remove the gratuity charge, or at least reduce the auto gratitude to a more reasonable amount. We mentioned how it wasn't anywhere in writing or communicated to us ahead of time. But the manager was not having it, he didn't bother fully hearing us out, and cut us off, and said that nobody had ever complained about this and it is industry standard... He then said he would need to talk to the owner about this and left our table abruptly. We waited another 15-20minutes before I had to find him again to ask about this again. (Keep in mind we already finished our meal and want to move on with our Friday night.) The manager said he can only reduce it to 20% and then left us again. After another 5minutes, I got the new bill, and we paid and left.The entire encounter was not professional nor came with any semblance of empathy or wanting to work something out with us. The way the manager acted further reinforced that this isn't a +25% tip type of place, both from a upper management to the actual management.I can't say the food is terrible, but I cannot recommend this place due to what I see as poor ethics and business practices. It feels to me like a small business owner being a bit too greedy, the +25% tip is already a big amount, but to not mention it ahead of time is likely a bait and switch tactic, and then to add the +1% "donation" charge, then to tax the gratuity and donation just seems very wrong, their accounting at this restaurant seems off.. and that just doesn't vibe well with me and makes me wonder what other business practices the owner participates in.I dislike writing negative reviews, but this restaurant really rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like I was being taken advantage of which is not a good overall dining experience. I'm hoping this post makes it to the owners and they make changes to be more proactive and transparent about their charges to their customers, and help educate and empower management to work with their customers.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
Quintessa Head
Food was good,chicken & rice andvegetarian soup was delicious. They ran out of bowls and spoons.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Britney
Food was delicious!! Glad to have found a Dominican restaurant in the Bay! There a lot of items that were sold out but Johnathan was very accommodating to my family and I. Drinks were very good as well! Definitely coming back with friends!
McBricks
So many delicious options we couldn't have them all. So we'll be back again soon. We loved all the different flavors that you simply don't see at other restaurants. The service was great and friendly.
MayV
We love coming to alaMar. We ordered the fried goat which was dry, with greens, and the guisado which had an incredible sauce but the chicken was overcooked. My favorite meal was the red snapper which my husband and I gobbled up and loved. I have been here before and love this place and will recommend it although we had two dishes we didn't favor. The customer service was great!
Alicia Quilici
This place was delicious. Their udon noodles are a
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tostones
Jimena Saravia
Absolutely love this place! The street goat is to die for.
Love it! I am from Panamá, our food is really similar, omg their Fish taste just like my grandmas used to do it. LOVE THIS PLACE.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sarah Haight
Such a fun spot. We tried a lot of dishes I’d never heard of before, everything was great. Cleaned our plates. The music was fun, the vibe was cool. I like how the bartender comes and brings the drinks (which were so good and interesting!) Would definitely go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Caitlyn Kilgore
Delicious food, fast and friendly service, lively interior atmosphere, but we ate outside. It's on Grand, but surprisingly not loud.I wanted the tostones to be a little less dry, but at least they had them. I hardly ever find savory fried plantains. The half chicken was amazing and so were the shrimp.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Such a fun spot. We tried a lot of dishes I'd never heard of before, everything was great. Cleaned our plates. The music was fun, the vibe was cool. I like how the bartender comes and brings the drinks (which were so good and interesting!) Would definitely go back!
BobHumans
The food is very tasty, if a little uneven. The yuca salad is a little hard to eat and covered in too many pickled onions, but tasty otherwise. The pernil is delicious, but served over a bed of mayonnaise that made the whole thing a little too fatty to eat. And my cocktail was basically just bourbon with a splash of grapefruit juice, so it was difficult to enjoy as a cocktail. But the flavors were on point and the vibe and rest of the menu has lots to offer and I look forward to going back and trying more things. I used to live in uptown Manhattan in a Dominican neighborhood so I kiss that food, and it's wonderful to have a Dominican spot here in the East Bay!
Definitely has a low key, cousin's house type of vibe. All the staff were cool and friendly but running around. I was just out by myself and luckily got seated at the bar within about 10 minutes. It's restaurant week, so it could've gone either way and they were definitely busy!I got the $45 pre-fixed menu. Forgive the absence of pics, I forgot ?- Dominican Curry Rice Salad: idk what I was expecting, but this was essentially a cold rice dish with a lot of ingredients and a lot of flavor! 9/10- Gallina Guisada: Chef's Kiss ?!! The plantain, the beans, the curried chicken. 10/10- Tres Leches Cake: the cake was very thick, almost like a pudding. It was super tasty but not like the light and fluffy tres leches cake I'm used to 7/10I will be coming back with friends!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
So glad this is no longer just a seafood restaurant. The food is just as exceptional as the menu descriptions! We had a sampling of many items, though not necessarily on the ORW special menu and neither of us was disappointed. Tomato salad, pork chops, camarones, squash, even plantain chips were outstanding. Had to take the Tres Leches cake home for breakfast! Will definitely come back and eat outside in the warmer weather, as inside is a little too cozy for lengthy conversations.
Absolutely delicious. Their serving sizes are perfect for sharing a few dishes, and the cocktails we had were great. We’ve walked by on our way to Lovely’s so many times and have been tempted by the amazing smells, and finally went on Valentine’s Day. The service was top notch and even though the tables were a bit close together we loved the atmosphere. I did think the corn in the vegetarian dish was hard to eat and a bit odd to have on the menu in February, but it tasted good. My partner got the oxtail - I can say the beans with it were amazing and it was a but portion. They have a smaller menu but with a few vegetarian and fish options.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
the food was tasty but I would not want to support a place that does such outrageous price gouging (+29% service charges..)I'll start with the good, the menu is good, there are a lot of dishes, I came with a group of 6 so we got to order several dishes. The food was also very good, the fried red snapper dish in particular was a favorite of mine. The service was ordinary, the server took our order and gave us a water refill container for us to self-refill our water. that's it, so there's some service but nothing good to speak about.But then the bill came... and I've never seen such outrageous bill charges. They added:* 25% auto gratuity* 1% donation to local food kitchen* taxed the gratuity and 1% donation.that's +29% on top of the original bill !!! And none of it was mentioned anywhere in the menu, or on the restaurant wall, or communicated to us in any way...Since the service was very ordinary to us, we all thought the 25% was a bit too much, especially since this mentioned to us ahead of time, it felt very much like a bait and switch. But despite us being a large group of 6, and having , we made the awkward call to raise the concern to the manager.I called for the manager, and asked him to please remove the gratuity charge, or at least reduce the auto gratitude to a more reasonable amount. We mentioned how it wasn't anywhere in writing or communicated to us ahead of time. But the manager was not having it, he didn't bother fully hearing us out, and cut us off, and said that nobody had ever complained about this and it is industry standard... He then said he would need to talk to the owner about this and left our table abruptly. We waited another 15-20minutes before I had to find him again to ask about this again. (Keep in mind we already finished our meal and want to move on with our Friday night.) The manager said he can only reduce it to 20% and then left us again. After another 5minutes, I got the new bill, and we paid and left.The entire encounter was not professional nor came with any semblance of empathy or wanting to work something out with us. The way the manager acted further reinforced that this isn't a +25% tip type of place, both from a upper management to the actual management.I can't say the food is terrible, but I cannot recommend this place due to what I see as poor ethics and business practices. It feels to me like a small business owner being a bit too greedy, the +25% tip is already a big amount, but to not mention it ahead of time is likely a bait and switch tactic, and then to add the +1% "donation" charge, then to tax the gratuity and donation just seems very wrong, their accounting at this restaurant seems off.. and that just doesn't vibe well with me and makes me wonder what other business practices the owner participates in.I dislike writing negative reviews, but this restaurant really rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like I was being taken advantage of which is not a good overall dining experience. I'm hoping this post makes it to the owners and they make changes to be more proactive and transparent about their charges to their customers, and help educate and empower management to work with their customers.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
Food was good,chicken & rice andvegetarian soup was delicious. They ran out of bowls and spoons.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Food was delicious!! Glad to have found a Dominican restaurant in the Bay! There a lot of items that were sold out but Johnathan was very accommodating to my family and I. Drinks were very good as well! Definitely coming back with friends!
So many delicious options we couldn't have them all. So we'll be back again soon. We loved all the different flavors that you simply don't see at other restaurants. The service was great and friendly.
We love coming to alaMar. We ordered the fried goat which was dry, with greens, and the guisado which had an incredible sauce but the chicken was overcooked. My favorite meal was the red snapper which my husband and I gobbled up and loved. I have been here before and love this place and will recommend it although we had two dishes we didn't favor. The customer service was great!
This place was delicious. Their udon noodles are a
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tostones
Absolutely love this place! The street goat is to die for.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Love it! I am from Panamá, our food is really similar, omg their Fish taste just like my grandmas used to do it. LOVE THIS PLACE.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Such a fun spot. We tried a lot of dishes I’d never heard of before, everything was great. Cleaned our plates. The music was fun, the vibe was cool. I like how the bartender comes and brings the drinks (which were so good and interesting!) Would definitely go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delicious food, fast and friendly service, lively interior atmosphere, but we ate outside. It's on Grand, but surprisingly not loud.I wanted the tostones to be a little less dry, but at least they had them. I hardly ever find savory fried plantains. The half chicken was amazing and so were the shrimp.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Such a fun spot. We tried a lot of dishes I'd never heard of before, everything was great. Cleaned our plates. The music was fun, the vibe was cool. I like how the bartender comes and brings the drinks (which were so good and interesting!) Would definitely go back!
The food is very tasty, if a little uneven. The yuca salad is a little hard to eat and covered in too many pickled onions, but tasty otherwise. The pernil is delicious, but served over a bed of mayonnaise that made the whole thing a little too fatty to eat. And my cocktail was basically just bourbon with a splash of grapefruit juice, so it was difficult to enjoy as a cocktail. But the flavors were on point and the vibe and rest of the menu has lots to offer and I look forward to going back and trying more things. I used to live in uptown Manhattan in a Dominican neighborhood so I kiss that food, and it's wonderful to have a Dominican spot here in the East Bay!