Dining between Walnut Creek and San Francisco (Oakland, Berkeley: hotel, restaurants)

[apexgds]

Traveling to Walnut Creek in January for business. My colleague and I always try to spend one evening getting away from the conference room to find a nice restaurant for dinner. We're particularly interested in a combination of atmosphere and good food. She's from the midwest, I'm on the east coast, and we won't get to see much of California during the day. This may be one of our only opportunities. Dinner with a view would be nice, and understand that means getting away from WC. Entrees in the $25-40 range, preferably. Bonus points for restaurants that are very accommodating to gluten sensitivities.

Which brings me to my next question ... it seems to me that restaurants on the east coast (and midwest, to some extent) include a lot of information on their menus (or in separate allergen menus) regarding gluten free dishes. This sort of information is usually also available on websites (which makes it easier to choose restaurants). But in researching Bay Area restaurants online, I'm finding it seems rare for restaurants to share GF menus or information about accommodations on their websites. I'm not seeing options like GF pasta. Is this fairly standard in the area? Or am I just looking up the wrong restaurants? ;-)

[04kL4nD]

There are plenty of nice restaurants in WC, but none of them really have much of a view. You'll probably have to go into San Francisco for that

[ketch89]

Originally Posted by apexgds

Or am I just looking up the wrong restaurants? ;-)

It's standard in SF and Oakland/Berkeley, less common on the peninsula and hit or miss (more miss) in the outer East bay.

[clongirl]

How about this place...BOCANOVA | A PAN-AMERICAN GRILL

I haven't been personally yet, but the reviews seem solid. It looks like they have a view since it's right on the water on Jack London Square in Oakland and this sort of menu looks mostly gluten free. They don't mention what's gluten free, but my husband has been on this kind of diet and I'm pretty attuned to what kind of dishes that don't have gluten. You're right about not seeing a lot of menus that mention what's gluten free-- I've generally just had to ask.

There are plenty of other restaurants in this general area that you may also want to look into...Jack London Square - Dine

There's not much view of a view of anything in Walnut Creek although there are some decent restaurants downtown.

[apexgds]

Originally Posted by clongirl

How about this place...BOCANOVA | A PAN-AMERICAN GRILL

This looks really nice! I think it goes on the short list. ;-)

Thanks!

[solovino1]

Walnut Creek Yacht Club. No view. The owners care about their place and customers and it shows.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by clongirl

How about this place...BOCANOVA | A PAN-AMERICAN GRILL

I haven't been personally yet, but the reviews seem solid. It looks like they have a view since it's right on the water on Jack London Square in Oakland and this sort of menu looks mostly gluten free. They don't mention what's gluten free, but my husband has been on this kind of diet and I'm pretty attuned to what kind of dishes that don't have gluten. You're right about not seeing a lot of menus that mention what's gluten free-- I've generally just had to ask.

There are plenty of other restaurants in this general area that you may also want to look into...Jack London Square - Dine

There's not much view of a view of anything in Walnut Creek although there are some decent restaurants downtown.

I like bocanova. The food is excellent. Yummy cocktails and they have heat lamps and blankets for the patio. Definitely a good choice. Check out the empanadas, the desserts, the virgin drinks and the ceviche.

[jade408]

Paragon at the Claremont hotel has ok food but an excellent view. The drinks are good too. Really cool building, and you might run into an NBA player trying to hide out. . It is mostly an older professional crowd so no one pays attention to the ballers. I have seen Kobe and Magic enjoying a quiet meal with no disruptions.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I agree that Jack London Square has some good options.

Also, Skates in Berkeley for amazing views.

Skates on the Bay: Berkeley, CA

[04kL4nD]

Bocanova is pretty good, but Haven is MUCH, MUCH better. They are right next to each other in JLS, so you could always check out both and see which one you'd like more.