Best Farm To Table Restaurants in Berkeley

Recently found this place. Using In Kind gift cards purchased at Costco. Food is usually good. Service is always attentive. Drinks are pricey but good. One gripe is that there always seem to be things not available - on all four visits so far.

The food and drinks are amazing at Niku! We really enjoyed our steaks, the pig ears, and all of the sides. The cocktails were very good and the bartenders were extremely friendly. We sat at the bar because our table wasn’t quite ready and the bartenders gave us some good recommendations from the menu. There are a few improvements needed. First, our service could have been much better. Our server had long gray hair and he was nice. His speeches felt canned and he rushed us through service. I was upset that he was making me order my glass of wine for the steak when our appetizer had just come out and I was only half way through my first drink. Never fun to have a wine that doesn’t need to breathe sit out in it’s glass during the dinner. He was often not paying attention to us, so we would often get the things we needed from a nice other server who was a delight. When dessert came, we were disappointed by the apple dessert. It tasted bland and definitely had no hint of apple. For the price, there were needed improvements, but overall a nice experience.

Early time frame was a good choice as it was quiet. My partner wants to come back again.

Everything about Donato & Co was perfect from the lovely hostess who set a bright mood for our evening, to our thoughtful server Samuel, to Benjamin who was sweet and made sure to run our food to us on time. The food itself was super tasty and there were plenty of vegetarian options. We had Castelfranco (subbed vegetarian dressing); Scarpetta; Arancini; Tortino; and my favorite the Tortelloni. Overall, this place has top notch food and staff and I'm definitely going back next time I'm in town.

The food quality at Octavia is very high. The chefs really know what they’re doing. We had a pre-fixe menu for Christmas Eve dinner and they accommodated dietary restrictions with advanced notice. They actually called a few days in advance of the reservation to confirm the dietary restrictions which was really nice. We had 9 courses I think and they were all delicious. My favorites were the soup and the pasta dishes. The service was also very good, the servers were very attending and accommodating. There was one dish I didn’t eat much of because it had radicchio in it which I don’t like, and our server offered to have the kitchen make me a replacement dish with a different lettuce instead. The only negative of Octavia is that it feels very cramped. The space is small and they squeeze in a lot of tables so you’re sitting basically on top of other diners and it’s a little awkward. Everything else was great though. I would definitely recommend Octavia as a good place for special occasions or bringing out of town visitors.