Revival Bar & Kitchen

Overpriced drinks in a place pretending to be a cocktail bar. Wouldn’t have had a problem if the cocktails weren’t terrible and the service wasn’t inattentive. Yuck.

Pretty atmosphere. Waitress was rude, our water was never filled. We actually starting drinking from the water bottles in our purse. It’s WAY overpriced for the food you’re getting. Cheese platter was $ 17, came with… three crackers. Seriously? Didn’t taste bad but LOL…$ 17???
Mediocre service, okay food, overpriced.

4 star meal with 5 star service!
I have sat at the bar by myself and have come here with others. The drinks are inventive and delicious and the food has been very good. I enjoy places that have small plates and Revival has never disappointed me with their tidbits.
The first time I was there we were a group of 12 celebrating the marriage of my daughter a couple of nights before the wedding. I found the food to be delicious and creative without going overboard. The seasonings were perfect for each dish I had. My duck dish was a solid and nicely cooked. The drinks flowed and our server worked the table like a pro. There were a few misses with the food, but then again, we were a group of 12!
Looking forward to eating there again soon.

Note to the bartender: Don’t send out wine by the glass that has begun to turn to vinegar. This comes from improperly storing an opened bottle or from just keeping the bottle around too long. It gets dinner off to an unpleasant start to have to find the waitress and ask her to bring something else. Which she did, very willingly — but it wasn’t much better.
Apart from that — the food was original, nicely presented, delicious. My companions, who’d never been here before, were happy with their food, as was I. And I’ll come again, hoping for better luck with the wine.

An excellent jem in downtown Berkeley. My company had a corporate party here, and it was the pretty cozy environment for my team. We loved the set up and festive decorations. The staff was very friendly and helpful as we coordinated everything.
The food was great! We were able to sample a few items on the menu (pictures added) and everything was a amazing. Food on the actually day of the party was a bit different, as the restaurant menu is very seasonal. The drinks were also amazing! The tangerine drink was so delicious and refreshing.
Overall, great staff, location, and food & drinks.

We came here for my birthday and there wasn’t a crumb left on any plate. Absolutely everything was divine. The waitress was top-​notch, our food arrived in a timely manner and the ambience was perfect– not too dark, not too loud and not too busy.
I loved it so much that I bought a gc for friends to go check it out.

This seems like a warm gathering spot with an ecclectic cocktail list. Spacious feel. Had a delectable chocolate dessert (fudgy, with piquant accents of fruit). The portion sizes seem fashionably small.

Trusty Revival Bar & Kitchen is the go-​to place when everywhere is all booked up. Not to say it’d be easy to just sit down at a table if you didn’t have a reservation — the nice thing about this place is their bar is first come, first serve with full menu service. So if you’re feeling opportunistic (and somewhat lucky), scope out people who are about to finish up and hang around them like vultures.
The way you ought to do this is order up a bunch of small plates and try everything. While most of them were good, what stood out the most was the pork meatballs with butternut squash — very hearty and meaty in the way that meatballs should!

Went here because my friend Ronny is one of the chefs and boy was this place on point! Great romantic place and the food was amazing! Great job Ronny!
The food items were very creative and eclectic. I got the Korean entrée which I really liked. We had the corn and squash salad which was so good. Everything was yummy. I would definitely go back.

I recently went to Revival for a business development group fundraiser for Berkeley High School. The restaurant and bar were there just for our group’s luncheon. The food was delicious, the service flawless and the owner’s generosity in hosting this event speaks to his desire to support community causes.
Bravo!

This restaurant rocks! This was our third visit and it keeps getting better! The food, ambience and last night our extraordinary waitress Serena made us feel for one brief visit what it must be like in heaven!
We are looking forward to try them again… ALL the dishes we tried were remarkable… can’t say enough!

I don’t know why there are so many crazy reviews about this place, the food is delicious. I had a really delicious Aguachile, squash salad, and oyster aioli. The fresh corn grits were lovely under that juicy pork chop my fella had. The food is smart, honest, creative, portions are spot on, and yes people, welcome to an age where locally raised food costs a bit more due to the drought!
The desserts are amazing, you can’t find them anywhere else in the bay. There’s a review from someone saying that Berkeley has more cutting edge restaurants than at Revival. Really? Where? What is cutting edge food? Anyhoo, my friends and I had a great time last night even though our food came to the table at sporadic times, maybe our server thought we would enjoy it better this way because we were going to the theatre. No big deal, just confused while hungry ;) we are definitely coming back next week for drinks at the bar, so beautiful! I noticed they have a TV, hopefully they show Giants games. Yeah, I said Giants. Revival is a killer place. I said that too.

Dinner at Revival was very nice. Two caveats, though. They aren’t kidding when they call their small plates «small» plates, and it is a little on the expensive side for the casual kind of vibe they are trying to give off.
That said, everything we had was very good. After a long day of wine tasting we were content to make dinner out of a bunch of small plates and all were great, especially the kale salad and the meatballs. But, as I said, they were tiny so we had to go for entrees, too. By that time we just had three entrees for four of us – ribs, pork chop and burger (which inexplicably is not listed on the menu). All were very good.
All in all Revival is very nice, but it doesn’t quite hit the cutting edge of some Berkeley restaurants on one hand, or the easy casual vibe of other Berkeley restaurants on the other.

Birthday dinner. Inventive menu. Decent wine list. I don’t think I ordered well since everyone around me was eating pretty amazing food. The service was good but not polished. The signature cocktails were intriguing. I’m going to give this place another try for sure. It was 5 star pricing for a 4 star experience this time around.

Comfortable restaurant near Berkeley Rep. Many interesting alcoholic and soft drinks. I had a very spicy ginger ale and a limeade that wasn’t too sweet.
If I return I’ll just order the fried green tomatoes as they were the best I’ve ever had. They really have this one down. The tomatoes were sliced thinly and had a coarse cornmeal batter that adhered to the slices perfectly — always my downfall when I’ve tried making them. They had some gooey cheese sandwiched between the slices and a bit of Aleppo pepper purée in the plate.
Two salads were good and we ordered a third one that never came. My wife enjoyed her fish but our friends were disappointed with their fried chicken that they reported had some type of five spice or other sweet and non-​Southern spicing. It would be good if it were better described on the menu. The side of green beans was very tasty. The roasted potatoes and roll were ok.
When it was dessert time I took one look at the descriptions which sounded very convoluted and jarring and skipped dessert. They ordered three skipping the brownie — which I would have ordered had it not been paired with caraway ice cream (what???) and several other discordant flavors. The desserts were busy and just way too much with tiny ricotta chips, dots of cashew cream, peach gelee and spicy popcorn strewn all over them. Talk about a train wreck ending to a meal. One person had a cocktail and a glass of wine, the rest of us just soft drinks and coffee or tea and the total was a hefty $ 120 per couple before tip.
Service was great. The woman waiting our table was friendly, knowledgeable and efficient.

Beware Happy Hour!
Had dinner here last Saturday night. There was a large billboard outside the entrance which advertised Happy Hour. Unfortunately for us, the sign did not mention that weekends were excluded. We had a not-​so-​happy experience at the bar when we were charged full price for our drinks. The bartender was blunt, unfriendly and uninterested in our observations that the sign neglected to mention that Happy Hour was not offered on Saturday.
The manager was apologetic but had no explanation for the misleading billboard. We were provided with a complimentary desert.
The food is fair and expensive.

Gayle and I tried out the Bar part of Revival yesterday, after an entertaining performance of One Man — Two Guvnors at Berkeley Rep. They’re only a half block apart, and worlds away from FIVE, whose service has taken a real tumble after five years of going there.
We sat at the bar and next to 3 – 4 Monks, which might be an alternate meaning to the term «Bible Belt». The one next to me was enjoying a cocktail named «Inflatable Raft», which I almost went for, until a nice IPA pulled me away. Gayle went for her usual — Bombay Sapphire Martini and thought it was top tier. She felt the same way about the baked cauliflower bar bites she ordered. I chose a generous order of seasoned fries, although I thought that the blue cheese aioli needed some work to distinguish it from regular mayo.
All in all, Gayle and I really enjoyed ourselves and would love to come back after the next play. At the same time, a few concerns:
— Happy Hour. It runs M-​F and Sunday, but not Saturday, and apparently not factoring the post-​matinée performance crowd. Actually, I think the Monks received the Happy Hour prices anyway, but who are we to question the big guy upstairs?
— Service. We were waited on promptly, our drinks and food came out hot and quickly, and closing the check was a breeze. However, the folks behind the counter seemed to be going through the motions. I guess the monk-​related ruach wasn’t catching on.
— Comfort. Maybe a dining room seat (if even available for bar bites) or the bar table behind the bar would be a better choice.
As an end note, I’m pretty much a beer and sandwich type of guy, and if given a free drop, you’d first find me at Triple Rock or Jupiter. However, Gayle is a classy lady who wants a little more than my love for anything passing for a Midwest tavern atmosphere. Classy places like Revival match her style and comfort. So as long as Revival keeps the tasty bar bites and beer coming, I’m happy to oblige and enjoy.

Took hubby here for a bday celebration and what a wonderful celebration it was!
Quaint restaurant located in heart of downtown Berkeley. While street parking may be tough to find, there is a parking garage down the street. Additionally, it’s also bart accessible with the underground entrance located right across the restaurant. KUDOS for a convenient location!
Revival Bar & Kitchen is well known for their charcuterie, house-​butchered meats. Our server was so knowledgeable (not to mention SUPER TALL) on their menu that we relied on her recommendations.
I didn’t have a big appetite so I wanted something light. Hubby, on the other hand, will go for something more hearty. Between the two of us, we shared the following:
Kale Caesar Salad
Brick Oven Savoury Clams
Duck Breast & Confit Leg
Roasted Cauliflower
and some sort of bread (can’t remember what it was called)
Every dish was made to perfection! Salad, Clams, and Caulifower is definitely worth sharing between 2 people. I could have done without the bread.
The duck breast & leg was devoured by hubby all on his own.
We ended the night with a dessert — something chocolate with a tart fruit. It was ok — a bit too tart for me but hubby loved the contrast of sweet & tart.
Make sure to book reservations, it gets packed. Beautiful setting/​design. Would definitely come back.

Pros: insanely close to the Downtown Berkeley Bart (for you public transportation folks), beautifully decorated inside, easy to hear your friends without having to shout over others
Cons: overpriced with small portions (probably the restaurant making up for its design overhead), drinks were small and very sweet with little alcohol, somewhat slow though very nice service
What I liked: kale salad ($ 11)
Came here in a group of four to eat prior to a show at Zellerbach. I think this restaurant caters to working, public commuting adults who (for some reason or another) decide to meet in Berkeley (perhaps for a show?). I could not imagine enjoying this place as a college student. It does feel like a world away from the rest of Berkeley when you enter — you won’t even realize you’re actually in the heart of downtown Berkeley thanks to the beautiful décor inside.

I enjoyed our experience here! I love how they have a changing menu that incorporates fresh, local and organic produce. We came here for my friend’s graduation dinner on Saturday. The service was good, except for the hostess who seemed a little irritable that day.
I ordered the potato soup, which had I believe truffle oil drizzled over a thick, flavorful and chunky potato soup. It was served in a large bowl but the portion was perfect for one as an appetizer.
I also ordered the kale salad, which came with thin slices fried onion rings, chanterelle mushrooms and roasted cauliflower. Something that I didn’t like however was that you couldn’t add anything extra to the salad. It was pretty small for 14 dollars and when I asked if I could add beets or anything else, the waitress said she would ask the chef but I think she forgot.
I tried a bite of my friend’s yam dumplings which were ok, they were like mini donuts which was an interesting method of presentation!
Overall, it was a good experience, maybe I should’ve gotten the flatbread again though.
I would give this place 3.5 stars if that was an option!

Hochklassiges Restaurant im Zentrum von Berkeley. Sehr begehrt und im Stiel von Berkeley gehalten. Qualitativ hochwertiges und ökologisches (organic) Essen. Später am Abend wird oft live Musik geboten und es lohnt sich, den Abend dort ausklingen zu lassen.