The Advocate

Overall poor experience. Bad service, bad management, less than ok food.
We had brunch on a Saturday, the place was half empty. At first I was surprised by the waitress attitude, I thought I was in Paris in a bad day — those who tried some restaurants in Paris will understand. I usually never tip less than 15% in east bay but was ready to leave a lot less. When the check arrived everything made sense: they charge a mandatory 20% tip! Of course the waitress doesn’t care to even try to smile. Like in Paris except there it’s 15% and it’s included in the food price. They will tell you it’s a new thing etc. Well, look where you are: it is Berkeley not downtown SF, not NYC… And the result is simple: your waiters/​waitresses don’t have any incentive to make an effort or try make people comfortable or try to sell you drinks. I was keen to have a tap beer but the waitress didn’t ask and I forgot. Too bad.
On the food, the chicken liver was tasty but too strong, the pappardelle ok but could have more lamb, the tuna, hum, since when tuna tastes like cod? Nobody asked me for dessert, didn’t have one.
Anyway I advise going there only for a drink. Don’t bother with the food. And look at the décor they feel it is worth 20% tip on it’s own.

I came here when the first opened and thought the food was medicore. I thought in a pinch since it’s ariound the corner from my house, I’d give them another try. …
Just needed a quick and health dinner on a really busy night. The hostess told me I have to come in, wait at the bar for 20 minutes while they make the order. She can’t put a «to go» order in over the phone. Seriously! If I had time to come in and sit and wait, I’d just eat at the restaurant thereby defeating the need for a to go order.
I think it’s not meant to be for me and the Adovate. That’s too bad because we are in need a of a really great upscale restaurant in the neighborhood.

Went with friends and had brunch today. We had a wonderful time. The food and service was good. Ask the wait staff to recommend some things. You will enjoy the flat bread anything. The chicken liver side was marvelous.
Some of the dishes seemed neglected. I would guess they lost an important food person in their kitchen. I hope they read this. They are steps away from being better.

The Advocate is located on a section of Ashby that feels as if it were moved up the hill from Fourth Street. Two of us walked in at prime time on a weeknight and were seated immediately without a reservation. The house was 1÷3− to ½-​empty.
Uh-​oh.
Looking around, I recognized lots of familiar Comal touches. The restrooms and the associated community sinks, for example, seem to be clones of those on Shattuck Avenue. The Advocate is beautiful and comfortable — there’s no question about that point.
I ordered an IPA on tap. It was perfectly fine, but the DIPA that I got a few days earlier at the Albany Taproom was way, way better.
We shared a little gem salad. Again, it was OK, though I thought the salad was quite salty.
My main dish was the slow-​cooked pork. I was quite disappointed in the dish, which so-​to-​speak didn’t bring anything special to the table. In fact, I was dreaming of the pork shoulder at China Village the whole time.
Two stars for the food, and an extra star for the décor and ambiance.

Excellent addition to the elmwood neighborhood. Food is so tasty and specially prepared. Service is thoughtful and prompt. Ambience is warm and friendly. We’ve been there 5 times in the last couple of months and they simply must expand the menu or change out a few dishes. It’s definitely time for more variety. When that happens we will go more oftentimes
I must say. The French toast is delicious. Best in the Bay. Hamburgers are way above average too. Keep those in the menu for sure.

Can’t say enough good things about this place. Came here to celebrate my Mother’s last evening in town prior to her going back home; every plate was fresh, inventive, and sophisticated. Yes, there are Moroccan influences, but it is still clean California cuisine at its heart. And the cocktails were insanely tasty. Will be back again and again; especially looking forward to trying their brunch. My only regret is that I had waited this long to stop in given the mixed reviews I had come across. Go — you won’t be sorry you did.

We came to the Advocate for New Years Eve dinner and overall it was a very nice experience. First off, the service was nice — all of the people serving us were very friendly and had great suggestions. The one thing I will mention was the occasional lack of attention to detail — twice the server poured water into my glass, half of which went all over the table and he just left it there, leaving a good quarter of the table wet.
As far as the drinks I enjoyed my cocktail — I had a Pablo Honey and it’s a nice tequila drink, slightly fruity but definitely still with a kick that you expect from a tequila drink.
As far as the food my parents had the seafood risotto and I had the half Cornish hen. My food was excellent — the Cornish hen was cooked to perfection and the greens were great, cooked through but still crisp. My parents enjoyed their risotto as well. The big plus was that the restaurant was Gluten Free friendly. All the servers could point out items on the menu that were GF and there were plenty of options. For appetizers we also had the poached tuna and pickled vegetables. The tuna was excellent and the vegetables were just so so normal pickled things, I would say slightly under-​pickled.
As far as the 20% gratuity I thought this was perfectly fine for NYE but I guess the question behind why it’s done other times is still there.
However overall the atmosphere and the minimalist design with open space and warm wood was very welcoming. I will say that the unisex bathrooms idea is questionable and the bathrooms were not very clean as a result, but the rest of the restaurant was very nice.

I read some of the reviews here and, I get it. There are things about this place that might not be for everyone but I guess they’re for me. The décor is sleek and modern but had a nice warmth to it. It’s not cheap but walking in here, I wouldn’t think it would be. The bartender was amazing and really knew his beer, wine and spirits. The flatbreads were fantastic. We shall return.

I was expecting so much more from The Advocate! After hearing all the hype surrounding this restaurant and having it bookmarked for months on Unilocal,I finally tried this restaurant for dinner last night. I was immediately impressed with the interior of the restaurant, which has cool light fixtures, paintings on the walls, and a neat design on one the walls that resembles vines.
Apart from the beautiful décor of the restaurant, everything else was just all right. I was surprised that the menu had a lot of Mediterranean influences (use of various nuts in the entrees, olives, feta cheese, chick peas, and certain spices) despite The Advocate being listed as serving American cuisine. This is definitely misleading, and I believe that the restaurant should change their listing to reflect these Mediterranean influences — I was disappointed by this, because I tend to stay away from Mediterranean food due to my allergies to nuts and chick peas. Every other item on the menu had some nut or chick pea item in it, and I found it difficult to find something that didn’t have those ingredients.
The menu is also not vegetarian-​friendly, as most dishes contained some meat. After eliminating the dishes that contain meat and nuts or chick peas, there was only one dish that I could eat which didn’t look particularly appetizing, so I ended up ordering the Seafood Risotto and asked to take the sausage out (at least they were accommodating in this respect).
The risotto was too watery, had some pieces of clam, mussel, and octopus, and had a light lemon flavor to the sauce. It honestly did not have a lot of flavor and the color of the sauce was light green, making the dish look very unappetizing. I would not recommend this dish.
For drinks, I ordered the mulled rum, which is a hot rum drink that tasted like spiked hot chocolate. I did not enjoy this drink very much because it had a gritty texture, and despite stirring the drink throughout the meal, that texture never went away. I would not recommend this drink either.
Overall, The Advocate looks like a promising restaurant, but I did not enjoy my experience here. Meatlovers and people who love Mediterranean food may find something they will love at The Advocate, but I would not recommend this restaurant and I won’t be coming back again.

Been for brunch twice, and dinner once. All three occasions we were happy with our meals.
Cocktails: Exceptional. On par with some of the trendiest restaurants. The Swords in the Dirt and Pablo Honey are highly recommended.
Dinner: Tuna conserva, roasted octopus, and pappardelle with lamb sugo are superb. Pork shoulder was okay but not as good as the other dishes we had.
Brunch: Try the Calle Ocho! A great breakfast cocktail (it should be on the dinner cocktail menu). Avocado toast is fun. Soft scrambled eggs are great but just a touch small on the portion size. The baked eggs are fantastic. The french toast is amazing! Very unique recipe with the dulce de crescenza sauce (it’s like dulce de leche but made from cheese). Sounds weird, tastes amazing, don’t hesitate to order it.
Service: Good. The waitstaff are casual and friendly.

i’d avoid this restaurant until they make some important changes. The food is decent although the menu is a bit sparse and boring. The problems are the following:
1. An extremely rude and boorish manager who greets you with an extremely hostile attitude, and then lies to you. Yes, those 4 empty booths that you said at 8:15 on a Sunday night were reserved, remained empty the entire time we, a party of 3, were there, parked by you in a corner of the restaurant at the very uncomfortable communal table (until 10 pm – shortly before the restaurant closed).
2. Salads for each should be brought out at the same time, not one first, then 20 minutes later, the second one.
3. Hire some real servers, not a few wannabes with no interest, energy, appearance, or professionalism. Yes, my arm is sore from repeatedly having to flag down our server to pay some attention to us, and to remind the server repeatedly what we had ordered, but didn’t get, or to return to us to discuss whether the wine he had us taste was to our liking. Yep, no wine for us during the salads and appetizers… just water.
4. And for Pete’s sake, DO NOT force us to pay an automatic 20% service charge for the most pathetic service, insults, and lies. That is nothing short of highway robbery.
I give this restaurant 2 stars only because the food was decent, not great, but decent. And admittedly, the ambience of the place was nice too. Otherwise, it deserves only one star. This restaurant, although owned by the owners of that terrific restaurant Comal which we have frequented for years, has nothing whatsoever to do with Comal. It is not in the same league as it stands now, and unless changes are made soon, this restaurant will fail and fade away.

The tables are beautiful black walnut. That’s the best thing I can say. Our waitress was cold, the drinks marginal, the food marginal and small portions. Won’t be back. BTW this is the sister restaurant of Comal, I enjoy that place very much. Sorry they missed the mark on The Advocate.
PS. Mandatory 20% tip not justified.

Summary based on one Sunday brunch:
–good food, though portions seemed small
–good, friendly service
–pricey, though in keeping with upscale aspirations
–ok parking (lot nearby, challenging on street)
Tried this place out and found it ok. Auto 20% tip included. Iced tea served from preprepared bottle like you get in the grocery.
I’d probably return, but may not be worth a special trip.

Brunch is the money-​making meal in the restaurant business from what I understand, which is why usually they’re happy to pump out big platters of cheap ingredients.
With that in mind, I get that The Advocate has its sights set on the upscale market, but the portions are laughably small. I had the tuna dish that came with «yellowfin potatoes, farm egg, capers, chile, aioli.» And what exactly is a farm egg (as opposed to those robots laying eggs in factories)? There were no capers to be seen, and the dish was mainly potato, though really only four or five chunks of it. I think I had three lumps of tuna, and while they were well-​seasoned, I’m not sure I had enough of the fish to taste it. Or maybe they had drowned in the aioli. The bread was a half-​slice of oil and grease in carb form, yeesh.
The agua fresca was passable. Yeah, I have no other words to contribute to it.
Décor of the place is probably the highlight, and I like the squiggly metalwork that extends across one of the dining space’s walls.
I’m unclear what exactly on the menu has Moroccan influences. if I weren’t told that this was a THING here, I really wouldn’t have noticed. Harissa seasoning on some potatoes does not transport us all to Morocco, sorry.
I remember enjoying Comal, so The Advocate is even more disappointing.
Also, what’s up with the name? Gay magazine rag and now a brunch joint?
Oh right, and there is a mandatory 20% tip that the restaurant phrases like it’s doing you a favor. 15% is standard, so until the Advocate earns the extra 5%, I don’t see why they insist on it.

If Alan were writing this review it would be 3 stars because he was less happy w/​his meal than I was. So read this as a weak 4 stars. We met Sherri and Ron here for dinner tonight. We met at about 6:00, not realizing they had changed their no reservation policy 3 weeks before. The estimated wait was 30 – 45 minutes. We put in our name, gave the hostess Alan’s cell phone number and decided to wait at the bar. Two seats were available at the end, which Sherri and I took, then the two next to us became available and the guys took them. They have an extensive cocktail menu. I ordered Swords in the Dirt, which sounded interesting, Sherri ordered a rye Manhattan, Alan ordered an Advocate and Ron ordered something else. The cocktails were delicious. I will let you look up the ingredients on their menu if you’re interested, but I would have had another or two if I thought I could have handled them. Alan liked his too. We were having a good time talking and watching the bartenders work, so time seemed to me to pass pretty quickly before we were called to our table, but those who looked at their watches said it was about an hour.
Sherri and Ron had already eaten there once and had had the chicken liver paté and loved it. We decided to order that and the chickpea and clam fritters to share. Both were tasty, although a touch salty for Alan. Sherri and I decided to each have the slow-​roasted pork shoulder, which came w/​grilled treviso, fuyu persimmon, beets and quince saba. Alan and Ron decided to have the hamburger, Alan after consulting w/​the server about low sodium options. He was inclined either toward the vegetable tagine or the hamburger and after consulting w/​the chefs she recommended the burger. He ordered his fries and burger w/​o added salt. Sherri, Ron and I ordered wine w/​our dinners. When the dishes were brought Ron’s burger was given to Alan, who noticed the salt on the fries and traded w/​Ron. It seemed careless that the people delivering the food didn’t keep track of that. Sherri and I both enjoyed our dishes, although the portion seemed a little skimpy for $ 25. The pork was OK, but there could have been more vegetables. By contrast, the pork chop entrée at Harvey’s in Ashland had been a little less expensive and the portion more substantial. Alan was unimpressed w/​his hamburger, which was both smaller and more expensive than the one he’d had at Harvey’s.
The space is large and attractive, w/​high ceilings. Edison lights hang over the bar and the decorations on the wall behind the bar are interesting and almost sculptural. Sherri described them as peaceful. Though the noise level was high, conversation was possible and comfortable. A 20% service fee is included, as it is at Comal, and the credit card slip had no tip line to prevent double tipping by mistake. I saw they serve brunch and checked it out as a possible place to meet Diane, but was disappointed to see at this point they only do Sunday brunch. Perhaps that will change over time.

I really had high hopes for this place and certainly intend to try again in a month or so, maybe they just have some kinks to work out?
The staff we delt with were nice and it’s a beautiful space, I love the furniture and airy feel.
The food was another story entirely, it was SO. INCREDIBLY. BLAND. with the notable exception of the chicken liver toast with grapes that we ordered as one of our starters (delicious!).
The other dishes we tried were:
The burratta/​confit tomato flatbread (tasted like nothing, I ended up asking for salt for mine as did the table next to us).
The bavette steak: again, very bland. Served with a bean/​tomato/​eggplant stewy-​mush.
The cannelloni: my husband remarked on how «white» it tasted, kind of like a bland and slightly sweet paste in/​around a mushy noodle with hazelnuts sprinkled on top.
I’m someone who always thinks restaurant food is a little too salty, I literally can’t remember another time when I actually added salt to a restaurant meal in a desperate search for some flavour. I added salt to all three of these dishes and still didn’t feel like finishing any of them because they were all so dull.
Also, the wait staff brought the incorrect dish to both tables on either side of us and then became defensive when the diner pointed the mistake out in both cases.
Both diners ended up keeping the incorrect dishes they’d been brought after the waiter’s defensive retort, very poor form on the part of the wait staff.
After the disappointing food we didn’t stay for dessert.

Great drinks. The food is good, but expensive. They also do an automatic 20% gratituity so you don’t have to worry about tipping. This is good and bad because it doesn’t reward servers for extraordinary service and rewards laziness. It was apparent as our server lacked enthusiam.
The set up is nice and they’ve got an open cooking area so you can see everyone cook. I would defintley give it a try at the very least for some drinks.

Beautiful space, creative menu (both food and drink) and very friendly efficient staff. A much needed establishment in the neighborhood.
Everything we tried was delicious. Little gem salad was perfectly seasoned, chickpea fritters light and crispy, the steak was my favorite, not too salty and perfectly medium rare. The figs dessert is killer, worth every calorie — all the textures works so well together.
Can’t wait to go back and try more things!

First off, Advocate is owned by the same people as Comal, so you know it is going to be good!
What I love about this place is that it is easy to share the food amongst your friends. The best way to try everything is to have bites of everything.
We started with the squash blossom, French feta, spinach and olive flatbread. Wood grilled, Super crispy, cooked perfectly flatbread topped with everything I just mentioned. The toppings are all room temperature since they dress the flatbread as soon as it is out of the grill.
Next was the chicken liver toast. Chicken liver puréed topped with teeny Bronx grapes on a piece of thick toast. Delectable!
The anchovy tarragon dressing on the little gems salad paired well with the crunchy croutons and the medium boiled egg. Just a hint of anchovy and just the right amount of saltiness.
The gnocchi Sardi with the lamb sausage and broccoli was not your typical gnocchi. Instead of potato, the gnocchi was made with semolina flour so a tad more dense.
Next was the pork sausage flatbread. What can I say. Pork = greatness!
For dessert, we had the panna cotta which was milky and light, topped with airy lavender cookies.
The olive oil shortbread was just as good with the peach gelato and poached peaches.
We will be back again soon!

Good. God. Two words.
Just yes.
This place has everything and more that you could ever want when dining out here in Berkeley. The environment, the ambiance, the service, the food, the drinks. Absolutely exceptional. We had the opportunity to experience this establishment for the first time this evening at the bar due to hearsay of the mixology being close to that of its sister restaurant comal. We were not steered wrong with the belt and suspenders (an old fashion like drink) and the Pablo honey (a tequila and chamomile honey drink). After we indulged in the chickpea fritters which were not just appeasing to the eye but pleasant to the palate with its slight crisp outside and perfectly paired celery heart salsa verde and aioli. We then opted for dessert but could not even begin to choose between the honey roasted figs and panna cotta so we got both. Do yourself a favor and get both.
Overall, this experience was better than a 5 star rating. I cannot wait to come back and indulge again. Hats off to Andrew and Corin and John. Here’s to the next best!