Osmanthus

First time here and the atmosphere is great. Food was amazing and would’ve got 5 stars but a bit pricey for the serving portions. I got the salmon with purple yam curry, and it was delicious. I would come back just for this plate

Really, really good food! Good sake list and inventive twists on old favorites. Wish I had been there with a large group so we could order one of everything! Will definitely be going back.

Came here to formally ask my best friends to be my bridesmaids. The waitress was amazing! Really attentive nice and really knew her menu.
Now the reason for my 3 star rating is the manager or supervisor whoever she is and her role was there first brought the wrong type of chicken wings to our table and then visibly got mad because she made the mistake and stormed off like my 3 year old.
Secondly we were a small group only 5 of us and my 9 month old daughter. Because of this we asked if they could split the tab amongst us and we calculated tip. Well according to the manager or whoever the red haired lady was it wasn’t enough tip and she made it perfectly clear she wasn’t sure why we were tipping like that. We were still chatting and could hear her perfectly throwing another tempertantrum.
Well to make a long story short. We won’t be coming here again. The food was delicious but the red haired staff member ruined my bridal luncheon with her unprofessional behavior.

I absolutely loved this restaurant. The food was colorful, fresh and tasted awesome. The service was great, the ambiance was mesmerizing.
Looking forward to my next visit to Osmanthus soon!

Just went here tonight with the family and I was really pleased with the food! It reminded me of Burma superstar, but much «cleaner» and fresher tasting. Nothing was heavy or starchy, and the flavors were spot on — particularly the tea leaf salad, sausage fried rice, and garlic noodles. Kid friendly and not too pricey. They’re not the biggest portions ever, but I prefer quality over quantity. Lots of tea options and the servers seem nice. I am definitely going back!

My partner and I came here for the start to an unexpected kid-​free date night and here were the highlights:
1. Our waiter was super friendly. Not only was he patient with us while we took selfies holding our (DELICIOUS) cocktails, but he also gave suggestions for dishes to try. And those suggestions were excellent.
2. Did I mention that the cocktails were great? And strong? And ridiculously good looking? Try the Red Rum.
3. We ordered the Pork Belly and the Dan Dan Noodles to share. Perfect portion sizes. Both dishes were delicious and spicy.
We can’t wait to return.

Food at its best. Go for the garlic noodles, fried string beans, Brussel sprouts and just about everything else.

Osmanthus generally refers to several flowering plants indigenous to East Asia, but it mostly reminds me of some kind of tea, fragrance, or oil. There’s also this spot in Oakland’s Rockridge area specializing in Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian cuisines. Categorized as «Asian Fusion» in Unilocal,its website claims that it is a «modern-​classic» restaurant which mostly means it puts its own spin on traditional recipes.
The choices were plain — a two-​page single-​sheet menu with the appetizers and entrées occupying the front part. Osmanthus made up for the simplicity by offering flavor-​packed renditions. Among those that we’ve tried were:
Hamachi with cherry tomatoes, Thai chilis, and ponzu sauce — Six slices of fresh sashimi-​grade hamachi with finely-​chopped onions and pieces of cilantro leaves to go along with the rest of the ingredients. Their take on the classic hamachi carpaccio appetizer did not disappoint.
Garlic Noodles — Did anybody say crispy-​fried garlic bits? The noodles had delicious garlic flavor and those garlic chip toppings launched this dish to the stratosphere and back. Mix them all up and there’s that garlicky crunch in almost every bite.
Cantonese Sausage Fried Rice with Thai Chilis — There’s sausage and then there’s Cantonese sausage (lap cheong). That compact, air-​dried, smoked, and sweetened pork meat and fat. Yummmm… The flavors were very evident! Green peas are very common in fried rice, but they used edamame (young soybeans) to give their concoction a different touch.
Dry-​fried Chicken Wings with Sichuan Peppercorns — Who wouldn’t like that incomparable numbing sensation from those peppercorns? It’s a true classic that’s better left untouched. However, they somewhat scaled this down a notch. It was not the type that burned the mouth, but it had enough bite to put the lips and tongue in that typical «pins and needles» mode.
Pork Belly with Leeks and Sichuan Peppercorns — Kiss goodbye that expectation of crispy pork belly because that’s not what this dish is about. The pork belly was thinly-​sliced and sautéed in black bean sauce with leeks and peppercorns. This was tasty and had the right amount of fatty layers; somewhat the melt-​in-​your-​mouth, solidify-​in-​your-​arteries kind of thing. There’s also the pork skin to savor in its soft and almost slimy glory.
Braised Beef — Another timeless recipe which everyone has probably tried in many Chinese restaurants. This was not that much different from most that we’ve had elsewhere. The beef was tender and had that distinctive star anise aroma and taste. Got some carrots there, too.
Serving size is a bit on the smaller side and the items that we’ve chowed down were in the $ 10 to $ 15 range. It was not the norm for mainly Chinese food but neither were the noteworthy flavors. Positive experience for the most part and there was not much to complain about. Well, maybe the street parking — it could be as bad and non-​existent as James Harden’s defense (no problem with that though)… Go Dubs!

I love the ambiance of this place, gorgeous wood throughout the restaurant. They provided some of the best service I have experienced at a sit down restaurant in a long time, very attentive. The have small water glasses, I drink a lot of water, and I never saw the bottom of my glass. We ordered the green beans, short ribs, chicken wings and Brussel sprouts. The meats and sprouts were full of flavor. The green bean were great in their simplicity. Great place to go for an intimate dinner.

Good food, good service and nice location. I liked the brussel sprouts and tuna tar tar a lot. Wine was really good too: D
We’ll be back.

Somehow I was skeptical of this place initially, but I’m a convert. Now I’m always down on a last minute date night.
It’s not nearly as crowded as some of the hot ticket restaurants in the Rockridge and Temescal areas, so you can get a table much more easily even on weekend nights.
The dishes are small so it can add up quickly if you are hungry. If you aren’t ravenous you can make do with a dish or dish and a half per person and then it isn’t so bad.
Some favorites:
–the snow white cocktail, light and refreshing
–coconut prawns: the sauce is sweet so only get it if you’re into that
–better tea leaf salad than Burma Superstar, swear
–trout fried rice is smoky and interesting and delicious
–eggplant is yummy
–the tuna avocado tartare is delicious with an amazing vinagrette. It is small however

5 stars for ambiance. 3 stars for the food. Osmanthus seems like a perfect date place! The lighting is dim and the tables are all candlelit. The restaurant is very clean and the service is great. They also provide a free cocktail if it’s your birthday!
We ordered the prawns with coconut (friend thought it was delicious!), garlic noodles (also delicious!), green beans (half yummy), and the smoked trout fried rice (which was mostly rice). The portion sizes here were not that big (but were pricey) with the exception of the green beans. The servers made it seem as if the white rice was complimentary but they actually charged us all $ 2 per bowl! :(My friends really loved this place, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back here any time soon. It was very overpriced for very average food. You’re really just paying for the service and ambiance.

One of the best Asian food I’ve had in the area. Tiny portions but everything we ordered was fantastic! Warm & friendly service, an excellent dining experience all around. I’ll definitely be back!
Dishes ordered: Hamachi, cherry tomatoes, thai chilis, ponzu; Prawns, coconut milk, mint leaves; Pork ribs, shittake, red dates, bean curd skin; Cantonese sausage fried rice, thai chilis and Thai tea crème brûlée (so delish!!)

Location: on College, easy to access via bus or car. Plenty of street parking available on Florio St! (Right before the restaurant). Inside is gorgeous, dark but small. There is a first come first serve bar area, but I recommend making reservations on OT before coming!
Service: We had pretty good service — our water was always full and we could get someone’s attention fairly quickly. No complaints there!
Food: I wouldn’t really categorize this as «fusion», more like straight up asian. or maybe I ordered the wrong things!
–Garlic noodles: literally garlic and noodles — noodles were a bit overcooked but flavor was really strong and overall ⁴⁄₅
–Cantonese sausage fried rice: yummm! I personally wanted more spice so I just asked for chili sauce ⁴⁄₅
–Prawns in coconut milk: way too sweet. It’s almost sickeningly sweet. The prawns were cooked really well but the sauce was just too much for me. We ended up just taking out the prawns and soaking them in chili sauce to combat the sweetness ²⁄₅.
–Pork belly w/​leek: basically twice cooked pork (chinese style), except the pork is melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. Lots of flavor, medium level spice (though if you eat the green bell peppers or any of the peppercorns, you might be in pain).
Overall really good! I can see this place becoming a staple in our date night restaurant list. Can’t wait to come back and try other things on the menu!

I don’t really understand how they categorize this place as an «Asian Fusion» because almost all of the dishes we had were much closer to the traditional side than fusion. Don’t get me wrong I thoroughly enjoy traditional dishes when done right. Anyhow this place was modern dark and intimate inside with dim lighting and on NYE it was not too packed. We actually randomly choose to eat here after our first choice was closed for a private NYE party. There were plenty of other places to choose from. I don’t see how this place is a 5 star by any means, MAYBE some dishes but definitely not for everything. We got seated at the bar because the limited table seating was supposedly already reserved.
We obviously choose a few dishes which were on the heavy side although it was very cold out and we were hungry! The dry fried chicken wings were a must, although I may have ate too many or they were just naturally very hard to digest. The Eggplant was well done but maybe a bit too rich with oil. The beef stew was also a tad on the salty side it has to be eaten with rice to balance it out. This may have been the richest Asian meal I have eaten in a while. All the food didn’t sit too well in my stomach so I felt uneasy later in the night which WASN’T good. One of the main reasons I’m giving them 3. If they were to lighten up a few of the dishes on the saltiness and oil that would be idea. Not too sure if was especially just that one night but it’s not pleasant for the palate either. Prices aren’t cheap either, so be prepared to spend a little more than normal.

Another find thanks to my friend John, whom I consider Oakland’s best ambassador. Place is nicely decorated with Asian themed interior. Servers were really friendly and attentive. We mentioned to our waiter that one of diner with us celebrated her birthday the week prior, and he was so nice to send her crème brûlée after we finished our meal. Two thumbs up for that!
We had Chicken Wings with peppercorn, spareribs, smoke trout fried rice, and Chinese sausage fried rice. I know, two rice dish? We are asians so don’t judge! Hahaha! Everything we ordered was delish! The chicken wings with peppercorn had just the right amount of heat, moist and flavorful! The spareribs was coated with delicious sweet and sour sauce with just the right amount of tang and sweetness! Love it! The Chinese sausage fried rice was good but the smoke trout fried rice was the bomb! It was so good! Will definitely order it again the next time I visit.
The only thing I can criticize about the place is, the serving is on the smaller side. I want more! Hahaha!

Food = ok
Ambience = ok
Service = good
My husband and I landed here on a Friday night. We wanted to try something new. The place is pretty small, with minimal lighting and seemed crowded even though several tables were empty. We ordered the dry fried green beans, filet steak and cantanese sausage fried rice. The green beans were great! The steak was over seasoned and sauced, we didn’t care for it. The fried rice was ok. Too sweet for my taste. Overall, I would give it two stars as the service was good, but two out of the three dishes wasn’t that great.

My wife, mom, and I all enjoyed our meal here, no complaints. The 4 dishes we had were:
1. Garlic noodles. Simple, but tasty. Plenty of garlic, but that wasn’t the only flavor thankfully.
2. Smoked trout fried rice. Not much trout, but still lots of flavor. Looked quite bland, but thankfully didn’t taste bland.
3. Spareribs. Pretty good. I wouldn’t say it was especially unique though.
4. Shrimp in coconut milk. Heavy sauce, very sweet. We ate it last, and agreed it was more of a dessert than anything else. Tasted similar to a mango or avocado sticky rice dish you’d get at a S. East Asian restaurant.
Overall the food was quite good. Certainly recommend trying Osmanthus if you’re in the area.

Walked in the restaurant having HIGH hopes because there was a Michelin Sticker on the window. Already had a feel on what i was about to get at the restaurant because the lady tends to generally get similar entrees at these restaurants. When we got there, there was only one other table located near the side. At thought it was so quiet, i thought it was closed but the waiter kindly gestured us to a booth table for 2.
Ended up getting the Black bean noodle, Some sort chilli wings and tea leaf salad as appetizer. The Tea leaf salad was pretty good in my opinion… had great flavor and was great for an appetizer. The black bean noodle had a balanced flavor. Contains good sized shitake mushrooms. I was expecting the wings to be extra spicy cuz it was filled with red peppers. Like when i say filled… there was more big peppers than wings it self. 60% pepper to 40% wing ratio.
The wings tasted like regular salt and pepper wings but were still good. More on the blander end than most places.
The restaurant it self had a dimmer lit urban feel to it. I don’t about Michelin worthy but it was a good experience overall.

Generally speaking, I get a bit leery when it comes to «Asian Fusion» restaurants. They’re great when done right, but I’m always worried that one day, I’ll end up with some sort of weird, Frankenstein dish. In the case of Osmanthus though, I was willing to gamble they wouldn’t let me down, given my friend’s praise for their food. Well, that and the spiffy 2015 Michelin Recommended status they’ve earned!
While those reassurances were already enough, it helped that the menu proved to be less Asian Fusion and more Pan-​Asian (with a handful of Asian Fusion dishes). Alongside classics like Ma Po Tofu, Dan Dan Noodles, and Ja Jiang Mein, you’ll find non-​traditional items like Tuna Tartare and Salmon with Purple Yam and Curry. All pretty varied, all pretty enticing!
– BRUSSELS SPROUTS with Salt Pork and Honey-​Sriracha…$ 10
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Marlowe’s sprouts are still the best, but these were great. Some of the leaves were a little burnt and/​or overdressed, but I really liked how there was some acid to contrast the seasoning’s mix of heat and sweetness.
– «KOREAN JA JIANG MEIN» with Shiitake Mushrooms and Tofu…$ 10
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This was our weakest dish, though it wasn’t necessarily bad. While I liked the portion size and the bite of the noodles, the dish wasn’t super flavorful. There was a decent amount of condiments, but the sauce itself didn’t have much taste to it.
– DRY FRIED CHICKEN WINGS with Sichuan Peppercorns…$ 11
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Terrific! Every wing was juicy and fried to a perfect, golden brown, yet it was the mix of flavors that made this dish so interesting. The combination of peppercorns and spices was enough heat to numb your mouth, but not enough to have you chugging water.
– SHORT RIBS with Kabocha and Five Spice…$ 19
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My favorite dish. Both the kabocha and the ribs were ridiculously tender and delicious. The sauce was really savory too, packing a ton of flavor that didn’t overwhelm. I just wish there was more of the ribs!
With only 188 reviews so far, I’m honestly surprised more people haven’t caught onto Osmanthus yet. Not only is the food good, but the staff is friendly, the décor/​vibe is intimate, and parking is (relatively) easy. Prices may be a little high, but it’s not all that bad for what you get. Then again, considering how it was relatively easy for my friend and I to get a table, perhaps it’s better this way…