Late lunch near Oakland Museum?

[watercolor]

Coming in from Sacramento tomorrow for a look at the Oakland Museum, and would appreciate suggestions for a post-museum late lunch. I will be traveling with a friend who uses a guide dog, so anything that is a long walk from the museum is probably not do-able, but we can drive assuming disabled parking is nearby. Price not so much a concern - looking for something to make the day memorable & delicious. Thank You!

[watercolor]

Reporting back: Museum make-over & friendly staff & volunteers get an A+. However Museum Cafe is not yet ready for prime time. I will revisit in a couple of weeks and just plan the timing on the trip so that we can get to one of the other restaurants discussed here.

As for the cafe, to be fair, it's not a full-fledged cafe yet. It's essentially a "grill your sandwich" service, and won't be operational until ... July? It took a long time to get sandwiches & salads and big issues with cold coffee, which took forever to re-brew. Very limited menu and several items on the menu were not available. Looks like they could use another sandwich-maker to speed things along. I bet it will be a different place when they have an actual kitchen. The people working there were trying very hard, and apologetic for various delays & mishaps. And, at least you can get something to eat on-site...which, as it turned out, was as much as we could manage today.

And finally, a very nice museum staffer/volunteer asked the two of us if we were the ones from Sacramento, recognizing us from this Chowhound posting.

[ML8000]

Thanks for the report. Good information. It will be interesting to see what they get going.

[watercolor]

Forgot to add: Cafe does not take credit cards, bring cash. There is an ATM nearby, but you don't want to wait to find that out after standing in line to place your order

[Tripeler]

I think it is really great that the museum staffer/volunteer recognized the two of you from the Chowhound posting. The fact that the person asked you was really considerate, and also shows the role that Chowhound has in making these relationships into a community. Yes, I am impressed with this.

[watercolor]

Thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions. I so appreciate it & will report back.

[wolfe]

Chai Thai Noodle and Pho Ao Sen are within .6 miles parking might present a problem.

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Chai Thai Noodles
545 B International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606

Pho Ao Sen
1139 E 12th St, Oakland, CA

[ML8000]

It would be helpful if you gave a clue to what you like. There's not really that much right near the museum, at least in walking distance. They have a cafe/cafeteria that was pretty okay before the renovation but nothing special.

Chinatown, Uptown and Lake Merritt are close by but the disable parking is problematic. If you have a tag, of course you can park at a bunch of meters for free.

Given the parking situation, I'd say Bocanova at Jack London Square or Lake Chalet at Lake Merritt. Both have valet parking and are a close drive (probably 1/2 a mile). Lake Chalet gets mixed reviews but it's a very nice space with a view of the lake.

Also in Jack London Square are Scott's Seafood, Miss Pearl's and Kincaids...all middle-brow-ish, corporate type places but if you order carefully you can do fine and you get a view.

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Jack London Square
70 Washington St # 207, Oakland, CA

Scott's Seafood
855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Bocanova
55 Webster Street, Oakland, CA 94607

[watercolor]

As far as what we like - we're both eclectic in our tastes. If she gets tired, we'll probably just do the museum cafe...but since she's an extraordinary cook, and doesn't get out much, it would be nice to take her somewhere special. Maybe a way to rephrase the question is to ask, if there is one restaurant in the area you'd go to above all others...what would it be? (assuming it's open in the late afternoon). It's about the food, and not so much the view for us. Thank you!

[Robert Lauriston]

Open mid-afternoon really cuts down the options. Most places close between lunch and dinner. Some places that are open have very limited mid-afternoon menus.

Champa Garden is open and I've never had to park more than half a block away.

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Champa Garden
2102 8th Ave, Oakland, CA 94606

[Robert Lauriston]

Cesar Latino and T-Rex are open all afternoon and have parking lots with blue spaces. (The lot is behind Cesar.) Sea Salt's open all afternoon but I'm not sure about the parking situation.

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Sea Salt
2512 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94702

Bar César
4039 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611

[Munching Mark]

Try the great cafe in OMCA...Chef Dorsey is a genuis, and his Blackberry Bistro in Glenview is great also...it's right in the building!

Also close are the Lake Chalet (meh, but SETTING!) and ....uh....not a lot else other than Laney College's cafeteria!

OMCA rules!

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Blackberry Bistro
4240 Park Blvd, Oakland, CA 94602

[ML8000]

This actually sounds like the best rec. Didn't know they upgraded the cafe. Why drive or move the car.

[Munching Mark]

Try it, the place is terrific and Chef Dorsey a remarkable guy and foodster!

Try this http://museumca.org/press/new-caf%C3%...

[watercolor]

Somehow, I missed the cafe info on the OMCA website when I looked at it a couple of weeks ago & and assumed there was no museum cafe. Found it just now, but had had to really navigate around the website to locate it. And now I notice the link posted above...