Levende East

A byte of life

Posted 07/30/09

Taste reviewed

Posted 07/30/09

FANTASTIC :)

Posted 07/30/09

Wow, some bad reviews here... but my experience was OK... they could smile more and give prompter service, but I did not get treated as badly as the other reviewers here.

Posted 11/07/08

I don't know what that last person is talking about. I live near the old Oakland area so spend a lot of nights at Levende. All the of the owners have never been anything but polite and friendly. Recently there was a Salsa band playing and the owner was definitely having some drinks, and was nothing but happy, smiling and dancing. I spend at least 2 or 3 nights a week, and many lunches there and have never been witness to anything even close to that type of conduct from anyone involved with Levende or its patrons. Great service, tasty food, good music and friendly owners!

Pros: Location, food, and atmosphere

Cons: A little too busy fridays

Posted 10/27/08

On this particular night two friends and I went to the bar and my friend bought the first round on her credit card. The bartender filled half the glass and walked away. When she returned she gave us the total and I politely asked if she didn?t mind filling my glass. She then stated that 3 inches from the top of the glass is their standard pour. I told her that I ordered the same drink from this restaurant for the last several weeks in a row and never have I received a half full glass. Her response in a very condescending tone was that she has been with the restaurant since the beginning and that?s how they are always served and that if I wanted she could take the drink. She proceeded to help other customers and 5 minutes later I had to flag her down for the refund which she said that she had already done, so I asked for the receipt. She began to fast talk me and say that they can only reverse the card at the end of the night as a cash out transaction (contradiction to the previous story). I then told her she can either void the transaction or give my friend the cash. The bartender went to the cash register pressed a coupe buttons and walked over with a paper that she presented as the void receipt. I glanced at the receipt and it was clearly a duplicate receipt of the initial transaction. My friend saw the owner near the bar with a beer and pointed him out to me. I walked over and explained the situation, he was visibly incoherent, but I told him that it is definitely not about the money, yet how much I frequented his restaurant and that this was the first issue I had ever had. He reached in his pocket and handed me a $10 bill which I handed over to my girlfriend who had paid for the drinks. I thanked him and proceeded to walk away and the OWNER said ?AND DON?T COME BACK?. I told him that he did not have to worry about getting my money, business, or recommendation EVER again!

Posted 09/22/08

I have to words to describe this place:BAD SERVICE!
I have pretty much nothing nice to say about this restaurant...the service was poor,the waiter was rude(he would make an "appearance"every 40 minutes or so believe it or not),the food was not only overpriced but took forever to get to me(approx.one hour!),the drinks were nasty(and also took forever to arrive) and the manager could not care less about customer satisfaction.And what confuses me the most is that the place was half way empty(now i know why)!!!I have this 18% gratuity figured out...i guess they have to MAKE you tip because if the tips were based on service i can guarantee you that he would be receiving zero dollars from unhappy customers. We had to take our business across the street after a couple of hours of neglect and rudeness. DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY AT THIS PLACE...IT IS NOT WORTH IT!!!

Pros: Pleasant hostess

Cons: BAD:food,drinksand overall service!!!

Posted 09/17/08

I decided to celebrate a friend's birthday at lavende in downtown oakland and boy do i regret that decision...i don't even know where to begin thats how bad the service was.The waiter had an attitude problem and was acting like he was doins us all a favor by servicing us...it would take him forever to come around to take the orders and even longer to bring it to us.The drinks were terrible and the food was okay but overpriced.I got my food after 45 minutes and when we asked to speak to manager it did not help...and i came to find out that he was the co owner which makes it worse...he came over to our table and had the same attitude as our waiter...he claimed that the drinks were being made and the food would be "right out"(of course that didn't happen)...he never apologized for the poor service nor offered a discount.An 18% gratuity was already include(which i found absurd) and we were a large group (25 people).I would say that this wasmy worst dining experience.I left the restaurante pretty frustrated and aggravated and I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYBODY AND I WILL NOT BE COMING BACK...EVER!

Pros: The ambience was cool and the hostess was nice

Cons: bad food,bad service,rude waiter,rude manager,overpriced,bad drinks

Posted 09/17/08

I wanted to celebrate my Cousin's 27th birthday, and she heard this place was GREAT, the one In SF was so nice so we desided to have the party in Oakland..BIG Mistake. 1st our waiter was no were to be found half the night, our food took alomst an hour to get and they were not even crowded. The menu was not pleasing at all. And their food was not great at all either. Not to mention when we got there their was another group of people at our Reserved table. Then on top the gratuity was 18%, which we dont mind paying but the service was horrible, and when I spoke to the manager, he also had an attitude.. If you want to have a good time and good service do NOT go here. It Is not worth It at all.

Pros: Very Nice Stting

Cons: Bad Service, rude Manager, Not Appealing Menu

Posted 09/17/08

I recently had a birthday celebration at Levende East - I was promised the larger portion of the restaurant for my guests. Upon my arrival most of my guests were seated in the bar area. I was told that a portion of the area promised to me had been reserved for another party (who never arrived). When they served my birthday cake - it was sliced and placed on napkins w/ no utensils - I had to go to the manager - who then had the cake (still on napkins) placed on plates. Some of my guests said they felt unwelcome - my DJ mentioned they were very inconsiderate of him as well. When I contacted the manager via email - I received no response, no apology, nothing. Beautiful venue, drinks so-so, no customer service - very disappointed.

Posted 02/11/08

My friends that I hadn?t seen in 6 months decided to meet at Levende's to catch up. We arrived at our 5pm resv. The restaurant was completely empty. After 30 minutes of chatting over our drinks, the waiter told us that we needed to order and that we could not sit at our seat all night. We advised that the restaurant was completely empty. He said continued to verbally harass us about and virtually ruined our evening.

We spoke to the owner who gave us unsympathetic apology. I wouldn't recommend this restautrant. I have never experienced such rude staff.

Posted 02/01/08