Bay Bridge Bar & Deli

As I was preparing myself for a red-​eye flight to Pittsburgh, PA via Las Vegas, NV, I realized I had to get some food. My choices? Round Table Pizza, some coffee place, Bay Bridge Bar & Deli or starvation.
Bay Bridge Bar & Deli it is.
I peruse the menu posted on the wall, thinking that it may be time for an eye exam. Glasses, don’t fail me now! I choose combo #3: white turkey meat, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce. For a minute there, I actually think I might get a Thanksgiving meal on Memorial Day weekend, but then I remember where I am. «It’s the airport, silly,» I say to myself. Thanksgiving meal, it ain’t. I start thinking that the food must taste like those free meals given out to the homeless. .. and Bay Bridge Bar & Deli does not disappoint.
Lucita, a nice Filipino lady at the counter who’s old enough to be my mom, keeps piling turkey and mashed potatoes onto my plastic plate, while calling me «honey.» How nice. Soon, she informs me that they ran out of stuffing. Instead of saying, «you’re S.O.L.,» she says, «What can I get you instead of it, sweetie? You want me to make you a nice salad instead?» Am I dreaming? Somebody pinch me!
So, she makes me a huge plate of Caesar’s salad and asks me if i want bread. «No, it’s OK,» I said, not wanting to bother her. Lucita, however, insisted: «you need to have some bread with your salad, honey. I’ll get you some.» Next thing I know, she is putting four huge slices of stale baguette bread on a plate with 3 packets of frozen unsalted butter. WOW.
The food tasted as awful as I had expected, but there was so much of it! I couldn’t even finish my meal, but Lucita definitely made my day. Why was she so nice to me? Did I look hungry or homeless? Why did she keep feeding me?
Any idea? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?

You don’t have many choices for a drink at the Oakland airport, and when your flight doesn’t leave until 1am, you have even less.
As I was asking the server what beers were on draft she interupted me to inform me she needed to see ID. Friendly service? You betcha!
I opted for a margarita since I had just had one at dinner. It was disgustingly sicky-​sweet. Quality drinks? Hell yes!
We got our bill and my margarita, which was all of 4 ounces, was $ 8.50. Reasonable prices? Darn tootin’!
She put down our credit card reciept at 10:30 and came back about 5 minutes later to tell us that I needed to sign it right away because they close at 11. Big tip for her? But of course!
They’ve got people held captive in the airport. Can’t they at least give us a half-​decent place to get sloshed before our flight?

This airport is depressing and this bar is not helping. Can’t you do better than having two 17 inch (?) TVs if you are charging $ 6.75 for a shot of Jack?

Can I just re-​iterate how bad this place is? You have to queue up for quite some time to receive some really bad food. The turkey sandwich was literally pieces of dry turkey, on dry bread. A side serve of stuffing was as strange as whatever mystery ingredients were in it. Bleah!

Talk about having a captive audience? Sheesh…
You would think that since we are prevented from carrying water bottles and such that the airports would compensate by providing places with edible food. Fat chance. Literally.
This hurly-​burly nerve center of cholesterol is in a prime location where waiting passengers have nothing to do in those two-​plus hours until their planes depart. On my way to Maui, I was there first thing in the morning with an empty stomach, so of course, I had to get breakfast there.
For $ 4.95, I got their Frequent Flyer breakfast sandwich, an oily croissant over-​microwaved with a piece of ham and a flavorless egg. at least that’s what I thought it was. All the while, I got to look at the hand-​painted mural on the wall that depicted Jack London Square. Why it’s not in the Louvre, I will never know. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my waiting time in the bathroom.
FOOD — 1 star
AMBIENCE — 1 star… crowded with rude tourists who roll their suitcases over your feet without batting an eyelash
SERVICE — 1 star… you’re just a number
TOTAL — 1 star… a bit like «Panic Room» only worse