Level Two

The omelette was fine. The service was also good. It was pretty typical buffet food. The problem was a $ 23 price tag for a breakfast buffet is egregious. I feel bad when breakfast buffets are mediocre at ~$ 12. At almost twice the price I would suggest going elsewhere.

Came here for a business meeting and stayed at the Oakland Marriott. Since we had our meetings at the hotel, we did lunches at Level Two. It was set up nice for our group to have a private room and a fixed menu to choose from. The service was good and the food was good… nothing bad and nothing out of this world. Since the meal was covered I can’t speak to cost/​value of the food, but with all the eating options around the Marriott, this might not be the first place I would try. That being said, I think the location is convenient and the service was pretty fast, so in a pinch or to grab a bite to eat at the hotel… this is one worth trying at least once.

Just had a late night snack. How can anyone mess up chips & guac? Chicken quesadilla? Or french dip? Well this place did. Chips were stale. French dip was extremely dry & very salty. Quesadilla was jammed with hot peppers, it was inedible. Worst part was– Tommy, our server handled our bad dining experience by providing equally horrible service. Not only was he inattentive, he seemed pissed that we sent back inedible dishes, & when we asked for the check he deliberately waited about 10−15minutes before giving it to us, without a word, which only made the whole family walk out of there feeling even more disgusted. Since when did Marriott’s worldclass service become so poor???

Level Two is just as disappointing as the Oakland Marriott hotel that it sits in.
I came here on a Saturday afternoon and the place was dead. No music, one TV on with the volume turned down. Only one other table was occupied and the rest of the restaurant sat empty.
Service was not terrible, but I was disappointed to see less than 10 items to select from. I also learned they do not have a children’s menu. How is that possible for a hotel restaurant?
I ordered the Fried Chicken Po Boy sandwich. It looked good on the plate, but the chicken was bland and severely under seasoned. Although the chicken breast was tender and juicy. I asked the server to make my kid a plain cheeseburger with ketchup only and it is exactly what we got — nothing to ride home about.
Final bill came out and my kid’s plain cheeseburger with ketchup only… was $ 14.00!
Don’t even bother coming here unless you’re desperate for mediocre food at-​best.

There is no way that this place is over one or two stars. Mediocre hotel food. Only reason to eat here is if it is too late to go out.
Although I knew it would be bland hotel food, I have had a few meals here. I also tried breakfast this morning because I’m lugging a computer bag for work and just wanted eggs and toast. BUT, no way to get a simple omelet or eggs for breakfast without paying their criminal $ 22.95 for the buffet. I don’t want the buffet. Just at simple eggs. Bummer, if the prices were slightly better, I’d happily eat breakfast there every day since I seem to be staying here for work 50% of the time.

Quiet, but nice ambiance. My husband and I like to catch some games here and have a drink.

They have a breakfast buffet that’s rather expensive. $ 17.95 for cold cereal, breads, and juice. $ 22.95 for that with eggs, waffles, or anything cooked.
I asked if I could just order a waffle since I don’t want eggs and really only wanted a waffle anyway. Nope. They couldn’t give me just a waffle. After the waiter walked away, I noticed the other side of the table tent advertised pancakes. ($ 7.95 for one)
They’ll sell pancakes individually but not waffles? I can see them making waffles right now from where I’m sitting, so it’s not like it’s something they don’t normally make.
This makes no sense to me.
Ordered a burger. Not cheap. Obviously made with frozen patties and not fresh meat. It was completely tasteless and I can’t remember ever having a worse burger.

Second night here and both times the food and service were excellent. Second night, James was server and he was fantastic, food was delicious. Level Two gives you a good reason to stay in for the night.

This place is a pleasant surprise. We did not expect much from the experience. The décor is dated — it can use better lighting, music is quite bad, and there were at most 10 customers at any time while we were there. Service was really good though. Our server James took care of us well. We both ordered steak and it was delicious! Superbly done! James even served us complimentary soup and dessert to complete our dinner. We were very pleased.
To sum it up: Can do a little upgrade to the décor. Otherwise, excellent service, superb food (albeit not an exciting menu), great value, quiet place to talk.

So it turns out that there are very few dedicated steak houses in Oakland, California and I thought my husband deserved a nice New York Strip for Valentine’s Day after putting up with my sudden but irreversible conversion to vegetarianism 4 months prior. Of course I waited until the 11^th hour to make a reservation on OpenTable, and this option was pretty much all that was left.
I found the ambience of the restaurant exceedingly confusing. There are literally televisions everywhere broadcasting sports– even though there is a bar just around the corner and there’s 80’s hair band music playing in the background. Maybe I’ve lived long enough so 80’s hair band music is now the golden oldies channel, but it doesn’t feel that way to me. But there are candles on the table and cloth napkins, so as long as you don’t look up, the sports are somewhat easy to ignore. Then there’s the fact that the whole place is packed and clearly understaffed. Doesn’t this sound dreadful?
But that’s just the thing… It was so unexpectedly fun.
First there was the hostess and the host (yup, two of ‘em) who were very friendly. And our waiter James, he was bustling all over the restaurant hitting every table because someone called in sick, but he still managed to be a complete sweetie, bringing us complimentary soup to apologize for the wait, which frankly wasn’t that long.
Then there’s the food. The bread was great. The sparkling wine markup (Chandon) was way cheap compared to other places, and the food was great. I are some meat myself. …scallops, and they were cooked to perfection.
Then the restaurant manager stops by and gives us a box of chocolates, and asks about dinner. I tell her it was great, and she is genuinely pleased.
And it was… It was a perfect date.
My one suggestion is that they get some craft beer on tap. What they have is crap you’d find in any generic place anywhere. Heineken. Sam Adams. Bud Light. Yes, they’re catering to travelers, but craft beer is now mainstream. They need better options.

Came here for dinner during Restaurant Week.
5:30pm, really empty, but nice! It was the first time I noticed table designs, and i wished that there were 4 people in my party so that I could sit in those cool round looking tables.
the service here was really really good. I was impressed by the efficiency, the pace, and the non-​intrusiveness.
The food.
Wow.
So I got a rare t-​bone steak because I was afraid medium-​rare might be overcooked. It was perfect. Although it came with three sauces (a chimichurri, a spiced one, and something else), it was fine on its own. Seared crispily on the outside and juicy, delicious on the inside. It was amazing. and huge.
The side of mashed potatoes was salty according to J, but I was fine with it — it balanced with the steak nicely. We both agreed the broccolini was a bit overcooked and, for me, it tasted. floral?
Prior to this was this iceberg lettuce salad with bleu cheese dressing and the works (bacon, eggs, tomato, more bleu cheese). It was really good. Tasted really unhealthy. And then I realized, I wasn’t here to be healthy.
The bread basket was warm, and the bread tasted cheesy.
THE DESSERT: A flourless chocolate torte with raspberry ice cream. They set each other off so well, and the slice was humongo.
I ended up taking half the steak and the cake home. because. I was full.
I wish I hadn’t inhaled the bread when I came (I was starving after work), because I wish I could have finished the steak there.
so. GOOD.
and for $ 30? What a STEAL. Seriously — Restaurant week is on til the end of the week. I suggest you go NOW. And don’t forget to tip well!
Probably the minus one star is because I’m pretty sure it’s not the «as good as it gets» status yet, since I haven’t come here for the regular menu. And the food did veer on the salty side… and the 3 sauces were just plain weird.

I am not sure if the bar and restaurant are two separate businesses but I will rate them separately since it was a night and day experience. I will give an overall rating of 4 Stars.
Bar Review:
1 Star Rating. Primarily due to the lack of service from the waitress. My co worker and I came in for happy hour after a day of training and were looking to unwind after a long work day before we ate dinner. Unfortunately only wine and beer were discounted
(no cocktails or well drinks) and all appetizers were half off. We decided to ditch happy hour and I ordered a Grey Goose Lemondrop and my coworker ordered a GG vodka and tonic. Simple enough right? Well 10 minutes later the waitress came over and advised they were out of tonic. A bar out of tonic? She said someone left to go get some. We thought they meant to their kitchen, but apparently he left to go to the store? My co worker told the lady never mind I will take a Sam Adams. She came back about 5 minutes later with a Sam Adams Octoberfest and said that is all they had. My coworker declined asking for the regular SA, this time we were both fed up. She asked «What do you have? Waitress replied with «oh, the tonic just arrived.» Another customer even stopped by to comment on how she noticed how long we were sitting there empty handed.
All this time no apology, no can I bring you some complimentary appetizers, and all this time she had ME waiting for my lemon drop. Well finally she arrived with a small bowl of bar chex mix and our two drinks. The good side was the drinks were tasty and strong. Bad side was the bill for these two drinks came to $ 29! My lemon drop was $ 15 and her Vodka & tonic was $ 14. Hiway robbery for such poor service.
Restaurant Review:
5 Star Rating. Primarily due to the Excellent service from the hostess and our waiter James S and the delicious meal. Friendly and smiling hostess seated us by the window and we were soon greeted by James S our waiter. James advised us they are a steakhouse but also highly recommended the salmon and chicken. We both have been craving a good rib eye and the price was right for $ 34.95. James advised us it only came with one side but he would add another side on the house. We also asked if we could get a small side salad which he easily agreed to and I ordered the loaded baked potato and co worker ordered the asparagus. Leafy green salad was simple served with a big bowl of chunky blue cheese dressing. LOVED IT!
Rib eye was cooked perfectly to order medium rare, deliciously seasoned and came with a mushroom sauce and a peppercorn steak sauce in separate dipping containers. Baked potato had all of the usual toppings on the side and bacon was freshly crumbled. In conclusion a no fuss, great meal for a steak house. James S was so friendly and personable. Then to top it all off, he brought us each a dish of raspberry gelato and vanilla ice cream. A simple but much needed sweet ending to our perfect meal.
Shout out to James S for 5 Star service. You can tell he really enjoys his job, funny, light hearted and is a perfect gentleman.
He so made up for our poor experience in the bar.

I am surprised there have been no reviews on the dinner menu here since Level Two converted to an Angus certified steak house two months ago. It is the only certified Angus steak house in Oakland.
My husband and I ate dinner here. We are both gluten free (for medical reasons) and much to our surprise, 95% of the menu is gluten free! It is hard to tell by the menu, but any server will explain it to you. The only items not gluten free on the whole menu are soups, table bread, and a few appetizers that have bread.
Dedicated gluten free fryer! The chef was getting so many requests for gluten free, he developed a gluten free breading so all fried foods on the menu are safe. The calamari was out of this world good. Better than most wheat coated ones I used to eat. The calamari was tender and not chewy at all.
I normally would not go in to a steak house and order a pasta dish. I like meat. But, that being said, all of the pasta on the menu is gluten free and made fresh by The Pasta Shop in Berkeley. You will not find dry bagged pasta at this restaurant. It was amazing and there is no way someone could tell it was gluten free. My husband had the chicken, which is cooked by using a brick to seal in moisture. If you get the chicken, try it with the tarragon butter. It is really good.
Currently there is only one gluten free dessert, a chocolate tort. We were so full from dinner we decided to have a light sorbet.
**Note, we did ask and only the dinner menu is mostly gluten free. The lunch menu is standard Marriott fare. The chef is hoping to convert a lot of this menu to gluten free as well in the future.

After a long day of setting up for a convention at the Oakland Convention Center, I was hungry and tired.
I’ve been to this bar/​restaurant before and hadn’t been impressed before by either the food or the service but I was hungry and didn’t want to have to travel to far.
I sat at the bar because the last time I sat in the regular restaurant it was pretty slow. Well, it was still pretty slow. I also didn’t think it was that incredible busy around 2 something either.
For lunch I had the Shrimp & Butternut Squash Bisque with a side of the Whole Romaine Cesar with Chicken.
The Bisque had small Popcorn Shrimp sprinkled on top of a very lack luster Soup. It was probably frozen Shrimp. Actually the soup would have been better if they left the Shrimp off all together. It added nothing and actually made it worse.
The Chicken on my salad was pan seared with a nice seasoning. I should have just ordered the salad. However, some of the leaves of Romaine were wilted.
I told the bartender I was through and he cleared my plates handed me my check then took my glass of water that I wasn’t done with. Then he disappeared. I’d have loved to have finished my glass of water while I waited.
I sat and sat and sat and waited for them to run my card. This started as a 3 star review. Not worth the money because its expensive. I think I could have dined and dashed with how unobservant the employees were.
Not impressed in the least. I will go else where the next time I am at the convention center.

Hotel Bar so the prices I get. I have no issue with that like most do. If I want to save money I’ll walk down the street. There’s bars everywhere. What I did have issue with was going there on a Friday the place had many people but certainly not full. Asked if we could order appetizers and were given a Lunch menu at 7:30 pm and was told we could only order off that menu and only that menu because they were too busy. Peaking into the restaurant next door they were clearly not that busy as the 4 empty tables told me. This is a multi-​millon dollar hotel chain with a number of conventions there regularly. I don’t know how they can be understaffed (4 – 5 people behind the bar more than enough) to the point where they can’t serve an order of fries to guests. I’m a local guy so it was no skin off my back but for those traveling here take note and look to go down the street and support another business willing to cater to their guests a little better. Because I’m forced to give one star I will say the bartender was very nice and understanding. The server that night not so much.

We wanted to grab a couple drinks at the bar the night before our wedding. We had a junior suite at the Marriott in Oakland and there was this bar inside the hotel. We walked downstairs and actually ran into a friend that was in town for the wedding and staying here also. I grabbed two beers so that we could join her and it came to almost $ 13.00. I drink Bud Light, not some fancy, special import beer or anything. That’s a LOT for BL. No matter where you are. A little disappointing. We already had enough expenses for the weekend so we went back to our room after the two. At least that was nice.

Great spot for breakfast!!!

I’ve only had a few things on the menu, so I’m not sure I’m qualified to write a review, but I can tell you that for a hotel restaurant Level Two exceeded my expectations. While the Marriott City Center could totally take advantage of weary business travelers in downtown Oakland, you can tell that they work really hard to give visitors a pleasant dining experience.
The Thai Chicken Wings dish surprised me and was what prompted me to write the review. They were crispy on the outside and packed with flavor. (For some reason, I can never get crispy wings in L.A. Why *is* that???)
The breakfast offerings were really good, too. The breakfast buffet is the more economical choice, although you probably won’t eat as much as you should for whopping $ 18.95.
There are other notable restaurants in the Oakland City Center area, but it’s sketchy and pretty quiet during the late hours. If you’re visiting for work (like I was), and just want a quick bite where you’re staying, Level Two is a really good choice.

For a hotel restaurant in downtown Oakland, this is pretty decent. A bit expensive for some dishes, reasonable for others. Overall, the food isn’t terribly exciting, but seems well executed — if I were dining near here, I’d probably go out for Vietnamese or Chinese, but if you want American food, this is one of the better options in the area.
The staff are friendly and helpful, but not necessarily completely accurate with orders (I was missing one item, which I pointed out at time of the bill to get removed). Otherwise, no problem there.

From the Marriot website:
Level Two
California
Hotel’s new and distinct restaurant, Level Two, features a fresh take on shareable dishes, a comprehensive wine menu and delectable new menu options
Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Dress code: Casual
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A big group of us are heading over there for lunch today so I’ll update this review later. The four stars are for the excellent service over the phone. I’m on a low-​sodium diet so I really appreciated Paul taking the time to go over the menu with me.
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Lunch turned out great. The mahi mahi sandwich was a big hit with five of us — it was very light and the low-​sodium version still tasted very good. The rest of the group ordered other items and seemed to enjoy their dishes too.
There is a daily lunch special that includes a protein and two sides for $ 12.95. Service was good. The place, newly renovated hotel and restaurant, looks nice now… the old place was looking a little tired.
Nice change of pace if you don’t feel like any of the Asian restaurants in the area.