ZZA’s Enoteca

The food tasted good and fresh. Portion is about right. I would definitely go back!

There is a trend evolving of evenings where coincidence drags me into the nearest restaurant, feet sore and stomach raging, and somehow miracles happy.
(Maybe I need to start driving to places.)
I used to go to Zza’s with my parents as kid, where you can draw on tablecloths next door in the Trattoria side. Last night, that side was closed, so we tentatively walked into the Enoteca and BY GEORGE! it was lovely.
Why?
Super service. Ben was able to stay sane and talk smartly about wine to me (who was babbling like a starving loon), let us SAMPLE the new wines we wanted to try, which were fabulous. He used words like «funky» and I appreciated it. I also like funky wine.
Super food. We had mussels, which I thought I had experienced the best of, but nooooo. These were the most deliciously obese mussels I’ve ever had. We saved the sauce to dip our pizza crust in, pizza with housemade sausage. When we ran out of mussel sauce, we used our beef short rib sauce, which there wasn’t much of because we were practically licking it out of the bowl.
My partner really liked the music. I didn’t even hear it, I was slurping so loudly.
My only tiny change was for such a tremendous experience, it could have been a little more formal. Though if it was, we would have been turned away for being such casually dressed hangry schmucks.

Good food. GREAT wine. Great atmosphere. Lovely service.

Great spot for post dinner drinks on date night! Chris had such a great knowledge of all the wines and had really good recommendations and is super personable. Another great spot to have some QT with someone.

Great selection of wines from around the world, and I really like the ‘taste’ option. A nice, decent pour, but not a full glass, for $ 5. This is the purrrfect set-​up for building your own flights! The boyfriend basically made a ‘Viognier from Around the World’ flight, while I only realized the potential of possibilities after our visit.
My tastes included a Cremant Rose bubbly, a Rose Rhone Blend, and a California Mountain Cuvee blend. For the bubbles, they opened a fresh bottle! The ‘pop’ was music to my ears. The Cremant Rose was a 70% Chard, 20% Chenin Blanc, and 10% Pinot Noir blend. Based on the ‘Cremant’ name, I was expecting it to be creamy, and on the sweeter side (this is based on my tastings up in Napa/​Sonoma), so I was a little shocked when it was an incredible dry Brut. Luckily, I also love ultra dry wines, and this one was so delicate, but structured with varying layers of flavor that were slowly revealed sip after sip.
The only flaw of the evening was that there was just one server for a fairly large sized crowd. There were a few parties at the bar (it was full at one point), and 3 to 4 other parties scattered across the room and outside. With that said, the server did an incredible job keeping all the glasses full, running food, and even running empty dishes to the back.
It would have been nice to be able to have a more in-​depth conversation with the server to hopefully clarify my confusion about the Cremant designation, but given the crowd and the servers ability to only be in one place at a time, that wasn’t possible. I’ll definitely be back, as there’s a dessert wines to try, and flights to be made. Oh, and I’d like to try the food. Preferably on a warm, fall evening, seated outside. My guess is that combination would be the 5-​star experience.

Take your uterus-​toting friends to get pre-​Grand Lake Theater champagne and some AMAZING burrata (hard to go wrong there) and talk about fashion and which one of you is most like Carrie and it will be fabulous.
I WISH I WAS BEING SARCASTIC BUT I’M NOT. I’M SERIOUS. LIVE YOUR OWN SELF PARODY IT’S FINE.

I’ve been going here for about 2 years. I went before my trip to Italy, and after. I initially found it on CityScape while looking for a «romantic» Valentine’s day dinner. I made reservations (2 year ago) to find that the atmosphere was little dumpy for what I would call romantic and reservations certainly weren’t necessary. There is a very large, light-​bulb-​y «ZZA» light in the back — sort of cheesy, but kind of cool and though I was a little disappointed by the ambiance that first Valentine’s day night, we’ve been back many, many, many times.
Fast forward 2 years and a lot has changed. The wine bar has opened up next door and I’ve been to Italy and back. I am actually torn because I grew to love the hominess of the «old» Zza’s but I actually tend to prefer a more modern décor and ambiance in general. Poor Zza’s is somewhere in between right now, but don’t let that deter you. The menu is very much what I saw while eating out in northern Italy and my most, favorite, favorite pizza is from Zza’s (arugula pizza –arugula, pancetta, garlic oil, farm egg). My husband always gets the gnocchi and loves it. We are very much wine drinkers and appreciate the selection that is available here. Sometimes we even bring our own.
I think they are going through a bit of growing pains right now and transitioning from more down-​home to hipster, but they are certainly worth your time. We tend to go after 6 pm and park in the parking lot under the overpass near the Grand Lake Theater. It’s a little walk, but no big deal. We’ve always enjoyed their salads (big enough to share) and the bread is very delicious.
In the end, the wine bar and the restaurant are both good — we appreciate being able to order off the «main» restaurant menu while sitting/​eating in the wine bar. The staff is helpful, but the service can be a little slow at times. If you forgive this, you’ll have a great time.

A nice little restaurant right by Lake Merrit. Their food tastes pretty authentic Italian but everything was too much on the salty side. That says a lot coming from me as I love to over salt my food. Their table bread is very addicting and their olive oil dip with chunks of olives is delicious. I ordered their bruschetta and that was a great dish to start off with. There were about 6 medium size pieces, just enough for two. I also got their hand made gnocchi which was very delicious and cheesy (but not spicy for those who are worried). My husband ordered the slow braised beef ribs which was very very salty. The mashed potatoes were mehh but helped neutralize the saltiness of the beef.
Another negative about this place is it is impossible to find parking. It also doesn’t help that it is right by Gold’s Gym where all their members took all the street parking and then make you feel bad about eating more carbs while they are working out. Thanks.

Bland, bland, bland… the menu is bland, the food is bland and the ambiance is bland. Had a groupon (spent $ 20 for $ 40 worth of food). Even with the discount, the food was not worth the money. Ordered the pasta with cream sauce and squash — had no taste, just cream. It lacked even basic seasoning of salt and pepper. Hubby had the spaghettini and it was just ok… nothing special. The so-​so food wouldn’t have even been so bad but the service was piss-​poor, so it made the experience that much worse. This place has been around for years — I’m surprised they don’t have their act together yet.
How in the world does this place get 4 stars???

$ 8 for a glass of super shiesty house wine but the food was good. They seem pretty popping at night so you should make a reservation. On the service wise, they are nice but it was def. slow.

We had a Living Social deal for a 3 course meal with wine pairing.
They start you off with bread and some delicious oil infused with some herbs and a splash of balsamic (
).
For apps I had the Lamb Spiedini (marinated lamb skewers with yogurt– mint sauce, $ 10
) which was paired with a Barbera. Delicous medium rare chunks of lamb. Sauce not minty at all, but still good.
The g/​f had the Cozze (PEI mussels, tomato, white wine, garlic toast, $ 9
) which was paired with a Sauv Blanc. Perfectly cooked mussels with a lightly tomato-​y broth. The wine was crisp and a good pairing making me reconsider my pox on white wines.
My main was Veal scallopini (mushroom-​marsala sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, $ 16
) paired with Zweigelt, an Austrian red. Nice sauce, the meat had a few gristly spots.

The g/f’s main was the Salmon special which had a sun-​dried tomato cream sauce (
) paired with Ventana pinot noir. The fish was very rare. The dish, while satisfying, was very heavy with the cream sauce.
They were out of crème brule so switched to Warm Chocolate Cake (
) This cake was sooo good. Moist and decadent. I’m not usually an a la mode guy, but the ice cream was excellent as well.
Tiramisu (
) with Muscato d’asti carbonated. Pretty soggy sponge cake instead of the traditional ladyfingers. Wasn’t a fan, especially when tasted side by side with the chocolate cake.
Service was very good answering our questions and unobtrusively checking in during the meal. The bartender, Chris, did an excellent job with the wine pairings.

4 stars for AMMAAZZZIING service. Came in late one night, dude behind the bar was super cool guarenteed up they were still serving dinner. Hooked us up with some of there awesome wine selection. The pasta was good, lil bit on the oily side but the flavor was def there. This place is a little dark, i love the ambiance the crowd seemed a little young/​trendy. Def some place I cant wait to check out again.
Oh yea, and you must try there crème brûlée’ and tirimisu! Mmmmm yumm!

i love this place a lot. i think i’ve been there 3 times? the owner or manager (?) is SO helpful. he listened to me talk about the wines i like and recommended some things, which he let me try, free of charge, to try to find the exact wine i’d be interested in. we even had a cigarette with him outside and chatted a bit. the food and wine is very very good and the service is spectacular. great ambiance too and a clean bathroom, which is essential.
i really need to visit again, it’s been too long!

Came here tonight after waiting forever at Plum. Despite a full house we were warmly greeted, and received quick service. We were greeted like regulars. Our food was quickly delivered, and the manager made recommendations and provided background on our wine selections. He was working solo, yet seemed to be everywhere at once. He rescued what started out as a bum evening. Thank you ZZA’s Enoteca. Why do I go anywhere else?
(note to Tim B: I agree about Sidebar. It’s cool and all, but it’s smoky and expensive. ZZA’s– way friendlier to both me and my wallet)

What can I say? Got married here Saturday! The food was wonderful. Our guests loved everything, great wine suggestions by Chris and Regina provided lovely touches. We didn’t have to do a thing!
We highly recommend Sorella di Zza’s for dinner, wine and private events! They’re wonderful!

I cannot believe how good this place is.
We were sheepish since we used a Living Social coupon. My wife and I were astounded how good the food, the wine and the service was.
We had the 3 course with wine pairing offer. We had our choice of appetizer, entrée and desert each with their own wine pairing. So we had 6 glasses of fabulous wines none of which I ever heard of before having them there.
We had the Caesar’s and the lamb Spiedini. The Caesars was a healthy serving and we had three lamb skewers with a mint yogurt dipping sauce. The lamb was perfectly seasoned and grilled. They were full of flavor. The wine pairings were right on. The waiter explained each pairing that favored Italian wines that you can only get there. We’d go back just for the wine.
We had the gluten free spaghetti with pulled pork ragu. The pasta was perfect the ragu flavor was to die for. We also had the short ribs with mashed potatoes and a wonderful tomato and wine sauce. The portion had to be 10+ oz. The meat was tender and the connective tissue melted in your mouth. We brought more than half home which tasted just as good the next day.
For desert we had the crème brûlée and the artisan ice cream. The quality was equally wonderful.
We’ll definitely be back without a coupon.

ZZA’s reminded me of a diner that is pretending to be an enoteca. They are a little rough around the edges. Before you rip me to shreds, let me explain why:
Pros
–Solid wine list, nothing too surprising
–Fresh ingredients
–Variety of pizzas and pastas
Cons
–Service needs some polishing
–How can an Italian «enoteca» be out of the only Italian beer they serve? (Moretti) and suggest PBR instead… yeah, ok. You almost fooled me.
–Could have made my pasta dish at home for less than $ 5 instead of paying $ 13.
Overall, a solid go-​to but honestly a little overpriced for the ambiance and selection.

Now that I’ve turned Thir… I mean 25, I have to admit that wine gives me a headache. And my hangovers are no longer a couple-​hour affairs, they now turn into an all-​day, not-​enough-​naps-​or-​water-​in-​the-​world events.
But being the high-​class, cosmopolitan young lady that I am, I still partake in the fruit of the vine/​Jesus’ blood (and who said my lapsed Catholicism wouldn’t come in handy)?
Needless to say, I’ve been here on a couple of occasions… with my friend Matt R. This seems to be the central meeting point for us, whether it be a starting off point (it never is) or a place to sit out, shoot the breeze, and partake.
Partake we do. How can you not when the staff will recommend something to your liking? A couple of adjectives (white or red, fruity or dry) and voila! You have a gorgeous full glass in front of you.
And then there’s the food. I wanted polenta with meat sauce. They had both… separate…but made it for me. Special! I’m actually special! And not even in a short yellow bus kind of way.
Long story short, I just need to keep myself hydrated and come here more often. Maybe for my 26^th birthday, perhaps?

had dinner at the Grand Tavern and made our way to Enoteca. Such a romantic little place… with a date or bunch of friends.
I absolutely luv their wine list… great entertaining names for all their wine! The waiter gave us lots of samples to try. Must go back for their small plates soon!

Sitting by ol’ Lake Merritt, watching birds, sipping wine. Ahhhhh good times.
I like the size and feel of ZZA’s. Intimate like a wine bar should be, attentive servers. The chairs are comfortable in the way that makes you always lean towards ordering one more glass versus heading for the door.
The location is perfect, right up the block from the Grand Theater and beautifully placed right across from the lake. If I must spell it out for you I’m saying ZZA’s is a good spot to head to before or after a flick with that certain someone.
I’m no wine snob but I know good from bad, and this place has a nice selection at fair prices.
Ambiance is mellow and dim, like a wine bar should be yes? Plus you know Oakland, always a chance for some unique people rolling by the front door for some added excitement. If I must spell that out too I really mean crack heads causing trouble, but meh, what can you do.
All in all if I’m anywhere near downtown Oakland and someone wants to relax and grab some nice wine, without fail I pick ZZA’s.