Skates on the Bay

On a clear day or night, the view is sensational. The food is expensive and unexceptional, but not awful. Service has always been excellent. more

Recently 7 members of my family and I lunched at Skates on the Bay. I was a little apprehensive, as my last two meals weren't appetizing, but Skates is a great halfway point for us all to meet. 4 of us ordered the crabcakes, served with bok choy and a ""plum sauce"". The crab cakes on there own were half way decent, but were completly soaked with the water from the bok choy and the sauce which was made in the style of applesauce. Even if they had drained the vegetable before slapping it down on the plate, it was tough and tastless and the plum sauce bland. The one Fish and Chips was so bad, my sister took two bites and pushed her plate away. My daughter and niece ordered the turkey club. On the plus side, there was an over abundance of turkey, acyuakkt too much to fit in your mouth, but it was not prepared as shown on the menu. they both took the turkey from the sandwich and ate just that and these are 19 and 20 year old young women, not toddlers. For 1/2 a sandwich a cup pof soup and the crab cakes it was $42 ill spent. They say three times is the charm, but not for this restaraunt. I'm gone. more

One of the most overrated resto in the Bay Area... purportedly with great views, but on a foggy night (which happens quite often) you wont see anything. Everything was expensive, and my duck was too salty, too tough, and too greasy. more

A friend and I decided to stop in for a glass of wine after a walking . This was around 2:00 PM on a Sunday afternoon, while she was freshing up I got us a table in the bar.\r \r The waitstaff and bar tenders were not interested in serving; why I don't know? I notice that the food servers were inexperienced with handling large orders and suffer from lack of etiquette. Another food server was trying to be a balancing act that ended in disaster - spilling the food; after 2 women had waited patiently for their appetizers. \r \r more

The food is just as good as the view! The salmon is delicious! more

The food is just as good as the view! The salmon is delicious! more

The food is just as good as the view! The salmon is delicious! more

This is to follow up on an earlier review. We ate at Skates on Sept. 3, 2007 and had a very poor experience which we detailed in that review ('Nightmarish Experience for Newlyweds'. )\r I wanted to create a special night for my new bride and myself and planned the evening to make that happen. Their neglect of our reservation, wait time and patience ruined the ambiance I had wanted. We did not get to enjoy the view of the sun setting over the bay, since we were seated an hour later than our reservation. \r Skates became aware of our dissatisfaction and offered to ameliorate the situation. They promised to send us a gift certificate for our next visit. It never arrived. more

pricey but is really good... more

pricey but is really good... more

pricey but is really good... more

They provided a nightmarish & very un-special experience for newlyweds!! Skates has been a favorite of ours for years & we decided it would be perfect for our first ""married"" dinner out. We made our reservations more than a week ahead of time. We specified that we were newlyweds and we would like a window table. We arrived 45 minutes before our dinner reservation so we could enjoy appetizers & drinks in the bar. When we arrived, the greeter at the front desk congratulated us on our marriage-We reminded him of our desire for a window seat,and let him know we would wait in the bar. As our reservation time approached, we saw a table emptying and assumed it would be made ready for us... But, they sat a family there and so we waited....10 or 15 minutes AFTER our reservation time, we asked about our table and were told we would need to wait ""a little longer"" for a window table (!! what? we had reservations, we had been there already for an hour waiting patiently, we saw them give a window table to a group of people who were not there waiting as long as we had...). We waited 50 minutes for a table! By the time we sat down, the sun had set and the ambiance we had planned for was gone. They completely ruined what was supposed to be a very special occasion for us. One note: a manager was sent over to our bar table about 40 minutes into our extended wait... she started to apologize for the mix-up, and I assumed she would attempt to make us happy-she started to say something about entrees &asked if we had ordered appetizers & my husband responded, ""we have already paid our bar tab"", which strangely made her say, ""oh, you don't want to stay for dinner now?""--that was the end of it. They seated us, & made no price adjustment on our bill, which was what she was implying she was going to do. \r As reasonable people, we understand that mix-ups happen..but their error was compounded over and over and everytime they had an opportunity to make good, they did not take it.\r \r Pros: Usually great! love the ambiance, food, view.... Cons: When it counted most to us- they didn't deliver and they didn't make it right more

Yes the ahi tuna sushi is fantastic. The service was very unsatisfactory.When our server served us,she very sarcasticly said ""Enjoy!"" Then, directly after our dishes were delivered, the young lady who served us went up to another waitress and said something directing her attention to our table. She did this with 2 other waitresses that i witnessed who all looked directly at our table as well.The girls all laughed and looked as if they were suprised to hear what the server had told them. We got the impression that our food had been tampered with so we refused to eat it and demanded new food.Naturally, we were paranoid about all the attention our table was getting. It was a very bad experience, i haven't been there since. more

if you're looking for a nice place to take your date for an intimate, romantic meal along the berkeley... more

if you're looking for a nice place to take your date for an intimate, romantic meal along the berkeley marina, skates is your place. it's on the pr... more

if you're looking for a nice place to take your date for an intimate, romantic meal along the berkeley marina, skates is your place. it's on the pr... more

Though the meal was quite costly, I went at a time when they had the 3-course meal with appetizer, entree,... more

Though the meal was quite costly, I went at a time when they had the 3-course meal with appetizer, entree, and dessert all rolled into a big price ... more

Though the meal was quite costly, I went at a time when they had the 3-course meal with appetizer, entree, and dessert all rolled into a big price ... more

We had reservations so we got seated right away, but it took the server over 25 minutes to acknowledge us. Ordered the Skates Classic Sampler and it was great, but the price not so much. For $21 you were able to have a taste of three awesome appetizers. For an entree I ordered the New York Steak and it was horrible. I ordered it medium well and it came way past well done. I mean this thing was burnt. I thought it was just the edges and saw that our waitress was busy so I decided to just try to eat it. Our waitress was horrible. Took us about 15 minutes just to ask her for some steak sauce, which should have been brought with the steak in the first place; and she never checked up on us once. [I got home and cut a piece of steak for my dog, she chewed on it for a while and threw it back out; and my dog eats everything!!] For a two person dinner it came out to ~$115 for one appetizer, two entrees, a beer, 17% tip, and tax. I say if you are going to go here ? sit at the bar, order yourself a few drinks and the Skates Classic Sampler, and call it a night. Pros: Views, Environment, Free fococia bread, Skates Classic Sampler Cons: Service, Steak, Prices more