Dinner at Five

Our friends CJ and Hammer called us up Friday night out of the blue and asked if we wanted to have dinner with them and one of our other friends. We ended up at Five, a relatively new restaurant in Berkeley, located in the Hotel Shattuck Plaza. I'm not really sure why, but I've been wanting to try this place, ever since I heard that Chef Scott Howard had closed his San Francisco restaurant (which we never actually tried) and moved to the East Bay. I'm glad we can check this one off our list, but there are lots of other better restaurants in the area, and I won't be needing to go back anytime soon.

Suspicious CJ


Delighted CJ

The food was very mediocre. There were a few dishes that made us say "mmm," but there were also a few dishes that were not-so-good, such as the dry petrale sole, and a few that were downright bad, such as the overcooked-outside/undercooked-inside risotto and the chocolate soufflé that was masquerading as a dry brownie. Gah! We gave the food a 6.50. Ouch.

Here were some of the better dishes we had that evening.

Orzo "Mac & Cheese," Smoked Gouda, Roasted Mushrooms, Tomato Jam


Dungeness Crab Fritters, White Corn, Caper Ravigote, Fennel Pollen


Steamed Clams, Tomato Broth, Grilled Garlic Bread


Beet Salad


Spinach Ravioli, Mushrooms


Scallops, Asparagus


Panna Cotta


Strawberries and Cream


Butterscotch Pudding, Whipped Cream, Peanut Brittle

Service was earnest, but it took eons for us to get our food and the excuse our waiter offered (a large party had ordered right before us) was not very comforting, considering the restaurant was only half full. We gave service a 7.00.

Décor matches the rest of the hotel, though it feels less like a "restaurant hotel" than others I've been to, which is a good thing. There's lots of black and white with French influences and it's nice, though the place is covered in hard surfaces, making the whole restaurant extremely noisy. It was pretty much impossible to hear our friends at the other end of the table, and we were only a party of five! When the waiter was talking to us and standing by me, CJ, who was sitting on the other side of me, couldn't hear what he was saying. I can just imagine how hard it would be to talk if the place was full. Sheesh. Décor got a 7.00.

Overall, they scored a 66.50. Not really recommended, considering the proximity to other, much better restaurants.

*For a refresher on our rating system, check out this previous post.*