Crogan's in Oakland, CA – update, lunch
Review date: September 2013
(previous reviews appended below)

We stopped in for lunch at Crogan's. When Inez is with us we're trying to keep to American comfort food or the traditional Cal-Italian. It's just too hard on her to be faced with foods she can't recognize.

But today was a pretty good day for her. She read through the whole menu and decided for herself that she wanted their half order of BBQ ribs with sweet potato fries. Even a half order was more than she could finish, so she brought the leftovers home.

Carlos started with a cup of the soup of the day, a rather odd tomato-based leek & potato soup. The flavorful leeks were in long shreds, so these must have been really big leeks! The potatoes were diced irregularly; we both think they should have been puréed to thicken the soup.
 
For his entrée he opted for the burger special, which was with mashed avocado and pepper jack on a focaccia bun. It was good, not great, but he was satisfied. The bun fell apart a little too easy, and guacamole (much as we love it) isn't a great burger topping as it keeps squeezing out and falling off. For some reason they gave him half regular fries and half sweet potato fries. Crogan's fries are barely adequate; serviceable but not our favorites.

I chose the batter-fried fish tacos. There's slightly less fish than there used to be, but that Choluca cream is addictive stuff (I always ask for extra, LOL). Also, Crogan's is happy to sub shredded lettuce for the usual shredded raw cabbage at my request – another plus.

Crogan's is just your friendly bar food restaurant. It's a modest two-star neighborhood hang-out of the kind that doesn't exist in our neighborhood, a mere four miles away. The ribs aren't great, despite Inez liking them, but they're better than Spettro/Oakland and about even with Townhouse/Emeryville. They try to offer upscale items such as a well-priced slice of prime rib or main dish salads, but it's not what they do best. 

You won't get exciting gourmet flavors at Crogan's, but if you pick and choose selectively – the fish, for example, is a good frozen quality and it's handled decently in the old-fashioned style – you can find something to eat. It isn't the great value Seison/Oakland used to be, but Seison was chronically understaffed, disorganized, and fell apart on us in literally a few weeks' time. Crogan's has had different line cooks but has remained remarkably consistent, and their service is good enough to put to shame several very expensive restaurants we've gone to. 

As we've said before, consistency is too often an underrated virtue. In fact, Seison's new menu is now far more basic than Crogan's, and last week's dinner was uniformly poorly executed. If we couldn't make it to Bistro 1491 or were with meat-and-potato folks who like a cocktail before dinner, we would come here and save ourselves $50.

Stick to what Crogan's does well, such as the vegetarian black bean chili or onion rings, short ribs or burgers, and you'll be okay. As Carlos says, it isn't a great restaurant, but for the few things he likes, they're well-priced and executed reliably. You can take your grandmother here, and she won't be put off by a menu full of weird ingredients she's never heard of. 

Three people, lunch: three entrées, one extra side, two beverages, with tip was $83.

Crogan's in Oakland, CA – update, dinner
Review date: January 2012
(previous reviews appended below)

The three of us unexpectedly went out on a Friday evening – usually we go on Thursdays – so had to check OpenTable for a last-minute reservation. Nothing seemed to catch our fancy, so we gave in and drove to nearby Crogan's for dinner again.

On our last review October 2012 we noted that Crogan's had added a surprisingly spicy gumbo to the menu. It was still there and sure enough, is still packing a level of heat that satisfies even Carlos, lover of all things chile-hot. 

We looked around at the mixed crowd of patrons, ranging from little kids playing tag around the dining room partitions to seniors using walkers and canes. They are just not the kind of customers whom you'd think would order a soup that is hotter than many Thai restaurants will dare to present.

We can't figure out who is eating this gumbo besides Carlos. But we're happy that they do, LOL. The gumbo has rice added, and is available both by the cup and the bowl. He says the heat is the kind that doesn't burn the tongue, but instead catches the back of the throat, and confessed he's not sure he could actually withstand an entire bowlful of this hot stuff. When we say this soup is hot, it is way beyond just spicy!

Inez wasn't terribly hungry so she opted for the crab cake appetizer. Two nicely-sized crab cakes, breaded and nicely browned, were served with a small green salad on the side, and a dipping sauce of remoulade.

I had short ribs with polenta cake, panfried. The sauce had a little too much wine in it, giving it too much tartness. It was good, but not quite as good as the short ribs plate I'd had here last October.  

Carlos had the 12-oz bistro steak. This seemed quite different from the 8-oz top sirloin, which had been a surprisingly fine little steak. The bistro steak is much thinner, and is fairly chewy, with almost no fat. I believe it might have been top round, an inferior cut versus a top sirloin. Still, it was cooked medium rare as ordered and Carlos enjoyed it.

All of us shared the crème brulee cheesecake, which was surprisingly good. I don't think much of Crogan's desserts, but this was better than expected.

Crogan's is a simple neighborhood hang-out. It averages 2 stars but occasionally makes it into the solidly 2.5 star on certain dishes (the gumbo, the battered fish tacos, the top sirloin and the black bean chili). You can almost always get a seat (and they're not torture devices in disguise), the waitstaff stays on top of things, and the price is reasonable, in addition to decent street parking. 

We don't love Crogan's, but we like them for what they are. They don't try to pretend to be anything else. Sometimes it's a relief not to need to fuss about the details. Inez's tastes are very different than ours, but everybody's satisfied here. For the price, that makes it a good deal.

Three people, dinner: two starters, two entrees, one dessert, one beverage, with tip was $99.

Crogan's in Oakland, CA – update, dinner
Review date: October 2012
(previous reviews appended below)

The Montclair Village business district is all of two blocks deep and four blocks wide, making everything accessible within an easy walk. We can stop by our bank, hit Peet's for coffee, go to the post office, shop at the only large Lucky's in Oakland or the diminutive Safeway, stop at the UPS store to drop off a package, get pastries at Montclair Bakery, and have our choice of eating at over a dozen restaurants, all within a few minutes of one another. Mind you, the restaurants are mostly "B" level, but there's a wide variety and a few are pretty good.

Crogan's is our 'local hangout.' It's seldom our first choice, or even our second, but it is nearby, relatively inexpensive, and reasonably reliable. It also has very good service and relatively easy parking (for a meter fee, on the street or in the city garage). We have discovered a few things they do well – the fish tacos, the burger, the 8-oz top sirloin with  a side salad, the shrimp pasta, the black bean vegetarian chili. 

A lot of the food is merely passable. Still, it's a big menu so every time we go, we end up trying at least one new dish. It's a 50-50 chance we figure that we'll find something, which when you're dealing with restaurants are decent odds, even in our food-crazed area.

This time all three of us tried something new. Inez chose the almond-and-panko crusted rock cod. This certainly wasn't rock cod, unless rock cod is coming in long skinny filets these days. It was also no doubt a frozen fish, but a good quality one, without the foamy frozen texture that lesser-grade frozen seafood displays. 

The fish was handled very well, with the crumb crust being the side that was pan-fried to a nice golden brown, then sear-roasted for only a few minutes so the filet was still moist and very tender. It came with thin spears of grilled asparagus and half-round slices of new white potatoes. Inez really enjoyed this, and finished everything on the plate, something she only rarely does.

Carlos and I were intrigued by the new gumbo on the menu, listed as shrimp, andouille sausage and chicken. It comes with jasmine rice, and was available in either cup or bowl size. He chose the cup, and received a super-spicy thick gumbo that he thought was remarkably good. Considering that Crogan's clientele tends to be older, we were surprised by how chile-hot this gumbo was! Both of us thought it was very good, although we mourned the absence of okra. But we like stewed okra, and many people don't. Like anchovies, they're often missing even in dishes where they're a traditional ingredient.

For an entree he chose the prime rib. He's been wanting to try it for a while, and it is $5 cheaper here than at most places. Sadly, it was an inferior quality roast, with a loose watery texture and rather tasteless. Both of us thought it wasn't anywhere near the equal to Townhouse Bar & Grille/Emeryville, who reigns supreme in our hearts for a bargain prime rib that is flawlessly roasted. It came with sauteed green beans and a baked potato, both of which he finished off. He kept a couple of smaller pieces of the prime rib as leftovers for a lunch.

I was surprised to see that the fried chicken, which used to be a once-a-week special, was now on the menu full-time. My order came with three drumsticks (good, we like dark meat) and a small breast, the latter a touch overdone. But the batter was pretty good – crispy, greaseless, but not overly thick on the drumsticks. On the breast, however, it was too thick. The drumsticks came out juicy and tender, just right. Next time I'll ask if I could order just dark meat chicken. 

The dish came with mixed vegetables, a sauté of not just broccoli, zucchini and carrots, but also red and purple cabbage, broccoli stems, red onions, green and red bells. The mashed potatoes came with a thickened gravy of chicken stock with a touch of tomato paste and milk. Nothing special, but reasonably tasty together.

So although the prime rib was a disappointment, we would happily have the gumbo and fried chicken again. And Inez was pleased with her food, so overall it was a win-win.

When expectations are modest, one can be pleasantly surprised when the food is a level above the menu's average – even if that means it just reached a "B" level instead of the "C" one was anticipating.

We skipped dessert. None of Crogan's desserts are remarkable, and with the discovery of Borgo Italia in downtown Oakland open until 11 p.m., it didn't take much persuading to get me to drive the 'long way home' so we could grab a bunch of whipped cream pastries for take-out (it's Carlos' birthday weekend, so this served in lieu of a cake)!

Three people, dinner: one starter, three entrees, one beverage, with tip was $96.

Crogan's in Oakland, CA  - update, dinner
Review date: August 2012

Carlos was surprised I chose Crogan's for dinner upon our return from the Sonoma Coast. But they have decent bar food, which Inez also likes (she stayed home during our trip). Plus, we were still satisfied from our wonderful lunch at River's End/Jenner.

Inez picked the starter plate of BBQ chicken wings, although it's little awkward for her to manage with her injured right arm (she's still recovering from a recent fall). Carlos chose the fish tacos, which we ordered with the usual sub of lettuce for the cabbage, and extra Choluca (branded hot sauce) cream.

I chose the braised short rib, probably because I was so frustrated by the almost inedible beef chunks (yes, that's chunks, not chuck as in cut) with which I suffered at Alexander's @Timber Cove Inn/Jenner. Crogan's won't win any prizes for their short ribs, but the boneless cut was what it was supposed to be: coarse long-fiber chuck which always has good flavor...and it was properly cooked, tender and lean but not dried out and hard. 

The dark meaty gravy actually tasted like gravy and not of hoisin, the latter being what Alexander's used and which is my least favorite of all Chinese sauces. With some mashed potatoes Crogan's version was what this simple American classic was supposed to be, and was perfect for the mood I was in.

The restaurant was busy and bustling on a Friday evening, although it quieted down after 8:30 p.m. as people began to trickle out and head for home. Service, as always, is crisp and efficient, although it tends to trail off a little by the end of the meal. 

Three people, dinner: one starter, two entrees, one beverage with tip, was $59.

Crogan's in Oakland, CA – update, dinner
Review date: April 2012
(previous reviews appended below)

Tomorrow we leave for a four-day Sonoma/Napa trip. After several days of emptying all the leftovers and perishables out of the refrigerator, we decamped to Crogan's for a simple dinner.

Crogan's is a meat-and-potato, basic bar food restaurant. It's similar to, but not as good as, Townhouse Grill in Emeryville. However, it has the advantages of proximity as well as a more comfortable dining room. Crogan's also has better service – not just better than Townhouse, but better than 80% of the more upscale, newer restaurants. The waitstaff check their tables every time they walk past. There's none of this attitude of, "I'm on my way to pick up my order from the kitchen so I'm too busy to notice you're out of iced tea and/or water."

Carlos opted for a cup of clam chowder, which he doctored with enough Tabasco to turn it faintly orange. Their soup is so-so, but with that much hot sauce in it, as he says, who can tell?

He picked the mixed green salad and top sirloin dish, which we hadn't tried before. The salad is quite large, served pre-mixed with a mild blue cheese dressing. The top sirloin is an 8-oz cut (their smallest) and was very well executed. Not only was it grilled absolutely on-point, it was extremely tender. This relatively inexpensive cut (aka 'coulotte steak'; Wiki has a good diagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_sirloin) sits below the tenderloin and has a slightly richer flavor. 

I had the fish tacos again. The beer-battered fish filets were a bit small this time, but since I wasn't that hungry they were perfect – greaseless crust, moist steaming-hot interior. Crogan's uses two steamed flour tortillas. I asked for just a small amount of shredded lettuce in place of the raw cabbage they sometimes use. There was a generous number of avocado slices inside each taco. With some additional spicy Choluca cream added, they were just what I wanted.

Crogan's isn't a great restaurant by any stretch of the imagination. But the basic dishes they do well, are well done indeed. The cost is reasonable, the booths are comfortable (and help keep the noise level down), the waitstaff is always on top of things. The décor may be slightly aged but there's no hint of the grease and grime that sometimes accumulates in these old-style places. 

The son of the founder of Crogan's has been running the restaurant for over ten years. He's almost always on-site. He takes a lot of pride in the old place, and it shows. 

They've been consistent in their execution since I first came in 2005. We've come here over the years for both lunch and dinner. We'd judge the dinner cook to be slightly better than the lunch cook. But either way, if you stick to the basics, it's hard to go wrong here.

Two people: One starter, two entrees, three beverages (we both finished with just coffee), with tip was a very modest $66.

Crogan's in Oakland, CA - update, dinner
Review date: December 2011
(previous reviews appended below)

We attempted to have a Christmas Eve dinner at Monaghan's in Montclair, but although OpenTable took the reservation, the restaurant turned out to be closed. Our choices being limited - Italian Colors was also closed, and Montclair Bistro's Christmas Eve menu hadn't appealed to me - we drove down the hill to end up at Crogan's again, since we didn't want to drive much further.
 
The Cajun popcorn shrimp were properly fried this time, and quite good. I like the remoulade, which is just a basic commercial dipping sauce, but Carlos said next time he'll ask for cocktail sauce, which he prefers.
 
He had a cup of the Boston clam chowder, which is pretty much Campbell's style, laden with salt. He was fine with it - it's certainly not a gourmet version, but no worse than other B-level restaurants. 
 
I had the Caesar, which surprised me with the two dried anchovy filets draped over the top. Not a great version, weighed down by too much commercial shredded Parmesan, but the anchovies, once cut up, added a nice jolt of salty fish flavor to the salad. We like our dressing heavy on the anchovies, and in lieu of that, this was a tasty substitution.
 
Inez ordered the crab and asparagus alfredo pasta, which pleased her very much. It's a basic preparation, but a generous serving and the fettucine is cooked until soft. It's one of their better dishes.
 
Carlos had the fish tacos, but found them hard to handle. One needs to remove half the cabbage - it's tasty stuff, but makes it too large to fold over and hold neatly. The Choluca cream is great, but since we like it spicy he should have asked for more on the side, which I had done the previous time we'd eaten lunch here.
 
I wasn't that hungry so only ordered the coconut battered prawns, normally a starter, for my entree. It's four good sized shrimp, cut in half and opened up, battered and deep-fried. The coconut shreds are generously used, and the dipping sauce is a too-sweet orange marmalade. I just squeeze lemon over them and eat them as is. Not gourmet or notable, but satisfactory to round out the meal.

If it sounds like we're damning with faint praise, we're not. Crogan's is what it is. The service is excellent – a real rebuke to places like Lalime's and Café Rouge. The dining room is comfortable, and the staff is efficient without making you feel rushed in any way. If you want to eat and run, they'll accommodate you. If you want to stay and talk with your friends, they're fine with that, too.

Compared to the Pacific Coast Brewing Company/Oakland, whose incredibly awful bar food we reviewed July 2011, or Chez Panisse Café's skillful but lifeless (and expensive) dinner November 2010, Crogan's gets our patronage and our money, hands-down. As long as your expectations are in line for a basic neighborhood hangout, it's decent, as long as you stick to the specific things they do best. They don't pretend to be anything other than what they are, and give back a reasonable value for the price.

Three people: four starters, two entrees, one beverage, with tip was $100. 

Crogan's in Oakland, update lunch
Review date: October 2011
(previous reviews appended below)

We revisited Crogan's after running some errands. Again, I had a small cup of the black bean chili, which this time Carlos tried and pronounced very good as it's got a nice chile heat. I had the fish tacos, and requested extra Choluca aioli, which is yummy stuff. Outside of too much shredded romaine this time – good, but makes it hard to eat – it's a nice substantial lunch. 

Carlos opted for the rib-eye steak, with garlic mashed potatoes and spicy green beans. The latter were neither spicy nor cooked enough, but he dipped them in the extra aioli I had ordered, and ate them all. The rib eye was towards the rare side of medium-rare, which is fine with him, and surprisingly tasty. We agreed that we are perplexed that it is easier to get a decent steak at various restaurants than it is at expensive fancy steakhouses.

Certainly Crogan’s is not fancy, and you've got to go with what they do best (meat/potatoes and batter-frying). But they're reliable, accessible (street parking is available, as is a city-owned garage one block away), modestly priced, with good service and a comfortable dining room. 

There used to be one of these traditional hang-outs in every neighborhood. But many of them are gone now, replaced by over-loud, trendy, more expensive restaurants. Some of that is truly progress, but there's a little bit of it that isn't. Crogan's is like that comfy old chair that came from your parents, which you know looks out-of-place next to your IKEA and Pottery Barn furniture…but you can't bear to get rid of it because that's where you snuggle down in your favorite ratty sweats to curl up with a good book on a rainy evening.

Two people: one starter, two entrees, one beverage, with tip $67.

Crogan's in Oakland, update lunch
Review date: July 2011
(previous reviews appended below)

I felt oddly in the mood for a basic pub lunch, one of those you-know-it's-bad-for-you-but-you-have-to-have-it impulses. I was saved by Crogan not having fried mozzarella sticks, so we subbed a surprisingly limp fried calamari instead. I've had the popcorn shrimp here and liked them, and don't remember the calamari being any different, so we'll have to chalk it up to mischance. This is a very popular neighborhood bar and long-time hangout for the locals; normally batter-frying is one of their better accomplishments.

A cup-size of their vegetarian black bean chili was satisfying – it's a simple dish, nothing fancy, but if you like black beans as I do, it's done competently here. 

We shared an entrée that I hadn't tried before. They do fish tacos, either grilled or batter-fried. We asked for batter-fried, and on this dish the frying was perfect. The two fish filets were good-sized, greaseless and still moist, the flour tortillas steamed tender, and there were shredded lettuce, salsa (tomatoes and just the right amount of raw onion), fresh sliced avocado and a drizzling of a dynamite Choluca crème. Choluca is the brand of hot sauce we use at home for seafood, as it goes particularly well with all kinds of fish and shellfish. Next time – and there will be a next time, these were very tasty fish tacos – we'll ask for a double drizzle of the crème, or even better, in a cup on the side!

Inez wasn't with us this time, so we ordered a chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries to bring home for her. Two starters, two entrees, one side, two beverages, with tip came to a modest $58.

Crogan's
6101 La Salle Avenue Oakland, CA
http://www.crogans.com/PDF/mainmenu.pdf
Review date:   April 2011

We visit Crogan's in Montclair Village on occasion, mostly for lunch, although we’ve never written up a review. It's a very standard old fashioned neighborhood sports bar/restaurant, except that here it's heavier on the restaurant and lighter on the sports bar. 

The restaurant is large, has some nice wooden booths with plumply cushioned banquette seats, and the bar/TV action is completely walled off. They share a common reception area, but that's it. As a result, even at night one can hear one's fellow diners across a table, although this is a livelier crowd than the smaller, more upscale Montclair Bistro. 

It's rare that we go out for brunch/lunch on weekends, because all the good places tend to be more crowded. So this ruled out our usual favorites. We had the choice of Sea Salt or Crogan's, and decided it had been so long, it was time to try Crogan's again.

This is a basic meat and potatoes place. The menu's large, but what they do best is the heartier food. Carlos tried the shrimp bisque, but dismissed it as indifferent, barely above Campbell's canned. Unfortunately, Crogan's attempt at brunch items wasn't successful, at least as far as his shrimp omelet went. 

It was very small – maybe a two egg omelet, not a three egg – and there was too much chopped raw red onion and not enough tiny Bay shrimp, which weren't very tasty anyway. He asked to sub grilled tomatoes for the home fries, but got slices of raw tomato instead. The plate comes with a nice serving of fresh fruit, but it isn't the best quality, and was mostly out-of-season types.

Inez got a crab salad sandwich, which was very thin on the crab but she liked the side of sweet potato fries, one of her favorite munchies.

I got the burger, which they do quite well. They don't make any attempt to fancy them up – just a big basic burger, with or without cheese, with the usual sides. I asked for onion rings, which are nothing gourmet but perfectly adequate here, with a flour batter coating.

Crogan's is a place you need to stick to burgers and bar food. They try, but they don't do anything really well outside of the standards. Their prices are reasonable and the service is decent, which is a big reason why as places come and go in the storefronts of Montclair Village, Crogan's is still here doing business. 

It's a family-run restaurant, similar to our fav Townhouse Grill/Emeryville, but closer and less noisy (there's no partition between Townhouse's bar and dining areas). It’s not as good, but a decent two-star place for that burger.

Nothing to write home about, except for those basics. But we'd miss them if they closed, even though we don't come here often. Carlos took a couple of friends here two years ago, who are meat 'n' potatoes people, because we couldn't get into Townhouse on short notice. They were quite happy with it, and places like Crogan's still fill a need.

One soup, one omelet, two sandwiches, one side, three beverages, with tip was $76.