Oggi Restaurant & Wine Bar

This chocolate lava cake with lavender caramel sauce will knock your socks off. If you get an affogato, go for the chocolate gelato and ask for extra whipped cream. For the additional 25 cents, it’s worth the decadence.
Beautiful and attentive waitstaff, satisfying wine selection. I couldn’t seem to find something dry enough in their red and I didn’t see the Late Harvest Zinfindel, suggested as a pairing in the dessert menu, listed anywhere on the wine menu.

Nice romantic atmosphere, yet I never feel welcome.
I have been to Oggi (formerly Cioccolata Di Vino) a few times for drinks and dessert.
Booking a reservation for a large group was a huge hassle. There were lots of hidden surprise restrictions including a minimum per person and a two bottle limit on ‘free corkage’ Wednesdays (party of 15). We still ended up having a good time, but I never quite recovered from the nightmare that was planning the event.
Some of their desserts are quite good, particularly the molten lava chocolate cake and the pine nut pie, which is like a modified (possibly better?) pecan pie. Unfortunately, some of the desserts are only available on certain days, so be sure to check.
Ultimately, the biggest factor holding Oggi back is their high prices.
It is a cool concept and a unique venue in Berkeley, and I have hesitantly given it a shot a couple of times, but I have yet to leave plainly content.

Based on my first time here, I would have given this place a 4 star review. However, since its name change/​probably owner change, this place has not been as delicious. The «Dessert of Champions» was not as good because they gave us this weird balsamic gelato thing that was kind of gross. The lava cake was 20x better with vanilla gelato. The risotto pudding was lumpier than usual (according to my dining partner who was a regular here) and tasted kind of oddly sour. It was weird, and not in a good way.
However, I’ll check back when they have vanilla gelato and get the lava cake. Ask for an extra scoop of that gelato; it’s usually really good!

They definitely get bumped up a star for the live jazz. Very lovely to be able to sit and listen. Next time, however, I’d just sit at the bar (although it didn’t look all that comfortable over there).
Had an 8:30 reservation, arrived a little early, and they sat us right away. Ordered the kale chips (or whatever the fried kale is called) appetizer and when it FINALLY arrived, it was very good. But I really don’t understand why it took sooooo long to arrive. If you don’t eat meat you won’t find too many options. I eat seafood, and still, only found two entrée options — a polenta/​vegetable choice, and a salmon choice. I chose the polenta and it was okay. Not bad, not great… just okay. Hubby had the pork chop and said it was fine. The service was very friendly. All in all, just a «meh» experience — except, of course, for the jazz. I think maybe order the cheese platter and wine on jazz night, and you’ll be happy. Not a good business model for them, however. Ah well.

When I took my first bite into their chocolate lava cake, I was in heaven. The lemon tart was the best I have ever had, and when coupled with quality service, there is no question that this place deserves 5 stars (I would give it 6 if I could).
Good place to take your date.

We had dinner in Gourmet Ghetto and decided to walk down the street to have desert and glass of wine here. Desert was great! It was Friday night and they had live jazz band (Time Out Quartet), they were actually really good. So we ended up staying for 2.5h and enjoying live music.
This place has live jazz every Friday starting at 8pm. Why go to Yoshi’s and pay for a ticket to see a performance when you can just come here and relax! I still love Yoshi’s, just saying.
I give them 5 stars just for that!

If I lived here, this would be my favorite spot to lunch with friends. Quiet enough to enjoy a conversation in tastefully surroundings, with great soups and salads. Spouse and I had create-​your-​own salads; I had spinach with dried cranberries, dried apricots, herbed pecans, walnuts, goat cheese, and a pecan vinaigrette. Spouse had similar, but chose more veggies and fewer nuts. This is the coolest salad idea I have seen in ages, because the ingredient choices are awesome.
They didn’t have iced tea, but the waitress offered hot tea and two glasses of ice, which worked just as well. I appreciated her initiative.
Hope to get back sometime soon.

Just a few blocks from downtown Berkeley BART – great date venue, for sure. Really romantic evening ambiance and very cozy space, with live music sometimes.
We only had a chance to try the lava cake, which I enjoyed, though I wouldn’t say it was the best I’ve ever had, especially at $ 13 (it’s $ 7, but we also had it a la mode, with the lavender caramel sauce).
Next stop – dinner!

One of the few places I enjoy in Gourmet Ghetto area. If you’re a fan of wine and dessert, this place is a must go.
The restaurant is quite small and intimate. There are bar seats and small tables. Definitely a great date place. Entrees are mediocre, nothing truly stands out and portions are small for the price you pay. There’s not much to their dinner menu, I think I’ve only tried their pasta of the day and added a salad to be full. So I say the best thing to do is to have dinner somewhere else and save room for desserts at Cioccolata Di Vino.
Do try their famous Molten Lava Cake. It’s very rich. The warmth your tongue will get makes this a perfect dessert for the winter times. If you’re not a cake person like me, you can try their Dark Chocolate Trio. It wasn’t very bitter if that’s the only thing holding you back from enjoying dark chocolate. It’s very smooth as it slowly melts on your tongue. It somewhat reminds me of an Italian hot chocolate that was cooled down. They have a variety of wine, I can’t comment much other than that since I don’t know enough about wine.
In my two visits, I didn’t have any trouble with their service. My entire dinner would last about 1 – 2 hours from start to end and always served by a very friendly server. However, I recommended this place to a friend for Valentine’s Day dinner and he had a bad experience. According to him, he had a 2 hour wait on food, many tables were waiting like he was. Somehow, those who came after them were served before they did.

Cioccolata Di Vino in Berkeley, CA — 4 stars: Friday 8÷24÷12. Very nice Italian-​themed dessert and wine bar in Berkeley … also has limited dinner sized offerings. We came for dessert — try the torta al cioccolato liquefatto (molten lava cake); it did not disappoint. We will return to try the wine flights and more desserts at the wonderful quarter-​circle bar or available table seating. For our measure, it is not really a dinner place, but tops for lingering at as an after dinner destination. Has live jazz music after 8pm on Fridays. Not really a place for kids.

I came here for desserts one night. It’s a nice little restaurant, cozy, dimmed lighting with a candle light at every table, off white colored walls and mahogany chairs and bar top and a semi private section where dark red curtains decorates the opening of that area adds kind of an eerie mysterious feeling i came here about 8:30 at night for some desserts. Service was quick because it was pretty empty. The waitress was nice too, took her time to go over the menu with us and brought out the order quickly. This place i feel is bigger on chocolate desserts, but they also had a few other selection a non-​chocolate lover can choose from. I chose the dessert sample that came with a slice of the following: Honey ricotta tart, lemon tart, pecan tart, and chocolate cake. All topped with a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkled with powdered sugar and black berries as décor. And i ordered a side of lavender caramel sauce because that was what seems to interested me the most.
Honey ricotta tart: creamy rich taste of the ricotta with a light hint of sweetness at the back of your throat after every bite. very soft creamy filling with a thin buttery graham crust. taste most resembles a cheesecake but lighter in flavoring.
Lemon tart: definitely how a lemon tart should taste like. Tangy lemon flavored filing lightly baked golden brown top. The crust was buttery with a hint of vanilla and balanced well with the filling. Not too much crust/​filling ratio.
Pecan tart: i usually don’t like pecan tarts very well but i felt this one was made well. Not too sweet and heavy on the butter vs. brown sugar ratio. Lightly toasted and candied pecans with a hint of brown sugar mixed very well with butter made it taste more like a toffee filling. A light thin crust on the bottom.
Chocolate cake: Soft and moist chocolate cake that taste more like a soufflé. Very rich in the chocolate flavor but not too overwhelming possible because it was made with semi sweet chocolate goes very well with black coffee, espresso or a latte.
lavender caramel sauce: Sadly was a disappointment. I didn’t taste the lavender but i did taste a hint of sea salt. Went well with the pecan tart, ricotta tart and chocolate cake.

I’d recommend everyone to come here for their chocolate molten cake!
The cake was so tasty. The cake was moist and super soft. There was a right amount of gooey chocolate in the middle. If you are a chocolate fan, I’d suggest getting your own.lol.

The Dessert of Champions.
Their molten lava cake with vanilla bean gelato and lavender caramel is SO GOOD, but it is really rich and decadent. Once you dig into the cake, the warm molten lava oozes out. YUMMM. I’m definitely glad that we chose to get the gelato with it because it helped balance out the sweetness of the chocolate.

This review is only for their desserts. My roommate and his gf always comes in to get the molten lava cake to go and brings it home so I wanted to try it out.
My bf and I came in after dinner to try the molten lava cake. WOW. It is so rich! I wish we got the gelato to go with it but we wanted to also get another dessert and thought that it’d be too much since we were pretty full already. The richness of the cake could have used a little gelato.
My boyfriend got the risotto pudding but we didn’t like this as much as the lava cake. Together though, it helped with the richness.

Great place for a cheese/​nut platter and wine… you can’t really go wrong with that.
I admire the owners for investing their soul into this business, but the food was just very disappointing.
The pizza was burnt and flavorless, the beef dish with polenta was very dry.
Maybe come back for their happy hour: wine and cheese/​nut platter, but I’ll probably head somewhere else for dinner.

This is one of the few spots in Berkeley where you can get classy late-​night dessert. My friend and I came here for girl talk. Since I’m a big fan of savory risotto, I decided to try their sweet risotto pudding. It was super refreshing and sweetened by brandied figs. It is served beautifully in a martini glass and one of the more unique desserts I’ve had for awhile. We also shared the ricotta tart, which tasted like Italian cheesecake with a crust. The cornmeal crust was my favorite part — I wanted more of it! The ricotta cheese is homemade according to our waitress who checked up on us several times.
The ambiance is super intimate — dim lightning and red curtains, not the place for a rambunctious drunk. Good thing the flight of dessert wines we ordered did not make us too tipsy. They have a decent selection of champagnes and stickies as well.

We just came in for late night desserts and I must say, they have thee best cookies and gelato ever!
cookies n’ cream
1. caramel balsamic vinegar gelato, paired with a chocolate chip pecan cookie– I know it sounds odd, but it was strangely good. A mix of sweet and light sour hints.
2. vanilla gelato, paired with a chocolate chip pecan cookies– YUM! The vanilla gelato was so creamy and not overly sweet. It also had bits of vanilla bean!
3. Amaretti Classiche– These were so soft and not overly sweet with hint of almond flavor and bits of almond for texture!
4. Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie– These cookies were so soft with a slight crunch of the edges, my fav! They weren’t overly sweet either!
5. Biscotti del Giorno– I typically hate biscottis because they’re so hard and flavorless, but these biscottis are AMAZING!!! They had huge pieces of nuts and chocolate! I didn’t need to dip them in coffee!
I’m coming back for you Cioccolata Di Vino for your desserts!

We dropped by here on a Sunday and mind you this review is strictly for the dessert.
The place does have live (jazz) music on weekend during dinner.
I love that they are open late night.
A little pricey for desserts but if you do come here, do NOT leave without having the Molten lava cake! Be sure to add the scoop of Vanilla bean ice cream and you’re set!
TIP: Not big enough to split, so make the hubby get his own dessert! ;)

How I didn’t know about this place sooner is a wonder to be, just looking at their dessert menu makes me sad to think I have been missing out on it all this time I have been living in the Bay Area. Needless to say that wasted time is over.
I had three of the desserts from their fabulous dessert menu, all of which were simply to die for. The Crostata di Miele e Pignole (honey and pine nut tart) was definitely the choice for those with a big sweet tooth — a great twist on the traditional pecan tart, and with a sweetness that is distinctly from honey and not sugar, it was truly a delight! The Tortina di Ricotta, however, has to be my favourite, being a huge cheese lover. While the orange zest and overall creaminess were simply luscious, the cornmeal crust was what really put it over the edge for me! Lastly, we had the Torta al Cioccolato — the perfect dessert for a true chocolate lover. It was still warm when it arrived and perfectly «lava”-like on the inside.
At first we went with a few of the dessert wine pairings, but then moved into their ports, which were a real treat. When my friend I are were trying to decide what to try next, the waitress actually offered to bring us a taste of the options we were considering so that we could decide, great service if you ask me!
Unfortunately I have not tried their dinner menu, but definitely wouldn’t hesitate to go back for that reason, or simply to have more dessert!

This is one of those places I would come to regularly and often if it wasn’t such a drive away.
Love their flights of wine, desserts and pasta. Also love the fact that it’s dimly lit and I can choose between a dining area and lounge area to unwind. Basically, I love everything about it except that it’s in Berkeley.

Don’t over-​think this place, just get to the bar, order a dessert and pair it with a wine. Just split a glass and a dish with a friend, so that if you don’t like what you’re served, you don’t take the full hit on your wallet.
My last trip here was excellent. My date and I split the chocolate polenta cake and the recommended pairing with a glass of Madeira. Delicious — and more so with the dessert wine pairing.
Paying less than $ 20 for the experience, after tax and tip, is a reasonable price to pay for a good dessert experience.

My friend suggested to come here just for dessert and I thought it was kinda weird to go into a restaurant just for dessert without ordering an entrée but I guess it’s pretty common at this place. I was so surprised to find that when you open the menu, the entire RIGHT side was all for desserts! About ¹⁄₃ of the menu was for cookies, there was one sorbet option, one gelato option and the rest were cakes. My friend and I decided to order a chocolate almond polenta cake AND a lemon tart.
Food:
–chocolate almond polenta cake: Interesting texture because it was like a mix between a brownie and corn bread. Not too sweet and not too soft. Very chewy and chocolately. I liked it!
–lemon tart: So I’m super obsessed with lemon bars, so when I tasted this and realized it’s a lemon bar in disguise… I was jumping with JOY! I really liked this lemon tart! The crust was thin and not overpowering and the lemon filling was PERFECTLY sweet and tangy with just the right amount of lemon tart filling texture. DELICIOUS!
Service: SOO Super friendly and welcoming! The waitress gave great recommendations for the dessert items and the chef came out to say hi and check up on us to make sure the food was good for that evening! Loved it!
Ambiance: Super cute and cozy restaurant! I really liked the feel of it. It’s got this classy, upscale, laid back, romantic charm to it. Great place to bring for a date!!! *wink wink*
Price: ~$ 7 for the cake and another ~$ 7 for the tart. Really worth it!
Overall: I LOVE this place! I really wanna come back for some DINNER! If it’s anything like dessert then I’m going to have to start making this place a regular hang out joint!