Old Brooklyn Cafe & Bakery

Good location in Uptown Oakland with a pretty extensive breakfast/​lunch menu including bagels, omelettes, soups, sandwiches, and even burgers. I like that their choices for breakfast meat includes corned beef! Old Brooklyn café has very acceptable but not amazing bagels — slightly chewy but still missing the Wow factor of a real New York bagel, despite their name. I also don’t really like their seating options very much. There are a few small tables which fill up quickly, but more larger ones where you end up sharing with strangers. This always feels slightly awkward to me.

I can’t believe I haven’t rated this Restaurant/​café yet! I’ve been here numerous times, and honestly, they have really nice people working there. Their services are very friendly and it never fails to surprise me how consistent they are at it. I love going to this location!
What also drives me here, is the juice! They have freshly-​squeezed orange juice and carrot juice for pete’s sake! I’m glad I live so close to a café that sells them.
Their bagels are fresh and heavenly! Sandwiches are on point, and comes with mixed greens. I don’t have much to say for the Canadian bacon Benedict, but I love the florentine Benedict!
I would definitely recommend their perfect bagels and juices! This is a great spot to study or to catch up with your peers! The only drawback is that they close at 5pm. :(
Wifi: check!
Coffee:check!
Freshly-​squeezed juices?: double check!
Service: triple check!!!

I stopped in today to grab a quick bite and discovered the best bagels in the Bay Area. If I lived nearby, I’d be there every weekend! Great service too. I’ll be trekking back from SF to stock up for my next brunch party.

Old Brooklyn is a casual type of breakfast place. You order at the counter and they then bring it to you.
Prices are right, and the menu’s full of bagels, breakfast platters and more. Coffee’s not too bitter, and the bagels are fresh.

I went two days in a row this week for their Montclair. It’s one of the best breakfast bagels I’ve had. Perfect ratio of bagel, egg, cheese, and bacon.

A group of former bankers found this establishment met their desire to meet for lunch with a sufficiently quiet environment for them to talk.
It is only about two blocks from BART, which allowed them to get together from the 4 winds. There is some limited seating, and they were accommodated with a reservation.
Please note that that food is served at the counter; so there is no need to pay a tip. Sandwiches were reasonably priced, and reportedly were most tasty. One of the former bankers, who now works nearby, says that he often stops by for a take-​out sandwich.

I liked the service and it looked clean when you walk in. The noise level was low because there were only 5 people there. I sat by the window looking out at Grand Avenue. I definitely like to people watch. I didn’t like the fact you had to get a code to use the bathroom. I admit it is my little quirk, it just irritated me I had to go back to the register to get the passcode.
This place is a little pricey. Starbucks is definitely cheaper which isn’t saying much. With that said, I looked forward to drinking my hot chocolate and eating my blueberry bagel. I wasn’t impressed. The food was fine, not the best bagel I’ve had but it was warm and buttery. The blueberry bagel tasted like rye bread. Odd ik/​:)
The hot chocolate was a disappointment. I’m not sure who their supplier is, but the taste is bittersweet. I didn’t dislike it, but I would not order a hot chocolate there again. The whipped cream was quite tasty.
They do have Wi-​Fi but you have to ask for the passcode at the register also. All in all, I had an okay experience. I’m going to try a different coffee shop the next time I’m in that area.

YUMMY! This place has held me down for breakfast multiple times. It’s super accessible and I’ve been able to walk on over and get a Temescal Bagel + Coffee to have as my first meal of the day. Love it — and they have clean bathrooms too!

Pretty good salads as that’s all I’ve tried thus far. The Little Syria and Kale salads are a good size at $ 8-​$ 9 each, extra $ 3 or so if you want grilled chicken. It hasn’t been too crowded or overly busy the two times I’ve been by during lunchtime and the wait isn’t too long. Go around the corner for a special sandwich and you’ll see a line!

I eat here at least once a week and keep forgetting to check in. I love all of their bagels here but I usually end up with the Works on a sesame bagels. Nova Lox, with cream cheese, capers, tomatoes and red onions. Some days I do only the nova lox and the cream cheese. But the bagels are so good here.
Best place I have found in Cali so far for a good boiled bagel and nice fresh salmon. Also, their cream cheese is especially good.
I would also recommend their hot vanilla lattes. The place is a little pricey though. A works bagel and a large latte runs me $ 14.

I love coming to Old Brooklyn Café to start off my week. I work in Oakland only on Mondays so first thing I do in the morning is stop by Old Brooklyn for a coffee and a «the works» on a spinach asiago bagel. The workers are so nice and so accommodating to my blind coworkers. The prices aren’t bad either! My bagel is always toasty and crispy with just the right amount of ingredients that I have to work for my food but I am also not making a huge mess on my desk. I love the nova lox with the tomatoes, my favorite!
I also love how they’re on the corner. I never park, so I can’t say much about the parking there. But I love how you can sit there and watch cars and people go by, right in the middle of a busy intersection.

So I’ve been meaning to come here since I saw they were opening. I mean any place with a New York borough name in it has to know what they’re doing yes? Well not with the bagels unfortunately. I read a review on here from someone that was from NY and he raved about how good the bagels were. I’m born and raised in the Bronx and as soon as I picked this bagel up I knew I was in for it not being anything like back home. It was small, it wasn’t airy and honestly tasted just like any other bagel I’ve eaten here on the west coast. So in closing, one star for the service which was really friendly and one star for being open early on a Sunday in this part of Oakland. I decided to order the Route 66 roast beef sammich to go after eating the bagel. It didn’t make up for the bagel so the two stars remain. There’s more lettuce on it than roast beef. I took out most of the lettuce from one half. The roast beef was dry and horse radish? (Listed in the ingredients), I tasted nothing but mayo. It comes with a side salad and a pickle but I couldn’t take another bite of the pickle. This is nothing like NY food so if you’re from there you will probably experience the same as I. Guess I won’t be returning.

I’ve been searching far and wide for real bagels and a proper lox combo. The search is over. The closest I’ve gotten to real NYC on the West coast.
Keep it up!

So yah. I remember when this place was under construction. Very interested in what was going to be. It’s a disappointment especially considering the location. Great location but the food and coffee is not good, at all.
We ordered the Brooklyn Benedict and the Eggs Benedict. Both were not good. The egg yolks were hard. The Salmon and Ham was ok, nothing special. The potatoes were unevenly cooked. The hollaindaise sauce was subpar as well. I REALLY wanted to like it.
We also had the iced coffee and the latte. Not that great. I want them to succeed because of the great location but the food was bad and I don’t really say that too often.
One other thing I noticed was that out of all the tables there, only 2 (ours included) had people eating. The rest of the place was fu of squatters. I counted at least 6 people walk in, order food to eat there and could not find a table. This isn’t the fault of the café but just wanted to warn people to look for empty seats before saying «for here».
I won’t be returning unfortunately.
Please look at my pics.

This place is good. A very nice selection on menu items, breakfast bagels and breads. The place was very clean and the service was on point. There are delicious looking items baked right on the premises like cookies that I unfortunately failed to get a copy of– but let me not ruin the surprise — when you get there you’ll here me say «I told you so!!»

Yesterday I visited Old Brooklyn Café with my honey for an Easter brunch and it was ok.
The location was easy to find, literally on the corner of Grand and Broadway. We found a park easily, but I can imagine on a weekday it’s tough to find a park. We first entered the café there were a few people eating, but that place wasn’t super crowded. The noisy level was really low which was a little creepy at 230.
Once we approached the counter to look at the menu, the host let us know he could help us as soon as we figured out what we wanted. Here you have to go to the counter and they’ll bring your food to your table once it’s ready.
The Challah french toast was the bomb! It came a la carte, but it was more than enough food!

I went in there because I was craving a sandwich and the line at Ike’s was obnoxious. So maybe I set myself up for failure. Either way if you are going to charge $ 11 for a sandwich being so close to Ike’s you better believe moderate/​mediocre won’t cut it. And I don’t even love Ike’s.
I had the Santa Fe sandwich which was very solid. The chicken was a little bland but nothing the chipotle spread couldn’t fix. Also had a very good coconut muffin. I had never tasted a coconut muffin before but now I am a fan. So yay for that. Also the service was fast, and friendly. But at the end of the day I cannot get over the price. I can understand this place aims to be more than a sandwich shop, but I still think I overpaid for what I ate (except the muffin that was totally worth it).
I like the space because it is big and airy, with lots of potential. But I also think the place needs some personality. When you walk in it feels generic. I don’t think generic cuts it in uptown Oakland anymore. I really hope this place gets it together. I’ll definitely go again to taste the pastries and bagels of course, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a fan of the sandwiches.

Tastier bagels than Russ & Daughters (Lower East Side, NYC)?
Wanna know what I got? Check it out: (
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Say it ain’t so? Better believe it, unless I was extremely unlucky that day to have gotten the bottom of the bag.
All this place missing is première cream cheeses topped with caviar and a variety of smoked salmon. You can have a even greater business potential, just keep pushing forward with the detailed customer service and prompt orders.
Cheers! 3.5 raised to 4 as preliminary rating. Will re-​visit and try other items before providing final rating.

Old Brooklyn Café & Bakery has a diverse menu: burgers, bagels. coffee, brunch, breakgast, sammies. didn’t puruse the whole menu. burgers pricey @10. passed.
brew: american’s best (m.2.25?)
–med. roast coffee tasted harsh
eats: everything/​garlic bagel (1.35?)
–crunchy texture outside, mushy soft insides
not so flavor distinctive
–didn’t see pricing on menu.
crumbs:
–quick service, prelunch…

It’s wide, roomy and definitely not crowded (bc it’s new).
Came here because Farley’s was SUPER crowded.
Not bad! Lots of food and drink options and it was satisfactory.
I’ll definitely try it out again — good place to work I think.
The décor *is* a little strange. Like, it’s a café, I think, but then there’s diner-​style settings (ketchup+tabasco+pepper)