La Botella Republic - Berkeley

The waitress said she did not receive my reservation even though I had my opentable confirmation. After making my party of 6 wait, she sat us at the bar which was not conducive for a party. The last wine of the Big Red flight had gone bad and they ran out of flight paper and gave most of my party their wine on top of legal pad paper.

Pre-Chez Panisse dinner on 10/10/2015. Reserved a table for a group of 8 after seeing Berkeleyside Nosh article to celebrate of reunion of sorts for various friends in town from South Orange County. The venue was intimate presented well, the drinks (2 bottles bottles of sparkling wine, a couple of IPA's, several glasses of Reisling Gervitztraminer, 3-cheeses, salami, almonds, pickles, olives were spot on as was the taste of the food, but the portions were REALLY tiny($5 for tablespoon of Olives or pickles, $5 cheese skimpy portions, etc. Need to rethink food portions; got 3X-4X larger portions of Olives at Chez Panisse for less than 2X price increase.

We made a reservation for Saturday, February 27, and upon arrival, we found the restaurant completely empty and poorly lit. We were informed that they were going out of business and had only one option for white wine and one for sparkling wine, along with a limited menu. It was clear that they were not interested in serving us, so we decided to leave.

The hosts mentioned that they really need to pay more attention to OpenTable because when we arrived, they weren't aware of our six-person reservation. Additionally, they informed us that they would be closing in a week and that only one specific red wine and one white wine were available. If I'd known this beforehand, I wouldn't have made a reservation at this restaurant.

This restaurant offers some excellent wines. However, the food is not worth the high prices. If you have a hearty appetite, you might want to skip this place.