First Church Of The Buzzard - Oakland

My first time returning after the re opening/naming of Ala Mar. I was happy to hear that Chef Nelson returned to his roots and started cooking Dominican food again something that is greatly missed in the Bay Area. That being said, I will only eat here when Chef Nelson is cooking. I have always been a great admirer and fan of his food, but the last few times I've eaten here, he was not present, and the food served in his absence was substandard. The problems ranged from over cooked, dry chicken to under cooked shrimp two of the easiest things to cook. I completely understand the need to grow your business, but not having a competent chef in place on a weekend is not a good idea. I will continue to support Chef Nelson when I can, but plan to find out who's cooking that evening before eating here again. BB

I have been to Chef Nelson's other spot, sobre mesa, before so I had high expectations and I was not disappointed at all! The food was amazing my favorites of the night were the oxtail, the half chicken, and the shrimp. The chicken dish was by far one the best chicken dishes I've had at a restaurant. The flavor was outstanding and I love the way they executed the dish. The sauce that came with the shrimp was to die for. I made sure to eat it all up! The drinks were also delicious and very strong highly recommend the puerto claro. The service was great, they were super attentive and made sure that our water was always filled. We went on a friday night and loved the energy it was super packed and everyone looked like they were really enjoying themselves. Will def come back to try more soon!

10/10 would recommend! I absolutely enjoyed my time at Alamar. Food was great, ambiance was a vibe, we loved the music and everyone was friendly! We ordered so much: the chicharron de pollo with the garlic aioli, the fried goat were such hits! We also ordered the Dominican rice and garlic noodles and they were good. The garlic noodles had like a tomato base to it so it almost was like a garlic tomato pasta but it was delicious. We loved our experience and will be back!

I don't know if they were trying more on Valentine's Day, but service was definitely on the A game from the moment we walked in the door, throughout dinner, to when we were leaving and forgot our umbrella. Our direct server was personable, but everyone else would check in on us or graciously bring us a spoon or bag as we needed. I did think it was a bit odd that the tables weren't well stocked with utensils and napkins for what seemed to be a more hands on/potentially messy line up of dishes and the stew was served with only one large spoon and no bowls for us to share. This was our first time having Dominican food, and my first time coming here since they changed from their earlier seafood concept. I was bummed that they weren't serving happy hour oysters because it was Valentine's Day (I know, way to complain about getting a table on that night hah) but glad we weren't boxed into a prix fixe. My boyfriend and I shared camarones criolla and slow roasted ribs to start, and then an excellent stew that I forget the name of. The ribs were perfectly cooked honestly falling off the bone from the moment I tried to pick them up and had a delicious and bright avocado mousse that I was initially skeptical of but ultimately impressed with. The camarones were just okay, and I would skip in favor of other, more Dominican leaning dishes in future. The stew we got was the perfect taster of all the different proteins we wanted to try but couldn't commit to: goat, chicken, oxtail, longaniza, etc. It surprisingly was not heavy and there was a great brightness from a little bit of citrus and herbs. I'm usually not a fan of rice, but we did regret not getting a side of it to spoon some of the broth onto. The drinks all sounded delicious, but were a little short/pricey for what you get. I look forward to coming back for those and other small plates on happy hour though, and better weather to bring my dog to the outdoor patio.

Alamar has been one of my favorite restaurants in Oakland but I haven 't been back for a while so I didn 't know about the change from seafood boil to Dominican. Love the new menu! My go to Happy Hour oysters is still on the menu (very good deal) and the swivel fries as well (excellent). We tried the fried goat appetizer and were blown away by how tender and juicy it was! The best part is that some of the pieces were a bit fatty too, which I love! The oxtail stew is amazing too. Our server was very attentive and came back twice to ask if we 'd want to order anything else from the Happy Hour menu before the time passed. Overall very pleasantly surprised by the new alamar! One thing to note is that the default tip is 25 (as opposed to 18 , 20 , 25 as you would see in other places). Of course, there 's the option to choose 20 if you want.