It is very much like the SF Izzy’s. Good food at modest prices (for beef), friendly service.
Shrimp cocktail and an iceberg wedge with blue cheese and bacon were both solid.
The only bone-in steak was a relatively expensive rib-eye special, so I got prime rib instead. I ordered rare because I figured that would come medium-rare, and so it did. One of my companions ordered medium-rare and got medium. This is so standard for mainstream American restaurants that I won’t ding them any points. Tasty beef, properly seasoned.
Creamed spinach excellent as at the original. Carrot and broccoli both nicely cooked. Fries were excellent, crunchy crust and creamy center.
A Washington state Merlot was tasty enough and a good value at $9 glass / $36 bottle. Personally I’d like to see a tasty Bordeaux or two on there.
It’s nice to have an actual steak house in the East Bay. I like Alfred’s better, but it’s more expensive and a schlep to SF.
I saw a Groupon deal and decided we should make a visit. (Only good for Oakland location.) We really enjoyed our dinner, and it was a great deal, too. 1 starter, 2 mains, and one dessert. Anything from the printed menu. (An off-menu rib eye was $11 extra should you choose.)
Starter - Mussels. A huge platter of perfectly cooked mussels arrived. This would have been a nice dinner for one.
Main 1 - my Steak au poivre, medium rare, with steamed broccoli and Izzy Potatoes (scalloped w/gouda). Steak was quite tasty, done to barely medium rare (RL, I think they heard you). Potatoes were good, broccoli done perfectly.
Main 2 - Prime Rib, medium rare, with fries and Caesar salad. Meat was on the rarer side of medium rare and tasty. I tasted a fry (decent) and didn’t sample the salad.
Dessert - some passably fine chocolate mousse-type cake.
Wine - a modest bottle of Malbec at barely 2x the retail price.
General notes:
A solid place. Comfortable setting, with no “traditional steak house stuffiness.” Server was great. Prices are extremely fair for the product they’re putting out, both quality and portion. Convenient location. The bar area looks like a nice place to have a bite if dining alone.
We were so full that we went home with about 1/3 of each of our meat portions, so the rare side of medium rare was perfect for when I sliced it up and put it over home-fry type potatoes and under eggs the next day for lunch.