Thanksgiving Buffets--Shenanigan's

My SO and I decided to go out for Thanksgiving dinner.  He was happy with any decent meal but I really wanted a buffet that had a lot of seafood (I don't eat turkey, beef, pork, potatoes, stuffing, bread, etc...makes TG pretty hard).  It was harder than I thought finding one.  I kept hoping someone would discuss places here...I never got around to posting myself.

One of the SF weekly zines had a listing of resturants with TG dinners but most were in SF (we're in Oakland) and the buffets were all outrageously expensive.  Like $50-70 dollars a head!  I went to a SF resturant website and found all the seafood resturants in the Oakland-Berkeley area.  I phoned them one by one until I found one with a TG buffet.

That places was Shenanigan's in Jack London Village in Oakland.  I thought I would give a review of it for the rest of you.  The contact info is:

Shenanigan's Restaurant
30 Jack London Sq
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 839-8333

They are a seafood resturant with a regular menu and a buffet every Sunday, TG, Mother's Day, and Father's Day.  The TG buffet was $19.95 per person; I don't know if this is the regular price.

The food was decent but not great.  Certainly much better than a chain resturant or anything like that, but not quite gourmet, though they appeared to be trying.  The selection was a lot smaller than we expected.

They had a carving station with 3 meats: beef, ham, and something else that was not a turkey (neither of us tried any of these).  They had a selection of cold foods: a very yummy whole smoked salmon that made up the majority of my meal, cocktail shrimp with the shells and legs still on, crab legs, several pasta salads, potato salad, iceburg lettuce, a bowl of good herbed cucumber slices in a vinegrette, and a couple of so-so salad dressings.

There were several hot dishes also.  Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmellows on top, stuffing (none of which we tried).  A dish made with sliced turkey in a sauce which my SO said wasn't very good.  Baked salmon which was good but dry since there was no sauce (and too much like the cold salmon, which was superior).  A really wonderful dish with fake crab meat as the base (flaked to look like pasta), with small shrimp and scallops, and a tiny bit of mushrooms, all in a light cream sauce.  A couple other meat dishes which we ignored.  Corn.  And an overcooked (but at least not canned!) dish of plain green beans and carrots.

Much to our surprise there was not any roast turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes or yams that were not mashed up, etc.  We did, however, see other diners getting plates of roast turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, so I'm guessing that was an order off the menu (TG menu no doubt).

As you entered the hot foods area, there was a small table with plastic cups of jello, in various colors.  Tacky tacky tacky...though many people took one.

There was a bread station that also held desserts.  It looked very much like a brunch set up.  We didn't try any of the breads or danishes.  The desserts were obviously from a commerical bakery (or, more likely, a box) but they were decent.

Champange and orange juice were complementary.  I assume things like coffee were too.  The water was filtered or bottled (fortunately).

The atomosphere was nice.  This was clearly not a cheap place.  We sat by the window and had a lovely view of the bay and SF.  Well it was lovely after the sun started to go down and you couldn't see the trash on the rocks right under the window anymore.  Pretty much the entire place had a nice view.  The wait staff was friendly and competent.

Disability access: the resturant is on the second floor of a huge wooden structure with staircases everywhere.  There seems to be exactly one ramp for the whole place.  One very long, steep, wooden ramp going up a story. Lots of uneven places and a couple holes.  It was not fun in the rain, let me tell you.  No elevators.

The inside of the resturant was WC accessable more or less.  The buffet area was up 3 steps from the tables though you could have WC access by going around (a very long way...not worth it).  There was thick carpet on the floors which made pushing a chair pretty hard.

The place seems reasonable for chemically sensitive people.  Completely non-smoking, even in the full-bar area (which had a big screen TV tuned to the football game, btw) (yes, I know it's the law but you'd be surprised how many places violate it).  They allow smoking right outside the open front door so I couldn't be in the waiting area.  No scents from cleaning solutions, the kitchen, staff, etc.  Some of the other patrons had heavy perfume and the closeness of the tables and the TG crowd at the buffet made this hard to avoid.  I didn't try the bathrooms.

All in all, we had a nice time.  Compared to paying $50 at other places, this place was a bargain.  I kept trying not to remember the sunday brunch at the Red Lion Hotel in San Diego though...a million times better with 5 times the selection and only $17.  Why is Thanksgiving so expensive? captive audience?

I don't know that I'd go back on my own but I wouldn't object to being taken there for a meal.  And we might find ourselves there again if we're ever stuck for Thanksgiving.

I would like to hear reviews of other buffets...anyone?

Cyndi

_______________________________________________________________________________ "There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                     Cyndi Norman something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)         [email removed]
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