Signature Cafe - San Leandro

I usually enjoy visiting this restaurant, but I've noticed that the service has declined over time. I waited about 30 to 45 minutes for water to be brought to my table after I arrived. There was no waiter to check in on us for our basic needs, like refilling our water. While online ordering may be convenient for the staff and the business, it unfortunately neglects the importance of service.

The restaurant is absolutely stunning, with a beautifully decorated outdoor terrace that offers plenty of space between tables. The menu options are impressive, and the artistic presentation of the food is exceptional. Both the dishes and drinks we tried were fantastic, and the service from the staff was top-notch!

The dining experience is unique and delicious. Overall, it’s great, but the standout dish is definitely the mushroom and hemp seed cake.

In a part of the city close to the autobahn so not what they expect, but eating was excellent and the terrace was perfect. very friendly staff. will be back soon

This was our second time at the Top Hatters and was so excited to come back, but honestly I don't know if we'll come back any time soon. We arrived a little early for our 7:30 reservation but they sat us down at 7:15 which was nice. However after ordering on the app, we sat there until 7:45 without anything on our table. I had to stop a wait staff to see what was going on with our order--we hadn't even gotten our drinks. Then the drinks came out, and then about like 15 minutes later the oxtail came out and then another 15 minutes later, the lighter fare Seared Rice Cake. We thought the order was strange and was already peeved by the service. After we finished those, we sat for another 15 minutes before anyone took our plates from us. In the meantime, there were numerous waitstaff that walked by us, but none stopped to take our plates. Then finally someone came and asked if we had ordered dessert, but we had to tell her that we actually have one last course, the seared cabbage, prior to our dessert. I should've asked them to take that off of our tab because it was another 15 minutes before it arrived. All in all, I felt like the wait staff relied too heavily on the Toast system and was not monitoring the order of the courses or the timing at all. At this price point, I'm not inclined to come back without better service. It's with a heavy heart that I write this, because I understand that there are staffing shortages and because we had such a great experience first time. However, just seeing some of the staff standing and chatting by the kitchen while we were waiting made us feel so bad. I wouldn't have left a 20% tip had I closed the tab at the end of our meal--I closed it early because I was confused that maybe our order hadn't gone in unless I closed the tab.