One of my favorite spots to go on a date or for a birthday dinner. I love the mussle and fries. Also the mac n cheese is great. I really enjoy the lignting and the vibe read more

I felt like I have written several reviews for this place, but it keeps disappearing. Anyways, I really love eating here. The place is very unique and quite a perfect spot for date night. In the evenings on the weekend, there will be a DJ on the second level playing all the right tunes. I highly recommend you make reservations to eat here, otherwise, you'll have to wait to be seated. Their menu is very limited, but the food is delicious. I am a huge fan of their no cheese mac and cheese. It has a hint of white wine. Their crab cakes are delicious, but I wasn't a huge fan of the beets that it came with. I highly recommend people to order the bone marrow because it is delicious. At first I felt weirded out by it, but honestly, it was delicious. I like their burgers because its very filling and the portion is great. I was able to try the steak with my boyfriend and we loved it. I ordered a hard cider, which was great. The menu is a little pricey, but the food is great. Come here with a date or group of friends. I would come back again soon! Keep in mind that there is no actual parking lot for it and that you may have to find street parking or end up parking far. Otherwise, you can uber to this place as well. I recommend people coming to this area to give it a shot, you will like it! read more

Held a private dinner here for a colleagues retirement and I was a bit disappointed in how it went. First - they refused to seat myself and 3 colleagues when we arrived even though we had a private room and had already paid for the evening in FULL. They wanted us to wait until 10 of the 20 folks arrived. Very odd. Then - despite numerous emails - they forgot to make the vegan dishes we asked for and pretended like they had never had the conversations. 3 dishes had come out before our vegan folks even got a salad. Additionally, one guest and her partner could not make it up the stairs to our room because they area is not accessibly to folks with disabilities. I don't blame them for this but our guests decided to sit downstairs and have a drink. It became clear despite requests to help them out, that the staff would not make a plate of food for them so myself and other colleague did and brought it down. I agree that the food here is great but the service (other than our very sweet server) was really subpar. I would come here for dinner but we will take our group functions somewhere else. read more

We came here on a Sunday night. It was packed but, our host sucked. She said 30 minute wait, we waited 30 mins. Then we waited another 10 minutes. We asked her politely what was going on with our table and she apologized that she didn't have the table ready. I am punctual in all my endeavors and I am well aware of my time on someone else's clock. I just wish it was handled differently. I ordered the Blackened Tilapia, it was good. The food was good, the service could be better. read more

This used to be one of my favorite places to go. We went recently and were really disappointed. We shared several dishes and ultimately weren't happy with any of them. I used to love the burger. Will have to go back and try it. read more

Great service at the bar last night. The restaurant was packed and the bartenders were busy but still very attentive. Ribeye and cocktails were tasty. We will be back. read more

Mua is a great spot for large group dinners/drinks! I came here on a Saturday night for a friends birthday dinner with a group of 22 people. Someone made a reservation ahead of time, and we actually had a family style dinner with a set menu. The food was all good and the drinks were even better. I definitely want to come back again and try some other food on the menu. Of what I was able to try, I would recommend: FOOD - Brussel sprouts: AMAZING - Calamari: the batter they use was so good.. It didnt't even really need any sauce. - Grilled Salmon: simple but delicious DRINK - Silvia: kinda like a margarita with a spicy kick. Def try if you like mezcal or smokey drinks If I lived in Oakland, I would be here all the time. It's just an overall cute place to have dinner or even just drinks. It's dimly lit and really lively so it would be a fun Friday or Saturday night spot. read more

Came here to celebrate elaborate birthday dinner where the tapas kept flowing. Their creations are fun and flavorful, the space inside is interesting. I probably enjoyed their drinks the most - my caipirinha was exceptional. Favorite tapas? Oddly enough, the artichoke and dip. read more

This is such a fun place for dinner or happy hour. I love the space and often take friends visiting form out of town here. The food is great, especially the bone marrow! I also love the cocktails. My only tip is to get here early, as the wait can be quite long. read more

Full disclosure, I've only been here once. I went with a group of four other ladies for a girls night out. I really love the ambience of the place and it definitely has a hip vibe to it with the music and decor. Even for a Friday night the wait wasn't that long (less than 10 min) which I really did appreciate because I was hungry! Now the food... Personally when it comes to food, I do not believe less is more. Quite honestly, it felt like I was paying more for the ambiance rather than the food. The portion sizes here are quite small, especially for what you pay for, and I definitely left feeling hungry. Instead of paying over $15 for another entrée I decided just to go somewhere else and get some fries. The drinks were good though so I would definitely encourage you to go here if you are looking for a cute place to have some drinks before you head out somewhere else. read more

Just went in for drinks tonight. The dude with pigtails working the bar was great, didn't catch his name. I named him "pigtailboy". It was one of his first nights making these drinks solo at this particular place. He deserves recognition and is a great bartender based on our experience. If you get this dude, yo drinks be good. Shout out to the big unnamed guy with tails! read more

I do not like being told to leave a table so that other customers can be seated. If you knew that you needed the table, why did you seat us in the 1st place? New Oakland, I guess. read more

Best cocktails, awesome service and plenty of vegan options to choose from. Great date night :-)

This review is solely based on the drinks I ordered and the ambiance. The drink I ordered was a twist on a French 75 but more boozy. The drinks were good - you can't order them on the second floor which we tried to do.. oh well. So we went back downstairs and hung out there. It was lively and fun on a Friday night. The wait for a sit down meal was around an hour and we didn't have that much time but from the smells and the crowds coming in, it looks like a fun, hip place to be at! read more

Mua...more like meh. Food was not bad but service was crap from check-in to signing the bill. We put down a deposit for over $1000 for our party and the host starts off the night with a major attitude by giving me grief for having less than 20 people, telling me I was messing up his table coordination, turns out the entire room was just us and our final number had zero impact on his seating. Keep in mind we paid $200 extra for a specific room. Food was pretty good, nothing crazy good, service continued to suck. Asked for some more mac n' cheese appetizer seeing as there was only 12 of us and we were paying for 20...they said they would being it and it never showed. Come on... we're dropping almost $2,000 and you can't bring us some more mac? Geez. Unbelievable they would treat a potential reoccurring customer for large parties like crap. We left feeling very disappointed and with the conclusion that we are not interested in returning. Ciao, Mua. You can keep you sh#$%y attitude. Plenty of much better spots in Oakland. read more

Super easy to get reservations on a weeknight here! My friends and I do a dinner club once a month and this month was my turn to choose a place. I decided to choose Mua after hearing about it nonstop from multiple friends of mine. I inquired about the reservation on a Sunday and they were easily able to accommodate for my large party of 10 for Wednesday. This restaurant is massive! It can easily accommodate lasrge parties, which isn't always the easiest to find in a restaurant. Mua was nothing like i was expecting. It was a warehouse type restaurant with drawings on the walls. The service was great, and I loved all the small plates. We ended up only having 8 in our party and split a bunch of different dishes. My favorites were the burrata and the ahi tuna. Pretty much everything was delicious though. The vegetable ragu was not my fav. The cocktails were also really impressive. I would definitely recommend this spot! FOOD: Twice-cooked kale, Padron peppers, Brussels sprouts, No cheese mac n cheese (actually really good and tasted almost like regular mac!), Ahi Tuna Sashimi, Crispy polenta, Burrata (amazing) , Lamb cheeks (these were a table favorite... I didn't love it personally), Vegetable ragu (not the best), Mussels, Fried chicken read more

I've been coming here for a few months now and I really enjoy the food and drinks here. I've had a couple of the small plates and the burger. All of it was really good. The DJ can be somewhat hit or miss. I love that there's a bar on the loft as well as downstairs and totally love the decor. I don't love the fact that they started charging cover and they don't even have a Dance Hall Keeper Permit, nor Cabaret License. Can you honestly charge $10 to get into a restaurant? read more

LOVE IT! I really wanted to check this place out after reading about it online. I went there for my birthday this year. The inside is beautiful and cavernous, the coolest looking restaurant I think I've ever been too. The DJ was great, playing a mix of hip hop, indie rock, electronica. She was super friendly and came over to our table to chat with us for a while. A lot of people seem to be disappointed with the food and the service but I found it to be excellent both times I've been. I think you kinda get what you ask for in that dept - a lot of people come into restaurants with a chip on their shoulder and a demanding entitled attitude before anything even goes wrong. Then they precede to ruin their whole meal by nitpicking at every detail. Chill, people! We had the butternut mac'n cheese which to me was better than the real thing. The grilled shrimp and the brussell sprouts were delicious and were perfectly cooked. I loved the Shiitake Mushroom crostini with goat cheese; a perfect amount of seasoned cheese and tons of mushrooms! Also the beet salad is really good. I haven't tried any of the cocktails but I will soon. If you share small plates and don't get carried away with drinks, its actually not that expensive. So relax, approach the staff with a little positivity and have a good time! Its hard not to. read more

I loved the large space but intimate atmosphere. My drink was made just right and the food, well the food was superb. Lamb was so tender with a hint of a kick. Very yummy. read more

I caught up with Mua on a mellow Sunday night, and from some of the reviews I have read I quite possibly missed a hectic crowd by 24 hours. I was really feeling the funky, eclectic spot for its warehouse appeal and extensive booze selection. Ivo, aka the Simon Baker look alike, served me up a Cucumber Crush. The Cucumber Crush is a refreshing blend of, cucumber, cachaca, and elderflower liqueur. The prices are moderate, but I didn't get a chance to check out the bites. I will be back on a Sunday or perhaps an early evening on a weekday to check out the nibbles, but most definitely avoiding a Friday or Saturday night; me no likey the crowds. Thanks for the shots Ivo! read more

My friend ditched me and decided to move to NYC. As a going away shindig, a few of our friends decided to barhop around Oakland. Our first stop-MUA. I loved it! They even have a great restaurant downstairs. The crowd is a bit older, but the drinks are reasonable. We had fun sitting upstairs next to the bar and getting hammered while watching our friend make a fool of herself dancing. The bartenders were super nice. One was so entertained by our group that he gave us some drinks on the house! read more

Pretty cute place... In a sorta warehouse-y area and parking was a little tough to find, but the facility had a lot of seating and a lovely patio area . However it's pretty loud so it's not an easy place to have meal conversation. Pretty big menu and selection of drinks.... The burger is pretty good, and I really enjoyed their pate on crostini and their butternut squash faux Mac and cheese (very good! But the serving was small). Enjoyable but a little pricey for the serving size. read more

Cool warehouse turned lounge, bar, restaurant vibe. Interesting menu. I had the bone marrow. Good selection of beers. Chill 1990s and 2000 hip hop playing. Nice spot to have food and drinks with friends. read more

It's rustic, open, communal and the drinks are good. Great if you want to just hang out! Good for large groups or a date.

My favorite place to go to for drinks and food!! Love the atmosphere. Very chill, mature, laid back spot. Food is delicious. My fav item on the menu is the grilled salmon salad read more

Came here because there were so many happy hour choices. Note, drink menu prices and food prices very different online. Ended up spending almost $200 for 2 and we weren't that full afterwards. We mostly orders off the happy hour menu. Got the Basil gimlet, ginger cilantro pisco, taco del dia, fried blue cheese olives, and calamri. The drinks were ok, decent for happy hour menu. A little weak though. The taco del dis wasn't that great. The fried blue cheese olives I liked. Calamri was just whatever, nothing special. A drink I got off the menu was the grand or great pisco. I forget the name, but it was good. We ate at the bar, bartender was decent, but watch where you sit, could get splashed by the cocktail mixing. Efficient with bar backs pouring beers and making simple drinks. Overall, good service, but wish the drinks and happy hour food was better. read more

I had this place on my bookmarks list for some time, and just didn't have a chance to make an appearance. That all changed last Friday. The place is a little hard to locate, but the big spraypainted "MUA" (pronounced like the sound people make after a kiss, muah, sans H, not moo-ah) on the outside of their roll gate garage helps. It's right next to a bunch of car dealerships. Parking is pretty much non-existent in front without paying for it, so try your luck around the corner and walking a few blocks. The area is a little desolate but I wouldn't call it scary. Once inside, the place itself is pretty long, not wide. There's two bar sections, a bunch of tables, and a patio outside. Happy Hour runs from 3-6 on Friday, so I was able to take advantage of a few drinks on the menu (although the online version and actual version are pretty different; a lot of drinks not listed online that are in the menu at the bar). They had Scrimshaw on tap so I went with a few of those...I believe it's $4 a glass. The Bella Luna wasn't bad, albeit just a tad bit too sweet for my tastes. The bartender ended up making me a modified Gold Rush (with gin I believe) that I liked a little better. Just don't expect to get turnt (sp?) up after 2; my girlfriend and I both had a decent amount and walked out of there unscathed. He (Dave, the bartender) was pretty cool, giving me a name to drop at a Macy's (location unknown) if I wanted a good suit fitting, and regaling my girlfriend and I with some pretty fluent sounding Cantonese after we were talking about Hong Kong (he had to have lived there or at least watched Fast and Furious 6 a few times). The food is just ok; nothing really of note, although I did like the blue cheese olives. So easy, yet so good. The place gets super busy after work, so have a lot of patience or order in buik when you see someone. The barbacks even assisted in keeping things moving by pouring beers or making uncomplicated cocktails. They also show either an old movie or a sporting event on the small HDTV's above your head. The place is not cheap; the happy hour doesn't really save you a ton of money. While we did order a ton, it'd of been nice to have at least an appetizer or 1-2 drinks "bought" back for us. Especially if we're dropping, with tip, in the $200 range (I doubt anyone else did those type of numbers during the Happy Hour rush). I've lamented about this in prior posts, but it seems that is just not ever going to happen out here like it does back east. While one business did tell me it wasn't in their "business model", I attest it should be. It's just good business and will ensure repeat visits. I've yet to be back to the prior establishment simply due to that fact. I won't stop calling the whambulance on this one until someone actually hears my complaints. This place? Hmm...I guess I'd be back, but only if I'm in the area or am the guest, not the host. And I'd certainly order a lot less items. read more

This place has a great modern decor! The cocktails are awesome and the apps are great. The mushroom crostini and fried blue cheese olives were awesome! I will be coming back soon to try their dinner menu. I love small plate restaurants like this and the service was awesome! This is a very cool place and a must try if your in Oakland. read more

I found this place to be okay. Even though I did not drive, parking can be a challenge as it is in downtown and the prices even for happy hour are a little bit pricey as well. We had 8 guests and our food bill ended up being $400 with tips. Please note if you have party over 6, they will charge you 20% tips whether or not their service was good or not, but thank god their service was awesome. The people were friendly as well. I did like the spicy fries as well. I enjoyed the chicken wings even though the breast meat was a little dry. The catfish was great and awesome as well. I did not have the drinks as I gave up drinking along time ago. But yes this place does like to nickel and dime ya for sure, but the food was very good. read more

Great food and atmosphere loved the music. Pricing is reasonable. Bar tenders never left me hanging will return again when in town.

This place is special. We really liked it here. First we got to make a reservation with opentable, score. We received great service, with knowledge and suggestions, doubley score. Then the drinks and food were all delicious, triple for the win. Everything was good....water kept flowing....drinks kept a pouring....food kept coming and dessert was delicious, we recommend the bread pudding. I can't believe we took this long to come...should've come sooner, really. read more

Da Scene: 4pm Friday afternoon is the perfect time to slip in here. We settled into a couple of spots at the bar and order a round off the happy hour menu. Bartenders are friendly and getting ready for the rush - it got packed by our 2nd round. read more

I love this place. Their food and drinks are off the hook. The ambience and atmosphere is awesome for a night with friends or a date. I sat outside for happy hour and it's a little annoying that we had to go inside everytime to order stuff even when we ordered be burrata and it didn't come with bread and the food runner wouldn't give it to us. Like cmon bro, it's burrata, what am I supposed to eat it with?! I love this place, parking is always just rough . read more

One of my favorites, love the no cheese Mac n cheese, blacken catfish, wings, Thai fries you name it!!

Fun place to dine. My favorites are the cheese less Mac and cheese, the smoked trout salad, the rib eye, and the chicken wings.

I lived in the south for a number of years, but Mua had fried chicken that put anything i ever had in the south to shame. The chicken was perfectly fried, it was moist and absolute perfection. The service was great and the space if really quite cool. Everything we had was well prepared and delicious. Highly recommend. read more

LOVE!!! everything about this place is amazing. Their service, cocktails, food are amazing. The no cheese Mac & cheese tastes like good old fashioned kraft and I love it. The strawberry ginger lemonade was one of the best cocktails I've ever had. read more

Eating at Mua is like going to a club to eat without the dancing. There's even a long wait to use the bathroom just like a club! There is a $20 MINIMUM per person so if you're going there for 1 drink, think again. Ordered 4 dishes: 1) No Cheese "Mac n' Cheese": Think of it as a really expensive Mac n' Cheese. I happen to like Mac n' Cheese but it's quite steep for what you're getting. 2) Crabcakes: The crabcakes were good but the order only comes with 2 crabcakes, which makes this dish overpriced. 3) Vegetable Ragout: Amazing how expensive this dish is for what you really get. 4) Mussels: This dish was good and I liked the fries on top but like other dishes, it was expensive and the sauce was too salty. I thought the the club music was too loud, especially for a restaurant, but maybe that's the appeal to the 'hipsters.' Maybe people get the sense that it's "cool" to eat in a club atmosphere. Whatever the case may be, I didn't think the food was worth the price whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, the food wasn't bad and my review would have been a lot more positive had i thought the food was worth the price but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. read more

Quick, fast, amazing dinner. The fried chicken was my favorite along with the polenta-though it had more of a kick than expected. Didn't feel rushed. Loved the setting and oddish decor. :-) read more

One of my favorite spots to eat on planet Earth. Glad to see they've weathered the storm with the pandemic. Can't wait for things to get back to "normal" to really enjoy this place in its true fashion. From the shrimp po' boy, to the chicken Milanese, to the salmon, to fill in the blank...just a wonderful place to be. Atmosphere pre-Covid was second to none. Great for a date night or just to hang out with friends. Support this business - you definitely won't be disappointed. read more