Grilled Oysters
Savory "doughnuts"
Egg Custard Coffee
Rice Vermicelli Bowl with Grilled Lemongrass Beef
Fried Sesame Mochi
Fried Sesame Mochi
Oysters, with citrus kosho (citrus fruit fermented in salt and chilis) amazing.
Fried mochi
Lemon Ricotta Donuts
Lemongrass beef
Viet Iced Coffee (L) - 5 stars, Oaxaca Milliner (R) - 5 stars
Dessert!!!
Inside of a Lemon Ricotta Donut
Mushrooms and Hemp Seed Plate with Truffle Oil - 5 Stars - SO, SO GOOD
Stuffed mushrooms
Short rib
Interior of Top Hatters Kitchen and Bar in San Leandro.
Grilled oysters
Pisco sour and zeppole
Amari Cloche- Lovely! 5 Stars
More oysters
Andrew E.
Nov 21, 2024
Solid. Top Hatters is a charming spot at the edge of San Leandro. I went there with some friends and we were not disappointed. When one goes to an aesthetically pleasing farmhouse spot in the bay, it's either:A) overpriced B) pretentious as all hellC) too coldTop Hatters was neither. They were appropriately priced, very friendly, and regulated temperature very well. Service was prompt and attentive. Drinks came in just in time and not too late. Each dish had its own charm. It made the experience more like a fun, un-fussy tasting menu night. I would highly recommend the Halibut Tartare and the Braised Pork Belly. Both are escapes from your usual "Hamachi crudo" and "Pork Belly Confit" that every mid restaurant seems to have. They remind me of my home, Cebu. The flavors are very reminiscent of Visayan comfort foods. Highly recommend. It's a chill spot. You won't be disappointed.
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Jessica G.
Mar 4, 2025
Love this for San Leandro! There aren't as many nicer, dining spots in San Leandro, but Top Hatters is one of them. It's located deeper in San Leandro, almost to the Oakland border. There's plenty of street parking around. The restaurant is located on the street corner so you can't miss it.The decor is beautiful - a perfect spot for a girls night out, dinner with coworkers, or even a date night. it is a very small restaurant though, so even on what you think might be a slow weeknight, I definitely recommend you make a reservation. Double especially if you're planning to stop by on a cold/rainy evening. They have a lot of patio seating, but that's not really used when it's cold.We ordered: + rolled pork belly ($39): so good! might've been my favorite dish out of the ones we got. The pork belly had enough meat and not too much fat. Plus I don't know what salad they've got there, but I would order a whole thing of that separately if I could!+ grilled meat platter with lemongrass chicken and lemongrass short rib ($41): definitely a plate to share! I loved that there were noodles and greens to add with the meat. The meat itself was fine, but dip it in the sauce/broth to get that extra flavaa.+ fried sesame mochi ($8): Yum! It was a good (not amazing) dessert. I liked the cream with tapioca that it was served with too. Worth trying at least once!Service was good. As many mentioned, you'll order from a QR code. The staff checks in every once in awhile, but it doesn't really feel like you have a dedicated server. A lot of reviews I read ahead of time mentioned that the service was slow, but I felt like it was actually okay when I went!I'll have to come back to try their drinks!
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Wing L.
Jan 19, 2025
Service - very slow service, but the servers were friendly. It was hard to flag our waiter down the whole night. You order through the QR code which I'm not a fan of - way less personable this way and we weren't able to flag our waiter down to ask questions. It was very cold in the interior of the restaurant and we had to wait a LONG time (at least 45 mins between our appetizers and entrees) for some of our dishes with no updates from our waiter. Oysters - a good smokey flavor. Oysters were kinda small but had good flavorHalibut tartare - really delicious! I loved this dish a lot but the ending was a little sourLions mane fritters - big beefy pieces of the lions mane mushrooms and fried. You can't go wrongVeggie curry - one of my favorite dishes of the night. There's a lot of mushrooms in there which I loved. It came with bread but I also wish it came with rice bc it wasn't enough bread to soak up the curry. We ended up using the rice from our other dishes Pork belly - this was just okay to me. The non-fatty parts were a lil overcooked so it was kinda dry to me. The fatty parts were great tho and the pickled onions did a great job cutting the fattiness of the dishOxtail - this was good but I was way too full to enjoy it so I can't really remember the flavors Drinks were okay - I didn't love the ube drink I got so I ended up giving it to my bf. He enjoyed the pandan drink he got more out of the two.
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Jessica T.
Jan 13, 2025
Super cute restaurant in a very residential area of San Leandro by the freeway. The food has a Vietnamese influence. This was my third time coming here and the main dishes were substantially more disappointing than the last few times. The appetizers are amazing. You cannot go wrong with any of them, but the grilled meat entree was dry and honestly not worth the price. Otherwise, good experience, even with the QR ordering. The servers were attentive and we got all of our food and drinks quickly. We likely would come again but only order appetizers.Recommended:Savory DonutsMushroom & Hempseed PateMussels in Coconut CurryGrilled RockfishFig and Winter Fruit MostardaNot Recommended:Grilled Meat Platter
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Michelle P.
Feb 9, 2025
Great food variety. Street parking. Service was good, staff was friendly and attentive. The serving sizes were a bit small, but we ordered enough variety to get a taste of their offerings. Can't wait to go back to try more stuff.
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Karen W.
Oct 23, 2024
One of my friends made a reservation for 3 at this place as we've been wanting to try it for our birthdays. I have driven by this place at least twice a week and was wondering what it was like and we were pleasantly delighted. I had parking karma and got a spot right in front. I was the first to arrive and didn't know whether the other girls wanted to sit inside or out so the hostess suggested I wait at the bar and the bartender gave me a glass of water.The ambience inside and out is cozy and warm, so inviting and when the rest of my group arrived, we decided to sit inside. The menu is on the QR code on the table and my friend started ordering food for family style eating. We ordered the following:Tissue bread - so light and crispyFarm box - utterly delish for munching and comes with 3 kinds of sauces. I especially liked the pepita dip!Seared rice cake with lop cheung - crispy and tastyEggplant - tasty but too much of a kick for meRice vermicelli noodle bowl with grill galangal pork - the pork was tasty and tender, a compliment to the noodles and lettuceSavory donuts - moist and delishViet iced coffee - good but a bit on the sweet sidePhin drip coffee - good and strongIt took awhile for the seared rice cake to come out and by the time it did, we were full. Then we had drip coffee and iced coffee to wake us up from food coma! The presentation of the food was excellent and the flavors were tasty. We were there for nearly 3 hours, just chatting and enjoying the food and ambience. It's a good place to relax, enjoy food and company and not rush as service can be a bit slow.
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Qian O.
Feb 13, 2025
Came here for the birthday celebration, beautiful restaurant, good vibe, great service and everything taste so delicious!!
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Kelly C.
Oct 5, 2024
I work in San Leandro and love meeting colleagues and friends here for lunch or dinner. I have been a few times and have never had a bad experience. The QR code ordering is a little annoying, we had a group of 8 and had to use one QR code, but we made it work. The food has great flavor and really nice presentation, I like the Asian flare of the menu.
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Stuart B.
Dec 30, 2024
We've been wanting to try Top Hatters since moving nearby, and it didn't disappoint! The service was amazing--five stars. They were super accommodating for our birthday request, even opening up to help us when they were closed. The food was tasty, with a huge portion of pork belly that easily served five. The bacon savory donuts were great, though I'd love a dip for them next time. The grilled oysters were good, but the sauce could use more kick. The drinks were fun--tried a sweet Japanese vodka cocktail, but it was a bit too sweet. A little pricey, but definitely worth a visit, especially if you want to hang out at the bar. Highly recommend! Happy hour 4-6pm
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Angel H.
Sep 22, 2024
Came here w friends en route up to Cal game from South Bay & lower East Bay, perfect pit stop for a late lunch / holdover until after the game. Beautiful indoor and outdoor space, thoughtfully designed and trendy Asian fusion dishes meant to be shared, beautifully crafted and unique cocktails w house-made syrup and interesting range of ingredients.Mostly street parking, menu is seasonal and QR code ordering is standard. If you sit at the bar and it's not busy, the bartender can take your food and drink orders for you. There's only 1 restroom so you may have to wait for awhile if it's busy, and the lighting is quite dark in the restroom so don't expect adequate lighting for accurate makeup touchups All in all, fun spot conveniently right off the freeway that we'll visit again.
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