Bootstrapper

Yes, I did try it and the food was very good but he needs to update his hours when he's there and when he isn't there, Google always says he's open but he never is

The food definitely makes up for the lack of appeal of the place and it being in the middle of the "Hood" of South Berkeley.My husband and I were craving some Soul Food and our favorite spot, Souls, in East Oakland was closed. We looked up this place and wanted to put what the reviews said about this place to the test. So we drove from Hayward to Berkeley to try it out.We arrived and to our dismay, they did not accept Visa, MC or ATM. In my Mr. Brown's voice, "Where they do that at?" So we had to drive to Shattack to the ATM. That and the location cost them a star.When we returned, I ordered the chicken wings, mac n cheese, yams, veggies and cornbread. My husband ordered the catfish with all of the same sides.With the first bite, I forgot all about the drive to the ATM and the place being in the middle of the "Hood". I was in pure Southern Comfort!!! All I needed was a little bit of sunshine, a porch with a sun umbrella and a glass of ice cold ice tea and lemonade!I am very loyal to my favorite places such as Souls. But in this case, I have to sneak back at least 10 more times. LOL!!!

GROUPON EXPERIENCEFirst I'd like to say I think some of the reviews on here are rather unfair. Yes, I can understand being frustrated when most of the menu is not available, but if you were to actually see the restaurant for what it is its a ONE MAN SHOW with ONE GUY doing everything. It really is too bad you were not able to try the food because you would have thought it was great, as I did. One star seems a little harsh for that in my opinion, but than again its my opinion so who cares.So my dad buys Groupons like they are going extinct so we usually have multiples of the same place, which means multiple things will expire if we do not use them. On a particular Monday both my parents took me to this place to try and use two of our Groupons. Usually with Groupons you cannot sit together and at first we were stupidly sitting separately and not doing a good job of hiding. In all I just wanted something that was like $6 and the Groupon was for $24 worth. I ended up just sharing one Groupon with my parents. We got the wings, catfish, and pork chop sandwiches. Everything was hot, flavorful, and filling. We ate everything! The ONLY thing I would say about the food is I thought the bread choice for the pork chop sandwich (just 2 regular slices of wheat bread) was too soggy.Overall though I thought the food was great. The service was slow ONLY because one guy is doing everything. I thought he was very very nice though, and even when we said we didn't want the peach cobbler after ordering it (because we were going to eat dessert somewhere else) he gave it to us anyways.I think people should try this place out more, but I also think the owner should:1. Change the sign that says breakfast on the outside to soul food or fried catfish or something that you actually sell. Breakfast is not your main thing and it shouldn't be because your fried stuff is YUM.2. Promote the good stuff like your awesome food.3. Read these reviews and address them because they DO matter. I pretty much base my choice in restaurant on Yelp and many do so keep that in mind.With that said, I am done ranting lol.

There is definitely pros and cons to this spot, but overall it was decent food and reasonably priced. Pros: -reasonable priced. i got the wing special with fries ($5.99) and added 2 pieces of fish-although it was sketchy from the outside, it felt clean inside-the older man that worked the counter was friendly and made suggestions-the fried fish, chicken and fries were good and seasoned to a T!Cons:-the business hours fluctuate. I suggest calling before you go because they are closed at random times-sketchy area and sketchy customers!-at one point during my meal, there was a conversation taking place in the restarant with 4 older men that was super loud and inappropriate. It actually made me want to hurry and finish my food so that I can leaveOverall, good food and decent price if you are in the mood for soul food. Next time i come here, I will definitely be taking my food to go.

Healthy amounts of unhealthy, yummy food. Pretty reasonably priced. A bit slow though, but worth the wait.

Came here with a Groupon, didn't even get to use it.I bought this Groupon because I wanted to try their soul food items. It's one of those restaurants I would've never stepped foot in if it wasn't for Groupon. The first time I was here, it seemed like they had ran out of everything off their menu. Keep in mind it was only 4:00 in the afternoon and my bf and I were the only customers in the restaurant. I first asked for the fried fish, they said they were out of that.I asked for the Salisbury steak, they said they were out of again. I then asked for the chicken fried steak, they said they were out of that too.So what was left? Prawns? You guessed it, they were out of it.At this point, I thought maybe I should just skip the big dishes and order sides, so I asked for chicken tenders and mac n' cheese. Big surprise, they were out.I couldn't believe it at this point. When I asked what was left on the menu for me to order, I was told "We only have hamburgers, fries, macaroni salad, and potato salad." I decided against those items because I bought the Groupon to try their SOUL FOOD items, not hamburgers and fries. If I wanted burgers and fries I would have gone elsewhere. With nothing left on the menu for us to order, we left. I wasn't sure if they were really out of those items or if they just wanted to tell me that because I told them I had a Groupon. The only good thing was that the lady at the counter was nice. Other than that, I have no other reason to go back there again.**UpdateGroupon gave me a refund. If you guys ever see Bootstrapper show up on Groupon, don't even bother. IT'S ALL SHENANIGANS!!

Great customer service, very clean, good food, specialty, flavored chicken wings. Each order has a free side of whatever you want, from a beverage, dessert, side order.

Great fried chicken this evening on my first trip to Bootstrapper. Flavorful and lightly breaded chicken. Love this little low key neighborhood place. Very friendly and a good vibe from the owner. I will definitely be back!

I was so sad a disappointment. A neighbor of mine had recommended this restaurant. I finally made it down there to try it out. I was pretty excited to see they had snapper too. I ordered 6 pieces of snapper and 6 prawns. Which came out to $30 and some change. Look how they did me y'all. They should be ashamed of themselves. The snapper was brown and dry. He fried it too much. He knew he was wrong for this. He lost what would've been a regular customer.

I have been here previously based on my cousin's recommendation and it was decent. Today I was not happy at all. I ordered. In fact I used a coupon through Yelp. Paid more to get the 3 Catfish/ 3 Wing plate. Owner didn't ask if I wanted potato salad or fries but that wasn't the issue. When I got back to the house I discovered that he gave me four wings and only two pieces of catfish. I only paid for this plate in order to eat catfish and try the wings as I saw a recommendation. Very disappointed at the bait & switch. I will not return.