Like many people we’ve lived in the greater El Cerrito-Berkeley-Albany-Oakland area for a few years and spent much of our time traveling on San Pablo Avenue, yet seldom venture out to eat on San Pablo because of the endless eateries on Solano, Shattuck and in Berkeley. To be honest, San Pablo eats scare us a little unless they’ve been recommended. A restaurant on stilts? Fooderies with signage in comic sans? Obviously there are concerns.

our mission (as we chose to accept it)

There’s no doubt that the Bay Area is a culinary Mecca, yet San Pablo stands out in it’s idiosyncrasies: it doesn’t attempt to be 5-star Yelp material — it’s an Ave for the working person: sustainable eats intermixed with Vietnamese sandwiches, chain restaurants and fried things. Sprinkled among strip malls and porn shops, the eateries of San Pablo are their own culinary ecosystem, surviving not on Berkeley foodies, but people who just need to eat, and eat well. The problem is that no one has rated these places within their ecosystem. There’s no way to know which of the dozen Chinese restaurants are actually worth eating at, and that’s where this blog comes in. As a pair, we’ll take the intestinal assault for you, filtering out the detritus of un-noshable establishments and bringing forth those that truly shine above the rest.

To answer the obvious question: no, we didn’t decide to start at the northern border of El Cerrito expressly to avoid going to “Hacienda” because it scared us, although it may have played a small part. If we get through all of the establishments (more than 100, less than 150) that we’ve mapped, we may choose to venture north, or go south through Emeryville and Oakland. During the research period new eateries may open, others may close. We’ll go back and try any that move in, and would appreciate a heads up if you’re aware of any that we missed.

As with all opinion based blogs, these reviews are solely our thoughts, and do not reflect any outside opinions. We have no affiliation with any restaurants, and plan to be as impartial and objective as possible.

So you’re asking yourself: why are these people subjecting themselves to the supposed “bounty of San Pablo”? We’re ready to take one for the team. That’s right, we’re team players.

Enjoy.