New restaurant says ‘hello’ to Oakland

Eat’n Park has a new dining option to offer Oakland residents — and it’s happy to see you.

Hello Bistro, owned by Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, recently opened on Forbes Avenue, and features an extensive menu fit for the university student.

The restaurant is well-decorated and its bright seating area affords diners a pleasant atmosphere. The open dining space is complemented by a set of windows that provide the room with natural lighting to accompany the simplistic decor.

Inside the restaurant, guests pick up menus on their way to the counter where they order and purchase their meals. After paying, each customer receives a small sign displaying a number that servers use to locate patrons while delivering their orders. Meals come out of the kitchen on silver trays similar to cafeteria-style lunches.

But the food is nothing like your average cafeteria cuisine. Hello Bistro features an array of burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and side dishes in addition to its fully stocked salad bar. Whether diners are seeking juicy burgers or healthier options, there are a variety of selections available on Hello Bistro’s satisfying menu.

Hello Bistro’s menu is centered around an extensive salad bar completely filled with a comprehensive selection of ingredients that customers can choose to include in their salads. The restaurant offers three different types of lettuce, an excess of toppings as well as meat, fish and tofu options (for an extra $2) to add on to the build-your-own salads.

The salads all cost the same amount, and toppings are unlimited. Customers can build their salads to fit their appetites and they have a sufficient set of options from which to select.

Hello Bistro also offers pre-designed salads for customers who don’t want to create their own. The “Salads By Us” section of the menu provides seven options for those intimidated by the large selection of toppings at the salad bar station.

For those uninterested in greens, the list of burgers on the menu contains many different options and even offers a veggie burger. The American Grill Burger, a classic patty on Italian bread, is covered with American cheese, grilled onions, grilled peppers and mushrooms. Served with “ample patriotism” and a little mustard, this burger is an unlikely twist on the all-American favorite.

The American Grill Burger tastes delicious, with the perfect amount of flavor, blending a few vegetables and meat together to form an unusually pleasant taste. The Italian bread offers a nice variation from the normal bun, and it makes the burger more reminiscent of a sandwich.

But for all of its taste, the burger was lacking in substance. For a burger, the portion size was unexpectedly small, even smaller than the veggie burger. French fries do not accompany the burgers, as they do in most restaurants, but must be purchased for an extra $2. Though this isn’t an unreasonable amount for the sizable portion of fries, it’s still less inviting to order them separately.

What Hello Bistro loses in portion sizes it gains back in ambiance. The restaurant is pleasing with its open, clean atmosphere, and the Boylan soda fountain provides the bistro with an old-time feel that is frequently lost in Oakland. Cream soda and red birch beer made with real cane sugar have a place next to regular cola in the vintage soda machine.

In Oakland, Hello Bistro is a great place for students to go for a quick meal that strays from the fast-food options in the area, and its nontraditional atmosphere makes it quaintly collegiate.