“You just can’t beat sushi and a show at Yoshi’s.” –opentable.com
Dining When my partner Anita and I go to Yoshi’s in Oakland by Jack London Square for dinner followed by a concert, the evening has three separate phases, each a pleasure in itself. The first pleasure is dinner in the restaurant, which has been serving finely prepared Japanese dishes since its founding in1972. Along with entrees, genmai rice, and salad, we order shichimi brussel sprouts with cauliflower puree if available. Brussels to die for!
The restaurant is on the pricey side; figure about $50 per person without drinks. Dishes on the menu are easily shared. menu Dining at Yoshi’s instead of elsewhere does have advantages: the wait staff assigns seats to the show for ticket holders and handles validated parking, and most important menu of all, the food is delicious.
Live Music The second pleasure is live music at Yoshi’s 310 seat club, which is located next to the bar that separates it from the restaurant. Long a renowned venue for jazz musicians, it now includes other music besides jazz. At Yoshi’s we have seen soul and R&B performers (Booker T. Jones, Dr. John, Rick Estrin, and Tower of Power), folk (Judy Collins), and of course jazz (Ann Hampton Callaway, Larry Coryell, Joey DeFrancesco, and Gerald Albright).
Ticket prices at Yoshi’s are inexpensive and seats are close to the stage—all of the performances shown above cost between $25 and $50 per ticket. How often have you heard that? More typical is paying three times the amount with excessive “convenience charges” in order to sit in the top row of a third deck.
How close is the audience to the stage at Yosh’s? Because the venue is small, all seats are way closer than the norm. At the Booker T. Jones show we attended, we were extra close; in fact, we sat in the front row where the bass player’s six eyelet wingtip boots were at arm’s reach.
A criticism of Yoshi’s is the club’s cramped seating. Four people share a small cocktail table and by necessity sit close together. Because of the smallness of the tables, eating dinner in the club while possible isn’t very practical. The tight seating does have a positive aspect; the pre-show conversations we have had with table mates have been amiable and informative.
Yoshi’s is hassle-free compared to shows at Shoreline Amphitheatre, Concord Pavilion, stadiums, and indoor arenas. Parking in the structure next door is easy and close, and the traffic generated by 310 concert goers is nothing compared to, say, 40,000 attendees of Dead & Company at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Nightcap And the third pleasure of the evening? Across the street from Yoshi’s is a Ben & Jerry’s. A cup of Coconut Seven Layer Bar or Cherry Garcia ice cream is the perfect nightcap.
For more information about Yoshi’s including hours, location, venue information, and the upcoming calendar of performers see https://yoshis.com/