Elevation LVK - Livermore, California

K S.

I recently visited Elevation LVK yesterday 1/25 after hearing so many great things about it and decided to give it a try with a group of ladies. Initially, I had planned for a larger party of 12 but unfortunately, not everyone was able to show up. We ended up being a smaller group of five, which was still fine.

Service
The gentleman in the gray sweater who took our orders and brought our drinks was overall very sweet, friendly, and helpful. I don’t want to take that away from him, he really tried to make the experience pleasant. However, one thing I would recommend he work on is the strong cigarette smell on him. It was clear he had recently smoked, and no effort was made to mask the odor before returning to work. This was a bit off-putting and impacted the ambiance, but his attitude and service were otherwise great.
The young lady at the bar was also very friendly, although we didn’t interact with her much. When I first walked in, she greeted me warmly and showed me to our table, which I appreciated. She even took a photo for us, after i asked which was a thoughtful gesture. I have no complaints about her. she was cool and professional.

I will also add that the staff needs to be more proactive, I did have to flag them down a few times. The one in the gray sweater and the girl at the bar were looking at something on their phones at the bar, engaging with each other a lot.

The guy that brought our food out was cool too.

Food
Now, let’s talk about the food. For weeks, I had been eyeing the green beans on the menu. I had looked at the menu online in advance and thought, "Yes, the green beans I’m definitely getting that." So, when I got there, I ordered them, and they came out looking all nice and appetizing. But I was so disappointed when I took that first bite. I even shared them with a few of the ladies I was with, and they all agreed that they were awful.

What made them so disappointing was the fact that the batter had absolutely no flavor. These are deep-fried green beans, so the batter should at least have some seasoning or taste to it, but this one had none. To make things worse, they came with a dip that was just as unappealing, definitely not a good pairing with the green beans. It felt like no thought went into the seasoning or the sauce.

To salvage them, I had to ask for salt, as there were no salt or pepper shakers on the table (only utensils). Once I got the salt, I added a generous amount and ended up dipping the green beans in ketchup (which came with my fries) because the provided sauce was simply inedible.

As for the fries, they had potential to be good, but they were overcooked to the point of being extremely hard. I couldn’t enjoy them at all and ended up leaving more than half of them on the plate because they were too hard to eat. This was frustrating and felt like a waste of money. Whoever the cook was in the kitchen needs to work on not overcooking the fries.

After trying the green beans and the fries, I regretted not ordering the LVK burger or the Caesar salad instead. Three of the ladies in my group ordered the LVK burger (with an egg, I believe), and they thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the ladies ordered what I think was the Caesar salad with blackened chicken, and she said it was delicious. Based on their reactions, it seems like those options were much better choices, and I’ll definitely keep that in mind if I return.

Overall Impression
I’m going to give Elevation LVK one more try before forming a final opinion. Perhaps I need to come on a different day, where there might be different servers, or even at a different time of day. Maybe I’ll have a better experience with another cook or even a repeat visit with improved consistency. As mentioned, I’ve heard great things about this restaurant, and it seems to have the potential to be a solid dining spot. The area is nice, and the setup inside and outside looks appealing. I want to see if they can live up to their reputation, so I’m willing to give them one more shot before making a final decision.

I'll update this once I do.

Aleida L.

I was disappointed with the service. We had to flag down a waiter to get a menu and order. Then my order was wrong - not that I had substituted anything - they just gave me the wrong fish. The waiter made it right. The fish was dry though. We were charged the wrong price for my husbands salad - we were charged an extra $3 which would have been fine if he had ordered extra avocado which he did not. I loved the alcohol free Fly Me To Maui. The menu was limited. There were no side dishes that I could substitute for carbohydrate because I would have ordered a side salad and an appetizer. The scallops appetizer was to die for. The band East Bay Grooveline was fantastic. I also liked the aviation related names of the drinks! Very clever. Great outdoor patio too. I saw a lot of people ordering paella so it must be good.

Shweta S.

What a beautiful location! Had a great dinner here. Lovely music, planes taking off and great food - what else could one ask for?
We had the scallops, pan seared halibut and Chateaubriand Bouquetiere. Would recommend all 3 dishes. Loved their cocktails too esp the hard landing

Sarah B.

Great food and entertainment. Watched the Blue Bottle Band on a Friday night and loved it! The halibut, artichoke dip and gin martini was outstanding!

Great place for food, music and watching small craft airplanes land and take off.

Yesenia O.

Smooth ambiance and music. I really enjoyed the live music. The service, they were kind but they were rushing a bit, like they had made a lot of reservations and needed people to get in and out in a timely manner. They even brought us the main course while we were starting to eat the appetizer so it got cold really quickly and did not get to enjoy it as much. The food was good, not great. I liked the pasta dish more than the filet mignon and lobster. The server told us that she didn't even have time to tell the kitchen the temperature we wanted the filet mignon to be cooked. Lastly the lobster had too much sauce and it overpowered the lobster's delicate taste. For the plate being $65 I expected much more from it.

Amanda B.

Came in for lunch around 1:45 P.M. A man greeted us at the door and asked how many in our party. We said two and he said great, sit wherever you’d like. There were only about three tables with customers. We asked if we could sit outside and were told, of course. We chose a table outside and were never spoken to again. No menus, water, nothing. When I went into the bar area to ask about the menu the bartender was so rude to me I was left in an actual state of shock. He said, “well did you check in with anyone because I didn’t even know you were out there”. I explained that I checked in with the man at the door and he said “really, who was that, because I was not told anything” to which I said him and pointed to the only other person working there. He then stated again “well no one told me you were there, I’ll be with you in minute”. At that point we left the restaurant and as we were walking out the bartender was talking to the man who checked us in and throwing up his hands and making all sorts of gestures. Needless to say, we will never be coming back. AWFUL, RUDE SERVICE.

Laura R.

Such a gem near the Livermore airport! Delicious food with lovely presentation. See the photos!

I love that they have live music. We saw WithHarmony there. Beautiful singing/playing.

And I love a good cocktail! Flavorful and fun! I had the Ice Man, a color changing lemon drop, and my friend had non-alcoholic Fly Me to Maui. We will definitely be back. This is our 3rd time here.

Karey W.

Wow…. First and last time here. Terrible experience. I’m not sure why it shocks me how rude people are for absolutely zero reason.
Two tables in here at 1:45pm on Saturday. The two of us made three tables. We waited at the door and were greeted by a man. He told us to sit wherever we like. I asked if outside was okay and he said yes. We proceeded outside-only one table out there. After waiting and waiting and another table came (another two top-makes four tables) and they received menus and water. We still didn’t have any of this. Finally I went to see if we missed something. The man behind the bar asked if he could help me. I say to him I’m looking for water and menus. We have been here for a while and didn’t have these things. He begins speaking to me in such a manner I was in complete shock. He accused us of not speaking to anyone to not letting anyone know we were there etc. I informed him they do know we are there we DID check in etc. I am so sure we would do something like that when there is a sign PLAIN AS DAY saying to wait. I went out and told my spouse what transpired and we immediately left. We came here today for a specific life event, something very important. This was how we were treated. I am literally one of the nicest people you will run into especially in a restaurant-I’ve done all this work for years myself so I go out of my way to be understanding-to be spoken to like this from this random man was just absolutely wild.

P.S. Even though we checked in and were told to sit I want to add- we walked right by this dude to go outside. He brought food out to the other table and saw us then too. We were the only people in there like us so maybe that was the issue.