Being Menlo Park residents, and with a Groupon in hand,  we decided on the "Hub" for dinner at 6:30 last evening .  Walking in from the back parking lot (easy parking),  our first thought was: "Where is everyone? " Just one table was occupied.  Perhaps the new restaurant brings back some not-so-good memories of Oak City Diner and Wild Hare for some  ....  disappointments of past visits to this El Camino location across from Keppler's Books and next to the ever famous Applewood Pizzeria  ...  perhaps what's missing here is some GRAND OPENING BANNERS outside,  something to focus attention on this new restaurant which does serve some very good food in a casual and woody setting with plenty of character. Â
First of all,  the Iceberg Salad Wedge (served in two pieces) was THE BEST I've ever had in any high quality restaurant  ... came with avocado slices, cherry tomatoes,  plenty of crisp bacon and tasty ranch dressing  ....  large enough for Two at a reasonable six dollars  ....  10 dollar size should "fit" 2 or more easily.
Mary loved her Short Ribs,  mashed potatoes with spinach  ....  very tasty .... while I opted for the Chicken Diane in Cognac Sauce with an assortment of perfectly roasted veggies,  which were absolutely the best ever,  even including brussel sprouts.
Yes,  the menu (as others have written here) is not overly large,  but for someone dining out once a week (and a wife who's a gourmet cook) this meant that the selections are prepared with extra care  .... and it shows in the quality of the food.   Will have the shrimp casserole dish the next visit.   Prices are $20 on average  ... quite reasonable.  Service was perfect throughout.
I will make a Happy Hour visit soon and perhaps "catch" a sporting event (or two) on one of several flat panel TV's at the bar with some friends. Â Seating is also available with a clear view of the open kitchen. Â THIS RESTAURANT DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION. Â Â (people need to know that plenty of parking exists in the lot behind the restaurant) Â GO VISIT MENLO HUB Â ... Â the food is way too good for this restaurant to fade away as did the others who occupied the space before it.
Jerry
We had a Groupon $20/40 and went over on a Sat night about 7. Restaurant was uncrowded and we were seated quickly. Shared an iceberg salad. We both ordered the special of the evening, lamb shank. Food came quickly. Everything was tasty and reasonably priced. Portion size was large. We brought our own wine which added a $15 corkage to the bill. The ceilings are very high and the air conditioning was inadequate to keep the place cool on a hot day. The overall ambiance is a bit odd with the sports bar adjacent to the relatively small dining area. Noise level was no problem, Â though I imagine if the bar was crowded, the place would be quite noisy.
Review Source:The restaurant has a very good appearance when you arrive, do not have no one to greet you after all, one waitress appears and says that if u can sit anywhere strange is that a place such a nice  place and so empty for 6pm on a Friday. I order a gorgonzola and pears pizza, it was horrible, the worst pizza I ever had. No cheese and cramb of gorgonzolla. I will  never return to  that place and doesn't have a good administration. and when you try to complain, they try to proved the opposit.
Review Source:Okay, so tonight I had a few hours to kill before a meeting. Â I walked around MP to find some place interesting for dinner. Â I decided to eat at Menlo Hub. Â Now, as a bachelor I eat out by myself a lot. Â When I walked into Menlo Hub there was nobody to greet me.
Finally a waiter approached me and thought I wanted to eat at the bar. Â I told him I wanted a table. Â He said that I could choose where I wanted to sit. Â Okay, that is cool!
The dinner menu is small and there are no specials.  As an appetizer, I ordered the calamari.  It was a good dish and the calamari were tender.  For my main entrée I wanted to try the pepperoni pizza.  The pizza was good.
My problem with this Menlo Hub is that it looks like a warehouse.  Very little décor, cheesy music, way too many TVs for my taste.  Is this a sports bar or a restaurant/jazz
lounge? Â I get mixed signals.
The service is just okay. Â I wanted to take home the remaining slices of pizzas. Â The waiter took forever to get it boxed. Â The check arrived and I paid for my dinner. Â Totally forgot about the pizza slices. Â
This is an odd place. Â There should be more people eating here then there were tonight. Â I would be interested in hearing about your experiences at Menlo Hub.
Food was average, service was inconsistent, and the place was empty. They are obviously there to cater to college students, as they cancelled their live music until September. One good note: their Mango Mojito was delish! Parking is weird, we had to walk two blocks from our spot, the streets are poorly lit, and the area is not the greatest. No plans to return.
Review Source:Went there for a business lunch.
I had the Burger. It was over-cooked and under-seasoned. The lettuce was iceberg and made the burger difficult to eat with the bun sliding ever which-way. The cheese was extra sharp and grainy.
The salad that accompanied the burger was decent and not over-dressed.
The Arnold Palmers are good.
3.5 stars
Sit at the bar! Large TVs and plenty of bar seats. Very spacious with ample seating. I like sitting at the bar in general so the bar area suited us just fine. We ordered a margarita pizza and a couple of beers and relaxed. My only complaint is that the pizza was a little burnt (but I like that) which made the cheese super hard. Not a traditional margarita pizza but it hit the spot nonetheless. Highly recommend if you want something chill and casual. Waitstaff and manager are super friendly and attentive.
We had a big group in the private dining room on a Tuesday evening a few weeks ago. Â It was a great venue for mingling and then sitting down to dinner. Â The owner made us feel very welcome, and the food was delicious. Â Ambiance was nice and parking was easy. Â All around great experience.
Review Source:The only reason I'm not giving this place 4 stars is for the pricey-ness of the drinks. Â We came around closing time just to get a couple of drinks. Â It wasn't very crowded at that time which was nice. Â Nice bar with a good array of various alcohols. Â 1 crown and 1 cran/vodka was over 20 bucks though. Â To me that's damn expensive. Â On the plus side, the drinks were good...and strong. Â The bathrooms were clean. Â I would return again for an "end of the night" drink. Â Kind of pricey for more than one or 2 drinks, but it is Menlo Park and not a Redwood City/San Carlos dive.
Review Source:Fancy shmancy dining. I came here last night to watch my Ethnics professor Rudy Ramirez play as a part of "Vivi Bossa". Excellent music - Chilean folklore/Boleros. Unforunately it was more of a background music thing versus the main attraction of the night.They played beautifully, but all the talking made it difficult to enjoy from the back.
For my dish I ordered the Chilled Cauliflour salad ($10?). Small portion of mixed greens, cauliflour, baby tomato, olives and olive oil. The presentation was very nice. Service was a little slow this night, but not surprising considering it was a Friday night. I ordered a Mojito Cubano cocktail ($10) that was also good.
For dessert I shared a blood orange gelato (2 scoops). Very nice presentation as well with powdered sugar and mint leaf. Decor and space was very nice. They have a private party room in the back which seems ideal for a special occassion dinner. Convenient private parking for Menlo Hub patrons in the back. They also take reservations, but don't bother leaving messages - just keep calling until someone answers otherwise you'll be out of luck!
Craving a hamburger, but not fast food or at a diner, a friend recommended Menlo Hub. Â After reading the limited and varying reviews, we decided to try it. Â Made reservations via OpenTable since it was Saturday evening, upon arrival we were seated quickly. Â Our waiter was very friendly; however, he may have had too many tables to attend to so was a bit inattentive. Â We didn't mind the slow pace as we weren't in a hurry and were rather entertained by the live music, but it was a bit difficult to get anyone's attention when it was time to order dessert. Â Hamburger was average for a restaurant, nothing special but nothing worth returning for. Â If you're in the area it's a nice neighborhood restaurant, but I wouldn't travel out of the way to dine here.
Review Source:Menlo Hub is the most enjoyable restaurant in Menlo Park. The fun and friendly staff are always so welcoming. I especially enjoy the live music happening every Friday and Saturday evening.  As a local resident I love meeting friends after work for happy hour at Menlo Hub, more frequently lately after the beautiful remodel job. We often stay for dinner too. The salmon dish is my favorite entrée on the menu. It is a casual, classy place in downtown Menlo Park that I highly recommend checking out.
Review Source:I really like the lunch deal here and overall location for me its great. Burgers and good sandwiches for $8 is the best deal in the area. I love the large screen TVs for sports and the open ambiance of the Hub is really nice. Excellent service and good quality food with nice drinks is a find, and you won't find a better deal in this area.
Review Source:This was a nice place to rediscover. Â I hadn't been here since it was Oak City. Â I met a friend for drinks one Saturday night. Â We found they had an early bird 3 course meal special and decided to make it dinner. Â Wonderful salmon dinner that was quite the bargain! Â Good cocktails, but they were woefully understaffed at the bar. Â 1 person for a Saturday night crowd. Â While it was dead when we got there at 5:45p by 6:30 or 7 it was packed. Â One drink was all we could get. Â After waiting for 25 minutes for our 2nd we decided to cancel the order and move on. Â Still I will definitely return and try out their happy hour and see if they're staffed better. Â Maybe this was an anomaly. Â And, I would try out the Early Bird special again, if time permitted going early.
Review Source:3.5 stars.
This is a great place (er, the only place?) in Menlo Park to grab a drink, have some nibbles and just relax and hang out. Â They have fun cocktails (that unfortunately sound better than they taste) and the food is decent. Â The big plus is the environment - it's very warm, open and relaxing.
I absolutely love coming here! Loved it when it was Oak City but now I enjoy it even more! The food is always amazing and the appetizers never disappoint. I love to sit at the bar and talk to everyone that works here. I always enjoy having Amy make me a yummy drink or recommend something awesome to try. I love how everyone here makes you feel like family! I highly highly recommend coming here and enjoying the live music and some good food and even better atmosphere!
Review Source:Mehmet  was wonderful in helping plan a holiday lunch for 17 people.  We had starters to share, a great 3 course meal option for people to choose from (soup or salad, entree, and dessert) and wine!  We had a nice private back dining area.  The food was delicious and excellent service!
Review Source:This is the place you want to be if you want to enjoy your night after work... Just relax, have a good beer or a B&B at happy hour, great appetizers easily the best value in town, new TV sets, great art work, really good social atmosphare... The stuff is very kind, you feel welcome, it's kind of a Cheers type bar with pleasant live music and special events. My favorite food is the beet salad for lunch; delicious and guiltfree... Well, just give it a try, you won't regret it...
Review Source:This place was Oak City, and now it's Menlo Pub. Not much has changed except for some menu items & the name. The best time to come if you're trying to watch your budget is happy hour, they've got decent drinks at reasonable prices, and their food menu offerings for that selected time frame won't disappoint, either. Personally, it strikes me as a place for a more "sophisticated" (read: older) crowd, but that's no reason to avoid a venue, right? Parking's usually pretty easy to find right behind them, too.
Bottom Line: Among the better offerings in Menlo Park, if you're stuck on where to go this might be the spot you'd choose for your venture.
Stopped here for drinks on Friday night, (easy parking, and on the way to dinner.)
The bartender was obviously a bit inexperienced, (he had to keep checking the drink menu to see what ingredients were in each drink.) He was pleasant though, and his drinks were fairly good.
After having a bad meal here when it was under different ownership, we're hesitant to try it again. Although, the food coming out looked better than we were there, and I noticed prices have gone down as well
A very cool spot. Â Exceptional music of all kinds almost every day in the evenings, folks, blues, jazz, rock, and latin. Â Food is great and interesting menu. Â Good beer on draft. Â Smily welcome and good service by all including bartenders, management, and owner.
I only wish they play reggae music,, but I do appreciate their good selective and local music and laxed atmosphere.
Not great. Not bad. OK environment. OK food.
We have a party of 7 and made reservation. We were greeted promptly and were seated at the table that was set for us. Unfortunately, it took them quite a bit of time before they took our order for drinks, and took even longer before they took our order for food (like about 20 mins after we had our drinks). Also we were never properly introduced to our server, so we weren't even sure who our server was. The service IS friendly and courteous, but it's just a bit slow.
My husband got a vodka tonic, and he said it was rather weak. For food, I ordered the Wild Canadian Salmon, and my husband ordered the Prawn Scampi. The food didn't take too long to come so that was good. The quality of the food is OK.. not bad at all but not great. My dish seemed to be a bit heavy on oil and so was my husband's dish. The flavor was good, and the portion reasonable. Our friend's lobster tail salad looked absolutely fabulous, and she liked it.
People are nice there, and the atmosphere is alright. There was live music and that was ok... at least the music wasn't too loud. We sat around for quite a while after we finished our meal and the wait staff was courteous and didn't give us any "get out of here" look. So that's a great thing. Â
In summary: won't deliberately come here again, but won't mind it if our friends decide to gather here for anther gathering. Good enough.
Wanted to find something to do at night in Menlo Park. Â We ended up here, and got dessert and listened to some music.
Decent looking bar selection. Â The ambiance and set-up is such that you can definitely come in here to chill and have a cocktail. Â Since BBC is gone, it is good to have somewhere to go! Â Our desserts were AMAZING! Â I had the poached pear, and my partner had the chocolate lava cake. Â The lava cake was much more lava than cake, but super delicious. Â The poached pear was painfully good... now I want one...
The live music was pretty good. Â Not quite my taste, but nice to have somewhere in MP with live music! Â I'll be interested to see if people ever end up dancing to anything danceable. Â
Will definitely come back!
Great menu, staff, and easy to find location. One of the best places to catch happy hour in Menlo Park. Â Brick oven baked pepperoni pizzas for only five dollars during happy hour best deal in town!!
Visit Amy and Chad at the full bar accompanied by several 40+ inch TV's with your favorite Bay Area teams! Â Happy hour I believe is 4-7pm Mon - Friday.
Really tasty food and drinks. Â Live music loud and soft depending on the event. Â Does get busy so if you have a large party definitely recommend making reservations. Â Most importantly enjoy!!!
this place has gone through a few transitions and now it is on the up and up. they have live music a few nights a week, and a great happy hour and bar. they have redone their menu and the food is really good along with great drinks. the bar is the place to be from what i can see. the bartenders are very friendly and always make me and friends feel at home, plus they make a mean drink. it is a great place to watch a game, with new tables, tvs and menu in the bar. 8 beers on tap, and a cocktail menu, love this place!!!
Review Source:I think I might have been here a long time ago when they had a different name. Had a really nice dinner here last night with some friends from the office.
This place is like it's out of a Harry Potter book. The entrance is 1 small door in-between 2 other stores and you expect it to be a tiny dive bar but it opens up into this huge space with cathedral ceilings. It is a nice semi-casual bar/restaurant. I really liked how they had paintings of local artists everywhere. All the appetizers were good. The NY strip was very good as well. I don't remember the last time this happened but I was too full for dessert. I think it was because of all the glasses of Guinness that I had.
I would give this place 1 star but the food and drinks (well what was served to us) were very good.
We went here on 9/17 for our 8 year anniversary dinner, really excited to try their food as we saw the incredible reviews and their yummy menu. We went to the bar first to have a little happy hour before we decided to sit down. We ordered a margarita, lemon drop, the chefs special mussels and calamari - all were very tasty. Although, it was a little frustrating that our drinks came with our food - not that they weren't ready but the waitress was to busy to serve them (that should have been a huge red flag not to stay - but we gave them the benefit of the doubt). It took almost 15 minutes to pay because we couldn't get the waitress's attention, so we had to flag down the hostess.
The hostess sat us down and gave us menus and we were really excited because they were going to have a live band that night and we had front row seats. After 10 minutes we were starving and I kept trying to flag someone down....another 10 minutes later I managed to flag a runner down...and I said no one has been here can we please order...and she muttered something and walked away! We waited another 5 minutes because the food was really good but at that point it was too much and we walked out.
I was in the restaurant business for 7 years before I became a recruiter and I was a hostess, waitress, bartender and shift supervisor and NEVER in my life have I ever seen a more disorganized restaurant. The reason they were so busy was that they had two parties of 20, a bar filled with about 5/6 people and two other table and ONE waitress! Whoever scheduled that night has obviously no experience in a busy restaurant. In addition to the waitress, there was one hostess, one manager, one runner and one bartender for a restaurant that can obviously fit close to 150 people. It was so bad that while we waited and waited to have our order taken a cute old couple came in and waited for almost 10 minutes to be seated  and then proceeded to the bar for the bartender to seat them! If it weren't for the great bartender and great chef's this place would be a complete zero!
When we were leaving I went to the hostess and said "are you the manager" and she said "oh no, that's my brother", and I said well you know we were waiting for 25 minutes and no one ever came to take our order and I was excited to try your food, I know your busy but that is no excuse! She said I'm sorry I hope you come back! WTF why would I want to come back and I said "I doubt it" and walked out.
We then walked to Bistro Vida around the corner and had an AWESOME MEAL!! I will be writing a review about them.
Don't waste your time with Menlo Hub - disorganized/inexperienced manager = hellish experience
Not too shabby! I've been here four times since it opened. First Experience: It was late on a Fri night and the place seemed dead. I hear they had music, but I guess not. I also came in right before their kitchen closed so I didn't eat, but the bartender was nice enough to give me a couple of cookies. Second Experience: I organized an afterwork party for some co-workers on a Wednesday night. Everything was fine, but our waitress sucked!!! I ordered one thing, but got another. Which is fine, I'm not picky, but I explained what I thought I had ordered and she must have got offended because she tried too hard to explain why she was right. If fact, we were both wrong. Regardless, I was just ordering something to contribute to the table.....I didn't care that I got the wrong thing. However, multiple times she came up with the menu saying, "This is what you should have said/ordered". Lady, people don't like to be told they are wrong from a waitress.....especially when they are trying to enjoy an evening with their co-workers and boss. Going up to me repeatedly to re-confirm a dead subject is annoying, irritating, and a waste of time. I admire your willingness to correct the poorly placed order on my part....which you should have noticed in the first place, but that's beside the point. I offer you this advice, "The customer is always right.....while the customer is there". I messed up, no mamme, no need to correct the order, I am fine. DONE! Leave it at that!!! Once I leave, you can then have to common decency to talk-shit behind my back.....because I'm not there. I was a server once, I know how these things work. Oh, and why did it take 20-minutes to get our bill? Where the hell did you go? Third Experience: Came here because a co-worker had her birthday lunch here. The place was dead. I expected it to be a bit busier. The food was ok, my burger bun was pretty soggy from the grease though. Service was good, but one thing....Half of our food came out and then we waited 5-minutes before the rest of us got our food. Not a major complaint, just odd. Fourth Experience: Was walking over to the Oasis and I heard the music coming from the Hub so I thought I would save myself the long walk. I stopped in and had a beer and listened to the music. The bar staff was friendly and the music was pretty good. The crowd was an older one.....Menlo Park needs some places that for a younger crowd and ones that don't close down at 10pm.....that wasn't a compliant on the Hub......just MP in general.
Review Source:4 stars for late night Mac and cheese, calamari, good wine selection, and great decor.
Came here on a Saturday night after a wedding reception down the block. Mac and cheese hit the spot! Calamari was good. They carry Kim Crawford Sauvignon blanc which is my absolute favorite.
On our way out, the host was kind enough to call a cab for us. Although he couldn't get through to the cab service, A for effort.
If I lived in the area, I'd definitely go back.
This is a great change for sometimes tired MP - Â the live music is always great and its' a fun place to hang out after work. Love what they have done to the bar.
The menu has had a face lift and I have tried all of the appetizers - which are wonderful, esp the prawns!
We held our wedding rehearsal dinner here and we couldn't have been happier with the food or the service. The staff is excellent and the service was great. I see some reviews about slow service but you probably should give them another shot- let them work out the kinks people :) They have only recently launched as the "Hub".
Mehmet gave us a great price per head on dinner (we had 40+ people). We had a choice of the braised short ribs - which were spectacular, a beautiful fish option and chicken. The salads were fresh and they have an amazing wine list that has been redone. They even brought my hubby to be a beautiful desert for his birthday which was the night before. Everyone raved about the food and the ambiance. We are really happy with our decision to host the dinner here.
When we finally headed out of the back room, the place was rockin' on a Friday night. The cocktails kept flowing and the party continued. They always have really good music on the weekends.
Looks like a great place to catch a game as they have added some cool bar seating and flat screens. Lot's of great snacks to share and a really nice price fix menu for $18 from 4-6 that we will def be in to try soon!
I don't think it's going to take long until word gets out that this is the new hip spot in town!
Oak CIty Bar and Grill is transitioning to Menlo Hub. One of the partners bought out the other and is reconcepting. You can still see the old OCBG menu but there's specials that are showcasing the new fare. Got the NY Steak with potatoes and green beans, the BBQ pork ribs, Calamari with spicy peppers, and prawns with feta. Flavors were fairly solid. Service is friendly though sometimes a bit too attentive. I think it might be best to wait for the full transition to happen in a month and then try the Menlo Hub as it is meant to be. 3.75 stars
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