Louie Bertola’s

Oh Wow! Its CLOSED! I never could imagine this would happ– oh yea, I did… Finally! The last time I went there I found hair on my pasta, I wanted to run down stairs to that basement kitchen and scream but I was afraid that I might of found the beavers cooking the awful food. LOL

CLOSED.
There’s also a sign in the window announcing the near future opening of the «Monkey Creek» Brewpub. There’s also signs of considerable construction activity going on.
I have always liked Louie Bertola’s. It was old Italian Martinez and for the money those family meals were a nice value. I’ve been here for lunch, dinner and the bowling league parties. It was good comfort food, albeit undistinguished at times. They made me feel like family, which is a service model that a lot of busy and/​or self indulgent folks don’t have time for anymore.

Hallelujah! The dump is closed!!!

Poor Louie — This is the type of place that gets mashed on Unilocal because it doesn’t conform to Denny’s standards of food these days
I love this palce, and have only been once or twice, but its an excellent place for a group. Their soup is awesome and the rest of the food was killer too.
Sure, is there going to be some teenager that checks on you every 15 minutes? No — but its good old fashioned comfort food that doesnt try to turn your table around as fast as possible, they let you sit back and relax and enjoy your meal.

The last time we ate here was about six months ago. It was truly revolting and I am not that fussy about food. The place was FILTHY, dead bugs on the windows and sills. The serving dishes were bent like they had been run over by a car. The waitress was not friendly. I truly can’t understand how it stayed in business as long as it did. Hope the new replacement place is better, it would almost have to be.

Great food for super cheap.
Not fancy, the menu is a paper place mat, there are only about 8 items on the menu, but the food is super yummy.
Plus, at less than $ 10 per plate, that includes salad and soup, how can you complain about anything?

I’m not a huge fan of Bertola’s, but for the price, I gotta give ‘em 3 stars.
We’ve been here a couple of times, and the price for a dinner can’t be beat. I had the Calamari Steak last week and, while it wasn’t great, it certainly was edible. Dinner started with a hearty Minestrone soup, a salad, some bread, and my calamari steak, which came with some pasta. The cost? $ 11.95. You seriously can’t beat that considering you’ll spend more than that at a fast food joint.
If you like to indulge in drinks, this is so the place for you. A double will set you back 3 bucks, I think, or some insanely low price like that.
Basically, come for the booze, eat some food so as not to get too drunk, and you’ll have a grand ol’ time.

I am disappointed reading these negative reviews. Don’t get me wrong, I understand how people might be unpleasantly surprised by the place. It’s not what you’d expect of a modern restaurant. My intention in writing this review is so people thinking about dining here will know what to expect when they walk in.
I am a Bertola’s veteran. I used to eat at the Oakland location regularly as a child. I’ve now eaten at the Martinez location maybe 20 times. With that said, I offer this review:
Louie Bertola’s is as close as you’ll get to a time machine. You can visualize this place as an eating establishment for turn of the century Italian and Portuguese fishermen, whose descendants are still the frequent customers of today.
When you walk up the stairs to the second story of the Victorian style house, you’ll catch yourself looking back at the sign to ensure you’re not walking into someones house. After you pass the signage in front, the only clue you’ll see that’s it’s a restaurant in the menu chalk board often laying on it’s side near the entrance door. Upon entry, you’ll notice the dining room is spartan. There is a 15 ft bar on the right, and about a dozen square and rectangle tables on the left. The menus are paper place mats already set out in front of the chairs. In keeping with the minimalist theme, there are only 6 or 7 options (listed in other reviews) to choose from, and be forewarned that they frown on substitutions.
I’ve always had good service here, although it’s not exactly good service by typical restaurant standards. The woman who takes your order is much more like your Aunt Alice than a professional waiter. Like your Aunt Alice, she will sometimes be in a «mood». If you are friendly and treat her well, she will respond in kind.
The bar is spartan also. You’ll see a dozen bottles of «booze» lined on the shelves behind. Jack Daniels and Stoli are top shelf here. Don’t think you’ll get away with ordering a Singapore Sling or any other nonsense that a blue collar iron worker wouldn’t order. Do not be shocked if you spot an intoxicated local drinking his lunch on a stool.
The food is good. Yes the Prime rib has some gristle. The Minestrone soup is more like a stew than a soup, but nothing hits the spot better on a cold, foggy, Martinez day by the waterfront. Aunt Alice will set the soup and salad down in front of you in battered stainless steel mixing bowls with a ladle and tongs. The glasses the drinks come in are either Large throw back Coca Cola glasses, or high ball glasses.
Usually, all the menu items are equally good. Note that I said good, not great. There will be nothing spectacular about the meal, but it’s an honest, satisfying meal at a very, very low cost. It’s home cooking, not Italian Restorante cuisine.
Don’t go in here blind. This place has little in common with any place in downtown Walnut Creek. Do not go in here for birthdays, special occasions, or to impress out of town guests. Do go in here if you’re hungry for home cooking and the other things I’ve mentioned don’t scare you. It’s an honest meal in a quirky establishment.

I was amazed at the negative reviews; if you’re a food snob this isn’t the place for you; go over to the city and spend $ 100+ a plate already!
Bertola’s doesn’t claim to be a 5 star restaurant and for those of you who rate it along that criteria; shame on you!
For the price, atmosphere, service and food I rate it high, been coming here for years and will continue to do so.

LOUIE BERTOLA HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!
I really don’t write these too often, but in some cases it is necessary. To write an honest review I have to give you a little Bertola’s history. I used to eat at the original Louie Bertola’s location in Oakland when I was a kid with my family. Let me tell you, the food was good, the environment was pleasing and the service was excellent. There was a real pride to the establishment and the food was honest home-​style italian, made fresh. Boy how times have changed.
At a glance it seemed like I was turning back the pages of time walking up to the Martinez Bertola’s location. Walking up the steps seemed like you were heading into grandma’s house for some serious home-​style italian cooking. But thats were everything turned for the worst and I could see good ol’ Louie rolling in his grave.
If you are expecting any italian feel to this restaurant, let me express, you are badly mistaken. The restaurant décor feels like Louie Bertola moved out and you are about to sit at a sterile run-​down hospital cafeteria. It is very erie how empty the place is. It is as if they are selling away the restaurant to keep the power from being turned off. I mean everything down to the xeroxed menu had no sense of italian heritage or pride.
Now we have come to the most important part of this review… the food. I ordered the «Pasta Dinner» and my friend ordered the «Prime Rib or Steak» (those are the actual names on the menu). The soup and salad came out first and I was moments away from finding out if anything about this restaurant resembled the great childhood memories of Bertola’s of the past. As you might have guessed the presentation and the taste of the soup and salad matched the décor of the restaurant, very bland with no italian feeling whatsoever. The salad reminded me of a Fresh Express bagged salad topped with a overly zesty processed dressing, and the minestrone soup was like a bland, purred mess, that was served in a beat up tin bowl similar to what you would serve to a stray dog. The service was friendly but had an overall feeling of uncertainty. I felt as if our waitress was unsure if any other customers would ever fill the tables. Next our main dishes arrived. My Pasta Dinner was very interesting, the flavor of the Pasta noodles overpowered the meat sauce. No Kidding! It was like they put a ladle of the pasta water over the noodles and served it up to me. My friends meal was just as bland, a rib-​eye steak, with no seasoning to it whatsoever. Our waitress asked him «A-​1?» as she was handing it over to him hinting your gonna need this. I guess all good things must come to an end at some point.
I did indeed leave the restaurant full and was light on the pocket book. However I swear I recall even Jr. High cafeteria food being better then this. This would be a lovely restaurant to feature on next seasons Kitchen Nightmares. Ramsay would have his work cut in for him with this place. A little bit of TLC and italian pride could if fact turn this place around and give Martinez a really amazing restaurant. Louis Bertola… we miss you. Get well soon.
UPDATE*** Who said anything about Crystal? Arn’t we reviewing Louie Bertolas? If your thinking fine dining you may want to read some reviews of Chez Panisse What it comes down to is good Italian food, and this place misses by a long shot, which explains why our server told us business has declined in a big way. In the end the food never lies. Cheap or Expensive alike.

If I give Olive Garden 2 stars there is no way I could give this place more than that either.
I really don’t even know what to make of this place. Its very cute from the outside. The restaurant is situated in an old house, kind of built at the tail end of the Victorian Era.
The place seemed closed but there was one couple eating and 4 people sitting at the bar. Two of which were our waiter and our bartender.
The menu is sparse and not what I was expecting. I wasn’t to hungry so I thought I would just get a salad but every meal comes with Bread, Minestrone Soup, and a Salad.
We also ordered a round of Cosmo’s. They don’t have Martini glasses so they came in little cups for regular mixed drinks. They also didn’t know how to make a Side Car.
The Bread was probably the best part of the entire meal. It was even good 2 days latter when I ate it with breakfast.
The Minestrone Soup was terrible. This is going to be gross but it looked like minestrone vomit. But I’m sure vomit may have more flavor.
When I think of Iceberg lettuce I think of cold, crisp, lettuce. Some how they served us with hot, hot iceberg lettuce with oil on it. It was so bad. My husband said it was because the plates were hot out of the dishwasher. It was so disgusting.
I then ordered regular Spaghetti & Meat Sauce. My husband got the Calamari Steak.
His came with a side of Kale and Parmesan & Pesto Spaghetti noodles. The food was fine middle of the road food.
My actual favorite part was me eating my husbands Kale. For all the Unilocalers who complained about the greens in their reviews they don’t know good greens when they see them.
The bread and greens were my two favorite parts. Oh, and the Cosmos were very good.
If I ever do decide to come back, it will be to only sit at the bar and have a few drinks. Food, I could live my entire life with out eating there again.

I was scanning stories and came across the reviews for Bertola’s. One review back in February caught my attention. Bertola’s has always had their menu printed on their placemats, not photocopies placed in plastic sheet protectors. The minestrone soup, not chicken noodle is served up in aluminum bowls with warm bread. The antipasta salad (torn iceberg lettuce, sliced tomato, black olive and salami) comes with an oil and vinegar dressing, I’ve never asked for anything differently and the kale is the standard veggie side, must have been what was meant about the bottom section of celery.
Personally I love Bertola’s Itailan pot roast, I generally opt for extra kale in lieu of the pasta, which is tossed with olive oil or red sauce.
If you’re looking for white linen and fine china then Bertola’s ain’t your kind’ve place. The people who regularly patronize Bertola’s know they are going to get a good meal at a fair price and the owners, Dan and Mike, are great guys.

Simply the scariest meal experience of my entire life. While I’m all for cheap eats, I also expect an edible meal. We had chosen this restaurant for a birthday dinner for my husband based on the recommendations seen on other sites, as well as a few on here. We could not be more disappointed.
I’m a big fan of home-​style cooking, quaint and non-​fancy style, but this was over the top. Menus were photocopied sheets of paper put in slip covers. The meal choices were few, but we figured we’d give it a shot anyway. Everyone at our table ordered the «prime rib». (if you could call the grissly thing put on our table after the rest of the trainwreck of a meal «prime» anything.)
The meal started with the server bringing a family style bowl (aluminum like the type used in the kitchen, and dented so much that it would not sit straight on the table… it literally wobbled around) and soup in a similar bowl. Salad consisted of what appeared to be one of those 1.99 bagged salads dumped into the bowl with nothing other than a side of ranch dressing. Soup had carrots, celery, what looked like noodles from canned chicken noodle soup, and the celery stock base, yes the bottom section of the celery… you know the part you cut off and throw away… Yes, that was in the bowl and dished out to my father in law!
Everything on the menu was served with spaghetti noodles with what could only be ragu sauce on the top. So the prime rib was served with over-​cooked veggies (mush) and a mound of over-​cooked spaghetti noodles and ragu looking spaghetti sauce. The dinnerware was very low quality, the plates looked like they came from a well-​used cafeteria, greying and scratched.
Don’t get me started on the filthiness of the place on the inside, we could smell the carpet after sitting for a few.
I could go on for hours, but I think you get the picture… absolutely atrocious… terrible, and such a shame because the building has so much potential… we thought maybe not to judge the book by it’s cover (the inside cover) but next time, we’ll run. FAST. Sorry Louie, wherever you are… but whomever did this to your name, well… it’s a shame.

Been here twice the food is eh. I had the calamari which was pretty good. The pasta was over cooked and bland. The bread was nice, I love whipped butter. The salad was mostly chopped heart which i hate and the dressing was a heavy oil. My Coke has crushed ice which is always a plus. Did see a beaver on the way out, very cool. All in all there are a lot of better places to eat near by even at the very reasonable prices here.

«You get what you pay for».
I definitely should have read the reviews on Unilocal before going to this place. The food was very very simple and incredibly cheap. However, it’s not as bad as some of the reviews say.
Our server was very attentive and did an outstanding job. He took very good care of us throughout our meal. We were a party of eight, so that’s never an easy task.
The food however, wasn’t up to my standards. I almost never touch the salt shaker when I go out to eat, but I had to add salt to my food. The minestrone was very bland, the pasta was very bland, and there was no seasoning on the prime rib. I should have ordered something else.
A couple of us had the calamari steak and that looked pretty good. And a couple of us had the italian pot roast and that looked pretty good as well.
If you go here, it’s for the drinks and the history, I guess. It was fun to visit an old Victorian house that’s been converted into a restaurant. This place is good to get a very bland and cheap meal. If that’s what you’re interested in, you’ve found the right place. If you have a more discerning and sophisticated palate, then I would find somewhere else to eat.

I was so excited to find Louis’s Bertolas in Martinez because I was raised going to the original farther south in the East Bay. That and Banchero’s were constants in my childhood.
I should have stayed with the memories. Louis, please close this restuarant (aka house of terror) and retire to a fast food senior assist home asap before your whole family roles over in it’s grave and you kill a patron.
The lighting was so bright inside I thought about putting on sun glasses to stop from seeing all the dirt on the carpets. It acutally made McDonalds seem romantic.
The drinks were rediculously small from the bar.
They were out of wanna be calimari steak which they said was the fault of their supplier. We never got the tarter sauce we asked for to go with the Tilapia. The waiter shouldn’t have gotten more than a $ 1 tip but it is the holiday season.
The prime rib the next table ordered looked more like boiled liver that had been through a Viet Nam bombing run and then coated with gravy. It actually made us sick to see it.
The amazing thing is the constant flow of people coming and going to eat here or for take out. We’ve decided, 1– Martinez folks are so broke they come here because of the low prices regardless that the food is total garbage. 2– They are so influenced by take out fast food places, they don’t know what real food should look and taste like. 3– They are all related to the Bertolas and are trying to help support a dead business. 4-​There are no decent restuarants in the Martinez area and gas is too expensive to travel to one. 5– Bertolas is actually a charity house for Louis. 6-​They don’t understand or believe the saying «You get what you pay for».
If I never see or think of Bertola’s again, it will be too soon. If you are in Martinez and hungary, run over an animal and eat the road kill. It’s really that bad. Don’t go here for any reason except a reason to call in sick to work the next day…

I had such a crazy experience here one time! Let me pan it out for you…
My sister was in from North Carolina with her Fiancée. I live in Burlingame, my Uncle lives locally. This is one of his favorite restaurants. When we got here I quickly noted how the establishment looked more like a house on a creek with beavers outside.
When we were seated, there were only two other people inside, one of which was a larger man who was having drinks. The waiter brought our menus. I believe there were 3 – 4 items to choose from for each course. Ok. Not too much of a variety. I looked over at my sister, who has gone to culinary school, she looked disappointed.
As the night progressed, the man who I was looking at (larger man drinking) decided to order some food. LOL. While doing this, might I remind you that we were having some what of a family diner, the man was cursing at the waiter like a dirty sailor! We had gotten our food about 15 minutes after we had ordered (our salads). The man I was facing toward had gotten his too. He proceeded to scarf down the salad and yelled at the waiter «bring my fu***** soup, asshole!» The man’s soup came quickly. He tasted the soup. «What is this shit?» The waiter came back over and questioned the man. Whats wrong with the soup, asked the waiter. Is it too cold? The man began babbling at the waiter in such a rude fashion. The waiter told the man that he would bring him another drink for the unsatisfactory soup.
The man had drunk his drink. His main course had come, the Prime Rib. WELL, this is where it got really bad… He calls the waiter over and starts threatening to kick his ass!!! I really had to hold myself back from laughing out loud! I looked over at my sister and her fiancée, they too were grinning. I couldn’t believe what was going on! This was all very unbelievable! Well, at this point the waiter is sitting down with the man trying to calm his nerve. He’s very drunk and starting to stutter. Finally the man finishes, gets up and stumbles out after paying and calling the waiter a POS.
Crazy. Back to the food. All in all, I gave this place 1 star for the theatrical production that had gone on. I will not be coming back for the crummy food, but rather to take pictures of the beaver dam and getting another good laugh out of the situation.

If you like your Italian food greasy, flavorless, and covered in rancid salad oil this is your place. If you have taste buds, however, I’d say a better bet would be pizza hut. A few friends of mine had been raving about this place and one actual treated me to this tragedy of a meal.
From the outside, it’s a quaint looking Victorian, but when our group of three arrived it took them a good half hour to seat us and they didn’t even offer us a place to sit inside too keep warm while we waited. Quite off-​putting as it was a more-​than-​brisk evening. After our invigorating wait we were led to the dimly lit, under-​filled, cafeteria-​style dining room. This room really was filled with the fold out tables and uncomfortable plastic chairs of a high school caf and most of said uncomfortable plastic chairs were empty, leaving me to contemplate our wait. Once were seated I noticed the filthy floor and grungy table tops stylishly decorated with that evenings latest used napkins and flecks of food.
My at first robust appetite was faltering when I tasted the watery, lukewarm minestrone soup served with verging on stale pieces of sesame seed encrusted baguette. Next came the sad, limp excuse for a salad served with vinegar and what appeared to be old frying oil. I ordered a calamari steak which was decently cooked, but horribly greasy and it was served with a side of oily noodles with little chunks of what could have been garlic or parmesan cheese from little packets gleaned from the garbage of the pizza shop down the road.
Surprisingly the one redeeming factor was the chard, it was delectable and I even ate my friend’s since he doesn’t eat anything that’s green. I could eat a pound of that stuff.
Overall the place is dirty, the food is nasty, and the service is depressing. My advice if you must go is ONLY EAT THE CHARD.

I don’t understand the local fixation with this place. When I eat at a restaurant and leave feeling like I could have cooked a better meal, something is amiss — I’m a pretty bad cook. The location is cool (although a little scruffy inside), nothing wrong with the service (save for a 30 min. long wait for my party of 3 to be seated), but my meal there was one of the worst I’ve had in years. I ordered the fried eggplant dinner. The eggplant was tasteless, which is almost understandable since eggplant is bland, but it had no type of sauce or seasoning to compensate with. The noodles stand out in my memory as particularly bad since it seemed like they were slathered in bulk salad oil instead of butter or olive oil.
Surprisingly, the greens that came with my meal were FANTASTIC! I wish it were possible just to order a plate of chard there, but since it isn’t, I don’t plan on ever going back.

Wow.
I wish I had read the review with the opening line «A Nightmare on Escobar Street: Starring Louie Bertola».
I’ve lived in Chicago, NYC, and SF and NEVER in my life have I had so many people recommend a restaurant so rank by a LOCAL!
Maybe that says something about the local standards…
I’ve figured out the problem here– this restaurant has been here forever apparently. I’m assuming a lot of people grew up going here– maybe it was ACTUALLY good once upon a time or maybe the kids just liked going out. Regardless, I don’t think anyone has been here recently if they’ve given good reviews.
I went out with my boyfriend and coworker and his girlfriend. Upon walking into the restaurant we were hit with a noxious blast of hot air. Great no AC and the place smells odd.
First observations are old carpet, filthy floors that haven’t been swept with bits of food all over the place, and tables that look like they haven’t been cleared since Joe Dimaggio lived here.
We were promptly seated. I looked down and realized that our drinks were on the menus. The menus being little paper place matts. There were about 5 options. All of which, well, shame on me for not speaking up and asking to go somewhere else.
There was an Italian Pot Roast entrée, Spaghetti, Prime Rib, Steak and some other mystery meat.
Our waiter, due to the heat of this sauna, was sweating so profusely I had to send something back he sweat into.
Our waiter tried to be an polite and knowledgeable about the menu but seemed like even he wouldn’t eat the food here.
I went with the Pot Roast– which was awful. My boyfriend went for the steak which was all gristle.
Sides are served «family style». We were all served iceberg lettuce with dressing thrown on in some «Basquiat» style art form.
Soup was brought in some form of a military style tin bowl. It was supposed to be minestrone. It tasted more like sour vomit.
I’m not why I’m even bothering on this one. It was awful. The place is old. Even for bad food you’re not getting a good deal.
Just do yourselves a favor and support another local business. One that won’t give you the runs.