Roses on Adeline, a charming craft bar and small-plates restaurant, recently opened in Berkeley. And as it happens, its bar director once worked with a custom-designed gin-mixing robot called Bartendro.
The restaurant is located at 3218 Adeline St. in the former space of popular karaoke joint Nick’s Lounge. Its chef and proprietor is Lorin District native Rose Soffa Clarke. She owns the bar with her parents, Teresa Clarke and David Soffa, who worked as architects and designers on the three-year renovation.
Roses should not be confused with Rose Pizzeria in Berkeley, nor with Damask Rose or Rose’s Taproom in Oakland. (The East Bay loves roses!) And its name is not possessive, because it’s meant to refer to its namesake of pretty flowers.
Soffa Clarke is a restaurant industry vet who’s worked as a cook since age 15, most recently in San Francisco at the Flour + Water Hospitality Group and buzzy Good Good Culture Club. Her dream is to “bring more neighborhood and destination dining to Berkeley and the East Bay,” she says.
The menu of elevated bar food is hopefully toothsome enough to draw in foodies. Among the shared plates served from 5 to 9 p.m. is line-caught halibut ceviche with leche de tigre, Fresno chile and Peruvian corn ($16), spring asparagus with cured egg yolk and ricotta ($15) and katsu-style fried chicken with garlic aioli ($21). At a happy hour that runs from 4-5 p.m., diners can order hand-cut potato chips with creamy cashew dip and pepper relish ($7) and a charcuterie plate with olives and apricot jam ($19).
Roses on Adeline, a new kitchen and craft bar, opened in the spring of 2024 in Berkeley, Calif. (Stephanie Cowan/Gold Toast Studios)
For dessert, there is a chocolate budino with whipped cream and candied almonds, blood orange sorbet and a lemon-passion pavlova with fresh grapefruit. As it is a seasonally driven menu, expect frequent changes.
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Most of the menu at Roses on Adeline is given over to drinks. That’s because its bar director, Jennifer Colliau, is quite good at making them. She’s been featured in Imbibe Magazine, Eater and The New York Times, and recently designed the bar program at Fort Mason’s quirky The Interval at Long Now. There she worked with a drink-mixing robot called Bartendro that could make gin cocktails in a “near-infinite number of possibilities,” according to Imbibe Magazine.
The beverage list at Roses includes local draft beers, domestic cans and wines that mostly hail from California and Europe. Cocktails include a Japanese Old Fashioned with yuzu bitters and Okinawan black sugar, a Bees of Berkeley with basil-elderflower gin and local honey and an Adeline Spritz with prosecco and Bruto Americano.
Roses on Adeline, a new kitchen and craft bar, opened in the spring of 2024 in Berkeley, Calif. (Stephanie Cowan/Gold Toast Studios)
A list of ranch waters features a Las Marias Salmiana Mezcal with mole bitters and a Cazcabel Reposado Tequila with lime and chile. There are a couple of boozed-up slushies made with ingredients like Bolivian brandy and Mexican chocolate or mezcal, coconut cream and a chamoy gummy. And for fans of nonalcoholic drinks, there are mocktails mixed with fresh fruits, herbs and flowers.
The restaurant is now serving dinner as well as happy hour and late-night grub, but hopes to expand soon to brunch and lunch. And parents take note: The current liquor license does not permit anyone underaged, so leave the kids at home.
Details: Open 4 p.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday and 4-10 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Sunday at 3218 Adeline St., Berkeley; rosesonadeline.com
