Two people suggested The Star on Grand to me in one week, so I had to squeeze a meal there into my schedule! I never heard of this restaurant before, but I have heard of (and been to) Little Star Pizza in San Francisco… it’s in the same family of restaurants!
My friend and I decided to try it out for lunch last weekend, and boy am I glad we did!
Here’s the outside. The Star is on Grand Ave, probably the last exciting thing on the street before it turns residential. Parking can be quite hellish in this neighborhood, just an FYI. You might have to park up the up the big hill on Elmwood (free) if there are no spots on Grand.
This is what it looks like when you walk in… There’s another dining area directly to the right (not pictured), that faces the street.
We started off with the Greek salad. It’s salty and tangy, and big enough to share.
They have roasted Brussels sprouts on the appetizer menu! They come covered in parmesan cheese and sprinkled with bacon. They’re sooo good (I ate the whole bowl), I’m a huge weirdo for brussels sprouts.
You can order a personal size pizza during lunch hours, so I ordered a personal sized Golden Gate pizza. The Golden Gate features meatballs, ricotta, onions, and fresh mozzarella.
The pizza came out piping hot, plenty of steam. The mozzarella is baked into the crust, then the meatballs are sliced flat underneath the globs of ricotta. The meatball is sliced pretty thin and there’s a meatball slice on each piece of pizza. The meatball itself is on the denser side. As you can see, the sauce is very thick. The sauce is sweet and savory, and chunky. I probably should have eaten my pizza with a fork and knife, but I picked it up and ate it with my hands (no shame). The amount of sauce was a little overwhelming so I scraped some of it off… the crust is thick, crispy, sweet, corny and amazing.
Would I return? Definitely.
Have you been to The Star? How did you like it?
The Star on Grand
3425 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA 94610
www.thestarongrand.com