Rivoli

I think one of the coolest things about this place was the design of the main dining room. Basically, it's a small room, but instead of having walls on all sides, the back wall is just a giant window. Behind the window is a forest/garden area that is backlit, so it is really quite impressive.

The food itself was not bad. I had the "Chicken Cooked Two Ways", which consisted of a chicken thigh and a chicken breast, each cooked in a different way. Kind of gimmicky, but it tasted good.

We had dinner at Rivoli, per Kathy's wishes.  It was on her list of places she still wanted to check out in Berkeley.  Located in the quaint Solano area, the restaurant had an excellent ambiance.  We were seated in the back room, which had a view of a beautiful, lit garden area.  I've never seen anything quite like it in any other restaurant.

Our server was very friendly, although she was adimttedly not the most knowledgeable.  Here is a sample conversation from our night:

Patron: (motioning towards salt served with bread and butter) "Excuse me, waitress, I was wondering if this salt was sea salt or kosher salt?  I can't quite place the texture and taste."

Waitress: "Yeah... it's just salt."  (Waitress walks away)

Patrons:  (Sitting dumbfounded)

I had scallop raviolis served on a lobster mousse.  An interesting combination that I've never seen somewhere else, the flavors worked quite well together, and the mousse was very tasty. 

We had a bottle of "Dragonstone" Riesling wine that was excellent.  When we asked our waitress why the bottle was named such, she replied that she didn't know.  However, later on that night she returned and gave us a a rather amusing explanation- legends say the area of Rheingaust where the wine was home to dragons, and some "crazy huns" once reported actually seeing the mythical beasts in the area.