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Summary: OK brunch
Filippos is an Italian restaurant with two locations on College Avenue. Our friends Regina and Boris had been to the Oakland location for dinner and had judged the food average, but they still wanted to try the Elmwood location for brunch on a Sunday morning in November 2005. We are always game for trying something new, and we were hungry to boot, so we decided to go along.
The restaurant is quite nice and inviting, with tall ceilings, an open kitchen and bare-wood tables and chairs (at least for brunch). I also liked the "kitchen art," whimsical yet commercial-looking pieces incorporating foods, bottles and other kitchen stuff. The place does have the look of one designed by a professional designer trying to make it look cozy, rather than it reflecting any idiosyncracies of its owners, but it's still nice.
The menu is quite short and heavy in the egg department. For us non-egg eaters, the choices are between French Toast, pancakes and granola. Items are well priced at about $6 for the carbs and $6.25 to $8.50 for the eggs
. I decided on the lemon strawberry pancakes ($6) and a side order of potatoes ($2.25). The pancakes were fine, you couldn't taste the lemon at all and the occasional pieces of strawberries didn't contribute much flavor either, but at least they didn't have the bitter aftertaste that's so common in restaurant pancakes. Still, they weren't a dish I'll be hungering to try again.
Everyone else went for the eggs. Mike had the Elmwood Scramble (potatoes, chicken apple sausage and mozzarella - $7.75), Boris the Filippo's Scramble (roasted red pepper, tomato, onion, Parmesan & herb - $7.50) and Regina the Zucchini, Basil & Parmesan omelette ($7.50). The general consensus was that the omelettes were good but too salty.
The omelettes came with a side of potatoes and here again we all agreed about the too-liberal use of salt. Still, Regina liked the potatoes while Boris thought they were flat. I thought they were just mediocre.
I had a mimosa with lunch ($4.50) and it was OK, it came in a very generous glass (probably 8oz) but it felt a bit flat.
In all, I don't think any of us feel any reason to go back to Filippos for brunch.
Filippos
2930 College Ave.
Berkeley, CA
(510) 644-3848
http://www.filippos.biz/