Wood Tavern, beloved neighborhood restaurant, Oakland fixture, to close its doors after 20 years

OAKLAND, Calif. - Word has barely gotten out, and the tears are already flowing. The Wood Tavern in Oakland, a neighborhood staple where friends have gathered, families have celebrated, and the community has connected, is closing after 20 years in business.

What they're saying:

"People are already crying with me, just walking in and looking at me like, really? It's gonna be over?" Rebekah Wood told KTVU in an interview on Thursday. 

The food is highly rated, with the Michelin Guide recommending the "‘butcher block’ of well-prepared charcuterie — pork rillettes seasoned with Aleppo pepper, sumac, and lime."  

But beyond what the restaurant offers for the palette, the warm community feel of the Wood Tavern leaves its regulars full and coming back.

The backstory:

Described by the Michelin Guide as "a classic neighborhood standby," where you can find "seasonal Californian cooking with an Italian bent," the Rockridge restaurant opened in late 2006 at its current College Avenue location. 

Rebekah and Rich Wood opened the establishment in a whirlwind, working around the clock to turn a vision into reality.

"We signed a lease in November, and a few months later, we were opening the doors serving people," she recalled. "It literally came together very quickly, and our opening chef, Max [DiMare], brought a lot of the recipes that people still love and adore."

Creation was ‘magical’

What they created was a timeless space, she said. It was a lot of work, but the process was fluid.

"It's one of those things that was just magical, and it moved swiftly without being overthought," the restaurant co-owner said. 

Sometimes the most unexpected gifts in life come to be just like that, in the most natural, intuitive, instinctive way. 

Rich, she said, envisioned a space that, like in the 1980s sitcom "Cheers," was a warm, local gathering place, a place where everybody knows your name.  

"We've had so many people over the years say they have made so many friends just being at the bar. Or so many people say, I've celebrated every anniversary or birthday or every major celebration," the restaurant co-owner told us. "And that's such an honor for us to be a place where people would share those sweet memories and moments and celebrations."

The Wood Tavern and life

Over the 20 years she and Rich ran the restaurant, there have been major life events, most notable, the birth of their three children. 

They worked hard to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, a feat an overwhelming number of restaurants could not achieve.

They also opened sister restaurant Southie next door, as well as taking over the longtime celebrated Bay Wolf restaurant on Piedmont Avenue in 2017, renaming it The Wolf.

A more recent venture is the new Southie Alameda location at the popular brewery Park Station, which opened last year.

New career 

Dig deeper:

Rebekah Wood also started a new career as a real estate agent, with The Grubb Company, a journey that came out of one of the many gifts she's received from being at the Wood Tavern.

She said among the wonderful people she's met, there were many who were realtors. 

"Over the years, I started having different realtors go, ‘You should do this," she said. "It felt like a perfect segue from working at the restaurants to taking care of people at their table, but now serving them at their home… From table to home."

Decision to close

At any given day of the week, a walk past the Wood Tavern would most likely offer a hustling, bustling scene, especially on a nice day, tables full and the bar stools occupied. 

So, when asked why the Woods decided to call it quits, she said the lease will be up in November, and they needed to make a decision as they were faced with upgrades that they knew the restaurant would need to continue into the next decade.

"You know, just like with real estate, you see a beautiful home, and you like the location and the vibe of it all, but sometimes you open the disclosures, and you see, oh, this needs new electrical, or new flooring or new plumbing or whatever. It did get a lot of wear and tear, and needs an overhaul, and that was just not something that was in the cards for our future planning," she explained. 

And for its patrons, its loyal customers and friends, she said they wanted the Wood Tavern to remain the place they had envisioned it to be, a place that, for many, felt like an extension of their own home. 

Leaving on a ‘high note’

"A lot of people come there for their regular meals, and so we are their kitchen, and we’ve become their home," she said. "We wanted to leave on a high note, or at least we wanted to just close that chapter and remember it for what it was."

The closure would also allow the Woods to focus on their other restaurants.

The co-owner noted that the plan and hope is that the Southie next door, will remain and continue to serve the community. 

And this wonderful chapter that has brought them friends and reinforced a sense of community, will come to a close on New Year’s Eve when the lease is over. 

But with about five months still left, it’s already been an emotional ride.

"I just want to cherish all the memories made, and the meals shared," Rebekah Wood said. 

What's next:

The Wood Tavern is already booking its New Year's Eve dinner and, especially with the word out of its impending closure, Wood suspected the reservations were probably already full.

But she said the bar would be open all night as she invited people to come by for a farewell and a toast.

And like that perfect prepared dish that you want to last forever, Rebekah Wood said she wants to savor every moment knowing that the restaurant, "Oakland’s great neighborhood place," as it's described on its website, had a full and rich run.

"It could probably go on forever, and it would never be, you know, enough," she said.