Rockridge College Avenue New Restaurants: A Fall 2026 Update

Wood Tavern has been at 6317 College Avenue since 2007, and it will serve its last dinners before the year ends. Within a short walk of that door, The Graduate's old building, the former OKEN space, the former Ike's and The Nail Spa's storefront are all changing at the same time. Most of these departures came with the next tenant already announced. Uncle's, the Wood Tavern successor from Burdell's Geoff Davis, was announced in August, more than four months before the current lease runs out.

Retail space in Rockridge is very hard to get right now, and that is why the north end of College is changing so quickly. The rest of this post covers the closings one address at a time, what replaces each, and the October dates on the avenue.

A Lease That Ends December 31

Rich and Rebekah Wood opened Wood Tavern as a neighborhood brasserie, and the San Francisco Chronicle reported in July that the 50-seat restaurant is still busy. The couple is closing it because the lease expires at the end of the year. Rich Wood is nearing 60 and wants to focus on other projects, including growing Southie, the sandwich shop next door, which also has a location in Alameda. He told the Chronicle that inflation, taxes and other costs make a full-service restaurant harder to run than when they started:

"We just beat the bejeezus out of that place. Margins just get slimmer and slimmer."

The rest of the Woods' restaurants stay open, including both Southie locations and the Wolf, which they co-own with chef Yang Peng. They recently paused dinner service at the Oakland Southie and hope to bring it back once Wood Tavern closes. So when the Tavern goes dark, the Wood family will still be serving dinner on the same block, just one door over.

The restaurant's website says, "We'll be here through the end of the year, and we'd love to see you one more time before we go." It doesn't name a final service date, and reservations are still open through Wood Tavern's site or by phone at 510-654-6607.

The Next Tenant Was Named in August

East Bay Nosh reported on August 17 that Geoff Davis had picked 6317 College after a year-long search, and that he plans to open Uncle's there by spring 2027. Davis opened Burdell in 2023, and in 2025 it was No. 1 on the Chronicle's top 100 Bay Area restaurants list. His partners in the new project are Zara Fernandez-Aurelio and Seth Corr, Burdell's wine and service lead. Brandon Cavazos is moving over from Burdell to be chef de cuisine.

Davis describes Uncle's as a classic neighborhood bar and grill. He told Nosh that steak will be the focus, with lesser-known cuts like picanha, coulotte and hanger alongside dry-aged T-bones and ribeyes, and that "everything won't be like $80+." The kitchen will choose the cooking temperature for each cut, and diners won't be able to change it. The early plans also include oysters, a tableside Caesar, burgers made with dry-aged trim, and creamed spinach with grilled nori cream. Rockridge Voice reports that the team plans to serve lunch, dinner and brunch.

Wood Tavern's hanger steak drew praise from the Chronicle when the restaurant opened in 2007. The same room should be serving hanger again within a few months of closing.

Walking the Block, Address by Address

Here is what's happening at each address, from the College and Claremont intersection up to the Wood Tavern block, as of early October:

1. 6200 Claremont, Chez Maeju. Chef Albert Ok closed OKEN here in May 2025 after about a year. Chef Soojin Kim soft-opened her Korean barbecue restaurant in the space on September 18. Kim grew up in Seoul, where she learned to cook from her mother and grandmother, and moved to San Francisco in 1998 after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu. The soft-opening hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It's closed Tuesdays, and the hours will expand once it fully opens. The posted menu includes mung bean pancake, grilled beef short ribs, bibimbap, japchae and soontofu stew.
2. 6202 Claremont, Needle Drop Café. The building dates to 1922. By 1969 it was a bar called the Leilani Lounge. Javad Parsa and Najid Mahani bought it in 1987 and ran it as The Graduate until June 30, 2024. The new owner, Patrick Biesemans, plans to open a coffee shop and vinyl listening room there by December or January.
3. 6251 College, near 63rd Street, The Nail Spa. The shop had been on College since at least 2007. It has abruptly moved out, and the roughly 1,050-square-foot space is listed for lease.
4. 6310 College, Salt & Straw. Ike's Love & Sandwiches opened here in 2016, and its other Bay Area locations are still open. Salt & Straw, the Portland ice cream company that cousins Kim and Tyler Malek founded in 2011, plans to open its first Oakland shop here by the end of the year.
5. 6317 College, Wood Tavern, then Uncle's. Wood Tavern serves through year-end, and Uncle's is aiming for spring 2027.

Four of these five addresses already have their next tenant named. The Nail Spa's storefront is the only one without one. Timing has varied, though. The two Claremont buildings sat empty for well over a year. OKEN closed in May 2025 and Chez Maeju opened in September 2026. The Graduate closed in mid-2024, and Needle Drop is planned for this winter. On College itself, Salt & Straw and Uncle's were announced before the previous tenants had fully left.

Why the Next Tenant Is Usually Lined Up

Rockridge Voice reported in September that Rockridge's retail occupancy reached 97.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026, making it one of Oakland's strongest shopping districts. The same Q2 2026 data shows Grand Lake at 95.69 percent, Montclair Village at 84.64 percent, and Oakland overall at 92.48 percent. At 97.6 percent, fewer than three in every hundred storefronts in the district are empty. Rockridge Voice put it simply: "With available retail space in our district in such high demand, turnover happens fast."

Pucquio, farther south at 5337 College, shows how this works. The restaurant closed this summer after about 13 years. Nosh gives July 31 as the last day, while Rockridge Voice says the last meal was in early August. The listing went up soon after it closed. The 757-square-foot space is being marketed as a second-generation restaurant or café, which means the next tenant won't have to build a kitchen from scratch.

The same demand brings in operators from outside the neighborhood. Salt & Straw has about 50 locations, and Rockridge will join its Bay Area shops in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Santa Clara and Santa Rosa. Rockridge Voice noted that it adds another chain to a street long known for independent businesses, and asked whether national brands can fit on College while the avenue keeps its local character. This season answers both ways. The same blocks are gaining Uncle's, from an Oakland chef with an Oakland team, and Needle Drop, from a new owner who bought a building that was a bar for decades.

Gamsa Sushi, a few blocks south at 5415 College, is another example of a fast handoff. The space was UZEN until chef-owner Kazuo Shimizu retired. Chef Dahan Kim spent six years running a private in-home omakase service and planned to open Gamsa in late September, with chef's-choice omakase and an à la carte menu. As of early October, we couldn't find a report confirming that the doors have opened.

Not every change is a turnover. Sole Terra Shoes at 5933 College has finished almost a year of construction around its storefront, and its back parking lot is open again. The store is offering customers $20 off as thanks for their patience.

October on the Avenue

Two neighborhood events fall during Wood Tavern's final months:

• Saturday, October 17, noon to 3 p.m. Rockridge Market Hall holds its 11th annual Great Crucolo Parade. A wheel of cheese is paraded down Shafter Avenue to accordion music, followed by a ceremonial cutting.
• Sunday, October 25, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free Rockridge Halloween Parade includes trick-or-treating at more than 40 College Avenue businesses, with activity hubs at 5366 and 5951 College.

Both events fall during the restaurant's last stretch of service, and Wood Tavern is still taking reservations on OpenTable and at 510-654-6607. By spring, the same room is scheduled to reopen as Uncle's, with a menu built around picanha, coulotte and hanger steak.

If you own a home near College Avenue and want to talk through how this season's changes on the street fit into your plans, Scott & Scott Real Estate Associates would be glad to walk the blocks with you. Contact us for a personalized consultation.