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is IB Hoagie's moving? (downtown Oakland)

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Don't know if anyone remembers Lucy's or Veronica's, but there's a funky triangular building off San Pablo and 16th that has housed a succession of shortlived restaurants.

It's been empty for a while, but during the last week it's gotten a yellow coat of paint, and a little "IB" logo has appeared on the outside.

Does anyone know if IB's is moving, or if they're just opening a second location?

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  1. I don't know the answer to your question, but it raised one for me: Is IB Hoagies any good? I have glanced at it in passing many times but never tried it.

    3 Replies
    1. re: patrick

      Is IB's good? I'd say yes.

      Their fries are tasty, but large, as are the hoagies. Two people can easily split a hoagie and an order of fries, and with two drinks, it's ~$8-9 total. I like the Italian cheesesteak (tomato sauce), the bacon one is good too, and I hear the chicken melt is good.

      It also gets very crowded at lunchtime, but I've never not managed to get a table. You just have to be focused.

      They also take phone orders, but the sandwiches get soggy, and the fries even soggier, so I wouldn't recommend carrying it too far.

      That being said: I'm not a huge hoagie fan, so I haven't tried many of the other places in the area. So take my comments with a couple packets of salt.

      1. re: patrick

        Yeah, it's good, but not great. It's fine when you need a break from the Durant Food Ghetto. The fries are good, and the sandwiches are pretty good, too. I usually get a bacon cheesesteak, but their other sandwiches (pepperoni, meatball, etc.) are fine, too. As Marc Wallace says, they're fairly hefty-sized.

        1. re: David Boyk

          Ah? There's one in Berkeley?

          In that case, I'll just assume that it's a new branch opening (as it's on the edge of the growing "north of city center" area)...

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        Nathan Landau

        As a former Philadelphian, I have trouble enthusing over any Bay Area hoagies. That said, IB is really pretty good, as Marc Wallace described. They seem to me to be more in the spirit of Philadelphia hoagiedom than these terrible cheesesteak chains.

        I remember and miss Veronica's, a hip but friendly dinerish place. Once I overheard the owner say that energy bills were killing him (along with the scarcity of dinnertime business in Downtown Oakland).