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Caffe Strada: An Easy Coffee and Food Break on the UC Berkeley Campus

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Caffe Strada Caffe Strada is a popular cafe on the UC Berkeley campus with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating as well as a large capacity for to-go orders. Open from 6 am to midnight, this cafe is the perfect place to stop, snack, or study at almost any hour. People come to get a coffee or snack, work alone, or meet with other students socially or for classwork. The environment is very conducive to all these activities; people come here, and they come often. The staff here can whip up an iced vanilla latte (or almost any other order) in no time! The service here is extremely speedy. Almost as soon as I ordered, I was holding my drink. This near-superpower for speed helps the cafe quickly serve a large crowd of customers, mostly busy students. The line is usually long, but the wait time is still relatively short because they work so quickly. Customers rotate through the cafe quickly, with some staying in the spacious eating area for a while and others leaving immediately with their or...
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Lox Stock and Bagel: A cheap but great Berkeley Cafe

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  Lox Stock and Bagel Lox Stock and Bagel is a commonly overlooked cafe in Berkeley that deserves more attention. Open Monday through Friday from 8 to 3, this small cafe is just off the beaten path and has been around for more than 30 years, serving breakfast, coffee, brunch, and lunch. From bagels to waffles to sandwiches, this cafe has many affordable, delicious options. The menu with prices is mounted on the wall. There’s plenty of variety and no surprises when it comes to price. It’s not a large cafe, but it still has that spacious feel, and the tables aren’t too close together. It appears bright and sunny on the inside, and although the prices are low, the service is surprisingly enthusiastic and quick. Customers circulate in and out of this pleasant dining area, but I still think the high quality and low prices could draw an even bigger crowd if more people knew about it. It’s not all about bagels and lox, although you can find them on the menu. It’s also a great place to get...
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Location: 2043 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
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Aburaya: Succulent, inexpensive Japanese fried chicken in downtown Oakland

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Aburaya  Don’t overlook Aburaya; it’s a popular, lively, and informal spot to indulge in incredible Japanese fried food, particularly fried chicken but also fried tofu and cauliflower, for low prices situated right in downtown Oakland. They also serve fantastic sandwiches and a variety of appetizers and desserts with their signature izakaya-style Japanese flair. It’s a smallish restaurant that is teaming with life and modern decorations, and so many people have already discovered and fallen in love with its magic. It’s no secret that you can get an affordable, delicious, and substantial meal at Aburaya, and the long line proves worth the wait. Offering so many ways to customize your fried chicken, it’s a gluten free kitchen including barbecue sauce and garlic miso seasoning. This small café draws inspiration from Japanese tradition and cranks food out quickly to satisfy the hungry masses that assemble there to enjoy these tasty dishes in a modern, fun setting. You can pick the ...
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Location: 362 17th St, Oakland, CA 94612, USA
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The Baked Bear: Heaven in the form of ice cream sandwiches

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  The Baked Bear   The Baked Bear was a great find! They served me the type of dessert that left me hungering for more. One bite of my cookie and ice cream sandwich already had me falling in love. I've been here more than once because I find the desserts here so irresistible.  The Baked Bear is a dessert shop that sells ten delicious flavors of sweet, ice-cold ice cream ready to be scooped to order. But The Baked Bear isn’t just a regular ice cream stand; it also specializes in fresh-baked, delectable cookies (they have at least as many cookie flavors as ice cream flavors) and brownies. The cookies are on display, so you can see how pretty they are. You can order any of these items solo or as a combination; they sell ice cream with cookies, ice cream with brownies, but most notably, they sell ice cream sandwiches with a healthy amount of their signature creamy ice cream stacked between two cookies. Examining the great wealth of cookie type options, I was particularly dra...
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Location: 680 Terry A Francois Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
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Party Sushi: Simply adorable Japanese cuisine/sushi in downtown Berkeley

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    Party Sushi As you may know, I’m the kind of person who likes good, inexpensive Japanese food. I’ve had a lifelong love of sushi, and living in the Bay, I’ve come to appreciate the many restaurants that approach serving Japanese food with a little bit of authenticity and a little twist of their own, making food that tastes great but doesn’t cost a fortune. Party Sushi is certainly one such restaurant. Party Sushi offers in-restaurant dining, takeout, and catering.  It’s a small restaurant with a cute, cozy feel, but a menu that’s anything but small—we had no trouble finding all our Japanese favorites and more, with many interesting and unique options, including their awesome specialty rolls. They keep costs down and customer satisfaction high, all while making do with limited space in their rather intimate dining room. The sushi chef stands in a corner behind the counter, carefully (even lovingly) preparing each order. I find the staff here to be genuinely friendly an...
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Location: 1776 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709, USA
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Sobakatsu: Phenomenal Japanese food in SF

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  Sobakatsu You might wonder what it takes to get normal people to form such a long line outside a small soba shop in Japantown. You see, people wait in a long line to take one of the eleven seats at the two four person tables and the three person bar inside San Francisco’s very own traditional Japanese soba specialty shop, Sobakatsu, which is part of the historic Japantown and one of its attractions. Sobakatsu is just a small shop, and the kitchen, with its many stations for preparing hot and cold soba and frying side dishes, takes up half the space. Inside the kitchen, two experienced chefs work meticulously, nonstop, to keep up with the high demand. They don’t offer takeout or to-go orders; everyone must eat at one of the provided seats. While it may be small, this cafe is renowned as one of the very best places to experience quality Japanese soba in the area. Their soba can be served hot or cold with a number of side dishes, including some popular fried tempura. The soba is glu...
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Location: 1700 Laguna St, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
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Tipsy Yeti: Yummy Nepalese-Italian-American fare in Berkeley

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Tipsy Yeti Tipsy Yeti, located along San Pablo in Berkeley, is the kind of place I could recommend to anyone. Still, I especially recommend it to those who are seeking something interestingly tasty and relaxingly comfortable. It’s a semi-formal restaurant appropriate for almost all types of groups, with a menu that’s really fun to explore.  The prices aren’t bad, and they even have a happy hour from 4 to 6 pm. With exposed brick and warm-colored wooden trim, Tipsy Yeti has that old-fashioned tavern kind of feel. You can instantly recognize it as the kind of place you can kick back and socialize—whether you’re bringing families with children or are there to grab a drink with your 21+ friend group. There’s a good amount of space between the tables, and it’s orderly and not too loud, meaning that it can simultaneously be a kid-friendly restaurant and a classy bar. The service is respectful, and the slow pace is actually welcome because it prolongs the time for pleasant conversation an...
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Location: 2512 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702, USA
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