Berkeley Bubbles

I HATE going to the laundromats for every reason you can name — until today. It was my first time doing laundry at Berkeley Bubbles. Before hauling my 6 loads out of the car, I went in to inspect and it passed with flying colors. Clean, clean, clean and none of the washers smelled like that nose piercing «fragrance» that can’t be washed out. The owner was in attendance, available to assist this neophyte and offering FREE dryers, detergent and dryer sheets on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Everything was in working order. There were plenty of carts, seating with tables, current magazines, chocolates. This place is the laundromat of my dreams. It took the pain out of using public washers and made it possible to complete multiple loads in a short time. Forgot to mention that I scored a primo parking place in the pay lot at the rear entrance. Thank you laundry goddesses for this find.

The owners are sweet and they offer free dry time on certain days which makes up for the fact that you have to pay for parking (if you can make the free dry times). Kind of a shady, albeit convenient, location. The guy who closes the place could really benefit from some customer service training… don’t bark at people about when last wash is… just tell them. BUT if I had a dollar for every time one of the dryers ate my quarters… I could do laundry for ten years. If the owners are there they’ll reimburse you though, so that’s good! Another thing… PLEASE tape all the out of order machines. A note doesn’t always stop me from loading my stuff and it’s such a bummer to have to pull all my stuff out and transfer.

I used to come here for wash and fold services and she never disappointed. Unfortunately they stopped providing wash and fold. :(
Anyway, this is a great place for dry clean as well.

First laundromat experience (I think, or at least in a while)!
I’m glad I chose Berkeley Bubbles! Doing laundry here was actually a pleasant experience.
Store is clean, and all the machines were working. That’s all I could ever ask for in a laundromat.
Free wifi, plenty of seating and tables, carts… What more can I ask for?
Price is pretty good: $ 2.75 for one normal wash load ($ 5 for the big ones) and $ 0.25 for one 6 min dry cycle.
(The total cost turned out to be cheaper than what I pay to use my apartment laundry machines!)
Will totally come back if I need to!

2.75 for wash, 6 min per 25 cents for dryer, and free wifi and a bench to sit on?
yea ⁵⁄₅

I have never been so impressed with a business this much. I have a laundromat downstairs in my apartment but my laundries come out so much cleaner and well pressed at Berkeley Bubbles, so I ride my bike there 0.6 miles. It is worth it. Machines start from $ 2.50 but they have different sized machines that you can finish two or three loads at once. It is cheaper to do the laundries especially during their Free Dry Time hours. Also you get free detergent. And a bottled water sometimes. I only talked to Mary two times shortly but she remembered my name after two weeks of not seeing me. Yesterday when I was doing the huge load of laundry, she kindly offered that we hold study groups there while doing laundries and she would treat us with Bobby G’s pizza and drinks. That is a brilliant business model. I will take a note. There are three long tables with benches and free fast WiFi, so it would actually be a perfect place to catch four birds at once: laundry, study, dinner, and friendship! It is always clean there and well lit and well ventillated. Security cameras add sense of safety. I will keep coming back til I graduate.

It’s clean. The owner is friendly. She cleans the place on her own. Really appreciate it.

This laundromat has been long needed in the city of Berkeley near the campus. Its been there for a while but not as comfortable safe and pleasant as it is now under the new ownership. The machines wash and dry better than average the price is right and the owner Mary is there on Tuesday when I go with laundry soap and quarters for free drying. On top of it all she is extremely pleasant and really cares about her customers. Bravo and Brava! Keep up the good work and I sing your praises thanks for being there

Went the other day, I won’t be back. Besides being way too expensive, half the machines are marked as broken and the ones that aren’t marked might still take your money and do not respond. The location combined with lack of any competent attendant leaves patrons susceptible to harassment and solicitation by vagrants. Unsafe environment and unreliable machines. No thank you. The owner continues to harass me by messaging me on Unilocal.How do I block?

The laundry is clean and there are many types of washing machines and dryers. Moreover, there is free Wi-​Fi and convenient parking.
From 10am to 2pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays you can use dryers and washing powder for FREE. The lady who owns this business is very friendly and helpful. Additionally, she gave bottles of water to all clients. I have never experiences such type of laundry before!
I like this laundry and will keep using this one! I highly recommend Berkeley Bubbles to everyone!

Owners are friendly and informative. They hook us up with free soap, free drying and Dasani water. Plus TRULY high speed internet which i hadn’t been able to find since I got into Berkeley. Coming from LA, you will understand why I want to give this place more than five starts. In LA, 50% of machines are broken, slow WIFI is $ 1, and unattended laundromats to say the least. If more laundromats were like this one back in LA, I will throw out my washing and drying machine out on the sidewalk.

The place is very clean, everything works perfectly and owners are very helpful. Free wifi and great deal on free drying on Tu and Th.

Free dry time? YES please! Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 – 2 the owner, super friendly, comes in and gives you quarters for the dryer. They even put out dryer sheets for you as well! It’s to get people to come in during the weekdays for laundry rather than weekends. Also, today the owner gave us Dasani water bottles. What other laundromat treats their customers this way?!
It costs $ 2.75 for a basic light load on the newer machines in the back, $ 3.50 for the ones towards the front which are good for heavier loads like towels and blankets. My load comes out clean every single time.
Drying costs $ 0.25÷6 minutes of drying time, but the dryers are huge! I’d start with enough for 20 – 25 minutes and then go from there.
The place is a very short walk from the bus stop, is clean, has tons of machines, provides free wifi, and is stocked with tables in the middle to study or do work while waiting. Plus the instructions for machine use are easy to follow.
There’s a phone number and email posted that you can use to contact somebody if there’s no manager or owner on site. I called the number once and was called back 15 minutes later, and the person was very courteous and friendly on the phone.
So pleased with this place, and it is for sure my go-​to laundry spot in Berkeley!

So why did I check in to a laundromat and just give it 5 stars? Because on this particular day I’m doing my laundry and hit their laundry happy hour — free dry time! I don’t usually get to come around in the mid of week but luckily had a short work day. Not what I expect from a laundromat. They have walked around to check in everyone, said hello and thanked me for coming in, even gave me a free bottle of water on this hot day. I know it’s little but it all means a lot because it shows they care about their customers.
Unfortunately I probably won’t be able to hit up more free dry time days but at least I got to try it once, and it’s oh so nice. Thank you guys for adding to a better community. Already coming back.

Don’t often go to laundromats, but today we needed commercial sized washers and dryers for items that were too big for own apartment-​sized machines.
Was VERY pleasantly surprised by the experience. The place was clean and well lit, the large-​sized machines not only worked, but did a great job. The owner was very pleasant and helpful to everyone who came in, The other customers at the laundromat were all in a good mood, and the background music (Jazz station) helped keep them that way. To top it off, the owner paid for the drying (apparently this special offer applies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 – 2)
So, the next time we need to wash anything that won’t fit in our machines, this will be our choice…

Five stars for a laundromat? Relative to every other laundromat I’ve been to in Berkeley, YES!
The place is always clean. The machines are always working. The coin machine is always working. There is free wifi and places to sit while you work. Plus free drying on Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. People don’t come into the place asking me for money.
My roommate and I both agree this is the best one in Berkeley.

Everybody seems to want to give these new owners a cookie for doing something right. Looks like they cleaned the front of the machines and brought in a repair expert to fix the broken ones. A pigeon could have figured out that needed to happen. Anyway, everything else seems pretty much the same. Same cleaning guy comes in in the evenings as used to 1.5 to 2 years ago. Same machines, even if they have been fixed. Same crappy rolling baskets. Same tables. Same benches. Same everything. So I can’t believe all that much has changed.
I’m upset because they have Incorrect store hours posted on the back doors, which they also lock well before closing time. I just love having to go all the way around carrying my bag full of laundry at 10PM when the only available parking is out back.
Also, the one thing they need at this place is also the one thing they haven’t provided: security. Whether it be a guard, a regular check in by an owner or someone they trust, or even just a camera with big neon sign to indicate something scary like «YOU ARE BEING WATCHED AND RECORDED AND YOUR GENETIC MATERIAL IS BEING ANALYZED» to deter the riff-​raff, that isn’t happening, especially around the times of day when it would be useful. Apparently, trusting the presence of the other denizens of the laundromat to deter homeless people from throwing their urine-​soaked unmentionables in the dryer to tumble with your garments is a risky proposition. I learned the hard way. And yes I feel pretty stupid about it too.
Of course, that bit isn’t the owners’ fault, but they nevertheless have a bad attitude. By the by, from reading the other Unilocal reviews, sounds like most people have pretty low expectations. You all must be pretty cheap dates if all it takes is one exchange with a business owner where she isn’t inexcusably rude to get you to call it the Eden of laundromats. Concerning the bad attitude, the following is a response from the owners concerning a customer complaint:
«Thank you for your message. It is a health code violation to dry your clothes without first washing on premises.»
I just skimmed the Berkeley Municipal Code (both the Environmental Health, and the Health and Safety sections) and the California Business and Professions, and Health and Safety Codes. I haven’t found anything to support the establishment’s claim that laundry must first be washed on the premises before use of the dryers can be legally allowed. Go ahead and cite the code you’re invoking if it’s real, or if it isn’t, stop lying to the public.

This place is clean and when I went, the washing machines were all functioning!!! way better experience than going to the other laundromats in Berkeley. Everything was well maintained. It looked like they really took care of their facility and upkeep the place. They had many different kind of washing machine options. There were many tables for folding which is always a convenience.

GOSH i am so happy about the new ownership here. i avoided this place when it was University Coin Op because it was filthy and had absentee managing that truly made the laundromat unsafe. i hated it so much, i took the bus all the way up to Bing Wong to do laundry.
now, however, it couldn’t be any better. new management, frequent cleaning/​maintenance, new machines, (working) wifi — i think i’ve made the mistake of telling too many people about it, actually, because now the laundromat gets pretty busy at peak times (there’s always a free washer, though)

do not use berkeley bubbles!!!
i don’t care how revamped, repainted it is, the male and female i saw need a revamped attitude now. i got caught in the late night/​early morning rain on 10÷25÷14 and got my clothes soaked. i was close to bubbles, so i stopped (7 am) to ask the male when i could dry my clothes. he said at 9 am. i returned at 9 am and was confronted by a female who ordered me to wash my clean clothes right there before drying. i refused, explained they were clean and that i just got caught in the rain storm of a couple hours previous. she asked me to leave. there are some issues over what i consider misleading advertising, but anyone can call me for more detail. bob 510−508−1885