Heat Cafe

Heat Café is steadily rising in rank as one of my favorite affordable Chinese places in Berkeley. I always get the lunch special, and they’ve been hits for me so far, probably because everything tastes pretty Taiwanese style, which is what I’m used to. The salt and pepper pork chop is great, as is the salt and pepper tofu, and the garlic eggplant is standard but delicious fare.
It’ll run you about $ 10 including a drink (their milk tea is super on point, none of that watered down shit — lemon tea is yum too), which I think is around the right price. I don’t have that large of an appetite to begin with so I can always stretch it to 2 – 3 meals. Not quite as affordable as Tea Press, but I think the stuff they offer here is way harder to cook, so it makes sense. I do wish their drinks were a bit larger, though.
There’s a $ 10 minimum for card, but they accept Venmo which is a lifesaver because I never carry around cash.
Tl;dr I really like this place and would come again and again.

It’s a bit disappointed because it has good review on Unilocal.
The food is either not enough taste or too salty.
The cheese and crab deep fried dumpling has so little, really little cheese and crab, it’s basically eating the skin, no flavor. Skip that!
The corn soup is very watery, not enough flavor.
The sesame ball with red bean that come with the lunch special is good.
We all say won’t come back to eat.

We ordered the Singaporean fried rice noodles, deep-​fried spicy tofu, and Sichuan fried chicken — all excellent! The service was fast and polite, the place was clean, and the only «bad» thing about it is the place is small — definitely one of the better Chinese places to go to in Berkeley!

This place may be small and located on the side of Shattuck most people don’t venture to, but it’s a keeper. Their dishes are large and fairly priced, and the Szechuan style, spicy food, is so delicious! Their twice cooked pork is especially yummy — they put in tofu and cabbage, as well. Their rice is good quality and costs only $ 1.

If you’re looking for solid, cheap Chinese food in the area this is the place to go! They give really generous portions for the price also. Obviously this place isn’t a gourmet restaurant but will definitely satisfy your Chinese food cravings.
So far I’ve tried:
— Fish Filet w/​Sweet Corn Sauce: This is probably the best dish to get here if spicy is not your thing! The fish is really crispy on the outside but tender on the inside, and the sweet corn sauce it pretty standard but it gives the fish a lot of flavor. I ordered this to go and they even separated the sauce from the fish which I thought was really nice of them because most places don’t bother lol (⁵⁄₅)
— Spicy Salt & Pepper Pork Chops: Super crispy and flavorful! Also not overwhelmingly spicy. Saw someone else order it at the table next to me and I had to order it myself because it smelled so great. Definitely not the healthiest thing to order since its deep fried, but ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would get again (⁵⁄₅)
— Szechuan Pepper Chicken: The meat is really juicy and REALLY spicy. It’s probably better to share this dish since its a bit overwhelming but it’s totally worth. I especially love the flavor of the peppers in this dish! (⁴⁄₅)
— MaPo Tofu w/​Pork: Surprisingly this was the only dish that fell short of my expectations. The tofu was good but there were only light sprinkles of ground pork in this dish and I would’ve liked to have more. Also the flavor was a bit different than what I’m used to at home… but that might just be my own preference. (³⁄₅)

This place represents serious lunchtime value. Start with free parking behind, add a good variety of rice plate lunches for $ 7 – 8 (and that includes hot tea, no up charge for brown rice, generous portion of super flavorful not too oily no msg food and even a small soup and sesame ball thing desert) … Plus fast service and a light filled not too noisy small dining space… with no wait. Equals go to lunch destination mid Shattuck. Btw: my two entrees were eggplant pork (spicy) and black bean fish (Cantonese). Both were really very good !

The menu is quite basic and also go the taste.
I was craving for wonton noodles. I have a thing for this, not to eat often but at least one per two month
The café was on my way home, it was convenient. Staff were friendly. Fast service. Clean and clear.
The food taste, again, nothing much to describe, quite usual and bland. The entrée was quite small (to my taste) perhaps; China Town dishes are a bit different though they have a same dish name.
A nice place to fill you up. Affordable price.

Very mediocre chinese food to me… I prefer Chengdu Style or Great China more. We ordered the beef stew pot, the garlic broccoli and the spicy shrimp. The beef stew pot was good at first and it came with beef flank I believe, beef tendon and some napa cabbage. It ended up being a bit too sweet tasting to me so I was intrigued at first and as I ate more of it, just really wasn’t feeling it. The garlic broccoli was good but hey, how can this dish ever go wrong? And the spicy shrimp was again good at first, but boy is it spicy! Definitely ask them to tone it down unless you can handle a LOT of spice. I tend to be able to eat quite spicy but I really couldn’t handle this dish.
Overall, don’t think I’ll be back unless my friends want to eat here. It just didn’t strike me as that great… just very mediocre.

Authentic Chinese Cuisine Value for Money!
Chance upon this eatery recently when studying at UC Berkeley.
Visited twice and all food ordered are delicious! The whole family loves it!
Not forgetting the good service too. Highly recommended!

I’ve actually been here twice, once for an individual meal and the other for a family style kinda dinner.
The wonton soup isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. Nothing wrong with the wontons but the broth taste like it came out of a package.
The meat in the potsticker had no flavor.
The fish in the spicy oil isn’t bad but it’s a bit much so I highly recommend sharing it with someone.
While the food here isn’t terrible, there’s much better options in Berkeley.

I passed by this restaurant before they officially opened and made a mental note to try it out. Fast forward to realizing it’s been open for awhile and I still haven’t been. I sped walked from the north side of campus down to Shattuck during my lunch hour. I was given the last two-​person table and was promptly given the lunch special menu and the regular menu. I decided to get the fish filet in black bean sauce with white rice ($ 7.95 w/​o tax and tip) and paid the extra $ 2 to add a mason glass of cold milk tea (you can have it hot as well). You can also have brown rice with your meal at no extra cost which is great!
After ordering, a waitress brought out a simple egg drop soup composing of corn, egg, potato, and tomato. Although simple, it still hit the spot after all my walking. Soon after, probably within 8 – 10 minutes of ordering, I received my entrée. I was impressed that the fish tasted fresh and were big pieces. The dish was also served with bell peppers and onions. The rice portion was very generous and the dish came with a small fried sesame puff ball. The milk tea seemed a little watered down compared to other milk teas I’ve had, but it was still very good and complimented my meal very well.
The dish was amazing. Although I may not have enough time to walk and eat there, I would definitely order to go from them when I am craving some quality Chinese food. Heat Café, you will see me again soon!

I thought the food was pretty exceptional for Chinese cuisine, particularly the spicy dishes. The plates I enjoyed the most were Spicy Fish Filet with Flaming Chili Oil and Szechuan Style Twice Cooked Pork. Well, I’m sure it’s called Heat Café for a reason :)
I’m not reducing my rating for it, but I did think the service was sort of disorganized. An appetizer came out after most of the other dishes, and not everything arrived with a serving spoon. We had to request bowls for the spicy fish filet which was served in the chili oil and really more like a soup. But, I would look forward to trying more dishes here.

Incredible. I’ve been looking for good (spicy and flavorful) Chinese food for almost a year and a half, and I’ve found it. Portions are massive and well priced, and you can order for pick up as well!

Ever since my first visit here last month, I’ve come back every week (at least).
One of the things I miss most about home is the Chinese food but this place may be even better
My go to dishes are fish in flaming chili oil, roasted pork belly, fish in sweet corn sauce, and their ground beef and cilantro soup.
Everything is very affordable and my friends and I always have leftovers. The service is so fast and very friendly!

Shoot what did I even order?
I went here with one of my classmates from Hong Kong. This was when we were friends but what are we? Are we dating? Why would he go to San Francisco with me to pick up my acapella group’s dresses if he didn’t like me? We get lunch after every Tues/​Thurs lecture but I just can’t read him!
Well now the aforementioned girl is a lesbian. Not my fault! After I moved she dated some dut in her acapella group, and THEN she started dating gals.
I think I ordered the chicken Hong Kong style rice. I love the saltiness man. Israel is adjacent to the Dead Sea so that’s straight. The food here is good enough for all the «poor» undergraduate and PhD students. But honestly, many of the students come from prestigious international schools so how poor can they be?
She got the seafood fried rice with golden garlic. Are there any other white people out there who wonder about seafood at Chinese restaurants? What type of fish is it? Maybe next time I’m in town I should try one of those snakeheads/​mystery fish.
But I am easily pleased with Chinese food. This place is good enough. One day I just might be a Chinese food snob you foodie gals.

Since moving to Emeryville, I’ve been looking for yummy, fresh, genuine Chinese food. This place definitely hits the spot!
I had spent 30 minutes browsing around Unilocal for a place, and finally just resigned to driving around until I found parking.
I started walking towards a restaurant across the street, but then saw an A-​frame for this place.
Service was prompt and friendly. Food was prepared quickly and was delicious. I loved the iced milk tea! I’m really happy I stumbled upon this little gem!

Nice service.
Lunch specials are a GREAT VALUE! Speedy, so you can stop in for a quick lunch. I got the eggplant dish. It was good! Custard-​yummy eggplant.
AND…
It came with a little sesame ball for dessert! (it’s on the plate)
They have soybean milk, DOU JIANG!!! Housemade, I believe. (To all the uninitiated, this is not the same as the American brand soymilks, totally different taste. Much fresher and tastier in my opinion). A cup of hot soybean milk on a cold day is perfect.

I won’t go as far as 5 stars but I am super duper picky of Chinese food, though no expert by any stretch, but I’ve had some pretty bad, starchy garbage that passed as American Chinese food, however I was impressed with how fresh and authentically made this was, the taste of the food was «almost almost’ there meaning I have not found the 5 star version yet, but most Chinese restaurants squeese 2 or 3 stars out of me… this place wins for being fresh and mostly tasty and I loved it… I didn’t leave with that heavy MSG fake Chinese food aftertaste or that greasy feeling in your stomach that you’ve eaten at the wrong place…

The food is actually pretty good here; definitely one of the better Chinese food establishments in Berkeley (although that isn’t saying too much.) The reason I give Heat Café two stars is because of the atrocious service and wait times. I’ve been to Heat Café twice, and both times they’ve been so back-​logged through take-​out and delivery orders that it’s taken us anywhere from 45 minutes-​an hour to receive our food. Additionally, when we asked the servers where our food was or why it was taking so long, they would go into the back to check on our food and never come back. All in all, after my two times here, this is not somewhere I’d like to go again. Disappointing because the food is actually not bad at all.

This place is pretty good for Chinese in Berkeley! I think it’s one of my favorites for Berkeley, which means I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to a place like this in SoCal but I definitely appreciate having Heat Café in Berkeley.
I’ve had their Ong Choy, the house-​special seafood fried rice, the Singapore curry rice noodles, another rice noodle dish, the fried chicken wings, and the chicken-​salty fish fried rice. Everything was good except the house-​special seafood fried rice, which didn’t have much flavor. It was really really bland and the seafood didn’t have any actual seafood flavor either. In the end, we mixed in some of the fried onion and chili from the chicken wings and it ended up being okay. So I would stay away from the «special» seafood fried rice that ended up being super basic…
Everything else I’ve had there was good though! I especially liked the chicken-​salty fish fried rice. This thing made me miss home cause my mom usually puts lots of ginger into it… The salty fish was pretty strong though, which was awesome. The chicken wings were a little expensive IMO but they were tasty!
I have yet to try the baked rice dishes and the wonton but I’ll be back soon to try those.

A bit out of the way, but surprisingly good for a Chinese restaurant in Berkeley.
— Hong Kong milk tea: great, though they added a little too much ice.
— Hong Kong style rice (pork chops w/​Portuguese sauce): pretty happy with it, though it turns out you have to pay extra for the baked rice version.
— Fish fillet with chili oil: good. The portion was quite big, and I think it would have been enough for two meals.
Not a bad place to eat Chinese food, especially if you’re feeling like drinking milk tea along with it.

4.5 stars
I got the #54 — Singaporean style fried vermicelli with shrimp! It was really good. I like how this place doesn’t add too much oil, so I’m not just eating from an oil bucket.
This is one of the better Chinese restaurants in Berkeley in this price range. I would only choose Mandarin Garden and Great China over this place — but also expect to pay more at those places.
The food here isn’t just made of soy sauce or msg — it actually has real flavor.
Prices are also good here considering the large portion size. I love coming here during lunch for their lunch specials. About $ 7 – 8 for an entrée, soup, and a sesame ball.
Recommendations:
–HK milk tea here is AMAZING!
–chicken with Szechuan pepper sauce
–beef and cilantro soup
–boiled fish (shui Zhu yu)
–singaporean fried vermicelli w/​shrimp

One of my favorite Thai restaurants in Berkeley, Chris Thai Cuisine, was replaced by Heat Café. You don’t even understand the pain I felt when I trudged through rain and storm to get to Chris Thai only to discover that it was no longer there.
With that being said, I kept an open mind when I went to try out Heat Café, even if it displaced one of my favorite restaurants. It still had the same cozy décor of Chris Thai: not sure if out of laziness or if out of doing what works.
The menu is pretty standard, it’s your usual Chinese menu with a million options — not necessarily a bad thing.
Judging by its name «Heat» I decided to go Szechuan and get Twice Cooked Pork, one of my favorite Chinese dishes. What I got was not Twice Cooked Pork. Instead I was greeted with a plate 90% filled with cabbage and some pieces of pork. Not cool. The pork was done well, a bit fatty, but to my liking. That didn’t excuse the fact that I was drowning in cabbage however.
I have only great things to say about their HK Milk Tea. Dare I say even better than Asha? They have just the right among of sweetness and bitterness you would want in HK Milk Tea without fumbling and messing with the flavor on your own. On that factor alone will I be coming back.
The meal ended not with a fortune cookie, but with this small flaky not quite pastry but not quite a cookie I’m not sure what it was, but damn was it delicious.
Heat Café has a ways to go, and maybe I ordered the wrong thing. Will be back to reassess at the turn of the year.
TIP: Delicious HK Milk Tea, not gonna lie.