off your game. pre covid i probably went to alley at least 10 times (i work across the street). and it was a good decent bowl of ramen and consistent every time. but today, i ordered the usual, Tonkatsu Red Ramen. i'm sorry to say that the broth lacked that depth of flavor and the noodles, well they seemed old. i saw you pull them from the hot water bath and they are not chewy. i'll have to give myself time to go back to check if it was an off day. you seemed really busy so maybe that was the case. it looked like you were training someone new. I also got my "orders ready" notification and when i approached the counter I had to wait another 7 min. hummm also and to top it off the whisk match milk tea lid was not sealed so when i got to my desk the matcha was spilt all over the ramen togo containers and inside the bag. messy! BUT plus for a quality togo bag that it did not soak through.
Regan T.
You know what? I have a few minor quips about this place, the biggest one being that it's overpriced, but I just love the food so much that I still can't help but give it 5 stars. I think 4.5 stars is more accurate but I'm rounding up because I'm feeling nice today!Alley Kitchens is a combination of 3 street-style establishments that serve sushi bowls, Tokyo-style ramen, and boba/smoothies (Whisk Organic Matcha). This review reflects the four UberEats deliveries I've gotten from here, across the 3 places. They open at noon for delivery, and are open for pickup as well! I've gotten the salmon don multiple times and it's delicious. The rice is chewy but not overcooked and perfectly seasoned with vinegar; the sake (salmon) is always fresh and there is also an option to get it charred (blowtorched) if you're not a fan of raw fish. The toppings include 2 squares of nori, 2 slices of tamago (sweet egg omelet), 3 cucumber slices, and a dollop of wasabi and pickled ginger. Honestly I wish the toppings were more abundant. You can pay $6 extra for 3 extra sashimi slices, but more ridiculous is the option to pay $1.50 for 2 more nori sheets (it can't cost more than 10 cents??). The tamago is not the best--too sweet and cold in my opinion, and I wish there was an option to remove it and sub extra cucumber or a ramen egg, which is $2 extra. The ramen egg is also just okay - cold and not super well seasoned (sweet instead of soy sauce-y). They also give you waaaayy too much rice. I only eat about half the rice after finishing my toppings. They need to either give less rice and bring down the price, or bulk it up with extra cucumber and nori. I won't even ask for extra sashimi because I'm willing to pay more for that! That said, when it comes down to it, you're getting around 12 slices of salmon for around $20 (after the sashimi add-on and before tax, service fees, and tip if on Ubereats). That's a pretty good price considering sashimi orders at most sushi restaurants are like $5 for 2 slices. It's the other add-ons like the nori and egg that will end up racking up more.I've also tried the Black Tonkotsu ramen which is delicious. No big complaints and love how it comes with the ramen egg. Their plain Tonkotsu broth is available to purchase on its own for about $7. It's a nice cup serving--great for sipping on if you get one of the bowls, or dipping your own noodles in at home. Very salty however, which is good because it means it's concentrated. I had to water it down a tiny bit, but that just means more broth for me :) I've had a several drinks from Whisk as well. The golden boba is fantastic and their matcha is really high quality. I like the unique additions of strawberry or red bean paste to their matcha drinks--reminds me of Boba Guys. UberEats often has free drink promotions with a $20 purchase from here. $20 isn't hard to hit at a place like this, so I've gotten a few free drinks from delivery as well. I would not recommend the mango drinks--they have a distinct taste of frozen/stale mango. It's hard to describe but if you've ever had tough, chewy, freezer-burnt mango, you know what I'm talking about. I haven't had that problem with the strawberry fortunately.
Alex M.
I loved the vegan ramen. There is an option to get it in 'deluxe' style and I loved that. The noodles were great, everything was perfect. I asked for extra spicy and it was perfect. I did get an egg and that was perfect too. I'll be back for sure. I do feel like ramen is over priced in general and that makes me sad, and this place is no exception to that but it is the going rate. It is now my favorite vegetarian ramen.
Rachel Tucker
Very good service
Keke V.
This spot is BY FAR MY FAVORITE TONKASTU RAMEN PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE... ugh okay a little dramatic, but I've ordered thru DoorDash and had the best eats mirroring what I've had in Tokyo! The ramen is flavorful and I crave this every month around that time... I order it with a side of rice! The drinks too are by far my favorite! Hope to order from y'all soon!!!
Craig Y.
Really this is a four-star place, but I'm tired of seeing the less than three star reviews from people who don't likely know their Japanese food. I love the concept of this place and yeah, there isn't a ton of room, but if you've been to Japan and eaten in one of their alley kitchens, you know it's cramped and tight and small. It's part of the atmosphere. Maybe you shouldn't recreate something just for authenticity if it isn't ideal, but the FOOD is where it's at. To be fair, I haven't tried all the food, but the gyudon is good and far more worth it than I thought.FOOD: Good. Really good. I almost went back two days in a row. The gyudon reminded me of the many bowls I had in Japan. The meat was tender, the onions cooked to a sweet softness with that tang you can only get from the root veggie, and the rice to meat ratio was just right. It was hard to tell from the pics how big the bowl was and for about $14, you hope it's pretty big and it was. It didn't seem like a lot of meat but it definitely filled me up. SERVICE: I like that it's touchless and easy to order from the website. You can also order touchless from the restaurant itself. Not much interaction with the staff, but they packaged it all nicely and it stayed good and warm for quite a while. COST: Reasonable for what you get. Could be a bit less expensive but it's certainly worth it. I'll certainly go back again.
Emily H.
I got the red bean matcha latte and it was so cute! The matcha flavor is smooth and strong, and the red bean adds in just enough sweetness. I definitely have to come back again to try their dishes!
Raymond F.
I've been here a couple times so far during the pandemic, is this is just based on very limited to-go experience. I got their chirashi don (fresh mixed raw fish and seafood over rice) twice and both times were consistently excellent. The chirashi don had a mix of salmon, tuna, hamachi, salmon ikura (salmon roe), wasabi-marinated squid, grilled eel (only cooked item), hotate (raw scallop), and amaebi (raw sweet shrimp). A total of 8 different items all freshly prepared, for only $19!! That's an incredible variety of fresh seafood items for the price, and the quality is as fresh as you can get. To find something like this near the Berkeley campus is rare and at that price for that type of food. The only thing I wish was the cuts of raw fish was a bit thicker, but they'd probably lose $$ if that happens. When it comes to Japanese raw cuisine I'd say quality over quantity.The restaurant, which is like a strip of a few different restaurants combined together indoors to mirror the back alley night street foods of Tokyo, offers also ramen and cooked donburis (a meat item over rice). I have not tried the ramen or cooked dons, but from the pictures they look pretty legit and is also priced at ~$13-16. Since it is during the pandemic, I was not able to dine in but was able to peak into how the restaurant is for seated customers. Pretty small and cramped with mainly counter seats, just like the back alley street foods of Tokyo lol! Overall this place has great potential as a main-stay as long as they continue to get support from the student population and locals around there.
Jocelyn L.
My friend and I tried this place because we noticed the huge lines outside the door and figured it must be pretty popular. Honestly, I thought the ramen was good, but not over the top incredible or something I would rave over. The portions were a lot smaller than I had expected for its price.The layout of Alley Kitchens was unique and I enjoyed how it tried to mimic the classic street alleyways that you would typically see in Japan. However, it was a little tricky navigating past people and there was almost no space to put your bags or jackets.Overall, I found the food to be okay, but not worth the high price. If I had to choose a place to eat, I probably wouldn't choose this as my first choice.
Zita M.
Neat quality ramen/ sushi fast food take out with touch-less ordering. I had the sushi bowl, the ramen, and the boba. I liked the ramen the most. If you like spicy get the red tonkotsu. Sushi bowl was alright but the fish could have been fresher and to my taste the rice was a massive amount. Overal, quick (15 min) efficient experience with friendly staff, and super yummy ramen. Parking is tough in this area, it's easier to just walk it. Will def come back !
This review is for their sushi before shelter-in-place.I came here once in their first week of opening, and then twice just before shelter-in-place. During the first week, I ordered a salmon don and the serving size was quite pitiful. The slices of salmon looked like they'd been cut in half with how small they were. They hardly covered half of the rice. Although I took a big bite of rice with each slice (and I do mean big because I love rice), I still had a ton of rice leftover. The quality of the salmon was on par with Manpuku, but the servings were much smaller for the price and the rice was not seasoned at all. It's quite misleading to call this sushi when the rice isn't seasoned when that's a key component of sushi. However, they seemed to fix this by the next time I went. It remains to be seen if this is consistent.The next time I went I got the deluxe kaisen don. I think this dish is a better deal than the salmon don because they offer a greater quantity of fish and a more expensive selection. It looks like the ingredients vary by season based on my experience and others' photos of the same dish, but I had salmon, tuna, eel, scallop, sweet shrimp, and ikura in mine. The rice was seasoned this time and the dish was much better. However, the fish slices were still rather small compared to chirashi bowls you can get in nearby sushi restaurants. Another issue is that they don't offer soy sauce to-go. Perhaps they've resolved this for the SIP takeout-only circumstances, but they only offered soy sauce if you sat in and poured the soy sauce directly in your bowl at the bar. There wasn't anywhere in the bowl that I had room to mix my soy sauce and wasabi together and the lid is too shallow for that.I might return to give them another shot but I'd rather spend my money at Musashi for a killer chirashi or at Manpuku for a cheaper meal. It seems like Alley Kitchens is in the middle where the food is not cheap enough to merit the quality and not good enough to merit the price.
Felicia L.
TLDR: It's a decent ramen place, although a little bit overpriced. I'd come here again if I was in a rush and needed a quick ramen fix. It's open during shelter in place and requires a mask to enter!Food: 7/10I got the deluxe ramen and matcha latte with pearls the last time I ordered from here. The ramen broth was honestly pretty flavorful and the noodles were perfectly al dente! The only caveat with the ramen was the tea egg, which was pretty under flavored and overcooked. Price & Portion: 5/10Each dish is about $16, which is on the pricier side given the serving sizes. I was satiated from the bowl of ramen and service was very quick, but Bansho Ramen might be more worth it for your wallet.Ambience: 6/10It's a very small shop with limited seating. I'd suggest ordering ahead of time through an app (like Snackpass) and coming into the store just to pick up your order.Service: 8/10The staff was very kind and my order was ready for pick up soon after I placed it! A huge thank you to all the essential employees right now :)
Dorothy L.
This place is surprisingly actually really good. I heard from a lot of people that this place wasn't that great but it's pretty tasty but the downside is the pricesFood: I got the salmon chirashi don sushi bowl and gyu don rice bowl in two different orders. The salmon sashimi was pretty good, not the freshest or best but we're in a quarantine so what do you expect lol. Overall, the salmon sushi bowl was good and filling with interesting sides. As for the gyu don, don't get this if you don't like red ginger taste since it's mixed in but I thought it was really good and very filling. This bowl was more expensive than the salmon chirashi bowl tho and the price is pretty steep for one meal :/ like around $16.95 plus tax. So overall good tasting food and decent quality but hella pricey Service: I never went in person since this was to go/delivery Ambience: I've walked past before the quarantine and I've only seen the cash register area up front so not sure if there's seating in the back
Ed U.
** The following review reflects my delivery experience DURING the shelter-in-place order currently in effect. ** Jamie W. and I noticed this place on post-adolescent-saturated Telegraph Avenue after strolling the Berkeley campus earlier this year. It apparently had just opened judging from the packs of young Asian undergrads waiting to get in. We took a peek and immediately figured out this was meant to be a tribute to the tiny food stalls in Tokyo's Piss Alley. We've been there, and you could eat a lot of yakitori skewers for pretty cheap by Tokyo standards (review: The set-up in this particular space was not as aromatic and consisted of three separate stands crowded together.Flash forward to shelter-in-place, and I noticed two of the three stands were listed in Grubhub. Umidon is the chirashi and donburi bowl operation, and Kuroki is their ramen house (the third is a matcha cafe called Whisk). We decided to try the Umidon menu, and it was clear they have the takeout and delivery experience nailed with customized paper bags and cardboard bowls. Jamie went for the $16.95 Gyu Don Rice Bowl with traditional Japanese beef (thin slices marinated in a sweetened soy sauce mixture), sweet onion, and red ginger sprinkled with chopped green onion (photo: was good stuff and reminded me of the bento bowls you can get on some of the bullet trains in Japan. I went for the $17.95 Trio Chirashi Don Bowl which featured the traditional trifecta of tuna, yellowtail, and salmon over their sushi rice. Tamago (egg), cucumber, ginger, and nori squares complete the pretty picture on top (photo: It was quite tasty with the clean packaging attuned to Western-style aesthetics. In other words, it looked more polished than authentic but who cares? It was great to have this option available during these challenging times. The Piss Alley concept may be gone (for now), but the sustenance survives.FOOD - 4 stars...tasty bowls of Japanese-style goodnessAMBIANCE - n/a...the yokocho concept may be lost for now but the packaging helped fill in some of the gapSERVICE - 4.5 stars...quite efficient and immaculately presentedTOTAL - 4 stars...nothing to piss onRELATED - Exploring Berkeley? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed:
Amy Z.
I've only tried the deluxe sashimi chirashi bowl from Alley Kitchens, and I've gotten it a couple times already and I really really like it. It definitely is more expensive than a typical lunch in Berkeley, but that's because it's a variety of sashimi and fresh fish that no other restaurant serves nearby. I definitely recommend trying it out, and it's a pretty decent amount of food that could be shared. I definitely want to try the ramen and matcha drinks next!
off your game. pre covid i probably went to alley at least 10 times (i work across the street). and it was a good decent bowl of ramen and consistent every time. but today, i ordered the usual, Tonkatsu Red Ramen. i'm sorry to say that the broth lacked that depth of flavor and the noodles, well they seemed old. i saw you pull them from the hot water bath and they are not chewy. i'll have to give myself time to go back to check if it was an off day. you seemed really busy so maybe that was the case. it looked like you were training someone new. I also got my "orders ready" notification and when i approached the counter I had to wait another 7 min. hummm also and to top it off the whisk match milk tea lid was not sealed so when i got to my desk the matcha was spilt all over the ramen togo containers and inside the bag. messy! BUT plus for a quality togo bag that it did not soak through.
You know what? I have a few minor quips about this place, the biggest one being that it's overpriced, but I just love the food so much that I still can't help but give it 5 stars. I think 4.5 stars is more accurate but I'm rounding up because I'm feeling nice today!Alley Kitchens is a combination of 3 street-style establishments that serve sushi bowls, Tokyo-style ramen, and boba/smoothies (Whisk Organic Matcha). This review reflects the four UberEats deliveries I've gotten from here, across the 3 places. They open at noon for delivery, and are open for pickup as well! I've gotten the salmon don multiple times and it's delicious. The rice is chewy but not overcooked and perfectly seasoned with vinegar; the sake (salmon) is always fresh and there is also an option to get it charred (blowtorched) if you're not a fan of raw fish. The toppings include 2 squares of nori, 2 slices of tamago (sweet egg omelet), 3 cucumber slices, and a dollop of wasabi and pickled ginger. Honestly I wish the toppings were more abundant. You can pay $6 extra for 3 extra sashimi slices, but more ridiculous is the option to pay $1.50 for 2 more nori sheets (it can't cost more than 10 cents??). The tamago is not the best--too sweet and cold in my opinion, and I wish there was an option to remove it and sub extra cucumber or a ramen egg, which is $2 extra. The ramen egg is also just okay - cold and not super well seasoned (sweet instead of soy sauce-y). They also give you waaaayy too much rice. I only eat about half the rice after finishing my toppings. They need to either give less rice and bring down the price, or bulk it up with extra cucumber and nori. I won't even ask for extra sashimi because I'm willing to pay more for that! That said, when it comes down to it, you're getting around 12 slices of salmon for around $20 (after the sashimi add-on and before tax, service fees, and tip if on Ubereats). That's a pretty good price considering sashimi orders at most sushi restaurants are like $5 for 2 slices. It's the other add-ons like the nori and egg that will end up racking up more.I've also tried the Black Tonkotsu ramen which is delicious. No big complaints and love how it comes with the ramen egg. Their plain Tonkotsu broth is available to purchase on its own for about $7. It's a nice cup serving--great for sipping on if you get one of the bowls, or dipping your own noodles in at home. Very salty however, which is good because it means it's concentrated. I had to water it down a tiny bit, but that just means more broth for me :) I've had a several drinks from Whisk as well. The golden boba is fantastic and their matcha is really high quality. I like the unique additions of strawberry or red bean paste to their matcha drinks--reminds me of Boba Guys. UberEats often has free drink promotions with a $20 purchase from here. $20 isn't hard to hit at a place like this, so I've gotten a few free drinks from delivery as well. I would not recommend the mango drinks--they have a distinct taste of frozen/stale mango. It's hard to describe but if you've ever had tough, chewy, freezer-burnt mango, you know what I'm talking about. I haven't had that problem with the strawberry fortunately.
I loved the vegan ramen. There is an option to get it in 'deluxe' style and I loved that. The noodles were great, everything was perfect. I asked for extra spicy and it was perfect. I did get an egg and that was perfect too. I'll be back for sure. I do feel like ramen is over priced in general and that makes me sad, and this place is no exception to that but it is the going rate. It is now my favorite vegetarian ramen.
Very good service
This spot is BY FAR MY FAVORITE TONKASTU RAMEN PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE... ugh okay a little dramatic, but I've ordered thru DoorDash and had the best eats mirroring what I've had in Tokyo! The ramen is flavorful and I crave this every month around that time... I order it with a side of rice! The drinks too are by far my favorite! Hope to order from y'all soon!!!
Really this is a four-star place, but I'm tired of seeing the less than three star reviews from people who don't likely know their Japanese food. I love the concept of this place and yeah, there isn't a ton of room, but if you've been to Japan and eaten in one of their alley kitchens, you know it's cramped and tight and small. It's part of the atmosphere. Maybe you shouldn't recreate something just for authenticity if it isn't ideal, but the FOOD is where it's at. To be fair, I haven't tried all the food, but the gyudon is good and far more worth it than I thought.FOOD: Good. Really good. I almost went back two days in a row. The gyudon reminded me of the many bowls I had in Japan. The meat was tender, the onions cooked to a sweet softness with that tang you can only get from the root veggie, and the rice to meat ratio was just right. It was hard to tell from the pics how big the bowl was and for about $14, you hope it's pretty big and it was. It didn't seem like a lot of meat but it definitely filled me up. SERVICE: I like that it's touchless and easy to order from the website. You can also order touchless from the restaurant itself. Not much interaction with the staff, but they packaged it all nicely and it stayed good and warm for quite a while. COST: Reasonable for what you get. Could be a bit less expensive but it's certainly worth it. I'll certainly go back again.
I got the red bean matcha latte and it was so cute! The matcha flavor is smooth and strong, and the red bean adds in just enough sweetness. I definitely have to come back again to try their dishes!
I've been here a couple times so far during the pandemic, is this is just based on very limited to-go experience. I got their chirashi don (fresh mixed raw fish and seafood over rice) twice and both times were consistently excellent. The chirashi don had a mix of salmon, tuna, hamachi, salmon ikura (salmon roe), wasabi-marinated squid, grilled eel (only cooked item), hotate (raw scallop), and amaebi (raw sweet shrimp). A total of 8 different items all freshly prepared, for only $19!! That's an incredible variety of fresh seafood items for the price, and the quality is as fresh as you can get. To find something like this near the Berkeley campus is rare and at that price for that type of food. The only thing I wish was the cuts of raw fish was a bit thicker, but they'd probably lose $$ if that happens. When it comes to Japanese raw cuisine I'd say quality over quantity.The restaurant, which is like a strip of a few different restaurants combined together indoors to mirror the back alley night street foods of Tokyo, offers also ramen and cooked donburis (a meat item over rice). I have not tried the ramen or cooked dons, but from the pictures they look pretty legit and is also priced at ~$13-16. Since it is during the pandemic, I was not able to dine in but was able to peak into how the restaurant is for seated customers. Pretty small and cramped with mainly counter seats, just like the back alley street foods of Tokyo lol! Overall this place has great potential as a main-stay as long as they continue to get support from the student population and locals around there.
My friend and I tried this place because we noticed the huge lines outside the door and figured it must be pretty popular. Honestly, I thought the ramen was good, but not over the top incredible or something I would rave over. The portions were a lot smaller than I had expected for its price.The layout of Alley Kitchens was unique and I enjoyed how it tried to mimic the classic street alleyways that you would typically see in Japan. However, it was a little tricky navigating past people and there was almost no space to put your bags or jackets.Overall, I found the food to be okay, but not worth the high price. If I had to choose a place to eat, I probably wouldn't choose this as my first choice.
Neat quality ramen/ sushi fast food take out with touch-less ordering. I had the sushi bowl, the ramen, and the boba. I liked the ramen the most. If you like spicy get the red tonkotsu. Sushi bowl was alright but the fish could have been fresher and to my taste the rice was a massive amount. Overal, quick (15 min) efficient experience with friendly staff, and super yummy ramen. Parking is tough in this area, it's easier to just walk it. Will def come back !
Restaurantji Recommends
This review is for their sushi before shelter-in-place.I came here once in their first week of opening, and then twice just before shelter-in-place. During the first week, I ordered a salmon don and the serving size was quite pitiful. The slices of salmon looked like they'd been cut in half with how small they were. They hardly covered half of the rice. Although I took a big bite of rice with each slice (and I do mean big because I love rice), I still had a ton of rice leftover. The quality of the salmon was on par with Manpuku, but the servings were much smaller for the price and the rice was not seasoned at all. It's quite misleading to call this sushi when the rice isn't seasoned when that's a key component of sushi. However, they seemed to fix this by the next time I went. It remains to be seen if this is consistent.The next time I went I got the deluxe kaisen don. I think this dish is a better deal than the salmon don because they offer a greater quantity of fish and a more expensive selection. It looks like the ingredients vary by season based on my experience and others' photos of the same dish, but I had salmon, tuna, eel, scallop, sweet shrimp, and ikura in mine. The rice was seasoned this time and the dish was much better. However, the fish slices were still rather small compared to chirashi bowls you can get in nearby sushi restaurants. Another issue is that they don't offer soy sauce to-go. Perhaps they've resolved this for the SIP takeout-only circumstances, but they only offered soy sauce if you sat in and poured the soy sauce directly in your bowl at the bar. There wasn't anywhere in the bowl that I had room to mix my soy sauce and wasabi together and the lid is too shallow for that.I might return to give them another shot but I'd rather spend my money at Musashi for a killer chirashi or at Manpuku for a cheaper meal. It seems like Alley Kitchens is in the middle where the food is not cheap enough to merit the quality and not good enough to merit the price.
TLDR: It's a decent ramen place, although a little bit overpriced. I'd come here again if I was in a rush and needed a quick ramen fix. It's open during shelter in place and requires a mask to enter!Food: 7/10I got the deluxe ramen and matcha latte with pearls the last time I ordered from here. The ramen broth was honestly pretty flavorful and the noodles were perfectly al dente! The only caveat with the ramen was the tea egg, which was pretty under flavored and overcooked. Price & Portion: 5/10Each dish is about $16, which is on the pricier side given the serving sizes. I was satiated from the bowl of ramen and service was very quick, but Bansho Ramen might be more worth it for your wallet.Ambience: 6/10It's a very small shop with limited seating. I'd suggest ordering ahead of time through an app (like Snackpass) and coming into the store just to pick up your order.Service: 8/10The staff was very kind and my order was ready for pick up soon after I placed it! A huge thank you to all the essential employees right now :)
This place is surprisingly actually really good. I heard from a lot of people that this place wasn't that great but it's pretty tasty but the downside is the pricesFood: I got the salmon chirashi don sushi bowl and gyu don rice bowl in two different orders. The salmon sashimi was pretty good, not the freshest or best but we're in a quarantine so what do you expect lol. Overall, the salmon sushi bowl was good and filling with interesting sides. As for the gyu don, don't get this if you don't like red ginger taste since it's mixed in but I thought it was really good and very filling. This bowl was more expensive than the salmon chirashi bowl tho and the price is pretty steep for one meal :/ like around $16.95 plus tax. So overall good tasting food and decent quality but hella pricey Service: I never went in person since this was to go/delivery Ambience: I've walked past before the quarantine and I've only seen the cash register area up front so not sure if there's seating in the back
** The following review reflects my delivery experience DURING the shelter-in-place order currently in effect. ** Jamie W. and I noticed this place on post-adolescent-saturated Telegraph Avenue after strolling the Berkeley campus earlier this year. It apparently had just opened judging from the packs of young Asian undergrads waiting to get in. We took a peek and immediately figured out this was meant to be a tribute to the tiny food stalls in Tokyo's Piss Alley. We've been there, and you could eat a lot of yakitori skewers for pretty cheap by Tokyo standards (review: The set-up in this particular space was not as aromatic and consisted of three separate stands crowded together.Flash forward to shelter-in-place, and I noticed two of the three stands were listed in Grubhub. Umidon is the chirashi and donburi bowl operation, and Kuroki is their ramen house (the third is a matcha cafe called Whisk). We decided to try the Umidon menu, and it was clear they have the takeout and delivery experience nailed with customized paper bags and cardboard bowls. Jamie went for the $16.95 Gyu Don Rice Bowl with traditional Japanese beef (thin slices marinated in a sweetened soy sauce mixture), sweet onion, and red ginger sprinkled with chopped green onion (photo: was good stuff and reminded me of the bento bowls you can get on some of the bullet trains in Japan. I went for the $17.95 Trio Chirashi Don Bowl which featured the traditional trifecta of tuna, yellowtail, and salmon over their sushi rice. Tamago (egg), cucumber, ginger, and nori squares complete the pretty picture on top (photo: It was quite tasty with the clean packaging attuned to Western-style aesthetics. In other words, it looked more polished than authentic but who cares? It was great to have this option available during these challenging times. The Piss Alley concept may be gone (for now), but the sustenance survives.FOOD - 4 stars...tasty bowls of Japanese-style goodnessAMBIANCE - n/a...the yokocho concept may be lost for now but the packaging helped fill in some of the gapSERVICE - 4.5 stars...quite efficient and immaculately presentedTOTAL - 4 stars...nothing to piss onRELATED - Exploring Berkeley? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed:
I've only tried the deluxe sashimi chirashi bowl from Alley Kitchens, and I've gotten it a couple times already and I really really like it. It definitely is more expensive than a typical lunch in Berkeley, but that's because it's a variety of sashimi and fresh fish that no other restaurant serves nearby. I definitely recommend trying it out, and it's a pretty decent amount of food that could be shared. I definitely want to try the ramen and matcha drinks next!