Camille

The sign outside says they serve Vietnamese food, but on their menu inside they have Chinese translations of everything. Based on the food itself, it seems to be a generic Asian restaurant.
I used to really like the food here — it tastes good and comes in generous portion sizes. The owner is also very nice — he usually offers to take your plate away when you’re finished. But several times I’ve been here, the food has been undercooked.
The five spice roast chicken with rice usually tastes good and comes with a large chunk of meat. But the last time I was here, half of it was really cold — not frozen, but noticeably below room temperature, and I had trouble cutting it even with a knife. I ended up not finishing the meat. I ordered one of their fish specials once, and parts of the fish were very clearly undercooked, and I didn’t finish it. Another time, I got the seafood eggplant clay pot, which tasted pretty good, but, again, the eggplant was a bit undercooked.
I want to believe the food here is good, especially after considering some of the other options in the area. But I cannot forgive a restaurant for preparing its food incorrectly this many times.

This is probably the worst Vietnamese restaurant, if not, the worst restaurant in general that I ever had the misfortune to come across. And I’m not exaggerating. The place is dirty, the customer service is awful, and the food is disgusting.
I ordered tender pork over rice noodles and split it with my boyfriend. The pork was so dry and rubbery that my boyfriend choked on it. The noodles were pretty gross and slimy too (and slimy in a bad way, since there are actually some delicious Chinese dishes that are somewhat slimy). We also ordered a fried egg on top AND THE EGG CAME OUT LOOKING LIKE IT WAS MICROWAVED. And I know what a microwaved egg looks like because it’s what I used to do when I was a kid before I learned how to cook. It was completely flat, rubbery, warm in some parts and cold in others, they literally cracked open a raw egg and microwaved it. The only thing that was decent was the egg roll. No amount of sriracha or hoisin sauce could save this dish.
Then afterwards, we both got stomachaches and I got a strange headache and kept feeling like I wanted to puke. Seriously, I am so surprised that this place is still here.

You don’t expect much for how much you paid, but the foods are really not bad, actually I feel lucky to have this kind of Chinese style place right next to my office building. I came here often with my office mates and friends. We made it first choice for a quick lunch.
I usually order eggplant pot and seafood tofu pot. I like that they came in a sizzling hot stone and a bowl of rice. Sometimes I order the veggie plate which is also good!
Really recommend this place if you want a quick and cheap lunch and satisfying lunch!

Craving soup, got seafood soup noodles. They also have beef noodle soup. Lots of yelling but utensils are clean.

Two stars because the food is edible. Wouldn’t recommend. There are great Vietnamese places on the west side of campus. It’s worth the walk. Saigon express is one. Oriental Restaurant is the other (and my favorite outside of Hanoi).
The tables are dirty and the place is run by Chinese folks. They seem alright. Noncommunicative but alright.
I ordered a phở. It was chicken broth and some noodles and meat. There was nothing else. I couldn’t fix it with any amount of Sriracha.
Stay away. There are restaurants within five feet that you could go to.

If you order a dish you may not get what your ordered. Then they will tell you to pay for a different dish instead of making the correct one.
I order a dish that was pictured. The picture had pork ribs and potatoes fried. The dish that came out was brained ribs in some kind of sauce.
I showed the the 2 dishes and they said it’s the same dish. I told them that the one in the picture does not have gravy and the dish you gave me has gravy. They still said its the same dish. I ended up donating the $ 8ish I gave them for the dish and left
If I could give no stars I would

I came by for a quick dinner and ordered the lemongrass beef and shrimp over noodles. The beef and shrimp was nicely seasoned and delicious. Unfortunately the noodles were really soggy and frigid cold. The restaurant offers free hot tea, which is nice. Others were eating hot pots that looked pretty delicious, so maybe I’ll try that if I decide to come back.

The best asian restaurant in the «North Asian Ghetto». They’re restaurant says Vietnamese food, although the cooks (and half the menu items) are Chinese. The food here, like too many other standard asian restaurants, can get pretty oily (like the eggplant). The claypots here are decent though. They come out sizzling and a bit of the rice at the bottom of the bowl actually crisps up from the sauce/​high heat. I’ll come here once in a while if I’m feeling 1) too lazy to walk elsewhere and 2) really craving asian food. Otherwise, not a place I’d go out of my way to eat.

I do not recommend. The food quality is poor, the service is mediocre, and this place is honestly just kind of dirty. Tables are sticky and I feel bad saying it… but it just isn’t appealing.
Not to mention I got Camille special eggplant and it made me sick… I think it has msg. Like throw up sick. And I was feeling sick as I ate it.

This is the only Vietnamese-​ish place I’ve ever eaten at Berkeley (they’re really rare I guess). I’ve ordered a variety of their dishes over my years at Berkeley, and they’re all pretty good. There’s a lot of quantity for the cost, and it’s probably one of the only places I went on north side consistently for food during my years here. I’ve ordered their lemongrass chicken over rice, lemongrass pork with vermicelli, eggplant with chicken, seafood pot, and eggplant with beef. They’re all good for Berkeley food standards. There’s also self-​serve tea and water.
The crowd is mostly college students, and it gets pretty crowded during lunch time. This place isn’t open on one of the weekend days though (I think it was Sunday but I’m not entirely sure)! The place is pretty dirty, and there’s inside and outside seating.

The correct way to eat Chinese food on Northside is to order it at Camille. Sure, it’s a dollar more than TC garden, but that’s the price you pay to eat actual food.
The staff are pretty friendly and kind of humorous too. One time I came by at like 3pm during the summer (totally off-​hours) and they had turned the half the place almost inside out trying to kill a mouse they found.
Their dish quality varies quite a bit. Try to stay away from the «vietnamese» items, since they’re generally not as good. I recommend the pai gu fan (pork ribs and potatoes, I think?), the peng peng chicken, the five spice chicken, and the ma la yu (spicy fish???). They can be a bit slow during busy hours, but if you go during off-​hours they’re absurdly fast.
It also passes the traditional chinese restaurant test with flying colors — during mealtimes, you’ll see it filled with people ordering in chinese — always a good sign.

I only come here for the Five Spice Chicken, which is a very good value. The chicken consists of a gigantic leg and thigh. The first thing that really caught my attention was seeing someone else order it and seeing how huge it was. The five spice really comes through, you can tell that it’s been stewed for a very long time. The chicken is super moist and tender, and to cap it off, that sinful chicken skin just melts in your mouth. The downside is that the cabbage on the side is pretty bland and comes with a typical chili sauce.
The rest of the dishes here are typical Chinese/​Vietnamese rice plates, lemongrass chicken, lemongrass beef, claypot stews. The guy working here is a hell of a nice guy. I was in the process of picking up my tray and returning my dirty dishes to the front when he told me to just not worry about it. Restaurants that cater to students never really have service that is all that great because they are budget restaurants, but this guy knows how to serve his customers.
You really wouldn’t expect a place in either Asian Ghetto to be thattttt great, but this is a surprising gem that caters well to the grad students living in North Berkeley. Order the Five Spice Chicken and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Probably the shining star of the Northside Asian Ghetto. It’s no pulsar, but it’s a significant source of some EM radiation. Anyways…
Living at Foothill was no easy task for me, and that included having a food routine that was not sleep-​inducing. Camille came to the rescue numerous times throughout the year, thankfully. Camille is a pretty generic Asian restaurant, with its menu not too skewed in any sort of specific cuisine. Its roots are deepest in Chinese and Vietnamese food, but its good nonetheless. The interior is pretty clean and well set-​up, with about 8 tables for patrons to sit at.
For around $ 5 – 7, you get a pretty hearty plate of food. My personal favorite is the lemongrass chicken. Lemongrass? Not really, but it is well cooked, and the sauce. It’s not an exact teriyaki sauce, but it can get addictive. Some of it dribbles onto the over-​easy egg that comes with the chicken, making for one helluva fried egg. The rice and veggies are nothing special; simply solid staples. I mean, in retrospect my taste buds were probably just dying to eat something remotely delicious, so it’s might sound a little better than it actually tastes, but for a student, this is a pretty good spot to fill your tummy for a decent price. Menu is pretty expansive; I don’t think I covered even a ¼ of the menu. All the offerings look satisfying from what I’ve seen, but take a gander for yourself.
The service is okay; servers aren’t extremely warm and fuzzy, but aren’t cold either.
Overall, a good place for hungry students to go to if they find themselves on the North Side.

As mentioned before, not real vietnamese food. When I go to a Viet restaurant, I expect a menu with Vietnamese on it. Sadly, all I found were Chinese descriptions. (How am supposed to know what com tam tiet nuong is in mandarin?!).
Food’s okay… coming from San Jose, I was dissapointed at how unauthentic it was.
I mean, it tastes okay. It’s just not Vietnamese AT ALL.

Extremely terrible service. They mixed up what my friend ordered with another person’s order so my friend had to wait an extra 40 min for her food. The staff didn’t even apologize or try to make up for the mistake. The cashier is always so rude.
Had the worst dinner experience there.

Before you step in here, don’t expect gourmet vietnamese food with traditional recipes and family passed down recipes like mom used to make. Unless your mom was not vietnamese and made fake viet food then definitely come here.
The dishes here are not authentic but will definitely satisfy your lunch crave for a moderate price. I’ve tried a few things here and by far the most memorable thing is the lemongrass beef. There isn’t any lemongrass flavor at all but its still good. They stir fry the beef in a flavorful sauce and put it on a bed of chewy rice. To top it off, they fry an egg and spread a generous layer of sweet glaze on the egg. It definitely is a uniquely tasting egg (in a good way!) To make your food extra tasty, drizzle their free fish sauce (ask for it) on your rice! Yumm!
Their other items are meh at best. Another possibility is to get the combination clay pot. I havent tried it but whenever I go I always see people get it and it looks oh so good!
The atmosphere is drab, depressing, cold, dirty and sad. Service is little to non existent. Just remember, lemongrass beef and fish sauce~!

YUCK! A one-​star across all boards! This review is long overdue and this place is past overdue for a health inspection. From all the options at this Asian Ghetto, me and the old roomie Roy P. decided to have our catch-​up lunch here. Biggest mistake I’ve ever made as a foodie!
We were both on a tight schedule, but this place was taking longer than usual with our orders. There’s only so much me and my roommate can talk about without it getting awkward! We ran out of things to say that he eventually had to ask about our order. I had the phở with beef balls, and it was without a doubt the WORST bowl of phở I’ve ever had. Not only did it take forever and a day to come out, the soup tasted like hella grimey dishwater. You could see all the fat in the soup and the beef balls looked like shit lumps gone dry. They didn’t even leave me with any Sriracha or hoisin sauce!
Now here’s the worst part. We were seated outside, and in the middle of forcing myself to ingest this garbage, two flies flew right into my soup and met their tragic deaths like star-​crossed lovers! At that point I was done, I literally screamed out loud and turned some heads. My appetite was too gone to even complain. Besides, I don’t think I would’ve gotten my point across with the terrible customer service we got. Trying to hunt down a waiter never took so much effort, I didn’t even wanna deal.
Avoid this place like the plague and run away with your life while you still can! This whole ordeal was all probably because we sat outside, but it still doesn’t make up for the crap they tried to pass off as food. It’s probably a good thing that those flies flew into my soup because they spared me from my death, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the chance to warn all you innocent souls. You can get better Vietnamese food elsewhere. I’m with my girl Taylor on this one, I am NEVER coming back here. Like, EVER!

I absolutely LOVE this place.
It’s a weekly ritual to stop on by after one of my classes gets out early on Tuesday (and before the next starts) to head on down to Camille and fit a filling, relatively cheap, and oh so tasty meal into my schedule. Literally, from the time I sit down in my class, all I can think about is how early the class will end, and how early I can strut on down and fill my stomach with that darn good lemongrass beef over rice (#16?). YUM! And for only $ 7.15? I’m down any day.
There’s really not much to say about this place, nor much about this place in general. Located in what I like to call «Asian Affluent,» the Northside counterpart of Asian Ghetto (that looks much nicer, hence affluent), Camille always has someone ready to take your order, and usually with a kind attitude. The food is whipped up in a few minutes and 1−2−3, you’re in heaven.
I always get the food in a togo box because I usually have leftovers to take home with everything I eat, yet I’ve found myself shamed many times, finishing every single bit of the lemongrass beef. It’s just oh so good.

The food is all right, but it suffers from a lack of vegetables (I tend to like my dishes heavy on the vegetable variety). Otherwise, the chicken was spiced well in my 5 Spice Roast Chicken, and the few veggies that were there were cooked nicely.
The service is incredibly slow even when there’s nobody waiting in front of you in line. Don’t expect to call in for your orders — the lady will just repeat the restaurant’s opening and closing hours no matter what you ask.

For fast, delicious and cheap Asian food on northside, I go to Camille. Service is a bit slow during lunchtime because a lot of people like to come here so I usually come for dinner. People here are friendly and I usually get my food pretty quickly.
Though slightly more expensive than its nextdoor neighbor TC Garden, the quality and portions are much better and well worth it at Camille.
Some of my favorites:
— Phở (much much better than The Phở Bar up on Euclid)
— vermicelli noodles with lemongrass pork and egg roll
— Banh Mi sandwiches (comes with a soda and soup!)
— lemongrass pork with rice, fried egg, and salad
I’m not sure if it’s on the menu anymore, but the few times I had spring rolls (the non-​fried kinds with shrimp, mint, and vermicelli noodles wrapped in rice flour) I was very happy. Sometimes they don’t make it, but if they do make them regularly I would certainly order them with any meal to take home to enjoy later.