Face to Face

This is a cute little kiosk in downtown Berkeley, near City Hall. I just had an Asian Beef Wrap and it was absolutely delicious. The owner is really friendly and always smiling! It’s clean and much more than you’d expect from such a little place.

Asian beef burrito is pretty good.
It’s not authentic wrap but the beef is pretty tender and the hoisin sauce is not overwhelming.
Will come back and try the beef noodle soup.

The food here is fantastic. I’ve tried the beef wrap and the beef noodle soup. The beef wrap is pretty good; it is pretty much a quesadilla with beef shank instead of carne asada, with onions, cilantro, and hoisin sauce. Plenty of beef inside, and at $ 4.50 it’s a pretty good deal. The beef noodle soup, though, is my main reason for coming here. At a mere $ 5.50, its a freakin’ steal. Udon with some baby bak choi, some deliciously tender beef shank, and rich, flavorful beef broth… just writing about it makes me want some.
The establishment looks a little dingy at first (it’s a hut in front of a parking lot), and there is no seating bar one stool and a small folding table (pretty much a takeout place), but the food makes it worth the trip. The owner is also really nice and friendly, and the food comes out extremely quickly. You’ll likely be in and out within 5 minutes. I love not waiting for food. Especially restaurant quality food.
You should definitely come and try some for yourself. They do close a little early (5 pm at the time of this review), so if you can’t make it I’d definitely drop by on a Saturday to give this place a try. They’re supposedly open on Sundays also, but the owner of the store said she sometimes takes the day off (she runs the place by herself 7 days a week, so I can’t really blame her), so I’d check before dropping by on Sunday.

Long review short, the only item worth getting here (of the 3 items I tried) is the beef noodle soup (you get a quart of tender stewed beef, udon noodles, beef broth, and bok choy for $ 5.50)
Unfortunately, the potstickers are store-​bought. I suspect they’re Ling Ling potstickers that are pre-​cooked, refrigerated, then reheated in the microwave. They’re dry and soulless ($ 3.50 for 6). The beef wrap ($ 4.50) is just plain weird. It’s sliced beef shank on a flour tortilla with melted cheese, raw onions, raw carrots, raw lettuce, and hoisin sauce. If it had more of a crisp on it, it would make more sense as it’d be an Asian beef quesadilla but it was difficult to eat as the tortilla was barely cooked and the onions were overwhelmingly raw.
Their beef noodle soup is restaurant quality, though. And if they start making their own potstickers in house (crisped on the griddle to order and not microwaved) and change their beef wrap to something more tried-​and-​true (i.e. beef with cilantro, cucumbers, and hoisin and griddled until they’re actually browned/​crisp on the outside) it can elevate a simple struggling snack shack into a destination spot.
I would love to see this place succeed.

This is a new place that operates out of just a small booth somewhat out of the way, replacing the hotdog shop that used to occupy the same small booth.
Unfortunately so far they don’t seem to be getting enough customers, likely due to the location. This is a real shame because their beef noodle soup is a tremendous value. For $ 5.50 you get a sizable bowl of excellent, hearty beef broth, tender stewed beef, and some bok choy. Yes the noodles could be a bit better, but that’s only because it is precooked. And for the price and the speed of serving, that’s just nitpicking. Overall I am positive that if you like Asian noodle soups, you will appreciate this one. Highly recommended.
They also have other items, such as wraps and fried noodles, but I won’t comment of those as I haven’t tried most of them. I will say though that the pricing is very aggressive on all of them.

Face to Face is a small «clubhouse» that used to sell hot dogs. now it”s chinese eats,
bubble tea, tea, etc.
eats: asian beef wrap (4.5)
–a few tender beef shank pieces surrounded with veggies in a tortilla wrap.
(onions, cabbege, carrot) too much veggie, where’s the beef?
–flavoring is hoisin sauce.
3.5 stars. not so original.
crumbs:
–beef noodles, potstickers, wrap, etc.
–friendly, mandarin speaking service
asked me could i speak Mandarin, conversed in Mandarin with her.
–lady asked me what was i writing down
answered: «so i remember what i ate»
note: cashier very attractive, i was only thinking about my stomach (yep. hungry)
–parking not good around here.
–thinking other food choices better, deliberately choose the «difficult» one.
should be 4 stars in everyone’s review. me different.
–takes CC.

Time: 2:37pm/58°F cloudy
Purpose: Slept over at a friends place on Friday night after work and bar hopping. Just wanted to hit up farmers market to see what’s new. Out of no where saw this kiosk reminded me of Tian Jin Dumplings in Oakland.
Ambiance: Small shack like equip with sink and running water. You know the type of place were the lot attendant gets your car key for you. That’s exactly what it looks like except a few modifications done for food safety permit/​license. Upon inspection saw a set up of CCTV too. For a small place like this not sure why they need all of these precautions. Its hours are just 6 hrs a day during days that are open. There’s no darkness or crime to be seen. Anyways a sandwich board on sidewalk with pics/​prices posted and sliding window. There’s no seating anywhere strictly a walk up, pay and go joint.
Staff: A guy and girl both seems related. I just dealt with the girl, she was friendly and very engaging. Told me the special of day, asian beef wrap includes a complimentary iced tea. She try her best to get a sale, but not in a pushy way. I was impressed so, I said sure why not?
Cleanliness: Grade B+, some areas needs to be wipe down. However, does not affect any surface area or contact with food itself. Talking exterior not interior wise.
Eats/​Drinks: Asian beef wrap with free iced tea $ 4.50. You can call it a chinese burrito! This wrap was sure tasty with slices of shank beef end to end. Slathered with hoisin sauce, onions, lettuce and cheese, it was a hit. Washing it down with iced tea was another thing. To my surprise it wasn’t too sweet or lack tea taste. Taste like loose brew not the bag type. I was eyeing the pot stickers too next time, next time!
Main Features: Shank beef wrap crêpe with free iced tea only (no substitute for coffee).
Products/​Services: Asian beef wrap, chow mein, fried rice, beef noodle soup, pot stickers, pearl milk tea, pearl mocha, pearl milk coffee, iced tea/​coffee, assorted soda/​water. Takes major CC (no minimum). Open Mon-​Sat 10am-​4pm.
Punch Lines: Friendly, zippy service, pleasing flavors, inexpensive, special bargain, well-​prepared, claustrophobic interior, best cheap eats around, can’t go wrong, casual and delicious, shoe box size place, kept its standards, street parking.
Tradeoffs: Just standard americanized chinese without overhead price. You really pay for the food here not their rent. Great for students on a budget.
Final Thoughts: You see on the weekends, I splurge on food a lot. Sometimes in triple digit and I’m not jiving you. After finishing up, I almost went back for those pot stickers too. I gave this place a chance to prove itself and, it didn’t disappoint at all. About todays deal, I pay $ 4.50 and get free iced tea a $ 1.75 value. That’s like $ 2.25 an item. Knowing beef are pricey, not sure how they’re making money with free drink. Would love to see perhaps some variety of baos and dumplings on next visit too. It won’t be long before, I will return again. Hopefully they’ll have the same deal, if not I’ll pay for it.