Meal Ticket

The most Berkeley of Berkeley breakfast eateries.
Cash/​check only. They are very open about how they have a small kitchen and may not be able to seat you even though there are seats open. We went in and it was so warm feeling, with the wood floors, wrap around counters and huge glass windows!
We ordered. Served ourselves at the coffee bar. I had the bacon bits, cheese and green onion scramble and it was so delicious because they didn’t over scramble the eggs and the home fries we awesome as well. I also tried the grape and apple pie — maybe the grape was a little too creative?
Anyways, it was great people watching and the food was amazing.

So the waitress or owner here just sent me a private message that read:
You and your husband are some Debbie Downers!
You were very unfriendly, and are some of the most miserable looking people I’ve seen in a while!
Wow great staff! Again, for a $ 41 breakfast we expected a lot more and being 9 months pregnant I am SURE I do look miserable all the time — thanks for pointing that out!
My review points out the facts of our dinning experience here.

Combinations for breakfast items were amazing and different than what I have had before. This place will make you enjoy breakfast again and give you new tastes that make your taste buds go crazy.

Really tasty food, friendly fast service, easy parking, lovely outdoor patio. Love this place! Had a delicious, reasonably priced breakfast (great omelets, great coffee!) Hated the man sitting at the table behind us making horrible smacking lips/​sniffling/​hacking noises, chewing
with his mouth open while talking loudly on his cell-​phone about his mother and whether or not she will get sued, his urine tests and his very important opinions on why Jane Fonda is not a good actress. Not Meal Ticket’s fault of course… we will definitely go back –just hope that this man is not a ‘regular’. People that rude make you wish for a no-​phone policy in restaurants.

What. Find this place, I’ve passed by so many times and thought nothing of it.
All the food looked delicious. We had cornmeal pancakes they were perfect fluffy tasty almost like a Better version of a Colombian breakfast arepa we also orders the creole scramble And it was very Aithentic with 8−9shrmp with the right amor t of sauce to give it savor but not soggy it down.
They have. Cool patio in the back, small but sunny and nice. and smLl eating are inside.

Tables, chairs, friendly staff and GREAT food.
We go there for the food, not the atmosphere.
I only wish they were also open for dinner.

At first glance, the Meal Ticket appears to be everything you would want in a Berkeley café. It’s nearly complete with charming architecture inside and out, a well-​maintained patio for the nicer days and a home-​like ambiance when you prefer to be inside, great coffee, and sizable portions. The constant but subtle din of the kitchen conjures up fond memories of lazy Sunday breakfasts with the family and the air is filled with an alluring aroma that only a busy diner can create. Unfortunately, the magic quickly disappears upon placing an order. The woman at the counter sneers as you try to decide between one of the specials or a regular menu item and seems positively fed up if you ask too many questions. I’d love to know how many I’m allotted. And though I may have caught this particular employee on a bad day, I find it unacceptable to be thrown a pencil and told I look «clever enough to go to the table and do the math on my own» after asking to split the check. The food was almost good enough to make up for the overt rudeness but perfectly cooked eggs, as miraculous as they are, can only go so far.
With Berkeley offering a multitude of tasty eateries and hot brunch spots, I think I’ll be skipping the Meal Ticket next time. I’ll likely try it again sometime in the future in an attempt to give them a fair shake (and to get some more of their skillet potatoes) but for now, I’ll be taking my math skills elsewhere.

review for vegan only. very limited & uninspired options. but my omni friends LOVE this place.
do like the back patio to bask in the sun :)

Checked this place out for the first time. Everything was wonderful from the service to the food. Staff was very attentive and the food was fabulous! I had the curry pork with eggs and it was yummy! If you are ever in the neighborhood come check it out! Definitely a 5 star!

The Pros:
— Good breakfast & lunch food! For $ 11.95, I got the slow pork coconut curry w/​2 eggs, home fry potatoes, 3 tortilla, and salsa. I enjoyed the curry! (This is a popular dish)
— Very friendly servers.
— Mom & pop, homey environment with that local Berkeley charm. Love the backyard patio with all that greenery.
The Cons:
Cash or check only. Boooo…
But Meal Ticket– I still like you!
Come here to relax and enjoy yourself. Family-​friendly and group environment. This place has a good community feel.

I was impressed how uncrowded it was at 10 on a Saturday. I think we got lucky because I’ve heard it can be crowded.
Outdoor seating: yes! Quite pleasant back patio with wooden tables. Not a huge space, but decent.
It’s an order at the counter and get a number place so that does help with flow.
Solid coffee with free refills.
Really enjoyed my food. Got the smoked salmon and goat cheese scramble. Eggs not overdone. So important. Really good salmon and cheese. The Baguette was kinda uninteresting. Potatoes solid. Hash and Greek scramble also looked good
They DO have mimosas by the glass.
Very enjoyable.

Really convenient neighborhood brunch joint, around the corner from our house. Sometimes the hours don’t fit our schedule (and they’re often closed for a few weeks over the summer) but we make it work because of the coconut curry pork. It’s a special but it seems to be always on the menu, and I believe it’s the dish featured on Diners, Drive in and Dives. Husband loves this dish, and it’s so unique — haven’t seen anywhere else like it. I’ve gotten a few of the other menu items and felt that they were all «just ok.» The bread is just supermarket-​quality bread (not Acme) so I usually opt for tortillas instead. Service is casual and friendly. Outdoor patio seating in the back is good for our baby. Cash only, pay at the counter.

Review for corn beef hash with 2 eggs and toast… good flavor on the hash and a good, hearty breakfast without feeling heavy. Also, sampled my friends cornmeal pancakes and they were delicious… almost taste like french toast!
As for service, i believe staff/​owners are taking heed to some Unilocal reviews as our experience (table of 3) was perfectly fine… refill of ice tea, coffee, napkins, bussing tables… no problem here.
Good breakfast place with plenty of seating inside and patio seating. will have to revisit the soft shell crab po boy… had it about 3 yrs ago and thought it was yummy!

My sister and came to this breakfast spot after Unilocaling the area for a place to eat. What a huge disappointment it was to end up eating here. I ordered an eggplant and cheese omelette with potatoes and a side of toast. When my meal arrived my sister and I was confused and wondered if they had made a mistake on my dish because my omelette was nothing of an omelette, more like a nasty watery scramble with no flavor. I had to ask the waitress if it was a mistake and she was certain it was indeed an omelette.
My second complaint about this place was that they don’t accept any form of credit cards only cash or checks. I’m sorry but who doesn’t accept cards these days?! I was so annoyed. I had to run across the street to the local Chevron to withdraw cash and pay an extra fee due to the fact it was not a bank.
Overall a horrible experience and a pricy breakfast for a more than shitty experience. I wish I could have given them no stars but that option is not given.

My experience was wonderful. Baguette was fresh, eggs scrambled as asked, and corn beef hash was all homemade and delicious. Wow. This place has a great ambiance, sorta familial. I enjoy the customer service, and actual family working there at the time there.
I will be back to try their other entrees.

The meal ticket is not your average brunch spot. This place has your comfort foods and your new favorites.
They have some normal scrambles and combos if that’s your style, but when I go to the meal ticket, I like to get something different.
When you walk in, you order at the bar and get a number. This process can be interesting when you come on a busy morning, but it’s worth the wait for sure.
Highlights of the menu:
Slow pork curry. This breakfast is a slow cooked pulled pork with coconut curry sauce. It’s served with potatoes, pico de gallo, and tortillas. It’s a hearty meal with a dance of sweet and savory flavors.
The po boys are to die for. They are on special and they usually have a few different kinds. Today when I visited they had an oyster, a shrimp, and a soft shell crab po boy.
I got the soft shell crab and it was out of the world. Fried to perfection, soft and succulent, inside a fresh bun with poppy seeds. It was so good and steaming fresh. Seafood for breakfast is greater than you think!
Don’t miss this place. Yes, it’s crowded. Get a latte and watch the world turn while you wait.

My first brunch at Meal Ticket, about six months ago, was great — good service, food and experience overall. But my visit there this past weekend was a major letdown! I literally thought, «how does this place survive?!»
A basic tip to staff: treat customers like you’re happy to see them! Or, if that’s impossible because you’re having a crappy day or whatnot, at least don’t make it obvious that you wish they’d simply walk right back out the door.
I get that a popular brunch spot will be busy at 11am on a Saturday. But being busy then is no doubt the norm and should be no excuse for a restaurant’s inability to provide a pleasant experience to diners. From the moment we walked in, staff treated me and my friend like we were a nuisance because there were many people waiting and virtually no good place to do so. (It was cold outside.) One server/​hostess/​counter-​person in particular was appallingly rude, constantly treating people like we were in her way, elbowing her way through us and making hmmmphing noises. (Another was warm and friendly, and I felt bad that she had to deal with her stressed out, unhappy colleague!)
One big problem is that there were no clear instructions on Meal Ticket’s whole ordering-​while-​you-​wait process. I didn’t understand it (I now know that you have to wait to be called just to order while you’re awaiting a table), and it was clear that others didn’t understand either. So please, owners, put up a sign explaining how this works! Then your staffers won’t need to gripe when people try to order when it’s not their turn to do so yet. (I saw a couple other parties grimace after being rebuffed because they tried to order too early.)
Okay, so then there’s the food… once we finally got seated, I was excited for what I remembered to be an excellent meal. But, nope! The smoked salmon/​goat cheese/​chives egg scramble special was watery and nearly tasteless. Even the basics were 100% blah — the breakfast potatoes were bland and overcooked and the toast (which I ordered dry) was practically soggy with hardly a visible «toasted» property to be found.
With so many other spots around to choose from… I’d suggest heading elsewhere!

I got lucky — walked up a little past noon on a Sunday, and my party of two got seated right away. The restaurant was 95% full, but we came at just the right time where one or two parties were about to leave.
Meal ticket has simple and delish menu, but it’s not solely comfort food. I got the pesto walnut scramble and requested for egg whites — SO good. Good to know they have wheat, white, or tortillas as bread options. You order at the counter, take a number, and they bring the food out to you. The staff is nice and pretty fast about their service.
Oh yeah, if you’re a n00b like me and still miss the memos — it’s cash only.

Cool little local breakfast spot, ok but just an ordinary breakfast nothing special. We ordered the egg scrambles and it comes with potatoes and baguette. They were able to do egg whites for me which was awesome. Coffee was good. They take cash only.

Food is good. Service not so much. It’s a shame, because it really tainted my experience here and I’m not sure I’d want to return.
My friends and I came to dine during a Sunday brunch. A good amount of people at the restaurant but it wasn’t packed. I arrived first and as soon as I sat down, the waitress mentioned that we had to order at the front. Thats’s fine. We would hear that from other servers a couple more times before we order. I wait for my two friends and when they arrive, we take our time perusing the menu. Since we were sitting in the patio, my friend and I decide to order first and we have our other friend wait at the table in the patio to watch our stuff.
This was our first time at Meal Ticket, and we go to the counter with the assumption that we would order and pay for our meals separately. We go to the front and encounter this seriously RUDE older woman with short hair. She looks annoyed that my other friend is waiting at the table and didn’t come with us. She takes our order but tells us to get our friend. My friend comes in and also orders. As we try to pay at the counter, this RUDE lady says «oh we don’t take separate payments,» prints out the receipt, literally shoos us away and says «go figure out how to pay your table» and dismisses us with the wave of her hand. WTF. So DISRESPECTFUL.
As first time customers, staff should be mindful that not everyone is going to understand their system of ordering at the front and then paying after the meal is over at your table (this is the first time I’ve encountered it). All she needed to do was explain that to us, in a nice way.
Afterwards she approaches our table and apologizes but rather defensively and kept emphasizing, «oh we told you needed to order at the front.» That’s not the point, her demeanor toward us was rude as first time customers that didn’t understand how the paying system works.
Anyways, get the slow cooked pork in coconut curry. It was delicious with roasted potatoes. Pork was juicy and so tender. Also get a baguette and try their homemade jam. Delish.
Food is on point. But I probably won’t return.