UCafe

First time visiting Berkeley back in March 2016 and stumbled upon this Hong Kong style bakery. The people working here speaks Cantonese and are courteous and kind.
We walked in late in the day and they only had a few buns left and no other pastries available except for a few rolled sponge cakes.
We bought a pineapple bun, a pineapple bun with taro and another one with red bean. Love the texture of the breads ⁵⁄₅ stars. They’re delicious.
Also bought a green tea rolled sponge cake which was not moist and soft. Would not buy this again.
This is my to go place in Berkeley for Hong Kong style baked goods. Will definitely patronize them again.

Pleasantly surprised by their quality of macarons. Also, their slushies are perfect for a hot day

The boba milk tea here is exceptional, at least compared to Quickly on Northside. The boba is of excellent springiness and texture. Flavor is ok and tastes less powdered than Quickly.

I like Ucafe! There’s never really a wait and the teas are just as good as any! I like their passion fruit with aloe… I love that they have aloe. And there are so many customizable options so it was able to satisfy my sweet tooth without me feeling too guilty about all the sugar.

One of my favorite places to go when I am in Berkeley. UCafe is tucked in between a few well know eateries nearby, but still has a presence that cannot be denied.
I love the set up of going in picking up a tray and finding your food treasure inside all the clear puzzle containers that are on top of one another.
My go to are usually the baked pork or chicken & mushroom buns. Love the variety they have with desserts and bubble teas, smoothies,.etc.
This is a guick and easy Asian bakery, that’s great on the weekends and when your low on funds.

The sponge rolls are AMAZING! They’re super affordable and have the perfect texture and flavoring. I love them.

Been here few times at late time. Not busy and not crowded. Liked their mocha. It’s pretty clean place. And also they open till late time I guess. Will back again

Their buns are mediocre, but their avocado smoothie and the texture of their tapioca balls are pretty good! However, their thai tea is extremely sweet.

I’ve only come here as a last resort for mini cakes and other sweets. Their boba is not the best and is given in small portions. Their pastries never seem to leave their glass boxes, so I’m not sure how fresh they are.

A small Asian bakery that is pretty comparable to Sheng Kee, it’s slightly less quality but also very cheap and definitely worth the price for the baked goods, boba and dessert!
I like the breakfast items here, they have some kind of egg and ham sandwich/​croissant that was a good deal and filling. The buns are also good– the pineapple and red bean are flavors that I liked that were well baked. I’ve also tried the milk tea specials and they were a pretty good value. Macarons here are also cheap. If you’re looking for a quick snack without breaking the bank, UCafe is a good stop.

I’ve been walking by here for quite some time, but finally dropped by today after grabbing a bite at Artichokes. I ordered the classic milk tea with boba. It was actually quite good! Boba was nice and funny and the milk tea wasn’t watered down like some other places. The girl behind the counter was nice. It did take awhile to get be drink though. It was close to probably 6 – 7 minutes and only one other person had ordered before me, but because of the holiday they seemed kinda short staffed, so I understood. The place was clean and is located by my favorite pizza joint, so I can definitely see myself coming back here again in the future when I’m in the area!

My favorite place on the planet earth for macarons! I usually get a half dozen of the lemon, and a half dozen of the red raspberry. Wish I could justify making the 4 + hour drive right now for some.

UCafe is a cute bakery-​café with Asian style bread/​pastries and lots of tea drinks! It’s been a while since I’ve had any of their breads and I haven’t tried most of their drinks, but I really do like the U Milk Tea drink here. It has a really unique tea/​milk combination flavor, and I definitely recommend trying it! You can also customize the drink to your desired sweetness/​ice level. UCafe has also started using FiveStars for loyalty rewards so you can rack up points for free drinks: D
Overall, I’ve always gotten efficient and friendly customer service here, and I will likely be back again to try some of their other drinks (or maybe just get the U Milk Tea again hehe).

You get what you pay for. My review is based on their boba drinks. If you want good boba, do not come here.
I usually go to Ucha because its the best boba place in Berkeley. But the only places open after 11pm was either this place or Sweethearts. Came in around 11:50pm and ordered a Jasmine milk tea with boba. It was ready right away and the people were really friendly. The drink tasted very powdery and watered down. It lacked the jasmine tea flavor. The boba was okay — kinda soft.

This place is cute! It’s a Chinese bakery doubling with a boba tea place. I was in the mood for a sweet drink and tried the lychee slush. Perfect consistency, very light and fluffy. It does melt quite easily however, and sweetness is easily identifiable as artificial flavored. Nonetheless still tasty.
Until they open the 85 this will be my go to place for Asian bread! Service is great here as well, the girl serving me never stop smiling.

Very disappointed.
We ordered Apple Green Tea and Honey Lemon Aloe Green Tea. Taste is definitely below average…
Haven’t tried their bread yet, will update if it’s good.

UCafe is very important to one of my best friends. They have great boba drinks, and great teas you can’t get many other places; the peach oolong tea is beautiful.
The buns are also pretty good. The beef curry bun is my favorite. They have day-​old buns for cheap — usually just plain bread. They also have delicious desserts, like macarons and cakes, which I honestly think are better than the ones at Sheng Kee.
UCafe is definitely a Berkeley staple for me!

This café has yummy yet really fattening baked goods (savory and sweat). Their macaroons are pricey, but everything looks tasty. Wish they still made Bahn mi. I’d like to try their green tea bread at some point. Never got something here that I didn’t like. They’re open late too, yay!

Stumbled upon this Chinese bakery after strolling down the street. I was excited because we don’t have many Chinese bakeries around where I live.
You basically grab a tray, pair of tongs and pick your selection of buns that are all under $ 2 a piece.
They did have a wide array of an assortment but still smaller than I’m typically used to. I did like that they had different kinds I’ve never tried before like ham and corn.
I found the buns soft, taste like they were made that day and were flavorful. I like that they packaged the buns separately so I can just grab one in its baggie and munch away.
Besides offering Chinese bakery, they also offer smoothies, macaroons and cheesecakes for a great, low price. This place is one to go to if you’re on Durant Street and craving something sweet for cheap but good quality!

Extremely underrated. With the opening of established chains Sheng Kee and Paris Baguette, the local UCafe has seriously been losing traction. With its less than ideal location, even if located very closely to the units, I was wondering whether it would survive. So far, it has, and I hope it’s here to stay.
I have a love-​hate relationship with UCafe. Being so close to the units, it was really convenient as a early college student. Then they stopped taking credit card. That instantly lost me as a customer.
Then, recently, I discovered they started taking card again, with no minimum at that. As a Haas student, it really is a convenient place to hit up on the trek back home, and I look forward to continuing to give my business to UCafe.
So why UCafe? As mentioned before, they take card. Second, their drinks are honestly pretty solid. Their recent addition of the barley tea crema really gives Purple Kow a run for its money, and it’s $ 2 at that. Furthermore, it seems that they have started baking their own pastries, sold at 50 cents, rather than only selling store-​bought Ranch 99 style pastries.
If only people knew.
I really believe UCafe has a fruitful future, and if given good marketing, they can really settle in as a mainstay local Asian bakery.
TIP: Get the barley tea crema as a milk tea! So good!