Fat Cat Cafe

I come here several times a week before my work shift because Nikki always brightens up my day. Sandwiches are massive and the 2.50 extra for chicken on a salad gets you what you would pay three times more for anywhere else nearby.

I had a pretty gross sandwich experience here. The avocado was brown. The sandwich was overstuffed and fell apart. The service, however, was very friendly.

We got turkey sandwiches from Fat Cat Deli today! GeorgeZimmer works in Oakland and supports the local spots! Thank you for a delicious lunch! We will be back!

Great service always! Good food great service. The fat fat sandwich is the best! The owner is super nice!

Located right where Telegraph Avenue begins, this is a compact café run by the sweetest lady you’ll ever meet. All the sandwiches are generously sized, feel genuinely homemade, and are priced just right.
I know the bulk of their business comes during lunch periods, especially on the weekdays, and that it’s a family-​run operation, but the selfish part of me wishes they were open longer, like during late nights when the area fills up with revelers and where a nice, quality sandwich would be a great way to help soak up a night’s worth of drinking.
Nevertheless, this is a truly local business that’s worth supporting and worth a visit.

Was not impressed with the food. I ordered spinach salad-​I assumed (oops my bad!) when I ordered chicken it would be breast but it was thigh meat. Who does that on a salad? My co-​worker offered me the other half of his teriyaki chicken sandwich to try because he didn’t care for his choice either… again, thigh meat, with tendon this time. Icky!

I absolutely love this place! Just happened to be meeting a friend for a drink, but wanted to eat something so I decided to check this place out. Immediately the lady (Nikki I’m assuming from other reviews) struck a convo with me and told me I must have skipped lunch because I’m so skinny lol she is adorable! The Garfield sandwich is delicious, I love the pricing for how much food you get! Left satisfied, full, complete with a Hershey’s kiss. Def will be back to try her home made potato salad!

The woman working had to be one of the nicest people I have ever encountered and the sandwich was pretty good too. I really like this place. It has an upstairs area that is pretty neat as well. I’ll definitely be going back there soon.

Nikki is an absolute joy. I go to Fat Cat just to check in and say hello. The sandwiches are enormous and they’re super customizable if you ask. Very reasonable pricing as well. Nothing embodies community and local small business more than Fat Cat Café.

Cutest little café ever! So excited about finding this gem. Minority owned woman owned business. Everything was «honey» this and «love» that. Super adorable little gem in downtown Oakland.

Good inexpensive sandwiches.
Got the French Dip; sandwiches come with a Hershey’s Kiss (~$ 6
) Lot’s of tasty roast beef for the price (
).
Go upstairs to the loft seating area and you can hang out with some cat art (
)
Seems like lot’s of regulars. Super friendly owner reminds me of the proprietress of Thornhill Coffee House greeting almost every customer by name.

Love the ladies who work here, super sweet, really tries to get to know you!
The egg is never overcooked.
Worth the price, very filling.

Very disappointed. I ordered 1 particular sandwich. Owner was making sandwiches. Which I happened to have never seen before. Maybe she needs to stick to just working the register. I brought my sandwich back to my office and the first thing that caught my attention was the fact that is was drowned and dripping with watery mustard. I eventually figured it out. I specifically ordered the Garfield– which is a pastrami sandwich with olive salad. I was given a ham sandwich with mustard and mayonnaise. They maybe had one order to make after mine, so how does this even happen? They even confirmed with me that what they were handing me was a Garfield. They had one thing to do at a time, make a certain type of sandwich, and they assembled the totally wrong type.

Wow the Owner Nikki is really nice. She calls me «honey» and «love» even just after my first visit here. A lot of café shops around this area in uptown are closed at 6:00pm on weekdays. Free street parking starts at 6:00pm, and I’ve been attending a class that starts 6:30 every weekday and I need some food between work and class. Nikki always offers to stay after hours to accommodate my schedule, just call her beforehand! The sandwiches here are delicious. My favorite is the Ester special, which comes with roast turkey avocado, and bean sprouts, with all the other sandwich fixings of course (lettuce, tomatoe, onion, pickle), all over sweet french bread. I also ordered a Danny’s special which is the same but instead of avocado and sprouts, comes with bacon and cranberry sauce. This one was alright, but the bacon was slightly underdone for my taste. Only bad thing I can say is that I asked for no mustard but she still gave me mustard on this sandwich :\
The ingredients are fresh, bread never feels stale, just all around great sandwiches! The inside is small and slightly dirty but you really can’t expect much more for dt Oakland. I will probably be coming back to try some burritos here!

The food is alright to good. The customer service is always really excellent. This is one of those places where the lady at the counter remembers your name and order and actually puts a lot of care into prepping your meal. The coffee and food are good, and the service is great. Overall good experience, I would stop by again.

Sad update :(
Came on a weekend. Owner still very sweet. Sandwich was stale and tasted old. Donut holes as well. I guess they’re only made fresh during the weekday. idk.

I’ve come here to eat once, and then to wait with my friends as they ate another time. I refuse to spend my money here anymore. The first time I came here was with one of my girl friends. We both ordered club sandwiches for our lunch break and expected it to be done in 10 – 15 minutes at least. After seeing plenty of people who ordered after us get their food before us we went to ask her what was up, just to find out she forgot to make our food after 20 minutes. She apologized and then it took another 10 minutes to get our food. We had to eat out food as we walked which was annoying since we spent our lunch just waiting.
The second time I came here I brought a plastic bag with soda and chips with me and joined my friends upstairs as they ate their food. When they finished I told them to put their trash into my plastic bag and I would throw it away. I went downstairs and threw it in the garbage and the owner said, «Hey! Excuse me! You need to take that out of the trash and throw it away outside!» I said, «Are you serious?» She said «As serious as a heart attack.» I took it out of the trash and threw it outside. I couldn’t believe I even did that.
I will never be back here.

This is a great place for a quick coffee, doughnut or other pick-​me-​up. Nikki, the owner, goes out of her way to make you feel like a regular right away. I love how she knows all the students’ names from nearby Oakland School for the Arts. You truly walk out with a full heart as well as a full belly.

I feel bad giving this review since the owner seems really sweet…
But this sandwich was inedible. I have a thing where I hate wasting food. So even if it’s mediocre I’ll just eat it since I paid money for it. But I took 3 bites of this and had to throw it away.
I picked it based on good reviews and proximity to my school since I only had 30 min. The owner was nice and greeted me. I ordered the el gato.
What I got was a greasy sandwich, dark meet chicken that had some cartilage and inedible pieces, and just a mess. I had to eat my three bites with a fork.
Good thing I have an apple in my bag.
2 stars for basically the friendly service.

The first time I went I go ta hot dog combo which unbelievably came out to just under 8 dollars=crime…but I learned not to use a card. I wish the chip selection was bigger… not just sun chips and munchies…
The second time I went got the most expensive grilled sandwich; something with cajun chicken pieces, guacamole, and grilled onions.
It was huge and it was also a mess. It was one note in flavor but what do you expect with all that rich stuff on it. Meh.
Overall it’s an OK place to get lunch really quick.