Vulcan Cafe

I had high hopes for this place with so many great reviews. Visiting from so cal and a frequent visitor to superb Thai food I know what is good. Ordered glass of red wine served cold as ice water. Ordered calamari. No seasoning on the squid but the dipping sauce was ok. Two dishes I try at new Thai place. Bbq chicken and pad Thai. Bbq no Thai spices and boneless. Always should be on the bone. Served with the calamari dipping sauce. Pad Thai. Where was the tamarind and fish sauce. Bland as Olive Garden spaghetti. I would have had better luck at Panda Express.

I líke pad thai and green curry chicken so much. This place is not far from my home. Today I come here again for my dinner I order Pad Thai with shrimp

This review is for their delivery service, which was absolutely terrible. I ordered through Eat24, which had a confirmed delivery time of 8:50pm on a Sunday evening (which was an hour and twenty minutes after I placed the order). After 60 minutes had past, I called to see if the food went out for delivery yet, the woman on the phone told me no, and that I’d have to wait a little bit longer, «maybe 30 minutes more.» The food arrived at 9:45pm, 2 hours and 45 minutes after my order was placed.
They would never serve a customer who was sitting at the restaurant 2 hours and 45 minutes after they sat down. Just because someone calls in an order, doesn’t mean you can take an out of sight, out of mind approach. We’re still paying customers. Please don’t ever use their delivery service unless you’re okay not eating your food almost 3 hours later.

I ordered the pineapple fried rice, pad thai, and iced tea. All of them were so delicious! And people who work here were very kind and always smiling. I definitely recommend you to visit here and I will absolutely come back!!!

Love this place ! And the service is amazing and food is beyond delicious. I always come here and every other place I go is not like this one. Food is authentic and the peanut sauce is my favorite ! It’s kind of hidden. No where near the ugly parts of Oakland. It is nice. Has parking and is very private ! I love it always come when I get paid !

Amazing service! Wonderful family run business with delicious authentic Thai food! Can never go wrong with their awesome papaya salad. My favorite place to grab a quick lunch or dinner! Highly recommend checking out if in the area.

Great Thai food place, with some of the most amiable waiters.
I don’t come here often but when I do, I always get fast & friendly service. The waiters are always jolly & outgoing which puts me in a good mood after a long day. I always leave here satisfied.

Today is Sunday I’m dinner with my family here. This is the good Thai restaurant, Many time when I wanted to eat the papaya salad (Som Tum) and pumpkin curry… this restaurant is my answer!

The absolute WORST Thai delivery I have ever had. It’s unfortunate that there are so few good Thai delivery places in Oakland, but this place definitely takes the cake for being the worst. Waited over an hour for the worst yellow curry we’ve ever seen. The curry was literally all water — no substance whatsoever. Save ourself the trouble and AVOID this place at all cost.

Thai food here is delicious! I like Pad Tai with chicken and Tom Yum soup, I like spicy food so much. And I tried Thai Ice Tea… yummy!
I hope I will eat Thai food every day.

I like pad thai here so much. Papaya salads good also.
Coconut soup with chicken and shrimp is so yummy and not too much spicy.

I live at the Vulcan and this is my lazy day, don’t want to leave the Vulcan, comfort Thai restaurant that’s delicious. Lilly, Emmy and Roy are so friendly. I’ll keep coming back when i move out too.

First time i have been here. First time thai food. That was awesome. I really liked that.

First time trying & first time for delivery. AMAZING. It tells you 45 – 75 minutes for delivery but mine came in exactly 20 minutes!!! :D I ordered the special chicken wings with garlic sauce. I give it a 4.5 stars, it would be 5 stars but my chicken was pink… Definitely ordering again but with special instructions on to cook the chicken longer

Ordered through eat24. It was fast delivered within 30 mins! Ordered the seafood spaghetti for $ 11.95 and it’s not worth it there were no seafood at all only 2 pieces of shrimp. The beef salad was good and the red curry was on the spot. It’s a decent place for Thai, but not as good as the reviews says

Do not judge the ambiance. Soon we get our lunch because the food is Very Authentic and the taste is like i actually went to Thailand. The service and the smile of the waitress and the chef is full of harmony. They appreciate your visit no matter what

This spot is a hole in the wall but it’s so good! This place is super hidden by an artist studio but the people who work here have such great spirit. These people work so hard to serve and please you and they honestly deserve all the business. Every time I eat here the food is delicious and is served fast. The Thai teas are on hit too.

Absolutely disgusting tom kha gai soup. Worst I’ve ever had. Zero seasonings. No cilantro (my favorite ingredient BTW). Too thick. Just all around horrible. Red curry literally had almost zero curry in it & was barely spicy even though we requested very spicy. Thai iced tea was too sweet. They get one star for the seafood spaghetti that my husband got & liked. Such a disappointing experience.

This is excellent Thai food. I love the Larb salad, and spicy eggplant. Pumpkin Curry is excellent and the transparent noodles with fresh lime juice and chicken it’s so refreshing, And they deliver. This is best delivery food I’ve had in a long time! Ordered 3 times in last 2 weeks, and it’s quick too

I ordered for delivery and was not happy. The egg rolls were cold and raw (the taro was still raw). The portions were very small. The prices were high as well. With so many great Thai restaurants around I will not order from here again.

Food was good, not great. I ordered for delivery as I have done a couple other times in the past with them, but this time was different. Delivery was super quick and order was correct, but once I signed the statement for credit card orders, the delivery person didn’t skip a beat and said «Do you have a tip for me?»…if it weren’t for these words, I would have gave him a cash tip. I did not want to bother with arguing and causing a scene, so I politely gave the extra tip that he demanded onto the signed statement.
Due to this experience, I’d rather order from other thai restaurants in the area than to deal with Vulcan. Hopefully they would improve on their customer and social skills.

Sometimes excellent, sometimes not. Inconsistent these days? I’ve been served a delicious and flavor packed meal for an outstanding price, and then also been overcharged for a mediocre dish on another day. Some of the family seems not to know what to charge, perhaps?

This review is based on my order from this location though Eat24. I ordered Kow-​Pad along with some Thai Iced Tea. I had to order 4 teas and 2 Kow-​Pad orders to make up for the $ 30 minimum. The delivery arrived several minutes before the estimated time. Overall, the food was great. May order again sometime soon.

This restaurant is really, really bad. The pad thai is somehow dry but greasy, and everything is generally bland. The customer service is awful and even kind of dishonest. Do not recommend.

This is a delivery review– so I haven’t been to the restaurant. So it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. The taste was solid but the consistency was off. The curries were very watery, flavorful but watery. Where the biggest dings were: My veggie curry was about a quarter short from full. The Pad Thai was pretty good though a bit more on the sweet side than I prefer. Delivery was free with a $ 30 purchase I think I have decided I have paid more for less food but much better quality.

This place was OK. Nothing for me to be too excited about. It’s one of the few Thai places that actually deliver so I gave a star for having that option. The Pad Thai was Ok. A bit dry with some flavoring to it. The Thai Ice Tea was great but just a bit too much ice to really savor the flavor. Overall I’m somewhat satisfied and may order again. The delivery man was super super helpful and polite!

This was the worst restaurant/​take out experience I have ever had. I got home and sat down to eat — low and behold, there was no chicken in my Chicken fried rice. The rice itself was hard and over cooked. They gave me only half a handful of sticky rice for two dollars! The potatoes in my yellow curry were sour. The pad see ew was… average at best. I called the business to let them know that I was unhappy. I didn’t yell. I didn’t have attitude. I simply stated the facts and the cashier gave the phone to the cook, whom attempted to guilt-​trip me. She said that she had cooked for me and that she didn’t know what my problem was. I then explained, again, that there was no chicken in my CHICKEN fried rice, to which she responded that I have a problem and proceeded to hang up on me. I have never been so disrespected by a chef. If it were possible, I would honestly give this restaurant zero stars. I’m never coming here again, and I recommend you don’t waist your time doing so either.

Delivery, which was estimated to take 40 – 60 minutes, took 2 hours. We couldn’t get through to the restaurant (busy signal) and had nearly given up by the time it arrived. Food was lukewarm and mediocre-​tasting, and part of our order was missing. Small portions.

Haven’t eaten here in years but I decided to try their delivery service. Not the best decision. Spilled iced tea, small portions, and gave me a different order without notifying me head first, because they didn’t have beef that day, instead replaced with grilled chicken alone. Decent flavors but will not be ordering food here again.

I had the Pad-​Se-​Ew and I was not disappointed. I had half for dinner and half the next for lunch. The noodles held up through microwave reheating. This place is tucked away, but trust your GPS, it’s there.

We ordered our food, it was suppose to take about an hour for delivery and it took 20 minutes passed that time. When the food arrived it was cold and the food was not very good. First and last time I eat out of this place.

I’m reviewing based on delivery through Eat 24. Delivery took over an hour and the food was lukewarm (at best) when it arrived, despite the fact that the restaurant is less than 2 miles from my house. There was no napkins or utensils included either. From what I can gather delivery is a new thing and I assume they’re working out their kinks. The portion sizes were also very small for the price, in particular the chicken with green beans (pic included). However, the flavor of the food was decent, hence the three stars. Overall I prefer Tie Food or Banana Blossom if you live in the East Oakland area. The main reason I didn’t order Tie Food in the first place was because I wanted soup but their hot and sour was definitely lacking. All that said I would potentially give them another shot dining in.

Okay so I have gone here for years and there have been owners of this place that were epic! Sauveny who owned it 1990 to 1993 was awesome — great cook and delightful person — then Boone and his wife Lada (FYI Boone was a chef at The Pan Pacific Hotel in SF)…then it went through another owner and slowly slid into a dark place. So I stepped out for the last couple of years because there wasn’t any love in the food or the upkeep. That all changed a couple of months ago. When Roy and his wife took it over! that have transformed the restaurant into a cheery spot with a great tasting Thai food. Not only did they bring the menu to life with delicious and beautifully presented food but they also spruced up the décor. I have been back several times in the last two months. They also now deliver within 5 miles of the restaurant which is awesome. I am so glad that they have breathed air back into the hidden spot. They also cleaned up the outdoor patio with new furniture and manicured plants… which is totally inviting… the last two owners covered it in rubbish foliage and let it over grow with bugs. Now it is once again a great place to have a meal. The love is back in this café! Recommended!

Was craving the green sauce, so headed over to the Vulcan for lunch the other day. Looks like it’s changed ownership again, although most of the menu is the same. The old reliables were just as reliable (pad thai; bbq chicken) and I ordered a grilled salmon that was easily the best-​prepared and largest portion for the price piece of fish I’ve seen in recent memory. The «brown rice» (which used to be red) is now black rice. Otherwise I had the same consistently good experience I’ve been enjoying at the Vulcan for decades. Also: Now they deliver!

Food was okay, very bland not as flavorful as I thought it would be. The prices are high for the portion that they give. The spring rolls were a joke and just tasted like lettuce. Very hard to communicate with the lady who was taking our order and the plates don’t even come with rice you have to extra for it. The place is very dirty the forks they tried to give us were dirty and they had lettuce and food still on them. Not a place I would bother to come back to. 2 stars for the somewhat friendly service, and okay tasting food.

Delicious, authentic Thai food, and the family that runs the restaurant are very friendly and welcoming. Don’t let the neighborhood fool you, it’s worth stopping in.

Great, great food. Awesome customer service. Always a great experience! You absolutely have to come check this restaurant out, at least for the sake of keeping an amazing little gem like this alive. Tucked away into the industrial neighborhoods of east Oakland, in a small dead end street, the vibes of eating on the patio, sipping delicious Thai iced tea, it’s just an incredibly comfortable and inviting space to have discovered.
Check out the basil fried rice, the veggie spring roll. Both have incredibly fresh ingredients, and my friend tried their real crab rice, it’s real. It’s real crab!

I have been going to vulcan café for 10 years however i took an 18 month hiatus. When i found myself in the area i was excited to see my old friends again.
Unfortunately it did not work out as i hoped. There has been a change of ownership and quality has suffered.
Prices have gone up. Rice was old and dry. My fish was greasy. My wifes fish was chewy. Portions were small. An older gentleman in an apron (presumably the cook) kept walking out from the kitchen and looking over — he looked pissed! I have no idea what that was about but it did’nt make for a nice atmostphere. About all i can say is our server was good and the food came out fast.
Unilocalers beware, do not be fooled by the 4+ rating, that was a legit rating under the old managent but not now. Furthermore I suspect that the new owners are posting bogus reviews on Unilocal to counteract the bad reviews. Take a look and decide for yourself.

The Vulcan Café … No, Mr. Spock doesn’t work here! The Vulcan Thai Café is located in a most non typical location for any restaurant. Tucked in among the industrial area down a dead end street in East Oakland, I would have never thought to come here or even thought there would be anything worth coming to in this area. Yes, it can be very scary at night and a bit during the day as well. I first thought where the hell you takin me? As I was in high school when I first came here. My BF took me here and I wasn’t used to this part of Oakland. We pull in, and walk up the steps to go inside. This was in the daylight. Once inside I felt better. The offerings were all the usual Thai dishes you see at most Thai restaurants. My BF said the food here was really good and he used to come here with work friends.
Now, I come here if I want Thai food and happen to be in East Oakland … not too often, but it happens. I keep coming here because the food is so tasty. The person cooking really knows how to use that wok to give that nice wok seared flavor. Last time I had the spicy basil rice with beef 3 stars hot. I’ve also had the Pad Thai, of course and the Pad Kee Mao (spicy basil noodles). The spicy beef basil fried rice is one dish I don’t see at every Thai restaurant, like the Pad Thai. The Pad Thai here is not so sweet like other restaurants, I like it better that way. All the dishes are priced the same as most Thai places, $ 9-​$ 10 per dish, except for the seafood dishes. The interior is sort of artist funky with a little Thai thrown in. I think this area has artist lofts for the starving artists of East Oakland.
Given the area and having a surprisingly good Thai restaurant in a very least expected spot, I’m going with 5 stars as the food and service are better than a lot of Thai placers I’ve been. Google map this place to find it, so you don’t get lost in this neighborhood.

Delicious. I had green curry with chicken and cucumber salad. Everything was very tasty, seasonings were subtle, flavors were soft and mild. This was my first visit, and I’m glad I read everyone’s reviews. I’ll be back.

Loved it. Food was absulutely fantastic, which more than made up for the nonexistant atmosphere. In an ally and feels like its off the beaten path, it’s a great place for date night or even with the family.
On a Saturday evening, we sat outside on the small but slightly charming patio. Weather was perfect, and not sure that there was a/​c inside. Ordered pad thai, spring rolls and the pumpkin curry. All was great and priced quite well for the thrifty dining experience. Service was adaquet. Only downside: bring cash… we were a little suprised with the sign stating that they temporarily couldn’t take credit cards.

Got the roasted duck on rice. It was delicious! Reminded me of the street food in Thailand! So glad we found this hole in the wall right in our neighborhood. The server was so nice too.

Perhaps I should have ordered a pad see ew or something stir fried from Vulcan, because the two orders of curry we got today were really disappointing.
Tried a penang curry w/​chicken and the pumpkin curry w/​tofu, and both of them were super watery thin with no depth of flavor and as mild and bland as can be.
It’s a Thai curry, please throw some chiles in that sh*t!
Also tried their Thai coffee, which was mediocre and disappointing as well.
The curry orders don’t come with rice, and I was told over the phone (got take-​out) that it’s because their curry portions are large. What I got was one of those medium take-​out sized plastic container (usually for soups) with the curry. And white rice was $ 2.50 per serving, so $ 5.00 for 2 orders of white rice with my $ 9.00 bland curry.
Would like to support this little family joint as it’s tucked away off San Leandro Blvd., but would avoid the curry next time.

Great and fresh veggies. Food was fantastic. We got beef pad Kee Mao. And pad ka pao. Love it. The only thing is here is pretty cold during the lunch time

I never like writing 1 star reviews but I need to after getting take out from Vulcan Café last night.
Ive recently move back to the Bay Area and I had fond memories of this Thai food restaurant because this was one of my favorite places to go with my family.
I went last night and ordered Tom Kai Soup, Angel Wings and Pepper Beef with Onions to go. The place was deserted. Only the family that now owns it and their 2 small children were there. I ordered and was out the door within 10 mins.
My first mistake was not double checking my order. I was just trying to get home asap. Once home I found that my Angel wings (boneless stuffed chicken wings) was actually 1 mutha flubbin stuffed chicken wing. YES ONLY 1 WING AND I PAID FRICKRN 6 BUCKS FOR IT. My Tom Kai soup container was only filled half way (what a rip off) if a resturant wants to give less food perhaps they should invest in smaller to go boxes instead of only filling a regular sized container half way (the soup was flavorless to me but my mom loved it). My pepper beef was ok, not bad but certainly not special.
Not sure if the food or service is better if you eat there but I won’t be returning to find out.

Super hole in the wall thai restaurant! Quaint with good service. Can’t complain about anything, except maybe the parking lot.
I’ve gotten the pad see u (stir fried flat noodles with beef and broccoli) two times and the fried rice with chicken both amazing!

What I ate: Pumpkin curry, pad thai, papaya salad, lemonade
Visit date: July 28, 2012
First time? Yes.
What an awesome find! The gravelly parking lot and the fake floral arrangements made me feel like I was backpacking through Thailand. I crossed my fingers that it would be like that one time I was roughin’ it through Thailand and stumbled upon the most amazing Thai food in the dumpiest of guest houses. Um… close enough! Vulcan Café has some serious eats. Even more so, I wasn’t über hungry, but the food still amazed!
The pumpkin curry had just a hint of spice; the kobucha made the curry creamier. The pad thai was on the sweeter side, but still delivered great flavor combos. The papaya salad was so fresh; the cool feel was great for the hot day.
My cousin and I were the only ones there for lunch on a Saturday; where was everyone? I hope Vulcan sticks around because they have some good eats! They get a 4 for now; once I can grub here again for taste consistency I’ll upgrade them to 5. Stay tuned…
The happy food dance was danced at this meal.