Berkeley Social Club

Berkeley Social Club is my all-time favorite spot whenever I visit Berkeley. It's super close to the downtown BART station, making it an easy stop, and I love strolling through the nearby tea shops and bookstores after a meal--it's the perfect way to spend the day. The space is spacious and beautifully decorated, with a warm, inviting vibe that makes it perfect for any social gathering, just like the name suggests. Whether I'm meeting up with friends or having a relaxed solo meal, it always feels like the right choice. But what keeps me coming back is the food--especially their Jjamppong. The Jjamppong is packed with rich, spicy broth and fresh seafood that hits all the right notes! Every visit is a satisfying, feel-good experience, and it's always the first place I recommend when someone's heading to Berkeley!

Traditional diner food collides with K-Town pop at this spot. Come hungry because the portions are generous. The Benedicts have a nice kick and the French toast is all kinds of filling. Fun spit.

Context: this place looked amazing on social media and the reviews were great, so we were looking forward to a nice dinner here. Right off the bat, our waiter was super weird 😭 He came to our table with three ice waters and I asked him if he could take one back and replace it with hot water and he said no? 😭 Then we asked again and he brought a cup of boiling hot water, and we asked him to take back the extra glass of ice water since the table space was small and he said no again? 😭 When our waitress arrived to take our order, we made it clear multiple times that we are vegetarian, and asked her to recommend us a vegetarian appetizer. She first suggested a salad with kimchi, and then I reminded her that the kimchi most likely had fish sauce. She then recommended us the fried peppers, which we then ordered and ate. It tasted a bit weird so we asked them what it was and they said fish???? 😭😭 When it was already made clear multiple times that we are vegetarian and cannot eat fish? We sent it back obviously and asked to speak to the manager and she said she would take the peppers off the bill…. I thought that was obvious given the fact that we barely ate it and sent it back? There didn’t seem to be much care for the fact that we are completely vegetarian and ate fish because of their mistake. We ordered tofu dolsot and tofu curry udon as well… the dolsot was flavorful and had a good amount of tofu but the udon was just.. bad. Super bland and slightly overcooked. We ate the dolsot but left the udon mostly untouched because it was not good, at the end the manager said our bill would be waived which was a nice gesture as we only ate the dolsot and were poisoned with meat. Overall, I don’t anticipate returning because of their mistake and the bad service, although one of their dishes was good.