Alley Kitchens Héng Dīng キッチン

Alley Kitchens is a really great place to go for a quick bite! I would recommend ordering ahead using the snackpass app. My favorite meal from here is the beef bowl, it tastes like really authentic Japanese beef and is served with just the right amount of food! As for atmosphere, all seating space is on two counters so it's a little more of a tight space but is great for if u just want a sit down meal for yourself of 1-2 friends. Honestly the whole set up makes you feel like you're in a quiet hole in the wall, in the midst of busy Berkeley.

It's what you would expect from Alley Kitchens. I ordered the Honey Teriyaki Chicken Don Rice Bowl. It wasn't that special but it's pretty filling. Flavor of chicken was decent. Steamed vegetables are interesting. If you're into unflavored steamed veggies then you'd like them. The rice bowls are better than the noodles. Do not order the ramen... I don't think I'd come back that often. It's just convenient since it's so close to campus and Snackpass has good group party discounts.

I had the tonkotsu ramen and the mango slush drink. The drink was fine. The ramen was overcooked and very mushy. I threw most of the ramen away after 3 bites.

I got the salmon sashimi donburi w a side of the soy seasoned egg. The salmon was pretty good except a couple pieces had small parts that were tougher to chew. I feel like they give a decent amount of salmon too, especially for the price which is nice. I also like that it comes with seaweed, tamago, and cucumber. I really enjoyed the soy seasoned egg as well. It was sufficiently seasoned so that I could actually taste the soy sauce seasoning and it was cooked how I'd like it be--it wasn't that runny where the yolk spilled out everywhere but also wasn't fully cooked so it was still that bright yellow color. This made it a pleasant experience to be able to actually eat the whole egg.

Miserable. A place specializing in ramen should have good ramen, and by that, I mean the essence itself, the noodles. What I received was honestly shocking. It was a glued-together mass of wheat flour that resembled a kindergartener's project. If the noodles are bound together so homogeneously that they elide, are they really noodles anymore? Mind you, I specifically ordered the firmest possible option. Staff, I'm sure are nice people. They are not fast workers. The broth was fine. Chasu was fine. Toppings, fine. But I ordered ramen, not broth, chasu or toppings. Also, there were TWO orders in front of me and it took 30 minutes, for what is clearly assembly work and not actual cooking, except for the noodles, which shouldn't take more than 30 seconds with how thin they are. I can't imagine what the wait would be like if the place had more than a few customers. If I sound unsympathetic I should mention that I was once a service worker as well, and know exactly what makes service intolerable to a worker, namely, the service. There is no service here. Obviously restaurant workers make pennies, but I doubt I'm the only one who believes that one should put effort into their endeavors, if not for others then for their own character.