UC Cafe

6/4/00


MQ and I decided to go out today, it's a nice day, and get some more pictures for the website, and get food. Of course, our first stop is the UC Cafe. Here's a picture of my food. I got the waffle, which is an actual waffle made with a waffle iron. The waiter said the Belgian Waffle was frozen.


Here's a picture from the outside. They still have one of the Coca-Cola signs, that about a year back, some Coca-Cola guy was trying to get up. I stupidly thought that maybe stores got money for putting in these signs, but after asking an unnamed source here in Berkeley about it, he gave me the impression that it was almost kind of a 'you better put them up or else' kind of deal. Hmm. Anyway, that's all I know about it, so this might be sour grapes.


And, what do you know, the UC Cafe has been improving their interior. What a surprise! They put in some new carpet, pretty bland industrial coloring, but new carpeting still. Also, they've replaced their old lamps with some new fixtures. Also, I got a free refill with my Diet Coke. Hmm, another positive change.


Of course, the bathrooms still are pretty scummy here. Here's a shot of one of the toilets, and the scummy sink.


5/20/00

My friend MQ is rather fond of the UC Cafe, which is a restaurant located in an old Copper Penny building up on University Avenue -- just a few blocks before the Grand Auto. It's basic grease pit, but the place is cheap, and the food comes pretty fast, and is okay -- for the most part.

Megan likes the Grilled Cheese Sandwhich, which I, hating cheese, am automatically biased against, and cannot comment on. I, on the other hand, like the Polish Sausage, which is just a simple sausage on a roll -- with fries.

The building at one time in the 70's, probably, was a Copper Penney Restaurant. I did remember visiting these at the time -- the main memory, registering to my pre-pubescent brain, being the acryllic counter, filled up with pennies floating in it. As a kid, I considered this a huge extravagance, that is putting actual money in the furniture -- though even in the 70's, a penny wasn't that much money. I wonder what happened to all those pennies when they closed.

Anyway, unfortunately, I was never able to see the UC Cafe in it's glory days as a Copper Penny restaurant. Though today, you can still see a few hints of it's previous life. That is in the signs and decaying outdoor fixtures, which bear some semblance to what the late era Copper Penny decor probably looked like.

I believe there is some women's business group that meets here, as I've seen their signs up on the walls. And, there is a nice big meeting room in back for such things. This building has a lot of capacity for customers. Though, the bathrooms have not been renovated, it looks, since the Carter administration, and are kind of scummy.

I suspect that others looking for a kind of "Denny's without the chain" feel, would like UC Cafe as much as MQ does. We rank it has having better service and better food than Mel's, though Mel's has a much nicer interior and better bathrooms by far. If you don't go for the Polish Sausage, I've also eaten the Grilled Chicken Sandwhich. It's like the Polish Sausage, simply a piece of Grilled Chicken on a plain roll. I've had the Sirloin Steak, but I thought the meat was filled with grissle, and I wasn't so happy with that. Many times, I just order a side of scrambled eggs, while Megan has her grilled cheese sandwich, and the staff are perfectly happy with this.

MQ also likes the grilled cheese with bacon, and the breakfasts. That is eggs and ham, or eggs and bacon.

Unlike most restaurants of its kind, the UC Cafe does not give free refills on soft drinks. And, to me, the sodas here taste a little funny. I'd go for some apple juice or maybe just water if you're looking for something to drink. The coffee is okay according to MQ. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I wouldn't know first hand.