Nina’s Cafe

Excellent food. Great for a quick lunch. The variety of cuisines and options for vegetarian food are amazing!

Nina’s café is simply amazing. Nina makes everything from scratch and infuses it with a healthy dose of love. Her homemade chai makes me feel euphoric. Her diverse menu is always excellent, healthy, and made with quality ingredients. Her wifi is fast and the atmosphere cordial. She runs the place single handedly 7 days a week and is always hospitable and smiling. I love Nina as she is like my third grandma.

I wish I had found this place sooner! I work a couple blocks away from Nina’s, and I am used to feeling rushed and crowded on my half hour lunch break, which I USED to take regularly at the Berkeley Bowl. Now that I’ve discovered Nina’s, I will rush no more! She has a great menu of classic American dishes as well as food from her native Bangladesh. I was impressed to learn that Nina is aware of, and tries to cater to our society’s dietary restriction craze. She has vegetarian and vegan dishes, and says she will be including more gluten free options on the menu soon. I was pleased to see when I showed up at 12:45, that there was ample seating, even though the place is small. I had a corner table with booth seating all to myself, where I relaxed while my food was prepared. I so enjoyed my meal at lunch that I came back for dinner this same day, at which point I ordered the highly raved about CHAI. It is wonderful, no doubt about it. And unlike the chai I’ve had in India, Nina’s chai comes unweetened, but very well spiced, and you can add your own sugar if you’d like. I would also like to put in a good word for Nina herself, who was extremely kind and generous to me. In fact, she went above and beyond in her level of service, which is why I’m so compelled to write this review. She and her café are total gems! Anyone who says otherwise is nuts.

Yesterday was extremely chilly in Berkeley. Walking into Nina’s for the first time, I was immediately met with the amazing smells from her kitchen, a bright smile, and a «hello, my friend». Good start. I ordered a tuna melt sandwich and a bowl of dahl soup. I’ve had many, many of both over the years and these were delicious and well spiced, not to mention just the right thing for an autumn day. So glad I found this place.

The best kept secret of West Berkeley! Hands down the best Chai I’ve found — –ever! She must make it from scratch and she let’s you add your own sweetener so it’s perfect for you. No more sickeningly sweet from a box chais for me. The curry bowl is also delicious and Nina is the sweetest most caring person. She always treats is so well whenever we come in. I highly recommend this place!!!

Nina has the best food ever. Her restaurant is a dream come true. The Mexican Bowl is so fulfilling and nourishing-​on cold nights, it fills me up and creates a warm place in my stomach and heart as well.
Nina also serves many other succulent dishes as well-​chicken curries, panini sandwiches, frittata, burrito, rice bowl as well as soothing and enriching homemade chai and smoothies.
Come anytime and meet the best and most welcoming hostess and cook ever.
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

I’ve been here a few times to study. There is wifi available but she won’t give you the password until you have paid for something, which I understand. From what I gather, she changes the password daily and writes it on a little piece of paper. After you pay for your food/​drink she will bring you the paper but is quick to take it back right away. A lot of reviews say she’s nice but she was rude to us and we felt rushed to leave as soon as we finished our food so we didn’t get to study there too long. We didn’t think the food was that great either. My sister ordered a smoothie which tasted like syrup and my homemade chai tea tasted like lukewarm milk water. The pastries also look old and not too appetizing. My roommate ordered a sandwich and said it was decent but there was nothing special about it.

Stopped by on a whim because my fiancé and I wanted a snack before our lunch reservation. We got a breakfast burrito with chorizo, and it was honestly the best breakfast burrito we’ve ever had. Delicious flavors with just the right degree of heat (from the homemade sauce or salsa), perfect balance of textures and ingredients (avocado!), and served with a couple apple slices. A great little place and definitely worth spoiling our appetite for ;)

I’ll agree that when we walked in the smells were amazing. You could tell it was home cooking.
However there are MANY signs (printed, handwritted, chalked) that heaven forbid you miss the ones about rules «no outside food» and «no cell phones» in which case she will tell you in a stern, unfriendly way. Not that I disagree. I informed her I would leave and she still gave my partner attitude.
We left.

Nina’s Café review.
I am seriously glad I found this hidden gem. It’s a-​one-​of-​a-​kind place you only find in the Bay Area, and no one can quite duplicate. It’s a mix of a colorful Internet café, and your auntie’s kitchen table. The hipsters have not yet discovered it (except me of course) so it’s still very chill and roomy. As you walk in the door a gentle wiff of Indian spices serves as a pleasant greeting. Don’t be intimidated, the bagels, sandwiches, salads you would find at a casual café are here. But if you want to go a bit Indian, you totally can. An ADORABLE lady offers you her homemade authentic Chai tea (Do you dare try it unsweetened? Or will you add sugar? Either way it’s pretty thick with home ground ingredients.) As I sit here in the comfortable cushy seats, using the wifi, I can’t get over the eclectic mishmash of art, children’s books, magazines, knickknacks, and even a Russian doll. Somehow this place feels like I am part of the family, yet the hidden location makes me feel like my privacy is respected. I guess it’s everything I need in terms of comfort. Comforting food, comforting décor, comforting adorable lady who somehow feels like family, so that I can chill out, use the wifi, and do a little writing.

I love this place. Nina has awesome customer service. It is like eating with your mother. She greets you and make sure that you are satisfied. I frequent this place anytime I am available to stop. I would recommend this place for anyone who like a small intimate setting with good homemade food. Everything there is freshly made. No commercialized food there. Love it. Love it. Love it.

What a fantastic experience was visiting Nina’s! First, I loved the place, small and cozy with amazing service directly from Nina. The food was the best, I couldn’t how good it was at the same high level of the best in the area. I highly recommend Nina’s and I consider myself a loyal customer from now on.

Not sure why this place is rated so high. Ordered the lunch plate with chicken curry, salad and brown rice. Everything was cooked ahead of time and sealed in tupperware, not sure how long it’s been there but just the fact that it was sealed in tupperware in a food case that currently had an assortment of different already prepared food (some appeared to have some type of dairy) that require different storages to be stored at healthy temperatures. I took a hard look around the organization around the «kitchen”/behind the counter and I can just assume that the owner hasn’t had any formal training, worked in any commercial restaurant or know much about food storage. I mean I’ve had food from many mom and pop restaurants around the bay who all do not have formal training as well and I loved it but I feel like this particular owner needs to at least learn how to store her food properly. I’m not surprise that some had food poisoning after dining here.
Now for the food:
Chicken Curry — Bland and old, I like the taste of the curry to be a stronger than it was but I can’t be surprised since it came out of tupperware. It was very watery.
Salad — The salad had less than a handful of lettuce. The picture of the same dish i ordered in Unilocal is very deceiving. I received enough lettuce to count all 5 pieces of it. The dressing was lemon, she had placed next to the salad. Mmmm lemon salad.
Brown rice — mushy. Again tupperware.
She seemed nice though but not out of the ordinary, not nice enough to give me a few extra pieces of lettuce. Every customer faced business requires the workers to be nice.

Nice location and fam owned. The espresso tasted a little burned, but did the trick. I’d stick with iced drinks next time.

Nina was nice and generous, but the kitchen and her lack of hygiene were enough to give me food poisoning.
shortly after eating lunch (Greek salad, lentil soup, and a free falafel) I got back to work and started to feel off.
spent the rest of the night feeling horrible and nauseous. and spent the whole next day horizontal on the couch and had to call in sick to work.
not safe to eat here. I didn’t even have tainted meat, and got sick. that can only mean an improperly maintained kitchen.

I have been going to Nina’s for about a year now — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and nearly everyday. I have had many different meals from her kitchen, all are outstanding, fresh ingredients, unique recipes! My favorite has to be the veggie curry bowl, which when served looks more like a colorful salad with avocado, cucumber, different types of peppers, on top of a medium to extra spicy curry (catered to your liking). She has breakfast burritos, mexican burritos, frittata, soup, hardboiled eggs to go, sandwiches, and more. Lots to choose from. The coffee is excellent and is served till 1pm. Free wifi with purchase and for about $ 7 – 10 you can get a custom cooked meal by a very kind hearted woman.

Always a great meal and a warm welcome. I love all the vegetarian options. Consistently good!

I happened upon this café by searching for «cafés with free wifi,» and found Nina’s Café, as I searched for a place to work.
Nina was sweet-​as-​can-​be, exuding warmth and positive energy. She was even extremely accommodating when I told her I was following a Paleo diet; in fact, I was on Day 16 of my Whole30. She gladly custom-​cooked a breakfast of scrambled eggs with mushrooms, infusing a simple dish with spectacular Indian spices. She suggested a side salad, with a simple vinegar and olive oil dressing, but again, more delicious due to the added spices.
I ended up staying there the whole day working, and ended up eating lunch there too. Again, Nina had no qualms when I asked her to leave the rice and beans out of the chicken curry, adding a salad on the side. She made me a hot, unsweetened homemade chai with almond milk: divine!
In short, a great café to work in, despite the small, but cozy, interior (there are also tables outside). Excellent service, and yummy food that also works for those on special diets (e.g., Paleo, vegan, gluten-​free).
Highly recommended!

Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed with my experience at Nina’s Café. Based on the reviews I was expecting quality food at reasonable prices. However, not only did my green smoothie and tiny fruit bowl (it was probably ¹⁄₃ of a banana, a few strawberries and ¼ of an apple) come out to $ 10, but that was also the minimum charge for credit/​debit.
The veggie smoothie was kind of disgusting. It was really really salty and I ended up only drinking a quarter of it because I couldn’t get the rest down. The fruit bowl was what I expected, except for $ 5.50 it was super tiny and not worth it at all. If I had known that was all I’d get I would have ordered a sandwich or burrito.
Nina was friendly, but nothing out of the ordinary. I definitely won’t be coming back to Nina’s, but maybe others will have a better experience here.

Eclectic, one-​of-​a-​kind restaurant. Where else can you get an Indian chicken curry wrapped in a burrito tortilla with added lettuce and veggies? You can mix and match flavors and styles to your heart’s content. They also have great options for vegetarians!
They may not always hit it out of the park with every dish, but they are unique and props to them for making healthy options mixed with food from different cultures. It really is very much a Berkeley restaurant.