It's relatively rare to find a place that is equally perfect for bringing a date, sitting down with your parents, or just eating alone. The atmosphere is cozy and calming, the folks who run it are really sweet, and the food is fresh and comfortable. Best momos and thenthuk I've had since I was in the Himalayas, handmade fresh and high quality. Veg friendly, and filling. read more

I've been coming here for years now. I love this place so much. The food is so fresh and flavorful - there are also lots of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. The staff are really friendly, and be sure to get a look at the kitchen - which you will on your way to the bathroom! I usually get the Ngoe-thuk (pan fried noodles) with tofu. I've liked everything else that I've tried, but it's so hard for me to stray from my favorite! Definitely don't miss out on the tingmo or the spiced potatoes if you come here. Just watch for that tingmo sauce - it's delicious but it is really spicy! Great place to bring someone who is visiting from out of town. This place is a real gem in Berkeley, I hope it stays here forever. read more

The atmosphere and food here are wonderful. I've only had a few dishes here, but they've all been freshly made and full of yummy complex flavors. Really good for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. If you like spicy food, make sure you let them know. You won't be disappointed! read more

An original Tibetan experience in the heart of Berkeley. Food is great and people are super friendly!

Stopped in on a whim, wow! Went with waitress (owner?) recs, everything was delicious in a homemade by grandma kinda way, if your grandma was tibetan. Best momos ive had, sauce was key but filling was simple yet packing flavor. The pak? bread app was amazing!! Like savory peanut crumble except made of barley flour..depping in fermented sweet sauce. Lamb entree was great, as was my noodle soup. Didnt like the traditional milk butter tea because my brain can only process sweet tea but certainly was interesting. read more

The girlfriend and I bought into the hype and decided to check out Cafe Tibet. Having never eaten Tibetan food, we were excited. As many have mentioned, the decor and small size of the restaurant make for a cozy experience. That's about all this place has going for it. Based on our selection of chicken momos and eggplant in garlic sauce, I was pretty disappointed. The momos were essentially large, bland Chinese dumplings and the eggplant dish was mostly garlic sauce. For just those two dishes, the bill came out to be $21 without tip. Pretty pricey for what we got. Oh yeah, the service was pretty slow as it was just one elderly woman waiting on the entire restaurant. When we asked for recommendations for a rice dish she continually said "they're all different." Thanks for clearing that up, lady. Overall, the quality and the quantities were unimpressive and I left feeling hungry and unsatisfied. read more

Based on one experience, I would give this place 5 stars-- but out of priciple, I have to creep it down until I try it again. The momos are delicious-- I reccommend the meat ones over the cheese ones. The momo soup is in this delicious, slightly oily broth with vegetables. The chcken momo dish come with this curry-like orange sauce. The friend rice was delicious, and the mango lassi actually tasted like mango. What a freakin concept! My friend's soup was a bit bland, some kind of lentil soup. read more

A hidden dark place with very bright menus. We walked in and was greeted by a friendly old lady and some temple chanting music. The service was great and the food came in a large filling portion. I also liked the choice to do family style or individual. The food was super rich and easily shared. It reminds me of Indian (curry) with a northern Chinese taste (buns + long grain rice). It's a little out of the way from campus, but easily within walking and biking. read more

The owner is very friendly and the momos are delicious. it's always a pleasant experience to eat here.

Love the dumplings, momos and noodles. They are hand pulled. The ambiance is awesome. So cozy. Service is nice. Clean. Nice music. Feels right. Love it. read more

Everything about Cafe Tibet is great. Food is great, fresh and service is awesome! In addition to many delicious Tibetan dishes and drinks, they serve the best momos I've had in my entire life! I've had almost every vegetarian item on the menu! My eating delight usually starts with some Tingmo "bread" with spicy sauce and Dholooma Kamngoe: eggplant chips served more delicious spicy sauce! Then I have a mixed combo of vegetarian momo's with some hot drink, probably chai. read more

DONT EAT HERE. The food seemed fine when we ate here, but about 24 hours later both my friend and I got severely sick from food poisoning. I had to spend the day receiving IV fluids in Urgent Care. I am 100% positive that eating at Cafe Tibet was what gave me food poisoning because it was the only place that my friend and I ate at together. Don't risk it. read more

I dined here last night on Ngoe-Thuk with tofu, which is on their regular menu, not the organic one. I also had the savory Pak (tsampa) as a starter. The very friendly waiter said the savory Pak has a regular, slightly salty flavor. He then asked how spicey I wanted my noodles. I ordered them medium spicey. I enjoyed my food and the ambiance, paid and left. This morning when I awoke, I felt lethargic and had aches in the back of my neck and head. I think these symtoms are consistent with too much MSG (monosodium glutamate) in the body. I generally like this place. The people are friendly and the music wonderful. It would be unfortunate if they must resort to flavor enhancer shortcuts in the preparation of their dishes. From now on, I may just order from their organic menu, and pay the extra money. read more

Great momos - took me back to my school days in Mussoorie eating authentic Tibetan momos. Small cute place with great food. The owner is a really sweet Tibetan old lady. Great place, highly recommended. read more

I haven't had much Tibetan food, and all that I've had I've eaten in Berkeley. I really liked the food in Cafe Tibet, I'm sure to return. I'm a garlic lover, so I loved their traditional soup with an astounding amount of garlic. Everything worked well together and it was a low hassle and tasty meal. read more

Yum! Today I went with my friend to this establishment. I found the wait staff to be very polite and helpful, as it was my first time. I had the gluten free sweet potato noodles with veggies and pumpkin seeds. It was perfect! My friend ordered the eggplant and rice dish. What a great place! Looking forward to the leftovers! read more

It's all about the momos, I made the mistake of not ordering them the first time I ate here but got a taste of my sister-in-law's. So of course I had to go back and have my own. I got the combo and probably couldn't pick a favorite, all the fillings are great! read more

I liked this place. The owner makes you feel at home as soon as you walk in. Very nice! Good service and helpful when it came down to suggestions or help with the menu. Cute and cozy spot. The garbanzos appetizer was great and I'm not really a fan of the garbanzo. Yumm!! Good vegetarian options. I definitely plan to go back! read more

Amazing food! The spice rubbed chicken is unreal! Also the yak butter tea and chive dumplings ....oh mama! Both the vegetarian and fleshy entrees are great. read more

I expected too much to this place.....food and service were OK but the restaurant itself is a bit dirty......

Cafe Tibet is a jewel in the East Bay. This is one of my favorite restaurants for several reasons: 1. The food is made fresh to order with hand-pulled noodles and organic tsampa. The soups and momos are incredible. 2. The prices are great.. an amazing value for fresh cuisine 3. Samten, who used to manage the restaurant at the monastery in Dharmasala where the Dalai lama lives is an amazing hostess. Her family members cook in the kitchen. 4. Cafe Tibet hosts traditional cooking classes where half of the proceeds go to single Tibetan mothers in India. All in all, one of my favorite reasons to be in Berkeley! read more

From the outside this place doesn't look like anything special, but inside it's cute as can be. The Tibetan decorations are beautiful. The food was delicious and came in huge portions. I couldn't believe how much we ate, but everything was great. The momos were amazing. The service was also great. The owners are really nice people. read more

We had the assorted momos and the lamb curry. The mascarpone cheese momo was delicious and the curry was quite tasty! The serving sizes are larger than Taste of the Himalayas, while prices are bit cheaper. Service was good and very friendly. Atmosphere was really cool (Tibetan flags, pictures, monk chanting music in the background). read more

Went here on a whim with my girlfriend. Here's what we got: Drinks - Butter tea, and lassi Starters - Potato curry, chickpeas Soups - Spinach soup, Beef soup. Entree - sampler of 3 momos... the 2nd, 4th, and 5th on the menu. The butter tea tasted like melted butter... way too much. The lassi was sweet. I liked it, but my girlfriend didn't. The potatoes were ok, but the chickpeas needed a lot of salt. The spinach soup was very good... fresh tasting. The beef soup smelled like vomit, but I choked it down. Only the green looking momo was good. Part of the problem with them is that the dough seemed... old and tough? Not sure why. The absolute worst part though is that the momo came with some chili sauce WHICH HAD A HAIR IN IT. The waitress/proprietor? was also unfriendly and a bit rude, and the food took forever to get to us. I'll be trying Tibetan food again, but not at this place. read more

Excellent food! Friendly family business! Great gluten free options, very accommodating of my allergy. The food was top notch! Great quality, price, and menu!! read more

Only came here once, but I like this place. the food tasted really good, was fresh made there (as in, they didnt use a bunch of canned sauces and msg and crap like that), and I was really impressed by how clean it tasted (aka the opposite of msg and a bunch of bottled sauces), and it was yummy. the two people working there were really personable and nice (I think they're a married couple who owns the place, but I could be wrong) I'll be back again sometime! read more

The food was really good but the best part was that the waitress was totally matter-of-fact, knowledgeable, and accommodating about food allergies. The restaurant is beautiful inside, nice friendly atmosphere. I'll go again. read more

This is the most intimate, great tasting with excellent service restaurant that I have experienced. The owner greets you and makes you feel welcome. She offers Tibetan butter tea and offers assistance in picking out the food. The momos are like little pieces of heaven that melt in your mouth. The beef curry is spicy but each bite provides you with the succulent and mouth watering taste, as different flavor you devour in each bite. Each bite, each nibble is a wonderful experience. I highly recommend this place. Great for families. read more

I love this quaint little spot on University, the service and smiles are the same whether it is the middle of a busy night or if you have just caught them before closing up. Momo's are AMAZING and sometimes the sweet owner brings homemade bread in...YUM!!! THE TEA IS A+!!!!! read more

This is my boyfriend & my new favourite restaurant in Berkeley. Since I am taking night classes at Berkeley this summer, I'm finding that I need to actually dine out because the classes start so early that it's impossible for me to cook/bring dinner! One of these restaurants that I managed to try was Cafe Tibet, which is actually right across the street. It's sort of a place that you'd miss because it's pretty nondescript, even though the awning says its name. It's small, cozy and feels like a hole in the wall. It's definitely not fancy and feels homey, and is family owned. The kitchen is tiny, and the bathroom is located in the kitchen, so that must give you an idea about how cozy this place is! The waitress/owner is super super kind and gives many suggestions and also gave us an idea of what the cooking style and cuisine was like, since it was our first time eating there. I've had Nepalese food before, so I was aware of what momos were, but I've never had Tibetan food, which is very similar-- very grounded in meats and veggies, but very good. They also have vegan meals if you are vegan! My BF and I opted to share pan-fried chicken momo (there is an extra cost for pan-frying the momos--- $1.50, but it's so good pan-fried, we didn't even mind,) which are dumplings that are delicious and come with the tastiest sauce ever. My BF and I also shared the sha-bhak-leb, which are pan-fried beef and veggie pies which I would HIGHLY recommend if you like dumplings as well. They are only offered during dinner though, so I would definitely go out of the way to get these for dinner. And we also got this stir-fried eggplant dish with chicken, and a side of Bhutanese wild rice, which we also enjoyed-- though to be honest, the eggplant was a little on the oily side. Next time Iw ill get a curry though, because the sauces here are earthy and f ull of flavour, and I would love to actually try a curry. The mango lassis here are to die for and they have a variety of flavours (sweet, strawberry, etc.) I'm curious to try that salty Tibetan butter tea that is on the menu too-- but I can't wait to come back. The service and food here are excellent! read more

i tend to be pretty generous with my ratings and i hate to say this, but this is one of the places i would never return again. they have wonderful service and the staff are friendly, but their food was horrendous. we ordered what yelpers recommended: momos and special Tibetan noodle soup. 1) variety momo dish: honestly, overall, it was around $11 for 9 momos, which is like over $1 for each momo/dumpling and the dumpling tasted, as my friend described, as "day-old frozen packaged dumplings" worse than the ones you could get at asian markets. not very fresh and has a very mixed blend of material. the mushroom one has some cheese/alfredo-like sauce in it, which is a weird combo. 2) noodle: literally tasted like leftover noodles that's been sitting at home for a few days. overall, it's very bland and there were scarce pieces of meat in the soup. not very savory and satiating. overall, the food quality is not very savory and leave you unsatisfied. it's one of those meals where you finished and you felt like you ate nothing or what you ate was not worthwhile. would not recommend coming here. you're better off going to a Taste of Himalayas. read more

Dude so good. We ordered a ton of food and every thing was fucking AWWEEESOMEEEEE. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Fabulous! We got the chicken Momos (fried), the eggplant chips and beef stir fry noodles. They have a spicy sauce that's actually spicy. The hot and sweet, crisp and soggy combination works well. Excellent comfort food - I'm definitely coming back here :) read more

this is the go-to berkeley restaurant for my veggie bf & i. it's very down-to-earth & comfortable. and it smells fantastic! the food is really delicious and it'll make your guts happy. the thing is - i should say that neither of us has gotten very far through the menu. we've ordered the exact same things every time we've gone there - like maybe, oh, 10+ times. we love what they do to eggplant. we're addicted to the garlic/curry/sauce/dip things. and the tingmo, yum! oof! but we really have no idea what the rest of the menu's like. ;) UPDATE! i actually tried something new. it really did take this long. anyway, the sha-bhak-leb, aka shapale...should earn another star. SO DELICIOUS! new favorite. read more

We had spinach momo to share among three people, then shea-thuk and ngoe-thuk from the last page (organic and vegetarian). The two noodle dishes seemed to share the same ingredients except that the former was in a soup, and the latter was pan-fried. The momo was excellent in mint sauce with cheese and spinach in the filling, and the shell was thin and in the texture and shape of Chinese steamed dumpling Xiao long bao but larger. The only drawback was that we found it rather salty. The pan-fried noodle with mild spiciness was very good. The soup version with no spiciness was good. Will try more momo dishes and other noodles in the future. read more

Wonderful looking place. Wonderful looking food. Great staff. But the food was incredibly bland. We liked the mushroom momo, but all else was dull. If you get a dish and they ask you for mild, medium or spicy, go for spicy. Otherwise, there will be no flavor. read more

Delicious momos (large Chinese dumpling-like things)! I love how each type of momo comes with its own sauce. It makes me think that they've really thought these flavors through and they're giving me the best taste they can deliver. And, damn, it was an orgy in my mouth. The curry was pretty good, had an Indian flavor. The Tibetan tea was interesting... it was salty and didn't really have much of a taste. It wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but maybe that's how it's supposed to taste, and I'm not qualified to judge its authenticity. Definitely a fun place to try out to excite the taste buds. read more

My go-to place for yummy, warm, healing food. I love this zen place. The dishes are authentic and the staff are so sweet, like family (this is a family owned restaurant). Sweet, gentle, and personable. I always get the chicken Momo's and ThenThuk...heals my heart! read more

Was really excited to come here and try Tibetan food. However was a little disappointed with our order. It lacked any real flavor or any oomph. The only thing we enjoyed were the mushroom dumplings. I wanted to love it but it's just ok in my book. read more

The food is flavorful, and I enjoyed the ginger and garlic infused in the curry lamb dish I had. The noodles were really bold and a nice balance of vegetables and noodles. A little greasy, but still fresh tasting somehow. I feel like the portion sizes for the curry are a way small -- the yelp photos are misleadingly large. It's really only enough for one medium-apperson (not sharing). Three dishes is about right for two people. I really like the cozy "hole in wall" feel of this restaurant. I'd come back on a rainy day for a warm quiet meal. Maybe I'd order momos toalong with the too-small plate of lamb curry. read more