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    Crossroads

    2.8 (143 reviews)
    InexpensiveBuffets
    Open 7:30 am - 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM - 4:29 pm, 4:30 PM - 9:00 PM

    Crossroads Photos

    CROSSROADS ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Outdoor seating
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Crossroads

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    Poke Bowls
    Wesley L.

    50% off for a day of staff appreciation week so I couldn't stay away! Let me start out with the fact that this is college dining hall food so people shouldn't have unrealistic expectations. I found it enjoyable for the most part and the staff are wonderful here. The hard part when it comes to trying to make good food and serve thousands of students boils down to staff and they just don't have the numbers (not their fault either). Today they served poke bowls (smoked salmon, tuna cubes, imitation crab, rice, and sauces) and pho (which they've attempted in the past. This was a major improvement). Tasty and I got to eat my fill since it's buffet style. Always a huge rush hour at noon and then the lines go away. Would probably go again if my friend is paying. A lot of fond memories when they had Late Night where you could go from like 10pm-2am and order a-La-carte fast food like chocolate chip pancakes, wings, fries and more with your flex dollars. Hopefully it will return one day as I think it really created a great atmosphere. Tons of seating, but can get busy. I miss you Croads

    Chicken tenders and fries
    Ashley C.

    Croads straight up gets too much hate After a year, finally made a return trip to Croads thanks to freshmen friendos :) Croads is essential to the tacky college experience. It's definitely not going to be a 5-star Michelin experience, but it hold you down for the year. There's bearfit which has healthy options, a salad bar with basic items (tofu, leaves, basic salad dressings), a dessert bar (basic cookies/lemon bars), and usually at least 2 entree options (one that's veggie friendly/one meat one). I'd say you make the biggest bang for your buck at lunch/dinner tbh. Personally I really liked breakfast tho because they sometimes had egg mcmuffins and bread putting I'd definitely say come here for the mems but not necessarily for the food Protip - you dont need to use meal swipes at croads anymore! You can use them at the golden bear cafe nowadays too :)

    YQ D.

    It's our dinning hall and I give it a try. To be honest, maybe it's the time I went a bit late, I found there's food is less than I expected before. However, the desserts are delicious.

    Julia N.

    An Ode to Croads From morning to late nights Croad's food is simply just food There's no other way to describe it It's not bad, but it's not very good For those who don't live to eat But rather, eat to live Croads will sustain you It has nothing more or less to give The food is as seasoned as water Hunting for flavor is of very little use I think you could make a better meal With the decorative bins of fresh produce I went hunting for some fruits at Croads Not sure if you're allowed to eat the decorative stuff But I found a pineapple in a tray on a shelf So you CAN get fresh food if you try hard enough

    Italian Wedding Soup + Fish + Roasted Vegetables
    Vivienne C.

    Half the stuff I ate is somewhat concerning, but it's a dining hall, so I mean they tried? By the way, during the summer, breakfast ends at 8:30 so wake up early and get your meal. Pros: - There is usually always a fish option and although there isn't always much flavor, it is a healthier protein option than red meat. - Sometimes they have watermelon but you need to fight for it. - Not a lot of choices during the summer so you won't gain weight. - Potatoes of all kinds. No joke, one of the best french fries I have ever had, they really do know how to season their potatoes. Even their potato chips are amazing. Best of the show though is definitely their sweet potato tater tots. - Nice ladies who work there who let you still go in if you forget to bring your card. - Carrot Cake - The cream cheese is way too sweet but the carrot cake itself is actually quite delicious. - Chicken noodle soup is pretty solid. - Roasted vegetables. Cons: - Sometimes they rope of a part of the dining hall which gives very limited seating options. - Hash browns with no potatoes but only crisps... why? - Limited options for breakfast and dinner. There are usually only 5 different dinner options but then again not really options, because some are for example, Spanish rice. - Oatmeal, no flavor. - Asian pork, the most non-Asian most disgusting pork I have ever eaten. I strongly recommend not getting any of this stuff that has the word "Asian" on it. - Lobster bisque - cream + red food coloring. - No fruits, unless you run and fight for it at the beginning of each dining period. It's not the most terrible place to eat because it is really clean, but the food is questionable.

    A slice of pizza.
    Johnny H.

    TL;DR: A typical college cafeteria. Looks modern-ish? Thoughts: I only went to Crossroad (just once, for lunch) recently even though I have been a Berkeley student for more than five years. The food is quite decent in terms of college cafeteria food. There is a great selection of cereals and beverages. Special thanks to my cool friend who swiped me in! Tips: 1. Buffet style. 2. You can take one piece of fruit when you leave.

    Kevin C.

    The food is minimal at best. Barely any spices. They throw food together without even thinking if the paired foods compliment each other. My friend also had very pink chicken, like bouta have a shit-full-diaper-from-salmonella-poisoning-that will-lead-to-a-lawsuit pink chicken.

    Jo W.

    Despite cafeteria food having a reputation for being unpalatable, Crossroads is pretty good. There's quite a lot of variety, and I'm fond of the omelette and egg bar that they have for breakfast. However, my biggest complaint is that they should, stop advertising items on the online menu that don't happen to be in the dining hall that day. One morning, I went for the sausage links, only to be told there were no sausage links, only sausage patties. One afternoon, I went for blueberry pie, only to see that the only pies available were apple pies. I even asked the lady cutting pie if there was blueberry, because that was what the online menu listed, and she said there was no blueberry pie. That upset me, especially since I had been looking forward to it for lunch. They have also increased their prices by $0.50 per meal. It was $9.00 for breakfast last year, $9.50 for breakfast now. $10.00 for lunch last year, $10.50 now. I know that sounds like a small increase, but for a college student, it adds up. Also, over the summer, the selections are pretty much non-existent, but the prices had increased. Lame.

    Neapolitan Cake and rolled wafer (can I plate or what?!)
    Olivia C.

    As far as dining halls go, Crossroads is actually one of the better ones. This week we had $5 lunch for staff appreciation week. I went with my colleagues and we had the tilapia, gumbo, hot dogs, spicy waffle fries, and Neapolitan cake with a rolled wafer. The food was good with the spicy waffle fries being the highlight at our table. If you want a variety of food, coming to the dining halls is a good choice. My colleagues and I ate at least two plates of food.

    Austin W.

    For a campus cafeteria, this place is decent. Just that. The variety of food that they offer is pretty good but that statement is only valid for about the first hour of food service. Because the place is open for 4.5 hours for dinner, after the first hour, all the food that you see on the menu online is no longer availabe. The only things that you can count on being here is pizza, salad, and soup. A lot of the food that you find here is pretty unhealthy... You can go online to check the facts but it's not hard to notice when you're eating it. TONS of the food that they have here is deep fried, like fried fish, fried chicken, french fries, fried falafal balls, etc. The food here is always either underseasoned or overseasoned and neither is ever good. I'm not a vegetarian, but I know that their vegetarian options are very limited and what they do offer is disgusting. It's always some sort of vegetable stew or something similar that looks like it was thrown together in about two seconds (literally. chef opens bag of veggies. boils in water. takes out. pours on some kind of sauce. puts it under the heat lamp). The frozen yogurt that they have here, I'll give a pass. It's there, but being from a mix, it's often too sweet and there's nothing you can really do about it. The desserts that are served usually sit around for wayyy too long so I can't really guess how they taste out of the oven since I always get something that's stale and dry. For those that don't have a meal plan, the pricing is pretty bad. If you want a lot of food, I would recommend going to Kip's during happy hour and grabbing three dishes instead of visiting Crossroads. The utensils that they have here are the nasties. I know it sounds crazy and your friends might laugh at you but bring your own utensils. Seriously. If you use a cup there, make sure you wash it out a few times with the beverage you're about to drink. A few times, I looked at the cups that came out of the dish room and you could clearly see that there were soap suds on them... Nasty.... Go somewhere else for a better meal.

    Check out the sunny patio :-)

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    Unbelievably great place for allergen-free dining, multiple mega choices, and price. Cafeteria style.

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    7 years ago

    I mean, it's dining hall food, but at least they don't serve Halal chicken every meal.

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    Skates On The Bay

    Skates On The Bay

    3.5(3.4k reviews)
    3.4 mi
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    It ended up being such a nice experience, especially with the beautiful waterfront setting…read more The servers were so friendly and welcoming. They even offered to take birthday pictures for us and brought out a complimentary birthday dessert, which was such a thoughtful touch! The food was really good. My son ordered the chicken strips and fries from the kids' menu, and I could immediately tell the chicken was homemade. The batter tasted fresh, the chicken was hot and crispy. I ordered the Chicken Club and substituted the fries for a side salad. The salad was actually a really good portion for a side and had several different vegetables, which made it much better than your typical little side salad. I personally wasn't a fan of the vinegar dressing, but that's just my preference. The Chicken Club, however, was AMAZING! It had a great amount of meat, bacon, fresh avocado, and perfectly toasted multigrain bread. That bread was actually one of my favorite parts! The sandwich was fresh, filling, and full of flavor. Definitely something I'd order again. My grandparents really enjoyed their omelette and Crab Benedict, and they loved their meals. My husband also got the Crab Benedict and really enjoyed it. It's more like a crab patty with the poached egg and Benedict toppings on top, and he said it was flavorful and very good. For drinks, some of us had mimosas while the others tried the Dragon Fizz mocktail. We actually heard the name and ordered it and didn't even realize it said mocktail, however, we were still really impressed! The Dragon Fizz was SO good! It was different, refreshing, and definitely something I'd order again if I didn't want to drink and it was just as pretty as a mimosa so we could do some videos The ambience was really nice, and being right next to the water made it even better. The only thing I didn't really appreciate was the extremely long wait for the mimosas. We completely understood that it had just opened and it was a very busy Sunday brunch, but my husband ordered one and it was forgotten. By the time we reminded our server, it was quite awhile wait. Then when we had already finished our food, gotten boxes, ordered dessert, received the birthday dessert, sang happy birthday to my grandma, shared the dessert, finished dessert, and were getting ready for the check. That's when the mimosas finally arrived! It was especially frustrating because we actually wanted to continue ordering mimosas for the table for celebration, and the half of us who got mocktails decided to take part in the mimosas but after the long wait we just decided not to, so the long wait definitely put a damper on that part of the experience. Other than the mimosa wait, we had a really good overall experience. The food was good, the staff was friendly, the atmosphere was beautiful, and most importantly, we got to celebrate my grandma's birthday somewhere that already holds special memories for my grandparents.

    The venue was amazing, as we sat near a large window overlooking the bay, while watching fishing…read moreboats return with their catches. Our waitress was amazing, displaying a constant smile, she helped us make entree selections suggesting that we skip the seafood platter type dishes, which we can get anywhere and settling on their specialties like the Black Cod and Swordfish. The food was amazing as my Cod came with a maple sauce and Bok Choi. I marked "ambiance" down a star as the venue needed updating. I say this as I observed the dirty, matted down carpet on the way to the restrooms. Overall, we had a great time celebrating our anniversary at this outstanding restaurant that we haven't visited in about eight years.

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    Skates On The Bay
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    Empire Buffet - A cut ice crean cone ‍

    Empire Buffet

    2.5(275 reviews)
    7.4 mi
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    Not too many Chinese buffets remaining after Covid, but this is still a pretty good one, lots of…read morevariety of dishes to choose from. Food always tastes pretty good and service is good. Place can get crowded at times, and a bit loud but has plenty of parking and most importantly good variety of food to choose from.

    This buffet was decent overall, but there's definitely room for improvement…read more The first thing I noticed when walking in was that there were boxes stacked around the restaurant, which made the place feel a bit cluttered. On the plus side, they offer a senior discount, and you pay after your meal, which is convenient. The food selection was okay. I wish they had more variety, but there was a decent amount of seafood and meat options available. They also had four different soups to choose from, which was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, the crab was disappointing. It was very hard to crack open and had very little meat inside, so it wasn't worth the effort. The rest of the food was decent, though nothing particularly stood out. It's not the best buffet I've been to, but it's not bad either. I think the restaurant could really benefit from refreshing the menu and updating the overall appearance of the space. With a few improvements, it could make a strong comeback in the buffet scene. If you decide to visit, I'd recommend going during lunch. The price is lower and offers much better value for what you get.

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    Empire Buffet - Inside

    Inside

    Empire Buffet - My plate

    My plate

    Empire Buffet - Good Good

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    Good Good

    Great China - Spring Rolls

    Great China

    4.0(2.8k reviews)
    0.5 miDowntown Berkeley
    $$$

    I've been here a couple of times and each time the food has been good! Others seem to rave about…read morethe double skin as well as sauteed crab meat with steamed buns so I'll have to get those next time. 1. Peking roast duck 3.5/5 I had really high expectations and unfortunately this roast duck was just okay. The skin was not super crispy but the duck itself had good flavor. The plum sauce was probably my favorite part. 2. Salt and pepper prawns 4.5/5 Note that these come with the skin on but it's fried so perfectly that the skin is completely edible with a crunchy texture. 3. Combination fried rice 5/5 I was surprised how much we enjoyed this but it was really well done. 4. Guo ta fish fillet 5/5 This was excellent--very tender fish fillet with a perfect soy broth sauce 5. Crysanthemum leaves with fermented tofu sauce 3/5 On the salty side All in all, even though I came for the peking duck, I found that the other items were much better!

    When I first heard of Great China, I assumed it would be more of a casual neighborhood mom-and-pop…read morespot, but I was definitely wrong. It's actually a popular, higher-end Chinese restaurant in downtown Berkeley, and judging by the number of people waiting to be seated on a weekend only 30 minutes after opening, it clearly does very well. One note: I often see long weekend lines forming even before opening, so I'd definitely recommend making a reservation or arriving early. We came here with one thing in mind: Peking duck. It was prepared beautifully, with the exact nostalgic flavor and crispy skin I was hoping for. I also loved the way they presented the thin pancakes--half-folded and slightly overlapping each other--so you didn't have to worry about peeling each layer apart and accidentally ripping them. The dipping sauce and green onions were provided on the side, though I do wish they included thinly sliced cucumber to complete the experience. My husband also ordered the fish, which turned out soft, delicate, and delicious. It was a nice complement to the duck and rounded out the meal really well. My only real critique of Great China is the pricing. You're definitely paying a premium here, but the food does taste authentic and well-executed. Given the limited competition in the area, I can see why it feels justifiable if you live nearby. That said, it may not be as worth the splurge for people who already have easy access to more traditional, old-school Chinese restaurants.

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    Great China - 7/13/25 FYI. Interior.

    7/13/25 FYI. Interior.

    Great China - Eggplant with Hot Garlic Sauce. This dish was delicious with balanced flavors and textures. Not hot.

    Eggplant with Hot Garlic Sauce. This dish was delicious with balanced flavors and textures. Not hot.

    Great China - Busy night

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    Busy night

    Crossroads - buffets - Updated September 2026

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