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    Cafe Karla

    4.7 (27 reviews)
    InexpensiveBurmese
    Closed 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

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    Lea M.

    As you can tell, Cafe Karla isn't a cafe at all - in fact, this is their prep/distribution location. However, you're more than welcomed to stop by and pick up their boxed salads or tea leaf dressings here at a cheaper price since you're dealing directly with the distributor rather than the grocery stores. Plus, the ingredients is fresher and you're able to see these salads made in real time. From the outside, your looking at what you'd believe is apartment complex. There are no signs for indication, no public parking, and the front small building will make you question if you're even at the rite place. When you knock on the door you're instantly greeted by a smile. The owner is real nice and has always invited me into the apartment. The inside is really small. The inside of the apartment is extremely small and has noticeably turned into a industrial kitchen - no seating but a wall full of industrial fridges to keep their products cold. CASH ONLY. Packaged salads here are amazingly $5 and the tea leaf dressing is around $6 compared to $7-9 prices at Berkeley Bowl West. If you're in need of cash, there is a bank in the corner of University and San Pablo but you can also find an ATM at the corner liqueur store one block away (with a hideous debit charge). So far, I've only seen Cafe Karla's products at Berkeley Bowl West in both the small cafe and prepackaged refrigerated sections. I'm pretty sure Andronico's is a no go since they recently got bought out or is going through some major rebuilding. Don't bother looking for it at Whole Food's either. But if you're in luck to find it elsewhere, message me and let me know. LOVE both the regular tea leaf and garlic tea leaf salad dressings. It's amazing how the flavors blend together - I've been hoarding two to three bottles of dressings at a time! Don't pass this up. If you haven't tried the Tea Leaf Salad's before, try them from Cafe Karla. A lot of other competitors charge pretty high ($9-18) so $5 isn't much if you find out that you're not a tea leaf fan.

    Use side door not front
    Craig G.

    How did I ever navigate life without Yelp? There is likely no way I would have found this little gem. No signage, no idea it's there. Looks like a ground floor apartment, bars on door and windows facing San Pablo. Knocked on front door through bars. A face appears through drawn mini blinds pointing toward the north side of building. The door opens and a pleasant young lady greets me and inquires if I want to buy green tea salad? I ask for two and a jar of the green tea dressing. (Because my Yelp crew told me what's up!) I stood in door half open watching pleasant gent stir frying noodles over a sterno. I commenting "man that looks yummy, do you have other menu items"? He said no, they do cater events and also "subcontract" some of the prep and pre cooking for many area food trucks in area. The noodles were for a specific truck but I forgot what he said. We laughed as he said even food has contractors and sub contractors! I had no idea. So now onto the salad. I agree with fellow yelper how much thoughtful Plastic packaging went into this little salad kit considering it's Bezerkeley. However doing it this way, you do control the amounts of ingredients used. And I imagine too much of this and not enough of that, can totally throw off the balance. Speaking of balance... it was so refreshingly fresh, clean and awesome! Crunchy, savory, salty, spicy, sweet,zesty and OMG Umami, mi mommy. Packed full of veggie fresh protein, not oily or slimmy. I felt like going on a hike up mount Tam. Fortunately it's cold and raining sideways. So I'll settle for sipping a hot cup green tea and waxing poetic about this salad and how grateful I am that Yelp once again helps uncover small little businesses that are passionate artisans of their crafts. And because the reviews are honest and informative, we all win!

    a container of ginger tea leaf salad

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    2 years ago

    Their tea leaf salads are incredible!! I'm addicted. I get them from Andronico's market- I highly recommend them.

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    What a great find via Yelp. As others have said, there is no sign, just knock on the side door. The tea leaf salad hit the spot!

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    12 years ago

    Great food! I would strongly recommend this place. :) It has a really friendly atmosphere. Everything so far has been really good.

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    9 years ago

    It's technically not a cafe. You can buy the salads here. The salads are very fresh and delicious. I am so happy to have found this gem!

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    Maung O.

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    Ask the Community - Cafe Karla

    Review Highlights - Cafe Karla

    Cafe Carla makes the most delicious fermented tea leaf salad in your intire life.

    Mentioned in 10 reviews

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    I've driven past this restaurant many times and finally decided to stop in and give it a try…read more First impressions were good. The restaurant has a cute ambiance with all of the string lighting and fun music playing. My only complaint would be how cold it was in the restaurant. It felt like the AC was on, on a cold December night. My partner joked and said "next time we're taking the food to go" lol. Our server was a sweet woman who joked with us because we were indecisive about where we wanted to sit and asked too many questions lol. We really enjoyed her. We ordered the yellow curry roti and two pad Thai, one shrimp and one beef. I really liked the yellow curry but wasn't the biggest fan of how thin and crispy the roti was. It was cut up like tiny tortilla chips. Still very good though, just not quite what I expected. The pad Thai was definitely the star. They were nice sized portions with all the right amount of flavor and sauce to noodle ratio. It was a VERY good pad thai. This will definitely be our new go to for Thai takeout!

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    Wow. If you want some good thai food that is good both for takeout and eating in, this is the…read moreplace. Here's everything I've ordered and their rankings. Pad Thai: 8/10 Yellow Curry: 8.5/10 Appetizer Sampler: 9/10 Papaya Salad: 9.5/10 Crab Fried Rice: 10/10 Pad See Ew: 10/10 We love this restaurant so much. They don't skimp out on portions either. We'll be back for sure.

    Cafe Karla - burmese - Updated May 2026

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