I love this place because not only do I live really close to it, but it's cheap and delicious!!!! Whenever we're too tired to cook something, we always head either to here or Gordo's (their burritos are to die for but that's another review...) They have really cheap bento boxes (which shocked me when I first went there). I recommend the tender beef bento. Their sushi is pretty decent. I always have to get the spicy tuna rolls when I'm here. It's a must!! Unfortunately they don't have many tables so we usually have to do take out. read more

Step 1 - Walk in and pick-up menu. Step 2 - Order what you want at the cashier station. Don't forget drinks Step 3 - Sit down and keep your receipt in view for the servers. Step 4 - Eat some great sushi and relish in the $9 price tag. Step 5 - Stack your plates and leave a tip. Thank you for flying Manpuku Restaurant read more

I'm not a ramen expert... but the shoyu ramen i had was pretty bland. I'm not a sushi expert... but the rolls were tiny and not especially well crafted. On the plus side, everything was CHEAP, the ramen portion was BIG, and the service was quick. Definitely a place to go if you are looking for super inexpensive sushi. In an area full of good, cheap sushi (Mijori? Geta?), there's no reason that I'll come back to Manpuku. read more

I am hooked on the Veggie Don! It costs about $5. It's a bunch of stir fried vegetables (broccoli, green beens, carrots, etc...) over white rice. Exciting new-ish addition! For a few more dollars you can get brown rice! A great deal for lunch. I almost forgot, it comes with miso soup too. Now the veggie don is unstoppable. And for the price, the sushi is not bad either. One more thing. They have those delicious unsweetened green teas in the green bottle. read more

Love this casual place for legit sushi and udon noodles. Every time I have someone visit from out of town we have a meal here. It's a hole in the wall place where you can sit at the bar and watch them cook, or grab a table with friends. The quality of their food is high, and I find they're really consistent. If you go around dinner time there can be a line for a seat. It's a good spot for 2, tougher for more as they only have 6 or 7 tables. Positives: great quality food, very tasty, friendly staff, reasonable prices Negatives: what do you expect for a small restaurant - if you want a table come early or late (or during the week) Summary: This place is great and you won't be let down by these guys! read more

FUCK THESE BITCHESSS!!!!!!! okay, let me preface this by saying i used to LOVE LOVE LOVE manpucku. since 2007. it has declined rapidly over the past year or so. being a recent berkeley grad, i love coming back for my favorite foods - namely, manpucku's deep fried spicy salmon roll (aka heaven) the past YEAR i've come back to visit (dozens of times) they have not had this roll. yet always CLAIM they do. and today, i call in and the smug chick on the phone just was like "yeah" and "no" and "i don't know". LITERALLY THOSE PHRASES. came out of her mouth so fast, i had to do a double take. like WHAA? anyways, long story short - this place has gone DOWN HILL. the service sucks. they overcharge for declining quality food. and give off false hope that something will be there (umm a good restaurant??). either way, i'd say move on and stop trying to invest hope in this one. whatever. over it. read more

I absolutely love this tasty affordable sushi house. No dish at Man Puku has ever left me unsatisfied for my buck. It is a little small for how busy it gets, but good for small parties. My one gripe is they stopped playing cute classic jazz the past few months and have instead been playing a terrible pop radio station with commercials. I really miss the music they used to play. read more

Cheap price and food comes out really fast. Kind of small restaurant, but it's cozy and nice. Service is good, location is good, and food taste really good! :) Ramen, sushi, and rolls are very good! read more

The food was great -- well prepared, and tasty. I ordered the seafood udon noodles, and for $9, you definitely get your money's worth: plenty of noodles, and seafood -- a very filling dish. Minus a star for the service, however: my friend got her sushi on time, but the noodles I ordered were apparently overlooked. I had to wait an additional 15 minutes for my order. The server said they had too many order that night so they had not realized they had forgotten my order. Indeed, when you go to a restaurant, you're paying, not just for the food, but for the service and experience as well. I would come again, but not anymore if the service is the same a second time around. read more

Pretty good food. Really crowded and dark lighting but other than that great prices for decent food. The simba roll was my favorite.

I would definitely recommend not going to the sit down place because it took a really long time. I've been to the to-go place next door and it's pretty convenient because you just pay at the front and a server will bring your food. I thought the sit down place would have an even more accommodating staff with great customer service but I was wrong. My friends and I had to wait a really long time for almost everything. We waited a long time to tell our orders, water, food, and check. I think we waited more than 30 minutes for the food alone. We asked the server for our waters bc we were waiting a long time and she immediately talked back and said she was busy and she needed to help other people first. They also didn't have enough chopsticks on the table and when I asked the server for chopsticks, she asked if we had dropped it and I thought that was incredibly disrespectful. I've been in the customer service industry and I know you shouldn't talk back to your customers like that when they make requests. ITS A SERVICE INDUSTRY, NOT A SASS INDUSTRY. From my past experience, when a sushi place is taking a long time with my order, the staff usually gives free ice cream to make up for it. But I had to wait around 15 minutes for the check even though I wanted to leave. I was surprised that they weren't giving our check ASAP bc people were still waiting to be seated. I would have given this place only one star but I've been here before and the food is pretty good. This place really needs to hire better and more servers if they want to have a nice sit-down place. read more

I ordered the veggie ramen to go and i had to wait a very long time! The soup was good but not the best one that i have tried

Good: -Sushi is good for the price -Sushi is inexpensive -Sushi is not bad -Food comes out fast. Eh: -Ramen lacks flavor and real material. Noodles are "eh". Conclusion: get the sushi. read more

My boyfriend and I were dying for some Ramen... specifically, WAGAMAMA ramen (those of you who've been to the UK know the greatness that I speak of). Granted manpuku clearly isn't even close to comparing with the greatness that is wagamama, it was pretty decent for a ramen place and subsided my cravings.... I got the buckwheat soba, my boyfriend got the udon, and my friend got the ramen. All of us were pretty happy with our purchase--at 5-7 dollars a bowl, you can't really complain on a college budget. The bowl was pretty decent in size and although I felt like they totally skimmped on the vegetables, it was impossible for me to even attempt to finish my bowl (my boyfriend was the only one who managed). ' Atmosphere wise this place is a hole in the wall... you order as soon you walk in, pour your own water, and squeeze yourself into a table (granted it's available) eat and get on with your life. I'm not complaining since that's what I wanted but if you're looking for a "nice place to take the boyfriend/girlfriend," this isn't it... read more

My boyfriend and I love this place. The price is reasonable. The food is good, too. We eat here 2-3 times a month. I like their Vegetable Stir Fried Soba/Udon. However, recently I found the food they give is a little less than before. Even though, it is still worthy going there to eat. read more

Manpuku is a very decent place to eat at. I always get the combo, because it's only 10 dollars and you get a bowl of ramen, fried rice, and gyoza. The shoyu ramen itself is ok. The soup doesn't really stand out, but I am a lover of noodles and the dish definitely has a lot of noodles. The sad thing about it is that some of the noodles aren't cooked very well, so you end up eating a chunk of ramen that's glued together which is really sad. The gyoza is also ok. It's a bit oily, but I'm sure most of the gyoza out there are. It's definitely a really complementary side dish to the ramen, because once I finish about 3/4 of the ramen, I get tired of the taste, so I switch to the gyoza and it works out perfectly. After I finish 3 gyoza, I can finish the rest of the ramen, then go back to the gyoza. The fried rice is also decent. I usually take it to go, and it's always a pretty solid midnight snack. Overall, I wouldn't say this place is pretty bland, but the portions justify the blandness of the dishes, so I give it 2 stars. I would give it 2.5 just because ici's is right next to it, and it's always a good place to eat after. read more

Pretty tasty food at a decent price. The bento boxes have fewer items than I'm used to (I'd like to have at least one more significant item included besides the main entree, rice, salad, and miso) but the salad is a good size. The self serve tea is nice as well. Rolls are affordable enough that you can order a bunch without feeling breaking the bank. read more

Love this place. People are brusque and not very friendly but food is inexpensive and outstanding.

Other than the mix and match bento, the rest was inexpensive - student price. Unagi was tender and juicy, but curry was below par. Can curry tastes better than this - similar taste. Free cold or hot tea - self service. Order first before getting a seat. Pricey and limited street metered parking - a quarter per 10 minutes. read more

Love this place! Great for the price! Used to always to Gordo's next door, but they became way too overpriced. Sashimi is cheap! Sushi is cheap! Amazing Salmon Teriyaki! Great job guys! read more

This place is awesome - great quality at a very reasonable price! Perfect for takeout as well.

I generally like Manpuku, but just ordered tempura over rice and I can easily say it was the worst tempura I've ever had. It was very very soggy, and had way too much rice compared to tempura pieces! And they put teriyaki sauce on top, rather than providing tentsuyu on the side. Stick to sushi if you go here. read more

If I could go here daily I would. The california roll and wakame are exactly how I like it. The ambiance is amazing, you can go alone or have intimate chats with friends. For sushi its super reasonable. Only problem is they only have a few tables that are bigger then two so during meal hours its hard to sit with more then one friend. But I kinda like that better! read more

Fresh fish, delicious sushi. They make it fast! I had a Combo C, a California and Rainbow roll, and something else I forgot. But I still remember the taste and it sure solved my hunger when I decided to eat at the beach. This place has got to be the best value for sushi in Berkeley. The Japanese lady and staff there is nice as well. read more

Cost/taste: Best bang for your buck in the East Bay. Sushi roll prices are very reasonable for the taste. I personally recommend the poki maki (spicy tuna roll) and unaman maki (eel with mango roll) if you're looking for something tasty that will only cost you about three dollars for one roll (6 pieces). The REAL cost savers are the donburis and the ramen bowls, which will leave you quite full and all for less than $10. My personal favorites are the unagi don(bbq eel over rice) and the shoyu ramen. Service: The service is also very reasonable, considering how busy it can get sometimes. I've gone there over 40 times, that never had a serious issue with my server or any of the other staff. Ambience: Being a typical small restaurant in Berkeley, the decor is what you'd expect from a japanese restaurant of this size. Tables and the sushi bar are always kept clean, so don't worry, you'll probably mever find hair or bugs in your food. Overall: if you're looking for decent sushi and very decent ramen for a GREAT price, Manpuku's the place for you. read more

Fast food sushi..ordered nigiri and some of the fish was not what I ordered. They have no super white tuna and didnt even try to use Escolar for it just gave me albacore. Kids bento box chicken as deep fried way to long very dry. Sushi rice didnt stick very well for the nigiri. Like I said in the first place fast food sushi! read more

I admit I have high standards when it comes to Japanese food, but this greasy little hole in the wall was worth it for the huge portions, tasty miso, and shrimp fried rice until they lost my business with their tactlessness. Read on for my shocking experience: We ordered gyoza and received a disgusting plate full of soggy, overcooked wrappers that had fallen apart. The gyoza fillings were all over the plate and the whole thing looked like it had been accidentally dropped into a puddle of oil on the grill. We know the food here is cheap as can be, but we had to send it back because it was frankly inedible. After 5 minutes, the plate was put back on our table, AND IT WAS THE SAME GYOZA!! Now even worse for wear, I called our waiter over to explain what had happened. After another 5 minutes, a cook came out and started AN ARGUMENT WITH US ABOUT WHY WE WOULD NOT EAT IT. Are these people insane? After calmly trying to explain that we have ordered this item before and enjoyed it but this particular batch did not come out right, he grumbled to the front of the store and came back with a handful of crumpled bills, which he practically threw at our table. I don't care how cheap it is, if you require your restaurant to have any standard of service, please avoid Manpuku and go somewhere else. And I saw my money handling cook walk immediately back into the open kitchen and begin cooking. Nice. Obviously their cleanliness reflects on their overall quality. read more

Cheap Japanese food! And I'm semi-embarrassed to say but cheap sushi also! You're probably thinking, "what the hell Shannon. 'cheap' and 'sushi' do not go together unless you want to kill your stomach". And I do agree with you but sometimes you just want cheap sushi! The rolls are $6, two pieces of nigiri are $2.50, and tempura is $6. Prices really can't get better than that. You order first then find a seat. It's a total college kids' dream. For the price, the food is decent. The $6 tempura had a lot of pieces of shrimp, zucchini, sweet potato, regular potato, green beans, broccoli, and squash. Impressive huh ? If you don't want to wait, the front is like a mini-market with a bunch of boxed hot and cold foods available for takeout. And after you're done, walk down the street for some fancy ice cream at Ici to balance out the ghetto lunch you just had. read more

Cheap sushi! Not exceptionally fast, easy, cold nor innovative, but it does the job to ease your sushi fix, and the restaurant appears to be pretty clean and sanitary. The interior is small with some seating, but it got considerably crowded on a weeknight, and we had to scoop up seats from a party leaving the counter quickly. They have all the sushi and Japanese cuisine staples and a ton of those yummy Japanese bottled teas, fruit drinks and sodas. The rolls were fresh enough and comparable to the quality of Tako Sushi on Telegraph in Berkeley, but a little better. I had a good sized dinner with two orders of sashimi and a roll for about $12. If I was in or around the neighborhood again, I would definitely return. read more

just came back from this place with my bf and it was really good. the lady at the front was really nice and friendly. Even though it was crowded as heck, we found seats at the bar right away. We ordered 3 things at the front counter: Combo A came with 6 california rolls 6 salmon rolls 5 different kinds of nigiri all for 10 bucks Curry with Tonkatsu good portion of curry, rice and tonkatsu $6 Shoyu Ramen HUGE bowl of ramen. broth was hot and delicious. it tasted like beef or pork. Ramen had egg, meat, tofu, mushroom??, and green onions. $6 serve your own tea all the condiments we need After eating all of that we were unreasonably full. Could have just ordered the Combo A and the curry and that would have been enough for dinner. But I'm glad we got to try the ramen. i'm definitely going to get that again next time! Food came out really really fast. Which was good because I was starving. They had some other stuff on the menu too like bento boxes, really cheap like around $6ish. Ready made takeout stuff in the front, although I wouldn't recommend it. Looked kind of withered and old. But the fish for eat in was pretty fresh and good. I think I have found my Go-to Japanese place in Berkeley. read more

For an after-work dinner with an old, old fellow food-loving friend yesterday, I had four criteria: 1. sushi, 2, affordable, 3. filling, and 4. delicious; Manpuku really delivered on all four! Note: There are two sides to Manpuku, a sit-down restaurant side and an order-from-the-counter side where you can order and then sit at a limited number of tables or get takeout. Getting to the very small restaurant at around 6:30pm, I was kind of surprised at how many open tables there were (about half) but happy that we wouldn't have long to wait. My friend had accidentally gone to the wrong side and begun an order, but they just brought it to him at our table. He started with the basic sushi combo of 5 pieces of assorted nigiri and a couple rolls (comes with a miso soup) which he really, really enjoyed!! I started with a chirashi bowl (which comes with miso as well). I also ordered my standard edamame to start. The miso was scalding hot upon arrival. Once I could drink it, it was fine. Not too salty (I'm so salt-sensitive) but it wasn't anything special. The edamame was pretty bad. It wasn't really salted at all and most of them were really soggy. I may try once again to see if it was just an off day for the edamame here. The chirashi though! Instead of ordering a bunch of nigiri (which is SUPER cheap here, under $4 for most if not all items) I decided to do a chirashi bowl, which is assorted nigiri over sushi rice, normally costing you about $20-25; here the chirashi is $10.75 for 15 pieces of sashimi (3 of each of 5 types of fish). I just made my own little nigiris by taking a sashimi piece and putting a scoop of rice on top to make a complete bite. PERFECT. The fish wasn't the freshest I've ever had, but it was tasty and the texture and flavor of each cut were right along what I was expecting. Then, we decided to share an Aloha roll ($7.95) and a Simba roll ($9.95). An Aloha is a lemon roll, or I've seen it called a 49ers roll here - it's a California roll with raw salmon and a lemon sliver on top of each piece. Some places do too thick a slice of lemon which leaves you chewing on bitter rind. The slices in photos looked a little thick, but this one was all right - could have been thinner but it was still great. I will say that the avocado in the roll was super fresh and bright, and the ratio of krab to avocado was AMAZING, it was easily around 75% krab to 25% avocado! The Simba is a California roll covered in salmon, creamy sauce, chopped white onion, and parmesan cheese, all baked. I LOVE BAKED ROLLS. Parmesan cheese on baked rolls seems to be a bay area thing, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It definitely adds a salty kick to the roll, but in my opinion, that kind of detracts from the creamy, comforting feel of the warm rice, salmon, and sauce. I was not a fan of the white onions in all that, and I wish I'd known from the roll description they'd be in there; while the crunch they added was novel, I really hate that distinct, tangy, acidic flavor they bring to the party. I picked out as many as I could of each piece I ate. However on the whole, the roll was really tasty. I would have liked to try the other baked one (with scallop on top, but it's no longer available). I think I'll order the SImba roll if I'm back here again, but I'd see if I can request no onions in my topping. Overall, the meal for the two of us for all that (plus my diet coke) came out to be just over $50. Not bad! We were adequately full (not uncomfortable like I sometimes get after AYCE makes me a total glutton) and it hadn't broken the bank! By the time we were finishing the place was packed and there were groups waiting outside. It was really loud when it was busy so a conversation was a little hard to hold. This is definitely a place I'd dine at again with friends :) NOTE: Parking in Elmwood can be hard to find so plan accordingly, as it's all street parking. read more

I chose Manpuku as my first review because it was the first restaurant I thought of, in which I'd like to write an awesome review about. This restaurant may be small, but it has much to offer. The sushi is delicious, and I would drive to Berkeley for this sushi anyday, even having 4 other sushi restaurants in my small town of Alameda. The employees are very polite always acknowledging a greet and a farewell. The sushi and bento boxes are cheap and also delicious. Me and my boyfriend order practically the same thing every time, a fried california roll, a tuna roll, and two maki rolls, yum! This altogether comes to around 15 bucks. Great prices, great food, great people. 5 stars =] read more

When I was living in Berkeley the Tropical Roll (tempura asparagus and mango) was just writing on the wall and I'd eat 2 orders of that sucker at least once a week. On a recent trip back I dragged my disbelieving friends here - they said they don't trust a vegetarian's taste in sushi - and was ecstatic to see it on the printed menu! It's the greatest freaking sushi roll ever! My friends were pleased with their non-Tropical rolls too! read more

Delicious and cheap, and therefore what I would categorize a "pure" four star. I'd eat here every other day if I lived near enough. The rolls are a bit ricey, but this works in their favor as you can have a very filling meal for under $10 while still getting a good amount of quality fish. What more do you want? I thought so. read more

So everyone knows that yelp's reviews/reviewers skew to the more financially feasible/value driven restaurants...I haven't checked, but I think CP has the same rating as Manpuku. They are obviously no where near each other in terms of quality, but from a value perspective someone would rather eat at Manpuku 9 times for the price of one Chez Panisse dinner. That being said, I can't fall into that trap. Sushi is ok, basically it hasn't made me sick and sometimes it tastes very good. The crazy busy turnover is key. Usually when deciding what to eat the "sushi or something else" argument always gets the price card, but you can eat here for the same or cheaper than Chinese or Indian. The ramen is below average. Overall: I don't care if it does have the word puke in its name, Manpuku does the trick when I want me some raw fish. Value: Crazy good value. read more

At risk of being a travel story spewing douchebag, I have to relate what went into making my experience here so great: In December, my wife and I booked an impromptu trip to Tokyo. We both had an amazing time there, and one of the great parts was the nearly ubiquitous curry house. It was very simple. Next to the door was a vending machine. Insert yen, press the button with a picture of a tasty looking dish, collect your receipt and hand it to the person behind the counter. In less then two minutes, a nice, cheap bowl of rice with curried meat was placed in front of you. For the hungry gaijin (foreigner), there was no better sight than the curry house. One sad thing was the difficulty of finding good Japanese curry rice in the Bay Area (surprising given the Japanese/Korean population around here!). Fast forward to this afternoon, and my wife suggests Manpuku for lunch on the strength of her previous visit getting the $5 giant bowl of udon. We walk in, and it is the closest thing I have seen in America of the curry house. Walk up to the counter, and order from at the register rather than through a machine, but a similar idea. When I saw curry rice on the menu, my choice was made. I ordered the Chicken Curry Rice, a couple of nigiri, took the receipt and sat to wait for my food. It took slightly longer than in Tokyo, but maybe only 5 minutes. When my curry was placed in front of me, the first bite brought me back to the experience of a Tokyo curry house. The experience was even completed by the guy at the counter reading the paper, true Tokyo businessman style even if it was the NY Times and not the Japan Times. The nigiri was also very good (I got hamachi and tomago, the wife got shiro maguro and sake). Minus 1 star because Tokyo children are much quieter and better behaved than Berkeley children, but plus six stars for my best curry rice experience since Tokyo. The only thing that would have improved the deal would be a Japanese Toto toilet seat with a heated seat wash and dry functions. I'll be back in a second! read more

They didn't start making my order until 15 minutes after everyone at my table got their.. They forgot.. smh. It is barely okay at best. Trust me, I wish I had better experience too! read more

Let's be real: the seating is really limited, and you can't sit down until you have ordered and paid. If you linger after eating to talk with your group, the staff will ask you to leave, especially if there are people waiting in line. However, none of that matters to me because I don't think I've found another place that compares. Every single time, I always order the Hakata ramen and an avocado roll, and it costs less than $10 for the set. Literally this is the best avocado roll of all time. BEST. AVOCADO. ROLL. The rice is perfect - not too sticky and not too sweet. But the greatest part is that they put the best and most avocado pieces compared to any other place! The ramen is delicious! The pork broth is not too salty, and the ramen is plentiful. The BFF and I definitely make the trip out to Berkeley from SF just to go to Manpuku! read more

Manpaku is fresh, yummy and relatively cheap for sushi. I always get the Hot King roll (Tuna and green onion over a California roll with a special hot sauce for $6.25), Tempura roll (the usual tempura shrimp and avocado roll, but it also has pickled cabbage, for $4.25) and a Wakame salad (seaweed salad for $1.25). read more

yummy. cheap. yummy. cheap. good tea. nice atmosphere. feels clean most of the time. take out is always fresh. the unagi is realllllllly good. : P however, i only like to come here for some take out sushi. thats it. : ) read more