I've been coming to Summer Kitchen for over a decade now and have always left as a happy customer until last week. We ordered take out around 7:30pm last Wednesday (they close at 8pm so I understand that this late order may have been a nuisance) and the sandwiches we received were hardly edible. I ordered a spicy crispy chicken sandwich, which is typically my favorite, and my husband ordered the steak sandwich. The texture of the chicken was like it had been cooked in the microwave (not reheated in the microwave, I mean cooked in the microwave). I had never in my life bit into a piece of chicken so rubbery and tough. I took a second bite and had my husband try it too to be sure, and then we threw the entire sandwich away. My guess is they reheated chicken that had been cooked earlier in the day. The steak sandwich was better than the chicken but even the steak sandwich wasn't up to its usual quality. On the upside, my husband ordered a salad which he took to work the next day and said was delicious. Again, I've been eating at Summer Kitchen for over ten years so this one order won't stop me from returning but I would just caution anyone to perhaps reconsider ordering within an hour of closing. read more

The kale salad with chicken here has been a go-to choice for us for a long time. But recently it's been a bit inconsistent. Half of the time we get yellowish kale that seems old and is very stem-y. We've also seen variation in the dressing (even between two salads in the same order). When it's on, it's fantastic, so I hope the consistency picks up again. Right now, each order feels like rolling the dice. Desserts are great, and gigantic. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Kale salad, bit wilty - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

Fresh food and very tasty but would prefer to not have the glaze on the chicken sandwich. Otherwise delicious! Need hot sauce packages like tobacco or Crystal hot sauce. read more

3.5* food is good. I found the cupcake not moist enough and a bit crunchy at the top. Service was fine, nothing special. Go for the food.

Very consistent and local food. Been going there for a year. Well done I like the egg salad sandwich read more

Delicious food and friendly service! Pizzas, salads and the crispy chicken sandwich are favorites of ours.

Summer Kitchen is in our neighborhood of our store and we contacted Jason to do the bites for our Anniversary Party for Scents by the Bay. He crafted chinese chicken salad bites, chicken tenders, and delicious cookies to add to our mix - it was delivered on time, at a fair price, and with a smile! Highly recommend Jason and the team at Summer Kitchen for your next event! read more

Delicious food and bakery! I especially love their pizzas and their cupcakes; great sandwiches too.

Underrated gem. Fantastic thin crust pizza (get the one with sausage, which is homemade). Sandwiches and salads made with high-quality ingredients, carefully chosen flavors and textures, and real care. Devilish baked goods. read more

I've been coming to Summer Kitchen for about 12-13yrs, the service has fell off soo bad. The young woman and man working the front have no clue how to treat customers or how to properly communicate. They have no business being the front of any business. First they screwed up my order, then when I had to re-order, they screwed that up too. After many, many years, I won't be coming back. read more

*3.5 Stars* So um... my diet has been off the chain lately. Okay, okay... let's just replace "lately" with "damn near my whole life". Let's face it; I love to eat! Unfortunately, this includes the "bad for you" foods too. But, Summer Kitchen and Bake Shop has shown me that healthier foods can still be quite delicious! I saw a picture of kale Caesar salad with crispy chicken on my Yelp feed one day, and it surprisingly looked really delicious. When I saw that Summer Kitchen was just a quick drive down the street, I hopped my ass in the car and headed straight there. The shop itself is quite tiny with only a few tables for seating, but I really liked the setup of their open kitchen. You can sit at the counter and watch the chefs prepare food through the glass barrier. What makes Summer Kitchen stand out is their use of fresh and locally grown ingredients. All of their meats are hormone free and do not contain any antibiotics, and their ingredients are also free of high fructose corn syrup and trans fats. They even use 100% compostable to-go containers! I'm all about the environmental friendly move! They offer an array of deliciously baked goodies and are known for their brick oven pizzas. I ended up ordering their Jacinto kale Caesar salad with crispy chicken add on and one of their homemade chocolate brownies. I love kale to death, but I've never been a fan of eating raw kale in a salad. I feel that it often has a pungent taste when it's raw which results in it overpowering whatever dish that it's in. But, damn did this salad wow me! The kale was very apparent, but the accompaniment of the acme croutons and crispy chicken complimented it so incredibly well! The flavors went really well together. But that crispy chicken thoooough? THAT ish was BOMB! The chicken pieces were juicy and the crispy chicken skin was delicious. The dressing was good but had a thick mayonnaise consistency that I could have done without. Ironically, I felt that they salad still could have used a bit more dressing. The brownie was incredible! It was thick and ooey gooey. That baby had absolutely NO chance of seeing another day! The food was definitely fresh and filling. So why 3.5 stars?! Well, it's that price tag of course. $15 for that salad and $4 for that brownie set me back $20 just for lunch. Ouch! I guess this is the life we live when we want to visit the healthier side of things. Service was great and the staff seemed like they were happy to be there. Although it's pricey, I do plan on returning to try one of their famous pizzas and that yummy looking chicken sandwich. read more

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My husband and I were in the area grabbing Philz and craving salads. We found Summer Kitchen on Yelp. We called in our orders - my husband and I both ordered the Summer House salad. His was with crispy chicken, mine was with roasted chicken. I forgot to mention that I wanted the dressing on the side when I ordered, but luckily that's their default setting. The Summer House salad comes with golden beets, baby greens, cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cucumber and balsamic vinaigrette. Everything was exceptionally clean inside. I'd definitely go back to try more dishes. read more

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Had lunch with a friend today. We shared a salad and the egg salad sandwich. The egg salad sandwich was top notch. I would come back to have it again. The salad was good. I found the chickpeas to be a little firm, but that's just a personal preference. Before we left we grabbed some baked goods to take home. We had both fruit tarts of the day and a cookie. They were all tasty. The staff was friendly, and the restaurant is clean. Food 5.0/5.0 Service 5.0/5.0 read more

I've lived in Berkeley for years and just discovered this place for the first time today!! I'm beyond happy we went in!! Everyone there was so nice and the food there was AMAZING! I ordered the mushroom pizza and absolutely LOVED it! I will 100% be eating there again! Amazing service and amazing food! read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - mushroom pizza!! - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

This restaurant is so amazing. All of their food is so fresh. The atmosphere is great and the employees are very polite and helpful. I had margarita pizza and it was super tasty! read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Margarita Pizza - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

Special order your cake 2 weeks ahead of time!! I have been coming here for weeks trying every flavor of cake. Was told I only needed 48hrs to order a full cake. Came in on Monday for a cake to be picked up on Friday. And they are not taking cake orders this week!!! Now I'm stressed trying to find a new bakery today and I have a birthday boy with his heart set on a lemon cake. Order a cake here but have a backup plan. read more

Summer Kitchen is one of my favorite spots in the Elmwood neighborhood. The food is fresh and very flavorful. I LOVE their watermelon salad, and order it time and time again. It is salty, sweet, and fresh, with feta, caramelized nuts, red onion, watermelon, arugula, and fennel. My other favorite dish is their crispy chicken sandwich. The chefs here know what they're doing!! I'd recommend checking their hours before visiting. They close early on Mondays and are closed Tuesdays. read more

Ample servings, quick delivery, friendly staff. Hood stop if going to the movies . The order of French fries was falling off the plate!

We loved the food! The crispy chicken sandwich was soft and breaded wonderfully. Not too salty and not bland at all. Try the mushroom pizza, so delicious and got a sense that I was actually eating healthy pizza. The food is all organic and food and farm to table. Arugula salad was very tasty and pretty generous in size. Highly recommend to people looking for healthy and delicious food. Tip: pre order online at the website. read more

I love summer kitchen! A great place to go eat on the weekends. I love their Kale Fuji salad and also their chicken sandwich is good. They have great portions, and quickly fills you up. I've also gotten their pizzas before and it's very yummy! They recently just started to pump out tons of baked goods and I was very impressed! Their peanut butter toffee chocolate chip cookie is delicious! I would love to try more of their baked goods. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Bakery - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

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The salad was good the chicken strips were amazing very please with them. The carrot cake was burnt around the edges and you could taste that throughout each bite. Over all the cake was moist and the icing was good not too sweet for it to have been cream cheese frosting. I'll be going back for the chicken strips and the chocolate cupcake with buttercream icing. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Kale Ceaser salad with chicken tenders - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

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Great pastries & friendly staff. Hoping you offer coffee to go with the pastries someday!

Super-reliable for sandwiches, pizza, and baked goods! Their turkey sandwich and egg salad sandwich are premade but both AWESOME, and it's nice to have an instant grab and go option in the neighborhood. Pizzas are good too and reasonably price. I usually get a mint lemonade when there too. Love that service is quick and friendly. read more

We had a delicious lunch here today. We ordered the chicken sandwich and got the spicy sauce on the side. The sandwich was delicious with and without it! We also shared a market salad. The baked goods all looked divine but we didn't get a chance to try any. We will definitely be back! read more

Do not, I repeat do not order the spaghetti. Stick to the pizza. I'm unfortunately one of those soft people whose gut can't handle any dairy. Being lactose intolerant I hate for people to order around my dietary needs. So, anytime my family craves pizza, I will try to order something that I could eat. The spaghetti was over cooked and they gave me like 3 table spoon of tomato sauce in a box full of noodles. Don't get me started on the meat balls....those meatballs are drier than my social life. They taste frozen and microwaved. Everything needed salt... the sauce... the meatballs. It was so bland. So bland. It's still edible so I ate my food because I don't like wasting food. But don't waste your money or calories. I love food so much so this was really disappointing. read more

The location is a bit difficult for outsiders, it's in the mix of the super busy flow of College Ave. The sandwiches are about $10, a fair price for where you are and the quality of goods received. I had the tuna, it was delicious. The flavors all worked great together. Olives, Arugula and Fenal. The flavors were clean and understated when applied to the focaccia bread. Overall it was a great sandwich. I had a bite of the BLAT. Again with the flavors. The roasted bell pepper was great with the Bacon and Avocado. This is the perfect place to pick up a picnic on the way to the Greek Theater. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - The tuna sandwich. - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

This place was pretty tasty! We ordered the bacon sandwich, fried chicken sandwich and a salad. The bacon sandwich was by far my favorite! The bread was so good on it and I love the peppers and avo! The fried chicken sandwich was good but I've had more flavorful ones before. The salad we ate was ok and enjoyed the balsamic dressing. Would love to come back and try the pizza! read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Fried chicken sandwich - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

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This place is a MUST if you are in Berkeley! My partner and I went to the Oakland Zoo and needed a late lunch before our drive home. Summer Kitchen and bake shop was the place! We split a delicious kale salad that was being featured for the day, a margarita pizza and a chocolate cake. Let me tell you - there's a reason there isn't a pic of the cake, as it was devoured! It was the most light, creamy, not too sweet cake I have ever consumed. I WILL be back again for another slice! I would not only recommend this cafe, but I'm confident that most if not everything on the menu is worth ordering. Our food, despite them being a bit busy, came out in a reasonable amount of time and was piping hot or cold, depending on the item. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Margarita Pizza & Kale Salad - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

Like most places off of College Avenue, Summer Kitchen & Bake Shop is a small, locals place for good food. Having pizza on the mind and failing to get fried chicken our last visit (they sold out by the afternoon on a Sunday), it was time to give it another shot. Tables are close quarters and there aren't many so make sure to snag one quickly if planning to eat in (it's order and seat yourself). There's also a small section of bar seating toward the back half of the restaurant too. We ordered the Hobb's Pepperoni Pizza ($15) and the Crispy Chicken Sandwich with Caraway Mustard Slaw ($12.50). Nice chewy crust on the pizza, super thin. They have a handful of other pizzas like mushroom and truffle toppings, pesto and arugula, so check those out if they sound good to you. Gotta love the sandwich's Acme torpedo. It's my favorite bread by Acme with its soft crumb and slightly sweet taste. Fried chicken was in stock, but only breast meat. We wanted dark meat and were apprehensive to ordering the breast because it's often cooked on the dry side. However, we were there, the chicken was there, so we ordered a few pieces just to taste ($14/lb). So glad we did. The chicken is picnic style, the kind I grew up eating, crunchy coating that lasts days and remains crunchy cold or at room temperature. If you love fried chicken like we do, definitely get some. read more

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Our friend Ron brought us lunch from here today. It's w/in walking distance of his house and he and Alan have had sandwiches from here before. They offer a limited number of sandwiches and evidently they rotate. Alan said whatever they make is good, so we pretty much left it to Ron to decide, although Alan did express a preference for egg salad. Ron arrived w/ three sandwiches, the egg salad for Alan, a fried chicken sandwich and a sliced Diestel turkey sandwich on a small Acme poppy seeded roll. The latter was the one I took, because it was the smallest. Ron ate half the chicken sandwich and took the other half home, making me glad I chose the turkey. It was very good, w/ a bit of cranberry-onion marmalade, a bunch of greens and a slice of provolone cheese. It didn't have a trace of the saltiness that so much deli sliced turkey has. It was just flat out delicious. Alan was also pleased w/ his egg salad, which was served on sliced Acme sourdough. We added chips, drinks and cherries. It was a nice lunch in good company. read more

we have been here few times. The dishes are quite good, the feeling pleasant and inviting, the people friendly. We had sandwitches, pizza, ... Everything is quite good, so if you are in the area is quite a good plce where to have a nice meal. read more

Great deli eats. I got the orzo and farro salads. Both seasoned well, with a variety of fresh herbs and ingredients folded in. They have all the comfort foods: brownies, fried chicken & fresh lemonade. Loved the farm table. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Farro & orzo salads - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

I came to check out Summer Kitchen & Bake Shop more for their baked goods, but there actually isn't too much variety. I remember them having 1-2 cupcake flavors, 1-2 cookie flavors, maybe a banana bread and/or some other type of bread but there wasn't much more than that. However, it seemed like most of the people were there for brunch/lunch, and their dinner menu looked pretty good as well. -Fried Chicken: We got this to go and heated it up in the toaster oven the next day and it was pretty good! Not the best fried chicken I've ever had, but definitely a good version. I would get this again. Loved that they sold pieces by the pound. -Chocolate Chip Cookie (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/summer-kitchen-and-bake-shop-berkeley?select=mjAGeeYEJ0XTX2II0AGs9A#mjAGeeYEJ0XTX2II0AGs9A): Just ok, but too crispy for me since I prefer chewy cookies. I wouldn't get this again. I think the way to go would've been the cupcakes, and will have to give that a try the next time I'm in the area. I will also have to try one of the brunch dishes, since a few of them looked really good! Parking in this area can be tough on the weekends, and you'll have to pay for metered parking unless it's a Sunday. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Chocolate Chip Cookie - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

It's okay, but could be better with a few tweaks. We dropped by for a quick dinner over the weekend. Street parking is free on Sunday, but there's also a parking lot in the back. The place is small, but cute. They have cold water, which was awesome on such a hot day. Did not seem that air conditioned. We ordered an arugula salad. Unfortunately, they were out of watermelon, so we substituted beets instead. All of the ingredients were fresh. The shaved fennel is a nice touch. Feta was a tad salty. The candied pepitas were interesting...cinnamon flavors. A bit strange. The biggest gripe was the champagne vinaigrette. Way too tart! I make my own dressings and like it tart, but this was completely unbalanced, almost as if no one tasted it. The thin crust pizza was pretty good. Nice chewy crust, abundant toppings, however, a bit too salty. Pepperoni will do that to a pizza. We added mushrooms & leeks for another $4. I'm thinking this pizza would have been better with just mushrooms. Agree with others it seems a bit pricey for amount of food offered. All of the food came out quickly, unlike what others experienced. Staff was courteous. Would probably try other places before coming back. read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - arugula & fennel salad with beets not watermelon - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

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Summer Kitchen + Bakeshop is a great spot for a quick and easy, healthy feeling meal! Dropped by with hubs for a quick lunch after running errands in the Rockridgr area. Checking the menu, the salads all looked delicious, and the option to add the crispy chicken was a perfect balance of gluttony to healthy. I ended up ordering the summer house salad with crispy chicken, and hubs ordered the crispy chicken sandwich. The crispy chicken is so flippin' good and worked perfectly with the lightly dressed salad (topped with beautiful yellow beets)! Despite it being "just a salad," I was perfectly full. The chicken sandwhich, which a stole a bite of, was also delicious- the mustard slaw complimented the crispy chicken perfectly (it was a bit heavy on bread, but not a deal breaker). Today was a hot day, so sitting inside was mildly uncomfortable... but totally worth it! read more

Summer Kitchen +bakeshop - Summer House - New American Near Me - Berkeley, California

I love the salads here! Knocking down a star because it's a bit pricey but beyond that, I love stopping by for a quick eat. Service is always nice and there's always enough seating. read more

Small place with a simple and short menu. Pizza and salad were delicious, and the deserts looked amazing . Very friendly staff. Delicious food made with fresh ingredients plus great desserts/baked goods. Definitely on the pricey side despite self-service. Steak sandwiches and fried chicken are delicious. read more

The pizza was great, especially the mushroom pizza with truffles. There are a couple tables out front if you'd like to sit outside. Their baked goods all looked amazing! read more

Check your to go orders vigilantly. They routinely forget to put items in but have never forgotten to charge us for them. I love this place but the lack of reliability is continually disappointing. read more

I love summer kitchen bakeshop on day one, esp their pizza, esp when Paul or Charlene was at the oven, oh, so good. So we're sandwiches or salad. After it was sold last year, I was sad but happy to learn that the new owners plan to keep it the same as it was. I went back to try it out. I was disappointed. I felt sadness from the cashier to the decor of the place. My favorite pizza was super salty, the crust was not right. I wrote a review after my 3rd visit. But I decided not to post it. I wanted to give it some time. Admittedly I did not go back since. Then pandemic hits, restaurant business got hit really hard. As a frontline worker, I have no time to cook. Once restaurants started to do takeout, I compiled a list of my favorite eateries, started my orders. I decided to give Summer Kitchen another try as I miss their pizza. Already grateful to the people who work there, I was not picky. The pizza was goothough the chicken sandwich was better. Then I ordered from them again and again. I have been very happy since. Depending on who is at the oven, the pizza could vary from ok to very good. The place is lively, the decor is warm and welcoming. The food looked beautiful and appealing again. People come and go while maintaining social distancing and wearing a mask. The staff was very friendly. Chefs were busy. They have 4-8 tables outside to eat on location should you choose to do so. I am glad that the neighborhood gem is shining again. Thank you, everyone, who made it happen and the owners! read more