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    The Vulcan Cafe

    3.3 (359 reviews)
    InexpensiveThai, Cafes
    Closed • 10:00 am - 12:00 AM (Next day)
    Updated over 3 months ago

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    THE VULCAN CAFE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Casual
    Good for groups
    Outdoor seating

    Recommended Reviews - The Vulcan Cafe

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    Garlic Chicken wings
    Steve D.

    "The Vulcan Cafe" is a Thai restaurant in East Oakland that stays open late. I had a recommendation that I try this place, so on a Thursday evening I ordered: - Garlic Chicken Wings (6) - Tom Yum Gai Soup Okay, the chicken wings look great in the photo, but were overcooked and hard to eat. I had to throw away a few. Grade (2/5). The Tom Yum Gai Soup gets Grade (4/5) with it's delightful blend of flavors in a rich broth. Thai style hot and sour soup with chicken and assorted veggies. Rich and satisfying soup, perfect for a cool evening.

    Claudia S.

    Everything we ordered was yummie! We had some chicken skewers, pad thai and even a vegetarian dish with Tofu. I would definitely recommend you to try it, dont let the location fool you

    Yum Voon Sen Salad
    Loriell L.

    First of y'all... the 1 star reviews are TRIPPIN. Certain restaurant's have their strengths and weakness dishes and you just gotta know how to order ‍ Just because certain items aren't good doesn't mean ALL the food is bad or terrible. I ordered the salad attached & the hot n sour Thai soup. I've had better but for being open so late to my convenience it still satisfied the craving. The salad however did it for me and will be returning for the salad alone. I didn't try any pan friend noodle dishes or entrees but will give it a try the next go around!

    Pad Thai with shrimp
    Mindy L.

    Pretty underwhelming. But like someone said, for being open til midnight it satisfies the craving. Crab fried rice - small amount of crab on top of regular rice and tiny bits of egg. Definitely not fried rice. Pad Thai - very okay. Had a tiny bit of cabbage and peanuts, but no fresh bean sprouts which is needed to balance to noodles Green curry - not spicy at all. Good flavor and veggies were cooked well though

    Robbie R.

    I'm down here in the East Bay visiting a friend and he wanted to take me to an unusual Thai restaurant called the Vulcan Cafe. No, the servers didn't have pointy ears, but I guess Vulcan refers to an industrial area here in Oakland that had a foundry named that. I will say the location is quite unusual, located in a totally industrial area of Oakland down a dead end street with artist lofts and the like all around. Then you come across a That restaurant! The Vulcan has been here open for like 35 years! That's gotta say something that people love coming here, since there really no food traffic like a busy street to get customers. Parking can be tricky, but do pay attention to the No Parking signs in front of other businesses. You go up a few rickety steps and into the cafe. It's a little industrial looking, but does have a Thai flavor to the decor. The menu has all the basic Thai dishes we've come to expect, from colored Thai curries, pad Thai noodles and coconut soups. Once inside, you kinda forget you're on a dead end street in the middle of industrial Oakland. We were here for lunch, it might be a little scary down here at night! Service was very cordial and efficient. We choose a standby of Pad Thai and a special that day of Thai Roast duck. We also had Thai Iced Tea to drink. There were quite a few other people in the restaurant while we had lunch, proving the popularity of this really out of the way place. Our food arrives and it looks delicious. The pad Thai was done just right with the right amount to sauce balanced with the wok fried noodles. The duck was scrumptious as well. The meat was flavorful and yes a little fatty, which is a good thing when it comes to duck! The meat just melts in your mouth contrasting with the crispy skin. We had a wonderful lunch here and I'd return for sure, though I don't get down to the Bay Area too often, cause traffic totally sucks! But places like the Vulcan Cage make it worth it.

    I ate ONE. Only ONE!!!! This is really awful
    Veronica W.

    Likes: open late Delivers Thai food lol Dislikes: Small portions (not understanding how I paid 6.95 plus tax for 6 small pieces of tofu.... So they are a dollar a piece? Last time I checked a square of tofu is 3 bucks at the most... definitely feels like they are ripping people off. If you want to sell less make sure the customer knows how many pieces they are getting. I would NEVER charge someone this much for a few pieces of tofu...

    fried tofu
    Aleanna S.

    I felt the need to satisfy my Thai craving but I hate to say I was disappointed. The pad see ew lacked flavor in my opinion. Definitely could've used more sauce. The noodles felt a little over cooked yet the veggies still had a slight undercooked crunch to them. The tofu had a weird taste even the peanut sauce couldn't mask. They were dry too.

    Pad - Thai
    Anna L.

    I was craving some late night munch and was happy to find a Thai place open so late that also delivers. I ordered the shrimp fresh rolls and classic pad Thai with chicken. The pad Thai is decent, good enough for night time cravings. I prefer my pad Thai more spicy and saucy but the flavors are all there and that's good enough in my book. However the spring rolls were disappointing. There was only shrimp in about 3 of the pieces, and even then it was a really small amount. I thought it was the wrong order at first until I broke one of the sections apart and found a small piece of shrimp. I didn't really care for the complimentary sauce either. Good thing I ordered peanut sauce on the side.

    Crab Meat Fried Rice  + 4 Thai Spring Rolls
    Adrienne D.

    Today, I ordered Thai Spring Rolls(vegetarian), crab meat fried rice, and Thai iced tea from Vulcan Cafe. The order was placed using UberEats. Honestly, the food fell short of my expectations. The rice weighed down the quality of the meal. While the rice was cooked properly, there were crab shell fragments in my rice that made eating it a minefield. The flavor of the rice was sufficient but I've definitely eaten more flavorful Thai meals than this. It was very one-dimensional on my palate. Onto the spring rolls, those were good. The sauce that accompanied it was very nice and refreshing. The only downside is that mine were slightly over-cooked & a wee oily. Onto the Thai Iced Tea, thankfully, this was constructed beautifully. I truly enjoyed the beverage. It helped knock a few of the shell fragments down my throat. Not too bitter, not too sweet. Overall, I would likely eat here again if I just really wanted some Thai food out of convenience. But, if there was a better location selling Thai dishes, then I'd try that place first.

    Pad Thai

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    9 months ago

    There was hair in our food which of course ruined it and our appetite, that's all I really gotta say..

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    1 year ago

    The food dishes were scarce with an after taste that didn't seem right. We wont be going again, unfortunately. Expensive for what it is.

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    3 years ago

    They have Thai food. I have eaten there many times over several years. The food is good and reasonably priced. You should try it.

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    Page 1 of 9

    Ask the Community - The Vulcan Cafe

    Haven't been here since the new owner took over is the food still good quality?

    No, Run! I've ordered food from here and it tasted like shit! Even worse, I received food that was overdue and smelled like dumpster juice! Not Thai food but dumpster !

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    Pintoh Thai - Somtum Tod

    Pintoh Thai

    4.3(512 reviews)
    3.8 mi
    •$$

    Came here on Saturday evening around 7pm ish, party of 6. It was walking distance from an escape…read moreroom near 19th street so we stumbled upon it from convenience. We all split all the specialty cocktails and I got the Khao Pad Kang Kiew (rice with eggplant and chicken topped with a fried egg). Dishes are $20-23 ish each. We were seated at the 6 person table in the back of the restaurant near the bathroom. My favorite drinks were their take on a hard thai iced tea, the lavender mojito, a take on an espresso martini. There was also this spicy drink that had thai chilis in it that is VERY spicy lol. Pros: - the rice dish was DELICIOUS and also huge haha. Came with cucumbers to cut the peppery flavor if needed. - All the cocktails were pretty different and it was fun to try all of them. They were all beautiful to look at and tasty (lots of coconut and Thai inspiration). - Service was pretty good - Has "typical" thai dishes like pad thai and pad see ew, and also more rare ones that are hard to find - Close to many bars and other establishments, so perfect if you want to eat here as a first, second, or third location of your outing haha Cons: - The air flow in the back wasn't amazing so I did feel like it got stuffy/hot - Parking can be tough in this area so I recommend BARTing Another reason to love Oakland!

    I originally planned on rating Pintoh Thai 5 stars for their finger licking good pad kemao, but the…read morelast time I visited, the servers literally forgot about my table multiple times. We had to re-place our orders because they were never sent to the kitchen and lost, we had to flag down servers otherwise we were sitting there confused for 20+ minutes as they hustled and bustled around us, it was just bizarre. And it was a bit embarrassing as I'd lauded this place to my guest and we proceeded to get snubbed by every server during dinner time. Alas, the pad kemao was still delicious but I don't know if I'd suffer that kind of service again for a meal. And no, nothing was comped or discounted. Ambiance-wise, the restaurant is cute and near a busy area of downtown Oakland so it's easy to get to by BART or by car. I might give them another chance if I'm ever in the area already, but I won't be going out of my way to visit again.

    Photos
    Pintoh Thai - Inside

    Inside

    Pintoh Thai - Khao Pad Neua Yang

    Khao Pad Neua Yang

    Pintoh Thai - Lycheetini

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    Lycheetini

    Golden Lotus Vegan Restaurant - Sp4. Happy Tamarind / Bo Xao Me

    Golden Lotus Vegan Restaurant

    4.0(1.3k reviews)
    3.8 mi•Oakland Chinatown
    •$$

    I come here often for delicious vegan food. It's mostly Vietnamese style with some Chinese items as…read morewell. Everything is fresh and most of the folks here are welcoming. I recommend the mush mush wraps, kelp salad, special 1, and 5-spice tofu.

    The establishment seems to be run by some sort of Buddhist vegan cult as evidenced by the…read moreorganizations YouTube channel playing on the TV and literature by the door, complete with a charismatic Supreme Master figurehead who "is a supporter of Donald Trump and claimed Trump was a "God-Chosen Leader of America and Bringer of World Peace". Hai supported overturning the results of the 2020 US election" and whose organization has repeatedly built unauthorized structures in protected environmental lands around the world. The only reason I came in was because I'd DoorDashed from them several times and my coworker asked if I knew any good vegan spots. The food isn't bad, but I feel like the price to portion ratio is way off, and now I have an idea of where that extra cost is going to. It's weird that the only reviews that mention this are 10 plus years old and treat it like fun window dressing. I feel like that's the type of info you need to front load into a review. So...if I want vegan Asian food maybe I'll try Laughing Buddha again? Unless....damn maybe I need to go there in person as well to make sure. Is Rico Rico owned by a cult? How much of my reality should I be questioning?

    Photos
    Golden Lotus Vegan Restaurant - Cramped but clean booths

    Cramped but clean booths

    Golden Lotus Vegan Restaurant
    Golden Lotus Vegan Restaurant - Inside

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    Inside

    The Vulcan Cafe - thai - Updated September 2026

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