Casual Food Near the Downtown Berkeley BART Station

[Euonymous]

My daughter and I will be traveling to the Downtown Berkeley BART Station to see American Idiot at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre on Sunday, September 27. She will probably want some lunch before the show (2:00pm) and maybe some ice cream afterwards.

I'm not at all familiar with the area, so I welcome any suggestions you can make.

Thanks.
Liz

[Euonymous]

I wanted to thank all the chowhounds who replied to my post.

My daughter and I had a nice lunch at Chick o Pea. We had a falafel in pita sandwich and a huge order of match-stick-thin fries. The falafel and fries were both fried to order and very good, with lots of parsley in the falafel. I would have liked more garlic in the falafel, but I'm a garlic fanatic.

They have a salad bar that comes with any order of falafel so we also had some cucumbers with dill and some beets. Very nice. Lots of other vegetables were available.
Falafel sandwich with fries came to $9.00.

There is a huge and very clean His/Hers restroom at the back of the patio. Ask the cashier for a token to get in.

After the show we went to Gelato Almare. They have a two for one deal if you can show that you have been to the Berkeley Rep that day. We got two small cups, one coffee and one raspberry, for $2.50. Can't beat that, and the gelato was delicious.

[tomatoaday]

Center Street between Shattuck and the university has some good, casual choices. I like the falafel at Oasis and the dogs at Top Dog, both extremely casual choices. Berk Rep has a list of spots on their web site, some of which give discounts to ticket holders.

[bbulkow]

ice cream -> naia
Maybe not the very very very best gelato, but quite good - look for unusual flavors like black sesame.

Triple Rock makes a very good burger. Nice booths. Open all afternoon.

Jupiter makes good pizzas, great outdoor seating if its warm and sunny.

Do not be tempted by the Indian places. They're subpar.

[MollyGee]

Or, better than Naia (if you ask me) and just up the street, Gelato Almare. My kids' favorite ice cream (or ice creamesque) place in town. Not the million flavors that Naia has, but way better texturally and flavor-wise.

[ML8000]

Here's a couple more. Chick-O-Pea's is a falafel place with a bunch of stuff. Venus is "nicer" but still casual.

-----
Venus Restaurant
2327 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704

Chick-O-Pea's
1926 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA

[lmnopm]

Turkish Kitchen
1986 Shattuck Ave

[kc72]

Here are a few (not sure about their hrs)

-----
Jayakarta Restaurant
2026 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Ryowa
2068 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Bobby G's Pizzeria
2074 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Pie In The Sky
2124 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94704

Anh Hong
2067 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

Meridian International Sports Cafe
2050 University, Berkeley, CA