Kuro Takoyaki

The quality of poke bowl was not good, to be honest. The portion and the size of fish sashimi were tiny. The dressing was way too much and too spicy. If you want to have better poke bowls, I would say go to simply bowl instead.

4 stars for the takoyaki because even though the the paste and flour and the taste is really good, the octopus inside is waaay too hard which makes it difficult to eat and even to chew.
4 stars for the Poke bowl, which is a new item: it’s a sort of chirashi but with toppings that are smaller than a normal chirashi. It’s only 4 stars because of the little amount of fish inside. I mean there’s way more wasabi than salmon so yeah.
And it’s 9,50 for 3 pieces of fish each (you’re allowed to choose 3 out of 4 fish type) which is too expensive.
Overall a great spot to grab lunch quickly.

«Poke bowl! Yay!» Well, not quite… Rice is badly cooked, and overall tastes very bland… If you have more time for lunch, it’s better to go to downtown area for more authentic poke bowl. Haven’t tried the Takoyaki yet, but the quality of food doesn’t justify for the relatively high price.

I liked the flavor of the takoyaki a lot. Besides the pieces of octopus inside the takoyaki, it was quite a tasty and filling snack or mini-​lunch. However, I have to give Kuro two stars.
The octopus was inedible in every piece of takoyaki. It was rubbery and overcooked to the point that I could not bite through it — I had to either swallow it whole or spit it out. That made me really sad because I so wanted to like this truck.
I think the combo was something like $ 7.50 with a milk tea. The tea was quite nice and refreshing, but considering that I didn’t/couldn’t eat any of the octopus, $ 7.50 was steep for tea and tasty batter+sauce.
I’ll probably give the truck another try in awhile, but for now… two stars. :(

I’ve been waiting to try this place since I saw their truck pop up a few months back but I wasn’t around for their soft opening. I’m pretty fond of takoyaki and this truck has some pretty tasty takoyaki.
Service was so polite and earnest, I stopped near closing time and they had just finished a large order but they still took mine and pretty quickly too!
I have to agree with some other reviews saying that the octopus was too big and a little too chewy.
Price was also a little more than I would usually spend for a snack at $ 5.50 for 6 pieces of takoyaki.
All in all I do really like this truck and I’ll probably stop by again.

I actually enjoyed the food at this particular food truck. I of course had to order the octopus balls, also known as takoyaki. I had pretty high standards eating it from Japan and they were pretty good. Japan of course tasted better, but they got pretty close. The outside was crsipy and loaded with all kinds of sauces and toppings for flavoring. The octopus in the middle was really chewy and one of them I couldn’t even chew the octopus.
The servers were really nice and pretty quick. I also liked how the chalk for their menu was quite cute. The price was also not that bad for a snack of takoyaki.
I would probably visit this place again for a snack.

They put a lot of care into making their items. The people working there are kind! I wanna give them the benefit of the doubt for other items because I only ordered the takoyaki. Business was kinda dead.
I did not enjoy their takoyaki. I can only guess it came from frozen batter and they cook it so it’s completely heated, but it leaves it easily soggy and unable to keep its original form when you try and pick it up. They also have a HUGE slab of octopus instead of having it cut up and integrated into the batter of the takoyaki. Was a terrible experience eating because you will chew and chew and marinate your mouth with this smoky octopus flavor and somehow it will not break down enough for you to swallow — it just expands in size as you chew endlessly.
They also drench their takoyaki with mayo which I am not a fan of, but I know people really love Japanese mayo so victory to you guys.

If you have class in five minutes or just don’t have time to wait in line at Healthy Heavenly, then this is the stop for you! However, be prepared to spend more money here for generally less flavorful meals. I actually shouldn’t use «meal» in the plural form because I’ve only been here once. But I was disappointed at that one time.
I ordered the chicken curry rice for about $ 8.00. The dish basically consisted of a couple of sliced chicken breast over two cups of jasmine rice with some curry sauce. Now, I don’t have any major complain about the food: the chicken was cooked right, the curry was good, and the rice was soft. But it was a pretty boring and uninspired meal — there really was nothing special with it, and definitely not worth $ 8.00.
I’ll come back again, but given the high price it probably won’t happen in the near future given my recent experience.

One of the only places in the Bay area you can get fresh-​made (not frozen) takoyaki. Big chunks of octopus!

I prefer their other offerings over their Takoyaki.
Kuro Takoyaki is a relatively new food track that appears in College Ave around noon time. I’ve ordered from them 3 or 4 times. Their menu keeps getting longer, which is great. They initially only had takoyaki and few side dishes which didn’t really pull me in for lunch.
I’ve had their takoyaki 3 times and honestly it has only been OK. It is made fresh, but it tends to be doughy and seemingly undercooked in the center and the octopus is pretty chewy and sparse. I love takoyaki, but I haven’t been impressed by Kuro yet.
That said, their rice bowls are pretty good! I was honestly very impressed with the sukiyaki bowl. The thinly sliced beef was really tasty and tender. The chicken curry bowl was good too. The chicken was very juicy and flavorful. I do wish they paid a tiny bit more attention to their rice as I think it is just a tad overcooked.
Their teas are pretty large and their wakame seaweed salad was not bad and is great for sharing.
I recommend their rice bowls for a tasty lunch and hopefully they keep adding more items to the menu!

Pretty meh takoyaki at kinda high prices. I went sort of early in their tenure and they were pretty slow but we’ll see if they’ve figured out the pace when the semester starts.

Tried it out just because it’s new! No line probably because it’s new, it’s expensive and it’s just takoyaki :/
FOOD
Ordered the takoyaki obviously. It’s not bad! The dough to octopus ratio is pretty even. I’ve definitely had takoyaki with bigger octopus inside so this wasn’t too special. The good thing is that the takoyaki was crispy on the outside however it was a bit too soft on the inside. Felt like it wasn’t cooked long enough but at least the outside was crispy. Often times what can go really wrong is that the takoyaki is soggy all around. That’s a huge turnoff for me. It could use a bit more sauce too imo just becuase I like extra flavor to my takoyaki.
SERVICE
cashier was super friendly and nice! service was great but that might also be because i was the only customer haha.
Not sure if I recommend this… but if you’re in Berkeley with nowhere else to go and you want takoyaki then I guess this is the place to go! It is a bit pricey but it’s honestly a lot better than the takoyaki I’ve had at other places around berkeley for example Sushi Secrets or 723 tea station.

Kuro Takoyaki makes takoyaki fresh, u can see it in plain view.
eats: takoyaki (6/5.5)
–octopus chewy, probably previously frozen
–maybe should be cooked more, center very liquid
–sprinkled with dried fish flakes, kewi mayo, needs more mayo
interesting, no bad, not great 3.5 stars,
kewi:
–menu is evolving, expect good eats here
–takes CC.
–friendly, cute cashier (taiwanese, i presume)
yep, i was thinking about the garlic noodles next door and the takoyaki rolling around in the steel «cooker», not the cashier.

Kuro Takoyaki is a welcome addition to the Bancroft/​College food truck scene. Their soft opening menu includes wakame seaweed salad, drink specials, and, of course, takoyaki! Their main attraction is currently priced at $ 3.75÷4 pieces, or $ 5.50÷6 pieces. You get a decently large chunk of octopus in each ball, and the dough is soft and well-​fried. The takoyaki comes topped with a generous sprinkling of tobiko (dried fish flakes) and mayo-​based sauce. It’s flavorful, crispy, and come on, who doesn’t like fried food?!
If you’re really hungry, you will probably need several orders; each piece has a diameter of about 1.5″. Good thing they use Square and accept credit cards! So, go on and satisfy your between-​class snack cravings with freshly fried octopus balls! Your tummy will thank me. Your neighbors in class might not ;)