Fortune Cookie Factory

On the edge of Chinatown, around the corner from the old post office, and about halfway between the Oakland Museum and City Center you’ll find the Fortune Cookie Factory located right on 12^th Street (no need to go down any dark, deserted alleys). It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it’s a fun experience and great for kids.
Come on in and the lady in front will come out to greet you. In her broken English, she’ll ask for $ 1/​person for the «tour,» which allows you to head to the back and watch workers mix batter, make and fold cookies by hand, and package the cookies and seal the bags. You can also take photos (at least with your phone) and linger as long as you want. The workers will even give you samples hot off the machines. Crisp, golden, and tasty.
Bags of fortune cookies (including colored/​flavored cookies) as well as «misfortunes» (broken fortune cookies or flat cookies that haven’t been folded) are available for purchase. Spend a few bucks, support a local business, and take home some edible souvenirs.

A relic from times past, this handmade fortune cookie factory is a fun find in an otherwise grimy dark alley (technically a street but you’d be nuts to drive on it). Tourists can stop in for 5 minutes and watch the batter be poured into the machine, squirted on the hot metal plates to cook, and hand folded. They can purchase bags of variously-​themed cookies. Sign says 50 cents for a pic, so come with quarters.
For a full experience, first read The Fortune Cookie Chronicles to help understand the place of fortune cookies in Chinese American cuisine, and the possibility that these crispy little wafers were actually not Chinese in the beginning.

This review is not for the food. It’s about the sanitation of this store.
About 2 weeks ago, I was meeting up with my mom for dinner about 4 blocks away but since it was a Saturday night in Chinatown, I couldn’t find any parking spaces by the restaurant. Therefore, I parked a block from this bakery. When we walked pass by this place the first time, all we noticed was how good the fortune cookies smelled. I even thought about buying some fortune cookies after dinner if this place was still open after I was done with dinner. Well, we were done with dinner and we started to walk back to my car. About 1 foot away, from the entrance of this store, my husband saw a mouse standing right by the door, looking for food. The bakery had their front door wide open with boxes holding the door in place. I immediately freaked out and didn’t want to walk anymore. My husband scared the mouse away but had noticed that it had hidden in between the boxes. At that point, I ran for my life and vowed to never buy anything from this place.

Great place to come for custom made fortune cookies. $ 132 for 400 custom cookies, wrapped, expedited. We got many compliments for the freshness of the cookies and my wife and I agree they are the best tasting fortune cookies we’ve ever had. The shopkeeper even wrapped everything up nicely for us.
My only complaint? I emailed them the order, then 10 minutes later emailed a correction. A couple of days later, I got a reply, saying the cookies were already made with the original order. Oops, my fault.
And their hours are a little funky. =)

The alley alone is worth a stop for it’s gritty, Indiana Jones feel. The term ‘factory’ is a stretch. It’s two ladies at machines. Be kind, pony up a few bucks to take pictures. If you’ve shown up on a good day you’ll enjoy some right off the press. In our case they were and we loved it.

I have been coming to this place since I was a kid. They make THE BEST fortune cookies anywhere. I have traveled all over and never had a fortune cookie as good as theirs. Every time I come home to Oakland I pick up a bag!

This is a very secluded place where you walk in a very run-​down factory that has no windows. The cookies are very crispy and cheap. I bought a bag full for $ 5.00 and has about 100 cookies or so.

Do NOT waste your time and drive here! They do NOT let you watch them make the cookies and they barely speak English. My son was so disappointed!

2 minutes of your time and you see and learn how fortune cookies are made. Very quick and fun. Cookies were delicious. They give you a free sample (not shaped into the cookie that we know), you can take a photo with them for 50 cents. Definitely stop in!

These guys make good fortune cookies, and will custom make any fortune cookie. They also provide chocolate dipped cookies. They’ve been in a business a long time and provide great service. They give out very auspicious good fortunes too!

seems my verdict about the fortune cookie factory being closed was premature. though i never saw them open (when driving by), i happened to walk by the storefront and hours are posted for mon –thursday. i could see the machines inside. they are closed friday-​sunday.
my bad.

I love moon cookies, aka «non folded round cookies» (that’s what it says on the bag)…then I realized that 4 = 117 calories and I was reminded that these are, in fact cookies, even though they are so light and seemingly non-​threatening to my workout plan.

I don’t really like Fortune Cookie but this place have the kind of chocalate fortune cookie is really good. I will take a picture one of these day and post it up here. You guys need to try it.