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Mon-Fri. 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sat-Sun. 4:30 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
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Edit: 11/25/09
They recently added ramen to the menu! :) I like the white soup ramen. Eat it fresh there, though, it's not gonna be good if you box it. I've also been ordering the shabu shabu more often lately. I haven't come across any hot pot places here, so this is the next best thing, and I do like it. I enjoy the lamb.
Still wish there were more drink choices, but still love the place.
I don't remember what I wrote in my previous review... but I'm just back to say that I love this… Read more »
A lot of Chinese students like this place, but I think it's just average. Their best deal is lunch combo, otherwise everything else is very pricey.
Many people said their shabu shabu (small hot pot) is good, all i can say is they never had real shabu shabu or any kind of real hot pot!!! Their small hot pot does look good, it's good for dating, but not for people who likes to enjoy great tasty food. Especially when their shrimp is never fresh, and vegi sometimes too dry too. I tried it twice, both invited by my friends, and I got sick both times.
If they have one dish that I should recommend, it's their Chinese styled black pepper steak, very good! ask for medium too! steak on a hot pan and covered with sizzling sauce.
After all, their other food on the menu is not bad, close to Chinese food but portion is not so great. Price is almost as pricey as Tea Station but less food portion. Please only go for lunch!
The shabu shabu sucks but I guess beggars can't be choosers. There is quite literally NO OTHER SHABU place around here...the closest one is in Claremont or Chino Hills!
It's just a sad semblance of Japanese style shabu shabu, but really more like Chinese style hot pot / fondue. There wasn't even a ponzu sauce, instead satay sauce was proffered. Ick. I had to request for vinegar to concoct my own creation with soy sauce to salvage the meal. The goma was watered down and flavorless, and the beef was lean and tough. I'm willing to bet it was chuck roast or something else of equally offensive rank.
So moving on, now I know NOT to order to shabu but I had to try it at the very least.
The Orange Chicken and Tomato Beef were pretty delicious, but I found that not one of my friends who ordered the Fried / Pan Fried Noodles enjoyed their meal so those should definitely be avoided.
I noticed that they had some awesomely priced Summer Specials; $1.99 Sizzling Noodles and some other stuff for $2 / $3.99. I wasn't paying too much attention, but those are probably worth a try as well.
Asides from the inferior shabu and fried noodles, everything else was A-OK!
Decent food. Good prices and services. Nothing to write home about but ok enough to satisfy anyone's hunger. Typical college eatery.
I was looking for a lite quick bite and thought University Cafe, when my research on Yelp showed this place. I like to think I'm adventurous, so I'll give this place a try. We ordered the veggie shabu shabu, and it was pretty good. We ordered one order for $12.00 and split it. We also ordered some fried tofu that was tasty.
The food was good, the atmosphere just average. My only real complaint was the service. They were non existent. They weren't friendly or helpful. If I'm in the mood for shabu shabu and don't want to drive I'll go back to Life Cafe. Hopefully the staff will develop some personality.
during my time at UC Riverside, I ate Life Cafe around 3 times a week.
The food is delicious and really good for the price. If you come in before 4PM, you get a free drink and soup with your meal. The portions are generous, and I highly recommend the beef fried rice.
Life Cafe is also one of the only places open until 3 in the morning near UCR, so it was also really convenient. They offer free wi-fi and huge flat screen TV's throughout the restaurant that can cater to large parties. I wouldn't come here to study (I have studied here at lunch when it's significantly quieter) but it's definitely a great place to meet up with friends. I recommend ordering the fruit shaved ice, it's so large and it's delicious!
The owner is usually a nice guy, and the male waiter is always very polite, but usually the girl waitresses can be bitchy. However, everyone does their jobs and the food tastes great, and it's cheap. Can't beat that.
Man, if there's one thing I'm gonna miss about Riverside (it's not the weather) it's gotta be this place. During my two years there, I almost always came here at least once a week to get their tasty food. My favorite thing to get was the Spicy Chicken with Rice which was simple but tasty. But when I felt like being a real baller I ordered the Lamb shabu shabu, which comes with a LOT of vegetables. Sure the meat quality might not be fantastic or anything, but it's definitely tastes good to me. The best thing about this place to me though is the boba. All the drinks are well priced, and they seriously give you a shitload of boba, none of that weak one scoop that you'll get at Ten Ren's.
The service is pretty good too, the only bad experience I've ever had there was when they were first opening, but the owner made up for it by giving me a free drink cause he's also a pretty chill dude.
So all in all, any time I'm back in Riverside I'll be sure to hit up this place at least once
FINALLY! A place in Riverside that CLOSES LATE AND ISN'T DENNYS OR NORMS. I'm serious. This place closes at what time? 2AM? 2AM!??! How often? EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK.
So yeah, but, a place that closes late, in Riverside, of all cities, and isn't a diner, can the food be good to and non-expensive.
The answer is: YES IT CAN.
Life Cafe, located across the University Village plaza near UCR, with adequate parking space for the late night, serves a nice balance of basic Asian cuisine, at an affordable pricing, and adequate service.
I've been there twice, but the two times I've been there, I've tried different things. First time I tried their shrimp fried rice which had enough shrimp that I didn't have to count how many I see. I won't say that the shrimp flooded the plate, but there were more than 4 - 5. I think. And it tasted good. I ordered a mango icy as well. Delicious. The service was fast.
The second time I ordered Walnut Shrimp with Rice. The fried shrimp was wonderfully cruncy, not skimpy, and the the walnut and the sauce was wonderful together. I ordered water to drink because I was really wanting desert instead of going to Mumbles for frozen yogurt.
At first, I thought I'd try shaved ice and pick stuff to go with it, but my friend and I eyed their mixed fruit shaved ice from the pictures in the menu (by the way, the menu has pictures of the food, that helps) and asked how big it was. We were told that it was huge so we decided to share one.
The mixed fruit shaved ice was good enough to split with 4. Yes. It was huge. The glass cup it came with was huge, and the layers were beautiful. The fruits were plentyful and the watermelon was very sweet and in season. Below the fruit, the ice cream, the shaved ice was possibly flan, and condensed milk because the chef adds extra stuff randomly. :)
I think we spent more time eating the mixed fruit shaved ice than our actual meals.
So the pluses:
+ The food is good
+ Not expensive. $5 - $14 for entrees.
+ Nice range of options -- noodles, rice dishes with meat, chicken, seafood, sizzling plates, and shabu shabu.
+ Nice range of non-alcohol drinks -- ice flavor teas, fresh fruit icy, snow ice, hot drinks, shakes, and soft drinks
+ Late hours 7 days a week
+ Ample parking
+ Clean, modern looking, LCD tvs on the walls
+ Free WiFi. Take that Starbucks and your TMobile connection.
And the minuses:
+ Not enough space some times
+ The parking says 2 hours outside or was it 1 hour. I forgot.
Why am I not giving it a 5? I'll eat there a few more times and maybe it'll get a 5. I like this place, but I think for me to give it a 5, I'll have to go back a few more times. And, I think I will be doing that in the near future....
Went here for the first time and i had no complaints. There was alot of menu items to choose from and the portions were pretty good too.The waitress was really nice and our food came pretty fast.
I ordered the fried tofu (which was great) and the pan fried noodle dish with the 3 meats.
Really really goood. && very cheap!
id go back if i were in the area
Came here for lunch and had the sizzling chicken steak plate. For $6.75 I got: salad (pretty standard side salad with Asian dressing); soup (hot & sour soup, overwhelming white pepper flavor); choice of spaghetti, steamed rice, or fried rice (I chose the spaghetti) and a generous serving of grilled chicken. Free drink choice of green tea, black tea, milk tea or Thai tea.
There was only one female server and despite having to wait on all of the patrons, service was really on the ball and friendly too.
I'm happy that I discovered another lunch spot close to my work. The perks of Life Cafe are that it is affordable and it's good food for a good deal. I look forward to coming back and enjoying the shabu shabu.
Shabu Shabu Shabu SHABU!
For prices this good to the late hours they open, I promise you, you will not be disappointed.
I suggest the Shabu Shabu. For about 12 dollars, you get so much 4 people would find it as a feast!
Walnut shrimp is delicious and the rice and complimentary soup please my stomach in ways you could not imagine.
Free drinks after 5 pm!
THEN buy one, get one half off after 5 pm!
Oh my GODDDDDD
I never thought I'd come across a place so perfect.
Came back here a couple of months ago because nothing else was open.
Ordered calamari and milk tea.
Calamari was disgusting and milk tea tasted like powder.
Never coming back ever again.
3.5 stars
So I actually REALLY liked this place when I came during opening week. It was nice to have…
Read more »
Relatively cheap? Check.
Good food? Check.
Free drinks before 5pm (with purchase of $5 or more)? Check.
Buy one, get one half off drinks after 5pm? Check.
Open till 2am !?!?!? DOUBLE CHECK !!
Had lunch here during the week and it was like some of the nicer boba places.
Pros: The honey walnut shrimp was pretty good. It was just barely crispy, not overly sweet and not drenched in the sauce/mayonnaise. It came with decent rice. The milk tea was just average.
Cons: The accompanying soup was just blah, it wasn't spicy, nor sour, nor anything.
They open later now AND they have WIFI.
I believe they close at 2AM on Saturday and Sunday mornings (aka Friday and Saturday nights).
Also, the mango shaved ice here is HUGE and AMAZING. Can easily share this with 1 or 2 of your lovely friends.
This calls for 5 full stars!
HELL YES!! $3.25 for sizzling noodle! This comes with soup (no meat, but sometimes egg), and the… Read more »
Wow I love this place. The food is great, but what makes this place a "winner" is the price point. I especially enjoyed the Shabu Shabu and I get it every time I go. They have a variety of different soup bases (Miso, Kim Chi, Spicy, and Curry) and you get plenty of veggies and meat. The best part is the cute individual Shabu Shabu hot pot. I live in Los Angeles and have been to every Shabu Shabu in the city and have never seen those individual pots. And at $12 a pop the Shabu Shabu is a steal. I mean in LA that would easily run $30 and you would get less food.
Last night my Fiance had the sizzling steak with the black pepper sauce and it was delish. It was around $8 and came with soup, salad, and rice!
For dessert, we had the shaved ice fruit bowl. I have never had shaved ice before and let me tell you it was delish! so fantastic. I posted a picture of it online. Too bad the picture was taken after we had already started to eat it.
Anyhow, this is definitely my new favorite hangout for dinner in Riverside. First because its the only Shabu Shabu in the area and second because its so reasonably priced. I really hope this place succeeds!
P.S. In-the-know tip: They have magazines near a table by the bathroom. I love the idea of magazines at a restaurant as it has a coffee-house appeal.
enjoy :)
its aite
pretty koo with the drank
the manager can be a lil grumpy, he called my friends stupid LOL
"beef n brokoree?!"
Awesome place! I can see this place as sort of a college hangout cuz of their lovely decor and mainstream hip hop playing in the background.
Free drinks before 5pm. They come in a jar with a little handle. Kinda neat. The sizzling combos (steak/fish/chicken/lamb/pork) come with soup, salad, fried rice.
The food itself is decent but I gave them 5 stars for the value. Where else can you get such a complete meal for about $6?
I'll definitely come back!
Not bad, I would eat there again,
The soup is very good.
Had orange chicken one day, it was OK,
The spinach was good but a little tough.
Mongolian beef was good,
Place appeals to students, kind of noisy, two tv sets going and music on a different station makes it noisy. If you like the music it would be fine, I did not care for it, kid of irritated me, too much noise. This lowered the rating for me. Food was a 3.5 to 4.0
The owner was very nice.
This is a fusion type restaurant, OK for the price.
Free tea with dinners before 5,
I ordered the beef w/ broccoli and walnut shrimp combo, along with a mango icy. I thought that the food was great overall. The salad that came with the combo had a Thousand Island dressing. The soup, which was a Hot-n-Sour soup, I thought was good. I also really liked the sauce on the beef w/ broccoli and the beef was very tender. However, I feld that the broccoli was undercooked...almost as if it was freshly cut and tossed in at the last possible second. The walnut shrimp, which I had not had before, I really liked. In fact, I'm craving it again right now. I found the fried rice a little too pasty for my taste. Now, the mango icy was really yummy. It was definitely more than just juice and ice blended together.
Went here the night I got back from a two week trip to New York, mostly because I was too lazy to cook, and also because I've been meaning to eat here for a while now after reading reviews here and having it be recommended by friends. The restaurant looked clean, approachable, and the staff was friendly enough for the type of restaurant this was. After being seated in a booth, my girlfriend and I scanned the diverse menu which contained some Americanized options intermixed with some more authentic fare and decided that we'd share an order of beef shabu shabu and an order of walnut shrimp with rice. The food came out of the kitchen quite quickly and was acceptably good, actually, very good for being in the Inland Empire. The shabu shabu wasn't the best, as others have mentioned, but was satisfying. The beef was quite lean and not as marbled as I would have liked and the broth tasted good but tasted more like an enveloped-packaged dashi broth than a fresh made one, but again, this is Riverside, and the quality was well within my tolerance for the price and location. The veg consisted primarily of what appeared to be large spinach leaves and your basic cabbage. I would have liked to see a more authentic type of cabbage like a nappa. In addition, they also supplied a very tiny portion of harusame noodles, a small block of soft tofu, tomatoes (random), and a rehydrated dried shiitake mushroom. I could have used more harusame and tofu, and also could have done with fresh shiitake and maybe some enokitake and some scallions, but it's only $13, so I can't complain too much. The walnut shrimp was also decently good, albeit a bit small in portion size for the price. The shrimp size was around a slightly small 26/30, was (thankfully) not over battered, and tasted well cooked and fresh, although it's texture was bordering on slightly overcooked. The walnuts were decent, a few were slightly stale tasting, but overall they were acceptable. Overall, I enjoyed my meal; it was quite good for being in Riverside and their late night hours are very convenient, however if this place were anywhere closer to the coast it would be subpar.
They are the only place open past 1am for decent asian food. They also offer shabu shabu which is almost non existent in Riverside, especially around the UCR campus. Plus, the owner and his brother are G. Always helpful and friendly. Go strike up a conversation with them some time. Plus, the girl that works there is very nice. My friend spilled the soup on her one day because he is a total dousche but she remained very courteous.
Good if you want late night Chinese food. Like the tomato egg and the combos. I always crave green tea and I get it here. It's cheap and it hits the spot.
They've widened their meal choices since they first opened. Decent food. Good for hungry college students who don't want to cook or eat food from campus. You can't beat the lunch hour deal. You get a free drink, which is normally ($1.95), soup, and salad when you purchase $5.50 or more. If you're there for dinner, buy one drink get half off the other!
Tried the walnut shrimp, beef curry, three spice noodle, and kung pao chicken. All are pretty good. I love the fact that the soup and salad always changes every time I've been there.
One of the better places to eat around University.
I hope this place doesn't close down and stays in business for LIFE! From this point forward, this will be the only cafe I will go to for good Asian cafe food in Riverside. I never really heard of this place before a friend of mine introduced me here. But low and behold, it's a kick ass, chill place. I LOVE their Sizzling Noodle because 1) It arrives in front of your face steaming! 2) There's an egg on it. 3) You get a side soup. 4) It's simple (def. won't give you a stomach ache). 5) HUGE portions. 6) $3.25
It's cheap, portions are large, and the quality is good! You should try different things from their menu each time you go in because you'll never know what kind of surprise you'll end up with. I'm not talking about pubic hair in your soup or a thumb in your batch of popcorn chicken, I'm talking "DAMN! this is what I ordered?" (in a delightful way). Try the Mango Shaved Ice, you'r eyes will pop out! Hollaback (woot x2) at the waiter who sits on his lap top playing, I think warcraft or something.
I think it's the best chinese food near campus. They have shabu shabu, I'm not into that stuff. But the mandarin speaking chinese love it. I'm cantonese I prefer the cafe style food. The presentation of food is good, taste is decent. My favorite dish is sizzling noodle. Everything else I think it's okay not the best. The service good.
It's true cantonese cuisine is the best. But we are 50 miles away from alhambra, what can we do. This place is pretty damn good for chinese food near campus. Other than that. Alhambra yo!
A friend took us here for a late lunch, early dinner. I have to be honest, this is the first time I've tried this concept in Chinese food. The whole shabu shabu thing or hot pot. I have seen people talk about it at other restaurants and it sounded good.
So anywho, We had the sizzling lamb with a pepper sauce. I thought it was really good. The lamb was very tender and the sauce added the right touch. I also had the spicy pork hot pot. It was spicy. But I loved the whole idea but I will probably try something
Sustenance.
This place was integral in my undergraduate time at UCR. The food is delicious, and especially with the lunch special that comes with a mason jar full of milk tea or thai ice tea to quench your parched throat from the blazing Riverside heat.
I've survived on the food here as a broke student, and did fairly well. Cheap prices and tasty food, excellent for the student budget. In particular I would like to mention my favorite dish of chicken lettuce wraps, thai ice tea, and korean ribs.
Life. Who could'a known it was this good.
It's okay. It's cheap and not bad. I've had the shabu shabu twice and it's not that worth it, the combos are a better deal. The drinks come in a jar and they're 1.95 (most of them). Before 5pm if you spent at least $5 on a meal you get a free drink.
Theres a guy that always works there, he's pretty moody. I'd come in once and he's attentive, the next time I ask for my check he doesnt even bring it. Does it depend on the girl I bring or something? I guess so... ? j/k.
Anyway this place is a notch above Tenrens and Boba Cafe. University Cafe and Life Cafe have pretty similar quality... This might be just a little higher.
Oh open till 2AM. And don't order the sampler.
this is my weekday kitchen. I am always there for lunch or late dinner. Their fruit combination is so good. lunch combo or shabushabu are always in big portion. John is the owner and he always talk to us, and give us extra salads and drinks. The place is clean and we can sit there for hours without waitress staring at us. The place rocks. Oh, remember to ask for the house special with salad, u can't try it anywhere else.
It suppose to be a 5 star, but since i ate it almost everyday, 4 stars encourage them for some more improvement for the students. :)
Taste: Average- above average. Their fried chicken dishes are great, mainly due to the sauces. There is very minimal chicken in them though.
The Kung Pao chicken has more mushrooms than chicken but great sauce.
The steamed rice here is some of the best rice i've had at an Asian place in Riverside. Not too soggy not too dry...just right! ^_^
The drinks here are all above average....as good as a Ten Ren's but cheaper!
The soups are mostly average...they could be way better....the best IMO is the corn soup.
Presentation: The dishes are presented in a professional manner. More than you would expect from a place meant for younger patrons. Food looks very appetizing.
Ambiance: Kind of loud. Music playing is mostly hip hop and pop stuff. If KIIS FM stings your ears then it might be annoying.
The bathrooms are really nice!
Overall very clean.
Price: Cheap. The quality and quantity is well worth what you pay.
Alright, so maybe I`m a bit biased because I love the main server/co-owner? &because it opens to 2am every day, catering to my night-owl lifestyle ?
Part of having a good restaurant is knowing your clients. &this is one place where I am definitely comfortable in.
I first came here during their Grand Opening, and to my surprise, the head waiter (he was a bit older than the rest of the workers) came over to greet my boyfriend and I... in Chinese! He spoke with us, asked us where we came from (him&my bf both came from Alhambra), and generally was very friendly.
We went on to order. Their milk tea used to be "so-so," but recently it`s improved so much I`ll take it over Ten Ren`s... at a MUCH cheaper price. 1.95 for a cup of milk tea ? Delicious. Another tea I would recommend is the Peach Green Tea.
If you order in, they`ll use special glass cups. I don`t know why, but I loved them because they reminded me of the Jazz Cat Cafe in the valley area. (Same as their shabu shabu!)
Their menu is a little on the small side. They recently added lunch combos [with free drinks... hmm, business calls for it *looks at Uni Cafe*], but I haven`t explored that yet. I have, however, explored literally everything else. Appetizers. Sizzling plates. Shabu shabu. Combos. One thing I like about them is that they add soup&salad with almost every item [except Shabu Shabu, they add a bowl of rice for that].
If I had the time and patience, I would review each item of food on the menu. But, because I haven`t, I`ll just go ahead and comment on my favourite dishes.
Sizzling plates:
Sizzling noodles- cheap, for the amount of food they give you. Their soups are delicious and this meal is surprisingly filling.
Sizzling fish fillet- A little pricey, but with a soup and salad, this is the best "quick" meal.
Shabu shabu:
I always get the original soup base. HUGE meal, extremely filling. The peanut & oil sweet sauce is delicious. Ask for an extra bowl, though, to put the food you cook but not eat immediately in.
Combo:
Beef&chicken combo. This is a really filling combo, and their chicken is amazing. Whenever I`ve had it, it`s been tender and juicy, as well as seasoned to near perfection.
Shaved Ice:
Their shaved ice comes in a huge platter. I like shaved ice, but mostly because it reminds me of Irvine, so all I can say is, try it! It`s at a reasonable price and they have decent toppings.
One more reason to come here is it has free wireless internet. Hooray!
So... in conclusion, this place has the best of all the cafe`s in Riverside... good tea like Ten Ren, cheap prices like University Cafe, good, personal service like (an American place?), and lovely decor. Two large screen TV`s... :]]. Free wireless. Good hours. A little slow during rush, but worth the wait!
I came here a couple of times, tried the sizzling pork chop with black pepper sauce and I think steak or something. I don't remember well. Pork chop was just kind of ok. the steak one was bad.... it was so tough and fatty and very well done, it felt like i was chewing on a wet cardboard. I do like the pepper sauce though.
They give you spaghetti and that was absolutely terrible. The pasta was like...sticking to each other and I believe it was overly overcooked. :P It was like baby food. ACK!
My friend ordered the mango shaved ice or whatever it is called, and it was HUGE. It was pretty good.
The decor is pretty cute. The service pretty good once u get a hold of one of the servers. They come by to give you or your next tables food, and then they don't even look back! I tried to get their attention several times as they were serving the table behind me, but they never looked at me. I waved my arms and even called for them, but I guess they didn't hear me... or didn't want to.
I think the price is a little high for the quality of food you get. Sure they give you salad and pasta and I think soup too. No free drink. It is a lot of food if you eat it all, but none of these tasted good enough for me to want to finish. So I'd rather not pay the full price and skip the extras if I could.
This place is awesome! I was moving in to Riverside for the summer from LA, and we got here a bit late and hadn't gotten to eat dinner. Needless to say, I was starving. I was in the mood for some Chinese food...as I have not had any quality Chinese food for many months at school. We first tried to go to University Cafe, but they were closed...so we walked over to Ten Ren Tea, and their kitchen was closed! Noooo...frustration...so then we asked some (mandarin-speaking) guys sitting outside of Ten Ren and they recommended this place for late night eats, specifically telling us to get the hot pot (or shabu shabu...I am still confounded on how this "shabu shabu" nomenclature has come into existence).
Well so on we went, and together we ordered a beef hot pot with spicy soup and a pan fried spaghetti noodle. The prices here are cheap!!! The spaghetti was only like $4, and the hot pot was $12.95. They were very generous with the amount of beef given, and on the tray of things to cook there are also other veggies and things. I definitely recommend the beef pot with the spicy soup - it is delicious! Especially if you like spicy things like me...the broth is really good and flavorful. The noodles were good, but pretty plain. They are spaghetti noodles with an egg and some kind of tomato-y sauce on top. My mom and I shared both and we had plenty to eat.
So my dad and sister came down here to visit the next night, and we came to eat here again!! We got the beef pot and pan spaghetti again, and also an appetizer of popcorn chicken and seafood pot ($1 more than the beef pot). The popcorn chicken was yummy, and the portions were generous too! I think it's about the same price as the kind you get at Tapioca Express or Quickly's, but like...twice as much chicken. The seafood pot was good too - we got a bunch of squid, shrimp, and other yummies.
I also got an almond pearl milk tea this time (or "boba" for all you strange so-cal kids), and it was pretty good. The milk tea had good flavor, but the pearls were a little too mushy. I dunno if it was just getting late into the night, or what...ah whatever, I like this place too much to dock them for that!
So this place is great!! Can't beat the prices, and they're open late. They open til 2am during the school year but only til midnight during the summer. I've been making a lot of my own food recently, but if I were to be going out, I would definitely be stopping by here frequently!
I come from a city that is filled with asian restaurants and I feel it just doesn't come up to par. The decoration is decent and the environment is pretty good if you want to just hang out or have talks. The service is pretty good though.
The menu is pretty basic consisting of the usual Cantonese style grilled steak and spaghetti or other rice varieties. price is about 6-7 bucks which I feel is a bit too expensive for the quality of the food. I'd only go once in awhile but I don't particularly love the place.
really great combo plates at a very good price. The sizzling plates as well are price pretty reasonably. The only problem i had was that pepper sauce was a little bit strong for the chicken. I did the short ribs and chicken lettuce wraps they were very tasty and were not salty at all. I like the drink specials they got going on right now. It is definitely a plus that they are open till 2 now i'll be able to come here instead of choosing some greasy burrito or some burger and fries haha. I really want to try the shabu shabu but i don't want to seem like some newb eating it =x haha
same here 3.5 stars
So this little cafe is supposedly from the same creator of the Life plaza cafes. He sold them in the past couple of years and opened his new business venture in Riverside. Pretty wise considering UCR's sizable Asian population.
The food is decent and pretty cheap. Started out with a pretty basic menu, they have expanded the menu since then. Only place I can think of near UCR that uses fresh real fruit in their drinks and only place that has Hotpot too. Like others have said, don't get the fried rice, it's really dry and bland. They have some different kinds of food compared to the other Asian cafes nearby which is pretty cool. Some of the dishes are a little bit salty like the Mongolian beef and lettuce wraps. Tomato Beef was pretty good. The drinks taste pretty similar to the ones at Life Plaza, at least the strawberry Icy, which is my favorite!
Service is usually pretty good, they're friendly. There was one exception though. One time we got a combo and it came with a free drink, my friend asked if there were any refills. Instead of politely saying "No" He went off and avoided the question, but used a very condescending tone saying stuff like "its free! what do you think?" I think he was appalled/shocked that someone would ask that. He could have just said no....
My friends and I use to frequent Life Cafe at least 3-4/week. Main reason is $ and their friendly staff. The lunch special is about $5-6 and consist of a drink, soup, and entree. If you are a broke, hungry college student you must visit Life Cafe. Life Cafe is my second kitchen. Free wifi too.
one of the few places in riverside to get asian food...packed and noisy at times specially thursday nights. the servers aren't very friendly though, but the food taste okay.
Within all the hip interior, is mediocre food and mediocre drinks...for a cheap price.
Great place for food when it's very late at night, Shaved Ice is quite good and the drinks aren't that bad..not to mention they come in crazy shaped cups.
Don't get the fried rice, they generally use old rice and sometimes the rice is toooo old to cook ( it smells repulsive).
Nonetheless, you get what you pay for!
Riverside, CA
Category: Chinese
Riverside, CA
Category: Chinese
Riverside, CA
Category: Chinese
Riverside, CA
Category: Ethnic Food
Riverside, CA
Category: Tea Rooms
From Norcal, visiting Socal? You've GOT to try…
So I'm your typical, Chinese UCR student living…
