Two men police believe are robbing East Bay Asian restaurants and their customers struck twice in Albany over the past few days, bringing the number to at least 13 in the past month.

Although Monday night’s robbery occurred at a Sizzler restaurant on San Pablo Avenue and involved three suspects, Albany police believe two of the men are the same ones who are holding up Asian restaurants.

“I’m pretty sure we’re looking at the same group of people responsible for the other robberies,” Albany police Sgt. Tom Dolter said. “Just based on the fact that they are targeting Asian restaurants and robbing the customers, it would be my guess they are related _ and the physical descriptions are close.”

Asian restaurants in Richmond, El Cerrito, Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro and Union City have been robbed, police said. The pair, described as two armed, black men in their 20s with hooded sweatshirts pulled over their faces, have not shot anyone and have taken anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than $1,000 with each job.

Friday night, two men matching the same description struck another restaurant a few blocks from Sizzler, robbing eight diners and employees at Kasuga Japanese Restaurant on San Pablo Avenue, Dolter said. They got away with about $400.

Why the men are targeting Asian restaurants could be answered by real and perceived cultural practices of Asian business owners and employees.

Carl Chan, chair of the neighborhood crime prevention council in Oakland’s Chinatown, says that some Asian restaurants are “cash only,” making them easy targets. None of the targeted restaurants have been in Chinatown, according to Chan.

Then there is the notion that Asians are passive.

“There’s a public stereotype that Chinese tend not to resist when confronted by violence (like an armed robbery),” said L. Ling-chi Wang, professor emeritus of ethnic studies at University of California, Berkeley. He said this stereotype exists for Chinese, but that the general public may see all Asians as the same.

In the late `60s and early `70s, Chinese-owned neighborhood grocery stores in San Francisco were targeted in a string of armed robberies, which led to several deaths, according to Wang.

Francis Lan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, said Asians could be targeted because they often do not report crimes to the police.

“I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing, but they could think Asians are an easy target because they won’t report the crime; it’s negative publicity and bad luck,” Lan said. “I have to tell you that people come into Chinatown to mug because there is a tendency not to report. We think people will be scared to come into Chinatown.”

Last Saturday night, an Asian restaurant and its diners were robbed in Oakland, according to Oakland police Sgt. Rebecca Campbell. That brings the number in Oakland to five in the past month and seven since August, she said. She believes Oakland’s robberies are related to others in the East Bay and said she will be meeting with investigators with other police departments soon to compare notes.

Some Oakland restaurants have been hit more than once, but Campbell declined to name any of them.

In one of the more lucrative robberies, the two got away with about $1,200 from Tsuru Sushi restaurant in San Leandro, where they held up about 20 customers and the cash register, said San Leandro police Lt. Tom Overton.

Daimo Chinese restaurant in Richmond’s Pacific East Mall was robbed Nov. 26, according to Richmond police. A second Asian restaurant in the city was also robbed recently, but police were unable provide details Tuesday.

Yusan Sushi on San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito was robbed Dec. 4 and King Tsin on Solano Avenue in Berkeley was held up Dec. 10.

E-mail Doug Oakley at doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com. E-mail Momo Chang at mchang@bayareanewsgroup.com.