Whenever I eat in San Mateo, I'm usually too full for dessert afterwards but had been wanting to try this place out for ages. I was still too full but really wanted a warm dessert so finally came here after dinner. The inside is decorated like you're on the street eating dessert outside, which is pretty cute (the tables are fairly wobbly and sticky though and doesn't match the decor). Tai Chi Sesame Paste: ($5.29) Black Sesame with Almond Paste Fresh Almond Tea + Sesame Rice Balls ($5.99) HK Milk Tea ($2.50) The Tai Chi Sesame Paste was ok. Didn't have as strong of a sesame taste that I would've like (I like mine pretty strong). The design was so cute though! I like the sesame balls in the almond tea a lot more. The HK Milk tea was decent but slightly on the bitter side. Service was a bit annoying. Even with the electric table buzzer, the waitress was confused about where to go. Took us three tries (both by buzzing and flagging her down) to just get the check to pay. She brought the check for two other tables who didn't ask for the check before we finally got ours (and it ended up being somebody else since she couldn't seem to get it right). =/ They use Square for card payments. read more

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I am loving this mini Hong Kong dessert shop. *Food: the Tai Chi dessert (half sesame & half almond paste) is so cute. Definitely a signature of this place. I personally ordered the Almond Paste only. Surprisingly, it tasted a bit different compared to the Tai Chi side. The stand alone almond paste has an extra hint of coconut flavor. It is a bit sweet for me but it is still good. A bit disappointing is that it was not as hot as I wished it to be. *Atmosphere: the cutest, more traditional, yet odd Hong Kong dessert shop I have been to. It is quite interesting in the sense that it has paintings of old Hong Kong and postcard photos of Macau in picture frames. Though it seemed a bit odd on one side as in you can see their storage room and space (they store things on the roof top area lol) and one side all painted with historical scenes. *Service: The waiters were nice. One thing that did in fact bother me was that one guy had long hair that kind of covered half his face. I am not bagging on his style but as a food waiter, I do take concern whether or not it is sanitary that his hair is just hanging above my food as he is serving it. They do not give you water/tea right away, you must ask for it yourself. Save water :) read more

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We got the egg puff. It pretty good. We got a mango freeze. Comes with mango jelly and fruits. Surprise surprise! The tiramisu has a surprise. My friend is telling me that I should just say blah blah blah to make this review longer. Blah blah blah. I want to be invited to a yelp event. Haiku #? I am rolling now Egg pudding like soft tofu Dessert Republic read more

Dessert Republic - They're always here! - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Located in that Main Street alley! We had such a difficult time finding this place :(. Once we got there we were seated right away. Each table has a request pad where you can click to order, ask for water, pay the bill, etc. I got the mango pudding while my friends got the ginger soup/sesame balls & popcorn chicken. Mango pudding tastes like regular mango pudding; nothing special. The ginger soup has more ginger than I have tasted in any ginger soup, but it was decent! The popcorn chicken pieces are large and smelled very flavorful. I haven't been to a clean Asian dessert place yet, so I guess the cleanliness of this place is average. I'm kind of a germaphobe at restaurants. Customer service was great though! Great staff. If I am in the neighborhood & craving desserts again, I wouldn't mind coming back. read more

Dessert Republic - Mango pudding - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

I get business is hard due to COVID, but charging $9.39 for this little tub of dessert (delivery order) is too much. The egg puff was definitely not a fresh order. Hope it will get better. read more

Dessert Republic - Double layer milk dessert - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

mmm... the eggette's are crispy, chewy & are filled on the inside not like some other places i have tried. The crepe is just so-so... one to go order of the sesame paste sweet soup for mom... not that great either, doesn't taste homemade. read more

My crepe was good (the one with all the fruits, whip cream and vanilla ice cream), but my dinner was not so good. I had the chicken with oyster sauce and it was kinda cold and the sauce was thin. I prefer to go to Broadway Bistro for dinner, but dessert wasn't bad. Service was pretty good and the parking is easy since there's a garage next door. It was tricky to find b/c you have to make a left from the 101 at the Century theatre, which you can't see unless you make a U-turn. Other than that, I liked the cute decor - it makes you feel like you're on a street in Hong Kong or something. The pictures and decor are cute. I want to try the egg tarts next time (if there is a next time)! Also, this place is CASH only! read more

Most people I know go to Dessert Republic for one of two things: 1) Hello Kitty Mango Pudding - The mango pudding is in the shape of hello kitty. The mango pudding itself tastes like packaged mango pudding, but they do include mango bits. It's ok, but nothing that you couldn't make at home. 2) The cute little water, check, etc buzzer thing. We never used it during our dinner because the waitress checked on us constantly. One thing to note is that it's an Asian place, so cash only! read more

Great dessert place for hanging out after dinner. It's centrally located and not too far off the beaten path from other main dinner places. It's next to Curry Up Now and their opening faces the garage, so toward the backside of the Curry Up Now entrance? They have a super cool system where you can call for service from your table at the press of a button. We got: - The tiramisu pot ($10) - delicious - Sweet Tofu with sesame (~$6) - Mango something something (can't remember the name ~$7) - Ginger milk pudding (~$6) - They also serve regular food and it looked as if a lot of people were there for that. All were super yummy and I would definitely come back after a dinner with friends. read more

While service was average the food was anything but satisfying. I personally would not recommend this place. This HK styled dessert place had various different types of dessert that included not only savory foods but also your typical sago and ice cream combinations. When I came here I ordered the instant noodle, rice crepes with XO and peanut sauce and popcorn chicken. The instant noodle was incredibly bland with no taste whatsoever. It was like eating noodles with water. The popcorn chicken came out incredibly oily and overly salty. While I'm sure the fruit desserts would have been a better choice, I would probably not come back to try it. The only thing I enjoyed about this place was the little service bell on each table, that allowed for the server to know exactly what you're going to ask for. If you're looking for a dessert spot, I would probably aim for a different place. read more

When you sit down they serve you either water or hot tea. They have a service button where you can press for order, water, bill, service which was amazing! This place when you map it will not be on open street because Main Street is hidden between 2 streets, so you will have to park on the outside and walk to the inside... I can't tell you how many times we circled around to find this place....haha It is between a parking garage and back of a building.... I got the pink lady which was full of flavor and very pink haha... Also tried the nutella ice cream crepe which was delicious...who doesn't love anything that has nutella in it? The inside decor make you feel like you are sitting on the streets of Hong Kong... read more

Dessert Republic - Nutella ice cream - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Pros: - I liked that they stay open late the day we came (11pm on Sunday) - buttons available to press for different/specific waiter services - Mitchell's ice cream available--they tasted like Mitchell's at least - nice Chinatown looking decor inside - egg puffs are tastier if you ask for a side of condensed milk to dip it in Cons: - I wished they served the fruits and ice cream with coconut milk and sago like some other Asian dessert places do - I did not like their almond tea with sweet tofu dessert dish. It was too light/watery and lacked taste. Should have ordered sweet tofu with sesame paste. read more

Dessert Republic - Lychee ice-cream. Very yummy. Taste like Mitchell's - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

When I come here, I get to be a fat ass because the desserts are so small. I never can decide on what I want so I just order them ALL =) I love the service buttons they have at the table. Every restaurant should have it. - Curry Fish Balls: over cooked. but the curry was tasty - Coconut Egg Pudding: love love love!! this is my favorite - Corn Beef and Egg Sammich: too little corn beef, too much egg. bread was also a little too thick Service is always good here. If you sign up for their membership, you get 5% off your bill every time you come. read more

Dessert Republic - Partially eaten - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

After dinner, my family and I headed over to Dessert Republic for dessert. The wait can be long but thankfully we got there just as a table was leaving. We ordered the egg puff, mango lychee crepe. super mango and Mango based Aloe Mixed Fruit. Presentation was well done for all the desserts and felt the portions were aligned with the prices. I liked the egg crepe because it was on the crisper side but some people prefer the center to be lighter. The mango freeze had a good balance of sweetness and reminded me of a slushy. Fruits were fresh and had decent sweetness. Nothing was overly sweetened which is a great plus for me. Overall Thoughts A solid place to grab dessert after dinner. read more

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When we walked in, we thought we were in some older part of the city in Hong Kong. The decor was awesome! We ordered plain egg puffs, egg puffs with condensed milk, super mango, mango egg pudding, and black sesame paste sesame rice balls. They are awesomely good. We are not disappointed at all. Definitely it is a place to go if you want desserts. read more

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First visit on 02/19/2011. After a light dinner, we came to visit this small lovely decorated store located in downtown San Mateo. What a great location. So we walked through the little door and the waitress led us to an empty table. It has this so called "high tech" order machine that has few buttons on it, it looks like a toy but it does work. So what we ordered tonight: 1: Sesame Paste+Sweet Tofu: taste is so so, but the quantity is very little 2: Full House Crepe: pretty yummy, decent size 3: Egg Puff: very cripsy, taste not authentic but not bad at all 4: Curry Fish Balls (8): taste decent 5: Red Bean Ice: taste good Overall experience is good, price is decent and the service is great. I would recommend this small place to anyone wanna get some Asian dessert and it is also a great place to hang. read more

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I've been here a few times in the last few years and I guess they added some new dessert items this time. I tried their Potted Tiramisu and Ramen Cheesecake. I was more into the novelty of the items versus thinking these items would be impressive in the taste dept but I was pleasantly surprised. The potted Tiramisu was very cute and innovative. I believe they used an actual plant pot (there's a hole on the bottom of the pot- Haha), crushed and compacted oreo (or equivalent) for base and another layer on top for the dirt effect. I like how they used a mint leaf for the plant and even spent some time to think of using Macau pebble chocolates on the top. But all of these cute ideas aside, I loved the idea of adding pop rocks to the tiramisu. It gave the dessert and extra oomph and kind of took away from the overall creaminess/heaviness of the dessert. It was on the more expensive side at $9.99 but it's a novelty item that doesn't taste bad so I think it's worth a try. Would I pay that price again or on a more frequent basis? Probably not. I would def recommend for others to try it at least once though. The ramen cheesecake I def did not have high hopes for but it was again, surprisingly good. it was not too sweet and the jello on top took away from the over-creaminess of the usual cheesecake. It was kind of more like a mousse versus cheesecake though in terms of texture but I wasn't too picky about it. I love how the egg yolk even runs! Haha, that was a lot of fun and it tasted kind of like mango. The ramen cheesecake is priced at $14 which is much more expensive than even real ramen. Again, since it's a novelty item, it's worth it just to try once but I probably wouldn't pay that much to eat it again. Something I really have to comment on was the service though. There weren't that many tables in the place but there were at least 3 servers with one person in the kitchen but service was pretty slow. We waited approx 10-15 minutes before being seated (there were 3 tables that were cleared and ready) and while the service bell worked with the servers coming over quickly (I was most impressed with the server when I pressed "add water" and they automatically deduced we wanted water versus coming over to ask) don't expect really any friendly convo or asking how you enjoyed the dessert. Overall, this place is a fun place to try and to bring your friends to for the novelty items or legit dessert (black sesame soup, mango jelly, etc) items but probably not a place you'd frequent esp at the prices they are at. read more

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We order the Tai chi sesame paste ,mix fruit with grass jelly & hello Kitty Mango pudding. I personal like the 1 & 2 dessert. I will go back to order other dishes. read more

Ordered one banana crepe & one mango crepe. Came out to $20 for both. Crepes really lacked flavor & were just stuffed when vanilla ice cream. You couldn't taste Nutella or mango. They weren't presented very pretty either. I usually go to Genki Crepes but was in the area so I decided to stop by and try this spot out. The customer service was fine, but the quality & presentation of the desserts was lacking. Definitely overpriced. read more

Poor service. I waited at the front counter for about 5 minutes without any communication from the staff. I asked him if I can order a drink to go and he told me to wait.There were a couple people come up after me to request something and he also took a phone order while I was still waiting. I asked him if I can quickly order a simple drink to go after waiting for almost 10 minutes, but he said he had to take an order at a table that were waiting for "30 minutes." At that point I just left and went to order somewhere else. I know there were quite a few customers, but at least communicate instead of ignoring us and helping two other people and a phone call that came up after me. read more

My hermetically sealed cup of papaya milk had a cartoon picture of a pack of cigarettes on it. View the other pictures for Dessert Republic to see. I'm a little disturbed, but I guess this certifies the Asian-ness of this place. read more

Dessert Republic - Oooookkkkkaaayyyyyy. - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

A real deal Hong Kong dessert cafe. Keep in mind what Chinese and American ideas about dessert are different. For Americans - dessert is spelled S - U - G - A - R. and for some Americans - dessert is spelled C - H - O - C - O - L - A - T - E. If this is how you do your spelling, Dessert Republic is not your thing. I was going to say "not your cup of tea" - but it actually would be your cup of tea - since they do excellent bubble teas and those are sweet. However bubble teas are available in a million restaurants. Dessert Republic's niche is the REST of the desserts. These run heavily to freshly done baked goods and freshly done custards. These are minimally sweet if at all - and mostly count as savory snacks. And as savory snacks these babies are just fine. Now - one note of Samuel C personal preference. Not all Cantonese cooks do this - but one of my favorite Chinese dishes of all times is a savory custard with multiple things mixed into it the way you would mix items into a congee. This is not a common dish but when you can get it - oh my god. So at Dessert Republic, I am eating my perfectly nicely cooked fresh made custards and thinking where is the fish roe? where is the sea urchin? where are the slivers of pork heart? But that's just me. If you want your sugar, get a bubble tea - and if you want something interesting - get their snacks. Put your mind in the same mentality as if you were in Belgium and going out for French fries. Then you can do quite well here. read more

Sesame balls traditionally are large puffed deep fried covered in sesame seeds, you know... i posted a picture of what it SHOULD look like... Waiter: You ready? Us: Yes, We would like the sesame balls Waiter: 'Hokay, Soup wif Balls Us: (snickering) Yes Please! Enter Sesame soup with small glutinous balls filled with black sesame filling. Us: !!! We quietly take turns sipping the hot soup and scorching our throats with the sweet sesame dumplings Us: Do you have the FRIED sesame balls? Waiter: Yes Us: Like the ones you fry in the deep fryer. Waiter: yes Us: Can you describe what it looks like Waiter: Fried ball Us: Uh, okay, one order please enter the same damn glutinous ball with black sesame filling only this time dropped in the deep fryer. Us: !!! I mean we still ate them... but it just wasn't what we were craving. read more

Dessert Republic - WHAT WE WERE EXPECTING - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Dessert/snack review only. Ugh, egg puffs. My kryptonite. It doesn't matter if I'm sick, dying, or have diarrhea...egg puffs will cure it all. There are so many things to try and when we went, we wanted to order it all. Too bad we had JUST eaten dinner. Anyway, we ordered the obligatory egg puffs. Just enough sweetness, crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. I ordered the mango aloe thing with the different fruits which was very good as well. But being kinda cold out, D opted for a bowl of tofu fa which was delicious. The syrup had a nice floral essence to it that really hit the spot. They also have...HELLO KITTY SHAPED MANGO PUDDING??!! We'll have to try it next time. The service is a little strange...the tables have a little box with buttons that you press depending on what you need; whether it's making an order, requesting water, or asking for the bill. Overall a great place for desserts and snacks. If we're ever in the area again, we'll definitely be back. read more

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I am so disappointed that I didn't find out about this place until recently! I went with a few friends one night and one of my friends kept raving about how good it was especially for the price point. Dessert Republic is a great place to go to especially at night since it is one of the nicer sit down restaurants that are open till late in downtown San Mateo. I ordered the curry with fish fillet and I got plenty of food for a reasonable price. I also got the HK style tea and I really enjoyed that as well. The service was pretty good as well. We got our food really quickly and there are even service buttons you can press, making it more efficient. I have yet to try the desserts here, but I've heard great things about them! I will definitely be back! read more

Dessert Republic - Curry with fish fillet and HK style tea (curry fish balls are in the background) - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

First of all this place is SOOOOOOOOo high tech. Each table has a little buzzer. The buzzer has labels, which include: water, waiter, bill, service, order and I think one more. So you press the button that you need done and it lights up on a switch board to your server and they come back with what you need. HOW NEAT! I'm sure this is ancient technology compared to Japan or Hong Kong but hey I still think it's cool! And the walls are painted as if your outside. Even the lighting is supposed to resemble being outside on sunny day! The boy and I ordered the Everything Crepe. It was VERY GOOD!!! I'm returning here next time I'm on this side of the Bay. read more

Dessert Republic - Smiles for Crepes! - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Had an incredible difficult time to find this place. My google maps kept saying you can drive up Main street. NO you can't. Found it anyway and wow, interesting dessert place. A little pricey. But yea, they painted it like you're sitting inside a town square kinda feel with a sky overhead. We got like NO service at all. There's a funny box on the table with buttons for things like: -ordering -get the bill -etc etc I as like AHAHAAA! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I thought that was rather uncool. You hear the buzzer go off in the kitchen too. Then this white dude showed up. I was like HUH?! This is so weird. Um yea. Um... no? Picture of the box posted too! lol So yea, ordered an assorted fruit crepe. it was pretty good. but 6 bux? however, the box was hella unamusing and not cool. i'm not a freakin lab rat. you expect a tip for responding to a button push?! read more

Dessert Republic - they turn you into a lab rat to push buttons... - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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This place looks like a neat little replica of some sort of city from Japan. Located in San Mateo, it's a lil bit tricky to find. I had the garlic noodles. Very ordinary, nothing special about it. Seemed like they just got boxed noodles, boiled it, added garlic powder and served it. I also ordered the mango pudding. Quite sweet and fruity. The texture is more dense than I expected . The milk they give u to pour on the mango pudding balances the sweet and tart . read more

Dessert Republic - Mango pudding - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

We went in yesterday after a hot summer day. The sashimi desert was so delightful, it was made from fresh fruit juice and had great added components like shaved ice underneath, sweet bean, etc. We have ordered the tiramisu that looks like a plant in a pit. It is layered with textures and flavor. We will be back again. Oh and I usually get the almond milk with seams balls! That is a must, on a brisk fall day or cold winter day. Pictures to be posted soon! Enjoy read more

All the food items are over priced. The portions were small, but they charged like a full meal. I will not return again.

What a cute shop! You walk in and are immediately transported to China! Bravo to the way they designed this small space to simulate Downtown Hong Kong. We stumbled on this bakery after dinner one night. In search of sweets, we decided to be good and just have iced coffee. It wasn't too bad! Next time we're most definately trying a crepe. They have a variety of sweets to satisfy your dessert cravings. read more

Best HK Dessert place in California! I have tried many Egg Puff in Los Angeles and no restaurant can master it. The Egg Puff this place is exactly like the one I ate when I was a little kid in HK. The mango dessert and "Chu Cheung Fun" are my favorite too! Don't forgot to try their sesame paste & banana crepe!!! The price is reasonable. The egg puff is only $2.99. The deco is like the street in Hong Kong back in the old days. I took a lot of pictures with my friends there. The service is quick, there is buttons on each table you can push for whatever service you want. This is a "must go" dessert place whenever i visit San Francisco!!! read more

lovely crisp, fluffy light egg tarts. almond milk tea with sweet tofu was quite good, as was the yin/yang black/white sesame soup. both were not as sweet as expected, which is great. however, both were kind of served less than lukewarm when we were frozen from the outside. loved the detail on the yin/yang. read more

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Traditional Cantonese dessert house. I like the fact that they are open late and the decor of the place. Makes me feel like I'm sitting in a dessert shop in H.K. only cleaner and not as loud. Desserts were pretty tasty too although not the best mango slush I've tasted. read more

Came here for some late night dessert with my friends. We thought this place was really cute inside! We ordered crepes and a taichi sesame dessert. The service was good and they were even flexible with our order since my friends wanted mango ice cream in their crepes instead of vanilla. The crepes didn't take too long and the presentation was alright. There are little buttons on the signs on the table that cater to your needs (i.e paying the bill, getting service, etc). I would definitely come back! read more

Dessert Republic - Taichi sesame dessert - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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I came here on a Wednesday around 6pm. It was pretty empty in here. They are located right next to Philz coffee. It seems a little small inside. They have a good amount of tables lining both sides of the place. They have a variety of items on their menu like teas, rice dishes, and desserts. If you check in, you can get $1 off a tea. They have this paging system on each table where you can press a button for things like ordering, more water, and getting the bill. The staff is really nice. I ordered the tiramisu pot ($9.99), which looks like a potted plant. The tiramisu was delicious. The "soil" part was made of crushed Oreo cookies and some pop rocks. The pop rocks were a nice surprise. read more

Dessert Republic - Tiramisu pot $9.99 - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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You definitely can find some unique dessert from here. For example, the steam egg whites with ginger is really really good. However it's almost $7 for a tiny bowl. The whole environment is copying the old hong kong street style, it's worth a photo shoot. read more

Their fruit crepes and ice/fruit bowls are tasty! It was very popular the night we were there so we had to sit outside. The smell of garlic permeated the area. We definitely will be back to try their garlic noodles! Service was friendly and quick. It's located in the alley next to the public parking structure so it's not hard to miss. read more

Nice decor and good service. Good large selection of snacks, food, dessert and drinks. But it's not HK, so don't expect it to be as good as HK! read more

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Came here for a quick dessert after sushi dash and was pleasantly surprised! Had the egg puff with sesame balls in almond tea and loved both! The almond tea with sesame balls was warm, perfectly sweet tea and the balls were soft and delicious. The egg puff was light and fluffy and the Nutella came on the side making it easy to dip for as much as you want. Super fast service, really cool spot, totally worth the visit!! read more

Dessert Republic - Nutella egg puffs- a really nice surprise! - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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