This place is really excellent and seems very authentic…read more Some of my favorites are the amazing numbing beef, pork with bamboo shoots, their chow meins and spicy chili tofu. I know other things are great on the menu because people have told me and I need to try more of them - it's been so hard to get away from my favorites which are addicting! And the owner is just a great guy and extremely generous with his portions. Excellent food and value!

One of my favorite spots in San Mateo. Walnut shrimp is the best, even though they're known for…read morenoodles. They are on vacation for this summer, opening back up on 8/1/2026.

Some of the best Cantonese food in the Bay Area can be found here. It's super affordable with…read moreChinatown vibes, so it may not be very fun to eat in (or pick-up from), but the food is yummy if you order the right ones. They excel at chow fun, fried food, crispy skin poultry, fish fillet and oysters. My go-tos: * Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings - addictive. They half each wing so each piece has a single bone, making it easy to eat like a drumstick. The flavor needs improvement, but the batter is very addictive -- crispy, fluffy and crunchy (if ordered when the batter is fresh). * Stir-fry Fish Fillet with Broccoli - the menu lists this with mixed veggies, but I prefer this with regular broccoli. This used to be the best fish dish around. Super flavorful. They source the fish from a place that filets fresh sea bass, but that place had gone downhill and they often sub tilapia instead. * Shrimp with Scrambled Egg Chow Fun (wet) - the chow fun is silky smooth, wide in width, and slightly charred. None of that shriveled, dried-up fun you get elsewhere. * String Bean - crispy and deep-fried They also do these really well: * Salt and Pepper Live Crab - as good as R&B Lounge. Crispy batter and freshest tasting live crab with no pee smell. Good during crab season. * Roast Duck - very crispy skin. I find that dipping the meat in their sauce plus the pool of sauce on the plate makes this flavor better than Cheung Hing's. I love the roast duck from Cooking Papa (Santa Clara), but their skin is not crispy. * Crispy Skin Chicken - get the one that comes with two sauces; dipping is essential for best flavors. If you order anything Salt and Pepper style, come early evening because the batter deteriorates over time. There was a stretch after Covid when they cut costs and swap out some perfect ingredients with cheaper ones; and not add salt to some veggies perhaps for health benefits, but glad that most of that have been walked back.

I ordered food to go. I ordered the fried flounder and was told on the phone it's going to be…read moreabout $30. Once I picked it up they told me it's weighs more and will cost $45. I won't be ordering fish anymore From here. I order the appetizer salt and pepper chicken wings. When I took a bite, there was only one bone with a little meat. Why would they remove the other bone to the chicken wing. This would be time consuming. The flavor was good but I strongly doubt it was chicken wing. What I believe they sold was pieces of chicken thighs left over from cutting off most Of the meat. If they are misbranding the food, the restaurant is misleading customers. I don't plan on returning.

They had two tables and chairs set up so we asked if we could eat here . They nicely said yes and…read moregave us ... check out the serving pieces . We didn't mind because it felt like we were on a picnic . Delicious and very nicely filled dumplings . And the braised beef was perfectly cooked. Definitely need to try their other items .

Came here to get frozen dumplings and while I've only tried the pork/shrimp wontons &…read morepork/chive/shrimp dumplings, I have to say they're pretty good! They provide generous amounts of filling & perfectly seasoned so that even if you don't have sauce, they still taste great! I like the boil mine and then have them with vinegar, chili oil, green onion, and cilantro with a tiny splash of sesame oil! They sell bags of about 50 for about $30-$35ish depending on what you get but honestly these are a great deal & taste amazing! Eating 10 of these is already a pretty satisfying meal for me. Just note that the exterior storefront doesn't explicitly say Dumpling Kitchen, look for Pan Kee Food, which is this place. It's literally in the only small plaza on the street. 10/10 would recommend!

The red bean buns are highly addictive. Seriously! I've…read moreordered many different dishes from this restaurant and the only thing that consistently sticks each time I order are those red bean buns. So delicious!!! And they reheat really well. Service is quick and efficient. Restaurant is always busy when I go in so I always call in my order and pick up/eat at home. Clean restaurant every time I visit! [this review was made in connection with a Toast promotion, Zen Noodle Bar did not ask me to write this review]

Second time visited here, first time i really enjoyed this place. Unfortunately I don't think I…read morewill be visiting again anytime soon. Service was good as before , the boss lady and waitress were both very nice . But the place seriously needs a little more update. Hall way to bathroom was extremely dark, wished they can turn on some light so I could see my way. One of the dish were served on a cracked plate , so we asked for a new plate. The metal steamer for xlb was very dirty with lots of grease all around, wished they could have cleaned it better or maybe it's time to replace new ones. We ordered several dishes, I liked meat mooncake the most , mostly I think the crust skin was quite good , but the xlb meat was so greasy, after one I couldn't really eat a second. Pan friend bun was pan fried really a bao, skin too thick all around. We also had Shanghainese eel dish, which I don't feel they were cook authentic Shanghainese way, more of Beijing style with lot of sauce, too much actually. Maybe it was not a good day, but I really wanted to like this place.

Joy Restaurant has been one of my all-time favorite Taiwanese spots in Foster City for years, and…read moreif you've ever worked on the Peninsula, chances are you know this place. It sits right there near the Bay Trail--on the boardwalk side of Foster City--where you can see the bridge heading toward the East Bay. Back when I worked for a small IT consulting company, this was our go-to lunch spot. Big group? No problem. They have the space, the big round tables, and of course the lazy Susan right in the middle, which is exactly how it should be. The daily whiteboard specials were always worth a look, and the kitchen here knows how to handle heat. Real heat. Lots of chilies, lots of flavor. Over the four years I worked nearby, my tolerance for spicy food definitely leveled up thanks to this place. My absolute favorite dish here is their Chung Hwa Road potstickers. They take about 10 minutes to make, and they are massive--easily three or four times the size of a regular potsticker. They come out connected by that beautiful crispy lace, that spiderweb crust on the bottom that makes everyone at the table pause for a second before diving in. Dip those into their house sauce with black vinegar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and soy... honestly, it's perfection. They also do kung pao chicken the traditional way--chicken, peanuts, chilies. No fillers, no nonsense. Just clean, bold flavor. I appreciate that. The snow pea shoots here are another favorite when they're in season. Expensive, yes--but once you know how much work goes into cleaning and prepping them, you understand why. Worth every penny. Same with the steamed whole fish. Market price, always fresh, usually topped with scallions, ginger, and chilies. Spoon that over a bowl of hot rice and you're set. Service runs like a well-oiled machine. Tea comes quickly--usually jasmine or chrysanthemum--and if you lift the lid slightly, someone will notice and refill it. It's one of those small traditional touches that tells you they know exactly what they're doing. They're also incredibly organized with takeout. Soups are sealed tight, everything packed carefully so nothing spills. You can tell they've done this a million times. I lived on the Peninsula for two decades, and this place stayed in my regular rotation the entire time. Now that I'm in Charlotte, it's one of those restaurants I genuinely miss. We just don't have Taiwanese food like this out here. So if you're nearby, go. Order the dumplings. Get something spicy. Sit around the table with friends and take your time. And when you eat a potsticker, think of me--because life is too short not to eat well.

Not the best, but not the worst - average overall. There were plenty of options on the menu and the…read moreservice was super friendly! The food came out one by one, but my favorite dish was definitely the duck. We came with a large party and had no issue getting seated.

What happened to my favorite Chongqing chili chicken?…read more I've always known it contains MSG, but this time it was so overpowering that I could actually taste it. It used to be a 5/5 dish for me. Now it's a 3/5, and I'm genuinely sad about it. The eggplant was swimming in oil. The lotus root was just okay. The cumin beef was over-fried and clumped together, easily a 2/5. The spare ribs tasted odd and were over-fried as well. The only standout was the sliced pork belly appetizer in garlic and chili oil sauce. That was still delicious. I was planning to bring friends here for dinner, but after this visit, that's no longer happening. Maybe something changed in the kitchen or ownership. Whatever the reason, this restaurant no longer feels like the place I used to love.

If you like Ping's Bistro, you'll also like this restaurant. It's great in quality and about half…read morethe price. We got 5 dishes + rice + 2 drinks and with a 20% tip everything came out to be around $100. Parking is pretty easy to find, there are always people leaving. The place was almost empty when we came at 6PM on a Saturday, they did have a lot of takeout orders. The staff were super nice and attentive. Love that you are able to order by their QR code and that there are pictures for each item. The interior is pretty updated and clean. The only dish we didn't care for too much was the spicy noodles. The noodles were just clumped together and the soup was bland. I did really like the spicy cold beef dish, spicy pork intestine, along with the pork/celery/tofu dish. Will definitely revisit soon.

This is one of my favorite HK Cafe style breakfast places. Comes with a variety of breakfast set…read moreselections

Quick service, friendly faces! Came for the hong kong milk tea and it was pretty good - I haven't…read morefound a HKMT place out in San Mateo yet. For food, we ordered the dim sum platter and the french toast. The french toast was fine - exactly what you'd expect. The dim sum platter was super underwhelming. Two pieces of hagao and two pieces of siumai and one chasiu bao. The hagao was not good at all - skin was super thin and possibly over steamed. Siumai was much better - very juicy. The bao was meh. Everything felt like it was from frozen in my opinion. We want to come back to try their hot food. They have a decent crowd on the weekend so it must have better items than what we had. I would avoid the dim sum overall next time.

Wow, wow, wow! That's all I have to say about this place. Sen Thai just opened about less than a…read moreyear ago, but you're going to want to bookmark this spot for sure! We were told that this place has the best pad thai on the peninsula, so of course we had to try it. It lived up to the hype and I personally thought it was better than the best pad thai we had in Bangkok. It had soooo much flavor and very light sweetness, which I preferred. Another wow factor was that garlic sauce that came with the seabass. It was so good, we wanted to lick the plate clean lol. I only tried one cocktail, but it was very well made and easy to drink.  They also have Happy Hour every day from 4:30-6:30pm with deals on beer, cocktails, wine, and food. What we ordered: * Thai Boat Noodle Soup w Beef (highly recommend!) * Khao Soi w Soft Shell Crab (highly recommend!) * Seabass (highly recommend!) * (4) Oysters * Papaya Salad * Tom Yum Soup w/ Veg/Tofu * Pad Thai w/ Chicken (highly recommend!) * Roti w/ Curry Sauce

Came to Sen on a Sunday night and more or less had the entire restaurant to ourselves. Unexpectedly…read moreintimate I guess. Looking over the menu, there were a few dishes that I've never seen at a Thai restaurant before which piqued my curiosity but for the first time at any place, I generally like to get my footing with the classics first. Hence, we started with the roti. Personally, I really liked their chicken curry on the side. It was rich and unctuous, perfect for clinging onto the roti. The roti, however, was unexpectedly deep fried and I personally thought this took away from the buttery flaky texture. For mains, we ordered several plates but few actually stood out. The chicken in the green curry was super overcooked and the curry itself was pretty thin. The main ingredient was also canned bamboo shoots so in my opinion, it was not good value. The larb was also a fairly small serving size and it wasn't quite as punchy as I would like. I typically associate larb with a lot of fresh herbs and lettuce leaves for eating and unfortunately neither were present. Moreover the green beans we ordered were also sautéed just a bit under leading it to be a little grassy and a bit tougher to chew. There also wasn't much flavoring on this. The tiger crying and the pad see ew though were as expected in my opinion which was good. We also added a few of their dressed oysters after learning that it was $1.50 each. Now this was punchy. It had some chili jam, lime juice, and fried shallots. I would have more of these for sure. All in all, Sen Thai is middle of the road for me. It'll scratch that itch for Thai food if you really want it but there's also better options in nearby cities in my opinion.