This place is amazing! It was worth the 30min wait. It's a small cozy Lille restaurant. Please make…read moresure you make a reservation!! We made the mistake of not making one and were glad they took us in. We ordered... Appetizers Chicken karaag- crispy, juicy. Shiitake tempura- lightly battered and dipping was sauce was Chien fritter- skip or ask do no sauce if you can't handle wasabi Quattro mushroom tempura- a must get!!! Entree Katsu Don - the pork was tender and the egg was so delicious. Wagyu Curry Rice with Tonkatsu- we thought the pork in the katsu Don was tender, the pork here was even more tender!!! Wagyu Steak with Garlic Rice- this dish was why caught my eye on IG. It's very flavorful but definitely really oily. All these dishes reminded my of Gonzalo Barin Tonkatsu in Hawaii and the Wagyu Steak Garlic Rice reminded me of Japan street food at the night market

Craving a Wagyu bowl since my trip to Osaka, and not wanting to deal with an hour of traffic coming…read morethough rush hour from redwood shores to San Jose I thought why not I'll check it out. The restaurant was packed on a Thursday night but I was able to walk in at the bar. I got the ankimo pate from the seasonal menu and the wagyu steak and garlic rice. While waiting for my food I observed a sign of authenticity: a table of 8 Japanese businessmen, so I was pretty excited to get my food. I usually looooove ankimo and I didn't really think too much about how the mascarpone would be. I think it's too heavy/creamy and lost the liver-ness of ankimo which I really like. I understand a lot of people don't though so, different strokes for different people. Not a big fan of the mixture, and there was also water or something on the bread that made it soggy. However, the pickled onions and grapes were really good especially with the wagyu steak and garlic rice. At first glance the image of the wagyu steak is not that impressive, as it was in real life as well...BUT as I took my first bite I was taken back to the underground Kobe beef bowl hole in the wall restaurant. The beef is cut into really big pieces so in this picture it doesn't look like a lot but it was a good ratio. The rice is soft and fluffy and flavorful. Worth getting the dashi. I will definitely be back!!

Fantastic service, small place so might be a short wait on Friday and weekends but food is great…read more Would definitely come again!

Very nice Japanese fusion restaurant tucked out in an area of San Mateo away from the main…read morerestaurants. Interesting but extremely fresh ingredients here that actually tastes like a great fusion spot with cool twists Super nice staff as well!

We had our daughters baptism lunch here (party of 15) and had such a great experience! First off-…read moreNoelani communicates quick & efficiently if you send an email about a larger party. I felt taken care of before the lunch had even happened. The lunch itself was great- we did family style food and everyone loved it from the appetizers to the entrees and yummy sides. You really feel like you're in Hawaii on their back patio! Maria was our server and did a great job handling our group. Forever a special memory for us! We did the chicken lumpia (amazing), spring rolls and coconut shrimp as appetizers. Beef short ribs, chicken katsu & teriyaki chicken as entrees. Wouldn't change a thing on the menu we chose. It also comes with rice, salad and macaroni salad. Thank you Noelanis!!!

I anticipated this would happen, but dining at Noelani's makes me miss Hawaii so much. I truly felt…read morelike I was in Hawaii and not the Bay Area once we settled down and ate. FOOD: 9/10 DRINKS: 9/10 SERVICE: 9/10 AMBIANCE: 10/10 What we ordered: Island Sliders (Spam, Kalua Pork, Katsu) Fish Tacos Pork Belly and Pineapple Bites Lilikoi (Passionfruit) Margarita Mai Tai FOOD: 9/10 The food is flavorful and yummy, as well as served hot. Of all the things we ordered, I think my favorite is the Katsu Sliders, which shocked me because I am not a fan of katsu lmao as it is normally underwhelming, respectfully. DRINKS: 9/10 The drinks are yummy, and you can definitely taste the alcohol in the best way possible. Strong, but not to the point where it overpowers the different flavors within the drink. The garnishments for the drinks are the cutest! SERVICE: 9/10 The staff are very friendly, attentive, and served the food at a decent time, considering how packed they were getting. AMBIANCE: 10/10 My absolute favorite. Everywhere you turn, there is a piece of Hawaii in every aspect of this restaurant in unique and eye-catching ways. The live music is my favorite and very good! I love all the island reggae hits sung as well as covers of different popular hits. I would say the ambiance and live music are what make me feel like I am in Hawaii for sure. You definitely feel the Aloha spirit out here!!!

Clean, modern, and inviting restaurant with very reasonable prices. The chow mein was definitely…read morethe highlight--thick noodles with great texture, and it wasn't overly oily or drenched in sauce like you often find elsewhere. I also ordered the Mongolian beef, which was flavorful and made with good-quality beef that wasn't fatty. My only complaint was the amount of sauce--it was very thick and oily, and enough leaked out of the to-go container to make a mess. The bean paste chicken was also tasty, with fresh vegetables and tender chicken, but again there was a heavy pool of sauce at the bottom of the container. Cutting back on the sauce a bit would make both dishes even better. Overall, the food was flavorful, portions were solid, and the prices are hard to beat. I'd definitely come back when I'm in the area.

Not sure how on earth this place is still carrying 4 stars at the moment. It used to be decent…read more Not remotely what I would consider quality Americanized Chinese takeout. Or really any quality takeout of any kind. $90 order, ranging from dumplings to basic entrees to rice. Everything was off - slopped together, underseasoned, lazy vegetable chopping (and questionable) choices of vegetable ingredients. No Wok fire/heat evident in any of the entree's and everything was a gluey, flavorless mess. The noodles for the Lo Mein seemed honestly just spaghetti. The orange chicken was dry/old, almost no breading, and honestly didn't taste orangey at all. The kung pao looked like what my 7 year old could have made (when we was seven). More like boiled chicken topped with raw Safeway vegetables, whole peanuts, and a soupy cornstarch soy sauce afterthought. The kicker was they do not have any house made sauces, so if you want good mustard or something edible for dipping - welcome to shitty packet hell as they refused to provide those (if they existed). I'm curious what they do when you're in-house but if I''m paying for the same food I'm not sure why I wouldn't get something besides high-fructose corn syrup garbage stamped out in a factory two years ago. This reflects lack of care to the product and customer experience. Highly unfortunate for an establishment that used to be "decent" as I said.

Food was fantastic! We thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance and our meal which included sea food platter…read moreand oysters.

Food: 5/5 Service: 5/5…read moreAmbiance: 5/5 Came here with family for my birthday dinner. The restaurant was nicely decorated and a lively atmosphere. Our table was fully decorated with birthday confetti and a surprised birthday card placed on the table, very festive and fun vibes. We started with some yummy HH cocktails from 3pm to 6pm. There are good choices for HH food too. But we decided to order off the main menu instead to share with our group. Can't go wrong with ordering any dishes. It is one of the better Latin food I've had. Very fun place to celebrate birthdays or just come for HH too.

We walked in on a Saturday - right before the line got super long - and waited for 10 minutes…read more Staff greeted us and took our orders right away. The tables were really close together so it was a bit harder to maneuver around. It was easy for someone to bump into the table when passing by. For drinks we got the blue butterfly - which is on the sweeter side. We also got the iced biscoff latte but a bit disappointing. It wasn't sweet enough and you couldn't really taste the coffee. We really enjoyed our dishes - carbonara udon, crispy honey chicken Benedict and the ube pancakes. The carbonara udon was on par with the one we had in Japan. The chicken Benedict was full of flavor and the eggs were cooked to perfection. I've had better ube pancakes in the peninsula but they still tasted good!

We saw that Taste & Glory had a lot of hype and mentions of long lines, but we thankfully got lucky…read moreone day and got in with 0 wait. Cute and quaint cafe in San Mateo with unique offerings. The thai tea french toast immediately caught my eye because I love thai tea and anything thai flavored in general. While it is presented beautifully, the flavor itself fell flat for me. Thai tea is known to have bold flavor and a strong tea taste. This was really lacking that. My partner got the chicken croffle and he loved it. I tried it and it is definitely something I'd order too! Chicken was nice and crispy and the croffles weren't dry or soggy, but the perfect in between. We liked that it came with both a savory sauce and syrup. I'd definitely return to try other things sometime.

Looks like prices have gone up since I last visited. About $12 for 12 dumplings. I think the…read moredumplings taste a lot better than their noodle dishes and side dishes, which I guess makes sense since they specialize in dumplings. I'd just get the dumplings next time. They also sell frozen dumplings that you can buy to take home- $15 for 20.

A quick pick from yelp on my way to my union meeting. It's a small cozy restaurant. My friend and I…read moredecided to sit in because I knew that food will be quick and delicious. Delicious it was. We shared the pork dumpling with napa cabbage. I got the beef Beijing noodles. The noodles looks like it's made fresh and it's not seasoned. It gets its flavors then the beef. I had left overs the next day and the noodles soaks up the beef flavors. My friend got the soup. She said that the noodles went well with the soup. I would definitely come back and try their soup dumplings and other things on their menu.

This is an absolute awesome spot if you are looking to celebrate a special occasion and you…read moreappreciate Asian cuisine that is meticulously prepared in a very unique style. We prebooked the set menu. Boy was it a dining experience! From start to finish, every single dish was so deliciously curated. The waitstaff was also extremely friendly and did such a great job explaining all the intricacies of each dish. By the end of our meal, our tummies were full and the entire journey from appetizer to dessert was so satisfying. 808 Zone is truly a place that we will plan to revisit for our next special occasion.

I think it's more of a 3.5 overall score. There's so much…read morepotential but it lacks precision, execution and attention to detail. The ambiance is a bit similar to a fast casual restaurant than that of a high end course meal and the service aligns with that. Bathrooms are in a bit of a sorry state and chairs are peeling at the edges. Service is a bit clumsy and rushed. No one asks for any food restrictions before the meal and it isn't asked when reservations are being made, so you'll have to actively speak up if you need this addressed. Dishes are only fully explained at the bar, if you sit at the standard tables you'll get a very basic dish explanation. The food is mostly Chinese Japanese fusion and some dishes knock it out of the park, like the chawanmushi which is fused with flavors of Chinese egg drop soup. Some really drop the ball, like the scallion noodles which were soggy and overly greasy, the oil was not properly infused with the green onion and so you just got mushy soggy plain oil flavored noodles. The course lacked consistency. Some dishes were incredible, some average, and some downright bad. There's a lack of consistency in the prep also, there were crab shells in the orange crab dish, there was a bad bitter uni in one of the chawanmushi, etc. I think the ambiance, service, and course doesn't add up to the $150 price tag. There's definitely potential but the lack of effort does affect the overall experience.