I would have given them four stars if it wasn't for the service and the terrible congee... If you're looking for something that is light and healthy, fresh elements is exactly the place to go! The only catch is that their prices are quite high.. all the seafood at fresh elements are fresh, the shrimp was still jumping when they brought them out! This is definitely a place to dine in once in a while only read more

The seafood here is so fresh. We ordered five things: fish, chicken, clam, clam, and clam. And that is good enough for the two of us. Service is great. read more

Fresh Elements - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Come here multiple times! This place is awesome, love it! I love the seafood, steak and vegetables! It's pretty new way to eat! My top favorites: 1. Clam 2. Steak 3. Tofu 4. Crab read more

First time here and got to see it did not disappoint. Servers were attentive and they cook the food for you which was a nice change of pace compared to the usual hot lot experince. Love that it uses steam instead of the typical hot pot experience. Nothing felt oily and so I didn't feel disgusting or bloated. They also have a wheel cart where you can make your own sauce. Props to Kitty, one of the workers here, for being attentive and giving A+ service. Great place to bring friends or family. read more

The waitress will upsell their 45 per pound king crab to you. Though the menu said it's market price, but it's 45 per pound and they won't tell you. The menu showed we paid 6 pounds price, but we only get 2 pounds at most. People of this restaurant are dishonest and disgusting. I strongly discourage anyone go to this restaurant. read more

What an amazing hot pot place! One of the really neat aspects is that you start off cooking everything on a "plate" but the soup/broth is separated by the plate. The items cook from the steam from the broth. Then at the end you drink the broth separately! No waste - just like the Native Americans and the buffalo :) All the items we ordered were really fresh and delicious! We had the shrimp (incredibly sweet and juicy), cod fish (not fishy at all, super tender), handmade shrimp balls and handmade beef balls served on winter melon pieces (very generous with the meat/shrimp ratios, and they are all handmade!), fish tofu (very yummy and tender and doesn't taste processed), and veggies (napa cabbage and watercress). Highly recommend this place if you're looking for a family sharing, light, healthy dinner! read more

We went there on a Tuesday night, there was only another table of customers beside us. Their beef and pork was sliced so thick, the quality of the meat was really bad also. My whole family had a hard time chewing on it, especially their pork. Seafood was alright, crab was quite expensive also considering they are just steaming it for us. Scallops was a good deal, but probably will not be back. read more

Chicken is so good! ! ! Scallops are very yummy!!! Shrimp is good! Yummy!!!! Good service! !!! read more

See all

Awesome seafood pot!!! great service. I ve been looking for this kinda of restaurant in the US for a while now! read more

Fresh Elements - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

See all

Awesome food. Very fresh and delicious. Good services here as well. Been here for many times. My favorite is the shrimppppppp read more

Fresh Elements - Very fresh - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Yummy. Love the porridge. will come back again. The shrimp is good too. Hahahahahhahahahaa read more

Fresh Elements - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Very delicious and fresh seafood, never try this kind of cuisine before. Fresh seafood, everything is steamed in the pot and it's so fresh and good. Very close to my home, this plaza also has a lot of good places to go. read more

Very good concept. Seafood is really fresh and delicious! Also had great beef, geoduck, shrimps, and crabs! You steam everything and have the porridge at the end! read more

Fresh Elements - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

The concept of this restaurant is very intriguing; you steam your food, dip your different food orders into your own customizable sauce, and at the end of the meal, all the steam and flavor drips into the pot beneath the steamer, to create a unique tasting porridge. From the outside, you would never know that the inside actually looks pretty nice. It's clean, bright, and lively. Since its open til 1am, they also serve alcohol (beer and wine), so it's also a good place to enjoy a drink. The service is great, they are attentive and there is always someone who you can ask for help. The experience of steaming your food is unique and the employees are there to assist with best practices. The food is pretty good, I feel like the quality was worth the price. I was definitely satisfied and full at the end of the meal. Why only 3 stars? Well at the end of the meal, since we order about 9 different dishes, I expected the porridge to have some sort of a flavor. I was disappointed to find it was extremely plain, almost no flavor. Also, we were eating our food in phases, you can only eat what you have cooked, so you can't enjoy the meal as a whole since you are eating one or two things exclusively per phase. I think this is the type of place you need to try, but not somewhere you would return regularly, maybe just a few times a year. Obviously my review is based on personal preference, so there may be people with very specific tastes, who find this experience to be more enjoyable and in keeping with Taiwanese traditions. read more

See all

I didn't know I would end up trying this place out, but it turns out I did! And it was quite an experience indeed - this style is very popular in China right now, but it has yet to hit the states. Guess Fresh Elements can lead the charge. Anyways, this place is quite small. It's highly recommended to call to reserve because of the limited seating and the time it takes for each party to finish a meal. Upon entering, you're hit with humid air and steam - they didn't even have any ventilation on when we entered, and it was pretty much prime dinnertime. It was the same experience to me as being in a sauna, and I am not joking; glasses fog. Eventually half an hour later they turned on some fans, but it's sort of weird that they weren't on when they first opened for dinner - did they want to steam cook all the patrons? The floor's a bit eerily wet feeling from all the... sweat, and it seems like the place could be a ton cleaner and hygienic for the price point. The decor is alright for a Chinese place, and it's cute watching all the live sea critters floating around in tanks in the back corner. The service is just sort of inattentive but nothing I'd hate them for - they are very generous in giving napkins. Let's talk about the food. When you first start at your table, you're given a selection of six pots filled with soy sauces and garnishes to them - a standard soy sauce, a spicy soy sauce, chili peppers, garlic, green onions, and chili oil. They rotate them out between customers as you finish filling up your small dipping bowl with them, so fill generously as it's a bit awkward if you want to keep refilling your sauce. The food is mainly placed on an adorable stacked serving tray that rests next to your table, so that's pretty neat to see. They charge for tea. To start off the meal, you decide whether you want congee or soup resting at the bottom of your steamer - that's right, all the food drippings and droppings fall right into the piece de resistance, which will also incidentally be the last part of the meal! A lot of people pick congee, just because it seems better suited for all the different sweat mixtures that'll be dropping into it. I will spoil the conclusion of the congee to you now: It did not taste any different at all than if I had just boiled plain water and rice together. Despite stuff sweating into the congee, I just didn't taste anything particular at all and needed to flavor the hell out of it with soy sauce... We didn't order any appetizers or dim sum type of things because, while enticing, it seems sort of very convenient to pick those items up at the nearby Ranch 99 or Dim Sum King and serve an upcharge as well, so! I also like how some of their wares have "Dim Sum King" inscribed on them. It sounds like the best things to get here are the seafood items, even though they cost an arm and a leg. I must warn about the fish, though - there are a lot of tiny, spiky bones in them, since they're sort of on the small side, so be veryyyy careful or there's a good possibility to poke your mouth out or get something stuck in your throat. Clams were good and small, sweet shrimps were good but small and double the price of what I've recently bought bigger ones for, sea clam was pretty nice as well, and I also had a black fish but I forgot which one - it was quite small yet tender yes, but way too many bones that had me worry for my gums. A main thing to try is the chicken w/ cordyceps - it was my first time trying the cordyceps mushroom, and it was pretty awesome! Too bad there wasn't much of it - it has sort of a springy, flexible, and just ever so slightly chewy texture, sort of like if intestines were micro sized, crunchier, and hollowed out. The chicken itself was a huge letdown, very boney, lacked mass, and on the bland and dry side. The vermicelli pairs well with many things, but they don't give you much for how cheap vermicelli is. I'd also recommend the enoki mushrooms, which cook well through steam; I've also had the watercress, which were good but bitter if they weren't steamed long enough. The steaming experience is their main selling point. I would probably rate them higher for being the only one of its kind, steaming experience in probably all of Northern California, but the price to satisfaction ratio is just so disparate, and I would get soooo much more at almost any other place for the price, AND leave with plenty leftovers. I wasn't even stuffed for the amount of money that went in this Chinese meal (We enjoy being stuffed for this money!). It seems the average cost is maybe $40-60 a head. If other restaurants alike crop up, I can see this place failing because of the pricing alone. It's not even healthy because I had to douse everything with the soy sauce... I don't like soy sauce. read more

Very pricy, prepare $100 for 2ppl and get 1/2 full. Service was ok. But I got diarrhea after eat here, it's either the sauce or the oysters... read more

First time trying this kind of steamboat! Seafood is very fresh, and they cook everything for you in front of you so you don't have to guess if it's done or not. They also give good recommendation based on their freshest ingredient of the day. read more

See all

Very fresh and delicious! Strongly recommend! We ordered fish, clams and chicken. Will come back again soon! Highly recommend! read more

Fresh Elements - Super good! - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Like this place so much. This place serve the live and freshest seafood, but watch your wallet. Highlight is the Geoduck Sashimi, can get higher than 100$+ per order. But worth every penny. read more

If you are one of those patrons who is stuck with your older generation chinese relatives who eat nothing but chinese cuisine, then i feel for you... If that description does not fit you, then do your best to STAY AWAY from Fresh Elements. When you order their 16$ rib eye plate, you only get thin slabs of a small portion of red meat that do not taste anything that you could describe as fresh. When you order the congee base, its either a fish base or chicken ginseng if i remember correctly from their 2 sided menu. BUT throughout the course of the meal, whatever you choose to steam up top, will eventually drip down into your congee. People may say that because everything is steamed, it should be much healthier for you....but the only thing that should be steamed here are the Baos and Veggies. BTW the veggies are nothing different from what you can get for less across the street from 99 ranch. Except the one you buy in person is cleaner and crisper/crunchier. Rather than sad, lifeless mush.. IF you order the fish, do so at your own risk, the scales and bones are left in the fish for you to swallow... When your food platter OR any other table's food comes out, keep an eye out on how and where they place it before they throw it on the steamer for you... you will then understand why i can only describe this place as a health hazard. You do not leave raw food out in room temperature unless you are trying to poison someone.. RAW meat and Fish especially.. I guess who ever designed the process of this restaraunts has never cooked in his life for valued guests.. only people he or she wanted to get rid of.. -Ventilation is poor, if your back is towards the door, all of the steam and stench from the meal is probably blowing in your face all night. -Price Point, this place would not last in San Francisco's so they try to take advantage of people in daly city.. C- GRADE or lower quality ingredients at AA+ pricing.. Seating Layout - Prison mess halls have more room than this place... Skyline cafe has more space per table than this place.. Typical patrons inside - Mainland Chinese and some Taiwanese.. since i heard mostly mandarin being spoken inside. If you really want beef or meats for an actual respectable meal, go to Shabu House or Shabu Club... The best part of the meal here is the dessert baos, everything else, you can get better elsewhere without feeling broke and on SSI. read more

Is petty good restaurant，the seafood are very fresh，the service is good，and easy to find a parking. I came there near 6 pm，and waited about 30 minutes read more

See all

This was a unique experience, a very interesting way to cook food, I've never seen it at anywhere else before, not even in Asia. I really enjoyed it! The seafood here was pretty fresh. My favorite was the shrimps, they were alive and still moving before they were "killed" :( :). The service here was good too, they were friendly enough to get you almost everything you need, generous with their napkin and etc. (some places are so cheap with their napkins) read more

I rushed home after this dining experience just so I can document how awful my visit was. I wish I could have rated them no stars. Please do yourself a favor and never come to this place. Their items are overpriced, food lacked flavor, service is understaffed, and the whole system is inefficient. Did I say everything was overpriced?? You're better off spending $40 at a korean bbq or hot pot doing all you can eat because you might leave here still hungry. We paid $12 for some sparerib herb congee that came out to be undercooked rice with 4 pieces of sparerib, $18 for 4 pieces of shrimp that was old, lacked flavor and had no crunch, $6 for Chinese cabbage which still had dirt and holes from bugs eating on them, $6 for 8 frozen pieces of fish tofu which was not great at all either. You don't get to eat the congee until the end because supposedly it is being cooked underneath the steamer while all the flavors are dripping down. We brought it to the server's attention that the congee was not congee at all as demonstrated by the dryness of the rice. The rice never boiled down to the texture of what you normally consider as congee. To make matters even more frustrating, the server did not attempt to make any accommodations for how unpleasant the dishes turned out. I was not trying to be difficult at all as I once was a server, but nothing went right tonight and felt that I should at least have a say to what I did not enjoy. My experience today was a fail to say the very least. It is completely okay with me if you don't welcome me back because I plan to never return. And you know what, please go ahead and keep my chump change that I spent on you fools. Lesson learned and hope you will use this review as a warning. read more

Fresh Elements - $19 for half LB shrimp (4 pieces) - completely lacked flavor, tasted old, RIP OFF! - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

See all

Really nice place to try steam seafood. Good quality and delicious! Definitely wanna try again read more

Fresh Elements - Really nice food!! - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Very delicious!The seafood is super fresh and the soup also taste nice.Although a little expensive but fresh element never disappointed me! read more

Fresh Elements - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

See all

If you want to spend $36 to have 2 shrimps, 5 pieces of round ribeye steak, congee and some greens: be my guest. But note: the congee is basically rice in water with 3 pieces of their spare ribs. The shrimp doesn't have that crunch to it that usually signals the freshness and the steak is not special at all. Also, the white cabbage was dirty and didn't look crisp either. My friend and I split this $73 meal that was an absolute waste of time and money. Waiting 30min for such an unreasonable meal is just pathetic. read more

Food was fresh and good but very expensive! Even for someone with a small appetite, you would need to order 5 dishes each to get full. read more

The seafood is super fresh! The porridge is the best! It will be perfect if better environment.

The seafood and meat are so fresh! Love their clams, beef tongue, and black bass! They open until 1 am so it is also a great place for late night. read more

See all

It's unfortunate that the service was so bad because the food was actually really good. The concept is pretty cool. Just think of hot pot but instead of boiling it's steaming. At the end of the meal, there is soup or porridge made out of all the juices from everything you cooked during your meal. No added oils, no added salt/seasoning, just fresh ingredients cooked in it's own juices. The service was really bad from the start. I made a reservation a week in advanced. When my friends showed up first and told them we had a reservation, they were told my name in their book was already crossed off. Then he said he will go ask but he never came back and just ignored my friends. Luckily a table was available shortly after. The service gets worst. They keep forgetting to bring things that we ordered. We keep asking and it's different people we asked and they still could not get our order straight. Besides the owner, no one speaks English. They didn't even know what "Diet Coke" is. And what is funny now, not so much at the time is when you speak Chinese to them, they still can't get the order right. I asked them for more ginger and they came back with garlic. I asked someone else and they made the same exact mistake. I know my Chinese is not all that but I know for a fact I said ginger correctly. After cooking all the savory items, when we ordered the sweet egg yolk buns, we asked them to change the steam rack but Wei (the server putting in the buns) said there is no need since there is paper under the buns and something about the steam that would prevent the buns from absorbing the savory flavor. Well, he was wrong. Not only did he bring out the wrong buns, the sweet buns tasted like garlic. We flagged down the owner and he confirmed that the rack should be changed and scolded the server in front of us. As much as we didn't care for the attitude Wei gave us when we asked for the rack to be changed, I don't think he should have been scolded in front of customers. I think it was poor taste. There were a lot of items on their menu that didn't have prices. While I understand fresh seafood prices fluctuates, they can at least write it on a board. Instructions to operate the steamer would also help. A lot of time was wasted on waiting for someone to help us with each item we cooked. After putting up with 3 hours of poor service, they told us at the end that there is a mandatory 15% tip. We were a party of 4, in case you were wondering. This might explain the poor service. They know they are getting 15% regardless of how they treat their customers. To add insult to injury. The 15% is calculated after taxes so we are also paying 15% for the tax. I like the concept and the food, sadly the service is a major turn off. read more

This place is Highway 35 robbery. Two of us spent $95 for a plate of fish, chicken, beef, 2 side veggies, and custard buns. Totally not worth it. You can steam your own stuff at home. Nothing special. They tried to copy Hong Kong and China, but not the same. In Asia, you can cook several dishes at one time using a stack of 8 steamers. Hong Kong restaurants provide many sauces, not like here where you only get soy and chili sauce. But, the thing that really pissed me of is that they do not provide a itemized bill, and I just found out that they included a 15 percent service charge. I did not see any signs regarding the service charge, so I double tipped. Service is very slow, and food is bland. This restaurant is owned by Dim Sum King, so expect Mickey or Minnie coming down from the ceiling soon. read more

It's so fresh and delicious!! Fly all the way from New York to try this! Excellent cooking way of seafood! Much fun and yummy!!!! read more

Fresh Elements - So fresh and delicious!!!!!! - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

See all

First time experience with steam seafood, excellent service. Extremely quick and easy. Seafood is pretty fresh. Need to make reservations in advance. read more

See all

After I went here it had been a while and today when I was going through the bookmarked place in my yelp I saw it and decided to write down some thoughts after the visit... The food is ok. For same price you can definitely get better things in other restaurants. I came for the special steam pot and the tasty seafood dishes I saw in their menu. However, I was told that most of the dishes that I planned to order were "sold out" even still early of the day (only a couple hours after they opened) so I was not so happy about that situation. I ended up ordering food that was within my budget but wasn't my first choice (the waitress did try to upsell some expensive fish/shrimps but I did not order). The environment/ table settings is not so ok. It just too many tables in this small place. I was asked to sit sideway and this entire time of the meal I was trying to find a good way to put my legs so that I can feel less uncomfortable (unfortunately i did not). Overall not a good experience for me. read more

Their seafood was very fresh and delicious : ) dessert was also great It is one of my most favorite seafood restaurant. Would repeat and recommend to friends read more

Fresh Elements - Mango pudding - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Like the service, pretty good compared with other Chinese restaurant. There are only four kinds of sauce or topping: soy sauce, garlic, pickled green pepper, fresh green pepper. They don't add much to the taste, especially when all the ingredients are steamed in front of you. Like the jook at the bottom of the steamer, the beef, fish and clams I ordered is fresh and juicy, however I wouldn't recommend the chicken and other meat. Steaming is a new thing here, but not my type of tea, if compared with hot pot (boiling) and grill. read more

I come from Los Angeles, but I must come to fresh elements everytine. This is for sure the best steaming seafood I ever had. Amazing seafood with really fresh materials. Highly recommend! read more

Fresh Elements - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

See all

Very bad service. Way over priced. Place gets busy around 7pm and the servers all gets too busy to pay attention unless you want to order other very expensive items. When we sat down and ready to order, we got switched servers in the middle of an order and the guy wanted to push very expensive seafood items and keep saying what we ordered is not enough. When we asked to start with what we ordered first he said the seafood items might run out (it's 7pm and they're going to run out of food?) if we don't order now. All in all, it's a unique concept of steaming the hot pot instead of boiling. To me it's just a gimmick to market the idea so they can charge more. This is my first and last time to this place. read more

Chicken, fish, seafood, good food, special experience. yummyyyyy! Good service. Nice staff read more

See all

Very fresh seafood and very fast service! We came many times for friends birthday party, and we love this place! They open till midnight , it's perfect choice for ppl who get off late from work! read more