A good local Hong Kong cafe with a huge menu and huge portions! I love that whatever I'm craving, they'll probably have it. They do the pan fried and baked dishes pretty well. I've gotten the beef chow fun (dry), Singapore curry noodles (my go-to), baked pork chop, chicken steak with black pepper sauce, and popcorn chicken. Everything was well cooked, flavorful, a tad oily but not over the top and definitely huge enough for sharing! Quality of meat is pretty good too. The dishes are pretty tender. Definitely reminds of eating in Hong Kong. The only con is how small the parking lot is. Not sure where people are supposed to park!! read more

Service good. Food awful. I ordered two steaks medium rare on the teppan and it came extremely overcooked. The beef was not just overcooked, it was dried, poor quality, and rough. Sauces were good though. Will never come back. I am assuming they do better with other stuff like chow fun, chow mein but this supposed to be cantonese HK cafe. How can they mess this up? The cooks didnt marinate or tenderize the meat. I didnt even bother asking for a redo. Go to Hong Kong Cafe instead, do not come. I did not finish if ate any of the steak I just finished the veggies and sauce with rice. read more

Garden Cafe - Disgusting overcooked steak, asked for medium well got well done! - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

This is my fourth time to eat there. I guess I'm batting 2 for 4. As 2x's were satisfying an 2 not up to Snuff. Last nite wasn't very satisfying. Everything on the menu is fried.The last time i went here they gave me a plate which didn't have a fried entry. It was a chicken entry with spaghetti that had a nice sauce and well portion of broccoli. Last nite I received fried chicken that was breaded and a very thick curry gravy, It didn't taste like curry. I don't like fried breaded food, the taste to many colesterals and sodium. It went straight to my gut. Spaghetti had no sauce an the broccoli was small portion only 2 pieces of broccoli. The time before last they gave me a good portion of Broccoli. + the food was cold this time. I noticed on there health report that they were written up for not keeping there food properly heated. read more

Excellent location, excellent food. We orders beef noodle soup. Wonton noodle soup and soy sauce noodles along with Hong Kong milk tea and a pineapple slush. All these foods are to die for! I can't find this type of food that is great. Absolutely delish and no msg. Excellent service . Waiter and waitress very attentive . Love the selection of music and it was not blaring loud in my ear , I was still able to chat with my friend. Excellent parking . I was a little disappointed that they couldn't serve something from the dinner menu but that's ok. Everything else was excellent. I will be back to try the dinner menu read more

FOOD: We got the honey walnut shrimp, salt & pepper beef, shrimp fried rice, pork over rice, and crispy tofu. The honey walnut shrimp was pretty good, the shrimp was battered great, crispy, and sweet. The baked pork over rice had a layer of tomato sauce over it, the pork was cooked well and the tomato sauce was delicious. The salt & pepper beef was too chewy for my liking, but well seasoned. The shrimp fried rice could have used more shrimp. The fried tofu was cooked great, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside but could use more seasoning. SERVICE: Not bad, the servers were polite and do their job. AMBIANCE: Ambiance is a little sterile I'd say, the overhead lighting makes the inside not very inviting. But it's fine for a more casual setting. Overall I'd say the place is pretty good, it's not particularly amazing but the food is good and satisfying. read more

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Love the baked cheese pork chop rice. Love the HK Milk Tea my flavor, the environment is great. Have parking in the front

Solid restaurant for Cantonese / HK - style food. I like their generous portions and quick service. They brew a strong milk tea, can easily power you through the day like an expresso. Notable items are their seafood pan fried noodle, baked pork chop rice, and Fujian fried rice. These dishes are big and will fill you up with leftovers. If want to eat something on the lighter side, try their green onion pancake or salted egg yolk pumpkin. They also have a decent breakfast and afternoon tea menu. read more

The place was clean. Food was excellent. Servers were very nice and attentive. Their menu had a big variety of food. We wanted to try everything. read more

Garden Cafe - Egg puff with mango - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

This place is amazing. Close to the hospital clean simple seating,fast friendly service with a great menu. Definitely the place to go if in castro valley and want hearty portions of fresh and flavorful Chinese cuisine. Everything i saw coming out of the kitchen made me want to try all of it. read more

Garden Cafe - Beef chow fun - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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They did not deliver my food. I called them and they said it was delivered. No it wasn't. I think the person got the wrong door .

We had wonton noodle soup, wet chow fun, and salt & pepper wings. The wet chow fun was good! You can taste the wok hay and the beef was so tender! The wonton noodle soup was okay, I wouldn't get it again. Wings were also not bad. The service was fast and the servers were nice. I'm excited to go back and try the baked rice! read more

We've been to Garden Cafe twice. Both times we only tried their breakfast set. Great options with breakfast. I enjoyed the porridge set a lot. Great flavors. My favorite has to be their egg puffs. Comes out crunchy and not overly filled with battered. There is a small parking lot, parking might be tricky. Great service, fast and attentive. I was not overly fond of their drinks. I tried the milk tea, overly flavored with milk and not enough tea flavor. Will be back to try their lunch menu. read more

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Lots of HK cafe variety on the menu and one of the only nearby asian comfort food and asian dessert places that stays open late-night. Food lacks flavor. I recently ordered a white fish in cream sauce over rice, baked. It was my fault that I thought it was the fried cod (like in cod with cream of corn, one of my all-time favorite HK dishes). But besides that, what I actually got was white fish over rice completely drenched in the thin white cream sauce, with no flavor--it wasn't salty, wasn't peppery, wasn't sweet...it was just bland all around. Bland fish (albeit soft) and bland cream over plain white rice (bland white rice is fine though). I've come here before and, in general, remember the flavors being overall imbalanced across various dishes. One of the red bean drinks I ordered was also underwhelming. I will try a dessert with a friend and hopefully can add a more positive review for that. read more

I came here on a Friday night with my husband to grab some hk snacks and it was packed at 9:30PM. I ordered the hk French toast with peanut butter and egg puff. My husband ordered the brisket over rice and yang chow fried rice. Parking lot is small but there's plenty of street parking. Ambiance is clean read more

Garden Cafe - Egg puff - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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New Hong Kong style cafe in Castro valley! We came in the last afternoon on July 4th between lunch and dinner. They ran out of plates when we arrived so gave us paper plates to eat. Kind of odd for a sit down restaurant to give paper plates! Food was good and there are not a lot of hong cafe options so it's welcome in the east bay. I do like that they have longer hours so open for late night snacking! read more

Adding Garden Cafe to my list of go-to Chinese restaurants. They have a pretty extensive menu but I especially love their gravy beef chow fun and crispy egg noodles. Their portions are good sized and the price is reasonable. The food has been consistent every time, both in flavor and portion. I also love that they are open later than most restaurants in the area. read more

I have visited Garden Cafe many times in the past and their service and we'll as food have usually been okay. Not the best and not the worst. However this review were particularly regarding our last visit here this pass Saturday, May 3rd. My kids and I came her for lunch around 11am. Ordered beef chow fun and beef brisket clay pot. Beef chow fun was good. The beef brisket had some not so tender pieces and the daicon was fibrous. We ate all of the food except for the daicon. My daughter wanted to have their Mango Palmelo Sago. I flagged down the waitress ordered the desert and waited and waited and waited. 15 minutes went by and no desert so we flagged down the other waitress to find out where our desert was. We'll she never returned. 10 minutes later I was done waiting for an item that basically just had to be put on a bowl. So I went up to the counter to ask for the status of our desert and it was as if I never put in the order. Unfortunately I left as an unhappy customer . The only thing that was good was the beef chow fun. I will think twice coming here again. Maybe only take out and no 2nd order. read more

We got catering/takeout today and all the dishes were good. Very dependable place for classic Cantonese classic chow fun and stir fried noodles. The Hong Kong style baked dishes I don't like so much but it's never "I wished I order something else" bad. What I do like are the economical combos before 11am. read more

The restaurant itself is bigger than it looks from the outside. The staff was friendly. We had Togo but definitely will come back! Thinking of cartering for our daughter's birthday coming up. read more

What a great new addition to the neighborhood that we have been needing for a long time. Garden cafe offer all the HK cafe fixing you may need. From the classic dishes to the ice honey lemon tea. My partner and I came here over the weekend for lunch and it was packed. It took a while for our dishes to come out, but the food was great. We shared the beef cheek noodle soup and shrimp and egg over rice. I would highly recommend and we'll be back to try other items on the menu. The parking lot can be busy and tricky. Wished they offered more parking for a new popular restaurant spot. read more

Garden Cafe - Beef Cheek Stew Soup Lunch - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Great food, it's our go to for Chinese food in Castro valley. Wife is Chinese so I think our review is valid

I love this place! We have been twice since they opened and everytime we are so happy with experience. The vibe is cute and casual and the music is a vibe. The wonton soup was delish and the coffee with tea was a new item we loved. Definitely recommend coming here if you are looking for something open late! Final call for food is at 11:30pm just fyi however we saw some people walk in right then and they still got served. Will be coming again for sure! read more

Garden Cafe - Wonton Soup, Pan-Fried Pot Stickers and Coffee with Tea - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Delicious Hong Kong style food! This place opens till midnight~ We tried the baked tomato porkchop with rice and we killed it! It was really delicious it had cheese as well, which made it creamy. The staff were super friendly and were attentive as well. We spilled water accidentally and they immediately came to help clean it up. Unfortunately, we killed it so fast I didn't get any photos! I would definitely recommend coming back! read more

First couple times trying Garden Cafe was with take out and I was immediately a fan. It's not often I find a Chinese restaurant where I ended up liking all of the things ordered. Cantonese-style cuisine, I am happy there is something in town that is this good! I get to learn and be in touch a little more with part of my culture / heritage. Open fairly late, which I appreciate! It reminds me of some of the restaurants in the Southern California / San Gabriel Valley / Alhambra area where I would be able to seek out whenever I wanted food late at night - dine in or take out. Great place I would say for groups small and large as they have an entire back room area. Both sections of the restaurant has TVs throughout playing Asian pop music - assuming it was Chinese boy bands featured the time I had dined in with family. Went at night and felt safe. The interior is brightly lit and there were a lot of families and young people who came, stayed, and went so it gave a really good feeling for me. It is right across the street from the Eden Hospital and in this small parking lot that is shared amongst a liquor store and sort of hidden bar. You'd be lucky if you were to be able to snag a parking spot. I would assume otherwise, the street parking is ample. Their menus listed a ton of variety in options of what you could order. Everything looked / sounded great. It was a little difficult putting in our order if we had questions, however the service was otherwise great! Attentive in making sure our water glasses were filled and that everything was good. The food came out super fast and I truly enjoyed everything! I wonder what their lunch menu items are like -- I will have to try stopping in during lunch specials. I will definitely be back as it is now my favorite spot for authentic Cantonese cuisine! I hope they stick around for a long time! My only wish is that I wish I were able to come here and experience this place with my dad. read more

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im always a sucker for good hk style dishes and wow I'm so pumped that there's one right by my place! looking in from the outside you would not expect this place to be as big as it is. the staff is friendly and helpful - and food? very yummy and has great portions. usually when i stop by with a friend or my family we enjoy family style! a couple of dishes id recommend would be beef chow fun with satay sauce - all-time favorite along with salty fish and chicken fried rice. and they also have your typical hk style combo which ive yet to try but it's nice as it gives you a variety of food to choose from! tips: - lots of seating available - unisex bathrooms available - many vegetarian/vegan options available - smaller parking lot but lots of street parking - great for friends, kids friendly, and family read more

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My family and I have come here a few times since it's opened and I have to admit it's a great addition to this area near Eden! Our go-to orders are the mapo tofu with rice (there's another version that doesn't come with rice but gives you more tofu), I like their noodle soup dishes (where you can choose your "toppings" - like sausage vs. spam vs. egg vs. etc), and my husband randomly really likes their HK style french toast with peanut better filling. Our total bill for 2 dishes is usually ~$30 ish, and can go to ~$40 if we add drinks. I like this place because it's friendly to both only Chinese speakers or only English speakers. It's authentic enough for my Asian immigrant parents to like it and tasty enough for my white friends to like it. They're also starting a "happy hour" type menu from 3:15pm-5:30pm as of yesterday with cheaper prices! Pros: - honestly, pretty banging delicious food, which is surprising when you consider how broad the menu is. I wouldn't be surprised if the mapo tofu was like an instant pack or defrost, but it is VERY good and holds up really well when we take it home as leftovers. Their noodle soups were pretty good too! - Food comes out really fast - portion Quantity is pretty good based on what you pay for - most dishes are less than $18 and can definitely make you feel full if you eat it all by yourself. Any of the fried rice dishes - we usually can't finish them and take them home for lunch the next day. - Fun k-pop music videos playing in the background - Lots of seating, tables and booths in both sections of the restaurant. - Overall service isn't bad, very typical of Asian restaurant where they don't come by to check on you until you wave them down, but we had no issues. - Their drinks are pretty good, I'm a big of the iced lemon tea. Cons: - If you go during busy dinner hour, parking can be tough - it shares a parking lot with a liquor store and the Doolittle bar, so you might just have to park on the street and walk a bit. - I wish their drinks weren't so expensive - the milk teas and iced lemon teas are $4.50 - which I really feel like way too expensive for an iced lemon tea that's just black tea with lemon. I wish it would imitate the real HK price vibe at least with the drinks. But I guess this is on me because I keep ordering it lol - Not necessarily a con - but menu can be very overwhelming and feel really broad - I'm usually kind of skeptical of restaurants with multiple menu pages that have similar items etc - but it can also be a pro because there really is something for everyone here - there's items you can get if you're only hungry for a snack or bigger items if you're looking for a full on meal. Overall, I think we will definitely be repeat customers just because the service is quite friendly, the food is very solid, and the prices for the food are pretty reasonable. I wish the drinks were a dollar less, but it's not enough to deter me away from not coming back. Overall, very pleased with this HK-style cafe addition to the Castro Valley area. read more

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Am I dreaming? I can't believe there is a HK style cafe opened near by my house. The store is bigger than I thought. The main entrance has a space with some bench seats for customers to wait for their to go orders or wait to be seated. Our family is definitely love this place. The staffs are all friendly and attentive. Foods are delicious and various. Therefore, I have been there couple times in different times frame. I love there classic HK combo, it is so 'Hongkongese' lol. I recommend all the foods and drinks on my photos. The good new is they are serving breakfast and midnight snack starting tomorrow. Business hour is from 8am to 12am daily. I can't wait to try their breakfast, It is a good place to rest after dropping my kids to school. read more

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went back the second time , we ordered egg whites fried rice , salt and pepper chicken wings and sweet and sour pork over rice , all three items are very good, way beyond other HK style restaurants. Will go back soon to try other items. They have pretty much everything you can find in a classy HK style " Cha Chen Tan " read more

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Tasty food, great portion! Authentic Hong Kong food plus great variety. I love how the restaurant is clean and all the entree is appealing. The service is good as well, it was fast. The restaurant is big enough to accommodate large parties, it is a very good environment, because this place opened not long ago. From fried rice, to noodle soups, to milk tea, to egg pudding, you won't be disappointed! read more

This restaurant is fantastic. Simple care decor is light, bright and very open. Service is fast and very friendly. Reluctantly ordered beef spaghetti on recommendation of the staff and I did not regret it. While all the fresh hot dishes were fantastic, I cannot forget the stir fried beef spaghetti dish. Well seasoned and noodles cooked perfectly. I'm book marking this location for a visit whenever I am nearby read more

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Food was really flavorful and good! Ordered online, and picked-up. Nobody was eating indoors but that was about 4pm on a weekday. They had plenty of seating though if people want to eat indoors. read more

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Super glad that there's a spot in Castro Valley that serves Hong Kong Cafe food. What we ordered: - Baked pork chop over spaghetti: GENEROUS portion, pork chop was nice and tender, sauce is tomatoey and kind cheesy (wish it was a bit more cheese) and noodles were cooked perfectly - Chicken steak curry over rice: curry has some heat, chicken is nice and juicy, rice was cooked nicely - Honey walnut prawns: Not prawns but they were fresh non fishy shrimp, good portion, walnuts were nice and glazed. Came with a slice of tomato that actually compliments it well - Salt and pepper chicken wing: wings were on the smaller side but the fry and seasoning is nice, wings were juicy - Spam and egg soup with macaroni: this is the one where a lot of people are gonna be like "how basic/plain." Let me say this, if you've never had this as a child, you would not understand the nostalgia and comfort this dish brings. Overall...would come back again and again. read more

Garden Cafe - Baked Pork Chop over spaghetti - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Was excited to check out the new HK cafe that opened in our neighborhood! The place has a nice ambiance and is clean. The service is pretty good compared to what I'm used to at these kinds of establishments. These are the things we ordered: - Beef steak sizzling plate with black pepper sauce - sauce was not bad but I am used to sauce with more peppery flavor. Interesting that it came with fries and veggies as well as a carb (rice/spaghetti). The steak was cooked medium and was fairly tender but although it arrived on the sizzling plate, did not have a sear on it which was disappointing. - combo fried noodle: sauce was a bit salty and the chashu pieces were dry. The dish overall was lacking depth of flavor. - wonton noodle soup: bland soup but wontons were flavorful Not sure I will be back here given the lackluster food we had. Maybe if I am really craving a quick HK dish. read more

Placed my order online and got there in 15 minutes. My food was ready and it was piping hot. Love that they have a huge menu so there's alot to choose from. There really is something for everyone. I would highly recommend this place. We loved their baked dishes and the stir-fried udon with black pepper beef. So tasty! The only downside that I've experienced more than once is the parking lot is always full. I've had to park more than a block away which is a little irritating when I'm getting takeout and I have multiple bags to carry. Otherwise, parking further away isn't an issue for me. Gives me an excuse to take a brisk walk to burn off some calories. read more

The food was very authentic and fresh. Their chow fun was the best. Great and fast service!

I'll start off with 3 stars because it's soft opening. They were many kinks but I definitely think this place has potential! I think the biggest mistake was they either lost and didn't rly bother to check if there was a paper to start a wait-list during a VERY busy lunch hour. There were tons of ppl waiting and trying to grab their attention. The waitresses were overwhelmed and had too much going on, it was very disorganized. But things started improving greatly when we got seated! The service got a lot better when things calmed down. Surprisingly the food didn't take that long despite the crowd. I've been on an adventure to look for authentic HK style salt and pepper chicken wings and it actually has not been easy to find. I ordered it here! It was delicious and nostalgic. 5/5 -- That was legitimately my entree. I tried a couple sides as well -- the peanut/plum sauce cheung fun and french toast. Both were good! & Tomato chicken plate which was also delicious and flavorful. The chef seems to be very good! I would go back to try more on the menu. The prices are expensive esp for HK style cafe but what can you expect in Bay area these days read more

The food here tastes amazing! The real stand out here were the staff members! This was our first time here and the servers treated us like regulars the moment we stepped through the door. My personal favorite was the half hainese chicken and their ginger sauce. The portion sizes are huge and we ended up taking half to go. Also bonus points, I love the color scheme here-- lavender gray! read more

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A very impressive menu that there are lots of items to choose from. I was very impressed when my mom left a to-go menu on my kitchen counter, so I decided to try. I brought my friend and my god-daughter and we ordered three dishes. The dishes look good but didn't taste good, so we call it a 'want-to-be Hong Kong style Café'. Too many items on the menu is not a good thing... It is a new open business, so I don't want to be too harsh. Let's start this review from the moment I walked in. I was not greeted. I stood there for maybe about five minutes and they asked me, "Are you picking up"? And I said table for three, so the lady seated me. The place has a small parking lot, but street parking is available. I got lucky but took my friend 15 minutes to finally joined me. When we were ready to order, I waved at the waitress and got ignored couple of times, so I had to waived again and said loudly 'we are ready to order'... F19 is one of their house combo items, so I ordered to try. Sauce is salty and meat items are bland. The portion is decent and $16.95 is too pricey for the quality received, CS09 is one of the chef special items. Meat is tender, but you can't taste the red fermented bed curb at all. I tried only one piece and didn't explore the pot anymore... maybe they should marinate the meat, or marinate longer with the bean curb sauce before cooking it so the flavor can be soaked into the meat! My god-daughter order the satay beef noodle soup. The beef tasted ok but they used instant ramen noodles to make this dish. One bite and the noodle was still hard so I knew. $13.95 for a bowl of instant noodle soup, absolutely ridiculous. It wasn't even worth a picture for me... And the waitress never came to check up on us if we needed anything. This place may be the first and last time for me, unless one of my friend or family members really want to come here, otherwise there are good options for Chinese food in or near Castro Valley. read more

Garden Cafe - F19 Combo Pan-Fried Noodle - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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To update what I said about service Service changes depending on time. My last post was about morning service Service at night can be rough. In terms of food, it was good. But they were forgetful in other ways. First, the receipt they gave us was a receipt from another table so we had to correct them. Another, this is technically a good thing but they forgot to charge us for the HK milk tea so we got it for free lol Yeah it gets busy at night read more

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It's pretty cool that CV has a hong kong cafe now. They have a very extensive menu. It's a casual yet comfortable hk cafe. With so many different options, it's a little hard to choose but we went with the classics. We came for a weeknight dinner at around 8pm for a late dinner. We ordered curry beef stew with rice, curry chicken with rice and baked pork chop with spaghetti. The curry sauce was not very spicy but definitely had a mild kick to it. Decent curry sauce and the chicken was thick and tender. The chicken actually ended up being better than the beef stew which I didn't expect. As for the baked pork chop with spaghetti, definitely expect to wait longer for this. It says it on the menu as a warning but it didn't fully register for me until the first dish that came out was almost done and I was still waiting for mine. I also got the iced lemon tea because I had to. I didn't have high expectations for it so it was decent in my opinion. Service was pretty good. There were quite a few other late diners on a week night. I can see this place being pretty busy late at night since there aren't many options other than fast food as late night options in the area. I would come back if I was in the area and craving hong kong cafe food or if I had late night cravings. read more

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