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

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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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

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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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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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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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

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

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

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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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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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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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 .

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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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

I get that it is a soft opening. Arrived Friday at 6. Seated rather quickly. Order taken about 10-15 min later. Husband ordered Mongolian beef, side of rice and sweet and sour pork. I ordered their sizzling trio and war wanton soup. They tell me specifically that the soup dish will be fast but the sizzling dish will take 20 min. Around 7 pm he gets the beef dish. No rice. Maybe 15 min later his pork arrives. 7:30 and I have not gotten either of my orders. That is 90 min after being seated. I asked them to cancel my orders and give us the check. Instead they bring the soup. I hate it. It is bland and bad at the same time. Then they have the nerve to bring the sizzling dish. No I don't want to eat 2 hrs later. I am tired and very hungry. Over $100 bill and I told them I would never go back. Several tables came after us and had gotten their food and finished before I got mine. A woman was VERY apologetic but this service was horrific. I should not have been charged food that didn't come within an hour and that I specifically asked for you to cancel. They had several opportunities to rectify this. No I don't want to come back and ask for a specific waitress in order to have an order be filled. It was a horrible experience and I have no desire to give this place another chance. I asked them to read more

A cute lil hideaway restaurant with KPop playing for energy. While I like the chow fun, I think it would have been better if the chicken was sliced vs chunks (tough). But it was tasty, so I'm conflicted. read more

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

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

Love the arrival of this "cha chaang teng" to Castro Valley! The interior is modern and spacious and clean. We have also gotten takeout, and I love that they line the food with foil instead of placing the hot food directly on plastic - more restaurants need to do this! Food is yummy and authentic, we have tried: -Singapore style vermicelli -sweet and sour pork -yang chow fried rice -braised tofu with seafood -beef stew -baked chicken steak with spaghetti (my personal fav!) So happy this is in town and highly recommend! read more

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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

Today: May 23, 2024 We have lunch here: Combo Pan Fried Noodle and Baked Pork Chop with Rice. The food is ok, not very tasty, but not bad, anyway I don't like too salty. Price is a little high, I think, due to the location. The parking lot is small, you can park on the street. The Hongkong style milk tea is good too. Today: May 27, 2024 As our experience for last time is not bad, we went there and tried the 3.3 afternoon tea. We ordered House Special Waffle and H.K. French Toast. On their menu, each order add $2.00 we can have the milk tea. But, when we ordered, the guy told us as it's public holiday, so no afternoon tea menu. We search the whole Menu, it only says Monday to Friday, didn't mention anything about the public holiday; that's the first upset, when the HK French Toast came, we have the second upset, it looks dark, for sure it's overcook, I don't think the chef knows what HK French toast looks like. read more

Garden Cafe - Didn't mention about Public Holiday. - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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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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Came here because I saw it on YouTube! It was hot at home so me and my partner (both long time San Jose residents) wanted to take a small adventure into other parts of the Bay Area on a Sundat night. Service was great and the ambiance is pretty typical of most HK style cafes in the bay. Here's what we ordered: Silky egg w/ beef (no rice) - just as good as other places near me! Saying this as a good thing for the locals as they have a good silky egg beef spot closer to them. :) Salt and pepper pork - I really like that it's not too salty Seafood fried rice - fluffy and savory topped with a lot of seafood over the rice. if we're in the area again i would definitely come back. read more

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Just travel from China. Already come three times in this trip and have tried almost 10 dishes, each dish tastes really good. 味道很正宗的粤菜，每道菜都不踩雷。跟国内差距不大。已经变成我们这次旅途的食堂了 read more

Garden Cafe - Mapo Tofu over Rice - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

I'm a local and often order takeout from here because I really want to support small businesses in the area. Lately though, since the new menu and price changes, the food has been a bit inconsistent. The chow mein I got last time was way too salty. I really hope they can take the feedback to heart and keep doing well for the long run -- I'd love to keep coming back. read more

So excited for this new HK style cafe! Just tried it with some friends for their soft opening. All the food was tasty and hot. The setup and decor is very clean and comfortable. The staff said they're still working out the kinks and finishing up the decor. Staff is kind and friendly! Tea and soup is hot. I'm giving them 5 stars for their soft opening! 1. Comfortable, Clean and appealing decor 2. Kind staff that were attentive and helpful 3. Reasonable wait time for food and generous portions 4. Hot tea and Hot soup 5. Food was tasty and hit the spot. Not too salty or greasy! Parking lot then over us high and there is plenty of street parking. Will be back to try more dishes! read more

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Food wise, this place is probably one of the best Hong Kong Style cafe, if not the best. To someone who's been to probably all the Hong Kong style cafes in the SF Bay Area, I don't consider myself an expert. But I definitely know a thing or two. There are 3 easy things that can qualify a restaurant or cuisine to be a true HK-style cafe. 1) there must be an item called HK (style) French Toast (西多士) 2) Coffee and HK Milk tea mix (鴛鴦) 3) Baked dishes w/ spaghetti or rice In addition, this place has a menu item that I have NOT seen anywhere else in SF Bay Area. It's called Lemon Ribena. Ribena is a kind of grape juice that is local only to HK. They added some slices of lemon to blend in the natural flavor of the fruit itself. Please see the pictures attached. You will find this place amazing. I heard the ownership is full of people who admires HK style cafe, which I think is the earliest version of (Asian) fusion restaurant in the world. Service is as usual. Very busy. Inaugural date is 2/2/24. Take note! This place is a gem in the suburbs. Highly recommended if you want to try out a true Hong Kong style cafe. I think I will bring my Japanese friends here someday. read more

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Garden Cafe is just having their soft opening. My wife and I tried it out. The atmosphere is fun and young. It is very light and airy. We ordered the pan fried pot stickers, which were tasty, and made with pork sausage I believe. We ordered chicken fried rice which was plentiful and good. We also ordered the Mongolian beef. This was my favorite and very good, with just the right amount of spice. The service was excellent, fast, and friendly. I'll try it again after they fully open. They plan on opening for breakfast. read more

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Garden Cafe is a newly opened Hong Kong Style Cafe that has opened up in Castro Valley and it is a great option for residents living here. This might be the only Hong Kong Style Cafe in the area ands they doing quite well for being newly opened this year. They have enough business that they open until midnight everyday! The food is good here, however, it is not always consistent in terms of the cooking or even the flavor of the dishes. Sometimes there isn't enough flavor on the dish, or the cook wasn't as good as last time. On my latest visit, it was on a Tuesday and the dish I always order, Pan Fried Black Pepper Beef Vermicelli Noodle, wasn't cooked the same as it generally is. It wasn't as fried as much as usual, and there wasn't as much sauce as usual, and the sauce wasn't as dark as usual. We've also ordered other things such as Hong Kong Style Milk Tea, Eggs Puffs, Fried Rice, Combos, Curry Beef, Baked Pork/Chicken Chops, Fish Fillet with Tofu, Braised Beef and more. Almost everything we've tried has been delicious, it's just that the quality control is not present, as things aren't being made to the same standards every time. Perhaps they have different chefs? The customer service here is decent, they have a lot of staff on hand to handle the amount of business they get. However, they don't offer WiFi here, which is a bummer, especially since they are a HK cafe! Parking is also limited here, so it can be hard to find a space to park, and often times you have to park on the street. Overall though, still a pretty solid Hong Kong Cafe spot here in Castro Valley and I would recommend trying them! read more

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Variety of HK breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. It gets busy on certain days of the week especially Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Overall, happy to see more Asian foods in Castro Valley! read more

Garden Cafe - Breakfast menu - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Went to Garden Cafe for the first time and decided to pick up a couple of take out items. Located in a small strip mall diagonally across from Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, parking may be hard to come by during peak hours. While we were waiting for our order, we saw at least two cars double park blocking parked cars because they just wanted to come in to pick up their phone orders. In their two dining room areas, large TV monitors were playing K-pop music videos. Food review: Half Hainanese Chicken (4/5): Juicy cold hainanese chicken that was chewy and tasty. It came with ginger/scallion sauce, peanuts and pickled ginger. Wished they were more generous with the ginger & scallion sauce because we ran out of it. Baked Pork Chop with Garlic Sauce on the side with Rice (3.5/5): The thick pork chop was a generous size and juicy. However, the garlic sauce didn't do anything to elevate the taste of the pork chops. Perhaps next time, we need to order the baked pork chop with the sauce already baked on? read more

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焗豬扒飯 was outstanding, and I also really liked the flavor of the hot milk tea. Very authentic flavors that reminded me a lot of food I'd have in Hong Kong. Would absolutely recommend. read more

Was very good. I'm very particular regarding Chinese food. The thing we didn't care for , were the noodles used in the chow main, thin and over cooked. read more

Was craving for some late night HK cafe style food. Most of the East Bay cafe closes at 9 or 10 pm. Excited this place stays open until midnight. The menu was very extensive with numerous selection. We got the Club sandwich, black pepper honey beef and red bean with coconut drink. The food was tasty and reasonably priced. Fries was a bit undercook and rice for beef dish was not warm. The beef and vegetables were cooked just right - good flavor and crisp vegetables. Will be back to taste other selections. read more

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