went for dinner, not many people as expected. in this situation, food still comes late. Egg waffle - plain. tasteless. Baked Coconut Chicken in Portuguese Style - noodle has no flavor, must eat with chicken and curry sauce. Salt and pepper chicken wings - at average read more

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This place has become a staple in our restaurant rotation. I have tried over half the menu by now and nothing is even close to bad. Service always stellar and they walk the floor often to check in you. Food comes out quick and hot. They are open till midnight and have great deals at lunch time. Make sure to give them a shot. You won't be disappointed. read more

Waited 36 mins for a to go order. Person who came in later than me ordered and finished their food already. I didn't even order any of the baked orders. Food got cold and soggy. Server didn't apologize or try to make it a more pleasant experience read more

Everything we've ordered here has been delicious. We've tried the won ton soup, it's basic if you don't ask them to add something cool. But yummy nonetheless. The lemon chicken is one of the best out there. Beef fried rice is excellent. Udon noodles with seafood is divine. Service is fast and friendly. Ambiance is bright and modern with a big TV to watch. This is our go to Chinese restaurant. read more

First time here. Never complain about food bc I'm not picky and work in food service myself but I ordered the Pineapple Curry Chicken Fried Rice with Garlic and the cooks through a TON OF GARLIC. Felt like I was eating a Garlic fried rice. Don't even taste good. Highly disappointed. Please use less garlic. I took 2 bits and knew I wouldn't want it anymore. It was honestly a waste of 22$ it reeked like garlic and I was very hungry. Can I get a refund? read more

Garden Cafe - Garlic Fried rice.... No chicken was tasted. Just GARLIC - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

We walked in and we were seated right by the front door right away. It was really hot and stuffy at our table. They brought water right away. Then we sat there for over twenty minutes while we waited for someone to take our order. I have absolutely no idea if race had anything to do with the long wait, but we were the only patrons that we saw who weren't Asian and the tables around us were being served. After flagging waiters down twice someone finally came to take our order. Afterwards, she immediately brought over plates and forks. We were not offered chopsticks. My daughter had to ask for them. It took another 35-40 minutes to get our food. The chicken and pork were both severely under seasoned. The chow main was fine, but nothing exciting. The potstickers were the best part of the meal and they came out last. Overall, this was a very disappointing experience and I do not recommend this restaurant. read more

Garden Cafe - Salt and pepper pork chops - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

Great food, great service. The people here are really nice and the food is amazing. We always get the flat fried fish, shrimp fried rice, and beef chow fun. Soooooo good!!! read more

Came in on a Friday evening after craving Chinese all day. The food was pretty good, I ordered the Beef Chow Fun along with some starters. Service was fast and nice. The atmosphere is casual and authentic. I'll definitely be trying this place again in the future. read more

Food: 2 out of 5 - average no surprise Service: 2.5 out of 5 - little above most of authentic Chinese restaurants Ambiance: 2.2 out of 5 - no common Price: 2.3 out of 5 Parking: 0.5 out of 5 Location: 0.8 out of 5 read more

This is our go-to if nothing else is open past 9pm in the Hayward area. The food is okay enough to satisfy your hunger in the late evening. The service is good, the staff are very attentive. The ambiance is nice, it's clean, well lit and enough have customers to make you consider coming in and trying it out, if you're looking through the window. read more

Good quality fare here. Fried flounder, scallop with egg white fried rice was deelish, sauteed green string beans with chili was tastey too. Will write more read more

Flavorful! Our first time visiting; but this place always came up in my search for vegetarian or pescatarian food near me! So glad we decided to go! Parking is a bit limited, but we did find a good spot (got lucky)! We were seated immediately and given water. The menu is several pages long, so it might take a minute to decide. We ordered the Crab Rangoon, the Jalapeno Seafood Stir fry, and the spicy green beans! Everything was very good. The wrapper on the Crab Rangoon was a little heavy and dry, but they still tasted good. The green beans were so tasty! Absolutely love those. The fish had a very tasty gravy that we loved. Staff was attentive and friendly. This place is pretty versatile - as we noted people coming in for different specialties. They do a noodle soup (like pho) that many people were ordering - and we even noticed people coming in just for their sweets or just for their coffee or tea beverages. In any event, we have many more things to try, so we will be back!! read more

Hk style cafe with familiar dishes and drinks. Plays Canto music in the background, bulk of customers speaks Canto as well. Worth the drive. read more

Very good value with decent food and generous portions. Baked Chicken Cutlet with rice is very tasty and came with two big pieces of chicken. Bitter melon with sparerib is OK, taken 1 star off because the restaurant is super noisy so very difficult to have a conversation. read more

Hot milk tea is amazing. Food is average so taking one star off. Came here a few times, both dine and to-go. Curry fish ball is not very good, noodle soup is a bit too salty. The steak sizzling pot is disappointment because the steak pieces are small and thin. House combo noodle is good though, generous portion. This restaurant is busy and parking is crazy tonight. There is a suv parked in the handicap spot, which it's the only available spot atm. I am behind the suv so I was waiting and in just a min, a non-handicap spot became available next to the suv. Then, the suv backed up a bit and parked horizontally taking up both spots... driver came out of the suv to chat with his family. He then back up his suv again so I drove into that new spot. He came knock on my window yelling he needs to park at this spot... I told him to give me just 2 mins because I am just gonna pick up and leave. I guess he is not handicap but he parked there initially since there weren't any other spots, which is understandable. But when a new spot became available, he had all the time to re-park cuz I didn't even try to park into the non-handicap spot initially. I thought he was gonna repark from the handicap spot to the non-handicap spot. But no, he chose to park horizontally taking up both spots AND took his sweet time to chat with his family. It's annoying. Anyway, I am glad that this place is getting a good amount of business. Parking is limited though due to the size of the parking lot. read more

This place changes the tip amount on your receipt! Took my family here for dinner to try Garden Cafe for the first time. We ordered the chicken, veggies, and pork & spaghetti. Overall the service was okay and the food was could have been better. The baked pork and spaghetti came with less pork than I'd normally expect from that type of meal. Come to find out later, the restaurant changed and increased my tip on my check! Make sure you keep your receipts for this restaurant if you decide to come here. read more

The menu is huge! Maybe too big? My husband and I had to park in the building next door for a Quest lab appointment so thought we would try Garden Cafe for lunch. Last time we were in the building, it was Dino's. We love the light, bright, white and blue colors and all the wonderful tables. We sat down right away and both ordered lunch specials. My husband had the wonton soup and I had the beef and broccoli lunch special. We both enjoyed our lunches very much by the time we left every seat was taken. I would like to go back and try their highly recommended baked pork chop, and the Fujian fried rice. read more

Garden Cafe - Wonton soup with Hong Kong noodles added. - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

Really good! Clean, bright, efficient staff. New restaurant to visit after I finish walking Lake Chabot! They have their wok hay (air) going on! String beans: excellent, especially not oily Singapore noodles: excellent Wontons- ok, not enough shrimp read more

The food was tasty and service was okay, but the restaurant was just way too hot. It seems like they didn't have any ventilation at all. Even the employees were fanning themselves. I'll might come back in the late fall or winter or when the weather is under 65 degrees. That's the only reason why I gave them such a low rating. read more

Garden Cafe - My order is the fish filet with spaghetti in a red sauce. - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

First time here. Very impressed with the food and the staff. The setting is also very pleasant. Prices are reasonable.

Good food .. service is a little slow but worth it for us. Nice girl at the counter. She was very helpful and always smiling. read more

Not the best experience. Stopped in for to-go. I stood at the register where they had an 'order to-go/pick up' sign. There were about 4 staff behind the counter, just inches away, but no one said hi or just a minute for way too long. Eventually someone came by and said we will be with you soon, and eventually they were. I ordered curry pineapple fried rice, calamari, pork spring roll, and French fries. They said it would take 20 minutes, it took closer to 30. Took the food next door to the cocktail bar where we were going to eat it and realized there were no condiments at all. Went back and listed off what we ordered and asked for condiments. They gave us two sweet and sour sauces for the spring rolls. No ketchup for the fries, no cocktail or tartar or even a lemon wedge for the calamari. The fried rice had lots of nice seasoning but was still bland. A pinch of salt would have gone a long way. The fries not only didn't have ketchup, but they were also in need of a pinch of salt. The calamari batter tasted like the kind of batter you would have on like fish and chips or onion rings. Thick and heavy, not good for calamari- and also flavorless. Could have used salt and some condiments. There was a sign outside that said soft opening. I hope they make a few changes to improve service and food quality because the location is good and the physical space was also nice. read more

First time the egg waffle it was sooo good love this place ...must come check it out read more

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

I usually get myself to Shooting Star in Oakland when I'm craving some Hong Kong style food in the East Bay - but now that I know there's one closer to the Hayward / Union City / Castro Valley area, Garden Cafe is great for the sake of convenience. One night I had a really strong craving for baked pork chop over rice, and decided to seek it out. I was happy to find that this was a 10 minute drive from where I was at especially since it was nearing 11:30PM. I called in, made my order for pick up, and found myself about 15 minutes later at the counter with a bag of what I wanted. Service was fast and the staff were nice. While I didn't eat in the restaurant I was impressed to see more space inside than what you would expect from seeing based in the outside. Pricing was about the same as other places, but best believe baked pork chop over rice is always going to be great for sharing with others. Flavor wise, it was really good and savory. I was genuinely satisfied and look forward to more late night eats at Garden Cafe. read more

Finally a HK style diner close to home!! So far the dishes we ordered was delicious, and the portions were enough for 2 people. Server was attentive and food came out quick and hot. Definitely will have to come back and try all the dishes they offer. read more

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Knowing about this place last month I have been going twice of week for lunch and dinner plus take outs. This time, my whole family went and we were there to enjoy the breakfast because they open so early. Rice porridge, say sauce noodle and beef brisket. Everything was delicious. Egg Puffs to go. Service could be a little slow because it seems either they are new or they still trying to get the hang of things. They were very busy. Ambiance can be very noisy. Still a great place for good Chinese food. read more

Not good. Parking lot is not big and street parking isn great. Menu is too big. When there's too many options, it all can't be good. Do not order the wonton noodle soup. Worst I've ever had. The beef chow gun was decent but lacked wok hai and salt. I had to add sor and hot sauce. It's possible we just ordered the wrong things but it as such a bad meal I can't waste the money on another try. read more

Food is great! I like that it is open late and has a lot of the Hong Kong cafe staples.

Just went there for afternoon Tea , seems they have a lot the dishes are interesting, I will go back there check it out read more

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This new HK cafe in Castro Valley is my new go-to when I have cravings for these classic Cantonese cafe dishes. We ordered take out so I cannot speak to the service or restaurant that much. The overall place is very clean and tucked into a small parking lot next to a liquor store and bar. It took about 20-30 minutes from when we ordered to receive our take out. We ordered the steak with black pepper sauce and pork chop with spaghetti. The food quality was just ok - nothing special but was not bad. I would go back. The steak and black pepper was better quality than the spaghetti sauce. A great addition to the area and its shorter in distance from me than Shooting Star Cafe. I'll return to try their breakfast menu soon. read more

The service is amazing here! And their baked pork chop with black pepper sauce is delish!

Food is average. service is kinda slow. Parking seems always full or hard to find. Won't go out of my way to come here. It's ok. Not very good but not bad for the food either. 3 stars read more

Finally a real HK cafe in our area. They have a vast menu of hk cafe style items. Now, if they offered A, B C set breakfast like other places, that would be the icing on the cake. Overall solid food and customer service is good. Only con is that the small parking lot can get full and parking on the street might be hard to find. read more

Food was good. Service was on par but avoid the seating area at the entrance especially on a hot day. It was hot and we can't focus on enjoying the food. They have a portable air conditioner in the inside seating area but the area we sat by the kitchen serving area right in front of the entrance was baking hot and completely lacked circulation which I think is outside of building code. Wait for a table inside if you are going to go eat there. read more

If you're looking for a Hong Kong style cafe in the area, this is the place for that. I think they had three or four different menus, so a lot of options but also I felt like there was too much and lack of focus. The favorite dish I got was the pumpkin with salted egg yolk appetizer--it was a little heavily battered and fried but nice combination of subtly sweet and salty. For the clay pot we got the chicken and mushroom one which was pretty good. Eggplant with string beans was also good. The pork and preserved egg congee was nice as well. For dessert, we got the ginger milk pudding which tasted strongly ginger and had an unusually loose texture. Not of pudding, but of soup. The mango sago was pleasant, it was ok. Overall I thought the food was pleasant but I'm not drawn to come back, except maybe to try more of their authentic HK desserts. My partner liked the place though and would come back. Service was good. Fairly small parking lot. read more

Garden Cafe - Ginger milk pudding and mango sago, the sago was nice - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

I ordered a Hong Kong style pan fried noodle online and realized they didn't offer their drinks. Luckily there was a place where you can add a note before placing the order. I requested for a Hong Kong style milk tea and that I'd pay for it once I arrived for pick up. 2 mins later, a really nice gentleman called back and spoke in Cantonese. Being ABC, I replied back in my broken mandarin/english. He quickly replied back in mandarin. We went back and forth a few times and he switched to English for me. He called to ask if I wanted hot or cold. LOL. Such great service and awesome to have people working there who are tri-lingual. I arrived 10 mins later and the super nice lady made my Hong Kong style milk tea which was delicious by the way. My to go food was ready 5 mins after that. Walking into that place I was shocked to see how open the space was and there were tvs everywhere playing the warriors game. The pan fried noodles were good but was a little bland. I asked the nice lady why they didn't offer macaroni soup noodle since it was such a staple during my childhood. And popular at other Hong Kong style cafes. She said that it's not on the menu yet but they do offer it! I'll definitely keep this place in mind next time I'm craving for Chinese food. Bonus points that it's right down the street from me. Please support your local small business! read more

Garden Cafe - Chicken pan fried noodles (was still hot when I brought it home!) a little bland but adding some hot cause quickly did the trick! - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Decent HK style cafe. Ordered the Hainan chicken rice and a beef noodle soup with 2 iced lemon tea to go. It was during off peak hours so the wait wasn't too long before I got out with my food. Some items tend to be a bit on the pricier side but overall I would come back when I crave my childhood food. read more

Hong Kong style cafe. Food is not bad. We order chow main and chow fun. Both were very good. The beef chow fun has lots of beef. If my little girl said she wants to come back, it can't be all that bad. Only complaint is that it is a bit expensive for the location. read more

We learned about this place from a YouTube video and are so glad that we tried it out. It's 20 mins drive from us but we find reasons to come here ! Good- satay beef noodle, milk tea, congee. It's clean. Service is great. Not so good - K-pop music on screens. ( we like some K-pop and support Asian artists but I am not sure about letting kids staring at those idols while eating) read more

Service is really bad. Need to ask multiple time to just refill water. They don't know how to serve food because it's a mess. They serve food to different table when it's not even the correct table. We ordered everything and a Togo all together at once. After we all finish a dish/plate, our Togo still not ready. We asked multiple staff about the Togo and no one can give us an answer. It end up that they mess up the order and we have to wait for it. Food is not too good. Some of the food is way too salty which makes it unhealthy. They also end up mess up the Togo dish. We ordered a bake seafood with fried rice. The Togo order come out to be plain white rice and there barely seafood which totally not worth the price. We'll not recommend and go back to this restaurant at all. They do not worth the star showing on Yelp. read more

Garden Cafe - Baked seafood spaghetti - Hong Kong Style Cafe Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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