being of Chinese decent I can tell you the food here is "American Chinese". on top of that the food tastes as if the food is being cooked by someone who is not Chinese, or knows what Chinese food should taste like. besides the fried rice which was not to my liking, all of the items here just miss the mark. nice restaurant and great service, but just not really good Chinese food. read more

Went out during lunch. Food options and taste was great! Pleasant ambiance and good staff.

Visited here to use a $20 Opentable check, and was pleasantly surprised at the tasty food. They have an extensive menu that covers a mash-up of different Asian cuisines like Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai. We had the dinner for two (about $30-40 or thereabouts, depending on the level you pick). The choice we had included an appetizer, chicken, beef or pork dish, rice, and a dessert. There were several choices for each category; we ended up with the following: Appetizer: crab puffs (4 fried dough triangles stuffed with crab, cream cheese & green onions), served with a sweet sauce. These were very tasty but most definitely were super packed with calories. I would eat them again, but not regularly. Rice: egg fried rice, served in individual bowls for each person. They heaped it into a round dome towering over each bowl, so there was plenty enough for the meal. It was decent - rice, peas, egg (& onion?) - nothing spectacular, but for rice you want kind of a backdrop for the rest of the meal, not something that's going to compete flavor-wise. Not sure what others were talking about with it being greasy; ours was fine, not greasy & it tasted good. 1st entree: Mango chicken, which had nice tender white chicken pieces in a mild coconut sauce and chunks of fresh mango. The mango was nice and sweet, not too tart, and complemented the chicken nicely. The overall flavor seemed more like a Thai dish with the sweeter coconut sauce. Would order this again. 2nd entree: Mongolian beef. So good! I want this again, just two days after having eaten there. The beef was very tender and packed full of flavor (but not salty); they put just enough green onions in there to balance the flavor-packed punch of the meat. It was some of the better Mongolian beef I've had (and I'm half-Chinese, grew up with Chinese food) - would definitely order this again. Dessert: a crepe type hot pastry with gooey freshly cooked banana on the inside, served with whipped cream and split between two people. Surprisingly good! Asian restaurants tend not to do desserts all to well, but they have several choices for dessert on the menu here that look really good. We chose this one after asking the waitress for suggestions, and were not disappointed. I would order this again too - it made us both really happy to eat and we contemplated getting another, even though we were both stuffed to the gills. Drinks: jasmine hot tea (there are several teas to choose from if you ask), and I had a Blue Hawaii cocktail which was much more tropical than I anticipated, but was very good (and very blue). Their wine menu is decent and their cocktail drink list is extensive, so if you want some booze with your meal, they can definitely set you up with that. Overall, I really like this restaurant: the food is full of flavor, their drink menu is good, and the service was solid (our waitress filled our waters, asked if everything was okay, and basically checked in with us regularly throughout the entire meal). Would love to go back to try some of their dim sum and get more of that Mongolian beef (yum)! read more

I have been going here for years...I first found it when PF's had a long wait and what a surprise! The food portions are incredible and much better than the place with the Giant Statues. I would recommend that pepper beef (literally one of the only beef dishes I will eat as I rarely eat red meat). The service is fast and their Mango Cosmo is refreshing. Top it off with banana pie or red bean balls...yummy! read more

I drove by this place a lot going back and forth from work. I don't know why I never tried this place before. The food was good...it just get's a bit expensive. I think it's worth the money though, but not something I would eat every day. I had the soft shell crab, some of the dim sum, and this lettuce wrap thing...I forgot what it was. I go to a lot of dim sum places and I thought most of the food was good. But not everything suited my palate. And never go on a completely empty stomach. I had no self-control and ordered too much food. But it was fine, it was a nice lunch the next day. I would go back for sure and would recommend this place to my friends. But it's still a bit pricey...and I think similar enough to PF Chang's...don't know why they're so close together. read more

I have to say the food was awful. I have not had worse Asian food in my life. The fried rice tasted so bad along with the pad Thai. The orange chicken was dry and over cooked. I took a few bites of each item and then threw away $65.00 of food. It was the worst Chinese food I have had. Horrible. I do not recommend this place and will not order from here again. read more

Food is good.I am a vegetarian ,We ordered Veggie Delight (spicy),Crispy Tofu in Mandarin Sauce and White rice .Tofu in Mandarin Sauce was really very good,crisp tofu and taste of Mandarin sauce was delicious.We had ordered Veggie Delight a bit spicy ,vegetables were fresh stirred in really nice sweet and spicy sauce .We had also ordered Minced Vegetable Lettuce Cups for the starters that was also good. Staff is also nice ,giving 4 stars because service was not that fast. read more

The service is so bad I cannot find words to describe it. The hole in the wall Asian places in Milpitas offer better service than this one. 0.5 * for food. Not sure I am getting old and cranky, the noise level at the place was unusually very very loud. read more

it's more of a 1.5 stars. i'm being nice. i went with coworkers/friends this includes marlyn a. here. we didn't know what to get to sent the server away. he never came back. we had to track him down! we ordered drinks and lots of food. the sad part is that 2 of our orders didn't com. we only asked for one of those two orders to come. the lame part? then added the dish they didn't bring on the bill. one server even dropped our food on the floor and still asked if we wanted it. it was an order of dumplings. 4 dumplings come in an order. we only ate 1. so yea, i think we would have wanted that. they also said they'd charge us partially for the order but then later took the order off entirely. i really wasn't a fan of anything there. the only good thing were the porcupine buns and even that is too dry. maybe save a trip and not come here again. food is so-so and service is horrible. read more

Went here with CNP and more family members before out jaunt to Rooster T Feathers, which is RIGHT down the street. I got their pomegranate mojito, and CNP got the pineapple mojito. Both were yum-yum-yummy. There were 5 of us, and since they all enjoy beef and seafood, they ordered a variety of dishes with those key ingredients, and I got the vegetable fried rice and Chinese Chicken Salad (which I always have to try to see if I can find something better than Tao Tao's, which is the best ever). The fried rice was fine, not the best, but not the worst. The salad was interesting. The chicken was a breast of chicken, cut in strips and laid on the top, as opposed to shredded into the salad. The chicken was amazingly good. I don't know what sort of seasoning they used, but it was delicate and yummy. It totally wasn't what I was expecting the salad to be, but it was good, nonetheless. They have a whole vegetarian section of the menu, which I thought was great. My family enjoyed their food, as well. read more

I had ordered crispy tofu with egg fried rice. Egg fried rice served was cold (felt like it was prepared yesterday). They at-least did not even warm it while serving. When asked, they said we prepare and keep it. Horrible service ! read more

First time visit for lunch today... the interior reminds me of a minature version of PF Changs with tall ceilings and modern decor. They have a large lunch special menu, along with a separate one for Dim Sum, appetizers and other a combo of Malaysian, Vietnamese and Chinese.. I tried one of the lunch specials...Malaysian Mango Chicken. I tell you this was so good but not a low calorie dish. It did have very lean white meat slices but the sauce which was so yummy had a coconut flavor with fresh basil and a little kick to it..and big chunks of mango! I could only eat half as the portion size was huge, not to mention the richness.. It came with hot and sour soup..one of the best I've had in a while. I liked the broth because it wasn't all thick and gummy.. It was clearer with lot of fresh veggies and it was very spicy...sure opens up your sinus'! So all that and a thai ice tea and my check was 10.95. I can't wait to go back and try out their other dishes...oh, and they have a full bar there too.. read more

Loved every damn thing we ordered and the drinks were stiff at happy hour that's rare now a days feed my family of four for about 100 bucks but we are big eaters and we over ordered we are all miserably fool and taking home leftovers also it's 645 on a Sunday right now and it's not busy at all read more

The gentleman who tended to our table was a 10 out of 10 in politeness and thoroughness. To start with he extended our table to a larger size just so that we would be more comfortable; we ended up a group of 4 at a table for 6. Nice. When taking our food order, he double-checked that it was correct. Our water was never empty. He clarified whether we wanted to share our food orders or eat them individually. [side note: I had an injury on my hand from a fall that happened immediately outside the restaurant, and he brought a bag of ice to reduce swelling on my hand.] Now, the food. All our dim sum items were served perfectly hot and all were delicious. The lettuce wrap filling was a perfectly seasoned chicken with veggies and crispy noodles. The kung pao chicken was brightly-colored with lots of freshly chopped veggies and a yummy sauce on the chicken. We all enjoyed our food and the relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant. read more

This place is one of my go to places when I just want to have some good food. I have pretty much had everything on the menu and trust me you really can't go wrong here with anything on the menu. The cuisine here is a chinese fusion of influences from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and California. For me this is perfect, because I grew up eating dishes from these countries and its so great that Ginger Cafe brings them all together under one roof. The service is great here and it is very clean and very well maintained. I have been eating here for more than 4 years and it still looks just as clean as when they first opened, its quite amazing really. Here are some of the items I usually like to get: Dim Sum is served all day! Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf - Very well done here. The sticky rice is very fragrant and the mix of chick, pork, chinese sausage and shitake mushrooms blend with the lotus leaf aroma to yield this savory delectable package of goodness. Sesame Balls - They are mini in size and fried perfectly every time. Some might say the skin is a little on the thicker side, but because of the small size, I think its fine. The they have flavor and frying technique correct. Chinese Sausage Papaya Salad - I almost always start with this. The green papaya, basil, onion and fish sauce vinaigrette is so refreshing that it does a great job in open up my appetite. They also top the dish with thin strips of chinese sausage that they crisp in a pan, which makes them super fragrant and adds an excellent crispy chewy meat texture to the dish that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Basil Chicken - Superb! This is a dish that I get every time and I don't get tired of making it. They really pull in the Thai influences with this dish, because the chicken is cooked to perfection. I am very impressed at how well they cook the chicken in this dish. The flavors of the chicken, garlic, bamboo shoots, shitake mushrooms, basil and scallions are in perfect harmony in this dish. It really sings. Get this one! Filet Mignon Luc Lac - A Vietnamese influence dish very similar to the shaking beef dish you can find in most vietnamese restaurants. The meat is prepared very well and the flavor is excellent. Crispy tofu in Mandarin Sauce - Wonderful! This dish consists of fried tofu tossed in a spicy mandarin sauce. It has a great mouth feel with the contrasting textures and flavors of the tofu being sweet, spicy, crispy on the outside and soft and hot on the inside. I order this one a lot too. Veggie Delight - A nice sauteed vegetable dish with a nice delicate flavor. Salty Fish Fried Rice - I try to get this everywhere I go as a gauge of the chef's skill, because I like this dish a lot and Ginger Cafe does a good job, they do it right here with just enough salty fish to get the nice fishy, salty punch it needs every few bites. Get this dish only if you like salty fish, because the taste and smell are very pungent. You've been warned (this is a good and bad thing depending on how you look at it). Red Bean Mango Shots - YES! I never leave without ordering this. Its a shot glass with Longan, red bean, mango and whipped cream. The light cooling flavor of the longan, with the thicker, richer red bean sweetness blends very nicely with the fragrant tropical sweetness of the mango. You top that with some fluffy whipped cream and its like eating firecracker of different sweetnesses. If you're in the area and have a hankering of asian food, try Ginger Cafe and try out my recommendations especially if its your first time. If you're lucky you will see me there too. Happy eating! read more

Took literally an hour to bring one soup. I kept asking and was told five times that it was coming. When it finally came, there was a dead fly floating in it. What the hell. When I said this was unacceptable, the manager offered me a free egg roll and then said she'd have to pay for it out of her own pocket... read more

The Tom Yum seafood soup was very bland. Almost like it was just water for the broth. The fried rice with curry lunch plate was good. The bok choy shrimp dim sum was just okay. I have been wanting to try this restaurant for a long time but probably won't come back. read more

I used Ginger Café for my wedding caterer and I couldn't have been more pleased with my choice. When planning my wedding, one of my top priorities was food. Although we had many non-Asian guests, I wanted something that represented my heritage but would also be a memorable and unique food experience. Mission accomplished with Ginger Café. From my first contact with Tuyen, he was extremely responsive and always helpful. I decided to go with Ginger Cafe after a few other tastings because of the value and the flexibility I had with customizing the menu. The menu is very reasonably priced, especially for the variety of food offered and the quality of the ingredients. The pricing was very transparent and Tuyen was extremely accommodating of our menu modifications and vegetarian meal requests! The best part of the decision was the rave complements we got on our food. After the wedding, the first thing out of everyone's mouth was how good the food was. In fact, so many guests mentioned the food that we received complements on all of the courses. Each course was mentioned as a favorite by a different guest, from the sea bass to the rice dish to the appetizers to the steak - a true testament to how great everything was. To put this in perspective, we're self-proclaimed foodies and keep similar company. Our tables were named after our 16 favorite restaurants and probably added up to about as many Michelin stars. Obviously, we're not claiming any stars here, but this is wedding food cooked in a portable kitchen. The point is, we're a bit of a tough crowd and these guys hit it out of the park! Finally, Ginger Café focuses on food preparation and are really experienced with catering, including cooking delicious food on-site (which for us involved a portable kitchen, outdoors.) They do less around marketing such as building beautiful websites and fancy sales collateral. However, the team was absolutely professional, accommodating, communicative, and executed our catering to exceed our expectations. read more

The closing time is definitely not 10 pm. We entered the restaurant at 9:06 pm and the first thing the guy at the door asked was "Will you be done by 10 pm?" Not that they would stop serving at 10 pm, they wanted us OUT by 10 pm and voiced that pretty emphatically. Obviously we left. No sorry, no explanation. Pathetic service. read more

I have been here many times and the food is excellent - no doubts on that. On all previous occasions, I have had great service as well and I would have given 4 starts for this place. I went there last evening (9/5/2013) with my friends - the food was good but not the great food I was used to from this place. Last night was very different. The service was very slow - I had up front told the guy that too the order that we were on a tight schedule. We were there at 5:30PM and we had till 6:45PM to complete our meal. We ordered some food to-go as well. The place was not too crowded as well. I went and reminded the waiter about our time crunch and we needed the food faster. Half my friends had to leave before all of us completed our food and dessert was made to-go. When the bill came I gave them a 12% tip instead of their suggested 15% or 18% or 20%. The waiter was upset with that and asked me if the service was that bad. Actually the service was so bad I should not have tipped - I was being very decent in giving him 12%. I told him that the service was slow hence the low tip. He just shook his head in dis-belief!!! He actually though he had gone above and beyond. Though the percentage was small in absolute numbers it was around $30. Remember there was food to-go as well. I hope the management asks their staff not to accost customers on the tip front. I have never had this experience ever in the US. As they say, there is always a first time. read more

Following a friend's recommendation, I set down for lunch with an Irish friend. The design is nice, mixing long burgundy curtains used to create an illusion of smaller spaced, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the staff was polite, accommodating, and without the nasal voice so many waitresses think should come with the territory. Our waiter was great; felt free to use his sense of humor (was rewarded too), and his only mistake was to encourage us to order rice, which given that our main courses included potato and noodles, was unnecessary. Also, encouraging the over-weight me to have desert is not very nice. That's as far as the bad things go. The rest was great. We sampled two kinds of dim sum, one with leeks stuffing, the other with shrimps and mint --- both were fresh, tasty and just right. Thai style rolls were served with lettuce, mint leaves and dipping vinegar sauce. Again, fresh, not overly fried or fat. For entrees we had the tuna sashimi cold salad and east meets west dish. The tuna was FRESH, the sprouts, noodles and all the other wonders done just right and the dressing light, yet perfectly able to pull together all the ingredients and create a great (large) dish. While I was having a celebration of tastes in my mouth, across from me set East Meets West. To be honest, if was more like Meat meets Potatoes, under the cover of some Asian herbs. The beef was fresh, the potatoes had never seen a freezer from the inside; they were hand cut and fried. However... please don't get me wrong, I have more than enough friends who'll keep coming back for this dish alone. However, we-two were not extremely happy with the oil that sneaked in. I mean a little too much of it. How can I complete this without mentioning the Tea?! Tea leafs, put in one of those metal-net balls, and dumped into a tea pot, then served with a cup. Request for a refill of the water was well received, and the tea was good. I took the Jasmine, the Irish took the green. No lapricorns sighting were reported. In one word: GO. In two words: Go back! read more

Awesome menu for a range of folk, young to old. Been here with family and business. Great for all occasions. Kid friendly. I love the vegetarian menu and poultry dishes. read more

Gorgeous place - I love how hip the inside is decorated. I specifically came here for dim sum. Each dish is approx $3 - $4...a little bit oily but still very good. The service is fast and friendly AND IT'S CLEAN!! (which is rare for asian restuarants). I love finding new spots! read more

We used Ginger Cafe to cater our wedding banquet last weekend and I have to say I was very impressed. This obviously wasn't their first time doing a banquet like this, and they made very practical suggestions and really helped pull the plan together. It was great that they had worked with the restrictions at our venue (The Lodge @ the Regency Center in SF) and I'm glad we chose Ginger Cafe. Everything went great. The staff was wonderful, the setup was perfect and they handled a couple odd requests and issues that evening with perfect grace. Everyone was very impressed with the food, especially the custard bun dessert. The electricity went out in the kitchen while they were preparing dessert and they were on it; pulled out lights to keep working, came out to talk to me and my wife to let us know about the delay and generally handled it amazingly well. No question about it, glad we chose Ginger Cafe. I didn't have to think about the caterers on the day of our wedding at all and heard nothing but good stuff from the guests afterwards, so not sure how it could have been any better! Thanks again Bo and Tuyen! read more

I love this place! Their food was a HUGE hit at our wedding in Berkeley, where they catered. Their staff was incredibly professional, with really high standards, but still friendly. Bo (Manager) and Tuyen (Kitchen Manager) were great to work with. We found out our event space's kitchen area didn't allow any gas cooking, so these guys set up on the SIDEWALK across the street and ran the food into the venue. And it was still delicious and hot. Anytime we're in Sunnyvale, we're going to Ginger Cafe. read more

I really like Ginger Cafe, I have never dined in but I had ordered take away 5-6 times. Food is great. Recently I found a piece of metal in my pork fried rice after I finished about half of my entree. I wanted to vomit it all up. The next day I brought the piece of metal in along with my receipt, so they can replace whatever utensil the metal came from and hopefully avoid this from happening again. They seemed to care and were apologetic, but didn't even offer to replace refund my meal. In all fairness it was 2 days later, and I was eating left overs, but still. Classy thing to do would of been to offer a refund. I don't think I'll be eating at Ginger Cafe again. read more

I came here due to the great reviews from my fellow yelpers. Our party was a party of 10 that took up the middle spot at 8:30pm on a Friday night, not sure why but when I called in to book a table they said they were super busy, the place was half full when I got there. Since there were 10 of us, we got 5 orders of the Dinner for two for $30 bucks, we thought great deal since we can get appetizers, two course, rice bowl (or fried rice), and a dessert from their preset dinner meal plan. Appetizers came out fairly quickly after we ordered, it was the wait after the appetizers and main course that irritated me, 45 minutes we saw anything else. I wouldn't mind the wait if the place was busy but the tables around us were getting their food prior to us and most of the sat down after us. There wasn't an apology during the wait other than the food is coming once from our waitress. If we had to wait that long the courtesy thing was to provide something else to hold us over. We were about to bail but just like a movie our food came FINALLY. Only thing that saved this from being a 1 star review was the food was bloody good. But I can't say I'll be dining inside again, maybe just take out read more

Very bad customer service. The manager does not care if any customer has come in !! The server does not know how to deal with a situation and they are extremely poor in talking to customers !! To top it all, the Thai iced tea sucked :/ read more

This restaurant just opened in Sunnyvale recently. (The original restaurant is apparently in Gilroy.) While it was under construction, I expected it to be some sort of snack or tea-oriented place, but it turns out to be a more ambitious venture. There is a full menu, bar, wait service, and the decor and prices are not what I would classify as discount. The menus are online. I classified its cuisine as "Asian Fusion," but it's not really Fusion in the sense of mixing Asian and non-Asian styles. Rather, the menu is a hodgepodge of dishes from various Asian cuisines, mostly Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Thai. I arrived at about 3:00 p.m. for a late lunch. There were no hours posted, but the Gilroy location is open all day, so maybe this one will be also. The lunch menu has some dim sum items, appetizers, and typical Chinese-restaurant style specials that come with rice and soup. I ordered the "Vietnamese Shrimp Fresh Roll" as an appetizer and the "Vietnamese Lemon Grass Chicken" from the dinner menu. The shrimp rolls were fresh enough, but didn't contain enough shrimp to impart any flavor. I wouldn't bother ordering them again. The large-portion chicken dish had a decent flavor, but was clearly heavily fried and swimming in oil. I've had less greasy versions of this dish with as good or better flavor. I also wouldn't order it again. I had also ordered a Thai iced tea, which was fine, nothing out of the ordinary. read more

Its very rare for a reasonably priced lunch place to have such a nice decor , service and impressive food. A friend and I went there and both of us loved the food. He tried the good old "Eggplant in garlic sauce" and even that was one of the best he ever ate. I tried something new -- "3 flavor Vegetarian Chicken" and it was done very very well. They had a very creative appetizer, a steamed vegetarian roll which was the best I ever tried. Definitely 5 stars in terms of value! read more

Good service, very nice location, good food. Price is reasonable as well. Dishes were not unique or distinctly flavorful, but I won't hesitate to stop in for a good meal (price is right, good service & ambiance). read more

This place was fantastic. the decor is beautiful, and the food was amazing! We had the Mu Shu Chicken Rolls, Fun Pei Salad with soft crab, Pecan Prawns, orange chicken, pineapple fried rice, and potato beef. The last was suggested by the server, and it felt a little out of place, but tasted amazing! Portions were generous and 4 adults had A LOT of left-overs. We pretty much all agreed that it was the best Chinese we'd ever had. I took it all to go, so can't speak for the service, but the server was very nice and ensured that everything was correct and done quickly. read more

Americanized Chinese food. Nothing special, but the chicken noodle is good bc it's kinda oily.

Excellent selection of food, excellent service, excellent atmosphere. I got beef with asparagus... mmmmm! Not the BEST I've had but definitely worthy of coming back again! My friend that ate with me got mango chicken which I kind of wish I had gotten - it was served in this delicious coconut sauce, oh mannnn. My friend also got some Vietnamese iced coffee there. I'm not a big coffee fan but I tasted it and it was pretty damn yummy :) Overall this place is GREAT! Not terribly expensive and a very good selection of dishes. read more

Best of luck to other customers. I stand firm with my first comment prior to the update. I received a quick apology with an invitation to go back from the manager through a Yelp message, but weeks have gone by and I have not received what Tuyen had mentioned. At this point it wouldn't matter. There are plenty of other restaurants which are tried and true for our company gatherings. Thank you. UPDATE: Tuyen C, owner/manager of Ginger Cafe had taken quick response to the matter I had stated below and takes full responsibility of what happened. He had asked for my mailing address for an offer to visit Ginger Cafe (398 W. El Camino, Sunnyvale) to give it another chance. I will bring a special guest with me in the near future and we will update this post afterwards. Thank you Ginger Cafe. Where should I start? I been here before and recalled a garlic chicken dish and the waitress with BRIGHT RED lipstick, the only one there who stood out, told me that she's been there for a while an had no clue what I was talking about. Her response should of been, "We don't have that dish right now, but let me check to see if we can make it for you or ask "THE CHEF." Her tone and posture showed as if I was making that dish up and that I did not know what I was talking about. She was waitressing multiple tables and I noticed her staring into space often when we needed her help. There was a nice waitress, the shorter asian girl, and she was nice enough to check on our table and ask if we needed to box p our left overs. Then the org waitress came back and just handed our check and did not ask if we wanted dessert. This is the reason for 3 stars and if the owner is reading this, please train the waitress. I try new places to bring my work related meetings to - this place would of been a great place except for that one experience and that's all it takes. read more

Ginger cafe has flavor! Great location and the inside of the restaurant is so nice! . Chili chicken is my favorite.

The food is exceptional and service is excellent! Try their pork leg dish, it's VERY good. They also have dim sum throughout the day. If you're in the area, definitely should swing by and give it a try! read more

Delicious! The potstickers were amazing (my husband is picky and he loved them too). He got chili chicken and I got orange chicken and when you combine the two it is sooo good. We went on a weeknight and it was quiet and intimate. read more

The lobster in tamarind sauce is amazing. Patience required because there's quite a bit of finger licking. Pretty much get a whole lobster. The dim sum starters are fresh and tasty but come here for the lobster. read more

I forgot how much I love this place! Great service, relaxing atmosphere, and the food is delicious! Our sever Pedro was attentive, polite, and made our experience fabulous. Can't wait to go back again! read more