Was in the neighborhood yesterday and wanted to try it out for lunch since I heard people talking about it. We got here at noon. The wait time was about 35 minutes but it moves fast. The place is very big inside. Can easily hold several hundred easily. For dim sum you will need to order by marking at the menu. The hard part was flagging down one of the workers there since everyone is busy running around. We ordered 8 items and each item took a min to come out. A worker mistaking our table for another when he looked at what we ordered. Food wasn't too bad but the wait was long from start to finish. We left here close to 2pm. So from waiting to ending it was 2 hours. I know they just opened not too long ago and they have to work the kinks out so we will come back again but this time allow ourselves more time read more

Great ambiance and service! Food was delicious and quick service, with the truffle dumpling being a standout! read more

HL Peninsula - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

Good dim sum. Lots of selection . Weekday lunch is pretty chill , but there's usually a line on weekends. Getting here right when they open at 10am helps a lot read more

My family and I were excited to try this new dim sum spot we found out about from an online post and even woke up early to be one of the first customers and get a table. We were seated quickly after arriving around 10:15am, which we appreciated because it was before their 10:30am opening. Upon arriving, we were blown away by the beautiful entrance, the wine cases on the wall, Chinese decor, and the grand banquet dining room with huge flat screen TV's. When we used the nice, modern style restroom, we were impressed when we saw how many private dining rooms lined that large corridor. I wish I could say that we were blown away by the food and service also. My family and I frequent very popular and packed dim sum restaurants in the Bay Area and I have even gone to a Michelin Guide restaurant outside of the Bay Area known for their top dim sum. Even with these popular restaurants that fill up fast, and have lines out the door, their service is excellent and we have never had to wait so long for our dim sum orders to arrive like we did at HL Peninsula Restaurant in Castro Valley. One of the managers and staff was kind to attend to us and advise us to give them our orders right at 10:30am when the kitchen opens, so we did this. I wish I could say this made a difference in the timing of our food coming out, but it didn't. With numerous servers and managers all around, we were confused and shocked why service was taking so long. What's more is we realized we had one missing mark from our orders list, and saw it had been over one hour and our last item had not arrived and not yet checked off on the order form by any servers, so we flagged down one of the managers to let them know about our missing dim sum item. He apologized and said they are new so they are very busy and because it had been over one hour, that they could just cancel it since there was already a long wait for the orders. We canceled that item, which I was bummed out about because it was a special crispy pork I was looking forward to trying. The fish and crispy donut rice noodle roll was cold and a bit hard to chew, so it was evidently not fresh and crispy, and the congee with pork and preserved duck egg was very bland. Congee is one of my fav dim sum items to order, so this was the first time I had ever been disappointed by the lack of flavor. We decided to try three of their dessert items that caught our attention from the menu since we weren't full yet, so we flagged down another manager to ask how long it would take for the desserts to be made. He recommended we try these next time because their kitchen was backed up, with a 45-minute wait so it would be too long to make our dessert orders. We had never been told something like this in all the years we have gone to dim sum in various restaurants and decided to add more items, which restaurant staff have gladly put in for the kitchen staff to make, no matter how packed their restaurant was and busy they were. We would have gladly added a tip on top of the 16% service charge if the food items did not take so long to come out and house special crispy BBQ pork had been served. On a positive note, we DID enjoy the shrimp puff pastries, steamed spinach and shrimp dumplings, and pork puffed pastries. These were full of flavor and I enjoyed more than one piece of each! I really hope their service and timing of food served improve because this restaurant has potential, and they have gorgeous decor. Obviously people know about this restaurant with the banquet room and private rooms filed with diners when we went for the first time, so with improvements based on many of the reviews already posted, more of us would be given reasons to try and those of us who have dined here would have more reasons to return! I am crossing my fingers for this restaurant to grow and gain better reviews, especially because having a dim sum spot in such a beautiful restaurant is a treat to have in Castro Valley! read more

Dim sum, roasted pork & duck, a5 wagyu fried rice was really good. Everything came out in just right. We left very full and satisfied. Service was good. The atmosphere was alive with lots of family. Would come back again. read more

Please don't GO there. Run away if you can - I wish the service and food were as good as the ambience. Made us wait for an hour to tell us that the ordered items were not available. Pathetic! read more

Place is nice but service is really bad. All tables are forced to pay service charge / gratuity even though we were a party of 2. This reflected in the level of attention we got where minimal attention was paid to our table. It was so bad that it became a conversation starter between the 3 tables around us, everyone was looking for the server. Food was OK but mistimed, dessert buns came out before even the main meal. Rice was no where to be found and our meat got cold. read more

Happy to see that there is a dim sum place in CV, used to try this restaurant at other places years ago. Still thinking it is a good place to go if you crave for dim sum especially with a big party. Got lucky to find the parking spot and just waited less than ten minutes to be seated at Saturday afternoon about 12:40. read more

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This HL Peninsula has taken over the old Rite Aid in Castro Valley. It is a big parking lot, but the parking layout is horrible and it is very difficult to find parking on some weeknights and most of the day on weekends. After circling a few times, we were able to find parking very far away on the other side of the plaza. The exterior is simple, but the interior is aesthetically pleasing and modern. Anyway, My family and I heard great things about this place, so we were excited and came here for my grandma's birthday. We reserved two tables and everyone was having a great time mingling. We sat down eventually to have some tea - the tea was poured and quite a few of the teacups started leaking, so obviously it made a mess and it was difficult to get the attention of any employees to help us and when we did, they seemed visibly annoyed. After that, the appetizers and food slowly came out and as we were eating, a few of my family members noticed that there were MOLD on the peanuts with a couple of them already eating a lot of it. We tried to flag down an employee, but they did not seem to believe us and it took a few employees to come by before they gave us a simple, but very weak apology and took the peanuts away. Some of their plates were also visibly dirty, so they had to give us new plates. After that fiasco, most of us were kind of skeptical about their cleanliness and sanitary practices, so we were kind of double checking the food before eating, which is crazy we have to do that at a restaurant. After eating, we were going to cut the cake, so we tried to get an employee to help us clear the table, but it seemed like a lot of the employees disappeared and it was just one guy. He brought over a cart with an utility bucket for dirty dishes, and my family and I had to basically bus and clear our own tables to quickly just get it done. Overall, service is almost non-existent, even when you try to flag down an employee to help you, you will get brushed off - it took asking multiple employees for simple requests like extra napkins or something or that sort to even get acknowledged. read more

Good food. Great service. Nice big screens for entertainment. Lovely ambiance on a Friday morning, especially for inter generational yum cha. The high tower fried pancake was show-stopping. Would come again. read more

Great food and service Open and bright setting, staffs are very friendly. Got the seasonal grab dish and recommended veggie, both are very good! read more

HL Peninsula - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Ambiance The ambiance at HL Peninsula is impressive. The decor is consistent with their other locations, with a spacious layout and a lively atmosphere. There were about four to six large screens showing sports, which added energy without feeling overwhelming. The restrooms were clean, modern, and quite large, which was a nice touch. Service We arrived late for lunch, but the wait was short. We were handed a paper order sheet, which made the process simple. One helpful tip for new patrons is to select everything you want at the beginning. If you add items later, they will be placed at the end of the queue instead of being added to your initial order. Since we came late in the day, a few dim sum items were already sold out, which was understandable. The service overall was good. Dishes took some time to arrive, but that is typical for dim sum, where items are steamed and prepared in batches. We took our time eating and chatting, and the pace worked well for us. read more

HL Peninsula - 1324. Beef & Rice Noodles with Sha Cha Sauce - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Folks should give a new place a chance to get some of the bugs out! 13 of us came out for dinner after the Thursday heavy rains 2days ago. Restaurant was only 30% full. We were first seated at a table for 10, but when 2 more of our friends arrived, they kindly moved us to a table that could've accommodated 16! They brought us 2 tea pots and 2 dishes of peanuts to snack on. We ordered the $628 Holiday Set Menu K (see pic of menu in my pics) and they suggested we add 2 more dishes. The food came out fairly quickly, starting with some cold appetizers and then later the soup. The pacing of the food was very good. We didn't have to wait long between dishes coming by and everything tasted good. One item combination seemed strange though: the sweet and sour riblets in a bowl with fried fish balls on a platter surrounding it. It was fine; just not a combo I'd think to pair together. We were celebrating a birthday and we brought in our own cake. They were very accommodating and turned off the football game playing on all the big screens so that the entire restaurant could sing along with our Happy Birthday song. The servers helped slice and serve the cake and I don't think that they charged for that service (not sure). Our birthday girl was pretty psyched about that! Half an hour later, someone else had the same special treatment. I wonder if they can do that on a busy weekend where there could possibly be 10 birthdays going on!?!? The 2 extra dishes we ordered were the marinated shortribs and steamed eggs with clams. Both good. I'd never had clams in my steamed eggs before. Again, service was good. Our tea pot was promptly refilled. They changed out our plates 2/3s the way through the meal. No complaints about the service. There was food leftover, and I honestly think that the set menu would have been enough for all of us, but it was good to experience some dishes outside the set menu. One pet peeve I had was how difficult it was to move the chair because it stuck to the rug. Trying to stand up from our chair to reach over to help fillet the fish was a task! Splitting the bill 13 ways cost us about $75/per person. Pretty much what my husband and I expected. But I'd come here again. Gotta try their dimsum! But I'd still try to avoid their busy weekends! read more

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We were eager to try this new place out with our extended family of 18. I was shocked at the rating. There was a long line but they got people moving pretty fast even for my party, they sat us down in less than 10 minutes. The ambiance is definitely beautiful and HUGE. No doubt can accommodate a very large wedding reception. Now onto the service. They do not have enough staff for the large restaurant and how busy dim sum can be. The long wait before getting our first item and then again in between each item were way too long. You would think as long of a wait for the items they would come out hot and fresh....they did not. They charged our party $33 for tea and there was only 6 adults plus 12 kids who didn't even drink the tea. It was ridiculous. Majority of the staff do not speak English. We had to ask for water again after asking the first time. There's no soy sauce or chili on the table, you have to ask for it and then they only served us 1 very small dipping sauce for such a large party. They have a lot to work on to improve their service. I can see why they have the rating they do. Won't be coming back for quite awhile. read more

Most of the reviews that I have seen is about the service and that is what mine is mainly going to focus on. The food was mediocre, I was expecting much more since they have so many restaurants around the bay. Maybe because they just opened and figuring out the kinks so I'll let that pass. We did come a little later rather than early morning and they close around 2:15 before their dinner service. When I say the staff was rushing us to leave, they were trying really hard. Cleaning up our dishes when we just put in the last bite of food in our mouth. Service was slow so we got our food very far part of each dish and even came to us in the end saying that it's possible that the rest of our order will take longer because the kitchen was about to close ?? When we placed the order early on?? Like what?! Towards the end of our meal there was still at least half of tables still eating. Even the table next to us got their food way after us and they started to TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!! How rude. Not sure if I will give this place another chance, and if I do it would be a long time. read more

We love that there's a local dim sum in Castro Valley. Location is clean and servers were very attentive.

Worst customer service ever. 2 hours to get 2 dishes. No water. No help getting "to go" boxes. The giant screens with looping advertisements don't help either. I'm sure their other locations are a different experience but this location doesn't seem serious. read more

Every time we go there it is a special occasion. And every time they screw up our order! Today we ordered dim sum with the paper and went wrong. We ordered a lot of food from the book from the "manager" he did not put the order in. He forgot. My son waited at least an hour for his ribs. He was starving with nothing to eat. He is 13 and I felt for bad for him. This was supposed to be our family fothers day together. We ordered 2 orders of shu mai. They brought us 1 and crossed it out. I had to ask for the the second or would have paid for 2 and only got 1. My son ordered mango drink from the book menu. Never brought. I think after we told them they brought a plastic cup from the grab n go next door and changed us the restaurant price. He said it was not good and left it. Please get out of our neighborhood if you are not bringing us a serious option. I have no problem driving to Dublin for dim sum. It's always awesome, no problems and always served with a smile. I feel disappointed as dim sum s block away doesn't want my business. In Dublin always gladly wants my business. I will be very happy to drive. I wish you cared in Castro Valley. Honestly you should close your doors because you are not anywhere close to a good option. I wanted to love you because so close but you are not even close to a good option in the Bay Area. Search elsewhere for dim sim. You should get what you pay for. You won't get it here. And they let you know there is a "management fee" of 16 % added onto the bill that is not the tip? Honestly YOU SUCK! I would love this to be an option but you prove not worth my time. Improve and let me know and I'll give you another chance. Thank you, Chef Pat read more

Overpriced and semi-bland food. I had better dim sum at others places that were much smaller and more intimate. This was way overpriced and the food wasn'twell seasoned. read more

The Fish had alot of bones left in during prep. Noodle with seafood was OK. Service was fine on a Thursday evening visit. This place is a bit over priced for their food quality. I will wait to see an improvement read more

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For all the social media hype, the Castro Valley HL Peninsula was a major letdown. Having gone to the Milpitas one for dim sum the week before, the newly opened Castro Valley one was extremely disappointing. The Castro Valley location is a much better venue for large events or large parties with gorgeous isolated rooms like the ones in China, the food was nowhere near as good. The lobster was not fresh and tasted like it was dead for some time. The suckling pig was passable though the seasoning was not very even at all. The sauce on the A4 was a bit too sweet and the beef tasted like it was soaking in tenderizer for an extended period of time. Like the lobster, the scallops didn't taste fresh either. The seabass felt like an overthought with how it was cooked and presented. Compared to other banquets I've attended, the fried rice felt like it was quickly tossed together with no care. The most enjoyable things of the entire meal was the sea cucumber soup and honey walnut shrimp. That being said, I have zero inclination to ever drive to the Castro Valley location in the future. read more

I don't understand the negative review. I brought a friend to have dim sum on the day before Thanksgiving and even though the place was packed at 11:15 we were seated right away. The food also came pretty quickly, considering how packed that place was. Everything was delicious and to be expected. Special shoutout for the shrimp har gao. It was tasty! Prices were reasonable compared to dim sum places in SF. Will be back to try other things! ps. Oh, and people were complaining about the 16% tip charges? Why? Isn't it 15% standard everywhere. Where you hoping to jeep them by not tipping? THAT'S WHY tips were added to the bill. Get it? read more

We came here many times since it opened. At first they were not as great cause of staffing. It was new, now that it's been I believe over 6 months. We came here for dim sum. Even my daughter and her cousins from New York complimented this place. I love the lightings . Staff were very attentive. Thank you. Will be back soon! Ambiance . read more

I didn't even get to eat -- that's how bad the experience was. Don't waste your time. It's actually kind of funny because I totally know what the last reviewer was talking about.. especially that RR blocking the way at the entrance! Same exact experience. You can't even see inside because it's all long hallways and blocked views, so you have no idea if it's really full or not. The first thing you're greeted with are rude hostesses who pretend they don't understand you. Supposedly this restaurant can seat around 800 people, yet they told us they were "full for the night." We were there at 6 PM, so you're telling me everyone who came in at 5 PM can somehow take up all 4.5 hours until closing? That math ain't mathing. Another review I saw said they only wanted to seat tables 5 or more and anyone else who has 2-4 are not really welcomed. Maybe that's why? We had 4 people and as we were leaving, we saw some bigger parties waiting outside. They can't be reservations because they said they don't take reservations. If they did, thats also not good their end for lying to me. The hostesses were rude and dismissive -- barely answered questions, and the whole vibe was just unwelcoming. Between the parking chaos, weird policies, and attitude, I decided to leave before wasting more time. Just because they just opened this week, doesn't give the workers the rights to be rude. Save yourself the headache -- there are plenty of better restaurants nearby that actually want your business. read more

Our occasion was our first extended family Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year/Spring festival) meal since the pandemic. We reserved for 40 people and selected a modified meal from their set menus. Food: All of the food was good. The presentation was beautiful. The amount plentiful for our table of 10. They modified our menu as requested even though they would have to order some of the ingredients in advance. Service: It was excellent. They responded quickly to my voice message to ask if they took reservations for a group of 40 into a private area. The tables were nicely set and they immediately brought appitizers out when the first guests arrived. They verified when we wanted the meal to start and they had plenty of staff to have all of our table served at the same time. They boxed left-overs as we went along (we requested). The room lighting was perfect. The restrooms clean. The napkins nicely folded and they had both chopsticks (real ones) and forks in the setting. We will go back again and will have other events at this resturant. read more

I was going to give it a try but decided to skip this place after seeing all these compost bins outside. I can only imagine the number of rodents those bins attract. I wonder how long that trash will see outside with all their lids half open. read more

HL Peninsula - Trash - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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We chose this restaurant because it's advertised as one of the largest dim sum places in the California, and we made a reservation well in advance for 18 people for a family gathering. Unfortunately, the experience was extremely disappointing from the moment we arrived. Despite the reservation, we were seated at two separate tables, which defeats the entire purpose of booking for a large family gathering. When we politely asked the manager if we could be seated together, his response was shockingly unprofessional. He made obnoxious facial expressions, acted visibly annoyed, and then moved us to a side area near loud speakers and the service station, which was noisy and uncomfortable. From that point on, the service noticeably declined. The staff was inattentive, slow, and unfriendly, making us feel like an inconvenience rather than paying guests. For a restaurant of this reputation and size, this level of hospitality is unacceptable. Large groups require coordination and respect--especially when a reservation is made in advance. Sadly, this place failed on both service and professionalism. We left feeling disappointed and would not return or recommend it for family gatherings. read more

Food: not as great as you would expect it to be. Service: SUCKS! The food service was very slow, and when the food got to our table, it was cold. Waiters just walks past you, taking forever to come when you do call. Ambiance: noisy, overwhelming. The tables are set up too close to each other. Parking sucks! Waiting time sucks! hostesses in the front seem very rude when speaking to people. If you plan on going at the moment please don't. Go in a few months, maybe then food, service and ambiance will have gotten a lot better. read more

My girlfriend and I came here and see what's up because we wanna try it out. First they took us into a small room to be seated,there's no service at all,the beef rice noodles roll was cold,why the hell you used sliced steak for that? like a chew gum,carrot cake was terrible,tastes like rubber. Never had anything like that in my life,didn't know how the managers and the chef running this place,most ridiculous thing was there's still 16% service charge with this kinda service,literally zero service. Never ever coming back,thanks. read more

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Opened 15 days ago. Large and spacious restaurant. 6 Giant video screens. Food was good. Went at 5 pm, and no waiting. Lots of parking. read more

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The front house staff, specifically the younger worker who speaks mandarin, was very rude. She brought us to the table and the whole time I felt like we were in a yelling match since she kept raising her voice at me. Not an experience you want during an afternoon tea. Honestly, just go to the HL in SSF or Burlingame for better service and food. read more

Checked out this new restaurant on a random Thursday - the week of Lunar New Year - without reservations. We were greeted by the hostess and seated quickly. The next server noticed we didn't have the dim sum menu and brought that and the hot tea we requested. Then a different server took our order and shared with us similar options we might like. Honestly it felt a bit like they were fussing over us - one of the few tables with no Chinese people in the party - but in a good way. They checked to see if we wanted ice water or needed forks in addition to chopsticks - no to both. We ordered shrimp shumai, calamari, Shanghai Xiao bao, mackerel, Chinese greens, and roast pork. They were out of scallion pancake though. Dishes came out as they were ready. Everything was really fresh and flavorful and generous portions; we had so much left over that we took home. The place continued to fill up; it is massive in size. It was fun to people watch across all of those tables and the music videos on the screens kept us entertained as well. We had fun/friendly interactions with the families at tables adjacent to ours. After we finished eating, the server brought a warm bean and tapioca type dessert. It was not something I would have ordered on my own but it was good. The check included an 18% service charge/tip even though we were a small party. My standard is 20% but there was no place to add the missing 2%. We enjoyed our meal and would definitely return. read more

Stay away from this place for at least a year. We had a 6pm reservation and we ordered 9 dishes. We received 4 dishes in 2.5 hrs while other tables who sat down after us received their dishes and were almost done before we even got to eat dinner. They are not equipped to handle these many tables and they need to work through everything before it's worth going. read more

Food was amazing, tasted great. Workers are super nice as well and are pretty fast. The interior was also super nice and 6 big screens and perfect timing (since it's the World Cup)! read more

The food came out good and the service was too everyone was so nice. The food came out perfectly! The ambiance was good too.

Tried HL Pen in South SF and Castro Valley x2. South SF location taste better, maybe cuz this location/team is new?? Dim Sum: We went on a Sunday 9:45am (15mins) before their listed opening hour, got in line to get a table for 6 and was seated right away. No problem finding parking. By 10am, all the tables in the main dining hall were occupied. We ordered beef hor fun, fish porridge and 8 more typical dim sums in baskets. The food was rather bland, only tasted saltiness but not much umami if that makes sense. Porridge was pretty smooth, at $28 - a bit pricer than other places, portion was enough for 6 adults. Dinner: went on a Friday night 5:30pm. 2 adults, 1young kid, no wait for a table. There was an event that night, so they divided the main hall in half. The private rooms were mostly occupied as well. We ordered Lobster Noodle, cucumber roll, and something not memorable. The cucumber rolls were very good and refreshing. Lobster noodle was again just salty, and had some ocean water taste in the claw meat which grossed me out a little. Dinner menu didn't have much that kids will like. There were a lot of delicacies that my older parents/aunts/uncle would appreciate. I understand that they are not trying to be a "Cha chaan teng" but grand restaurant. However, I am still hoping they could add more children friendly food on the menu. We wanted to order the sesame chicken but was told that it had to be pre-ordered 1-day ahead of time. Room Design: looks pretty good for banquets, but overwhelming to have 6 giant screens flashing while you eat (basketball was on that night). Perhaps I need to ask for a table in one of those semi-private rooms. The layout appears very inefficient for the staff to walk across such a big room.. Have they considered putting a couple movable island in the middle of the room so that plate sets/to go boxes/cash registers/water can be stationed in the middle instead of both ends of the room? I see the staff walking back and forth so much just to grab misc things for the tables. No wonder service is so slow. I don't think they need to sacrifice the number of tables if they then put the smaller tables against the walls and have some moveable islands in the middle that they could relocated for banquets. I will be coming here again for convenience and to support their effort because I want them to be successful and stay. Hopefully the food will taste better once they settle down. read more

HL Peninsula - Lobster Noodle - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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Went to HL Peninsula with a big group of twelve, so we got to try a ton of dim sum dishes. Honestly, most of them were just okay--nothing stood out, and the best ones were still kind of average. The bigger dishes, though, were solid. The lobster with pine nuts and rice was flavorful and nicely done, and the rock cod chow fun hit the spot too. If I come back, it'd probably be for dinner dishes rather than dim sum. The space itself is huge, and we actually got seated in a private room. It looked new and still had that fresh furniture smell, which was kind of nice. Overall, it's a good spot if you've got a large group and want a comfortable space, but food-wise, it depends on what you order. read more

The food was excellent. The restaurant was well staffed and really for big crowds. The service was excellent. The only issue I had was the,restaurant charges you for warm water. Two of my friends asked for warm water. I brought my own water bottle but our bill showed a charge of $1.50 for three people.For a fancy restaurant that seems to be tacky. read more

This restaurant consists of multiple large banquet halls and several private rooms. It is huge. I had the xiao long bao and the Abolone noodles, which were very good. However, the service was very poor. There was nobody at the hostess stand to greet us when we walked in, then they were out of multiple of the dishes that we wanted to order. We were going to order multiple rounds of food as well as dessert, but we ended up just leaving after ordering the two items because of the bad service. I will likely not be coming here again. read more

Overpriced and the food was mediocre. Long wait time after order placed. The service was horrible. Sit and suffer with overwhelming noise in the restaurant and repetitive ad playing on the eye strain large screens. read more