Came here multiple times with my family, sometimes for dim sum and sometimes for dinner. The food is ok and the service is adequate though sometimes you have to ask multiple times for things. We tried fried rice, stir fry pea sprouts, lamb clay pot, honey walnut prawns, steamed oysters, fried squab, chicken, clam claypot and they were mediocre. I have definitely had better elsewhere. I did really enjoy two dishes: Tofu with Fuzzy Melon & Fish To-Fu Simmered in Fish Broth and the crab soup. They usually give you free dessert after dinner; it's usually red bean soup. read more

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FOOD: I mean it's hit or miss and of course dependent on individual taste buds. The beef was delicious. The okra was surprisingly delicious. The stir fried combination rice noodle was nasty and flavorless. The cha shui in the rice noodle was black, dark, and dried. The mushroom truffle to me was too much... too much soil and earth taste. The steamed bbq pork buns made folks go #2 rather quickly. The chive and shrimp dumpling was good... lots of stuffing filled to the brim. The fried glutinous dumpling with pork was delicious!! The dough for once was cooked through and chewy to the tee. The fish and crispy donut rice noodle rolls were dry but different which I appreciated. ***their rice noodle rolls are definitely unique and highly recommended to try at least one*** SERVICE: Yes they're rude. Yes they don't care. Yes they shrug you off. Yes they're unresponsive to feedback. Yes they say "no speak English" as an excuse. The table sitting next to us arrived at about 207pm (when they close for break at 230pm), the server pushed them every 2 minutes to order and to hurry up as the kitchen is closing. If I were in that table's shoes, I would've been pissed. Then as 230pm hit, server gave them boxes and the bill. They barely ate... yeah I get it, from their perspective, I want to quickly go on my break, too. Should've forewarned these customers. AMBIANCE: Very very very fancy with very very very fancy bottles and boxes of alcohol lining the walls. We went when there was a celebration going on so I don't know if that made the difference. Loved their separated rooms and orange decor profile. Casual meets fine dining. ***THEY ADD A MANDATORY 16% SERVICE FEE*** Located next to MeiMei Supermarket and some wonderland/boba cafe plaza. Plaza is under construction currently. Huge private parking lot. Would I come back? I'd probably go to the Milpitas location first. read more

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Crazy ambitious space, reminded of grand banquet restaurants in Asia. Like can probably house over a thousand diners at a time. The massive space, the army for a staff and the constant action/motion from every angle is almost dizzying. Not exactly my cup of tea, but for large groups, this place will dish it out without issue. Whereas a small place will struggle doing multiple large groups. So there is a specific purpose these places can bring. Place used to be a Rite Aid, and they totally gutted the inside and turned it into an upscale banquet hall. The main dining area is one room and you can see across it. Almost all big round tables that seat 10 peeps+ with the lazy susan that spins. I would feel silly bringing a party of 2 here. Seafood tanks, cavernous hallways, larger than life big screen monitors in simultaneous motion and private rooms that can accommodate different sizes of groups. There's even a separate area for a bakery and for take-out dumplings, so take-out peeps don't clog the front of the entrance. Brilliant move imo. We came for a weekend dim sum outing where our food was pre-ordered, so as soon as we all sat down, food just started to arrive. I didn't try everything as it was a bit overwhelming. I only tried what passed me by, and even by missing several things, I was still stuffed to the gills. But here's my impressions on what I did try: Crab Congee (4*) Everyone got a small cup. Congee was mild maybe with a hint of ginger and a slight seafood flavor. Proper texture of the rice porridge where you couldn't see any grains of rice, just a thickish porridge. The waiter made sure there were a piece or 2 of dungeness crab in each cup. Very mild but decent start. Pork Siu Mai (4*) Not sure if there were any seafood in this but these were the bigger type of dumplings, like 3 small bites. Pretty dense and meaty but still pretty juicy. After eating 2, I knew I was going to get stuffed here. Shrimp Dumplings (3*) Aka Har Gow. I felt theirs was kinda dry, like didn't really pop with juice or flavor. But you will get big bites of shrimp. Combo Fried Rice (3*) Looked great, lots of assorted protein in thick slivers. I think I tried chicken, calamari and shrimp. But not that flavorful in spicing and the wok hei was disappointingly absent/light. Seafood Pan Fried Noodles (4*) This was better than the fried rice. Noodles totally crisp upon arrival but when mixed into the sauce it softens yet still has that fried texture. I've had better but this wasn't bad. XLB (3*) This is the version in the tiny tins. Not a fan of those. The wrapper usually sticks and is generally smaller. These were juicy tho, like had to sip from it first, before trying to gobble it up. Quite porky. Fried Tofu Skin w/Shrimp (4*) Crispy, oily, shrimpy. So textbook I guess. Lobster E Fu Noodles (3*) I was never a fan of this dish, but I tried it here. Cut up lobster pretty hard to eat as it is covered in a starchy and slippery sauce. Noodles were plentiful but just didn't have any flavors that popped. Just wet, sticky and starchy noodles to me. Roast Pork Belly (5*) Best thing I had at the table. Theirs is very special. Like comes in a perfect square, cut up in tinier squares with precision. Each bite is like a half inch cube, perfectly crisp skin on top and perfectly juicy and tender interior. And perfectly salted too. I couldn't even snap a pic cuz these went so fast. I barely got 2 little cubes. I would return for these. There are probably another 2-3 items that I tried but can't really remember, or don't know the names of them. Definitely a couple of fried items. Service was fast and since they knew what we had ordered, they put everything out at once. At one point I didn't think we'd have enough room. But as they started clearing empties, the table became more manageable. I thought they could have done a better job at spacing things out, since they knew or had control of the flow. They chose chaos and a frenetic pace. *expletive mouthed emoji* So not too impressed with this one outing. I do want to come on my own and order more exotic and/or involved dishes, like live seafood, roast squab, a tripe dish and something steamed and delicate. I'll be back. They're still in their first year of operations, so I'm sure they can be more impressive. Hoping. Anticipating. read more

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The service was really good and it's so clean and pretty inside. Great venue spot and the food was really good. Perfect for group gatherings and reunions. the only thing is they don't have dimsum carts read more

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

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The largest dim sum restaurant in the Bay Area. 28,000-square-foot and seating for 900 guests. Great for large groups and includes private rooms. Service is fairly slow. It's a long wait whenever you need something. They're probably understaffed. Food is pretty decent for the most part, but a couple of the dishes were not hot when it came, so it was probably sitting around for quite a while. Don't expect to get all your food. The items we ordered slowly came out and the last dish never came out at all and we ended up cancelling. read more

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This place is HUGE and is considered one of the largest dim sum spots. Surprisingly parking was pretty rough even though the lot looks fairly big. We arrived about 15 minutes after opening and the lot was already full! The main dining room was packed, so we were seated at the end of one of the side rooms. Service was good in the beginning but towards the end it felt like we were forgotten. It was difficult to flag someone down for the check or for sauce and tea refills. However, I thought the food was good and tasted fresh. My favorite dish was the pork spareribs in black bean sauce. Note that there is an automatic 16% service charge regardless of party size. I'd recommend arriving early and, if possible, being seated in the main dining room for a better overall experience. read more

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Wow. I thought the 2.5 stars rating was an exaggeration but nope, it's right on the money. Having been to many dimsum restaurants and relatively low threshold for service expectations. This restaurant is definitely a miss. Although our Sunday morning wait was less than 5 mins for a table of 6, service was painfully slow. Dimsum took almost 2 hours with long pauses between dishes. While there were a few good dishes (salted egg yolk fried pumpkin, sesame lava balls, baked bbq bun) there were some really horrible dishes. We ordered a bean curd roll that was supposed to be served chilled but literally was crunchy due to the ice that hadn't full thawed. When we brought it to the waitress' attention she was adamant it was supposed to be like that and did not offer any resolution. Whatever you do, do not order the durian green tea mochi. This was plain nasty and did not taste of durian at all. Chicken feet was okay, the flavor was lacking. Shumai was good/average. Rice roll with Chinese donut and fish was so soggy. Service was chaotic and people kept slipping outside of our room. Just during our lunch I heard multiple slips and broken dishes. Get a grip! Adding insult to injury, the bill was $175 for severely mediocre food and service despite the high end ambiance. read more

HL Peninsula - Frozen!! 6016. Chiled Vegetarian Bean Curd Skin Roll - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

I first heard about this new spot on TikTok, and I thought "Wow...This place looks very elegant, and it's a new yum cha spot?!" I told my mom about it, and she actually went a few weeks back with friends. She told me that it was meh. We went there yesterday for lunch, and we were seated right away without any waiting. The place was pretty packed actually with about 80% of the main dining room filled with seated tables. The menu was overwhelming as it was extensive so many choices. I picked 3 items while my mom and aunt choose some other items as well. One of the items which was the Pork & Mango Rice Noodle Roll was out informed by a server. Boo... We chose another roll, but the server forgot to put into the system. The place is massive with elegant decor. There's even a hallway with private rooms for people to book. The bathroom was pretty clean. Parking was not too bad. We parked further to the side of the supermarket. My mom and aunt got some kind beef stew dish that they said tasted very bland. The har gow was falling apart while we were trying to pick it up. The pineapple custard bun was good. The fried noodle dish was okay. I didn't like the bbq pork in there (it tasted kinda old) and not enough sauce for the noodles. The pea sprouts soup dish was good! We were waiting for one of my mom's choice for dim sum, and we waved at a server. His initial response was asking if we want to cancel it instead of offering to follow up on it. Weird response.. We didn't want to cancel; we just want the dumpling to come. We waited some more, and still nothing. So then my mom called the server to get the check and to cancel that dumpling that we were waiting for. Then after we paid for the check, then a lady came with the dumpling, which we told her that we had already cancel at this point. Also, when we first sat down, I smelled something not pleasant inside the restaurant. Not sure what it was, but then after 10 minutes either I got used to the smell or it did fade. Oh! and they charge a 16% service charge even though it was only 3 of us. Service was definitely not that good honestly. I would not return to this spot as there are better places such as Fusion Delight in San Leandro, Koi Palace, and more. read more

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I have always loved the Peninsula, and I expect this new location to shine once the initial kinks are ironed out. I visited on a Tuesday, found parking, and waited only five minutes for a table. The restaurant feels like its South San Francisco counterpart--very nice, enormous and pretty. The dim‑sum was on par with other locations and more, offering around 100 items on the menu at comparable prices. It was very good, all made to order and fresh. Service was very good and servers were all very kind. Fav was the duck and tripe. I thoroughly enjoyed this location and encourage yelpers to give it a try. read more

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I made reservations for 5 on a Saturday night a couple weeks ago. Wow it was busy. They seemed unorganized when I walked in. They kept saying my name wrong and confused where my reservation was at for a bit. Once we got seated and given menus, the servers were all gone. It took forever to find someone to take our order. After probably about 25mins, we were finally able to order our foods. Then it took forever to find someone to get us some water and tea. They are clearly understaffed. The lobster sticky rice was pretty delicious. The beef chow fun was meh, it seemed more bean sprouts than anything. Also the clay pot did not come in a clay pot. It was judt a big service bowl and underneath did not have the fire on anyway. This was the same bowl they used for a sizzling plate we ordered. That was pretty disappointing. In the menu, the pics show a real sizzling plate and a clay pot. Idk if I will come back. Maybe to try the dimsum, but meh. They had these huge TVs in the room, but it was playing TMZ. Not even the warriors game or something more interesting. At least one of the TVs switch the station? All 3 were playing the same station. Also, parking lot is not big enough. I had to park super far away. read more

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We don't understand the low reviews here. Maybe when people came during the grand opening or just got dim sum or were frustrated with the parking on weekends? We came twice, during the week days, one lunch, one dinner. Both were very good experiences. The dishes we ordered were all very good, and the dinner service was extremely nice and helpful. Lunch service was a bit rushed cos we were close to closing time but can't fault them for that. Inside is huge of course and really meant for big ballroom (aka wedding) dinners. But even for a small table of 3 of us it was still comfy and cosy. This is our new higher end Chinese food place! Just avoid weekend peak hours when there's a wait and parking becomes an issue. read more

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I felt like I waited long enough to try this restaurant out, giving them more than ample time to work out their kinks. But nope. You can't even pay me to come back! We came right when I opened so so we got seated right away. Let's start by saying they gave us the menu, but didn't give us a pen to fill in our order. And then we took a long time to figure out what we wanted to eat about 20 minutes and in that 20 minutes, no one came to check on us to order so we had to flag them down to order. OK, we finally got our order in 12:11. About 25 minutes later we got a few of our dishes. Past 1:00pm, we were still missing more than half of our dishes and upon checking, we noticed that one dish we had ordered never even made into the system. At this point, everything tasted very mediocre. Soy sauce noodles were bland. Scallion pancake tasted worse than frozen Trader Joe's. Steamed taro and pork with salty egg yolks were undercooked- you can literally taste raw taro. I can't tell you what other stuff gonna taste like because we never got it. Proceeded with flagging the server down to cancel the rest of our order and to get the bill. No apologies at this point on their end as well. 16% included service charge. I genuinely don't see how this establishment is going to do well. Understaffed, overpriced, subpar food. read more

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Food 5/5 Service 5/5 Ambiance 5/5 Idk why people are such haters! I love the food here, service is good enough and ambiance is lively! read more

Place is humongous Service is scattered and unorganized due to the place is so huge There were plenty of servers but still so unorganized. Food is good with some few dishes that you can passed. Overall I recommend wait awhile until they are more organized For dim sum go as soon as it opens without a long wait time. read more

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Came here for a red egg celebration, and overall it's a great venue for large gatherings. IT IS HUGE. Used to be the old rite aid which i always thought was way too big for a store. The space is massive, and the décor was very well done. We were seated in the back and had plenty of room -- we had about 6-8 tables total, with enough space to comfortably place all of our cocktail & wine bottles. Service was decent and attentive, especially considering the size of our group. As for the food, the flavor was inconsistent. The lobster lacked seasoning and wasn't salty enough, and a few of the fish dishes weren't as flavorful compared to similar dishes I've had at other places. I see why this place is a 3, it did not deliver on taste. That said, this is still a solid choice for celebrations. **They also played the warriors game on ALL BIG SCREENS on Sunday so a nice spot to watch the game actually. read more

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

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I feel people are rating HL Peninsula unfairly to make a point, but it's honestly not that bad. The food is decent and the service is ok -- other than the fact that with such a large place with hundreds of tables, service is obviously going to be quite slow. For reference, I came in to grab a table for 2 on a Sunday for dim sum around 12pm. Grabbed a number and waited about 10 minutes before our number was called which was surprisingly quick. Sat down, marked our food choices and had to flag someone to grab our menu - pretty standard. We did have to ask a couple times for tea. Then we waited about 15-20 mins until our first food item came. We ordered 7 dishes that arrived in about 10 minutes increments which made me so full from waiting on the dishes to arrive. Other than that, this place is decent and pretty elevated. People seem like they are expecting the most top notch service. This place is still new and is most definitely working on all the kinks. Food: Siu Mai - very standard, nice and meaty Beef Rice roll with yellow chives - Did not like this one. I was disappointed because this is usually one of my main favorites for dim sum, but the meat was not what I expected - very tough and not like the soft minced beef. Glutinous meat ball - Delish! Sweet and savory, and surprisedly super filled with juicy meat! They do not skimp on the filling here. Tofu skin wrap with pork - Good. Solid item. Beef & Rice Noodles w/ Sha Cha Sauce - Expensive, but good! Very flavorful. The rice noodle rolls were good. Kinda wish it was made like chow fun noodles though, but this was well done either way. Although this place is convenient to me, I probably wouldn't frequent here all the time. Parking sucks there now and sometimes the wait might not be worth it, but the food is still pretty good. read more

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Beautiful venue, dim sum is ok. Service is quite attentive! and they take AMEX! I grew up having dim sum on the weekends with my grandparents. It was long overdue to try HL's newest location! The place is HUGE. The inside was double the size of what I expected and would be the perfect place for a huge wedding or event. I opted for the dim sum classics: steamed rice roll, siu mai (steamed shrimp dumpling), char siu bao (steamed bbq pork bun), as well as the more traditional ones along with pea sprouts in soup. The dim sum tasted very standard. The shrimps in steamed rice roll could have been silkier. The char siu bao and siu mai was good. However, the pea sprouts in soup I would definitely not get again. read more

HL Peninsula - Steamed Honeycomb Tripes with Curry Sauce 4004. Fried Bean Curd Skin Roll with Shrimp steamed 3004. Chlu Chow Dumpling - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

This place is huge! I got weekend dim sum here with a group of 4, and we got seated immediately in one of the many side rooms that were available. A table in the main dining room would've been a 40+ minute wait though. Food quality was standard. I wouldn't go out of my way to come back here just because most of the food items were just average. But I do have to say that the seafood dishes I tried were surprisingly above average in terms of taste and quality. However, the XLB was disappointing because the skin was so thin it had holes in it, causing all the soup to spill out. Service was okay, although the staff forgot one of the items we ordered. So we had to manually ask them to add it. read more

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Based on other reviews I saw, the stars must have aligned for us because we had a pretty good experience at HL this morning. The two of us arrived around 11:45 AM prepared for battle but were able to find parking and get in and seated with no wait! As others have said, their menu is long and they have some fun twists on dimsum classics. We ordered a few: 叉烧酥 with ginger in it [different but still tasted pretty good], marinated 油条肠粉 with fish [this one took us by surprise because it was soft rather than crispy so we are not sure how we feel about it] and almond crusted 炸虾球 [wish the breading had a bit more salt to bring out the almond flavor, but it was tasty]. We also ordered other common dishes like 虾饺 and 萝卜糕 that were prepared in the traditional way and they were good. Whenever we get dim sum I just kind of assume service is going to be what it is (IYKYK), but the service was actually very attentive and everything came out in a timely fashion. They did miss one item we ordered and when we called them over to add it, there was no problem and it came out with the other food. Otherwise, we had no issues getting waiters attention for condiments or to pay the bill. It was quite busy, almost every table occupied, but the waiters had it under control and were efficient, nothing seemed hurried or stressful which can sometimes happen in a bustling restaurant like this. I think HL is a good option if you are looking for dimsum in the CV area or you want to try their unique spin on dim sum classics. read more

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

Came here with a group of 14. We split up and sat at two tables of 7. We were all excited about trying this place as there was a lot of hype about it. It's supposed to be the biggest Cantonese dim sum place at least in California. It certainly was! This place is HUGE!! But as we found out, big doesn't always mean good, they are two different things. It was the grand opening for this location. Walking in, my first impression was how large and how elegant it is in there. Elegance aside, the food was just so so, very uneven. The taro puffs, tofu skin wrapped pork, and fried puffs with meat were totally bland, no flavor! The fried puffs hardly had any filling and the skin was too thick. Other dishes like ha gow, siu mai, beef rolls were just OK, nothing special. For a place as nice as that and with beautiful presentation of the food, you'd think that the food would have tasted better and had more flavor, but they were pretty lackluster. What they did do right was the mini wrapped sticky rice, which had really nice ingredients inside and actually was delicious! The gai lan (Asian broccoli) was also perfectly done, cooked all the way through but still retained its crunchiness. The dim sum menu is very large but not user-friendly. There are lots of items but if you have your favorite dim sum in mind, good luck trying to find it in the extensive list. It's probably there, but you have to find it. The staff was impersonal and was very rushed. For such a huge place they appear to be shortstaffed. I think there is a lot of potential here but they either have ineffective management, poor communication, lack of a good system, or all three. They seem to be too large and too new to have ironed out the kinks yet. Until then, I don't think I'll be returning as there are other elegant dim sum places with better food and service. read more

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4 stars for the food. Lots of grows pains and room for improvement. Hey when you just open the largest Cantonese Seafood dim sum house on the West Coast you are gonna have service issues. Bigger is not better when it comes to restaurants. We went on a Thursday 12:45 pm a short wait10 minutes. Beautiful restaurant with a huge wall with a tv wall. Too bad they only played a video advertisement for a dance floor rental. Minus star. The room is huge and packed. Lots of service people but the shear size of the room made it hard to deliver a competent level of service minus star. Extensive menu with lots of items not normally seen. plus star. The food was very good. The dim sum barometer the Haw Gao had three shrimps in each dumplings +++. A couple mistakes on the order and bill. Ordered a clam dish that never came. Over charged on tea. Different prices on tea served. Food takes a while to come out and the order in which it comes. Parking is a problem even with the large shared lot with the Mei Mei Market next door. The potential of this Cantonese seafood dim sum house is huge. Just a suggestion Limit the number of patrons until staff is able to keep with the service. read more

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My party of ten arrived at 10am on a Sunday knowing we had to beat the crowds. Parking was not a problem at that time. Fortunately we picked a good time and got seated in the main dining area right away. At first glance I felt like the space looked comparable in size to both HL locations in SSF but realized how big it was after noticing the front room and the smaller private rooms by the restrooms. Like other reviewers stated, the service is a bit slow. After placing our orders, it did take quite a bit of time to get our food. The dim sum items came first and the larger entree items came out much later. Each item came one by one with time in between so if you are starving you will not be able to stuff yourself right away. We saw another table get what looked like a crunchy sesame cracker that resembled a ghost so we ordered that too; it was a bit plain but added a nice crunch to our meal of mostly steamed dim sum and rice lol. Since I've been to other HL locations, I did not notice any significant differences in the menu. It was a bit odd that the screens kept showing the same wedding photography ad the whole time I was there instead of rotating through various ads or showing something on live TV. The majority of my party consisted of Cantonese speakers so we did not have any issues communicating with the staff. I would only go back if I was somewhat nearby but wouldn't cross a bridge to dine at this specific location. read more

HL Peninsula - Crunchy sesame pancake that resembles a ghost - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

I knew this spot was going to have some growing/learning pains when they first opened given the sheer size of the restautant. Critics are much too harsh on newer spots that are still figuring things out and working out the kinks. Personally, I have been here twice and have had a fantastic experience both times. Full disclaimer, I went both times on a Saturday morning when they open and was their first few customers. Service was very prompt and the food was prepared and delivered quite fast after ordering. You'll get your usually choices of dimsum, there isnt anything that they dont make. They also have lots of seafood choices if you are feeling fancy. The food itself arrived hot and delicious, didnt have an issue with the food. There is an automatic service charge for my party, not sure what the exact number is or if they just add the service charge automatically, but I believe it was 15-18%, which isn't that bad, there isn't even an option to leave additional tip, which I appreciate in a world where everyone asks for extra. Im extremely happy to have this place so close to home and look forward to many more visits. read more

The restuarant is bringing many customers as possible to this restaurant that seats 800+ people through its grand opening advertisements and deals. Unfortunately, there is not enough staffing in my opinion to currently run a place like this. My friends and I reserved in advance for seating in one of their VIP rooms since there were many of us gathering for Thanksgiving day. We ordered many classic dishes, including their Shrimp Dumplings, Pork & Crab Roe Siu Mai, Shanghai Xiao Long Baos, Pork To-Fu Skin Wrap in Oyster Sauce, Chicken Feet, Shrimp Rice Noodle Rolls, BBQ Pork, Chinese Broccoli, Fried Rice, and various noodle dishes. With the exception of the vegetables, the dishes were subpar. It was difficult to get most of our order, with the bill also not correctly reflecting it. The quality was not as I had wanted, and many of my friends agree with the assessment too. I will not be coming here again in the near future, but I hope they improve for the long run! read more

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

We had heard some negative reviews of this new dim sum spot before going but didn't think too much about it. As we were driving to Costco over the weekend, we had a sudden craving for dim sum, so we decided to give this place a shot. Gotta try it for ourselves right! Well the positive was that there was no wait for a party for 2 at noon on a Saturday so that was great! Mind you, it was still busy and the entire dining room was packed, but we were able to get a seat right away because the place was so big. We ordered all the standard dim sum - shrimp dumplings, siu mai, chicken feet, spare ribs, bbq pork buns, beef rice noodle rolls, turnip cakes, and beef balls. And then I decided to get one specialty sounding item - truffle mushroom dumplings. Sounded good to me! First thing we got was the bbq pork buns. These were yummy! Good bbq pork flavor, not too fatty meat, nice slightly crispy outer shell and soft bun on the inside. Reminded me of the ones at Tim Ho Wan in hk. BUT THEN everything went downhill! The next item we got was the truffle dumplings. My first bite - not bad since I like the flavor of mushrooms, tasted like the filling in typical mushroom ravioli. Now my second bite - I chomp down on something hard! At first I think it's a piece of bone... like why would there be bone in a mushroom dumping?! But then I look down and it's a whole piece of black plastic broken off from something, like imagine if the corner of your phone or the corner of a plastic chopstick had been broken off and mixed in with the dumpling filling! Definitely a choking hazard, thank god I caught it. I was in such shock that I completely forgot to take a picture of it. But we flagged down a server and even the manager who came was like 攞命咩 (literal translation - taking a life?!) and took a pic of it to document. Needless to say, after that, it was hard to enjoy the meal. Everything else was just alright, nothing special. We got the beef rice noodle rolls (normally my fave dish) last and these were quite disappointing. The roll itself was not soft, silky, and smooth enough, and they used small beef slices instead of the minced beef paste that dim sum style beef rice noodle rolls normally come with. The two pieces of snow peas that I think were intended to garnish and make the dish look nice added a distinct pea flavor that was not enjoyable with the dish. Suffice it to say, we probably will not be back. read more

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Hubby and I wanted to check out Mei Mei at 10am on a Saturday and get diverted to HL instead. It had just opened and so we got seated right away. Since it was our first time there, we were in awe by how massive it was inside. Super high ceilings, perfect for wedding banquets and hosting dim sum for the entire city of CV. I wasn't familiar with the menu so it took some time to choose what we wanted to try. The salted egg buns were so gooey, sweet & savory and was the highlight of our brunch. The bbq pork bun was also light and fluffy, filled with salty sweet pork and gravy. I loved the crab & shrimp dumplings and beef balls (not pictured) but the XLBs weren't anything to write home about. The fried rice was tasty but needed a bit more salt, otherwise the rice was fluffy, and beef plentiful. I wish water service was a little bit more attentive, but overall I'd come back to try other dishes! read more

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Huge Chinese dim sum/seafood restaurant that recently opened in Castro Valley. Dining area was gigantic, probably over 100 tables, along with some private rooms on the side. Great for banquets/weddings. I have been to the other locations in the bay area so I am familiar with the food options, BUT this location by far is the best tasting and doesn't skimp on ingredients. Food came out quickly after we marked what items we want. They also have some dim sum items that the other locations do not offer. This location has a TO GO bakery/dim sum/hot food area by the front for those who may want something quick. There is a shared parking plaza with the grocery store next door but parking can be difficult when it is prime lunch time. I recommend coming by, hosts were super sweet and greeted us when we walked in and service was fast and attentive. read more

Oh man this place is HUGE! Came on a rainy Saturday, and there was no parking at all. Best to just save yourself the headache and street park close by. It was close to New Year, so it was like being transported back to Asia. I enjoyed the ginormous tv screens playing random youtube videos haha. We ordered so much dim sum. Everything was pretty good. The menu seemed a bit more expansive than a regular dim sum place. Service wasn't great, but what can you expect. Overall, I'd probably only come here for gatherings, not on my own. It was nice to experience the newness though. read more

Came on a weekend for lunch, no wait for two people which was nice to be seated right away. But I was not expecting to wait throughout my whole time there. First off, after we were seated, the table was not set with tableware, no one came to check on us. We had to get someone's attention for everything. Food: We ordered - siu mai and steamed tofu skin roll (pretty decent 8/10) - pork xiao long bao (there were 4, but barely any soup, 5/10) - baked BBQ bun (there were 3, outside crust was okay, 7/10) - truffle mushroom dumpling (very interesting combo, mushrooms were good but I feel like the mushroom would pair better with a bao 6/10) - crispy rice noodle with shrimp: IT NEVER CAME (I waited 30-40 minutes, asked about this item 2x, it still never came, I ended up canceling this item.) Service: nonexistent, I understand we came on a busy holiday weekend but this type of service is unacceptable. And they still charge you 16% service charge on your bill. Food was okay, but one plate came at a time, I probably waited 10-15 mins for each item to come separately Interior was nice and modern. Overall, I am very disappointed and I will not be returning read more

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

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I'm surprised by the positive reviews as I found the food to be pretty average and the service to be pretty mediocre (it's hard for me to separate between the two). We ordered many of the standard dim sum items - shrimp rice noodle crepes, BBQ pork rice noodle crepes, turnip cake, siu mai, sesame balls, sticky rice in lotus leaf and xiao long baos. The rice noodle crepes, turnip cake, siu mai and other dim sum items were standard though a bit greasy. The xiao long baos and sesame balls were not good, but I think it's because they arrived room temperature or almost cold. The xiao long baos had very little soup and had pretty thick dumpling skin. Cold sesame balls are just not good - they are greasy and chewy. We ordered 2-3 dishes of each item, and they never came out together so we would get half of our order at a time which is tough because only half the table could eat an item when it arrived. There are still lots of service issues which may be leading to the food not being very good. We were able to make a reservation for lunch which is nice. read more

So we decided to try this restaurant out on a Tuesday night. First of their parking lot. They definitely need to address the parking lot and how parking is. They need security in that parking lot, and they need to fix the lights. It was extremely dark, and you could barely drive in between the stalls since some cars were not parked properly. But safety is my biggest concern here. We were seated right away, and I can definitely say that this restaurant is huge. They definitely invested in the restaurant's interior. From the massive TVs surrounding the dining room, to the wall of expensive liquor, and then the private rooms on the other side of the restaurant. Now I don't know if lunchtime is full dim sum, which I really hope it is. Dinner is definitely very different. Once we got the menu, it was honestly very overwhelming and very expensive, which ties well with the restaurant. This is definitely a family-style restaurant, as their portions are generous. We were initially greeted and assisted by a female server, and later, I just flagged down whoever I saw to place an order. So I agree with what many other guests have already said about this restaurant. So we started with the Minced Beef Soup w/Cilantro. Definitely not what we were used to with this one. This in itself was a heavy meal for two people, thanks to the minced beef. Taste-wise, it was good, but the minced beef threw me off. Pork & Crab Siu Mai (4/5)- Great tasting siu mai, a little to big for my liking and given this has crab on it the price was definitely a little steep for a siu mai but definitely a good one. Blackened BBQ Pork (2/5) - I'm not sure what they were trying to achieve with the flavor of this dish, but neither my boyfriend nor I liked it at all. It was sweet, but that is the only thing I can say about this dish. Last entree we had was the prawn with wasabi lime mayonnaise (5/5)- This was the best dish we had. The wasabi taste was perfect, the prawn was cooked well, and the entire dish was just really good. After we were done with our meal, it took a while to get anyone's attention to bring us our check and get our boxes, and even having someone take our payment took so long. I definitely kept needing to flag down servers to get someone's attention to check on your table. One thing I did notice on our bill is that a service charge was already added to your bill, it does not matter how many people you have on your table, they autoamtically charge you an 18% service charge. All in all, it was a decent experience and definitely on the pricier side. read more

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In terms of ambience and variety of dishes, it is hard to beat this spot. Everything is newly remodeled and the menu has a lot of creative dishes different from a typical dim sum spot. Due to the large size, it can be pretty crowded and chaotic so expect to flag servers for stuff you need. The pricing can be on the higher side and some of the typical dim sum standard items are not as good as other dim sum restaurants. However, the ones that are more unique are definitely delicious and worth trying like the seafood fried rice with sea urchin or noodle with clams. read more

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The crowds came out for grand opening weekend, and I was amongst them. My family arrived at 10:05 (supposedly 5 min after opening) and missed first seating. They must've opened earlier than posted because we still got seated in about 20 minutes. Overall impression: Good spot for small or large family-style banquets or parties. Menu is more interesting than the standard Cantonese/dim sum restaurant. The food and service are a work in progress. I would wait at least a month before trying. They didn't even have the digital number board working yet. Service was terrible, but look -- it's okay to match the vibe of the restaurant. When I needed something, I stood in front of the service area and asked for it directly. I could see the staff was doing their best. As for the food, I was extremely disappointed. At these prices I expect delicately wrapped dumplings, silky smooth congee, and noodles with good wok hei. There was none of that. And the experimental items like the green pan fried baozi and the taro and pork cake did not hit. I had a good experience at the HL Peninsula in South SF. I look forward to trying the CV location again after they've had a chance to work out the kinks. read more

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

Pricey but decent Beware they charge 16% automatically if dining in. Not used to it but it's okay I guess. Great service. read more

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

Let me preface this by mentioning I am awarding a VERY generous four stars for now based on potential, but the actual experience on opening night could have been far better, even with the inevitable hiccups. October 16, 2025., Grand opening day for the highly anticipated HL Peninsula, a well known and respected Cantonese dim sum and banquet chain with their now fifth Bay Area location! And let me tell you... this place is MASSIVE! Not only is there the main chandelier dining hall (with six giant TVs to boot), but also a side corridor with numerous VIP rooms with built in KTV for big parties. It truly looks like something out of Guangzhou plopped down in the middle of Castro Valley! Having patronized their already existing branches numerous times, and knowing about this new one popping up in my neck of the woods for quite awhile, I had been eagerly awaiting the day. I really wasn't planning to attend on grand opening night, considering the expected madness, but on a last minute whim, I decided to ask my dad if he wanted to go, and off we went. We arrived around 6:35 pm or so, and although there was a bit of a line, it wasn't outrageous by any means. After a short wait, we were promptly seated at 6:55 by the kind hostess. The place was about 90% full - not packed to the rafters, but certainly just about at capacity. After quickly perusing the fancy menus, we already knew what we wanted, but it took quite some time to flag a someone down (black shirts take orders, colorful vests are the servers). After placing our order, it was close to 7:15 or so, which was relatively reasonable. I was thinking we'd be out of there perhaps around 8 or 8:30 at the latest, and be able to grab some Boba Bliss shortly after. HA! As Debbie Gibson would say... Only in my dreams! 7:42 pm: Lamb Clay Pot reached our table. It was actually quite soft and flavorful, and not "gamey." We both gobbled this thing up. We were expecting the next item to come shortly after... And waited... And waited... With the lamb long since devoured, we were THIS close to cutting our losses, closing out the tab, and walking out. It seemed that many other patrons were also frustrated and in the same boat. We certainly weren't the only ones shaking our heads and twiddling our thumbs, and many actually did already throw in the towel. We finally were able to flag down the manager, and he apologetically assured us the other item was coming out soon, and appreciated our patience. We gave them one last chance... 9:11 pm: Scallop & Prawn with Egg Tofu in Sea Urchin Sauce finally arrived. At long last! This wasn't half bad at all, but I could tell it was rushed, so it was definitely prepared after the manager mentioned it to the cooks. Some of the tofu broke apart, but the seafood was fresh and tasty. Was it worth the 90 minute wait? Perhaps not. Overall, staff is generally hit and miss, with some being extremely friendly (e.g. front desk hostess), while others are gruff (most of the colorful vest crew). I also recognized many of them from other nearby existing Chinese establishments. The location is also great because it is centralized for those in the outer East Bay and also for Tri-Valley residents. Parking is plentiful, and I truly wonder why the lot was so ginormous for the old Rite-Aid. In closing, I am certainly elated to have an HL Peninsula so close to home, and I am sure they will have things up and firing on all cylinders very shortly. Now, here is the good part. The management actually comped us for the second item, and once again thanked us for our patience and understanding! In the words of the great Lloyd Christmas, they totally redeemed themselves! This was a kind gesture, and assuredly would lure me back to give them another chance... but not until they iron out all the kinks, of course. read more

HL Peninsula - Specials Menu 2/2 10/16/25 - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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I really wanted to like this place. However the experience just average. Parking is the biggest nightmare. Although the lot is big, it fills up quickly too on the weekends. Food is not considered good for the price. More like the quality you can get in Oakland food court. We had to send back the fried taro back because they have a smell of ammonia. They surely got contaminated during food handling. Only one plus is the Mei Mei market next door. I could get my weekly grocery shopping in one stop. read more

HL Peninsula - Fish Ching fan - Dim Sum Near Me - Castro Valley, California

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My family and I have been coming here several times now--for both dinner and dim sum. It's a large, nicely decorated restaurant with plenty of parking, which is always a plus. The lobster noodles and fish maw soup are solid choices--flavorful and satisfying. However, the dim sum could use some improvement; it doesn't quite measure up to the quality and consistency you'd find at Fusion Delight or East Ocean. One thing to note: an 18% service charge is automatically included, but plates aren't changed between courses, and they don't offer to pack leftovers to go, which feels a bit disappointing for the price point. Overall, it's a decent spot if you're in the area and want Chinese food in a spacious setting, but there's definitely room for refinement--especially on service and dim sum quality. read more

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

A very good lunch experience from start to finish. The prices are very much in line with the market, and the quality absolutely delivers. Every dish we tried was flavorful and beautifully presented, even the ones I didn't like!!! The staff were courteous and attentive. The building itself looks brand new--clean and inviting with nice modern decors. In my opinion the standout of the meal was definitely the pork buns--absolutely delicious, soft and juicy. The beef chow fun was also very good, with great texture and flavor. The shrimp rice noodle rolls were one of the best i have ever had, very light but packed with flavor. Sticky rice was good too. It was quite, even if packed, Recommend. read more

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We came in a little before their official open down to get a table. The servers are polite and friendly. The space is open but I didn't like how close the tables were packed together. Food was decent. The stand out for me was the shrimp dumpling. We also got a combination pan fried noodle, that was very good too. The stir fried items take awhile to come out, so be prepared to wait. A good neighborhood dim sum spot. I hope the take out counter opens soon. It would be nice to be able to pick up items there, it's currently still under construction. read more

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Overall a really nice experience. We arrived at 10:15am anticipating a 15 minute wait, but they had opened early! They were hesitant to let me in with my service dog but ultimately they did and it was not a big problem. We were seated immediately in the big dining room and immediately handed a menu. They asked us if we'd like tea and we ordered pu-erh which came very quickly. They refilled it when it got low as well. We made our selections and they came and took our order soon after-- about 15 minutes after arrival. They came back soon after and apologized profusely because one of the items we wanted was unavailable (bunny pudding). They were extremely apologetic about this. Pork buns and custard buns arrived within five minutes. Ten minutes later came hargow, then the rest of our stuff came one at a time at approximately ten minute intervals. This was good timing and very prompt. The food was good. The shrimp dumplings were flavorful, with a thicker wrapper than standard. They were big with a lot of filling. They didn't fall apart or stick to the paper in the basket. They came with tobiko on top. The spinach shrimp dumplings were amazing, so flavorful. We really liked the sticky rice in lotus leaf too, more mild than other sticky rice I've had but still good. I can't speak to the buns since I am gluten free, but the people I was with liked them and said they were good because there wasn't too much sugar on top. The tea was good. Service was friendly and prompt. Parking is fine if you're willing to go around back there's tons of spots. Would come again!!!! read more

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