My friends are regulars at Café Tsui Wah and I always see their check-ins on Yelp. Despite this, I never had much motivation to go because of their low ratings. I know, what Chinese business doesn't? Last month, I was at Super Cue Café in the same plaza getting some milk tea when I noticed that Café Tsui Wah had dog-friendly outdoor seating. SOLD! I rarely visit a restaurant more than once but I've been back to Café Tsui Wah three weeks in a row so they're doing something right. Be forewarned, the menu is extensive/daunting and your experience will greatly depend on what you order. They have everything from American breakfast to jook to hot pot to some dim sum items. Also, their prices are high for an HK Café, i.e. $12.95 for spam and eggs. Damn son, those are nearly SF hipster housemade spam prices! It's a good thing they take credit cards. On my three visits, I've tried the following: *Baked Ox Tongue in Tomato Sauce ($12.95): http://bit.ly/2ARfTn5 Large portion of properly cooked [nicely separated] fried rice topped with a generous amount of rich, tender ox tongue and tomato sauce with a sprinkling of melty cheese. As others have mentioned, their tomato sauce is not that great. I prefer a sweeter, more tangier version but nonetheless, this dish hits the spot. The second time we ordered it, the tongue was chewy so they have some consistency issues. *Steamed Rice Noodles w/ pork spareribs, black bean sauce ($9.95): http://bit.ly/2BHYZ7X Soft, supple rice noodles. The pork spare ribs are tender and flavorful without being overly msg-y but portion of protein is quite small. *Beef Brisket & Tendon Lo Mein ($11.25): http://bit.ly/2BBnanG Off the menu request, the beef brisket and tendon were meltingly tender and the thin egg noodles had a good chew. *Hainan Chicken Rice w/ lettuce in beef brisket sauce ($14.95): http://bit.ly/2jgKzUH I love Hainan chicken and this is a very solid rendition. While the chicken is served cold, it's very tender and smooth with the quintessential layer of gelatin under the skin. I appreciate that the ginger scallion sauce wasn't overly salted and loved the peanuts for crunch. The chicken rice was just ok. The cooked lettuce still has a good crisp with a savory beef gravy. A piping hot bowl of hot & sour soup was also provided with the Hainan chicken. Perfect balance of hot, spicy, and sour with bean curd and tofu. Not msg-y. *Black Bean Pork Spare Rib Rice Barrel w/ lettuce in beef brisket sauce ($12.95): http://bit.ly/2imZvQ4 Too salty and the rice was mushy. Not sure if it's a consistency issue because the steamed rice noodle version was good. Would not order again. *Ha Gow: Shrimp Dumplings ($4.95): http://bit.ly/2AxoBnT My friend likes this and has ordered it three times in a row. Two out of the three times, the skin easily broke and there was a lot of empty space in the dumpling. *Siu Mai: Steamed Pork Dumplings ($4.95) It doesn't look like it but in person, these are quite large. Tender pork and a sprinkling of roe for texture (didn't see or detect shrimp). *Iced HK Milk Tea ($4.50): http://bit.ly/2AsDgT3 I can't ever remember paying more than $3.50 for this at any HK café but I love their HK Milk Tea here. Strong tea flavor and nicely creamy. A little on the sweet side though but the ice helps. The owner also owns Crème Brewlee (dessert café) several storefronts away. Their Iced HK Milk Tea is only $4 there so I will just buy it from there after my meal at Café Tsui Wah. Most of the ladies that work here are super nice. The younger lady is especially friendly and offers to bring Tater Tot water. As with any Chinese eatery, service can be spotty/inattentive and we usually have to go inside if we need something. No-frills ambiance with seating for about 35 in their main dining area. They also have two private rooms for larger parties. Although it's located in a shopping plaza, parking can be a complete clusterf*ck with bad drivers during peak times. Overall, Café Tsui Wah is a pretty solid HK Café (albeit having some consistency issues). The prices are high but the portions are pretty generous and the food for the most part, is good and satisfying. If you're craving some HK comfort food, give them a try! read more

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Landed in SFO on a Saturday night, and immediately began craving HK style food. I mean, yes I've just landed from Beijing but they did not have many cantonese style foods. Food came out quickly with a side of soup. I recommend the spare ribs in a bucket! Gotta love the presentation. Afterwards, the owner or manager brought us out complimentary piping hot sesame balls! Anyways, service was great and food was delicious. Definitely a spot to stopby after landing from SFO! read more

I wanted a nearby place for some porridge that's why I came here. Read through a lot of reviews before visiting, seems a lot people were complaining about services but didn't feel anything bad about the service. Food was mediocre (Here I'm only referring the food we ordered - fried rice and porridge), just typical tastes. Btw, we didn't order any HK foods. read more

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A solid spot right by my apartment for Hong Kong style comfort food! I got a baked shrimp curry over rice and the portion was huge, with a decent portion of shrimp and really flavorful curry. I absolutely loved the rice here - it was moist but also flaky ? I don't know how else to describe it but it was the polar opposite of mushy. The service here was a bit spotty with things like refilling water, but our food came out super fast and the people working there were really nice to me and my friends! read more

Inshou Cafe - Shrimp curry - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Cafe Tsui Wah shares a name with a semi-famous Hong Kong Style Café in Hong Kong. They emphasize authentic taste and classic dishes. We decided to drop by the strip mall location for an early brunch. Prior to 11 am, a more limited brunch menu is served and they had no Russian Borscht Soup at the hour. We ordered: Pineapple Bun with Butter - a favorite HK pastry, it's a large bun served with a slice of ice cold butter. Not the most complicated dish to make but solid rendition. Hong Kong Milk Tea - you can judge these cafes ok their milk tea rendition. Proper versions have a deep strong tea flavor (typically tea bags from HK or UK) and not overly sweet or sugary. I thought the hot milk tea was quite good. Beef Brisket Won Ton Noodle Soup - solid rendition with tender brisket and decent egg noodles. My parents subsequently came here for lunch and were disappointed in the Hainan Chicken (all white meat) and the baked pork chop rice (another staple). Overall, a better option than the South Bay restaurants but not as good as any place abroad. Cafe Tsui Wah accepts cash only. read more

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Overpriced. Are you kidding me? $18 for a roast duck lo mein? I can get it for under $10 in Southern California. The food was okay. But, $18? read more

How did this restaurant receive a three star?! I just had the worst and unbelievable experience at this place. ABC cafe in Downtown was closed, so I have been looking for a Hong Kong style cafe. I looked on Yelp and thought I wanted to give this one a try. And I already regret it! And now I understand why there was only one table of customers( which was me) dining in on a Saturday night for dinner! First, never believe in their price posted on Yelp. Their real price was ridiculously high! $20 for a plate of choy fun or $22 for a regular stir fry noodles! Second thing, the quality was bad. The food portion was super small regardless of being so pricey. $18 for roasted duck was pretty common for a duck dish but when I saw the real plate I couldn't believe it. It had four pieces of ducks with only one meaty piece. How could you call this a dish?! The flavor was the worst I had ever had in my whole life. The wonton soup was so salty like I was drinking ocean water without any flavors. Okay, but, it's not the worst part, yet! When I received the bill, I couldn't believe the waitress wrote tips by themselves with a blue pen!! I asked why it was written already, they said they received too little tips so they "had to write tips for the customers"...I mean seriously? I have never been to a restaurant where a waitress wrote tips for the customers! And when I told the waitress I wasn't happy about it, the other waitress came to yell at me and asked "how much tips are you going to give us?" Then the two waitresses were standing next to me and watching me signing the bills. I just couldn't believe it! Did anyone ever tell you that signing bills for customers is what we call "stealing"? I'm never, ever, going back, and trust me, this restaurant is not far away from being closed down if they continue to do so! Advise to the business owner: hire new waitresses who don't write tips for the customers! read more

Amazing Hong Kong cafe. We initially wanted to get pho next door, but then...we decided to get some HK food and we're so glad we did! Started the meal off with HK milk tea (hot because that's how I used to drink it as a kid with my Popo). It brought back a lot of memories-highly recommend. For our main courses we went with wonton noodle soup (clear broth, thin egg noodles, shrimp wontons) and Singapore style stir fried noodles (has shrimp, eggs, pork with a nice curry flavor). LOVED both dishes! Totally hit the spot. The wonton soup was flavorful but not heavy. Wontons were juicy, noodles perfectly cooked with a good bite to them. Stir fried noodles were also well seasoned and had a good amount of protein. Service was not super friendly, but still pleasant. We will definitely be back to try more dishes! Definitely want to give the congee a try and maybe the beef brisket noodles too. read more

Inshou Cafe - Wonton noodle soup - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Food quality is about the same... 3 stars. Mediocre. Pre covid , the typical hot breakfast of 雪菜肉絲湯米粉 Preserved cabbage rice noddles soup that was $8 is now $12. It used to come with a drink of your choice ( milk tea, coffee, or tea drink). Now it doesn't come with any drink. The guy there told me with a "matter of fact" attitude and said '"if you want a coffee or tea you have to pay extra" Don't get me wrong here.... I am sure there will be PLENTY of tai tai's from San Mateo, Burlingame and Hillsborough who patronize this restaurant because it is a Cantonese cafe and there really isn't too many choices in the suburbs. Supply and demand.... this restaurant will survive for a while due to its monopoly nature but it sure isn't trying to keep its customers happy! read more

Arrived here for lunch around 1 pm on a Saturday and I was able to get seated immediately. Most of the tables were full though. It was my first time here and I wanted to try more things on the menu, but unfortunately since I was by myself I stuck to one dish. Yelp reviews indicated the fish noodle soups were good here, so I went with one of them. I forgot what exactly I ordered (they have a couple on the menu that all look the same), but it was a large bowl with a plethora of fish chunks, fish tofu, and fish balls with ho fun (wide rice noodles) and bean sprouts. I came hungry but was pretty full by the time I was 2/3 of the way through my soup. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and drank most of the flavorful fish soup as well. One minor point - the restaurant doesn't have AC, and given how hot it gets in San Mateo in the summer, I was got uncomfortably hot as my meal progressed. I had to take a couple breaks and drink some of my HK milk tea to cool down. The meal wasn't cheap though, the fish noodle soup was $13.95, and a cold milk tea set me back $3.95, so after tax and tip it was a little over $20. read more

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Good service in a traditional HK cafe sense - If they smile that's good enough. Everyone speaks Cantonese and all the foods are traditional HK cafe foods. I was meeting friends but wasn't hungry and only had a HK style milk tea without sweet milk. Very strong and made in traditional style with tea cloth cooking over a flame. Very high tannins from the tea and brought back good childhood memories. read more

Hk style cafe. Service is friendly food is good. I tried their fish noodle soup and the stewed beef noodle soup. Both are good.

Street Eats Cafe was solid HK cafe food but the prices are noticeably higher than you'd expect compared to similar restaurants. We ordered the Hainan style chicken over rice, which was very good. The chicken was moist and flavorful and the rice was cooked in chicken broth like proper rice in a chicken rice dish. This was probably the best chicken rice dish we've had on the peninsula. We also ordered the steamed tofu with rock cod in black bean sauce, which was also very good, but not as good as you'd get in an SF or Oakland Chinatown restaurant. If the prices were more reasonable, we'd be regulars and this place would be a solid 4 stars. However, for what they charge, I expect something spectacular. $13 for a 5pc dim sum sampler? $18 for Yang Chow fried rice? Tip: I confirmed that you get 10% off if you pay in cash (thanks, Yelp!). read more

Tucked away in a run down little plaza is Street Food Cafe. It's become a staple for me and my husband especially this last year during Covid. They're probably a little lesser known given their location so I find the spot is never too busy which is great. I love knowing I'm not going to be amongst 10's of people during an eating experience in the pandemic. They always feel clean and hygienic which again is key during Covid. They have plentiful parking given they're in a large plaza with other business and restaurants so that's never a concern. Any now onto the food - the food itself is great. We've tried a few things off their menu now, their Cha Siu rice, their Wonton Noodle Soup, their Duck & Preserved Egg Congee, their Pineapple Bun, their Beef Ho Fun, and a few other dishes and we've never been disappointed. The small issue (and why I give them 4 stars) is the price. I find their prices are indeed higher than others that sell similar food but we still opt to come here due to the open space and comfortable atomosphere. They do offer a discount if you pay cash which is a plus, makes the price a little more digestible ;) read more

Swung in for some Hong Kong style breakfast. Got the pork porridge with Chinese donut, steamed flat rice noodles and pork ribs in black beans sauce, and a pineapple bun with a slice of ice cold butter. Prob the closest to a HK pineapple bun I've found so far since I've been back. Only difference is that the butter comes out on ice and you put it in the bun yourself. Totally fine with that, the bun was piping hot and the melty goodness and crunchy top was so good. Porridge was good as well, and the rice noodles were decent. Overall, a good HK breakfast. read more

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Mediocre HK food... not as good as ABC cafe that was on 3rd street San Mateo. MSG heavy, the beef noodle soup while tender left me thirsty. I can make better. Shumai was decent pork fatty balls of joy though. Shrink hau gau was mediocre. read more

Dropped in at Café TW @ 4 pm for a late lunch/early dinner only to be surprised HH was in full swing. With skyrocketing rents, labor, food costs etc in the Bay Area, even a simple bowl of noodles or rice plate can be priced beyond the reach of retired folks like me. Times they're a-changin! TW's prices are not cheap anymore outside of HH. TW is a café serving both casual Chinese and Western cuisines much like the Japanese "yoshoku" food that featured Westernized Japanese cooking. TW offered American breakfasts, spam and eggs, cheesey baked ox tongue and tomato rice, baked pork chop and spaghetti with meat sauce in addition to the Chinese favorites! We decided to stay with their tried and true, as no one seemed interested to slurp pasta even doing it Japanese style in a Chinese café. We were stoked to find inexpensive Hong Kong style congee/noodles/rice HH entrees in the $6.50 to $7.50 range. Please note that HH entrees were for dine in only but leftovers were OK to take home! Ask any Chinese! The classic Preserved Egg and Pork Congee ($6.50) is so satisfying and comforting. Smooth and velvety rice porridge with preserved eggs and moist shredded pork created awesome textural differences in a bowl of congee. The dark yolk might smell like a whiff of ammonia to the novice (no kidding!) but taste creamy like supercharged eggs! Being a HH offering, TW skimped on the pork and preserved egg resulting in less egg, less pork and for sure less flavor. (3/5) Another HH offering was the classic Wonton Noodle Soup ($7.50), a simple meal, pretty standard in rendition and usually without being too fancy. I love my wontons small and bite sized with soft silky wrappers for easier slide down the hatch. TW's wontons were not exactly bite sized but not huge like a shumai either. The shrimps in the fillings were not finely chopped but at least well marinated in sesame oil. The broth had no trace of the deep and complex flavors of tilefish or shrimp heads. Just very average..... (3/5) I'm not going to lie. Beef Brisket Noodle Soup ($6.50) was hands down the best tasting dish by a long shot. The meat was meltingly tender, the broth was dee..diggity..liciously beefy and the aromatics of the spices in the broth were working overtime! The cut of beef had good marbling thereby intensifying the depth of the beefy broth. (4.5/5) Finally, for a change, we requested a special outside of the HH menu, Stir-Fried Spaghetti ($16.95) with Black Pepper Beef. The special price of $16.95 reflected TW's cloud high prices. It was peppery but nothing else exceptional in taste similar to dry beef chow fun except for the 'ouch' factor in the spaghetti price! (3/5) Café TW is one of the Hong Kong style cafes (Cha Chaan Teng) that have recently sprouted all over the Bay Area known typically for simple cheap eats. Some are divier than others while TW is decently clean both in the dining and restroom areas. The crew of servers featured an all female cast that spoke English reasonably well and none of the surliness and unfriendliness one might expect from a Chinesey café! read more

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This place is better than expected. We got Hainan chicken which was pretty decent with dark meat and spare Pork Ribs with Black Bean Sauce was on point (forgot to take picture) with Texture being moist and flavorful. However, it is on the pricey side though. read more

Inshou Cafe - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

My type of comfort food.. this HK cafe is one of its kind in the area. Never too pricey, simple dish that makes your belly happy. They are always open, have "inflation protected" set meals (referring to cheap combos, genius), and have very friendly servers. My go to is the baked pork chop! If you're a dessert person, be sure to try out the pineapple bun with icy butter. read more

I was staying with a friend in San Mateo and had this crazy craving for porridge because I just wasn't feeling well. Cafe Tsui Wah popped up a couple times, and I thought what can really go wrong with a porridge? My boyfriend and I came in to share an order of thousand year old egg & pork porridge with dried shrimp rice roll and an extra side of fried donut (油炸鬼). The porridge itself was pretty standard; the pork was suuuuuper salty, but everything else was good. The rice roll was okay, honestly nothing special about it. I think my favorite part of the entire meal was the 油炸鬼 because it was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Best thing ever alone or to dip into the porridge! Service was your standard Chinese place. Don't expect much except for quick service! We were able to get in and out of there in less than an hour. read more

Got the Hainan chicken over rice, hk style ice milk tea, and chicken feet, $30.04 after tax. The chicken was really good and authentic, good portion of chicken and rice. Milk tea also pretty good, way better than the mr green milk tea spot in the same plaza. I went at 12 on Monday, it was pretty full but no line. Didn't wait long for the food, they told me chicken feet would take 15 mins but it probably took around 10, it was ok i prefer other dim sum spots chicken feet but it scratched the itch. Only saw 2 waitress working but they were super fast and attentive, good service. Overall good Hong Kong style Chinese food. It was definitely above average but the milk tea and chicken feet seemed a bit over priced. The hainan chicken over rice was really good and good portions, would definitely come back again to try something else on the menu. read more

I don't know why this place has such a low rating - the food here tastes like you're in Hong Kong. I really love their breakfast/brunch menu - the pricing is so goooood. We normally order: 1. fish congee 2. chinese donut 3. their noodle things with the peanut sauce I want to come back and try their spareribs with rice noodles and their fried rice. Their pineapple bun looks good too! I hope they stick around! read more

Absolutely HK style, to the point where they slam the menu down, and immediately ask what you want. If you don't have an answer, walks away mad. There was also barely any service, which also reminds me of my Hong Kong tea time café days. Absolutely not HK style, the price. Probably because we are in San Mateo, things were about 30% higher than the east bay. Order of pan-fried noodles were $16.95 where it should be about $11.95 elsewhere. HK style cafes are known to be fast and cheap, which is neither for Café Tsui Wah. Food, however, was good. We had the good old fashion macaroni with ham and eggs in soup, a fish paste with seaweed in rice noodles and a satay beef pan fried noodles. Gotta say the Mac with ham and egg was middle of the road stuff. Good, not great, I appreciate the over easy egg instead of the lazy scrambled ones like other places. The Seaweed/fish paste with ho-fun in soup was excellent. Seaweed based broth was really good. Fish paste/ball feels like they made it the chopped the fish into a paste themselves or they got it from a really good vendor. The Satay Beef fried noodles were the best, my little person was picking at it until the last bit of it was gone, including the veggies, which is a total surprise. Overall, good, a little overpriced, but good. Don't expect any service as you will get none. read more

Came here during the COVID pandemic and just ate in my car in the plaza right after pick up. Ordered the french toast and baked pork chop with fried egg over spaghetti. Their baked pork chop spaghetti is different from other HK cafes because of an herb taste. It's not bad, super delicious. The portion size they gave for $16 is smaller than other places, but perfect for a big eater or two small eaters. I love how quick they were with my food. It only took them like 10 min after I ordered to complete it. Will def come back if I'm ever in the area. read more

Had the club sandwich and pork cutlet. Club was good very flavorful and fries crispy. Pork cutlet good with nice tartar sauce. Will come back to try other things on the menu. Service good. read more

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I know what you're thinking because the logo is the same but no, this is not related to the popular Tsui Wah chain in Hong Kong. Cafe Tsui Wah is located in the Marina Plaza where even during the lunch hour rush you can find a parking spot. When we arrived, we were given several menus and had to parse through the different lunch specials only to find that everything is pretty pricey. We ended up ordering the basics, wonton noodle soup and a plate of half bbq pork and half roast duck. I should have known when I didn't see the typcial butcher in front cutting up the bbq meats, but the bbq plate was only ok. Although the portion was good for the price, the bbq pork slices were too thick and the texture was a little dry. The roast duck on the other hand was very good! I liked the wonton noodle soup, because the wontons were not fatty and each had a piece of shrimp. The broth was very peppery, so be warned some people might find it spicy. I personally liked the additional white pepper flavor. read more

Came to this place for a late dinner at 8:30, and the place is not crowded. Overall, the dish comes in large portion, and the taste is pretty good. We ordered the beef brisket noodle soup, and it's pretty good: the brisket and the tendon are both cooked soft and well flavored. The thin egg noodles are cooked to the texture I like: they're still a bit chewy and will not become too soft even if soaked in the soup for a long time. The steamed fish and tofu with black bean sauce is good too. It tastes the way my parents will make this dish. It's pretty light, but yet flavored well. The chasiu pork and chicken rice dish is also good. It's a big portion, with the rice and lettuce. The pork has a good combination of lean and fat meat. I'll recommend this place for cheap and good food. read more

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Good food. Had House Special Noodle Soup. The soup included brisket, fish balls, beef balls and lettuce. The bowl had lot's of egg noodles. We also had the garlic wings. Very crunchy and tasty. This restaurant is a sleeper. We were looking for Japanese food. The restaurant used to be a Japanese restaurant. Glad we gave it a chance. Will come back for happy hour. read more

Nice HK style cafe in the peninsula HK style cafes are pretty hard to find in the peninsula, which makes this place even more of a gem! The food is the real deal, as expected from all the yelp reviews and photos. The baked pork chop with rice uses fried rice, and Lots of cheese, served in a piping hot mix of tomato sauce and pork. The lemon iced tea was also very authentic. Overall a decent HK food place. Let's not forget, this is one of the few places that opens till 10pm! Woot! Probably one of the few decent places to go in the area. read more

Inshou Cafe - Lemon iced tea - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Food is good and prices reasonable, I had the pan fried pork chops. They don't try to rush you out which is great. I had lunch here on Tuesday and came back Thursday only to find they close on Thursdays. My bad . I will be back for more HK style meals though! Since they were closed, I ended up going to Tai Wu nearby. Look for my yelp for them! read more

After reading the reviews, I was expecting bad service but actually they were just fine. The food was standard though. I've definitely had better baked rice dishes. Ordered ox tongue baked rice with Lisbon sauce $13.95 -- the ox tongue itself was good and tender. Kiddo always wants won ton noodles $10.95 -- standard, wouldn't order again. Their hainan chicken is popular so we also gave it a try $15.95, comes with side of cooked lettuce with sauce, very HK style. The rice paired with the chicken was pretty darn good. I wish I had that on the bottom of my baked rice dish. Total $40 for 3 dishes, a little pricey and tasted standard. Looks to be a neighborhood type of place. read more

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We came here after my son's soccer game. It was close by. Rating should be 2.5 stars but yelp doesn't allow half star ratings. Food was mediocre at best for the prices. The fried rice was ok but I've had better. I ordered the Hainan chicken and it came out cold. I don't enjoy eating cold chicken that's meant to be eaten hot. My son had the ham and cheese sandwich and he enjoyed it but you can get that any where. Not much of an ambiance. Service was just okay. Didn't take too long but wasn't quick either. Nothing stood out. I would not come back again. read more

Food is still really good here. We've almost everything. For today i wanted to highlight their service. It was great!!! Wow, the waitresses were super friendly and accommodating. This new location is a bit small but a slight upgrade from their last location. I would have updated it to a five star but the broth was just lacking flavor today. We will still come here for comfy Hong Kong type foods. This is about the best with parking. read more

This place should have four dollar signs. Inflated price central. Even the most pretentious coffee places don't charge you $7 for a cup of coffee!!!! read more

Inshou Cafe - $7 for zero tea flavor. I could've easily gotten a delicious hkmt somewhere else for $3.50, not this candied version for twice as mcuh - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Street Food Cafe https://www.yelp.com/biz/street-food-cafe-san-mateo-2 During the Covid 19 Shelter in place in May 2019, we tried their take-out. We were trying to support local restaurants, so they can survive. Street Food Cafe, a Hong Kong style cafe, has only 3 stars on Yelp, but several Elite reviews we follow like it. We gave it a go and will dine in when we can! Ordered via DoorDash Safety Pluses - DoorDash delivery Minuses - None Food Picks: 1 Sesame Balls $4.25 1 Shrimp Dumplings $6.50 1 Steamed BBQ Pork Bun $6.25 - OK 1 Hai Nan Style Chicken Over Rice $15.95 - No yellow colored rice though 1 Beef Brisket Noodle Soup $10.95 1 Salty Fish & Chicken Fried Rice $16.95 1 Milk Tea (Hong Kong Style) (Cold) $4.95 1 Snow Lychee (Cold) $5.95 Food Pans: Food - Very Good Value - Very Good read more

In some place in Asia, their attitude is like: you are my customer and you come here for my food, it is our obligation to do a good job and I thank you for giving me business and I hope my food serves you well. But apparently, there is some culture that is more like, you come here? What's in it for me? You give me money and I give you food, so it is a business deal. How much is the tip? Is it 18% or 20% or "do you know what to do?" and give us 25%? "You take care of me and I take care of you." Living a life like that is a little bit sad, but unfortunately, that's the culture that was common in some area... an orange grown in Texas is a Texas orange. An orange grown in Florida is a Florida orange, as they say. read more

Scroll all the way down for uncomfortable experience in the restaurant. Environment : Nothing special but there's a weird smell when first came in. Food in photo 1: (2.5/5)It looked good on picture but the taste was just okay. To be more exact, it doesn't have the umami / fragrance that I expect from the dish but more of just saltiness and some chilli on top. I saw this online that's why I came to try it out but a bit dissatisfied... ($14) Food in photo 2: (2/5)The curry beef with rice taste like it's made of either powder or block curry but even some block curry made at home taste better. ($18/19). In conclusion , It just wasn't worth the price. It's too expensive for the quality. Some market sells better tasting pre-made food...with around $10 per box. Just wanted to update unpleasant experience: waitress verbally asked for more tips . Which really makes both my husband and I feel really uncomfortable so I'm changing it from 2 to 1 star but I will put zero if possible. It's really rude. read more

Inshou Cafe - Steamed Flat Rice Noodle with Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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I've heard people say that this place is a much better version of ABC Bakery in San Mateo so of course, had to come and try it out. This restaurant is located in a shopping square where Ocha is. I'm not quite sure how to describe the place so just input the address into your gps and you'll find your way here. Since it's located in a shopping square, they have their own parking lot so it's not a pain looking for parking. The inside of the restaurant is a pretty big. They have tables all over the floor and in a separate, smaller room, there's about 6 tables there. The menu itself has a lot of options to choose from so it might take a while to decide on what you want. They also have lunch/dinner options for each day of the week that comes with a drink so you can check that out, too. One thing I would suggest you get is their iced milk tea in an ice bath. I think it's around $3-4 and it is insanely good. And could probably keep you up at night... 'cause that's what happened to me. Service was somewhat attentive. I would avoid getting seated in the smaller room if possible because sometimes the staff forgot about us so it took a while to get some service. Overall, I forgot what the food we got was called, but some tasted better than others. I definitely enjoy their milk tea though so I would definitely get that when I come back. read more

Inshou Cafe - han nam chicken rice - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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If you are looking for a HK style cafe with HK style food and HK style service this is a good place to go. If you don't know what HK style service is, you'll find out. They give you menus, take the order, bring food and bring the bill. No water/tea refills unless asked, no basically anything without flagging down a server. This is pretty typical though. I didn't feel offended since I speak Cantonese and that's just how it is. Foodwise: Food is pretty typical HK style. There are a couple standouts which I would recommend. Fish Broth Noodles. There is a list of these noodles on one of the pages and the broth is very nice and as good flavor. They also bring out a side of this really nice pickled spicy peppers. It is not the same type of heat as say kim chi. Not really sure what it tastes like but I would say it is really good. It is somewhat spicy so it might not be good for everyone. Wonton Noodle soup - One of the better won tons in the bay. Probably because the head chef is from Hing lung in SF(now closed). This placed used to have bomb wont ton and congee. Haven't got congee yet and also have not got the dounut as they are always sold out when we get there. We'll have to try to go at lunch once to try and get it. Chicken wings - Skip it. Not worth it. We paid for it the 1st time. The 2nd time they gave it free with $20 order. HK peanut toast - Skip it as well, I can make this at home. Toast grilled in butter with peanut butter. Not real HK french toast. Pricing wise it is a little more pricy than say SF HK cafes and even a $1 or so more than ABC in downtown san mateo. I'm used to HK food being a little cheaper but it's one of a few only in this area. We'll be back for wonton and hopefully to get some congee next time. read more

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Unfortunately, this place does not accept American Express. The food is okay. Each table also doesn't have the usual condiments like soy sauce and hot sauce. You have to ask for them for some reason. A very unusual custom. read more