Like others have said, yes it does smell, but you get used to it. The fluorescent lighting is a bit glaring, but i found the food to be decent. So far I've had the beef chow fun, salty fish and chicken fried rice, and the chicken and vegetable chow mein. The chow fun and fried rice were pretty much what I expected them to be, although the fried rice left me quite thirsty. The chow mein was good, although the flavor was a tad bland. The noodles were skinny egg noodles and came in a sauce. My boyfriend calls this "homestyle" Chinese cooking, so I guess people expecting typical Chinese food should keep that in mind. Other notes: The menu has a wide variety of foods on it, from different ethnic backgrounds. I'm a bit wary of these, but I've not tried any of them. Parking lot can be a bit crowded at times. Orders are made FAST! Knowing Cantonese, apparently, is a big plus. Open late! read more

I really dont know why it has such bad ratings i mean YEAH its not the BESTTT chinese food but for its price, quality , and the fact that its open until so late, i give it 4 stars Oh and i love the workers :) PS dishes you must get ( i dont know names sorry) the rice dish with white sauce with corn and chicke chicken and corn soup with bread over the top (yum) noodles with gratin cheese melted over it with white sauce on noodles and mushroom and chicken inside Edit It' has changggeeeed or ... Have I just been not getting as drunk and going? lol read more

Good selection of Hong Kong style food. Although the quality and price was less impressive. The service has improved a little bit since the last time I was there. Their drinks are too watery and they definitely put too much ice in the drinks. I'd go back once a while but probably not on a regular basis. read more

2 stars for being open till god knows when and 1 star for the food. I usually get the curry chicken with rice or the salt and pepper pork chops. The food is pretty bland but as usual it tastes better on a Friday night at 2AM when you are starving. Remember this place is cash only. read more

There are three locations. I went to the Top Café on 50 E. Dixon Rd. in Milpitas. It was my second time eating at a Top Cafe. The restaurant closes at 3am. Forget Carrows and Dennys. For the same price, you get a hot and delicious Chinese dish. The inside of the restaurant is a typical Chinese café styled restaurant. If you feel like Chinese, just come here for the food and the value. There are plenty of dishes to order even during late night. read more

This place is decent if you're going for a late night snack; it's open pretty late. I recommend getting the sizzling black pepper beef noodle dish; ask them to use the ramen egg noodles instead of the default spaghetti noodles. Pros: food is tasty, portions are large Cons: relatively expensive for what it is, cash only read more

Awesome food - but 'C+' grade for service and atmosphere. I went with family so we ordered an array of dishes; which were all very good. I noticed that they kinda specielize in these cassrole dishes with a sauce/cheese base and you can vary the types from eel, beef, etc. - we got the eel or unagi - which was pretty tasty. many of there special items are in chinese so i dont think i can name exactly the dish i ate. But i think they have something for everybody. The service was ehhh. The tea that they served was never very hot, and sometimes they forgot to give us more tea. - but other than that I would definietly go there again!!! read more

Ginger Onion Kidney. Yum. Chinese/HK/Malaysian comfort foods. Open late. And cheap eats too. read more

I ended up here with a few of my co-workers on default because one of them thought the Pho Hoa was open late. It turned out she was wrong, but in her defense, I remember Pho Hoa being open 24/7 back in the day? So four of us walk in and the waiter asked if we were for there or to-go. After some confusion on half the party about it being a cash only establishment, we were seated and given our menus. It took us 10-15 minutes before we were ready because not only were we indecisive, but it was also because a member of the party practically never had any kind of Asian food outside of the likes of Panda Express. I ordered the beef and egg chow fun assuming it was going to be a sort of scrambled egg thing mixed in. It was sort of an egg gravy... and rather bland at that. I was disappointed when I looked at the noodles to notice that there was little to no seasoning done to it. Though I loved the texture of the beef, I thought that was rather bland, too. That's all I'll really say about this place. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here. read more

Late night stop! Wonton soup was average - nothing special about the noodles, broth, or wontons. The waiter missed the chicken wings from our order and we had to order it again after we noticed it didn't come. They were pretty good! Huge selection of items on the menu and opened conveniently late! read more

Top Cafe - Chicken wangs! - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

This place is CASH ONLY. Theres very nice Chinese food and there's a lot of people most of the time. There's parking outside which is next to a gas station. They is also 3 TVs but one has really brought colors. Most of the tables and clean. At first the waiter will ask you what drink you want. Normal. Then you order. Normal. Then you can. Normal. There's FREE SOUP! Yum. read more

Top Cafe - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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Found another good Cantonese style café, this is a simple 茶餐廳 or old fashion 冰室 for people my ages. It is nothing fancy, the place is clean, casual & with lots of natural lighting. The parking is great, you can park there and walk 2 minutes to the H-Mart Asian grocery place next door before or after eating. We ate there twice in the past month. The service is quick & friendly. The food is not bad, good portion and nothing sophisticated. The HK style milk tea is fine but too small. It gets busy there starting 5:30 on weekend. Good to have another easy to get to HK style café near our house. read more

I have been to Top Cafe many times, going there as many as 3 times a week. Pros: -Good late night snack place, and has very quick service -Usually no wait, even during peak dinner hours. - Most of their portions are big, so you could probably take some food home for the next day as lunch, or as a late night snack. -Cheaper than most Cantonese restaurants. Cons: -The decor there is a little dirty, and you should wipe your utensils on a napkin to make sure it is clean. -Servers are a little rude during a busy day. - It isn't the best HK style food you can get in Cupertino/ West San Jose area. -Pretty greasy for a Cantonese restaurant. -Favorite dishes are spaghetti bolognese and fish tofu rice, cheap and will fill your stomach quite quickly. A quick and cheap meal in Cupertino, but you can get better quality in Cupertino at Local Cafe, but Local is a little more pricey. read more

This isn't the most exciting place out there but they do serve neat food. The milk teas aren't the most well made, but this isn't a milk tea place after all. Their egg Custard is amazing though. read more

We love Hong Kong-style Chinese food and this place is one of our favorites. I don't know why it is not rated higher. Top Cafe is an authentic Hong Kong-style casual dining restaurant. We have been coming here for several years, and they have been consistent. The food is always delicious at very low price, and the staff are always friendly. read more

Ok, this is my n+1 times order beef stew rice with radish in store or via uber eats. I don't know why this time is definitely different. I don't know why there's some scallion and taste spicy as well. I didn't make any customization. It's not funny to prank your loyal customer. read more

Love this place!!! I'm always up late and sometimes I don't feel like being home, I come here. They always have good food and drinks, especially their rice plates. The waitress is quick and always happy! Please keep it up, this is the only cafe I will ever go to read more

It's a rare treat for me to go to a Chinese-American cafe/restaurant outside the lines of San Francisco but I must admit, Top Cafe couldn't have been a better place. My uncle has been down in Cupertino for a while and took my dad and I to this place. At first, I thought it would be lacking but that goes to show my lack of knowledge about the residents of Cupertino. I was very wrong. The menu selections were good. Your typical lunch-foods such as baked spaghetti, pork chop over rice and a lot of food over macaroni. I guess it's also nice to see they slapped a kids menu near the window and a lot of tapioca drinks. I ordered a baked spaghetti which didn't fall too short of my expectations but I guess it could've been less sweeter. The cold milk tea I ordered wasn't the best but it's better than most milk tea I get from those cafes in San Francisco. Surprisingly, the utensils and plates were much cleaner than the ones I encounter in the city which was satisfying. Can't say too much about the staff because they weren't too intrusive yet weren't lazy either. Although i couldn't help but turn my head towards them sometimes because the one mandarin-chinese speaking worker was pretty loud but doesn't bother me because I grew up around these kind of folks. read more

I eat here SO often because its close, convenient and cheap. PROs: -Cheap -Afternoon tea special (not literally tea, but they have some smaller portions very cheap) -Many options -Good drinks (HK style milk teas/boba and blended fruity drinks too) -Decent service -Fast CONs -Food quality isn't the greatest (I don't mean that the food doesn't taste good; more like not top grade ingredients: i.e. the shrimp has mediocre shrimp flavor) Portion sizes are normal compared to Chinese restaurants/HK style cafes. It's a great takeout option and the service is pretty decent. Chinese newspapers are also available here if you're interested in that. They usually have several TVs tuned into various Chinese channels showing Chinese soap operas or news. Not a place to take someone to impress them; better for a casual, laid back hangout. Also: OPEN REALLY LATE! yay! read more

Not a bad destination after having plenty of drinks next door at Britannia Arms. Top Cafe is a combination of quick service Asian food and traditional diner dishes. It has quite the menu. You can get a steak, a tuna sandwich, lo mein, or a soup/salad. I always go with the lo mien with veggies. I cheap, comes out fast, and tastes pretty good. It's a big portion and nice and greasy. read more

Stopped by: 11/4/2015, 13:02 Environment: Hongkongese style setting, clean and enough space. Food: We had fillet with black pepper sauce rice, ground beef with tomatoes sauce rice， custom soup & cold milk tea. Ok, here we go, the fish fillet is over cooked, and not fresh made, steak so so. Soup ok, not outstanding. Milk tea is just fairly ok, real Hong Kong style is much better. Service: Smile enough, polite, will give 4 star. read more

I've been going to Top Cafe since it opened, and its quality of food never changes. For this alone, I am giving it 5 stars.

Always a big fan of this place, and it never let down with their late night Chinese food. This is the panda that opens til 3 Am everyday. The service is always friendly, and they will still take you in even nearly their closing time. If you are looking for late night Chinese food, this is it!!!! read more

Ok, 4.5 stars but I'll give them a 5. Great Hong Kong authenticity and flavor at decent prices.

not sure exactly how to say it. wattan neuro. but its got some egg goop on it, and it is the sickest thing you will ever taste. if you are kinda dark, and asian. they will think you're name is eric lee from monta vista. and they always give you free russian bortch. don't try to correct them, take the bortch. its pretty bomb, but kinda peppery. the shorter one is ray, the taller one who looks like an even uglier jeremy lin is andy. they are both sick. respect them because they will serve you faster. again, cash only like A & J's. this place gets 5 stars because it is open til 3 and the food is ok read more

I don't have many reviews so take what i say with a grain of salt. Went here for lunch today with my friend who works around the area and we ordered 3 dishes: beef satay and panfried noodle, wonton noodle soup, and baked pork chops. First of all, the plaza is going through major construction so parking was difficult to find and almost felt a bit dangerous with all the equipment laying around. Sat inside, nicely air conditioned and same feeling as the other two Top Cafe's in milpitas. When my food came out, there was a tiny cockroach laying upside down at the edge of my plate as they placed my food down in front of me. It was not touching any of part of the food, but laying upside down (still alive mind you) on the edge of the plate. I immediately flagged down the waitress without causing a scene and pointed it out, they apologized and promised to get me a new one. I know this is a chinese restaurant so i wasn't up in arms about the incident but still a bad showing for any kind of restaurant if they have a small cockroach actually on the food. The next incident occured when my friend's food came out. They got the wrong order and brought WonTon soup instead of WonTon noodle soup. Nothing major, but still something to point out. What finally put the nail on the coffin was once we began eating. The taste is on par with the other Top Cafe's but halfway into my friend's WonTon noodle soup we found yet ANOTHER cockroach which appeared to be crushed floating in his soup. That was the final kicker of the whole incident. That is some serious health code violations if an insect is found not once, but TWICE in two different plates during the same meal. It made me almost question the items my friend and I had just ingested as well. The owner apologized again, took the item off the bill, we paid quickly and left. Horrible. If you're looking for chinese food and you come here, please look over your food before you eat. I have not had this incident happen to me at either Top Cafe in Milpitas and this was the first time we went to the one in Cupertino and rest assure it will also be the last time we ever come here. Diners beware. read more

FYI, I've never tried this place SOBER! I ONLY come here after drinking at Britannia Arms in the same plaza. Perfect for those drunchies. It doesn't look like the cleanest restaurant, but it's acceptable. I've tried: Russian Bortsch - Surprisingly delicious. Generous chunks of vegetables and beef. Sweet, yet perfectly savory. NOTE: if you ask for a cup they give it for free! Wonton Noodle Soup - Made with skinny egg noodle. Not enough soup and too much noodles! Club Sandwich - Typical. Can't ever go wrong with a standard club sandwich ANYWHERE! Baked Rice - I've tried the seafood one as well as the ham and mushroom... this is by far the best dish here! It's so freakin' delicious. It's so creamy and flavorful. HIGHLY recommend. Service is always on point here. The workers here deserve brownie points for catering too all the drunk-tards at the 2A.M. rush! Bathroom is disgusting. CASH ONLY! ATM inside. read more

Not gonna lie, at 2am this place looks super sketchy with the decor and the fluorescent lighting but a gal's gotta eat. Gotta love that I can rely on Hong Kong cafes to be open super late for those cravings. I ordered the baked seafood in cream sauce. My companion had the baked porkchop with tomato sauce. All in all it met my expectations - both came out hot and tasted good. One slight downside is that its cash only, so gotta have that in hand. The other thing was that there was a scuttler sighting in the bathroom. To be clear there was nothing identified in the food so I kinda just shrugged it off - not totally unexpected. Was a great utility option for a late night and there were a bunch of other tables too. Great minds think alike! read more

Absolutely awful. The food was not the problem. It was actually decent and for the price you get. But the service was complete trash. No gratuity or kindness towards me or any of the guests. And they force on you a 10% tip. They'll give you shit if you don't tip. Also they only accept a $20 card minimum which are technically illegal in general, but not super enforced. 20 is absolutely ridiculous. Atmosphere inside is also very stale. I apologize to the business owner, but your employees are the worst. read more

Greasy chinese food that is open until 3:00 AM. Amazing post friday/saturday night munchy food to hold you over until the next morning. # 39 aka sautéed beef pan fried noodles with pineapples = best thing on the menu. Seriously. Next time you're craving chinese food late at night... order this. Those crispy noodle strips soaked in sauce with stir beef, onions, and pineapples will blow your freaking mind. Also, it's big enough to share!! Way better than other late night alternatives in the area. read more

This is the restaurant which my kids grow up with and they always want to go there whenever they come back and visit. The food is more oriented towards HK cafe style. Quality is not the top but they do taste good and yummy. read more

Top Cafe....hmmmm....only Asian restaurants can come up with such names. Food was horrible, the hot sauce and soy sauce saved us. Will go there for quick and cheap food if I do not have enough time for a good lunch. read more

This joint is a late night phenomenon. It's the only Asian restaurant around that opens till 3 am. I've been here many times, but never earlier than 12 am. I don't think the food would be anything special in normal hours, but my hunger and fatigue in the dead hours of the night must amplify the deliciousness of the food. The first time I went, I ordered shrimp and egg with rice. I expected the egg to be scrambled and dry, but it turns out the egg is hella runny. That didn't matter; the plate was still delicious. I ordered nothing but that the next few times I went, and it never disappointed until the last time, when it tasted more bland than usual. After awhile, I tried their beef chow fun and beef chow mein. Personally, I prefer the chow mein noodles, and I had found an alternative to shrimp and egg with rice! The plate is pretty greasy though, but again, at this point in the night, that's very satiating for my stomach. I have also ordered beef and vegetables with rice as a healthier option, and while it's less addictive tasting than the beef chow mein because it's just straight up rice, beef, and veggies, I'd also recommend it. Their salt fish and chicken fried rice is the only plate I haven't ordered multiple times - while it tastes good in small amounts, the salty fish is just too much over a whole plate. I got sick of it after I devoured half the plate and saved some for the next day. My major gripe about the place: the same waiter is usually there at the late night hours, and he is out for the tip. I mean OUT FOR THE TIP. I found this out when my friend forgot to leave tip in the receipt tray and put a tissue in it instead (why, I don't know). The waiter pointed at the tray and said, "tip, tip" in not a very genial manner at all. And as if this isn't enough evidence, the last time I went, we got a ~71 dollar tab and gave about 5% tip, and he called us out for it, saying, no, we have to give at least 10% for him. WOW! Ridiculous...hella pissed us off. My group hits that shit up countless times and for him to not realize this is ridic. Update though: we came once again at 2 am and a new waiter was there. The portion of beef chow mein was the largest I've gotten and he was hella nice and friendly - what a difference in service he provided...this alone bumps it back to 4 stars. read more

Filthy is the first word that comes to mind. Make sure to bring your own flyswatter. My friends seem to like this place, and they didn't seem too concerned over the cleanliness of the place as I was. But to me, this place just doesn't cut it. read more

dear top cafe, how does it feel to be grandfathered into a decent review for being the only other late-opening place in cupertino? not that three stars is great. you get your three stars for having shitty but abundant and available food; for serving tsingtao; for being open late and not caring if we play games here; for being in cupertino; for hosting drunk people who stumble over from britannia arms next door. you lost your two for having really poor customer service, and for your shitty food. don't give me a reason to demote you. read more

Feels like I'm in Hong Kong. Great hours. Food anytime of the day. Definitely a place to practice your Cantonese food ordering a skills if you're on your way to Hong Kong. read more

My favorite dish at TOP CAFE is the Singapore noodles. I love the friendly staff and the wide variety of dishes to choose from. Convenient parking is a huge plus. It's a must try if you are looking for reasonably priced and authentic Canto-Hong Kong style food in the South Bay! read more

Bleech. Raw baked pork chops. So much for quality Hong Kong Cafe style food. My friends say its pretty good but after waiting an hour for my food and having it come out raw I just left. read more

I don't even know if you could call this place a restaurant. Let's start off being nice. The waiters here are really friendly, but that's about it. This place reminds me of the one episode of Spongebob when they tried to make the krusty krab into a fine dining restaurant and Mr krabs said he was a head chef and turns out he was the head chef on the S.S. diaherra and the food turned into a giant fly monster thing. So anyway, we came here late night after iceskating and I've never been here before so I decided to ask the waiter what was popular/good here and he told me about some pasta bake with "white sauce" and crab. So the thing comes out and what is it?? It's not even crab!! What the heck, it was freaking CLAM! Don't even get me started with the white sauce. I have no idea what it was. Shivers. read more

My boyfriend and I visited this restaurant very religiously. One Saturday night, I had fish ball (dough with fish inside) soup. Monday night I felt VERY sick and went to the hospital. Food poisoning. I believe it was from this place as everything I ate that same day and after that Saturday were foods that unlikely to give me posioning. I do not think the fish balls were cooked thoroughly. I really liked this place too! The staff were nice and the environment seemed friendly. Fast, quick food. :( read more