Big brother with rice and spaghetti 7.4/10. Huge portion, good for 2-3 people, very heavy. Hong Kong milk tea 7/10, best when hot Peanut Butter toast 7.4/10, not bad, came with a syrup but I personally liked it without the syrup Service is pretty good, they accidentally messed up our order for the big brother with rice instead of spaghetti so they just gave us the spaghetti on the side Nice atmosphere, went on a weekend and there was no wait, can get a bit noisy with people talking, however. read more

Venus Cafe - Big brother with rice and spaghetti - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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My friend took me to Venus cafe in north san Jose. It was the first time I have been there but it was a pleasant surprise. I am not eat Asian but I do enjoy Chinese hong kong style cafe and I like to eat there cuisine from time to time. My friend recommended the chinese steam chinese with yellow rice and it was delicious! I will definitely come back. The service is okay but the staff kind of speak broken english. read more

My thoughts: This is a Chinese restaurant that is been around the San Jose area through out the up and down of the economy. And any restaurant can survive the harsh business world is A OK in my book. Plus they do serve good Chinese food. Here is my scoring card for this restaurant: 1) Location: ( 5 Point ) - Great location for customer to see and find. Great parking for street parking and back side with parking lot parking. 2) Decoration : (4 Point) - They have the original decoration. 3) Price: ( 3 point)- The price is not competitive,little bit pricey compare to other same stars and type food they serve 4) Quality and Taste : ( 3 point)- The quality is ok, food taste is good and portions are below average . 5) Type of cuisine standard : ( 3 point) - The style of Chinese food they serve is pretty close to the way it was prepare in other Chinese restaurant. Not bad! But some dishes did have slightly modify to cater the customer's need Overall it's not bad and I thinks it's great to give it a try and let me know what you think. Go foodies Total max is 25 Score 18 Stars = 72% round up to 3 stars read more

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This is your typical Hong Kong café, always one of my favorites. Finally decided to try Venus Café out, and it didn't disappoint. At first I was a little worried because I've been so accustomed to other HK cafes in the Bay area and I have quite high standards, but in the end, it all worked out. A must have at HK cafes is the iced lemon tea. Normally it's an iced black tea with lemon. Here, it's kind of like an Arnold Palmer with lemon slices, still good. Very refreshing and it compliments the different types of food quite well. Started with the curry fish balls. The curry was good, came with radish and squid. Nice dish. I went with the black pepper chicken over rice. They have a lunch special everyday, 230-530pm. The lunch special is a smaller portion compared to the regular entre, a little cheaper as well. It's actually a good portion for lunch. The food came out nice and hot, chicken was tender and seasoned, and the black pepper gravy sauce over the rice was delicious. Also tried the wonton noodle soup. The wontons were delicious and juicy, pork and shrimp. Came with 6-7 wontons, plenty of noodles. Soup was flavorful. Overall, very happy with the food. Service was good, food came out quick. Plenty of parking outside. Price of food has gone up tremendously. Each plate is $10-$20 depending on what you're having, pretty standard nowadays. I'll definitely be back here to try other things on the menu. read more

Everything we tried wasn't bad but pretty mediocre. The good thing about this eatery is that it has an extensive menu. The menu is not limited to HK cafe food only but has other Chinese food like spicy northern Chinese dishes and noodles. Big Brother Baked Fried Rice - consisted of pork cutlets, chicken wings in red and white sauce. It's pretty nice that you could get both red and white sauces in a single dish but the sauces tasted just ok. The pork cutlets and chicken wings were pretty average so the dish overall was just so-so. Hainan Chicken Rice - pretty big portion. Both the chicken and rice tasted nice and savory but the chicken could be more moist. HK Milk Tea - strong and pretty authentic. The experience was ok overall but I have had better food at other HK style cafes. read more

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Technically a 3.5 but I'll give it a 4 because I really do enjoy the food. Venus Cafe serves Hong Kong comfort food which is definitely up my alley. All the food is borderline delicious. To specify, some aspects of the food could use a litttttle bit of improvement. For example, my favorite dish (which I understand is super basic) is the chow fun. The noodles are seasoned perfectly however since the vegetables are not cooked long enough - there is not a balance in textures. We also get the pork chop baked rice with pepper sauce. The sauce is super savory and peppery and pairs perfectly with the rice however the sauce is slightly on the saltier side. It's still delicious so we still order it. The dish/appetizer I do not enjoy is the popcorn chicken which is not the usual flavor profile I'm used to. The base of the powder tasted super similar to cinnamon(?) and not the usual savory peppery/chili seasoning. Along with that, the dish was $9, close to $10 and I did not think it is worth it based on flavor + portion size. Regardless, we generally enjoy eating here. I am usually not picky but it is the little aspects that could make this a 5 star place. read more

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The baked pork chop "big brother" is the best thing ever. Perfect sauce to rice ratio. Steaming hot even after a 25 min drive home. The other baked things are also pretty good. read more

Venus Cafe - Big brother - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

I barely give restaurant reviews online. But I really have to share this one! I asked for a Lemonade for my kid, they gave me a jar of ice water with 4-5 pcs lemon in there. I asked the waitress " Is that Lemonade?" she said yes, and then I asked the guy behind the counter the same question, he said yes too. Finally they charge me 6.25+tax for this lemon water! Since it's very expensive, I have to To-Go this lemon water. the curry chicken pic show on the phone menu is quite different from the actually one. you better click and check the second pic of that dish. kind of misleading customer. Understand everything is more expensive now, but this way beyond my understanding! Just personal experience! read more

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Very HK style lunch. Hot plate dish and stir fry noodle. All tasty，I really like the ice lemon tea that was not being too sweet. It's good. read more

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A Hong Kong style place, with free hot herbal tea to start, using E-Menu (eaters need to have power and data), or I think you can also ask staff to help. Easy to order, big portion, acceptable price, nice staff. Some fur is still found on the leg of the chicken, but it seems very common on the Hainan chicken. Anyhow, no fur is more welcomed for me. read more

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If you have been seeking out nostalgic Hong Kong Cafe food (Baked Pork Chop Rice/Spaghetti, Lemon Ice Tea, Friend Salt&Pepper Chicken Wings, etc) THIS IS THE PLACE! Large portions enough for leftovers and enough wok hay and yeet hay for everyone. Can look a bit pricey at $15-20 a dish (esp when HK cafes are known to be cheap, but everything I've tried has been pretty damn tasty! Service can be a bit slow and subpar during a dinner rush (2-3 waiters also managing takeout counter as well), but seating is pretty comfy in booths. Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings: Salty, crispy, juicy, with that spice from pepper and jalalpeno bits we all crave Baked Pork Chop Rice w Tomato Sauce: Decent portion of pork chop and a load of sweet and light ketchupy sauce to smother egg fried rice. Likely will have leftovers Shanghai Style Noodle w Chicken: My personal favorite. Thick noods covered in a dark soy sauce. Light pool of grease to give the real flavor ;) I come here every time I miss HK! Definitely worth a try! read more

Good Hong Kong cafe / Cha Chan Tang style of food. Price is a bit pricey. Their baked rice is delicious. Seating is ok. A bit difficult to walk between tables and need to pay close attention not to inadvertently hitting anything. read more

This has been my favorite Hong Kong cafe in the area. This is comfort food for those with Hong Kong ties. We live in east bay, but if we are in South Bay, or if my husband is there for a work event, I find reasons for us to pick up take out. Their beef chow fun is solid. I really like their baked pork chop rice dish, red sauce only, with the chicken wing added in. I need to return more times and be willing to venture from these two favorite dishes of mine that I keep ordering to try more. read more

I used to frequent their other location a lot a few years ago and had a hankering for baked rice. The order online process was easy but then they never texted or called to let me know my food was done as the directions stated. I finally went in to grab it. The pork chop curry sauce was pretty tasty and big portions. The popcorn chicken on the other hand was very sad looking and for the cost a very meager serving. They are not in my rotation of takeout dinners but if I have a baked rice craving I'll stop by again as I don't know anywhere else that serves it. read more

Venus Cafe - Popcorn chicken was such a sad serving size. The batter was pretty flavorful but tasted a bit like old oil - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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Excellent Service and food. Worth every price. Go for the salt and pepper chicken wings and pork chop, rice red and white gravy with chicken wing. so tasty read more

My local go-to spot for Hong Kong style dishes. There's a large variety of dishes and something for everyone, even vegetarians. Service is surprisingly helpful--offering great suggestions when you're indecisive like me. Seafood egg tofu - Incredibly soft texture, lightly salted egg tofu. Eggplant, mixed mushroom - Ordinary. Pork Chop & Onion w/ Garlic Sauce with Fries - Saucy, flavorful, a staple item. There are many more items, but will update as I go back for more! Next time order: - French toast - Pan fried rice stick noodle - Stir fried pumpkin and shrimp with XO sauce - Curry fish fillet - Curry mixed vegetables - Hainan chicken rice - Taiwanese style popcorn chicken - Curry fish ball and radish read more

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I drove by this place over the weekend when I was pretty hungry... so I decided to give it a try. The service was fast and prompt, and the food was solid. I got a noodle dish with pork. But deep down inside. I had a craving for beef. So perhaps that was the reason the food did not wow me. Overall, the food was probably three star. The service was four star, for promptness. Oh by the way, the noodle came with milk tea and hot and sour soup. So it is a pretty good deal if you are hungry, like I was at the time. Given all these considerations, I am tentatively giving this place a four star. Will have to come up to give a more thorough review. read more

Venus Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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Update: 4 stars for the food but 3 stars for the price. Just like with most other places, prices have gone up from years ago. I ordered food from here this past Friday in person and food came out pretty fast. I ordered one regular pork chop over rice and one black pepper pork over rice. Food was still nice and hot when I got home. Portions were huge and I feel like they gave more meat portions than before (understandable since they raised their prices). Definitely was satisfied and one entree was enough for 3 meals for myself. read more

Venus Cafe - 9. Pork Chop with Black Pepper Sauce - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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I've lived here basically all my life, and I have no idea why I've never taken the time to come here. It was one of those nights where there was nothing at home and I absolutely didn't want to cook. Having not ever really having Hong Kong street food, I'm more than sold with this experience. I ordered the dinner special with a milk tea that had a pork chop, a slice of ham, a hot dog, a slice of bacon, and a chicken breast on top of a bed of fries smothered in pepper sauce and it's like I was eating the best hangover food in my life. The tea wasn't bad either. All that for around $20. Left with a smile. I wouldn't say it was the highest quality of food, but it all got the job done. The hot dog was pretty damn flavorful. read more

WHY WE WENT HERE: - impromptu friend dinner THE LOOK (FROM THE OUTSIDE): - located off Hostetter Rd and Frost Dr in the same plaza as 99 Ranch Market THE LOOK (FROM THE INSIDE): - booth and regular table seating THE MENU: - appetizer - soups - signature baked items - Hainan chicken - sizzling dishes - rice plates - vegetables - fried rice - stir-fried noodles - noodle soups - curry - porridge - drinks WHAT WE ORDERED: - Japanese style pork chop and chicken steak - Shanghai chow mein THE TASTE: - pork chop was very tender and saucey; definitely felt like despite that, it was lacking seasoning; a shareable meal for sure - chow mein was ok, nothing remarkable - I think the pork chop sauce contained fish sauce and/or oyster sauce because I started getting itchy on my lip/mouth area (ended up taking a Benadryl once I got home) CUSTOMER SERVICE: - very nice read more

Venus Cafe - Shanghai chow mein - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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Solid HK cafe in South Bay. Their food has gotten better over the years but there are still some hit or misses. Definitely get the Big Brother (大哥大豬扒）It is a crispy pork chop and chicken wing baked in their tomato and white sauce with your choice of rice or pasta with a fried egg on top. This is a must get and it hits all the cravings you might have. Pass on the Szechuan Style Stir Fried Beef Thick Noodle, it was very very salty. Pass on the Beef & Tomato Pan Fried Noodles, this was a tad too sweet, unless you like that. Get the Shanghai style stir fried thick noodle, these have great chew, not overly salty. French toast with peanut butter was fluffy and delicious too! read more

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FLAVOR (3/5) You shouldn't have too high standards going into a HK cafe, but you can tell that the food has been microwaved because some areas of the food were lukewarm while others were piping hot. Not the most favorable plates in my opinion. INSTAGRAM WORTHY (2/5) The place isn't necessarily worthy to be on an Instagram post. People come here for the nostalgia. SERVICE (3/5) Standard Asian fast food service -- took our order and delivered food to the table. Didn't refill hot teas with empty cups, didn't check up on the table, and had to ask for Togo boxes and check after waving the waiter down while they were gossiping in the corner. TAKE AWAYS: Came here for a dip into HK when I'm thousands of miles away. However, I left disappointed showing my friends what our culture has to offer. read more

Venus Cafe - Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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Firstly, I must give credit to the cleanliness of the facility, service was prompt and accurate. However, quality and amount of food for the price of the order were very poor. Omelet I ordered was small and watery, not worth the $11+, although it also include a hot drink. Cold drinks would cost you an additional $.99 for the ice, I supposed. Quality to value would drive me away, for sure. Do not recommend and will not revisit for another try. Sorry for my honesty. read more

This place is okay. Options are different than most Chinese places. I really like their fried rice. Also like the egg tofu and beef. That is very good. Flavor is a tad interesting but overall very good. I'll come here once in a blue moon. Not a fan of their noodles. read more

Venus Café is Hong Kong-styled bistro with its large menu covering a variety of types of dishes and its cute décor. I would say that the closest comparison I could make to another local spot is Local Café. This café located in Pacific Rim Plaza aka the San Jose 99 Ranch Market shopping plaza, and is in a pretty great location. It's located central to a lot of offices, which makes a very convenient spot to go to when you have a variety of coworkers with different diets. One of the times I had gone was with a coworker who didn't eat seafood and another was in addition to a coworker who is sensitive to greasy and oily foods. Yet, during the times we went, we all found something we were eager to try/eat. And afterwards, if you aren't in the mood to pick something from their dessert menu, are still craving boba, or are looking for something to take back to the office, this is the plaza that has a Paris Baguette and five boba/drink places (Teaspoon, Bambu, Happiness Cafe, Sharetea, and Coco Bar). Their regular menu is pretty large, on top of them having a lunch specialties menu. A lot of the dishes come with drinks. Options include the basic things like milk tea, but you can upgrade it to something on the larger drink menu for a couple of cents. For example, my friend upgraded her drink to a honey pomelo for 30 cents more. Their milk tea is definitely meant to be drunk hot. Not only does it cost more to be cold, and it's bitterer when it's cool. But hey, you might want it like that, so there's a tip. Having tried a number of different dishes at this point, the flavors are much gentler than I personally prefer. But the portion sizes are great and the dishes are really suited for take-out. Overall, while they are very filling, I think I ultimately prefer Local Café's flavor. The udon, soups, and different combo items were just a bit bland for me. So not one of my go-to places, but wonderfully convenient for work lunches, when you're in a hurry, just not sure what you want to eat when you're in this Plaza, or need takeout. read more

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I would give 4 stars if it wasn't for the food poisoning because I usually do like baked rice. I ordered take out and was told the order would take 30-40 mins for 3 dishes. Okay, a bit slow for a Tuesday night, but not a big deal. I get there within 30 mins. When I got to the counter, there were a whole table of employees sitting and joking (the counter blocks the pathway into the restaurant, so they were for sure not customers. They got up and walked around, but no one bothered to greet me. After waiting for 10 minutes, I had to call out for someone to help me. There were no other customers the whole time I was there. Someone finally came to ask me what I needed and handed me my order. He was not wearing a mask or gloves, which was very concerning. When I got home, the food was cold, as if they had been sitting down. It was bland so I added so garlic salt. This made me not realize that the the seafood baked rice has gone bad! After a couple bites, I realized it smelled weird and tasted weird too. We ended up tossing $50 worth of food - a complete waste of money. My brother had a bit of a stomachache from his one bite, but I had a terrible night of full-on food poisoning. I do not recommend ordering out from here. If you do, I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart. read more

+ They have the HK Cafe Classics + Decent venue + TVB on the TVs - Expensive - Service could be better Yeah, I'm surprised there aren't more HK Cafes in San Jose. This one is actually the closest one to where I live. I'll say, this place is far from the best HK Cafe I've been to, Shooting Star blows it out of the water, but for San Jose, I'll say it's decent. They have all of the classics: Big Brother, Baked Pork Chop over rice, Macaroni Soup, Club Sandwich, etc. I took my friends here and everything that we had was pretty good. My main gripe with this place is that it's pretty expensive. Traditionally, HK Cafes are supposed to be cheap comfort food, but here, most dishes are pushing $15+. I guess that's cause we're in the Bay Area, truly unfortunate. I absolutely love HK Cafe food, so even though the food wasn't the best I've ever had, I'll still say that I enjoyed it. Looking back, this is a pretty authentic, albeit average and expensive HK Cafe. I would still recommend it if you're in the area tbh. read more

I must say this is the closest to the one I've tasted in Tsim Sha Tsui, HKG. Very good food, authentic and generous serving. They only have 2 servers but all of them are very polite and efficient. This is a hidden Gem in San Jose! read more

Venus Cafe - Beef Wanton Soup - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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The place is a taste of Hong Kong cuisine. The staff is efficient and the food comes out fast. The portions are large and very tasty. The place gets busy for lunch so arrive early. I definitely recommend this place for lunch and dinner. read more

Excellent customer service. I went for lunch one of these days in the past few weeks with lot of rain and feeling like ordering soupy. I suggested my colleague to go and try one of those hot pot places nearby but the lines were long and we were hungry. I have passed by Venus Cafe several times but somehow the name of the restaurant put me off (sounds more like a beauty parlor to me:). However she liked the atmosphere and decided to take a look at the menu. The host/owner (I guess) was super welcoming and inviting. Very good marketing strategy to invite you to sit at the table and think and if you don't like, you go, but at least think seated, not standing up! Then, my colleague and I got lost with so many options and she became a little bit pickier than usual with her vegetarian needs. He server changed the dish she wanted removing and adding ingredients, so total custom at the price of lunch daily special menu. Great flavors, fast service, good impression. read more

Venus Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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Dear friends, if you want good food that serves Hong Kong cafe eats, this your spot. Now if you want great top notch service with someone who will wait on you hand and foot, this is not the place; in fact any REALLY good Chinese restaurant with delicious food is not for you. The reality is this place serves very specific food only found in Hong Kong cafes, or as we call them, cha chan tang. Here you can find Portuguese influenced dishes, Hong Kong style eats, borsch soup (or our version of it, popularly served in HK) and BOMB ASS HONG KONG MILK TEA. The dishes to go for? Beef noodle soup, preserved egg and pork porridge, crispy noodles, Hong Kong milk tea (did I mention that yet?), salt and pepper anything, salted fish anything, so forth and so forth. So again, for authentic eating purposes come here, enjoy what the culture has to offer and soak it all up...in your belly. read more

It's just ok, probably average or slightly below average HK style cafe. I remember it used to be good but not for my recent visit. Service (4/5): Pretty good for a HK style cafe. Food (2.5/5) is not great to be honest, the best tasting stuff is the milk tea that comes with the meal. The mix steak is not fresh, we can taste that the steaks have this weird texture when you marinate it in baking soda for too long. I know that most HK style cafe do this, but some do it at a more subtle degree and tenderize the meat just right. But here, the texture is way off and taste weird. the best thing in the plate is probably the hot dog. The spaghetti that comes with it is overcooked and just bland. not even some salt. The beef curry is a little bit better. The problem is that it has no seasoning. Curry is nicely spiced and coconuty, but no level of salt is presented. So it's pretty disappointed. We had to use their chili sauce to adjust the taste. The popcorn chicken is a joke, there're many over fried, dried out small pieces that taste like the fryer, and the oil in the fryer must be nasty because the color of the popcorn chicken is not golden, but rather brown. We didn't finish the plate and didn't even bother taking a picture. Probably will not come back again unless I'm around the area and it's late no one else is open. Well, open late is one plus side of the place I guess. read more

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Superb food quality. HK style food, many options Service is great except the guy without the glasses has a bad attitude and temperament. I am not sure if he is there anymore, I went here a lot from 20-19 - 2021. Management is solid, lead by the trio of husband, wife and son(guy with glasses). Give this place a shot. read more

I always get their macaroni soup, baked pork chop rice, or salty fish fried rice! I appreciate that this cafe is very cozy as you dine in and they are consistent with the quality of their food. ^~^ read more

I went here with for a casual dinner Monday 7/5. Ambiance: 4/5 abiance was okay for a HK cafe! From what I was able to observe, wait staff were all still masked at least. Food: 4/5 I got 2 special dishes. Beef cubes with egg tofu and seafood with egg tofu. Both were tasty! Quality was okay and as expected for a HK Cafe. Wait Time: 4/5 we were able to get seated right away. The seating is booth style indoors and table and chairs outdoors. Service: 4/5 The waitress that served us provided okay service. Our dishes came out at a reasonable wait time (10-20 minutes) at relative times (within 5-10 minutes of each other). Price: 3/5 Expect to spend avg $17 as dishes ranged from 13-20+. Gotta love bay area pricing... Value: 3/5 I believe most people will be pretty full from the amount of food provided. Quality of ingredients is okay. Parking: This restaurant islocated in a plaza with other shops and restaurants, so parking was available! Overall, I would give this place a 3.5/5 for my personal experience. read more

Venus Cafe - Beef cubes and egg tofu - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

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Highly recommend the baked bolognese spaghetti! Sooo cheesy and they don't skimp on the meat! Another dish I like is their beef and tofu... Similar to shaking beef if you've had that before. Not really a fan of their other baked stuff like baked spam and rice... Way too much sauce on the rice, way too much rice, and only three pieces of spam. Highly recommend for the spaghetti though! read more

We come to Venus cafe so so so so often, it's our go-to HK style cafe. We miss coming here pre-covid to enjoy the food piping hot, but takeout will have to suffice for now. They're usually super quick with takeout, we've never had to wait longer than 15-20 minutes which is about the time it takes for us to drive over after the call. They do have a few outdoor tables, but we typically just like to come home to enjoy this meal. As you can see from the pictures, we ALWAYS get the portuguese style baked rice! It's my husband's absolute favorite and we haven't been able to find any other places in the bay area that serves this. We would give this spot a 5 if the consistency of the food was a bit better... some days the baked rice is a bit runny/less flavorful. Same goes for the other dishes I usually get - it's a gamble with the quality of beef. Nonetheless, it's still one of our favorite spots! read more

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A childhood favorite of mine. When we crave Hk food after a hangover this is the place to be. Great food, authentic flavors, and friendly staff. The environment is amazing too because it's a staple for many families. If you have a family this is a great affordable spot. My favorite things here are the cheung fan with peanut sauce, the big brother, and the HK milk tea. I would have to come 100 times to try everything on the menu and I would have so many things to write. read more

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Open for outdoor dining during pandemic. Parking lot available. Ordered easily and food came out promptly. The food was ok, it satisfies the craving for Hong Kong cafe style food. Ordered the french fries with fish, fish with white sauce over fried rice, big brother pork chop over fried rice, and seafood soup puff pastry. Favorite would have to be the soup. Would come back again. read more

Venus Cafe - Fish and fries, 13. Fish Filet with White Sauce, 1. Big Brother, seafood soup puff pastry - Coffee & Tea Near Me - San Jose, California

I recommend their 大哥大. The portion is big and the price is reasonable. It cured my homesick for hongkong.