Eats - Chinese - Cantonese

ABC Seafood (Milpitas, Ulferts Center)
Ulfert Center, 768 Barber Lane
Milpitas, CA 95035
408/435-8888
Dimsum rating: ***
Long waits, but the seafood dim sum are very good. This is one of those restaurants where it would be really handy to go with a Chinese-speaking person, since there are dishes and customs that are baffling, e.g., the mysterious jook table. It's also possible to get a truly bad table here, far from the carts.

Annie's Panda Garden
320 Fairgrounds
Vallejo, CA 94590
707/644-6826
Rating: *
We stopped here on our way to Sacramento from San Francisco, because it's right next to the freeway and clearly visible. The "Panda" thing had me hoping that it was similar to Panda Country Kitchen in San Francisco on Geary, but no such luck. This is a standard Cantonese joint with okay food. Good service though. I think a great deal of their business is from the steam table buffet (we passed on it), but the other patrons seemed just fine with the food quality. No Chinese or even Asians other than myself though. Incredibly cheap: dinner for two off the menu was $15.42 for two dishes. 8/31/2007

Bamboo Garden
711 Town and Country Village
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Dim Sum Rating: ***
We first visited this new restaurant during opening week, and there has been a vast improvement in the service and quality of the food. Excellent basics such as hargow and su mai, plus some unusual desserts. The menu lists some items which never appeared on carts or trays, such as a scallop no mai gai. We were in a steamed food mood, so we had various variations on hargow, all of which were quite good. The most unusual dish was what looks like giant steamed madelines for dessert (eat them warm). The tea (we almost always order polay/puehr) was not very good. 08/02

Canton Delights
10125 Bandley Dr.
Cupertino, CA 95014
408/777-9888
Dimsum rating: ***
Most notable feature: tables for two. You don't compete with the tables of ten that dominate most dim sum restaurants. Notable dishes are the sui mai and desserts, which I haven't seen at any other dim sum spot. Excellent service and reasonably priced. 2/01

Update Sunday, Oct 9, 2005: We return for dimsum. I should note that Canton Delight is on our "dimsum circuit" of restaurants that my friend Michael and I visit on a rotating basis throughout the yeard. The quality of the food hasn't changed. Steamed dumplings, especially the sharkfin, are a bit on the dry side. Everything else is quite good, almost to Mayflower Great Mall or Pan Tau standards. Hint: order off the trays. The food is better and it's usually straight from the kitchen. Service here is always first-rate.

Canton Dim Sum House
655 Folsom St.
San Francisco, CA
Dimsum in most cities is usually served from around 10:30 am - 1 pm. We try to go either early or late to miss the families of 12 that crowd these places. Unfortunately, even on a Sunday we had to park in the Moscone convention center parking down the block because there's zero street parking.

We've been here twice before, and since it's the only dim sum place near South of Market other than Yang Sing (very expensive, Westernized) now that Harbor Village is closed, we took our chances.

For service, they get a "D"; for food, a "C". After a 15 min wait even though there were clearly empty tables, we were seated. This place has the worst lighting of any restaurant I've been in, and since there are no real windows it feels like you're eating in a gymnasium. I don't even think they asked the Chinese people what kind of tea they wanted, which is bad sign number two. We got a pot of jasmine by default.

Anyway, we waited again for the first cart to show up and when they did there isn't much variety--standard fare, and a cold cart. The quality, however, is not bad. Usually at places like this when the food does come it's really inferior, but this was okay and they are the ONLY Cantonese place to approach getting the xiaolongbao right (although the skins were thick and they bizarrely replace the black vinegar with a sweetish unidentifiable liquid). The sticky rice (no mai gai) were good though.

Will we go back? Not likely, unless there's a leather event. The other thing about this place is that the bears and leather men love going here for some reason. This place recently got a good right up for dinner, and that may be where their strength is. As a dim sum place, this isn't that good, that cheap, that pretty, or that weird to warrant a special trip. Before tip for a dim sum lunch for two: $31.25. July 29, 2007

Cathay Kitchen
2116 S. El Camino Real
San Mateo, CA 94403
650/577-8333
Rating: ***
Went here with my boss who likes this place for seafood. This place is incredibly easy to miss, and it isn't much inside. The seafood is very fresh though, and service is good (even though my boss ordered completely in Mandarin). We had a fish three ways: as a soup, with the skin mixed with vegetables and tofu, and steamed with a light sauce. We also had giant clam, which is always good at a Chinese restaurant (two shells per order). Will have to go back with a bigger group to try other items. 05/04

NEW - China House Restaurant
513 Main St.
Vacaville, CA 95688
707/446-8068
Rating: **
We weren't expecting much when we walked into this place, so we weren't surprised by the limited menu. The food, however, was well prepared. Would we return? No. (

China Palace Restaurant
688 Barber Lane (first level of the same shopping center where ABC Seafood is located)
Milpitas, CA 95035
408/894-7060
Rating: **
Went here on my friend Cevin's recommendation. I'm actually not sure what region the owners are from (Beijing? Taiwan?) but it's basically a snack joint (zero ambiance, but hopping even on a weeknight). The menu is pretty extensive with some odd dishes I haven't seen before, and there are photos for some of the dishes with no English descriptions. The house specialties are dishes steamed in a lotus leaf, which we'll definitely try next time. We had quail with five-spice salt, tomato beef, deep fried "Bifengtang-style" pork chops with chili and garlic (yum), and honey walnut shrimp, which was served with the shrimp and (not too sweet) walnuts separate for some reason. The interesting thing is that the "normal" drink served for free is pearl tea. Dinner for two (actually enough food for four) was about $42. with tip. 10/03/2005

China Village Seafood Restaurant
600 Ralston Ave.
Belmont, CA 94002
650/593-1831
http://chinavillage.222.to
Rating: ***
I went here as part of a huge group of 25. I sat with a fairly conservative group, so we ordered some safe dishes: Peking Duck, pan-fried scallops, roasted chicken with red bean cake sauc, potstickers, hot and sour soup. The skin of the Peking duck is sliced away table-side which sort of freaked out some, and served with the traditional steamed buns, green onion, and hoisin; the meat is served chopped into pieces, not picked and re-cooked in separate dish. The roasted chicken with red bean cake sauce (I think that's what it was called) is simply chicken with a red miso sauce served on the side for dipping; simple but good. Potstickers were quite good, even though I don't care for them in general. The soup was fine, but not memorable. Note on parking. This place is easy to miss if you drive too fast down Ralston. When you see the Caltrain underpass, start slowing down. It's near the corner of Ralston and Old Country Road. There's a few space directly behind the restaurant and a large lot to the left of the restaurant. 05/03

Dim Sum King Restaurant
88 Skyline Plaza
Daly City, CA 94015
Rating: ****
This was a really interesting find in the Ranch 99 shopping center, which is why we were there. They have a large dim sum menu and everything is basically cooked when you order it which means the deep fried dishes are perfect (vs. the warm or cold versions that circle around most places). The oddball dish of the day was turtle herbal jelly, which was basically like eating jello flavored with sen sen with a honey sauce. Service was fast and professional. The restaurant itself is nicely decorated although on a budget. The plastic flowers and vines hanging from a grid on the ceiling was funky and fabulous. Total before tip was $27.05 March 8, 2008

Dragon House Restaurant
5344 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 751-6545
Rating: **
We had to decide between four restaurants on the same block as the cheap cigarette store and we chose this because it appeared to serve Shanghai-style food. The review in the window went on about it, and the lunch menu reflected it. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Apparently, they only serve somewhat Shanghai-style food at lunch. I asked for xiao long bao and the first time was rebuffed (the waitress later made a special order just for us, but they were Cantonese style; tasty but soup-free). The other dishes were fine, but not particularly noteworth: sizzling platter beef, seaweed soup, and a very tasty scallop saute (actually, the best scallops I've had in awhile). Overall, however, the menu is boring. You can get a much better deal at the seafood place on Noriega. 12/15/2006

Dynasty Chinese Seafood (San Jose location)
1001 Story Rd. Ste #200, San Jose, CA 95122
Dimsum: **
A large restaurant on the second floor of a mostly Asian shopping center in south central San Jose. Standards are all well done, although the most unusual items were cruellers wrapped in rice noodles flecked with dried shrimp (too salty for my taste) and a nicely done roasted young pig. Easy to get a table after 1 p.m., otherwise there may be a wait. Carts don't come around as often as I would like, but the staff is very friendly. 12/02

Updated 10/6/2005: Again, I've actually eaten here a few times since the original review in 2002. Dim sum is good, if not spectacular or daring. Lots of barbeque meats. The REAL DEAL here is to go on a weeknight for peking duck. It's a bargain, but only served one night a week.

Dynasty Chinese Seafood (Cupertino location)
Valco Fashion Plaza
10123 Wolfe Road
Cupertino, CA
Dimsum rating: ***

Went here with my friend Michael for our usual Sunday dimsum run. We had high hopes after getting a glimpse at the decor a couple of weeks ago, which is fairly spectacular. It's also in Cupertino, where competition among restaurants is fierce. Unfortunately, they haven't quite gotten the hang of handling large crowds two weeks after opening.

We ordered off the checklist menu, which Michael said is apparently how it's done nowadays in Hong Kong, but we both agreed that it ruins the surprise even though the food arrives hotter. The usual suspects were fine—salt and pepper shrimp were good, eggplant with pork was good, deep fried squid was good. We also ordered seabass filets, which turned out to be paper-thin strips of deep fried seabass with the coating soaked in sweet and sour sauce; it was like eating nothing, but strangely addictive. The sticky rice was a bit odd in that the leaf was also wrapped in plastic which was coated with a yellow liquid which we couldn't identify. The contents were fine though. We also ordered an odd coffee-flavored dessert, which was basically jellied cafe au lait (stick to the melon flavor).

The wait was long, due no doubt to the newness of the restaurant: 30-40 mins. Service was really spotty, with the lone Latino busboy being the only really attentive member of the waitstaff (he was really good though and understood our tea order without blinking). We may try this again for dimsum after a few months, but not for dinner as you'll see below. 07/18/04

Update 05/2006: Service has improved remarkably since our last visit. The food is still a B, but at least we weren't waiting an hour.

Fook Yuen
195 El Camino Real, Millbrae, CA
415/692-8600
Dimsum rating: ****
The most notable feature of this rather fancy restaurant is how nice the service is. The only drawback is that if you order a special dish from the kitchen during dim sum, you will get it right before you pay your bill. Very good soup, sui mai, and jellyfish. 04/00

Happy Valley Chinese Restaurant
Plaza Fiesta
4166 Buford Hwy.
Atlanta, GA 30345
404/6339383
Dimsum rating: *
According to the local newspaper, this is supposedly the best dim sum place in Atlanta. My advice: wait until you get back to California. Except for some unusual dessert choices (including a decent Mexican flan), everything was mediocre. The meat filling in the dumplings was strangely chewy, and basically inedible. Steamed dumplings were bland. The only interesting thing was that no one seemed to notice how crappy the food was. 11/02

Harbor Village - CLOSED FOR GOOD
Four Embarcadero Center
San Francisco
415/781-8833
Lunch: Weekdays: 11:00 am to 2:30 pm, Weekends: 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, Dinner: Everyday: 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Dimsum rating: **
In 1988, this was the best Chinese restaurant I had ever been to. I went to a wedding banquet, and the food was truly spectacular. I recently went to Sunday dim sum here, and was deeply disappointed. Not only was there almost nothing but standards to choose from, but carts were few and far between. The quality of the items (except for a very nice clam dish) were mediocre at best. Updated 11/01

Hong Sing Tea House
1135 Lawrence Expressway
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
408/734-2828
Dim Sum: ***1/2
I think this is the last dim sum place we had to visit in the South Bay, and we were pleasantly surprised. While the variety couldn't match SamKee or Mayflower, the quality was quite good. The only dish that we hadn't seen before were shrimp balls perched on top of shiitake mushrooms. These were tender and tasty. In fact, everything we ate was equally tender—the su mai, the hargow, the shark fin dumplings, the pan fried dumplings with shrinp & leek—all were missing any sign of gristle or chewiness. We aren't sure is this is good thing, but it certainly made chewing easier. Ten dishes ran $28. Decor is an odd but no unpleasant mix of Chinese gilded dragons and Victoria Station, and they really need to use fewer florescent lights. 11/02

Ho Mei Do
1285 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126
408/292-6767
Overall: **
Near my house, so I decided to check it out. Standard Chinese-American fare, and LOTS of it. After having eaten "real" Chinese food, this is basically the equivalent of ordering pate en croute at Denny's; you'll get exactly what you think you'll get. 08/02

Joy Luck Place - San Mateo Location
88 E. 4th Ave.
San Mateo, CA 94401
Rating: ***
The northern outpost of the place in Cupertino. Strangely enough, the manager I knew from Silver Lake (and China B before that) is now working here. Went here with a group from work to celebrate our intern's birthday. The amazing thing is how big this place is. Double height ceilings, designer chairs. They serve dimsum to go up front. We ordered this amazing rice dish that had a "Portuguese" sauce, which turned out to be a slightly creamy curry-tinged sauce mixed with nicely cooked seafood. The other dishes—a peppery Malaysian-style chow fun, another noodle dish—were fine but not particularly outstanding. The dimsum was also average. I'll have to go back to see if there's anything more interesting on the menu. 10/03

Joy Luck Place - Cupertino Location
10911 N. Wolfe Road, Cupertino
408/255-2788
Dimsum rating: ***
The toughest ticket in town. Waits can last up to 90 minutes on a weekend. Is it worth it? The differences aren't huge, but we've had some unusual dishes here that aren't available anywhere else. If worse comes to worse, there are at least two other dim sum restaurants within walking distance.

 
King's Chinese Restaurant
1500 West Capitol Ave.
916/371-8131
Dimsum rating: ***
This is the first restaurant I ever had dim sum at, and I still consider it the best. I'm sure part of this is sentimental, but the no mai gai here is remarkable, with whole pieces of chicken, lop chong, and egg. This is also one of the last restaurants that still counts plates and steamers rather than using paper to tabulate the bill (at least it was the last time I visited). The staff is genuinely friendly and remember you even if you haven't been there in years.

Update 12/2002: Took my parents out for dimsum. On weekdays, you order via a checklist (not uncommon and practical given there were only seven tables at lunchtime). We had the no mai gai, which is still the best although doesn't include the whole chicken parts anymore. Su mai were fine, and the hargow were also okay. I'm headed back to Sacramento in January, so we'll see how the weekend dimsum stands up. FYI: They don't always turn on the heat in the winter, so wear a sweater.

Update 07/2003: Yes, they still count up the tab based plates! Went back home for the Fourth of July and decided to treat my parents to dim sum. While the number of people on a Saturday was down from what it used to be, the quality of the food was still there. I was only disappointed that I wasn't able to try their version of no mai gai. We had the usual stuff and it was all good, at least the same as San Jose/Milpitas standards. There was one standout dish, a dumpling which Iunfortunately couldn't identify, that was truly outstanding and that I'd never seen before. Service was super friendly as always (the same people have worked there for more than two decades) and they recognize regulars...even those that have moved out of town.

Update 9/23/2006: They still count plates, but the no mai gai no longer has the chicken pieces. Now it has large pieces of ham instead. They also have a steamed dish that has ham/chicken/fish maw wrapped in a yuba wrapper, which I've never seen before. Very affordable as always, although I wish they'd ask what kind of tea we want.

La China
983 Lincoln Ave.
San Rafael, CA 94901
Rating: **
I've been wanting to try this place since we stumbled on it a few months ago. It's a hole-in-the-wall, but they've made an effort to make the windowless interior comfortable if not stylish. We had the cold braised beef appetizer, deep-fried sweet & sour scallops (actually a misorder since I ordered dry panfried scallops), and shredded pork with yam noodles. The scallops were in a very sweet sauce, but were well cooked. The shredded pork is actually what I eat a lot for lunch and was fine. The cold beef appetizer was the best of the lot, since it wasn't completely jerky-like in texture and very beefy. The oddest thing was the freebie appetizer of kimchee. Service is good. $36.10 before tip. 10/22/2005

May Flower Restaurant
3022 L St.
Sacramento, CA 95816
916/737-2222
Hours: Mon-Fri 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Sat-Sun 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Rating: ***
I went here for my nephew's 30th birthday. We had oen of the family dinners for ten (although we doubled it since there were 16 of us). Appetizer starter (jellyfish, beef shank, charsiu pork, peppery sausage) was fine, although not as good as Silver Lake's. What followed was good, although not spectacular: seafood soup, walnut shrimp, beef with green beans, mushrooms with bokchoy, two black bean crabs, fish in a light sauce. Service was attentive and fast. It's good to see that the quality of Chinese restaurants is going up in Sacramento. 11/03

Mayflower (Milpitas Square)
428 Barber Lane Milpitas, CA 95035
Tel: 408/922-2700
Overall: ** | Dimsum rating: **
This place is the biggest dim sum draw in this all-Asian shopping center. The host is a babe, and the selection is good. This is also the only dim sum restaurant I've seen with Latino/a servers (yes, they can say the Cantonese names of dishes). Welcome to California. Updated 03/02

Mayflower (Great Mall)
222 Great Mall Drive, Milpitas, CA 95035
Tel: 408/935-6999
Overall: ** | Dimsum rating: ****
I prefer this location over the Barber Lane restaurant, partly because it's easier to find parking on a weekend and the wait is shorter (note: "shorter" still means upwards of 15 mins.). Seating is tighter (we usually get stuck in the glass ceiling-ed solarium) but the staff is friendlier. They experiment here. The oddest dish we've had lately was fruit salad in mayonaise stuffed in a thin, deep fried, panko-coated pastry wrapper. Updated 12/02

New - Mayflower (San Francisco on Geary)
6255 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94121
Overall: ** | Dimsum rating: ***
We went here on a weekday, and it was surprisingly busy (always a good sign). There are the standard dimsum dishes, as well as a few specialties on trays. Compared to the Mayflower at the Great Mall, however, it can't compare. Dimsum for two (lots of dishes): $28.10. (5/1/2006)

O'Mei
Santa Cruz, 2316 Mission St.
831/425-8458
Lunch Mon-Fri 11:30am-2pm, dinner Sun-Thu 5-9pm, Fri-Sat 5-10pm.
Fusion Asian. I only ate here once, and I'm pretty sure I was pissed off at the time, so my reaction may have been tainted. The food is very good for what it is, which is basically Chinese-American dishes with good ingredients and decent presentation.

 
Pan Tao (formerly Samkee) Dim Sum & Seafood Restaurant
1686 S. Wolfe Rd.
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
408/737-9976
Dimsum rating: ****
This is one of the best dim sum places in the South Bay. The dishes change seasonally (they served some wickedly good giant clam in September). This isn't a fancy place; the atmosphere is no frills, but the selection and quality is what counts. Notable feature: tables for two. Updated 06/02

SamKee retakes the dimsum title. They keep experimenting with new seasonal dishes, like spicy fried clams. Overall, this is pretty hard to beat, even though the decor hasn't improved. I forgot ot mention that there are several tables for two, which means you don't have to compete with the tables for twelve. Updated 09/02

PF Chang's (Downtown San Jose location)
98 S. 2nd St.
San Jose, CA 95113
Rating: **
We went here on a weekend afternoon because a) it was the only thing open, and b) I'd never been (on purpose). I hate chain restaurants. After standing around for five minutes while the waitstaff chatted at the bar, we were shown the worst table in the restaurant next to the kitchen. I refused the table and asked for a booth, which they gave us. I will say this. The food is not bad. It's tasty, it's hot, and it's somewhat attractive despite the lack of any sort of garnish. The bad news is that it's also expensive ($47 for lunch for two), the service is attrocious, and the dishes would only be considered imaginative if we went back in time to the 40s. This restaurant is consistently empty on weekend nights, so I'm sure we won't have it much longer. I wonder if I could buy one of the giant Zhao horse statues...? (4/23/2006)

Restaurant Peony
Pacific Renassance Plaza, Suite 288 (2nd floor)
388 9th St.
Oakland, CA 94607
610/286-8866
Dimsum rating: ****
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat/Sun 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Dinner: 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., Fri-Sat 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m.
Went here on based on a tip from a local website. It's hidden on the second floor of the huge housing/community complex (where the Asian Library branch, police substation, and Asian Cultural Center are housed). I highly recommend just parking in the underground parking beneath the building; we must have circled around for 10 mins looking for street parking.

This is a large restaurant, so even though there were 17 parties ahead of us, we only waited about 10 mins. The most unusual dish was a variation on sticky rice (no mai gai) that replaced the lotus leaves normally used as a wrapper with an eggy omelet. We also had deep-fried taro with a schmear of shrimp paste, snail-shaped steamed rolls with lopchong inside, the chinese version of mushrooms bordelaise, scallop dumplings filled with spinach (my favorite), decent har gow and sui mai, pickled vegetables (a really, really good idea), thin noodles, "black sand" dumplings (not as good as Canton Delight in Cupertino), and this odd eggy tapioca. Total: $56 before tip. Service was good although they automatically brought us chili sauce but we had to ask for soy sauce. Weird. The menu is more unusual than Jade Villa, but we showed up really late (1 p.m.) so I'm sure we missed a lot. 05/04

Silver House Restaurant
2224 S. El Camino Real
San Mateo, CA 94403
650/571-1298
11 a.m. - 10 p.m., 7 days
Overall: ** | Dimsum rating: N/A
Decent , well executed Chinese-American fare. Friendly service and servings are satisfying. I haven't tried anything from the Chinese menu. 06/01

Silver Lake Restaurant (Formerly California Crab Station) - CLOSED! :( now a pho place
855 East Homestead Road
Sunnyvale, CA 94087

NEW - South Sea Seafood Village
1420 Irving St
San Francisco 94122 (at 15th Ave, two blocks west of Andronico's)
415/665-8210
We started going here after Scott spotted the bright red brick facade by accident. The dimsum is so-so (sauces are a little gluey, wrappers are thick-ish), but the tea selection is pretty impressive and service is usually very good. The weird thing is that the menu for weekday dim sum includes some really interesting dishes that aren't available on weekends. 07/14/2006

TK Noodles (corrected 3/17/02)
438 Barber Lane Milpitas CA (several other locations)
408/321-8889
Overall: **
The best known and biggest noodle chain in the South Bay. Dependable noodles, but not that great now that I've had excellent noodles at non-chain restaurants. The selection is good, the servings are filling, and it's very consistent. I stop here for lunch on a cool day and it never fails to hit the spot. Very inexpensive. 01/00

I really like your eats section. I'm new to the bay area and love to be able to find recommendations for restaurants, and your page is very helpful. I wanted to point out however, that in your vietnamese food section you listed TK noodles as vietnamese and pho noodles. I don't know if perhaps their updated menu has changed but TK does not serve pho, they serve lots of noodles but not pho. and it's not a vietnamese restaurant but chinese. A pretty decent place that i've tolerated to eat, since i'm new to the area and don't know where the gems are at yet, is a place on halford off of el camino that is called California Noodles (in vietnamese their name is 'Pho Xe Lua'). I like their pho there ok. much better than pho hoa. But then being from southern california where the food asian food is very nice, i have a bias.

-Tonya