A local favorite for clay pot rice that's worth the wait!…read more Blue Sky Cafe in Belmont is consistently good, no matter what day you go. This place is always packed, with tables close together and a line often stretching out the door. It's small, crowded, and definitely not the place to come if you're looking for a quiet, leisurely dining experience -- but the food is what keeps people coming back! The food is amazing, and what I love most is that every dish has its own unique taste and flavor. They're especially known for their clay pot rice, and for good reason. It's a go-to spot for anyone craving that comforting, satisfying Cantonese-style clay pot meal. Don't overlook the soups, either! They're delicious, and the egg drop soup is surprisingly good and definitely worth ordering. Service is generally quick, which is important given how busy they get. However, attentiveness can be hit or miss when the restaurant is slammed. One thing to keep in mind is that they do want to turn tables quickly, so don't expect to linger after your meal. Once you're done eating, you may feel a little rushed to wrap things up and make room for the next group. Overall, Blue Sky Cafe is a great local spot for flavorful food, comforting soups, and delicious clay pot rice. Come hungry, expect a crowd, and be prepared for a quick dining experience. The food is absolutely worth it! Pro tip: Go with a game plan, order your favorites, enjoy your meal, and don't overstay your welcome!

Had Wednesday dinner around 7:15 PM and ended up waiting close to an hour, with 6 parties ahead of…read moreus even though they close at 8:30 PM. The restaurant is tiny, with only about 8-10 tables, so that definitely contributes to the wait. The staff was super friendly and efficient despite being so busy. They even gave us menus to order while we waited, so our food came out really quickly once we were seated! We ordered the Singapore Rice Noodles, House Special Chow Fun, Pepper Clay Pot, and Walnut Shrimp, and everything was delicious! Singapore Rice Noodles: My favorite! The noodles weren't dry, and the curry flavor wasn't overpowering. House Special Chow Fun: Huge portion, packed with meat, and not dry at all. Pepper Clay Pot: Super flavorful, and the crispy rice was AMAZING. They also give you soy sauce to pour over it. Walnut Shrimp: Huge shrimp, a light coating, and the perfect sauce!!! Not overly sweet or too thick. Overall, everything was flavorful, the portions were generous, and each dish had its own unique taste. The wait was long, but the food and friendly service made it worth it. Definitely recommend checking this place out, just be prepared to wait!

date & time; wednesday July 1, 2020. @ 1pm vibe: uncles &…read moreaunties & couples in polka dot or lacy tops & bubble skirts decor: typical casual family style Chinese restaurant service: very nice imbibe: tea devour: har gao, siu mai, soy noodles, meatballs & otuguse egg tarts total; $68.38

Today's kung pao chicken we're looking at a local staple, Cheung Hing…read more The most striking thing here was the vegetable lineup: water chestnuts, celery, zucchini, green peppers, onions, and... baby corn! Honestly, I don't usually see baby corn in a KPC and I quite enjoyed it for the crunch. Flavor-wise, it's strictly on the savory side. There's no sourness nor Szechuan peppercorn heat. In fact, there's almost no spice at all. While "savory only" can work, I found myself wishing it had a bit more depth or a harder hit of umami to carry the dish since the heat wasn't there. It's a solid choice if you want no heat and a veggie-heavy plate.

Service was exceptional here. The food is somewhat more Americanized but it is decent. We had a…read morelarge party and ordered several standard dishes to share family style. I would come back and try more items.

I took a friend to Gin Mon at Carlmont Shopping Center because she was craving Chinese food. The…read morerestaurant was smaller than I expected based on the photos I had seen, and unfortunately, the dining area felt dark and unclean. We ordered the garlic eggplant, prawns with black bean sauce, salt-and-pepper wings, and a small bowl of steamed rice. The eggplant was savory, but I couldn't taste much of fresh garlic. The prawn dish was mostly green bell peppers and onions, with only about eight small shrimp. The salt-and-pepper wings were dry, lightly seasoned, and tasted as though they had been cooked earlier and reheated. Even the steamed rice seemed old rather than freshly prepared. Overall, the meal was disappointing. The chicken wings were dry, and even the steamed white rice did not taste fresh. I don't think I'll be back anytime soon.

Hands down the best Cheung Hing around. Dining here is good because the location is a fair size,…read moreclean and bright. Service is always consistent and the servers are friendly. Recently I stopped to pick-up dinner with the plan to have leftovers. I called my order in and was quoted 40 minutes for my order to be ready. My order consisted of salted fish and chicken fried rice (this location has the best around SF and the peninsula), bitter melon beef, chicken chow mein, Thai style fried vermicelli (my favorite dish here), salt and pepper chicken wings. We also received a complimentary bbq pork fried rice. Everything was fantastic and we had plenty of leftovers for a few days.

San Mateo location, my usual favorite Chinese food…read more Won ton soup - might've been the first time I've ordered it here. Felt like having won ton soup to help a cold and cough. Big won ton filled w pork and shrimp. Bok choy Broth not much flavor, in a separate container since this was a take-home order. Curry Beef Stew I've never had Curry beef stew before, prefer chicken, curry, but for some odd reason, I decided to order this dish. It was underwhelming and I won't order it again. The Curry sauce itself was OK but the big long pieces of beef were somewhat gross, lots of fat. They added plenty of slices to onions and a few pieces of green pepper and Julienned carrots, but that's about it for being called a stew. So I learned my lesson by not sticking to my usual order, and won't order wonton soup or curry beef stew again.

Perfect order and take-out experience. We ordered Zhong's Dumplings, Dry Pot Pork Ribs, and…read moreShredded Pork w/ Green beans. Everything was delicious. This is now our go to spot for Chinese. Yummy!

The menu has quite a great variety of food. one of their recommendations is the wonton soup which…read moreis delicious, packed with various type of ingredients such as veggies and meat inside. The wontons were intact in the soup when served, which was great. Though it was good, it's slightly overpriced considering other offerings in the area Street parking can be difficult to find during busy hours.

Solid Beijing cuisine with huge portions and a great value. We came for an early Tuesday dinner,…read morethe restaurant was mostly empty but they seemed to be doing a solid takeout business, and more guests trickeled in later. Staff was friendly and checked on us occasionally to make sure all was well. We ordered: - Smoked chicken (5/5): Definitely the star of the night, this was a cold dish perfectly smoked and tender. A large portion that seemed like a whole chicken and a steal for only $23 - Green Beans (4.5/5): Another large portion, well charred with perfect texture. Served with ground pork and a hint of spice - Meatball Clay Pot (3.5/5): the server did say it was soupy but it was probably my mistake as I thought it would be more like the Shanghainese lion head braised meatballs. Instead it was a very simple clear broth with Napa cabbage, small meatballs and a few strands of vermicelli noodles. The broth flavor was extremely mild and the meatballs didn't have much flavor and were firmer than expected. Our Cantonese friend liked it as he felt it was homey and comforting but I felt it was too boring - House Special Fried Rice (4/5): another huge portion, a solid egg fried rice with very large shrimp and some beef. - Pan Fried Beef Buns (2/5): In Beijing these are often translated to Doornail Meat Buns due to their round shape. Extremely juicy, almost like a gravy inside, and generously filled but the beef tasted a bit gamey which may be due to the spices used, but were off putting to us.

Peking Alley has a fun, authentic Chinese menu, but execution could use some work…read more Weekend Specials are available all day on the weekends, not just Chinese breakfast hours. Homemade Soy Milk - 1/5 I think ordering this at dinnertime when the soy milk has been cooking all day was a mistake. It looked fine, but it tasted burned. When I brought attention to it, the server said it was supposed to be that way, denying it was burned and awkwardly joking about it afterward. Unsweetened, so you need to add sugar yourself. Soft Tofu - 4/5 Soft tofu, wood ear, golden needles (daylily buds) in a thickened soup. Looks a bit like hot & sour soup in appearance and texture, but it's neither spicy nor sour. In a few spoonfuls, the soft tofu did taste burned to me, but I could overlook it mostly. Comforting to eat on a cold day. Chive Pie - 3/5 Impressively huge. However, because they are big, thin, and flimsy, you cannot easily eat this as a handheld. Not crispy or thick enough a pancake to hold the delicious eggs & chives filling. Cumin Lamb - 3/5 My friend seemed to enjoy the lamb, but she didn't eat any of the greens, telling me they were for seasoning purposes. I ate the greens, but this dish came out fast and wasn't warm or heated enough. Beijing Mu Shu Pork - 5/5 I enjoyed the taste and texture of this mix of pork, egg, wood ear, cucumber, and golden needles. We were forewarned that this dish doesn't come with pancakes, like typical mu shu entrees do. We received a complimentary shredded potato chilled appetizer (4/5) and warm sesame balls dessert (3/5). Sesame balls seemed overfried. Restaurant has its own dedicated parking lot, so servers are expecting you to enter from the door closest to that. We entered through the street main entrance, which caught them by surprise. Restaurant appears to be a converted house, so you can dine in various little rooms. Restaurant was cold inside. It seemed that one door would not necessarily stay shut. I also don't think the heat was turned up. I felt like all of us were wearing coats. I chose most of the dishes and let my friend order in Mandarin Chinese. The chef came out a couple times to check on us, but primarily interacted with her in Chinese.

Have consistently love the quality of the food and the service…read more My favorite go to dish is Beef Tendon Soup Noodles The ambience is very interesting because of the great mall murals depicting Hong Kong.

It's great to see that they have a restaurant is now located on El Camino--growing from their…read morelocation on Laurel Avenue. I still remember their early start at the food hall in San Mateo. It's so good to find really delicious Hong Kong comfort food outside of San Francisco. I keep coming back because it tastes delicious--it does check the "comfort food" checkbox for me & my taste. The menu has a lot of choices--HK style breakfast, BBQ lunch combos (& lunch combos in general), afternoon tea time snacks (cha-chaan teng). Anytime is the right time to visit for me--breakfast, lunch or dinner. Definitely worth checking out! NOTE: No cash is accepted--card only.

Good food and awesome employees and nice decor makes a great lunch.I got one of the items on their…read morelunch menu which come with salad soup and rice. I chose the fried sesame chicken with broccoli a diet coke Very tasty I recommend this place There is a parking garage nearby and street parking

If you like Chinese restaurants from the 90s this is the place for you. This has the look and also…read morethe same menu from the era. As anyone who knows classic Chinese restiarants knows, if the server is rude the the restiarnt is good. This is the restuarnt for you.

Ordered DoorDash . The beef soup was good . Lots of mushrooms and beef . Basil spicy chicken was…read morealso great and tasty . Pork work string beans was good . Quantity is also good and pricing is comparably cheaper to other places . We ate it few times . Overall great - will order again .

Hate leaving negative reviews but this was probably the first meal I've ever thrown away. The…read moregenerals chicken was just skins or tendons or who knows if it was even chicken. When you skimp on actual meat it makes me think what else are they skimping on... and I couldn't go on. Tossed the whole meal

So I'm an OG who has lived in mid-Pen for 25 years, grew up with uncles who owned a very popular…read morechinese restaurant in a different state, and consider myself with refined food palate and know where the good local all asian restaurants are. Forgive me PING'S, but I only recently discovered this really terrific restaurants w/a cuisine from a region called Yunnan I had not discovered before. We got a "funghi" (mushroom) dish that the region is known for and it was amazing. The braised pork belly was really well cooked that was tender but not over done. The lastly got a veggie dish called "chayote leaves" that again, I had not even heard of, we decided to try even though the price seemed a bit expensive; it was absolutely one of my new favorite vegetable dishes and hard to describe. They do put alot of red peppers in many of the dishes so if you don't like spicy, it may not be for you. We saw other tables order frog legs and a fish dish looked quite good too, so this is very local Chinese. Lastly, this restaurant was quite busy on a Friday night with long lines and now we know why. Even though they were very busy, the services even more so for a Chinese restaurant was really good and they checked up on us many times. Ping's will be part of our regular rotation of mid-Pen restaurants now going forward. Highly recommend.

We made a reservation for a party of 9 and they gave us a private room which was nice since we were…read morecelebrating a birthday. You order on an iPad and the server will come in after to confirm the choices you ordered. If you like spicy mala food, this is the place to try! Everything we ordered was mild spicy since some people in our party couldn't handle spicy well and it was still kicking but with good flavor! Everything we ordered was honestly delicious. I can't remember the names, but definitely order the full fish soup, the fried rice and and the cauliflower with lotus root. The only downside is the servers mainly speak mandarin and super quick! But they do understand English and the iPad can be converted to English.