Typical Chinese restaurant. Anywhere and everywhere, you can find someone who can talk in Cantonese, you can possibly order off menu, or at least you can ask if they offer it. This place reminds me of my childhood growing up Chinese and have that part of life manifested whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant. Just madness.
When my San Jose friend and I came here for a late dim sum lunch and did just that. She decided on coming to the Mayflower restaurant. Her treat. It was about 2:15pm after an hour or so of shopping at a nearby Ross store, it was nice to stop by and have some fun dim sum and enjoy the day while I still could. My 2 weeks spring vacation was slowly coming down to an end and I just wanted to savor it. Nothing better than coming to a Chinese restaurant with a good friend. Needless to say, Chinese cuisine anywhere tastes virtually the same, especially when it's as noisy and jam packed as any restaurant you'd find in any major metropolitan city with a significant Asian population. As I venture to cities without such populations, primarily in the Deep South and the Northeast, you don't find the craziness that comes with the crowds and the frantic ambiance, not to mention the noise and having to talk to your peeps above the loudness. The overall experience here at the Mayflower seafood restaurant here in Milpitas was as average as you can possibly get. Chinese restaurants are a dime a dozen around these parts. Been there done that. Let's move on.
While the food was just what I remember it growing up and now as an adult, I've come to rediscover it as a means for meal options, parties and other life functions, Chinese food has been the same all to me. Different varieties and what not of noodle dishes and seafood dishes to water your mouth, any Chinese restaurant that's worth their mettle will cook just about anything you want, as long as you ask for it in Chinese. Mayflower is like all the others and what you will get here is a nice meal with a loud ambiance, but at least the decor is nice and there is formidable air conditioning in the building to counteract the summer heat that usually trolling outside anyhow. The Mayflower Chinese restaurant is located at 428 Barber Lane in Milpitas. They accept major credit cards, which is always a nice thing to have while on the go and while traveling too. No muss or fuss with locating a cash machine - unless you overdraft. Lol The prices here are comparable to other Chinese restaurants I've been too, but being that this is California, prices increase with inflation and you'll see that reflected on the menu. After all, CA has the top gas prices in the nation. Chinese food has always been a mainstay for me growing up. Can stand to love it, but at the end of the day, I do love Texas Barbeque, New York cheese cake, and lobster rolls as much as any other American. Just picky.
My friend and I actually got a table nearer to the entrance, it was easier to get in and out without too much trouble. The scene was a little chaotic, especially when you have many female servers carting around many various forms of dim sum you can eat at a moment's notice. I ordered off menu dim sum, as well as a noodle dish to share. The tab came out to be around $35, which is a little high, but it is what it is. The egg noodle dish had always been my favorite Chinese dish, so I try to order it as many times I can. We also had a dish of Choi sum, i think. The food was delicious, but at the same time, I know better and Chinese food will always be the same to me. The taste can be delicious, but it's always familiar and comforting. While that very well be the means to say that it was just an average meal, you can say that. Just average. The service here was decent yet robotic at the same time. The servers and waiters are going around the restaurant taking a lot of people's orders, so I guess you can't blame them for any missing personal service you're expecting to have. You get what you can here and it's like that in many Chinese restaurants.
3.0 stars is what I will categorize Mayflower Chinese restaurant. While the restaurant itself is clean and the service is fast, the noise and the ambiance is usually go go go and hurry up type of thing. Food is decent here, depending what you order, although it does get pricey when you take down the seafood options.
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