In the age of the $30 burger a $35 dollar platter of lobster fried rice doesn't seem very extravagant It's really good! It's just seasoned rice with a bit of something green and a hacked up lobster. Yum. My server didn't speak a single word of English. Cool. Whoever cooked it had the timing just right. The lobster was just cooked. I know this is based on one dish at one visit but it was yummy. read more

What a rip off!! We ordered crab in xo sauce and it can't be more than 2 lbs but we were charged $60 for it!!!! DO NOT COME HERE FOR CRABS. Market price for crabs right now is $10/lb!!! This restaurant is charging $30/lb!!! DISCLAIMER: They offer a free drink for anyone who writes a 5 star review sooo.. watch out for dishonest reviews. read more

Pop Kitchen - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Free drink with 5 Star Yelp review, I did not participate. We got here and were the only customers and there were NO employees around. We could hear them, can they not hear us?!?! We walked around looking. Another party came in after us, a party of 7 and they were even louder than us. Anyways, everyone just started making themselves at home. Took a table, got our own menus, etc. Quality/Quantity - Today we got the following: Boneless Hainanese Half Chicken - When I ordered this, I did not know it was boneless. When it arrived, I said to myself another skinny chicken, and then realized it was boneless. So for a boneless half chicken, it had a very reasonable amount of meat. I am not sure if I have EVER had an entire half chicken deboned for me?!?! I really appreciated it. And the accompanying ginger was so good; we asked for more. A little too salty for my guests, but I like salt. Clams with Black Bean Sauce - Good flavors. Decent portions, considering that it is a seafood dish. One clam still had some sand in it, but the rest was good. Chicken Chow Fun - Not on the menu, but they gladly substituted the beef for chicken for us. The chicken was very tender. Decent portions. I actually thought it had generous portions, until we finished it all. And we are light eaters. But the food here must be that good, because both my guests finished it all with NO leftovers. Atmosphere - Small local restaurant, with cool decor and even better messages! See all my pictures. Private room available. Two unisex restrooms. Both of which have positive messages; again, see pictures. Open 7 days a week from 10:30am to 9pm; closed Tuesdays. Plenty of mall parking, but it was FULL due to a busy Sunday lunch rush in the mall. Service - Good, friendly, and welcoming. Well after she finished working in the back... Price - $60 + generous tip. Reasonably priced for what we got. Owner Comment - Congrats on your success since 2018. read more

See all

I've been to this restaurant several times before, and their Hainan chicken rice has always been tasty and affordable -- just $25 plus tax and it comes with rice. However, this time I ordered takeout and brought it home, and what I found was horrifying. There were cockroaches in the rice. I found a total of three -- I had already thrown away the first one before I realized there were more. That's when I started taking photos and decided to post on Yelp. This is absolutely unacceptable and disgusting. I'm so disappointed and shocked. read more

Pop Kitchen - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

See all

FYI-They NO LONGER do the steaming here!!! That was the whole reason why we even came here! -Food was awful, geoduck tasted SO disgusting-it was the sashimi and it was such a fishy smell, even soy sauce wouldn't cover the horrible taste. $$$$ -Spotted prawns-they put a few big ones on top, the teeny tiny ones all under them-and also again, even if they're small, they should still taste good? NO! Same DISGUSTING Fishy smell. Could not enjoy the food. $$$$ What a waste of time and money, coming here! -Everything else, was run of the mill Chinese food-nothing special at all!$$$$ Expensive and not worth the food served. read more

Pop kitchen no longer steams food at the table. Sad, because they were unique when they had that. Now they are just like any other chinese restaurant where you order off the menu. -Fish with Chinese broccoli - decent. -Fried rice - like any other. -Hainanese chicken - good, nothing special. -Tofu with seafood - saucy and salty. read more

The food was amazing we especially liked the noodles and fried ribs the service was amazing and the food came out in a reasonable time read more

Pop Kitchen - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

Came back here because we were craving fresh seafood! Service: okay Food: okay this time around Ordered steamed oysters ($3.50 each) - some were very good and some had an after taste. Geoduck ($76/2lb)- we said we only wanted a lb, but they take the weight of the whole geoduck and it came out to be 2 lbs which we were not notified. I do want to be notified if the weight of the geoduck was DOUBLED. Also, half the geoduck was SUPER MUSHY. so yeah we paid for half a geoduck that wasn't fresh. We also ordered their cooked items like intestines, fish, and veggies and those were pretty delicious. no complaints there. read more

Delicious HK style food with generous servings, very friendly wait staff, and plenty of seating. Something I wasn't expecting to enjoy was their tea. After talking to the waitress, we discovered it was lychee flavored black tea, much better tasting than most tea served at restaurants. read more

Pop Kitchen - Baked HK Style Baked Pork Chop over Rice - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

See all

This place was much better a year ago. I ordered food from there recently and I was very disappointed with the food quality, taste and the attentiveness of the front staff. I called twice ahead of time to order food around 5:15pm. No one answered. So I decided to just come in and order food. The woman (only floor staff) was constantly on the phone but sounded like she was chatting with a friend but not taking customer orders (I understand Cantonese). I ordered the baked pork chop tomato rice and the Portuguese style baked chicken rice to go, both were not great. Especially the baked chicken rice, my family and I took a few bites and had to trash the rest. Do not recommend this place. read more

Charming little spot in the corner, excellent food and friendly, efficient service. Quality and flavors of the food were very nice. Very reasonable prices. Would definitely recommend. read more

The food here is unique and the price is reasonable. I like their free tea too. It taste like rose but in fact it is a lychee flavor. I like having the pork stomach and chicken with pepper soup to warm me up. Black bean clams were tasty and the mixed mushroom and bean fish had variety of items to taste. We didn't feel rushed out and just chilled, ate and drank slowly. This is a hidden gem in Daly City. There's even a parking lot. read more

See all

Very sad that the restaurant has closed as of 10/1/25 for "recharging and remodeling" per the notice at the door:( It is a little gem with great tasting food and excellent service. I hope they return soon! read more

Went for steamed seafood but a lot of things are sold out (for lunch hours already??) or have to pre-order more than 24h before. The stuff we did order were prepared live so really fresh. Fried crab was also tasty. We ended up spending ~$60 per person so I'd say the store is actually $$$ if you go for steamed seafood. The menu items are quite expensive so not sure if it's worth it comparing to buying the same the same thing and steaming at home. There weren't a lot of people for weekend lunch hour, and while we were there, it seems like people in the kitchen are having a fight - a male and a female were yelling to each other very loudly in a dialect for ~30min, which strongly hurt our dinning experience. read more

Pop Kitchen - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

I came in and I was the only customer in the restaurant eating. The waitress brought out my entree but forgot the rice. I tried to get her attention 6 times but she completely ignored me. And I was the only person eating there. She acted like she was busy. The food was ok but the service was bad. read more

I called at 7:20pm and placed four dishes to go with the boss. The boss says it will be ready in 30 mins. I get to the restaurant at 7:45 and waited for another 15 mins and asked if the food is ready. He says oh we are busy its not ready. There was only 4 tables of customers there. My kids and dad was waiting in the car for our togos. They should't have took our order if they can't handle 4 simple togo orders. It was only noodles and fried rice also, nothing complicated. They shouldn't even say they take togos when they can't even handle simple orders. I forgot to mention the people eating there seemed angry at their service as well. The kitchen chefs were arguing super loud also and obviously hates their job. Customers could hear everything, how embarrassing. Boss doesn't know how to run his own restaurant. read more

Update. Pop Kitchen is a hip and refreshing place to eat. Not only healthy style of cooking, but for the Chinese food connoisseur you will not be disappointed. The chef is talented and cooks a variety of seafood, beef, and poultry dishes. I really like the seasoning and taste of the vegetables: crispy, fresh, and not oily. It's a fun place with parking and very good service. Yelp Grading This is my rating system to help you gauge my ratings Anything under three stars is not worth mentioning. Meh. *** stars - Good overall. Some aspects are above the notch: food, service, and or ambiance. Worthy of a visit. **** Stars - Exceptional, short of perfect. ***** Stars - Perfect in all aspects. Food quality, Service, Ambiance read more

Stopped by for lunch to catch up with an old friend and shared a couple of dishes. This place is too cute! Ambiance is chill and casual. The ceilings have decor of a combination of Disney and anime characters. Going to the gender neutral bathroom, there are different things on the walls, which are nice. We shared the Scrambled egg with Prawn Chow Fun and the Half Hainanese Chicken. So tasty and fresh! Love it when food comes out piping hot! Waitress was friendly, but did not speak much English. Good thing my friend is fluent in Cantonese and spoke to her well. When my son was done with his karate clinic, he ordered the beef chow, fun and mushroom and Chinese green, which were also so yummy! check out my pics and come here to see for yourself! read more

See all

We visit SF area a few times a month. I really don't like writing bad reviews but it's my obligation given we felt taken at this restaurant and my food followers. This is the first and last time we will visit here. We found this small Daly City restaurant interesting so we gave it a try on Saturday for the first time. We really wanted to try their special Hainanese chicken more than anything else. Once we were seated, we were told that all chicken plate dishes were sold out. I knew we should have walked out to another nearby restaurant. So we ordered the suggested dishes per owners recommendation. While we were waiting for our food, another group of customers came in and ordered and got the Hainanese chicken. We tried to play it off but we knew we have been had. We did find this place without MSG in the food. The ribs were not meaty or worth the price. The chicken (bone) soup was not bad but not great. The mushroom plate was pretty good and the abalone vegetable noodle dish was a ripoff at around $20 without any ingredients. The best dish was the oyster plate with large sized oysters where I didn't taste any sand and the portion size was very generous but not enough to overcome the disappointing dining experience. Environment is busy and noisy but they do a have 2 restrooms for guests. In short, we will never come back to this place. read more

Hidden Gem. So good. Didn't know restaurants that good around here. Service good but I just love the food. My children loves it so much they don't easily says good but this first time try this restaurant and they all in agreement it is good. Sad that not many know this place. read more

The staff were really nice. The food is really good there soups are really great they let you use the karaoke machine at nights

*Please note this is a review that I wrote in May 2019 that got lost in my drafts* Made reservations for a party of 4 and ordered the set dinner menu. Interesting concept, but at the end of the day it's just steamed food. They really need to work on customer service. No greeting whatsoever and they don't tell you the item(s) they are serving. They just plop it down on the steamer and close it. As soon as the steamer opens, they rush over to remove the plate and serve each person. One of the servers kept saying "soup" in Cantonese and English. Pricey for what it is and I don't see myself returning as there's nothing special about this place. read more

See all

This is my second time coming here. My first time was before pandemic. I am glad that they have more menu options. The Hainanese Boneless Chicken is perfectly cooked and tasty. The Baked Chicken in Portuguese Style with Spaghetti is creamy and tender. The Crispy Pork Intestines is crispy but it had a very strong taste. I can't stand the taste. Not recommend this dish. Note: Dine in price is different than pick up order price. For example: The Baked Chicken dine in was $13.95 but if you order for pick up for same portions. It just costs $10. Almost four dollars different. The customer service is good. I definitely will come back for the Whole Chicken Menu $25 and the $10 menu. :) read more

See all

This is the first time my husband and I tried Pop Kitchen. He was hungry, and the regular place we go to has a wait. Coming in, there were only a few customers (1 table w family of 6, and 1 table of two customers). The wall paintings were nice. The tables and chairs are clean. There was only one lady who acts as the host for taking you to your table, taking your order, and also brought tea and our order. She did all the front work pleasantly with a smile on her face. We ordered the following: Braises Tofu - the tofu is perfectly cooked and the veggies were fresh and sweet Spareribs w Garlic - very tender and crunchy on the outside. The flavor tasted like 5 spice marinade. I was surprised how good this dish is. Salty Fish, Chicken fried rice - this fried rice was done well. Not too salty, just perfect for my tasebuds. We also requested for a chili sauce that was unexpectedly tasty. We learned that they sell a bottle but did not purchase. I'm glad that we came here and gave it a chance, even when it had a not so good review in yelp. We will come back and hope to have the same experience. read more

See all

The shrimp with pumpkin fried with salted egg yolk was phenomenal, I was pleasantly surprised with how flavorful they were. Although I wished there were more shrimp and less pumpkin. The server barely spoke any English so you know its authentic Chinese place . They have a bunch of hanging action figures in the ceiling, pretty spacious and enough tables for the whole group. The server would smoke cigarettes in front of the restaurant which is the only reason I didn't give 5 stars. read more

Pop Kitchen - Tiger Prawn Pumpkin with Salted Egg Yolk - Seafood Near Me - Daly City, California

The servers were absolutely friendly, helpful, and conversational, especially the waitress. The foods were very authentically good. Love their sayings on the wall. read more

See all

I've been there a few times and found it delicious. Highly recommend their soup. Also their lobster fried rice is delicious. Their oysters are also very big, I wonder if you need to make a reservation. There is also pepper pork belly chicken. I like them all. read more

Finally tried Pop Kitchen today and it was quite disappointing (2.5 stars). First off, the host was so inattentive. There were three customers ahead of me. My husband and I ordered our food directly from DoorDash and when we arrived for our pick-up, the food was still not ready even though it was supposedly ready according to DoorDash a while ago. The service was terrible. The host kept going back and forth to the kitchen to tell the cook (in Cantonese) to hurry up instead of speeding up the line to collect payment from customers who had already ordered. She basically just hung out in the kitchen causing an unnecessary line for customers who had already ordered their food and still needed to pay. One of the customers was in such a hurry to pay for her food that she looked like she was about to have a panic attack. Who knows how long she waited in line before me. My time in line was still approximately 15mins. Again, I was there to pick up food that was already prepaid and "ready" so there really should not have been a delay for my pick up. Also, there were no customers seated in the restaurant. Now, the two orders we got were their so-called famous Hainanese chicken rice that everyone on Yelp raved about and the baked chicken rice. I have never had Hainanese chicken that was so bland! Worst part was, they did not even include the scallion ginger oil which was the basic sauce for the steamed chicken. What was up with that? The only nice thing that came out of the Hainanese rice was most of the chicken pieces were boneless, however, they packed so much pickled cabbage that I felt ripped off (see the images I attached). The baked chicken rice was so tasteless. I did not know it was possible to make a white sauce so boring with no flavor even though it had mushrooms. Such a disappointment for food that cost over $30. The only thing I liked was their lotus pork soup (daily soup special). With all the delicious Chinese food in the Bay Area, I doubt I would be returning to this place. Truly disappointed with food and service. read more

See all

We saw a $99 4-person dinner set menu posted by another patron on Yelp that looked quite appealing and decided to go try it tonight. However that menu is no longer available and the current set dinner for 4 persons does not look very appealing, so we ordered a geoduck sashimi, a crab fish maw soup, a garlic ribs that the waitress highly recommended, a beef sautéed with egg tofu and vegetables, and a crab yi mein noodles. The geoduck sashimi was the most expensive dish as its price was determined by how heavy was the geoduck clam including its shell but it was excellent! All the other dishes were very good although the yi mein noodles did not have as much crab meat as I was expecting. Their complimentary lychee tea was a good refreshing drink to enjoy with our meal. The complimentary Chinese almond soup dessert was appreciated as a great way to end our dining experience. The waitress was very helpful and pleasant throughout our dining experience. read more

See all

Great staff and really nice food.but small place and nice interior cool place to put this pop kitchen .

A truly authentic Asian restaurant! The food and service were great! I had the Lobster Fried Rice. A full medium size lobster that was perfectly cooked covered by a small mountain of fried rice. Very messy! And very tasty. The hot pot of tea served when you're seated was a welcome addition to the meal. read more

food good, cook with enough heat in the wok. service ok, get me drink and water on time. place look good and have a china feel to it. the next table singing karaoke give a good eating in china feel. read more

Only 1 lady running around all night. The restaurant inside was very cold. The kitchen backdoor was constantly opened & yo smelled cigarette smell from kitchen back door. Kitchen staffs smoked and the wing came from the backdoor. read more

Real Cantonese food, Hong Kong fusion food ~ Lovely place in Daly City! best steam Pot Seafood 冬蟹与, 海南鸡好好吃 read more

See all

I've had Pop Kitchen bookmarked since they first opened 3 years ago. I always hesitated to try it because of the $$$, then COVID turned the world upside down. Today we decided to splurge for husband's 51st bday and like any classic Asian, you know you gotta order crab to solidify the celebration! Wow, service was excellent from beginning to the end. They don't open the pop-up steamers anymore due to continued COVID restrictions so they've made some adjustments to the menu. I'm thankful they now have indoor dining available a very extensive menu. Their speciality is Hainanese chicken but we went with a set meal for $108 consisting of 6 dishes: Salt & pepper yellow croaker -- if you've had Chinese S&P, you know you can pretty much S&P anything if you've got the right technique and Pop Kitchen knows how to do it right! Steamed chicken in shallot sauce -- this chicken came out glistening like a well oiled hot babe on IG... tender, juicy and very yellow looking HA! wish we had more than just half Clams in basil soup -- never quite had anything like this, loaded with vermicelli and bits of minced pork, a good accompaniment with interesting mix of flavors Braised tofu -- fried tofu that's then cooked slowly in brown gravy with shitaki mushrooms and surrounded with bok choy as a finisher to balance your meal with vegetables Typhoon sheltered crab -- honestly I have no idea what this mean hahaa but it came with lots of fried garlic bits on top and flavor was pretty classic Sautéed sliced potato -- imagine thin shreds of potato slices that are stir fried and tossed with slivers with carrots, plain and simple way to pair carbs with your meal All in all, our experience was enjoyable. Prices were very reasonable! Environment was relaxing and clean. Pop Kitchen is very authentic. The owner Henry is really friendly and accommodating. Although it's not quite at 5 star level, I would recommend everyone to come give Pop Kitchen a try. Support your local business, particularly if you're in the area. The plaza they're located in is awful and honestly quite dirty, old and rundown. To be honest, from the outside, Pop Kitchen looks unappetizing and it almost makes me wanna turn around and find another place but good thing I didn't let appearances sway me!!! read more

See all

The food was amazing and the restaurant was clean the good cane out fast and the wait time wasn't long at all

I mean, i wanna give them a 4 cause supposedly my mom knows the owner, but I can't. For $500 dinner I demand some perfection or just don't piss me off. Ill go with the list we weren't happy about first. Not happy: 1. We ordered a morning glory vegetable but she inputted a yao choy ( not the same veggie and of course Chinese restaurant will just stick it in your face). 2. Ask for cash tip and still complain not enough. The bill was $429 and I gave them $60 cash and she said can we do $70 and I said no. She said that's fine and in my mind I was like stfu already. Come on now!!!! 3. Their so called "sea-bass" looks way more like catfish. Not sure if they scam us but the Chilean sea-bass doesn't look like what is shown on photo 4. Ordering a small amount of seafood and the lady owner looks down at us ( or un-happy). My family doesnt care about seafood so when I order two Giant clams for 5 adults, the lady looks at me like I am cheap. She did not make me feel good with her attitude. In the end we ordered 5 Giant clams. 5. Spotted Prawn is tiny af and prawns are supposed to be large, but clearly it wasn't. 6. Slow services; only two ladies run the entire place with 10+ tables ( some large and some seats 4). It took about 20 mins from getting the 1/2 Hainanese chicken before steaming our first item. 7. Not ordering alcohol and felt like the owner/staffs discriminate against you. I can see it in their eyes they think we are "cheap" for not buying drinks. One last note, I also feel I didnt get the full deal cause they skipped out on my porridge ( as they claim we didnt steam too much) so we didnt get our porridge. Wrf Now the unhappy stuff is outta the way, the couple of things that were good are the fire roasted squab, Hainanese chicken ( their sauce is cracking), the turmeric rice, fried tofu, salt and pepper squid, and "san chow"spear ribs ( in red sauce) were fire. I understand it Isnt easy to run a restaurant and completely understand Chinese restaurants normally arent concern with repeat customers but their mentality is to think "how am i gonna make the most of you tonight". It was a $500 dinner and 3 stars is hella fair considered there are seven things Im unhappy about. read more

See all

Unassuming mom and pop small business in a strip mall center tucked in the corner of a parking lot. We were surprised by the good Chinese food at very reasonable prices that seemed like a better deal than other places which would charge a few bucks more for the same dishes. Lunch specials are $12.50 and portion sizes are generous. As many reviewers have posted on the hainan chicken with rice, we can say it did not disappoint. The waitress was attentive and did her best to tend to all tables as the only person working there. I would come back to try more items off the menu. read more

This review specific to DoorDash meals options. This restaurant does not include everything advertised. Suppose to come with main, rice, veggies, soup and won ton soup. Items not included: No veggies or soup. When asked merchant where the missing items are, they claimed it's not included despite shown in the advertised picture. read more

This is my most favorite place for Hai-Nan chicken in the Bay Area! I've been coming here for my favorite dish for almost 5 years now. Delicious food, very fair price still! This is why I love to take my friends and family call them and make reservations for large group gathering whenever we need to want to taste delicious , authentic Cantonese food read more

See all