This is my first time coming to this restaurant and the food was okay, but the customer service wasn't great at all. When we sat down at our table, the waiter just threw the menu at our table and kept rushing us to hurry up and order. Customer service: 4/10 Food: 7.5/10 read more

This is my family's to go spot for dim sum even though we live 30-45 minutes away. Can't say I'm surprised for the 3 star rating since the service and consistency is not always great. It has the atmosphere of a typical Chinese restaurant, which I'm all too used to so it doesn't bother me. If you look past that, The Kitchen has the best tasting dim sum you can get for a reasonable price. We usually go early on Sunday's to avoid a super long wait. It has excellent basics and the food comes out warm, unlike some other restaurants where the food has been sitting out for a while. The baked pork bun is a must! The outside is crunchy and sweet. It's so good that sometimes I end up eating two and hating myself because I get too full. Most of the items are better than average and I always look forward to coming back here when I visit SF. read more

Our local dim sum restaurant in Belmont closed so I went out to find my next favorite Cantonese dim sum place in the Peninsula. I found "The Kitchen" in Millbrae. Easy drive. Easy to park. Friendly and courteous staff. Very clean. And my favorite dim sum plates are absolutely delicious. I think I found my new favorite dim sum restaurant in the Peninsula. This place has all the good features of a really good family/dim sum restaurant. I reserve the 5th star for places with outdoor/open air seating, wine/beer selection, etc. So the 4 stars mean everything else was great. read more

Came here for Mother's Day dinner and had a great time with great food! Every dish we got was a healthy portion size and was well executed. Some stand outs the fried squab and the garlic pea sprouts. I appreciate that this place allows to bring cake and they do not charge a cutting fee - great place for family celebrations. read more

We came here in a Monday at 11:00 am and it was busy. The noodles with crab had very little in it and it's all noodles and nothing else. I wouldn't order it again . This place is pricey compare to other dim sum I've been to. Be careful what you order. The service was fast and staff are friendly. Environment is nice. read more

Generally I go to Koi Palace however, the food has suffered greatly since most of the dishes are no longer prepared there but in a kitchen somewhere off site. Found the Kitchen in Millbrae excellent food, very fresh and served hot! Outstanding! read more

The Kitchen - Chinese Dim Sum - Dim Sum Near Me - Millbrae, California

I don't see any service....the food went up the table so slow ..we have 7ppl first the soup then 3 dishes..after that we mostly finished everything and have to wait for the last 4dishes... at the end they give us the burned sweet dessert soup...what the heck....288 with tips you give us these ? read more

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Went there for dim sum for the first time. I have not found any restaurants with good dim sum in the peninsula. So I thought I give this restaurant a try since it has a lot of good reviews. My first impression when I walked in was, wow this must be good since there're a lot of Chinese eating here. On the contrary, my take on this restaurant are: 1. Food - 2 of 5: chow fun without taste, Siulobao - the dough was firm and many other dishes. 2. Loud - bus boys clanking away with the dishes next to your ears. 3. Zero service- have hunt for servers for forks, hot sauce and tea. On top of that, they brought out the wrong order. Server acknowledged that was wrong and said to check in to see when they will bring me the right dish. It never came and we just left. Don't like to write this kind of review but to see this many positive reviews and my experience just don't line up is a disservice to others. read more

Kind of a strange name for what is a completely traditional dim sum place. This place is legit. I saw a customer washing their chopsticks and tea cups in tea, which is only something I've ever seen in Hong Kong for dim sum -- not that they needed to, this place was very clean. If this place is good enough for them, it's good enough for me. The food was fine, service was decent, and they didn't try to rush us out of there ... we just sat there eating our dim sum and chatting for 2+ hours. I don't think I've had such a relaxing dim sum in decades. Also hit my sweet spot ... not too fancy and not too divey. read more

The Kitchen used to be really decent but their quality as of late has been lacking. One of my favorite dishes to order is the pan fried taro. It used to be fried to a perfect golden brown with an incredible flavored interior that consisted of shredded taro and dried shrimp. It was such comfort food! But lately, they've been either burnt or too small. It's also weird that they charge 50 cents for plain water. While we all ordered tea, which is $1.50 per person, it was just bizarre to see that on the menu. By the way, they fill the tea really quickly, unlike other places so that's reassuring. I do love their pan fried shrimp and chives dumpling. They're one of the few places that actually use whole shrimp and don't put unnecessary products inside to fill for space. read more

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My family and I thought the food here was pretty mid-tier in comparison to other Chinese restaurants. The Honey Walnut Prawns dish, in particular, was not executed well at all, as the sauce coating on the prawns tasted way too creamy. I mostly stuck to the pork ribs and the roasted duck. read more

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Went with coworkers for the first time. The food was delicious. My favorite plates were the fried shrimp and vegetables. Just like other restaurants, it is better to go on a weekday. Servers were nice and I'd go back again. read more

The foods were okay. However, some of the servers are not as friendly as I expected and they included 18% tip on the check for a table of 4.

Definitely love how they've decorated the place. However, staff could use some extreme work. Came in with my parents for a mid week dinner and waited 15 minutes to be seated. It was a full house but having not been here for a while, we didn't mind. Ordered: * seaweed, jellyfish, pork, beef platter cold platter * chicken fish maw soup * assorted veggies * stir fried lobster Honestly was debating on ordering more but the service was so bad, all I thought about was leaving. We had to ask three different waiters for a cup before any of them brought one to us. We literally asked when they gave us our tea before we ordered food and we didn't get a cup until we were midway done with our food. There was one server in particular that really bugged us with his eyerolls and sighs. If you don't want to work, then don't??? If you're looking for manners and smiles, I'd go elsewhere. Food is the only thing I'd come back for but even then there's plenty of other great Chinese restaurants (such as Koi Palace, Tai Wu which is conveniently across the street, etc) that I'd go to. read more

At lunch here. I had been here a few times before the pandemic and the place was bustling. It was very sparse when I went last week. The menu also seems to have shrunk. Missing was the carts bringing dim sum around. The food is very good. See breakdown 1-parking - 2 - hard -  parked 3 streets over 2-presentation: 4 - very good 3-aroma: 5 - the food smelled very good 4-task: 5 - outstanding. The noodles and vegetables were fresh and tasked good 5-quality: 5 - I thought it was high quality material 6-service: 2- There were 3 tables that sat after us and got many dishes prior to even our first dish arriving. Had to almost trip the waiter to get their attention. 7-healthy: 4 - though the food was quite balanced 8-Quantiy: 5 - lots of food- even got some to go 9-Value: 3 - for Chinese food it was pricy, had a bowl of noodles for $21. The dim sums were $6+ 10-atmosphere: 2 - smelly and noisy read more

The dim sum here is the tits. They have this baked bbq pork pineapple bun combo. Their stuff just seems bigger and tastes great. Would definitely come back. read more

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3.5 stars I had my mind set on eating ramen for lunch at Oishii but didn't even bother to check if they were open on a Tuesday. That's how we ended up here. The Kitchen wasn't busy so we got seated right away. Dimsum is served all day and prices are more than reasonable. Small = $2.60, Med = $3.20 and Large = $3.95. We ordered a bunch of plates to split between 3 people: shrimp/chive dumpling, siu mai, char siu bao, deep fried stuffed taro, steamed shrimp dumpling with cilantro, shrimp rice noodle roll, steamed chicken feet and chinese broccoli. Every dish was tasty as expected. Although the shrimp dumplings were probably left in the steamer too long (wrapper was falling apart when you pick it up with chopsticks) but the shrimps were big. The deep fried taro puffs were a bit mushy inside while the char siu baos were small. Quick service in a casual atmosphere with reasonable prices makes this place more than an okay choice for me. Plus the bathrooms are clean, very important information to know after drinking a whole pot of tea. read more

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Came by at 9:55 am the other day for brunch and there was a line of ~10 people waiting for the restaurant to open. The Kitchen is 2015 Michelin Recommended. Seating was self-directed upon opening and the staff was quick to offer us tea. ($1.25/person) Decent - Sticky Rice w/ Leaves (Flavorful and decently sized) - Beef Rice Noodle Crepe (Thin Noodles and fresh beef) - Portuguese Egg Tarts (Fluffy tart and tasty Portuguese egg!) - Mango Mochi (Decent, not too sweet) Okay - Satay Beef Tendons (Could be more flavorful and tender) - Xlb (Skin was rather thick...) - Beef Tripes (...this was rather bland...) Service was surprisingly decent with the staff being responsive by collecting empty plates etc. ~$20/head after tax and tip for brunch. read more

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SPEAK CHINESE, be a pretty girl like my friend, and service is not all that bad!! (she even scored us all free dessert after our feast for 10 ppl) For each of us we paid about $18 bucks & finished all TEN dishes that we ordered! some of our favorites were ----beef and brocolli w/ tofu! (some of the best we've had) ----fried pork chops ----fried fish honestly i just let my chinese speaking friends work the magic so i haven't a clue what we ordered... but i do know it was TOO PRICEY for typical "sit-down" chinese food! read more

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I love this restaurant, the food is delicious and the service is great. One of the best restaurants I've been to.

I ordered a takeout of combined BBQ for $28 and got a super shockingly small portion of food. The chicken is only bones and the roast pork are all pork fat. Unbelievable. Would def not visit again. read more

great food, price is worth it. Service was great and was served quickly, as well as constant water refills. Restaurant really gave off good vibes. Would come back! read more

On Saturday night we headed to The Kitchen for dinner. Reservations were easy. The lines were out the door at 7 pm. Our waiter talked fast and worked fast. We ordered the following: Steamed Spot Prawns excellent Abalone w/ Chicken excellent Geoduck Clam two ways sashimi and stir fried head good Stir fried garlic sweet potato greens over cooked mushy Smoked / deep fried ham hock excellent Appetizer cold plate beef, BBQ pork, and jelly fish good Salty fish tofu and chicken OK Stir Fried beef strips not good (panda express has better) The Kitchen is part of the Asian Pearl Restaurant group. The food is good a bit over priced. Service is good. The biggest knock on the place is the crammed tables. And since the place is always busy, it's hard to have a conversation. It's like eating at a sold out baseball game. read more

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This is one of those places my family always comes to whenever we're in town. Had dinner with my auntie, uncle and cousin.... my auntie tends to order WAY too much food and tonight was no different. Shredded chicken with 'fun pei': not bad, but not enough chicken Oxtail stew: it was okay, I didn't particularly like this dish. There wasn't much depth in the flavors. Choy sum in a broth with dried shrimps: I thought this was pretty good. The broth was flavorful and enhanced the dish a lot. Clams in black bean sauce: very nice, the clams were large and plump and the sauce nice and tasty. Salt & Pepper pork chops: much better than that place I ate at in San Mateo last trip (HK Causeway Bay) but still not the best I've ever had. Crab tossed with salty egg yolk: this dish tasted weird. The crab was weird too. Although it was supposed to be a whole crab, we couldn't find the body of the crab. Really strange. Steamed fish (lo shue ban): the flesh was a bit too soft. I couldn't believe they charged us $60+ for it. Wasn't worth it. Fried tofu with seafood sauce: this was a recommendation by the manager. We all enjoyed it. It arrives on a sizzling plate atop an omelette. Very interesting! The best part was they gave us complimentary dessert: 4 different types! 2 of them were the soup kind: almond and a mango sago. Then the young man wanted mango pudding which they brought us, plus another flaky pastry type of dessert. I really liked the pastry. The mango pudding was obviously really good since the young man polished it off rather quickly. Service was better than expected. Only wish the food was totally outstanding too, but it was okay. read more

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FAN OF LATE NIGHT DINNING TILL 1:30 AM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is one of the two go to place for late night dinning when I'm staying or going to SFO or SF via the SFO Hyatt. The Hyatt's late night choices are limited to crap at the bar....or room service till 12. The stuff here at the kitchen is mostly meant for when local Chinese close out at the other places & come to dine here. Late at night, I am almost always the only White Guy here....but that doesn't bother me in the least...since they still give me chopsticks. I sure hate when other places give the White guy a damned fork, like I am an idiot. I have been using chopstick since I was twelve in NYC & more skill than some Chinese at using them. Anyway, since my wife is the real deal Chinese & is fluent in 4 languages , she can set things right & involve the Manager if needed ....she usually does, since she wants to make sure that the food is made to meet her dietary restrictions. Since the senior Managers usually speak passable English, I can also ask a question or three. The food is family style, so if you order soup, you will get a huge bowl for a family. Is basically impossible if you are a omnivore & your wife is a Vegetarian, to order something that either can really finish on their own...especially if you order a meat dish (duck) & porridge. The service here is typical for a late night almost Chinese only place. Fortunately, they do a decent job on the food....but if it is late, the food can come out rushed & underdone sometimes. When you are tire after driving 250 miles up on the 101, it tastes much better than it really is, since you are so hungry. The problem is that you have to go to sleep with undigested food, which for people with GERD, ISB, or just are getting old is a problem...especially if you have to have an AM flight the next day....if so just eat a few bowl of something light... like Wonton Soup. Yes, the rest may go to waste, but you have few choices at this time of night. It is too bad that my fav Vietnamese Pho place that is just down the road closes at 11PM. I find that Pho is easier to digest, than some heavy Chinese... especially Roast Duck...which is quite old at 1AM anyway. For the huge portions that you get the price is right....especially if you do a doggy bag. When you stay at a hotel, that is usually not a good option... since who wants left over cold Chinese in the AM....and it will not keep on a 5 hr drive home to the Central Coast area. As for the Dim Sum here, I have yet to try it. Based on the reviews, it does sound typical for this area. read more

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I recently went up to the bay area to attend a wedding, but a few days before the wedding I was lucky enough to meet up with my ohana to try the local fare in the area. This is the place I ended up on Thursday for lunch - The Kitchen. What can I say about this place.......well, we came here for dim sum. They serve Cantonese style food which is what I basically grew up on when we ate Chinese food. We had an array of stuff like - 1. Spring Roll 2. Har Gau 3. Shu Mai 4. Spare Rib 5. Custard Tart (my favorite) 6. Chicken Feet 7. And a noodle dish. What can I say about the grub.......well, for me......there was no "WOW" factor. Dim Sum is dim sum to me. But on the brighter side, the portions were extremely huge! Also, the noodle dish was served in a certain way that I've never seen before (look at pic). I've never seen anything like that before, as it appeared that the noodles were fried in a noodle casing, kinda like a inside/out noodle dish........I certainly haven't seen anything like that here in Hawaii, or to my knowledge. Service was excellent, with the waiters coming to refill our tea pot, and taking away our empty dishes. Food was brought out quickly, so no complaints about the service......that's for sure! Overall, a good lunch.........like I said before, it really doesn't matter where I go, or what I eat............so long as I get to spend it with my love ones, and that's all that matters to me. read more

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Service and food really good. Ambiance is also welcoming as well. Excellent reception very friendly read more

The Kitchen is "packin" with hungry people during the weekend, waiting in line to get seated! The line was out the door, but it moved fast! Service was quick, the nice lady took our order and in a jiffy, our dishes magically came to our table. I tried ordering in Mandarin, but turns out, I need more work rolling the "RRRRR" because we ended up getting a dish called, "Stir Fry Beef with Goose Intestine!" Hahaha!! We really enjoyed their Macau Crispy Skin Ham Hock - $13.80. It was crispy on the outside, and tender inside. Portion was good too! The Clams with pan fried rice noodles was done just right. Clams were fantastic and not overly cooked. The fried noodles gave it a nice texture separation to the palate. The Goose Intestine on the other hand, well... let's just say it was an interesting experience! All in all, it was great. Until then, Cheers! ~ :p read more

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I've occasionally dined here for dinner before and felt it was ok. This review is for the dim sum. Variety. Isn't that what dim sum is about? We kept having the same 2 carts circulating w/ items we didn't want so we ordered 2 of whatever they had. No menu to order off from like Koi Palace. Didn't see any specialty items worth ordering. It's tight, seating-wise. No additional leg space if you want to scoot back since the back if your chair is touching someone else's. Table is also too high. It reaches high mid-chest towards my collarbones. Really makes you feel like a midget. read more

The Kitchen - Geoduck - Dim Sum Near Me - Millbrae, California

Ordered take out from here via their online ordering via chowhow. Really appreciate online ordering other than (doordash, grub hub, etc). All proceeds goes to them instead of a large fee going to 3rd party. I forgot to take pictures because I ate all the dim sum too quickly. I ordered 2 orders of hargow, scallop, pork bun, Shumai, chow fun, pea sprouts. The order of chow fun was custom to be veggie only- yum! And the potions of noodles and pea sprouts were HUGE. First dim sum I've had since February. Found parking easy- this area is usually hard to find parking but picked up food Sunday @10:30. Everyone wore masks and they are having indoor dining. Looked very safe- tables very far apart from each other and had sanitizer in multiple spots. read more

We came for lunch last week. Service was good and quick. We ordered soup dumplings aka xiao long bao and beef tendons with jelly fish appetizer, baked turnip cake, and mushroom rice noodle rolls. Everything was delish! This restaurant is big and also opens late for dinner too! read more

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I just went there for dim sum this Saturday morning at 10:30am. No line and the food was great. Service was responsive and polite. The restaurant got filled up at around 11:30am. So don't get there too late if you don't want to wait. Btw, I was impressed by its Chinese donuts rice noodle roll (港式炸兩）, the donut was freshly fried for the 炸兩. read more

The Kitchen - June 2021 menu and price - Dim Sum Near Me - Millbrae, California

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Pretty normal dim sum. You get your traditional favorites like chicken feet, shu mai, har gow, etc. Food is not fancy or but the wait was good on a weekend morning. I'd go again if I was in the neighborhood read more

Completely agree with the reviews here. This place is for sure a solid 3 Stars. What I ordered to go: 1) shrimp dumplings - good proportions of ingredients, except each dumpling had SO much pepper. Too much pepper. 2) chicken feet - proper color and flavor, except it had way, wayyyy too much oil. The amount of oil I poured out from this tiny dish could've been enough for me to make a whole other dish with. And it was a little too spicy for me. I couldn't eat more than 2 pieces. The amount of oil and spice in this dish upset my stomach a bit. 3) beef rice rolls - solid job! 4) bbq buns - pretty good! Standard! Just wish they were bigger. They are quite tiny but I guess that is standard for a restaurant instead if a bakery? I would've ordered a dozen to throw in my freezer if they were bigger. 5) sesame mochi - very tasty! Would definitely order again. Overall, solid 3. :) read more

More dim sum details: Cheong fun - really good! Beef was flavorful with some green bits mixed in, and shrimp was big and fresh and succulent Tried the Braised pomelo skins in abalone sauce (they had a different name for it on the menu?) - surprisingly really tasty, it was meaty and tasty. Not what I expected of pomelo skins. Tofu skins appetizer- cold dish with sesame oil, chili oil (not spicy though), cilantro - I think this dish is particularly good and flavorful at The Kitchen though sometimes I wish the texture was softer My dad loves the daikon cakes here, especially if you can get the steamed version. Pan fried ones are good here too! We accidentally ordered both kinds of chicken feet, my mom and grandpa enjoyed them both. I can't comment... Green sticky rice balls filled with black sesame paste - good, but filling and rich! Xiao long bao / soup dumplings - tasty tasty! Filing I think had bigger chunks of meat and shrimp compared to the usual finely ground filling, v tasty and big though! Xien zhu juen - one of my usual favorites, tofu skin wrapped bundles of pork and shrimp and other things (water chestnuts, Wood ear mushrooms etc), fine here but not a standout favorite Pan fried buns - dough is kind of sweet, filling is a mix of cabbage and pork and maybe some other stuff Taro puffs - p good, fried to a nice crisp and gooey gravy filling Beef balls - flavor was good, texture seemed a little extra extra starchy and boingy ? read more

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Been going to this place for dim sum and dinner pre-covid and during covid. We recently got dim sum for take out, and it was great! They are open for dine in again, but be prepared to wait as usual. The tables are a bit more spacious than before and all the wait staff wears mask. read more

Went to the Kitchen for Dim Sum and it was good but I didn't give 4 stars because of the limitation on the selection and the ways it was serve. 1) The restaurant was clean and well decorated 2) The price is reasonable for the Millbrae location average is about $15 to 25 per person 3) It's a typical dim sum place so don't expect 5 star service. You should be happy with 3 to 3.5 star service 4) The food is great but here are some of the reasons why it only get 3 stars A) the menu on the dim sum only have the basic choices and most of them are just the basic that you see on Americanized Hong Kong restaurant B) they only have one cart with one type of dim sum and the rest you have to order from the kitchen C) Because it's not serve on the cart , you will have to wait for it to be cook in the kitchen. I would still recommend people to try it. Especially if you have not had dim sum before... remember baby steps read more

Solid place for dim sum. Not many places in Millbrae-San Mateo that I'd go to, but this is one. Service: 2 stars. Very slow. Not friendly or helpful. Just stood around. Didn't tell us that we had to order from the menu even though there were a few carts going around. Food: pretty good. I'm always a fan of typical yum cha dishes like shiu mai, ha gao, char siu bao, etc. Other patrons: all Asians! Say whaaat? Yes, I'm going to presume that after one meal here and seeing that that this place is pretty authentic and good. Will be back. read more

Decent place to stop by, especially for a late night "snack". Opens until 1 am, and the inside of the store is much bigger than I originally thought. Most of all, the food is great! Definitely get the crab--the way they cut it up into pieces and serve it with the shells semi-opened is really nice. The other dishes they serve are also done very well, with great attention to detail. The "3 mushroom" dish was really well made, with 3 types of mushrooms literary "boiling" within a pot over a small flame as it is served onto the table. Nice. read more

6/26/20 - Dinner, Take out Crispy pork (4/5): skin was delightfully crackly. Salty, but it works well with the sauce Shu mai (3/5): pretty standard BBQ pork buns (3/5): they had cute swirls on the top. Tasted pretty standard as well Other: Called in before, so pick up was smooth read more