I'm not experienced with soba, so I'm not sure what makes a good vs great soba, but everything we…read moregot was very yummy imo! I liked the flavor of the dipping broth for the kamo zaru better (it had duck), but I liked how the ten zaru dipping broth was cold. The tempura that came with the ten zaru was very crispy and yummy. I really like how their assortment was very unique. For example, it came with scallop, tamago, and brussel sprouts. The duck meat that came with the kamo zaru was SO TENDER and flavorful. The agedashi tofu was solid, but nothing special that special. Portion size was good! Lots of noodles, but as usual, soba places don't have much protein options. Servers were very nice, and place was very cute and clean :) Great experience overall.

Really wanted to like this place but it was disappointing. The braised dish wasn't all that good…read more The wonton soup had a small amount of super salty meat for the wonton itself. The dumplings were just okay. I think we ordered the wrong things here and should've tried their noodles instead. Would be open to trying their noodles next time! There's a mini bar for small appetizers which was nice!

SOOOOO good! Came here with a group of friends--I recommend coming with at least 3-4 to get a good…read moreassortment of skewers. We ordered - cucumber salad - enoki mushroom - lamb skewers - beef skewers - scallop vermicelli - lychee and wagyu - bacon and enoki mushroom - eggplant - a choy - spicy potato noodles - korean cold noodles Like I said, go with a group! The food was all really delicious. The Korean cold noodles are a bit sweeter than the typical naengmyeon but still yummy Service is fast, and they bring the skewers out on a special plate on the table that keeps the food warm.

Chicken skin, gizzards, cartilage and stinky tofu... this is my kind of menu…read more Dynasty BBQ wasn't one of those places where every bite completely blew me away, but it was good, consistent, and I genuinely enjoyed it. Everything was cooked properly, especially the skewers. Nothing raw or questionable. My only critique is that after trying several different skewers, the flavors started blending together and tasted the same. But honestly, I came for the things I grew up loving. Chicken skin, gizzards, chicken cartilage and stinky tofu were my favorites. Some people call this "poor people food." I call it a delicacy. These are foods I grew up eating, so there's something nostalgic about them for me. Give me crispy chicken skin and cartilage over a fancy steak sometimes and I'm perfectly happy. Service was fast and surprisingly attentive. Every time something came to the table, the servers explained what it was, which I appreciated. Everyone was friendly and respectful. You order through a QR code on your phone and pay when you're finished. The restaurant itself is clean and nicely decorated. I especially liked the tables with walls separating them it gives you a little privacy while you eat. They also have more open seating toward the front. The service was very good. Everyone was nice, respectful and attentive without hovering. Whenever they brought something to the table, they explained what it was, and they checked in to make sure everything was okay. Food came out surprisingly fast, and with everything we ordered, nothing was forgotten or missed. That stood out to me. Would I come back? Yes. Not because every single skewer was extraordinary, but because the food was cooked well, the service was excellent, and they serve the kind of food that brings me back to what I grew up eating. Next time, I'm ordering the stinky tofu again. No question

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.

This place is consistently good and always has at least a couple people waiting outside of the door…read moreif not more. If you feel like a nice warm hug for your tummy, then get the Langzhou hand pulled noodles. The clear broth and light spice is so comforting for your stomach and it doesn't feel too heavy. You can choose your noodle thickness based on your preference. I typically go for the small rounds while my boyfriend gets the belt noodles - the complete opposite from each other! You can get out of there less than $20 a person, which is so rare in downtown San Mateo. Quick and easy meal for lunch or dinner.

I'm not the biggest fan of their standard bed soup noodles, so I tried their chili oil wide noodles…read morewith braised beef and definitely prefer this! Noodles are springy and have a nice chew. The braised beef is well marinated and full of flavor and soft. The bowl isn't overly spicy either, but I adjusted for less oil, less salt , and less spicy. Would recommend this! I've also tried their knife cut noodles in his bed noodle soup today too from my partner's bowl, but it was a miss. The noodles were really soft and doughy. Flavorful broth as usual though. Looking to try something different next time...

I found out this is the owner of another very popular restaurant in Belmont which currently still…read morehave long line every time we visited. So we decided to try his new restaurant. The location is off the busy part of San Mateo which is awesome. Plenty of free parking and no wait at the restaurant. People walked by would second thought on coming in. Clay pot rice - Hands down the best I've had in many famous clay pot rice restaurants in the Bay area. See the pictures on how crunchy they made the rice without too much oil. HK style sweet and sour spare ribs - 生炒骨 very good. The flavor is very authentic to me like those I had in HK. Crunchy batter. I really liked it. Seafood clay pot - That one was fine, like the flavor, but nothing particularly special. Shredded chicken salad - it's good but I've had better. The main thing is the 沙姜粉 is not as strong. The quality of chicken is fine, decent yellow hair chicken flavor. It's too bad that the location may not be a visible location but this place is truly above average. I mean I'm happy because I never have to wait 45 minutes to get seated and parking is convenient. Just hope they will stay in business.

This place is way underrated restaurant. Food is great here and great price!…read more Mapo tofu is so good

Eat here. Thank me later. Excellent Szechuan food in the Peninsula at reasonable prices (in 2023…read moreno less)! Our typical order is the fried chicken with chili peppers, mapo tofu, dry fried string beans, and fish filets in peppercorn soup (it's a green soup with mushrooms). Service is "efficient" which is hopefully exactly what you want if you are looking for a Szechuan restaurant that has good food. IYKYK. If you want good service in an establishment like this, I have a bridge to sell you... Great local business that we have patronized many times over the years, and will continue to do so!

Wow, pleasantly surprised by how good the food is here. Ordered takeout over the phone and food was…read moreready by the time I got there (15min). Spicy bullfrog - generous with bullfrog servings and taste was on point Lamb skewers - minimum 2 skewers per order with a good amount of meat per skewer. Spicy cold jelly - The cold jelly was a good refresher after all the spice. Love the texture. Duck blood curd - a little stingy on the duck blood curd. Probably pass on this.

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.

I think it's important to know that Little Shanghai is not a typical Chinese-American restaurant…read more It is a restaurant specific to Shanghai cuisine. You have to have had Shanghai food in order to appreciate the specific dishes here. Don't complain that flavors and textures here are not up to your Chinese-American expectations. They make their dishes in the style of neighborhood restaurants you would encounter in Shanghai. This is a neighborhood restaurant that has been here for years, and their dishes trigger Shanghai nostalgia. IYKYK. My favorite Shanghai dishes, including Shanghai-style dimsum: * Bean curd with malan vegetable * Cold tofu noodle * Ham and winter melon soup * Dongpo pork * Sauteed prawns Shanghai-style * Sweet and sour spareribs Shanghai-style * Shanghai-style steamed chicken * Savory soybean milk * Sweet soybean milk * Shanghai rice roll * Xiaolong bao * Shanghai fried pork buns * Jicai wonton soup * Small wonton clay pot People in Shanghai are busy and they like their food fast. The service here is fast. Don't complain that the service here is not attentive or not refined. You order food and they bring it to you. Eat it and move on. If you want typical Chinese-American food, go to Panda Express. If you want typical Chinese-American food with better (slower) service, go to P.F. Chang's.

Was in the area and craving Xiao Long Bao, so hubby and I decided to come here on a Sunday…read moreafternoon. We found parking across the street immediately after turning onto their street. They have a small parking area with maybe five spaces, but most of the time, these spaces are taken, so it's best to look for parking around the restaurant. We haven't been back here in at least three or four years. The two of us ordered a sweet soy milk to share, the Shanghai-style chow mein, which they no longer make with the round noodles they used to use, and of course, we had to order the XLB, which I had been craving. The XLB was juicy, but the broth was too salty for my taste and didn't have that umami flavor I was looking for. We also ordered their Shanghai fried pork buns. At other places, I've noticed they use the same meat filling for both the XLB and the fried buns, but here, the meat filling in the Shanghai fried pork buns was very mushy and tasted a little weird. I noticed the lady next to our table only ate the bun, leaving all the meat filling untouched on her plate. We only ate two of the fried pork buns. The place still gets busy, but not as busy as it was before the pandemic. I recognized most of the staff from years ago. Our waiter speaks Cantonese, and he mistook my hubby for one of their regulars. Speaking of which, we chatted a little while he was taking our order. He told us he has been working there for 15 years and will retire in two years. The reason I gave this place 3 stars is that the food was not as yummy as I remembered, but the service is still there. You may feel a little rushed here and there because they have other customers waiting, which I understand. The place hasn't changed a bit in over 10 plus years. Hubby tells me that maybe this place is just too authentic and doesn't suit our Cantonese palate. This place is not for me, but since there are still so many customers coming here, their food must appeal to many people. If you haven't tried this place and are craving authentic Shanghai food, give it a try!

My favorite malatang place. I always come to this malatang every time I come back to the Bay Area,…read morewhether at this location or the one on Stonestown. My favorite is the dry option Szechuan Spicy and you can pick and choose whatever you want to go in there. They have the soup option, but I have not tried that yet. The difference between the San Mateo branch and the Stonestown branch is that they have a dessert/sauce bar at the San Mateo one. Also- tip, you can purchase on their website for pick up or delivery. On weekdays for lunch they have a special lunch price which is a bit cheaper. Although, I do prefer ordering in person so I can choose how much of what toppings/ingredients go in there.

Malatang! Self- serve toppings and bowls. I chose the pickled veggies broth…read more My favorite part is their sauce bar, free iced tea, and desserts (jelly). I personally LOVEE the iced tea, super refreshing. Food comes out pretty fast. Lots of seatings, super clean, very aesthetic. They have booths and tables. Settings are all laid out as well as togo containers.

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