Grand Harbor

I do have to give credit to this place because of the atmosphere is very comfortable in this restaurant! 180 degree airport runway view! Other than that, here are the reasons why I would say no to this place to my gathering group!
1) Horrible service, always short staffed, waiter doesn’t give honest suggestions when asked for their recommendation! He would recommends a big-​o-​crab ‘Alaskan King Crab’ to a party of two? When it feeds party of ten, I know you business would make a lot of that but be honest!
2) Your car guaranteed will be broke into at night time! Make sure you empty out your car and roll down all your windows if you decide to come for dinner! Their parking is always dark, no light and no security. THREE cars got broke into in an hours, THREE nights in a row, they will not give you heads up! If you don’t want to replace your window, don’t come here at night! BE CAREFUL!
3) NO parking on weekend for sure! Don’t even think Benihana would let you park for an hour or so, they kick you out their lot right away!
4) Come early for dim sum time or else they just serve you steam bun…

They’re not terrible, food quality is good, but service should improve in certain aspects.
Honestly, the deport of this place is exquisite. I love seeing chandeliers and a bright atmosphere for a Chinese restaurant. I’ve come here a few times with my parents and we never felt there to be as problem with the food. The items shown on the menu look amazing and when is presented to us, still amazing.
One thing that stood out to my family and I was that we waited around fifteen minutes before someone came to taker our order. Granted tea was brought to us already and the place wasn’t super packed and we could see servers walking around but no one came until my dad walked out tho all one of the servers to take our order. I would hate to see a restaurant like this that serves great quality food to go down the drains due to the low customer service. Hopefully it’s improved next time because we will be back.

Not sure why they only have 2 stars? I guess i might be the crazy crowd during the grand opening? I went there for dinner, beautiful décor and view. It was self parking. Food was good. We didn’t try any seafood there because the night we went was a very windy weather, they didn’t have much seafood option. Service was absolutely great the night we went. Planing to go try dim sum when I have a chance.

Stopped by on Sunday for dim sum around noon. They have a fairly large parking lot and to my observation, they no longer require/​do valet. It was more than half empty when we showed up.
Décor: Modern, clean, and looks upscale. It was fairly clean all around. They have huge windows that overlook the bay and you can see planes landing at SFO.
Food: We had the staple dim sum items like shrimp dumplings (ha gao), pork dumplings (shiu mai), cherng fun (rice noodles), fong jao (chicken feet in black bean sauce), beef balls, XO rice noodles, spareribs, and some house recommended noodles. The food, surprisingly was not bad. After all the reviews that I read prior to stopping by I was prepared for something bland. Most of the items had really good flavor.
Tea: They have this house special tea which is supposedly good for the throat. If my family and I are correct, it’s some type of chamomile, and not your traditional Asian tea. It was steeped for too long and tasted strange. Not a lot of people at my table liked it and so we ordered a pot of something else.
Service: It was pretty empty on a Sunday so we had our tea refilled quickly and the manager came out and chatted with us.
Cons: Our spareribs did not come out until the end of our meal when we were about to pay. By then, we were ready to leave. Not to mention it was the only dish that wasn’t very pleasing. The pieces of spareribs were extremely fat. There was more fat than there was meat.
Overall, it was a decent experience. The food wasn’t anything out of the ordinary and it wasn’t horrible. But I wouldn’t make it my regular place and I wouldn’t come back unless I was in the area or someone wanted to check it out.

Not a terrible Dim Sum spot. Food and service was ok, and prices were reasonable.
Pros:
— the huge windows and view of SF bay
— food was decent
Cons:
— parking — self parking in the day (can get crowded). Valet at night (long wait times for both drop off and pick up)
— cleanliness — warning: do not look at the back or side of the restaurant building. garbage everywhere along with dozens of seagulls scavenging.

BREAK INS & CRIME ENCOURAGED AT THIS ESTABLISHMENT!
Went here for dinner recently & returned to my car to find my rear window broken and $ 1K in valuables stolen. Called the police to report the crime & an officer from the Millbrae PD arrived shortly. As he was filling out the report, he mentioned that this type of crime is very common in this restaurant parking lot/​area. They’ve even advised the owners to install security cameras, add lights, or hire a security guard to patrol the lot at night. Well, the owners of the restaurant must not care too much about the safety & security of their customers as NONE of those recommendations have been addressed.
I went back inside the restaurant to speak to one of the owners regarding this ongoing security issue & he offered no help, as all he would repeat was that they’re «working on it». How difficult is it to hire a security guard to patrol the lot at night? Apparently it’s very difficult as this establishment continues to neglect the safety of their customers. Maybe they’re waiting for one of these thieves to physically assault someone before they start taking this issue seriously. In my book, you’re no better than these thieves as you’re enabling them to continue their crime spree on your property. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
I was also shocked when other customers came forward & admitted that their cars have been broken into also. Why they continue to risk their safety & property to eat at that establishment is beyond me, especially because the general consensus that the food is below average is very accurate.
I will never visit this place again & recommend that you do the same.

Came here again with my coworkers for lunch. They wanted dim sum and this is the closest to work and it has a nice view. Although, with the wind kicking up the night before, the bay looked muddy… as if the swamp thing will appear any second.
The food is okay to me, being Chinese and all, but it serves it’s purpose — fill our tummy with grease and more! Pricing is on the higher end compared to other dim sum places. Overall, the food is mediocre for me. They don’t push the carts until the weekend since they’re not really full during the weekdays, but get enough customers… they will. I saw a few yesterday.
Some perks would be Thursdays and Fridays, complimentary tea I believe and a nice view of the bay (when it’s not low tide) and planes landing at SFO.

Right off the bat, glasses were a bit dirty. We needed forks and napkims, no one is around, so we sort of serve ourselves. We were seated next to food elevator which the door keep slamming. The soup, i would think the will serve it to us, we have to scoop it out ourselves.
Our lobster order took to long, and came cold when it was served.
I have a lot to say, just to say it short, I’d say, sevice was poor. Will not be returning.
After dinner. we got redbean dessert… but its water no beans.

While the view of this restaurant is spectacular, the food is below par.
It’s situated at the bayshore at burlingame, if you are lucky, you can sit next to the panoramic glass window and view the airplane land onto SFO. I’ve been to this restaurant twice for their lunch dim-​sum service. Sometimes they require valet parking if the parking lot becomes too crowded. Today when I arrived a quarter passed 10am, we were able to choose our own spot.
Anyhow, after we got seated, the dimsum cart quickly came to us, delightful. The dim sum at first tasted fine, but as it cools down, I notice numerous problem.
All of their dim sum were frozen, you can taste the weird refrigerant taste from it. That’s not all, their rice noodle (腸粉) were not smooth, it was obviously frozen and poorly reheated. They tried to pour more soy sauce to cover the freezer flavor but it didn’t work. Lastly, we ordered some dumpling soup (灌湯餃). When it was served, we notice the dumpling was teared apart, the taste of the ingredient were soggy and mushy, and again, the refrigerant taste.
2 stars for extremely great service, all the servers and managers were above par with great smile! I wish the food level will go up and be on par or better with the other chinese restaurants in Milbrae. The location is golden, it will become successful if they put in effort into the most important thing in running a restaurant, GOOD FOOD

Mom: my friend told me to tell you to take me to this dim sum place by the airport. They have a really pretty view. Can you take you there?
And that’s how I ended up here. The view, no joke is pretty neat. The windows are gigantic, love the natural lighting! My meal was definitely more relaxing than the usual cramped spaces that Chinese restaurants tend to squeeze me into.
The food however, is a no go. About half of the stuff we ordered could have been better. Just to name a few, the egg yolk lava bun was all egg yolk, no lava and no sweetness at all. I don’t even really know what they put in it but when I rip it in half, I expect to see that familiar runny yellow goodness. I even turned it upside down and held it, the filling did not budge.
On to the rice noodle roll. It was soft, but too soft. I couldn’t pick it up without everything falling apart. Not cool. And on a similar note, the skin on the shrimp with cilantro dumpling was also no good. When I picked it up, the whole thing was left in the steamer because the bottom wouldn’t hold and the skin just broke… I laughed. The chewy skin I was looking forward to wasn’t present.
Overall, food was meh. I really wish the food was better because the seating and view was so relaxing but I think I’ll just stay in sf and eat in my corner. 1 star for the view. 1 star for the space. 1 star for the ok food.

I should preface this review by stating that I have gone here with my Chinese coworkers and without, and I will only go with them from now on.
First tip: 95% of what we ordered was good and hot. A few of the taro and similar dishes were warm. Check before they leave the table.
Second tip: speak the language.
Third tip: order from the menu and not from what’s circling around the room (on weekdays). Weekends are okay either way.

I know this place has really bad reviews for dim sum but you have to try this place for dinner! The food is so good and there was no wait! My family of 30 made a reservation for 6:30 but you really don’t need to make a reservation, the place was ¹⁄₃ full the entire time we were there.
Our food took about an hour to come out but that’s because we were still waiting for half of our party. The food was so good! I don’t remember the names of any of the dishes because we ordered a course but everything was delicious. One of my favorites was the beef with string beans and mushrooms. So good! Their lobster was pretty good too, and I don’t even like seafood. Another dish was mixed eggs with clams, yum! And at the end of our dinner, they even offered us complementary mango pudding dessert as well as some Asian green bean dessert. And we also brought a cake, they don’t have a charge for bringing in a cake! The server was nice enough to clear our table and help us cut the cake in slices for everyone :)
The owner also came by to say hi to us as well as mention that they recently changed the head chef for dinner and dim sum. I haven’t tried dim sum here yet but I hope it’s better than previous reviews. I can’t wait to come back again.

I was surprised to see a two star rating at a place that was so packed… We arrived at 11:30am to a quarter filled restaurant, and within 15 – 20 minutes there was a line out to the restaurant entrance!
My experience feels like this place warrants a slightly higher rating than two stars. Grand Harbor offers mediocre dim-​sum fare in a modern scenic dining room. You can’t beat the view of the bay (floor to ceiling window spans entire length of restaurant) with planes taking off and landing in the distance. The standard fare like har-​gow and shiu-​mai were decent, and everything else just seemed meh. Pricing is a bit higher than your normal dim-​sum restaurants, but the location seems to be a big draw.
Service was a bit slow, but staff were friendly. Large parking lot next to Benihana (seems they have valet in the evenings). Good for large parties, but expect a wait at peak hours (place gets pretty crowded)…

This place is at least 3 stars…
We decided to try this restaurant based on the hype that it’s new and it has a pretty view. The restaurant is located right next to Benihana. We self parked and waited 10 min for our party of 9 to be seated on Sat Dec 26. Not too bad.
I really like the atmosphere of the place. It’s unlike any other dim sum spot. It’s unique because it’s conveniently located right outside of SF by SFO. It overlooks the water and occasionally you can see planes taking off. It would definitely make for a great spot to hold a banquet.
The restaurant feels clean. Upon walking in there’s a great seafood tank. They displayed their seafood well and looks very appetizing. The chairs are not sticky (unlike most dim sum spots) and the wall designs and light fixtures are gorgeous.
Here’s why this place sucks: the lack of customer service! It took us 2 hours to finish our dim sum and we barely had a variety of stuff. One food cart would come around every 30 mins. How dumb. We tried to flag our waiter 5 times and he never acknowledged us. Eventually we ended up with a different server. Additionally, my boyfriend specifically asked for the check to pay (as all Asian families know this is the part where it can get rowdy…), the lady agreed and then a different server gave the check directly to my dad. How disappointing.
Overall: this place has major potential to be something great, everything I tried was spot on in taste, it’s just the service that’s killing the business right now.

[Dim sum review] The food was mediocre tasting (don’t get the xiao long bao), just warm/​room temp, and we had to send two dishes back because they were undercooked. And oh my freaking goodness, there was an escargot (?) shell inside our dumpling… Wtf!!! Half the serving staff seemed clueless and hence the service was slow and food was cold. We drank a ridiculous amt of tea during our meal, presumably due to the MSG???
One star for the ocean view and cute bus boy.

Imagine a confined, small parking lot where there are only terrible, slow, bad parking drivers who don’t keep their eyes on the road and you’ll get Grand Harbour. Funny enough, that’s also their parking lot.
Parking is atrocious here. They share a parking lot with the restaurant next to them so it gets a little confusing. I believe they have valet, but when I went there, the only «valet» guy I saw was hanging out by a dark booth, smoking a cigarette and yelling into his cell phone. I opted to just park my own rental car. I can say this because I’m an Asian woman, but seriously, the stereotype of Asian drivers was not wrong here. The amount of cars parked over the lines and just crooked was terrifying. I parked as far away from everyone I could.
After I walked in, the hostess seated us. And then we waited. I tried to get the attention of one of the waiters, but he would just stare back. I don’t know why the hostess wouldn’t automatically give us menus when she’s seating us, but whatever. I don’t mind walking to get my own menu.
Honestly, I’m use to the crappy Asian restaursnt service. But this was especially bad. Once I figured out what I wanted, I tried to get the attention of that same waiter. C’mon Victoria, making the same mistake twice, shame on you! He just stared at me again. So I resorted to raising my hand like a second grader till the manager (a guy in a suit) came over and took my order.
The food took FOREVER. Once it got there, I had to ask them for rice, which was annoying because i had already told the guy I wanted 2 bowls. I was already pretty hangry from the long wait and the terrible traffic. The food wasn’t too bad, I’ll give them that. They currently have a buy one pound get another pound free for lobster (and shrimp). They brought out forks and packaged hot/​cold wet napkins. The pot chicken was greasy, and I felt pretty gross after eating it. The fish with egg whites was good, and the lobster wasn’t bad. But that doesn’t make up for the more crappy than normally crappy service. We had asked the guy for our checks but he brought us out some free tapioca sweet dessert soup. Again it took forever to get the check afterwarda. I was kind of fed up at that point. You better believe I brought up my own bill and card and stood there till the guy rang up my card.
The food isn’t good enough for me to want to come back here and deal with the service or the parking. The view of the dirty water isn’t worth it. They clearly pay special attention to their regulars, but wow, that was blatantly bad. Just do yourself a favor and save yourself some stress/​hangry feelings and go somewhere else.

This place is the absolute worst dim sum place I have ever been to. And they have drones of people lining up like zombies to check it out because of the view and its new opening. Do yourself a favor and just watch the view from outside. And eat at Benihana or another restaurant in the area.
First, they ONLY have valet parking. So it creates a bottleneck of cars lining up to even get in the parking lot. Wait time: 20+ minutes. That seems efficient.
Second, their numbering system is extremely chaotic. Despite the headsets and multiple runners, tables remain unfilled and parties remain in the waiting area. Wait time: depending on your party size and scrappiness to keep the hostess aware of your presence.
We finally sat down upstairs in a side room. We were missing a setting, and the tea that eventually came was tepid. No one came to serve the dim sum or to refill the tea. We legit had to leave our table to get a dim sum lady’s attention, and to find a hot water pot to fill our own tea. Talk about self service. Do I really have to pay the per person tea charge? It was so bad that at one point one of the supervisors jokingly said «that’s what you get for sitting upstairs». Thanks, dude.
And I could forgive some of this if the dim sum was good. It is not. The siu mai skin was dry and brittle, and the fillings were bland. The mah lai goh rice paper at the bottom was tainted with some sort of chemical, so I had to spit it out. And we only ordered that because there were no other items in sight.
And the dim sum lady really doesn’t care about job security. We had to ask what was in her cart, and she said «the normal stuff». What the eff is that mean?
Never again. I’m actually visibly angry and my blood pressure could rise if i hear about this place. Get your ish together.

Delighted to see a Chinese restaurant located near the shoreline with a great ocean view. I have been waiting for one, and so glad that it is finally here.
Place: nicely and elegantly decorated. Noise level is much better than most Chinese restaurants (less noisy). Valet parking only, which I don’t mind. Just that I know many Chinese people don’t like this too much. During busy time, you might have to wait to get your car from the valet attendants. I left during peak lunch hours, and the valet staff was very efficient and polite. Beautiful scene of the bay and watching the planes land. Sitting by the window might require you to wear some sunblock during certain hours in the day. There are 2 stories. The upper level is less bright than the lower level.
The location is what really attracted me to go there.
Food: I didn’t go with much expectation after reading all the unfavorable reviews. But to be fair, I don’t think they are as bad as people reviewed. The dim-​sum (only tried dim sum this time) was up to standard, although nothing was extraordinary. They do have the usual selections and made right. I wish they would be a little more innovative in creating some special dishes that other restaurants in nearby neighborhood don’t have. That should attract more customers. I think overall, the selection was a bit limited compared to many others in the Millbrae area. They didn’t have the dim-​sum paper for people to check, and no menus on other dishes at the table, which I think was unusual.
Service: I met many familiar faces of managers and staff there who used to work at other Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area, which was nice. As with almost all restaurants, it takes time to experience and improve. I feel that most of the staff were not very well trained yet. It was hard to find someone’s attention to get refill on hot water and plates etc. There was a non-​Chinese (likely Hispanic) male staff who picked up dishes from tables. I need to give him a compliment as he was very efficient. He would clean up your dishes as soon as it comes empty. He walks around the whole dining room with a great smile and attitude. Thumbs up for him!
Overall, there is still a lot of room to improve in their service and efficiency. Give them some time. Hope the experienced managers there will guide the staff the right way, and I can see improvement the next time I visit.
I give a 4-​star because I appreciate them opening a restaurant at that location which I love, and there is always room to improve. This place is really not as bad as people say on Unilocal.No way it worths only 1 or 3 stars. I think it is more like at 3.5 star.

This place has such promise but really falls short especially when it comes to the food quality.
The location is amazing as it is right on the water with amazing views from coyote point to the airport. The dining room is also pretty albeit a little tacky like Vegas.
Service is spotty but I have pretty low standards when it comes to Chinese restaurants — there was no hostess at the entrance and the wait staff ranges from indifferent to cloyingly nosy (pls don’t chat up my kids… eeeew)
The location is fantastic — huge glass windows that overlook the bay! Beautiful.
Now the sad part — the food is pretty atrocious.
Bbq pork long rice noodle — ugh tasted rancid. The long rice noodle was too thick and the bbq pork inside didn’t taste fresh. The overall dish was lukewarm– we ate a few bites and took the test home for our chickens
Tripe — me love me some dim sum tripe. But after two bites of the rubber band tough tripe I gave up and packed it up again for my chickens
Egg custard bun — meh, serviceable but not rich or tasty as the ones at asia pearl or zen peninsula.
Shrimp dumpling hargow — this was actually very well done — fresh and generous with the shrimp filling– would get again
Porridge — serviceable. With a lot of pepper and onions it was okay, I’ve had MUCH better else where
The guests are all Chinese — you’d think they would be more discerning about the food. I guess they were all attracted to the fancy superficialness.
Overall 2.5 stars but I will round up since the location was so baller.

Millbrae, Burlingame… a ton of dim sum places to choose from right? This one is brand spanking new… this place was recommended to me by a non-​asian person. Decided to give it a try… all dim sum places are usually the same right?
Not!!!
Parking… there’s a parking lot right next to Bennihana… almost shared but it’s valet for Bennihana and self parking for Grand Harbor. Parking is ridiculous… parking is very messy and there were double spots, if you were blocked in, you would tell the people up front that will yell into the microphone evert 10 minutes and tell you to move the car… xxx car model xxx license plate xxxxxxx… it’s quite annoying when you’re trying to enjoy your lunch.
I went with my mom, aunt, and cousin. My aunt and cousin arrived first and snagged us a window seat, thinking it was awesome, there was a view… YEA!!! TOTALLY WRONG. No dimsum carts were able to fit through the crowded tables and we waited more than 45 min for the dim sum ladies to bring us spare ribs and cha siew fun. We were starving so we ordered some stuff through the waiters and guess what? It didn’t come until an hour later. Really, we ended up ordering a rice dish which cost $ 15ish. Oh yeah, it was a rice with scallops and egg whites… there were no egg whites, we sent it back.
DON’T REQUEST A WINDOW SEAT IF YOU WANT FOOD!
Dimsum: selection is pretty minimal. I wanted their «snow mountain bun» aka taro bun… they told me they didnt have it, asked another black suit manager, he said come tomorrow… but… moments later a dimsum lady came with egg rolls and durian cake and TADA! A taro bun plate! Why do the have to lie to me?
sticky rice wrapped in that leaf thing was pretty good, it had a tiny piece of Chinese sausage and egg yolk.
Their tripe was not as good since it was prepared in a different style. My cousin Liles chive and shrimp dumpling pan-​fried with the clear skin, it came to our table looking like a potsticker, wrong again.
I went to the cashiers hoping to get a dimsum menu, she told me that they didn’t have it yet… okay… the table in front of me starting to check off with a pencil on a pink piece of paper… hmmm… it was the dim sum menu. Another lie!!!
There were 6 or 7 black suit men walking around and they’re managers, they don’t do much but walk around. Not enough waiters… one waiter took our water to refill and never brought it back. By the end of our meal, I was pretty unhappy. The people that knew managers got free dessert, although we knew a few of the managers, we weren’t expecting any and didn’t get anything.
Décor: it was very nice and modern inside. The chandeliers were all on and the lights were on, I felt they were wasting electricity since it was really bright. Their ac was on but it wasn’t on high enough and a lot of people wanted the ac on higher. (It was a 80+ degree day).
I’m willing to try their dinner before I completely ban this place.