Joy Luck Palace Bistro

I went back to San Jose during the holidays to visit friends and family and a tradition of my high school friends and mine is to meet up to pig out on dim sum every time we all come together. I’m not sure how to describe dim sum from a restaurant located in a neighborhood where the majority of the signs are written in Chinese first and then English in small lettering underneath except that it is exactly as you would expect it. It’s located in the Cupertino Village complex (so have fun with parking). There’s a second back entrance next to Fantasia which is not the proper entrance. The proper front entrance to the restaurant is in the center of the complex next to small water fountain. The space is moderate and cozy; it took them a bit to clear room for our party of nine. The food is good, moderately-​priced (cheaper than what I’d pay for in San Diego) and the service is hit or miss, but usually less than stellar. There are a lot of people in uniforms running around and they all have the magical ability to never make eye contact despite being close enough to touch; it took us a while to flag them down to bring tea and clear the first round of empty plates. But at the end of the day, they have much more variety than what we can expect at dim sum in San Diego and their interpretations of certain standard fare is different enough that my S.O. likes certain dishes despite normally avoiding them when we’re in S.D. They are also pretty fast-​paced with a variety of different carts coming by regularly so that we never have long to wait in between dishes. The best part, of course, is that to stuff our faces with delicious dim sum even with added tax and gratuity, it only cost about $ 17 per person. And with so many places transitioning to ordering by menu, I appreciate a dim sum place which still rolls out the carts for us.

Came here few years before and they were a good quick noodle shop but my visit now was really disappointing. Prices now higher and service is poor at best. Food not that good either. Not likely to return.

My family and I have been coming here for years, and we often choose to come here over the main Joy Luck restaurant in the same plaza due to less of a wait time. Unfortunately, service here is still pretty bad. Servers can be rude, and they’ve forgotten my orders or didn’t return change for my bill when it’s obvious that I need change.
Food is still delicious, which is why I’m still giving this place four stars. My usuals include any of their porridge, several dim sum items (take your pick, they’re all pretty good), and the shiu kai noodles. The shiu kai noodles come with egg noodles and a couple of dumplings — very flavorful and yummy but can get salty and tad oily.
You can get your bbq pork or duck here as well. Worth a shot to come here if you’re stuck waiting for a table to open up over at Joy Luck restaurant.

We ordered wonton noodle, sampan porridge, and chinese donuts. The noodle was ok, acceptable, nothing special. The seafood ingredients in the porridge had strong raw seafood smell. Then, the Chinese donuts (youtiao) came late. It was stale, hard, and looked like they refried an old one. The plate for the donut was brimming with oil.
The surprising part was that the place was packed! We came here probably over 5 years ago. It was pretty decent back then but the quality of the food is atrocious now. Sigh.

My day did not start well. Cut off by some asshole on the freeway, i ended up in the land of zero customer service. As i was trying to complete my order with the server she’s taking the menu out of my hand as im still talking. I get roast duck wonton noodles and an order of crispy roast pork belly. Both meats come out barely warm, with fat not properly rendered. Soup is ok and i guess noodles are the best part. As im eating the server outs out the bill and then asks for me to pay immediately. Cash only. She then tries to take the change before i get it while eating. Then brings out a box and bag then just walks away as does everyone. Im basically in the dining room alone and it’s clear they just want me out of there. Fucking miserable

This was the weirdest and probably one of the good dim sum restaurants I have been too! It was a given sunday morning and my cousins went to get dim sum after our other cousin’s wedding… the place was not pack! phew! and we got there at around 1045 to be seated right away!
We got the back room, private party! for a good 10 minutes before people came. It literally took only a few seconds before food started to arrive and we ordered quite a lot of food!
Magically, this place has better selections, taste and varieties than that of Dynasty down the street! The waitress that was assigned to our table, was… very clumsy and kept either:
1. Knocking over the sauce plat
2. Filling water and spilling
3. Knocking something over
Every time she came around to do something, she would be clumsy and cause a mess. I am not saying that it’s her fault, but it happened everytime!
Food carts here are very quick and attentive, they know what you want and when you want it! They are the shizz and know whats up!

I used to love this place, but it’s now getting a bit long in the tooth. It’s been here for many years and I think there are just now too many newer similar places for HK café, Chinese deli type meal. The food is decent, service is fine, but the place looks a bit worn. I had the roast duck of rice dish tonight which was deelish, but fatty duck is usually pretty good. In the past, wonton soup and the HK style pan fried noodles were good also.

Joy Luck Palace is one of the better dim sum places I’ve been to in Cupertino. The food was good, they have good service (for a chinese restaurant), and the restaurant seemed very clean.
The dim sum came out hot and seasoned perfectly (nothing too salty or bland). There were periods of time when the food carts were being filled so we were not able to order new dishes, but it was not too long of a wait.
Overall, Joy Luck Palace is clean chinese restaurant with great food and great prices. Make sure to come early on weekends to avoid a long wait for dim sum!

This is my «go to» cantonese restaurant in the South Bay, besides Cooking Papa which is sometimes a bit oily. It’s not the best food but it’s decent. Plus, you can order dim sum dishes here from the main restaurant.
My favorite dishes are the congees (don’t forget to order it with fried chinese donut), tomato beef lo mein, wonton noodle soup, tossed noodles with pork chop & random dim sum dishes that I feel like adding from main restaurant. Portions are relatively large and most time 1 dish can serve 2 ppl. Service is not exceptional but you get your food fast.

Service is always great, food is always delicious.
My favorite is the preserved egg & salted pork porridge.
I can now die happy.

Stopped in for a quickie meal. Ordered a bowl of shrimp wonton — which was quite a large order. Had about 12 wontons and came with some veggies. It was good. I shared it with my son. Then we ordered the lobsters and noodles. This was really good as well. The order was quite large and we took the leftovers home.

I came for lunch with my hubby and the place was not jam pack. It was after 1pm so it wasn’t very crowded and we were ushered to a two top near the bathroom so I asked to move to another table. They reluctantly allowed us to do so but the guy seem annoyed that I hassled him with such a request. The service like others mentioned was non existent. The waiter took our order and brought the food. We had to ask for the check because we were pretty much ignored.
I had eaten here years ago and the food was good and relatively cheap. Today it was the opposite. The food was blah. Not very flavorful at all and for the price I was like holy cow! 13.95 for house special pan fried noodle? The seafood tasted rubbery and not very much seafood. We also got the fish and tofu rice plate. Tofu was pretty good but the fish was pretty much all bones. Not worth the 27 bucks for these two items. I wish I had gone elsewhere because so many other asian places in this plaza and we picked this one. won’t be back.

My family has been coming here for years. Every time, their food satisfies us! The best part is that you can order dim sum from Joy Luck even if you’re in the restaurant behind it. I always get the shui kao in soup. It’s delicious and so filling. My parents are a big fan of that or the shrimp wonton soup. I’ve tried their duck noodle soup as well, but my only complaint is that the duck is too oily for my preference. I do love most of their menu items, though. It’s really a hidden gem behind the main Joy Luck restaurant! It’s next to Fantasia.
Minus one star because service is a little slow and bad sometimes (waiters are sometimes impatient and forget about things…).

Unilocal removed my review, but long story short:
I was rudely confronted by a «server» for not tipping enough, even though it was 10% and more than they deserved. Our party was continually ignored and we had to practically beg for tea refills and for the carts to not skip us. The assailant verbally attacked me first in English and then in Chinese when he got frustrated. He then angrily stormed away and probably told all his co-​workers because we were given death glares by every single worker on our way out. Okaaay.
The service is grumpy, unprofessional, and disrespectful. The food is not even good and definitely not worth the wait, let alone entitled attitudes from the staff. Don’t give them your business unless you don’t mind making assholes richer.

Yay, very decent Cantonese style Chinese food. Congee, shrimp wonton noodles, pan fried noodles, roasted meat rice dishes. You’re not going here for the ambience or service. You’re going here for the food.
This restaurant seemed like an afterthought to the bigger joy luck palace restaurant that serves dim sum and banquet style dishes in the nicer area around the corner. Their kitchen is linked so it’s all the same place– just different stuff and non existent ambience for joy luck place. But no matter!
This is where I can get those chewy egg noodles with shrimp wontons, in the clear msg laden broth. They’re so good! Congee with preserved duck eggs and salted pork– comforting and a huge bowl. Roasted pork belly, roast duck… the favorites are all here. Beware– cash only.

LOVE this place. The Boy and I come here frequently for wonton soup (wonton min for him, wonton fun for me!). Service is always quick (pro tip: Cantonese speaking people are key!) and food is always piping hot and delicious. We liberally use the red vinegar like its going out of style. In fact, we always use ALMOST the whole bottle. Sometimes when we’re starving, we order the joong (is that how you spell it? sticky rice?) but that always makes me a little too full.
Cash only. Parking is getting better with the building of the new parking structure. For quick, comfort food, this is the place I’ll go.

Not the best Chinese food in the whole plaza, but I do stop here quite often to get some of my favorite Chinese dishes. Also, their menu is not as extensive as the adjoining Joy Luck Palace, but I like it that way. Good quality, quick and without the pretentious atmosphere of the classier JLP.
I absolutely love their BBQ pork, roasted duck and crispy pork served with steamed vegetables over rice. All of them are delicious and not overly greasy. Portions are also generous and come out to be about $ 8 a plate.
I’ve also enjoyed eating their diced chicken, salted fish fried rice, and seafood over crispy noodles (these portions are best for sharing, as they come on big plates just like if you had ordered it from the restaurant).
Their congee, on the other hand, was kinda disappointing; a little too watered-​down for my tastes. Pork and century egg congee was decent but their fish congee was blah…
And the service? Oh, well, there is no service: P You sit yourself and the waitresses move quickly to get your tea/​water and take your order down. Other than that, they couldn’t care less about you. I’m just happy that the my orders always come out hot and fast.
p. s. Their chili is fantastic and it’s cash only here (le sigh)!

I’ve been going here off and on for several years now, and the quality is still the same. I always order the wonton soup because its mostly good shrimp wrapped in thin wrappers. The broths is a good compliment to the wontons, but when alone, I find it to be too peppery.
On a recent trip, we also ordered pan fried noodles and spicy green bean shoots with tofu. It was all very delicious and well made. My 3 year old niece, who is a very picky eater, loved the noodles.
I love the location because its easy to get in and out of the parking lot. Finding parking is another matter though… Good luck finding parking at lunch or dinner time. And once you’re there, its a great place to walk around, window shop, get some grocery shopping done, or just sit outside with your boba tea and enjoy the sun.
Pro-​tip: Cash only, and they don’t have an ATM machine in the restaurant.

I came here yesterday as a group of 9 people around 10:30am and got seated immediately. It was a Saturday, and they had the dim sum carts wheeling around. It took a while for them to finally get all the types of food out (pork buns, dan tat, ha gow, siu mai, etc.). I have to admit, my favorite dish was the fried tofu and chicken feet they had. Everything else was still pretty decent and like your typical Cantonese restaurant food. We also ordered their shrimp and egg rice noodles which were pretty good. I would get it again.
However, what made me want to leave this place with two stars was because they charged us per pot of tea we had. really? Maybe because we were a party with 6+ people but, I don’t know if I ever heard of a restaurant doing that especially without early notice.

Friend is sick so brought him here to eat Fresh Sliced Fish Porridge ($ 7.00), Wonton Soup ($ 6.00), and Roast Duck Noodle Soup ($ 6.00).
The fish porridge was my absolute favorite. Wonton soup had like 10 wontons, which were flavorful shrimp wontons and the roast duck noodle soup was way too greasy for my taste.
Staff were alright. Not great. Girl was like check? I said yeah, she says the price, and then takes my money and places it behind her for the other lady at the register and she says there. Hahah, rude much? Anyhow, receipt had the amount of tip you’re suppose to leave with percentages: 12%, 15%, and 20% all calculated for you depending on the amount of your bill.