Hong Kong Restaurant

Been there twice. Both times i feel like they are rushing me to eat and get out. Server brought the bill halfway thru my meal. With in 5 mins he checked twice to see if i had signed it. Servers started to clean table, taking chilli tray twice, before i was done with my meal. Too bad food is actually pretty good. Just not welcoming. Good food but bad service leaves bad taste.

Phenominal food. We were treated to an amazing assortment of dishes by family who eat there frequently.
The hot and sour soup is delicious. Slightly spicy, but balanced. The pea shoots, green beans and tempura eggplant were all outstanding. Fresh, perfect texture, hot and delicious. We also had Peking duck with buns and sauce, ginger chicken, garlic beef, sweet and sour pork, chow mien, walnut prawns, pork belly, oysters, and a couple more I can’t remember. Every dish was hot, fresh and perfectly prepared! What a treat!

Good food and service. Had fish fillet w/​black bean sauce and soy sauce chicken. Both dishes were flavorful. Complimentary soup and desert. Soup was good, just want I need to fight my cold!
Will eat here again when in the neighborhood.

Food is delicious! Best Chinese food ever! My family has been coming here for years. Great service, amazing won ton soup. Always the top choice when we don’t know where to eat!

They charged me twice and refuse to give back. Amount is over $ 400!!! Now I have to cut my card just to get my money back. Even 1 star is too much. Worst service and worst experience. DO NOT eat here. They will steal your money. I even have sent them the copy of bank statement but they still refused to refund. Now that I know for sure that they have no intention to reimburse, I can confidently tell everyone that these ppl at hk restaurant are stealing from their customers.

I had my wedding reception there, I chose this restaurant because I like their food and their service by the time I was there for a new year party.
But on my big day, it was suck. SUCK! When I arrived, the tables which I reserved still had ppl sitting there and eating! I had more than 80 guests waiting!!! Finally we got to sit down, however the dishes came out very slow! Everyone was hungry but got almost nothing to eat! When main courses came, they were cold!!! I ordered the most expensive set meal but they didn’t give us the dessert! And it was because they thought I had my cake! But why?! I bought the meal which included dessert, shouldn’t I get it?!! And I bought my cake from a bakery not from the restaurant, how could these ppl just take advantage of customer who paid big amount of money for her big day?!!
None of the waiter came to open the wine bottles for us, they didn’t have enough wine glasses, they just stood there watching us serving ourselves! My father in law was running here and there because the waiters never move! And they even said «oh look, he is doing everything, we can be free.» !! What a customer service!!! And I had to ask them help us serve the cake after we cut it!!! God, their boss lady wasn’t there the day, so all these people just being lazy and lame?!! I paid full amount yet all I got was such a terrible service!!!

This review is for the birds!
I came to Hong Kong Restaurant looking for a cuisine adventure and found it with not one but TWO different fowls on the menu. I sampled their quail appetizer. It was a full bird heavily seasoned with garlic that went well with the sweet and crispy meat. The second bird, my main course, was pigeon. This was a first and much like the quail, was the whole bird, head and beak included, cut into smaller sections for consumption. It was paired with a bowl of seasoning salts and a lemon for personal flavorings. The flavor of the meat was a cross between turkey and chicken, but the bird was a bit too small for my liking, as I wanted more meat. But hey, you don’t order adventurously without taking a few risks. The pigeon was also a special of the day, so I wouldn’t expect coming in again and seeing it available.
The service was standard, some nice people overworked during the dinner rush our, but we were always attended too.
I’d like to come in some time in the future for more of their varied dishes.

Great traditional Cantonese food.
Super fast take out service.

Very tasty and real Hong Kong dianxin+dinner.
So close to school and the price is lower than expect.

This is a review from a vegetarian perspective.
I got the mapo tofu (no meat) and green beans (no meat). Both were pretty tasty, but lacked the delightfulness of my beloved Szechuan Pavilion in the DC metro area. My guess is that the meat might be critical in how they prepare these dishes and removing the meat removed some of the flavor :(
The mapo tofu was yummy, but I am used to it having a lot of sauce, which gives it all of the flavor and is yummy poured over rice. Maybe if I ordered it again, I could ask for extra sauce?
The green beans weren’t memorable.
I wish this place was more exciting because it’s so conveniently located.

Love this place. Good food for the price. Service is good. Great place for big family’s or groups.
Give it a try if you are in the area.

Always tasty, fresh, standard Cantonese-​style but with some extra specials too– LOVE the salt and pepper scallops– our new favorite. We’ve taken lots of friends & family there and everyone likes the food and the friendly service. After many tries, we’ve found our Chinese go-​to place…

the ambience is nicer than most cheap chinese place… price is very wallet friendly and food was delish ;)
service was pretty good and the food came out pretty fast
my only complaint is they tend to be stingy on seafood items ;(wish we could get more protein/​meat
the drunken live clam soup was pretty good. recommended if you are ok with drinking/​eating liquor lol
i also appreciate how they finally managed to cook shrimp with salty egg yolk for us… even though it wasnt on the menu (they only have crab with salty egg yolk which is Market Price so we didnt want to order that)

Quick service during weekday dinner time. Ordered a mix vegetable dish, very tasty, not overly salty, had lots of veggies in it.

I’d been to Hong Kong at its old location (pre-​2012) a number of times and they were usually allright. Well, I just tried them again at their newer digs, and my return impression was not favorable.
–At checkout, the counter lady overcharged me – $ 9.85 when it should be $ 9.73. When I pointed this out, she STILL tried to nickel and dime me by suggesting a number that’s only slightly higher than the correct one, LOL.
–I ordered Broccoli Beef. It was on the tasteless side.
–I found some kind of small, hard plastic container/​wrapper in the food.
Dishonest, bland, and unsanitary? Not a good start…
May 2016 edit: I just noticed this place got shut down by the Department of Environmental Health in November 2014 for a cockroach infestation. That explains a lot.
Quote: «Observed at least 10 live cockroaches throughout kitchen areas. In addition, found a lot of dead cockroaches throughout same area.»

I’d been to Hong Kong at its old (pre-​2012) location a number of times and they were usually allright. Well, I just tried them again at their newer digs, and my return impression was not favorable.
–At checkout, the counter lady overcharged me – $ 9.85 when it should be $ 9.73. When I pointed this out, she STILL tried to nickel and dime me by suggesting a number that’s only slightly higher than the correct one, LOL.
–I ordered Broccoli Beef. It was on the tasteless side.
–I found some kind of small, hard plastic container/​wrapper in the food.
Dishonest, bland, and unsanitary? Not a good start…

Sometimes the names of Chinese restaurants leave me with more questions than answers. «Crouching Tiger» in Redwood City… should I expect to see flying martial artists? «T4» in Palo Alto… is this a new Star Wars character or model of BMW car? «iDumpling» in Redwood City… is this part of the Apple mothership?
But Hong Kong Restaurant? Like an obedient Asian child, I have no questions and simply nod my head. Everything about it, including the name, is no frills. What you see is what you get. You can expect straight-​up value, deliciousness, and genuine Cantonese food. This restaurant makes my Asian relatives proud.
Hong Kong Restaurant’s gargantuan portions are dwarfed by only their prices on the menu. They provide complimentary soup pre-​meal and dessert afterwards. My favorite dish, and one of this restaurant’s trademarks, is the oxtail stew in a clay pot. My family likes their beef chow fun, but my ABC roots have led me to believe it’s too greasy. At my family’s behest, I drink more tea to cut the grease but no avail. Sorry, ancestors, I let you down.
Service is that of your typical authentic Asian restaurant: fast, efficient, and slightly rough on the edges. Come here and treat yourself to a quick and delicious Cantonese meal on the cheap.

Bland, tasteless, greasy.
Our meal consisted of the same mix of vegetables served up three unappetizing ways:
Dishwater soup
cornstarch sauce with rubber chicken
Atop ‘crispy’ noodles, drowned in greasy gravy.
Could not eat but a few bites, and those left me with an upset stomach.

I had a satisfying and convenient dinner here, but Hong Restaurant isn’t a place I would go out of the way for.
The food is okay, the price is not bad for the area, and entrees came out fast. Service was polite, I didn’t have any issues.
We tried:
Potstickers — The super doughy kind. Dislike.
Gai-​lan — Standard.
Garlic Fried Chicken — We didn’t see this on the menu, but luckily the waitress recommended this as an excellent Chicken dish. Great crisp on the skin, juicy white/​dark meat, and good garlic flavor.
Mu Shu Pork — Average flavor on the pork, but it still hit the spot once I poured on the hoisin. I would have preferred thinner and smaller pancakes though.
Portions were generous, we had plenty of leftovers.

I wrote a review about a year ago and gave a poor rating, primarily because of a very nasty waitress we never seemed to be able to avoid. I have gone back there a few times since, and found the service vastly improved. All the current serving staff are quite friendly and professional.
The food here, Cantonese style, is quite good. The price is very reasonable for Palo Alto. The food comes out quite fast and ther is usually not much waiting.
A 3.5 to 4 star.

If it looks like a Chinese restaurant, feels like a Chinese restaurant, and twerks like a Chinese restaurant…
No, overpriced, mediocre Chinese food like this should not be allowed to exist. Our waiter looked like a lost baby deer in the restaurant, we took forever to be served, and we were the only people in the restaurant aside from a Mexican family.
Food was greasy and flavorless, featuring rubber chicken and mushy beef. LMAOOOO this restaurant isn’t even worth entertaining hate.
Low 1 outta 5

Food is very cheap here but I would probably rather go somewhere else for better food.
Each dish is around $ 10 or less. You can definitely feed a lot of people banquet style here.
We got a variety of dishes but I didn’t fall in love with any of them in particular. I actually liked the complimentary lotus root soup the best.
The other dishes were okay. I thought the chow fun was not that flavorful. The vegetables were a bit bland.!Meat was a bit tough.

Hong Kong Restaurant doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it’s pretty modern in a sort of elegant way on the inside. The chairs are particularly modern, and surprisingly, comfortable.
But this is a restaurant so I’m not as concerned with the décor. This is my Dad’s go-​to place for Chinese when in the area. Apparently my sisters frequent it too, as they know the hostess by name, and also some of the personalities of the other waiters (see my tip). Having had food from this place 3 times in a week, it’s time to rate it.
Food is quite good. My hands-​down favorite is «Salt and Pepper Eggplant», a batter dipped eggplant with chopped garlic, scallions, and red pepper sprinkled on top. As with all fried food, at them while they’re hot for best flavor. Their lemon chicken is different than what I’ve had elsewhere but is a favorite of my in-law’s. It’s chunks of chicken, individually battered and fried and then coated like they would sweet & sour pork or orange chicken. It has a nice lemony flavor and is not dry like some lemon chicken can be. The Sweet & Sour pork chops are tender and well-​sauced. One disappointment was their Mongolian Beef, which was more like a lot of sauce & onions with a little beef. The flavor was just so-​so.
I’m not sure why, but last night’s meal was served with soup and dessert that we had not ordered, but the first night was not served with that. Not sure what happened with the 2^nd meal as I just ate some takeout.
The restaurant is clean, and it’s a popular place service is brisk – so not terribly polite –sometimes they misunderstand (and this is not just the Chinese waiters – yesterday it took us 3 tries to get wooden chopsticks from the non-​Asian waither). That’s part of my reason for –1 star.

I give it one star for the food. The tall, slim, and old-​looking cantonese waiter was EXTREMELY rude. Management, he is the guy that doesn’t wear glasses. The waiter never smiles, and give me the ATTITUDE every time I tried to ask for drink, bills, etc. When I ask him what kind of drink do they serve, he goes: only cola or spirit. Do you want it or not? with a super impatient look on his face.
In the whole dinning process, he has never come and asked me if I need anything, and there was no complimentary soup, or the sweet dessert as provided to other customers in the restaurant. Maybe he was assuming as a single lady who visited the restaurant alone, I don’t worth his attention at all.
Never in my life have I left no tip for a waiter. Therefore, I left him 40 cents after the meal since he did bring food to the table.

When I moved to Palo Alto for short-​term housing, I looked for the best deal and Chinese food in the area. Someone took me to this spot only a few blocks down the street and was confident that I will return there simply because the portion was perfect for my appetite.
LOCATION:
I always refer this location to my former roommate by it’s green tenting that surrounds the restaurant. You can’t miss it– even if you can’t see the Hong Kong Restaurant title.
PARKING:
They have two (2) very small private lots on both sides of the restaurant that can be seen on the main road (El Camino Real). If these fails you, parking on the street is plentiful. I never had an issue with parking, but that’s just me. (for the size of the restaurant, the parking spaces would definitely not serve this restaurant well. Bottom line– a larger parking lot would be nice)
EXTERIOR:
As I have mentioned earlier, the green tenting really stands out. For some reason though, that green tenting makes it seem a bit quiet and humble when you drive by there.
INTERIOR:
It is surprisingly modern on the inside. Chairs, tables and even the colors were nice. It definitely fits in the Palo Alto environment.
SERVICE:
I only ate there once, but I can’t count on both hands how often I order for pick-​up. They were always nice and quick. My order usually takes 10 – 15 minutes, which was perfect at that time since it took me just the amount of time to get home from work. At a certain point, one of the gentlemen who often took my order on the phone would guess the rest of my order before I mentioned it. Another time I ordered only one entrée and he asked, «no fried rice?» (Haha) Once a regular, they start to treat you pretty nice and well, but as a first time customer they may come off a bit rude. I quickly learned that it’s just how they are.
FOOD:
Definitely not the best, but it is up there. I tried a few different dishes but the one dish that I kept on ordering was the «Baked Spared Ribs Salt and Pepper» with «Yang Chow Fried Rice» (come to think of it, I might drop by and pick-​up today!).
VERDICT:
If you’re going a decent flavored food and large portions, I would definitely recommend this spot to you.

Yay, updates!
Fortunately, my original assessment of this place still stands: standard Chinese food. This time I picked up something that I actually usually have a palate for, the Mongolian Beef (lunch special. Somewhat spicy and decently portioned, I couldn’t really ask for more for $ 6.50, especially when it comes with soup and rice. It was a shade too salty for my tastes, but I still ate it all the same and enjoyed the meal.
Pay heed to the other reviews: the service is a little spotty. The first time I came here, I was thrown off by the head waiters’ curt attitude that could have been mistaken for rudeness. The second time I came here, he was all smiles and even asked how the meal was mid-​way. A complete reversal. So, if you can ignore potentially «rude» service, I’d definitely recommend this place.
—
sweet: cheap, tasty! fast service.
bitter: spotty service, a tad salty.

Hong Kong Restaurant is a solid choice for Cantonese food in Palo Alto. They’ve relocated to Palo Alto from Mountain View a couple years back and it’s now more spacious.
Food is affordable as ever and dine-​in usually includes complimentary soup, rice, vegetable appetizer, rice, and dessert. Take-​out sometimes includes complimentary soup.
Credit cards are accepted and the owner has lots of pleasantries… although I’m not sure if they’re sincere…
Do triple-​check your bill as item prices tend to fluctuate week over week.
Beef with Broccoli is one of my favorites!

Want delicious and affordable Cantonese-​style food? Look no further, this place is it!
I love coming here for their beef chow fun with black bean sauce and the Yang-​Chow fried rice. Used to frequent the restaurant when they were located off of San Antonio and El Camino and thank God they did not close down but reopened at this new nearby location and kept their signature green awning so I was able to spot it from a distance away. The menu and the wait staff are the same!! I was so happy I nearly cried!
They usually serve a bowl of soup at the start of the meal. This time it had diced lotus roots but last time the clear soup has loads of chicken feet in it. It was okay for the most part but when I start seeing specks floating in it, I couldn’t help but being reminded of dirty water after a foot bath… sorry.
But I love coming here and will continue to do so for as long as they stay open.

Every time my Cantonese-​speaking, Hong Kong-​raised parents visit me from Vancouver, this is one of my go-​to places. They’ve got a good selection, make authentic Cantonese food, and they provide it at rock-​bottom prices.
Where to start? First they’re authentic. Their chow mein is both crispy and saucy. Their clay pots are marvelous — especially the fresh oyster clay pot. And they give you free pork broth soup before and dessert afterward! As most of the restaurants in this area are decidedly mainland Chinese (like Da Sichuan), this place is great for people who like Cantonese food. They’ve got a good mix of dishes of all kinds of meat (e.g., crispy duck), some fresh seafood (e.g., steamed fish), and good fried rice and noodles — exactly as it should be for a Cantonese place.
A big, big plus for me — they actually speak Cantonese! At some dim sum restaurants, they can only speak Mandarin, so to be able to order and speak to the waitstaff in the language it’s supposed to be ordered in adds to the atmosphere for me. The place is also very clean, and has moderate parking. My parents appreciate the scenic paintings of Hong Kong! Good place for lunch or dinner.
Overall, there aren’t too many good Chinese places around this area (unless you want to drive further to Cupertino), so this place is always on our radar when in and around Stanford. Check it out!