A Cafe

Ah well, they’re closing in August. I should’ve seen it coming. For the past year I’ve given it 3 chances. Each time prior to that I set those expectations low, but here’s the low down:
Their soup noodles are bland, and their fried rice is too salty.
The gravy was flavorless, so their baked dishes weren’t great.

Not crowded at all which was nice. They didn’t have the waffles anymore which is what my kids wanted so they ended up with a very expensive scoop of chocolate ice cream. That was disappointing. I had the won ton soup which was ok, broth was a bit too bland for me. Will probably come back if the other places around it are crowded.

Minus one star because the shaved ice was very chunky. I wish it was softer and fluffier. Plus the shaved ice had no taste. It was just like drinking water and condensed milk. Ordered a small which includes 3 toppings. I chose strawberry, mango and kiwi. Kind of a bad idea since all three fruits were sour.

This is the only HK style café (cha chan tang) in SD! Sure, there are much better ones up in SGV or SF but this is the closest you can get to some 852 grub without having to take the 2 hour trek up north!
I suggest coming with at least a friend that can speak Cantonese as it’ll be much easier to communicate as older staff can have limited English. Other than that, deal with the language barrier if you aren’t able to communicate in Chinese.
Let me mention first that the HK milk tea can be a hit or miss here. I’ve spent much of my time living in HK and know when a cup of tea is authentic or not. A Café’s can be a bit watered down on certain days and other days it can be right on point.
In terms of some authentic HK café dishes, I recommend going for their baked rice or pasta dishes (sole or pork chop is good) or grabbing one or their steak or pork chop dishes with black pepper and pasta. This is typical «Western dishes» you’d find in a HK café with a Chinese twist to it. Everything else on the menu is a hit or miss like their tea and can be quite mediocre.
Parking…I don’t have to mention anything because most of you already know how horrific parking can be on this part of Convoy.
Don’t come here with high expectations and you’ll be a-​okay.
They’re open late (until midnight) so you can definitely get your grub on without having to opt for carne asada or some typical diner.

Cheap. Delicious. Open late as a mofo.
Seriously. They don’t close until like 12 — 1 am.
That makes my inner fat girl very happy.
If you come here, you must try their shaved ice.
It’s so cheap, and it’s so freaking derrrriiiciiousss.
I just hate their parking lot. I hate anything in this parking lot.
A lot of douches park here and make up their own parking spots.
One of those douches was my fiancée once.
Okay, she did it a couple times.
P.S THEIR PORTIONS ARE HUGE! Trust me, you’ll definitely bring home left overs!

Came here 30 mins before they closed, so naturally I expected the workers to be kind of upset but surprisingly the little Chinese lady was really nice and friendly. But we kept apologizing about coming so late anyway.
It was my first time here but heard good things about it from a friend. I love Chinese food and it was open late so that’s how I ended up here with my friend. We ordered the salt n pepper chicken wings, Shanghai style fried dumplings, and yangchow fried rice. The wings had lotsss of flavor and the perfect amount of crispy and juiciness. I feel like dumplings are good wherever, a pretty hard thing to mess up lol. The yangchow fried rice was also really good. It had shrimp, spam, chicken, eggs, and vegetables — all you could ever need for fried rice honestly. Added some sriracha on it and it was golden. All of that came out to be just under $ 20 between two people and we even had to take some of it to go.
Since I felt like I needed to be in and out, I didn’t get the chance to fully read every thing on the menu. But I will surely be back to try the everything else on the menu.

This place was pretty decent. My family and I went for my dad’s birthday because the other places around the area was extremely crowded. My parents are very traditional and picky with their asian food and they actually liked this place! We got the diced filet mignon, teriyaki lo mien, and ramen. The filet mignon was so good! The texture of the meat was chewy and just right. It comes with fried rice and veggies. We got two orders of the filet mignon because it was that good lol. The lo mien was also good and nicely flavored. The only negative thing was the ramen… it was bland and flavorless. I felt like I was eating noodles with just water. But everything else was great. The portions were really big for the price that it is. Our bill was less than $ 40 and we got 4 big orders. I’m just really glad my parents liked it which is the reason why I’m giving it 4 stars.
Service was also good and quick. It also probably had to do with it being so empty. It is just very unfortunate that it is surrounded by extremely popular restaurants, which makes it harder for them to compete. Other restaurants surrounding A Café had extremely long lines with one hour wait times. A Café definitely does not have the credit they deserve. It’s a nice mom and pop restaurant with good food and service!

Sometimes, a home cooked meal is all you can think about after being away from home for a while. Sadly, my family doesnt live in San Diego. However, this café is the next best thing to a home cooked meal for me.
I went in around 5 pm and it was quite empty. I was quickly seated and given a menu to which I had no need for– I knew i was there for the black pepper filet mignon. After giving the lady my order, she quickly brought out a soup of the day– oxtail soup. A Café made this soup almost exactly as my mom did. Spoonfuls upon spoonfuls, I was reminded of my childhood. When the black pepper mignon came, I dug in eagerly and it melted like hot cheese inside my mouth. Delicious. Will be coming here whenever I am missing home

We didn’t try the food at «A Café». We stopped by for dessert only — Shaved Ice. A medium size will feed 4 hungry men and myself for dessert. I’m actually afraid of seeing what the large size will feed. Can’t go wrong with condensed milk, banana, strawberry, kiwi, and red bean.
Medium Size (empty bowl next to it for comparison):
ENJOY!
P. S. Parking lot is busy. May need to park on the street or wait in the parking lot until someone leaves.

WOW the reviews on the customer service and calling the staff «old lady» and/​or «can’t speak english» is disgusting and rude. I can’t believe people talk like that about workers who are obviously here trying to make a living in a country that they are not from. Also this is not a 5 star or fancy american restaurant just like many authentic vietnamese, japanese, mexican, etc restaurants, most likely 80% of the time they don’t greet you and 99% they are not fluent in English so stop disrespecting them and calling them out for their costumer service when you know this is going to happen in these type of restaurants. Just don’t go to those restaurant and save yourself from «horrible service.»
Hong Kong style café, not the best I’ve ever had but it’s pretty decent for San Diego. The prices for their food items are pretty reasonable and some items are pretty cheap. I’ve been here 3 – 4 times and all times I didn’t have to wait to be seated because I come late at night. I love that this place opens late which works out for a girl like me who sometimes get off work pretty late and want a quick late night dinner. Free delicious and tasty vegetable and meat soup when you order a meal.
Highly recommend:
— Beef wrap appetizer
— Chow fun noodle soup (sister’s favorite)
I recently tried their wonton noodle soup (only $ 5.99) that contains shrimp wontons and baby bok choy. The soup base was pretty tasty and their wontons was delicious. My friend loved his beef chow fun and my sister’s boyfriend always orders the orange chicken. The portions here are big and very filling. I’ve never had a bad experience with the food here.

Solid 3.5 stars.
I’ve been here a few times, but never got around to writing a review I guess. I thought I had.weird. Anyway, I came her tonight because I was too tired to cook dinner. It’s been a long day at work! D: This was the first time we came here with no other customers, but we didn’t let that deter us from eating here. There was a full house at Raki Raki, but I dislike Raki Raki with a passion. I love their beef ho fun here! I think it’s called beef chow fun on the menu. I usually just order it in Chinese because it’s what I’m used to. We also ordered the filet mignon with rice per the waitress’ suggestion. I was debating between the fried rice, which I’ve had before.
I’m glad we went with the filet mignon, it was really tasty! I love black pepper sauce. The meat was tender and flavorful with tons of onions and mushrooms. The red rice, which is made with ketchup goes well with the meat. It also comes with some plain steam broccoli and carrots which I liked. I don’t mind that its unseasoned and plain since that’s how my mom makes a lot of our veggie dishes at home. We tend to stay away from too much salt/​oil & what have you. The noodle was good. So far it’s the only place in SD where I’ll choose to get ho fun. I don’t know why restaurants can’t make it, it’s not a tough dish to make. –_​_​– We also ordered a HK milk tea! I absolutely LOVE HK style milk tea. I prefer the flavor over the regular milk teas you get from tap ex or wherever they sell tapioca drinks.
Verdict: For a HK style café in San Diego, this surely knocks my cravings out. It’s not the best, however for SD this will suffice. Cheap food & HK milk tea!!!

Went here for lunch and the food was ok.
I liked the cod filet in black bean and the orange chicken was good too. The orange beef and fried pork chops were not that great. ²⁄₄ dishes were decent.
3 stars because lunch price is so cheap. $ 5.99 a dish and they were buy three get one free. Pretty much my friend and I paid $ 21 after tip for 4 dishes, 2 bowls of rice and 2 bowls of soup that it came with. So much food left we filled a whole to-​go box. Pretty darn good deal for lunch, I think it’s a good place for 3 – 4 people to go for lunch.
The place was kind of empty so the service was great. My water cup was always full. =]
I’ll definitely be down to come back for lunch sometimes!