ABC Bakery & Cafe

Sat and waited for 10 minutes before a server would come over and take order.
Ordered an iced lemon tea… waited for 10 minutes and got a hot lemon tea instead.
Asked for a bowl and a pair of chopsticks to share our food but received 2 bowls and 2 spoons. Where are the chopsticks?
Miss Hong Kong’s restaurant needs some serious training for its servers.

Customer service does not exist under this roof. My boyfriend and I had to seat ourselves. I don’t expect any type of service from Asian restaurants. So it’s whatever to me. If you want a decent cheap breakfast in San Mateo, come here. $ 8 can get you a different variety of breakfast platters such as ramen, macaroni, omelette, etc with plenty of sides you can choose from. Set breakfast also comes with a drink and dinner roll. Will come back if I’m in the area, but I wouldn’t drive here purposely.

Recently tried their Hoi Nam chicken, it’s the best tasting one I have had so far (though a bit small). Macaroni soup base is still the best in the area. They have to work on the french toast, however, it’s soggy inside.

I recently tried the baked pork chop over spaghetti, Hoi Nam chicken rice and rice rolls with sweet and peanut sauce. The food was ok, nothing impressive but not horrible. The sauce on the baked pork chop spaghetti was overly sweet and the spaghetti noodles were over cooked. The Hoi Nam chicken was kind of small as I got mostly boney and fatty pieces with very little meat. It was tasty though and it also came with a vegetable soup. The rice rolls was a nostalgia snack for me from my days of living in Hong Kong that I don’t think I can get anywhere else in San Mateo.
I was not impressed with the service. We seated ourselves, had to wave down the waiter to order, did not get any tea/​water, had to ask for utensils when the order came. The order took a while which I can understand with the baked dish but everything else seemed like it should have came faster.

I never knew this place existed. The entrance is tiny, but don’t let that fool you. It is a good size restaurant and bakery inside! My guest arrived before I and tea and soup were already on the table. We ordered shrimp fried rice, chow fun, chicken wings, and veggies. The veggies were sauteed in garlic, they were really good. Chicken wings were flavored with salt and pepper. The chow fun was good, but the quality of beef was a little fatty. Shrimp fried rice was pretty average. Service was average, they take your order, bring you food, and then the check, no real follow up. Parking can be difficult in downtown. Prices are pretty average for this type of cuisine.

One of the only late night restaurants open in San Mateo.
But the food is terrible. I would only come here if I am dying of hunger and I have to eat out. Although the portions are huge, the food is so bad that you can’t even eat it. I ordered the chow mein, which was super greasy. Their fried squid was all soggy, not crunchy, and had a weird smell to it. The seafood congee was bland and not tasty. Never coming back here.

It’s okay. Your standard Hong Kong café eats.
The portions are decent and prices are fair. They have small plates, entrees, quick drinks, and snacks. I would say this place is inexpensive and convenient. But the food is just alright, and to me, worth three stars.

We come here for their porridge and noodles. The food is cheap, decent portions and tasty. Their bakery items sometimes run out pretty early. Typical Cantonese style type restaurant. You don’t go here for the atmosphere, but for the authentic Cantonese cooking. There is a huge variety to choose from. From soup noodles, rice, pasta, sandwiches and steaks there’s bound to be something to your taste. They open early to quite late. We ordered won ton noodles, Chinese broccoli and salty fish fried rice. Our food was good. We have eaten here many times over the past few years and makes it a point to call out the best won ton noodles every time we pass it. Service was fast and attentive. They also do breakfast western and hot breakfast. Some come with bread and tea. Definitely good value. I highly recommend it.

Went here with some friends one night. Interesting place. I’m thankful that 2 of my friends were able to communicate with the server. My dish was overall good. Ordered the hot milk tea.

+ THE FOOD
I grew up eating at ABC Café back in Oakland Chinatown and coming here brought back a lot of memories. It’s basically your typical Hong Kong café food but it’s a bit fancier. I like ordering their fish broth noodle soups and their baked dishes. Fried chicken wings are also a hit here but they can be a bit too salty sometimes. The menu is super diverse so there’s a bit of everything for all kinds of people.
— THE SERVICE
Sometimes it can get kinda busy in here but the servers don’t really pay a whole lot of attention. We ordered an appetizer and waited the whole meal for it but never got it. The server didn’t bother to tell us that the dish was no longer available until we checked up on it after we were done eating.

Really, the only things that keeps me coming back is the fact that they are the only asian place open late, and for their lo mein. (and I guess their hot sauce).
I’ve tried to be adventurous and try other dishes but I haven’t found a single one that I’ve liked. Their salt and paper fish is bland with a hint of baking powder abd their beef chow fun was tasteless and overly filled with bean sprouts. I told myself, «beef chow fun can’t be messed up», but ABC somehow found a way to mess it up. However, when you’re down at ABC, just add a generous dollop of their hot sauce and all your worries go away.
I’ll probably come here as long as there are no other late night options in the area, but when I do, I will only get the lo mein

We came here late one night because it was one of the only places open very late in San Mateo. It was pretty empty when we came and we got take out. There was one party of two and a big group of teenagers. But it was like eleven on a weeknight so that explains the emptiness. I got the seafood udon and my boyfriend ordered the beef and tomato over rice. He also got an order of salt and pepper fish balls.
I thought that the beef and tomato over rice was just ok. It had more of a sweet saucy taste and I wished it was a little more savory. We probably won’t get that dish again. The seafood udon was decent, they didn’t skimp on the seafood but they didn’t overload it either. It came with thick udon noodles sautéed with onions, peppers, shrimp, scallops, imitation crab, fish fillet, and maybe a few other things. It was a big enough portion to last me two meals though! I liked the salt and pepper fish balls and I would get that again.
I think this place is good for late night and takeout for sure. Not so much a place for a super nice date meal, but I think the breakfast items are worth trying and I might come back and try those.

Authentic, inexpensive, and a no fuss meal. This was our first time going and I was pleased with how authentic the food was.
This was a great recommendation and I look forward to coming back for traditional breakfast over the weekend.
I wish the wait staff was a little friendlier and attentive, but nothing stopping me from coming back.

I got the portuguese baked chicken rice with a hot milk tea. The baked chicken was ok, and might even be worth of a 4 star but HK style Café’s always need a strong HK milk tea, and unfortunately ABC did not not have their basics down.
I asked for less sweet, so when the tea wasn’t sweet at all, I thought I just had wrong expectations for the default sweetness. However, at the end of the drink, there was a a layer of condensed milk not mixed in. So my assumption that the drink was served ready to drink was incorrect. Next time, I’m going to definitely mix the drink before consumption.
Overall the service wasn’t spectacular but there was service and the prices are decent, so this is going to just be a typical HK style café.

I’ll always be a bit biased to HK cafes in the Bay Area (there are so few of them!), but for my money ABC Bakery & Café deserves better than the 3-​star average review it has on Unilocal.It’s got a sleek interior, does the core HK-​café food and drink well, and is located in an accessible area. If you love HK-​café food like me, you’ll be a fan of this place too.
You notice the interior the moment you walk in. The dark decorating scheme gives the atmosphere a cool feeling, a welcome change to the brightness of the outside California sun. They have elevated booths all along the side that fit two or four people, and the partitions between booths are tall, providing a lot of privacy between booths. Sitting in a raised booth sipping tea in the dimly light atmosphere, the café is the perfect place for private conversations and people-​watching.
As for the food, the strength of HK cafes is always in brunch/​lunch/​afternoon tea and ABC is no exception. It’s during these times that they have combos where you can pay the price of an entrée and get an entrée, soup, and a drink together (i.e., $ 8.25−9.25 for all these things, see
). My favorite thing is to get a baked rice/​spaghetti dish and a cold HK milk tea (add $ 1!) in this way — this is much cheaper than getting the items separately. They of course have an overloaded menu with both Western and Chinese items, as well as a good variety of HK café drinks like ovaltine and almond milk.
You can’t beat the location as its position on 3^rd street puts it comfortably within downtown San Mateo with its ample street parking (payable by meter) and closeby garages. It’s within walking distance to a few good boba places, as well as Century Theater and some independent bookstores too. San Mateo is a strong hub for good Asian food in the Bay, and the presence of places like ABC make it easy to come, walk around, and pick whichever one you’re most in the mood for.
Overall, I’m a big fan of ABC. While nothing explicitly knocked my socks off (the food is authentic, but not mind-​blowing; the prices are good, but not amazing), it’s just a solid place that I’m happy to add to my rotating list of favorite restaurants. Check it out if you want an intimate late lunch in a great location. It’s perfect for a lazy Saturday.

Love this place. I love the modern look and the waitstaff is so sweet. The «jook» (porridge) with preserved egg and pork was yummy. My grandma liked her porridge as well. We shared the turnip cake and that was really tasty as well! The chilli sauce they put at the table is also the best I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant for some reason! But mostly why I give this place 4 stars is because of how they care for my grandma and she comes here every single day to eat since she can’t remember to cook and they are so patient with her, everyone there knows her and treats her with such respect and that is just above and beyond, especially for a Chinese restaurant where service usually lacks. Solid Chinese food, extremely friendly, good vibes in here. :)

Food is okay — this place doesn’t satisfy any food cravings but very inexpensive food. Service here feels like you’re in chinatown but in a clean, trendy atmosphere in San Mateo. Even my mom said ‘wow, seems ghetto’…okay, not the correct usage to describe this place… lol but its basically, order food… get food… waiter disappears.
The wait staff seems inconvenienced any time you ask a question. Definitely, not a take initiative (um, there’s 2 of us, but only 1 setting) and observe what’s missing from the table… if you did, we wouldn’t be ‘inconveniencing’ you… Even with asking for the check! Come on… really? big sigh when i ask for it? Mom even said «we could just leave and they prob wouldn’t notice»…that’s when i had to say «well if they start chasing after us, we’ll just say your senile and thought you paid the bill when i went to the restroom». Hmmm… could’ve worked!
Western breakfast: 2 eggs, hashbrown, and ‘ham’ (processed lunch meat.3 slices cut diagonally so you get 6 pieces!) with milk tea — tea with milk — $ 5.95 and rice porridge along with chow mein $ 5.95 and a coffee…
Final bill $ 13.60. Definitely cheap eats. Good time to get here with parking on the street is about 11:30 or earlier.

I’ve come here multiple times with my family for lunch and dinner. This was my first time trying their breakfast. Breakfast items are from 8am-​11am everyday. We arrived at 10:30am and it was quite busy.
We ordered three congee (jook) breakfast special. The congee comes with your choice of side. The congee comes with sliced beef topped with green onion and cilantro. We also had steamed beef rice roll and a steamed shrimp rice roll. The rice roll was a little soggy so it was not that good. We also ordered chow mein. That was tasty and it tasted even better with the hot sauce! And lastly we got a lo mein that was topped with pickled vegetables and beef slices. This was okaaay… I did not really like it… It was a little bland.
Each set comes with a complimentary drink. We had hot milk teas. The hot milk teas came when we finished eating because they had to brew it… (–_​_​-​). It would have been nice to have it DURING our meal… If you like it sweetened, condensed milk is the way to go. However, there is unfortunately a 25c charge for a few drops of condensed milk… Not the biz… We also got a iced lemon tea (+$ 1). That was refreshing.
Overall, ABC café is okay. The quality of the food is not that great but I enjoy the simple HK dishes. I prefer to order from their lunch/​dinner meal. My favorites are wonton/​beef noodle soup and their baked porkchop! I suggest coming here to try their lunch/​dinner items.

It’s a cheap Hong-​Kong food restaurant where they serve food that taste like… cheap food you’d get in Hong-​Kong. :)
Well done job, because we are in San Mateo, far away from Kowloon.
If you are familiar with Hong-​Kong and it’s cheap restaurants (not talking about street food, but those restaurants that serve bunch of different things: Cha Chan Tang), well you’ll get the same feeling in terms of taste, service and decoration!
Nothing much to say. it ain’t no great food, but if you miss the taste of being in HKG you can go there.
Very nice dumplings in their water dumplings noodles!
Well cooked intestine.
My waiter didn’t speak mandarin.

Nothing special.
The roast duck lo mein had barely any meat on the duck.
It came with soup that tastes like wonton noodle soup.
It’s like the McDonald’s of HK cafes.