Champagne Seafood Restaurant

Champagne is a regular dim sum and dinner spot for my family.
They have been in downtown San Mateo for several years now (which is longer than the average life span of Chinese restaurants in this area) — probably due to the fact that they offer consistently delicious dim sum service.
The place is VERY packed on the weekends, particularly around the holiday season. A great place for small and large groups and it is very easy to order all the dishes you want as they provide a menu ordering (list of all the dim sum dishes that you can pick and choose from) in addition to the typical rolling carts of dim sum on the floor. They offer a good variety of dishes — including the classic regular dishes (BBQ pork buns, hargaw, taro puffs, etc etc) as well as some interesting takes and new additions (green tea black sesame dumplings for dessert and XO turnip pieces in crunchy nest).
Dinner service is typically not as crowded as the dim sum, although again, on holidays they can get busy if you do not have a reservation. Every time I have come for dinner, the food is equally delicious and very reasonably priced even if you come with a larger group.

The dim sum here is pretty decent. The pan fried crispy noodles, «jeen mein», is very good as is the fried rice. Their Chinese BBQ dishes are also better than average. The service here however is a complete joke. We threw a lunch party here with about 150 people and a couple of the servers were just straight up rude. I asked for a glass of ice water from a waitress and under her breath as she walked away said she was getting dizzy from serving us. She said it in Chinese thinking I couldn’t understand but I heard and understood her loud and clear, piss me off. And she never brought my water! If you don’t like your job as a waitress go nanny somewhere and leave the attitude at home.

Recommended
— Bean curd roll with oyster sauce: juicy and flavorful
— Rice noodle with BBQ pork: the rice noodle is nice and not chewy or flour-​y
— Chicken feet: strong bold flavor instead of the watery sauce I usually taste
— Steam BBQ pork bun: the bun is soft and the pork is just the right amount
Meh
— Durian puff pastry: the durian is creamy but the pastry is not crunchy enough for me
— Shiu mai with shrimp roe: shiu mai is such a staple for dim sum. But unfortunately, this one isn’t noteworthy.
— Deep fried shrimp ball: the shrimp is good but not that amazing
Don’t order
— Stuffed mushroom: this is such a let down. It’s priced at $ 7.30 for an appetizer size dish. But dim sum is supposed to be small in portion usually. It’s decent but such a letdown compared to the food that we had before.
Total: $ 47.09 (exc tax and tips)
Other things:
(+) Place is spacey, bright and clean.
(-) I would have given it a 5 stars if it wasn’t because of the price and tea is $ 1.35/person? Regardless if the other person drinks or not, they’ll charge you by headcount on the table. Also, I suspect that it has a lot of MSG? Since we got a massive headache after we ate it. Another visit in the future? Possibly.
Verdict: ****1/​2

The food was very tasty and we could tell it was fresh. Definitely fits the description of what others are saying but as others mentioned, the service was just terrible. I called as soon as they opened for a reservation for seven people at 1145. The woman on the phone made me spell out my name and say my phone number and I told the rest of my party to meet me there. Once they arrived, they were told my name was not in the list. We ended up waiting over 30 minutes before we were seated. Not impressed with the service, but if you want decent dim sum, this place is pretty good.

After being away from San Mateo for nearly a year, we didn’t know which Chinese restaurant served best dim sum. A few of our trusted sources recommended Champagne, so Champagne it was.
We arrived early (10am) to avoid the crowd. The place was full by 11am, so we knew we had done well.
We went a little overboard with the orders and ended up eating more than we should have. We had the shrimp and seafood dumplings, barbeque pork buns, stir fried veggies, tofu skin, sticky rice, desserts, etc etc… all of our staple items. Most were good, some better than others. Some not.
The place gets rowdy, but it is roomy with tables comfortably and sufficiently placed apart. Service is fast and efficient, almost robotic.
I doubt this place is the «best» in San Mateo, but we enjoyed the dim sum. We would go back again next time we’re in the city.

Review for dim sum only.
It was rare for me to go dim sum around the peninsula area but I went there twice in a week — I have to say dim sum there was pretty good, but not the service.
They have a huge variety of dim sum, and some special dim sum like durian puff (if you like) and xo sauce daikon cake. You will be able to find some not-​your-​typical dim sum dishes here which were pretty good when you got tired with the typical ones. I did like the durian puff — my parents, who were visiting from Hong Kong said that was one of the best durian puff that they had. Another dish that I liked was the almond «fried» milk — it was not too sweet and the almond was crispy.
Environment was comfortable, tables were not packed closely to each other, but service was terrible. You can hardly wave down a waiter, otherwise, I do recommend going dim sum there~

Champagne Seafood Restaurant didn’t sound like a Chinese restaurant at all, but my son assured me it was.
We arrived on a dark and windy night so getting inside the restaurant was such a relief. Nice that it is well lit and spacious
Love the live seafood tanks… the lobsters and crabs looked enormous.
We ordered the roast pork which was delicious. Hot sour soup is a favorite so of course they had to have that… it was quite spicy so I couldn’t finish my bowl. The plate of black bean clams was huge and very tasty and the crispy house seafood noodle satisfied my noodle craving. We did have a lobster that was seasoned well… and the Chinese broccoli was also very good… All in all, the portions were generous and the food very tasty.
Street parking in the area and what was especially great for us was the restaurant was spacious enough to accommodate the baby stroller…

Parking: computed meters and garages everywhere. It’s one of my favorite cities to walk around the in the neighborhood. So parka few blocks down, walking is a cinch.
Refreshment: can of soda: shrug: someone had to drive sober. LOL
Lunch: Dim Sum! There were other items but these two are my always snack on food.
— Onion pancake: I don’t know what soy sauce it is, but it’s on the sweeter side.
— Char Sui Rice Noodles: dude, roasted pork, the crunchy skin and all, rolled up in a rice noodle? No soy sauce needed: droooling:
*One of my favorite ways to eat it, is rolling the onion pancake with the roast pork that falls out of the rice noodles ;) Only served during lunch time though :(
Dinner: for $ 16.80 you get a large serving of Pineapple Seafood Fried Rice, served to you in a a scooped out hollowed pineapple! The scallops were cooked perfectly, as in, it wasn’t tough or chewy, but melted in your mouth. Seriously, it became yummy mush for my taste buds to dance under. The shrimps however, was a little fishy to me. Maybe next time I’ll ask for the shrimps on the side. There were good portions of pineapple, and what I want to say is Chinese broccoli? I have no idea, as it was just the stalks and no leaves. Steamed buns were served with condense milk, I ate it solo or had some of my shrimp or scallop int he torn bun for some texture.
WiFi: It’s a Dim Sum joint… why is there WiFi? LOL I’m too busy looking at my food and the large TV
Customer Service: hit or miss– lunch time they give you the write-​on dim sum menu. They pick it up when you’re ready and you just wait for you food. Dinner time… I feel like it’s not busy, seating is fast, but no one comes to check on us. Sure, we’re not fully Chinese or speak the language, but we love the food. LOL The last time I was here, was a few nights ago. We got seated and for 20 minutes, no one brought us tea or water or checked up on us. Everyone else who sat after us were served, greeted and eating before us. Why? Because we haven’t been in contact with anyone yet while they took care of everyone who spoke their native tongue. Sorry, never learned how to speak it. :shrugs: not sorry for letting folks know, y’all discriminating.
** Side Note: (NFL on a large tv, and good food) — if you want a large TV for an evening of football, this is a spot I go to. It’s not loud, it’s not boisterous– no one will spill beer on you, but you will be able to sit close to the giant TV to eat and drink like this Asian girl stuffing her face with Chinese Food.

DO NOT bother coming here. Service is so so bad it’s ridiculous! Waitress here are useless. When ask for something the first thing they will say «wait???» What the hell am I waiting for !!! You didn’t even let me ask you!?! The food is decent but nothing special! definitely not fantastic and not worth the anxiety. Few weeks back we came with some friends and they completely forgot half of our order. We had 6 starving kids and they told us sorry we forgot to put in your order and will take 30mins for it to come. Which is bs they just wanted us to leave so
They can service the next large group. This place is a joke. Not to mention it took them 20mins to process my cc during this time and the server already CLEAR all of our dishes and tea cups! clearly they WANT to get ppl in and out of there, as fast as possible unfortunately they can’t manage the process. I know koi palace has a wait but it’s definitely worth it. Koi place all the way if you want good service and dim sum.

Restaurant looks nice and fancy, service is average, and food is MEH. Came here on an early afternoon in Friday for dim sum. And let me begin by saying parking is terrible, and near impossible to find. There are parking garages nearby, but they were all full when I was there. Immediately after walking into the restaurant, I noticed how fancy and pretty it was. Place is huge and seems great for groups. Also, since it was early afternoon by the time I had gotten there, we were seated almost instantly.
Servers were like normal Chinese restaurants. Not particularly friendly, but seemingly quick and efficient.
Note that this place doesn’t have the food coming out on carts, and you order dishes off a little menu with pictures (which can be super helpful!).
My dad and I came here for dim sum and quickly realized that there wasn’t the usual selection of dim sum dishes. We ordered a dish of fried noodles/​chow mein that was pretty generic and a bit dry. We also had the pork buns, which had more sauce than pork. We also ordered the ma la gao (a sweet sponge cake), which wasn’t very sweet at all and tasted to me like wheat bread. The lo bo gao (pan fried turnip cake) was average. I usually prefer them to be a little crispy on the outside, and the inside to be soft. But this one was just very solid and had a thick consistency. We also had the beef noodle roll which was also very average/​normal and unremarkable. The dou hua (sweet tofu soup) was also average and tasted normal/​pretty good.
Overall, very average food, but will try to come again to see if my second experience is any better!

Dumplings were exceptionally delicious. Unfortunately, it was SO busy, they forgot one of our orders :/​we paid and told them we didn’t receive one, so they just voided it.
I liked how their menus displayed pictures, unlike one of my favorite dim sum places in Hayward where it’s all just text.
They charge $ 1.25 for a small lot of tea (it’s not complimentary)
Our favorite was the chive dumplings :)

This is an updated review of this restaurant since the one I wrote a few months earlier. I have been back since that review on at least four occasions. The most recent two in the last three weeks.
The dim sum is fresh and done well. Shrimp ball and siu mai are tasty and piping hot off the steamer, as were other dishes.
The service problem that I encountered which was the subject of my earlier review appears to have been corrected — that rude staff member was no where to be seen during my last two visits.

We came here for a Saturday dim sum lunch. This place went through multiple changes of owners due to unsuccessful of poor food and service. This place did not change much from previous owners in service or food. Food is bland some dishes lack flavor. We ordered the normal dim sum dishes and nothing out of the ordinary. The dishes were all a little disappointing. The pork buns came out cold, the dumplings tasted like it’s been sitting out for a while. However, I must give them credit that their dishes are not heavily salted with MSG.
Goodness, their service was horrible. You must wave or get up and tap them on the shoulder for any service. One customer next to us complained to a manager about their lack of service. They don’t even look at you to avoid being stopped by a customer. But they were pretty prompt when it comes to wrapping up the bill and getting the money from you. Out of nowhere she came by three times!
If you opt for no service, no waiting in line for seating, a convenient location in San Mateo for dim sum lunch or okay food, then this is the place for you. Otherwise you are wasting your money because there are plenty of better choices around the area.

We came for dinner with a group around 7 pm and there’s was only one other table. That’s the first sign. The food was pretty. The schezuan green beans were by far the best thing we had– they are delicious and I would order those again. Everything else was inedible for me. We had a lobster noodle dish that tasted like the noodle were covered in kewpie. The seabss also came with mayo. The seafood fried rice with pineapple had hard chunks of seafood and shells. It was a bad experience. Ew.

I’m not gonna lie — I had pretty low expectations for this place. There has been so much turnover at this location that I gave up going after a while. The crowd at this place says otherwise though. It’s a pretty big restaurant and the place was packed! I was actually surprised that they found us a spot to sit at with no wait.
One thing I’m sad about is that they don’t come around with the carts because I like to point at what I want after I see what’s underneath the lids. You just mark off what you want off the list.
We got our usual — sui mai, har gow, the rice rolls with the shrimp, chicken feet, etc. I have to say that it was pretty good. I didn’t really have any complaints about the food.
Overall, I would come back if I was craving dim sum because it’s one of the few dim sum places in San Mateo.

9÷20÷15: One of the best Dim Sums I’ve had in Northern California! This is one of the «modern» types where they eschew the push carts in favor of having you check off boxes on the menu of the items you want. I’m usually not a fan of this style – to me part of the charm of dim sum is watching the food come by and seeing what’s good. But anyway, the food was excellent! Consistently top-​notch, with almost no poor dishes. They even had a few items I’ve never seen before at any dim sum restaurant, and that’s saying something. Each plate was refined and polished, and most were pretty, relative to the standard dim sum anyway.
1. Tea $ 1.25 each person: Yeah, they charged for tea. Sigh. At least it wasn’t that watered down crap that they give you at a lot of places. ⁵⁄₁₀.
2. Yellow Chives & Pork Dumpling in Broth $ 4.95: These are single serving, so I recommend getting one for each person. So, maybe you’ve seen those famous extra-​large Xiao Long Bao steamed dumplings they have in Taiwan where they put them in bowls and stick a straw in them so you can suck out the juice before chowing down. I ALWAYS wanted to try that, and I was so crazy happy to see they have them here! BUT, alas, not the same. Here the dumplings, though I assume themselves are the same, are served in soup, instead of standalone. The soup’s great, and I assume is the same stuff as they fill inside, and one of my friends even left hers for a while and it congealed, affirming that it’s the stuff they use for stuffing. And they don’t give you a straw. So, the problem is that you don’t really get the experience of biting into it and having the juice explode in your mouth – it’s almost like a soup wonton. Anyway, the flavor is great, but the serving method sucks. ⁷⁄₁₀.
3. Dumpling w/​Mixed Mushroom $ 3.95: I am really growing to love these. I think out of all the version I’ve tried before, I like this one the most. Typically they’re folded boiled-​dumpling style with clear gelatinous skin. This one is a fancier form, round folded. The skin is totally perfect in texture and chewiness. The stuffing is great too. ¹⁰⁄₁₀.
4. Shiu Mai w/​Shrimp Roe $ 3.95: Some of the more perfect Shiu Mai’s I’ve had. And the roe is a little bit special – they add quite a bit. ⁸⁄₁₀.
5. Pork Ribs w Black Bean Sauce $ 3.95: A little more refined and cleanly presented than normal. However the serving size is especially small. ⁵⁄₁₀.
6. Chicken Feet $ 3.95: A little better flavor than average. ⁶⁄₁₀.
7. Salty Tea Dumpling w/​Pumpkin $ 3.95: I have never seen these before anywhere! They’re made to look like miniature pumpkins, and let me tell you, the chewy shell is REALLY pumpkiny. Too much for my taste. It has meat inside, but it’s hard to taste. Anyway, looks great but doesn’t taste that good. ⁵⁄₁₀.
8. Crispy Taro Puff $ 3.95: One of my 2 most favorite dim sum things. I call these the «furry ballz.» My friends didn’t like my name, but anyway, that’s what they look like. Inside is taro and meat. And damn, I think this is the best version I’ve ever had, out of probably 100 dim sums already. Packed, and not semi-​hollow like the crappier ones. Great taste. Comes warm too. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
9. Multi Layer Turnip Puff Pastry $ 3.95: Another one of those that I have never seen. Looks really amazing in pictures – like a delicate egg. But, unfortunately, it tastes pretty bad. I think it’s vegetarian for one, being completely stuffed with daikon. And very extremely under-​seasoned daikon too. YUCK. ²⁄₁₀.
10. Pan-​Fried Chives Dumpling $ 4.95: Clean. Great taste. ⁷⁄₁₀.
11. Rice Noodle Roll w/​Beef $ 4.95: We always get this. Good, but nothing note-​worthy here. ⁵⁄₁₀.
12. Braised Beef Organs $ 6.95: Really did not like their version. The tripe taste is too strong, like bad menudo. Flavor just isn’t as refined as their other dishes. Overpriced too. ³⁄₁₀.
13. Chinese Broccoli w/​Oyster Sauce $ 6.95: Standard. But really small portion compared to others, and pretty expensive. ⁴⁄₁₀.
14. Aged Vinegar Cured Jellyfish $ 6.95: So this is special. One more i’ve-never-seen-before. I love the standard jellyfish, but this one is far darker. Has a strong taste, with lots of vinegar. I think I like the standard one more, but I’m glad I got to try something different. ⁵⁄₁₀.
So, overall, since they have lots of «radical» dishes and some truly exceptional ones I think they deserve a ⁵⁄₅ for food. Also, there were tons more exotic dishes on their menu, but they’ll have to wait ’till next time.
Unfortunately, their prices are quite high relative to competition, and the portions significantly smaller on many popular dishes. I normally deduct for bad pricing, but I think in this case you do pay a little bit extra for the best.
⁵⁄₅
#chinese #dimsum

Surprisingly, I’m shocked at how good this place is, as I love my dim sum places in SF. San Mateo is not a far trek from my favorites in the city i.e., Hong Kong Lounge, Ton Kiang, Great Eastern, Shai Lai (formerly Mayflower), etc. FYI, my mamma would slap me if I took her to Yank Sing, Hakkassan, Harmony, Crystal Jade, etc… get my drift?
This place is somewhat rude when it gets busy on the weekends (no different than any other authentic Chinese restaurant). Good luck trying to flag anyone down, they’ll look at you like they don’t speak English, but when I bust out my ebonics version of Mandarin/​Cantonese, they’re much nicer and ready to please LOL! Actually, there’s this look of shock like OMG, she speaks Chinese (^o^). They immediately get me what I ordered that’s not on their menu HA.
Overall, I’m happy my friends convinced me to have brunch here dim sum style. They know I like any place with ample street parking. Downtown San Mateo is fun with lots of shopping nearby and a movie theater all within walking distance. Check out their Japanese tea garden when visiting.

it’s a 4.5 stars.
I am not really sure why this place only got 3 stars.
I haven’t tried the Dimsum, only mains. All of them (beside the crispy pork and the duck being too salty, duck too fat also) were more than nice. Actually one of the best Chinese food I found in San Jose after 11 years in Asia.
We had Lobster noodles, garlic pan fried veggies, duck, crispy pork, shrimp tofu, clams, mushroom spicy beef and few others.
Everything was well cooked, I found exactly the same taste as what I’d have eaten in a Chinese restaurant in Taiwan.
The lobster was rightly cooked, not over cooked. Meat was hard but easily detachable from the shell. Sauces were fine.
Veggies were boiled just enough to keep them slightly crunchy but soft.
Mushrooms with the beef were perfect! I had a bash with this dish! tasty, lot of perfume, flavorful.
The shrimp tofu was so delicate!
I didn’t experience anything wrong with the service. The restaurant was pretty empty (like 4 big tables) though. Would go back.

My family and I came here for lunch on July 4^th. We didn’t order too much since we knew we had a long day of food ahead of us. We wanted a quick lunch and then to start our July 4^th festivities.
I’m not sure if it was just the day I went, but this is one of those dimsum places that you mark what you want to order on a menu. Their menu is actually pretty and has ALL pictures of the food so it makes it easier to order especially for those who don’t know the names of it. Personally, I like it better when they push the food carts out so I can actually see what I want and it would obviously give the restaurant more service since it would be easier for customers to order. It took 1.5 hours for all of our dimsums to come. Each order of dimsum came in increments of 15 minutes each. It was such a long wait and we wanted to leave before all our food came out. The wait for food to come out was just ridiculous.
This place is extremely unsanitary!!! We were seated behind 3 trays of dirty dishes that needed to be washed. All around the restaurant, there are dirty dishes everywhere! That is not the worse part. The women’s bathroom floor was filled with toilet paper everywhere! When I went inside, one of the toilets were clogged. A dimsum lady came in as I was leaving and she was unclogging the toilet. I appreciate the fact that she was unclogging it, but she handles and serve food… I can’t imagine the dirty water splashing all over her and then having to serve food after that. Yuck
Despite being unsanitary, the scary thing to me is that. the food is actually good. They have unique selections of dimsums or dessserts that you don’t often find elsewhere. The dimsums were seasoned well.
I know this place has potential, since it is one of the few dimsum places in the area. Management should take care of the sanitation issues and hire more employees especially on holidays or weekends.

Dim Sum is something I grew up with especially living in San Francisco. When I was younger it was said, it means «A little bit of heart!»
During my travels to Hong Kong, I had realized they are the King of Dim Sum (Cantonese Style). They make them so delicate, yet tasty, and presentation was key. Here in America, well… everything gets supersized! Hahahah Even the somai looks twice as big, and the dumplings look like they’re on steroids! Also, gone are the days when everyone reads the local paper, sip tea «cha,» and really enjoy getting together, talking about nothing but everything! Growing up, I really enjoyed seeing all the old ladies and old gentlemen converse with one another, with simple smiles, but full of laughter!
Today’s dim sum here at Champagne, I’d have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually really good. It wasn’t greasy or heavy. It was clean to the palate. And best of all, my Dad really liked the sesame bun because they came out piping hot and crunchy. The ambience is quite nice too especially with their fancy chairs, luxurious high curtains. It makes you want to eat here and get all dressed up to the nines!
If you’re looking for a dim sum that’s not overwhelming, comfortable and spacious space with no carts being pushed around, this might be the place for you! Just so you know, it gets packed here between 10−1pm during weekends! And another cool thing to remember, always go with a big crowed! You get in faster! Just sayin…
Until then, Cheers! ~ :p