H K Causeway Bay

Came here for a quick lunch on a random selection. Since there was hardly anyone in the restaurant we thought service would be quick. The dim sum was not impressive, not very fresh and some were not even edible. Like it had a sour odor in the meat and would just fall apart. Needless to say I didn’t bother bringing the leftovers home. The bill was also way overpriced. I believe it was roughly $ 30/​head.
Based off the reaction from my dim sum lunch I can’t bring myself to come back for dinner, though anytime I walk past at nighttime the tables are pretty packed and dinner looks decent enough.

Your average Dim Sum Restaurant in San Mateo. Place is new looking, clean, BRIGHT. Feels kinda out of place. Parking across the street.
Not a bad dish I could remember. Mostly 3 stars.
They did have some great dishes like Purple Sticky Rice and Fried Rice Rolls. These were good (3 – 4 stars)
Overall 3 stars for the food alone. I would come back.

I went for dim sum here after having a rather upset stomach after a camping trip. The fact that I ate the dim sum, and I actually felt better rather than worse means the food is good. :) I don’t really eat that much pork (I know! Going to a dim sum place and not eating pork?!), so I stuck mostly to the veggie/​shrimp stuff.
The shrimp with eggplant was super delicious, as were the shrimp dumplings (though I would ask for chili sauce to dip them in). I was a big fan of the steamed red bean bun (I think I ate two out of 3). The baked custard bun was to die for.
Everything is ordered on a sheet rather than the dim sum carts, so it’s all steaming hot when it comes out. And it’s quite delicious! For four of us, it was 64 dollars, and we were all beyond full.

My family and I always come here for dimsum. Its nice to be able to pick from a list and check off what you want, so you can figure out how many dishes will make you full, rather than haggling over carts flying by. Visitng my dad in Hong Kong Causeway Bay dozens of times and eating, I have to say the food here is fairly authentic. Service has always has been good. Though you do have to ask for hot mustard and hot sauce!

I was invited to dinner here with a group and their food seemed quite tasty. The chicken was very tender and their deep fried fish (not the kind with the skeleton still on) was extremely good. I kinda forgot some of the other specific foods I had here but everything seemed good to me. I remember we also had walnut prawns and abalone with broccoli (something I have not tried), as well as a suckling pig type dish that was ok. The cuisine here seems to be pretty solid. I kept wanting to get more food but held back because so many other people were at my table.
I have not been here for dim sum yet.
As for the service, it seemed just fine. Every thing we asked for, they got and no scowls on their faces or anything. Of course, it wasn’t busy at the time.
I would like to try this place again some time in the near future.

Came here for Father’s Day dinner, dad’s choice of course. I think he loves the soy sauce chicken here. HK Causeway Bay actually has another restaurant in the city, in the Sunset district but goes by a different name; they both have the same menu. Both of these places are apparently known for their soy sauce chicken. My dad wanted to avoid the crowd and the parking issues of Sunset and wanted to come here instead.
Overall it is very good Hong Kong style Chinese food. Since H.K. Causeway Bay is in an area with many other popular Chinese restaurants, there was no wait, even for father’s day. The must try here is a type of custard bun they offer as a dessert for dinner. The bun is made very well as there is just the right amount of dough to a very rich, hot, leaky filling. I am sure it is also available for dim sum.

MSG MSG MSG! That’s all where my money is going! To make my bowels foul and violate the hell out of the latrine due to massive doses of MSG!!!
Other than that, The deep fried stuff was amazing. The steamed stuff was amazing. Hello! But sorry, will be hitting up the famous city of Millbrae for Dim Sum next time. Their game is way better.

Best dim sum in my hood. Came for lunch and tables were available in plenty. Dinners are the most busiest time I have noticed. Menu was simple and not too repetitive unlike Seafood ABC.
We had egg roll, durian pastry, shrimp hargraw (?) dumpling, noodle roll (with bbq dipping sauce), seafood chow fun, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf. Service was good and attentive (unlike ABC in foster city). They didn’t have the cart around and dishes were brought based on the menu checklist. Finally finished lunch with tofu dessert — the texture was perfect according to my Cantonese friends :-)
No more thinking on where to take my dim sum craving friends.

Great place for dim-​sum. Came on a sunday afternoon, just before all the crowds were about to finish up. Normally, at a dim-​sum place, that would mean we would get the left overs, and not a whole lot to choose from… Not the case here… Since everything is ordered from a checklist beforehand, you can get everything made fresh!
We got most of the usual suspects: piping hot sticky rice with chicken and chinese sausage (fresh and tasty), har gows, fred turnip cakes, bitter-​melon chicken noodle (yumm), beef noodle (cheung fun), steamed beef balls, tripe (tender texture), steamed bbq pork buns (great), custard tarts, coconut jello, longan jello (refreshing). All pretty good.
The place has very high ceilings with a very open and airy atmosphere, and plenty of tables. Service was fast and friendly, and the crowds weren’t bad around 1:30ish in the afternoon. Have been to their sister restaurant in SF Richmond district, and both have pretty good quality. Will be back!

This place opened up at what seemed like the perfect time, right when a good dim sum restaurant right across the street (Joy Luck) was shutting down for remodeling (and, it turned out, a complete change to a new dim sum place.)
In my opinion, they didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.
I went for dim sum with a large group a couple of times, and it was pretty disappointing. The food is too greasy and not flavorful enough. The service was also pretty mediocre, even for dim sum.
I will admit that it has been a while since I’ve been (because nothing I saw made me want to go back) so it’s within the realm of possibility that they’ve drastically improved since then. Please consider this a fairly old review.

Gotta thank my Chinese boyfriend for taking me here. Actually, I have to thank him for showing me another world of Chinese cuisine rather than the typical saucy, cornstarchy, Kung Pao chicken and clams with black bean sauce type dishes that I was used to.
But I’ve always loved dim sum, and this is where we go in San Mateo for it. It’s not the best you can get, but it’s better than just decent. In the beginning I was hesitant to come here without him because you order off of a check off menu rather than picking off the wandering carts. Before, I wasn’t familiar with the names of the dishes that I usually liked — I just knew what they looked like off the carts. But I finally put my fears aside and actually treated my siblings here the other day, and I ordered for everyone! Thank goodness I don’t have picky eaters in my family — they ate it all up =)
I’ve been here several times for dinner too, but nothing to rave about. Dim sum is the way to go. And if you come on the weekend, arriving before 11:30am is your best bet, or you’ll be waiting.

We’ve gone back twice for dim sum since my last review, each time ordering at least ¹⁄₃ of the items on the menu, and it still remains a 4-​star restaurant for me. We have been pleased with almost everything served, especially the dumplings that are juicy and flavorful.
There are no circulating dim-​sum carts here. You must check your items on a piece of paper… which is obviously a problem for me since I’m not exactly familiar with the names. That explains why we always come here with Chinese speaking friends and families. On the flipside, everything is served FRESH!
Stroller friendly. Decent service. Plan on arriving before noon if you want to be seated right away.

Dom D treated us to a 9 course meal here at Causeway Bay. There were 9 of us so we ordered family style. This review is for the dinner only.
Service was excellent
Food was average.
There were definitely some hit and miss type dishes here. You would expect a restaurant like this to be great, but it really didn’t do it for me. I think if you would stick with just the dishes I highlighted, this would be a great place to dine.
Hits:
Soy sauce chicken… the best. I don’t use this word frequently so when I say it is the best… It’s the best. This was how soy sauce chicken tasted when I was growing up. It was moist, the sauce was just perfect, had a nice glaze, and the size was decent.
Pea sprouts with garlic was cooked perfectly. Wasn’t overdone, had that crunch, seasoned well, and the color of the vegetable was bright green.
The salted egg custard bun for dessert… my God this was delicious. The custard and salted egg was oozing out as you bite into it. Imagine a chocolate lava cake where the chocolate oozes out when you puncture the middle of the cake with your fork.
Misses:
Soy sauce supreme shrimp… This is my first time saying this for a Chinese restaurant. It lacked seasoning and wok hay. It just didn’t have that intense flavor and seasoning to it.
bbq pork shoulders… it was good but it could’ve been better. lacked flavor and broiling time. Didn’t have that semi charred flavor that it needed. Was a little disappointed.
Everything else just seemed very forgettable. Like I really don’t remember the other 4 dishes.
Total bill was 243.00
Thanks again Dom D.

We have only been here for dim sum so this review applies only to Causeway Bay’s dim sum menu.
Rather than ordering from carts, guests are given an order sheet. On the up side, you don’t have to wait for your favorite dish to come along; dishes are made to order so they’re nice and hot when they arrive at your table. On the down side, all your dishes may come all at once!
Dishes we like:
* Salty egg yolk custard bun — a tweak on the traditional sweet custard bun with the added saltiness from the salty egg yolk.
* Sharks fin dumpling in soup — Causeway Bay makes these dumplings with a thin wrappers and doesn’t skimp on the filings. It seems, however, that this dish may be inconsistent at times; it was pretty good 3 of the 4x we had it here. We recommend sharing this dish between two people rather than ordering one per person.
* Fried pumpkin/​squash with salty egg yolk — we never had this dish until our neighbor Erica introduced it to us. Not a traditional dim sum item but surprisingly very yummy!
Don’t get:
* Beef balls
* Noodle crepes — we had different noodle crepes (shrimp, beef, etc.) here a couple times and the crepes’ consistency just wasn’t right. They were a bit mushy for my taste.
If you want to avoid waiting for a table on weekends, get there before 11:30 am or after 1:30 pm. For a big party, they may take reservations as well.

Absolutely LOVED the grub here. Went to dinner with three other folks, two of whom I TOTALLY respect when it comes to Chinese food. Especially CANTONESE style grub.
First had a non-​greasy stir-​fry with crispy critters mixed with sliced lily root. YUM. Followed by roast squab, black bean sauce clams, tender beef with glass noodles hot pot, e-​mien noodles with straw mushrooms mixed in. We also got a special egg-​yolk coated deep-​fried prawns with pumpkin slices. I’m sure we had some other dishes as well, but can’t for the life of me remember them all.
Am definitely going to be returning sooner than later. It’s located right across the street from Suruki Japanese market and next door to the big shoe store on the corner. Not hard to miss, since it’s SO brightly lit.
As for dim sum, I’ll have to give it a try.

Seems like a pretty happenin’ place for a wed night. Was picking some stuff up to go which took them about 15 min to prepare.
— Beef with Ginger and Green Onion — Classic Cantonese and tasty
— Lamb Stew and Bean Curd Claypot — little lacking in the seasoning with the taste of the bean curd sheets overpowering .
–Sauteed Scallops with X.O. Sauce — Good texture but again a little light on the seasoning compared with the beef.
Verdict? 3.5 stars cause I could live just on the beef alone. I think I’d return to give some of the other dishes a try, especially the beef ones, as I’m biased towards Cantonese style cooking.

During my short trip to the Bay Area, I came to this place twice with my family. The first time was for dim sum and the second, was for a family style dinner.
Dim sum turned out hit and miss, I thought the chicken’s feet were some of the best I’ve had in a while. I didn’t like the har gow or the cheung fun or the dai jee gaw — all using the rice flour wrappers which were all super thick. I hate, hate, hate thick wrappers. It was all glucky on the cheung fun and wasn’t ‘wat’ (smooth) but rather, grainy and unpalatable.
Taro puff (wu gok) was terrific. I usually don’t even like this item but I really liked it here. My aunty ordered this stir fried vermecelli dish with anchovies, but they called them ‘silver fish’ here. That dish was awesome! It tasted like little salty fishies, great flavor and contrasting textures to the softer textures of the noodles.
Dinner was also hit and miss, but mostly not too bad. We had string beans, snow crab eaten 2 ways — cooked with ginger and scallions and also, steamed with vermecelli, salt and peppered pork chops, steamed fish using a ‘lo shue ban’ — it’s a snapper varietal, tofu with mushrooms using ‘yuk tzi’ tofu, soy sauce chicken, gai lan stir fried with cooking wine and a ‘sang chow noh mai fan’ which is a sticky rice to complete the meal.
I thought everything was okay except the pork chops. They used way too much soda powder on it (used as a tenderizer) and it made the meat all chewy and not resembling meat at all. It has the consistency of being fat, but it’s actually not fatty meat. It’s the tenderizing gone wrong — which a lot of restaurants are guilty of – and yes, while your meat isn’t tough, it doesn’t taste like meat either. My advice? Buy better quality pork!
I liked the steamed snow crab with the vermecelli as the vermecelli soaked up all the flavors of the crab and it was quite tasty! I didn’t like the soy sauce chicken — the soy sauce was way too dark and not light like it should be.
So there you go… a hit and miss both times. However, it is definitely a very reasonable place to eat!

This is a pretty damn good tea house. It’s shockingly cheap and i’d say for standard stuff just as good as abc or diamond harbor.
Their taro puff, which is my dim sum barometer didn’t have alot of meat in it but the taro texture was excellent. Their meatball was good, as was the hargow and ja liang.
most notable you can get 5 duck jaws for $ 5.50 which is ludicrously cheap for the most expensive part of the duck. I almost should have just got four plates of that.
Service was shockingly good which really isn’t required or expect for dim sum but was a pleasant addition to my meal
probably my new sm/​fc tea house

This restaurant is owned by a lady names Teresa. If you know any background information about her, she owns the S&T H.K. Restaurant (review can be found here
) on Noriga and 36^th Ave. She bought out Chef Wai’s restaurant and remodeled the place with some new decorations. They changed the Feng Shui of some of the stuff and now offer a new variety of food to compete with Joy Luck Place across the street.
The prices here are cheap when compared to other restaurants in the Area. The owner said the price was according the Sunset prices which means that everything is cheaper. They also provide better service then the Joy Luck place. They smile to you even if you order cheap food where Joy Luck would smirk and ignore your when you need their service.
The good thing about this place is that they now serve DIM SUM. Chef Wai did not carry Dim Sum before which probably was the reason for the lack of customers and business. People now have a selection between this place and Joy Luck. For those who live in San Mateo, they won’t need to drive to millbrae for The Kitchen or Asian Pearl.
I highly recommend coming here rather then going to Joy Luck.

This is a brand new Chinese restaurant that has opened in downtown San Mateo. I believe they’ve been opened for a week now.
Came here on a Sunday morning for dim-​sum. Because we were early, there are plenty of parking spaces available so it was a breeze.
We were the first one there as it opened and the place has been remodeled so it’s nice and new. Service was very good (we were the only ones there so early) and we checked off the dim sum we wanted from the self check menu.
The dim sum was very good and the prices were reasonable. Some restaurants charge an arm and a leg for the dishes, but this one was all reasonable. The only thing that I didn’t like was the fried calamari. It was overly oily and didn’t seem to be freshly fried. The flavor on that dish was also a bit lacking.
We also ordered a plate of seafood with crispy noodles. It was very good, and by then, our stomach’s were maxed out. We simply couldn’t eat anymore.
I would definitely come back with my co-​workers and let them try out the dim sum. In this economy, all of us are looking for value and this place fits the bill. I am sure parking will be a lot tougher on a weekend lunch, but that’s OK.
One final word. They do not turn their heater on in the 2x I’ve been there. In the winter time, that is unacceptable. I know ppl who dined there and they said it was cold.