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ABC Seafood Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Chinese Dim Sum Restaurants Seafood Dim Sum, Seafood [Edit]
973 E Hillsdale BlvdFoster City, CA 94404
(650) 328-2288
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 3 pm
Mon-Thu 5 pm - 9:30 pm
Fri-Sun 5 pm - 10 pm
Sat-Sun 10 am - 3 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
355 reviews for ABC Seafood Restaurant
Review Highlights
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"I love that stuff, #2 favorite food behind peking duck." In 16 reviews -
"Surprisingly good wedding banquet food." In 19 reviews -
"The mango pudding serving was larger than most places." In 7 reviews
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355 reviews in English
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Review from Claudia W.
Los Angeles, CA
5/24/2012 6 Check-ins Here
ABC....CBA...sometimes the food is great...sometimes the food is bad.
I suppose it depends on who is in the kitchen!
The service is the same. It depends on who you get. Some of them will really go out of their way to help you. Others will just do the bare minimum.
On the weekends this place can get packed for dim sum lunch, especially on a Sunday (It's traditional in Chinese culture for the family to have dimsum lunch together on Sundays). I suggest that you arrive early or be ready for a long wait especially if there is a holiday or Chinese holiday.
All in all. This is the local place to go if you need a decent Chinese restaurant. It's also a good place to have a big dinner as their set menus can be quite impressive.
The desserts are actually quite varied here. Try the heart shaped mango pudding instead of the round one. It's tastier.
If you can catch it in March-April, absolutely try the Alaskan King crab cooked 3 ways. A 12-14lb crab can feed a table of twelve. -
Review from Michael M.
San Francisco, CA
5/7/2012
We moved from Foster City to The City nine years ago, and we were in the area. We decided to give ABC Seafood a nostalgic-ladened try.
That was a mistake. ("Never return to your past." is an old saying, and it is so true.)
We arrived on a Friday around lunch time. We were led passed the pretty glass-enclosed dining room to an equally large but windowless and cold banquet room. It looked like a box for storing excess furniture or supplies. The room had several flat screen TVs though; all showed an advertisement for the restaurant. The carpet, tables and chairs reminded me of a collection of discards from a thousand prior wedding banquets. Two black-suited men scurried around dropping food implements on our table. They were efficient but cold as the room.. The servers also scurried but with uninterested demeanors.
The food, particularly the dim sum, was pedestrian. The side dishes of rice and vegetables were boring and tasted mass-produced.
We had the impression that we must have made a wrong turn on our nostalgic time machine and we were suddenly eating a free meal that was given to all passengers who were at a temporary, pop-up way station on a bus trip to Chongqing. You know the variety that goes with the advertisement for a trip to China: "Food is provided and includes all tips and gratuities?" Well, that is what it felt and tasted like.
However, reality kicked-in; we had to pay. This was no "pro bono." For its quality, it was very expensive for Chinese food and probably the worst we have had in a year.
If you want better Chinese food go to ANY restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown or if you are on the peninsula, go to downtown San Mateo which has several, all are better.
And one last bit of advice: "Never return to your past!" :) -
Review from Joe C.
San Francisco, CA
4/16/2012
Had a pretty lousy experience there this past weekend for dim sum...
After being seated at a table that didn't even have place setting or being offered tea, we were basically ignored for a good solid 10 minutes as waves of dim sum carts by-passed our way. An old bag finally comes up to offer whatever she was pushing around her steam cart. When we mentioned to her that we don't have tea or even flippin' chopsticks, she tells us, that's not her problem and saunters off. Too bad for ABC Seafood, so did we. The lot of us got up and left...
Even if their food we remotely worthly of their lackluster customer service, I would've stuck it out. But seriously, with the options around...good luck, assholes. -
Review from K F.
San Francisco, CA
5/22/2012
The green tea balls filled with sweet black sesame paste are the bomb here. All else was decent and I'd be back.
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Review from Anna S.
San Bruno, CA
5/22/2012 1 Check-in Here
Awesome food, great service!!! Will definatley come back!!!!
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Review from Steve F.
Palo Alto, CA
5/14/2012
I have been to many Chinese restaurants in the bay area and this one wins hand down for the "WORST SERVICE AWARD". We went there to celebrate mother's day and wind up having the worst experience ever.
It wasn't even because they were overwhelmed by the number of customers because we had arrived early to beat the crowd.
We had to ask repeatedly for tea, water, rice and the waitress/waiter simply pretend that they do not see you or even if they hear you, they completely ignore the request. If you happened to speak Cantonese and they recognize you as a regular Cantonese customer, then they pay attention to you. I experienced this kind of intra-racial prejudism in China town back in the old days, but I am amazed it still goes on.
After about 45 minutes this nonsense, I summoned the bus girl to tell her that I want to speak to the manager or owner. Even for that request, we had to ask repeatedly for her to come over.
Once she came over, her facial expression read " I don't give a flying $%^& about what you say". Eventually, she gave an insincere apology which made me feel even angrier that I spent an hour of my life in this establishment.
This place gives Chinese restaurant a bad name. I will never go there again. -
Review from Mike F.
Chandler, AZ
5/15/2012
The service is sloppy, but the dim sum isn't bad, particularly the lotus. Mmmmm.
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Review from George L.
Saratoga, CA
4/8/2012
I had dinner here last night and it was a pretty negative experience. I was part of a party of around 40 people and the experience for me was on the whole fairly negative. We had abalone and sea cucumber, lobster, crab and cod in various preparations. One thing that stood out was that each dish was cold. Now given that we were a banquet party of 3 tables with a packed house (or so it seemed), it might be understandable, but given the various issues I had, among others. I would not come back here. The food itself was standard high level Chinese banquet food that you can find at many Chinese restaurants throughout the Bay Area
The service was good and we were attended to promptly, however the other issue I had was that the area that we were seated in was fairly cramped with tables fairly close together. The ventilation was also relatively poor and given the high concentration of people, that really makes for a rather negative experience.
As stated earlier, given the number of Chinese restaurants serving similar fare, I would not come back.
1.5/5 -
Review from Cindy J.
San Mateo, CA
Updated - 4/7/2012
Had lunch here today. Don't order the::
chicken feet
dan tat
black bean spare ribs
i gotta find another place for dim-sum.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/28/2011
Waited 45 minutes but that was our fault, can't expect much for a Sunday at 12:30. When my hubby… Read more »
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Review from Shannon L.
New York, NY
4/11/2012
I hosted my wedding reception here last weekend and the restaurant was very accommodating. They provided pink tablecloths, arranged the napkins in a pretty manner in the wine glasses, and even provided an extra table for my cupcakes, guestbook, and gifts.
ABC Seafood was understanding when we had to start the banquet 30 minutes late because some guests had gotten lost. All the food came out hot and was good. I know that wedding banquets are expected to be more expensive, but the prices here were not too expensive. Also, though a banquet table is slated to hold 10 people, they allowed us to squeeze (VERY comfortably) 12 people at each table and even so, there was more than enough food.
There is a corkage fee and their wine starts at $25 a bottle, soda at $6 for a 2 liter bottle. Also, holding a reservation for a banquet requires a $200 deposit. -
Review from Mansi A.
3/15/2012
ABC Seafood isn't a restaurant I'd typically venture to, primarily because I don't qualify as a seafood eater (trying things here and there doesn't quite count). Also, seafood in Asian preparations doesn't exactly hold much of an appeal for me.
Despite that, our dinner was a banquet style Lunar New Year dinner hosted by my company in the rear room of the restaurant (which isn't readily apparent upon walking in the main restaurant, but is actually pretty huge once you realize it exists!). The family-style dinner seemed never-ending, as we were served with dish upon dish -- so much so that plenty of food was leftover!
We were served dishes such as: seafood soup, peking duck, sweet & sour pork, mixed vegetable medley, spicy string beans, beef, shrimp, and the traditional red bean soup for dessert.
As for the food, I liked a few things and didn't like others. It was most definitely an interesting cultural experience. -
Review from Peter K.
San Mateo, CA
5/13/2012
The food is decedent here but they seriously LACK in CUSTOMER SERVICE. The staff ignores customers and are also rude. I've witness customers getting very upset and waiting for 40 minutes before the food was served. The couple was upset and was getting ready to leave but the waiter plummet them last minute with all the dim sim that didn't come in time while ignoring the customer's request to cancel the order.
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Review from Venus L.
San Bruno, CA
4/3/2012 1 Check-in Here
Reservation for this place was made so we didn't have to wait long. The hostess guided us WAY into the back of the restaurant where there was only 2 other tables full and there was a wall like thing separating us from them. In the middle of the room near our tables there were two long tables where the waiters basically put everything on. Glasses, water, food, plates, you name it. It's there. It's like a set up station or something.
Food here was alright. It wasn't anything memorable. We ordered one of the meal plans and added the lobster (which was missing A LOT of meat by the way!). Each plate came out slowly and at first, the food was alright. But then it began losing flavor as it came along. The beef we had was hard to chew (it was like biting rubber) and my only favorite plate was the roasted pork. My mom took the leftovers home and she complained about them as she ate.
I'll give props to the waiter that was handling us. He didn't work super fast, but he did try.
I see no reason to come back here. -
Review from Henry S.
Dublin, CA
2/19/2012
Had Dim Sum here today with a group of friends (10 adults and 3 infants) and they put us in the corner of the large room in the back. This was perfect placement because we had a double stroller and our friends had a single stroller. There was plenty of room for us to park the stroller and have enough room for everyone to sit around the table comfortably.
The great thing about this place is that there are plenty of carts and people walking around with trays of food for you to choose from. Some dim sum places are always so slow getting food out but not there.
Har Gow and Siu Mai were above average. Large pieces of shrimp and ample pork seasoned perfectly.
Overall great service for a Sunday. They were pretty busy and we never had to ask for anything. -
Review from Aaron B.
Menlo Park, CA
2/25/2012
This is my favorite (and the best) dim sum place in the bay area that doesn't require the hassle of driving to and parking in San Francisco. Your typical authentic chinese restaurant--good food but bad service.
Reservations are a must. For some reason, on weekend afternoons there will be tons of chinese waiting up to an hour and a half to get in when there are plenty of reservations available on open table--mind blowing but convenient for those smart enough just to reserve a table 30 minutes before arriving.
Great selection and quality of dim sum. Lots of fresh seafood options available. For two people after ordering more than we could comfortably eat, the bill is usually only $30. Too easy. -
Review from Janice T.
4/14/2012 7 photos
Solid 3.5 stars, but rounding up. Went on Sunday night for family dinner. Made reservations for 7 people and ordered the Set Dinner Menu for 8 people at $188.
*Peking Duck (4 of 5) This place cuts the duck breast slices in front of the dinner guests. Typically, the chefs slice the duck in the kitchen and then bring out the dish with the meat and the buns plated. That's good for impressing dinner guests. And for this dish, they do not cut the entire duck, just enough to make sandwiches for the little buns they provide. The rest goes to another dinner dish. For this dinner meal, the rest of the meat goes to the Sautéed Diced Duck and Vegetables dish.
*House Special Shark Fin Soup (3 of 5) This soup was so-so. I was hoping for the rich thick chicken soup broth, but this is the shredded chicken and mushroom base soup. Similar to the basic shark fin soup served at Chinese wedding banquets. I wasn't super impressed.
*Braised Fresh Abalone 8pc. (4 of 5) The abalones seemed to be grilled first and then braised to softness. It was ok. It was definitely braised to softness and you can cut it with a butter knife, but the grilling seemed to have tainted the richness of the abalone's seafood sweetness.
*Steamed Egg White with Lobster (5 of 5) Surprisingly yummy. It was subtle and rich. The steamed egg whites were covered with deliciously flavored lobster bits and thickened broth. I really liked the idea of this dish. And it was a better dish because they served it with steamed egg whites rather than steamed eggs (white and yolk).
*Sautéed Diced Duck and Vegetables (4 of 5) The leftovers from the duck were minced and sautéed. It was presented with a side of lettuce wrap. It was a wrap-it yourself dish. Usually, this dish is served with chicken or pork and I liked how they used the rest of the duck. I thought it was more flavorful with the duck.
*Bean Curl Soaked in Fish Broth and Vegetables (3 of 5) A little plain, but a good pairing for this menu set since the other dishes were meat and seafood.
*Pan Fried Minced Garlic Flounder (5 of 5) This fried dish was done very well. It looked like a calamari dish when it came to the table, but when I tasted it, I realized it was fish. The dish was fresh, flaky, and had a light flour coating.
*Dessert (4 of 5) Two mini-sized dim sum pastries were served. It was Red Bean Sesame Balls and Lotus Paste Dumplings. The dessert was very tasty and in cute edible sizes. They were mini versions of what they would sell in the morning during dim sum time.
In addition, the restaurant has monthly promotions such as:
***Monday Dungeness Crab $13 each
***Tuesday Peking Duck $16 each
***Wednesday Maine Lobster $13/pound
***Thursday Fresh Live Bass $10 each
***Friday Roasted Squab $10 each
***Saturday and Sunday Any of the above.
I went on Sunday night and tried their Dungeness Crab for $13 (5 of 5). We ordered the salt and pepper crab. It was fresh and delicious.
I recommend this restaurant when looking for a fancier Chinese dinner. I like the choices and some creative twists on the dishes. I would recommend this place for family celebrations and for treating guests. It costs a little more, but I believe the quality and presentation matches the price. -
Review from Lily R.
1/26/2012 Seated via OpenTable 1 Check-in Here
Get. IT. Together, ABC!!
Came here with co-workers for a late 1pm lunch during Chinese New Year.
Waited 5 mins in the front lobby and no hosts/workers were anywhere to be found. Annoying but OK. We got seated and were given menus.
ONE lousy dim sum cart passes us with cold calamari and broccoli. We were starving and didn't care, so we grabbed one of each. Calamari was great but cold. Meh. Broccoli was also cold..not good.
Placed dim sum order on paper, turned it in and waited an eternity for Si Mai, Chicken Feet, Pork Buns and Shanghai dumplings. Usually, in a normal dim sum restaurant, a cart passes you and you pick eat and repeat. ABC has a strange system that clearly isn't working.
We had to ask for water 5 times and were not happy with service at ALL. ABC would not accept my corp passport discount card because it was Chinese new year, wtf?!
ABC, if you invested in legit dim sum carts, had better service and got it together, your restaurant would be 4-5 star worthy! Your si mai is amazingly huge and delicious, your calamari is a delight and your chicken feet are tasty. I want to come back but you give me no choice. ON TO THE NEXT!! -
Review from Michelle L.
Castro Valley, CA
4/22/2012
Fantastic seafood selection, great dim sum and clean! My husband and I began coming here many years ago with my family. We threw my parents' an anniversary dinner here in December of 2010 (they were very helpful and easy-going), love to celebrate special occasions here and we just love to come and eat. Some dishes we love are the lobster noodles, special siu mai with a quail egg on top, and of course, suckling pig.
I'm Chinese; I grew up going to Chinese restaurants and I find that the service at ABC is pleasantly refreshing. Everybody from the hosts to the bussers are always friendly, attentive and work as a team. My husband and I are in the restaurant service industry so we pay particular attention to service, details, etc. and we are consistently happy with ABC. -
Review from BABY M.
Sunnyvale, CA
4/16/2012
The egg yolk custard buns were delicious. Dou fu hua (sweet soy bean curd soup ) very tasty! Dim sum in general was very good.
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Review from Miss Bonnie B.
Sunnyvale, CA
1/9/2012
Times are tough these days... so you have to get creative.
Our company usually hosts various events at hotels and large restaurants... but last month, we decided to hold the event at our office headquarters. I elected to get the food catered from ABC Seafood and I'm SO glad I did.
First of all, they have a great website. Thank you for being part of the 21st century! (Sadly, not all Chinese Restaurants are on the same {web}page.) I was easily able to peruse their offerings online and coordinated with them via email. I coordinated all my needs with Tiffany who not only spoke/wrote perfect English but was helpful too.
Second of all, we were able to get them to deliver, provide chafing dishes, and set everything up for us. I gave them a call a few hours later and they came back to pick everything back up. They provided everything we needed from plates to sauces and fortune cookies - making it as breezy for us as possible. They came dressed in suits and were extremely professional and kind.
Third, the food was great. The food was hot and tasty... and in the end, that's what matters most. Everyone complimented all the arrangements and Mr. and Mrs. Boss were happy.
Highly recommended! -
Review from Tim C.
Sacramento, CA
2/22/2012 1 Check-in Here
This place used to be great... I used to come here whenever I visited my sister-in-law, but haven't been out this way for a long while since she's always busy.
Perhaps it was the timing that we went (late afternoon for dim sum), but the service was horrible. The restaurant was still pretty full with people, but we just couldn't get any food on the carts going by... had to order directly from the waiters to get food. Also had to ask to get water service... Seems that the workers were too busy setting up for dinner and/or a private party to cater to their current customers.
The prices seem to have skyrocketed as well. -
Review from Jo C.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 1/4/2012
Update:
Our wedding day has come and gone. Sadly...My husband and I didn't really get a chance to taste the food because of our busy wedding day schedule. But we did get good reviews from our family and friends. Most of them said that the baked sea bass was insanely good. We were kind of bummed that we didn't get to taste it. But we can always go there for dinner.
I would definitely recommend ABC for your wedding banquet. The staff was super friendly and attentive.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/4/2011
I've been searching all around the bay area looking for a modern Chinese restaurant that served… Read more »
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Review from Louisa G.
Oakland, CA
4/19/2012
The food is good if you can get attention. I typically order a To-go and today I thought it'd be quicker to order online...When I got there they said "/Let me check on your order"...waited another 5 minutes and when I walked back to my office (it's right next door), I was very disappointed to find out that the dim sum was cold!
A previous experience was where I ordered the chicken dim sum and was surprised to see that it had the bones, skin and was bloody...maybe it's normal but it woul have been nice to not have the blood ...so i threw it away.
Sad to say it may be my last time to go as I love dim sum.... -
Review from LeeLee C.
Milpitas, CA
1/22/2012 1 photo
Came on the Chinese New Year weekend for dinner and it was super busy. Lucky that we reserved table and got a much private area at the back of the restaurant. We ordered a big pot with layers of dishes inside (poon choy) and it was good. It has lobster, abalone on the top and roast meat, veggie at the bottom. The pot was big and serves the whole table. We also ordered shark fin soup, a steam fish (over cooked) and some stir fry veggie. The service was not too much on such a busy night and we didn't get our plates changed until almost at the end of the meal.
One last con that I had to point out is that the restroom does not have changing tables although the deco inside the restaurant was nice and updated. It was rather inconvenient as a lot of big families with kids come to eat. -
Review from DOM d.
San Francisco, CA
1/22/2012
This restaurant is good for wedding banquets.
However for dinner their service is HORRIBLE.....
I have a bunch of complaints about the service so whatever you can think of it it happened.
They messed up orders .
And tried to cover it up by telling us it was a holiday.
It's happened two days after Christmas u mofo.
Then they tell us the order is on the way .
Seven min past and
Then they ask us If we want to cancel.
They should just be straight forward and say they messed up. -
Review from Kenney C.
Palo Alto, CA
4/1/2012 1 Check-in Here
Haven't been here in years, and came in today for dim sum with the family annnnnnd it was sooooo G double O D good! We all thought so. They put a twist on every dim sum and made it really flavorful, every bite was bursting with flavor. We ate a lot. I recommend the taro bun, shark fin dumpling, even the black bean ribs were more flavorful compared to other dim sum places. Koi Palace is overrated, it's abc from now on, and it's so close to my folks place. Best dim sum place I've been, beats ding tai Feng in la, bi Feng tang in shanghai, and koi palace in daly city.
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Review from Kathy C.
Burlingame, CA
Only good thing from their dim sum is the siu mai. Everything else is just alright. Food carts come out verrrry slowly too. We literally had to special order most of our dim sum staples like bbq pork buns (which were about 80% bun and 20% pork fat) , fish porridge, taro buns, etc. Umm..yea and that took about 20 min. to come out.
Last night, my family and I went to have some crab noodle dish. And there was so much salt that i woke up this morning with some extreme chipmunk cheeks. :( -
Review from James K.
San Jose, CA
12/31/2011
Food is good but not great as some claims! Service depending if you know the people you will receive fair service, otherwise not so good.
Free desert if you tip the wait staff during New Year and Christmas
Over all, its a Chinese sea food restaurant and nothing to lose any sleep over.
By the way, my sister Dorothy feels this restaurant is worth 20 of us from South Bay to drive 30 miles to eat at. I'm wondering if she is just trying save herself a few dollars in gas at our expense.
If you enjoy fair service and good food, this is not a bad place to try otherwise stick to the restaurants that you know is better. -
Review from Liu C.
San Francisco, CA
1/1/2012 1 Check-in Here
**** 4 Stars ****
This is my first dinner of 2012! It's pretty good with setting, services and foods.
I've come here a few times with my relatives. And I love that place because there's much better than some Chinatown restaurants, at least neatly and courtesy.
You will get a free desert after finish the dinner, the mango pudding tastes so good!! MUST TRY! and mango pudding is larger than you think!:)
Also that place has WIFI. You can ask for password or you can see the phone number on their carte. That's what I try and I success. Yayyy.. -
Review from Alice C.
11/2/2011
This is quite frankly a pretty average dim sum restaurant. Nothing special at all, and none of the dim sum really stood out.
Correction: some stuff like siu mai (shrimp and pork dumplings with the yellow wrapper) did stand out. Not in a good way...it just wasn't very good, and the ingredients didn't taste fresh.
Halfway through my meal I noticed some little funny floatie in my tea. I assumed it was just a weird solid tea leaf because I refuse to believe otherwise. I did stop drinking the tea after though..
The service, like others said, was not very good either. One lady who was bringing us food pushed my friend to get her to move her chair so she could serve. What..?
Maybe this place wasn't *that* bad as compared to other dim sum places, but service and food combined? I would just not eat dim sum if this is my only choice (and I'm from Hong Kong! Dim sum literally flows in my blood.) -
Review from Lisa H.
2/12/2012
Of the dim sum I've consumed in my lifetime, ABC is pretty satisfying. Service gets 2 stars, we seriously flagged down 6 different waiters for water, tea, and chili sauce - but if you go in expecting crappy service you'll be fine. Yummy lo mai gai (lotus wrapped sticky rice) and haam sui gok (fried rice dumpling with minced pork and vegetables). Usually I go on Sunday afternoons and it's always packed out. You can expect a 20-30 minute wait. If I can't be in San Gabriel Valley, this suffices.
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Review from Fallon P.
The slowest service and one of the longest waits I've experienced for dim sum!
I've been to this place a couple of times with my auntie in the past, but it had been more than a year since we've been back. So, we decided to randomly come here today and I walked in to get a number and the hostess told me the wait would be around 20-25 mins. Totally wrong! We waited for 45 mins! Then once we were finally seated, we waited another 10 mins for the dim sum carts to come rolling by!
We even asked a host if we could see the dim sum menu so we could check items off that we wanted and he said no, to just wait for the carts. But, he had an attitude about it, which really rubbed me the wrong way. Anyway, the food is your usual dim sum fare. We had siu mai, sticky rice, har gow, eggplant with shrimp, sesame balls, and green black bean ball things that were fried.
The siu mai was average. I wasn't too crazy about the har gow. I've definitely had better in the city! The sticky rice seemed like such a small portion. I was really disappointed. The eggplant with shrimp was already cold by the time it reached us. It was ok. The sesame balls were good. But, what I liked the most were the fried green sesame like balls that had black bean instead of red bean inside. The lady said they only have this item on Saturdays. They were really good!
Aside from the poor customer service and horribly long wait, the dim sum is alright. Nothing to rave about, except for maybe the fried green ball things with black bean inside! I would not recommend coming here during lunch time ever! If you're starving and don't have the patience, I highly suggest going elsewhere! -
Review from Selena H.
Irvine, CA
11/29/2011
As of this last visit, this place gets a 2.5. for a table for 2, it took 20 min at 11am. after getting seated, things started to look up- waiters were attentive, carts came a rolling. however, after that start, it took forever and a day for additional food carts to come. one lady even had the nerve to say, oh you already saw me and didn't want my food. she was grouchy all morning and complaining to others so whatevs to her.
lotus wrapped sticky rice - wasn't too bad as the pork was minced instead of just fatty pork.
steamed bbq pork bun - i actually liked this as, again, the pork wasn't just fatty meat. the size was perfect.
shrimp dumpling (har gow)- lots of shrimp and the skin of the dumpling wasn't too thick.
pork dumpling (siu mai) - while the dumplings are big, the taste was a bit off.. i just couldn't put my finger on it. i took one bite and didnt feel like eating the rest.
spinach and shrimp dumpling - this was ok but unfortunately the dumpling skin was a bit thick so it just tasted doughy.
pan fried pork and veggie bun - this was very good and the meat was seasoned well.
fried shrimp dumpling- i personally didnt like this just because it was fried and the entire thing just tasted oily.
the food isn't spectacular but they do a pretty decent job for some items. prices are actually quite high for dimsum. for a meal for 2, it was nearly $40! -
Review from teena y.
San Carlos, CA
9/28/2011 5 Check-ins Here
The nice thing about this restaurant is that they serve hot dim sum - made to order, which can take some time, but it's worth the wait.
Dim Sum
1. Pan Fried Pork & Vegetable Buns - Yummy
2. Spare ribs - Good
3. Shanghai pork steam dumplings - Not the best, just ok. The soup usually doesn't stay inside the dumpling as it's already popped or the dumpling sticks to the paper too much and rips =(
4. Chinese Broccoli - Good (sometimes the broccoli is a bit old and big so you definitely need a fork and knife)
5. Pineapple custard buns - Yummy
Mains
1. Ying yang fried rice - Delicious and the shrimp is pretty big compared to other places
2. Chicken fried rice - Good and a big portion too
3. Chicken with crispy noodles - Delicious but doesn't taste that great the next day
4. Chicken Congee - Love to eat this when I'm sick
Desserts
1. Mochi Mango - I don't recommend this as there's only a small square piece of mango in the middle. Not really worth it.
2. Bird's Nest with Almond Soup Dessert - On the menu it states it's $5.50 a cup and we were told that it was a typo and the actually price was $38!! (The correct price is on it's online menu) Dunno how it taste since I didn't try it.
Food is comparable to Taipan in Palo Alto (but ABC might be a little bit cheaper for their dim sum). I like ABC better than Mings in Palo Alto. The service is a hit or miss - I really like this one lady who works there, but that's about it. -
Review from Alison L.
9/13/2011
Best Dim Sum!!! Their Nai Wong baos are the best in the bay area... with the crusty top.. they also have plenty of other great baos. They have all sorts of dishes from the typical siu mai to other things like chicken feet, jellyfish/sea weed cold dish, great noodles etc. I've been going here for over 8 years....
On the weekdays you order on a check sheet and they bring it over... on the weekends they have the carts. It gets busy, so go earlier than later.
The place has excellent lighting, service, and is clean. -
Review from Steve C.
Foster City, CA
3/15/2012
Good dim sum. It's pretty pricey, though.
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Review from Maya C.
Redwood City, CA
3/1/2012
Dim -freaking -Sum! Totally worth the wait here, on Sundays it gets super packed but he food (obviously) comes fast and besides the OK costomer service, this place is authentic and great for large groups!
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Review from charisse B.
San Mateo, CA
8/23/2011
I was busy at work and wanted to get something quick and yummy. I've never tried this place so I thought I'd give it a go. I work right across the street so I call in a order to go. I order the Lunch Special 3-items including rice for $7.00 and a small side of duck. My whole order came to about $14.00.
I was very impressed with the food. The duck is what blew me out the water. I'm a huge fan of duck. I've had it from different places and this by far was the best.
I haven't tried the Dim Sum, but maybe one day.
Here is my summary review:
Service: Good, my order was ready as promised and the lady was very nice
Food: Tasty
Price: Good
Atmosphere: Good, seem to always have people there when I walk by.
If you are looking for a good place to go, I would try this place.
Happy Yelping! -
Review from Swee L.
Belmont, CA
4/15/2012
We enjoy dim sum here very much. But the service sucks most of the time... Esp the struggle to get more chilli sauce. And the only reason we still patronize them is because the food is good. If they hv a comparable competitor close by, we will be gone in a jiffy! Most customers have similar complaint! 4-star for food n 2-star for service!
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Review from Amir K.
San Francisco, CA
11/11/2011 1 Check-in Here
Pretty good dim sum with above-average service. The waiters and host were very acommodating with specific requests, and raised no issue when my party actually wanted to cancel two dishes as we got way too full too fast.
The quality of the food is pretty good and compares favorably with some of my favorite places in the city. I only have two issues with this place:
1) With this being one of the few decent dim sum places in the south peninsula, the prices are going to fetch you a little bit more than you may be used to.
2) I read reviews about this place before going about the dirty dishes, and well.. It was definitely still a factor when I was there as well. Two of our cups had lipstick still glossed on the cup.
Overall, I will definitely go back. It is not worth the drive from the city, however, if you are working in the area and have a craving for dim sum, the place should not disappoint.
