China Bee

It is hard to find good customer service, and Carl Drake is one who values customer service.

First off, I was thoroughly impressed by the juiciness of the XLB, the sesame noodles, and the irresistible and unique stinky tofu. I am also coming from a background of eating in the heart of Southern California's Taiwanese central - the SGV sandwiched between the 10 and the 60.

From the moment we stepped in to get a table to our finished meal, the staff was friendly and positive. Carl repeatedly checked in with us and genuinely ensured that we were enjoying our meal. Even as it was very busy and packed with people to closing, the staff was super attentive and helpful.

Since they have closed, this one is for nostalgia... salud!

So this place is closed now because good things don't last forever. It's just a reminder to do what you gotta do say what you wanna say and eat what you wanna eat , TODAY !
I was eating here when Nancy Mom was running the show then Nancy took over. I been eating at this location for over a decade. I found y'all out thru Yelp back in the days when Yelp was running at almost a buck .
like getting out of a decade relationship helpless because I already know locally
When it comes to stinky tofu and beef noodle soup
It will never be the same again.
To Nancy and the Fam I just wanted to say thank you for all the good times and good food.
I had a good dream I was craving stinky tofu
Woke up in a nightmare realizing no more in the peninsula

A friend recommended me this place a while back for their Sticky Rice Roll and has been sitting in my bookmarks. Not until a couple weeks ago when they announced they were closing. As a foodie, I feel unaccomplished if I didn't try a popular restaurant's food before they close.

Anyways, this mom and pop restaurant has been going strong for 30 years and they specialize in Taiwanese food and they're pretty known for their stinky tofu. As unappetizing as it sounds, it's very popular and hard to find in the Bay Area. Attempted to call in and line up on Saturday when they opened but stopped taking orders after 20 mins because they were swarmed with orders. Tried again on a Wednesday night but this time showed up 30 mins before they opened and after 20 mins, they stopped taking orders. After an hour of putting down my order, I feel like a champ.

Ordered:
1. Stinky Tofu | $11.50 | 3.5/5
- Warning: roll down your windows cuz this stinky tofu is no joke. Not the best stinky tofu I've had since the outer lay r is quite dense. Imagine it being better straight out of the fryer.
2. Xiao Long Bao | $7.95 | 4.5/5
- Pretty solid XLB, flavorful
3. Spicy Half Beef/Tendon Noodle Soup | $16.50 | 5/5
- The soup base was quite unique and super flavorful. Noodles were good. Could use an extra 30 secs in the water.
4. Five Spiced Tripe | $7.25 | 2/5

Overall pretty solid Taiwanese spot. Hopefully after some time, they will open back up at a different location.

Thank you China Bee for your 30 years of service! :')

Great Taiwanese restaurant in downtown San Mateo! It's one of the few authentic Taiwanese restaurants in the Peninsula, and I was super bummed to hear the owner say that they are closing at the end of the year (before Christmas) after 30 years in business when I went to pick up my takeout yesterday.

I've gotten their fan tuan (salty sticky rice roll) and soy milk on several occasions on weekends, and it's probably the best I've found so far on the Peninsula. I've also gotten a few meals for takeout from here, including the fried pork chop rice plate and stir fried rice cake with preserved veggies and pork. Everything always taste very freshly made and never too oily. The only thing is that I wish their pork chop rice plate is served with some veggies as you'd typically expect in a bento.

This place is quite popular, so I'd highly recommend calling ahead to place your order. Since the pandemic started, they are take-out only. I'm going to be sad to see this place go, but will be sure to visit a few more times before the end of the year!

Sad that this place is closing but glad I got to try it. They are very popular and very busy. Their phone lines are constantly busy. We waited in line for about 20 minutes in order to put in our order. The pickup for the food was scheduled to be 2 hours and 10 minutes later. Take out only.

We ordered the chili wontons, green onion pancakes, deep fried stinky tofu, minced pork rice, beef noodle soup, onion noodles, and hot sour noodles.

My favorite was minced pork rice. This place has one of the best minced pork rice that I've ever had.

The beef noodle soup was solid and the stinky tofu was quite pungent. The tofu is definitely an acquired taste. If you are able to accept and embrace the smell, then you will enjoy it. It was fried well and had good texture. The chili wontons were flavorful and you cannot go wrong with getting the green onion pancakes.

I personally felt the onion noodles and hot sour noodles were on the mediocre end. The noodles themselves were fine but it was lacking in flavor and salt. The hot sour noodles were not sour at all. It had a hint of the numbing pepper flavor and it wasn't spicy. The onion noodles tasted like it was just tossed in onion oil and topped with fried onions.

My recommendations would be to get the beef noodle soup, onion pancake, minced pork rice and chili wontons. If you are feeling adventurous, try the tofu as well.

Short Story: The best stinky tofu place in the bay area!

Long Story: We've been coming here for about a year and it's always been a hit! The stinky tofu is a must have (although it is an acquired taste). Other must haves are the beef noodle soup, chili wontons, beef tendon noodle soup, and sticky rice! It's recommended to pre-order in advance!

Verdict: Sadly the place is also closing so I'm now looking for a new stinky tofu place...anyone have any suggestions?!

Feeling very lucky to have a relative that gave us the inside scoop on this eatery. We had been craving Taiwanese breakfast for some time now as Covid had kept us away from making a return trip to Taipei, so when we learned China Bee had all of our favorites, we were ecstatic. We had youtiao, shaobing, and savory/sweet soy milk. The youtiao had a nice crisp texture, with that clearly recognizable oily sheen (I'm not a fried foodie so I had a bit, but left the majority for the rest of our family). It is great to dip in the savory soy milk as a nice add-in. The shaobing had the nice crispy outside covered in sesame seeds, disappearing soon after we purchased it... I wonder why? The savory soy milk was also so good and had a nice balanced flavor.

Definitely will be a returning customer for these breakfast foods.

I ate here twice in one weekend and still wanted more. As others have mentioned, good spots for Taiwanese breakfast are harder to find further north in the Bay, and this is a great option.

My biggest recommendation are for their fantuan, or their rice rolls. Some other reviews seemed to ding these for not passing some kind of purity test, for including peanuts or not using you tiao, rather than evaluating them on their own merit. These fantuan are great, the sticky rice exterior is not too thick and not over cooked. The interior has a nice mix of pickled vegetables some extra crispy bits (I thought these tasted pork like like chi chicharrons but as other mentioned these may be extra fried youtiao pieces). Personally have a preference for the savory fantuan here

Other menu highlights were their tofu noodle salad, five spice pig ear and especially the tripe (addictive spiced flavor and nice chewy texture). The chili oil with the wontons was great, I am compelled to save the extras and eat with rice. Other reviews called the scallion pancake oily/greasy, you can refer to my photo where it's clear that isn't the case, they do however look crispy and delicious. Can't comment on menu items beyond these, but even just these will make for a tasty and satisfying picnic - no indoor seating, so grab a bag and head to the park!

Was happy I was able to try this place before they had closed!

I swung by on Friday at 4:20pm after failed attempts at preordering takeout and was 11th in line. At around 4:50 a lady had said they would probably only be taking around 10 orders but the rest of us were free to stick around and see if the kitchen could accommodate us. When the folks infront of me ordered, the woman taking orders had announced she would be able to take 2 more orders!!

I placed my order of stinky tofu, chinese spaghetti (zhajiang noodles), spicy pig ear with beancurd, stir fried rice cakes with mustard green and pork, plum juice, and soy milk. I ordered at 5:10pm for a 7:30pm pickup.

It was my first time trying/smelling stinky tofu and I honestly was not prepared for how much it was going to affect me. Other pungent/funky foods didn't bother me but after I picked up the food, whewwww, had to crack open a window in the car.

The stinky tofu was definitely worth trying for me but I am not built to handle it, but everything else was super tasty. The zhajiang mein was super flavorful had lots of meat and toppings and perfectly textured chewy noodles. Rice cakes were soft and chewy with lots of tender pork and pickled mustard greens that were more on the fresh side and not sour. Spicy pig ear had good amount of savoriness and spiciness with half the container being the bean curd. Can never go wrong with a plum juice to break up all the richness of the food and homemade soymilk.

Hope the owners and staff enjoy their retirement!

Today is their last day. The owners are retiring. At lunch they were not taking orders and taking care of pre-orders only.

Thank you, China Bee, for the great food & memories.