- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Macau Cafe - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
Pacific East Mall3288 Pierce St
Richmond, CA 94804
(510) 559-7888
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
56 reviews for Macau Cafe
Review Highlights
"Lamb clay pot with the bean curd was awesome."
(in 7 reviews)
"1) BBQ pork over rice plate - holy schweine."
(in 10 reviews)
"...the tea is slightly tart, hong kong style, which is a great..."
(in 3 reviews)
Loading...
56 reviews in English
-
Review from N C.
CA
8/29/2011
Baked Clam Spaghetti was the best! There's no other place that makes it as good or even have it on their menu. I miss this place a lot!
-
Review from Jana S.
8/9/2010
Never even got a chance to review this place before it closed. Yes.. I couldn't believe it at the dinner table gossip last night. Yet to view with my own eyes, I trust the handy dandy 'in-the-know' crowd I was with to clue in the clueless (moi--get this. they are out-of-towner foodies too!!!)
I was a lover and fan of some of their specials, and a hater of others. Hence, it was always the ambivalence that kept me at bay from reviewing a place I have patronized over a dozen times.
Lamb clay pot with the bean curd was awesome.. every single time.
In general, clay pots were okay.
Don't enjoy getting ripped off from some of their specials, which had neither great wok flavor nor portion NOR novelty..and bloop! there goes another $13
I do remember some pork parts that were more rare and on their specials list that I have enjoyed....in the end, I stopped coming for the past year + because I felt that their quality was slipping and the prices stayed high. And so, when I heard the axe had dropped on them, I was sad for them, but perhaps understood why it happened, as I was just one typical customer who consciously stopped patronage.
This eatery was owned by the Asian Pearl group. -
Review from Tim T.
7/13/2010 1 photo
Used to come here alot for lunch with the family because its cheap.
I would get baked spaghetti with chicken over tomato sauce.
or
baked spaghetti with seafood covered in cheese Portuguese style.
Love the seafood (clams/mussels, scallops and i think shrimp).
Dishes are all under $10
Good location in strip mall across from Ranch 99 and next to the sheng kee bakery -
Review from Ken K.
10/25/2007
This place used to be called Orchid Bowl Cafe 5 years or more ago, and I believe used to be the space when Sheng Kee Bakery had the license to operate a restaurant, and trying to serve up Hong Kong/Taiwanese style western, but failed uber miserably at it (this is also why the Milpitas Sheng Kee decided to close the restaurant part of the business and concentrate on what they did originally best, which is bakery and cakes).
Orchid Bowl Cafe remained the name on the menu even though it was known to fans as "Macau Street" (aka Macau Cafe). But it looks like MC is now what it is known by.
MC is more heavily themed in Cantonese. I can't say that I saw Macanese style street food (like fried pork chop sandwich in a french style loaf) or Maca style western (like baked portugese chicken), but I will say that even though I haven't been here in a while, the food is simple yet cooked quite well.
So it also turns out that Macau Cafe is also part of a large conglomerate that owns nearby Asian Pearl dim sum, one in Newark, one in San Bruno. There's also a Macau Cafe or Macau Restaurant in Sacramento where the chairman of the conglomerate (a chef himself) spends all his time these days. Also this big big company owns The Kitchen in Millbrae and San Gabriel. They definitely have the mark of quality down, and no "Chinese restaurant syndrome" effect after eating (ie MSG attack resulting in really bad food coma, thirst, stiff neck pains etc).
Last time I was here was 2 years ago, on my way back from a lovely trip north (giant redwoods, Eureka, and Napa). Ordered two items:
1) BBQ pork over rice plate - holy schweine.... they used pork neck meat. This was sickeningly PHAT (literally sexy strips of white like bacon), honey and/or molasses coating, roasted, huge portion with a buttload of rice and some veg. Not very healthy, but after eating non Asian food for 5 days in a row, some roasted porky's neck really hit the spot (although nowhere near as refined as Chef Wai's version in San Mateo, but there you pay a heftier price in addition to table and cloth)
2) Clay pot (not quite clay but close) with pork and lotus root. Really good flavor and lots of "energy" from the kitchen.
This is not a fancy restaurant by any means, but the food is great based on the last visit and when they were Orchid Bowl Cafe (very very similar styles so maybe they kept the same chefs). -
Review from Devora L.
8/12/2008
I'm eating take-out from the Macau Cafe as I type!
In the past 10 years that I've been in the area, I've watched this place change ownership three times. First, it was part of Sheng Kee Bakery for a few years, but they let go of the restaurant portion of their business here about 5 years ago. Then it was Orchid Bowl Cafe for one hot minute (okay, for like a year), and currently, it is the Macau Cafe and they've been around for about 4 years.
Despite the ownership changes over the years, one thing has remained the same: The Portuguese Oven Baked Spaghetti has always been on the menu. And that's pretty much the only thing that I order there... :)
The Portuguese Oven Baked Spaghetti isn't your average Italian spaghetti dish. Well, it's apparently Portuguese and is this spaghetti dish that is baked in some sort of white cream sauce. I'm not exactly sure what kind of sauce it is, but I swear there's like, crack in it or something, because I'm ADDICTED. Then they top it with slices of mushroom, onions and green and red bell peppers. It comes standard with a shit ton of slivers of ham on it, but since I don't eat meat, I've always gotten potato chunks in place of the meat. You can pretty much top it with whatever you want; extra mushrooms or bell peppers, potatoes, ham, beef, pork, chicken, seafood, etc, etc. Then they top it off with a SHIT TON of cheddar cheese, pop it in the oven, then deliver it all hot, sizzling and crunchy on the top to my table! It's a pretty unique dish and I haven't had it anywhere else!
I dig the ambiance of the restaurant. The lighting is just perfect. They have comfortable booths. The furnishing is lovely, and the walls and artwork match it. The service is kind of mixed. It used to be horrible, but I've noticed that it has vastly improved in the past year and now, it's actually really good.
Mmmm... I'm almost done with my Portuguese Oven Baked Spaghetti. So good, soooo good :)Listed in: Richmond's Pacific East Mall
-
Review from Michelle W.
Daly City, CA
3/2/2007
UPDATE: 4/30/07
I am sad to say, they bumped up their prices. It's pretty obvious when you look at the menu and it has new white pieces of paper covering the price!
5.95 noodle dishes went up to 6.50. Wah!!!
OK, it's still good though!
___________________________________________
I always stop by here when I'm visiting my bf and we're looking to fill up off cheap Chinese food. Although it's the "Macau Cafe," most of the food is consistent with HK style food.
Few of my favorites:
Baked Portuguese Style Chicken over Spaghetti
Baked Pork Chop over Spaghetti (LOVE the tomato sauce!)
Curry Chicken over Rice (Pork chop is delish too but not as easy to eat)
Salt and Pepper Squid
Salt and Pepper Tofu Cubes
Hoi Lam Chicken Rice Plate (Comes with flavored rice and soup)
most of their clay pots!
Expect about 5.95 for the noodle/rice dishes, 4.95 for the appetizer stuff, and 8.95 for the clay pots. -
Review from Ian K.
Williamsburg, VA
10/29/2007
Update 3/24/2008
As seems to be the case with many places lately, their prices recently went up. It's still good for the stuff I always stick to, and what with the soup and tong sui (dessert) included it's still a fair deal.
I do find myself wishing they'd bring back more of the cha chaan teng snack-ish type items, the French toast and other smaller orders, not to mention the old A / B / C-type set menu they used to do for lunch, their strengths really are more in the cafe-type items rather than the more expensive/elaborate stuff.
BTW, I don't know why they don't list it on the menu, but they will make a yuanyang if you ask. (half coffee, half HK milk tea)
Also, the squeamish vegetarian's negative review of Macau Cafe is rather amusing, and telling of some people's abundant lack of clue. I try to be respectful of other people's beliefs and choices, (I was actually a vegetarian for several years myself) but honestly, it's a Cantonese restaurant... these are the people of whom it's been said that they "will eat anything with four legs but chairs, anything that flies but airplanes".
I wish people wouldn't be so culturally ignorant and expect, with righteous indignation and that annoying asinine sense of Bay area entitlement, that everyone else should cater to them, but eh... places like this aren't catering to the tofu & brown rice gweilo crowd anyway.
- - -
Macau Cafe (previously known as Orchid Bowl) is among my default local places to eat when I want something decent and reliable under $10. I tend to stick to a half dozen or so dishes that I know they do well. They seem to be most adept at doing rice plates, jook, braised/fried noodle dishes, claypots and the standard soup dishes. While there's lots on the menu, (in varying price ranges) deviating from this generally results in my being underwhelmed. YMMV, I've mostly stuck with what works for me. My personal picks (in no particular order) would be:
* Hainan (Hoi Lam) Chicken Rice - Typical, decent, HK-style rather than the Singapore-style I prefer, but it's fine all the same. WARNING: bones, skin, gelatinous chicken fat... if you're not accustomed to this stuff, try something else.
* Spareribs and bittermelon in black bean sauce over rice. (Bittermelon can be an acquired taste I guess, I love it but some people can't stand it. And the ribs tend to be bony and fatty)
* Eggplant with meat sauce (pork, I think) over rice
* Braised rock cod and dofu over rice - This one seems to fluctuate a little, sometimes the dofu is just heavenly, with a rich custardy center, other times the whole dish is kind of "eh". Been a little hit-or-miss for me past few times I had it.
* Pay daan sau yook jook (rice porridge with salted pork and preserved duck egg) - often get this when I'm feeling under the weather, or just wanting a somewhat lighter meal. Alternately, add you tiao guai (Chinese long donut) and negate any health benefits or sense of "eating light" whatsoever. Pass the white pepper, please...
* Jook with fish (cod?) and "vegetable" (choy sum, I think) - same as above.
* Boneless duck and pickled mustard green rice noodle soup - Honestly, this used to be better. Maybe they changed the brand or amount of pickled mustard they put in this, it's not as tasty and savory as it used to be. Still order it once in a while when I want a smaller meal.
* Portugese baked coconut chicken rice - chunks of chicken, green and red bell pepper, onion, mushroom, potato, I think also taro, over rice with a creamy savory sauce (I'm still not sure what's in this exactly, but it's tasty) and bits of shredded coconut on top, baked so it's nicely browned around the edges.
Meals (usually) come with complimentary soup and dessert. If you're unfamiliar with this sort of stuff, things in the soup may disturb you. (bony bits, mysterious vegetable matter, etc.) This is normal. Dessert will generally be some sort of bean (red, green) or grain along with sago pearls or seaweedy gelatinous squiggles slow-cooked with rock sugar and water. This may or may not disturb you. Or you may not get these at all if you're Caucasian like me. It took me a while of going there and speaking bits of butchered Cantonese to the waitresses until they finally realized I would eat anything they put down in front of me. (now they do it automatically, and even seem to go out of their way to make sure I get both soup and dessert when I get orders for take-away)
HK-style milk tea (or coffee, or mix half-and-half) is addictive but can be too sweet for my tastes. Also sometimes tends to make me spaz in that special hyper-caffeinated way that usually only Vietnamese iced coffee will, so I tend to limit my consumption of these to where it's only an occasional treat. Red bean ice is also nice.
Overall: decent food, good value, fairly consistent, clean, fast service, friendly waitstaff.Listed in: Top Restaurants
-
Review from Ian G.
San Francisco, CA
6/9/2009
"Diverse" barely covers it.
This place is utterly devoid of atmosphere, but who cares? I was eager to try the oven-baked spaghetti because I wanted to "understand" what the hell it was. Now that I've tried it, I feel it represents pasta's having fully circumnavigated the globe and then some, from its origins in China to its introduction to Italy by Marco Polo to its migration to Portugal and then back to Asia in the colony of Macao! Then a bonus migration to El Cerrito. "Oven baked spaghetti" is pasta's version of the childhood game of telephone, where each consecutive person messes the message up just a tiny bit. It was a massive plate of US-style spaghetti, obscured by cheese sauce, baked into a crust. It was certainly unique!
And being unique, it fit in perfectly on Macau Cafe's menu. To paraphrase from the Passover Seder, if their menu had Oven Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, but not Frog Leg and Preserved Meat, it would have been enough. If they offered Duck Web, but not Goose Foot, it would have been enough. But they offered that and more: ox tongue, abalone, German-style pork, Dungeon Crab, Howk Style Jelly Fish...their motto is not "The Culinary Innovation Inc." for nothing! Long live Macau Cafe. -
Review from haywood h.
12/14/2006
Macanese cuisine can be compared to HK-style Western food - southern Chinese food, but with a European twist....
Luckily, it's also located in the 99 Ranch plaza in El Cerrito - which is a mere 10 min walk from El Cerrito BART along the El Cerrito creek path (message me for directions, you'll might have some trouble finding it).
We had the special curry beef here that was just wonderful... the menu is relatively inexpensive (there is a whole menu of rice plates and baked rice - highly recommended - for only $5.95!)
And, yep, as Maynard says, T-88 on Taraval in SF doesn't even begin to compare....Listed in: Hong Kong-style Western…
-
Review from vicky c.
New York, NY
5/15/2007
Okay, so maybe I'm a little biased to Asian restaurants. But lately, it's all I've been craving. And man, Macau Cafe hits the spot.
Their prices are reasonable, their service relatively quick, and their food delicious. Definitely gears more towards Cantonese cuisine, with a bit of Malaysian/Chinese/American blend.
Love dropping in to pick up some congee. The pork with perserved egg is a favorite. In my opinion, much better than Daimo.
Other favorites:
- Hainan chicken
- Chow Fun - either Satay style (more soy-sauced based) or Malaysian (using curry)
- Eggplant and ground beef over rice
... and others.
Cheap eats that are tasty? Yeah, I'm down with that.
When I hit up Ranch 99 (which is really often), I'll hit up this or 168, depending on my mood. In my mind, this is more of a cafe, casual experience - but 168 is more of sit-down dining (although in Ranch 99, you'd be crazy to expect anything fancy).Listed in: Chinese bites around the Bay
-
Review from Nancy W.
Emeryville, CA
9/21/2007
NO idea what other people ordered, but when we went the food was oily and totally bland.
The food took forever to serve and prices are not reasonable for what was served. I give it 2 stars becuase the waiter was at least nice and the place isn't completely dirty. -
Review from Tracy D.
San Francisco, CA
10/6/2006
Yum, my taste buds are still tingling from dinner tonight!
Macanese cuisine is kind of a blend of Chinese, Western, Singaporean... hard to describe, really. It's a little spicier than regular Chinese but still fairly mild. The dishes in here will sound/look somewhat familiar-- they have fried rice, noodles, clay pot, soup, and delicious curries, all with a distinctive twist.
The food is fresh and flavorful, the sauces are rich without being overly oily, and the tea is slightly tart, hong kong style, which is a great complement to the food. Lots of options as far as seafood, chicken, fish, pork, beef, but not too many vegetarian ones.
Service can be spotty, especially when they're busy (they forgot to bring us our waters, but it wasn't that big of a deal), but for the prices (most in the $6-11 range, a few that are more) and the great food with generous portions, I was entirely satisfied.
This cafe also serves pearl milk teas to go; very convenient when you've just finished shopping at the Ranch 99, as it's just opposite the checkout lanes. -
Review from meshell c.
Oakland, CA
7/10/2010
Typical Chinese restaurant. We usually do take-out and the food is decent. Their fried noodles was very bland and I'm not sure if they totally forgot the sauce, but it was just dry and nothing special. Their chow fun is good.
Service, I don't care for it and the ambience is certainly nothing special. For a quick bite, it does it's job. -
Review from Renate V.
El Cerrito, CA
7/10/2007
I love this place!
They have such a good chicken curry that I swear it must have LSD in it. What the heck is in that stuff to make it so good? I'm sure it has some MSG, but what else? It is so savory and complex. It is tha bomb. -
Review from Stephen S.
Brisbane, CA
5/4/2008
Poor Service
Bad Food
I know I can't expect too much and compare this with great Macau style food I've had in Asia but the food was just not very enticing. First it took me a while to order since nothing there seemed appealing.
Finally the waitress served us the incorrect dish after a long wait and a reminder. Rather than simply replacing the dish she had to argue with us that we ordered incorrectly. There is no need to defend the ego by saying "you're wrong, I'm right." It's just a restaurant and the point is that this is not the food we want so just replace it! - so just replace it and no more finger pointing.
Usually when you order at a restaurant they will confirm your order but she did not. We ordered in Mandarin but I suppose her Mandarin was very poor therefore she decided to (guess what we ordered). -
Review from Marc K.
El Cerrito, CA
3/5/2009
I've been to Macau.
Macau Cafe's food was still better than the food I had in Macau. How lame on the city of Macau's behalf, but that just proves how INCREDIBLE Macau Cafe is.
Yeah yeah, let's go to 168. NO. I AM NOT TAIWANESE. Fine, let's go get Pho. NO. I WOULD RATHER NOT PREFER TO EAT BOWLS OF SOUP NOT EVEN LEGITIMATELY PREPARED WITHOUT MSG. Let's go to Asian Pearl then, jeez. DO YOU THINK MONEY GROWS ON TREES?
No, seriously. Go to Macau Cafe. Amazing.
Milk tea is bomb, and the seafood baked rice with cheese and the chicken rice with potato plates are amazing (both Macau style not Hong Kong style).
GO EAT HERE. NOW. -
Review from Lindsey A.
Los Angeles, CA
9/9/2008
I don't really have anything bad to say about this place. It was fairly empty so of course, seating wasn't a problem.
Service wasn't bad and the food was merely okay. Nothing too omg!delicious. I ordered the Chicken Won Ton Soup, and the server told me that it would take 20 minutes for it to be prepared but I appreciated the heads up. I ordered a small but it was a huge portion, definitely way bigger than I had expected for the price. My friends and I were too busy dying from laughter because some dude outside of Ranch 99 ripped a huuuuuuuuuuuge one like it was nothing. Yes, we are quite immature. Thanks for asking.
Oh and make sure to have that 20 minimuuuuuum to use that plastic, sucka. -
Review from Henry Y.
1/14/2007
Pretty decent, tho we had trouble getting our teapot refreshed...then again it was a busy sunday lunch on a sunny day. The spicy tofu (I dont know the official names because I didnt do the ordering) was really good. We had a fresh steamed fish which was excellent (we had them pick a fish out of the tank of a nearby restaurant, not from their tank!), scallion pancakes which were a bit below average, some greens with baked garlic cloves on top that were delicious, the hainan chicken which was not as good as I've had but passable, and the fried pork dish that the server recommended but nobody was crazy about cos it's consistency was like salty leather. Pretty good for a mall cafe though.
They have no bathrooms of their own so you have to walk around the mall to find one. -
Review from Joyce B.
1/11/2010
Out of all the places in this asian plaza, this is probably one of the best ones. Since we've already tried all of the cafes, my parents and I decided to eat here.
Food:
*Decent, pretty good.
*Try their beef & chicken quesadilla. Yummy!
Service:
*Pretty good, you don't feel rushed -
Review from Katie O.
San Francisco, CA
1/1/2009 2 photos
I've been wanting to try this place for a long time....maybe I've waited too long, since I've read that they've changed ownership more than two times. Anyhow, we were driving back from Vacaville and I decided to try this place. We walked around the mall until we found this place and most of the restaurants inside the mall was at least half full, but when we got to Macau Cafe, it were only like 5 occupied tables, which made me kind of nervous, but I decided that I should try it anyway.
My husband ordered the hainan chicken w/rice and I ordered the baked pork chop w/ rice. The chicken was ok, a bit too cold for me and the rice that came with the chicken tasted like it was made with chicken powder, rather than using the chicken juice from the actual chicken. As for the pork chop, it was tender, a bit too tender and the rice was kind of hard, but the sauce was good. -
Review from Burrito M.
San Francisco, CA
2/2/2009
If I was on death row, about to die and given one last meal...I would definitely request the clay pot rice from Macau Cafe. In general clay pot rice (any flavor) is the ultimate comfort food in my opinion, but Macau Cafe does it best (this is high praise considering I've had CPR in HK). The rice is fragrant, perfectly cooked and utterly delicious. I can sit down with a pot and eat the whole thing start to finish by myself - no sauce needed. Here are my 2 favorite flavors:
- Free range chicken, preserved meats and dried shiitake mushroom.
- Pork cake and salty fish.
It's so F'in good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Tip: They make this dish to order and it takes 20-30 minutes to make, so be prepared. I would order the dry beef chow fun to tide me over while I'm waiting, just make sure you save ample space for the CPR.
Trick: After you are done eating your bowl of rice, you will have a ton of dried up rice bits stuck to the bottom of the pot, you can ask the waitress to pour some broth into the bowl, recook it for you and serve it back to you as soup (fan jeew cha). To die for.
P.S. The waitresses are super friendly and nice!
Minus 1 star cuz the rest of their food is so-so. -
Review from Garfield J.
Oakland, CA
7/1/2009
i have passed by this place many many times while shopping at Ranch 99.I am a menu reader and noted they have Macau curry. Each and everytime the timing wasn't right, I wasn't hungry, i ate shortly before, I was craving the Won Ton Soup at Ranch 99....
Well today it all fell into place and I finally tried this place. Browsing the menu, I saw so many dishes I wanted to try. I almost thought of ordering 2 dishes for there and one dish to go for dinner.....I thought better and just ordered the Macau curry in a clay pot.
Well, maybe it was all the wait, the anticipated hype, but the Macau curry was extremely disappointing. Let me put it this way, I pretty much always finish whatever is put in front of my face, ...today, I ate about 20% of the dish and asked for it to be packed up to go. It was just too oily, the potatoes some had a funny taste almost like a spoiled taste, the mushrooms were way too flavorfull but in a bad way.
I ended up going to Ranch 99 and ordering their Won Ton Soup. ...After finishing my Won Ton Soup at Ranch 99, while throwing away my trash, I ended up throwing away the stuiff I had taken out from Macau Cafe. .....another thing I rarely do. .. -
Review from Tina L.
Milpitas, CA
1/11/2007
Price is cheap and large portion.....decent food.
Clean plates, cups and utensils......need to be improved.
When you order their fish, make sure they will grab the live fish for you since you can see several dead fishes in the tank.
Baked seafood over rice is a good choice if you like seafood. -
Review from Angie H.
San Jose, CA
Updated - 9/29/2010
I can't believe they closed this place :( So very sad.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
9/14/2008
I absolutely love this place! Probably one of my favorite place to go ever since I moved to… Read more »
-
-
Review from Carrie S.
San Francisco, CA
2/11/2011
I miss Portugese style baked rice w/ chicken....This place was so popular among Cantonese people in the East Bay...come back please...
-
Review from Kat S.
Las Vegas, NV
12/31/2006
You hungry? You want good food? You looking to save money? Well, here ya go! Good cheap food with portion to speak of.
I like their preserved egg pork porridge with the deep fried chinese bread. Spicy seafood noodle soup is also good.
Most of the time I order food to go. Placed my order, walk around inside the 99 ranch supermarket do my grocery, and by the time I'm done, my food ready. -
Review from Kitised U.
Alameda, CA
3/27/2008
Very good HK/Macau style chinese restaurant in that area.
Pros: Food
Cons:
It gets crowded on the weekend. Limited parking space.
Sometimes the cook came out and serve the customers too, they should learn how to smile. -
Review from Bigi L.
Hayward, CA
9/2/2008
The yelp definition for 2-star says it all: "Meh. I've experienced better."
It is really not that good. What baffles me is the amount of customers it gets all the time -- probably a luxury for being inside the Pacific East mall right across from 99! A prime location it is.
Service was mediocre at best. Food was also mediocre at best. I know because I've tried here enough times (my family actually used to kind of like it so I came here at least a few times). Either go to Oakland or the newly opened Jac's (head out Central Ave and turn left on San Pablo) instead. You'd be much more satisfied. -
Review from JET T.
El Cerrito, CA
2/1/2009 1 photo
Food here is always good. Food quality and service is always consistent. Food is served quick and hot.
I do love the "pork neck" and the "Won Ton in Chicken Soup".
I think this place is owned by the same people who run the other big restaurant in the mall... -
Review from Allen K.
San Leandro, CA
Updated - 8/1/2010
I'm so sad! I just went there and find out they went out of business. Somebody else is taking over the restaurant.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
3/30/2010
I come to this restaurant every time I go to Ranch 99. The food is expensive but the food is okay. I… Read more »
-
-
Review from Eric L.
Northridge, CA
10/4/2009
In the same plaza as 99 Ranch, Coriya Hot Pot, Music Tunnel, and whatever other stores you fancy in the shopping mall!
I actually came here with a group before karaoke. We had 5 people, and it took quite a while for our food to arrive at the table...not sure why, considering most of us had ordered the same dish (there was a special). While the food did make its way out of the kitchen, dishes came one at a time, leaving us to wait for each other before eating (it's just the polite thing to do!).
Decent prices and you leave full, but there are better alternatives in the vicinity. -
Review from Mark L.
Westport, CT
12/25/2009
Great food, one of my favorites ever since I was a kid. I really like this place. I usually come with my friends.
For those that don't really know what to order, I would recommend trying the beef curry. All the good dishes are the ones that you can find on the last few pages of the menu. My cantonese friends love the baked pastas. They are actually really good and unique. My favorite is the curry beef, but I would recommend trying other dishes as well. -
Review from Daniel L.
Updated - 5/12/2009
My Macau fantasy came to an unexpected finale on my most recent visit. Reason: Bad taro. The place was super busy and my brother and I ordered the red curry duck casserole ($9.95), pea sprout leafs with garlic ($12.99), and duck with taro clay pot ($12.95). As a taro fan, I was anticipating a sensual experience with soft and mushy taro rocking every part of my senses. Nah, not tonight honey. Our duck with taro clay pot had thick slices of dry salted duck that was heavily marinated and very tasty, but the portion was too small for the rice to soak up its flavor. Moreover, the taro was diced into tiny cubes and it came dehydrated and tough to chew without any flavor. I thought to myself, "I've never had taro this boring before". Even though the rice had the supposed burnt smell, but the bottom was not crispy and it did not have sufficient duck or taro flavor to be considered a pot of ecstasy.
I thought my red curry duck casserole had too much grease instead of curry, but the pea sprout leafs with garlic was fresh and the highlight of the meal. Service was disappointing since I had to get out of my seat several times in order to get someone's attention. After so much anticipation, my visit turned out to be a forgetful one night stand because my taro went to sleep and nothing happened.Listed in: Reviews Reconsidered, Chew on Chinese, Everything Taro & Ube, Clay Pots & Stone Grills, Pacific East Mall
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
4/20/2009
Wow, how could I have overlooked this place after all these years? With my palate searching for the… Read more »
-
-
Review from May T.
San Francisco, CA
5/5/2008
pretty decent cantonese/macau cuisine.
the menu is heavy in the asian-influenced western food items like baked pasta, sizzling steaks and baked rice with gravy or curry. every time my father orders the baked seafood spaghetti with cream sauce, i just want to throw up, though.
i mean, conceptually, that stuff is just gross. why do asian-style western food? why not just have good western cuisine? anyone feeling me on this? am i wrong to get all butthurt over this?
anyway, i haven't tasted a better hainan chicken rice dish in the bay area. hainan chicken rice is sinfully delicious when it's done well. ginger-fresh chicken stock infused steamed brown rice, steamed wild chicken with a dipping sauce of ginger, scallions and light sesame oil. the chicken is so tender and flavorful and goes incredibly well with the rice.
any seafood dish is fair and the prices aren't bad. i also like their stir fried water spinach and gai lan, but those are two vegetable dishes that are extremely difficult to screw up. -
Review from hen a.
12/26/2006
cheap...large portions.....decent food....and they speak engrish~!.....inside the 99 ranch shopping center.....
beef stew over rice was not the traditional beef stew...it's a beef curry stew...bit odd....different....but packed full with fatty stewed beef, softened bones, fried potatoes, onions and bellpeppers......stick to your ribs meal.....
salty spicy chicken wings....bit over fried crunchy salty goodness..."okay"......roasted pork macau style....crispy thick pork skin with lean pork meat served with a side of hoisin sauce....great~!....but..the flimsy thin sorry excuse for chinese pancakes left me feeling a bit cheated....
the food is decent...tres stars worthy....but deserving an extra star for clean cheap-eats meals ($6 average) and clean plates, cups and utensils....Listed in: kung pao this....
-
Review from Adrienne K.
Oakland, CA
9/9/2007 2 photos
The bill was $113.94 and since service was decent we walked out paying $140. I have to say I expected more out of it than what we received tonight! The portion of the food was not huge. Couple of decent dishes and the rest was below average (my opinion). I don't recomment this place and for sure I won't return. Here are the reasons why...
CRAB OVER RICE IN THE BAMBOO STEAMER ($20) - This item was not on the menu, because they said it's a seasonal dish. We ordered it because my mother's coworker said it was good, so we decided to try. What I had from other restaurant for this dish was fried rice with shrimp and scallop over a sheet of lotus leaf in the bamboo steamer and top with a whole crab, then steamed and served with the steamer. What we got tonight was PLAIN white rice on top of the lotus leaf in the bamboo steamer, rice topped with bunch of garlic and the whole crab was on top, then steamed and served as is. OMG! How horrible. (Photo Uploaded) The rice was wet and too much garlic. I tried the rice and didn't touch the crab. My family ate the crab so I can't tell you what I think of the crab. Price for this dish was not expensive considering that we had the whole crab, but what I didn't like was the fact they don't know how to make this dish but sold it as a specialty dish =(
HONEY WALNUT PRAWNS ($9.95) - Not too bad for less than 10 bucks, but too much mayonnaise (my opinion).
MACAU FRIED SQUAD ($9.50) - My mom likes fried squad so it's a must order dish whenever we eat out at Chinese restaurants and she said it was good. I'm not much of a fried squad person, so I have no opinion on this.
SALTY SPICY SQUIDS ($5) - Decent. For the price they charged, I have no complaint.
PAN FRIED RICE NOODLE ($5) - Decent and portion was good for the price, and I have no complaint.
CURRY OX TONGUE IN CASSEROLE ($8.95) - This curry dish had no curry aroma. Not spicy and no flavor. We practically left the whole dish untouched the whole evening after the first bite.
CLAY POT DISH ($10.98) - Not sure what it was called, but it's got mushrooms, sea cucumber, and goose feet. The sea cucumber was not cooked long enough, very tough to bite into. Taste was ok, but I think if they cook the ingredients a little longer would be a more flavorful dish.
CHINESE BROCCOLI WITH BEEF ($11.99) - This is the most simple Cantonese stir-fried dish. How can any restaurant mess up on this? This restaurant did!!! The Chinese broccoli was yellowish-green color which means they over-cooked it =( and the beef was a little tough too. And $11.99 for the portion they served? I DON'T THINK SO!
CRAB MEAT WITH FISH TRIPE SOUP ($13.95) - Another simple Cantonese dish, and they messed it up too. They used real crab meat, but the soup tasted like WATER, so bland that my grandma added the fried squad meat into it to consume. Not good!
MACAU ROAST PORK ($6.95) - Another bad dish. The pork was actually spoiled. Not sure why that is, but it was just not edible.
LYCHEE ICE ($2.50) - It was a canned lychee they bought from the store for less than 2 bucks, transferred half onto the glass with ice and served me with the syrup that came with the can. (Photo Uploaded) It was aweful. I thought the least they could have done was blend the lychee up into smaller pieces and served with shaved ice in the glass. For $2.50, I feel I got robbed =( -
Review from Eileen L.
San Francisco, CA
2/16/2010
I came here just yesterday . I had the black pepper chicken steak . It was disgusting and more fattening than any other black pepper chicken steak I've had . Their lemon iced tea isn't good either .
-
Review from Cynthia W.
Berkeley, CA
6/24/2007
One of those cheap places with delicious huge portions! I looOooOove this place :) I usually get the spaghettis, and my favorite one is the seafood!! The meat sauce one is really good too. I tried these spicy egg noodles with tofu just yesterday, and i really liked those too!! I first came here a lot with my parents, and now i introduced it to my friends! I wish they had more variety on their menu (they have many items, but not many categories of items) but other than that, it's grrrrreat! :D
-
Review from Amiee H.
3/13/2010
I've passed this place many times when I come to 99 and I've always wanted to try it! I'm so glad I finally did tonight!
Food:
-Cod fillet with tofu claypot: This was surprisingly good. There was fried tofu, cod fillet, and some chunks of pork(?) in it. The sauce it came in was very tasty. It complemented all the items in the claypot perfectly. I was very satisfied with this dish.
-snow pea leaves with egg: snow pea was too "mature" so it was kinda stalky and tough. The egg was a little undercooked, which made me think I was going to get salmonella from eating this. The whole dish was a little too bland because it was served in a pool of bland water. I really felt like the way they made this dish was: 1. boil the snow pea 2. poach the egg 3. serve to customer. I didn't even really feel like they bothered to put in salt or anything. I am normally a huge fan of snow pea leaves but this was definitely a disappointment tonight.
Service:
I normally don't care about service but tonight's service is worth mentioning. After the waiter sat us down, they forgot about us and didn't bother to give us a menu. After waiting a VERY long time, they finally gave us a menu and apologized to us saying that they thought we had already ordered so that's why they didn't give us a menu. After we got the menu, no one bothered to come around and ask us if we wanted to order. We had to actively flag someone down so they would take our order. After we got our food, no one bothered to come check up on us if we were done or anything. And when someone finally cleared our table, no one gave us a check! They basically just ignored us the whole time. BUT!...there is a BUT.....but when we did get their attention and they actually acknowledged our existence...they were VERY nice and friendly. BUT this was ONLY if we got their attention and weren't ignoring us. So I'm a little indifferent to the service. GOOD service when they knew we existed, BAD service because they forgot/ignored us most of the time.
Ambiance:
Just a typical Chinese restaurant. Nothing fancy but not dirty. So I guess it was acceptably mediocre?
Price: For TWO dishes and a bowl of rice, it came out to over $30!! That's crazy expensive for CHINESE food!! And it wasn't even all that impressive! WAY OVER PRICED! -
Review from Andrew C.
Hercules, CA
1/3/2010
one star for kind waitress. Zero star for the food. First time dining at this restaurant. We ordered 2 plates of Hainan chicken rice. one plate was okay with some chicken meat on it, but, the second plate came has the meatless part with only skin and bones on it. I asked the waiter " where is the meat". He said this is the part with no meat on it, "next time let us know you want meat on the chicken". WTF, the name of the dish is Hainan chicken with rice or is it Hainan chicken skin and bone with rice? I asked the waiter to replace it with a plate with meat on the chicken. He insisted that he can't do anything to replace it. " too bad you have the meatless part, tough luck". WTF, this is our first time, there will be no next time.
