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Mon., Wed-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
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It's pretty good, I came here after going to Tea Era next door since my friend was hungry. Not allowed to bring any outside food/drink unless it's from Tea Era. I guess the owner owns both places or something.
Actually .. I wasn't hungry at all, but my friend was......so.. we ordered beef chow fun, which were really good. Very cheap too. I think it was $5.99 and it was a really big plate. (After tax = $7.64)
I'm just surprised that I only saw white people eating here. And they all looked at me like they've never seen an Asian girl before, or as if I came to the wrong restaurant.
"Hey, this is OUR territory!" is the only way I can describe the expression on each and every one of their faces.
Gosh. =(
The beef noodle soup here is great- the best I have ever had!! The only downside is there aren't many tables here, so get here early!!!
Prices are good- one of the few places on Castro where you can eat and pay tip and spend less than $10 per person!
Solid 3 stars for the food: 4 stars for the Niu rou mien (beef noodle soup) 2 stars for the pan fried dumplings (skin partially frozen when I tried it).
Extra 1/2 star for the 5 star quality, friendly and efficient service. And for the close proximity (next door) to excellent pearl milk tea (Tea Era). Their jasmine milk tea and barley milk tea are addictive. No need for pearls, it's so good.
Food: 4 | Service: 3 | Ambiance: 3 | Price: 5 = 4 stars
minus 1 for serving old chicken =[
As three college students stumbling upon the hidden gems of Castro St., my friends and I opted for Queen's House to fulfill that home-cooked Asian meal craving we've had for quite some time.
I liked:
- the $21 for 3 main dishes + rice / scallion cake
- that the drinks are from Tea Era next door
I disliked:
- finding parking on Castro Street (it's nonexistent)
- my experience with General Tso's chicken
I'm a fan of their kung pao shrimp (they're generous with the portions!), and spicy eggplant dish. We also ordered General Tso's chicken which -- yes, I'm whitewashed -- I usually love. I was disappointed when I had to gnaw at the pieces, though. Really tasted as though it had be re-dipped in grease after sitting on the counter for the day. Yes, I can tell and no, I was not happy.
I'm still hopeful enough to give Queen's House many tries.... for good, cheap Asian cuisine in the Stanford Area, why not? After reading some reviews of their Taiwanese dishes, I'll keep you posted on how that turns out next!
The beef tendon and stewed meat noodle soup is AMAZING! The tendons and meat is stewed to perfection, an explosion of flavor and just the right texture. The soup base is not too oily so it makes a very comfortable meal. Highly recommend both the Spicy or Non-Spicy version.
Service is friendly and the place is quite busy but the people there move fast, so about 10 - 15 mins wait. Parking behind the restaurant is plenty (big city parking lot that's free)
I came here with my family because my mom read somewhere that it had the best spicy beef noodles in the entire Bay Area.
The spicy beef noodles were pretty good, but they came in such a giant bowl that I could only finish a third of the bowl. We also ordered Hong Kong style noodles, which were crunchy with stir-fried ingredients on top. Their green onion pancake was also pretty good.
I would go back to try some of their other dishes.
This place serves up a good selection of Taiwanese food. Portions are pretty large for the price, so I would say they are a pretty good deal. The "Northern style scallion pancake" is huge... I will also comment that I feel like the food here is a little on the sweet side. Dishes that are typically spicy also have a sugary sweetness at Queen's House. I will leave it up to you to decide if you like that or not...
Overall, decent service, low prices, decent food. I would definitely return.
Why does this place have 3.5 stars? I feel deceived. This place was really greasy, and pretty bland. And I usually like my food greasy.
True, the Beef Noodle Soup that we got tasted better a couple days later but.........I don't know if that's normal. Or good. Is it good when your food tastes better because it's festered a bit in your fridge? I dunno.
I also got the Tan-Tan Mein, which didn't taste like what it was supposed to taste like at all. Or at least it was unlike any other Tan-Tan Mein I've ever had at any other Chinese restaurant. Tasted really uncomplex--like they took a Lee Kum Kee sauce packet from Ranch 99, heated it up, and threw in some ground meat with it. Which is basically what I do at home some days, expect I pay under $3 for that.
The Scallion Cake, in my opinion, was beyond oily and I had to add my own salt in order for it to have any flavor. I could barely taste the scallions and the pancake itself wasn't layered/flaky like it's supposed to be. Honestly, probably one of the worst scallion cakes I've had.
Did we all eat at the same restaurant?
This place is okay. I've been here twice and neither time has really wow-ed me. The thousand layer pancake is really good but everything else is just average. You can order drinks with your meal and they will bring it over (from Tea Era...I'm guessing it's the same owner) - their milk tea is really good. But other than that, I don't think I'd go out of my way to come back here.
Came back here for Taiwanese style brunch last Sunday (8/23/2009) after Sunday service @ CCIC MV with 2 friends.
we had:
-- savory soy milk x2
-- spicy beef noodle soup
-- rice cake stir-fried w/ green vegetables
-- sesame pancake + meat sandwich
-- (they ran out of the salty sticky rice roll though)..
all of these tasted great, the total bill came out to ~$30..
I am a tough reviewer, and to have 4 stars on this one says a lot. I come here a lot, either dining… Read more »
I love this place but they NEED TO EXPAND!
Hard to find a seat during Lunch hours..
Beef noodle soup and taiwanese chopped pork is what we usually order.
Overall the food is okay. Nowadays I come to this restaurant solely for the beef noodle soup. It's actually a little spicy which makes it a great meal for a cold winter day. Taste good and great portion.
Food: 5 stars
Service: 3 stars
Ambiance: 3 stars
Overall: 5 stars
I wasn't planning to review this place cuz it has so many already. But i wanted to add it to my list of faves, so why not give it a review. I LUV the Taiwanese dishes here. They make it just like home. So we've perfected our ordering down for 2 ppl and always crave and order the same things.
Onion pancake - must
Beef noodle soup, spicy, thick noodles - must
Sticky rice in a barrel - must
Chives in a box - must, but sometimes they're out of this because they hand make it
And for a 5th snack dish, we vary it up all the time. Sometimes it's potstickers or another noodle or rice dish. We haven't ordered their plate specials yet, but i see a lot of non-asians ordering that stuff and it looks good as well. Place can get pretty busy since it's a small place. But they've re-arranged the chairs to fit more people. The best part is that we leave the place w/ only a $15-18 bill (this stuffs two ppl!).
As the Prince of Taiwan, it is my culinary duty to inform all about the wonders of Taiwanese cuisine. My country is more than just stainky tofu dear Padawans. I busted out my madarin as soon as I entered this joint so they know that their Prince has arrived. This place rocks out with their co*ks out! We had the Taiwanese beef noodle soup, and this was so good we should fill up the engines of our Taiwan fighter jets instead of fuel if China ever decides to attack because we'd kick their asses with this powerfully delicious soup base. The beef was so tender, even the tendons, which are tradionally tough in other soups, like beef Pho. The wife also had the Pork intestines vermicelli, another Taiwan delicacy, some crispy fried chicken, their green onion pancake, and lastly, the chive in a box. The chive box is just a fancy way of describing a big fat fried dumpling filled with egg, greens, chives, and some bean thread. It's okay, but not worth the 4 bucks. All the other stuff though, kicks darth balls. We ate like pigs, had leftovers, and it was 30 bucks total, tax and tip.
If the President of taiwan were here, he'd give it thumbs up too.
We ordered pea sprouts, salt and pepper fish and the 3 cup tofu clay pot dish and they were all pretty good. I will be back again to try their beef noodle soup.
Great service - really nice and fast waitresses! Unfortunately the food wasn't as good as the service. The Kung Pao Chicken was halfway decent - relatively spicy, slightly undercooked vegetables. The Chow Mein was absolutely flavorless, with bland chicken, beef, and shrimp. The sweet and sour shrimp was more fried batter than shrimp.
I was really hoping this place would be a little more authentic and flavorful, but I was really disappointed. 2 of us ate for roughly $25, little pricey for sub-par food.
We had the Beef Noodle Soup since it was recommended by yelpers and end up very disappointed!! The noodle was too tough, the beef brisket was way too fat and the vegetables that come with the noodle were not even properly cooked.
The only good thing that comes out from this, I know I am really lucky to be surrounded by much better Chinese food in the Peninsula.
Went tonight for the first time - food was OK three of us ate with beer for $42 - including 3 main dishes: Cashew chicken; shrimp and black bean sauce; broccoli beef; a tureen of beef-noodle soup; onion pancake; leeks in a basket (biscuit?) and white rice. The food came out very fast. It was good - didn't get to order really spicy stuff because a guy in our party didn't care for 3-alarm hot stuff. I liked the soup (it had lots of bok choy) and the onion-in-a-bucket.
I hate to say this - but I am geared more for Chef Chu's, Tao Tao's and PF Chang's.
The staff was very pleasant and friendly.
They did not serve tea or give us fortune cookies with the bill. I miss reading my fortune. Oh well.
Not sure I will go back with so many other establishments around. This place is walking-distance from my house, though. It was good, not great. I did like the soup, though.
I didn't know they had potstickers and dumplings. So maybe I'll visit one more time.
Simple, fresh, and tasty Chinese food. The scallion cake is a definite winner. No frills here but still good.
I've cooked Ja Jiang Mien noodles for 200 before, and I have some pretty strong opinions on how it should taste. The dish at Queen's House is only so-so.
Wow....seriously this is the worst Chinese food I have ever had! I've had better at Chinese places in a Mall. I ordered Mongolian Beef that was weird in color and no flavor. Everyone else in my office thought the same thing about their food...no flavor...totally bland.
1 star because the food was hot when we picked it up. Will not be back...yuck!
I come here quite often with my parents, as this is one of their two favorite Chinese restaurants.
Three cups chicken: DELICIOUS!! Very annoying to eat, but whatever...
Their clay pot dishes are awesome. Esp the veggie one...that's saying a lot considering I'm a huge carnivore. it's large enough for at least 2 if not 3 people. And it's really good (MSG maybe? haha).
I advise people to stay away from the fried rices...and I actually think their beef noodle soup is meh, but gotta love the clay pots =)
The pearl milk tea at tea era is surprisingly good! I think I like it more than Verde...
Overall pretty good
Confucius say...
"When in restaurant, the more sucky the service, the more tasty the food..."
Confucius knows what's up because over here, we had to ask for forks twice, ask for plates in order to share our chicken curry three times, set out a flare to the waitresses to get some water, literally beg for napkins, amongst other things, etc. It's like dude, c'mon can't you see I'm like right here waving at you and I've asked you a bunch of times already?!!?!
But you know what, it was worth it. I'd go through that headache again to have some of their braised beef tendon noodle soup. Tendon might scare some folks off if you're not used to the texture. The texture is a little like jello like with a bite but it has this organic, super meaty, beefy flavor. Not to be outdone by the tendons but the spicy beef broth is insanely good and beefy too. Thinking about that broth makes me want to start moo-ing.
Got Milk?
Love this place! The beef stew noodle soup is their signature dish. If you like spicy version of it, try the sichuan beef noodle soup. It's got the most tender beef ever, and it's marinated so it's sweet.
Large portions, lots of meat, really hearty. Service can be a little slow at times, but who can beat the $6 noodles! It's one of my favorite cheap eats in the area.
Random fact: it's closed on Tuesday.
Queen's House used to be our favorite Chinese restaurant in MV because the price is reason and the food was pretty good. But I think the quality of the food is going DOWNHILL recently.
We went there for dinner last night. We ordered the salt & pepper fish fillet, Mongolian beef, salt & pepper pork rib.
Mongolian beef was Really BAD. There was only a few pieces of meat with a lot of yellow onion. Worst of all, the meat doesn't even look nor taste like beef. It is the most horrible tasting Mongolian Beef I have even had. A warning to anybody who reads this review. Don't try the Mongolian beef!!
Salt and Pepper Fish Fillet was pretty good.
Salt and Pepper Pork rib was little dry and a little too salty.
The place doesn't feel clean. Everything was kind of greasy.
I don't think I am going back there again.
Chinese name of this place is "Yuen Bao" which roughly translates to gold crown (nugget), a symbol of properity and good luck. A fitting name for a Chine$e/Taiwane$e restaurant for obviou$ rea$on$.
However, I can't say the same about their English name "Queen's House". I dunno, but luckily there are no ladyboys or trannies in here (probably a more apt name for A$IA $F), and definitely not a house of ill repute.
Every day around or right before noon, A$Ns and A$N food eaters gather here like bees to a hive. Everyone here orders different things to their liking, but it is the rea$onable moderate price$ that keep the bees coming back. Closed Tuesdays, and ditto for its beverage offering sister next door "Tea Era".
Practically everyone sticks with the 2 pager lunch specials menu, which will suit the casual Chinese food fans just fine. For the more $eriou$ kind of bee$, the most popular item here would be their noodle soup offerings, with the beef noodle soup (stewed or Sichuan spicy) prep that is arguably "best on Castro Mountain View" (which is not saying a lot).
The stewed beef noodle soup is all brisket cut, but cooked long enough that the beef is tender. If you are (un)lucky some cuts will have what look to be layers of fat, which may deter from or add to the experience a bit. The broth and stew receipe seems to be a bit strong on the sugar side, which is why when you order Sichuan Spicy version (nothing more than a layer of hot chili oil on top of the stewed version), it's hot, spicy, and a wee bit sweet (at least for my tastes).
The folks who run this joint are Taiwanese, so it is no surprise they do have a small amount of Taiwanese type snack offerings (at entree portions and prices), such as oyster pancake, stewed pork over rice or noodles, what looks to be Tainan style Peddler Noodle (to be tried and reviewed next time and compared with Southland in Cupertino), oyster vermicelli noodle etc. A shame they no longer offer stinky tofu, but with such a cramped and stuffy environment even on a fairly cool day, I'm sure other bee$ would appreciate the lack of foul fried fartastic flavors.
After eating the beef noodle soup here for years, finally ventured out to the Taiwanese side of the menu.
The pork intestine with vermicelli noodle soup (da tsang mien xien) was a good sized bowl at $5.99 + tax + tip. Definitely saw bits of bonito flakes in there (katsuoboshi) and while they did use yam/starch powder to thicken the soup, it was still a bit watery. Only one or two shreds of bamboo shoot, and garlic was cut, not minced and grounded. I had to ask for black vinegar which did help enhance an otherwise lackluster flavor. The pork intestines were cut into small bite sized pieces and were super soft (vs a traditional chewy and bouncy texture) and in some cases, the bone marrow like insides melted into the soup, leaving only the casing. A decent bite that's on the light, for those who want some nasty bits that doesn't pack on calories.
They have boiled dumplings here (jiaozi/shuijiao) but in memory I did not enjoy them. Nowhere near as good as Hana San Jose, let alone San Tung SF, or Kingdom of Dumplings (household names by now for that stuff). This is a disappointment, considering that jiaozi/dumplings are molded in the form of ahem...a "yuen bao" or gold crown if you think about it, which is why they are also New Year's food items/themes. Cough cough....no ladyboy dumpling jokes please...
There is only one restroom, which is all the way in the back past the kitchen. To get there, you need to learn to walk sideways (like a crab), perhaps suck in your stomach should you have a pot belly, and very carefully, the kitchen floor and area leading to the "watering hole" can be perlious should you slip. You have been warned.
Saying that Queen House is the best Taiwanese (in Mountain View) is like saying McDonald's makes the… Read more »
First of all.. it is a hole in the wall. Well.. a cleaner, more updated hole in the wall that is. It has a limited amount of seating and there is always a waiting list. No matter what time or day of the week that you go. The service isn't the best (you have to work on flagging someone down), but how can you complain when the price is so cheap for such great food.
I started coming to this place when I lived in Mountain View with my cousins a while ago. Since then, I have gone back as often as I can when I am in the area.
I highly recommend the spicy shrimp and beef noodle soup. It will make your nose run and give that nice hot burn in your throat. I was told that they make their own noodles. Not sure if it is true or not, but either way, I love their noodles. Its cooked just right. The onion pancake is really good as well. Kind of greasy, but what did you expect from a Taiwanese pancake ;-)
Think of this... two bowls of noodle soup, onion pancake, 2 drinks, and potstickers (Shawn likes these alot) and total bill was less than $30. That is crazy! Especially since we ended up with leftovers.
Oh! Just try not to go when you are starving because the wait can take a while at times.
Food is great. Wait can be a problem, especially on weekends. Most everything I've eaten here has been "above average" and some things have been great. Only one bad miss, which was last week - Chicken and Black Bean sauce lunch special was almost inedible - made with some less attractive dark meat parts that were chewy and sinewy and slimy. I threw it away.
But overall, Queen House is one of my favorite comfort food restaurants in the Bay Area.
Want to save some dough in this economy? Eat at Queen's House.
Why?
Most items on the menu (if not all) are under $10.
The serving sizes are so HUGE you're practically getting two meals for the price of one.
The quality of their noodles was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't sloppy, soft, or spongy. It was pleasantly doughy, gave you something to chew on, very enjoyable.
The service sucked, sure, but whatever. This ain't the Ritz Carlton. Suck it up.
My wife and I came with my parents and together we ordered three noodle dishes (wonton noodle soup, snow cabbage with pork noodle soup and another stir fried noodle dish) and a rice plate (deep fried pork chop over rice). It's quite a deal that each of our dish is less than $6 each. All the dishes were well prepared and came out very quickly. Since our table were right next to the register, we felt that we were always being watched and listened in on by the restaurant owners. It would have helped if they even pretended to be not looking at us while we were eating!
Queen House also serves drinks which are made by Tea Era right next door. I had an iced jasmine tea with tapioca pearl for $2.50, which complemented my lunch really well.
Bottom Line: Tiny, little Taiwanese restaurant that offers great value and decent food.
Came here for dinner this time.
The extra star mainly comes from the sauteed pea sprouts with garlic I smelled at another table. That smell reminded me of home. I was pretty mixed with the rest of the dishes, including a disgusting oversight in clean food preparation.
From what I have tried on Castro St., this place has the best value. This time, we had:
Pork dumplings - Much better than last time, juicy and delicious.
Kung pao Chicken - Nothing too special
Kung pao Shrimp - Better, had more vegetables in it
Popcorn chicken - Excellent, chicken was mostly meat, not fat
Spicy Cold Noodle - Looked like something you could make at home, but the flavor was there. Good amount of spicy.
Chinese Broccoli - Friend found a cooked green caterpillar stuck to one of the leaves. It's more common than you think. So common I didn't even decide to complain. I've cleaned chinese broccoli before and it's hard to see their camouflaged bodies.
Service wasn't bad for a packed house. You just need the gall the raise your hand and call them.
This place gives you value, unlike almost all the other places in Mtn View Castro St.
We had:
Spicy…
Read more »
I eat here more often than just about any other restaurants around. A small neighborhood miracle, if you can get over the constant chattering by the waitresses (I have leanred a great deal about De Anza College gossip and improved my Mandarin by overhearing these conersations).
The food is delicious though not spectacularly, but made more atttractive by their modest pricing and large servings. The 3-dishes-20-dollars-plus-rice is a great deal. The fried-then-stirfried General Tso's Chicken greatly appeals to my partner's American palate, while the "Three-Cup Tofu" is authentic enough to remind me of my Taiwanese hometown. If you live nearby and have not checked this place out, you are missing out!
Decent Chinese food for the area. Authentic, but on the greasy side. Small and quaint.
I'm so done with this place. The service has gone from terrible to really terrible, and the food isn't so great to make up for the crap service. Also, the prices aren't so low that I'd excuse the complete inability of anyone who works here to smile.
And seriously, what is with the fool in the back who is always yelling?
The perfect don't-know-where-else-to- go-after-work or take-out place in Mountain View. Great and… Read more »
I love this place. It looks like it's family run.
This place is very small and they do a great job on their soups.
My personal favorite is the War Wonton soup. It should be called a stew,
it is so full of meat, shrimp and vegetables that there's hardly any room for liquid. It's a meal in it's self. I really haven't had too many other dishes from their menu other than the combination fried rice and egg rolls and I thought those were also very good.
Prices are also very fair.
Keep up the good work
Three words: cheap lunch specials.
Obviously don't go here for quality because you won't find great Chinese food. I've tried the Singapore Rice Noodles and the Black Bean Chicken. Both were really bland, but fast and cheap. Just make sure you ask for a shaker of white pepper, and go nuts.
I guess it's a good place to go if you don't have a lot of time for your lunch break, but let's face it -- you're on Castro! There's a whole row of much better restaurants if your stomach rumbles for more than fast food style Chinese.
This is a great place to go to when you want a quick lunch. I'm had their pork chops over rice and snow cabbage w/ pork noodle soup. Both dishes were good.
The only downside about this place is their lack of service and space. You are literally sitting with the people next to you. I would suggest you try to grab a table before 12.
3 stars because the food is really good and really cheap.
But the service sucks. None of the three different wait staff people who spoke to me made eye contact with me once. They come in, do what they need to do, and leave -- all on their own time schedule....
Don't come here if you appreciate friendly service.
The food was pretty tasty. The service was alright. We ordered the northern style scallion cake, the crispy chicken with garlic sauce, black pepper beef with onions, and crispy pan fried noodles. Everything was good, but the best dish we ordered was the scallion cake. It was crispy, light, greasy and similar to Malaysian/Singaporean roti.
- Beef noodle soup (stew + tendons) = excellent. Would be even better if they could add in handmade noodles. Oh, if only. :)
- Pork, shrimp, and veggie dumplings - good but the skin was a little too thick.
- Rice w/chopped pork ("Taiwanese style") - good and flavorful but not my favorite
- Black milk tea w/honey - super fragrant and good
Would definitely return for the beef noodle soup and a maybe on other dishes.
Mountain View, CA
Category: Dim Sum
Mountain View, CA
Category: Chinese
Mountain View, CA
Category: Chinese
Mountain View, CA
Category: Coffee & Tea
Mountain View, CA
Category: Chinese
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