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Zen Peninsula
Categories: Restaurants Chinese Dim Sum Restaurants Seafood Event Planning & Services Caterers Event Planning & Services Venues & Event Spaces Dim Sum, Seafood, Caterers, Venues & Event Spaces [Edit]
1180 El Camino RealMillbrae, CA 94030
(650) 616-9388
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 2:30 pm
Mon-Fri 5:30 pm - 10 pm
Sat 10 am - 3 pm
Sat-Sun 5 pm - 10 pm
Sun 9:30 am - 3 pm
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- 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:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
About This Business:
Wood Fire Woodie specializes in Italian style wood fired pizzas. Signature pizzas include: The Duke: three cheese blend, fresh tomato sauce & organic… read more »
303 reviews for Zen Peninsula
Review Highlights
"A wonderful wedding banquet was held here."
(in 38 reviews)
"I loved the fact that they have fried milk."
(in 8 reviews)
"5- Peking Duck: always a favorite."
(in 14 reviews)
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303 reviews in English
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Review from Christopher L.
Millbrae, CA
11/25/2011 1 photo
This is a review for their dim sum, regular dinner menu, as well as, their specialty food (abalone, shark fin, etc).
For dim sum, as long as you know what you're ordering, the food is good and fresh. If you like durian, try their fresh durian pastry. There's not much to say besides that this is a "classier" dim sum place.
Regular dinner is great, food is solid, and portions are fair. You can expect to pay a bit more than normal here because the place is better decorated (people hold wedding banquets here).
Specialty stuff is pricey, but relatively cheap for the area. Tasty, very tasty, but you can tell there's extra flavor added, if you know what I mean. If you find you've got a bit of extra money, treat yourself to some of their specialty seafood (different menu). -
Review from Dennis L.
San Francisco, CA
1/26/2012 2 Check-ins Here
CHINESE NEW YEAR DINNER
Coming here for dinner on Chinese New Year, I knew it would be packed. All the families would be trying to get everyone together in time to celebrate the year of the dragon and Zen would certainly be decked out with the large round tables everywhere. With it's nice and spacious interior, I can easily imagine Zen being used for many wedding banquets. But this was different. All the large round tables are full by 6:30 and they had set menus for different party sizes to make things easier on the kitchen.
$318 for 10 got us:
House special combination platter
Braised shark fin soup
New year oyster special
*Stir fried steak cubes with greens
*Peking duck
Braised shitake mushrooms over sea cucumber
Crab with ginger and scallion
Yang chow fried rice
Braised e-fu noodles
Red bean dessert
Added:
*Honey walnut prawns
Sweet and sour pork
The food was quickly served and came almost at a rate too fast for us to eat and before there was space on the lazy susan for more dishes. The food tasted good with the highlights starred above. The steak cubes were a hit with everyone. The peking duck, where they had the decency to give us 12 buns since we had 12 in our party. You'd think this gesture would be extended for other dishes as well, but no, service was clearly the poor here, or at least strained due to the volume of diners. Overall I was thinking about giving them 2 stars but their food quality takes them up to 3 STARS
Wait time: short if you get in with the wave, long if miss the rush
Parking: private lot is a clusterfk, but if full don't be afraid to park on the street outside. It's a lot easier. -
Review from Nicole S.
Ever wonder what it's like to have a grown man, who was probably the manager, throw a tantrum at your table? Come here and you'll find out.
I've been to Zen Peninsula a couple times, but Wednesday marked the first time I've came here for dim sum. My friend decided we should try dim sum here since we tend to stick with a couple regular spots.
DIM SUM:
We arrived at 1pm and were seated immediately. The food was okay, nothing really stood out. They do have certain items that aren't typically found in most dim sum spots such as durian pastry puffs and foie gras sui mai. One of my usual must haves is sharkfin dumpling soup. I was quite disappointed in the sharkfin dumpling because there was barely any sharkfin.
I have been here for dinner as well as a wedding banquet. The food quality is better than most Chinese restaurants, but that also comes with a higher price tag.
SERVICE:
Horrible! The food here is 2-3 stars, but the service totally ruined our lunch and I ultimately decided that Zen Peninsula is a 1 star place.
My friend wanted peking duck and buns and ordered HALF a duck. When the dish came, it seemed like a lot and my friend asked if it was half a duck. The server responded "yes...duck", basically responding like that because she didn't understand English. As we picked out our pieces of meat and ate the buns, I said that had to be a whole duck, there were two drumsticks!
My friend asked who we assumed was a manager and he said it was a whole duck and proceeded to argue with us that we ordered a whole duck. Finally, he threw a fit, got an empty plate, took most of our duck, and walked away with the plate. He took away most of the skin! I'm assuming he threw the duck away but who knows, hee could have let us keep it and adjust the price. I believe his name is Jason since that was the name who had adjusted the duck order on our receipt.
PARKING:
A private lot with limited parking or street parking is available. At 1pm on a Wednesday, the lot was filled but street parking was easy to find.Listed in: WTF was I thinking?!
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Review from Kevin H.
Burlingame, CA
2/1/2012 1 Check-in Here
The traditional dim sum they provide is quite delicate. Various food gives you many different pleasure.
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Review from LUCY N.
San Francisco, CA
1/30/2012
Horrible experience here. My wedding planner arranged a tasting here and when we arrived, the managers practically threw the menus down at the table and never addressed us. We wanted them to cater to our venue and he rudely replied $400 a table. Maybe it was because we didn't speak any Chinese, but we left after feeling so uncomfortable... Well I'm just glad that they showed me their true colors before we actually booked them. Saved us 22,000! Meeting with Ginger Cafe next week!
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Review from B. Y.
San Francisco, CA
1/1/2012
Good option for a solid Cantonese meal, especially if some place like Koi Palace is too crowded. We had the steamed fish, honey shrimp with walnuts, braised tofu, pea shoots and a chicken dish - all were pretty good. Service and ambience were what to be expected from a typical Chinese restaurant.
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Review from Erika C.
Decent. Portions are a little large, which isn't a good thing for dim sum, but I can't complain about more food. The foie gras and shark fin pork siu mai would be more accurately described as pâté and shark fin pork siu mai.
Quick service. I asked for a sauce that they wouldn't give me. Boo. I didn't press further, but weird.
Four stars because many places are a lot worse. -
Review from The D.
San Bruno, CA
1/2/2012
Rockin' dim sum. Don't expect 5-star service (it's a Chinese restaurant, duh, it's just how it is). In fact, you're supposed to wave your hands and stand up to get attention. Parking is awful to find when it is busy. Helps to have someone who speaks Mandarin or Cantonese with you. If not, be proactive for ordering and service.
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Review from Ede S.
9/19/2011
(but only when you have connections)
My husband's family always comes here for special occasions, or just, occasions for some good authentic Chinese food. There's dim sum during lunch time (beware of the long lines) and good Chinese food and occasionally a wedding banquet at night.
I really don't know what we order, but everything we order has been DELICIOUS! I don't even know if the food we get is even listed on their regular menu! One of the only things I can translate is the filet mignon beef with fried tofu (again, have a thing for tofu). The tofu is fried on the outside (crispy) and silky smooth on the inside. Oh, and there was also the fried lobster with the salty egg on the outside as well as pumpkin (three things I love!). Other than that, I have no idea what I'm eating.
I guess we order such expensive dishes that we ALWAYS get complimentary dessert at the end. No, I'm not talking about a bowl of mango pudding or any of the cheap stuff... we get HOOKED UP! A typical complimentary dessert for us would include: a whole pie of baked sago (LOVE THIS!!!), two types of mochi (peanut and green tea), almond/coconut cookies, another mochi and sesame balls. They seriously always bring us out 3 dishes of dessert, and yeah, it's definitely not the cheap kind either.
Will I come back alone or with friends? Nope... can only get these awesome hook ups when the manager knows you. -
Review from M M.
Millbrae, CA
12/6/2011
If you are not Asian, they will treat you poorly. We were served mediocre food and rushed out of the door. They made us feel unwelcome. Won't go back anymore. It's unfortunate that few of these restaurants in Millbrae do not treat every customer with respect. I would definitely not recommend this place...
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Review from Cat H.
9/30/2011 1 Check-in Here
We came here for a co-worker's goodbye lunch. They have dim sum at lunchtime, but instead of the traditional carts going around, you have to make your selections and they will bring them to you. We got the usual dim sum fare, like the shrimp long noodles and spareribs, etc. We did have a few first time dim-sum diners with us, so it made it harder for them to know what they wanted to eat/order. I prefer the carts so that you can see what is available.
The food tasted authentic, which was good. Perhaps we came too late though because it became harder to flag down someone as the meal progressed to order more items. For dessert, the fried sesame balls were tasty, but unfortunately no more egg tarts. Overall, a decent place for dim sum. -
Review from Diana C.
7/14/2011 1 photo
What's a holiday without eating dim sum with friends? That's how my friends and I roll, and this past fourth of July, we prepared for a long day of car shopping by first filling our bellies up with dim sum at Zen Peninsula.
I'm not going to go into detail about all the types of dim sum we had. Let's just say Zen sold us some good, solid food in a flash. We had just been seated for a few minutes and started ordering our dim sum on the form provided by the server when the dim sum cart ladies dashed to our table to offer us all the varieties in the world. It was quite overwhelming as multiple ladies would be talking to us at the same time. Every time the dim sum lady puts a steamer on our table, I had to scratch out what we were requesting on the form. I don't understand why they even bothered with the form anyway that day. It was quite amusing and I shouldn't complain. Afterall, we were able to stuff our faces minutes after being seated.
I never knew this but I guess Zen is quite popular for wedding banquets. Their flat screen TVs kept rolling images marketing wedding receptions. I'll see to the banquet food very soon as one of my buddies will also be having his wedding banquet here in a few months. I'm sure the food will be good, just like their dim sum. -
Review from W J.
Pacifica, CA
1/16/2012
We went here because my wife's friends recommended it to her. I should have been suspicious when we were seated immediately at 11am on a Sunday. After being seated, we waited several minutes until I had to flag a waitress to ask for a pot of tea. We tried 12 dishes to get a good idea of the quality of their dim sum. Sad to say, not a single dish was very good, and a few of them were pretty bad. It says a lot that my daughter didn't even care for the hai gow, as she loves shrimp dumplings. On top of everything, this place is a bit on the expensive side for dim sum houses. With the number of places to go for dim sum, we won't be coming back here again.
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Review from Svetlana V.
San Diego, CA
As many other reviewers of this place, I went there for a wedding banquet. Well, the food was amazing! We even had abalone :)
The service... hmm... you know how it can be in busy Chinese restaurants, right?
I don't think I will ever dine there again, but it was an interesting experience.
The decor is not that great. More importantly, they have dead fish in their tanks. I am not saying a dead one here and a dead one there... they were practically all dead! And their tanks are sitting by the entrance! I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish by that. -
Review from Joshua B.
5/7/2011 1 Check-in Here
I've been to a few dim sum places in my hometown of Seattle, but I'm far from an expert. A bunch of actual Chinese speaking co-workers recommended we come here on a Saturday so I took that as a reason to go.
It was as good as anything I've had for dim-sum, although they mostly expect you to order from a menu where you "tick" off your choices (rather than just the carts that roam around with stuff on them.
Nothing really stood out, but everything was quite good. The Chinese-style desserts really aren't my speed (meh, powdered milk that's been batter dipped?) - but everything else, including the chicken feet, the dumplings, the noodles were all great.
Plenty of parking, which is probably a plus as it got crowded by around noon. I'd go back if I were in the area.Listed in: San Francisco Faves
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Review from Christina X.
Millbrae, CA
10/16/2011 1 Check-in Here
Dim sum here is decent. The prices are reasonable. Dinner here is alright too, could be better. The only thing that's reaaally good here is the fried pumpkin! Other than that...it's not amazing here, just....decent.
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Review from Peter B.
San Francisco, CA
5/8/2011
SO we set out today to enjoy some dim sum.
Our journey took us to Zen Peninsula. We have eaten here before and cannot figure out why they charge you for tea as they are quick to offer it to you yet charging you for it. In the past we said no to tea and a fee per person showed up on our receipt. We asked about it and we were informed it was a tea fee, when we told them we didn't have tea we were informed it was a sitting fee. Really a sitting fee? Who does that? A tea bag cost about 4 cents and most traditional Chinese restaurants are happy to serve it to you for FREE, Zen get with the program!!
The carts go by often but often of the same dim sum.The place is over crowded,huge waiting line, and the food is nothing to write home about.
Oh and the bathrooms haven't been washed in YEARS!!!
Will not return!!! -
Review from DimA L.
San Mateo, CA
11/21/2011
I came here for a Red Egg & Ginger party and was very pleasantly surprise by the quality of the food. Everything that came out was hot and fresh and the portions were large and at a table of 10 there was still a lot left over.
We had the duck as part of the menu and that was a little fatty but still yummy. We also had the sweet and sour fish filet which was very good; not too heavy and not too light. The roast pork has perfectly crispy skin and not overly salty. My favorite, which I will go back to have more of, was the Zen crispy noodles. Yum.
Our overall experience was 4 stars! We did not have the dim sum so I can't comment on that. The other thing that was nice to see was how transparent they are about their banquet menus on their webpage and the prices. Love that they are upfront instead of nickle and diming people like some other restaurants. -
Review from Heather s.
San Mateo, CA
6/29/2011 3 Check-ins Here
Thanks to my husband for finding this place for weekend dim sum. A large open clean space with plenty of dim sum varieties. We tried plenty of classic dishes and ordered some off the menu.
The memorable good:
- Turnip cake (just the right amount of crispy gooey goodness) - although it didn't come with oyster sauce
- Shrimp rice noodle roll
- Black bean pork ribs
- Scallop and shrimp shu mai
- Mango and shrimp fried roll
- Salt and pepper calamari (off the menu)
The eh- disappointed (but still average):
- Steamed BBQ pork buns (will have to try the baked variety next time)
- Pork shu mai
I have yet to try a dim sum place in the Bay that blew my socks off. Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this place is that the cart ladies nicely push their goods on you in Mandarin... even to our obviously Indian non-Mandarin speaking friends. At least they love their jobs?
Spent $30 per couple and left full and happily sleepy. Will definitely be back to try more of their other dim sum varieties. -
Review from Eric A.
6/24/2011 1 Check-in Here
This place is pretty good. A group of us came here for lunch and ordered off their dinner menu, we had a bunch of stuff such as
- foie gras fried rice
- geoduck (cooked to ways)
- peking duck
- stuffed chicken
- szechuan beef
- platter with char sui, pork, chicken
- seafood hotpot (but with tofu & oysters)
It was pretty good! I would like to come again and get some fish or try out one of their huge crabs.
Overall a good place. It's close to The Kitchen and several other Chinese restaurants (banquet style) -
Review from Mike V.
Millbrae, CA
4/29/2011
Zen Peninsula hosted our pre-school auction banquet. While the service was satisfactory and the price was reasonable (for mediocre food), the reason I'm giving this place a 1-star rating is a matter of transparency.
Zen Peninsula has "No on AB376" posters throughout the restaurant, indicating their opposition to the proposed bill banning shark fin soup.
For anyone who knows anything about sharks, I don't need to elaborate on AB376.
I had a long conversation with the owners regarding AB376. While I understand their position as business owners wanting to keep selling shark fin soup, they REFUSED to tell me their supplier of shark fins. If they claim their fins are harvested from the US, then they shouldn't have any issues telling me who they buy their seafood from. I asked repeatedly for the name of their supplier, and they insisted that they wouldn't tell a "stranger" (me, a customer) who exactly supplies them with their seafood. They were defensive and hostile toward me (their customer) regarding my inquiry.
If you care anything about sharks and the sustainability of our oceans, and you think it's important to know where your food comes from, I'd pass on Zen Peninsula. -
Review from Gilbert C.
San Francisco, CA
7/31/2011
Recently went here for a wedding banquet for the first time and while service was what you'd expect it to be at a wedding, the food was below my standards. And my standards are pretty easy to meet in most cases.
From what I remember, the Peking duck wasn't very good at all and everything else was just avg or below avg.
Thankfully the wedding banquet was very enjoyable but the food was nothing to write home about. -
Review from E C.
San Francisco, CA
7/27/2011
If I could give this place ZERO points, I would.
All the restaurants no-nos were hit tonight:
hair in our food - check
bland food - check
terrible service - check
staff's kids running around and almost knocking over partition on us - check
cleaned up before our meal was done - check
hurried us out of the restaurant - check
You couldn't pay me to return. -
Review from Kylie L.
San Francisco, CA
5/9/2011
I occasionally go there for DS on weekend, but never dinner. The food is hit and miss, it's on-par for most of the time. Service is above average, but some people get much better treatment than others. I could understand that, typical Chinese restaurant grease ball poop. So, my family went there on Mother's Day for dinner. I could not believe they pulled such a stupid scam on us (it's actually beneficial to us), not sure if other customers were slapped in the face as well. When we got the bill, the tips section was already filled out by them! They imposed a 16% gratuity for a party of 4 (I calculated 17.5%). There's no sign, advance notice, not even special note in the menu mentioning it. They only hit you when the check comes. Their only explanation is because it's Mother's Day.
They might have tons of customers not following the American customary of tipping min of 18-20% for dinner, over 20% for exceptional food and service. To me their move is unethical, even though it is to my advantage this time. Because I'm saving a few bucks, call me cheap, I don't care. I usually double the tax (9.25% to that county) for even a lousy dinner. Anyway, enough with the tipping. One more thing, like Peter B mentioned, they'd like to slip in little fees on the bill. They over charged us for rice which I did not bother to mention. They just assumed, 4 people should have 4 bowls of rice. There you go, the other 0.5% for a total of 18%. If you ever go DS there, pay attention to some tables are getting dessert soup at the end while some tables don't. I don't really care for the dessert soup, but it just shows their 2-tier customer service, right to my face. -
Review from Clifford L.
San Francisco, CA
2/25/2011
Dedicated to Peter N, World Traveler, Bon Vivant, and Knower of Splendiferous Dining
What could be more Zen? -cut plush wall to wall, bright chandeliers high on 40' central ceiling, 20 x 30 stuffed red velvet panel cushioning blazing gold foil Double Happiness, double table cloths, Imperial yellow Chinese damask seats . . .
Enter the Great Room, little dining niches along the left wall, separated by free-standing calligraphied 4-panel screens for "intimate dining".
5 of us walk-ins were promptly greeted by the hostess at the podium, immediately escorted to the table, suit-&-tie host, starched but not stuffy like the linen and ceramic chopstick rests, asks the kind of tea we'd like with dinner and takes our cocktail order, pivoted, and, presto, uniformed Ms Waitress took his place, giving us the laminated photo menu and all sorts of flyers with daily specials and multi-course family style choices, in Chinese. 3 minutes later, we were confronted with the difficult task of ordering, difficult because EVERYTHING in the photo booklet looked oso phenomenally good.
[table snacks - salt rolled peanuts, sweet pickled cabbage]
Jalapeño 5- Spice Salted fried Calamari
Chinese Chicken Salad, fine chop
Crabmeat & Fish Maw Soup
Peking Duck, 2 ways
1. the delicate chestnut-translucent skin with the butterfly steamed buns. hoyseen/scallion garni
FIFTEEN min. later -
2. the meat boned & minced with other tasty bits into a smoky soong filling for lettuce cup, spoon your hoy seen & julienne scallions.
IN THE MEANTIME,
individual bowls of steamed rice
Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.
- and never rushed!
Almost forgot 2 mention dessert- Sweet tooth (complimentary) warm "sweet water" w/those mini beans & tapioca. Tidbit plate of bite size pressed coconut cookie, tiny custard-filled mini buns, and yellow vanilla/lemon gel roll, rolled in coconut dust and cut into fun morsels.
We needed another dish, but had too much already, by virtue of the generous platters. (2.5 boxes 2 go)
We could do no better in Hong Kong.
N T S - necessity to return to do conclusive taste tests- AND DimSum!
Overall service, attentiveness, and hospitality A+ +
Overall food & presentation & flavor A+ +
*The Duck was on a par excellence with the one at HK Lounge. A+ + +Listed in: My Neighborhood, Top Restaurants, The Places I Go Out
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Review from Tina Y.
San Francisco, CA
7/27/2011
Came with the 'rents for dimsum on the way to SJ - my parents hadn't returned in a couple years and decided it was worth trying again. They were very wrong.
Half a star is for the middle-aged ladies carrying trays that I felt bad for refusing - my family is very picky about dimsum, having tried many, many restaurants, and usually don't get anything besides what's we ordered. The other half is because the Giants' game was playing on a flat screen. Oh, and I liked the tea, though it was a tad more bitter than other restaurants'.
Now for everything else, which was just plain bad. Sucky service that refilled our tea after long waits and plopped our dishes down without saying anything. I don't want soy sauce splashing onto my shirt, thanks. One lady kept trying to convince us to take the dishes she had; I get it, you want to get rid of them, but pestering us when we clearly explained why we didn't want them, was just rude.
The food? The chicken feet were nothing special, neither soft nor well-flavored. I liked one dish, the egg rolls stuffed with taro and a few other yummy things; it was crispy and not too salty. But it was just not enough. Zen Peninsula messed up siu mai, plain vegetable dumplings, and stuffed eggplant and mushroom, which is just dimsum blasphemy. I love siu mai, and this was full of disgusting, fatty meat, and reeked of fishiness. We had them take the dish away unfinished. The fishiness goes for the stuffed eggplant too. The fishy smell was more noticeable than the taste of eggplant, and the stuffed mushrooms were just bland. I love eggplant and can usually eat it in any style, but I refused to eat another serving.
We made an exception about not eating dishes from serving trays for dessert, deciding to go with a mango pudding that a lady offered us. It was jello-y and the sago balls were hard. I don't know how long those were refrigerated or what was up, but it was just bad. And the mango tasted like much-too-sweet plastic, blah. Not making that mistake again.
When my pops asked for the bill, he accidentally handed the waiter the receipt with all our orders, and instead of taking the correct stamped paper on the table, the waiter acted very confused, asking us if we wanted to order, when all our finished plates sat on the table in front of him. Also, we never got one of the dishes we'd ordered. I don't know if the restaurant charged us, but it would've been nice if it'd noticed, and, I dunno, given it to us. Our bad for not noticing, but I don't consider it the customers' job to keep track of all their orders.
Despite our giving them a much-too-kind 15% tip, the staff did not acknowledge us at all when leaving; on my way to the door, the lady at the podium, aka the "greeter", stared at me without a word, and I left an unsatisfied and disgruntled diner. Never, ever, ever returning here again. My parents, the true dimsum connoisseurs, were disgusted and shared the same sentiments. Save yourself and go somewhere else, anywhere else! -
Review from Bob W.
San Francisco, CA
7/23/2011
Traveled a lot around the world, ate lots dim Sum in my life. This place ranks very low on my return list. Save yourself the unpleasantry, go to the Kitchen instead.
About the food, over spiced, under cooked, mostly simply the wrong flavors.
I can not imagine the people that eat here and where are their standards? Lots of kids here also. They push the food hard here also.
Chaw.... -
Review from Tiffany K.
Burlingame, CA
My family's favorite restaurant and I would love to throw my wedding banquet here too...take up the whole restaurant!
Their food is always good and consistent! Dinner is always good and not hard to get a table! Dim sum for lunch might be a wait though because they are always super busy on Saturday and Sunday! -
Review from Ann L.
4/16/2011 1 photo
Finally tried Zen Peninsula for dim sum in Millbrae. It's on El Camino Real & Center St on the Right side if coming from SF & Hwy 101. Parking on the street or in the back their own parking lot.
We got there about 10:45am and no wait on Sat 4/16/11. The room is pretty big & service is pretty fast - they have ladies carrying trays, pushing carts, & special made to order items you can check off.
Alaskan crab $19/lb. They had a "No AB376" - the ban of shark fin in Calif sign on the host stand.
Stuff we got:
black bean spareribs - ok, needed to be more tender & have more flavor.
bbq pork flaky pastry (cha shiu sow) - fine
chicken feet - fine
tofu skin rolls - fine
shrimp & veggie steam dumpling - fine, 3 pcs.
pork porridge w/ tiny bit of friend donut - I tasted it, was ok
seaweed salad & mini octopus - fine
shrimp rice crepe - can get made to order. ok.
foie gras shiu miu $4.5 for 3 pcs - just ok, but very rare to get this item. Only at this restaurant I think.
Green tea sesame mochi $3.2 for 3pcs - made to order. Black sesame lava is really hot, be careful!
Tea - I asked for jasmine. $1 per person.
Subtotal $38.20 + $3.63 tax = $41.83 before tip. Credit cards allowed.
Separate bathrooms in the front, left side. Women's 3 stalls, 2 sinks. -
Review from Mona W.
I remember back in the days when Zen peninsula was recommended as one of the top dim sum spot by the older generation Chinese in the Bay area. It had been a really long time since my last visit to Zen Peninsula. Perhaps I was too spoiled by the fierce competitors like Koi Palace, the food was just mediocre to me and I wasn't thrilled.
The dim sum was fine. Nothing was wrong and they were perfectly fulfilling to someone craving a dim sum meal. However, their dim sum lacks delicacy and attention to little details. The Roast Pork was too tough and the Crab & Pork Dumplings was too dried. The Egg Yolk Buns was too thick and Beef Rice Crepes skin wasn't thin enough.
I know I am very picky when it comes to Chinese food. Can't help it since I grow up in Asia where amazing Chinese food was readily available on a daily basis.
This place didn't get too busy even on the Sat. If you are craving dim sum on a weekend and don't feel like waiting over an hour, Zen Peninsula is really not a bad choice. There were still quite a few empty tables when we finished our lunch about 1. Probably not a good sign for the restaurant but I won't complain. -
Review from Jimmy L.
San Jose, CA
2/20/2011
It was the first weekend of Chinese New Year, and meeting some friends here.
It's conveniently located in Millbrae - on El Camino Real. I had never been here, so the front door wasn't in an intuitive place and is off to the side, and not facing the El. I walked around to the right side of the building, and it was the parking lot to the motel next door; finally found it on the left-hand side.
The parking lot had been crowded, and the adjacent side street was full of cars, so I ended up parking across El Camino.
I'm Chinese-American, and have had my fair share of dim sum. To me, "dim sum is dim sum," in most places. They are either or any of the following -
1. Yank Sing - higher priced for a different demographic, and the food is noticeably very good, and worth the higher price if you feel like splurging once in awhile.
2. The rest of the higher-priced places (yet cheaper than Yank Sing), where the food isn't that much more different than the norm (yet less greasy, perhaps), and isn't necessarily worth the higher price (i.e. Joy Luck Palace, Dynasty, Hong Kong Flower, and Koi Palace).
3. The onslaught of the more reasonable-priced larger-venue dim-sum houses that are constantly crowded with throngs of Chinese people - which usually means that it is somewhat decent for the price (Fu Lam Mum in Mountain View is my fave dim sum restaurant, tastes better than the rest of the price, and is ALWAYS crowded).
4. The smaller venues and hole-in-the walls that suck, are rarely crowded, and with no wait lines.
While I was growing up, I remember when dim-sum was someplace special you went to, yet now, they are definitely a dime-a-dozen, and it's hard to distinguish yourslf above the rest nowadays.
This is one of those places that fits into category 3 - the food here was pretty good for the price. All of the dumplings were fairly fresh, and hot, and in addition to the usual standards, they had quite a wide variety of items that I don't see anywhere else.
Even for a "slow" day (according to my friends because of Super Bowl Sunday) it was still standing room only! There was something really cool about the buzz-of-energy, and noise level at this place.
This was a nice option to find along the Peninusula - halfway in between SF, and the South Bay. -
Review from Denise C.
San Francisco, CA
10/5/2011
The interior is nice for another Chinese restaurant anywhere south of San Francisco. Chinese restaurants are SOOO ORIGINAL. My family threw a birthday party for my parents' 70th birthdays. I have eaten banquet dinners a lot with the same dishes over and over again. Chinese food is sooo mundane! I hope somebody revolutionizes Chinese food and restaurants someday.
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Review from Steph F.
Milpitas, CA
I guess the saying that restaurants that focus a lot on advertising in newspapers are not that good... I've seen Zen Peninsula ads all over the Chinese newspapers for awhile and my family decided to try it out today. We arrived just before 1pm in time to avoid the wait that I've read about in some of the reviews. The restaurant was still pretty full.
There are people going around with carts but you could also order on by checking off the items you want on the sheet you're given.
We ordered the pea spouts dumpling, shrimp dumpling, porridge, egg yolk buns, the Shanghai style pork dumping soup, Malaysian style steamed sponge cake, green tea sesame mochi, and the mango and pomelo jello.
While this dim sum restaurant had a lot of variety, nothing really stood out as being exceptionally good. The egg yolk buns were not bad. The filling was good but the bun itself was a bit tough. I'm a fan of green tea flavored items and was disappointed that the green tea sesame mochi didn't taste like there was any green tea flavor in it. The mango and pomelo jello was something new. I haven't seen it in the jello form before and am used to eating it with sago as a dessert. The biggest disappointment was the Malaysian style steamed sponge cake. It was practically flavorless and was not cooked properly because the middle was a bit hard.
While the dim sum wasn't the best, maybe dinner might be a different story? -
Review from Lisa C.
San Mateo, CA
Updated - 3/3/2011
I gave them a 3 stars. This time: 3.5.
BECAUSE:
-they are more organized now, but still ill-considerate waiters.
-they're always creating new and interesting dishes with random chicken parts.
some food lack the "omg that's soooo goood i'm going to eat this forever" feeling compare to other restaurants nearby, like chicken feet.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/21/2010
i'm suprised on how much this place has improved on since i went a few years ago, which was horrible… Read more »
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Review from Evelyn C.
San Francisco, CA
2/4/2011
Had Chinese New Year's Eve dinner here with the family.
Table service was fine, perfectly polite, but it seems they were a tad understaffed. Our waiter was running around like crazy trying to serve maybe 5 big tables by himself.
The food was NOT good. We ordered a preset menu, and nothing was timed right. The soup came out in the middle of the meal (traditionally, it should come first or right after the cold plate appetizer). Not only that, but FIVE dishes came out at one time, so there wasn't much space on the Lazy Susan to arrange everything, and we had to eat as fast as possible to make space. I'll try to detail what i remember:
- Cold plate appetizer. This was fine. Nothing good or bad about it.
- Fat choy with mushrooms and dried oysters. The main parts of the dish were fine, but the fat choy was cooked separately and scooped into the dish--how do i know this? Because the fat choy was noticeably lukewarm compared to the rest of the piping hot dish.
- Fried rice. This was fine.
- Noodles. Um...WAY too salty. Not only that, but noodles are NOT supposed to be cut into little pieces to make it easier to serve. That's just bad luck.
- Soup. Tasted like old oil. I didn't finish mine.
- Beef with snow peas. This was actually one of the best dishes.
- The lightly fried shrimp covered with miracle whip and served with candied pecans or walnuts (hup to ha). This was the BEST dish of the night.
- Peking duck. Skin was not perfectly crispy. The buns served with the dish were TINY. Like, super tiny.
- Ginger and scallion stir fried crab. WAY too salty. I didn't have any, but my entire family was complaining (and my parents love their food super salty).
With the prices charged and being that it was a big night in Chinese culture, the food was inexcusable. I don't recommend this place at all. -
Review from Stephy L.
2/6/2011
Saturday Morning. 9:30am. Normally i'd still be in bed sound asleep, waiting for myself to wake up naturally without an alarm clock like regular weekdays, but this morning, i woke up at 9:30am, took a shower, put on makeup, and got ready to head out for some dim sum.
Together there were 9 of us. We managed to find parking in their private lot so it was easy. at 10:30am, the restaurant was about 30% full. There were a lot of empty tables. We waited about 15 mins for our family friends to arrive. In that 15 minutes, I believe more than 10 ladies with their dim sum carts/trays came over and try to get us to order the dim sum. Do you not understand the idea of us waiting for our guest to arrive before ordering?
When finally our friends arrived and the table was full. There were 4 ladies standing around our table yelling out dim sum names and whatever that was on their trays. TIME OUT. One at a time please? I guess in a way you can call them great since you have lots of choices around you, BUT i must say, you get quite annoyed after a while when they bombard you with food and trying to get your attention.
Their dim sum quality is not bad. Portions for noodles and fried rice are decent sized. By 11:30am, this place was packed and every single table were filled. Beware of the staff, some tend to be nicer than others.
The waiter that take cares of our table was very attentive and he was sure to come check up on our tea cattle on a timely basis. Thank you!! We never had to ask for tea :)
Fook Geen fried rice was pretty good. With a good amount of sauce and a decent portion. It also had quite a few prawns in there. yum
Bonus points on offering "dao fu fa" ( tofu flower) as dessert! It's my favorite and I was gonna order it, but no need! The tofu was smooth and the accompanying sweet soup was just right.
Good place for "yum cha" Must come early if you don't want to wait. -
Review from Jessica T.
South San Francisco, CA
9/25/2011
My family and I come here a lot.
However, that doesn't mean I don't have negative things to say about this place. I do. For one thing, when the whole ENTIRE family came here one day, we ordered a HUGE bowl of porridge instead of just a small individual bowl. Well, when this bowl of porridge came to us, what was on top but a fly just floating on top? Can you say DEEELISHCIOUS? Cos I can't. After that, we never got a replacement for it.
Now some of their dim sum CAN be delicious. But only on days when their cooks are in the right mood. Otherwise, some of the things you get may be too cold, or not enough flavor, or too salty.. things like that. And plus, on non busy days, their servers will just stand next to your table and look over every 5 seconds. Dude, I need space. And on extremely busy days, they won't even give you a tiny glance when you need them most.
But other wise, this place is passing. -
Review from Eileen L.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 11/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
Just came here for a wedding dinner last weekend . Their suckling pig w/ jellyfish was alright . The suckling pig didn't have much meat though . Their golden fried crab claws were pretty good ... would've tasted much better if they had given us some dipping sauce though . The stir-fried geoduck w/ scallop with greens was alright . Not really impressed by the dish though ... the geoduck's texture was too hard . Their shark fin soup failed to impress me . Their sliced abalone was alright . Their lobster is not bad . Their peking duck and steamed fish were both really really yummy and falvorful . I didn't try their fried rice because I didn't like the way it's made . I tried fried rice that looked like that once before at a wedding and ever since , I never ate fried rice that's made like that again . Their e-fu noodle was really yummy ... would've been nice if they given us more . Their red bean dessert was too sweet . Their was a dessert at the end which looked like steamed egg with sago filling or something like that ... its texture and taste was really weird . They also had mini wife biscuits at the end ... the taste was forgettable . Overall , the wedding dinner exceeded my expectations . Chinese wedding banquet dinners usually taste horrible but the wedding banquet dinner at this place was actually decent . This might not be a good restaurant for dim sum , but it's not bad for dinner and wedding banquets .
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/6/2011
1 and a half star
Always wanted to try this place so I finally came here for dim sum the other day .… Read more »
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Review from Eric Y.
La Grange, IL
11/27/2010
A bustling dim sum house, popular with locals and with a pretty much all Chinese clientele. As such, I would have expected higher quality food. I am always worried when I see dead fish in the seafood tanks at the front of a restaurant. Come on ... get the dead fish out of there!
Most of our dim sum selections were competent, but none were spectacular. The clams in black bean sauce were juicy but with a slight metallic aftertaste. The pan-fried turnip cake was not very good. The shumai were huge and tasty. Shrimp and rice noodle roll was good. Pan-fried Shanghai rice cakes and fried ho fun were just ok.
Service was particularly inattentive, even for a Chinese restaurant. We ordered ice water for the table and it did not arrive until the end of the meal despite us asking multiple times. -
Review from John L.
San Francisco, CA
12/25/2010 2 Check-ins Here
[review is for dinner] Overall, dishes are done very well. Black pepper steak is always very tender and flavorful. Fried calamari is well-battered/seasoned and always tender, one of our favorites in the Bay area. Garlic snow pea leaves is done well. sweet & sour pork ribs is pretty good. chicken dishes can be hit or miss though - the meat is usually thinly sliced for their dishes and I prefer thicker cuts. prices are good considering the large portions.
this is one of our regular spots for dinner. service is always good and tables are well-spaced out. take out is VERY quick, usually done within 15 minutes of placing/calling in your order. prices are very fair considering the large portions and overall quality of dishes
