ETC Dessert Cafe

A picture is NOT worth a thousand words when food is the topic

At the midsummer's night hangout, my cousins and I found a parking spot (for free) right in front of the restaurant (lucky us!). We walked into the restaurant excited about the dessert that I spare a portion of our stomach for after a big dinner. The shop was rather small and snuggle, with barely any space to stand. That was okay, because another group of 3-4 people waited outside in the cold, while we did not.

We ordered the hot tofu, to warm up our happy heart. The waitress said we needed to wait 15 minutes because the dish ran out. We agreed to wait while signing up on the waitlist and stepped outside into our car to wait. The next wait did not go long; she called us in within 3 minutes.

Although one thing I personally rather pissed about didn't come from the service itself but the etiquette of the customers. Many tables finished and paid, however, they superglued their butt onto the seats and didn't leave, while others waited for their turn to eat. Like I said, the shop is little so after you eat and enjoy your food, leave and let others enjoy theirs too. Don't stay in your selfish shell and ignore others' suffers.

My mom makes delicious soft tahu (tofu) and I like to compare those I bought to hers. To my expectation, anything I bought is worse than my mom's. There isn't ginger nor caramelized syrup. This soft tofu consists of solely tofu and nothing else. For $5, I bet they profited about $4 from it. I think another reason why it costs so much for so little is the cute container it comes in (which I cannot take with me). Deceiving the eyes, any pictures here, that does not compare the container to their hand, makes the the portion looks huge like around 6-7 inches. It's smaller than a bowl, I'm telling you. I didn't order their toast because it was cold but I thought they looked pretty tasty. Anyway, I may come back to try something else but the tofu.

Came here at 8pm on a Friday night (prime hang out time) to wait for our iPot reservation LOL, and were seated immediately... probably because we were the only ones in the restaurant lol.

The GOOD:
+ A lot of seating.
+ Fair prices (3.95 - 6.95 for an average dessert)
+ The place was fairly clean. And if you like seeing pink Paris/Eiffel tower pictures and decor everywhere, this is the spot for you lol.

The MEH:
- even with no one in the restaurant, we were served and attended to quite slowly. The server/cashier was never in sight, and it took a while to call the server for our check and ketchup, or anything else.
- the desserts lacked any wow factor. Usually i'm really excited to have dessert and taiwanese places like these usually do something extra to make a statement or make it look cute/ extra appetizing, but it was quite plain here. Please refer to the pictures.
- Decorations were too pink and PARIS-ey for my tastes. It's like they wanted it to seem a bit boujie-er, but didn't have the good looking desserts to back it up.
- There's a $3/person requirement, which the waiter didn't tell us about until we asked for the check.

Good and friendly service staff! I got the matcha green tea ice cream and red bean Belgian waffle and it was decent! The presentation is very well done for sure, but quality and taste of the desserts were debatable. I went at 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon and there were 2-3 other tables seated too. Matcha green tea ice cream wasn't very sweet and the waffle was definitely not a Belgian waffle which was quite disappointing...

Small area, a little dirty and the facilities probably needs a facelift. However, their menu is very expansive so there's a ton to choose from! Cute place to go on a date and go Chinese grocery shopping later

Came here and got the matcha honey toast mango black sticky rice.

First time I had honey toast, it takes 15 min but it's worth it! Was pleasant surprised as the inside had really crunchy bread. A little sweet and when you bite into it, the bread just shatters (in a good way) the rest of the toppings are all whatever, but the inside and the toast itself really stood out. The cold and liquid toppings with the crunchy toast was a great balance.

The hot mango black sticky rice dessert was good. Mango was really tasty, just wish the sauce had more condensed milk in it.

I wasn't a fan of the decor as it seemed like it was trying to be too cute.

The novelty of the honey toast might wear off on me, but until then this is 4 stars.

I wanted dessert one night. My brother and cousin didn't want to go to Golden Island or our usual place in San Mateo so a quick Yelp search led us here.

The inside is a decent size. The decor is super decked out in pink and it's all cutesy like and weird, but we stayed anyway for the dessert and we were able to hit 2 pokestops from the inside so... it was cool. Service wasn't much to brag about. It was one dude working the whole time and while it wasn't his fault, the food came out really slow. I had gotten an order of their fries, s'mores honey bread, and my cousin had gotten one of their waffles with fruits. Prices are okay for what you get, but the wait was ridiculous.

Fries came out piping hot, but somewhat salty. I did enjoy the s'mores honey bread as it was gooey and chocolatey. I think my cousin enjoyed her waffle. Also, really sad- we saw an old guy order a pasta to eat and when he asked for pepper, the worker gave him a container of what looked like it was filled with air. When he tried to shake some to put on his pasta, it looked like dust came out. It was very sad. How do you guys run out of black pepper?!

Overall, come back? ... Not really. The service was slow and they require each person in the party to order something which doesn't always work out.

**********DISCLAIMERS**********

I'm giving this 5 stars because we personally had a great experience, but I want to be clear that there are some serious disclaimers. I've read a lot of the other reviews and there seem to be some ethical discrepancies in terms of skewed reviews. I'm not sure if they're true (I wasn't aware of the 15% discount thing until I read the Yelp reviews), or if the restaurant is responsible for the hacked account. Maybe they've also gotten better, but I would definitely advise you to be cautious anyway and maybe pay with cash to be extra careful. If it happens to be true that someone's account was hacked/a 15% discount is given to 5 star reviews, please please to the restaurant: you don't need bribery or sketchy business practices to support you. You have an adorable shop with great food and good service. You can be a 5 star place on Yelp on your own merits!

**********ACTUAL REVIEW**********

Now, for our experience: the food came fast! This place is super cute on the inside and they play good, chill music. We got the tiramisu, strawberry shortcake mini toast, and the s'mores half-waffle. The s'mores waffle had nutella on it and it was exactly what you'd want it to be (absolutely delicious with big fluffy marshmallows). The toast tasted like toast and jam at breakfast only 100x better! The tiramisu had a good texture and was enjoyable. It wasn't the best tiramisu ever, but that's okay because this isn't an Italian restaurant. I also had the rose latte which was pretty good, and very foamy (definitely instagrammable).

Another one on my list of favorite dessert cafe's!

This particular cafe is more intimate and cozy inside. It kind of gives me a homey feeling actually, every time I eat there. I have tried several of their desserts before but what really stood out was their creme brûlée! I usually love it here, but from time to time, there has been incidents where the texture of it was inconsistent so I have had to send it back. :( Other than those incidents, it is actually delish.

Food wise, I have only tried their pastas and their condensed milk with peanut butter sandwich. Both of which I have thoroughly enjoyed! I would definitely recommend this place to try since they are also open late night as well!

There are several poke stops nearby within reaching distance too, for those who play ;)
They take both card (charged with small fee), and cash!

What the hell, came here only to discover that it's not open like Yelp said it was!! I guess business hasn't been good so they altered their hours -- doesn't open until 6pm!!

Considering it was my first time here, and I had a major sweet-tooth at night...this was the nearest place suggested.
As you walk in, it is pretty small with minimal amount of seats. I do like the cute decor with the pink walls and framed quotes hung up. You can choose where to sit. I liked how the water jug was complimentary and brought to your table.
As far as what I ordered, which was the Matcha Red Bean Waffle, I loved it. I am glad my first try was a tasty one!! When ordering your waffles, you can either order Half or Full, price does vary depending on size.
I've been told that this place is A-OK but to me, i thought it was great! Hopefully, as I do plan to come again, my expectations and hopes will not be lowered because I find this place to be tasty!!
Definitely coming back with a friend or a group of gal-pals!

Walking into ETC Dessert Cafe, I was immediately struck by the cuteness of the cafe's decor. It is the perfect setting for a tea party or hanging out with friends and catching up over an enormous serving of sago with mixed fruits. The latter is what my friends and I did.

There is a wide selection of desserts. Can't make a decision? Look for the items with a star to help you pick a popular dessert. This is exactly what we all did after 10 minutes or so of indecisiveness. We ordered the warm tofu pudding (served with brown sugar on the side), mixed fruit with mango sago, and something with mixed fruit, grass jelly, and red bean. The last two items I listed can definitely be shared between two people since the portions are huge. We were please with our orders.

We were one of three parties in the cafe late Sunday night. We were seated and served quickly. The cafe is great for groups.