The Kitchen Dinner Restaurant Review, Millbrae
Posted by Food Nut
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The Kitchen 279 El Camino Real (Near La Cruz) Millbrae, CA 94030 650-692-9688 |
Update: October 2009. The quality of food has dropped off. Squab seems old and shriveled up, Pork Belly was crispy but hard. Peking Ribs were too chewy and hard. Soup and fried rice were ok. Beware. They appear to be under new ownership and not related to Asian Pearl anymore. Slight decor update and all the waiters now wear suits. Bathrooms are as dirty as always. Ratings lowered.
The Kitchen is part of a restaurant group that owns several Chinese Cantonese restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area. We’ve been to most of them and find them pretty good. This review concentrates on dinner. The food here is pretty authentic Chinese Cantonese food, so some may not like this type of more hardcore cuisine. Do not come here for General’s Chicken or Broccoli Beef. Another review covers dim sum lunch.
Decor-Vibe – The Kitchen is a typical busy and noisy Chinese restaurant with lots of families and friends eating together. Almost all people were of Asian descent. Like many Chinese restaurants, the bathroom is not very clean.
Menu pics (Click to zoom in on any picture)
For those a little overwhelmed by Chinese menus, go for the items with pictures, they are all specialties.
Picks:
Sharks Fin with crab meat in pumpkin soup ($28) – A non politically correct soup but very tasty with high quality sharks fin and the pumpkin gold cream that makes it very smooth. Lots of real crab.
Sauteed Foie Gras with Wild mushrooms ($30) was a decadent dish. As a lover of Foie Gras, the actual Foie Gras was pretty dense and compact, but the Foie Gras flavor melted all over the delicious mushrooms. Lots of quantity too.
Sauteed Coral Giant Clam with XO sauce ($16.80) had exotic orange colored clams with mushrooms and snap peas. Not gamey, perfectly cooked.
Roast Pork Belly ($12) was super freshly cooked roast pork. The top skin was super crunchy beyond anything I have tried.
Ginger Onion Braised fish heads Clay pot ($13) is an exotic dish that was done perfectly. Lots of ginger onions though. Tender, deep fried fish heads.
Good Soup of the day
Their Westlake Beef Soup ($12) was also good. Soft tofu, not a lot of cilantro, egg white drop on top.
Roast Squab ($13.80 whole) – Authentic version of a classic Cantonese dish. Juicy and cooked just right. Crispy skin.
Steamed Chicken ($10, Half) – came with some nice ginger, scallion dipping sauce. Tender and flavored as expected.
Manual Sesame Shredded Chicken ($13) with shredded chicken, sesame, peanuts, cilantro, green onions was a cold dish that is more suitable for summertime when the weather is hot. It was a nice balanced dish.
Honey Pepper Beef Short Ribs ($13)- Not big on quantity, more red and green bell peppers than meat, but good flavor.
Geoduck Clam and Snap peas (Market price) – Tender and plentiful Geoduck clam stir fried along with crispy peas. Very good dish. Geoduck looks ugly in their tank but taste wonderful.
Salt and Pepper Squid ($10) was very delicious. Lightly fried but super tender calamari.
Thousand Island Japanese Tofu ($13.80) had Japanese soft tofu with egg and jalapenos on a hot skillet. It was delicious but could do without the jalapenos.
Crispy Skin Chicken ($13 for Half) did not really have crispy skin, it was a little soggy but the meat was tender and flavorful. No shrimp chips!
Beef Chow Fun ($12) was a good sized portion of freshly cooked thick rice noodles with bean sprouts, chives, and lots of tasty tender beef.
Free Dessert Soup
OK:
Peking Duck ($28 whole) was a little mushy on the skin and not crispy. Flavor was fine and meat was plentiful.
Baked Stuff Eggplant ($13) was very good. It had a lot of bonito fish shavings on top of tender and fresh eggplant.
Chinese Broccoli ($13)- Typical vegetable dish, nothing special. Gotta eat your veggies though.
Simmered Clams with Turnip in Broth ($15) had lots of clams and some bland turnips. This dish did not have very much flavor.
Pans:
None
Service was about average for a place like this. You have to hunt down the workers for most requests. The quality of the food is very high here especially factoring in the cost. Some of their specialty dishes are pretty good. This is a good place for quality Cantonese Chinese Dinner especially for exotic dishes. Others in their top notch category include Koi Palace in Daly City, and R&G Lounge in San Francisco.
Also at:
The Kitchen
203 W. Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-289-4828
New Lai Wah
5912 Freeport Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95822
916-428-6183
Entertainment Book 2 for 1 restaurant coupons, food discounts, and much more
Overall Rating: 
(Good)
Come Back? 
| Food Rating: |  (Very Good) |
| Service Rating: | (Good) |
| Atmosphere Rating: | (Good) |
| Value Rating: | (Good) |
Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Fair/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary
| Alcohol: | Beer, Wine |
| Attire: | Casual |
| Hours: | 5-10pm |
| Parking: | Street |
| Reservations: | Yes |
| Prices: | $8 - $88 |
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3 Responses to “The Kitchen Dinner Restaurant Review, Millbrae”
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April 21st, 2009 at 10:44 am
[...] very good, but with the busy and top rated The Kitchen nearby, we can see why it was not that busy. The Kitchen has a lots of great dishes too. Many are more elaborate styles. We would definitely come back here [...]
August 17th, 2009 at 3:22 am
hate this place. It’s overpriced, bad service, bad food quality(served with dead fish). Worst place I have been to! 2.5 star? You got to be kidding me.
Sorry but everyone has there views about restaurant. I guess I’d give it a 0 star!
November 25th, 2009 at 10:14 am
[...] in Millbrae, California’s downtown was part of the same Culinary Wonderland group as The Kitchen in Millbrae, hence the same menu. We’ve been to this location a couple times and have found [...]