HK Causeway Bay Restaurant Review, San Mateo, 94401

HK Causeway Bay 111 East 4th Ave San Mateo, CA 94401 650-342-8388

HK Causeway Bay is a new Cantonese Chinese restaurant in Downtown San Mateo. It is the sister restaurant to San Francisco’s S&T Hong Kong Seafood and even used the same menu. They are located across from the popular Joy Luck Place restaurant in a location that has seen many restaurants come and go. We went for a quick dinner then came back for lunch. They also serve dim sum during lunch. No carts, you order dim sum from a menu.

Decor, Vibe – Step up from a typical Chinese restaurant. Clean and neat. Lots of big parties and some small tables were eating, everyone from extended families to couples. Mostly were Asians.

Menu Pictures

Dim Sum Menu

Dinner Menu

Dinner Picks:

Peking Spareribs ($9.95) were excellent. Tender meat and perfect sweet and sour sauce made for an excellent dish. Pretty large quantities too.

Soup of the Day ($7.95 for small) was excellent. Lots of meat and vegetables and clearly a long simmered flavorful broth.

Crispy Squab ($11.95 each) was a good version of the classic dish. Fried just right and fresh meat.

Abalone Mushroom and Broccoli ($10.95) had tender well cooked, thinly sliced Abalone mushrooms and a good quantity of sliced Broccoli.

Sweet and Sour Pork ($9.95) was freshly deep fried and very good. Sauce was a tad sweet. Lots of pineapples and bell peppers.

House special Won Ton Soup ($8.95) was very good. It was full off goodies including shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, bok choy.

Mu Shu Pork ($8.95) had a ton of pork with eggs, green onions and the like. Fresh hot crepes. We had to order more crepes to fully utilize all the filling.

Beef Chow fun ($9.95) was a good rendition of this essential dish. Not greasy, good quantity, tender rice noodles.

Roasted Duck ($10.50, half) was one of the better ones we have had lately.  Warm, slightly crispy skin, good duck juice flavor, and tender meat made for an excellent version.

House Special Pan Fried Noodles ($10.95) was full of crispy noodles with gravy, bok choy, mushrooms, and meat on top.  Nice portion size and very good quality.

Frog’s Oil Hawaiian Papaya ($9.95) is a steamed papaya with stewed fungus inside.  Does not look appetizing but the soup inside has a nice subtle papaya flavor and the papaya just scoops easily off the skin.

Steamed Egg Custard ($9.95) with scallops and shrimp is a pretty big dish. Sorta like Japanese Chawan Mushi on a big scale with soy sauce on top.  Nicely done and cooked perfectly.

Dinner OK:

Soya Sauce chicken ($10.95 for half) had ample tender chicken, but the dish was on the sweet side due to the sauce.

Steamed Chicken ($10.50 for half) was average. Good flavor from the scallions and ginger, but pockets of over salted chicken.

Garlic Sauce Chinese Broccoli ($9.95) was cooked fine and tasted ok.

Pans:
None

Lunch Picks:

Deep Fried Meat Dumpling ($2.40) was fresh and crispy. Decent pork filling. They did ask if we wanted it cut.

Shrimp Dumplings ($3) were four good sized har gow with decent sized shrimp.

Scallop and Chive Dumpling ($3) were 3 good sized hot out of the steamer dumplings with good scallop flavor.

Sticky Rice and Chicken in Lotus Leaf ($3.90) were 2 good sized portions, hot out of the steamer. Quality ingredients like a big mushroom, and well cooked glutinous rice.

Shrimp Noodle Roll ($3.90) was a decent rendition of the dim sum classic. Good quantity, lots of shrimp, and tender rice noodles.

Shark’s Fin Dumpling in soup ($5.50) had lots of flavorful broth, real shark’s fin, and a well cooked dumpling.

Steamed Shark’s fin dumpling with crab ($3) were 4 good sized dumplings with delicious filling and a tender wrapper.

Lunch OK:

Pork Ribs in Garlic Sauce ($2.40) actually had a couple black beans in it too. Pretty greasy but good quantity and fair flavor.

Sesame Seed Ball ($2.40) were slightly above average in texture and taste but were not scorching hot like Joy Luck’s. A little too sweet with too much paste inside.

Sesame soft ball ($3) had 4 glutinous rice balls filled with black sesame. Pretty darn sweet.

Lunch Pans:

Dried Scallop Fried Rice ($11.95) looked good but had some bitter Chinese broccoli in it, kicking the dish over a cliff. Joy Luck Place across the street has some of the best renditions of this dish.

HK Causeway Bay had average service. We had to hail waiters for lots of different things and got charged for an item that we didn’t get. Lunch had a little better service from the same waiter. They have a lot of guts opening across from a proven and successful Joy Luck Place and serve almost the same type of cuisine and just a bit cheaper. It remains to be seen whether they can carve out a niche. They have a gold spinning ball in the window, no doubt for Feng Sui reasons.

We would consider going back to explore some of the different items on their extensive menu. The food here is solid but there are so many decent Chinese restaurants nearby to choose from.

Update: August 2009, they seem to have carved out a niche and are attracting more customers especially because Joy Luck Place has closed till November 2009.

Also at:
S&T Hong Kong Seafood
2588 Noriega Street (At 33rd Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122
415-665-8338
415-665-8337 Fax

Restaurant.com $25 Dining Certificate for $10
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