Zen Peninsula is a Cantonese Chinese restaurant in Millbrae. Millbrae is ground zero for some of the best Chinese food in the SF Bay area. It has been around since 2004 and specializes in wide selection of Dim Sum for lunch and special dishes for dinner.
They have an overwhelming set of different extensive printed menus that you order from. Order from items with pictures.  These seem to be the best bets.

It was not very busy for a Friday night dinner, a big change from their busy lunch dim sum times. The reviews on Yelp mainly cover dim sum lunch or big banquets. Performance of banquets with lots of tables and big dishes do not equate to normal dinner performance.
You can easily pick out Chinese Cantonese restaurants, as most have tanks of fresh fish, crustaceans.
This place is one of the few to serve fresh eel from the tank. $19/lb and approximately 20lbs each equates to a meal much more expensive than French Laundry!

Menu pics

Compact Menu

For Abalone and Shark’s Fin connoisseurs only

Another high end Chinese Cuisine prix fix meal

Even more expensive..

Gourmet Hot Pot city

This is where they shine

Website menu

Picks:

Geoduck Clam before Slicing

Geoduck Clam Sashimi ($25/lb) is sold by the pound, with each live clam weighing in the 2lb neighborhood. Yes they look gross, but are tasty. It was a little fishy, but very crunchy and fresh. It is served with wasabi, lemon, and soy sauce on the side.

Geoduck Clam Soup ($8) takes the remnants of the clam and makes soup out of it. Really good broth that was flavorful. Includes tofu, greens, and cooked Geoduck.

Crispy Squab ($12) was kinda small but cooked perfectly to a brownish crisp. Good flavor.

Zen Roast Pork ($8) with peanut sauce was their take on classic Roast pork. On the sweet side but a very good combination.

7 Spice Sea Bass ($16) was deep fried to perfection. Tender and juicy, it was very good.

Free Red Bean and pastry Desserts

OK:
None

Pans:
None

Service was a little better than average for a place like this. The breath of items was excellent, more extensive and more inventive than nearby places Hong Kong Flower Lounge.
Food quality was 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 is a different style.
We would definitely come back here if we wanted Chinese food and were nearby.

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R and G Lounge is a popular Hong Kong style Cantonese Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. Since 1985 they have been serving top notch Chinese food in Chinatown.
Decor, Vibe - They have remodeled over the years to modern, clean decor. Lots of families, tourists, some business folks, and locals were eating at this busy restaurant.

Menu Pictures

Website menu

If you are challenged with what to order, stick to the items with pictures. They are all specialties.

Picks:

Clams with Black Bean Sauce ($15) is a classic dish with lots of clams hot off the wok. Fresh clams and good sauce.

Deep Fried Fish ($20) was a whole fish fried to crispiness and topped with a light sauce. Fresh and very good.

Roast Squab ($16) roasted to golden brown crispy skin, served with seasoning salt on the side. Perfect execution of this poultry dish.

OK:

Princess Chicken ($15) specially marinated with ginger and onion sauce. It was pretty average, decent quantities but nothing special to it.

Pea shoots ($13) were in good quantity but were pretty standard issue.

Pans:
None

R and G Lounge’s service was slightly above average for a Chinese restaurant. Servers were hustling by but needed some prompting. Free red bean dessert soup to those who ask.
This restaurant and Pearl on Washington St remain the two best bets for Chinese food in Chinatown. They have both been around for many years.

Compared to other top notch places like Koi Palace in Daly City, R and G offers competitive cuisine with Koi Palace perhaps edging them out slightly due to much higher volumes.

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Izakaya Mai is a Japanese Izakaya or Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food. They are more small plate oriented restaurants. This restaurant has an extensive drink menu.
This restaurant is located in the downtown San Mateo area that has Japanese restaurants on almost every block. Japanese people run it so it must be authentic. The menu is full of translation errors.

Decor, Vibe - Pretty small cramped restaurant with sushi bar, traditional seating, and regular seating. Pictures all over the walls. Most asians in their 20’s to 40’s were eating. Some families. There were people waiting most of the time for tables.

Menu Pictures

Dinner Menu

Fried & Boiled?

Grill menu?

Specials Board

Picks:

Hamachi Kama ($10.50) - Classic yellow tail collar was tender and delicious. Came with dipping sauce.

Pork Sausage ($5.50) had 6 small hot dog like sausages that looked terrible but tasted good. Includes a Japanese mustard that looks like peanut butter.

Oden ($6.50) had several kinds of fish cakes and an egg. Home style delicious dish.

OK:

Kushi Yakitori ($4.50) was 2 skewers of chicken with teriyaki sauce. Average, nothing special here.

Chicken wing ($4.50) was 3 small pieces of grilled chicken. It was flavorful and tender but pretty burned

Homemade Stewed Pork ($5.75) had 3 pieces of pork that were stewed and then grilled. Fairly average dish.

Baked Squid Tail ($5.75) had lots of quantity but was a little salty and very chewy.

Tekka ($3.95) had pretty fresh tuna in the middle.

California Roll ($3.95) was a pretty average implementation of the classic.

Pans:
None

Izakaya Mai had fair service, slightly above average but the server did not come by that often. The food was fair, not great, but the diversity allowed us to try a lot of different dishes.

This is better and more authentic than O Izakaya Lounge in San Francisco’s Japantown area. It is a welcome change to the usual Japanese fare that is served elsewhere. Frankly nothing wowed us, this place might be best for a quick bowl of Champon noodles and an adult beverage. It is also open late. We have to try Saizo in Sunnyvale and Gochi sometime.

As with most other small plate places, prices can add up quickly, but the fun is in trying different items.

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