China Village, Belmont

Reviewer: Foodnut.com China Village Seafood Restaurant 600 Ralston Ave Belmont, CA 94002 650-593-1831 China Village Seafood Restaurant Website

China Village Seafood Restaurant is a Chinese restaurant in Belmont, California just off the Highway 101 Ralston Exit. They have been around since 1996, serving dim sum during both lunch and dinner, as well as standard Cantonese Chinese cuisine.

Dim sum costs more at dinner, presumably because it is freshly warmed up. We visited for a dim sum lunch and dinner. They use carts and servers to dish out their dim sum. Some stuff (hardcore Chinese dishes) keeps going round and round. They had 59 types of dim sum on their menu. Our last visit was in 2020 for dim sum take out during the Coronavirus shelter in place.

Be sure to read our Beginner’s Introduction to Chinese Dim Sum Lunch

Do not confuse this restaurant with the spicy China Village in Albany.

Decor, Vibe – China Village Seafood Restaurant is a small step up from typical Chinese restaurant decor. Lots of families and couples of all ages were dining. A nice mix of races.

China Village Menu Pictures

The menu is pretty extensive for such a small restaurant. The servers all speak English, so no worries for those that do not speak Chinese.  Dim Sum at dinner costs more.

China Village Lunch Picks:

Deep fried meat dumpling ($2.50) was pretty good. Crispy and flavorful filling.

Steamed prawn dumpling or har gow ($3.95) had 4 large dumplings filled with very good shrimp. One of the better ones around. Wrapper was a bit thick.

Steam rice crepe with shrimp ($3.95) also had large pieces of shrimp inside. Sauce was a little sweet, but this dish was above average.

Paper wrapped chicken ($3.25) had 3 big pieces of flavorful chicken wrapped in foil. Good quantity and very tender chicken.

Shark’s fin and meat dumpling in supreme soup ($5.95) had some good broth, real shark’s fin, and tender pork.

XO pan Fried turnip cake was a decent version of the classic dish.

Steamed Shrimp Ball with Sticky Rice ($5.95) was surprisingly decent. Lots of sticky glutinous rice along with strong shrimp flavor.

Deep fried sesame ball ($2.50) was not hot out of the fryer. It was of average quality.

OK:

Steamed spare rib with black bean sauce ($2.50) was average. A little on the greasy side.

Steamed Meat Dumpling “Shanghai Style” ($5.50) was lukewarm but did have soup.  Don’t order these here. You can try Din Tai Fung in Santa Clara.

Sticky Rice and chicken in lotus leaf ($3.95) consisted of 2 large pieces. Lots of rice, not a lot of filling. Filling was not very good.

Pans:

Steamed scallop dumplings was large and mushy.

Steamed pea sprout dumpling was fair.

BBQ Roasted Duck was dry and fair

China Village Dinner Picks:

Steamed chicken with fried shallots in chefs soy sauce ($14 for half) was it a solid chicken dish, with too many fried shallots on top. The soy sauce was poured tableside, it would have been better if the soy sauce had a longer time to mingle with the chicken. We had the Steamed chicken ($12.95) in soy sauce with scallions and found it better.

Fresh Abalone ($4.95 each) was a special deal at dinner. This aggressively priced dish was pretty good, with a simple steamed shallots and green onion preparation. Tender abalone, that is a must order. They removed this special.

Fresh live lobster ($9.95) was also a special deal at dinner. Also a must get dish, with some delectable lobster, prepared just right with scallions and Ginger. No more special deal for now.

Soup of the day ($10) was a long boiled gourd soup with pork and carrots. They were nice enough to provide a plate with all the soup meat and vegetables. A solid version of a classic Cantonese soup. Not as good as the ones at Koi Palace or The Kitchen.

Chinese broccoli ($9) with oyster sauce was prepared just right.

Fook Kin and fried Rice ($13) was also a solid rendition, not as good as Asian Pearl Peninsula, but surprisingly decent. Fried Rice with salted fish & chicken ($11.95) was fairly good also.

Dried Scallop and Egg fried Rice ($13) is also top notch. Even more flavor than stalwart R&G Lounge in San Francisco.

OK:

Pea shoots with garlic where a bit overdone and showed how well a place like Koi Palace cooks them.

Sweet and sour Pork ($10.95) was pretty average. Bland sauce and tiny chucks of pork.

Free dessert soup if you ask for it at dinner time. 4 different types to select from, a rarity around here. They’ve got a free Chinese egg dessert otherwise.

China Village Seafood Restaurant had one person in charge of the front area during lunch that we were in and he made sure every table was served well. No lack of tea here. Food came around fairly often during lunch. They charge $1 per person for tea. During dinner, the friendly servers provided very good service, and a nice change of pace from most Chinese restaurants. When the place is busy, service deteriorates.

This restaurant serves solid and inexpensive dim sum in sleepy Belmont. Not as good as say Asian Pearl Peninsula in Millbrae, but still surprisingly decent Chinese food and one of the best between Palo Alto and San Mateo.

Free delivery on orders $50+ from 11am-230pm, $20+ from 5-930pm. They gave us a coupon after lunch, good for half a Peking duck or roast duck with $50 dinner order.

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