Blue Sky Café — Restaurant in Belmont

Added review: Reserved a big table, but when we arrived, both tables were occupied. The "reservation" merely puts you in for priority seating once you arrive, but doesn't guarantee your table at the appointed time. We had to cool our heels outside for 30 minutes (including our 97-year-old mom) while it was raining & very cold. Not a good look! Taking off one star for this meaningless & ridiculous reservation system. Worse, securing a reservation involved many, many calls to try & "catch" them while they picked up their phone. Leaving messages was pointless. No way to book a table online.

Bathroom is outside and no maintenance. TP ran out, and no one refilled.

Black pepper beef claypot was better than the chicken & mushroom one (better tasting) but the server admitted that the cut of beef the source is not the best (a few pieces had lots of tendon & proved too chewy). Eggplant w Tofu was better (savory) than Stir-fried Eggplants (sweet).

Small, family-style Cantonese restaurant (without the dim sum) offers well flavored, skillfully prepared dishes that surprise and satisfy. Triple-style steam eggs was a waste of space.

The Basil Tofu (with veggies) infused the senses with fragrant basil while waking the palate with just enough homemade pepper sauce - THE best tofu dish I've ever had. The Salt & Pepper Fish Filet was equally amazing - it didn't look like much, with fried fish filet (skilfullybdone, not greasy at all) on a bed of finely chopped raw green peppers & cabbage but... the restrained use of salt & pepper with truly tender filets made us stop & say, "Oh, interesting!" The Chicken & Mushroom Rice Claypot was good - aficionados would appreciate the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot (Guo Ba). Put the Basil Tofu's sauce in the rice in the claypot, and you've got a winner. The Stir-Fried Eggplants came reasonably firm (nice surprise) in a rich sweet flavor. I would've preferred a savory approach, but combined with the other dishes, the eggplants provided another flavor dimension.

I'd give the Pan-Fried Noodles a pass. Workman-like, and the noodles didn't have the 2 scorched sides one has come to expect of Cantonese cuisine. Many other better options.

Portions were indeed generous as commented by other reviewers - in fact, I overheard the server advise other diners of this fact so they wouldn't over-order. Knowing this fact, we nevertheless added another dish to our order, so that we'd have take-home boxes. In the event, we made 3 meals out of this one dinner.

Although the operation was mainly digital, from managing the line (there was a line as early as 4:30 pm!) to ordering to payment, the servers were surprisingly responsive. Hot tea was hot and strong, and free.

This place can stand some expansion. Only 7 tables + 2 banquet-style round tables. Lines outside the entire...

Blue Sky Cafe (BSC) is an authentic Cantonese restaurant at its best. It is in an worn-down strip mall, barely a sign. As a matter of fact, I've lived in San Carlos 6 years and never noticed this spot.

Commensurate to the exterior, the interior is bare bones. There are tables and chairs. Just basic utensils. In many ways, it feels a bit sketchy as well. The servers barely speak English and you hear the cacophony of Cantonese from the busy kitchen while the entire restaurant is jam packed with a mountain of pick up delivery meals waiting on the side.

Everything is forgiven and then some when the food arrives. Eating at BSC is somewhat like walking in a field of treasure or an Easter egg hunt. The menu does not describe anything, and I'm sure there's some Chinese name for it, so you sort of take a "bet" ordering. But guess what. Whatever you order, will be phenomenal. This is by far one of the best Cantonese comfort food in the Bay Area. There is nothing more to say here. The food is authentic and amazing. And when the food arrives, you sort of feel what else should or could I hve ordered.

It is clear that there is more love than one can imagine imbued into every dish that comes out, hot and fresh, from the kitchen. And one can also tell that they are hitting the limits of scale preserving the quality and taste while keep prices super low. I truly commend the owner for keeping BSC the way it is, not worrying about niceties or garnish and staying focused on putting a spoonful of delight...

Very small place but delivers good food. Service is typical of a small and fast Chinese place. Can be slow at times and servers moving quickly to deliver plates and tend to takeout orders. Luckily, they do take reservations for parties of 5 or more. If you come during peak hours, there will be a wait (I wouldn't necessarily wait for a table here - maybe max 20 minutes)? It is in a small plaza but the parking lot spaces are somewhat tight. There was a QR code on the table for the menu as well, which was nice.

You can also order takeout, but there was almost an hour wait for that as well. I believe they may have stopped taking take out orders too at one point in the evening around 7:30-8pm on a Saturday.

All the food was good. Not the absolute best in the Bay/other Chinese places, but they do have generous portions for the price you pay. I didn't take a picture of the clay pot rice, but a medium could be shared among at least 4-5 people with leftovers. Beef stew was tasty and soft - what you'd like and expect in a good beef noodle soup. Fried pork chops were fried well and crispy, and a good amount of green onion sprinkled over - these were definitely not as salty as some other places, which is nice if you're into that. Sweet & sour was good too, with some pieces of cartilage or bone in some pieces so be a...