Hong Kong Cafe — Restaurant in Hayward

An unexpected gem! If you plan to dine here especially on the weekend, make sure you arrive early; after 7:00PM expect a wait.

First, their staff are very friendly and you can crack a joke with them and they'll smile and laugh with you. They do have the traditional shrimp fried rice and chicken chow mein, but I would go for the real family style dishes which are very reasonably priced. Most of their specials are written in Chinese, but if you don't speak or write that language, the waitress are more than willing to explain or make recommendations.

We started our meal with 3 pound of fresh prawn (they're not the real big ones but medium size) and it was priced at $10.95 a pound. The best way is to have it blanched and a mild spicy soy sauce dip. This is not on their regular menu so you'll have to ask them.

The next was the geoduck. We had a 4-pounder and the belly was used to make soup and the rest was stir fried with celery and other vegetables. This style cost $65.00 and at most higher end restaurant, you can expect to pay over $100 for this.

The lobster was on sale at $14.95 each and they were decent size (we ordered two of them). We also ordered the noodles separate and they waitress recommend adding some fresh mushrooms and scallions which really made the noodles come alive. My mom, being a vegetarian we also ordered a vegan chow mein.

The broccoli with scrambled duck egg was delicious (it taste better than it sounds) and you get a big plate of food, but be warned that the steam mince pork with salty-fish can be an acquired taste and some may not be pleased with the pungent smell.

For a group of 10, the entire bill came to $250 including tips. 3 pound fresh shrimp 4 pound Geo-duck two ways (soup and stir fry with celery, carrots and snap peas) Cold free range chicken 2 Ginger scallion lobsters E-Fu Noodles with fresh mushrooms and scallions Vegan style chow mein Steam mince pork with Salty-Fish Orange flavored spare ribs Broccoli with scrambled duck egg

I couldn't taste any MSG in their food (or it was used very lightly), but their food was a bit saltier (besides the orange spareribs which was perfectly done) than I prefer. I think if you eat the dishes with white rice, it will balance out the saltiness...

Tried this place out since it said Hong Kong cafe. Its nothing like a HK cafe. Its more like another Chinese restaurant. Prices on the menu are extremely expensive. Only somewhat reasonable is the rice plates. Food was ok but watch out on the drinks. Its price is out the roof, would not recommend paying $6 for a milk tea. Also watch out, the server / owner(as she has the attitude for it) secretly up your size so they can make that extra $1. Supposedly, its $5 + $1 up size. I don't recall I asked for that, but since I drank it, it a seal deal. At first, I thought how nice, such a large drink they gave me, then when the bill came, I found out way. Feel cheated, but my fault for not raising the issue when it seems out of place. I wouldn't recommend to go there as there are many better real HK cafe nearby. My bill came out to be $24 total including tips. They also accept credit cards with a min $20. Obviously, mine base was past $20, which by the way, is expensive for what I got. Also they bring over a little machine to do the transaction and force you on the spot to pay for tips. Its also has the pre-selection which 15% is min. No, they do not worth 15% tips in any manner. Sorry, this shop needs to do better if they should use the name Hong Kong cafe as...

I’ve often visited Vietnamese restaurants around this area but never tried this one before. The main reason was that, from the outside, the windows and the area around the entrance looked cluttered and unclean. However, today, I found out my usual Vietnamese spot was closed, and since I was already hungry, I decided to give this place a shot. To my surprise, the interior was modern, clean, and well-designed, which was quite unexpected.

Once I got the menu, I was amazed by the sheer variety of dishes. It featured not only fusion options similar to what you’d find at a leisure café but also traditional Hong Kong-style dishes. There were so many choices that I spent a long time deciding what to order.

I ended up trying the stir-fried beef with ginger, onion, and green onion, which was excellent, as were the sweet and sour spare ribs. However, the seafood soup was far too watery, and the baked meat sauce spaghetti was disappointing. It seems like they’re trying to offer too many options, which might be diluting their quality. I think they should focus on their specialties and narrow down the menu a bit to refine what they’re best at.

Still, the sweet and sour pork spare ribs and the stir-fried beef were so delicious that I’ll definitely...