Koi Palace - Milpitas — Restaurant in Milpitas

After trying many other dim sum places, Koi palace is by far our favorite go-to in the South Bay Area. This review is for dine-in, to-go, and post-covid experiences. We visit here almost every Sunday…

Their service is superb. Literally all the managers and waiters are very quick and professional every time we visit. We’ve ordered on phone, to-go, dine-in, and never had an issue. It might be a little confusing for the first-timer since there’s a lot of people crowding the door.. They have a big screen with call out number, but they’ll also call out the number with microphone so you can wait downstairs at the open space until you hear your order.

You can do a walk-in or save a spot using their app. The wait is usually long on the weekends so I would recommend giving yourself at least 30min wait for a group of 2-3. Definitely recommend for large groups too.

The food is great. They probably have more variety than other dim sum places in the area, but we usually end up getting the usual dishes plus try a new items every visit. Food is always quick and fresh. The only downside is that some items get sold out if you don’t come before noon, so availability depends on the day and time.

I think because COVID, they don’t have the food cart walking around. Right now they have a ordering system going. The food will come out one by one, whatever that’s freshly made.

To-go orders: I love their to-go boxes!! They use this plastic box container. It just looks clean and each dish is well packaged so I like that. We ordered a lot of takeout during COVID and the food was still hot even when we brought it home.

Overall great service, very clean, and amazing experience. I would definitely recommend bringing your friends and even go here for...

Location in a small strip mall type place up on second floor. We were greeted and seated quickly. We got hot jasmine tea to drink so I did not ask for a drink menu. * Make sure to let the tea seep for a few minutes before pouring!* I am not sure if they have one but it looks like they have a full bar in the corner so would not hurt to ask! We were looking for dim sum but they had just a few dim sum plates in the appetizer section so we got an entree to share as well. We were given some complimentary peanuts to start that had some kind of sauce on them, they were very tasty! We got traditional “juicy” dumplings I believe they were called. Which was steamed pork dumplings, lots of flavor! I did not care for dipping sauce, was a bit too sour for me but they were great on their own. Cucumber salad and BBQ pork buns were good as well. We ordered Tofu and Eggplant in garlic sauce. It was good but a bit on the sweet side, I’d prefer it if it were a spicy sauce but that’s just my preference. Tofu and eggplant were cooked perfectly and the flavor was still very pleasant. We were full and didn’t order dessert however they brought us a complimentary filled dumpling dessert and it was my favorite part of the meal! Tasted like a vanilla custard filling and was so good but did not see it on the dessert menu! Could have ate a handful more of those! 18% gratuity is always included! Which was fine for me in this case for good service and food. With the gratuity we paid $30 each. A bit pricey but we had leftovers and with everything being as good as it was, it is worth in my...

First time to Koi Palace in Milpitas, though had dined at their location in Daly City decades ago. Very disappointing.. It's on a Monday around noon, and the place was pretty filled up.

The service was lousy, starting from the receptionist who practically saw us but totally ignored us, even after my husband kindly waving his hand to him in order to catch his attention. After seated, though some servers had been going back & forth by our table but none would look up, stop and talked to us. Of course we had to wait for a while before being served, minimally. The 18% mandatory tip charge to the customers was totally undeserved due to the lack of acceptable, good service to their customers. We have been to a few similar restaurants (in terms of foods & class) in the Peninsula area where mandatory 18% tip charge are imposed but they do provide very good service consistently to their customers.

We primarily came to eat at this restaurant for their well-known dim sum and its variety. Foods served were disappointing, unfortunately, considering their high-priced tags. Siu Mai 燒賣 were not fresh; skins were tough and the meat hard to chew. Shrimp dumblings or Ha Gow 蝦餃 were okay. Tofu rolls 鮮竹卷 were acceptable. The Budda's Delight vegetarian noodles 羅漢齋麵 was made up of a large portion of noodles but only few vegetable ingredients, not worth the $24.

Adding to the noise level of the place due to crowded tables (very close to each other) when it's busy, it's definitely not a pleasant dining experience at all.. Do not...