Pearl Bay Tea House — Restaurant in San Leandro

We have been loyal customers for many years, but this time was truly disappointing. We ordered the Spicy Chicken with Jellyfish, a dish I personally love and order almost every visit. However, this time, it was almost entirely jellyfish with barely any shredded chicken. It seemed like, since it was close to closing time, they didn’t want to prepare the chicken and just gave us extra jellyfish instead.

We simply wanted an explanation. When we asked the server why there was no shredded chicken, they insisted that this was how the dish was supposed to be. I explained that I’ve had this dish many times before, and it has always had more chicken than jellyfish. Then, they called another server, who repeated the same response. At this point, it wasn’t just about adding more chicken—it felt like they were questioning my experience, as if I was making an issue out of nothing.

Normally, this dish is served quickly since it’s a cold appetizer. But this time, it was the last dish to arrive, and we even had to follow up because we were almost done eating. The server then explained that it took longer because they had to shred the chicken—yet ironically, there were barely any pieces of chicken in the dish.

It’s extremely disappointing to see the restaurant treating loyal customers this way, trying to cover up an issue instead of addressing...

The maître D was not the friendliest, we got our table immediately since it was before the rush at 10am. The seatings are very tight, literally chairs are touching behind table and can hear their conversation that how close it was. Food was served quite quickly. Taste rate is good 3star but seems like they used msg. No impressed. We ordered baked yam bun, that was good, very buttery, actually little too oily I would say. Their pineapple ham bun was unique, oily once again. The sticky rice bun was good, can recommend to put little more meat in the rice and less peanuts. Chicken feet was good flavor, and steam taro dumpling is good tasting but that's where i could taste the msg and in chicken feet. Drink a lot of water due to the msg, I'm not sure how the tea works, I think they charge tea at rush hour. Servers were quick and friendly. If they cut use of msg I'll most likely bring more people and recommend more...

The food quality is disappointing. Firstly, their siu mai, or steamed pork & shrimp dumplings, appeared to be stale, with the outer layer peeling off. Upon tasting, it was evident that the texture and quality had significantly declined. Next, the chicken feet, which are typically chewy and flavorful, were found to be spoiled and had a sour taste due to being kept overnight. Following that were the har gow, or shrimp dumplings, which had been frozen for too long and had a stiff texture and a bland taste. Lastly, the tea, which is a hallmark of Cantonese-style teahouses, not only lacked the impressive flavor that it is known for, but it was also devoid of even the most basic tea aroma, leaving a sense of dissatisfaction. Their food storage, preparation, and quality control that need to be addressed and improved upon by the...