留湘小聚店 Ping‘s Bistro | San Mateo — Restaurant in San Mateo

First I would like say that I used to be a big fan of ping’s bistro. I visited its Fremont location and its el camino location multiple times in the past and I was always impressed with the quality and the flavor of the food there. When I knew that the el camino restaurant is moved to this location, I was excited because it is closer to where I live. And I love Hunan and Yunnan style food. We went on my dad’s birthday and we were totally disappointed with the experience.

We ordered several dishes including the new Yunnan specialty food. We tried lemongrass grilled fish, Xuanwei pork stir fry, steamed seafood, and pork belly with preserved mustard veggie. All of them are extremely salty and the saltiness is so overpowering that you can’t really taste the other flavors from the dishes. Even the eggplant and string beans is nothing but salty. It was not the quality of food that I remembered from Ping’s bistro. Totally disappointed.

The service is subpar. We brought a bottle of wine and was charged $12 for opening the bottle. They did not have any wine glasses so we ended up using the the same glassware with which they serve water. At other similar restaurants the server will pour wine for the customers but here we have to pour on our own. The $12 we paid is literally for opening the bottle.

[Update: turned out that the restaurant didn’t charge us the bottle opening fee because there was no wine glasses. But still how come a restaurant didn’t have wine glasses?]

The tap water served here has a strong funky taste that is almost feels undrinkable. Though we were all very thirsty because of the salty food, we have to wait until we got home to drink water.

Overall, we were very disappointed with the food and the service we got at this new location. We will not recommend this...

Edits on 2025 Jan:

I changed the rating to two stars from four stars. My comments on food remain the same: they’re quite good and expensive.

I reduced stars due to bad dining-in experiences. The restaurant prioritize the delivery orders than the dining in customers. When I arrive, it was like 10 min after opening time and only four tables of customers. While the soup and rice (pre-made on pot) came really fast, we wait for 30+ min for the rest of food to come. And by then, the soup and rice is already cold. I came here for a good experience and a fresh and hot meal, but this is really bad. Given the price and tips I paid (because it’s not the waitress fault), it’s very high price for unacceptable experience. If the owner is dedicated to provide food on time to online delivery, then why bother even open the dine in option for people?

I came here multiple times a month. It’s still one of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area along with Shang Cafe. The food price is not cheap but has great taste and mostly good quality. You can almost order anything without regretting.

Some of my favorite dishes: 杂菌炒饭，香辣烤鱼，腾冲大救驾，火山彩椒排骨，猪油渣炒菜心

The only complain I have is the long wait time for food in rush hours. Waiters are always very friendly but their kitchen seems to prioritize on deliveries than indoor dining. So sometimes you see a long waiting line while there are empty seats. And despite clearly not full capacity in the restaurant, food is really slow….:

If you come before 11:30 for lunch or 6 for dinner, you won’t...

The restaurant was very busy, but we didn’t mind waiting. We had already placed our order while waiting for a table, yet we still had to wait a long time after being seated. Interestingly, the dish labeled as the one with the longest wait time the Matsutake Steamed Egg was actually the first to arrive. The steamed egg itself was unseasoned, but the soy sauce on top completely overpowered the natural aroma of the matsutake, making it overly salty. Meanwhile, the steamed egg lacked flavor.

The Organic Cauliflower with Pork Cracklings was quite good, but the Stir-fried Rice Cakes were far too salty, and the rice cakes themselves lacked texture—definitely not recommended. My personal favorite was the Stew Beef Combination in Copper Pot, which had a well-balanced flavor with a subtle hint of mint. It wasn’t overly spicy, and the beef was tender. However, the beef tripe had a strong taste, which I didn’t particularly enjoy. We originally wanted to order fried rice, but it was no longer available.

The staff were friendly, but communication could be improved. Perhaps because it was near closing time, we wanted to pack up some food and order a dessert to-go. However, instead of simply giving us a clear yes or no, a staff member spent a long time explaining in a very roundabout way, when all we really needed was a...