Rin-Tei — Restaurant in San Mateo

Rating: 3.4/5 [dine in]

We had a party of six, and the staff catered to our table very well. The space is a bit small, but we didn't feel cramped and were seated at a table by the window and front door. Prices are steep, and the food took a while to come out. After trying a good portion of the menu, I wouldn't recommend Rin-Tei unless you're ordering very specific dishes.

Roast Beef Carpaccio ($28): House-made sous vide roast beef with red onion, cilantro, and green onion, served with chopped wasabi and citrus soy sauce. This was the only chef's special, so we ordered it for the table. Unfortunately, it looked much better than it tasted. The beef was dry and didn't soak up the citrus soy sauce.

Garlic Shrimp ($22): Crispy shrimp tossed in garlic butter. I usually don't like shrimp with shells, but I enjoyed this more than expected. It had great flavor and was a generous portion.

Thai Fried Chicken ($12): Garlic and fish sauce-marinated fried chicken. It looked and tasted like Japanese chicken karaage. The chunks were a good size, but the Thai flavors didn't really come through.

Japanese Style Roast Pork ($28): Sous vide roast pork served with tortilla chips, papaya, cucumber, and radish sprouts, alongside a sweet bean and honey sauce. The pork was even drier than the roast beef carpaccio and pretty bland. The sauce helped make it more bearable, but I couldn't eat more than one slice. The concept also didn't feel well thought out.

Rin-Tei Flight ($17): A tasting flight of IPPIN Junmai Daiginjo, Akaoni Wheat, and Uji Green Tea Umeshu plum wine. The first two were too strong for me, but the plum wine was sweet and divine.

Rin-Tei Hot Pot with Cod in Creamy Soy Milk-Citrus Soy Sauce ($30) + Rice Noodles ($3): Braised cod with white radish, bamboo shoots, cabbage, mushrooms, green onion, seaweed, ginger, cilantro, and yuzu citrus. My mom felt there wasn't much cod, so she didn't think it was worth the price. However, the portion of rice noodles was generous--enough for two people to share.

Tom Yum Noodles with Shrimp ($25): Rice noodles in a spicy & sour infused soup with Thai herbs, shrimps, sh balls, crushed almonds, shimeji mushrooms, & cilantro. I didn't get to try this, but my dad said it was good and filling.

Basil Tofu ($18): Crispy tofu wok-tossed with garlic, chili pepper, and basil in seasoned soy sauce, topped with crispy basil. The flavors and texture were nice, but not remarkable enough to justify the price. That said, it was one of the better dishes of the night.

Clay Pot Caramelized Cod ($28): Cod with onion, garlic, chili pepper, and rock sugar [winter limited edition]. The cod wasn't caramelized--it was sitting in a wet broth, with caramelized onions placed on top. The flavors were subtle rather than umami/rich, and the portion was small.

Creamy Soy Milk Pho with Mushroom & Chicken ($25): Rice noodles in a chicken broth-based soy milk, with mushrooms and chicken sautéed in butter and soy sauce [winter limited edition]. This was the dish I came for, and it ended up being the best of the night. The portion was large, the broth was delicious and creamy, and the ingredients came together...

Was excited to try this place out. Sadly the food was a underwhelming. Which is too bad, because the service was excellent! Our waitress was extremely attentive.

Thai Fried Chicken: juicy, with really tasty seasoning! In my opinion was the item with the most flavor among what we got.

Creamy Soy Pho: A very unique dish that I was looking forward to the most. Although I enjoyed the noodles, the broth did not taste as if the flavor was all there, as if the creaminess tasted a bit diluted? I’ll give it a plus for being filled to the brim with chicken, mushrooms, and toppings, but perhaps that should be expected from a $25 dish.

Keema Curry: Great presentation, lacking in flavor. The curry had a barely noticeable mild spice to it, which was very disappointing. The rest of the dish was basic. Would have liked to taste way more spices from the curry. For a $23 price tag on top of this, I can’t say I would recommend this.

Again, for the excellent service I’d still rate this place overall at 4/5. But food overall was quite underwhelming with all the entrees lacking in...

This is a very mom-and-pop place off of downtown San Mateo. Parking is pretty easy there, but there's always the 2nd and El Camino Parking Garage diagonal from the restaurant. We showed up at around 2:30pm on Saturday, worried that they wouldn't take us. However, they graciously let us sit down if we were finished by 3:00pm (closing time for lunch), which we were fine with.

We got the Chicken Rice ($18) and the seasonal Cold Sesame TanTan Pho ($23). The Chicken Rice was delicious, different than the normal Hainiese style we're used to, but the standout was the Cold Sesame TanTan Pho. The noodles were very springy and I loved the additional crunch of the garlic chips. I definitely would go back just for that dish alone (they will have it till roughly end of this month or early September).

The portions aren't massive, but it feels just right if you're not trying to overtly stuff yourself. The place itself was small, had a few tables and bar counter seating, just like you would find in Japan. It was very clean and the service was great....