Daimo - Chinese, Richmond

3288A Pierce St, Richmond CA 94804
(510) 527-3888
Parking: in shopping center parking lot
Hours: Open Daily 9am to 3pm

Last Visited: October 14, 2007

Food: 3 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Atmosphere: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $$ to $$$$

Enter Daimo and you’ll see lots of people and lots of tables. The room is bright with light earth tones and dark wood. There is a bar in the rear which is mostly used as a cash register and the bar near the front is a service station. The hostess station is never manned and the service seems sometimes haphazard. The side kitchen allows you to see the barbecued items such as the duck and pork in the window.

Most of the items were in the two star range due to their quality (or lack thereof) and presentation. Some of the food deserves three stars for the large portions. All of the portions, with the exception of the soup, were incredibly large. The soup gets the three stars.

- Assorted seafood with tofu soup – Of all the dishes, this was probably the best one. There’s a little bit of shrimp, some tofu, some egg whites, and other goodies. The soup was topped with some fine powder that was orange – perhaps some seafood essence or something of the like, but it had a very pungent seafood fragrance. Not the best soup, but probably the best part of the meal. $10

- Beef with tomato over fried noodle – This dish wasn’t what I expected. Most beef with tomato over fried noodles are salty with just a touch of sweetness. This dish was more like sweet and sour beef (minus pineapple and peppers) over noodles. The noodles were made Hong Kong style, but the sauce on the tomato beef was too sweet. The tomato beef also contained some onions which would have been fine, but it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. If you like sweet and sour beef, you’ll probably like these noodles. If you like the salty version, this one isn’t for you. $9.50

- Braised spinach with preserved duck eggs – A lot of spinach is cooked with sliced preserved duck eggs and preserved salted eggs. The amount of spinach is great, but the quality of the spinach is medium to fair. There presentation is also fair. Some restaurants place the egg mixture on top of the spinach, but Daimo just mixes the whole thing together. This makes the appearance a bit messy and less appetizing. $11

- Braised tofu with Chinese mushrooms and greens – Baby bok choy is cooked with braised tofu. The tofu was regular tofu, not the soft kind. Several tofu pieces had begun to come apart. The presentation of this dish was also not impressive, and the quality of the dish was fair. The tofu blocks were soggy and too dark in color. Since the tofu was broken, it didn’t hold its natural juices. The flavor was okay, but the tofu texture was a bit dry. $10

- Won Ton Noodles with Soup – In recent months, I have found myself eating at Daimo more than usual. For the most part, I’ve been eating lots of won ton noodles with soup. Five large wontons are served with noodles. Although the shrimp is abundant, one thing I don’t enjoy about these wontons is the texture. The pork and shrimp are fine, but something included in the mix results in a powdery consistency. It may be the egg, or something else they are mixing in as a binding ingredient, but when you bite into the won ton, you’ll see some yellow powdery like substance. The dish originally would have gotten a 3 to 4 star range, but is downgraded to 2 to 3 because of the powdery content which interferes with proper texture. If you don’t know what a won ton should taste like, you’ll be okay ordering this dish. $5.50

- Deep Fried Tofu with Salt and Pepper – Cubed firm tofu is deep fried with a mixture of jalapeno peppers, garlic, green onion, and chili peppers until golden. Then the tofu is sprinkled with seasoning salt. Note that this dish includes MSG, but it tastes oh so good. Crispy texture on the outside and soft on the inside, the flavorful fried garlic and peppers only add to the great tasting treat. The only point of improvement would be to cut the tofu into uniform pieces. Good. $5.50

- Sliced Beef with Peppercorns and Rice Noodles – Like many other dishes, you get a huge plate of rice noodles with sliced beef and seasonal greens – today’s vegetable was bok choy. It comes with a brown sauce made with lots of black pepper. Although the menu says peppercorns, you don’t actually see any whole peppercorns. The flavor was okay, but the noodles clumped together a lot and the presentation in a glass dish could look nicer. Okay. $8

- Rice Porridge – If you like porridge, Daimo is a good stop. Porridge is pretty easy to make at home and there are lots of variations. You get a lot of congee so you’re sure to be stuffed with just one bowl. So far, I’ve tried sliced beef congee, preserved duck egg and salted pork congee, and sliced fish congee. I would describe their porridge as having good consistency and flavored well. $5.25

I have found that the closer I sit to the kitchen, the better service I get, simply because they pass by your table often. Otherwise, if you’re on the far side of the restaurant, you can feel neglected. A major area of improvement would be the order in which food is brought out. Unless you order from a set menu, you’ll find that appetizers come after main dishes and so forth. This can be quite disruptive in the sense that you feel bombarded with food instead of one course coming after another.

Their service rating would have been better, but they committed the major faux pas at the end of dinner. They took our teacups when clearing the table for dessert. By the way, dessert is complimentary – usually sweet red bean soup or something of that nature. However, one should never remove the teacups before the patron leaves. We asked a staff member for the check, and she seemed to have forgotten about it completely. It’s a busy place, but that seems all the more reason to be on top of things. Service varies a lot depending on your server and your location within the restaurant. We’ve had anything from excellent service to really bad service, so I’ve upgraded their service rating from two stars to two to three stars.

The restrooms weren’t very impressive either. The area leading to the restroom appears disorganized. It offers an unnecessary peek into the chaotic kitchen. Considering Daimo prints the names of local magazines that feature them on their menu, they just seemed a bit overhyped. Portions are large, but I prefer quality to quantity.