Cafe Orchid - Chinese/Hong Kong Style, Millbrae

98 El Camino Real, Millbrae CA 94030
(650) 697-3988
Parking: small rear parking lot
Hours: Mon-Fri 11am - 10pm, Sat-Sun 8am-10pm

Last Visited: June 19, 2016

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

After driving by Cafe Orchid many times, I finally stopped in for lunch last week.  I entered through the El Camino side (there is another entrance from the rear lot) and was promptly seated.  That was pretty much the end of the promptness.  From there, it took about five minutes before I could get someone's attention to get a menu.  It took at least another five minutes after closing the menus to get someone to take our order, and after that, another ten minutes before we were brought our hot tea - this was after we were asked yet again if we had ordered tea by the very person who took our order (face palm).

The poor service wasn't isolated to us though - every table had to wait for at least one thing - whether it be the second entree that they ordered, for the check, or something else.  One table finished an entire entree and waited another 20 minutes before their second entree came.

It's painted purple inside and signs with the menu specials are located on a large sign written in both English and Chinese.  The menu selection includes afternoon snack specials, entrees with drinks (coffee or tea, such as milk tea or lemon tea, served hot or cold), weekend breakfast items, and some seasonal specials like Portuguese chicken over rice.  For those unfamiliar with it, Hong Kong style Chinese is often comprised of spaghetti or rice with an American style dish that has been adjusted - examples include a baked pork chop or chicken in a mushroom cream sauce.  There are also more classic Chinese dishes offered.  I opted to try one of each - both dishes were just under $10.


- Beef Chow Fun (Wet style) - Of the two dishes I tried, this one could have been given a 3 star rating - it was hot in temperature, the flavors were typical, the Chinese greens were fresh ingredients, and served in a wok.  I liked how the texture of the meat was good and the sauce wasn't too heavy on the corn starch. If I were to go back, I would get this again.  It's what you would expect when ordering this dish.

- Oxtail Stew over Rice - Four pieces of oxtail of varying sizes are cooked with celery, carrots, and hot dogs (!) in a ketchup based sauce and served with your choice of spaghetti or rice.  The rice was just slightly undercooked which was disappointing as a starting point.  The oxtail was barely warm all the way through and the texture therefore wasn't as tender as when it is hot.  I was surprised to see slices of hot dogs in the dish - it's not typical to have them in this dish (or really any Chinese dish unless it says it's a hot dog), but we noticed hot dogs in a lot of our neighboring tables' dishes too.  I was really disappointed by this dish due to the temperature issues and the presence of hot dogs.

Although the prices are considered very reasonable, I was disappointed with how inefficient the staff was and with my food.  The staff would clean a table and walk back and forth in order to bring menus to new diners, bring drinks, etc.  Most waitresses can multitask and make each trip more efficient than this.  It took too long for food prepared to this quality.  If you're going to try it, I would suggest sticking to more traditional Chinese food and milk tea/lemon tea type of drinks - these seemed to be popular with the other patrons.