Sun’s Chinese Cuisine

The sun has set on Sun’s. They are closed and a Cajun restaurant is going to open here

We decided to eat upstairs after being ushered in. Looked friendly enough and it was not particularly crowded there.
But the service (one lone harried waitress) was not only very slow and uneven but the quality of the food, especially my dish (General Tso’s Chicken) was so horribly one dimensional, so under-​seasoned (it was a mess of corn-​starch thickened flavorless sauce with one-​note: pepper flakes drenching soggy battered chicken) that it warranted a rare send back to the kitchen.
I remember the waitress saying when I ordered this dish: «You know this is fried?» She looked concerned and apparently thought that this was enough of a warning to make me change my mind.
«Fried?» Wow, what a shock. I just was not impressed with their Taiwanese selections and decided to go with an American-​Chinese standard. I’ve had this plenty of places before and it rarely gets to the point of being bad enough to be sent back.
This came out very late – well after the other three dishes were already on the table, none of which, by the way, were anything remarkable.
As my fellow Elite Abby S. stated «it sees like we just ordered the wrong food» and I really want to give this place another chance, but in San Mateo, there are so many other better choices, it might be a good while before my memory of this place fades.
Note to self: if the waitress/​waiter here questions your order (which is apparently the same style of question/​warning that Abby S. had), you should rethink your order and ask for a recommendation.

I’d say the food is like 3.5 stars, BUT the two ladies working at the restaurant (I believe one of them was the owner) were both totally charming and took good care of our to-​go order despite some confusion over a changed menu. You see, my wife apparently had a menu that was several years old so when I placed my order on the phone with the numbers next to the dishes, nothing matched up! The lady on the phone was very patient with me and we went back and forth several times until I’d ordered what I wanted. I’m glad both of us were able to laugh during the transaction! :)
The food ended up being pretty good. Please keep in mind that I’m not a Chinese food fan and this order was for my wife and her family who do enjoy that cuisine. There was a noodle dish with ground pork and some black fungus with spinach. Both tasted just fine and had some nice flavors, but still just not my cup of tea.
I would definitely come back to this cute restaurant to flirt with the ladies and try some of the dumplings which are definitely something I do like!

Has a nice homey feel to it, but the noodles and such taste a bit factory made as opposed to the good old fashioned stuff.
Coming from a family who has a high foundation on home Chinese cooking, it’s logical to rate this place as it is.
They’re authentic, but not as homely as your Chinese or Taiwanese grandparents make them :).

===DECENT DISHES===
Pork w/​wood ear mushrooms — nothing special. There was too much vinegar imo. Wouldn’t get it again.
Braised Tofu — pretty bland, wouldn’t get it again.

Rushing to catch our movie next door, my group and I didn’t feel like theatre food so the new Chinese Restaurant caught the corner of my eye and I figured it would be a more fulfilling meal at a fraction of the price as movie theatre hot dog meals.
I called in our order, ran inside to pick it up, and Sun’s was quick, friendly, and above all-​yummy and decently priced. Just what I needed to jump-​start my movie, and made it in time for the previews.
Mission Accomplished.

I wanted to like Sun’s Chinese more. When we walked in, I noticed that all the diners were Asian – that’s always a good sign. My friend and I raised the non-​Asian presence to 1.5 people. And the atmosphere was good; this really seemed like a regular haunt for most people there. The service was also good. When we ordered an eggplant dish, the server cautioned that it’s deep-​fried. Since we had also ordered the walnut prawns, she guessed (correctly) that we didn’t want our second dish to be deep-​fried, too.
We switched our second choice to tofu and vegetables, which was pretty good. Unfortunately, the walnut (or in this case, pecan) prawns just weren’t. They were like triple deep-​fried, not the light frying I’m used to. I’m pretty sure I saw my friend eat a piece of prawn-​shaped breading. And the dish was swimming in an overly-​sweet, mayonnaise sauce the consistency of Elmer’s glue. Maybe the other dishes are better, but the memory of the walnut prawns is enough to keep me from finding out.

OK all around place. Small downstairs dining room and friendly service.
The shrimp and cucumber dumplings were a little bland. The cashew chicken bamboo rice was a good sized serving.

Came here today for lunch as wanted to try some place different. i’m not sure if this place is actually run by Taiwanese folks.
Décor seemed nice. A small cozy restaurant. We ordered 3 items based on the reviews here: onion pancake; shredded pork bamboo rice; chives/​shirmp dumplings. I wasnt’ that impressed with the food. It was just ok. The shrimp was very scant/​non existent in the dumplings and the shrimp seemed to have gone bad (?). It didn’t come with any dipping sauce (ie vinegar chilli soy sauce). The bamboo rice was ok. It was just plain white rice (too much) underneath the shredded pork. would be nice to have more shredded pork/​tofu. The onion cake was ok. A little greasy. I later ordered a side dish of cucumber salad. It’s premarinated and it was hecka spicy. It was so spicy i had to dip the cucumbers into my tea to take out the heat.
Prices seem to be pricey compared to what we’re used to. We were charged $ 4 for a side of cucumber salad. I thought the menu said $ 2.95. The onion pancake was $ 4.50.
Being that I live close to SF, I would probably not return to Sun’s again and go to San Tung as the food is SOOOO much better and there are soo many more dishes there.

smaller portion than most places. got the cucumber appetizer. tiny. but it was only a dollar or so. Taiwanese pork chop rice was not greasy. rice had the meat juice and generous with the meat on the rice. also got the corn with chicken; it came much later than the rice dish. glad i didn’t have to wait for that other dish to come before i could start eating. service was fine. not sure if i would go back… there were a couple of interesting dishes i can go back to try (maybe those bamboo basket dishes), but there are so many other interesting restaurants on 3^rd avenue…
seems like a family run business and pretty authentic.

3.5 stars! My new favorite place for Taiwanese breakfast (sorry China Bee and Little Shanghai). Only order from their «house made specialties» though, because that’s what they’re good at. Everything else is just average.
Salty Rice Roll
Perfect ratio of sticky rice, dried shredded pork, and donut (I didn’t have the preserved veggies in mine). The portion could be a bit bigger, but I’m not complaining. It was very tasty, and I loved how the donut wasn’t the aged kind. it was crunchy, but not to the point that it hurts the roof of your mouth.
Sweet Soy Milk
Already sweetened and to the perfect amount! Had the perfect soy taste and it was just so yummy! Didn’t taste artificial or anything. Spot on!
Green Onion Pancake
YUM! One of the best green onion pancakes I’ve tried in the Bay Area. Closer to the ones found in Taiwan than other restaurants. Other places have the really thick (Beijing style) type, but this one was perfectly layered, flakey, and chewy! Yum, I want some of that right now!
Beef Noodle Soup
Nothing to rave about, it was average. Not sure if Unilocalers meant the spicy kind or not, but I got the clear broth one. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t blow me away. Noodles were chewy though, which I liked.
Pork Over Rice with Fried Porkchop
Didn’t try it, but the bf didn’t like this dish at all. Though it was very watery and not well executed. Tasted nothing like the Taiwanese one.
But for me, the most important thing was the Taiwanese breakfast items and I think Sun’s did a really good job with them! Would definitely come back and strictly order from the «house made specialties» column :) So glad I found this place on Unilocal

Surprisingly, the food isn’t greasy here and there are some Taiwanese options too. This restaurant looks like a mom ‘n pop shop that caters to home cooking. I’m a fan of their beef roll, which wraps its meat with a slightly crispy pancake. They offer a variety of boiled dumplings including ones with fish. Moreover, their chives pancakes will give you a decent amount of greens. One of my other favorite dishes is their stir fried rice cake with cabbage for the QQ texture.
Service is friendly and fast. There is ample room upstairs and downstairs in a clean environment. The tea helps cleanse the palate. Parking is available on the street and in nearby lots.

My name is Abby and I’m guilty of walking into a restaurant without reading the Unilocal reviews first. Had I done so, our meal at Sun’s wouldn’t have been so bad.
Every now and then, it’s fun to throw caution to the wind and simply go out to eat without consulting your phone ahead of time. We’re so glued to our smart phones it’s kind of silly. Instead of doing all sorts of online research, we just drove to downtown San Mateo, parked the car and walked around, trying to figure out what sounded good for dinner.
If you haven’t already been, downtown San Mateo has SO many good restaurants, Asian or otherwise. Probably my favorite nook in all of the Peninsula. Chinese? Yep. Japanese? You bet. Filipino? Sure. American? Of course. Pizza? Uh huh. You really can’t go wrong. Unless you come to Sun’s and order what we did.
First off, the service here is so great. They sat us right away and our waitress was warm and bubbly. The menu’s offerings also sounded good. We should have gone with the more traditional Chinese dishes, but instead we were feeling wild (or as wild as one can get in the suburbs) and ordered some more creative dishes: shrimp and chive dumplings, pepper beef and sour Napa cabbage soup with pork. Waitress gave us a funny look and said «Have you ever had this kind of soup before. It’s really sour.» At that moment we should have gone with another menu item. Instead, we were both like, «Bring it on!». Bad idea.
Dumplings came out first. There were fine. Nothing magical, nothing terrible. Just a dumpling. That was definitely the highlight of the meal. From there, the pepper beef came out. The beef didn’t look like beef and it was covered in black pepper flakes. Literally covered. It was a plate of indigestion waiting to happen. I took one bite, spit it out in my napkin and refused to touch it ever again. The combination of strangely textured beef and the pepper was just that bad. And then the soup came. It smelled awful and tasted worse. I likened the pork to sweaty gym sock, the broth itself was something that you’d smell on BART or MUNI.
The BF is a lot more polite than I, choking down a few bites here and there and agreeing to take most of the food to-​go. I just smiled and nodded, knowing that there’s no way in hell I’d be eating this ever again. The owner/​manager came out and asked us how we liked the soup, explaining it’s a Korean and Russian specialty. No comment.
In reading others’ reviews, it seems like we just ordered the wrong food. Apparently Sun’s has great lunch specials and their Chinese food is usually pretty good. When you take a food risk, sometimes it pays off and other times you get sweaty gym sock in sour cabbage broth.
Lesson learned!

I always have a soft spot for good Taiwanese breakfast. Just give me some good soy milk and fan tuan and I am happy.
It is not hard to understand why I like Sun’s Chinese Cuisine. They just have really good fan tuan. For those of you who are not familiar with Taiwanese breakfast, it is a sticky rice roll filled with fried cruller and pickled dried vegetables. The fan tuan here is much better than your typical ones. The cruller was incredibly crispy. The sticky rice layer was thin enough to not overwhelm the fillings. The rice was cooked to a perfect texture. Not too sticky nor too firm yet still chewy. It was the best I have had in bay area.
The cucumber & shrimp dumplings that a lot of people like were good. I was slightly disappointed that they were served only lukewarm though. The dumpling sauce on the side was too diluted and watery. I think a normal bottle of dark vinegar will do just fine. Beef Pancake Wrap was good and very hearty. Portion was huge and it will easily fill you up. Soy milk was fresh but not thick enough although I still find it enjoyable.
Quick service and very reasonably priced food. You really can’t go wrong with it.

I heart lunch specials. I especially heart lunch specials when I can leave with a doggie bag full of leftovers. I hearted Sun’s Chinese’s lunch special so much that there was no doggie bag and I rolled my full belly back to the office slightly disgusted with my lack of self control. Oh well, my taste buds were throwing a party so big that I stopped worrying about my radical behavior.
The place is small, cute, and inviting. The hostess was nice and attentive and the one server that was running the whole show was very efficient. Their menu incorporates a whole page full of lunch special options for $ 6.95 (with rice and soup). The cup of hot & sour soup was very flavorful, had lots of veggies, egg drop and tofu in it and certainly had a great kick to it. My nose was runny before I even got my Hunan Shrimp — love it. I stopped counting the shrimp on my plate at 15 and decided that my instinct to go into this place had not proven me wrong. Great seasoning, not too much sauce, and lots of crunchy green onions, carrots, and other veggies. I left the ball of rice alone and just devoured the shrimp.
This will definitely be a go-​to lunch spot for me in San Mateo and I am excited to try all the other lunch specials as well as some items from their regular menu.

I’m not sure how I managed to live 2 years in the area but never knew of this place… but I’m glad Unilocal helped guide me here!
It’s a smaller, local mom & pop shop that feels like there is care put into the food. The gf and I split:
1) Beef Noodle Soup: This is probably the best in the san mateo/​redwood city/​foster city area. The beef noodle soup here has hand-​made noodles, the broth is tasty, and the meat is chewy/​tender –the best of all worlds. My review of TW village caveated that the noodles in their beef noodle soup were eh at best and there is just something different about the noodles at I Dumpling.
2) Wontons in spicy sauce: Great tasting and comes with a good amount of wontons contained within the bowl
Next time I come back, I’ll be sure to try out some of the MANY OTHER DISHES out there. The menu was a bit overwhelming and i’d definitely be interested in bringing a bigger group out there to try the place out!

I want to kick the ass of some of these reviewers. Yes I’m looking at you. Don’t come to a Chinese place and order a bunch of American dishes like General’s chicken, Orange Chicken and Mongolian Beef. Try real Chinese food and if you don’t know what to order ASK FOR SUGGESTIONS! Otherwise go eat at Panda Express please and leave the good Chinese places alone.
The owners will treat you like a good friend if you get to know them. Literally, if its not busy they will sit with you and talk or let you sample some new dish for free.
They get five stars right off the bat for using Sichuan Pepper which were previously banned for import to the US
If you like Mapo Tofu you MUST order it here so you can taste how it should be made. You may not like it because you are so used to the incorrect American style preparation
TRY THE CHILI CHICKEN WINGS if you like traditional spicy Chinese food. I ate this regularly while in China and this place gets it about as close as you can get.
The Dry Cooked Stringbeans and Water Spinach with Garlic are the best vegetable choices.
If you truly like to help local business you should know this restaurant is family run and they live right near by.

Returning to this page to write this review made my stomach turn as I remember the slop that was sold to me as food by Sun’s Chinese Cuisine at lunch today.
I can’t even write full sentences because spending that much time on this review would surely cause me to revisit that horrid meal.
Notes:
— Sauce on table had mold floating in it, waiter didn’t seem phased by that
— Menus smelled funny
— Brought cheque at the same time as the «food»
— Had difficulty telling the difference between dishes, they were all pretty much mush in a bland sauce
— Left half my «food» on the plate
— Half of what made it in to my mouth had to be returned to a napkin
— Have had a headache all day starting about a half hour after eating there… I thought adding MSG was supposed to make the food taste good?
NEVER AGAIN!

The food here is tasty and nicely done. I heard about it from son and his bride, they love it and on Christmas Eve took the whole clan out for a wonderful meal. We had folks from their 80’s down to the grandkids who are 6 and 10… everyone had something good to eat. We had adventurous eaters (both Asian and not) and some not so adventurous ones who looked with skepticism on anything new.
A couple of high points: The beef noodle soup was very flavorful and a hit with us all as it was fresh tasting. The dumplings were nicely done: although I preferred the shrimp to the fish. We had A vegetable as well and it was great: another hit was the Basil Chicken.
The food is lighter than most places and more like home than some fare that has been over spiced for American palates. The restaurant is spacious and pleasant and the the staff was attentive to us as a group. There were 11 of us and we had a good time. I am a fan of this spot!

Sun’s, located in downtown San Mateo, was the choice for our recent get-​together. Downtown San Mateo is surprisingly busy, even in this economy, and on a Tuesday night, parking was immensely difficult to find. People still are going out to eat at middle tier restaurants serving solid food.
Sun’s itself was very quiet on this weekday. Our party of 7 was the sole party dining but the hostess was friendly and happy to see us. My friends, who had been before, suggested a few things and soon we had ordered a feast. Prices, overall, are very reasonable.
Hot and Sour Soup — standard fare. Nothing special
Herb soup — a large stoneware container had piping hot clear broth with some pork bones and lots of herbs. It was tasty albeit simple.
Chive box — my favorite item of the night. These are very large and are a fried dough filled… no wait, stuffed… with chives. Very tasty, fresh, and satisfying.
Dumplings — we ordered three varieties — shrimp, pork, and leek I believe. They were pretty good. My complaints are that it’s fairly easy to get dumplings of this quality in most supermarkets (take a bag home and boil some at home) and that their dumplings came with no dipping sauce. I concocted my own out of hot chili sauce and soy sauce, but even the Ranch 99 versions often throw in a bottle of dipping sauce when you buy two packs
Xiao Long Bao — absolutely terrible. Small, dried out and oversteamed and filled with zero liquid. I ate them merely because I don’t like wasting food. My guess is these are store bought and frozen.
Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup — I asked the hostess which beef noodle soup was better and she recommended me this one. I found the flavor to be bland and the meat quality to be mediocre. Rather than soft from having been stewed for hours, it was a bit tough. The noodles were decent, but I’ve definitely had better Taiwanese beef noodle soup at many places.
Overall, we had a fun meal at Sun’s. The company and being able to order a variety of dishes made for a fulfilling and great meal. The food itself was decent, with a few hits (you’ll be safe with the dumplings and the chive box) but also a few disappointments. With so many Chinese places in San Mateo (I want to try China Bee next), try Sun’s if you’re looking for a few regional specialties.
Sun’s takes credit cards, but not American Express.