Blue Sky Café - Belmont, California

J. Z.

So delicious! My first time trying here. It blows my mind.

Beef stew with bean curd is really good. Hand-tipped chicken is also really good.
Clay pot rice is supreme. We tried two flavors — Myself alone finished one pot.

The service is also good. The staff is very friendly.

I heard there is always a line. It is a small setting with 7-8 tables. At 1:40 pm, We waited for 30 mins when 6 parties before us. So do your own math. But I have to say it is worth it.

Danni C.

Great food and friendly staffs! Have been ordering from this place 5 times in a month since I first tried this place. The food is authentic and delicious. We love ordering online and doing pickups so we don’t need to wait in the long line!

Marianne O.

A relaxing cafe that serves wonderful Hong Kong style and Cantonese dishes in San Mateo/Belmont. It is always full but the service is quick. Food is authentic and delicious with large portions. We ordered the baked fish and pork chop over rice and cabbage with thin rice noodles. Lots of people orders the salt and pepper pork!fish (?) I also noticed the clay pot rice is huge!

This restaurant is great for family and couples!

Rachel S.

Limited parking spaces around the area. We arrived at this place around 5:30pm, and a lot of people were waiting outside. It took us an hour and half to get the table. Honestly, it was not worth the wait after we tried out the food.

We ordered the Salt Pepper Chicken Wings/Spicy, Shrimp Wonton Soup, Egg Yolk Pumpkin and Shrimp, Chinese Sausage and Bacon Clay Pot Rice, Yellow Eel Clay Pot Rice, Iced Lemon Tea and Milk Tea.

The owner told us that the chef made a mistake on the shrimp wonton soup, and they would just gave us the extra meat for free and we were fine with that. In addition, when I was eating the Chinese sausage clay pot rice, I found out that there was a little piece of steel wool in the rice. When I told the owner about this incident, he apologized and said that he would not charge for this item. The owner was very courteous and we were about to go, so we didn’t wanna make a big deal here. Overall, the food was not surprisingly good but decent and generous portion of food. Friendly staff, but the wait time was way too long.

Betty W.

An authentic Chinese restaurant which I’ve been multiple times! The restaurant is small and always crowded (with a line) so remember to go for lunch or go early!! My personal fav is the chicken and the clay pot rice. Staff were busy but were friendly and attentive. Highly recommend 👍

Pat W.

Short hours, closed between lunch and dinner. Very small restaurant with limited seating and hours. Few parking spots as the spots are in a shared strip mall. But the food is well worth the effort to get a table.

The menu comprises of old fashion food from the surrounding villages in Canton, the majority of immigrants from China from before the exclusion act ... the railroad workers!

Delicious food that is difficult to find in restaurants nowadays. Especially bittermelon that seemed to be everywhere in San Francisco Chinatown eateries, according to parents, back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

The clay pot salted fish and minced pork was the other highlight for lunch.

We saw the line out front before the restaurant opened, and that was a great indicator for what to anticipate.

Chiucat /. A.

Added review: Reserved a big table, but when we arrived, both tables were occupied. The "reservation" merely puts you in for priority seating once you arrive, but doesn't guarantee your table at the appointed time. We had to cool our heels outside for 30 minutes (including our 97-year-old mom) while it was raining & very cold. Not a good look! Taking off one star for this meaningless & ridiculous reservation system. Worse, securing a reservation involved many, many calls to try & "catch" them while they picked up their phone. Leaving messages was pointless. No way to book a table online.

Bathroom is outside and no maintenance. TP ran out, and no one refilled.

Black pepper beef claypot was better than the chicken & mushroom one (better tasting) but the server admitted that the cut of beef the source is not the best (a few pieces had lots of tendon & proved too chewy). Eggplant w Tofu was better (savory) than Stir-fried Eggplants (sweet).

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Small, family-style Cantonese restaurant (without the dim sum) offers well flavored, skillfully prepared dishes that surprise and satisfy. Triple-style steam eggs was a waste of space.

The Basil Tofu (with veggies) infused the senses with fragrant basil while waking the palate with just enough homemade pepper sauce - THE best tofu dish I've ever had. The Salt & Pepper Fish Filet was equally amazing - it didn't look like much, with fried fish filet (skilfullybdone, not greasy at all) on a bed of finely chopped raw green peppers & cabbage but... the restrained use of salt & pepper with truly tender filets made us stop & say, "Oh, interesting!" The Chicken & Mushroom Rice Claypot was good - aficionados would appreciate the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot (Guo Ba). Put the Basil Tofu's sauce in the rice in the claypot, and you've got a winner. The Stir-Fried Eggplants came reasonably firm (nice surprise) in a rich sweet flavor. I would've preferred a savory approach, but combined with the other dishes, the eggplants provided another flavor dimension.

I'd give the Pan-Fried Noodles a pass. Workman-like, and the noodles didn't have the 2 scorched sides one has come to expect of Cantonese cuisine. Many other better options.

Portions were indeed generous as commented by other reviewers - in fact, I overheard the server advise other diners of this fact so they wouldn't over-order. Knowing this fact, we nevertheless added another dish to our order, so that we'd have take-home boxes. In the event, we made 3 meals out of this one dinner.

Although the operation was mainly digital, from managing the line (there was a line as early as 4:30 pm!) to ordering to payment, the servers were surprisingly responsive. Hot tea was hot and strong, and free.

This place can stand some expansion. Only 7 tables + 2 banquet-style round tables. Lines outside the entire (Saturday) evening.

Mason T.

Very authentic Cantonese food. Good sized portions, decent prices. Pretty small restaurant, so seating is limited.