Cafe Orchid

Delicious homey Hong Kong fare! The decor is basic and spare, made up for by the peaceful atmosphere, yummy eats, quick and friendly service, and extremely reasonable prices. We noticed several single diners and obvious locals, always a sign of consistently seriously good chow! We will be back....

Classic little HK style "cha chaan teng" place serving up comfort food. Reasonable prices, and many dishes have that "wok hay" aroma that's fresh off the wok, and their portions aren't skimpy either. Standout items are baked rice dishes and pan fried noodles. Cash only, so come prepared

This is our go-to spot anytime we want some Hong Kong style cha chaan teng good. Delicious and reasonable price.

2nd time here, order turn around time is fast, food quality was great, original Hong kong style cafe, parking is limited at this location but you can park Comerica parking lot just next to the building. Interior set up is warm and daily go to cafe recommended to all.

Geez this is the authentic HK food that tastes exactly the same as Hong Kong!! 🇭🇰

Delicious + authentic food, friendly staff, reasonable prices. Can’t ask for more.

This Hong Kong Style Restaurant (茶餐廳) is pretty medium for the taste. However, it is fast service and with convenience location (close to San Francisco Airport), that’s why I give them 5 stars. Especially when you waiting for pick up your families or even after pick up your families and need something to eat. This place is good fit for that.

Cheap, delicious, authentic Hong Kong food! I'm Vietnamese but my friend who's family is from Hong Kong loves this place and always comes here. If you come for the tea time (ends at 6pm) you can get a lunch sized portion with an authentic sweet lemon tea for $11

HK comfort food, cha chaan teng. Be patient for the baked rice or pasta dishes, definitely worth the wait.

Wanted to try this location since we drive by it everyday. This is a Hong Kong style restaurant food. We ordered: Baked oxtail with rice, the fish with egg corn over rice, the beef tendon over lo mein, beef tendon wonton noodle soup, and baked pork chop over rice. The baked oxtail was not bad. But for the price it’s not bad. For drinks: we ordered the Hong Kong style milk and coffee tea. Not as good as the one I had in Hong Kong, but ok. I would definitely come back, but try something different especially since there is parking in the back.

I love this site! The food is authentic and the service is warm. You can not go to the wrong place if you see so many HongKong people dining inside. And the portion is good that an adult man can easily be fed up and the price is quite reasonable.

6/26/2025 update: Posted new menu photos. No kitten roaming in the dining area today. We had the baked pork tenderloin spaghetti $15.25, wonton soup $13.25 and a stir fry beef satay rice noodles $14.50. Everything tasted great. This was more of a revenge meal as the wonton soup I had on the day before was terrible. Food taste even better when you had something bad. The older waitress is back. She is pretty awesome. The kitchen was really slow today. It took over 30 minutes for my baked pork tenderloin spaghetti to come out. 3/27/2025 update: Weird lunch today. While we were eating, a kitten rubbed up against my friend's leg under the table. It surprised us. I didn't know this was a cat cafe. Apparently, it ran out from the kitchen. The waitress quickly captured the kitten. The other weird thing was, we ordered the 'curry pizza' (spring onion bread) appetizer, but it never arrived. Either the rookie waitress never put it in or the chef was too busy to make it. Finally, when my friend went to pay, the rookie waitress short changed us by $50 as my friend paid with a $100 bill. Luckily he paid at the cashier as he counted the change in front of her. Hopefully, the older waitress and the skinny one will come back soon. Today's peanut butter french toast $7.50, baked pork tenderloin spaghetti $15.25 and black pepper beef spaghetti $14.50 were fine. 7/31/2022 update: Cafe Orchid is still awesome and my go-to place for Hong Kong style meals. Off the menu, I got their Hong Kong style tomato beef crispy noodles. This was my first time eating this here. There weren't any photos on Yelp for this dish. Amazing flavor with plenty of pieces of beef and tomatoes. As for the beef and vegetables chow fun with gravy, this was great as well. The chef did a good job with the wok flavor. Excellent service. Good job my friends at Cafe Orchid. 9/24/2021 update: Cafe Orchid is still an excellent Hong Kong style cafe. There was a constant flow of to-go order pickups and a short line waiting for a table at 7pm on a Friday. It gets busier during brunch time on the weekends. I started my meal with an order of curry fish balls. They are a favorite street food among Hong Kongers. The only thing missing is the bamboo stick used on the streets. The curry sauce here is thick and smelled wonderful. The fish balls were firm with a soft snap. The beef brisket braised noodles are still good. It came with mostly overcooked tendons that were easy to chew. There's an option to get the thicker egg noodles, but I prefer the thin noodles. It was all washed down with a lemon tea with real lemon. Great job staff at Cafe Orchid. We are lucky they are in Millbrae. I like how the bigger waitress knows all the regular customers. 4/22/2021 update. Indoor dining. Tonight I had the beef brisket wonton noodle soup $10.50 and a HK milk tea $3. The beef briskets were more tendons than I would have liked. There were only two small pieces of meat and two big pieces of tendons. It was slowed cook and pretty flavorful. The three wontons were satisfying. It contains shrimp and a hint of sesame oil. Their milk tea tasted almost as good as the ones found in tea cafes in Hong Kong. My bill came to $18 with tax and tip. ****Original review below**** Indoor dining tonight 3/12/2021. Cafe Orchid 蘭苑 is a Hong Kong style tea cafe 港式茶餐廳. They do a very good job of offering the same style of food found in Hong Kong lunch cafes. We are talking about baked rice/spaghetti, little sandwiches, milk teas, rice dishes and soup based instant noodles/macaroni bowls. We had the cold HK style milk tea $3.60, HK Style milk tea and coffee $3.00, afternoon tea chicken wings $10, curry pork chops spaghetti $10 and baked pork chops over rice $10.50. The restaurant was spaced out for Covid and I felt safe eating indoors. The menu was under a plexiglass or can be scanned via QR code. The food came out fairly quickly and I had no complaints about the chef, food quality, wait staff. Great job Cafe Orchid. My bill was about $43 with tax and tip for two people.

WEI GE

I love this site! The food is authentic and the service is warm. You can not go to the wrong place if you see so many HongKong people dining inside. And the portion is good that an adult man can easily be fed up and the price is quite reasonable.

Jeff Ho

6/26/2025 update: Posted new menu photos. No kitten roaming in the dining area today. We had the baked pork tenderloin spaghetti $15.25, wonton soup $13.25 and a stir fry beef satay rice noodles $14.50. Everything tasted great. This was more of a revenge meal as the wonton soup I had on the day before was terrible. Food taste even better when you had something bad. The older waitress is back. She is pretty awesome. The kitchen was really slow today. It took over 30 minutes for my baked pork tenderloin spaghetti to come out. 3/27/2025 update: Weird lunch today. While we were eating, a kitten rubbed up against my friend's leg under the table. It surprised us. I didn't know this was a cat cafe. Apparently, it ran out from the kitchen. The waitress quickly captured the kitten. The other weird thing was, we ordered the 'curry pizza' (spring onion bread) appetizer, but it never arrived. Either the rookie waitress never put it in or the chef was too busy to make it. Finally, when my friend went to pay, the rookie waitress short changed us by $50 as my friend paid with a $100 bill. Luckily he paid at the cashier as he counted the change in front of her. Hopefully, the older waitress and the skinny one will come back soon. Today's peanut butter french toast $7.50, baked pork tenderloin spaghetti $15.25 and black pepper beef spaghetti $14.50 were fine. 7/31/2022 update: Cafe Orchid is still awesome and my go-to place for Hong Kong style meals. Off the menu, I got their Hong Kong style tomato beef crispy noodles. This was my first time eating this here. There weren't any photos on Yelp for this dish. Amazing flavor with plenty of pieces of beef and tomatoes. As for the beef and vegetables chow fun with gravy, this was great as well. The chef did a good job with the wok flavor. Excellent service. Good job my friends at Cafe Orchid. 9/24/2021 update: Cafe Orchid is still an excellent Hong Kong style cafe. There was a constant flow of to-go order pickups and a short line waiting for a table at 7pm on a Friday. It gets busier during brunch time on the weekends. I started my meal with an order of curry fish balls. They are a favorite street food among Hong Kongers. The only thing missing is the bamboo stick used on the streets. The curry sauce here is thick and smelled wonderful. The fish balls were firm with a soft snap. The beef brisket braised noodles are still good. It came with mostly overcooked tendons that were easy to chew. There's an option to get the thicker egg noodles, but I prefer the thin noodles. It was all washed down with a lemon tea with real lemon. Great job staff at Cafe Orchid. We are lucky they are in Millbrae. I like how the bigger waitress knows all the regular customers. 4/22/2021 update. Indoor dining. Tonight I had the beef brisket wonton noodle soup $10.50 and a HK milk tea $3. The beef briskets were more tendons than I would have liked. There were only two small pieces of meat and two big pieces of tendons. It was slowed cook and pretty flavorful. The three wontons were satisfying. It contains shrimp and a hint of sesame oil. Their milk tea tasted almost as good as the ones found in tea cafes in Hong Kong. My bill came to $18 with tax and tip. ****Original review below**** Indoor dining tonight 3/12/2021. Cafe Orchid 蘭苑 is a Hong Kong style tea cafe 港式茶餐廳. They do a very good job of offering the same style of food found in Hong Kong lunch cafes. We are talking about baked rice/spaghetti, little sandwiches, milk teas, rice dishes and soup based instant noodles/macaroni bowls. We had the cold HK style milk tea $3.60, HK Style milk tea and coffee $3.00, afternoon tea chicken wings $10, curry pork chops spaghetti $10 and baked pork chops over rice $10.50. The restaurant was spaced out for Covid and I felt safe eating indoors. The menu was under a plexiglass or can be scanned via QR code. The food came out fairly quickly and I had no complaints about the chef, food quality, wait staff. Great job Cafe Orchid. My bill was about $43 with tax and tip for two people.

Kate Chan

This is our go-to spot anytime we want some Hong Kong style cha chaan teng good. Delicious and reasonable price.

Chris Hu

2nd time here, order turn around time is fast, food quality was great, original Hong kong style cafe, parking is limited at this location but you can park Comerica parking lot just next to the building. Interior set up is warm and daily go to cafe recommended to all.

Wei Jing

Delicious + authentic food, friendly staff, reasonable prices. Can’t ask for more.

Kim Chungji

Geez this is the authentic HK food that tastes exactly the same as Hong Kong!! 🇭🇰

Z BC

This Hong Kong Style Restaurant (茶餐廳) is pretty medium for the taste. However, it is fast service and with convenience location (close to San Francisco Airport), that’s why I give them 5 stars. Especially when you waiting for pick up your families or even after pick up your families and need something to eat. This place is good fit for that.

Minh Nguyen

Cheap, delicious, authentic Hong Kong food! I'm Vietnamese but my friend who's family is from Hong Kong loves this place and always comes here. If you come for the tea time (ends at 6pm) you can get a lunch sized portion with an authentic sweet lemon tea for $11

Dave N

HK comfort food, cha chaan teng. Be patient for the baked rice or pasta dishes, definitely worth the wait.

Food is amazing here. I love the spaghetti and their Indian curry pizza. The curry pizza is basically naan bread.

CAFE orchid was one of my favorite Hong Kong cafe in the bay area. Love their bake pork cutlets over rice and skillet ribeye steakeal set!

Matthew Du

Food is amazing here. I love the spaghetti and their Indian curry pizza. The curry pizza is basically naan bread.

Carol cen

CAFE orchid was one of my favorite Hong Kong cafe in the bay area. Love their bake pork cutlets over rice and skillet ribeye steakeal set!

Good food, nice staff, many options, affordable prices even today with inflation

So they have this baked pork chop special which is super good. Luckily the gf can read Chinese or I would have never known about. Haven't really tried anything else, but most of the HK people I know like this place. It's worth checking out.

HK style Cafe, parking is in the back need to pay attention to the entrance for the parking. food is good, the atmosphere is ok.

Traditional Hong Kong/Chinese cafe, with reasonable prices (but not the most clean plates, utensils, etc. But honestly who goes to these places expecting 4 star cleanliness and service? Terrific food that reminds me of my childhood, ranging from stir fried noodles to baked ox tongue. Cash only, parking in the rear (and on side streets, but not easy).

This place serves Yummy 😋 foods. Hong Kong style Cafe. Don't expect service. Waitress takes your orders and brings your orders. If you need anything else you need to keep looking for waitress

teeny tiny parking lot, but parking is not difficult in the neighborhood. this restaurant is pretty authentic and tasty. prices are comparable to other similar restaurants in the neighborhood. i would recommend trying the hong kong style milk tea! also ps: it is cash only so be prepared for that.

Hong Kong style cafe. Basic interior, not so fancy. Lots of options on the menu, not so much for vegetarian options though. Hong Kong style milk tea. I ended up with a baked rice fish dish with Portuguese sauce which I thought was good. The BF had hai Nan chicken which was ok. Also had green leafy vegetable dish.

Little family owned restaurant seems like. They have a lot of hong kong 茶餐廳 dishes. Food was good and price was reasonable.

This is a hole-in-the-wall, cash-only restaurant serving Cantonese and Hong Kong style fast comfort foods including stir-fry noodles, soup noodles and macaroni soup, baked pasta and rice dishes and more. There is a great 3pm to 6pm Happy Hour menu that includes extra affordable value combinations. Because of the small tables and the tight dining room, this joint is not great for parties larger than four. Be aware that any baked dishes require extra time. I was almost done with my beef chow fun with black bean sauce before my wife's baked spaghetti & pork chops arrived. My wife loved the free warm sweet tofu soup that came with our lunch meal. There is free parking in a small parking lot in the back.

I went to eat here with a friend of mine. He told me that this is a good example of traditional Cantonese food. I was not familiar with Cantonese food and he described it as Chinese comfort food. Kind of like food that you would go get at your Chinese grandmother's home. I don't know how accurate this is in the grand scheme of Chinese food, but it seemed accurate to me. It was Saucy and tasty and kind of like beef and gravy that I would get as a kid at my grandmother's house. Definitely different than most Chinese restaurants that I have had in my life. I recommend giving it a try. The place is no frills, but the service was great and the staff was super friendly. Take a bit of time to look at the menu. They have a lot of things to choose.

#2 This is one of my favorite restaurants. It’s not fancy or particularly special, but it’s a place where you can enjoy a delicious, simple meal at a reasonable price with milk tea. I personally love the pork katsu and spaghetti combo, and I also enjoy the sausage macaroni! And now they even accept credit cards, including Amex! #1 Simple and delicious Hong Kong-style café!! Cash Payment ONLY!!

Baked dishes and deep fried wings are good. Drinks are great (Hong Kong style lemon tea and milk tea). Pan fried noodles and French toast are burnt without "wok hey," so they must have used high heat to cook anything too quickly. Taking shortcut did not really work here. Not very impressed, but okay overall.

Got lunch special 14.95 including a drink. Excellent cost and performance.

Curry is great. Baked spaghetti lacks flavor. HK milk tea was good. Not too sweet.

The beef noodle and wonton taste good. The store accepts credit card.

Brian King

I went to eat here with a friend of mine. He told me that this is a good example of traditional Cantonese food. I was not familiar with Cantonese food and he described it as Chinese comfort food. Kind of like food that you would go get at your Chinese grandmother's home. I don't know how accurate this is in the grand scheme of Chinese food, but it seemed accurate to me. It was Saucy and tasty and kind of like beef and gravy that I would get as a kid at my grandmother's house. Definitely different than most Chinese restaurants that I have had in my life. I recommend giving it a try. The place is no frills, but the service was great and the staff was super friendly. Take a bit of time to look at the menu. They have a lot of things to choose.

Daniel

#2 This is one of my favorite restaurants. It’s not fancy or particularly special, but it’s a place where you can enjoy a delicious, simple meal at a reasonable price with milk tea. I personally love the pork katsu and spaghetti combo, and I also enjoy the sausage macaroni! And now they even accept credit cards, including Amex! #1 Simple and delicious Hong Kong-style café!! Cash Payment ONLY!!

Clarice C

Baked dishes and deep fried wings are good. Drinks are great (Hong Kong style lemon tea and milk tea). Pan fried noodles and French toast are burnt without "wok hey," so they must have used high heat to cook anything too quickly. Taking shortcut did not really work here. Not very impressed, but okay overall.

Steve L

Got lunch special 14.95 including a drink. Excellent cost and performance.

Joyce Lam

Curry is great. Baked spaghetti lacks flavor. HK milk tea was good. Not too sweet.

Richard Lee

The beef noodle and wonton taste good. The store accepts credit card.

Kyle Hui

Good food, nice staff, many options, affordable prices even today with inflation

Service can be slow and atmosphere can be noisy at times but the Veg Chowmein and HK Style Milk Tea are worth trying. My go-to spot near SFO airport where you can wait and enjoy your tea when waiting for picking up someone from airport.

Kabirr

Service can be slow and atmosphere can be noisy at times but the Veg Chowmein and HK Style Milk Tea are worth trying. My go-to spot near SFO airport where you can wait and enjoy your tea when waiting for picking up someone from airport.

Hong kong cafe style dishes

I will expect a bit more but they only have liked dishes.

+2

Their Hainanese chicken is so horrifying!! It's got black hairs on the skin and it's NOT de-boned - of course tastes nothing like Hainanese either. Other dishes are hit and miss. The Baked Pork Chop is a safe choice and the HK style milk tea are really good on some days.

Nice Hong Kong style Cantonese Cafe menu. They make delicious baked pork chop rice. I like it.

Came here right after landing SFO. Ordered a rice dish and veggies dish. However, we saw the server took a quarter of our veggies from our dish, then serve it to us. We saw the action on the chef's window. Definitely was awkward

The price is pretty fair for the portions but mostly just rice. The curry beef had no curry flavor, it was very bland. The tomato sauce pork chop rice had two thin pork chops and this one was much more flavorful. The HK milk tea is very good and I actually enjoyed it the most of the whole meal. Cheaper Asian canto-American style of food in Millbrae but flavor could be improved

Wilson Tsang

The price is pretty fair for the portions but mostly just rice. The curry beef had no curry flavor, it was very bland. The tomato sauce pork chop rice had two thin pork chops and this one was much more flavorful. The HK milk tea is very good and I actually enjoyed it the most of the whole meal. Cheaper Asian canto-American style of food in Millbrae but flavor could be improved

We were looking for a place to eat & thoughts to give this place a try as the rating were good. We were disappointed. First, we waited 15 minutes for our table. Sat down for about 8 minutes before we got the menu. We already know what we wanted as we looked through the menu while waiting for our table. Our hot tea & cold drink didn't come until we got our food. We found a hair in the cold drink just before drinking it & informed the waiter to replace it. There was no apology. One of the dish we ordered was the pork chop over the rice or spaghetti. We asked for the spaghetti. However, when it came, it was the rice instead so we flagged down the waitress & told her. Instead of offering to replace it, she said she wrote down rice. She made it sound like we were the one who ordered the wrong thing. She then said if we want to replace it, we will have to wait a while. We will not be returning to this place again.

Food was ok . Service was ok , didn’t get water until I asked and it was room temperature water . The only food that I liked was the Hong Kong style French toast and they also demanded for a tip !

I called for take out and was told to wait 25 minutes. Got to restaurant after 1/2 hour and they have lost my order. I was told to wait another 15 minutes. Turned out they have given my order to another customer and they did not tell me. Why am I being penalized for their mistakes? Go somewhere else

Everything was alright except Cash only. It was very annoying to spend $60 meal but Cash only! If I have to pay in cash, there are many restaurants in Chinatown better and cheaper. Not a 1st choice to go there again.

Used to be great. Rice cold but not as cold as the waitresses. Ignored my request for the bill. Had to find another waitresses to charge me. Ignored request for tea. FYI meat tougher than the tires on my car.