Cousin Cafe

They were so quick and friendly at Cousin’s Cafe. I came here for a breakfast takeout. The breakfast came with the breakfast item and drink of my choice (hk milk tea). I would come back again if I’m in the area craving a hong kong breakfast.

I ate here first time in Dec 2008 and 16 years passed, the foods have been consistently the same high quality. Amazing!

Best Cantonese café in bay area, price is good too

Typical Hong Kong late-night diner. Lots of charm and atmosphere inside, this place isn’t trying to be trendy or hip. It’s somewhere you and your grandma could enjoy some milk tea together and neither would feel out of place. I’ve been here a number of times and have never had a bad experience, you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.

Such a delicious HK style cafe. Highly recommend their tomato sauce spaghetti with chicken, so tender! Black bean pork with rice was also delicious but rice to meat ratio was a bit high. Drinks were refreshing! Open through afternoon without a break which is a plus if you’re looking to eat midday in the area.

Close to highway, convenient location, not large, but lots of choices on the menu. Very traditional Hong Kong style cafe, very popular. Service was great, friendly! The fried noodles were crispy with flavorful beef tendons and sauce. The pork chop was grilled well. Love the fried tofu and wings, not the dumplings, though. Great place for a quick bite!

My go to Hong Kong style cafe in the East Bay. Been around for ages and that says a lot for how often the restaurant scene changes in the Bay Area. Rice plates, chicken wings and appetizers are all good!

Quick, friendly and good tasting food! Quite authentic, would come back again. Had a 10% off cash price.

I came by myself and ordered the seafood fried rice. My only regret was that I was by myself because I had no one to share it with. It was so good, that dried scallop on top was way really made it. The service was good and yeah if you are looking for a legit hk restraint then cousins cafe is for you.

Shidoni

Such a delicious HK style cafe. Highly recommend their tomato sauce spaghetti with chicken, so tender! Black bean pork with rice was also delicious but rice to meat ratio was a bit high. Drinks were refreshing! Open through afternoon without a break which is a plus if you’re looking to eat midday in the area.

Tammy Liu

Close to highway, convenient location, not large, but lots of choices on the menu. Very traditional Hong Kong style cafe, very popular. Service was great, friendly! The fried noodles were crispy with flavorful beef tendons and sauce. The pork chop was grilled well. Love the fried tofu and wings, not the dumplings, though. Great place for a quick bite!

Allen Lee

My go to Hong Kong style cafe in the East Bay. Been around for ages and that says a lot for how often the restaurant scene changes in the Bay Area. Rice plates, chicken wings and appetizers are all good!

Norman C

Quick, friendly and good tasting food! Quite authentic, would come back again. Had a 10% off cash price.

jason wong

I came by myself and ordered the seafood fried rice. My only regret was that I was by myself because I had no one to share it with. It was so good, that dried scallop on top was way really made it. The service was good and yeah if you are looking for a legit hk restraint then cousins cafe is for you.

The fish broth noodles are among the best in the Bay Area, featuring a warm, comforting, and delicious broth. Their hot Hong Kong–style milk tea is above average compared to other Hong Kong cafés. The service is exceptional throughout the visit. I look forward to returning again soon.

A wonderful HK-style cafe with a wide variety of Cantonese style as well as Western style food. They have everything from noodle dishes, to porridge, to pasta — all very fresh, flavourful, and delicious! My personal favourites are the curry pan-fried noodles with beef brisket and the wonton noodle soup. Additionally, there's various types of both hot and cold teas to drink as well. Staff are quite friendly and service is fairly quick. The cafe has a cozy and calm ambiance is generally quite full during peak lunch hours. This is one of my comfort food spots and I definitely recommend coming here.

Derick

The fish broth noodles are among the best in the Bay Area, featuring a warm, comforting, and delicious broth. Their hot Hong Kong–style milk tea is above average compared to other Hong Kong cafés. The service is exceptional throughout the visit. I look forward to returning again soon.

Mihir Phadke

A wonderful HK-style cafe with a wide variety of Cantonese style as well as Western style food. They have everything from noodle dishes, to porridge, to pasta — all very fresh, flavourful, and delicious! My personal favourites are the curry pan-fried noodles with beef brisket and the wonton noodle soup. Additionally, there's various types of both hot and cold teas to drink as well. Staff are quite friendly and service is fairly quick. The cafe has a cozy and calm ambiance is generally quite full during peak lunch hours. This is one of my comfort food spots and I definitely recommend coming here.

HK style cafe food. I really liked their egg white scallop fried rice.

Milk tea is authentic. Spaghetti from the satay beef was a bit too soggy.

I had a friend coming to town to visit. We were with her dog so we needed a pet friendly outdoor dining spot. Added benefit was that neither of us knew what we wanted to eat, so I chose this restaurant because I've been coming here for years and know that they have a very broad menu selection that will likely accommodate any range of food that you may possibly enjoy. I like to think of this place as a classic Hong Kong/ Chinese restaurant Cafe fusion place. You can die off of appetizers alone, or get a rice plate, or get a noodle soup, hot pot and even dishes from other Asian countries such as Thailand. One of the items I enjoy most are their rice porridges. Many people consider this dish to be poor people's food and I understand that. But for me it's a treat which reminds me of my youth when I was eating... Poor people food? It's not to say that everything on the menu can or will be great, but I am sure if you frequent this place long enough you will likely be able to find a set of dishes that can be your regulars. Kind of like making it a home away from home when you want food that tastes and feels like a homemade meal. Recommended for sure.

Huge portions! Cheap prices! Attentive service.

Cute small restaurant that serves pretty good Chinese food. :') Edit: I ordered the Hainanese chicken and asked that they refrain from adding peanuts. The woman said okay, but then proceeded to serve me peanuts anyway and asked if it was okay if it was on the side. Like ... girl. Perhaps it was my fault for not communicating that it wasn't a matter of personal preference but an allergy (iffy one at that, but still), but like I feel like it's not too hard to refrain from giving the platter that has the sauce and the peanuts. And it was a waste of food, too, because as promised, I did not want peanuts. So yeah. I do like the food here from what I've tried, but I'm afraid that they aren't super respectful of dietary restrictions.

I've been here a lot as a kid, and just recently came back. I ordered my usual fish soup noodles, which I can't really find elsewhere, and it was delicious. They serve this delicious spicy pepper on the side, and it complements the noodle soup really well. The noodles have fish (obviously), fish cake, mushrooms. Really tasty! Food quality is quite good and price is fair for quantity at around $12 post-tax.

Good place if you are craving for a HK style quick bite. Garlic chicken wings are delicious, white sauce seafood baked rice is creamy and comes with lots of shrimps. The milk tea is nice, quite similar with the one we had in HK. Services are fast, but the staffs not so friendly. Watch out for their afternoon set, it's a good deal for afternoon snack.

Very friendly service and super quick. My favorite is the pork chop with rock cod. If you don't know what to order just look at the walls, they have a ton of photos of their dishes.

Pretty good Hong Kong style restaurant (this is not a dim sum place) , kind of like westernized Chinese food you may find in Hong Kong. We got there around 2pm on Saturday and still had to wait for about 5 minutes to get a table I had baked rice with cod fish and white sauce. I like it very much. Next time I may want to try different baked rice I recommend this place if you like Hong Kong style restaurant

Came here for some HK style breakfast on a Sunday around 9 something, they weren't too busy yet, but more people started to filter in as we left at 10. They have a reasonable selection and the food was pretty tasty. The congee portion was very large, not bad for sharing between two people if you add another item or two. They have HK style coffee/tea mix as well and also milk tea! It's not on their menu for breakfast but you can ask for it!

Haven’t been here in years. Only thing that has changed are the prices. Still good value for quantity and quality. What I like is it tastes like home cooked food.

ordered a pineapple salmon fried rice to-go. delicious, fragrant, did not feel greasy and generous serving. i will return

Cousin Cafe showed up in my research while looking for a Hong Kong-style restaurant in Newark. I decided to try them out. I'm not disappointed! The food is what I expected and the service is better than most of the Chinese restaurants. The dining room is a little too crowded, but I can still enjoy the yummy food. I'm sure I will be back next time when I'm in the area.

Came here for HK style breakfast. Satay beef was okay, milk tea was on point! Servers were nice and food came really quickly. They have 4 4-person tables available for covered, outdoor dining. I also saw a couple of high chairs available.

Great spot for Hong Kong foods! They have so many different dishes. Good food and quick meals.

I haven’t been in this place for a while even before COVID hits. I wanted to come by again since my family and I came here before. I really like their menu since they have various combinations of rice items, but since they seem to be for at least two or more people, I decided to order one of their rice plates. I remember the last time I came here, I had pork cutlet with rice, and wanted to have it again. However, they kinda screwed up my order and that’s fine as long as it’s not completely different. It tastes fine as well as the rice and vegetables. Taking a look at the atmosphere of this restaurant, it’s seemingly very calm here since people are just having conversations. Also, this place only accepts cash since I normally use it to pay my meals anyways. Maybe the next time I come here, I bring my family or friends so we can try other menu items.

Breakfast menu is 2 pages. Fish with rice noodle soup is warm (not hot enough). Ordered less sweet coffee milk tea, tastes good. Nice service

I’m being generous here. The staff are awesome and the cafe itself is cool. Just their pricing scheme is very out of whack. The milk tea is perfect though too.

Olivia Tam

A delightful return to one of my go to Hong Kong style cafe. Have not been here for a while due to dishes getting expensive. It comes across the price performance has improved again, the portion is generous and the dish is tasty. The tea and coffee 鴛鴦 can be better. though. Has there been ownership change? We add it back to our list of go to cafe.

Michael W.

Cousin Cafe showed up in my research while looking for a Hong Kong-style restaurant in Newark. I decided to try them out. I'm not disappointed! The food is what I expected and the service is better than most of the Chinese restaurants. The dining room is a little too crowded, but I can still enjoy the yummy food. I'm sure I will be back next time when I'm in the area.

Tonia S

Came here for HK style breakfast. Satay beef was okay, milk tea was on point! Servers were nice and food came really quickly. They have 4 4-person tables available for covered, outdoor dining. I also saw a couple of high chairs available.

Ann (Ann)

Great spot for Hong Kong foods! They have so many different dishes. Good food and quick meals.

Ivan Baradi

I haven’t been in this place for a while even before COVID hits. I wanted to come by again since my family and I came here before. I really like their menu since they have various combinations of rice items, but since they seem to be for at least two or more people, I decided to order one of their rice plates. I remember the last time I came here, I had pork cutlet with rice, and wanted to have it again. However, they kinda screwed up my order and that’s fine as long as it’s not completely different. It tastes fine as well as the rice and vegetables. Taking a look at the atmosphere of this restaurant, it’s seemingly very calm here since people are just having conversations. Also, this place only accepts cash since I normally use it to pay my meals anyways. Maybe the next time I come here, I bring my family or friends so we can try other menu items.

K M.

Breakfast menu is 2 pages. Fish with rice noodle soup is warm (not hot enough). Ordered less sweet coffee milk tea, tastes good. Nice service

Fried rice is good. Spaghetti with hot dog frank is OK too but not enough meat sauce. Lemon ice tea not bad but costs 3+ dollars with no refills. Should stay with free refillable regular hot tea or just water.

The satay beef chow fan is pretty good. The French toast is ok. They use maple syrup instead of the Hong Kong plain syrup They charge for to go box

A neighborhood HK style cafe. Service is great and the AC is strong. The beef brisket wide rice noodles is the best amongst 3 dishes that we ordered. The Hainanese chicken rice dish was very plain, rice lacks flavor. Same as the other vermicelli we ordered, not many ingredients and flavors but very generous with the vermicelli. Their ice HK milk tea on the other hand is pretty good.

Tried their fried rice, and it was average. Their baked spaghettis (whatever it was) tasted bad. Had this gamey taste. Their menu listed so many different dishes that it took me some time to pick a dish. The only good thing was there was outdoor seating, but most likely will not return because food was mediocre both times.

Simple and cosy restaurant for a quick fix if you miss Chinese food .. Hong Kong style restaurant and served cooked meat, vege, tofu on rice or noodle. Ordered Ma Puo tofu - rather blend and not spicy like the Sichuan style. The steam chicken is average and quite blend .. meat is soft and skin is lumpy ! Special house made fish soup not too bad , fried mussel with black bean is not that great! However, Fried youngchow rice is probably the best. Too much food for 3 of us but enjoyable food...

Accepts credit card but only with $20 minimum purchase against merchant agreement. Goto local Hong Kong cafe style food. Open till 11 with dessert drinks and happy hour special menus. One star off for credit card minimum. Will revisit rating if this changes. Update: 1/1/2017 - Used to come here several times a week. A happy hour noodle soup or porridge was around $3. Now the prices on the happy hour menu are nearly double. Drinks are also now a rip off... $4+ per drink for milk tea, red bean, etc. Go next door or to any of the other 5+ places in the same plaza/shopping center to save money. Drinks used to be on the expensive side, but were buy one get one free. Credit card claimed to be not working as well. Yeah right. Service is with a smile if you accept a strained smirk as a smile. Be lucky to come back here again and am going to recommend friends to no longer come here. There's a long list of places in Fremont, Union City, Newark area that are open late or later, are a better value and have equal if not better food. Still has credit card minimum purchase. Update 2/2019. Tried recently and as expected prices have gone up across the board including during happy hour times. However buy one get one free drinks is back during certain times. Food is pretty good for Hong Kong style Cafe food. Raising from 1 to 3 stars.

Helen M

The satay beef chow fan is pretty good. The French toast is ok. They use maple syrup instead of the Hong Kong plain syrup They charge for to go box

Kelvin Chan

A neighborhood HK style cafe. Service is great and the AC is strong. The beef brisket wide rice noodles is the best amongst 3 dishes that we ordered. The Hainanese chicken rice dish was very plain, rice lacks flavor. Same as the other vermicelli we ordered, not many ingredients and flavors but very generous with the vermicelli. Their ice HK milk tea on the other hand is pretty good.

Glow

Tried their fried rice, and it was average. Their baked spaghettis (whatever it was) tasted bad. Had this gamey taste. Their menu listed so many different dishes that it took me some time to pick a dish. The only good thing was there was outdoor seating, but most likely will not return because food was mediocre both times.

Andrew Goh

Simple and cosy restaurant for a quick fix if you miss Chinese food .. Hong Kong style restaurant and served cooked meat, vege, tofu on rice or noodle. Ordered Ma Puo tofu - rather blend and not spicy like the Sichuan style. The steam chicken is average and quite blend .. meat is soft and skin is lumpy ! Special house made fish soup not too bad , fried mussel with black bean is not that great! However, Fried youngchow rice is probably the best. Too much food for 3 of us but enjoyable food...

1 1

Accepts credit card but only with $20 minimum purchase against merchant agreement. Goto local Hong Kong cafe style food. Open till 11 with dessert drinks and happy hour special menus. One star off for credit card minimum. Will revisit rating if this changes. Update: 1/1/2017 - Used to come here several times a week. A happy hour noodle soup or porridge was around $3. Now the prices on the happy hour menu are nearly double. Drinks are also now a rip off... $4+ per drink for milk tea, red bean, etc. Go next door or to any of the other 5+ places in the same plaza/shopping center to save money. Drinks used to be on the expensive side, but were buy one get one free. Credit card claimed to be not working as well. Yeah right. Service is with a smile if you accept a strained smirk as a smile. Be lucky to come back here again and am going to recommend friends to no longer come here. There's a long list of places in Fremont, Union City, Newark area that are open late or later, are a better value and have equal if not better food. Still has credit card minimum purchase. Update 2/2019. Tried recently and as expected prices have gone up across the board including during happy hour times. However buy one get one free drinks is back during certain times. Food is pretty good for Hong Kong style Cafe food. Raising from 1 to 3 stars.

I had a steak that was $31 and I felt like it was frozen beforehand. It was tough to chew on. Also the sauce was fine but flavorless. The beverage was nice though. Typical Asian establishment. If the food was cheaper I wouldn’t mind the poor service but the food costs were too high. Their service sucks. If you ask them to come they will ignore you. Also they demand a tip, even for poor service. I wouldn’t recommend coming here. I would take that money and just make my own steak for cheaper at home.

Timmy Wong

I had a steak that was $31 and I felt like it was frozen beforehand. It was tough to chew on. Also the sauce was fine but flavorless. The beverage was nice though. Typical Asian establishment. If the food was cheaper I wouldn’t mind the poor service but the food costs were too high. Their service sucks. If you ask them to come they will ignore you. Also they demand a tip, even for poor service. I wouldn’t recommend coming here. I would take that money and just make my own steak for cheaper at home.

Signed up on the waitlist for a party of 5. We were #3 on the waitlist. After 45 minutes of waiting for a party of 5 and watching many parties be seated, we checked in with the staff. Many parties after us had been seated and crossed out on the waitlist. They put extra markings next to our name on the wait list and we resumed waiting. About 5 minutes later, another party was seated and we checked the waitlist again. We saw they removed the waitlist page that we had written our name on. A blank waitlist page was now there with new party names. They had removed us from the wait list and we wasted more than 45 minutes. We left to go to a different restaurant.

Poor customer service. Ordered a lemon iced coffee, when server turn in my order, the lady said it out loud, lemon in iced coffee? It has mike. I heard the conversation and told her lemon iced coffee doesn’t have milk, her replied was we don’t offer this in our menu, “which a tone of voice that made me feel I was costing trouble”. If you don’t have this item in your menu, why didn’t server told me so and what do you have to Lisa to learn a menu item if you don’t have it. This is not the way to treat your customer.

A photo tells everything. It claims this is a butter and condensed milk brick toast. It costs about $6..... I didn't take anything away, there is nothing but a samll size toast like this and it costs $6 (no drinks included)？ and it doesn't taste amazing.... I was so disappointing Overall, nothing is above standard. Food, drinks, service.... but the price. It was not the first time I came here, but it will definitely be the last time.

Poor service making the atmosphere just as poor. I came here a few months ago with my mom and we ordered 2 drinks and several dishes (about 5 dishes) and they’re either too bland or too salty. When it comes to the time to pay the bills ($90 something I forgot) I tipped until it total to $100 which is still less than 10% of the bill. They gave me a dirty look after seeing the bill and said something in Chinese with each other and one of the woman came over and demand that I must tip at least 10% because we ordered several dishes and asked to takeout the leftovers. They were not letting me and my mom go out and made us fix the tipping amount several times until the amount she find fit only then did she reluctantly nod and said something and let us go out. HOW ABOUT ADDING MANDATORY SERVICE CHARGES FOR PEOPLE WHO ORDERS SEVERAL DISHES INSTEAD OF STOPPING PEOPLE LIKE THEY WERE TRYING TO EAT THEN DASH WITHOUT PAYING?! TIPS ARE NOT MANDATORY ITS VOLUNTARY.

Melody

Poor service making the atmosphere just as poor. I came here a few months ago with my mom and we ordered 2 drinks and several dishes (about 5 dishes) and they’re either too bland or too salty. When it comes to the time to pay the bills ($90 something I forgot) I tipped until it total to $100 which is still less than 10% of the bill. They gave me a dirty look after seeing the bill and said something in Chinese with each other and one of the woman came over and demand that I must tip at least 10% because we ordered several dishes and asked to takeout the leftovers. They were not letting me and my mom go out and made us fix the tipping amount several times until the amount she find fit only then did she reluctantly nod and said something and let us go out. HOW ABOUT ADDING MANDATORY SERVICE CHARGES FOR PEOPLE WHO ORDERS SEVERAL DISHES INSTEAD OF STOPPING PEOPLE LIKE THEY WERE TRYING TO EAT THEN DASH WITHOUT PAYING?! TIPS ARE NOT MANDATORY ITS VOLUNTARY.