Peking Alley

Baby Huhu

Free parking lot right in front 🚗 No fancy decor, just straight-up authentic. This is exactly why they’ve survived 20 years ！ Beef & Green Onion Pie (4 huge pieces)
Freshly wrapped & pan-fried, insane juice explosion in every bite. Super thin crispy skin, loaded with beef and scallions. • Smoked Chicken (“Da Xun Zi” in Dongbei slang)
Whole chicken slow-smoked for 12 hours. Meat falls off the bone, smoky but not overwhelming. Eat it cold or dip in hot soup – pure heaven. Owner says “finish the chicken, then knock back two shots of baijiu”… I obeyed 😂 • Scallion Beef
More scallion than beef (not exaggerating), perfectly tender beef, killer over rice. • Savory Dongbei Doufunao (tofu pudding)
Rich bone broth, dried shrimp, preserved veggies, cilantro – warms your soul in winter.

Jason Shu

This restaurant has Beijing-style local dishes hard to find anywhere else, and for that, I have to give their food high marks. The jianbing (weekend only) is simple and authentic, and we got some other breakfast items (糖火烧 is hard to find and tastes like the ones my mom makes, but sweeter). The shredded pork with bean sauce (京酱肉丝) has been one of my favorites in the past but the flavor is a bit off this time, more like standard Chinese restaurant shredded pork with perhaps not enough sweet bean paste. Service is extremely friendly and generous. We have a whole meal leftover for the price of one.

Bella Quin

Comfort food…bringing me back to my childhood. Not a fancy place, and you may say the taste is kinda average, but it’s authentic and can bring back memories. It’s five stars for me.

S Duan

The food is absolutely delicious! The walnut shrimp is a MUST TRY! I also love the 煎饼果子! (I have to say, this is not the most “healthy food” out there, but the walnut shrimp just taste amazing! The portion was very generous and the price was very reasonable. No wonder the store is packed. The staffs were so kind and patient as it was our first time there. The store is so busy and they still managed to served us very quickly. The atmosphere isn’t ideal as it seems to be a family style restaurant. But hey, if they spend thousands on remodeling, the dishes will cost way more. So I still give this store a 5 ⭐️

Wook Chung

This place is legit. It is the quintessential location to experience undecorated, authentic Chinese home-style cooking. You do not go to this place for atmosphere. You go here because you want a hearty meal prepared well. We had the walnut shrimp, Peking style pork belly, beef wrapped in pancakes (sort of like Peking duck but with cold beef), some type of chili beef, fluffy pancakes and the noodles with black bean sauce. Pretty much every one of them was tasteful in their own way. But what really makes Peking Alley shine is knowing that things are prepared fresh. Noodles here are handmade fresh and it definitely shows. I've never felt such texture from a Chinese restaurant before in my black bean sauce bowl. Also you see the owner making dumplings in the deep corner of the restaurant and you know this joint really is family-run. Again, presentation and atmosphere might feel it comes short. But this is not what this place is going for. Will absolutely return and frequent.

Sandra Jamme

Great experience. This restaurant relocated to ElCamino a few months ago, but I hadn't been there for a long time. The food was delicious. We tried the Veggie Chow Fun and Kung Pao Beef. The meal came out and smelled as devine as it tasted. We will go back to try some other dishes.

Karina Wong

Love this place, it’s my favorite Chinese restaurant on the peninsula. When I get homesick and miss my grandma, this place always delivers what I'm looking for. The food here always tastes fresh, flavorful, and is never too greasy. They have a large menu and everything I have tried here has been fantastic. This place is also excellent for takeout/delivery (see photo- the food arrived securely packaged and with generous portions). Also, I sometimes get a headache and feel super thirsty after eating Chinese food from OTHER places, but that doesn't happen when I eat here. To me, that speaks volumes about the quality of the ingredients Peking Alley uses- their food definitely tastes freshly made. I'm not sure how they do it, but their string beans are always cooked to absolute perfection- satisfying texture and flavor, and it's always consistently great (never mushy nor overcooked like at many other places). I always get their black bean sauce noodle dish- one of my favorites because it’s so hard to find at restaurants, and Peking Alley does the fish well. Their meat dishes are very flavorful and come in generous portions- make sure to order a rice dish to accompany it (I suggest their house special fried rice). One thing that I really loved getting in-person at the restaurant is their specialty whole deep fried fish! They use super fresh fish, tastes great, and looks impressive- it's quite a production and is definitely something to order with a large party/for special occasions.

Pei Rui

Authentic and delicious food! The owners are also extremely nice and friendly, highly recommend.

L

Very kind and warm family-owned Chinese restaurant. The freshly made bumping was fabulous. Bette to dine-in rather than ordering online.

Khashina Warren

This is the BEST Chinese food restaurant that I have ever had in my life. You can tell that the cook has a passion for cooking! The food is delicious and made with LOVE! My party felt so satiated after eating here! Sorry the food was soooo good we got engrossed in eating and forgot to take pics before eating; just know it was unbelievably good!

I miss Beijing food and here we are! Very authentic Beijing cuisine! Besides the great food, people here are super nice too, what a treasure in the area!

The snow pea cake was a beautiful experience, melting on my tongue with a fresh aroma and a delicate flavor. Yet, it's just one reason I adore this restaurant. I've been a loyal patron for years, faithfully following it through multiple moves. My current favorite is the smoked chicken, whose savory notes instantly transport me to a specialty from my hometown. For me, this place is more than just food. Other staples I frequently order include the aromatic lamb skewers, tender Chinese meatballs, and flaky chive pancakes. My son, meanwhile, swears by the beef vegetable noodle soup and the Jing Dong meat pancake. And I must give a special mention to the Jian Bing Guo Zi—a savory Chinese crepe wrapped around a crispy fried dough twist. Its rich flavors and satisfying crunch are utterly captivating, while the meatballs are so tender they practically dissolve in your mouth.

We ordered from Peking Alley several times and have a few favorites: Jing Jiang Rou Si (京酱肉丝) with Tofu wrap, braised lion heads (红烧狮子头). Their noodles are fresh. I also liked Beijing specialities such as Beijing style eggplant, and stir fried pancakes （烩饼）.The food is not fancy, but tasted like home made. The portion is big, almost a bit too big. We usually have a lot of leftovers from one order. May be a more delicate presentation would appeal to more foodies?

Delicious food. I like their soup and the spicy garlic beef! The plum drink is very good too

Frank li

The snow pea cake was a beautiful experience, melting on my tongue with a fresh aroma and a delicate flavor. Yet, it's just one reason I adore this restaurant. I've been a loyal patron for years, faithfully following it through multiple moves. My current favorite is the smoked chicken, whose savory notes instantly transport me to a specialty from my hometown. For me, this place is more than just food. Other staples I frequently order include the aromatic lamb skewers, tender Chinese meatballs, and flaky chive pancakes. My son, meanwhile, swears by the beef vegetable noodle soup and the Jing Dong meat pancake. And I must give a special mention to the Jian Bing Guo Zi—a savory Chinese crepe wrapped around a crispy fried dough twist. Its rich flavors and satisfying crunch are utterly captivating, while the meatballs are so tender they practically dissolve in your mouth.

Wendy Xue

We ordered from Peking Alley several times and have a few favorites: Jing Jiang Rou Si (京酱肉丝) with Tofu wrap, braised lion heads (红烧狮子头). Their noodles are fresh. I also liked Beijing specialities such as Beijing style eggplant, and stir fried pancakes （烩饼）.The food is not fancy, but tasted like home made. The portion is big, almost a bit too big. We usually have a lot of leftovers from one order. May be a more delicate presentation would appeal to more foodies?

Jing Xu

Food tastes very authentic. Serving size is big. We ordered chicken and it was cooked very nicely, not dry at all. Highly recommend.

Ignore the "Grand Opening" sign in the front if it's still there... lol. It's been up for over a year... I believe they Peking Alley relocated last year; hence the "Grand Opening" This is definitely a mom & pop neighborhood small business. We saw some patrons inside that were interacting with the staff like they were regulars. Good Chinese food; you know it's legit when most of the other patrons inside are Chinese. The venue is bigger than it looks from the outside with a good amount of seating inside. The service was a bit slow when we went, the restaurant was about 75 % at capacity, so I didn't think the service would be that slow. I reckon the restaurant is run by owner and his family or perhaps they are struggling to find help...not sure. I did think they need to hire some more staff. Parking is a bit hard to find. I think there is a lot behind the restaurant. We just walked over, so parking was not something we had to deal with. #Chinese: ~ Cumin Lamb - 4/5 This dish didn't look like much, but was simple and tasty. The Lamb was cooked perfectly and had some good Cumin flavor. ~ Pork, Black Bean Sauce Over Noodles - 4/5 Not what we were expecting. We initially thought everything would come in a one bowl, instead we got a deconstructed version or rather a build your own bowl version. The Black Bean sauce is very concentrated, so be mindful when spreading and using it. No issues returning and trying other items on the menu.

Wanted to try something new and checked out this restaurant for northern Chinese cuisine. We got the scallion pancake with beef, jianbing with fried dough, and mayonnaise shrimp. The scallion pancake with beef was really good with the sauce and the cucumbers, the mayo shrimp had too much flour but the pieces of shrimp were very large, the jianbing was good but the fried dough was so large that it filled us up fast. The staff was super nice, the portions were very big but the flavors could be better.

This small restaurant serve unique fresh noodles and seems like home made food all prepared as family food. I liked all of them even though it is different from Cantonese food. The black noodles was very good and the soft tofu was delicious. Even though it says pork black noodles it is very little meat on the serving. I suppose the meat are on the dumplings, which had a unique flavor in a good way…

Yummy Chinese food! My favorite was the “Chinese hamburger” and pancake stripes with chicken. I also ordered shrimp and chives dumplings, ear wood mushroom, jelly fish salad and sichuan fish filet. They were all great.

Mika'ele Keni'

Ignore the "Grand Opening" sign in the front if it's still there... lol. It's been up for over a year... I believe they Peking Alley relocated last year; hence the "Grand Opening" This is definitely a mom & pop neighborhood small business. We saw some patrons inside that were interacting with the staff like they were regulars. Good Chinese food; you know it's legit when most of the other patrons inside are Chinese. The venue is bigger than it looks from the outside with a good amount of seating inside. The service was a bit slow when we went, the restaurant was about 75 % at capacity, so I didn't think the service would be that slow. I reckon the restaurant is run by owner and his family or perhaps they are struggling to find help...not sure. I did think they need to hire some more staff. Parking is a bit hard to find. I think there is a lot behind the restaurant. We just walked over, so parking was not something we had to deal with. #Chinese: ~ Cumin Lamb - 4/5 This dish didn't look like much, but was simple and tasty. The Lamb was cooked perfectly and had some good Cumin flavor. ~ Pork, Black Bean Sauce Over Noodles - 4/5 Not what we were expecting. We initially thought everything would come in a one bowl, instead we got a deconstructed version or rather a build your own bowl version. The Black Bean sauce is very concentrated, so be mindful when spreading and using it. No issues returning and trying other items on the menu.

Lo

Wanted to try something new and checked out this restaurant for northern Chinese cuisine. We got the scallion pancake with beef, jianbing with fried dough, and mayonnaise shrimp. The scallion pancake with beef was really good with the sauce and the cucumbers, the mayo shrimp had too much flour but the pieces of shrimp were very large, the jianbing was good but the fried dough was so large that it filled us up fast. The staff was super nice, the portions were very big but the flavors could be better.

H M

This small restaurant serve unique fresh noodles and seems like home made food all prepared as family food. I liked all of them even though it is different from Cantonese food. The black noodles was very good and the soft tofu was delicious. Even though it says pork black noodles it is very little meat on the serving. I suppose the meat are on the dumplings, which had a unique flavor in a good way…

C Lee

Yummy Chinese food! My favorite was the “Chinese hamburger” and pancake stripes with chicken. I also ordered shrimp and chives dumplings, ear wood mushroom, jelly fish salad and sichuan fish filet. They were all great.

Mario B

Looking for northern style Chinese food that’s casual, home-y, and comforting? Then you should probably check out Peking Alley. The food is authentic and simple. The portions are generous. The prices are still reasonable. On weekends they have jianbing and you can even ask to have it with youtiao rather than the usual crisps. If I’m being honest, I feel like the quality has slowly started to slip over the years, especially since they changed location. The new place also lacks the charm. That being said, it’s still a solid option. Service is always friendly but has been extremely slow, especially as of late. The food is always slow to come out, too. Similarly, when we’ve done pick up orders, the food has never been ready within their estimated time, too often taking even twice as long as the originally quoted time. They have their own parking lot in the back which is a plus. Overall, while it may not have the same charm as prior years, Peking Alley offers solid northern style Chinese cuisine, especially on weekends.

***update: even in their reply they don’t take responsibility. It was the owner we encountered. And rude every time. Not a waitress. *** Food is good. Service is not. The owner lady acts as if you owe her by being a customer. Whenever someone friendly answers the phone, we get pleasantly surprised. We get takeout because food is tasty, and each time brace ourselves to encounter bad attitude.

Azi

***update: even in their reply they don’t take responsibility. It was the owner we encountered. And rude every time. Not a waitress. *** Food is good. Service is not. The owner lady acts as if you owe her by being a customer. Whenever someone friendly answers the phone, we get pleasantly surprised. We get takeout because food is tasty, and each time brace ourselves to encounter bad attitude.

Got take out from Peking Alley today because we wanted to try some of the weekend specials. The only dish we liked was the eggplant. The worst was the sesame bun with beef. The beef was good but the bun was the most horrible thing we've ever tasted from any restaurant. Couldn't even finish a bite. Had to spit it out. It was dry and hard with unappetizing dark brown colored dough swirled in. If we were in the restaurant, we would have sent it back. I'm surprised they weren't embarrassed to serve it. (I posted the photo of the sesame bun in the clear container it came in, and the brown mess in the off white container is what the bun looks like inside). The other dishes weren't great either. Tasted very one note. The Jian Bing Guo Zi was a bunch of flavorless fried dough wrapped inside a crepe with egg. Nothing like the Jian Bing I had from the neighborhood street cart growing up. We ended up making our own dipping sauce and added the eggplants in there to make it semi enjoyable. It's going to be hard pass next time someone suggest getting food here. Would not recommend this place at all. Save your money. There were plenty of other options in San Mateo.

Nancy C

Got take out from Peking Alley today because we wanted to try some of the weekend specials. The only dish we liked was the eggplant. The worst was the sesame bun with beef. The beef was good but the bun was the most horrible thing we've ever tasted from any restaurant. Couldn't even finish a bite. Had to spit it out. It was dry and hard with unappetizing dark brown colored dough swirled in. If we were in the restaurant, we would have sent it back. I'm surprised they weren't embarrassed to serve it. (I posted the photo of the sesame bun in the clear container it came in, and the brown mess in the off white container is what the bun looks like inside). The other dishes weren't great either. Tasted very one note. The Jian Bing Guo Zi was a bunch of flavorless fried dough wrapped inside a crepe with egg. Nothing like the Jian Bing I had from the neighborhood street cart growing up. We ended up making our own dipping sauce and added the eggplants in there to make it semi enjoyable. It's going to be hard pass next time someone suggest getting food here. Would not recommend this place at all. Save your money. There were plenty of other options in San Mateo.