Food is consistently good. Very similar to HL Peninsula in SSF and HL Peninsula Pearl in Burlingame.

Great new restaurant in Castro valley! We were lucky enough to get there before 11 on a Sunday and named to get a table without a wait. We were in one of the smaller rooms as the main hall was completely full, but that was actually quite nice as we were able to sit and chat in the calm. The food was amazing, and no two dishes tasted the same. Really fun.

We loved the experience, food and service at HL Restaurant in Castro Valley - Definitely will go there again!

+1

This is a massive restaurant with a sea of tables and some private party rooms. It sometimes feels more like a giant ballroom than a restaurant. They also have a bakery next door. The food and the service are very good! Overall, we had a very good experience.

The food is beautiful and delicious. The top level waiters are polite and knowledgeable. All the other staff are hard working and attentive. No two dishes are the same. Sauces are carefully selected. Everything was fresh.

Was just here on Friday October 24 2025, top notch service, came at 1:30pm. Dim sum was perfect, plenty of parking.The server came out immediately took our order and dim sum was served prompted. I only spent 5 mins waiting for a table I will be back.

Ying Yang free drink if write this review is no good - not of a Hong Kong style cafe quality, it tastes more like instant. Pork ToFuSkinWrap in Oyster Sauce is not like typical Cantonese Dim Sum flavor i.e. weird taste; Everything else excellent!

HL PENINSULA group spent millions to fix the old dilapidated rite aid building that was empty. The north cv Blvd had nothing going for it but homeless people and trailer parks. So instead of complaining about service and minor soft opening issues, we should be supporting them. From the decor to the food, everything is top notch. Chinese people are very matter of fact and if you took time to talk to the staff they are actually very kind, generous and HARD WORKING. I was fortunate to visit them before they opened and they gave us a whole tour of the whole restraunt and told us, if we ever needed anything they would take care of us. This is their flag ship location - 5th restaraunt in the bay in 5 years and by far the most beautiful. Plenty of parking and the best dim sum outside Asia. And if you still have problems... service charge, cost, service...it ain't for you.

Great experience and wait staff give great recommendations, staff is not passive and works hard to give you what you want. They have premium items as well which we will come back at try(I wanna try the geoduck or whatever it’s called) it can be a little loud in the main dining hall but they also have small rooms if you ask. Food is high quality.

I went there last Sunday with a party of 15 people. It was very busy. They seated us relatively promptly, the service was great, the food was delicious, and it was affordable. No complaints about this dim sum place. Would definitely return.

Fantastic dim sum in Castro Valley. We had been trying to try this dim sum restaurant for months. Only 2 of us could make it so there was limited of what we could order. Their house bbq pork buns are really tasty. We also love their Siew mai and Taro. 4-color dumplings and ha gao were so-so to us. They looked great and ha gao’s shrimps were plentiful, we can’t wait to try more next. Service is good and we got seated fast (it was a Saturday morning). Food is great. Parking lot was a bit chaotic. They automatically add 16% tips on the bill.

One of the largest chinese banquet/dimsum places in Northern California. The building is massive and has some many private rooms. It reminds me a lot of the South SF HL Peninsula, and the quality is up there. First off, the parking can be a real pain... they really need to expand it for the Market, Bakery, and HL Peninsula. I have to park on the outside streets. Besides that, it's clean, new, and very spacious. The people work hard, and the food is great quality. The bakery some of great pastries, and food like roast duck. There is a lot to be said, the squab was excellent, and the others were acceptable. I'll just let the photos do the talking. Enjoy!!

We went for dinner on opening night at 5pm, we were sat immediately. The restaurant is massive and well designed, they have 6 large projector screens that were showing a football game and could be used for weddings or celebrations too. They had music playing and even with 450-500 customers it was still easy to have a conversation at our table and wasn't too loud. They still had room for hundreds more and they offer a variety of private room options. We ordered our food within 5-10 minutes of sitting down after going through their ~50 page menu with so many enticing options. Dishes started coming out pretty quickly, we had 1-2 dishes come out every 5 minutes or so to pace things out well. Staff are constantly walking between the tables to check on drinks, bring out dishes, etc you can easily wave someone over if you need anything, we did a couple times to add some more dishes and get to-go boxes for the leftovers. Portions are pretty good, price wise they're slightly above other spots in surrounding cities, but the quality of the food is well worth the difference in cost. They have a variety of options for all budgets, especially their dim sum offerings during brunch/lunch that can feed a large family for cheaper than most places in town. I'm glad they decided to invest into Castro Valley, there is nothing like it anywhere nearby, it's a great spot that we'll visit frequently to have dim sum and large family gatherings. Even with the chaos of it being the grand opening night, the service, food quality, and atmosphere were fantastic. I'd highly recommend trying them out! Food we ordered: Peking Duck - 8/10, good crispy skin and juice meat, one of the best Peking Duck options in the east bay A4 Australian Wagyu - 10/10, tender wagyu, a large variety of vegetables (onion, mushrooms, peppers, etc), great flavor Cucumber Salad - 10/10, couldn't think of a way to improve it Blackened BBQ Pork - 10/10, good balance of meat to fat, great flavor Fried Shrimp w/lime wasabi mayo - 10/10, such a creative delicious take on the standard honey walnut shrimp, this was my favorite bite Peninsula Fried Rice - 7/10, lots of proteins (shrimp, pork, veggies, etc), just slightly on the dry side, but massive portion and good flavor.

We don’t understand the low reviews here. Maybe when people came during the grand opening or just got dim sum or were frustrated with the parking on weekends? We came twice, during the week days, one lunch, one dinner. Both were very good experiences. The dishes we ordered were all very good, and the dinner service was extremely nice and helpful. Lunch service was a bit rushed cos we were close to closing time but can’t fault them for that. Inside is huge of course and really meant for big ballroom (aka wedding) dinners. But even for a small table of 3 of us it was still comfy and cosy. This is our new higher end Chinese food place! Just avoid weekend peak hours when there’s a wait and parking becomes an issue.

They added bakery and cafe style area for a quick lunch! This is such a pretty restaurant! We went for sum dim sum on a weekday and everything was pretty good. There was a couple of things like the beef chow fun and the truffle dumplings that could use a lil more salt... The purple rice rice noodle is so pretty and tastes pretty good too! Service was excellent.

We came here for dinner on a weeknight, a week after it opened to miss any crowds. We were promptly seated and the main dining hall looked 2/3 full while most of the private rooms looked booked. The menu was pretty extensive, but found many of the dishes enticing enough. We decided to order 4 dishes and the appetizer platter for 4 people. The food took about 20 minutes to arrive, which is much quicker than what we’ve heard on other reviews. The food IMO itself was quite good, with the BBQ pork and roast pork being amongst the best we’ve had in the area. The seafood rice soup and sea cucumber clay pot were both tasty and had good portions of seafood, while the giant clam rice noodle was flavorful and wasn’t too greasy. The wagyu steak was melt in your mouth tender and very delicious! The portions were surprisingly big, and we finished maybe 1/2 of the food. Service while not top notch was very attentive and accommodating when we flagged them down. The only hiccup was when we ordered the appetizer plate, the picture clearly showed 3 items but only came out with the duck and roast pork. When told about this, they said the 3 item was different (which isn’t clear) but they quickly updated the order for us. Another thing to note is that there is a mandatory 18% charge in place of gratuity, which based on California law is taxable (unlike gratuity). While this may not sit well with some, I appreciate the upfront, transparent nature of this. Overall, the atmosphere and food was very good, and we can’t wait to try them for dim sum soon!

Went on day 2 for dinner, service was a mess but that’s to be expected on day 2, it was busy. We really liked the food, especially the fried rice with pork and kumquat, never had such a unique fried rice! Hoping to go back for dim sum someday! This is a good thing for CV, give them some time to get it together though

Meiyu Jing

Such a pleasant surprise! We ordered the purple crispy shrimp rice rolls, black truffle dumpling, and the roasted duck, and everything was way better than expected. Super tasty and really well done. I’ve tried a lot of dim sum places, and this one easily makes it into my top 3. The menu feels creative but still comforting, not your typical repetitive dim sum. The space is clean, bright, and lively, which made the whole dining experience even better. Definitely coming back and would recommend to friends!

Dylan Hailey

We went for dinner on opening night at 5pm, we were sat immediately. The restaurant is massive and well designed, they have 6 large projector screens that were showing a football game and could be used for weddings or celebrations too. They had music playing and even with 450-500 customers it was still easy to have a conversation at our table and wasn't too loud. They still had room for hundreds more and they offer a variety of private room options. We ordered our food within 5-10 minutes of sitting down after going through their ~50 page menu with so many enticing options. Dishes started coming out pretty quickly, we had 1-2 dishes come out every 5 minutes or so to pace things out well. Staff are constantly walking between the tables to check on drinks, bring out dishes, etc you can easily wave someone over if you need anything, we did a couple times to add some more dishes and get to-go boxes for the leftovers. Portions are pretty good, price wise they're slightly above other spots in surrounding cities, but the quality of the food is well worth the difference in cost. They have a variety of options for all budgets, especially their dim sum offerings during brunch/lunch that can feed a large family for cheaper than most places in town. I'm glad they decided to invest into Castro Valley, there is nothing like it anywhere nearby, it's a great spot that we'll visit frequently to have dim sum and large family gatherings. Even with the chaos of it being the grand opening night, the service, food quality, and atmosphere were fantastic. I'd highly recommend trying them out! Food we ordered: Peking Duck - 8/10, good crispy skin and juice meat, one of the best Peking Duck options in the east bay A4 Australian Wagyu - 10/10, tender wagyu, a large variety of vegetables (onion, mushrooms, peppers, etc), great flavor Cucumber Salad - 10/10, couldn't think of a way to improve it Blackened BBQ Pork - 10/10, good balance of meat to fat, great flavor Fried Shrimp w/lime wasabi mayo - 10/10, such a creative delicious take on the standard honey walnut shrimp, this was my favorite bite Peninsula Fried Rice - 7/10, lots of proteins (shrimp, pork, veggies, etc), just slightly on the dry side, but massive portion and good flavor.

John Leung

We came here for dinner on a weeknight, a week after it opened to miss any crowds. We were promptly seated and the main dining hall looked 2/3 full while most of the private rooms looked booked. The menu was pretty extensive, but found many of the dishes enticing enough. We decided to order 4 dishes and the appetizer platter for 4 people. The food took about 20 minutes to arrive, which is much quicker than what we’ve heard on other reviews. The food IMO itself was quite good, with the BBQ pork and roast pork being amongst the best we’ve had in the area. The seafood rice soup and sea cucumber clay pot were both tasty and had good portions of seafood, while the giant clam rice noodle was flavorful and wasn’t too greasy. The wagyu steak was melt in your mouth tender and very delicious! The portions were surprisingly big, and we finished maybe 1/2 of the food. Service while not top notch was very attentive and accommodating when we flagged them down. The only hiccup was when we ordered the appetizer plate, the picture clearly showed 3 items but only came out with the duck and roast pork. When told about this, they said the 3 item was different (which isn’t clear) but they quickly updated the order for us. Another thing to note is that there is a mandatory 18% charge in place of gratuity, which based on California law is taxable (unlike gratuity). While this may not sit well with some, I appreciate the upfront, transparent nature of this. Overall, the atmosphere and food was very good, and we can’t wait to try them for dim sum soon!

Colin Rajah

We don’t understand the low reviews here. Maybe when people came during the grand opening or just got dim sum or were frustrated with the parking on weekends? We came twice, during the week days, one lunch, one dinner. Both were very good experiences. The dishes we ordered were all very good, and the dinner service was extremely nice and helpful. Lunch service was a bit rushed cos we were close to closing time but can’t fault them for that. Inside is huge of course and really meant for big ballroom (aka wedding) dinners. But even for a small table of 3 of us it was still comfy and cosy. This is our new higher end Chinese food place! Just avoid weekend peak hours when there’s a wait and parking becomes an issue.

Joyce Lam

They added bakery and cafe style area for a quick lunch! This is such a pretty restaurant! We went for sum dim sum on a weekday and everything was pretty good. There was a couple of things like the beef chow fun and the truffle dumplings that could use a lil more salt... The purple rice rice noodle is so pretty and tastes pretty good too! Service was excellent.

Cecilia Liu

The service was very friendly, the environment was clean and comfortable, and the food was delicious. We’ve always loved the dishes at HL Peninsula! It would be even better if the food could be served a bit faster in the future.

Tessa Lucero

Went on day 2 for dinner, service was a mess but that’s to be expected on day 2, it was busy. We really liked the food, especially the fried rice with pork and kumquat, never had such a unique fried rice! Hoping to go back for dim sum someday! This is a good thing for CV, give them some time to get it together though

Kelly

Came on a Wednesday night for my mom’s birthday dinner. Super chill since it was a weeknight, got to watch the Warriors game on the big screen and I could actually hear the audio because it wasn’t so packed. Food was great, my favorite was their lobster noodles. I’ve been here on the weekends and it’s usually super packed and loud. So if you’re looking for a more quiet dinner at this place, I suggest the weeknights. Great experience. Love their dimsum too.

Joseph Fan

HL Peninsula in Castro Valley deserves a full five stars for delivering consistently tasty dishes in a setting that feels both grand and inviting. The restaurant is enormous with a beautiful upscale interior that makes it perfect for weekend dim sum, casual lunches, and family dinners alike. Beyond the great food, the massive ballroom-like space makes it a standout venue for wedding banquets and large celebrations—easily accommodating over 300 guests with room to spare. A true gem for both dining and events.

will

HL PENINSULA group spent millions to fix the old dilapidated rite aid building that was empty. The north cv Blvd had nothing going for it but homeless people and trailer parks. So instead of complaining about service and minor soft opening issues, we should be supporting them. From the decor to the food, everything is top notch. Chinese people are very matter of fact and if you took time to talk to the staff they are actually very kind, generous and HARD WORKING. I was fortunate to visit them before they opened and they gave us a whole tour of the whole restraunt and told us, if we ever needed anything they would take care of us. This is their flag ship location - 5th restaraunt in the bay in 5 years and by far the most beautiful. Plenty of parking and the best dim sum outside Asia. And if you still have problems... service charge, cost, service...it ain't for you.

Anthony Pi

Was just here on Friday October 24 2025, top notch service, came at 1:30pm. Dim sum was perfect, plenty of parking.The server came out immediately took our order and dim sum was served prompted. I only spent 5 mins waiting for a table I will be back.

This place is nice and clean. Service is not fast but still ok for dinner. We really like the soy sauce chicken, crispy pigeon, and lobster fried gluten rice!

We ordered 3 dishes and 2 of them came out 30 minutes later but the tofu didn’t come so we cancelled the order. I was confused at first but they had a party that day so we didn’t really care. The waiters had so much tables to serve.

Still came out to try even with all the bad reviews I have seen and im glad I did! Wait was 20-30 minutes for 2 people Easy to order but hard to find our waiter and food took a bit to finally come out... Food was steaming hot!

Food was good and so was the service. Really liked the balsamic-glaze spare ribs. They had big projectors displaying basketball games.

Good foods , nice environment but it’s uncomfortable to eat with sweatshirt on. It’s freezing cold and feel like eating outdoor

Dim sum food is pretty good. Have not had dinner here yet though. Service has been consistently pretty good

We had dinner there with 5 people. The duck was excellent, fried rice was tasty, vegetables were average(I think pee dao) spelling? We tried the gooey duck sashimi(tough and chewy), soup gooey duck leftovers . The atmosphere was amazing, beautiful. Service was solid. Saturday night dinner. I would go back but very pricey! $$$400

On a visit back to the Bay from Honolulu to visit family, went to the new HL Peninsula in Castro Valley on a Saturday, just as they were opening. Parking & getting a table was a breeze. Their parking lot wraps around the market/restaurant/bakery so space is in abundance, although I can see an issue if there was a banquet that was at their +700 capacity. Ordering was by your typical, modern-day teahouse item sheet. All the dimsum was topnotch, from taste to freshness of the ingredients. The issue I had was the service. It's not to say the service was bad because the wait staff was vigilant & remembered to complete all our requests. The service was subpar due to the lack of the amount of wait staff. Usually at a teahouse, there are bus persons that are on the lookout for empty dishes to remove and empty tea pots to fill. We had to stack our own empty dishes in order to make room for more and we tipped the teapot lid to indicate a refill but no one came. Also, it was hard to tell the difference between waiters from the support staff. We flagged someone down to get our order sheet because he had an earpiece but it turned out he was not a waiter but he took our order sheet anyways. We did ask him if they had jian dui (sesame balls) because we did not see it on the item sheet. He said "I don't know, I guess we don't have it". All in all, the positives outweighs the negative. The facility is impressive, the food is excellent, just the wait staff needs a little tweaking.

We had a very nice time on our visit. It was close to the grand opening and we arrived at 10am, were seated immediately and given a menu and an explanation of how it works. The staff are extremely polite and responsive. Our items came out one or two at a time with nearly no downtime in-between, perfect timing. The food was delicious and the menu is vast, so many options. My one complaint would be that the entire back wall is covered in giant screens showing a non-stop loop of a commercial for their party service. This was obnoxious and quickly became very annoying. I understand they want to advertise their service but maybe cut it back to once every 5 to 10 minutes or something. Be sure to sit facing the street to avoid it. Other than that one issue we had no complaints. The automatic gratuity is fine, it ensures the staff get paid for their hard work We will definitely be back to try more of the menu.

Great, authentic Cantonese food, huge space, mostly Asian patrons - always a good sign. But you have to understand the system else the service will seem awful. You circle what you want on a huge menu then flag down a waitress to order it; you have to be patient to get all your food; and you have to be proactive if a dish fails to arrive. The classics we tried (shu mai, steamed BBQ pork bun, a chow fun noodle dish) were all excellent. The best dish we tried was Crispy Wild Rice Noodle Rolls w/Shrimp, that was unusual and outstanding. The Xiao long baos looked good; we'll try those next time. There are also many foreign-for-a-Westerner dishes (salted egg yolk lava black buns?) that we'll try next time. But I don't think I'm ready for the duck tongue or chicken feet yet.

Visited the restaurant again after their grand opening week, when we had several disappointing experiences. This time, the service was much better, the food quality improved significantly, and everything came out much faster. Will definitely be coming back more often.

Giving a generous 4 stars as we visited during what I would characterize as a stabilization period soon after grand opening. The space is massive and scaled in a way that feels a lot like modern China vs your typical US restaurant. We had a table of 13 and pre-ordered a standard banquet meal with some add ons. Since they are still working through handling the large volume, food came out slowly and out of order, it was hard to get things like rice added. Seasoning was off (some things a bit bland) and some dishes were overcooked, and seemed like it took a minute to get delivered. This is off a pretty high standard that you would expect for Chinese food in the Bay Area and the demand / expectation indicated from the lines of people waiting to get in. I remain optimistic that they will get it together soon because the basis of quality is there with the menu, ingredients and cooking style. There were some unique takes on classic dishes (walnut shrimp came with fried spare ribs, abalone was encased in shrimp paste) and nice execution of fundamentals (steamed long life buns, long life noodles, steamed fish, Peking duck). It feels like the dishes were rushed in preparation and operations to move across the massive space held them back. Overall, though - it was a fantastic environment to spend time with family and we honestly didn’t mind because we were distracted by the six massive TVs broadcasting game 7 of the World Series. Where you might have had to trade off watching baseball and a Chinese banquet—it was a perfect combination of a nail-biting piece of sports history with family and food. Give it a try, but go with patience (or distractions) until they get it all figured out.

I believe I’ve posted a review before, but I can definitely see that this place has been improving over time. In the past, it could take close to an hour for the food to arrive. In our more recent visits, however, the wait time has improved significantly—our food arrived about 20 to 30 minutes after ordering. We’ve tried both lunch and dinner. The dinner menu is noticeably more expensive, with most dishes priced around $28–$35, but the quality is quite good. I think it’s a great place for celebrations, family gatherings, or other special occasions. That said, the food is definitely on the pricier side at night. Overall, I would recommend this place, especially for lunch. The lunch menu offers more budget-friendly options while still maintaining good quality. And they have some vegetarian options

This is a massive restaurant with a sea of tables and some private party rooms. It sometimes feels more like a giant ballroom than a restaurant. They also have a bakery next door. We visited for a Tuesday lunch and were seated pretty quickly. We ordered dim sum, which included dumplings, Siu Mai, Pork Spare Ribs, BBQ Pork Buns, Portuguese style Egg Tarts, and more. The food was good and the service was good, however, there were many servers bringing out food to our table, so there were some moments of confusion regarding our orders. Overall, we had a good experience

Some dim sum items were really good, and HL is impressive in scale and ambition — the grand hall alone makes it feel like a destination dim sum experience rather than a casual neighborhood spot. If you’re looking for a leisurely, sit-down meal with friends or family, this place delivers on atmosphere. I really enjoyed their specialty drink options include the yin yang coffee mixed with milk tea. I really appreciate that HL offers elevated and less common dim sum items you don’t usually find at typical Cantonese restaurants in the East Bay. That alone makes it stand out and worth trying. One dish that didn’t work for me was the Tianjin sweet twisted dough. I know regional flavors can be an acquired taste, but this one had a noticeable lactic/fermented aroma and flavor that I personally found off-putting. It may appeal to those familiar with northern-style snacks, but it wasn’t for me. Because of the wait times and the grand hall setting, HL isn’t really a “quick bite” dim sum spot — it’s better suited for a slower, intentional dining experience. Overall, I’d come back for the variety and atmosphere, just with more selective ordering next time.

This restaurant is very beautiful and spacious! The food for the most part was very delicious. However the calamari came out a little cold also the spare ribs had chunks of broken bones scattered throughout the meat instead of 1 whole bone. We also got fried rice, chow mein, westlake soup, mixed veggies, and steamed BBQ pork buns were very delicious! Thank you!

Fried shrimp with ribs were awesome. Lobster dish was bland. The taro in the steak and taro dish was dry.

Francisco Leung

This is a massive restaurant with a sea of tables and some private party rooms. It sometimes feels more like a giant ballroom than a restaurant. They also have a bakery next door. We visited for a Tuesday lunch and were seated pretty quickly. We ordered dim sum, which included dumplings, Siu Mai, Pork Spare Ribs, BBQ Pork Buns, Portuguese style Egg Tarts, and more. The food was good and the service was good, however, there were many servers bringing out food to our table, so there were some moments of confusion regarding our orders. Overall, we had a good experience

hsin-fei tu

I believe I’ve posted a review before, but I can definitely see that this place has been improving over time. In the past, it could take close to an hour for the food to arrive. In our more recent visits, however, the wait time has improved significantly—our food arrived about 20 to 30 minutes after ordering. We’ve tried both lunch and dinner. The dinner menu is noticeably more expensive, with most dishes priced around $28–$35, but the quality is quite good. I think it’s a great place for celebrations, family gatherings, or other special occasions. That said, the food is definitely on the pricier side at night. Overall, I would recommend this place, especially for lunch. The lunch menu offers more budget-friendly options while still maintaining good quality. And they have some vegetarian options

Service is very slow and you have to wait for at least 15 mins per order to arrive at your table. Then we waited for the peking duck order and were informed after waiting 20 mins that they ran out.

Came here on Grand Opening day, approximately at 12:15 and was turned away. I asked to get a table for 4 from the pretty girl at the front. Then she acted kind of weird and a bit rude. She directed another colleague of her to tell me to leave. I was so confused. Then, she proceeded to tell me to come back for dinner. I was there for dim sum!!!!

My family and I came around 6:40 PM and didn’t get seated until almost 8 PM. Our food didn’t arrive until about 8:50. The service itself wasn’t great, but I don’t blame the staff — they were clearly overwhelmed and doing their best. The real issue is poor management and organization. The seating is extremely cramped; two people can’t even walk through at the same time. The first dish that came out was cold, though the next three were decent. All the plates were plastic, which felt cheap for how expensive everything was. To top it off, they automatically charged an 18% service fee for what was honestly a disappointing experience. We ordered four dishes, and the total came to $176 — definitely not worth it. Won’t be coming back unless management improves how this place is run.

just meh ... food was great, honestly that's where it stopped. service was super slow, had to call multiple times. they missed few foods, told them, still got charged after explaining that we want to cancel them. on top, tea is 1.75/pp

Dimsum - 1030am Service was good. But food taste isn't great or tasty. Ordered the typical dimsum small bites and yet the taste seems bland or not enough seasoning and or time for marination. The place looks great and bright!

Came to try it since its newly opened. Very slow service. Took forever for the food to come. It’s like I finished a dish and then wait for 10 minutes and then the dish arrives. We ordered 7 dishes and it took 1.5 hours for all dishes to arrive. I get it, they are busy but barely receive any service and when I ask for a clean plate, the person never came back with it and I had to go to the station and ask for it myself. Food was meh. Not worth the wait tho. Great atmosphere and super clean.

The food was very good, but service was poor. The waiter lost our order, which we realized only after waiting more than fifteen minutes. We placed the second order and two hours later two items had not yet been served. We finally left, our hosts stayed to wait for the last item. Staff was in general pleasant enough but overworked and scattered.

The food was good but the service is chaotic and disorganized. Our rice came 15 minutes after tte entress and i had to chase a server down to order a second beer. Once your food comes you are on your own. If they make a mistake or you want to order something else good luck. HL has the atmosphere of a noisy cavernous sports hall. I'd rather go do tte street to Genghix Asian Fusion.

Great food and atmosphere, but service was slow. This may be because the facility is huge so waitstaff couldn't see our attempts to get their attention. We were seated at the very last table in the right corner, gave up trying to add to our food order.

We came here for dinner once and dimsum twice. Dinner dishes that we ordered were good taste with very excellent services. The first time we tried dimsum was one of January weekdays, we got to sit inside of one of VIP rooms. We ordered four dim-sums and it took us almost 50 minutes to eat since they were brought to the table one plate at time. Dimsum that we ordered tasted okay to good. I went second time with a friend who wanted to try this new restaurant on another weekday. We had chance to sit in big dinning room, this time we ordered about six to even dim-sums. Food all came out faster than I expected. However, the Chinese pancakes we ordered were extremely dry. I could say that either of us ever had Chinese pancake dry like this. The peach resin and milk sweet soup looked so diffident from its menu picture. Milk sweet soup was very sweet; it tasted like warm milk with regular sugar just added in. The peach resins were too tiny to feel its texture. It was quite disappointed to both of us. However, the customer services and atmosphere were good.

Vegetarians, vegans, and allergy havers beware: This place is still new and sorting things out, so the extra star is a gesture of faith here. I went with my mother around a week after HL penninsula CV opened. Many people have looked forward to the opening of this place, so they were busy despite having so many tables. It seems a bit rushed in terms of staff training, and the parking lot is a bit hectic. Hopefully once the hype settles I can come back and revise my review. The design of the space is thoughtful, and felt fancy. The bathrooms have the full door stall, and a sleek finish. I could see the cleaning staff was working hard but they seemed like not enough stalls and sinks for a place so huge, so while fresh and new it was a bit of a mess. I'm not entirely certain that dietary restrictions were honored and correct with our order, since I had an immediate reaction to a single bite of a dessert (ginger rice cakes) and almost threw up in the parking lot, and am writing this with a rash and tummy ache days later. It's worth noting that my mother is a yum cha pro, she orders and discusses "complete vegetarian" (chinese terminology for vegan) with canto speaking staff frequently at other restaurants and this was the most questionable meal and experience we've had in a long while. At one point my mom flagged a server down at the same time as I did and the one my mom flagged down shoed waved her back in what she perceived to be a rude way. Had a hard time flagging them over at various other points throughout, including having the card sitting on the check for 10 minutes while they ignored us and set up more tables that were for dinner service, as we came towards the later end of lunch. After they took her card, it was quite some time before it was brought back. I'm unsure of exactly how long it was because at this point a reaction was kicking in further, so I had to step outside for fresh air. We tried the preserved veggies chow fun with Chinese brocolli, and it was mostly rice noodles but okay flavor. Not the greasiest chow fun I've tried, but usually at this grease level the noodles don't stick together this much. Very broken noodles, and the chinese brocolli was lacking and oddly chopped. Seems a little frugal to charge that price when the dish is mostly grease and filler. We ordered the black truffle mushroom dumplings but they had masago on top. Going to give the server the benefit of the doubt and assume they either thought they were only for my mom or did not know that fish eggs come from fish. She said they were one of the better dishes one the table. The chilled vegetarian bean curd roll was my favorite, it's a bit mild flavor wise, but not lacking! I've tried other more creative/delicious/well-presented iterations of this dish, but again, the food here is alright. The tea selection was impressive, and tasted good at first, but very quickly steeped to way too strong and bitter. As a tea lover and nerd, I strongly believe that they put way too much leaf for the amount of water that the pot can hold, and use the same temperature of hot water for lighter delicate teas. I guess that justifies the price, but for the yum cha experience, tea is continuous and should be able to withstand sitting for at least a couple minutes. I would've placed the pot on the table and used the platter for the leaf strainer, but the linen seemed like the kind that would melt into a hot pot of water. (Been there, done that, won't make that mistake twice!) If you're thinking about coming tomorrow, maybe give them another week to smooth things out. Looking forward to seeing how they handle banquets, as that should change the kitchen and service requirements to be better suited for their space.

We happened to be in the area today and decided to try dim sum at HL Peninsula Restaurant in Castro Valley. This place is newly opened (10/16/2025) and claims to be the largest Cantonese-style restaurant in the area. The venue is massive and is said to accommodate over 800 guests. The dim sum menu includes some unique items. We tried the Durian Green Tea Mochi, which was surprisingly good. Other dishes we ordered—Pork Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce, Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce, Fried Shrimp Rangoon, and Fried Egg Yolk Lava Ball with Almond—were decent, but nothing really stood out. Overall, the flavors leaned on the plain side. The Steamed Fish Fillet with Chili was especially disappointing and almost tasteless, so we ended up packing it to take home. The Tie Guan Yin tea we ordered was also not of good quality and tasted nothing like what it should. One thing to note: the restaurant adds a mandatory 16% service charge.

Food was okay. We ordered the standard dim sum dishes, not great but not bad either. I do recommend their lamb dish that’s good for four-five people. Service was very slow. Felt like a 10 min wait before we got our first dish, and then 5 min wait in between. By that time, our dishes was slightly cold. No sense of urgency from the waiters. They have a nice interior design, but when you get to the hallway section, it gets crowded because the doors to the rooms get in the way - don’t know why they don’t open it all the way. Parking is a nightmare, it’s very crowded, you would have better luck finding street parking.

The restaurant is one huge room with a number of smaller rooms to accommodate private parties. The large had gigantic monitors broadcasting football games rather than Chinese decor which was disappointing. If I wanted to go to a sports bar I would have gone to a sports bar. The food on a scale of 1 to 10 was no better than a 7. We had a Wagyu beef dish with a pieces of beef cut into childlike tiny pieces. I felt like we had Wagyu beef without the Wagyu beef experience. There was one beef dish that we had that was excellent. Is shrimp and the oxtail was just so-so. The overall experience was disappointing.

Dennis Zhen

Food was okay. We ordered the standard dim sum dishes, not great but not bad either. I do recommend their lamb dish that’s good for four-five people. Service was very slow. Felt like a 10 min wait before we got our first dish, and then 5 min wait in between. By that time, our dishes was slightly cold. No sense of urgency from the waiters. They have a nice interior design, but when you get to the hallway section, it gets crowded because the doors to the rooms get in the way - don’t know why they don’t open it all the way. Parking is a nightmare, it’s very crowded, you would have better luck finding street parking.

Rick Friedman

The restaurant is one huge room with a number of smaller rooms to accommodate private parties. The large had gigantic monitors broadcasting football games rather than Chinese decor which was disappointing. If I wanted to go to a sports bar I would have gone to a sports bar. The food on a scale of 1 to 10 was no better than a 7. We had a Wagyu beef dish with a pieces of beef cut into childlike tiny pieces. I felt like we had Wagyu beef without the Wagyu beef experience. There was one beef dish that we had that was excellent. Is shrimp and the oxtail was just so-so. The overall experience was disappointing.

Big room. Expensive! No common Asian food. No cong pow chicken., No egg foo young No chop sewy No prongs No Broccoli beef. Nothing Asian/American. If your from Asia, I guess you may like it.

All of the meat dishes were overly salty. The service was also disappointing. When we arrived, there were only four tables occupied in the lobby, yet we did not receive a warm greeting and had to wave multiple times to get someone’s attention. Throughout the entire meal, no one checked in to see how things were or asked if we needed more tea. We also had to request the check twice—after flagging someone down the first time, we were given to-go boxes instead of the bill. Additionally, no one changed our plates during the meal, which is typically standard practice at Chinese restaurants.

Workers were not helpful and rude. I tried to ask for help with the order. First guy tried to brush me off. The second guy in black suit gave me that look “are you stupid?”. Don’t go there if you are not familiar with the food . Overpriced also. I am not going back there. The screen are so big and bright. If you sit close to them, they can bother your eyes. Tips were automatically added to the bill.

The experience was very different coming here for dinner vs dim sum. For dinner, service was fine but maybe due to the restaurant being less busy. For dim sum, the wait staff is SEVERELY understaffed (unable to get tea refill or the check) even more so for a setting this large. For those with dietary restrictions, the menu isn't labelled but you can speak to the wait staff for accomodations. That said, the kitchen can only accomodations dishes made ala carte but food that is premade (like dum sum) is a no no. Also, we confirmed that peanut oil is used by default so that is something to keep in mind. Overall, the food was mediocre but a dim sum standout is the steamed sponge cake. The dim sum lowlight for us was the beef and yellow chive rice noodle roll (not made with ground beef so texture was terrible). In general, the dim sum was not warm/hot enough. On the plus side, there are novel dishes available here that might not appear on menus for other restaurants.

Parking lot is a total mess. We came on a Wedneday afternoon and it was fairly busy, maybe 90% capacity. Food is meh, half of the items came out luke warm. Service is horrendous and took forever. It took maybe 30 minutes from ordering until first dish came out, then one dish every 10-15 minutes thereafter. This restaurant needs more staffing.

Food was avg, but was made worst with the bad service. The squab was dry and chewy. The asparagus was not sorted, it was dry and chewy. The crispy rice in the soup was not crispy anymore, they serve the rice with the crispy rice soaking in the soup for 10+ mins. Service was not only bad, it was non existent. They didn’t give us bowls for the soup. They didn’t serve us the soup. They just left the big bowl of soup for self serve. What kind of upscale Chinese restaurant does that? Even dirty mom and pop hole in the walls will serve you soup. They never replaced our plates. Never refilled our water. Never refilled our tea. Got the wrong food items 3 times. When they brought over the food, they placed on the edge of the table, far side from us so we couldn’t reach. It’s like the staffs’ brains were off. The only way it could be worse is if they were rude. They were fairly nice.

Living in the Bay Area there are much better options out here than this place. Food quality is there but be prepared to pay the cost, this is not your average ‘beef & brocolli’ spot, dishes are exotic and priced high, staff mostly unfriendly even inconvenienced by their patrons SMH which i wouldn’t mind but given the price point and food wasnt that good ahahah this is white table cloth dining. We were not offered the dim sum menu we were given a luxurious hard cover menu where each dish was overly expensive, (1) dish $55+?! Huge TV’s in a chinese restaurant? Felt more like a boujee sports bar. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE DO NOT WASTER YOUR MONEY AND EXPECTATIONS ON THIS ESTABLISHMENT.

1. The big screens on all walls surrounding the tables are looping very bright videos that irritate our eyes! 2. The tile floor leading to the restrooms and party rooms are so slippery, my senior mother and we all have trouble walking on it!!!! This is a serious safety concern!👎👎👎👎👎

Huge space, next door to a grocery so parking is a nightmare. Service staff are attentive and no waiting to be seated. Dishes were served nice and hot but lacking flavor. Glad we tried it, but probably won't go back.

This place has been open now for several months, and I will say that I am pretty disappointed at the lackluster experience. The initial reviews I heard from early goers was really a mixed bag, but dismissed figuring maybe they needed some time to get ops sorted. All the reasons I would dock a star: 1. Price is higher than other comparable quality dim sum establishments. The price should be reflected in the quality and/or portion size not in how nice the chandeliers are. 2. They forgot two out of our ten orders. Took asking three people where it was before something was done about it. Of the two things they then brought out, one of them was wrong. What? 3. They say with food there is this: Cheap, Good, Fast, and you choose 2. Well, this was not cheap, merely mid, and sluggish if I am being generous (took over an hour to get everything despite being there at opening). The cherry on top is the baked in 16% tip/service charge when you get the bill (we had a party of four). Name and shame, name and shame.

I tasted all dishes during dinner which we ordered and found those dishes are pre-made. It is not the same flavor as fresh made by Chiefs. Some of them are far away from authentic ones although it is still tasted good but not delicious. Everyone can make it at home. The price of the dish is outrageous for pre-made food. Overall it's more expensive than average price for the same dish in the same area. The dinning area is huge where is enough for a party of hundreds of people. The area is surrounded by giant TV screen on the wall. It's the best for sport fans. The lighting is very bright. The service was excellent. Our waitress is courteous, honest and helpful.

We were fortunate to find a parking space on a Saturday night and was seated almost immediately for four people. We easily placed our order for Chilean Sea Bass, honey glazed spare ribs, lo mein with abalone sauce, pea leaves with garlic, turnip cake (which they were out of) and rice. Unfortunately our first dish (Chilean sea bass) did not come out for at least 45 minutes. The dish was tasty but maybe it was because we waited so long and we were hungry. Also it did not come with rice so we were disappointed. We finished our fish and waited another 15 or so minutes before the next two dishes came out but again no rice. This is ridiculous! Finally our rice comes out right before the lo mein. Management needs to hire more chefs/cooks so the food comes out faster and they need to train their waiters and waitresses better to be more attuned to their assigned tables. Unless they change I would not come back. In fact I would probably go across the bay to their sister restaurant which is better managed and more efficient. Sorry for the harsh review but this was my experience tonight. I was expecting a lot more given all the hype and bravado of this being the largest Cantonese restaurant and all. Sadly disappointed, Dan

The food was decent, though it’s worth noting this isn't the traditional cart-style dim sum experience. However, we were ultimately disappointed by the lack of accessibility. For a restaurant that seats hundreds of people, the absence of a handicapped-accessible bathroom is a major oversight. It made the experience very difficult for the senior in our group who uses a wheelchair. A large establishment should put more thought into these essential services.

This location is BAAAADDD. No service, but have the audacity to auto charge a 20% tip on mid tier Chinese food that is probably 4x overpriced. Only redeeming quality is the roast pork is good. Avoid this location. Milpitas location is miles better.

I really wanted to like this place, and I’m hoping the experience we had here is just because it’s a new location. We made reservations for Sunday the 14th about a week ago. Immediately upon reaching the desk, the woman at the counter told us we didn’t have a reservation. When we gave her our phone number and what day we made the reservation, she visibly rolled her eyes when she eventually found us. Problem was, we’d made the reservation for 6 people and now had 7 with us. They sat us at our table with one single menu and then left us. We waited about 20 minutes before someone came over to take our order. We told them we didn’t know how to order and needed help, because they had left a slip of paper with numbers on it with us which we thought we needed to order from. We also told her we needed another set of plates. She needed to grab THREE other people to be able to take our requests because she didn’t understand. We had several issues with the language barrier throughout the night, which ended in them ignoring us for the final hour of our visit and us needing to get up from the table to pay. Not to mention the mandatory 18% tip they add to the bill. 18% just to be ignored ALL NIGHT. It sucks because I wanted to support a new business to celebrate my mothers birthday, but the staff was so rude and dismissive of us the entire time. They even promised to bring her a birthday desert that never came. Overall a huge disappointment, and they made it really clear that we weren’t the kind of clientele they cared about. I really wouldn’t recommend coming here if you aren’t Chinese yourself

Idk when this restaurant was opened but the grand opening sign is still hang outside. Fancy chinese restaurant like a wedding hall with high ceiling & private rooms. Very disappointed with the food, with the amount of msg that made my heart jump, all the dishes lacked flavor. Pricy too (6 siu mai is ~$14 in menu) . We had 3 tables with 10 people per table. The food took about 40 mins to arrive warm (sad) & portioned "perfectly" so each person only have a bite or 2. Quality of food wasn't good cos I was bloated & had stomach ache right after eating. It was busy when we came on Sun so the lack of service was understandable. The main hall needs more staff than the private rooms. On another note, it's a hazard walking down the hall where private rooms are (also where the bathroom are) the doors swing outward & can hit people walking by since it was busy & many staffs were there. I was being mindful to stay out of their way cos they had trays of food on their hands & also dont want someone to slam me with a door either.

Dim sum was served very slowly — about 30 minutes to 1 hour after ordering. Food quality was disappointing: the rice noodle rolls were cold and came with vinegar instead of soy sauce, and the seared crepe roll was missing the mango as described. Service and atmosphere were fair, but overall, the experience felt overpriced for the quality received. I was hoping to see improvements since the grand opening, but unfortunately, it’s still not up to standard. I won’t consider visiting again in the near future.

Food is good however the restaurant is noisy from the speakers playing. Staff is very unattentive. This place has all the right element to be great, just missing customer service. Your guest shouldn’t have to flag your staff down to place orders, top off water, etc.

Overpriced bland food in westernized common hall dinning. The service was good because we came early and it was almost empty. The walls are covered with massive TVs with all 6 showing the same NBA game until internet connection went down and there was just a message. It's still new and clean but so uninviting. We tried they specials: chef's special bbq pork was good. Then came 3 bowls with standard sauces, pepper and wilted spring onion cup for condiments, not great. The fish dishes were bland, boiled or steamed. The red bean "dessert" was sad. Thectea was actually very good. The bill came with already included 18% service charge, how convenient. We didn't get any alcohol and the total was over $100/person. A massive disappointment.

Hubby took me here stated this is the largest dim sum restaurant newly open. We have high hopes.The service is disorganized. The dim sum soup dumplings were embarrassing ( it is not freshly made) . The oxtail stew was warm but large pieces were not fully done. The noodles is solid. It is NOT a place worthy to revisit. We could mot recommend it.

G B

Overpriced bland food in westernized common hall dinning. The service was good because we came early and it was almost empty. The walls are covered with massive TVs with all 6 showing the same NBA game until internet connection went down and there was just a message. It's still new and clean but so uninviting. We tried they specials: chef's special bbq pork was good. Then came 3 bowls with standard sauces, pepper and wilted spring onion cup for condiments, not great. The fish dishes were bland, boiled or steamed. The red bean "dessert" was sad. Thectea was actually very good. The bill came with already included 18% service charge, how convenient. We didn't get any alcohol and the total was over $100/person. A massive disappointment.

shannon shannon

Hubby took me here stated this is the largest dim sum restaurant newly open. We have high hopes.The service is disorganized. The dim sum soup dumplings were embarrassing ( it is not freshly made) . The oxtail stew was warm but large pieces were not fully done. The noodles is solid. It is NOT a place worthy to revisit. We could mot recommend it.

Wai Chi Chiu

Dim sum was served very slowly — about 30 minutes to 1 hour after ordering. Food quality was disappointing: the rice noodle rolls were cold and came with vinegar instead of soy sauce, and the seared crepe roll was missing the mango as described. Service and atmosphere were fair, but overall, the experience felt overpriced for the quality received. I was hoping to see improvements since the grand opening, but unfortunately, it’s still not up to standard. I won’t consider visiting again in the near future.

Great atmosphere, however the food and service not up to caliber for the decor or pricing. We had to flag the waiter down several times to take our order. Food was expensive and small. Nothing stood out to us. Won’t be back.

Food quality was substandard for Bay Area chinese restaurants of similar pricing. Food was served luke warm even though restaurant was only 30% full and lacking the most important facet of chinese cooking: no 'wok qi'. Service was untimely e.g. slow in taking our orders; offered clean plates only towards the end of our meal. I will not go back for sure.

This is probably the worst restaurant. Parking is limited and Do not park on the street, you will get a citation, don’t ask how do I know :( The line was long and took long time to get table. When we finally sat down and ready to place the dim sum order, first thing the manager told us is our order will take a long time to prepare, can you wait ? Unbelievable. Since we were with our friends, we were stucked. Anyway, when we looked around, a lot of ppl were waiting for their food. Here came the exciting part, after we waited a long, our food finally came, unfortunately most of the dishes were either cold or barely warm and two of the dishes were wrong. In short, no way for us to go back to this place. Wish I can give negative star to reflect our true experience

Came for the grand opening and first impression was absolutely terrible. Construction was not complete, no organization inside the restaurant and the parking lot. The parking lot still has construction going on that customers can’t park, enter or exit properly. The construction workers were rude too to the point they would dang customer’s vehicles. The restaurant didn’t even have enough accommodations for the grand opening via seats (stopped passing waiting tickets) even tho there are places in the restaurant that would be places for customers to eat but it’s under construction. If you guys are not done building, you shouldn’t open.

Came around 11:30am, and they already stop giving out numbers. There is no sign saying waiting list is close, and got ignored asking to join the wait list. I asked 3 times and finally got told that the wait list is close. I understand it is very busy, but at least tell people or have a sign telling what is going on. I don’t think I will consider coming again just because of the very poor customer service.

What kind of restaurant doesn’t take more customers at 1:30 when they close at 2:30? Ridiculous. Head to Mayflower (Dublin) or Fusion Delight (San Leandro), each is about 10 minutes from CV.

At HL Bakery Express, I was in front of the line at the counter and ready to order, but the lady let another customer behind me pay for some bread first. After that, she said she’s ready for me and I started telling her what I want, but cut me off and let another customer behind me pay for some bread, saying that he was here first! I was so annoyed that I decided to just leave. :(

If you want to try this place, make sure you bring your own snacks and bottles of water or else you gonna starve yourself before the food arrives. 🤣 I checked the reviews and was prepared not to expected much. But seriously hope they working on their management team before they go out of business. ;( The foods was okay. But the service was pretty terrible. When we walked in they have probably 5 tables maxed. And we had to waited for our foods for at least an hour. Everytine we asked for anything took them at least 5-15mins. We seated there over 2 hours to able get all our foods, not even ones anyone came check on us, no water refill at all. And lastly they gonna desert and we never get it. It's very sad, because so close to us.

Don’t be fooled the decoration. That is the only thing attracted first timers here. Too many tables to serve, but not enough food????? We arrived 10:30am in Saturday. Waited more than an hour to be seated. But guess what! All the deserts are sold out! Food tastes really bland. Probably the worst dim sum I have ever had in my life! Almost like a scam! I feel robbed of my time and money! Never again!

I ordered the roasted pork for $15.99 from the takeaway store next to the restaurant, which was advertised as 1 lb. However, when I weighed it at home, it was only 222 grams. This is a significant difference from what was stated. I hope the store can clarify or improve the accuracy of their portion sizes. I feel cheated and won’t be coming back. I would not recommend this place to anyone, as this is dishonest.

We visited the restaurant last night (second day after opening) at approximately 6 pm, after waiting in line for a considerable period. Upon being seated, we experienced a further delay before our order was taken, necessitating my request for service. Unfortunately, the server seemed rushed, promptly collecting our menu book and attending to the adjacent table. I was compelled to request her attention again to place our order, which was hindered by a perceived language barrier. Following the ordering process, we endured an extensive wait, ultimately departing at 8:45 pm without receiving our orders. We just decided to leave and ate at an alternative restaurant. Regrettably, we were eager to try the dim sum, but was informed that it is exclusively served during lunch hours.

Fraud!! 16% Mandatory Tip automatically add on to your bill no matter how bad the service is and regardless of number in party. 18% Mandatory tip automatically to your for dinner. You can easily be tricked to tip more if you don't look at the bill. 3 people with only four plates for dinner cost over $210 with tax and their Mandatory 18% tip included! Food was mid. RIP OFF!

Service really bad. This place is over-hyped. Food is blend. Management is poor. I understand that restaurants would require mandatory service charge for parties of 6 or more as per industry standard. However, service charge for small parties should be discretionary and be based on the quality of service received. For this HL restaurant, the service is poor and they don't deserve mandatory 18% service charge for party of any size.

We went for an early 5:30 dinner on the second day after opening. Nice ambiance, but that’s where the positives end. Service was slow and inattentive—we had to flag down a waiter every time we needed something, and we never got the same waiter twice. They forgot our order of white rice, then took 15 minutes to bring it after we reminded them twice. The food was overpriced and underwhelming. Portions were small, and flavors were average. The Chilean Sea Bass dish came with only eight tiny, over-cooked, single-bite pieces, and the Honey Walnut Shrimp barely filled the center of the plate. Definitely not worth the money.

We came here because the posted hours said the restaurant opens at 10 a.m. We arrived right on time, only to find the place already full and people halfway through their meal. It turns out they actually opened around 9. Honestly, that’s fine — if you want to open early, go ahead. But please just say it. It’s frustrating to plan around your listed hours and still feel late when we showed up exactly on time. I’m sure the food is good, but the way they handle the opening hours feels misleading and unfair to new customers who don’t know the “secret.” A little honesty goes a long way.

The only thing I can afford at this place is just to drink hot water and tea everything is outrageously priced you get more value at a restaurant in San Francisco. Everything you order is 8 1/2 - 9.00 sometimes as much as $16 to a high of $50. If you bought a $50 turkey it would last you two and a half weeks buy volume. Why should I pay $4 for 1 oz of steamed meat with soya sauce? Why should I pay $4 for 1 oz of shrimp wrapped in flour? Everything should be cut by 80% in price then it would be a good restaurant worth visiting

Walked in on Friday afternoon to try out the food & check out the restaurant to potentially host our wedding reception here and was promptly seated. A lot of tables scattered everywhere and a lot of people are dining which sets a lively atmosphere. Decor is similar to modernized hotel, displayed bottles in glass shelves and a counter which served as a bar/ computer counter. Food was slow to come out and tasted like reheated frozen dim sum. We ordered your average ha gao, siu mai, roasted duck, etc. Service was worse than the already mid food. I understand there are culture differences in the service industry so we didn’t expect any small talk, but at least come around to check on refills on the teapot? Like we literally call going for dim sum as “yum cha” (drinking tea) in Cantonese; what’s the point if your teapot is just going to be dry during the entire duration. We also waited 20 minutes after we finished the food AND cleared the plates for the check. Server ignored us after asking for the check, snatched the check with our card from my grandma’s hand and slammed it on the table without saying anything, turned around to the table next to us and said in his mic to help them. Waited another 10 mins for the itemized bill. Honestly, there’s a lack of efficiency since we already had our card out, but the server still decided to do 3 rights to make a left. There’s also an automated 16% tips charged on all tables. Absolutely not worth it at all, don’t let the decor fool you into thinking it’s upscale. If the food is mid, at least make it up with good service, people will be more willing to give it a second chance. Obligatory “0 stars for the service if I could” (guy in a vest, speaks Cantonese). Edit: If you want to support a business, you’re better off going to a hole-in-a-wall, mom n pop shop.

I've lived in Castro Valley over 50 years and was so excited to see this place open. We were greeted and shown to our table. Then we were completely ignored for 30 minutes. I had to get up and go get someone to take our order. And this person made me feel like I was inconveniencing him. After he took our order and returned our menu I mentioned I also had a to go order at the end of our meal. He said we would need to enter that now as the kitchen will be closing soon. That meant that the food I was bringing home to my wife would be cold. All could have been avoided if they didn't ignore us for 30 minutes. By the way, there were probably 20 staff on the floor all this time. After we got our food, nobody returned except to give us the bill which he asked if we could pay immediately. Our water was not refilled and our dishes were not cleared. At this point, a lot of the staff was sitting down and eating their lunch. Looking at the bill I saw that they automatically added a 16% tip. For this reason alone I would never come back. A tip is not supposed to be mandatory and in this case was rewarding bad service. Actually no service. The food was OK. Shu Mai was very bland and no soy sauce on the table. I would have asked for some but, well, you know. The shortribs were served in a pool of oil. Some was good, some not so much. Certainly not worth the price paid. Finally, the bathrooms were not maintained. Two of the toilet seats were covered in urine. I'm truly disappointed. Will not be giving them a second chance. Might if they didn't force the tip.

The overall experience was unacceptable. The food was not served hot and lacked flavor. We ordered shrimp and siu mai, yet the food was stuck together, indicating poor preparation and handling. The staff didn’t confirm our order properly. They said some items were available, then said they weren’t, and they also messed up our order. Service was subpar, and the behavior of one staff member was unprofessional and made us feel disrespected, they literally threw the bill onto the table after we cancelled some of the items. Given the quality of the food and the prices charged, this restaurant does not meet reasonable standards. We have been to HL Peninsula in other locations, this location is the WORST. I believe there are significantly better Asian dining options available in the Bay Area.

To be honest the food is good for me, but sad to see absoluately no service, did not provide additional bowl, and cannot find a waiter during the meal. And in the end it requires a 18% percent tip. I rarely write review, but very frustrating about the service in the restaurant.

Overall, I definitely would not return to HL Peninsula. This restaurant charges 16% service fee for 2-person dine in. Horrible experience. Came here for lunch on a Thursday, had mostly dim sum. The 5 dim sum items I ordered about 1h10m to come out. The Shrimp Dumplings, Shrimp Rice Rolls, and Xiao Long Bao came out luke warm. It's pretty sad. Also ordered, Pork Tofu Skin Wrap in Oyster Sauce. The tofu skin was dried out or over-cooked, see the picture. Do not order Xiao Long Bao. It's definitely machine made. Better off to buy frozen ones from Ranch and steam them at home

I tried this new dim sum place today, and honestly, it was disappointing. Most of the dishes came out cold, like they were just taken from the kitchen without being reheated. The fried rice noodles had no aroma or flavor at all it felt like they were barely cooked, just tossed around in the pan. The rice rolls were hard and already cold when served. The fish rice rolls were the worst, the fish tasted really fishy and unpleasant.The only thing that tasted good was the salt-baked pigeon, that one was actually delicious. But everything else really needs improvement. I hope the restaurant can fix these issues soon, because I was really looking forward to trying it

Rabbit Wooden

Overall, I definitely would not return to HL Peninsula. This restaurant charges 16% service fee for 2-person dine in. Horrible experience. Came here for lunch on a Thursday, had mostly dim sum. The 5 dim sum items I ordered about 1h10m to come out. The Shrimp Dumplings, Shrimp Rice Rolls, and Xiao Long Bao came out luke warm. It's pretty sad. Also ordered, Pork Tofu Skin Wrap in Oyster Sauce. The tofu skin was dried out or over-cooked, see the picture. Do not order Xiao Long Bao. It's definitely machine made. Better off to buy frozen ones from Ranch and steam them at home

Paula Wu

I tried this new dim sum place today, and honestly, it was disappointing. Most of the dishes came out cold, like they were just taken from the kitchen without being reheated. The fried rice noodles had no aroma or flavor at all it felt like they were barely cooked, just tossed around in the pan. The rice rolls were hard and already cold when served. The fish rice rolls were the worst, the fish tasted really fishy and unpleasant.The only thing that tasted good was the salt-baked pigeon, that one was actually delicious. But everything else really needs improvement. I hope the restaurant can fix these issues soon, because I was really looking forward to trying it