I am pretty sad the place is closed. This is definitely the best stinky tofu in bay area. I have been living in San Mateo since 2018. I know the owner so well. She is always very kind and warm-hearted. She knows me so well, because I am always ordering 臭豆腐，台灣小抄，炸排骨，菜肉餛飩 :-) During the 2019-2020 pandemic season, I came here almost every weekend. During 2021, I came back to China for some family emergency. One year after I left, I came back and order again in China Bee. Surprisingly, the owner stills remembers TJ. I am so grateful to enjoy the dishes in China Bee for almost 5 years, and wish them a happy and relaxing retirement. I will definitely miss this place.
Jennifer C.
Was happy I was able to try this place before they had closed! I swung by on Friday at 4:20pm after failed attempts at preordering takeout and was 11th in line. At around 4:50 a lady had said they would probably only be taking around 10 orders but the rest of us were free to stick around and see if the kitchen could accommodate us. When the folks infront of me ordered, the woman taking orders had announced she would be able to take 2 more orders!! I placed my order of stinky tofu, chinese spaghetti (zhajiang noodles), spicy pig ear with beancurd, stir fried rice cakes with mustard green and pork, plum juice, and soy milk. I ordered at 5:10pm for a 7:30pm pickup. It was my first time trying/smelling stinky tofu and I honestly was not prepared for how much it was going to affect me. Other pungent/funky foods didn't bother me but after I picked up the food, whewwww, had to crack open a window in the car. The stinky tofu was definitely worth trying for me but I am not built to handle it, but everything else was super tasty. The zhajiang mein was super flavorful had lots of meat and toppings and perfectly textured chewy noodles. Rice cakes were soft and chewy with lots of tender pork and pickled mustard greens that were more on the fresh side and not sour. Spicy pig ear had good amount of savoriness and spiciness with half the container being the bean curd. Can never go wrong with a plum juice to break up all the richness of the food and homemade soymilk. Hope the owners and staff enjoy their retirement!
Michael W.
Short Story: The best stinky tofu place in the bay area! Long Story: We've been coming here for about a year and it's always been a hit! The stinky tofu is a must have (although it is an acquired taste). Other must haves are the beef noodle soup, chili wontons, beef tendon noodle soup, and sticky rice! It's recommended to pre-order in advance! Verdict: Sadly the place is also closing so I'm now looking for a new stinky tofu place...anyone have any suggestions?!
Lisa Z.
A friend recommended me this place a while back for their Sticky Rice Roll and has been sitting in my bookmarks. Not until a couple weeks ago when they announced they were closing. As a foodie, I feel unaccomplished if I didn't try a popular restaurant's food before they close. Anyways, this mom and pop restaurant has been going strong for 30 years and they specialize in Taiwanese food and they're pretty known for their stinky tofu. As unappetizing as it sounds, it's very popular and hard to find in the Bay Area. Attempted to call in and line up on Saturday when they opened but stopped taking orders after 20 mins because they were swarmed with orders. Tried again on a Wednesday night but this time showed up 30 mins before they opened and after 20 mins, they stopped taking orders. After an hour of putting down my order, I feel like a champ. Ordered: 1. Stinky Tofu | $11.50 | 3.5/5 - Warning: roll down your windows cuz this stinky tofu is no joke. Not the best stinky tofu I've had since the outer lay r is quite dense. Imagine it being better straight out of the fryer. 2. Xiao Long Bao | $7.95 | 4.5/5 - Pretty solid XLB, flavorful 3. Spicy Half Beef/Tendon Noodle Soup | $16.50 | 5/5 - The soup base was quite unique and super flavorful. Noodles were good. Could use an extra 30 secs in the water. 4. Five Spiced Tripe | $7.25 | 2/5 Overall pretty solid Taiwanese spot. Hopefully after some time, they will open back up at a different location. Thank you China Bee for your 30 years of service! :')
Amy L.
Sad that this place is closing but glad I got to try it. They are very popular and very busy. Their phone lines are constantly busy. We waited in line for about 20 minutes in order to put in our order. The pickup for the food was scheduled to be 2 hours and 10 minutes later. Take out only. We ordered the chili wontons, green onion pancakes, deep fried stinky tofu, minced pork rice, beef noodle soup, onion noodles, and hot sour noodles. My favorite was minced pork rice. This place has one of the best minced pork rice that I've ever had. The beef noodle soup was solid and the stinky tofu was quite pungent. The tofu is definitely an acquired taste. If you are able to accept and embrace the smell, then you will enjoy it. It was fried well and had good texture. The chili wontons were flavorful and you cannot go wrong with getting the green onion pancakes. I personally felt the onion noodles and hot sour noodles were on the mediocre end. The noodles themselves were fine but it was lacking in flavor and salt. The hot sour noodles were not sour at all. It had a hint of the numbing pepper flavor and it wasn't spicy. The onion noodles tasted like it was just tossed in onion oil and topped with fried onions. My recommendations would be to get the beef noodle soup, onion pancake, minced pork rice and chili wontons. If you are feeling adventurous, try the tofu as well.
Chi L.
I've always known about this place. A friend has mentioned how this was his go-to for stinky tofu. But it wasn't until this past Wednesday that I finally paid a visit. And as I'll see, their popularity is well deserved. This isn't the only Taiwanese restaurant in the area, so its perseverance through the closing of its competitors, as well as the extreme competition that is San Mateo downtown, is a sign that I had been missing out. There was even a TV crew there... Wait. First visit: Sesame sauce noodle, mustard green and pork fried rice. The noodles were good, though a tad dry for my taste. I was using the Chinese menu, which called it dan dan mein. FYI, there are three main types of DDM, the Sichuan version which is spicier, the Japanese tantanmen which is soupy, and the Taiwanese version, which has barely any spice. I had a hunch, but I just had blind desire for the spicier version. It was good, but just a heads up if you seek spicy when you see Dan Dan mein on the menu. The fried rice was good though. Relatively simple, but that's when skill is required. The rice had its share of oil, not gonna lie, but not enough to pool at the bottom, and you can taste the heat, the char, that went into the rice, each grain an individual. No cliques, no clumps. Perfectly seasoned. Salt, oil, heat, the trifecta necessary for a good rice. Another friend of mine wanted to try this place Saturday, and the noodle soup is what triggered this review. After the 2 hour wait, we received our XLB, stinky tofu, dry fried chicken wings, and the noodle soup- half beef, half tendon. The XLB was good, genuinely good, but didn't stand out to me, and did have soup, though frankly not that much. I got the wings because I wanted to see how it would compare to that of San Tung in SF. The wings were par for the course as well. As for the sauce, it was thick as it should be, but garlic forward and thus going in a different direction. If you have to have the San Tung sauce, I would ask for extra stinky tofu sauce, roast and chop a couple of small dried chilies, and then thicken the sauce after adding in the chilies. The stinky tofu itself wasn't that stinky. It had the right funk, but it was nowhere near where it usually is. I don't blame them. This is a fermented product, so if every customer wants it, quality will drop. Production takes time. You can't produce parmigiano reggiano in 11 months. Especially when you're looking at a mom & pop, hole in the wall. That stewed beef and tendon in the beef noodle soup though. The thick noodles had the correct doughy chew. The sheen of oil on top was spicy, numbing. It showed the hand to the soup it sat on top of, but it kept me going. And that beef and tendon... Such good flavor and texture, falling apart only when you tell it to, beautifully. We were dipping the XLB in the soup! BREAKING NEWS: This is Phatarse Chi L. coming to you from a dinner table near me. I've just savored the last sip of the noodle's soup, and it's been confirmed that the soup is the best I've tasted in recent memory. You see, with heavy, complex flavours, it can be easy to hide flaws in the soup. Your tongue is taken for a spin and after you're done, your tongue is just overwhelmed yet confused at what you just put in your mouth. I've had beef noodle soup, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, that came up empty on the back end. This place though, oooo, oooo, . There are such spice notes going through the back of your throat as you savour the murkiness. It reminds me of the consume that comes with the quesa-birria tacos. In fact, this would've been a very good Taiwanese birria ramen. Very much Taiwan's answer to birria and its consume, with way better noodle. Would've. Because I regret to inform you that China Bee will be closing permanently, with their last day on the 18th of December, 2022. The building they are based at is being demo-ed and we don't know if they are coming back. I can't help but suspect that their kitchen is mostly a one m
Ray H.
I've not been to this restaurant for many years because there are so many choices, and don't like stinky tofo much. I wanted to pay my last visit before it closes in December. Take out only. Food and services were good. Long wait for food but understandable. Good luck to the owners, excellent food. Hopefully can see them in a new location.
John E.
Amazing food. A must stop if you are in the the Bay Area, specifically for Saturday breakfast/brunch options!
Constance L.
Great Taiwanese restaurant in downtown San Mateo! It's one of the few authentic Taiwanese restaurants in the Peninsula, and I was super bummed to hear the owner say that they are closing at the end of the year (before Christmas) after 30 years in business when I went to pick up my takeout yesterday. I've gotten their fan tuan (salty sticky rice roll) and soy milk on several occasions on weekends, and it's probably the best I've found so far on the Peninsula. I've also gotten a few meals for takeout from here, including the fried pork chop rice plate and stir fried rice cake with preserved veggies and pork. Everything always taste very freshly made and never too oily. The only thing is that I wish their pork chop rice plate is served with some veggies as you'd typically expect in a bento. This place is quite popular, so I'd highly recommend calling ahead to place your order. Since the pandemic started, they are take-out only. I'm going to be sad to see this place go, but will be sure to visit a few more times before the end of the year!
diana b
Thanks, Nancy, for taking care of our large family takeout order - favorites were the wontons with chili oil, rice with minced pork, spicy beef noodle soup, shredded pork with dried bean curd, dried fried chicken wings, braised lion head with bok choy, egg pancake, and garlic sauce eggplant and fish fillet. I got the zha jiang mian which they call Chinese spaghetti with meat sauce and ate the leftover meat sauce with rice. She was nice and threw in a lot of white rich for all of us as well as two cold side dishes.
This this is only place I come for traditional soy bean drink and Chinese doughnuts. It's run by the sweetest people, I had to cancel my order last minute today when it was already done and Nancy said no problem. It's so great to have a friendly neighbor eatery like this, I will definitely be back!
j randall
I've been coming to China Bee on the regular since moving to San Mateo 5+ years ago.The food is delicious, thats a given; the prior reviews speak for themselves. But what's equally if not more impressive is how Nancy and the Team treat their customers. Consistently kind, curious and considerate - ALWAYS smiling and asking about us. Thank you Nancy and Team for the great food and great service!!PS: The Onion Noodles are a hit with my young kiddos - literally their favorite food of all time.
Tee Ponsukcharoen
This is the solid Taiwanese food place recommended by my Taiwanese friend. You can't argue with authenticity when you have stinky tofu in the menu! You might need a company or a whole family to eat so that you can try various dishes.
Michael Z.
For the newcomers: this is take out only. Wait times can still be a good half hour. Not cheap but it's got all the right flavors of home cooking. -The stinky tofu is legit. Crispy, bountiful, fragrant--you can smell it from blocks away. -The beef tendon soup has giant chunks of creamy tendon. We got half and half- 2 big cubes of beef, 2 big chunks of tendon -Fantuan is with really crispy fried dough, not so much the fluffy youtiao. As expected. The menu is a bit limited. While I understand you come for the breakfast items and while they are good--they wait and price make this a bit more of undertaking than I would like. Would help if I could place a phone call, but it didn't get picked up the day I tried.
Selina W.
When I stopped by today on Sunday around 1pm it was pick up orders only. Not a problem for me bc I was hoping to pick up my order anyway :) Got my two rice rolls + cucumbers + fresh soymilk. $24. Nostalgia in a bag. Food came out quickly. This spot has been around for 20-25+ years...at this point with rising food costs, low staff and overall hardship in the food industry I'll take my nostalgic tastes when I can!! Let try to keep these small biz alive!
I am pretty sad the place is closed. This is definitely the best stinky tofu in bay area. I have been living in San Mateo since 2018. I know the owner so well. She is always very kind and warm-hearted. She knows me so well, because I am always ordering 臭豆腐，台灣小抄，炸排骨，菜肉餛飩 :-) During the 2019-2020 pandemic season, I came here almost every weekend. During 2021, I came back to China for some family emergency. One year after I left, I came back and order again in China Bee. Surprisingly, the owner stills remembers TJ. I am so grateful to enjoy the dishes in China Bee for almost 5 years, and wish them a happy and relaxing retirement. I will definitely miss this place.
Was happy I was able to try this place before they had closed! I swung by on Friday at 4:20pm after failed attempts at preordering takeout and was 11th in line. At around 4:50 a lady had said they would probably only be taking around 10 orders but the rest of us were free to stick around and see if the kitchen could accommodate us. When the folks infront of me ordered, the woman taking orders had announced she would be able to take 2 more orders!! I placed my order of stinky tofu, chinese spaghetti (zhajiang noodles), spicy pig ear with beancurd, stir fried rice cakes with mustard green and pork, plum juice, and soy milk. I ordered at 5:10pm for a 7:30pm pickup. It was my first time trying/smelling stinky tofu and I honestly was not prepared for how much it was going to affect me. Other pungent/funky foods didn't bother me but after I picked up the food, whewwww, had to crack open a window in the car. The stinky tofu was definitely worth trying for me but I am not built to handle it, but everything else was super tasty. The zhajiang mein was super flavorful had lots of meat and toppings and perfectly textured chewy noodles. Rice cakes were soft and chewy with lots of tender pork and pickled mustard greens that were more on the fresh side and not sour. Spicy pig ear had good amount of savoriness and spiciness with half the container being the bean curd. Can never go wrong with a plum juice to break up all the richness of the food and homemade soymilk. Hope the owners and staff enjoy their retirement!
Short Story: The best stinky tofu place in the bay area! Long Story: We've been coming here for about a year and it's always been a hit! The stinky tofu is a must have (although it is an acquired taste). Other must haves are the beef noodle soup, chili wontons, beef tendon noodle soup, and sticky rice! It's recommended to pre-order in advance! Verdict: Sadly the place is also closing so I'm now looking for a new stinky tofu place...anyone have any suggestions?!
A friend recommended me this place a while back for their Sticky Rice Roll and has been sitting in my bookmarks. Not until a couple weeks ago when they announced they were closing. As a foodie, I feel unaccomplished if I didn't try a popular restaurant's food before they close. Anyways, this mom and pop restaurant has been going strong for 30 years and they specialize in Taiwanese food and they're pretty known for their stinky tofu. As unappetizing as it sounds, it's very popular and hard to find in the Bay Area. Attempted to call in and line up on Saturday when they opened but stopped taking orders after 20 mins because they were swarmed with orders. Tried again on a Wednesday night but this time showed up 30 mins before they opened and after 20 mins, they stopped taking orders. After an hour of putting down my order, I feel like a champ. Ordered: 1. Stinky Tofu | $11.50 | 3.5/5 - Warning: roll down your windows cuz this stinky tofu is no joke. Not the best stinky tofu I've had since the outer lay r is quite dense. Imagine it being better straight out of the fryer. 2. Xiao Long Bao | $7.95 | 4.5/5 - Pretty solid XLB, flavorful 3. Spicy Half Beef/Tendon Noodle Soup | $16.50 | 5/5 - The soup base was quite unique and super flavorful. Noodles were good. Could use an extra 30 secs in the water. 4. Five Spiced Tripe | $7.25 | 2/5 Overall pretty solid Taiwanese spot. Hopefully after some time, they will open back up at a different location. Thank you China Bee for your 30 years of service! :')
Sad that this place is closing but glad I got to try it. They are very popular and very busy. Their phone lines are constantly busy. We waited in line for about 20 minutes in order to put in our order. The pickup for the food was scheduled to be 2 hours and 10 minutes later. Take out only. We ordered the chili wontons, green onion pancakes, deep fried stinky tofu, minced pork rice, beef noodle soup, onion noodles, and hot sour noodles. My favorite was minced pork rice. This place has one of the best minced pork rice that I've ever had. The beef noodle soup was solid and the stinky tofu was quite pungent. The tofu is definitely an acquired taste. If you are able to accept and embrace the smell, then you will enjoy it. It was fried well and had good texture. The chili wontons were flavorful and you cannot go wrong with getting the green onion pancakes. I personally felt the onion noodles and hot sour noodles were on the mediocre end. The noodles themselves were fine but it was lacking in flavor and salt. The hot sour noodles were not sour at all. It had a hint of the numbing pepper flavor and it wasn't spicy. The onion noodles tasted like it was just tossed in onion oil and topped with fried onions. My recommendations would be to get the beef noodle soup, onion pancake, minced pork rice and chili wontons. If you are feeling adventurous, try the tofu as well.
I've always known about this place. A friend has mentioned how this was his go-to for stinky tofu. But it wasn't until this past Wednesday that I finally paid a visit. And as I'll see, their popularity is well deserved. This isn't the only Taiwanese restaurant in the area, so its perseverance through the closing of its competitors, as well as the extreme competition that is San Mateo downtown, is a sign that I had been missing out. There was even a TV crew there... Wait. First visit: Sesame sauce noodle, mustard green and pork fried rice. The noodles were good, though a tad dry for my taste. I was using the Chinese menu, which called it dan dan mein. FYI, there are three main types of DDM, the Sichuan version which is spicier, the Japanese tantanmen which is soupy, and the Taiwanese version, which has barely any spice. I had a hunch, but I just had blind desire for the spicier version. It was good, but just a heads up if you seek spicy when you see Dan Dan mein on the menu. The fried rice was good though. Relatively simple, but that's when skill is required. The rice had its share of oil, not gonna lie, but not enough to pool at the bottom, and you can taste the heat, the char, that went into the rice, each grain an individual. No cliques, no clumps. Perfectly seasoned. Salt, oil, heat, the trifecta necessary for a good rice. Another friend of mine wanted to try this place Saturday, and the noodle soup is what triggered this review. After the 2 hour wait, we received our XLB, stinky tofu, dry fried chicken wings, and the noodle soup- half beef, half tendon. The XLB was good, genuinely good, but didn't stand out to me, and did have soup, though frankly not that much. I got the wings because I wanted to see how it would compare to that of San Tung in SF. The wings were par for the course as well. As for the sauce, it was thick as it should be, but garlic forward and thus going in a different direction. If you have to have the San Tung sauce, I would ask for extra stinky tofu sauce, roast and chop a couple of small dried chilies, and then thicken the sauce after adding in the chilies. The stinky tofu itself wasn't that stinky. It had the right funk, but it was nowhere near where it usually is. I don't blame them. This is a fermented product, so if every customer wants it, quality will drop. Production takes time. You can't produce parmigiano reggiano in 11 months. Especially when you're looking at a mom & pop, hole in the wall. That stewed beef and tendon in the beef noodle soup though. The thick noodles had the correct doughy chew. The sheen of oil on top was spicy, numbing. It showed the hand to the soup it sat on top of, but it kept me going. And that beef and tendon... Such good flavor and texture, falling apart only when you tell it to, beautifully. We were dipping the XLB in the soup! BREAKING NEWS: This is Phatarse Chi L. coming to you from a dinner table near me. I've just savored the last sip of the noodle's soup, and it's been confirmed that the soup is the best I've tasted in recent memory. You see, with heavy, complex flavours, it can be easy to hide flaws in the soup. Your tongue is taken for a spin and after you're done, your tongue is just overwhelmed yet confused at what you just put in your mouth. I've had beef noodle soup, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, that came up empty on the back end. This place though, oooo, oooo, . There are such spice notes going through the back of your throat as you savour the murkiness. It reminds me of the consume that comes with the quesa-birria tacos. In fact, this would've been a very good Taiwanese birria ramen. Very much Taiwan's answer to birria and its consume, with way better noodle. Would've. Because I regret to inform you that China Bee will be closing permanently, with their last day on the 18th of December, 2022. The building they are based at is being demo-ed and we don't know if they are coming back. I can't help but suspect that their kitchen is mostly a one m
I've not been to this restaurant for many years because there are so many choices, and don't like stinky tofo much. I wanted to pay my last visit before it closes in December. Take out only. Food and services were good. Long wait for food but understandable. Good luck to the owners, excellent food. Hopefully can see them in a new location.
Amazing food. A must stop if you are in the the Bay Area, specifically for Saturday breakfast/brunch options!
Great Taiwanese restaurant in downtown San Mateo! It's one of the few authentic Taiwanese restaurants in the Peninsula, and I was super bummed to hear the owner say that they are closing at the end of the year (before Christmas) after 30 years in business when I went to pick up my takeout yesterday. I've gotten their fan tuan (salty sticky rice roll) and soy milk on several occasions on weekends, and it's probably the best I've found so far on the Peninsula. I've also gotten a few meals for takeout from here, including the fried pork chop rice plate and stir fried rice cake with preserved veggies and pork. Everything always taste very freshly made and never too oily. The only thing is that I wish their pork chop rice plate is served with some veggies as you'd typically expect in a bento. This place is quite popular, so I'd highly recommend calling ahead to place your order. Since the pandemic started, they are take-out only. I'm going to be sad to see this place go, but will be sure to visit a few more times before the end of the year!
Thanks, Nancy, for taking care of our large family takeout order - favorites were the wontons with chili oil, rice with minced pork, spicy beef noodle soup, shredded pork with dried bean curd, dried fried chicken wings, braised lion head with bok choy, egg pancake, and garlic sauce eggplant and fish fillet. I got the zha jiang mian which they call Chinese spaghetti with meat sauce and ate the leftover meat sauce with rice. She was nice and threw in a lot of white rich for all of us as well as two cold side dishes.
Restaurantji Recommends
This this is only place I come for traditional soy bean drink and Chinese doughnuts. It's run by the sweetest people, I had to cancel my order last minute today when it was already done and Nancy said no problem. It's so great to have a friendly neighbor eatery like this, I will definitely be back!
I've been coming to China Bee on the regular since moving to San Mateo 5+ years ago.The food is delicious, thats a given; the prior reviews speak for themselves. But what's equally if not more impressive is how Nancy and the Team treat their customers. Consistently kind, curious and considerate - ALWAYS smiling and asking about us. Thank you Nancy and Team for the great food and great service!!PS: The Onion Noodles are a hit with my young kiddos - literally their favorite food of all time.
This is the solid Taiwanese food place recommended by my Taiwanese friend. You can't argue with authenticity when you have stinky tofu in the menu! You might need a company or a whole family to eat so that you can try various dishes.
For the newcomers: this is take out only. Wait times can still be a good half hour. Not cheap but it's got all the right flavors of home cooking. -The stinky tofu is legit. Crispy, bountiful, fragrant--you can smell it from blocks away. -The beef tendon soup has giant chunks of creamy tendon. We got half and half- 2 big cubes of beef, 2 big chunks of tendon -Fantuan is with really crispy fried dough, not so much the fluffy youtiao. As expected. The menu is a bit limited. While I understand you come for the breakfast items and while they are good--they wait and price make this a bit more of undertaking than I would like. Would help if I could place a phone call, but it didn't get picked up the day I tried.
When I stopped by today on Sunday around 1pm it was pick up orders only. Not a problem for me bc I was hoping to pick up my order anyway :) Got my two rice rolls + cucumbers + fresh soymilk. $24. Nostalgia in a bag. Food came out quickly. This spot has been around for 20-25+ years...at this point with rising food costs, low staff and overall hardship in the food industry I'll take my nostalgic tastes when I can!! Let try to keep these small biz alive!