A friend recommended a restaurant called Tucao. After entering, the environment was clean and the service attitude was very good. But the food is average, I don’t know if I ordered it wrong or something. Ciba spicy chicken, so so poor, the chicken is all leftovers, a pile of broken bones, the white meat is woody and hard, the live meat is overcooked and feels like fried food overnight, not a single piece is delicious. I don't know why it's called glutinous rice cake because there isn't even a piece of glutinous rice cake. The best way to summarize this is that the ingredients are dishonest. It feels like the bad parts were made into a dish with spicy and oily ingredients and sold for 29 yuan.I guess I didn’t add too much MSG. I’ve already had five brews of tea after the meal...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Harun Gunaydin
Avoid it! We received our first dish in 45
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Franco Shao
Go there if u want to taste real Yunnan food!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Small Pot Rice Noodles, Stew Beef Combination in Copper Pot
Steven Wang
Great value. Authentic dishes. Be aware their spicy dishes can be VERY spicy.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Anthony B.
The portions are small and the prices are high. Yet the tables are full and the wait list is long. Don't be fooled by Ping's unassuming presence, they have multiple locations including 2 in Fremont. I have been to all of them and they all slap. We usually order their Spicy Frog Legs, beef, boiled fish, fried chicken or pork belly dishes. Their Mapo Dofu makes me sweat bullets in the best of ways. I can't think of anything more satisfying on a cold rainy night. Intensely spicy with superior flavor. Truly the gold standard of Hunan cooking in the Bay Area. I give this place 5 stars because I make a 30 minute drive every week just to get to go from here.
vikas duvvuri
One of the best local Chinese meals.
Food: 5
Dávila Lopes
Terrible
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Amanda M.
Delicious! I will say though, they asked my friend if I would be able to handle spicy food, so I'm pretty sure they dialed it down, but it barely registered any heat. In any case, every dish was flavorful, savory, and delicious. I would definitely come back and hope that they would just make the dishes as intended rather than judging my spice tolerance by the way that I look. My favorites were the beef and the pork with cabbage in a flaming pot. Not much pork in the cabbage, but the cabbage was so tasty that I didn't care. The eggplant was overcooked but flavorful, but the green beans that were with it didn't seem to have any flavor, so I would skip that one and try different veggies next time. The service was ok - they won't seat you until your entire party is there (not a big deal as my friend was a few minutes out, but considering that the restaurant was half empty at the time - it would have been nice to sit and order a drink). The dishes were slow to come out, but good flavor can take time. They pack you in at small cramped tables - we kept having to rearrange and move our water glasses, etc, as there was barely enough room for what we ordered at our small table for two. The restaurant was full with a full waiting room and groups outside as well by the time we left, so come early if you can and beat the rush! Overall, very tasty food with a few service missteps and a bit hectic. I think I would prefer to grab takeout in the future, but would definitely come again for the beef and cabbage dishes!
Michelle P.
Came here with two friends for some lunch at this well known spot - menu was blind cianQR code - everything on the table in Chinese so just use the QR code to get to the menu where you can choose English if necessary - we started with two dishes and rice and we're deciding on a third while the food came out - giant portions! We didn't order a third as the two were too much for theee of us - see what we ordered in the pics - the soup was too spicy for my to have more than a few sips but the ribs in it were delicious and only carried a little spice - the fatty beef dish had a good amount of sechuan peppercorn numbness and the chilis could be avoided if necessary - the addition of rice on the side was helpful for the spice - tea was good, barley? Unsure, but good - need to return but with a large number of people to order many things l. Waiter was very nice and packed our leftovers into 3 packages - above and beyond - definitely returning here as soon as possible
Wilfred Cho
Food is really good here. Nothing crazy spicy and very enjoyable! A lot of options and plenty of non spicy food as well!It gets busy very quickly so come early or get a reservation.Highly recommend!
Ping's bistro has been one of my favorite sichuan/hunan restaurant chains in the Bay Area and this location did not disappoint! The location is pretty new and the indoor is well deco'ed and clean. One thing special about this location is they also feature yunnan dishes in addition to their signature hunan dishes. The spicy level on the menu is a very helpful, and I usually stick with dishes with spicy levels of 1 & 2. Don't be fooled though by level 1 - it already has a kick. Some of our go-to dishes include: - preserved eggs with grind peppers (the sauce is unbeatable!) - country style sautéed pork with eggs and black mushrooms: perfect match with rice! (Warning - even though it's marked as spice level 1, i think it's at least spice level 2 in reality) - sautéed eggplant with string beans: a solid veg dish option that is not spicy We also tried a few new dishes this time and they were all tasty. Particularly impressed with the fried rice which reminded me of the Shanghai style veg ham fried rice. We also got passionfruit green tea for the table which was very refreshing and helped balance all the heat from the dishes. We came around 12 on a weekend and they were already packed. We were able to secure one of the last tables without waiting. When we finished, there were some legit waiting outside. The inside was also somewhat noisy which we didn't mind.
Damon Tighe
Excellent food. Had lunch here and seriously debated going back for dinner because I didn’t know when I’d be in the area again. Yunnan/Sichuan flavors are nailed and the plating of some of the dishes are stunning.Staff was on top of our every need. Dinning environment is well lit with natural and overhead light.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cynthia Wu
Hands down one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area! We usually go to their Fremont location, which specializes in Hunan cuisine. This place is more about Yunnan Cuisine, and literally every single dish we ordered was amazing. Even my friends who usually don’t eat spicy food were so impressed with their food that they are starting to eat spicy because of this place!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Grilled Fish with Soft Tofu, Fried Small Crispy Pork, Spicy Noodle Soup
Xiaoying S.
Came here for a lunch with a big group and we order a bunch of dishes. It's a very popular restaurant so you'd want to arrive earlier to avoid the wait. Many interesting regional dishes are on the menu. Out of the ones we tried I think I like the rice, osmanthus bun (dessert) and the mini lotus roots the best. Century egg was also very flavorful and could serve as a good appetizer.
Qiaojun Feng
Very unique Yunnan dishes that you could not try elsewhere at Bay Area. Recommend the mushroom and Yunnan ham.
A friend recommended a restaurant called Tucao. After entering, the environment was clean and the service attitude was very good. But the food is average, I don’t know if I ordered it wrong or something. Ciba spicy chicken, so so poor, the chicken is all leftovers, a pile of broken bones, the white meat is woody and hard, the live meat is overcooked and feels like fried food overnight, not a single piece is delicious. I don't know why it's called glutinous rice cake because there isn't even a piece of glutinous rice cake. The best way to summarize this is that the ingredients are dishonest. It feels like the bad parts were made into a dish with spicy and oily ingredients and sold for 29 yuan.I guess I didn’t add too much MSG. I’ve already had five brews of tea after the meal...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Avoid it! We received our first dish in 45
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Go there if u want to taste real Yunnan food!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Small Pot Rice Noodles, Stew Beef Combination in Copper Pot
Great value. Authentic dishes. Be aware their spicy dishes can be VERY spicy.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
The portions are small and the prices are high. Yet the tables are full and the wait list is long. Don't be fooled by Ping's unassuming presence, they have multiple locations including 2 in Fremont. I have been to all of them and they all slap. We usually order their Spicy Frog Legs, beef, boiled fish, fried chicken or pork belly dishes. Their Mapo Dofu makes me sweat bullets in the best of ways. I can't think of anything more satisfying on a cold rainy night. Intensely spicy with superior flavor. Truly the gold standard of Hunan cooking in the Bay Area. I give this place 5 stars because I make a 30 minute drive every week just to get to go from here.
One of the best local Chinese meals.
Food: 5
Terrible
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Delicious! I will say though, they asked my friend if I would be able to handle spicy food, so I'm pretty sure they dialed it down, but it barely registered any heat. In any case, every dish was flavorful, savory, and delicious. I would definitely come back and hope that they would just make the dishes as intended rather than judging my spice tolerance by the way that I look. My favorites were the beef and the pork with cabbage in a flaming pot. Not much pork in the cabbage, but the cabbage was so tasty that I didn't care. The eggplant was overcooked but flavorful, but the green beans that were with it didn't seem to have any flavor, so I would skip that one and try different veggies next time. The service was ok - they won't seat you until your entire party is there (not a big deal as my friend was a few minutes out, but considering that the restaurant was half empty at the time - it would have been nice to sit and order a drink). The dishes were slow to come out, but good flavor can take time. They pack you in at small cramped tables - we kept having to rearrange and move our water glasses, etc, as there was barely enough room for what we ordered at our small table for two. The restaurant was full with a full waiting room and groups outside as well by the time we left, so come early if you can and beat the rush! Overall, very tasty food with a few service missteps and a bit hectic. I think I would prefer to grab takeout in the future, but would definitely come again for the beef and cabbage dishes!
Came here with two friends for some lunch at this well known spot - menu was blind cianQR code - everything on the table in Chinese so just use the QR code to get to the menu where you can choose English if necessary - we started with two dishes and rice and we're deciding on a third while the food came out - giant portions! We didn't order a third as the two were too much for theee of us - see what we ordered in the pics - the soup was too spicy for my to have more than a few sips but the ribs in it were delicious and only carried a little spice - the fatty beef dish had a good amount of sechuan peppercorn numbness and the chilis could be avoided if necessary - the addition of rice on the side was helpful for the spice - tea was good, barley? Unsure, but good - need to return but with a large number of people to order many things l. Waiter was very nice and packed our leftovers into 3 packages - above and beyond - definitely returning here as soon as possible
Food is really good here. Nothing crazy spicy and very enjoyable! A lot of options and plenty of non spicy food as well!It gets busy very quickly so come early or get a reservation.Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Ping's bistro has been one of my favorite sichuan/hunan restaurant chains in the Bay Area and this location did not disappoint! The location is pretty new and the indoor is well deco'ed and clean. One thing special about this location is they also feature yunnan dishes in addition to their signature hunan dishes. The spicy level on the menu is a very helpful, and I usually stick with dishes with spicy levels of 1 & 2. Don't be fooled though by level 1 - it already has a kick. Some of our go-to dishes include: - preserved eggs with grind peppers (the sauce is unbeatable!) - country style sautéed pork with eggs and black mushrooms: perfect match with rice! (Warning - even though it's marked as spice level 1, i think it's at least spice level 2 in reality) - sautéed eggplant with string beans: a solid veg dish option that is not spicy We also tried a few new dishes this time and they were all tasty. Particularly impressed with the fried rice which reminded me of the Shanghai style veg ham fried rice. We also got passionfruit green tea for the table which was very refreshing and helped balance all the heat from the dishes. We came around 12 on a weekend and they were already packed. We were able to secure one of the last tables without waiting. When we finished, there were some legit waiting outside. The inside was also somewhat noisy which we didn't mind.
Excellent food. Had lunch here and seriously debated going back for dinner because I didn’t know when I’d be in the area again. Yunnan/Sichuan flavors are nailed and the plating of some of the dishes are stunning.Staff was on top of our every need. Dinning environment is well lit with natural and overhead light.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Hands down one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area! We usually go to their Fremont location, which specializes in Hunan cuisine. This place is more about Yunnan Cuisine, and literally every single dish we ordered was amazing. Even my friends who usually don’t eat spicy food were so impressed with their food that they are starting to eat spicy because of this place!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Grilled Fish with Soft Tofu, Fried Small Crispy Pork, Spicy Noodle Soup
Came here for a lunch with a big group and we order a bunch of dishes. It's a very popular restaurant so you'd want to arrive earlier to avoid the wait. Many interesting regional dishes are on the menu. Out of the ones we tried I think I like the rice, osmanthus bun (dessert) and the mini lotus roots the best. Century egg was also very flavorful and could serve as a good appetizer.
Very unique Yunnan dishes that you could not try elsewhere at Bay Area. Recommend the mushroom and Yunnan ham.