Great Mall Mayflower Seafood Restaurant

Came here on New Year’s Eve. Everything else closed early. We were probably the only people in there along with a few others.
Service was okay, food was alright. The lobster sauce was not as tasty as I expected. The chicken tastes good. The ribs were not that great.

After at least 5 years of not dining here, decided to drop by for a quick dimsum brunch with the boo. Only needed the basics of pork siumai, chicken feet, baked charsiu bow, spinach & shrimp dumpling, lotus leaf-​wrapped chicken rice, and beef cheung dun. I expected the usual MSG-​laden taste. No big deal. I did find the dried edges of the cheung fun to be unacceptable. Asked the hostess to swap it out, commenting that it seemed to be leftover cheung fun due to the dried edges. Hostess insisted that these were freshly-​made, that there are never leftovers. Fine. Hostess exchanged for a charsiu cheung fun instead and it exhibited the same issue. Hostess vehemently insisted the stuff was fresh. If you insist, I’m not gonna argue with you. Then, I guess I just don’t like their version of this dish. Edges of rice «sheet» were dried and hard. That’s just not right! Not going to pay premium price for something that’s not of quality. They graciously removed the dish from my sight and from my bill.
Service was fine. They whisk away empty containers/​dishes the instant you’re done with them.
Neighboring couldn’t help but overhear and they were trying to get the hell outta Mayflower-​Great Mall because they didn’t like the quality of the food.

Worst Chinese restaurant I have been to in the bay area.
Food is just okay, but the service is terrible.
Waiters tried to force us to order food that we don’t like by simply putting them on our table.
There wasn’t any customers waiting for our table, but they tried collecting our utensils even we have not finished. When we said we are not done, they simply put our bowls on tops of each others, without giving us new ones or apology.

Four stars for the food, which i enjoyed. I don’t know dim sum but my wife loves it. So I can’t compare it to other dim sum I have had. it is confusing because waiter push carts around and they barely speak English, or I can’t understand them over the noise. I have hearing aids, so it is hard to tell. Every cart has new and different things. I let my wife order. You also don’t know what you are spending as everything has different prices. Go if you want to try something different

what to order: rice paper with shrimp, shao mai, fried shrimp balls
tip: do not get sat in the corner!
came here for dim-​sum on a Sunday morning, expecting a wait. no wait! woo hoo! the host directs us to a table… in the corner. no!
we had to flag down the steamed cart ladies and whenever they dropped off food, it was COLD.
mleh… didn’t expect much going in so I was super disappointed, I just satisfied my dim sum crave.

The worst service I have ever encountered. The waitress was so rude when I signed the bill, they asked for a tip. I told them I am leaving cash as my tip. When I checked my bank account, I noticed it was different from the receipt. They charged an extra $ 12 in to my account. I can’t believe they have the audacity to do such a thing. Beware of this restaurant. Again, very, very bad service. Stay away…

We chanced upon the mayflower in a post weeknight shopping jaunt.
The ambience is dated but the food was very soul and comfy. Must mention that staff is very attentive. The wife and I were discussing that they don’t have a chow mein on the menu while ordering the family stable sweet corn chicken soup. Kevin picked that and said they could make one for us.
Well the soup was very soul satisfying and the chow mein was definitely home style and great.
We did make a mistake of ordering Lemon chicken which was not as per our India originated expectation (lemon chicken was as it should be — sweet lemon toffee sauce over fried and slice chicken breast) but not what we were expecting.
One interesting and refreshing thing they do is serve cut orange with the check. That is a fantastic idea as it cleans down any residual oil from the palate and throat and leaves a refreshing taste.
Nice job

Great Dim Sum! Lots of options! Price reasonable! 蘿蔔糕 很好吃 腸粉也不錯！ Will visit again soon!

People here are super rude. I was waiting to get a number to get seated, and the server almost ran me over. She literally shoved me out of the way. Hate this place so much.

Some shady dealings going on so watch your credit cards… they automatically put a 15−20% tip on top of your food and tax total. So they will show you your bill but then when you give them your credit card, they authorize it with the tip they want you to give them.

I really should have just stayed at Jade Cathay. Even though that place is not as greatly rated either, at the very least I do not receive food poisoning like I did at Mayflower in Great Mall. Granted, I did arrive about an hour before they stop serving dim sum, but I found myself not impressed with the dumplings anyway. The ha cao and siu mai tasted mildly warm, and you are not even supposed to taste a strong seafood salty aftertaste with them, but I did. They even charged me for tea when I didn’t request any. Although it is pretty close to where I live in terms of convenience, and the dumplings didn’t taste rancid, I do not think I will be coming back.
About the food poisoning, it was gross. I will leave the rest to your imagination.

The food quality here definitely improved since I last visited! Great dimsum in huge pieces. The dim sum here is now better than at Dynasty; hence, it deserves to be better rated.
We ordered a variety dumplings. My personal favorites: chive and scallop dumplings. Their xiu mai also smells and tastes amazing! Also, you must try the fried egg tofu with shrimp ball on top! Their chicken feet is also better than most places.
While many dishes are good, watch out for the fried shrimp dumpling and pan-​fried rolls of flour. I can tell that they use fresh oil based on the hue of yellow, but they hadn’t quite gotten the right crispiness. One complaint: their soy sauce is a bit salty.
Although we ordered 12 different dishes, I’m sure there were some carts that never got to our table. For example, we didn’t see the roasted duck/​pork until we received our bill! Sooo don’t eat too fast and wait for the carts to slowly roll by.
Overall, this place deserves at least a 4, especially when compared to the mediocre dim sum quality of the other places in the area.

Lobster sashimi from south Australia was heavenly. The chef made a quick soup with the extras. What a treat! My co-​workers from Singapore orchestrated the menu in Mandarin so I just waited for one surprise after another. Service was stellar as it is whenever I come here. I always come here for dim sum at lunch but this time I tried dinner and was quite pleased.

This is one of the only chinese restaurant I like in SJ/​Milpitas. It’s located at one of the entrance at the Great Mall. The place can get busy, but service is good and fast. There is usually a wait, but as soon as we get seated the ladies with the dim sum carts start pulling up to our table and we are able to quickly get all our food :) The food here is quite authentic and we usually order the typical dishes — ha gow, sui mai, cheung fun, and some other stuff, and everything is very filling and tasty :) We usually end up in a food coma but we still make our way around the mall after eating!

Not terrible, not great either. I went here on a busy Sunday afternoon. Service was quick, but the dim sum did not impress. There was a particular dim sum cart that was different from what I am used to seeing — a lady pan frying potstickers to-​order! A single order came with 4 pieces and they stayed crispy and hot! My kid devoured them.
Service is typical dim-​sum, flag if you need the waiter to get you more tea or when you’re ready for the check. Otherwise, a very decent spot to satisfy the craving!

I am from LA so I have some pretty high standards for Chinese food.
I went to Great Mall Mayflower Seafood with my mom after fighting the mobs during some Mother’s Day outlet shopping. We were tired and just wanted some good tasty Chinese food!
FOOD/​/​
Chicken Cashew: The flavor here was spot on. A bit on the salty side. But the chicken were nice big thin slices (if they are small, it could be scrape meat). There were tons of veggies (celery, snap peas), but the weird thing was that there was only two pieces of carrots. Just two! It was silly and weird. The cashews had a funny flavor… might have been overcooked $ 13
King To/​Peking Pork Chops: These are usually deep fried and then coated in a delicious sweet and sour red onion sauce, I was a little disappointed with the crunch. There was no crunch! But the flavor was good and it made for a tasty lunch the next day. $ 13
Rice: You pay by the bowl?! This is where they rob you. You pay for every bowl of rice, the staple of the Chinese diet.
Complimentary Dessert:
Red Bean Soup: This was watery, usually its thick! No flavor, but edible.
Cookies: Very artificial almond flavor but edible. Barely edible.
Laughing Sesame Ball Cookies: These just taste like crunchy balls of oil… inedible!
Chinese people were never great at desserts, I would have been happier with a sliced orange.
SERVICE/​/​
Waitress who took our order was different than those who served us, which is normal in Chinese restaurants. The waitress was extremely rushed and talked to other workers at the same time while we were trying to tell her the order. The one who served our food, did not know which table to serve the food! Some organizational errors and this confusion happened to multiple tables. Sometimes other people’s orders were placed on our table. Super disorganized. It was stressful and everyone seemed super rush even though the place still had empty tables.
CONCLUSION/​/​
Food: Decent flavor, might be a little over salted. The textures were a bit off, but overall it was not bad. But you have to pay for rice by the bowl, not cool. Don’t come here for the complimentary dessert.
Service: Disorganized and hurried. The poor wait staff is getting punished purely because they did not get well trained. Its not their fault… Management needs to do a better job explaining.
I give it three stars because the flavor was authentic and as close to home as I have gotten in the South Bay!

Food: I’ve been here for dim sum several times. Servers push carts with food and stop by your table. Their food is consistent. It’s not bad nor great but it always fulfills my dim sum craving. 3.5÷5
Service: The cart ladies usually speak Chinese or are able to speak minimal English, enough to describe what’s on the cart. They take cards here. 3.5÷5
Final thoughts: This isn’t my favorite dim sum spot but I’ll continue to come here when I’m in the area.

3 – 3.5 STAR.
Decent for dim sum, decent for dinner, decent service, decent experience. Mind blowing? Not quite. But definitely good enough to keep coming back.
We have been to Mayflower Seafood Restaurant, which is located in Great Mall in Milpitas, about 4 – 5 times over the last 12 months. I can’t believe I’ve never written a review for this restaurant! We typically go to Mayflower on Saturdays or Sundays for dim sum. From previous experience, we realized that it’s best to go for a later lunch when it is not as busy. We try to go around 12:30−1ish when the crowds die down a little bit.
For the most part, the dim sum we have eaten here has been pretty fresh. We always get the following: 1) shrimp dumplings, 2) pan fried shrimp, pork, and chive dumplings, 3) fried pork dumplings, 4) pork/​shrimp siomai, 5) fried shrimp dumplings, 6) shrimp noodle, 7) Chinese broccoli, and 8) congee. Sometimes, we get the sesame seed balls and the egg custard tarts. All of these items are pretty good. It’s not the best dim sum we have ever had, but it’s definitely good enough!
We’ve also gone for dinner, and have tried the following entrees:
1) Sauteed spinach in garlic ($ 12.00 — rate a 3.5 out of 5) — We loved the sautéed spinach. It was fresh and it was a heaping pile of sautéed spinach in garlic.
2) Fried fillet of rock cod in sweet and sour sauce ($ 12.00 — rate a 4 out of 5) — Pretty generic dish, but surprisingly very tasty! The rock cod was fresh and the dish was great! Loved the sweet and sour sauce and veggies with this dish. Highly recommend.
3) Fish maw soup w/​crab meat ($ 8.95 — rate a 3 out of 5) — The soup was just ok. I’ve had never better fish maw soup. It’s all about the texture with this soup, and it has to be spot on. Will probably try one of the other soups next time.
All in all, we are always pretty satisfied when we go to Mayflower. We don’t break the bank — for 2 people, we spend about $ 30 – 35. For dinner, we spent about the same. It’s definitely a family style restaurant and the service is usually very good, which is unusual for a dim sum restaurant. So kudos to the employees at Mayflower. Will probably return soon (maybe this weekend) for some more dim sum!

One amazing dim sum restaurant. The servers and cart-​lady are super attentive and don’t mess around! We get what we want and at a quick pace; unlike Dynasty who is crap at everything they do.
Will definitely come back here for dim sum!
The food is nice and warm/​hot.
Not as salty as other places and they have everything I eat at dim sum!
Good place to go too

«Ugh, We need you to leave a tip. now.»
This is the first time in ANY establishment that I’ve been hounded for a tip. WTF.
We were a table of five, with two children ages 5 and 1. I’m peeved that halfway through our meal we finally, finally, got our water. Forget a refill. Flagging someone down only resulted in several servers stating it wasn’t their job but to ask one of the two bussers. «Sorry, I only take food orders. Water? Ask them.» *points off to coworker*
BTW, when we asked for tea service for two they happily obliged to grab a pot and even cleared out empty dim sum plates throughout the meal. Hmmm, okay?
After paying with credit card and returning to the table to gather my things including cash from my wallet, was aggressively stalked by one of the cashiers and asked for a tip on top of the bill. *see opening statement*
I had cash in hand ready to put down on the table when I was told to leave a tip. I mean, really?
I let her know that the cash in hand was to be left as tip. I also made sure to point out their mistake with overcharging us on tea service– 3 people in our group did not have tea including two children. She was quite embarrassed.
Note to management: Our overall experience today was no different than other visits, and did not leave me with the impression as though we were being attentively catered to but rather, left me insulted considering we were regular customers and had no obnoxious requests.
I am happy to give up my mayorship and patronage to this place.