Sun Tung Restaurant

Under new management … had a lunch date with Liz, LO from Sonoma Bank, who is rarely able to get out and is currently on crutches … first tried to go to «Dojo Ramen» and it was Tuesday and it was CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED. Darn, I hate when that happens. Next we tried to go to the Izakaya on 4^th and it was CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED so it’s been awhile since I enjoyed the hole-​in-​the-​wall splendors of Sun Tung and some really outstanding mapo tofu. And spicy tripe.
Found a space on 4^th but Sun Tung was farther than I thought but Liz on crutches is a trooper so we trooped on over and there is a banner over the restaurant name, it’s all renovated, the chalk board specials are gone and OOPS … then the CEO and CTO of the company I work for walked in and Liz was struck by the coincidence.
«So guys, what do we eat here?» Not much of a recommendation other than «Beef noodle soup» so we ordered some chicken noodle thing and my mapo tofu, old standby. Shucks … at least I didn’t leave the «h» out but I was disappointed. The mapo was really watery, the rice was too soft and Liz didn’t really take to the noodles either.
Kind of a FAIL, I think it would really help to be ethnically Chinese and speak Mandarin or Cantonese to know what’s going on … could just be me. The next day I brought in a sushi chef to treat my office to a freshly made in front of you sushi lunch and mentioned it to Liz.
«And you take me to …» Castigation … IT’S UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT FOLKS!

Great tea, great food, and the owner is super sweet

Two words… Don’t bother… Awful place. Wish I never found it. If I had no taste buds, I probably would have enjoyed what I ate.

This place is legit for Chinese brunch with fast, prompt service. I always walk out of here in a food coma because there are so many delicious things to eat!
— Great green onion pancake that isn’t too greasy
— Chive boxes, savory rice rolls are really authentic
— Fresh soymilk and the fried chinese donut (you tiao) that goes with it
— Decent xiao long bao, but good dumplings
— Wontons in hot chili oil are delicious and authentic
— HUUUGE portions and very modestly priced

Must have had a bad night. Crispy chicken was tough and smelled funky, other dish wasn’t memorable.
Great soy milk!

Haven’t been back for a while until tonight. The dill dumpling is very good, more dills than usual which makes a great flavor with the thin wrap. Hard to find good hand made dumplings these days except a few places. I was pleasantly surprised by the baked meat box. This recent addition is wonderful, the filling is moist instead of dry, and the flour case is not oily and semi-​crispy. The stir fry shredded potato could be better but still good. Not full on Friday night which is a treat for us.

I always walk by this place to and from the train station. One day my boss and I deceide to try it. He doesn’t eat much meat so he got some veggie noodle style dish. I got the beef noodle soup and some dumplings. I thought the flavors were decent but didn’t seem memorable enough for me to return. Ken K says that you should stick to the Northern item menu, which is what Ill do if I come back to this joint.

* THE place for Chinese dumplings *
This is my local go to place for dumplings. Yes, every culture has dumplings (they vary wildly) and if you enjoy the Chinese variety steamed to perfection and filled with ground meat and bits of veggies then this is the place in Sam Mateo. Like eating sushi, I mix a little soy sauce with a dash of vinegar to dip my dumplings in. Delish!

What a decent surprise. I found the food here quite enjoyable. Not everything was great but there were quite a few dishes that really stood out.
Their beef noodle soup was much better than I have expected and really merits a recommendation. The beef chucks and tendon were on the tough side but the housemade noodle has excellent chewy texture. The broth was flavorful yet not oily at all.
The Chive Boxes was another memorable dish. They were baked instead of pan fried. The shell was crispy and the filling were very tasty. The texture seemed a bit coarse probably because there weren’t a lot of oil used. but that could be easily forgiven.
The dumplings and the baked pastry were alright. Not great but more than passable.
Food is very inexpensive. Can’t believe you can find such a place at downtown San Mateo location. Their hours are great. Open until 3pm for lunch on the weekends. Perfect place to grab food when you wake up a bit too late for brunch. Being able to read Chinese really helps here because they have a lot of off the menu items and white board special written only in Chinese.

So one of my girlfriends suggested this place because of their chicken wings. We all went last night and damn was this place packed! They said it was a 30 minute wait, but it was more like 45 minutes. And usually I wouldn’t mind the wait but I felt like a sardine squished in a can freezing with the door open so yeah. That wait was killin me!
I’m always skeptical with chicken wings, I mean aint that Popeyes Chicken area of expertise? And ya know I’m questioning chicken wings even more from a Chinese joint (that’s also smuthered in a sauce. I mean can it still be crispy if it’s swimming in sauce??) But damn, the chicken was bomb (and still was crispy even with the sauce! I usually prefer the boned in chicken because it’s more flavorful, but at this particular place I loved the boneless ones. They were crispier, easier to eat, and shoot I’ll say it. Faster to cook and come out for us to devour! These suckers were so good! A bit sweet (which I usually don’t like, sweet meat) but seriously it just worked. It was delicious. Especially paired up with yummy white rice!
Green beans also delish (a bit greasy though. But heck, what Chinese food isn’t??). Amazing portions (we were dying trying to finish everything), yummy tastes, and CHEAP eats! 6 of us for roughly $ 60! Steal of a deal!
Only took one star off because of the crazy wait time and the typical Chinese customer service. They really do need to expand. It’s not like they aren’t making good money (super busy).

I ordered the pork sheuzhen vegetables noodle soup. It tasted fantastic. The place was very small and probably fit around 15 people at most. Reason why I gave a 3 star was because they charged more then what was on the menu. When we asked the lady, she wasn’t too pleasant
hence I decided that I wouldn’t come back because they were jipping us. I paid cash but the Restaurant accepts credit cards with a minimum of $ 20.

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in San Mateo. I moved away six years ago, but I always make the drive down whenever I’m back in the Bay Area.
My top dishes are:
Beef Noodle Soup. It’s hong shao, which means braised with lots of flavor.
Spicy Shredded Chicken Cold Noodles. I would overnigh these to Utah if I could. They are that good.
Dumplings. Also– xiao long bao is a great price for the quantity. Not as juicy as the most expensive places, but I can eat it all day long.
Come on the weekends for dimsum. Or just get take out if it gets too crowded.

Came here with the bf for a late lunch, its a small place and the ladies that work there are really nice and speaks Cantonese.
We ordered a lot of food haha and didn’t know they had very big serving portions ;D
I really liked their onion pancake, and also the xiao long bao was really good! We ordered the Shanghai Spaghetti which probably could have served a family of 5! Its huge! So be careful of ordering their food, because you might be stuck with huge portions!
I would go back for their onion pancake!

I would have to say, after trying many, many different Shanghai/​northern China style cuisine, this is one of my top as of today. We’d ordered:
XLB — decent taste but, lacky on the juice.
Green Onion Pancakes — love that it is NOT oily, good texture (VERY important) — wish there were more green onion.
Shanghai Pork Noodle — OMG! it is a killer. just enough of everything! the taste is still lingering on my lips.
Seafood Dumplings: another hit.
Next time, we will be ordering some pork dumplings, Shanghai COLD noodle (depends if it’s hot of cold out), green onion pancakes for sure, and whatever else that looks fantastic… maybe the ant climbing mountain thing.
Honestly, I just love the place. it is a hole in the wall but, love the fact that it is a Mom/Pop’s place.
PS: they do NOT use MSG! ;)

Ordered 5 spice beef noodle soup; the assorted vegs & prawn lunch special (came w/​egg roll, rice and hot & sour soup); and green onion pastry.
Overall the food’s ok. Nothing to rave about. Why I’m never coming back is because less than an hour after eatting, my stomach was extremely upset (as was my bf’s) and caused us the runs. We had eatten nothing else prior nor after so we’re 100% sure the food from here was what caused it.
Plus our bill came to $ 19.45 and there’s a $ 20 minimum to use your card there. She wasn’t lenient on it, and I hardly had any cash (barely any tip for her). Too bad.

Homemade noodles. (in soup, or fried)
Soybean soup and Chinese donuts.
Green onion pancake.
I adore this place for brunch.

This place is a favorite of my family to go to on a Sunday morning for some delicious breakfast. The food is very authentic which is why a lot of locals go there.
The dumplings are excellent as well as the XLBs.
What this place lacks in décor, they make up for with yummy food.
If you are looking for a new chinese restaurant, definitely give this place a try.

sun tung is small with 3 rows of tables. one orders by checking a list of food items for either eat in or take out.
they have the soy bean milk and you tial but who screws this up? so i sampled the won ton in chile oil (8/4.50) and «little juicy steam rolls» (8/6.50)
won ton was very meaty morsels in a savory chile oil sauce with hints of sesame oil and other spices. the won ton itself was bland. the taste came form the chile oil mix
–steam rolls (xiao lung bao): large morsels of meat in a thicker than usual skin. didn’t notice much if any soup within the «bao».flavor came from the black vinger/​ginger sauce accompaniment.
via a note on the wall, i know they sell frozen hand made dumplings to go in fitties ($ 22-​$ 26).
4 stars if there wasn’t such a overuse of msg in their food.

note: Sun Tung is currently closed for vacation. Often times, Unilocalers ask me for a pick of authentic Chinese food. Well, there are very few. Sun Tung is one of them.
They don’t bend over to change a lick to adapt to Western taste and seems as authentic as ever after more than twelve years in a quiet location off restaurant row on San Mateo 3^rd Street. Since opening, husband and wife owners Cindy and Xiao Long Wu have done little to their thirty five seat restaurant.
Run solely by the hardworking couple, Mrs. Wu handles the front of the house while Mr. Wu is in charge of the kitchen in the thirty five seat restaurant.

The décor has not been given much consideration. A few framed flower art work hang unevenly while the mirrored walls host a handful of Chinese classic dishes written on colorful paper.
The ceiling fan together with the antique chandelier create a cozy ambience. This is not the choice to impress your date but instead to relish on authentic cuisine. Service was accommodating and Mrs. Wu frequently patrolled the tables.

The encyclopedic menu can be daunting but a few house specials are great bets. Skip the standard family dinners and go straight for the Northern classics.
Although the onion pancakes ($ 3.50) did not exactly taste «onion-​y», the combination of a crispy crust and chewy center made the dish a great starter. A must order is the dill boiled dumpling (12-​$ 6.50). Made fresh from kneading dough with a three inch steel pin, the dumpling is filled with pork and dill.
The dill gives a burst of freshness while all wrapped up in a dumpling cooked al dente. A quick dunk into vinegar adds a slight tarty punch to the dish.

Served in a plastic package, the smoked fish ($ 5.60) is a great cooling appetizer. The fish bones are meant to be eaten and has the lingering taste of sweet soy sauce.
Listed as a special on the wall, the pig blood and tripe hot pot ($ 8.75) are for the adventure seekers. The ingredients are bathed in a pot of bubbling oyster based sauce. My favorite dish is the mu-​shu chicken ($ 8.95) that comes with four hand made pancakes.
Known as the «Chinese burrito,» the dish arrives in two plates. A stir fry compilation of fried eggs and crunchy cabbage starts the do– it– yourself dish. Meant to be served with a thin layer of hoisen sauce for sweetness and a few juliene green onions for slight crunch, the wrap is a great comfort food dish.

On their white board with plenty of specials to choose from, the house spaghetti ($ 6.95) is a mound of handmade noodles and pork bites that mingle very well with the savory sauce.
As I slurped the slippery strands, this was a clear signal to Mrs. Wu that her food had satisfied my appetite.
Authentic Chinese cuisine is describe as replicating dishes that are found in China.
Unlike some Chinese restaurants that alter their dishes to cater to the Western palate like «orange chicken» or «crab Rangoon,» Sun Tung does not hesitate to serve things the way they served them in China. Mr. Wu, a self– taught chef, learned his culinary skills from his family.
After immigrating to the United States, the Wu’s started a restaurant since they felt that they did not have other skills. Mrs. Wu said that she learned most of her limited English vocabularies from her customers. She said that she treats her customers like family.
There is definately something special about a restaurant who treats their customers like family members. Surely, the restaurant does not have elegant décor, but the charm rests solely on Mrs. Wu’s hospitality and food.

3.5 stars
I came here to try this restaurant thanks to Ken K’s recommendations. I admit when I passed by this place a long time ago I did a double take and thought that it was the same restaurant as San Tung in the city. Definitely a hole in the wall.
XLB: 8 pieces, thinnish skin and lots of meat with flavor inside. I was looking for the soup but didn’t find any… was I missing something? I thought this dish was «meh» and don’t think I’ll order this again.
Hot Soy Milk (salty): Not too salty and temperature wise could have been hotter. Came with 3 pieces of fried doughnut.
Beef Noodle Soup: Beef was tender, had lots of spinach and to me the soup was a little bit on the salty side, at least for me. Noodles had a nice resistance to them and complimented the beef.
Garlic bulb (or stem) marinated tofu: This reminds me of something my mom would make at home. I liked the texture of the garlic bulbs and the marinated tofu was nice and chewy.
Ma Yi Shang Shu (ants climbing trees): I liked this dish the best. I’m a sucker for bean thread noodles and white pepper. The bits of pork added a lot of flavor and it’s definitely something I’d order again.
Maybe I went on a good day for service. Service was pleasant, when I tried to order in Mandarin (I apologized first for assassinating the pronounciation) the server was really kind and laughed, which I didn’t mind, as long as she didn’t get upset about it!