Chinese restaurant with large seating area and traditional decorations
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 4/12/2005
Rating: 7
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We were short on time and decided to grab some chinese food at Hong Fu off Stevens Creek in Cupertino. Adam had recommended giving this place a try as he said it was decent. The restaurant is large and very clean. Looks like you can hold a banquet here.
Menus were brought out damm fast along with our tea and water. Placed our orders and within minutes, our soups were sitting pretty right in front of us. I had asked for won ton or egg flower soup but no cigar. I normally don't like Hot and Sour soup but willing to give it a try.
Holy Cow...this is the BEST Hot and Sour soup you can get. It's not loaded with corn starch and the soup is served nice and hot. Oh boy does this soup have an excellent spice kick to it!! Simply the best Ive had.
Things were looking good at this point. I don't know what's with me and sweet and sour shrimps but I have gotten this order the last couple of times. The first one I bit into was super crunchy but heavy on the breading/batter. You could barely taste the shrimps. In some of the pieces, they were cut in half leaving you with mostly a breading taste. I wasn't too satisfied with the dish and probably would not order it again.
So we promptly finished our meals and were waiting for our check. Our lunch clocked in at around 30 mins giving us plenty of time to make it back to work. I'd say 10+ mins pass by and no waiter in site. It wasn't terribly busy or anything, did they forget us? We finally flagged down the waiter and got the check.
From the time we got the soup, it was all downhill from there. The only thing saving this place from below a 7 was the soup. I might come back but only if you could recommend a specific dish.
RETURN VISIT for Jason!8/15/2007 - 8 Rating: I keep forgetting how nice Hong Fu is. The place is decked out with fine dining decorations. I prefer this restaurant to Mandarin Gourmet down the street. I think Hong Fu does a better job at serving the more traditional chinese dishes than the American ones at Mandarin.
As usual, their Hot and Sour soup continues to impress almost more than their lightning speed service. We arrived before the lunch rush and waiter was prompt to delivering the tea, menus, and water. I placed my order for the Hong Fu Special Chow Mein.
The noodles were firm and had a pleasant wok hay flavor. For $6.25, it's a generous serving enough to be shared with another person. Within the shiny mound of noodles are small slices of beef, bbq pork, julienned carrots, sprouts, green onions, and chicken. I enjoyed it thoroughly and gave the leftovers to my coworker. He agreed too that it was a great dish.
Service was fast, prices were low, and food was good. Today's visit was a complete turnaround from our first visit. I'm raising my score for sure.
Hong Fu seemed like a decent place upon entering. I had visions of 7.5 to 8 as I entered. Very clean and friendly wait staff. I placed my order (for the spicy Peanut Shrimp dish). The soup (Hot & Sour) was brought out. And HOLY CRAP. this is the best damn hot and sour soup I have ever had. Usually I like Hot and sour soup, but this is the first time I LOVED it. Its like they turned the volume up on it. The Hot was hotter and the Sweet and Sour was sweeter and sourer. Pure brilliance. This is the item to get here.
We quickly received our main dishes and while it was good, it was not out of the ordinary. I don't think I'd order it again just because I notice on the menu you can order a big bowl of the Hot and Sour soup. I will be getting this next time I return. I need to return for this!!!
Then we finished our food and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Damn, they are taking a long time. Did they forget us. After 10-15 mins of talking and waiting we finally flag down a waiter and he brings us our check. The wait was unacceptable. Especially considering how fast the rest of the service was. Its not like the place was packed. This completely ruined the place for me. I left quite disappointed. They let me down. Big Time.
But I am still dreaming of their Hot and Sour soup.
Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 1/15/2006
Rating: 8
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I am writing this review from the perspective of a banquette dinner. We celebrated my moms 60th birthday here and the owners were more than accommodating. We actually looked around and compared the set dinner menus with Joy Luck Place and Dynasty. Hong Fu was the best bang for the buck. We had three tables of guests and each table priced in at $125.00. There was more selection from the set menus compared to the other two. In addition, we were offered a private room in the back. The other two has a policy where if you spend more than $300.00 (typical policy in most Chinese restaurants) you would qualify for a private room, but none of the other restaurants came through as other parties were willing to pay more.
For those who are not familiar with how the banquette dinners function, usually the sodas are provided with the meal at a steep premium. Typically they put a litter of sparkling apple cider and a liter of either coke or 7-up and charge $3 a bottle. But Hong Fu offered two litter bottles at $3 a pop, and those bottles we did not open, they credited our bill. They also did not charge us extra to cut our cake and serve it on their plates. We also ordered several beers, and typically, they go for as much as $6 a bottle yet we were only charged $4 a bottle for the regular sized bottles.
So how did the food taste? The food was average in my opinion. There were several specialized dishes that were very good and typically cannot be ordered on its own from the menu.
This place may not have the luxury amenities as Joy Luck or Dynasty but the service and price is right up there with the best of them. Food is served hot from the kitchen and they went well beyond what we were expecting.
I have never had lunch here but I have had breakfast here, where we would order from their dim sum menu. There prices are fair and their food is decent, but its their service that will draw me back.
i live nearby to here. there are plenty of chinese restaraunts around. i have some chinese herritage, and i am pretty discriminating on chinese food.
this place is worth a visit. like many chinese food restaraunts, it is porbably better to go with 4-8 friends rather than alone, it increases the value when you can share dishes in a place like this.
the atmoshpere is good. large table with lazy-susans.... al little koi pond thingee.
service is quick. they have always been able to accomidate my party, of any size, immediately. service is quick, but innattentive. if you want your water or tea filled, or if you drop your chopsticks, they are not going to notice you need them unless you flag them down. it doesn't seem to bother them if you do, either.
the food is good. i always order seafood dishes, and my family always splits several entrees when we go there. chow-fun is good. on a recent visit, they had a sauteed (or was it braised?) bok-choi dish that was excellent!!
if you want to get a little more authentic than general tso's chicken (which of course, they have), this is a good place.
i couldn't recommend any specific go-to or 'money' dish, but having sampled more than a dozen entrees here, i can vouch for them having a consistently solid menu.
Reviewer: wchane
Total Reviews: 148
Reviewed: 9/22/2006
Rating: 9
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We went here for a celebration dinner of sorts over the weekend. This is one of the better 'mid to upscale' (I'm using this term loosly) chinese restaurants in my opinion in the area.
Always been seated immediatly and service is great but leisurely. The raves are correct they have delicious hot & sour soup. It does not require extra white pepper. We ordered one of the set meals that included many of the usual chinese dishes.
Plates arrived at a good pace, about a 3-8 buffer between dishes. the cold plate and appitizers came out quickly and when it got to the soy fried flounder the buffer distanced. It set a good eating pace in my opinion. Rather then crowding the table it gave up leisurely time to consume and digest the food. No rushed feeling at all.
The food is typical chinese, and prepared pretty much the same as any chinese resturant. However I don't know if it's fresher, better presented, the lighting or the porcelin that makes the food here taste just that much better.
I've never had any of my guests or actually heard anyone that did not like this place. yes it's in a strip mall, but please do not let that stop you.
