Beijing Cuisine

I’m not surprised this place went out of business after only a short time. It’s now a phở place.

closed — like, gone

This is my first review on Unilocal – I’ve been puzzled by the consistently negative reviews of Beijing Cuisine and would like to offer my take on their food and service. This is my favorite restaurant in the Pleasanton/​Dublin area. My parents and grandparents, a mix of Taiwanese and Shanghainese immigrants, love this place as well. We have lived in Pleasanton since 1997 and have seen many Chinese restaurants come and go, and our consensus is that Beijing Cuisine has the best food thus far. Every few weeks or so, when my brother visits from Berkeley and I from San Jose, we have dinner at Beijing Cuisine. I’m vegetarian, and the rest of my family are omnivores, so my review will be a collective/​family commentary on the dishes we order regularly.
As a vegetarian, I love their eggplant («hong shao qie zi») and green bean («si ji dou») dishes. The green beans are served with fried shallots and garlic – ahh, the aroma and crunch! – and a bit on the salty side, but perfect with a bite of rice. I also love the green onion pancakes («cong you bing»), which may be ordered with a meat filling as well. Chewy inside with a crispy crust, fragrant but not dripping with oil. There is a dish called «mian ge da» that brings out the gleeful carb-​loader in me – dime-​sized bites of noodle (I find them satisfyingly «Q,» which I think is the Mandarin version of «al dente») sautéed in a dark, savory sauce. So good! I’ve never had this dish anywhere else before… I would say it’s not something you would find in typical southern Chinese cuisine (normally Cantonese food, like dim sum, which features more seafood and may be more oily).
As for the meat dishes, my family loves the pickled-​vegetable-​and-​fish soup («suan cai yu pian tang»). The broth, they say, is clear and light, tart from the pickled vegetable yet tempered with umami and sweetness from the pieces of filleted fish. My mom especially likes the fish-​in-​fermented-​sauce («zaoliu yu pian») – she describes it as tender, fragrant, and light.
The best part of the meal, for me, is the dessert! Nowhere else in the Pleasanton/​Dublin area can you find these – and I would say a challenge to find in cities like Sunnyvale, Cupertino, or Fremont with a dense Chinese population. The Beijing yogurt («bei jing suan nai») tastes a lot like Greek yogurt to me, but less tart and more sweet. I can easily finish off a glass by myself… creamy, simple loveliness. There is an adorably-​named dish called «lu da guen,» which translates to «a donkey rolling [in dust].» It’s basically red bean mochi blanketed in peanut powder – quite sweet, but always freshly made (which you can tell by the springiness of the dough). I also enjoy a dish whose name I can’t recall but is essentially thin pieces of steamed lotus root («lian») with a tart-​sweet berry sauce made, I think, from haw candy (a traditional Chinese snack from the fruit of the hawthorne tree). Again, simple yet bold flavors.
As for service, I would say it’s typical for a Chinese restaurant. Efficient, attentive, sprinkled with a few smiles throughout – the same manner that I’ve experienced at much larger and established Chinese restaurants like Koi Palace (Dublin) and China Stix (Santa Clara). Beijing Cuisine is owned by the chef, a man from Beijing that I have not met but has spoken several times with my Shanghainese grandpa, who was so impressed with the food that he asked to speak with the chef.
I would say that what I enjoy most about their food is the simplicity and perhaps even elegance accomplished by pairing strong, contrasting flavors and textures. Sweet, tart, savory and umami, dense, chewy, soft, crisp, pungent, piquant… Given a choice between the vaunted Koi Palace – or any other Chinese restaurant in the Tri-​Valley – and humble Beijing Cuisine, I will definitely choose the latter!

I ordered a bowl of Beijing Beef Noodle soup. I was impress when it came out. It was in a huge bowl with lots of noodle. But that’s about the only highlight. There wasn’t much meat in there, just tendons. The soup was salty and loaded with star anise taste that was over powering (star shaped Chinese herb). And it was obvious they put a lot of MSG in the soup. I’m still thirsty from it.
My friend ordered the stir fried pork. She didn’t like it, but I thought it was good.
I would come back to try something else.

Food not fresh. I ordered a take out of a shrimp dish. The shrimps were so not fresh I had to throw them away. I will never go back.

Walked into this restaurant. Happy surprise and not sure why this place is not yet packet with customers! Judging from accent of fellow eaters, this place caters to the guys that know what they are eating, they all sounded local Beijing residents. The Beijing soy bean paste sauce noodles was real standout. The most simple dish (which imho is the defining item for all northern chinese restaurant) chive pork dumpling, was clearly handmade and convincingly juicy and tasty. No longer need to drive to South Bay for real northern Chinese food! Thumbs up for the lamb kebab, doorbail meat pancake (beef) and fresh meat pancake (pork) as well!

i’m always willing to try new places. I should have read the reviews about this place before I decided to pick up lunch here. I should have known the instant I looked over the menu that I should have just turned around and walked out. I ordered the kung pao shirmp lunch, which included soup, rice, eggroll and steamed vegetables. Hmmm, since they packed my eggroll next to my rice, it was soggy by the time I got home. If i counted right, I think i got 6 pieces of shrimp and a whole lot of bell peppers. The menu definitely had some different items, but based on the fact that they couldn’t do something simple right, I would have to err on the side of caution. The hot and sour soup lacked heat and flavor. The vinegar overpowered the broth. I tried and was seriously disappointed.

I am unfamiliar with this type of Chinese cuisine so my review is likely skewed towards the positive. That’s because I like trying new things and Chinese food that isn’t Chinese American is always a good thing!
Very interesting menu that obviously does not cater to American tastes. Vinegar leavened intestines anybody? Yes, seriously that was on the menu. I was too chicken to try it.
Food we tried:
fish fillet soup with mustard — interesting flavor. At first the smell put me off, but I ended up liking it. The fish was nice and tender. Surprisingly, my 6 year old loved this one. Maybe he was extra hungry or maybe it was the mustard.
Dumpling platter (12 dumplings). Ordered this for the kids, but we ended up eating most of them. He did not really care for the dumplings. They were thick-​skinned, but I think that was to hold in the soupy interior. We liked the vegetable versions of these. Would have been nice to have more variety of dumplings.
Chinese broccoli cooked with dry shrimp — this was the winning dish. The dried shrimp gave so much flavor to the vegetables.
All in all, we were satisfied. I really liked the uniqueness of the food, although I think the quality could have been better.

Beijing takes over the Full House spot. no décor except for 2 small monitors showing pics of chinese dishes.
Beijing cuisine is best eaten by a group of people sharing a couple of dishes. single dining skews the experience to the few dishes sampled
eats:
beef noodle soup (7.95)
–lots of tender beef, tendon, and beef fat
–broth was beef flavoring, soy sauce, che hou sauce, and msg
–thick noodles chewy, undercooked, probably commercially made
–3ish stars
pork & veggie dumpling (12/5.95)
–12 very large dumpling with juice and blandness within
–only 2 kinds dumplings available.
–2 stars
leftovers:
–no service problems 2ish with 5 tables dining
–aftertaste. no doubt msg.
–only chinese diners present.
–cash only

They’re new. Obviously inexperienced. I kinda felt bad for the waitress, seemed in over her head. I really want them to be crowded though because every restaurant before them has lost their business to Ranch.
I give a 3 star rating because i want to give them a chance!
This isn’t the kind Chinese food you’ll find at Hunan House, China Delight, etc. It’s different. we got a bunch of little dishes (kind of like dimsum type stuff) and i forgot what they are called, but they were decent. Its a new experience, and if you’re adventurous, just try it :) I know I’m not very detailed, but their food is the type of thing you just have to try for yourself!
Advice to owners– Get visa/​credit card established if you havn’t already, and give water! (I’m aware that a variety of chinese places give hot tea instead of water because it’s is actually a healthier choice, but still, water is a necessity for Americanized eaters)

First of all, I came here for Full House… which is now no longer and got took over by Beijing Cuisine. 3 words: CASH ONLY and BAD.
Food is barely OK. Dishes are very small in portions, Dumplings are flavorless, Hot & Sour soup is also too mild & bland on flavor. The biggest disappointment: their big sell item «Beijing Pancake Special» for $ 24… which is essentially hand made dumpling skin the size of egg roll skin, then filler up and roll up yourself with sprouts, pork, scrambled eggs, and 2 or 3 other cheap mini dishes (I can’t even remember)…
Service is extremely slow although they tried their best to be attentive. Food timing and arrival is slow and choppy. Except for the flavorless dumpling, dishes arrived luke warm only. May I also remind you that all dishes are SMALL in portions.
There were 4 of us (2 adults, 2 kids). We ordered 2 dishes, 1 soup, and the Beijing Special… and we left the restaurant STILL HUNGRY and with a ~$ 45 check! The only saving grace is their unknown, un-​advertised 15% grand opening special which just popped up on our check (when I had to walk up to the cashier to pay due to, again, their slooooow service) and brought the total down to ~$ 40.
I’m not sure if I would try again… maybe… just to give them a benefit of the doubt that it’s grand opening (they’ve been opened 1 week only) and maybe they have not got all their acts together yet… we’ll see.