Sweet Home Kitchen

So good! There's been a number of Chinese resturants that have popped up in the Bay that are chains and while they are highly reviewed on Yelp, imo they have a more generic, fast food chain vibe where everything tastes the same b/c the recipes and the spices used are all standardizedIf you want food that tastes home cooked and unique (southern Chinese but not Cantonese) I'd highly recommend Sweet Home Kitchen for their specialties. The duck was the meatiest I've had and their mushu pork is my favorite of any rendition I've ever had. This dish is eaten with rice and not wraps in this part of China so it doesn't come with wraps and imo its better with rice b/c it soaks up the fragrant and unami sauce.The owner was so sweet and I can't wait to come back to try other things here.Highly recommended if you want to try more regional Chinese cooking!

I really liked this place! Authentic Chinese food, which means it can get quite heavy and oily. We got the roast duck, corn and chicken dumplings, signature soup, and some edamame/mustard green dish. I'd skip the edamame dish next time since I found it kind of slimy, but I did need a vegetable.The duck was great. Oily and delicious and very well cooked. The soup was kind of odd and I wouldn't even really call it soup. It came in too shallow of a dish to give a significant amount of soup, and then when you tried to drink the broth itself it was too salty and heavy.

The "half roast duck" was not truly half, as the thigh slices were missing. Portions seem to be shrinking over time. It was the only dish that tasted close to the real thing but not quite there. The 鸭血粉丝汤 was greasy and bland, while the 大煮干丝 was dry and lacked flavor, even soaked in soup. The 小笼包 tasted no better than those from a low-end dim sum shop. 炒腰花 tasted rubbery. 皮肚面 bland. If you're from Nanjing, you'll likely be disappointed. Some dishes here capture the "look" but miss the "soul." The restaurant had an unsanitary feel overall. Our first visit wasn't bad, but this second experience left us unwilling to come back again.Take 小红书 reviews on Chinese restaurants with a grain of salt, as many glowing reviews are actually advertisements in disguise.

Food is flavored perfectly. Not too much salt, sugar or oil. Was surprised to have some good diversity of foods and still made authentically. Service is swift and courteous. We've been here twice and feel the quality is decent with great value. The inside of the restaurant is simple and clean. This is an easy go to for their family meal offer. Perfect for the nights we just can't cook and want a homey meal.

This is a tiny restaurant and very popular based on how crowded it was. The menu looked authentic and it does not have the usual American Chinese food like sweet and sour chicken. I picked up some chow mein and dumplings and they were very good. The lady who helped me was very nice.

$40 for 3 dishes takeout and cash only. I was pleasantly surprised they included rice. This is a really good deal and I commend them for offering decent Chinese family meals.I got the salt and pepper fish, Shanghai pork ribs, and Mongolian beef. For food taste, it's about 3.5 stars. My wife didn't like the pork but I did. It was a little sweet and slightly tangy. There are lots of little rib bones so it's a bit messy to eat. The Mongolian beef lacked a little flavor and kick, but the fish was pretty good. We air fried it at home and glad we did because you can see there is a lot of oil in them.I love the no frills ordering (+0.5 star). The transaction was very quick. I don't even remember if they took my name or gave me a receipt. They confirmed my order, gladly took my $40, and I came back 15 minutes later all ready to go.

A hidden gem of a family shop, serving delicious Chinese food at pretty affordable prices. It's a fairly small spot, but it's homey with a hectic energy inside. Full menu spread is huge, but they hit up all the Nanjing notes pretty well (like duck blood and salted duck) and even get the spicy stuff from elsewhere pretty darn good too. Definitely a keeper; when I finished the meal I just wanted to try out other dishes of theirs! It's not a huge place, but service was curteous when speaking with staff, even if they'll possibly shout back to the kitchen ask if they still have certain dishes. I personally love that feel, but to each their own. Hot tea is complimentary, which I swear is getting to be more a rarity in California these days, lovely mellow with grassy notes.Flavors run strong on salt with a touch of sweet and generally well balanced throughout.=Salted Duck - 5/5I was hoping to get roasted duck, but they ran out so we went with the Nanjing regional specialty of salt water duck. This boi is so plump and juicy it's pretty easy to get hooked if you're into game meats, though it's admittedly hard to eat too much due to the saltiness. I know not of legitimate flavor profiles beyond the basics, but it was darn good. FYI, whole duck also literally means whole duck, head and neck included.=XLB - 4/5My only real critique is unfortunately their propensity to leak as the dough is a tad thin, as on the flavor front it's all full marks. It's not the greatest when you ~30% leaks but these were very much on point. At this price it's kind of bonkers that you're getting some pretty legit dumplings with one heck of a meaty bite and hearty soup to them.=Stir fried string beans (spicy) - 5/5Surprisingly spicy! They had the full complement of dried peppers and sichuan peppercorn and the beans were seared well. Some of the pieces were dare I say too dry but the crunchy bits grew on me over the course of the meal. Could stand to be a bit less salty but still excellent dish.=Twice cooked pork loin - 5/5Looks spicy but ends up having a moderate amount of heat. Whoever is stir-frying stuff up has excellent skill, you can definitely taste the wonderful aromas of the dish as you dig in. I'd liken this to the chinese equivalent of having *really* well done home fries, where you get taters that are just so soaked with greasy flavor goodness it's absolutely heavenly. Sort of. With slices of porky bits floating about.

We came to the area wanting to try out Dan Izakaya, but there was a long wait. We walked by this hidden gem and saw the food pictures looked delicious, so we decided to dine-in. There was not a lot of people sitting inside, but there were a lot of people getting take out. We ordered pork soup dumplings, Nanjing salted chicken, mixed fried rice and green onion pancake. It was a lot of carbs and filled us up since we were starving. The nanjing salted chicken was the highlight. There's maybe not a lot of places that do it this well. It is a lukewarm style dish and the flavor of the salt on the tender duck was delicious. The dough from the green onion pancake and XLB had a nice chewy texture, very homestyle-like. I would pass on the fried rice next time. This is a family run restaurant and very cozy vibe. It was inexpensive for the Bay Area and we just spent around $50 for the meal. Would definitely come back and try their other dishes. They have talented chefs and it is a good spot to go to or have take out, to enjoy something similar to a home-cooked meal.

This review is based solely on service as I'm writing this while waiting for my food. I came in and ordered veggie fried ricee, veggie chow mein and broccoli beef. I was greeted by a lovely woman and handed a menu. I ordered my food and it is being prepared fresh right after I ordered it. The chef even came out while I placed my order. It smells delicious here so I can't wait to get my food. I placed an order to go so I will update once I've tried everything. I'm hoping it's as good as the reviews say it is. It was a tad on the pricey side. $46 dollars for my above items with a can of coke. Stay tuned update to follow!

This place was absolutely amazing. The flavors to everything were on point and seasoning was perfect.