Golden Island Cafe

Wandered in here looking for some dessert after hitting up Dojo Ramen nearby. They serve you complimentary black tea, although I opted to get an HK style tea in addition to that (I just really wanted 2 teas for some reason… shrug).
We ended up just getting the dessert sample — which came with some mango dessert, black rice coconut sago, some kind of ice cream, and mixed fruit. The only thing that really stood out to me was the black rice coconut sago which was quite delicious and comforting. Dessert really isn’t my thing so I can’t say I was a huge fan of this place. It was fairly empty when we went around 1pm on a Sunday afternoon.

Compared to their location on Noreiga St in SF, it’s more spacious and not as crazy packed. It’s located in downtown San Mateo so sometimes parking can be fairly difficult. We came around 11PM on a Friday night and it wasn’t packed surprisingly. The waitresses were attentive: constantly refilling our hot tea and seeing if we need anything.
Our order:
Mango Sago
Hot Dessert Sampler: Black Sesame Soup (Tong Sui), Sesame Dumpling (Tang Yuan), Almond Custard (Dun Lai), Egg Custard (Dun Dan)
Fried Chicken Wings
The Chicken Wings were nice and hot and crispy but definitely could see the MSG all over it. My friend loved his Mango Sago as he hadn’t had it in a long time. The sampler is the same as Noreiga which is good but the Black Sesame Soup not strong enough for me.
You can read my review of other desserts from the Noreiga location:
Glad this location is here so I don’t have to drive to the city. Cash only.

I understand when it is the end of the night, and the staff want to get home earlier by cleaning the café ASAP.
Yet when you start to use cleaning sprays, right next to customers, to clean tables as they are eating, it impacts the taste of the food, get contaminate the food, and the customer only remembers the chemical spray smell.
I typically give a place a few chances, but when it happens 3+ times, something should change.
For late night Asian bites and dessert, this is one of the few places in San Mateo, so you end up coming here, just come here earlier in the night.

Uhmmmmm. Service is okay. To me the portion of food is big which is nice. Got super full after awhile eating it and ended up to-​go it. HK milk tea is alright, taste like instant milk-​tea and have a little bit after taste.
_​would come back to try more stuff (:

This place is a nice go to when you can’t really decide if you’re hungry or not. We walked in and it was almost empty which can be sort of off putting but I wanted Boba and didn’t want to fall in line at Quickly or T Pumps. I haven’t tried much of the menu but what we had which was a coconut milk dessert with boba and garlic noodle were both good. I may need to go back to determine if this place is a hidden gem or deserted for a reason.

I love this gem of a café in downtown San Mateo ! They have the best dan nai outside of Macau!!! It reminds a lot like what my mom makes when I was little!!! Also one of best coconut Sago I’ve had in awhile! It’s not too sweet nor overpowering, but just the right amount of everything! Def recommend this place!
Will be coming back for more when I’m in the area.

Sadly, this Golden Island is not nearly as good as the one in SF.
My friend found a bug in her mango dessert.
I got the hot sampler for $ 7 which includes dun dan (egg custard), dun lai (egg white custard?), black sesame paste, and rice balls with crushed peanuts. I actually liked this one and it’s suitable for 2 – 3 people to share. It takes a little longer to come out because all the items are actually hot but the custards had a nice consistency. I’m not convinced they make the black sesame from scratch but it satisfies a craving.
If you’re deciding between going here and Dessert Republic, then this place seems to be a little less crowded. There were only two girls manning the entire front of the restaurant but they do their best to refill your tea as often as possible.

Had a whirl with the dessert sampler, containing — mango sago, vanilla (mitchells ice cream), fresh fruit and tapioca. Didn’t have to wait too long to get the dessert, but the taste on the other hand I would have to say is average because nothing really stood out.

My girlfriend Alyce and I dropped by for an afternoon snack at Golden Island Café, and were pleasantly surprised by things we ordered.
My hot Hong Kong Style Tea wasn’t sweet. In fact, it was a bit bitter, but I enjoyed it. Alyce got a Papaya Milk Smoothie with Tapioca, which was cool and creamy. We’re not sure if it’s actually made with real papaya, but it certainly tasted like they had just blended one just for this smoothie.
The Sago with Coconut Milk is a traditional Asian dessert featuring coconut milk, small sago pearls, and small cubes of grass jelly. To be honest, I haven’t yet acquired a taste Asian-​style desserts, but I actually really liked this item. The cool, smooth, sweet coconut milk complemented the grass jelly by masking the jelly’s slight bitterness. The bounty of sago pearls added to the mixture of textures in this dish.
We also tried a Hot Dessert Sampler. This comes with some Sweet Peanut Dumpling (mochi with ground peanuts), Dun Dan (steamed egg custard), Dun Lai (steamed milk custard), and Sesame Paste. The Dun Dan was a bit too eggy for me, but I enjoyed the Dun Lai. Alyce really enjoyed the gooey mochi and crunchy peanuts of the Peanut Dumplings.
Alyce went on a serious nostalgia trip of her time in Asia while we were here. On our way out, we looked at the menu near the entrance, which features pictures of the entrées and snacks Golden Island offers. So many things looked mouth-​watering, so we’re planning on coming back with empty stomachs!

I’ve been here a couple times and each time I felt a empty and disappointed.
Service (¹⁄₅): 1 girl in charge of serving AND making the food. I’ve been during previous «peak» times and found that they only had 2 staff. Because they are understaffed, the staff is often short, abrupt, and borderline rude and who can blame them? I’d be that way too if I had a restaurant full of 15 people making demands while I was alone. The quality of the food also suffers. The staff also cannot communicate to customers are what dishes are or do much beyond take your oder.
Food (¹⁄₅): Dun Dan — egg, ginger, milk, almond dessert. It was a gelatinous STEAMING HOT bowl of yellow tofu. It wasn’t sweet, it didn’t taste like any of the flavors that were advertised. ($ 3.25)
Grass Jelly Drink: They literally put grass jelly, a little syrup and regular MILK into a cup. This does not taste food at all. It tastes like displaced grass jelly that’s lost in a sea of milk
Cold Dessert Sampler: Ice cream, boba milk sago, mango sago and fruit. Honestly, the best part was the ice cream because it was from mitchell’s. The fruit was ok. I did not feel that it was appropriate to charge $ 6+ for these 4 small bowls of dessert. The sago dishes here are overplayed and aren’t really special and basically are like mini boba with less chew.
Definitely skipping this place in the future. There are other places in the area that offer better service and better dessert!

After a sushi dinner down the street we decided to get some dessert at Golden Island Café. We ordered the Papaya Milk smoothie and the Dessert Sampler.
The warm dessert sampler had red bean w/​coconut milk, black sesame, coconut sago, and sweet soft tofu. All of the items were good and a nice dessert to finish the dinner meal.

Hot Dessert Sampler: Dun Dan, Dun Lai, Sesame Paste, & Sweet Peanut Dumpling
Across the board all the desserts lacked enough sweetness. Texturally, I found the puddings (Dun Dan, Dun Lai) to be cooked welll but felt it was too bland. I don’t think Hot Chinese desserts are for me.
Overall Thoughts
I think I might stick with the cold desserts with fruits

Came for dessert after a meal of salty ramen. We snagged one of the free tables, noteworthy because the place FILLED up after about 30 minutes. The after dinner crowd all arrived.
I tried one of the dessert samplers ($ 5.95). Comes with 4 compartments: ice cream, tapioca in coconut milk, fresh fruit, mango sago. Ice cream and fruit are obvious. It is what it is. The tapioca in coconut milk was not bad, and this coming from someone not a fan of tapioca. The mango slushy sago was very refreshing.
If I were to come back I’d get what my friend JC ordered — the super fruit sago ($ 6.95 or $ 7.95) which had mixed fruit (including lycée), tapioca and sago in coconut milk. Hers was the most refreshing by far.
Lots of options in this little café, including savory foods. Just have to get past the loud echoing noise of voices when it gets crowded.
Oh and they offer free hot tea too.

AHHH!!! I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!
It is by far the best Chinese dessert/​Café I have ever encounter in the bay area!
I pretty much love everything that I have ever tried on the menu except the «Super Mango» because I don’t really like their tapiocas… but its fine, I didnt come here for the drinks, I come here for the food and dessert:)
I definitely prefer this location over the one that’s in S.F.
I wish they had one in Cupertino or in San Jose…

First time here and the dessert were delicious. Got their famous ‘Mango Yummy’ recommended by my sister and the waitress. Enjoyed it but not sure if I would get it again. One of our order took forever and we asked the waitress about it and she said that they were still making it. Later on they forgot about it and told us that it was never made and that we never ordered it. Oh goodness, at first I thought they were still making it and then they completely forgot.
I would recommend this place for dessert lovers though, so give it a try!

Hmmm. This place has good and bad days.
The desserts are always pretty good.
Mango sago in coconut milk with mango sorbet is amazing. I don’t even like mangos, but I’d pick this over any of the savory items here.
Savory foods are okay, kinda like ABC café down the street. I’m not really into HK street food but the bf really loved the pork and rice with tomato paste and cheese (I don’t actually remember what its called)… T_​T
Overall, yes for the desserts. :D

Saw a poster of a skewer while walking around downtown.
I asked the waitress what kind of a skewer she recommends and she rolled her eyes like «how am I supposed to know» then she went to go serve tea and came back to ask if I’ve decided.
10 minute wait for one item, below microwave quality skewer. reluctantly finished it.

I went with some friends to Golden Island Café for dessert after having dinner over at Ramen Dojo nearby. While the desserts on the menu looked delicious, I got hungry again and ended up ordering something a little more classic.
At first I thought it was funny when I saw it on the menu, but then I decided to order it because I was still pretty hungry… Kober Beef Short Rib Sliders (
). And that’s not a typo. It said Kober on their menu. From the Japanese town of Kober. They were pretty good, but the bun to meat ratio was way more on the doughy side. The Fries were cooked pretty good though and went well with the Sliders. Washed it all down with a Green Tea Milkshake and I was good for the night.
Yeah, it’s probably not fair to rate the place since I didn’t try their desserts. So I’ll have to drop by there again to give them a try. They look really good!

Dear Diary,
I have a confession to make. I know that I’m on a diet so that I can fit into my wedding dress and I don’t usually like sweets but I went to Golden Island Café again. I can’t help it. I really love their mango sago. Each spoonful is filled with tapioca and tastes like fresh mango. It’s not too sweet, just how I like it. On top of that, they always tempt me with their Dun Dan and Dun Lai. Something about the way they steam their egg and milk dessert so perfectly keeps me coming back. The texture is absolutely smooth and tastes so good. I tried something else last night too. I ordered their Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancake. I love peanut butter but the chocolate syrup is toothsome and the peanut butter was too thick to like this dish. If they used nutella instead of chocolate syrup, I would be in trouble.
Diary, I hope that the next time I write to you, I will be telling you that I had self control and did not come here.
Wish me luck!
XOXO,
Amy

After a fairly unsatisfying meal in Foster City, our little entourage of dudes headed into San Mateo for some dessert at Golden Island Café.
I ordered the sweet tofu with black sesame paste which I found to be a little bland until I mixed to all together. The sweetness of the black sesame countered the hot tofu and made for a nice balance of flavors.
The service was very good and there was only one lady serving the entire café. She got our snacks out super quick and even came by to fill our tea really quickly. On that quality alone, Golden Island was a winner. I sampled some of my friends’ snacks and I think theirs could definitely used a little more sweetness but otherwise they were pretty good.
Food: ⁷⁄₁₀
Service: ⁹⁄₁₀
Price: $
Atmosphere: ⁷⁄₁₀