Koi Palace Daly City: Your Complete Guide to the New Location (And What to Order)
Koi Palace Daly City: Your Complete Guide to the New Location (And What to Order)
If you've been going to Koi Palace for years, you already know. If somehow you've never been, here's the short version: Koi Palace is one of the best Cantonese restaurants in the Bay Area and the dim sum alone is worth planning a Sunday around. The restaurant has now relocated to a massive new space at Serramonte Center in Daly City, which is positioning itself as a serious Asian dining hub, and the new digs are a significant upgrade in terms of space and logistics even if the original location already had plenty of loyal devotees.
Let's talk about what you actually need to know.
What's the same:
The food. The kitchen hasn't changed. You're still getting the same quality Cantonese dim sum and dinner that made Koi Palace legendary in the first place. The har gow is still the benchmark you should be using to evaluate every other dim sum spot in the Bay. The XO sauce dishes are still exceptional. The Peking duck is still one of the better versions you'll find outside of a specialty duck restaurant. None of that changed when the address did.
What's different:
The new space is significantly larger, which means two things: more tables, and (eventually) better odds of getting in on a weekend morning without a two-hour wait. The Serramonte Center location also has better parking infrastructure than the old spot, which anyone who's done the Sunday morning Koi Palace scramble knows is genuinely meaningful. The space itself is reportedly more modern and polished, which feels like a fair trade for losing some of the scrappy charisma of the original.
What to order:
Start with the har gow. This isn't optional. The shrimp dumplings here are so consistently good that if you go and skip them you've made a mistake. After that, the siu mai (pork and shrimp dumplings) and the pan-fried turnip cake are both must-orders. The BBQ pork bao is great, the rice noodle rolls are excellent, and if you can get the sticky rice in lotus leaf you should absolutely do it.
For dinner service, the whole live seafood preparations are where Koi Palace earns its reputation beyond dim sum. Lobster, crab, and fish prepared to order from the tank. The salt and pepper preparations and the ginger scallion options are both reliably excellent.
If you're coming with a group, it's worth calling ahead to discuss the banquet menu options. Koi Palace has always been exceptional for larger gatherings and the new space apparently has private dining options that make it even more viable for celebrations.
Timing and reservations:
Dim sum is walk-in, but weekend mornings will still be busy. Get there before 10:30 AM if you want a manageable wait or come late morning around 12:30 when the first wave has cleared. Dinner reservations are available and recommended for weekends. OpenTable and the restaurant's own reservation system are both options.
Getting there:
Serramonte Center is easy to reach via BART (Daly City station) plus a short bus or rideshare. If you're driving, the shopping center parking situation is dramatically better than the old standalone location.
