The Bay Cafe

The Bay Cafe is not a fancy eatery nor a place seeking to impress based on superficial concepts. Nonetheless, tonight the hussle and bustle of our table servers was beyond outstanding. There were 2 gentlemen who served our table with Vince taking the lead. Despite bustling several tables they were insanely attentive re-filling my husbands lemonade and providing anything extra we needed so quickly! They even went above and beyond to ensure our table did not wobble even before we noticed or asked. They should both get a raise and are the real reason I was most inpressed with The Bay Cafe.

Beside the unbelievable positive customer service, our food choices were quite enjoyable. Most memorable of all, was the Sauted Beef with the String Beans. In fact, not embarrased to state we only ordered this dish based on seeing most tables had it served. Meat was so tender and the string beans were crunchy and cooked to perfection. Our drink were also tasty.

We'd return to try other options.....the menu is so extensive and there are select dishes available priced at $10!!!!!!

Other things to note:
- nearby free parking structure
- $2.50 tea lattes
- credit cards with minimum $10 bill
- available booster seats
- outdoor seating
- scaled added suggested tips on your bill so you don't have to do the math

The food is obviously made fairly fresh. And the food wasn't bad, but it's really inexpensive so they seem to rely heavily on fats and salt. The mapo tofu wasn't near spicy and in a bland sauce - so the leftovers got a bit of hot chili sauce at home and was acceptable. One of us got a shrimp noodle dish, and there was pretty much nothing else. She took hers home and added some veggies and some peppers and it became edible.

Overall, the food is pretty basic, but with the low prices, it makes sense.

We went during the New Year festival and service sucked. Couldn't get anyone to take our order, other tables got their food long before we did, and initial dishes came out wrong. But they were seriously overrun that day, so it's possible their service is usually better.

But the food wasn't worth another try for us.

The interior is functional, and they have an outside waiting area.

Review for PICK UP ONLY


Every time I pick up here, I am waiting 10-15 minutes. Pick up time is always long and I can never figure out why. My suggestion is dine in!

My family and I visit The Bay Cafe restaurant here at least once a week for lunch or dinner. This place has affordable prices, with an all-day special available for $10.99 from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. In particular, the staff members are really kind, courteous, and attitude-free. Bring your family, friends, to enjoy food at The Bay Cafe.

$10.99 all day special 9am-930pm (dine-in) in Alhambra. Not my mom's first choice but close and easy. It's decent, if you ignore some sanitary issues. The chicken, and Chinese cauliflower are popular worth it choices. Food isn't too salty and oily which is nice. I liked that this place was on the lighter side of taste unlike other canto, or regional Chinese cuisine places with lunch special. For $10.50+ and comes with rice, it's hard to complain at that price with the portion size they offer.

For Friday lunch time, it seems crowded and filled with seniors like my mom who loves deals over quality at times, and non-Chinese or tourist looking eaters....similar to ppl I would see at Mama Lu's in mpk. We've been here before but guess I forgot it. I would place it like a 3.5 stars and just rounded up because of it's amazing prices.

My kinda dirty napkin and cup were a turn off. I flipped my clean looking napkin to find that it was a little dirty in the back. I guess they aren't wasteful? I'm just hoping everything else is clean enough?

The SO was craving fried rice. This place is not a fried rice place. But I did enjoy that it wasn't greasy or overly salty. If anything, it needed more salt.

TLDR: One of the last restaurants in the LA area where you could get a full meal under $14. Their best deals can only be claimed dining in, but the rest of their menu isn't that far off in price. Taste is not as great as other established locations, but you're here because you're willing to sacrifice 10% of the taste to save a few dollars.

Cold cut crystal chicken: Bland, bad bone to meat ratio, and a ginger sauce that's too salty. You get this because you're a chicken fan and a half chicken for $11 is a solid deal.

French style fish: Fish is seasoned beautifully and the texture is very good. It's a generous serving with flavors that go very well with rice.

Shrimp in Satay Sauce Lo-Mien: It had potential but the dish fell short overall. The noodles were fine and the shrimp was good. However, the satay was less of a sauce and more of an essence. It could be that they just didn't mix the dish well or not enough sauce was used. Either way, it looked way better in the picture and I was disappointed.

Stewed Tilapia w/ Beancurd skin and Tofu: $14.99 for a whole fish, eggplant, tofu, and tofu skin. This is the best deal of the meal. The dish wasn't too salty, and it matched what one would expect to taste in a tofu hotpot. The dish was cooked well and it was a sizable piece. The tofu was good and the tofu skin's texture maintained even when buried beneath a bunch of sauce. Not the best tasting dish of the meal, but it's the best deal.

Service: It's a classic Chinese restaurant, so expect the bare minimum. You're given what you ask for and nothing more. The only thing they'll be proactive about is the free rice refill. You'll have to call and ask them for the rest. This is a negative for most, but I don't care.

Ambiance: The place has an interesting environment. It's never full but you won't say that the place is struggling for customers either. There seems to be an endless cycle of middling when it comes to capacity. It becomes funnier when you've been inside for 90 mins and you notice that the same tables being vacated are the same tables being given to the next guest.

I went on a Saturday to try out their Hong Kong style breakfast. Prices are fairly cheaper than other same style cafes in the area. But the food was not as good as expected in terms of size, taste and the way of doing. Sandwich wasn't done the way it used to be, porridge was a little salty. My rating was 6 to 7 out of 10. I believe they could do better.

I typically don't update my reviews so soon, but after my visit last Friday, I feel compelled to share and update my ratings. The service was simply unacceptable. Arriving at 11:30AM, we were promptly seated in a restaurant that was only two-thirds full, hardly bustling. However, our server, someone I hadn't encountered before, was difficult to understand, mumbling through our order. Despite requesting two cups of water, one with ice and one without, he repeatedly misunderstood and eventually we settled for both without ice. This lunch was intended as a catch-up with a friend, their first time at the restaurant upon my recommendation. As we chatted, we realized an alarming amount of time had passed. Our server returned, sheepishly admitting he had forgotten our order entirely. How does one forget in such a not busy restaurant? When our food finally arrived, a mishap occurred, resulting in hot food spilling onto my friend's hand. Despite apologies, no discount or gesture was made for the inconvenience. I was mortified to have recommended this experience to my friend. Though I hesitated to speak to the manager, not wanting to dampen our lunch further, the service left much to be desired.

On our way to Santa Monica , this place was recommended for authentic Chinese cuisine. We are not disappointed.
The place was very simple. Located on first street. The ambiance was very family friendly.

We were seated right away and ordered food. It was served fast hot freshly cooked .
The steamed tilapia was served last because of cooking time.

The food overall was satisfying. Loved the freshness of it .

The deep fried sole will always be our favorite. Crispy and fish was cooked tenderly.

The steamed tilapia with black bean sauce was juicy .

The sautéed green beans was crispy and tasty . It's garlicky which we liked.

The chow fun with gravy was very filling. The salt and pepper fried pork was not oily yet super good.

Overall it was true Chinese cuisine.
Rice is free. They different selection of boba drinks too.

My sister really wanted us to try this place. I recall ordering door dash at the start of the pandemic but never ate at the restaurant until now. They are in a prime location central downtown Alhambra right next to the public parking garage!

They are very reasonably priced and offer so many great deals in store and on delivery apps! Food is decent, not the best but also not the worst. They would've gotten 3 stars for the overall experience with food taste, quality, service, etc. But I added an extra star because they accommodated our party of 7 1hr before closing.

I deducted stars for the food.
1. Beef chow fun - standard good.
2. Sweet n sour pork - good flavors, onion was still raw so very potent.
3. Honey walnut shrimp - shrimp was good, too much mayo, but that wasn't the issue. Walnuts were kinda stale, no crunch.
4. Braised pork belly special - pork belly was good, flavorful and tender, served on a bed of broccoli.
5. Beijing pork chop - this was probably our favorite, very crispy and tasty.
6. Salty spicy calamari - this was fine, standard.
7. Dried scallop tofu - this was the reason for the full star deduction. Although the dish tasted great and tofu was perfectly fried, there was NO scallop! Plenty of mushrooms but absolutely no scallop at all... WTF!!

evening specials, you can get drinks for $2.50/ea with purchase of entree. Some drinks included refills!!

I would absolutely come back only because this place offers great deals for decent food.