Most people heading out to dinner at a Sichuan restaurant fall somewhere between two camps: those who want authentic cuisine and those who are looking for the typical Chinese comfort food they know and crave. At Fey, the two factions can dine happily side by side. Quality, meet quantity.
The 5-year-old restaurant, located just north of the traffic bottlenecks along El Camino Real in Menlo Park, made waves shortly after it opened by receiving the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand distinction, given to restaurants that offer excellent food at a reasonable price. Things have not changed in that respect.
Fey has an immense menu with 12 pages of dishes organized by main ingredients, followed by a subsection labeled “Family Traditional Private Kitchen.” One section lists 53 seafood dishes, from Sichuan classics such as walnut shrimp, salt-and-pepper squid and fish in black bean sauce to more unusual offerings, such as green onion and ginger sea cucumber, hot stone plate red wine shrimp and something called dry cook belt fish. The pork section features 30 items and the vegetable section runs from eggplant and potatoes (#193) through spicy a choy, a Taiwanese lettuce (#210). And there are long listings for noodles, soups, dumplings, appetizers, chicken and beef. You get the idea.
The restaurant is nicely decorated, with silvery fish cascading along one wall and more of the same dangling from a ceiling mobile. Festive ball-shaped light fixtures are incongruously paired with a crystal chandelier by the front door. Roomy booths and large, well-spaced tables can handle large parties and, more importantly, the gigantic platters of dishes coming out of the kitchen. Each item we ordered arrived on plates the size of a medium pizza, with enough food for at least two additional meals at home.
After sipping tea and nibbling on complimentary crispy wontons, we got down to business. Our waiter warned us that we were being too ambitious about our appetites, so we limited ourselves to a few selections. The Hong Kong style pan-fried crispy egg noodles ($14.95) was a lovely mix of scallops, shrimp and fish with sautéed broccoli, bok choy and peapods, served on a cluster of crunchy noodles that quickly sopped up the light, tasty sauce. The fish fillet in black bean sauce ($13.95) was both savory and sweet, and the fish tender and flavorful.
Less successful was the dry cooked string bean with pork ($12.95), which was marked on the menu with a pepper connoting that it is a spicy option. My craving for spicy knows no limits, so I found this notation misleading. The dish lacked verve and the meat was so salty it was unpalatable.
We noticed heating units built into the tabletops for another house specialty, make-your-own hot pot, which you pay for by ingredient ($6.95 for a small base, then $1.50 to $12.95 for anything from sauce to meat and vegetables). It’s a definite must for a group.
True to form, Fey also offers an extensive lunch menu (I counted 38 options, $8.95 to $9.95) of mostly standard fare ranging from curry shrimp to broccoli beef.
Service throughout was exemplary. Servers were friendly, prompt and stopped by often to see how we were doing, including making suggestions on how best to reheat our massive collection of leftovers. Dishes were staggered so that everything didn’t arrive at the table at once, and water glasses were filled constantly and unobtrusively.
Fey’s menu is so extensive that finding the standouts can seem like pure guesswork. It’s amazing that the kitchen can put out so many dishes as well as it does. I plan on working my way through a few more pages until I find my favorites.
Fey Restaurant
1368 El Camino Real, Menlo Park
650-324-8888
Hours: Lunch daily 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Dinner, Sunday-Thursday 5-9:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday 5-10 p.m.
Great review of Fey Chinese restaurant! It’s my go-to for authentic Sichuan spicy Chinese food
Food is good. But they are not kids friendly. Many of my friends had nasty service experience there because their baby kids made mess on the table and floor.
I love their cumin lamb.
Fey also offers take-out and I have never been disappointed. Food is great and they always have my order ready for pick up.
Does the owner ever make the rounds and greet guests? I’ve always enjoyed watching her on SNL.
I size up a Chinese restaurant by the number of Chinese diners actually having dinner there.
(1) If there are many of them, I assume the food is really good.
(2) If it’s mostly white folks wearing cowboy hats & eating with a fork, I will generally pass.
@Pao Dude Usually there are many Chinese people there. I invited a Chinese guest (Hong Kong) there to have hot pot, which I had never had. She did all the ordering and showed me what to do. She said it was very good and quite authentic.
>>>If it’s mostly white folks wearing cowboy hats & eating with a fork, I will generally pass.
Sounds like a chop suey joint…most of which have long vanished.
On the other hand, I have seen white guys wearing trucker’s caps eating sushi with a fork. Hilarious.
Do they use MSG?
I will wait till the County Health Department does its first inspections to make sure that all the American Standards for sanitation and cleanliness are in practice as well as to ensure that all animals used as food ingredients are the ones legally accepted for that purposes in the United States.
@Lee: Most of the Chinese restaurants do not follow the American standards for sanitation, but rather, use their culture’s standards. Trust me.
>>>On the other hand, I have seen white guys wearing trucker’s caps eating sushi with a fork. Hilarious.
Though he wasn’t wearing a trucker’s cap, I once overheard a guy asking for ketchup.
And then…when he overdid it on the wasabi, his head nearly flew off.
I prefer SPAM sushi (musabi). The meat is already fully cooked and the pieces are bigger.
Very popular in Hawaii where SPAM is considered the state meat.
Nothing like a big plate of Hawaiian belly food…loco moco (a hamburger served over a mound of steamed white rice with a couple of fried eggs and brown gravy on top) + another heaping helping of steamed white rice and macaroni salad on the side. Carbohydrate heaven.
The spam musabi is a good appetizer for getting the ball rolling.
For tropical shirt fashionistas, this is why many locals wear the ‘island cut’…a fuller-dimensioned Hawaiian shirt that allows the belly some additional latitude to spread out in all its glory.
Jenny Craig has no followers out here.
^^^^ Is Jenny Craig a real person or just an advertising creation like Aunt Jimima, Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben?
I think Mrs. Fields is a real person as was Paul Newman.
And speaking of Chinese food…what about Mr. Chau?
He always seemed to have a way of cutting corners on his menu offerings.
And I never saw any Chinese people eting there. Just white people.
@Trademark names: Indeed, Jenny Craig is a real person, although age 86 now. Interesting to note, she got lockjaw in her old age and had surgery to fix it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Craig_(entrepreneur).
Mrs. Fields is Debbi Fields (age 61), former batboy for the Oakland A’s in her youth. “Fields” was the surname of her first husband who funded her adventure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbi_Fields Her first store was in Liddicoat’s (food court) in downtown Palo Alto on University Avenue.
@Trademark Names
Mr. Chau is also a real person. Following the poor reviews and countless closures of his ‘Chinese fast-food’ outlets, I believe he went on to open Panda Express.
> Nothing like a big plate of Hawaiian belly food…loco moco (a hamburger served over a mound of steamed white rice with a couple of fried eggs and brown gravy on top) + another heaping helping of steamed white rice and macaroni salad on the side. Carbohydrate heaven.
>> For tropical shirt fashionistas, this is why many locals wear the ‘island cut’…a fuller-dimensioned Hawaiian shirt that allows the belly some additional latitude to spread out in all its glory.
OK. One explanation for obesity covered.
Next question…why is the Buddah (in various statues and pictures) always portrayed as a somewhat overweight individual? Wasn’t he a wandering beggar with a rice bowl who originally shunned a life of luxury for one of poverty and spirituality?
Just how much rice was he actually eating?
>>Just how much rice was he actually eating?
Well…when people are kind enough to offer you a bowl of rice, you cannot let good food go to waste or offend their well-meaning intentions.
Then again, maybe he liked rice.
Back around the late 1970s I once saw a member of the Hare Krishna sect eating a Big Mac by the side of a building. No fries or Coke though.
>> I size up a Chinese restaurant by the number of Chinese diners actually having dinner there.
FYI…PF Chang’s is opening up one of their famed ‘China bistros’ in Shanghai later this year. It’s probably targeted towards American tourists & business people who happen to be passing through town (and don’t know any better) as corporate owner ConAgra is hardly known for its gourmet cuisine.
Kind of like opening up a Pizza Hut in Florence.
> …corporate owner ConAgra is hardly known for its gourmet cuisine.
PF Chang’s is the most popular Chinese restaurant in the Walnut Creek/Pleasanton area (two convenient locations to serve you).
Danville locals go there for a unique taste of China. Go figure.
QUOTE: Back around the late 1970s I once saw a member of the Hare Krishna sect eating a Big Mac by the side of a building.
That would have made a memorable pic…a vegan monk sneaking off to have a hamburger. *L*