Wanted to try something new and checked out this restaurant for northern Chinese cuisine. We got the scallion pancake with beef, jianbing with fried dough, and mayonnaise shrimp. The scallion pancake with beef was really good with the sauce and the cucumbers, the mayo shrimp had too much flour but the pieces of shrimp were very large, the jianbing was good but the fried dough was so large that it filled us up fast. The staff was super nice, the portions were very big but the flavors could be better.

Came for a weekend lunch and had a great meal. We got the cold jellyfish ($10), soft tofu ($7), and fish and eggplant clay pot ($17). The soft tofu was a bit lacking in flavor but otherwise everything was great. The cold jellyfish had great texture and was marinated with an acidic vinaigrette and garlic flavor. The clay pot was awesome - came piping hot and the flavor of the fish, eggplant, and sauce was delicious. Between 2 people, we had enough for lunch and leftovers. Service is prompt, kind, and welcoming. The restaurant was pretty packed when we went, and there were tons of tables enjoying their meals. Will come back!

4300 S El Camino Real San Mateo, CA 94403 "Peking Alley" is located in or near the Bel Mateo Shopping Center. It's old decor and familiar dishes made me feel right at home. Originally, I was just going to order a big bowl of Wor Won Ton Soup. But then I saw my favorite....."Beef Stew and Radishes Claypot" on the menu. The nice lady server kept encouraging me to order more food. OKAY FINE! Add "Salt 'n Pepper Prawns" and some steamed rice. If you're going to eat dinner here on a Saturday, come early by 5:30pm. This place filled up quick. They need to add another server for dinner time. It took about 20-mins for my food to arrive. The people at the next table were waiting to order, and started talking about leaving. Apparently, only one person can take orders and handle payment using a electronic tablet. While he's doing that, the one lady is doing the serving and bringing out takeout orders. So service was fair. But I would return for the food. The prawns were big, plump, and juicy! Worth the price! The Beef Stew Radish Claypot tasted exactly right. It even had pieces of tendons and fatty beef. OMG, just like ordering it in Chinatown! Okay, next time I'm ordering fried rice and fish. Add extra help at dinner time, and service will be better. Private parking lot in back.

The first time trying out this place to order some specific dishes that I have eyeballed for a while to go. The ambiance wise - 4/5, traditional authentic Chinese style with long establishment. The good thing is it has its own parking space and you don't need to fight for the parking spot during peak time. Service wise - 5/5, the owner and server are really nice and enthusiastic to cater to my specific needs, like, light salt and no ginger, etc. and willing to answer all of my questions with thorough explanations. Really give out the traditional Beijing restaurant feeling here. Food wise - 4.2/5, 1. taste wise, I did request the light taste since I have a lighter taste buds. I would say those dishes keep the authentic flavor which each of them should be. The meat pie is a little bit bland which may be catered to my specific needs. However, it is good to pair with the sauce from the Pork Hock. 2. Quality wise, the hock is really tender and juicy as I expected, not smelly at all. In the beginning, I just want to have a little bit of it and test it out to see if I am going to react to ginger again or not. However, can't hold back once bite into the fatty juicy skin... so the skin is all gone. The jian bing guo Zi is already soggy since it has been sitting in the closed box for over 30 mins after we got home. So I have to reheat it with air fryer which took only 2mins at 390 F. It is still crunchy, but you can tell the oil used for the cracker has been used a while. Will come back and do dine in next time when I crave authentic Chinese foods again to try out their other dishes.

Very authentic old Beijing-style fares that I don't know what are the English equivalent names. The owner was also very friendly and the typically Northern style openness and talktiveness.

Happy to have a Chinese restaurant option that focuses on Beijing style food. We had a family dinner here and enjoyed all our food! We started with a wonton soup that was nice and light, I liked the flavor and appreciated all the veggies. Tofu with veggies also had nice light flavor. Dumplings were good, they have nice thick and chewy skins. Service is friendly, and I'm excited to come back to try other dishes!

After getting a haircut I was craving noodles and Peking Alley makes theirs in-house!! Fresh!! Everyday!!! So I popped in. It was late in the afternoon so that might explain why at 2 pm the staff was having family lunch but after reading the reviews I expected a little more action. The decor is drab - sorry to say - but that seems to be par for authentic family style Asian cuisine. This place feels authentically Chinese. From the teapots to dishwater to the menu, nothing felt "Americanized" and I was here for it. I was quickly seated and served tea. A menu, which apparently changes seasonally, was on the table and I perused for the noods. Found it. Ordered a big bowl of spicy pork rib soup - which didn't disappoint. So hot I could barely eat it and spicy enough to be delicious without needing anything to put out the fire. Oh and in house sriracha style sauce. Winning the day were the fresh noodles. I make noodles from time to time for pasta and the difference is so impactful as to make dried noodles seem like an entirely different beast. Their noodles are great. Light and spongy, long and slurpy. I am such a sucker for noodles and these had me at hello. Broth was good, bok choi crunchy and green, and the ribs just right - too few but just right. I'm going back. I need more noodles!

If you're in the mood for Chinese food, this place was great. We called our order in and were given a 20 min wait for a Friday night. The food took exactly 20 minutes too so timing was great. We ordered the salt and pepper fish fillets, super light, thinly breaded, moist and flaky fish. We also got the minced pork buns. They were good but I think the flavor was a tad watered down. But good portions for the meat. The Mongolian beef was super greasy but had good flavor, loved the hint of heat it had too. And the beef noodle soup was great in the chilly and windy weather. They separated the noodles for us, so they were perfectly cooked and chewy. There were thick chunks of beef, I'd definitely order it again. Overall, it turned out to be a good takeout night. I hate it when you order takeout at a new spot and it's less to be desired.