Silver House Review

We had a pleasant meal of Chinese food at Silver House in San Mateo.

We ordered: 

• Sizzling sea bass with ginger and scallions. (From the white board specials.) Served in an iron pan covered with a napkin. As yes, it did sizzle. It was quite good. The sea bass, served in sizable chunks, was luxuriously rich and the smooth sauce coating it accentuated this sort of fatty richness. The long green onions added color and crunch. Sadly, the richness and the coating made it relatively gross when cold.

• Sizzling beef short ribs with black pepper. (From the white board specials.) Presented identically. Fairly decent. It's like they took a rib or two and cut them into slices so we got centimeter thick circles of meat with a bone in the center. Mixed with many onions, some pieces had the nice crunchy sear like one gets from grilling, though this effect was inconsistent. One person complained the meat was too gristly.

• Sauteed pea sprout with garlic. This dish was exactly what it should be it. As such, it was good but not eye-opening (nor is it supposed to be) and looked ordinary: a pile of pea sprouts tossed with roasted cloves of garlic, with a shallow layer of buttery garlic sauce at the bottom of the dish.

The restaurant was pleasant and lit well from many lamps and Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Although a medium size, the dining room felt spacious because of a huge mirror running its length.

The total was $16/person including tax and tip. We didn't order drinks.

Original Announcement

Since Silver House was the result of a last minute change of venue, there was no original announcement.

Comments from Other Attendees

From my research, people seem to love the razor clams, a special they have occasionally. They're usually served steamed with a dipping sauce. -mark

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