Cafe 99 - Saint Paul

A hidden gem! This small Chinese restaurant is hard to see from the main road, but totally worth looking for! They have BUBBLE TEA and some very unique special appetizers that are delicious, like pork pie, lamb pie and a variety of dumplings! It has a wonderful quiet atmosphere, ideal for having conversations or meetings. It seemed very AUTHENTIC, healthy, and fresh.

My go-to when we have people over from out of town. Everyone here is really friendly, and we've always liked that they use the softer, smoother, tofu for their dishes. Ask them specifically about spice levels of dishes, but I've yet to have one that was too spicy to eat, in a good way.

I've been here several times and each time my dish has been prepared well. My meal was fresh and cooked to order. My dish had some spice to it as indicated in the menu and it was flavorful. The server was friendly and greeted my party immediately as we came in the door. She was attentive during our stay without hovering.

Seemed to have more authentic dishes and generally tasted fresher and aromatic compared to other Chinese restaurants. However they maybe should reduce the Chinese sour jujube seeds in the Sole fish soup. It tasted interesting at first but that floral lemon flavor was sharp and stuck around for longer than I wanted.

Overall a very comfortable place to get Chinese. it serves a mix of different Chinese cuisines, from Northern China style entrees, noodles, to staples like fried rice, noodles and chow fun. we especially like the Beijing style noodles. beware the dining area may not fill up on a weekday but they get a lot of take out orders so the kitchen does get backed up.