Mahjong Cafe

3.5 stars

If a group of friends wanted somewhere to casually tak and hangout, I think this would be a good place to do so. There's a mahjong table if you wanted to play as well.
For studying, this place is kind of small so not that ideal for 3+ hrs of studying.
I got a brown sugar boba with milk. I dont think I will get this again. The brown sugar is good but nothing really special and the tapioca balls are inconsistently cooked with some cooked longer than others, and some even flat in shape.

We just had dessert but can't help myself swinging by when I saw from outside that they sell crepes. So we walked in for some take outs. I picked the purple yam flavor. It is a little pricey comparing to a regular slice of cake. Is it worth to try ? It was alright but did not meet my expectation. It is too creamy and barely taste the yam flavoring.

The place has a mahjong table that diners could sit in and play for a fee while dining. Though it is a nice marketing attraction, anyone to play on this only one mahjong table on the place will be pressed with time for next set of players.

I will come back and try something else that might change my score for the place.

My first introduction to crepe cakes was via Lady M so that set a high bar for me. Mahjong Cafe's rendition isn't bad. You still feel the layers crushed when you bite down. It's just not as consistent - rather, you'll feel it maybe 50% of the time instead of 100%.

Flavors are fine and tasty. If I were to rank the ones I tried, it would be: mango, purple yam, then green tea. I liked the mango one the most because there were chunks of mango embedded within the layers. Looking forward to trying the strawberry one when it's back in stock. Given the bite and flavor, the price seems a bit high.

The rose milk tea is also decent. Not too much rose flavor. Would come back if a friend craved crepe cake but wouldn't come exclusively for the food.

Side notes: the green tea cake looks depressing and discolored in the display but is more vibrant when you actually order it. Also, the seating available is not meant for heavy people.

"Pong! Kong!" A mahjong term in Cantonese I heard my parents shouting still to this day. The name of the cafe says it all. Mahjong cafe is a place to enjoy a drink, dessert and if you're willing a game of Mahjong. I know this is not a Mahjong parlor, but with only one table available you'll be hard pressed to get in on a game that normally requires 4 people to play.

If you plan to learn how to play mahjong from the instructions printed on the wall, you'll be there till doomsday trying to figure it out. I never learned how to play the game and would stack the tiles to build an Awesome looking pyramid that would have made King Tut proud! Since they only have one table it's really for those who know how to play the game. I don't think there is a time limit on how much time you can occupy the table so good luck waiting.

With that said the drinks and desserts are fairly priced and delicious. I enjoyed the matcha ice cream crepe with red beans and waffle ice cream with bananas and mango. They take pride in the presentation and visually it tasted as good as it looked. The crepe was moist and matcha ice cream was full on green tea flavor. The jasmine green tea was refreshing as was the red bean milk tea.

Overall not a bad place for dessert, but if you plan to sit in on a game of mahjong, go as a group and talk to the owners to see if there is a time during the day when the mahjong table is less occupied

A great marketing campaign to draw the crowd in and the food is good enough to want to stay.

After lunch we thought we give this place a try. Even though the title threw us off. I didn't quite know what to expect so we kept it simple and ordered a Brown Sugar Milk Tea and the Cheese foam mango.

The Cheese foam mango was a tad on the saltier side then usual. I mean it's suppose to be but maybe a little much?

The Brown Sugar Milk Tea wasn't of anything special. If anything I didn't really tasted any brown sugar.

It was a bit of a let down and I thought the MJ concept was a bit odd. But, that's just my own opinion. Some people might like the concept of MJ and bubble. Also if you want to play they charge you the table to play if you're interested.

Mahjong Café is a decent place to have dessert and to hang out. We came over after dinner at Pho Grand Bayside two doors down.

Food: OK (3 of 5):
- Purple Yam Mille Crêpe Cake ($8.50). The slice was large but had too much vanilla crème, so it tasted more like a vanilla cake with a faint hint of purple yam. There are other places (such as Sweet Cats Café) that offer a more flavorful ube mille crêpe cake.
- Red Bean Smoothie. Pretty good, but the staff didn't properly clean out their machines from a prior order at first, so there was a hint of durian in the drink. The staff graciously replaced our drink at no charge.

Environment: Good (3.5 of 5).
Mahjong Café is a comfortable, brightly-lit environment, with a mahjong set and mat in the front of the café that is good enough for a light or introductory game. It would be nice if the café used a real mahjong table. The mahjong set was missing one die. Lastly, the instructions on the wall could use illustrations of Chinese numbers to benefit Western guests.

I came to Mahjong Cafe for the second time recently to have their waffles because of their daily promotions. Since I came on a Sunday, the deal was buy one drink get one free. We ordered two waffles: a strawberry banana waffle and a chicken katsu waffle. We also got one drink per person. I had the mixed fruit tea.

It was a little bit busy when we went, so we waited a while for our food. We received our drinks within about 10 minutes. The mixed fruit tea was very refreshing and included pineapple, mango, passionfruit, and some other little fruits. I liked the tea, but there was too much ice.

Finally our strawberry banana waffle came. Adorable and totally picture worthy! We dug in right away after taking photos. The waffle had strawberries, bananas, chocolate drizzle, and a scoop of cookie and cream ice cream. I enjoyed it. When we were halfway done with the sweet waffle, the savory one arrived.

The chicken was not presented the same way as in the picture on the menus, but still a very nice presentation. The chicken was very tender and juicy! I did not love the abundance of lettuce, and the salad dressing drizzled on to it was a tad spicy. Overall, I enjoyed the strawberry and banana waffle better, but the chicken is a must try!

I look forward to coming back to Mahjong Cafe in the near future to try other items on their menu. They have a wide variety of desserts and I hope that someday I will have enough people to play Mahjong with!

This is a cute little cafe on Bell Blvd which has the intent of promoting Mahjong while it serves you tasty snacks and drinks. I had a cappuccino and it was decent, but the drinks to get are probably the teas. The Thai Milk tea was well made and I liked the cups they came in - not the typical sealed plastic flat top. The lid has a little heart shaped stopper in the spot where you can put your straw. Out of curiosity we also tried the rose mille crepe cake which was well made, but a bit on the sweet side.

I do like the layout of the space, but have some constructive criticisms:

I thought the lighting was a bit stark white along with the white walls. I think switching the lights from cool white bulbs to warm yellow bulbs would make the place more inviting.

There is only one mahjong set and it is on a floppy mat on the front table. When we arrived a group was sitting there, but not playing. It would probably be better to get a few, solid mahjong trays that can be moved off the table so people don't spill food and drink on them (the current floppy mat already has stains).

Interesting name and with a mahjong table inside to match. Supposedly you can play with the set but no money involved! That takes the fun out but that's the law. LOL. (Can't gamble).

Drove by after shopping with my Yelp bestie Jo I. I had the case of the munchies since I had a very light dinner, so we stopped in to check out the place in search of dessert. Grand opening signage and specials on the board out front made it more enticing to check out. If you buy one dessert, you get a drink for $1!

This place is a cafe with ample seating inside. There's enough space for small groups and the cafe can seat about 12 - 14 people at once. A display fridge next to the ordering counter shows some of the desserts for sale. For a full menu, there are three black placards on the wall.

Coffee, desserts, and other hot drinks available. Prices start at $3 - $6 for beverages. Desserts range from $4 - $8... The mille crepe cake being the most expensive.

We took advantage of the special pricing and tried:
Rose Milk Tea
Lemon, mint, carbonated drink
2 Green Tea Mille Crepe cakes
Mango mille crepe cake
Mango pudding with real mango bits

While the desserts were good, the price for the crepe cakes were on the higher end so I expected a higher quality. It was good, don't get me wrong, but it could've been lighter and less creamy. Think that's what made it too heavy for me. I did like the Green Tea flavors and the layers were paper thin as advertised. So while I've had better, it's still worth a try.

I really enjoyed my rose milk tea and Jo liked that lemon/mint drink she got, especially the plastic cup it's served in. Comes with a heart shaped stopper and since it was plastic, the cup can be reusable. The coffee menu looks great, I'll return to try that and it couldn't hurt to get more desserts next time.

We came here when it first opened and it was a cute little cafe area in Bayside. If you like to play mahjong you can come by and play a few games (but they only have one table so it might be packed). It's also a good cafe to just catch up with a friend or hang around with a few friends.

We got the waffle with bananas, nutella, and ice cream on top. This was really really good but the price made it just okay (believe it was about $10 for the waffle).

I would not recommend the thai iced tea. It was too watered down in my opinion.

Ambience: 4/5
Price: 3/5
Food: 4/5