Bay Fung Tong Seafood Tea House
- Hours:
Mon, Wed-Sun 11:00 a.m.-9:30 p.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
174 reviews
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
"Listen, you're going to pay more for lobster and good seafood. This place is worth it, without the pomp and circumstance."
79 Reviews for Bay Fung Tong Seafood Tea House
far from the dense dim sum places in Chinatown, this place boasts competitive quality with no wait and decent service. not a bad alternative for those who live close by and don't want to venture out to Chinatown and deal with tourists and long waits.
very cheap prices! but it tastes so good...
This place is good. And cheap. Almost uncomfortably cheap. I mean, how can they sell food that cheap? What are they putting in it? Don't get me wrong, I like this place, its just that sometimes I begin to wonder about the quality of the ingredients when food costs so little. Then I eat it, and stop wondering. I had two things for dinner sunday night, Mongolian Beef over rice, and beef chow mein. Each dish cost well under $5 and worked out to two dinners actually, both of which were large and in charge.
Friendly service in the "what you want!?!" vein, which would offend me at Bacar or Aqua, but doesn't put me off in the slightest at Bay Fung Tong. I like the tanks of seafood in the back, you can order a crab and watch the guy fish it out of the aquarium, that's cool. One minor quibble is that the specials are plastered over the walls in a dizzying array in the back corner, so it can be kinda hard to figure out what's on that week. A printed sheet with your menu would be better, but I can look past that.
Good price, good food, passable atmosphere. Every n'hood needs a cheap Chinese place, and this one fits the bill admirably.
Sometimes you end up at BFT with 18 friends, the chinese friends claim to be your friend but end up sitting at another table.
We had the 88 dollar special on 8.8.8 and got a few extra dishes.
The 88 dollar special had a lot of food:
Mongolian Beef (was my favorite)
Crab
Fish
Seafood dish
Walnut Shrimp (least of my favorite, I don't get it)
Soup
and Dessert made with lentil, sweeeet dal.
We ordered some extra dishes and it ended up being $15 per person with tax and tip which is a good deal.
I want to thank each and every one of my dining partners (you know who you are) that includes Marian, who knew the language and ordered for us. That showed the Chinese table next to us, interestingly they ordered pretty much the same meal that we did.
I will go back again, albeit after a while, I 8 2 Much and need a long break.
R: See original review
W: See original review
R: See original review
People thought this was:
Useful (6)
Funny (7)
Cool (6)
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
08/21/2007
fhsdfsdjhfsdjfsdhfsdkfsdj fsdjfhsdjfkhdsg jhdf iweufhdkj f hdfhdsa jfhdsljfhsd jskfjdhs fhf… Read more »
Cheap, clean (enough) and tasty! I finally have a new favorite in SF AND it's bike-a-ble.
I wouldn't say the service is all that great - but the food, I'd say, is great. We had an assortment of dumplings including shumai, ha gao (shrimp) as well as mustard greens - all around $2 or less. We typically get pork fried rice - but this time, we treated ourselves to the expensive rice ($9) aka Fukien rice. We had no idea what it was but assumed it had to be good for the price (vs. $4 for regular fried rice). And. It was...but be prepared for a HUGE mound of rice covered in a soupy seafood sauce similar to "congee" (rice porridge). It actually was a pretty good cure for my hangover that Saturday morning.
A few other notes:
- The rice plates look delicious. Saw a few men chowing down on their plates, picking at their teeth and then resuming. I believe the rice plates run around 5-7$. Not bad.
- Not croweded. We went around Noon on a Saturday and the place was maybe 1/2 full which isn't a bad thing for me.
- The fish in the tank looked pretty sad - and far from edible - BUT we did see fresh fish being delivered which is a good sign!
Try BFTSTH if you're craving cheap dim sum and don't want to deal with the crowds, prices of Yank Sing and other fancy joints. You won't be disappointed.
This place is close to work so we come a lot to get dim sum for lunch. Great food, very cheap prices. A group of 8 can eat their full and it'll only cost around $6-7 a person. Great place for dim sum on the weekend too. Doesn't get too busy and service is quick. You have to try to salt and pepper calamari.
Dinner combo for "3:" $22
Rice for "3:" $3
5 bottles of Heinekin: $13
Eating happily in a bare-bones dining hall atmosphere among jubilant chinese families while cautiously peering across the room at the floor-to-ceiling seafood tanks containing their prospective dinner:
PRICELESS
We found this place on a whim. All the family-style dishes not containing fresh seafood were below $10. We watched them brought out to other tables, glistening and piled oh-so-high, and couldn't decide what to get. So on the back of the menu we found predetermined, prix fixe dinner menues speciying how many they served. Lies! Our dinner for three would have served 5, including leftovers.
Course 1: egg drop soup. Very good.
Course 2: everything else at once. Broccoli beef, fried tofu with bamboo shoots and pork, steamed chicken with lemongrass, ginger and jalepeno for garnishing each bite, bok choy, and white rice. Everything was stellar, especially the tofu dish.
Course 3: free little bowl of bean-tapioca pudding dessert
We happily paid 25 cents for to-go boxes. We asked the server if it was cool if next time we bring 5 people to tackle the combo for "3" and she confirmed that it was cool. So I'm currently looking for 2 hungry people to add to our BAY FUNG TONG mafia....
3.5 this place gets........
apparently, this weekend was dim sum weekend for me. i'm REALLY REALLY good on dim sum for a while. if there are any dim sum events don't be offended if i'm not in. :X
my friend and i realized that this place has bigger portion sized. each dumpling is bigger then most other restaurants. the price is very cheap so you really do get your money's worth. they don't have a huge selection and you will have one hell of a time ordering if you don't speak chinese and the only english speaking lady is off that day. but their shimp dumpling was very tasty. their jook looked very appetizing but it was made with scallops (i'm allergic,boo woo). i ordered the wonton soup and wow, those dumplings were crazy big too. they put in huge pieces of bok choi. the soup was good but it kinda reminded me of chicken flavored top ramen.
i have never been here during the day so this was a great. they have this wall of seafood tanks with all sorts of seafood. i saw gui duk, sea urchant, spotted prawns, escargot etc. there was a table next to us that ordered all things seafood, we didn't stay long enough to see if they ordered any dim sum but they were killing the sea population really well.
go to this place with a chinese speaker or at least someone who knows the names of the dishes and try out their seafood selection.
People thought this was:
Useful (3)
Cool (3)
This place is really great for dim sum. The categories range from around $1 items to $2 and $3 something plates too. The food was pretty good and the portions were really big!!! Definitely a great deal.
This place is great. This place is within walking distance to me, but the reason why everybody would like it is because the food is inexpensive and delicious. Just had the mongolian beef over rice and it came out to just under $5. I would give it 4.5 stars if I could.
Probably the cheapest dim sum / tea house in SF!! They have $1 items on the menu, like steamed chicken feet and black bean sauce spare ribs. Mmm! I love that the restaurant is huge and never a wait on weekends. I always order everything i wanna eat, like if it's a buffet, and the bill is always wallet friendly (usually around $10 or less per person). Last time there were four of us. We ordered 16 items. Sixteen!! And the bill was less than $40. Oh the quality of food is quite alright... it's dimsum. It's greasy and tasty. How sophisticated can it get? I usually order a lot of shrimp filled dim sum. Sometimes we order crab and lobster dishes, and they never disappoint us! The restroom is not clean so i try not to use it...e v e r ... again. Service is horrible. Worse than a typical chinese restaurant. Regardless I come here quite often to get my dimsum fix.
I was hesitant about posting a review for BFT, because I didn't want to show up one Sunday afternoon and find myself waiting forever because everyone from Yelp showed up.
But I have to support this place. It is quite possibly the best dim sum/chinese restaurant in the Bay. This isn't the traditional Dim Sum place where they roll by with carts. You get a checklist and pick what you want, and they bring it to you. Best of all the prices are printed right there, so you're not guessing what the check's going to come out to be as in other DimSum places.
The food is A+, service is A-ok, and well don't plan on parking anywhere close. Close to GGP, which is nice so you can take a walk after stuffing yourself like crazy.
Don't ever change BFT...don't you dare ever change a d@mn thing!
I gasped when I saw our receipt. $37 for 5 people!? Did they really count everything we ordered?
Double orders of steamed pork buns, shrimp dumplings, shu mai, turnip cake, prawn fried rice, honey walnut prawns, chinese broccoli, and moo shu pork. Everything was hot and fresh. Practically burned ourselves on all things steamed.
The place was pretty empty at 2:30 Saturday afternoon and looks a bit like an old YMCA hall, but hey I'm not complaining.
Probably the best salt and pepper calamari I've had in SF (for only $4.95!!), but the rest of the dishes we had were fairly greasy and pretty average. Of course, we may not have ordered their signature dishes (which I realized after seeing dishes and dishes of delicious food, none of which we ordered except for the calamari, coming out for 2 large chinese families). I wanted to join them for dinner...next time, I will come with my posse of chinese grandmas and we will order the fried gynormous fish, the crab, steamed fish, salt and pepper pork, etc. I will say, chinese food is more fun with more people to eat with.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Funny (1)
Cool (2)
Taste-wise and portion-wise, it worths for its prices. I brought my parents and sister there several times for lunch and one time for dinner. The food is above average and I should have no complaint. BUT, the place is horribly dirty. My son likes to play with water and put everything in his mouth. After having dinner there, he had a fever and then blisters and sores appeared on his lips and inside his mouth. It got worse and worse in the first week. After taking him to see doctor 2 times, we were told that he's herpe virus infection and it should come from contact of dirty stuff. Since we only ate out of home at this restaurant in that week, I had good reason to believe that he caught it there. Moreover, my hubby who had eaten in that restaurants a few times before. He told me that he never want to eat there as the place is smelly and the floor is so greasy dirty. I guess that we will never go there although the taste of the food and the price is good.
I used to walk by Bay Fung Tong every single day to walk to and from work/MUNI, oblivious to this House of Gluttony. I'd see huge families of Chinese people around the large circular table, the lazy susan in the middle full of steaming plates of food. I would think, "Man, I need to make some more friends so I can try this place."
And then I joined Yelp.
BFT encapsulates my time with SF Yelpers...a hodgepodge of fun, friendly peeps who come together in their mutual proclivities toward excess, especially when it involves delicious food. There are a ton of BFT reviews for you to wade through, but here are some tips on ordering the banquet dinner:
- Always order the size banquet that is just below the number of people that you have. I guarantee, you will still find the amount of food obscene.
- The red vinegar is a must w/ the otherwise mild sharkfin soup.
- Surprisingly, I find that their seafood dishes are not the highlight...I still have dreams about that super crunchy salt and pepper pork.
- Among the seafood dishes, you gotta hand it to their steamed fish.
- Wear pants/skirt that are STRETCHY. Seriously. You'll thank me.
I sure miss this walking past this Balboa gem, even the ambivalent feeling of food euphoria mixed with shame over my extreme fullness. BFT was the perfect place to enjoy one of my last days in SF with you Yelpers! Miss you guys!
People thought this was:
Useful (11)
Funny (11)
Cool (11)
I reserved my review until I ate here a few times to get a sense of it. It is truly an amazing place. One BIG room, with lots of Asian families, babies, children, teens, middle aged, and elders all talking at once and all yelling since they can't hear eachother. I just sit and laugh sometimes at the absurdity of it all. It is pretty amusing.
The place is COLD, they do not turn the heat on. It is very sparcely decorated as well.
But the true beauty is it's food. Large quanities of it, and cooked very well. They have tanks in the back, full of catfish, bass, crab, king crab and lobsters. The tanks are very clean.
Lobsters are $12 a pound which is fantastic. You can have it cooked anyway you want, same goes for the crab at $4 a pound. I have splurged and have had 2 incredible lobster dishes. First time was lobster salty and spicey. Second time, steamed with garlic/wine sauce. Both lobsters were well over 1 1/2 pounds and delicious.
I see plates and plates of very great looking food going to those tables of large families, all talking, laughing and eating. It is a place to meet and eat, and everyone does it well!
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
It's hard work to be the loudest group at a Chinese restaurant AND finish off a Chinese banquet with no doggie bags in sight. Our group was able to do both. I'm proud of us. Gung hay fat choy, ya'll!!!
I'm not really a seafood person at all and I thought the food was really good and salty but the winner was the salt & pepper fried pork chops. I almost got an extra order to take home. Almost.
People thought this was:
Useful (11)
Funny (8)
Cool (11)
I love the hustle and bustle of dim-sum restaurants, sitting elbow to elbow and flagging down the ladies with the rolling carts. So I was skeptical when I walked into Bay Fung Tong with a group of hungry friends on Saturday afternoon. It was practically empty and there were no dim sum carts to be seen. You order everything at the same time from a small menu of standard dim-sum offerings. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I would highly recommend the Honey Walnut Shrimp, probably the best thing we ordered-- light, crisp, crunchy, savory and sweet all at once. The Chinese broccoli and steamed shrimp dumplings were tasty, but nothing mindblowing. Shiu mai was pretty standard, char sui bao was too sweet, and the cabbage in the mu-shu pork was really bitter. All in all though, it was really satisfying and super filling. And the bill was insanely cheap!
Dim-sum is probably not their strength, but I would definitely come back for dinner to sample more of the seafood dishes. That and the bill are probably the best parts of Bay Fung Tong. Give it a try!
The food here is pretty good and the prices are very fair. The signature "Bay Fung Tong Crab" is my absolute favoirte and they also offer a huge plate of yummy fried calamari for $5!!!
The ambience and decor is typical for a Chinese restaurant as it is simple and functional, but not very appealing. The place tends to get really packed on the weekends, but I wonder where they manage to park in that area. Parking is an absolute nightmare and I had to walk 6 blocks one time just to eat there. This the main reason why I do not go there frequently. For those who can get there by foot, be sure to give it a try!
Bay Fung Tong has recently become my family's first choice when going out to eat Chinese Food. When I say my family, I mean when I go out and eat with my parents. Come on, you other Chinese people KNOW what I am talking about. I know there are tons of us out there. We've tried introducing them (the parents) to other types of food and they are not receptive to it. Sometimes, they (the parents) complain about the taste of other types of foods. But more often than not, they (the parents) complain about how expensive other types of food are.
So, after MANY years of trying. We stick with Chinese food. Luckily for me, we found Bay Fung Tong. Great prices, lots of food, ok service. Oh, and the place is quite a bit cleaner than your typical Chinese Restaurant in the same price range. Again, you other Chinese people know what I am talking about!!!
The only thing that really sucks is the parking. But nothing can really be done about that....
Starting mid-September, I'm in preparing for hibernation mode. It seems like all of my friends' parents got it on in January or February because every week in September and October there's a birthday to celebrate, and it usually involves eating A LOT.
This past week, it was a Chinese banquet dinner in honor of Hen entering the 30 Club. We had two round tables pushed together and enough food and Tsingtao beer to feed our group of 17 and the rest of the restaurant. Endless platters of food kept on piling up on the lazy Susans. We couldn't eat fast enough to clear a plate to make room for the next. We had two types of king crab (one fried), 5 whole fried fish, fried prawns, fried pork chops... you get the picture, and you can understand why I say I'm preparing for hibernation. I don't want to know how much fat I consumed in the past week (we took home loads of leftovers). Not everything we had was fried of course, there were also plenty of other seafood, meat and veggie dishes that were ordered.
Amazingly, the bill came out to $25-30 per person. It probably would have been only about $20 per person had we ordered 5 less dishes, which still would have been more than enough food. Needless to say, it was a very satisfying meal. My only gripe is that they didn't give us wet towels or new plates often enough, and that they started mopping the floor around us before we finished paying. So, don't expect much in terms of ambiance. If it's good and plentiful Chinese food you're looking for, Bay Fung Tong is the perfect place to get your grub on.
ps. Carpool, take public transportation or get dropped off, because parking is awful. Sorry AJ :(
People thought this was:
Useful (11)
Funny (6)
Cool (8)
I love this place. The price is very affordable and the food is authentic. Everything I've eaten here has been fantastic!
This is a great place to pick up lunch for cheap with great portions. It's usually slow at lunch and mid day so you don't really have to wait long for your food. While you wait you can enjoy their huge fish tank in front that always seems to need cleaning. Service here is great, but sometimes there can be a language barrier. One time i called in for pick up and ordered my usually beef over noodles. After hanging up, the nice lady called me right back to inform me that they were out of the noodles. Many times I've gone to other chinese resturants and they simply let you come in and hear the bad news that their out of that product. I come here probably once or twice a week to enjoy a yummy chinese special dish.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Funny (1)
Cool (1)
It's dirt cheap and the food is below average. Dim sum just didn't taste very fresh. Their beef brisket dish for $4 is quite good but that's about it.
I walked in and right out one time because they had this nasty disinfectant/bathroom smell in the entire restaurant. I just couldn't take it.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Mmmmmm! Happy days!!!!!!!
I search the planet for salt and pepper shrimp and here it is found - with the heads on!!! YAY heads and eyes!!!!!
I ordered enough food for 10 people and paid a mere $30!!
The waitstaff was so nice!!! The atmosphere is not fantastic, but who cares when the food is so good and reasonably priced?!
The salt and pepper squid was great!! I actually wrote down a list of what everyone else on Yelp said was good and ordered that. Black bean clams, Yee mein (fantastic), Gai lan (Chinese brocolli) in oyster sauce... I literally had food for dinner, lunch the next 2 days, and a second dinner with a friend who eats way more than me. And after that, I still have more leftovers! I could eat for a week on $30 here! And I was pleased with the flavors!!! The portions are huge!!! I look forward to going back and stuffing my face some more!!!
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Went here yesterday, sunday.
The dim sum is decent and very ok for low cash.
Salt n' pepper prawns were blah.
However....... The rice porridge ,pai kwat, beef chow fun, haw gow and the steamed pork buns was tastey.
Customer service is kinda slow but this has nothing to do with me not speaking chinese.
I may be part Chinese but that doesnt matter to me, cuz i got the secret :
say hello with a smile and give a little wave. It worked for me :) works in a german restaurant too!!
People thought this was:
Funny (1)
day 4 of my cross country trip
just when i gave up on there being any good chinese food in california. i finally make it to san fran and had the best chinese food of my life! maybe it was the fact i was eating with the best yelpers in the world, the sf yelpers, or just cuz i was hungry. but man that was good eats and cheap too. and no i didnt blow my daily budget. well i think i did haha cuz of course my first time driving in sf, i get on the bridge and accidentally end up in oakland. then you gotta pay to get back to sf.
i was really, just embarrassed at how dumb i was. but this food. this food was just what i needed! it was like the sunshine after the rain.
sf people rock. jeff invited me to this and offered me a lift and went out of his way. thanks jeff! you are king in my book. the yelp girls in sf so friendly, offering to pile on food on my plate. just great convo all around and man the food. maybe it was cuz i am new to sf and don't know how good the chinese food is but the fried shrimp, the pork chops, pork belly, salted duck, fish fried rice, it was all yummo!
after stuffing myself i was either in food coma or everyone was talking super fast cuz it was all a blur.
yo sf, i first hated you cuz of the traffic and the bridge fiasco... but in hindsight. you alright kid!
oh btw the servers here don't speak english. and dont ask them to take a pic, as she first took a pic of her eyeball. just an fyi.
People thought this was:
Useful (13)
Funny (12)
Cool (14)
Q) Where's the best dim sum in San Francisco for under $10 a head?
A) Bay Fung Tong Seafood Tea House.
This place rocks! Thanks to Henry and lil' Ricky for introducing this place to me. Big props!!!
Now, if you come hear expecting the ambiance of a Yang Sing or City View, you will probably be disappointed. But, if you have hit Canton House or Ton Kiang, then this place will float your boat. It's simply the best value dim sum in the city. I have introduced several of my friends to this place ... we always order way too much food ... are completely satisfied ... and all are 100% surprised when the bill comes. They just can't believe we got that much, good food, plus left overs for around $8.
If you feel you will miss the food rolling in the carts, and would be opposed to dim sum made to your order, then this place isn't for you. But, if you know your dim sum and Chinese food favorites and can identify them on a sheet of paper, then you will be right at home at Bay Fong Tong.
I have two words to describe this place.
Cheap and Plentiful.
Being a Chinese American, I've tasted many of the world's Chinese cuisine from Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas and many places all over China. This is nothing special, they have portions to feed an entire new generation of my family and then some, meaning everyone could easily have a third servings. We had crab, pork, shark fin soup, fish, veggies, rice, and dessert...wait, and about 17 shing-tao beers for under 25 dollars a person. WHAT A DEAL?!!!
Everyone had a great time, the service was very attentive. I think it was because we had one extremely drunk person on the table....hmm....Salty! making all sorts of noise.
I failed to mention every time Salty yelled, the servers thought he wanted another beer. Go Salty for being drunk before attending.
Good times.
Good bye Defense aka Dan. Hope you the very best and fortune!
such an asian thing to say...
People thought this was:
Useful (13)
Funny (13)
Cool (15)
My family and I accidentally showed up here when the restaurant that we wanted to go to was closed. It turned out to be a great choice since the walk was less than half a block.
When we showed up there were only two tables occupied but by the end of dinner, the place was packed to the rim and I could see why. The first thing you will notice that differentiates Bay Fung Tong from other restaurants is the sheer size of the fish tanks. They were huge and the dungeness crab tank had to at least be 50 deep. It reminded me of restaurants in Asia where they give you a net and let you pick your seafood. I seriously asked my mom if we could go pick our dinner. She thought I was crazy.
For our eating pleasure we had:
1) Salt and Pepper Squid (huge portion, good taste)
2) Ginger and Scallion Crab (mmmm.....one of the best I had in a while)
3) Giner and Scallion Chicken (average)
4) Mu Shu Chicken (a bit above average)
5) American Broccoli w/ Garlic Sauce (standard, you can mess this up)
6) Curry Ox Tail (Great taste but the ox tail was chopped into small pieces)
7) Yee Mein (Excellent texture and taste)
Overall it was a pretty good meal and our food came out fast! The portions are very generous and best of all the meal was CHEAP!
The total came out to $60 (not including tip). My parents weren't overly impressed and think it's three stars but I gave it an extra star for the value. Other observations is that parking is a pain in the ass and the restaurant gets really noisy and even though we received our food lighting fast, I could see the kitchen slowing as the restaurant got busy. Also the menu isn't really comprehensive and is really short compared to the norm but if you go with people that know how to order you can get stuff that's not on the menu or you can just ask.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Cool (1)
A typical Chinese family restaurant serving standard Cantonese fare. Like every other one, CHEAP is the operative word. You could feed a small village here for next to nothing. You won't be surprised by any of the dishes, for better or for worse.
For a place specializing in seafood, I actually liked their non-seafood dishes better, in particular the salt and pepper pork chops. Their salt and pepper crabs are over-fried, and their ginger scallion crabs are a bit bland. Overall, the quality of the food is worth the price you pay.
I've honestly been to dozens of places like Bay Fung Tong. What makes this place especially memorable to me: the restaurant is COLD, especially if you're sitting by the windows. It's a large restaurant with huge windows and NO HEATING. Lunch time is fine, but if you're coming during dinner time, bring a jacket. Richmond nights are cold year round. Or better yet, pick any one of the hundreds of other Chinese restaurants in the neighborhood which can afford heating...
People thought this was:
Useful (9)
Funny (9)
Cool (11)
The food...
It just kept coming.
People thought this was:
Useful (10)
Funny (6)
Cool (10)
Holy crap, you get a lot of food for the money! The servers get a little confused with complicated special requests like water but they make up for it by bringing more and more and more food. A lot of it has the animal heads attached so if you are an animal lover in a way that does not include eating eyeballs and cheeks and beaks this place may not be for you. I never did get served any seafood tea, hmmm.....
People thought this was:
Useful (8)
Funny (10)
Cool (8)
8/21 Update:
This time All Night Fongers and Perci ordered for us. I was still stuffed. Between all 13 of us, it still came out to only $20 per person. What a bargain!
See GurE's review for the deets of what we ate. I'm still hesitant to give them the last star. They do bring out the food quickly. But the service seems to lack a little with our big crowds.
Bon Voyage Steph P!
-------Original review-------
OMG! I ate so much, Salty B had to roll me out the door. I look like Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, who puffed up like a blueberry.
I've never had some of the dishes and wouldn't normally order anything like that. But I was fortuitous enough to sit at the right table! Bella ordered the food for our table. Everything was soo good. It was like 10 courses of Chinese goodness. Great choice on the restaurant Mia!
The staff cranked out the courses and our poor lazy susan got a workout. Even with 11 hungry yelpers, there was enough for almost everyone to take home a plate.
Parking was a little difficult to find. Although well worth the effort. I used my SF-style parking-fu to snag a spot a few blocks away. (sorry white Rav4! you gotta be a little quicker when flippin that u-wii)
Good food! Good times! Bon Voyage Dan!
People thought this was:
Useful (7)
Funny (10)
Cool (7)
Sure it's cheap and you get a lot of food -- but I've always been a "quality over quantity" kind of guy. What's the point of getting a pile of bland food instead of something tasty? If you live in San Francisco, you have a billion other Chinese restaurants to choose from. Just hike a block down to Clement for an assortment of choices.
I really enjoy this place. It is perfect for large groups. The food is really fantastic. The service is great. Bring your appetite!
People thought this was:
Useful (4)
Funny (2)
Cool (1)
Portions are well-sized and taste good except some of our prawns had a chemical taste to them.
Prices are slightly cheaper than at other restaurants.
Food service is efficient. But staff service is virtually non-existent if English is your first language. Generally it feels every time for us like a 'get them in/get them out quickly' type of place.
Seating is not the best if it's crowded and the management tries and packs as many diners as they can into the restaurant.
Apart from the service issue we'd return more often if not for the horrendous parking situation in the area. One must allow at least fifteen/twenty minutes to find a parking space.
wtf??? they ran out of lot stuff and offered "gwei low" substitutes. It was towards the end of the night and the food was bad, Soup had a lot of pork which should have been chicken, only means that they need to get rid of the ground pork fast. The black sauce clams was too sandy and about 6 of them were not opened, good sized though. Honey walnut prawns lacked the nice glaze. Fried quails lacked the five spice flavor, very bland, was better before. King do pork (peking ribs)was for the the tourist, heavily battered, and would give a non-diabetic diabetes.
I sat with some people who liked this americanized food. I was surprised no one busted out the soy sauce with their fried rice. This was definitely not worth the calories.
On top of everything, I was told by this girl at our table that I lived in the ghetto while she lives in a 2k apt complex. Damn, life is rough.
stinky tofu
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Cool (1)
The best thing about this place, other than the fresh seafood, is the price. Holy crap. Two people, tons of leftovers, our bill came to $28. And we stuffed ourselves there, and both had leftovers the next day, and two more leftovers-for-two after that. Seriously -- six meals and accompanying soup for $28. And a lot of that was high quality seafood at that. Total deal.
So we had seafood chow fun, seafood+vegetables, orange chicken, and hot and sour soup. Then they give you a red bean soup for dessert (which was really good, by the way). Tea, rice. The seafood chow fun was really great - tons of scallops, shrimp, calamari, and octopus + baby bok choi. The seafood vegetable was the same, but with a different kind of bok choi. Both had a ton of seafood, and it was fresh and delicious. Very light broth type sauce on both. Tasted very similar - pretty much the same dish but one had noodles, but we didn't care because it was GOOD.
Orange chicken - I didn't dig it except some pieces when it was very hot, but I'm trying not to eat fried stuff anyway. Not very saucy, unfortunately - I'm just after some sauce for my rice. Girl wants rice+sauce.
The hot and sour soup was ok - it had nots of fillings, but not enough sour for me. If it had more sour, it would have been perfect. Husband said some of the pork pieces were rubbery or something- I was trying to avoid it, as it was. But the bowl was freaking massive, and there was tons of good tofu and fillings in it.
The red bean fix at the end by way of the dessert soup was great.
Service was ok for us, but we watched many tables around us suffer neglect after it got a bit busy. It wasn't even terribly busy (weekday night), but there was a lot of neglect around us when it came to service. Peter noticed one dish was brought half way to a table, and then left for one of the other servers to finish walking it to the table. Pretty odd. We totally hit the place at the right time before it got too busy.
Those who noted how cold it was here were speaking the truth - it was cooold. But you really go here for the food.
Really a 3.5 review for me, minus .5 for chicken, -1 for service we observed. Averaging up due to the value and really tasty seafood leftovers. We'll definitely be