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Categories: Chinese, Asian Fusion [Edit]
Neighborhood: Inner Sunset
91 reviews
Neighborhood: Glen Park
"And the winner of the egg puff award is....Eggettes. They have the crispiest egg puffs and the insides are still tender and spongy (must be…" read more »
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Good quality food--chicken that is definitely chicken, and good white meat. Not too greasy, and though it wasn't the most flavorful, it as definitely very good. I did have to buy $20 worth for delivery, but...all in all--good bet!
Some of the better Chinese take-out we've had in the last few years. As mentioned many times here, the chicken with eggplant and basil, Mongolian beef, and potstickers were all good, and none were too greasy (even the eggplant). I was also happy to see that the potstickers actually had discernible ingredients stuffed into them rather than the baby food that most places use. Delivery was quick, prices were reasonable, and portions were large.
Overall, the food was spiced well, fresh, not too greasy, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Honestly, I had low expectations, but WOW. I was won over.
When I saw the word "Bistro" and the fact that there were no Chinese people in the restaurant, I was on guard. I usually CRINGE whenever I see the word fusion or bistro when there is chinese food involved. This place says they are both. But after having the food, seeing the modest bill, and experiencing some very fast and friendly service, I will DEFINITELY come back. The flavors were authentic yet modern.
They have lunch specials that have smaller portions, but worth the value.
We ordered three main dishes, a small appetizer, and a side dish. The three of us big eaters -- we were stuffed. We had two take out boxes by the end...
We ordered:
1) Green Bean Chicken (Gan Bian Si Ji Dou) - Szechuan style string beans (not overly fried), but with white meat. While white meat is not a traditional stir-fry option for Chinese food, I was pleased with this dish... I could tell they used dark soy (plus for me) for that sweeter and deeper flavor.
2) General Tso's Chicken - VERY light and crispy... odd for a boneless fried chicken dish, but the chicken was almost fluffy! Again, white meat. Juicy, not dry at all, and came with a generous helping of broccoli that was DOUSED with a fresh garlic sauce... the veggie portion was way bigger than a garnish, but the chicken portion didn't disappoint either.
3) Sweet Pepper Beed - nothing to write home about, but I liked that they had cabbage and onion... it was not traditional, but tasted home-made and not pretentious like the word "Bistro" often implies when juxtaposed with chinese words.
4) Shanghai Juicy Pork Dumplings - any chinese person knows what these are -- and that the best ones in California are down south at Din Tai Fung. I wouldn't compare these to theirs... these are a bit bigger, with thicker skin and more fluffy, but I would say even more juice. Slightly sweet, and came with the traditional black vinegar. Excellent, and would order again.
5) Preserved Tofu with Cilantro (Cold Dish) - Taiwanese style appetizer, but this was pretty different in the sense that they were more generous with the cilantro (+1 from me) and used sesame oil to really bring out some of the robustness of the tofu. Loved it. It was way bigger than your typical Taiwanese restaurant size (5" plate) as well.
Other specifics:
-They have options of white rice and and brown rice!
-Seating is spacious and open, comfortable
-Clean!
-Water glass was always full
-Friendly service (not the norm in an authentic chinese restaurant, hahaha)
-Modest pricing
-Tasteful decor
I WILL BE BACK!
I've never been to China. If they keep up their human rights violations and stranglehold on their society, I doubt I ever will bother. Until then, I'm going to enjoy my Americanized Chinese food. I don't know any better after all.
I first started coming here in early 1999 soon after they first opened. The wait staff has always been nice, sometimes extremely friendly (I miss Kim!!), sometimes human (hey, everybody has a bad day...). The art on the walls is just frankly weird. I'm not sure where they got it, but it looks like clowns were abused and painted by someone who didn't like them very much. But it's the food that keeps me coming back again and again.
I've probably gone here with almost everyone of my friends. The food is decently priced and nothing fancy. The hot and sour is my second favorite (after Shen Hua in Berkeley). The chicken and eggplant with basil is like nothing else I've ever had. The veggie and chicken postickers are a great way to start. As are the duck biscuits, crab puffs, egg rolls, and almost everything else on their starter menu. The walnut prawns consistently make me happy. The fish with black bean sauce is very good.
Back when I was eating beef I would always get the Mongolian Beef. It's the best I've ever had. Spicy and delicious. Huge portion.
Great lunch specials!
The sad thing about Nan King is that it never seems to have made it. The neighborhood is tough. There are so many good places. And, it's more expensive to the local dirty-spoon Chinese fare in this part of town that many probably couldn't justify coming here. And, the parking sucks.
If you want a good meal, come here. If you want something fancy, go somewhere else. This is really good Chinese food in America.
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We had a good meal at Nan King Road Bistro last night. We ordered the hot & sour soup, veggie pot stickers, eggplant & basil with chicken, and broccoli chicken. All of it was very good, but I especially liked the eggplant with chicken dish. I'm not usually a big fan of eggplant, but it was really tasty - almost sweet. The portions weren't too big - usually when I go out for Chinese there are leftovers, but we had just the right amount of food for the two of us.
The wall art is a little strange, but the place was clean and comfortable.
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This place used to be pretty popular several years back when I lived in the Inner Sunset. I always thought it was a little overrated back then since the dishes are kind of hit and miss and I felt there were better Chinese food options nearbye.
However, it seems times have changed. This place has definitely moved into the underrted category. On a Fri/Sat night when you'd probably be looking at an hour+ wait at San Tung, you can come here, sit right down and have a decent meal. The food isn't spectacular, but there are some things that I liked last time here. The sesame chicken was pretty yummy and we had one noodle dish that was quite good. My friend didn't like her eggplant and another friend didn't like her soup so the meal was kind of up and down. The portions were big so we had a lot of leftovers also. I'm always a fan of big portions.
I wouldn't make a special trip to come here, but if you're around there, it's not bad and can really come in handy during the busy eating out nights. Based on the number of people I've seen in there lately, my only worry is that they might not be around too much longer, which would be a shame.
I love this place but I have to admit my taste is very peculiar and I have to be honest about that. I like it because they have brown rice (very hard to find in Asian restaurants) and are happy to make anything to order, in my case, steamed with no sauce. It's pretty bland (I'd be happier if they would season it), and my friends agree it's kind of bland even with the sauce, but the service is great, the people are wonderful, the place has a good feeling about it, and they never complain about the special preparation. Most chinese restaurants argue with me when I ask for no sauce.
Children, I've been eating here since the pre-Yelp days. The local phone company was called PacBell. $1 got you around on MUNI. Your assclown neighbor might have gotten rich working for Pets.com. Nan King Road Bistro is a bit of a time bubble. Their menu has not changed a bit, and their prices have gone up just a dollar or so in the past decade.
Request "extra spicy" for the kung pao chicken and sesame chicken, and they oblige with fistfuls of red chiles. SO GOOD with a couple of cold Sapporos while going through the boxed set of Futurama. You know, from the good old days.
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I'm picky when it comes to Chinese food. I was a bit skeptical about eating here because there was only one other table in the whole place and it was 8pm on a Saturday, but my husband wanted to try it and I was pretty hungry so I agreed.
I had the Hong Kong Crispy noodles with chicken. Very flavorful, a little too much ginger, but the veggies were crisp, the chicken was cooked just right, and the crispy noodles were yum yum in my tum tum.
Next time we're in Sunset, we'll make another trip to Nan King Road.
Overall I'm pretty happy with this place. Mostly because the menu attempts to do something a little different with Chinese food which is pretty much the same everywhere else in San Francisco. I usually get this as take away so I can't say what it's like to eat there. A couple times they've forgotten to give me a fork or chopsticks on take away. I don't really get that at all.
Went to dinner there last night and the food was horrible! The wonton soup was not good. The wonton was fine, but the flavor of the soup was bland and very different from the typical Chinese wonton soup. The eggplant and fried tofu with basil was GROSS. They incorrectly used basil, so the basil took away the flavor of the sauce. It was so oily and greasy, NASTY!
The shanghai noodles were doughy and not flavorful. Again it was way too greasy. They were also very little vegetables.
I don't know why people like this place. It is not good, do not waste your money.
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My husband says: "I feel like they took really good Chinese food, added more ingredients and somehow made it into mediocre fusion food." He had the pad thai, which was made with spaghetti noodles and too much lemon. He also thinks the hot & sour soup was much too sour, and too eggy.
I'm giving them 3 stars, though, because the service was fast, and my mixed veggie place and vegetarian potstickers were perfect.
the high marks mostly go to the atmosphere. Its clean, chill, and nicely decorated. Its good to go with a group or by yourself, as I've never seen this place busy.
And there's real chopsticks, not the wooden break apart and sand type.
The raspberry or mango chicken is a nice alternative to General Tso. Everything else is solid. Noodle dishes could use some work.
Prices are good, you'll be fat for less than $10 sit down.
Want good Chinese? Try this place out.
When I crave good chinese food and want it delivered, I call Nan King Road. They make REALLY good, not too greasy chinese. I highly suggest the Mongolian Beef, Marco Polo Bowl, Salmon Salad (you have to request it, cause I don't see it on the menu anymore) and their potstickers. I'm sure there are other really delicious dishes, but these have been winners in mi casa.
Also a major plus is that they deliver the food FAST.
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So very hella goods!!!! (As the locals would say! :P )
My roommate came home and said she was hungry and wanted Chinese food. I wasn't all that excited about it, but decided to check out what fellow Yelpers said about some local, nearby Chinese places that we hadn't tried yet.
I stumbled upon the menu for Nan King Road Bistro and my roommate and I said "Oh my gosh let's go!" We dragged our asses on the 71 to get us some food!
We arrived and we were the only people at the restaurant. Umm ... well ok. The owner I'm guessing said we could sit anywhere. It sorta strange in that there was jazzy/piano music playing and the decor was urban/modern/trendy but they had Chinese food. Really, it was more of fancy Americanized Chinese food, but whatever.
So we ordered the raspberry sweet and sour chicken, chicken fried rice, the fried crab cheese puffs and the millenia veggies. The food came out and we drooled!! We liked all the food SO MUCH!!!! It was crazy because we were eating and we said "Oh my gosh, it's REAL CHICKEN!!!!! And it tastes like real chicken too!!!" The food wasn't greasy whatsoever ... ok, so maybe the sweet and sour chicken was saucy, but how healthy can sweet and sour chicken be?
Either way, we stuffed our faces till we could stuff no more. We were so happy to have found good food. I told her "See, I guess Chinese food can actually BE good!" Ok, mind you it's more like Asian Fusion or whatever, but I was amazed how good it was.
We waddled ourselves back to the 71 bus stop with our leftovers in a bag and a take home menu for our fridge. We'll be stuffing our faces again very soon!!
It's life changing.
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Went for lunch on Memorial Day 5/26/08 with some friends from Honolulu and sampled the Mongolian Beef, Chicken with Egg Plant, and Shrimp with Chicken with a sake garlic sauce. Wonderful tastes and not greasy at all. The Lunch menu includes a scoop of rice white or brown and a nice size bowl of hot and sour soup which used to taste a lot better before. We're 4 light eaters and the 3 lunch specials was more than enough for all of us - with no leftovers.
We have not tried dinner there yet, but the flavoring and tastes of their lunch dishes has been consistent for the last 10 years that I have been eating there.
First thing's first, I dislike paying for expensive Asian food, especially since I know I can probably get something tastier for cheaper down the street. That being said, Nan King is alright but I feel that it's a bit pricey for what you get. The only time I eat here is when my non-Asian friends want Chinese food that's not too scary. 'Nuff said.
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I recently went here for the first time (after walking by it scores of times over the years) and the food was quite good, despite almost being a bit too sweet.
We started with the fried crab and cheese puffs which were fantastic, and then shared the crispy sesame chicken, millennia veggies and Mongolian black bean chow fun. We asked for spicy garlic sauce on the veggies and the other two items were noted as spicy on the menu, but none of these dishes were particularly spicy, and as mentioned above the chicken and veggies were actually more sweet than spicy.
This minor item aside, all three items were very tasty, the quality of the food was top-notch and the portions were huge. So huge, in fact, that we probably took the same amount of food home that we ate in the restaurant! The chow fun made for an excellent lunch the next day, by the way...
I'll definitely go back here again, and next time I'll get something extra spicy to see how it compares...if you decide to check Nan King Road Bistro out, be sure to bring your appetite!
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Good, Flavorful, and fresh. Pretty darn consistent too!!!
I usually get the orange chicken and ask for less sauce so that the chicken is not drowning in sauce, egg rolls and the hot and sour soup is not bad either. Overall, not the best chinese I've ever had, but in a neighborhood full of medicore to just awful restaurants, Nan king road definitely holds it's own!!
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This is one of my favorite place in San Francisco.....too bad I live on the other side of the city :(
When you walk by you may never see a full house but don't let that stop you from trying....once you've tasted their Sasame chicken, you will never go back to the greasy Chinese anywhere else. It is fried with a mild spicy-honey sauce on top, it is heaven.
Or if you are a carb lover, I highly recommend the Hong Kong crispy noodle or the Shanghai noodle. Just enough flavor and I never felt like I need to order something else to go with it.
Pros: Good price, friendly staff, quick service
Cons: Parking, Parking, Parking
Best food ever! I seriously can't get enough of this place. Raspberry sweet n' sour chicken, Mongolian beef, Honey sesame chicken, and the Chow mein are some of my favorites. The quality and freshness of their meats and vegetables is unsurpassed and the food is delicious.
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pretty good food but we waited hellllllllls of long to get it and we were only a group of six. the shanghai noodle bowl with tofu was kind of a hit, as was the sesame chx (tho i didn't try none of that fowl nonsense). i'd def go back for more noodles but not with a crew because they seemed all overwhelmed even by the idea that some of us wanted brown rice and some wanted white (which they never brought out...)
A sweet deal for sweet food.
It's as simple and as un-poetic at that. Since taking a break from Jasmine Tea House, I've been looking (though not very hard) for a good fix for Saturday morning garlickly chinese food.
Nan King has surpassed any replacement that I was imagining.
Their food is top quality. Their sauces don't taste too artificial or stodgy, instead light, yet still perfect for lunch cravings. Their crab puffs (rangoons) are rich with the crab and cheese melded perfectly.
Each lunch special dish is about 5 to 6 dollars during the week, and at the most, they run about 6 and 7 dollars on the weekend. Really impressive deals and if you're vegetarian you can just replace alot of the dishes with tofu.
As cliche as it sounds - I'm really looking forward to exploring the menu more here.
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I ventured to Nan King for dinner 2 weeks ago, and the reason I'm giving it 4 stars is for there orange chicken. Damn! I went there with my best friend and her 2 kids and they were chowing down on it. I am not big on Chinese food consumption, but I couldn't stop picking up piece after piece. The sauce has the right amount of sweetness. The outside of the chicken is nice and crispy and the portion is large enough so everyone can get their fair share. The garlic broccoli was also very good, but the spicy garlic prawns were just okay.
If you have a craving for something a little pungent and sweet, maybe bypass the frozen yogurt at Tuttimelon and order the orange chicken at Nan King instead.
It was Chinese New Year and in the spirit of the occasion Chinese food was in order. But, I had lost hope that we would never find a decent chinese takeaway/delivery in the city.
So where turned to Yelp and found this place. I LOVE IT! The food was really tasty - not the most authentic Chinese food but really TASTY.
Loved the raspberry sweet and sour chicken and the shanghai noodles. The chicken in all the dishes was all white meat (a hit with the bf). Portions are big but everything was really reasonable(another hit with the bf). Makes great leftovers!
I wish though, their "spicy" really was spicy. it's not at all. I am going to have to ask them to turn it up a notch and see what happens.
Nan King is a local neighborhood standby of mine. Whenever I don't know what to get, Nan King is there for me. It's delicious, the vegetables are recognizable, there are seeds in the raspberry sweet-and-sour sauce, and you can get all the meat entrees with tofu instead! What a fantastic idea this is.
I also appreciate the "modern" decor. It's not a seedy Chinese shack take out place, nor is it exactly fine dining - it's clean, bright, fast, and tasty. That's really all I'd hope for from a quick food (not fast food) place.
One note: Don't order the crispy sesame tofu to go - it gets soggy by the time you get home. And I only live 6 blocks from the joint.
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I don't really frequent my neighborhood restaurants that often, and maybe that is the case for other people living in the Inner Sunset, because on a Friday night at 7:30 we walked in and there was only one table occupied. I could REALLY stretch out at that point, legs were splayed, arms akimbo, and conversation could echo back at us the collective cleverness of our conversation. But to the part that matters, I found the food plentiful, delicious, reasonably priced, and we were left in peace to chopstick it all down.
This isn't really a complaint but the waitress brought me my beer still capped. She indicated, jokingly, that I could have used my teeth, and I indicated, jokingly, that I could have used her table. In the end though, furniture and dental work intact, I got to enjoy my frosty beverage. Twas a good meal.
I went here with my boyfriend's co-worker's farewell party a few months ago.
I hated it. If you want "oriental" food drowned in LOADS of sauce, then go here but if you want authentic Chinese food, don't come here. It was more like drink sauce than to eat food.
The food was too much of a taste, it was either too sweet, too salty, too spicy, or too anything. Now keep in mind we (a group of 20+) ordered a lot of food off of the menu so we all kinda tried each other's food. Generally, if you weren't Chinese, you'd probably like it but if you are or you really want authentic Chinese food, don't come here. It may look nice on the outside but I wouldn't recommend coming here.
Oh yeah if you ever wonder why there is a chair in the bathroom, according to Chinese superstition it's because someone died or suicided in the bathroom and the chair is so that the ghost can sit, rather than sit on the toilet and possess you. So if you ever come here, though I don't suggest it, don't forget to NOT sit on the extra chair in the bathroom.
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I sent in a Post Secret about this place. Oh my gosh I order too much. I like it a lot. Delivery or eating there. The place is nice and open and clean. Which is nice. Back to dinner.
I really think this is the best Chinese in the city. I don't think San Tung II touches this place.
(ducking)
I used to frequent Nan King Road Bistro a lot - that was before the food took on the "Fear Factor" element.
The last 2 times I had lunch here, my dishes had an extra helping of...BUGS. Yeah, if I wanted to eat bugs, I would go on that stupid TV show and get paid for it - I don't want to pay someone else to eat bugs.
This was one of my "safe" lunch spots because they had really great lunch specials, they were tasty and they were fast. I'm so disappointed and grossed out by them now that I haven't been back. When you find a huge fly *twice* in your dish, it's a good sign not to go back.
It's too bad too because they were really good. Three stars for the pre-Fear Factor menu!!
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Nan King offers great food, decent prices and good service. My boyfriend and I were craving for some yummy non-aunthentic Chinese food -- as embarrassing as it is, sometimes we really just want the Americanized version-- and stopped by here for lunch. At first, it didn't seem like a good idea since there was NO ONE in there on a prime lunch hour! Still, we decided to make a go for it.
I ordered the mongolian beef from their lunch menu, he had the honey sesame chicken. Both were good. Their lunch specials come with steamed rice and hot and sour soup. I really enjoyed my beef -- it was tender and well-flavored but nothing out of this world. The honey sesame chicken though was really good. It's probably one of the best sesame chicken I've had. Crispy chicken breast/thigh strips drizzled with honey/soy sauce that was sooooooo good. Seriously.
Service was very efficient and we were in and out in 45 minutes.
A great little gem in the UCSF area -- I'll definitely be back here for the sesame chicken!
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Good food at a good price!
It's cool and quiet in there. We walked in at 3:50 pm on Sunday, and were served from the lunch menu. We grabbed a window seat and watched the world go by. This is the best way to eat.
As we were very hungry, we started with vegetarian spring rolls for an appetizer. This was followed by two lunch specials. Margaret ordered the shrimp, scallops, and salmon; I ordered the General Zuo's chicken. The General Zuo's chicken was all breast meat, cooked to tender perfection. Both specials came with hot & sour soup, vegetables, and about two cups of rice. Oolong tea and Coke rounded out the order. The bill was under $24.
"Hot and spicy" turned out to be spicy, but not too hot. All the heat was thermal, as the food was whisked to the table straight from the wok. We could taste the oils and herbs, and there didn't seem to be a hint of corn starch anywhere. The word that described it best was: Clean.
They were exactly what the Yelp reviews said they would be, and they lived up to our expectations.
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This place is kinda random in the sense that I never really see a whole lot of people inside, but I've never met anyone that doesn't like it. The pricing is reasonable, the food is fresh and I've had several things off the menu now and haven't been disappointed. My favorites: Double Happiness and the curry noodles (w/chicken) dish. The hot and sour soup is good, too.
I always get take-out here, but I guess it's because I don't find the ambiance persuasive enough to dine-in. It's kind of a Disney/Wolfgang Puck faux art deco deal and I'm not sure it gives off the right vibe. It doesn't really say Nan King to me...
In any case. I like Nan King. And I highly recommend this place if you're in the 'hood or coming over to my place and want to bring me dinner and make me happy.
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Maybe 3 people in the restaurant made it easy for me to order take out and enjoy the heaping carton of pad thai at home. Not too greasy and the veggies tasted really fresh, not overcooked. Maybe more spicy next time?
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All I have to say is Rasberry Sweet and Sour Chicken!!!!!!!!!! It is absolutely amazing... you must try this place out if just for that and their yummy lettuce wraps!
Lunchtime special review:
Kung Pao Chicken - hot (hooray!)
Portion size - larger than lunch.
Service - dandy.
Beer - cold!
Two lunch specials, 1 alcoholic beverage plus tip - $20 even,
I'll be back.
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As much as I would like to give this place 5 stars I've only eaten there twice and have gotten the same dish so I don't quite feel like I'm an expert on their food by any means. But their chicken with snow peas and shitake mushrooms is the bomb! I guess I've been eating at too many of the sketchy Chinese take out places on Ocean Ave to have realized that Chinese food isn't supposed to be soggy when you eat it. This place serves tender trimmed chicken pieces in a tasty brown ginger sauce with al dente vegetable to preserve their texture and flavor.
I would like to try more dishes but since I found one that I like, I'm sort of nervous to get disappointed with another dish.
One good thing to note, the dinner entree is $8.50 but if you order it at lunch time before 4pm, it comes with rice and mediocre soup for $5.95. So if you're cravin Chinese earlier in the day, save a few bucks and get the lunch special.
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My favorite go-to chinese delivery place. Love the Shanghai noodles and walnut prawns. Everything is always fresh and the delivery is super speedy (under 20 min on several occasions). Pad thai is unremarkable.
I'm not a fan of Asian fusion usually, but I dig this place for this reason:
Honey Sesame Chicken
That stuff is like crack in chicken form. So crispy and sweet. The rest of the food is tasty and they deliver. For some odd reason the restaurant is never busy so eating in here is pretty nice also.
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A close place to my heart. The first guy I fell hard for when I moved to the city brought me here and we went there all the time. The lunches are awesome. I think they have some of the best won ton soup in the city and the soup comes in these perfect individual bowl sizes. Mongolian beef awesome. All the spicy dishes are great. This is another diamond in the rough, at least in my humble opinion. Also the decor is kind of funky minimal yet they have colored chop sticks, how cool is that? Forgot about the eggplant, so good, love when the veggies are good and fresh!
