House of Nanking, San Francisco

If you're going to eat at House of Nanking, I think I should tell you to reconsider it. First of all, the foods were really bad after remodeling. I always go to this place on my San Francisco trip, and what a disappointment. They subtracted ingredients such as peanuts and vegetables on nanking specialties. Calmary fried was too sour and salty, and looked really dud and simple. Secondly, I looked around and found dirty towels everywhere. I was shock to see the server was grabbing handful of kyoza(fried dumpling) with the same hands he was touching the dirty towel! Lastly, bad customer service. Our total came out $45 dollars, and I was expected $5.00 change after gave the server $50.00 bill. Well our gratitude was already charged on the receipt which was $6.00....so we didn't have to spend more money on tips, which I wasn't gonna give them anyway. This fool thought that I was happhy enough to pay another $5.00 for addition to the gratidude. When I asked the server for my change, he yelled and cussed at me in Chinese with bad attidude.

Favorite Dish: none

Wow, what can I say about this food? wow and double wow.
Its a chinese restarant situated on the outskirts of chinatown, lots of locals visit and thats always a good sign in my book. The atmosphere is great, and you may share a table with others, so if you don't like that kind of thing, then don't go. Room in the restarant is minimum, so the tables are almost on top of each other anyway. We went twice during our visit to SF, and had to hold ourselves back from going a third time, the food was so good.
It is a place where you get served quickly and leave quickly, not a place to linger, but thats on account of the amount of tables they have available and the amount of people waiting. both times we got in before the rush, the second time we were waiting outside for about 5 minutes, but 10minutes after we got seated, there was a queue down the whole side of the window.
Our neighbours the first time we went ordered mainly vegetarian dishes which looked really good and judging from their reactions, tasted good too, one of them ordered a soup also and it pretty much came out in a bucket, there was so much of it! She offered some to us but we had already eaten our full at that stage. On the other side of us were 2 newbies also, and they ordered hot tea to start off with, and they deifnately didnt get what they thought they ordered!! it was quite funny as they were a little on the posh side, and the look on her face was so funny as she tried to drink past the herbs in her tea! i would have recommended the tsingtao beer to them but they didnt look like beer drinkers...

Favorite Dish: I totally recommend the Nanking famous sesame chicken with squash, and also the rice tower with chicken on a bed of crispy noodles.
So much so, that we ordered the same dishes the second time we visited!
The portions are big (for us, maybe not so big for Americans) and the first time we struggled to finish our meals. The second time, i think we had aclimatised somewhat to the big american food portions, and we managed to finish without problems.
We had Tsingtao beer with our meals and its gooood!

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Very popular with tourists and locals.

NOTES:
NO Reservations,
Cash Only,
Crowded.
Food safety score - 88 (out of 100).

Favorite Dish: Recommended: Imperial Rolls, Hot and Sour Chicken or Beef in Garlic Sauce, and Tofu with Curry.

Nothing to look at, cramped and crowded, marginal service, AWESOME FOOD. When you first walk in you'll think you've been duped by everyone - tiny metal tables, uncomfortable chairs all packed in right next to each other. However, the staff is charming (albiet a little rushed), the place is super clean and it doesn't smell greasy like typical Chinese restaurants. The owner is adorable (in his chic designer denims) and loves it when you let him order for you. If it's your first visit he'll take your menus from you and say "I'll take care of you" - and he always delivers. I hate standing in line for anything so we always go early for lunch or dinner.

Favorite Dish: We love the Mu Shu Everything. Everything is so fresh and still has a crisp to it when served. Not oily or greasy either.

We went on a Thurs night and had to wait on line for about 15 min. The inside of the restaurant is a little dark, very crowded and cramped, but the quality of the food was amazing and most of the menu goes for UNDER $10!!! Even a bottle of beer goes for like $3.00 Definitely worth the wait.

Favorite Dish: I had the Sesame Scallops...delicious and more than enough with the rice. Forgot the name of my wife's dish, but also delicious. We're from NYC, and better than most Chinese restaurants in NYC that charge $25-$30 for a plate.

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Looking through my SF restaurant tips, it's clear I hit just about every beaten path touristy joint in the city in one week and then some. I blame my hostess for that; having just moved to SF, she's been pretty keen on making sure she doesn't miss out on a single must-see-must-do San Franciscan experience.

It's all good. And of course we went to House of Nanking. I vaguely recall eating there years ago, and doing the wrong thing, which is ordering off the menu and having a decent experience. This time, we let the owner decide and enjoyed a delicious meal.

It's divey but clean. And the owner and our waiter were cheerful and accommodating, a pleasant departure from what I normally find in Chinese restaurant service. Maybe it's not "authentic Chinese" - it's somewhere between Chinese and Asian fusion. But I don't get that whole debate anyway; I'm sure in China they find what we call "authentic" laughable no matter where it's served.

As mentioned in an earlier tip, House of Nanking isn't as popular as it used to be, which for me is a relief because I really don't get waiting an hour to eat. Plus we got there at 3:30 on Saturday in, so we were seated immediately and didn't have to rush. And maybe that's why the service was so much better than expected.

Definitely go with a group (there were five of us) because there will be a lot of food and Chinese food just isn't as much fun alone. And be specific about the type of dishes ("chicken," "fried rice"), you want so you don't get more than you actually wanted.

As far as the prices are concerned, I think they are pretty cheap compared to most of San Francisco, but they are considered significantly higher than most Chinatown restaurants.

Favorite Dish: I ordered the hot tea, which has bits of passion fruit (pictured). It was slightly sweet, so I liked it. One of my friends really didn't care for it, however, calling it "potpourri in a cup."

The only thing we did order from the menu were the onion pancakes in what I think was a honey sauce (pictured). Odd combination, but it's so good. I ended up getting the same thing a week later at Wokcano in LA, and I wonder if this is a trend among American/Asian-fusion restaurants. Okay, I don't know why there's a spoon in that photo, but I can see myself trying to ladle some of that sauce on my rice just because I would try something like that. And I have got to start remembering to take my photos before I start eating. :-P

We also ordered beef with aspargus, orange chicken (they'll laugh at your for ordering it mild, but they'll still do it) and potstickers - all pictured, all scrumptious. I just can't imagine ordering a bad dish at this restaurant.

Hole-in-the wall eatery on the edge of Chinatown. Order a cup of tea. There are these wonderful berries floating in it. Can't remember what they are. The general feel is chaotic, but it's cheap and a hopping place on a Friday night. Make reservations.

I try to order my meals with no-msg and sometimes if they aren't too snippy, you can get them dry-wok-fried.

The House of Nanking was probably a great hole-in-the-wall fifty years ago but it’s become a bit of a tourist trap. It’s a simple place with a good menu and the service the day we got there was quick. It was also full of non-Asians and that rarely is a good thing when you go to a Chinese restaurant. That said, the food was good and though a bit pricey for the style, I was glad to give it a try.

Favorite Dish: We had wok-seared scallops on mushroom caps which were heavenly and mu shu pork, which was tasty as well. One gripe was there was no free tea offered, which is protocol for any decent Chinese restaurant in the States. We just had the two meals and the bill came to $24, a fairly high sum in Chinatown.