San Tung Chinese Restaurant
1031 Irving St
(between 11th Ave & 12th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122 (415) 242-0828
- Hours:
Mon-Tue, Thu-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: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
79 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 »
766 Reviews for San Tung Chinese Restaurant
San Tung is okay. It's what you expect, good, hardy, and salty. I wouldn't say it's worth an hour wait. When I go there, I'll only stay if there's 2 names before me or no wait. I don't need the spicy fried chicken or green beans that bad. Those are 2 of their most popular dishes.
I'm not Chinese, but being a S.F. native, and eating at neighborhood spots all over the city, allows me to say that San Tung isn't an authentic place but one geared for the non-Asian-y tongue.
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Deep-fried wet chicken wings, why do you live so far away from me! Unfortunately, I live in So-Cal, so I can't eat these wings as often as I crave them, but I always go to San Tung when I go up to SF (I'm not kidding either). Usually the only things we ever order are the wings, and moo shu chicken. Sometimes we mix it up with some potstickers or dumplings, or cold-sliced beef (I love cold-sliced beef, haha). But the wings and the moo shu are the star attraction of San Tung and its worth the wait (as you can tell by the throngs of people always waiting outside and inside the place.
My only caveat, do not get the boneless wings! Being the lazy person that I am, I thought to myself, San Tung chicken wing goodness without the hassle of the bones? There has to be a catch right? Well there is. The boneless wings definitely are not as good, and it often has too much batter that you can't even taste the chicken. Stick with the original wings! Now I made myself crave the wings and moo shu but I'm 400 miles away ugh.
Yup, gotta up this place to 5 stars because it is simply the best. Last time I went, it was right when the restaurant opened for the day so there was no wait. But on Sunday night, the wait was crazy! There were so many people and most of them decided to wait INSIDE.
Tonight we got the jam pong (which is a seafood noodle soup dish on the menu) and it was SO GOOD. The Korean bf says it's one of the best he's ever had and although I haven't had it very often, it's one of the best I've had also. The broth is thick and hearty and SPICY. The noodles are a great consistency. The dish gives a good amount of shrimp, mussels, etc. The portion is HUGE. All we had to get was the original dry fried chicken and this and it was more than enough for both of us.
For being an incredibly busy Asian restaurant, the service was pretty good. Don't expect them to wait on you constantly but if you need something, just ask and they will get it for you.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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05/30/2008
I haven't had good food at a Chinese/Korean restaurant in SOOOO long. I LOVED THIS PLACE!!!!
Of… Read more »
First off, the menu pix posted by D.P. are outdated. Prices are around $1-2 higher. Second, I posted pix of what I ate.
I usually go to San Wong for my Korean-Chinese fix. I'd heard about San Tung and finally tried it to see if it would live up to the hype. It was OK, but I think I'll stick with San Wong. I tried 4 dishes.
gganpoonggi (dry fried chicken): Too sweet for my taste. I prefer San Wong's, which is crispy and has lots of scallions and garlic.
samsun jjajangmyun (black bean sauce noodles): Pretty gross. It has a light brown soybean sauce (though I didn't see any soybeans) rather than the Korean style using roasted black bean paste. San Wong wins again. Playground is OK too.
dweji gogi mool mandoo (pork dumplings): These were pretty good I thought. I don't think I've had mandoo at San Wong and am not sure if they even have it on the menu.
spinach with garlic: Pretty good, but how can you really screw this up?
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i've lived in the bay area for almost 8 years, and san tung, is by far, my most frequented restaurant. to me it's comfort food -- it's something about the cold and foggy nature of inner sunset, and how san tung's food warms me up inside. it's what i crave after a long trip away from the bay, and it's what i'll have last, if i am to ever leave the bay.
and if you didn't know, now you know:
dried. fried. chicken. wings.
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Almost every night, you will find San Tung crowded inside and out. The patrons can be found anxiously waiting for the next open table. San Tung has been serving their famous dried fried chicken to local diners as well as out of town diners for almost a decade at their inner Sunset location. Despite the lack of parking and unspectacular location, San Tung has become the premiere destination for great Northern Chinese food. The Northern Chinese menu offers something for every diner -- soups, noodle, seafood, meat, and dumplings.
The interior décor is not impressive but the crowd affirms that the food is the main focus. The waiters, dressed in white shirts and black pants, are fast order takers and are open to recommendations. The food plays center stage and the loud noise only adds to the atmosphere of a bustling restaurant.
Food.
Like most Chinese restaurants, the menu is large in selection. The menu has been assembled with care as each item includes clear descriptions of each dish. Their house special is their dry fried chicken wings ($8.00). Chicken wings are deep fried in a batter with roasted red peppers, ginger, and garlic. The result is a chicken wing that is crunchy, moist, lightly spicy, and sweet.
The Szechuan tea smoked duck ($11.00) is half a duck marinated in five spice. The duck is smoked with Oolong black tea leaves and then deep fried. The duck meat is tender and is flavored by the pungent smoky flavor that goes perfected well with the nutty hoisin sauce in the lotus bun. Other classic dishes include the dried sautéed string beans ($6.50). The green beans are flash fried and tossed in a garlic sauce with Chinese pickles. They are crunchy and savory. Some other favorites include hot and sour soup ($6.95-M). The mixture of shrimp, tofu, peas, tree fungus and bamboo shots in a tangy and peppery broth with whipped eggs makes it a great dish especially on cold foggy days in city.
San Tung sets themselves apart from other Chinese restaurants by using handmade ingredients. This includes handmade noodles, potstickers, dumplings, and mu shu wrappers. Their black bean sauce noodles ($7.00) features calamari, beef, and shrimp in a dark soy sauce over a bowl noodles that are cooked to perfection, chewy but not doughy. The shrimp and leek dumplings ($6.50) come in twelve and are filled with a savory mixture of ginger, garlic, chives, and shrimp. The handmade dumpling skins are thin and the fresh chives play center role in the filling.
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Although it's probably pretty obvious from the existing 700+ reviews that this place is awesome, let's add one more for good measure.
There is a reason that there is always a line and its always crowded. As everyone says the wings are the best, but there is oh so much more to like. The shrimp and leek dumplings are pretty phenomenal as well as the duck, the roasted chicken and anything else that is not white people Chinese food.
Do not go to San Tung if you just want Kung Pao or Sweet and Sour chicken. That's what Panda Express is for. :D
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I don't understand why people are ga ga over this place. The chicken wings are good and flavorful but this isn't a Chinese dish. Its a Panda Express dish with bones in it. Yum. The dumplings here suck. Everyone raves how good they are. They are bland, boring, and crap. Dumpling King in outer Richmond is way better. There are always hoards of people waiting to eat this Americanized Chinese. This place is in the ranks with Burma Supercrap. Massive lines with massive shitty food. If you are going to be a stubborn fatty and eat here just get the ja ja mein. Otherwise you ain't fat because you have no taste buds.
this place has the best dumplings, chicken wings and noodles. the dough is always super soft, and the dishes are very well flavored. i went during the mid afternoon on a weekday to avoid the long waits. i wish i could go to this place more, but its always too busy. definitely worthy of the popularity though. best casual chinese place ive tried.
I have to keep it real. This place deserves no more than 2 stars. Notice how every reviewer notes the chicken wings in their justifications for 4+ stars. Come on! Chicken wings don't make a "Chinese" restaurant great. And truth be told, the other dishes were mediocre at best. Maybe it's because I like to keep my Chinese dishes Chinese and Korean dishes Korean (in other words, separate). Whatever. I've been here 3 times and have been disappointed each time. The wait is not worth it. And the precious chicken wings? They get soggy if you ever try to take them to go.
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I really wanted to try the popular dry chicken wings and I finally got the time right before work. This was around 2:15, so we got seated right away.
When we walked past this place on Sunday, I told my friend I've never ate here. She gave me crap about it since I do live around the area. I felt ashamed, so I made sure to try it.
We ordered the original dry chicken wings and hot and sour soup. They give you complimentary kimchi, and when I looked around, nobody ate their kimchi. So I just picked at it. Our food came quickly, that's why I love eating during off-hours.
The hot and sour soup was good, nothing too special. The chicken wings were good, fried, and good. It was also very sweet, not what I expected. I thought it would be more spicy than sweet, but I was fine with it. It's not something I would eat every week because it's that unhealthy, but it was worth it. I would like to try the dumplings someday too.
WAY too packed all the time but the food makes up for it. They serve the best fried chicken wings I've ever eaten, even better then my moms! Even if I was on a really strict diet, I would break it just for that.
We came here last night for a birthday dinner and I couldn't believe how busy they were. Lots of big groups dining and some celebrating their birthdays too.
Some dishes I tried were the Mongolian beef - sliced tender beef sauteed with green onions and roasted red peppers in their house sauce
Pork with green onions - sauteed shredded pork with jalapenos, onions in a light garlic sauce
Garlic chicken - diced chicken stir fried with generous portion of garlic and water chestnuts in a garlic sauce..
Tomato beef chow mein - fried soft noodles with veggies
Pot stickers, some shrimp dish and some more noodle dishes.
Everything was good but service was on the slow side... Understandable though since they were super busy!
TRY THE FRIED CHICKEN WINGS!
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My best friend and i LOVE this place. Too bad she lives in Walnut Creek now, but i am luck enough to live close to it. Even my friend in Singapore misses this place. We always order way too much. This place is famous for their Dry Fried Chicken. I normally HATE eating with my hands, but when it comes to their chicken, i don't mind getting my hands dirty and sticky at all. The sauce on the chicken is pretty sticky, so be prepared. Their steamed pork dumplings are pretty good, you need to eat this hot, and not let it cool down, or the taste will be different. The potstickers were only ok to me. Every time i come here i was order their Cold Noodles, the beef that comes with this dish is very tender and the peanut sauce is prepared just right. I want to give them a five star rating, but sometimes the waiters have attitude.. sorry.
I was expecting a lot from the dry fried chicken wings and I didn't think they would live up to the hype but surprisingly they did!! I took an expensive cab ride from union square to this place just for the chicken wings and it was worth every penny. They must be laced with crack.
I'm coming back tomorrow to try the pan fried dumplings and green beans. I need one more fix before going back home to LA.
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Dried fried chicken wings or anything dried fried for that matter is a must try. Everything is pretty good, and worth the wait as it can often be pretty long. Even when I have phoned an order it, no matter what it is will always be an hour before you can pick it up. The clearest indicator that you know this restaurant is good, is on a cold and rainy day you can often see groups of people huddled outside waiting for a table. If people will wait in inclement weather for your food, your definitely on to something.
I'm new to San Francisco and found this restaurant by accident. There was a line outside. I had to wait a while with my friend for a table, but the food was just amazing! The BEST and freshest dishes, incredible fried chicken (yes!), and fantastic fresh green beans in some sauce. Just remember no reservations, put your name on the whiteboard, and prepare to stuff yourself.
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Best rajogi (fried chicken wings) ever.
Hands down.
Will keep me awake at night forever just thinking about it.
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1 Previous Review:
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03/05/2008
Best Jajangmyun ever.
Hands down.
Keeps me awake at night years later just thinking about it.People thought this was:
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Darn. I didn't get to try to fried chicken because I read these reviews after the fact, but I have to say their Tangsuyook (deep fried pork in a sweet and sour sauce) is the best I've ever had. Their pork and leek dumplings were addicting. Their spicy noodle soup was very flavorful.
Their black bean noodles were just okay. There weren't enough vegetables like zucchini and onions, but the noodles themselves were cooked well.
The ladies who worked there had a huge pile of green beans on one of the tables, trimming them with their hands. I'm talking a mountain of green beans. I took a picture.
I am still confused whether this is Chinese restaurant run by Koreans or a Chinese restaurant just with some Korean lettering on the outside and there's also Korean on the menu. When we were pronouncing some of the Chinese dishes in Korean, our waitress couldn't understand, so I'm guessing the latter. Or maybe the owner is Korean? Gosh I don't know.
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This place has good dishes but it is not worth the wait. The service was nice, so how I got bumped up on their wait list. I just asked if I can go next, and he said sure. I do not like how their wait list is organized because it is an erase board that customers uses.
The food was good, but it is too OILY! I do not like super oily food. The fried chicken wings was only okay. They are not the best chicken ever. The not so great flavor was way too strong.
What I really like is their kimchee. It is SPICY! I love it!
get here early to be prepared to wait. went here last night for a quick dinner. 4 must haves: shrimp and leek dumplilng, hot braised fish fillet, original dry fried chicken wings, and dry sauteed green beans. the reason for 1 less star is that everytime i come here i need to have a strong stomach. it's a bit dirty so u might have some 'technical" difficulties in the morning.
I've been to San Tung probably .. 10-15 times? Why? Well, it's really affordable (12 ppl ate to their hearts content for $10 including tax/tip), good portions and good food!
If you are looking for "authentic" chinese food, don't come here. If you are looking for a spic n span chinese place... does that exist? If you are looking for good tasting, good quantity, and good prices, come here. Yes, the wait is long because it is that popular. So send someone in your party early to sign up, make reservations or you'll have to wait even during the week.
Recommendations:
1) Black Bean Sauce Noodles - jja jjang myun.. they make their noodles and it's an awesome black bean sauce with meat, veg, seafood.
2) Spicy Seafood Noodles - jjam pong.. same as above but in a spicy soup. hits the spot if you're craving hot and spicy.
3) dry fried chicken wings! a little heat, a little sweet.
4) sweet sour pork (brown sauce) - i'm not into the red sauce with the pineapples, this is the sweet and sour i grew up on.
5) shrimp and chive dumplings - great for starters
6) kimchee - if you like kimchee they have a regular cabbage (vs. napa) variation of kimchee here that's good.
I feel like everything else is kind of typical. So again nothing spectacular but still in my opinion, solid food. If you wanted upscale, solid or authentic.. i'm sure you can find another place.
My review here is based solely on the singular item I had the good fortune to sample; and doesn't take into account the service or the restaurant facility itself (I had take-out for lunch) or any of the other food items they have available (haven't tried 'em yet).
But I've come here today to confirm what the masses have been saying all along: the fried chicken wings are the best around!
In fact, I'd go so far as to say, that if God does indeed exist, and if God has a sex and is a woman, then the experience of placing San Tung's addictive fried chicken wings into one's mouth would be akin to suckling the voluptuous and most gracious teat of dear Mother God for her sweet and savory, life-sustaining elixir. (And added for further effect: if Mother God was a crack whore who was feeding her crack-addicted baby its next fix.)
Yep, they're that good.
Uh. YES. I would like an extra order of dry fried chicken wings to go. The wait at this restuarant is ridiculous. But the food is worth it. Did i mention chicken wings? Service can be slow because the are busy.
A solid 3-start Chinese restaurant, but certainly not one of the best in town. Decent food, decent prices, OK atmosphere.
Hands down best Chinese food in the city!
Dry fried chicken wings are the stuff of my dreams.
Etherial shrimp and leek dumplings.
Noodles are out of this world.
Kim chee is stellar.
Bok choy?! How do they make it so tender and flavorful? usually I don't get all bent out of shape for veggies, but this place has some killer veg.
Steamed flounder, I didn't even know I liked steamed fish.
Atmosphere- there is none, so don't expect it.
Service- hey just be thankful that you get fed. With a kitchen and staff as busy as this place is, I don't need them to come check on me. However if you plan on drinking more than one glass of water, just ask for a pitcher/caraf for the table.
My favorite restaurant in SF. My roommate introduced me to this place and i fell in love with their dry fried chicken. After that time, I've been introducing everyone to this place and they all loved it. It price isn't too expensive and you get a lot of food. Their combination fried rice is very good too.
People always say that its really crowded but It's never crowded when I go, we never waited very long to be seated. The parking is horrible though, like everywhere else in san francisco.
I have to say it's PACKED. Last Sat., we, party of 6, signed wait list at 8pm, guess what, we got seats at 8:40pm. We order dumpling, beef noodle and the must-have-chicken-wing. They tasted good and price was right.
And, one waiter told us, please call for reservation next time to avoid long wait. Hey, yelp info is wrong. You could take reservation. Yea, will try again next time!
I am taking off a star because I always have to wait. BUT I keep returning even though I always have to wait. This is pretty huge because I hate waiting! :)
The dumplings are great, but the chicken wings...really? I think there might be crack in them, because they are just that addictive and good.
Make sure you keep an eye on the white board so you dont get skipped in line.
I am sitting at home, semi-itching (I am semi-allergic) from the shrimp and chive dumplings right now....but it was well worth it. Seriously.
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Wow...I have never been to a chinese restaurant that was so packed, and had hella folks waiting for a table. I don't like waiting for a table if I'm hella hungry but I read their reviews on how good their damn chicken wings was so I went in to see what's up with them wings. Ok- it's good but it didn't have me all sprung on it. It tasted like orange chicken with spice but that's just my opinion. And I didn't know we had to write our names on the board since someone was leaning on that shit....The service was pretty fast for being that crowded- but I came during rush hour like an idiot. If I ever are in the mood for their food, I would come after rush hour next time.
My friend took me here for their famous chicken wings. After that day, I think I'm in love with the wings. Wings... wings.. wings..Crisp, juicy, tender, savory, chicken wings. It was orgasmic. 4 stars for the wings, -1 star for the not-so-special typical chinese food/everything else.
Dry Fried Chicken Wings. You heard they're good right? Well go find out if hundreds of people are lying. They are so perfect.
While here I also had some green beans and some beef dish that weren't as memorable. But I'll be back for the chicken for sure.
I went there after the Haight Street fair on a Sunday, had to wait about 15 minutes which isn't bad at all considering I have heard of people waiting for up to 45 minutes. The place was packed, service was fine. My water and tea cup were filled the whole time.
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Delicious Chinese/Korean food! I love these kinds of restaurants, they always combine the best of both worlds.
Pros:
1) Food comes out quickly!
2) Waiters are pretty friendly (at least, the one who was helping us the most, always had a smile on his face)
3) The wings - need I say more? The dry chicken wings are so delicious with their spicy, slightly sweet/tangy sauce, covered in garlic and red peppers.
4) The seafood noodles (I don't remember what the name of the dish is) was pretty tasty and spicy.
5) The kimchee is very spicy compared to other Korean/Chinese restaurants. Hot!
Cons:
1) Very long wait, the place was so busy and so noisy.
2) There's a board you write your name on, and the waiters come and erase your name as you're seated, but then other people will come in and write their names above the next people in line, effectively cutting and making everyone wait twice as long!
3) The ja jyung myun is not very good. A bit dry and bland.
4) Parking can be tough if you're not lucky.
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I do love Wing Stop, but San Tung's chicken wings are the wings I would choose to eat for the rest of my life if given the choice. Soooooo sweet and juicy! With rice, it's what God must eat. With rice, I'd lap this food off the floor, it's that delicious!
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de-lish... sit down and look around you and it is obvious what the most popular dishes are. it's delicious and cheap. there's also is a great cold seafood dish that has shrimps, squid and scallops tossed in a hot mustard sauce... don't forget to order that too!
Since everyone's probably written a good review about this place. I'm just going to comment on the MuShu Chicken and the Vegetarian Pot Stickers.They are both soooooooo delicious. You can't even tell they're vegetarian. Go early for dinner (around 5:30pm) and lunch (11:30am) to beat the rush. They are ALWAYS busy!!!
I came here with a bunch of girlfriends on a Friday night. One girl had to show up at 5PM to reserve the table. This place gets packed really fast on a Friday night. We came with a big appetite for chicken wings, green string beans and beer. We kept putting in more orders for the spicy chicken wings. The waiter was extremely nice, we placed an order for another plate of chicken wings and he gave us the one he was holding. I'm sure that plate was supposed to go to another table but he saw how hungry my friend was and gave it to us. Our food came quickly and I had my fill of wings and beer. I will be back to try the noodle dishes in the future. Prices here were really reasonable. This is a fun place to hang out on a Friday night.
Got to have the dry fried chicken wings, pork dumplings, pork chow mein with hand-pulled noodles, dry fried flounder (i forgot what they name of this is on the menu), five spice beef noodles, hot & sour soup, .....the list goes on. I LOVE THIS PLACE!
The one bad thing is that it gets really crowded and you have to wait a while before getting a table.
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Prepare yourself for a great down to earth chinese meal. San Tung is famous for its dried fried wings. Anyone who didn't stop here just because the light was on orders a plate of those caramelized-slightly spicy wings... The dumplings, either boiled or steamed, are also excellent.
One of my favorites is the noodle soups. The noodles are freshly home made. You can't go wrong with any of the soups, just watch out for the spicy broth... It is very spicy. Be prepared for some wait any day of the week. The wait is worth it.
Sometimes it pays to know people.
You dont have to wait in line.
You can hop onto other awesome peoples tables and dine with people who know what to order.
You can make sure there are enough chicken wings to go around.
You can realize that next time if you come...and there is a wait...its probably going to be worth it.
Especially when you are the only white people in the place. It must be good
Also...who knew that it was possible to talk on your cell phone your ENTIRE meal. Seriously...watched a kid do it. Eat and talk, all the way out the door. Rude...but fascinating.
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