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Category: Dim Sum
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond"This a place I have been visting for the better part of 20 years or so. It is located on Balboa next to the Balboa Theatre. I love to…" read more »
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This is my favourite dim sum place in San Francisco. If you can't be bothered to trek down to Daly City and queue an hour at Koi Palace then come here, it's almost as good.
Furthermore, this place is way cheaper than Koi Palace. We stuffed ourselves and had a lot to take home (47 dishes between 11 people) and it was only $19 each including tax and tip. I think an equivalent meal at Koi Palace would be around $35 each.
I like the way that you order with pencil and paper rather than the pushcart style dim sum. This ensures that the food is always fresh from the kitchen.
The har gow and siu mai here are excellent. The dumplings are still steaming when you get them, the skin is just the right thickness, and the filling is just right, particularly the large shrimp in the har gow.
The sticky rice in lotus leaf is also particularly good here. Everything else I had (I was with Joce L. - see her review!) was at least above average apart from the turnip cake which was a little disappointing. I thought the flavour was fine, but the cake felt a little undercooked in parts.
On the downside, the wait can be long, we were lucky this time as we went early and had a big group so were seated immediately. The wait is not as insane as Koi Palace though.
This places makes some damn good dim sum. Yes, you will have to wait for your table. No, the hostess is not helpful. You will be made to wait outside on the street near bar patrons from next door puffing away at their smokes between drinks. Either that or squeeze inside the small lobby where every other customer is hovering over the hostess asking how long until they are seated. But it is all worth it!
There are no little dim sum carts roaming the floor, instead there is a menu that you mark off yourself. I think I like this better. The carts make it way too easy to over order & stuff yourself! I liked everything we ordered (shrimp dumplings, Chinese broccoli, chive dumplings, chicken w/ sticky rice) but was a bit disappointed that they did not have string beans. Not that it mattered much cuz all of the food was delicious! Probably my least favorite were the sesame balls...and I still ate 5 of them.
The prices are very reasonable & the food is fresh and steaming hot. Parking may be an issue on the weekends but luckily we had the parking gods with us that day & found a spot about 2 blocks away. What a great day!
As Yelper Erin S. already noted, expect to wait for a table at the Hong Kong Lounge. There's a sliver of an indoor waiting area, probably enough for 4 people who know each other very well. Give the hostess your name and she'll give you a ticket with a number on it. Then, make your way outdoors.
We came on a beautiful fall day, so waiting outside wasn't bad. If not for the toothless, smoking patrons of the bar next door, it would have been lovely.
The dim sum here is very good. We tried broccoli, shrimp dumplings, chive dumplings, pork buns, custard buns, and sesame balls. I was really craving dry sauteed green beans, but they don't serve them here. I see other Yelpers raving about the coffee spareribs, so I'll be sure to try them next time. Service was good, but the bathrooms are gross. If you can hold it, try to go elsewhere!
Yummy dimsum, reasonable prices, huge portions!
I think this might be my fave dimsum place in the city...
Our group of 12 landed here at 10a on a Sunday and scored a table almost immediately.
We proceeded to order Way.Too.Much food, which seems to be a pattern...
We ended up with 47 plates/dishes which came up to $180- that's an average of $4 a plate! And the portions were HUGE! We had So much leftovers
Summary (this is just what I tasted, not all the dishes that were available at that table):
- Shrimp Cheong Fun- Huge shrimps wrapped in silky wide rice noodle. Yum
- Sticky chicken rice in lotus leaf- done just right- tasty with bits of dried shrimp
- Har Gou- Again with the huge shrimp- Very tasty
- Xiu Mai- Juicy, fragrant and yummy. Not dry like the usual xiu mais. YUM
- Fried cubes of Taro/ yam- tasty
- Sticky fried rice- Wish i had more stomach room for this. it was tasty!
- Charsiu Pastry Puff- It was pretty tasty, but I've had better versions...
- Braised eggplant- they really need to make it more....bite size?! the portions were huge
- Pan-fried Turnip Cake: not as flavorful as it should have been
- Fried Shrimp in beancurd skin- yummy when hot
- Vegetarian beancurd thingy- not sure how to describe this....but i had no bizness eating vegetarian anything...wasn't bad, but could definitely have skipped it
- Egg Tart- i've had better; it was OK
- Durian Pastry- Loved it! The durian cream was rich and tasty. i could have a whole portion for myself...MMMmMmmmm
- Black sesame sticky roll- flavors were a little too subtle
- Crispy Chestnut Cake- Definitely NOT what i thought. I was expecting it to be similar to the pan-fried turnip cake, but alas, they deep fried this chestnut gluely thingy in a batter, which was a little weird. didn't taste very good. luckily, they were $2/ plate (5 pieces each! Crazy!)
Other dishes:
- BBQ Pork Cheong Fun
- Steamed Char Siu Buns
- Steamed Chicken Buns
- Vege (no idea what type. was busy attacking the meat dishes)
- Green Onion Pancakes
They brought out the desserts first, which was really kinda annoying (hence minus 1*) which left our 12 eggtarts sitting on the lazy Susan for an hour before we finally tasted them. The eggtarts would have been much tastier WARM instead of ice cold
Will definitely be back!
I came here for a Chinese banquet to celebrate my uncle's 80th birthday and had the best Chinese food ever. The service was impeccable. Hot water in a teapot for non-tea drinkers and a pot of tea was provided. Waitresses regularly brought us more napkins throughout the night and we were there for three hours.
My favorite was their roast pork. The roast pork was cut into perfect rectangular pieces and the skin was perfect. There were layers of nice fat and meat underneath the crunchy skin. We enjoyed the lobster, it was naturally sweet and not overwhelmingly flavored like at many Chinese restaurants. We also enjoyed the beef dish with peas. The Peking duck had perfectly crispy delicate skin and wasn't overly salted. The fish was fresh and our server boned it for us. The abalone had lots of flavor and was meaty. We also enjoyed giant shrimp and crab fritters the size of tennis balls that came with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. You should order this just to try something new-- very nice presentation. I didn't try the fried rice but my table mates were raving about it. We also enjoyed the sweet red bean soup dessert.
All in all, it was a fantastic meal. I am taking my mom here for her birthday. This is a wonderful place for events-- there is a private back room. If you like Chinese food, definitely come to Hong Kong Lounge.
-Love those coffee spareribs! //7/21/09: TEST/NO TEST!
-and the $188 prix fixe will feed 10 12. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/ oso hella Good.
[Did we previous Lee speak of the DimSum?? "yes, the CANDIED PORK SKIN!! ]
DINNER -BETTER-THAN-HongKong = for all special and even. semi-special events w/relatives/ friends ::: Namely, their EXceptionally hevvenly Peking Duck:: ogodd, die and go-2-heaven. . .
[Avoid that fish in the claypot, it's called skangk (or something close), rather tastes like bottom feeder fish belly. . . if U go for that sort of thing.]
BUT/AND, NOW it's HOT POT SEASON; New on-the-block, P.RIB Shabu Vietnamese Chinese, very good, very fresh, very civilized\\Unlike tht olla new place on Judah\HOT POT\Avoid\\
The Shabu house is on 5th Ave, just off Clement -and,best price to-date!
MORE? . . .
The last time I ate here was when this place used to be called Hong Kong Flower Lounge. My friend and I decided to eat here for lunch... on a Sunday! Usually Dim Sum places are swarmed with hungry people from the young to the old, yumcha does a body good. We got our number at 1:08, walked around for 20 mintues or so, came back and was seated at 1:30. This place is one of the best dim sum places in the Richmond. Not only is it affordable, but the food comes out fresh and a decent size. We ordered about 9 dishes and the total came out to be about $37.
Be aware! Even though there's free parking on Sundays, this restaurant is located on Geary along with many other restaurants so parking might take a while.
We were craving dim sum and we remembered when this place used to be Hong Kong Flower Lounge..but now its just Hong Kong Lounge. Anyways, we lined up about 1230 on Sunday morning and man the line was huge!! The lady said it would be about a 30 min wait. Its funny they have a glass door they keep closed to keep all the starving people outside so they won't hover over tables.
Our number was finally called probably after 30-40 min and the 6 of us were seated. They have servers that drop off the food to you but no carts because everyone is packed in here! The restaurant has two large rooms and I believe a smaller room off to the side. You order all your dim sum items off the paper and then they start magically appearing!!!
A few items that we did order:
-Salted bone jook
-hai gow
-Tripe
-don tats (these were really good!)
-pork buns
For 6 people we paid about a little under $15 per person... not bad considering how many dishes we ordered. We all left full and satisfied. I definitely will come back for dim sum!
Amazing. Everything is so fresh -- especially the rice noodle rolls (cheong fun.) Waiting in line is long but worth it. And the prices weren't so bad compared to Gold Mountain, which is the place we usually go to.
I suggest arriving at 9:30 to stand in line.
I'll update this review once I've had dinner at this place, it looks impressive.
This place was okay. kerrie and I came here this mornin, a gorgeous Sunday morning and waited over an hour for a table for two. It was a gorgeous and hot (for me) day. There is a tiny woman who stands at the door yelling out numbers which are given to you once you put your name on the list, there WILL be a line. When we got there, she was yelling out "sei sahp mm hoh!" (that's 45). We were 81. I had a flashback from my days working in the internatational district.
As many have noted, once you are seated, a menu is laid on your table and you mark what you want as well as how many. I find this to be a little less effective for ordering EVERYTHING.
Now, I love weird foods, chicken feet, duck feet, etc. Kerrie and I said, "oh why not" to the marinated chicken paws. Not nearly as good as what I had hoped. Overall, the experience was fun, the restaurant is loud, service is about par with chinese restaurants, and the food was good, but I'm not sure I"d wait an hour again for it. The beef noodle roll dish was terrific.
I came here with my good friend Bry E. one beautiful Saturday morning at about 10:45. We waited an hour for a table for 2, so I can only imagine how long you have to wait with a bigger party. It only gets worse as they day gets later too.
I think like this "order off the menu" thing. It saves you from having to dodge carts and chase people around. Of course perhaps the uninitiated like to see what they're eating first, and it might require some more advanced planning. But for those with a plan, it's great.
Bry and I loved all the dishes, including this pumpkin thing we got. My only complaint is that some of the "gailan" was made of really big thick pieces. The whole point in getting this in a restaurant is so you can get the good small pieces!
Be prepared to wait at least half an hour for weekend dim sum, but rest assured that the wait is well worth it. Don't be scared off when the lady gives you #86 and starts calling #33. She skips around a lot (depending on party size). She also has an incredibly loud voice, which I guess is necessary when there are dozens and dozens of people milling around outside. But I swear you can hear her calling numbers from a block away.
You should order:
- Turnip cakes
- Crispy fried taro
- Shrimp wrapped in flat noodles
- Egg yolk bun (most of their other buns are quite good too)
- Egg custard tarts
- Sweet Tofu
The last two are exceptionally good versions of those items. The first time we came, we way over-ordered for 2 people (had 2 takeout containers with leftovers) and the bill still only came out to $15/person. Can't wait to go back.
Their dim sum is very delicious. One of my favorite places to go. The prices are a bit higher than your average place but it's because the food really is that much better. It's worth it, trust me.
They give you a piece of paper with all the dim sum listed on there and you just check off what you want. I do miss the old school days where the dim sum ladies push the little carts around and yell "haa gaw, siu mai!!" Ya know what I mean?
Dinner here is also yummy. You can tell they care a bit more about the appearance of the food. There are some unique dishes here. Will go again. :)
This place is always packed. We went last Friday for my buddy's birthday and the line was out the door. I left my cell phone # with the Hostess and we went down the street to have a cocktail. She called us in about 30 minutes. $69 dollar peking duck dinner is an unbelievable bargain. You get a whole peking duck, soup and a choice of 4 dishes. This feeds 4-5 people. No wonder this joint is jammed.
Better than average Chinese food out in the Richmond district.
Looks like at used to be a bar at some point in it's past.
Clean plates. Not greasy plates, that I've become accustom to.
Fresh vegetables. Bright green choy and snow peas.
Good flavors. Fresh garlic, nice.
We did dinner, not dim sum.
Didn't feel any MSG overload afterward either.
Thumbs up.
Prices also reasonable.
I think this is the best cantonese style restaurant that i've tried in the richmond. The restaurant is very well lit, with very soothing, appetite enhancing colors, and a 100% clean feel.
We tried the coffee pork ribs, which was interestingly good-- pork ribs subtly marinated in coffee, and deep fried to perfection. The peking duck was very good-- the duck skin was crispy and marinated so well the hoisin sauce wasn't needed. Other noteworthy dishes: the beef with enoki mushroom clay clot, dried scallop and mixed veggies and the braised eggplant. Everything was piping hot, fresh, and delicious- but not overbearing in flavor (i.e.MSG). The items on the menu are fairly well priced, with most dishes around $10. Seafood dishes are about $12-18.
Highly recommeded for families! I can't wait to try their dim sum.
Surprisingly, there aren't very many sit-down dim sum places out in this area so it's a little hard to compare it to others. We came here on a random Sunday afternoon and there were 5-6 families already outside of the restaurant waiting to be seated. Still, they said the wait would only be able 20-30 minutes. We just walked across the street because my roommate was craving coffee, so at least it's conveniently located next to other spots to chill out at. Didn't take too much longer than they said it would, and we were soon seated in the very back. Note, it really helps if you bring someone that speaks cantonese because you'll really have a hard time communicating with them. I almost wished this place had the carts that come by, but instead we just check off what we want on a list, almost like a to-go joint. I guess that's just personal preference, but i always like the liveliness of it.
Between four of us, I believe we ordered about 9-10 dishes. Everything was really good (in terms of the typical choices, siumai, hagow, etc.) except for one dish. I think it was either the turnip cake or taro, but either way, the consistency of it wasn't up to par with everything else they piled onto our table.
Price came out to be about $10/person so it wasn't too bad. I've definitely had better dim sum elsewhere, but not too close to where I live...surprisingly. If you can stand the wait, it's a nice place to stop by for good ol' dim sum.
Good variety and fresh Dim Sum at an affordable price. The lines are not long and the service is acceptable for a chinese place! Definitely worth trying and coming back!
We went here for my friend's rehearsal dinner & I really enjoyed it. First off, I've always wanted to eat somewhere my Chinese friends' families approve of AND to see what they'd order.
There was A LOT of food & I tried everything. Some standout dishes were the deep fried crab, the scallop/beef with bell peppers, coffee marinated short ribs (with whipped cream!), and the sea bass.
The only sad part was that I got full. I wish I could've kept on eating...in addition to the fact that the back room we were in was FREEZING.
Hong Kong Lounge is kind of a spin off of the flower lounge in the 90s. We've enjoy going to dinner there a lot when they first open and love the dishese there, the Peking duck combo is awesome, their soy source chicken is a must have item. We loved it so much that we had our son's red egg party there. Victor really take good care of us and Chef Louie is really really good and these days it's hard to find a good chef like him. They have a new (at least new to us ) dim sum chef there now, I believe he used to be the dim sum man in charge from east ocean in Emeryville so dim sum there is high quality. The only turn off for us is parking hard to find, forget about getting there at 7pm
even on weekdays, the place is packed and no parking nearby. Every time we are in the city, Hong Kong Lounge is the place of choice for dinner. 4.5 stars
The Verdict: "Great family style dishes with boat loads of flavor!"
I went here with a large group for my friend's pre-wedding dinner. This turned out to be a good idea because of the value, fast service and delicious family style dishes. We ordered a pre-fixed menu that was enough to feed 13...grown...people. It came with salted pepper shrimp, greens, sea bass, seafood stir fry, a sweet/coffee coated rib dish with whip cream, and much more. At the end of the meal, we got sliced oranges and my favorite - sweet bean/tapioca soup.
It was really busy on a Friday night at 8 pm and the place got really hectic. this is good for big groups, but probably not for a date scene unless you are pretty comfortable with the other person. Also, a lot of Asians go here so you know the food is up to par.
Since you can only street parking, finding a spot can be difficult.
Would I Recommend it? Yes, but be sure to know what you want when you go in since it's very fast-paced and the wait staff may not have the patience for indecisiveness.
Some of the best dim sum I've ever had. Reasonable prices, good selection and a nice atmosphere. Particularly memorable were the turnip cake, the vegetarian dumplings and the sweet chicken sticky rice, but everything was good.
Problems: (1) There was a tiny fly of some sort inside of the dumplings. (2) My tea cup was really dirty. (3) Our first dish (tofu skin) was lukewarm. (4) There was a 45-minute wait.
The quality of the food is very good here but it is a little pricey. But then again, maybe it is what we ordered. It was my mom's birthday so she splurged on the order.
We had a Set Menu for 4 that cost $138. It had 4 bowls of Supreme Shark's Fin Soup. Then you choose either Peking Duck or Lobster and then you choose 4 more dishes from a certain list of items. We ended up picking the Peking Duck and then we also ordered Lettuce Wraps, Pumpkin Beef Stew, Coffee Spareribs, Tiger Shrimp for the 4 items. We also added a couple more dished with the Crispy Fried Chicken and some Fish Ball appetizer.
As we started our meal, I was a little annoyed as the waitress we had kept trying to upsell. You could totally feel it. I mean we already ordered a pretty pricey set meal and then added a few dishes for our party of 5 but there were just little things I noticed. But I think that's what we get sometimes cause my mom looks like a target cause she's a food lover. But it's cool, other than that, the waitress was fine. I'm sure they probably train their staff a certain way here. It is a more classier type of Chinese Food joint.
If you ordered the Supreme Shark's Fin Soup a la carte, it would burn a 20 spot hole in your pocket for one bowl. But I will say they hook it up with the Shark's Fin here. The only two places I've had it where they really hook it up is Zen Peninsula in Millbrae and here.
The rest of the food, duck was okay. Not the best and not the worst I've had. A couple of the other dishes were pretty inventive. The Pumpkin Beef Stew, the tendons were very tender and then the coffee spareribs basically tasted like "candied" coffee spareribs. The coffee spareribs were not exactly my cup of tea but if you like sweet food, it might be for you.
The Crispy Fried Chicken here was very unique in that it was extremely tender. This is the most tender Crispy Fried Chicken I have ever had and by leaps and bounds.
All in all, it was a pretty good meal. $40 a person with tax and tip was the damage but I am sure you can cut that in half if you order some less expensive items.
I wouldn't mind coming here to try their dim sum as well but I am pretty sure they get really crowded here for dim sum since the dinner is pretty good here.
This is for dinner review only, I hear dimsum is better.
--water-crest soup - it was the soup of the day, and it was not bad, not too salty
--Hong Kong style ribs - This came very late, and it was ok; Not too much sauce, and the ribs were easy to eat
--Coffee ribs - This was not bad; it would be great if the meat falls off the bone like it suppose to
;) (Not being picky but we are real yelpers, right? ;)
--Dried scallop clear noodle pot -- won't order again, it hardly has any taste in it
--BBQ clay pot rice - it was not bad, there are actually some crusty rice; but I don't think this is their specialty
-- String beans - decent with a spicy kick to it
-- Black bean sauce stuffed 3 type of veggie -- it has egg tofu, which is unique
-- oyster sauce chicken fried noodle -- it was decent, but not too special; probably won't recommend
-- "Fugin" fried rice -- it's interesting.. it fried rice on bottom, and gravy type sauce on top..
-- onion stir fried lamb -- the lamb is quite good, not gamy
-- XO sauce clam - this was the best dishes, and the XO sauce was good
-- sweet green bean soup -- complementary which is good
They were very popular, and the place was full very quick.. Several tables had Peking duck, so it probably is a good dish
Pro:
Aside from the fact that this restaurant is less 20 blocks from house, this place is promising.
You know their dim sum is authentic when the outer skin of the shrimp dumplings (Ha gao) is lucid, but still retains its shape. Also the dim sum is usually hot as if they had just made them. Portions are good for the price.
To sum it up..the food is so good that I tend to over order each time I visit.
Noise level is good.
Con:
Crowd control can improve.
Expensive for dim sum. I come here fairly often with my mom. The quality of the dim sum, though, is among the best in San Francisco.
I'm a big fan of their baked BBQ pork buns. They polish the top with a bit of flour and sugar to give it a sugary, flaky crust.
I came here also for a graduation banquet. Typical Chinese banquet affair, we booked off the side room and had it to ourselves. All of the dishes were good. All I remember was starting off with a cold appetizer platter (jellyfish, beef shin, char siu), and then a host of other dishes appearing. They don't skimp on the meat either, like some cheapo restaurants, where they serve up a stirfry that's mostly vegetables.
I heard about this place today, while I was on the go. I wanted to take my mom and grandmother out for dim sum, and I got a IM while driving to another restaurant , and my friend told me to check out this place.. WOW. The food here is amazing. The price is parallel with the quality, and the place is clean.
The House Pan Fried Noodles are really good. Its saucy and still crunchy! Unlike a lot of places where its 50/50, this place does it right. I like how the noodles aren't super soggy, but its healthy between the both. The vegetables, seafood, and the meat were all very well prepared, and of good quality. Delicious
The dim sum was really good. Most traditional Chinese people are anal about the quality of the skin on a shrimp dumpling. If it falls apart then it sucks. If it's too thick.. it sucks. If it's too moist, it sucks. Well... this place "haa-gao" (shrimp dumpling), does not suck. The shrimp in it are big, and the quality of the skin is perfect. Transparent, and silky smooth.
Shuimai (pork dumpling) is just as good, the deep fried calamari was okay. The steamed pork buns, from my grandmas perspective, was really good.
Clean environment, and great food at a reasonable price.. so how's the service? -1 star. I understand when it's busy, but it shouldn't take 15 minutes to refill a pot tea with hot water. Or the chair next to my grandmother shouldn't be yanked and taken away without permission, especially when she wasn't even aware that it wasn't going to be taken. Sure, we didn't need it .. but the waiter came out of nowhere and violently pulled it away like he was going to bolt and run with it.
That is what ticked me off the most, but other than that. My family was happy, and so was my grandmother.
Okay, today was a great day of many! We had the pleasures of enjoying three wonderful meals and this is how it ended!
I have been here a few times before, knowing their Peking duck is good, brought the family to try the cultural foods of our beautiful city.
Upon entering, the Hostess askes if we got reservations, immediately I am thinking we are gonna have to wait an hour or so, but after telling her no we didn't, the Manager comes over and gives us a table in the back which is practically full. The five of us took a table for 10, felt kind of bad so we ordered to make up the difference. Not true, we ordered cause we saw what every other table had and we were drooling hard.
We checked out the menu and ordered the 64.99 special, Peking duck and 4 choices from below list, lettuce with squab meat, oysters with tofu and roasted pork in a clay pot, tofu with shrimp and broccoli and a coffee spareribs, yes, you read this correctly! It was a specialty of theirs, not bad at that. We also ordered a 2 lb fresh fish, steamed of course, a cold platter of delicious stuff such as jellyfish, bbq pork, roasted park and squid, this other plate of green beans with minced meat.
This was another delicious meal and to top this off, the service was impeccable! Now I never reward Chinese restaurants with great service, this was it! I always expect rude service and this place disappointed me tonite! LOL
Anyways, the all in all experience today was awesome and great! After this I will need to stop eating for 2 days at least just to settle my stomach from all those wonderful foods.
Three of us came here for dinner tonight, got there around 8:30pm, had a 15 minute wait, easy. Sat… Read more »
if you go to a Chinese restaurant and there's Chinese people lined up waiting for the door to open--you know its good. Came here at 9:45am on a Sunday morning and there were about 30 people waiting in line for the door to open at 10am. By 10:15am, the restaurant was filled up and there were more people waiting outside. Their dim sum is pretty good. I get dan tat every time I eat dim sum and although it wasn't the mini dan tat that I usually like--their regular sized dan tat was pretty good. The crust was warm, flaky, and not too thick. The custard was light and fluffy. not too runny, not too firm.
I've had dinner here a few times too. Not too greasy all at.
Order the deep fried salted egg crab dish. its delish here!
I had Sunday dinner with my friends this Sunday at the Hong Kong Lounge. We ordered the 4 people special where you get the soup of the day and choice of lobster or Peking duck and then 4 dishes. I thought the lobster was too small and the soup was a little lacking in flavor. However, the four main dishes we choose was quite good. We had the following:
1. Coffee flavored pork ribs - was quite delicious, very fatty.
2. Soy sauce chicken was the standard fare and not bad.
3. The lettuce cups with chicken stuffing was OK. I thought it was a little dry since they use the white meat.
4. The Chinese cabbage was the best of the four dishes we ordered since it was in real pork/chicken?? broth and was still crunchy.
We did ordered the crunchy skin pork belly that everyone was raving about. I thought it was good, not great since the pork was a little tough which means they didn't cook the meat enough to render out more of the fat in the pork belly meat.
Overall, for the price we paid at $30 each including tips I thought it was acceptable not terrific value. I might try their Dim Sum to see if that lived up to their reputation. I think if I were ordering alone I might have ordered some of the more expensive dishes which might make it more standout! Alas, to get along is to go along :-)
This restaurant had a recent change in ownership and was newly remodeled. They also have a new dim sum, lunch and dinner menu. I'm not sure if the chef is the same or not. BF and I came here on a Thursday morning at 11:00 and the restaurant was already full with about 15 people on line waiting ahead of us. The waitress told me that the wait would be at least an hour. I wanted to leave until I noticed a couple of people ahead of us leaving the line, so we bumped up a few spots and the wait should probably be quicker...NOT! We didn't get seated until an hour and a half.
We ordered our usual:
Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf
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Steamed Chicken Feet With Black Bean Sauce
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Steamed Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce
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Steamed Beef Meatballs
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Beef Rice Crepe Roll
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Shrimp Dumplings
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The Shrimp Dumplings were huge with lots of shrimp inside. The skin was thin and perfect. The Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf had a lot of minced meat in it, and if they actually put in a salty egg yolk, it would have been perfect. Steamed Chicken feet and Steamed Beef Meatballs were average, Steamed Spare Ribs were too fatty, I mean REALLY fatty. Beef Rice Crepe was pretty good.
I guess overall, the food was descent. Service was good and attentive. Our waiter changed our plates, filled our water and tea constantly. The wait for a table was ridiculous for a weekday morning. The price was reasonable. I will come back for dim sum only if there's no line.
Went here with a friend for dim sum. It was fantastic. Oh my god, fantastic. I have never had a baked pork bun that was so light and tender. Oh, help me Elvis, I may have to eat here every day. My friend and I were the only 2 Caucasian people when we arrived, which, at some other restaurants has meant that I am on my own as far as figuring out the culture, so to speak, at HKL, they pleasantly answered my questions and helped me order (they don't come out with carts and trays, you order what you want by writing it on the one sheet paper menu you get on your table -- one nice waiter was kind enough to lend me his pen, but you might want to bring your own). All around pleasant atmosphere, fantastic dim sum, and, believe me, I will be going back.
We have taken our food adventures to SF. Upon arrival yesterday late afternoon via OAK, we had dinner plans with my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins at HK lounge in Richmond. I am rating the dinner food not dim sum, which it looks like its served here during the day...
We ordered some of our favorites like: peking duck, salt and pepper calamari, clay pot rice, red snapper filets, some fried mini fish thingy, slow cooked soup, ketchup shrimp...I think thats everything..
Service sucked which is..normal so I'm not applying that to the rating.
Overall the food was pretty decent...it was satisfying to eat some favorites to kick off the foodie eating vacation in SF.
They take reservations so you can call ahead and not have to wait in the massive line that is seen outside the door.
Simply put, the best dim sum restaurant in San Francisco, hands down. Better than Koi Palace, better than Hong Kong East Ocean, better than South Sea Seafood Village, better than Yank Sing. When you see a line of 50 (mostly) Chinese people waiting outside for half an hour before it opens, you know that this place is going to be damn good. To avoid disappointment, you really need to be there at least 10-15 minutes before opening, otherwise you could be waiting for an hour or more. Be warned!
I don't have one of their menus in front of me, but here's the dishes that stand out:
* Above all, try the baked pork buns. Even in HK itself, this is an uncommon dim sum. In the past I've only seen it at a couple places in the Shenzhen area, across the border from HK. It's like a French-style baked bun (instead of the usual steamed kind) and the sauce in the pork is much different than any other dim sum place you'll try in this city. It doesn't scream BBQ sauce. The taste is very light and airy. May God bless whoever invented these! :)
* Instead of the regular sui mai, get the version with shrimp, pork, and dried scallop -- it's even better.
* The beef brisket noodle dish. Tender and delicious.
* Any of the clay pots are excellent -- we've tried several of them.
* Not sure what exactly it's called on the menu, I think perhaps onion pancake or onion house cake. It's thicker than the usual version and absolutely wonderful.
* This is more of a dinner item, but the coffee short ribs are also excellent. An unusual combination of flavors, but it works!
But absolutely, absolutely make sure you don't leave this place without trying those baked pork buns!
I've been there for dinner once (had one of the set menus with the Peking duck) and to be honest I wouldn't rave about it, it was just good. So my 5 stars is for the dim sum only.
Went there for dinner last Saturday. Ordered the $238 banquet menu, which is OK. The Soy chicken was to the dry side, and the steamed fish was over-steamed. It was packed, and we waited 15 minutes for a one bowl of rice. I recommend not to use their banquet menu, and select 8 dishes off the menu, that would cost 1/2 the price. ($100) Wisht I sat in table #2, Peking Duck, Steak cubes, Walnut Prawns, Mongolian Beef, Sweet & Sour pork, Greens, Crab, Soup. We brought 2 bottles of wine and they now charge $15 per table, (before was free) so bring 6 bottles for 1 table, and just pass the glass down. :)
The killer part is, after everyone was satisfied with their food, before exiting, made a stop and in both the Men & Women, we all witnessed that every waitresses and waiters who took a piss & dump, did not wash their hands!!! They all walked straight out from the toilet like it was normal! i was disgusted and almost stormed to let the Manager know of this, but, if they all didn't, I'm sure the Manager don't wash either!! I am disgusted how nasty one can be!! I had to report this to the Health Department!
There are a few Chinese Restaurants that my family frequents and Hong Kong Lounge has become a rising star. First off, I haven't had their Dim Sum, I usually go there for dinner with a large party of at least 12+. The wait can be atrocious but we always have a reservation.
5 Stars with a caveat. Every Chinese Restaurant that I know and love all have signature dishes that are done extremely well. Sometimes there are other dishes on the menu that are just OK and some could be taken off altogether. Regardless, I'll base my rating off of the usual deliciousness that we partake in on a regular basis.
Hong Kong Lounge maintains 5 stars for freshness. Their food is clean, not overly greasy and always well prepared.
When it comes to Chinese restaurants I usually don't give a rat's a$$ about their service due to the fact that the culture is different especially those bourgeois HK jerks J/K, although HK Lounge does have decent service. Not every restaurant can be Tommy Toys (RIP). One thing all diners need to understand is that if you need something, get the waiter's attention b/c they will NOT come by your table and ask if everything is OK.
Now for my fav dishes:
1. Mushrooms w/Tomago Tofu: I think there are at least 4 different types of mushrooms. Savory, rich, buttery mushrooms... mmmm... Tomago Tofu: silky, melt-in-your-mouth, can you say salivation? If you like mushrooms this is a must have, if you like tofu this is a must have. I grew up on Tofu but Tomago Tofu expanded my Tofu world to another dimension.
2. Peking Duck w/Bao: Great dish done right. There was another article on HK Lounge's Peking Duck, apparently it's well known. Not much else to say.
3. Fried Squid: Just had this dish, it was VERY good. I usually reserve ordering Fried Squid only at Empero Taste but this was just as good, maybe a little bit better. BTW the tentacles are the best part.
4. Clay Pot w/ Chinese Bacon and Lop Cheong (Chinese Sausage): This is a good home-style clay pot in which the Bacon and Lop Cheong flavor the rice. Old schoolers love the crispy rice edges.
5. Salt & Pepper Shrimp with Salted Duck Egg: OMG, what a delicious combination. I never would have guessed that Salted Duck Egg is amazing with seafood. I usually like Salted Duck Egg in my jook and Pork Hash but damn... Salted duck egg is kind of an acquired taste so you may not want to order this unless you know you like it. The shrimp were large and plump almost like mini lobster tails. Awesome dish! I saw another yelper that ordered the Salted Duck Egg with Crab, I will definitely try that next time.
6. Dau Miao (Pea Sprouts) w/Garlic: I order this everywhere I go. The ownder must know the premier dealer in Pea Sprouts b/c it's extra tasty @ HK Lounge.
There are many more dishes that are solid but these are my favorite. Highly recommended but remember to make a reservation when you can.
So..........we came here again on Wednesday for their dim sum because my friend said that their dim sum is similar to that of Koi Palace in Daly City. (I think the only thing that these two restaurants had in common was the service, that arrogant, patronizing attitude). He was very adamant about coming here although I have told him that my last experience here was terrible. Brushing me off and telling me that their coffee spare ribs and their sweet tofu was the best here. Coffee spare ribs at a dim sum house??? After waiting for half an hour, I asked .....are you sure you want to continue to wait? He is one of those type of guys where if he sees a line outside...........he is quick to assume that it has to be good. We waited another 10 minutes for our table and then we finally got seated after waiting for 40 minutes.
We ordered
siu mai (was decent)
shrimp roll (never showed)
coffee spare ribs (hhahaha)
sweet tofu ( this was a big bowl and the texture was a little chalky)
shrimp and chive dumpling( was too chewy)
We waited another half an hour before our first order came which was the siu mai. We waited another 10 minutes and then the coffee spare ribs came. Waited another 15 minutes then the sweet tofu came but my friend wanted to have it for dessert so it was left there on the side. Then the shrimp and chive came after another 10 minutes. The shrimp roll never made it and at this point we were very angry.
We noticed on some of the other tables that they were having the same issues. There was a table in front of us that had to pack their food and eat at the same time because it looked like they only had an hour lunch and I know for a fact that this place will take over an hour to complete. The funny part was that there was a party that just arrived that got our shrimp roll pretty quick. hahhahah. I am usually not the type of guy that says I told you so...............so I am going to say it..........I told you so Ben L, you dumb ass!!!!
Oh......this is the guy that always tips 30% regularly. The total bill was 18 dollars so he gave a hundred to the waiter. I jokingly asked.........Do you want change? hahahahah. His response was priceless. When the change came back.......he left one dollar. The food and service were terrible but the experience was comical.
Maybe they had an off day or something but this place sucks. I know they are usually pretty… Read more »
i just went there today during lunch time....TOO MANY PEOPLE!!! the entrance is too small.....
but the food was not too bad beside the chicken feet (fung zhao). customer service is average. food are pretty fresh and hot....can't be the best, but not too bad~
OOO man.... I love this place.... came here the other day and it makes me realize that there arent much places that are as good as this in SF....
This is pretty good; probably the best i have had in a long long time.
Came here today with my mom…
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I thought this was fabulous dim sum. We arrived at 11:15 on a Wednesday for lunch and the line was already out the door. We waited about 40 minutes and were treated very nicely by the staff as we waited. We were clearly the only non-Asian couple in the restaurant and they made sure we were being helped and explained the wait to us.
I thought several of the items were excellent the steamed and baked pork buns were incredible and someone suggested the salty pork bone porridge and it was a huge bowl of steamy goodness. The sticky rice was just average. The dumplings however were top notch with large pieces of whole shrimp inside not the typical pieces or mini shrimp mix. I would definitely go back.
Be warned, however, go early or be prepared to wait!
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
Category: Dim Sum
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Inner Richmond
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
Category: Dim Sum
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
Category: Thai
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