Yuet Lee
1300 Stockton Street
(at Broadway St)
San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 982-6020
- Hours:
Mon, Wed-Sun 11:00 a.m.-3:00 a.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: Late Night
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
26 reviews
Neighborhood: Marina/Cow Hollow
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154 Reviews for Yuet Lee
Great late night grub after the bars close... I always come with a group and it's generally $15 a head so it's more expensive than a burrito but worth the price at 2:30am!
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Was eatting with a couple of friends and I swear to God...........I saw one of the biggest cockroaches ever. This roach fell from the ceiling and landed on my friends head.........then it flew to the chow fun before the waiter grabbed it with her hands. I know restaurants have roach issues but this thing was huge!!! Luckily we were almost done.
The food is ok but it's really not worth the money. Their fried calamari is good but that's about it. Everything else you can probably get at D and A lounge, half a block down, for half the price and it's just as good or better. Man...............that roach still bothers me. Lusty lady and then this place. It was not a good nite.
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$6.00 minimum charge without a credit card! STEP OFF MY SHIT!
Just because Jackie Chan ate here and Emeril Lagasee kinda diversified the clientele, it doesn't mean you do charges like that.
Your won ton soup was mediocre, the dumplings were falling apart, the noodles were too thin; please, I've seen penis hairs that were thicker than those. Wait, what? The beef with bok choy over rice had no flavor, bland, even though you told me it had MSG. Damnit, if I'm going to be plugging my arteries with fake flavoring, it might as well be ALL IN.
EFF YOU.
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Yuet Lee is a restaurant that has people dining even on a weeknight at 10:30pm. The food is pretty good and decently affordable. Certainly not the best Chinese I've ever had, but better than many in the area. Sweet and sour pork is the way to go. Fried deliciousness in I also love the pork and shrimp fried rice. Other dishes on the menu are mediocre/standard: the soups are ok, the tofu with mushrooms and bok choy tastes like every stir fry I've ever made at home, pot stickers are good because they are fried, and the service is fast. It does not surprise me to hear there are cockroaches in the basement, but I'll still eat/get takeout from here when I want some good fried rice.
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ANOTHER CHEAP DRUNK FOOD SPOT
drunk? hungry? near broadway? baller on a budget? feet hurt and need to rest bar hopping? yah this is the place for you. I've been here once after the bar hopping on broadway. chinese food was good for what you pay for. Always a packed place after the clubs. Just make sure what they serving you is really beef.
http://sanfrancisco.me...
This place doesnt get good reviews with me because it is quite expensive for chinese food. I was upset when they told me it was 8 bucks for an order of tong choy. SO i learned my lesson and just walk to the middle of the block and go to D and A.
But i give the owner props because he does make a killing and they have joong there, the sticky rice and meat.
The very first time I ever visited San Francisco was Christmas of 1985. At the time I was seeing a guy who lived in the Bay Area. That very first trip sealed my love affair with the city and I vowed that one day I would live there.
On that very first visit, my then boyfriend took me to Yuet Lee. I remembered thinking how authentic the food was and how much I enjoyed it considering I'd been living in Eugene Oregon and they're definitely not known for their great Asian food.
Fast forward 13 years and I'm living in the Bay Area and of course Yuet Lee is one of those restaurants where you know you'll always find something comforting. My favorite is to get the eggplant claypot or the chicken, salted fish and tofu claypot. These 2 dishes always seem to make the day seem brighter.
I don't usually go to Chinatown when I'm in search of great Chinese food. The Sunset district seems to house more authentic establishments. To me, only tourists go to eat in Chinatown, however, there are still one or two places which will satiate your tummy as well as your palate without emptying your wallet. Yuet Lee is one of those places.
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don't get stuck in the basement seating.. what ever you do don't go down there. it's roach infested. If it's full upstairs..wait for an open table. I still like the food.. but I think their prices keep creeping up higher, due to all you tourists!! lol. I don't eat in chinatown too much just because it's dirty. yuet lee is one of those places when you don't feel like exploring and settle because you know your gonna get a decent flavorful product.
As with all Chinese restaurants I stay away from most beef dishes because they tenderize it to the point of beyond regonition because they use cheap cuts of beef.
We ordered the spicy beef, spinach, and some soup noodles. All were pretty good, but the service is terrible.
Food arrives quickly and the spicy stuff was good, but the servers act like they rather be doing anything else.
Its just ok. Cheap and open late which are pluses.
Even if Jackie Chan, Nicholas Cage and Emeril ate here- are/were they returning customers?
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Dropped by while walking around Chinatown showing a tourist the local area. We were starving and needed some sustenance, STAT! And we were not disappointed. We ordered some cheap eats: noodles, poridge, and rice plates and they showed up in a flash. I got the pork ribs with black bean and it hit the spot. Maybe I should ask for more spice next time I'm here.
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Ate here again this past Sunday and the salt and pepper squid was a little overcooked. First off night in at least seven years. I've never ordered the stuff that the other people are complaining about. I wouldn't be at all suprised if it sucked.
I stick with the salt and pepper squid, clams in black bean sause, sturgeon with bean sprouts and chives, fishball and seaweed soup. The on choy with shrimp paste is also good (basically kangkung terasi - I heard the owner is from Singapore). The other things I've tried randomly have been mediocre to average.
It's basically a dive and I love it for that. So long as you don't go on weekend nights, there's always a spot in that fortune cookie parking garage across from the police station.
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all i know is that I'm always hella faded everytime that i'm in here, it seems to be the only place still open for decent chinese food on the late night after partying..
Mmm. This place is so delicious. I tried my favorite Ong choy with garlic and I was just in heaven the entire time.
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When you are hungry in the middle of the night and you find yourself near Chinatown or after getting out of the strip clubs, the place to eat good Chinese food is Yuet Le. My favorite dish is Perkin Spare Ribs with extra cilantro and extra sauce. Mmm. Delicious only if you pour some sauce on top of the steam rice and mix it up with soy sauce and spicy chili. I only come for this dish here. I have tried pretty much everything but only stick with the above dish. The fried rice is okay..
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Definitely in the upper echelon of late night dining choices in the North Beach / Chinatown area, or anywhere for that matter. Also a good choice if you find yourself in North Beach on a weekend night and don't feel like waiting an hour for mediocre Italian, as the dinner crowds are usually not overwhelming.
You don't come here for the chow mein, general's chicken, cashew chicken, or other such bland Americanized fare. You come here for the seafood (can't miss the salt and pepper squid or the clams in oyster sauce!), or perhaps that Peking spare ribs or the yummy sauteed greens!
No complaints about the service: the waiters are actually remembering us and our favorite dishes. Maybe I should be slightly afraid...
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It was 2am. I'd met this wonderful new boy some weeks before online. On our second date, we went to a film festival and had the munchies late that night. So, he took me to Yuet Lee. The lime green decor & diner feel of the place reminded me of some other late night eating excursion in NYC's East Village or in [fill in your choice of the many fine NJ diner establishments here]. I don't remember what we ate, but it was all good! Little did I know that this place was a litmus test of my coolness. It's been seven years, so I guess I passed. Of course, we've gone back, but not enough times. Can't get enough of those naughty Peking spare ribs! Mmm... spare ribs.
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My good friend and I went to the city after seeing "Glutton for Punishment" on food network to hunt for some good noodle dishes. Actually we were looking for some real Hong-Kong style homemade noodles like the show...ones you can see being made through the front window. But no luck...we guessed SF just doesn't have any joints like that. So we decided to just eat at this place since he saw the reviews on the front of the entrance. I must say this is probably the best chinese food I have ever had. We got a seat right away and the service was quick. Kind of "what do you want and here it is...no bullshit" type of service. We first ordered the noodle soups (him fishball and me roast duck) which were okay. My friend actually thought it was ramen soup so he kept saying, "Can't you get this at Foodmax at 10 for a dollar." It was funny but he was right...so we ended up ordering the Shredded pork with pan fried crispy noodles. Gosh, this was freaking good. I think that made us change our minds about the place. Just that dish alone was great.
The only con was the bathroom...I think there were major body fluids on the floor so I had to do some acrobats to use the toilet and not get contaminated. Otherwise, at the prices, it was pretty good. I would suggest getting the noodles pan fried and crispy...so delicious! I had the leftovers earlier and they were extremely good. Also, the menu is pretty decent...lots of different choices that I usually don't see on a chinese restaurant menu.
I heard they are open late...could be great for drunken nights with your friends or an afternoon lunch. Someone said there were chinese mobsters downstairs?? I don't think it should be a problem...you're pretty quick to eat and go here. So no one will hassle you into playing mah jong against your will.
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O.K. so I ate here 14 years ago and never went back. I know, it's ridiculous to review a restaurant based on a meal 14 years ago, but you got to hear this:
1994: I noticed a lot of people eating a noodle dish with clams, so I ordered it also. When it arrived I noticed some empty clam shells. No big deal. Then I noticed that all the clam shells were empty, and all the clams were free-floating, and you could tell the clams were canned, because the were all exactly the same size and same shape. None of the clam shells had that piece of meat known as the foot.
Basically they were mixing canned clams with shells to make it seem like the clam had once been in the shell. I.e. To make it look like the clams in your bowl had once been in the shells in your bowl. LOL. And of course that means they probably recycled the clam shells when they came back into the kitchen. They were likely running the clam shells through the Hobart dishwasher and reusing them! LOL. That was 14 years ago, the place has probably changed.
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This place was awesome. Seafood was so fresh and taste was perfect. We ate so much. I think the waiters were staring and laughing at us. Great chinese seafood restaurant. Sat down pretty quickly. Parked a bit far though in a pay lot since it was raining and since there's like no parking close by.
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where else can you go and get chinese food that is great and 1am?? Yuet Lee! Try the chicken chow mein and the wonton- very good- but they raised the prices!
Very tasty!
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4.5 Stars out of 5. Excellent quality for SF Chinatown, one of the filthiest, rat infested Districts in SF.
The juk was good here, but this isn't place to go to for juk. I had a beef juk and they were generous with the cilantro. Yum! I once had a crab dish pronounced something like "'bae foeng tong" which is "Chiu Chau" style which is very good. I hate crab (unless it's softshell) because it takes too much effort to eat. This is the only crab I look forward to eating. It's fried and has a quasi-tempura like coating to it.
The wonton noodle soup was very good. What impressed me about it were the freshness of the noodles.
This is the best late night Chinese restaurant in SF Chinatown. Very good quality and reliable.
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Brought our own liquor for a private feast in the basement. It helps to be friendly with staff. Great seafood, crab legs and oysters were great. Roasted duck was a treat. Open late for a good late run of Chinese food near Broadway.
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I was craving Chinese food one night and was pointed in the direction of Yuet Lee and Hing Lung (two doors down) by a resident SF homeboy and Warriors fan - Dikshun.
He shared this little spot and noted that their Chow Fun was pretty tasty, "oh and better than the Chow Fun at Hing Lung". You know what they say, "when in Rome..." and so I ordered half of my dinner from Yuet Lee and the other half from Hing Lung.
Beef Chow Fun - not bad. Not the best I've had but it was good.
Chinese broccoli braised in oyster sauce - pretty good. Fresh and not to oily.
I can see how the late night crowd loves this joint. It's pretty big as restaurants in this area go. So you're likely to find seating. It's close to North Beach and open late. The dinner crowd at 6 pm on a Friday seemed authentically Chinese (always a good sign). The dishes I had here were way better than Sam Wo's... but you can't be the crazy Kung Fu theater like experience of eating at Sam Wo's.
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I've been coming here since I was a child. So let me warn you: I might be a little biased.
It's hard to miss the shocking green exterior, and I appreciate the fact that Yuet Lee is open till late at night. The crisp salt-and-pepper squid alone is worth the trip. There is an imposing fish tank as you enter the restaurant, but don't let that mean that you MUST have the seafood. Personally (and I hope I don't get slammed for this), I usually don't go with the seafood. I usually stick with the broccoli with oyster sauce, beef chow fun, and as I mentioned above, the salt-and-pepper squid.
Do not, and I mean it, DO NOT come here expecting glamorous fantastic service by the wait staff. You come here for the food, hands down. The wait staff does not fuck around: they bring your food once it's ready and they do it with one word answers.
That doesn't bother me, in fact, it's something I've grown to appreciate.
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Heard wonderful things about this spot, always walked by... finally checked it out one night after the bars. We got seated downstairs, which was kind of hole in the wall-ish. We ordered many dishes, including fried rice, noodle dishes, a beef and radish dish, etc. Service was eh, the food was pretty good. I don't know about coming here sober, but drunk it was extremely lovely.
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Stardate...February 26...4:18am...spent a quiet Monday night with a few friends having take-out Italian from Buca di Beppo's and in the midst of writing the review I get a phone call from my infamous jeweler neighbor Khoren..."...uhhh you seem to have a lot of light on in your place..." followed by me saying "...are you outside my door? do you wanna have a drink?"
Three quarters bottle of Grants scotch whisky later around 2:10am we called a taxi to pick us up to head out for some good ol' "solid" chinese greasy food to soak up some 40 proof out of our system.
This called for some spare ribs with black bean sauce over rice, prawns with crispy pan fried chow mein, and a side order of salt & pepper prawns w/ soy sauce and as much sliced jalapenos as you have left in the place! There's nothing like GOOD-greasy (yes there is a difference b/t greasy and "good" greasy) chinese food late at night after some significant EtOH consumption. Yuet Lee opens til 3am and never disappoints when you need some gastric filler. And, if you know the owner, you can order the "special" tea that's served cold w/ a hint of "hops & barley."
Well, I've gotta be up in 2 1/2 hours to shower and freshen up and head to the airport for my 8:30am flight to Santa Barbara so I'll wrap it up here. Catch you on my next review from the central coast wine country!
Normally on an ordinary schedule like everybody else, Matt will never eat anything past 8pm. But after attending and watching the Warrior's game at Oracle Arena, in which they won, Matt has used ALL his energy to cheer for his home basketball team. Matt was here way past his dinnertime.
Matt landed at one of Emeril's favorite Chinatown restaurant, who by coincident lost one of his shows earlier in the week. The corner Chinese Restaurant was quiet, with a few people dining and wrapping up their meal for the night.
Matt was in the mood for some greasy and oily, but popular Beef Chow-Fun (Dry Style). The $6.00 dish is slightly more than other neighboring Chinatown Restaurant, and with a soothing cup of tea, the noodle-plate was good enough to refuel his lost energy sustained from the basketball game.
There are many restaurants in the North Beach/Chinatown area, but Matt was very fortunate to find parking in front of this corner dining location. Hey, The Warriors won, front parking, and a solid meal, can you ask for a better night?
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This place is a landmark and if you know what to order you'll be peaslently surprised. The shrimp and eggs are good if tyou ask them to prepare the eggs so that they are not runny. But ther are millions of dishes to choose from Ramsey would go nuts looking at the menu but hey this is different kind of place. Got to to go there at least once to expirinece what it's like and I'll tell you one thing I'm going back.
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1 star for opening late.
If I could help it, I would rather hit Cable Car pizza, Hing Lung half a block down, or the Vietnamese hole in the wall further down Broadway.
The food is way too fatty and salty. The salt and pepper fried pork was all fat. The other protein was not any better. Every dish was full of grease.
Prices were a bit steep for this type of joint. $6 for a porridge and $8 for a fried rice for a place that has dirty cooks doing who knows what in the back, jaded servers that have super attitude, and no ambience, these prices are not "San Francisco" prices or "inflation" prices either.
There is also some creepy feeling that there is a whole floor downstairs of Chinese mobsters.
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Yuet Lee... A place of consistency. I have never been sober at Yuet Lee. Timayyyyy is always behind the counter. Peter is always on the floor. The food is always incredible.
I don't know what any of it is called, they always order for us. I've walked in there multiple times, intent on ordering my whole meal, but usually as soon as i look at the menu I give up. It's huge, and you won't see many familiar dishes. We always break down and let Timmy take care of us. I think we always get a little VIP treatment too because we know some people, and Timmy knows we're all chefs. Every dish I have tasted out of that kitchen has been on point. That tends to mean someone is watching I think. We also always say hi to Timmy, and he always gives us a special look. A look that says "oh great, you assholes again, I can't stand you but I'm gonna have to send you eight courses of incredible food out of respect for our mutual friends." Got to love Chinese culture.
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One of my favorite holes in Chinatown, but easy to find when your drunk on any late night. They are open to about 3am. Try the Flounder w/ bok choy, or the crispy fried chow mein w/ prawn. Those are two of my fav's. There can be a little bit of a wait when they are busy, but its not too bad. The ambiance aint anything to write about, lino floors and lots of green motif, but hey thats there favorite color.
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I heard this place was good. They have all these reviews posted on their window...which are probably from 1945! I can't imagine anyone would want to eat there. Granted, I love me a good hole in the wall if the food is good!
Ok, please don't serve jook if you don't know how to make it. I mean, c'mon, not that hard to cook rice until it's mushy. This stuff tasted nasty and on top of that, it was all clumpy. TERRIBLE! I was expecting the won ton soup to at least be decent...the won tons were OK but the broth was even worse than the jook. It had a weird taste and I almost believe they forgot the MSG! So disappointed to have gone to another Chinese restaurant in the middle of CHINATOWN and it be horrible! I can get better won ton soup at Andy's - which is in the middle of white folk town!
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Another joint I've been going to for many years. And I'm usually drunk when I go there and it's probably between the hours of 1-3 am.
My dish of choice is the chicken with abalone over rice. I don't know if they use real abalone, but the rice plate does taste good.
There are pics of celebs in the place and one that I remember is the Yankee's Hideki Matsui who should be our new left fielder for the Giants next season. There has been rumors in the Japanese papers the last week or so according to my Mother, but I haven't seen anything on the internet to substantiate the claim.
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I was told that the crab is the dish to get here, unfortunately we didn't get it. Instead we got bbq pork won ton, beef chow fun, and chicken kung pao sauce.....I think the food was just ok. I'm giving it 2 stars although I will go back for the crab so my rating may change on my next visit. I do think this place is worth trying again.
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Another throw back favorite of mine for simple reasons. Good family style Chines food. Open late - I've been here for more than ANY other spot, after the bars close, and a great location, just off Broadway outside the tunnel and before the drop into North Beach. I could also add that the element of the fish tanks is always cool with me for dining Chinese.
I've been here once, and the food was fine.
The reason I refuse to revisit this late night favorite is because my ex once went out with his friends, stumbled in here completely wasted and gracefully barfed in a bowl of noodles.
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The city offers many options for the starving person, who leaves the bar/club/party/art show/ whathaveyou once the announcement for 'last call' has been heard and he/she stumbles outside into the cold wondering where they should go to soak up all the nectar that was consumed from the previous hours of debauchery. From liquids to solids, where to go?.....theres the typical pizza joints, the crepe spot i kindof ?enjoy on 11th...and other cafes of sorts around downtown.....,
but if your looking for something that taste good sober or not, a place that is filling, and food that is good to 'soak up' the 'mixed' juices..look to this famous location where pictures of greats like "jean claude van damm'' standing with the chef hangs on the wall along side other pictures of notable celebrities......
a destination i would want to go to even when im not in the city,... there have been times where i have craved this place at 2 a.m when im at home in the east bay...and drove out there....just to get some food....
The decor is what it is...but service has always been fast and simple and the food speaks for itself....try the calamari......
I've eaten here more than once, even because this place is open until 3am, there aren't too many restaurants you can actually eat good food this late in San Francisco, five star to that.
The problem is that the food is not consistent, sometime is superb and some other time is mediocre. But the seafood soup with tofu...you can always count on that.
The lightening is very bright, so, especially if you go there late, is a little annoying .
The service is very fast, but not a minimum of interaction.
Good prices.
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I have been dining here for many years. It was the place to go after a show at Tom Guido's Purple onion. I find myself here for lunch and late night dinner in North Beach/Chinatown. They have a fish tank so you can get really fresh fish dishes.
Perfect for groups.
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