Begoni Bistro — Restaurant in San Francisco

The food here is fresh and clean. Not gresy or saturate in sauce or overcooked, but well prepared and presented.

We had scallion pancakes that were crispy and delicate, not soggy or chewy were delicious. Along with those, we had soup dumplings and chicken wings for appetizers. The soup dumplings came in little aluminum tins that the dumplings stuck to the bottom of, so none of us were successful getting the dumplings out without tearing the bottom and having the soup remain in the tin. It would have been nice if the dumplings had slid out whole so we could experience them exploding when we ate them. They were certainly tasty and drinking the soup from the tin was a nice finish to the bite, just not all together as it should have been.

The wings were great, and even though they were served with a couple of Szechuan peppers in the sauce, they weren't at all spicy, which was exactly what I wanted, so they were perfectly seasoned for me. They looked like they were going to be overcooked, but they were tender and not dry. I have no complaints about the wings, but if they had been taken out of the fryer, maybe 45 seconds to a minute quicker, I think they would have been a little more plump and juicy.

We also had the string beans which were a table favorite, well seasoned and perfectly cooked.

The mains were the Peking duck and sweet and sour beef, which were both delicious and perfectly cooked.

The Peking duck was expertly presented and came with the usual accompaniments of plumb sauce, julienne cut vegetables, and fluffy pillowy buns to wrap each delicious bite in like little savory tacos with a slightly sweet back end. They were fun and delicious, a definite recommend if you visit. The duck was perfect, moist, juicy, flavorful, and tender, and of course that skin.... that crispy, salty skin, exactly what you would hope for in a thin and perfectly crispy bite.

The beef dish was tasty. I picked at the large slices of mushrooms that were left but didn't have the beef cubes, but my colleagues very much enjoyed them, I was just too full from everything else and didn't want to overeat.

We had two starches, a beef, pork, and shrimp lo mein, and a shrimp fried rice. Both were pretty standard, but I really appreciated that the lo mein wasn't greasy and the rice wasn't over seasoned. As a matter of fact I added a little soy sauce to mine, which gave it the perfect amount of salt and sweetness, and I chased every last grain around my plate with my chopsticks.

The wait staff were lovely, pleasant, and attentive, the perfect blend of helpfulness and background work while clearing plates and ensuring we had everything we needed.

The overall ambiance was clean and bright, well lit, so not dark for a romantic dinner for two, but perfect for a medium-sized group to share plates and speak comfortably because the restaurant acoustics made it easy to chat without hearing the rest of the diners trying to talk over each other.

Great experience; make the trek deep into the heart of Chinatown and enjoy the shops along the way until you land at this gem for a great evening with friends and great food.

Beer and wine are abundant, to include sake, but no hard...

Ohaaay look what's (sorta) new in the neighborhood! As a huge fan of Le Soleil, it's nice that I don't have to drive all the way across the city now to get my French-Viet fix! Or, rather, that I can at least curb my desire for it with a reasonable alternative, because Le Soleil sets an awfully high bar.

Having been here a couple times now, I've tried the shaken beef (because that's always a must at any French-Viet place), cumin lamb, and pork chops, all of which were quite delicious and surprisingly tender. The first two were prepared in similar fashion, cubed and seasoned. And while super flavorful, I had made the mistake of ordering both with garlic noodles - not a mistake because the noodles weren't good, but rather, because both dishes were a bit on the too-salty side for me. Lesson learned: order with plain, white rice the next time around!

Portions may be a little on the smaller side when compared to the neighboring restaurants, but I've found them to be more than enough for leftovers. And, with the great service, and a menu that they plan to change from time to time, there's plenty to look forward to! So, thank you friend who first suggested this because she thought Capital Restaurant looked too "sketchy."

Accessibility Info

Venue - Surprisingly upscale and modern looking for a Chinatown restaurant, and spacious to boot. Plenty of spacing between seating makes the place quite accessible.

Bathroom - Haven't tried,...

Begoni huddles up together with many other dim sum, bakeries, and Chinese restaurant at the heart of Chinatown. And quite frankly, it is difficult to stand out. To sum it up, Begoni runs a middle line, but manages to bring it the home style love into their food, and serves this in a reasonably sized establishment for group dining.

The atmosphere is a typical Chinese restaurant. Nothing special. Paper table covers. A classy but dated bar. Plenty of red tones. It's quite spacious and our group of 10 had no problem finding a spot. The server was super friendly and felt like he was part of the owner's family. Very welcoming.

Begoni is classified as a dim sum place so that's what we went for. What really makes their dim sum stand out is that every one of the pieces feel like it was hand crafted. Definitely not your commercial mass produced dim sum. And yes, because of this, some are not perfect. But these imperfections actually add to the authenticity and the love your uncle might put into preparing dim sum for his family.

The taste is plentiful and bold. The siu mai was bursting with flavor. The pork bun was fun. And the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves really rung nostalgia from my grandmother.

Begoni isn't perfect. But it was never meant to be. Begoni is family love turned into...