Cafe New Honolulu — Restaurant in San Francisco

I don't get it. The whole place is a bit of a mystery. Cafe Honolulu seems to have started as a Chinese restaurant (and you will find it in the heart of China Town), and then the chief decided he really liked Borscht. So he went ahead and stuck it on the menu. Later, he added Ice Cream Soda (which he decided to make with Sprite?). I settled for ordering Mongolian Beef, which seems like something you can get anywhere, and some kind of pepper pork chop. When that arrived, I took a cautious bite.

"Is this the pork I ordered?" The boy looked at the meat on my fork.

"That's fish." Turns out, it was fish. We got that one for free.

The place is oddly decorated, though the ceiling is neat. I just don't get it. The place was full to the brim with folks who looked like locals. It can't be a tourist trap, and yet I don't understand it. I need to go back to understand, and I don't really want to go back, not with the mass of places I haven't been yet.

If someone's willing to check it out for me and tell me what I missed, then I'll go again. But I don't think I missed anything.

Unless you're just stopping in the the bakery! Maybe that's the secret: for 70 cents you get a bun the size of my hand, full of bbq pork, egg custard, or other traditional delights. So, search your pockets for your change and go get a bun. Just don't pick up a menu.

Oh, and it's cash only. I had to resort to picking up the lunch tab with my fresh roll of laundry quarters I just got...

Cafe New Honolulu is located next to my old Chinese language school, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. This is a Hong Kong style cafe and does not have Hawaiian food on the menu. My first impression of this restaurant was how big the dining room was. It was modern and sort of clean. I was skeptical of their authenticity because of it. But, during my meal, the kitchen staff rolled the big Recology garbage cans through the dining room and out the front door. This confirms that it is an authentic Chinese restaurant.

I had their baked pork chop spaghetti $11. It was OK. It didn't have that deep tomato taste and the spaghetti was too moist. Pork chops tasted fine but the color was off. The noodles broke apart when I used my fork on it. Given that it took over 30 minutes for this dish to come out, I would not order this if I'm in a hurry. If you are worried about your parking meter or garage tab, the food wait time will push it over. There were only two parties eating. Slow kitchen. Washington Bakery used to be my favorite HK style cafe in Chinatown. They are no longer...

Café New Honolulu imhv is a decent affordable restaurant in Chinatown conveniently located on Stockton Street between Clay and Sacramento streets near Muni buses (8, 30, 30s, 45 and 1) and new LRV T line. My favorite dish is its Cantonese beef brisket 牛腩 wonton soup which imhv is the BEST (replacing ABC Restaurant used to be located on Jackson Street) in The City: deliciously prepared, i.e., real quality beef brisket牛腩, and insanely inexpensive: $8 bucks! (Common let's be honest tell me who can beat the Chinatown price? No one! LOL) Singaporean curry rice noodles are very good also as well as beef chow fun and fish clay pot. However, the service as agreed by other reviewers would be rather slow because there’s only “one man army” who is a nice young lady who tries her best to wait a total of twenty-five tables of guests from hosting, ordering, cashiering and cleaning. Personally, I always help her to clean up after I eat as I would be considered a regular as I visit there at least biweekly or once a week. Enjoy your meals at Cafe...