Hong Kong Clay Pot Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

I was walking down Chinatown today and saw a flux of patrons in and out of a restaurant that is on the second floor.

Typically, a large number of customers would likely indicate that the restaurant is clean, offers delicious/exotic food, offers good value for your money, or a combination of all three.

Having browsed the menu, I was sure that it was most likely not the third reason stated above, but since prices were just a bit higher than your typical Chinatown Chinese food prices, I decided to give it a try, and this was a mistake.

The food was hot (really hot, meaning having a high temperature when served, as is typical in an authentic Chinese food), but it was unusually salty: the Chinese only make the food extra salty if it's not fresh, or meant to preserve the food in the first place. Since I ordered shrimp with eggs, it couldn't have been the second case.

Additionally, the portion that was served was really small, as evident in one of the photos. Looking around, I noticed that there were a good number of non-Asian patrons, and I can clearly see why: this restaurant boasts one of the cleanest restrooms I have ever seen in an Asian restaurant in Chinatown.

Furthermore, although the restaurant was far from being full, service was really slow, and while this isn't uncommon in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatwon, especially when you are an Asian who don't speak Cantonese, I just thought I should note it here as well. Note that I did not lower my rating becuase of this : because they seem to serve Cantonese-speaking patrons and non-Asians quite promptly. I would hate to think that they are discriminating their patrons on the basis that they can't speak Cantonese alone, although my experience does seem to strongly suggest it.

However, as a Chinese person who also knows how to cook, I have to give this restaurant a pretty low rating: the food served was not delicious, and it was not good value for the money (in Chinatown, you expect at least one, if not both, since you are typically paying in cash). I did give it an overall two stars for two reasons.

One, I was impressed with the restroom, that it being so unusually clean for this area of the town.

Two, they offer a receipt that was actually comprehensible : I took a photo of the receipt becuase I was surprised that they would accept a credit card, and that the receipt is actually itemized : in many Chinese restaurants they would only write in Chinese on a slip and give you some total to pay, and they also would only accept cash. However, given this was Chinatown, I just paid in cash :-).

In sum, it weren't for the restroom and the how clear the receipt was, I most likely would have given it a lower rating, because if I were to rate the food alone, it simply doesn't...

My wife and I had dinner here last night while celebrating our Anniversary.

Parking is a little difficult to locate in this area, so we had to drive around for a bit.

The space is up a flight of stairs and there is no elevator. It us a family style restaurant so they have found tables with turntables in the middle for the sharing of food. They have about 10 tables. The restaurant itself is cute and very connected to the Asian culture

When my wife and I arrived, there were 2 free tables available. Yes, they are created for larger parties. However, many of them were. They placed us at a table to share with another 2 ppl party. We did not like this at all. As a guest at a restaurant, we deserved the right to have our own table. It was a totally inconvenience to the ppl that were already at the table. Btw.. one was a Trans. I keep wondering why they sat us at no other table with others that were also 2 ppl. Why this table?

We observed a YT couple walk in and placed at their own large table. We them observed 3 Asians walk in and they were placed at a vet large table.

My wife and I did not hold much of a conversation because it was weird!!

The service was accomodating until midway through even our waitress never came back up check on us or ask if we needed anything. Honestly.. we did not even receive water now that I think of it.

The food was hot when it came out. I was not a fan of the wonton soup. It lacked flavor. I enjoyed the House Noodles (shrimp, chicken and beef).. but it needed seasoning or more flavor. We ordered chicken wings. That was delicious. We also ordered fried string beans and pork. That was so good!!!

My wife had a Chinese beer and I had a cold Sake served in a bottle.

When we were ready to pack up the leftover food, it had to sit because or efforts to be seen by a waitress to receive a box and bag was ignored. When we finally got the attention of another one, they immediately brought the check. Did not even ask if we needed a box.

Oh.. prices are really good and cheap. You get alot of food.

I reccomend this place, with reservations depending on your race or...

A few of my Chinese friends had told me to try this place because you can get authentic Chinese dishes. Our adventure began with trying to find the place. The previous names of the restaurant are still on display and we walked past it 3 times before we managed to use Google Maps to pinpoint the location. After climbing the stairs we walked into a small dining area. We were seated at a large table that could seat more than 10 people. We ended up sharing the table with a Finish tourist who was nice. (Two other tourists had come in, but they didn't seem brave enough to try the menu.)

The theme of the day was trying something new, so we decided to try Salt & Pepper Frog. (It was that or Spicy Jelly Fish.) We also ordered Chicken Curry Clay Pot (something familiar) and Chinese Broccoli and Beef (something recognizable, but still new). The curry was a little disappointing, it just didn't taste right. The beef and broccoli was great! The beef was tender, the broccoli was packed with flavor and the sauce was much less "American" (sweet and salty?) than the regular beef and broccoli I've had before. As for the frog... the flavor was good, but the amount of small bones made it inedible for me. My wife gave it a go because she is a bone-in kinda lady, but the tiny bones were too much for her too in the end and we gave up.

The experience definitely did not match the expectation. I might go again if I had some friends that really wanted to try it out, but otherwise I have a few alternatives that never...