Abacus

Sad to see this place closed! I used to be a regular here but they closed a year after I moved out of the neighborhood. The garlic noodles were outstanding and I will miss the super heroes hanging from the walls.

Sad to see one of our favorite /​convenient takeout places close.

We had to wait long to be given menus and even longer to order. The staff was too busy greeting the regulars with hugs and catching up. The food is great but the restaurant is super small in general and can listen to everyone’s conversations as you eat.

Funky little «locals» place out of the way in NoPa. Yummy food and wine, and a couple fusion dishes that are to die for good, along with really well done Asian classics. Try the wontons!

We had such high hopes for being regulars here, but it seemed like each time we returned we were treated worse than the last. Finally, we just stopped going. It’s sad because we liked the food and the service isn’t terrible. It’s just very unfriendly.

I’m not sure how this place has 4 stars, because I am hesitant to even give it 2 stars. I thought this place looked cute and it’s located close to my house, so I thought I’d bring a friend and give it a try.
First thought– overpriced and very small portions. $ 3 for almost a ½ cup of white rice is just plain ridiculous. I ordered the crispy sesame beef, which was decent, but still overpriced for what it was. I honestly feel that I’ve had fast food Chinese better than this place. Save your money and go to Panda– its about the same taste, if not better.
Inside the restaurant is cute and quaint, but I’d recommend not eating inside because there are little flies everywhere that make it difficult to eat your food. Also, people who got their orders for pick up came in very upset because the staff kept mixing up orders, so that made my experience less than pleasant. It’s difficult to hear my friend talk when people are raising their voices over how dissatisfied they are– but rightfully so.
Never coming back and don’t recommend.

I ordered from Abacus via Postmates (delivery was SUPER fast). Garlic noodles, sautéed spinach with garlic, fried calamari, and chicken wings.
If you’re used to Crustacean or Thanh Long’s garlic noodles, these will be a disappointment. They’re ok, but not entirely flavorful. The spinach was super yummy. The calamari was rubbery, but I could potentially blame that on delivery moisture. The crust was light and falling off from the rings. And there were no little octupuses, which means that they were likely from frozen. The chicken actually had great flavor, but they only gave the boney side of the wing, with not a single drummette in sight. They are «dry» type wings, if that matters to your selective palate.
I don’t have a reason to reorder or go out of my way to visit in person.

How does this place average 4 stars on Unilocal?!I was sooo disappointed by this restaurant as I had come here expecting some yummy Chinese food. I don’t even know where to start about what was wrong about this place. I’ll just make a list:
1. Flies buzzing around everywhere! I had one hand on my fork and the other was used for swatting the flies away.
2. Super small portions! I ordered the ginger pineapple beef and it pretty much just came with a few slivers of beef. It had a decent amount of veggies and pineapple but the lack of protein left me still hungry.
3. Way overpriced! I don’t mind paying high prices for a good meal but the food here is definitely not at a level that justifies the price.
4. Mediocre food. I would have enjoyed a meal from Panda Express much more than the food I had here.
5. I found a hair in my food. Too bad I didn’t see it until the end of my meal. I was so grossed out, but I couldn’t do anything since I had already eaten just about everything. I’m hoping it could have been my own hair, but it looked curly and my hair is straight…

I was a little wary of a Chinese restaurant nestled in my neighbourhood, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the food to be quite good. Their menu seems closer to American Chinese food, but the dishes we ordered were great nonetheless.
The Mongolian Beef was tender, not too spicy, and cooked in a delicious sauce. The dish comes with a lot of onions, and not too much else in terms of vegetables. The Chicken Chow Mein was also great. Though very different from what you would get at a typical Chinese restaurant, I actually liked that they used thin noodles instead.
Service was a little slow, but I’ll definitely be back to try more dishes!

Don’t mind the guy dragging the trash bins through the tiny space while you’re eating.
Came here because of the strong ratings, and Schezwan. Won’t be returning because of the weird factor that leans toward aloof and creepy, rather than quirky. There was a BMW SUV parked directly out front, and the waiter/​owner (?) and trash-​taker-​outer rotated sitting in the back seat, presumably relaxing. Just weird.
Yeah, so the place seats about 30 – it’s TINY – and mid-​way through the meal, they start dragging the various trash and recycle bins through the dining room and out to the curb. Three bins, plus a box filled with other boxes for recycling. After we finished our meal and paid, I mentioned to the waiter that it was pretty unappetizing to drag dirty bins through the dining room. His response was that they were cleaning up the kitchen. I explained that from a customer perspective, it’s pretty gross. He stated again that it’s because they were cleaning the kitchen. I suggested to him that since the restaurant closes between lunch and dinner that might be a better time to take the recycling out. I eventually got a small apology. If this was a cheap hole-​in-​the-​wall, I wouldn’t care, but a basic meal for two of us was $ 40 – not cheap for basic Chinese.
The food was only passable – the spicy basil beef had heat, but zero flavor. The rice was dry. My dining companion had fried rice that was also dry and flavorless. A glass of Beringer pinot noir is $ 8, a cheap pour, and it tasted like the bottle had been open for a couple of days.
Too bad, because the Batman theme was well-​executed.

Way overpriced for what it is. Small portions. Food itself isn’t bad but not amazing. They can get away with it since there aren’t many Chinese restaurants or people in the area.

This place was super weird, but also entertaining. From the shadowy bat signal on the wall, to Batman figurines in shadowboxes, it was quite the experience.
Food was decent, but not amazing. I had the Mongolian beef, and it was tasty. Nothing to write home about, though. The rice was definitely overcooked.
However, they were able to seat us right away, and let us stay, hootin’ and hollerin’ well into the evening.
The good: reasonable food for a reasonable price.
The bad: bathroom is way in the back through the kitchen.

This place is good. The Sea bass was the best dish I ate here. They have some good beef dishes although the soup was just ok.
Very small yet nice, kinda upscale Asian joint. The place can be a bit overpriced especially since there are a lot of good Chinese food not to far away.

I thought the food here was delicious! The food is Chinese-​American and served family style, though I think the portions could be a little bigger for what you’re paying for.
My roommate and I ordered the green beans in chili paste and the sea bass. The sea bass was delicious, though I don’t know if it was meant to be shared because it looked like a single serving. It was crispy on the outside, and cooked well on the inside The green beans were sweet with a little bit of spice.
I also really liked the Batman décor! There aren’t many vegetarian options, so I’d come back here if I wanted fish.

The food is worth 4 stars without question.
The service is fine, but I only ever do takeout.
The prices knock the rating down to three stars. Way overpriced for Chinese food — especially when I can go up to Clement street and get stuff at half the price.

My friend wanted some Chinese food, so we found this place on Unilocal.Its near Golden Gate park and USF. It was a bit difficult to find street parking in this area, too.
Abacus is a small Chinese restaurant. When I looked at the menu, I noticed all the entrees were at least $ 12 and up, which is a bit pricey for Chinese food. After looking at the dishes, I realized this is more of an Americanized Chinese food place.
We decided to try a couple of dishes:
Bacon Pineapple Fried Rice — The bacon was diced up small and mixed with the pineapple fried rice. There was definitely a lot of bacon in this dish. This dish was ok.
Mango Chicken — I was expecting this dish to be similar to the Thai version, but it was really different. There were huge square chunks of mango mixed with white chicken breast. This dish was a bit bland to me.
Crispy Sesame Beef — This dish had a little bit of sesame seeds on top of the beef. The flavor was decent, but the portion was very small.
Honey Glazed Tangerine Chicken — This reminded me of orange chicken from Panda Express.
Overall, all the dishes we ordered had very small portions. This place is a bit too pricey for a Chinese restaurant. I would suggest going to Chinatown or the Sunset district for some authentic Chinese food in San Francisco.

Not worth it.
Ordered their Beef Short Ribs with Baby Bok Choy in Cabernet Port Reduction, Pan Fried Sea Bass with Ginger Soy Sauce, Spinach with Egg White and Crab Meat, and Wonton Soup. Total: $ 79.93
I really expected way better paying that price but they were just disappointments one dish after another. The foods were edible, but I wouldn’t eat here again if it’s free.

OVERALL — 4.5 stars
FOOD
+ Beef Short Ribs with Baby Bok Choy in Cabernet Port Reduction — 5 stars
+ Twice Cooked Pork (made with Pork Belly) — 5 stars
+/​-​Ma Po Tofu with Pork — 3.5 stars
AMBIANCE
+/​-​décor — 3.5 stars: nothing too special, but batman collectibles are a little
SERVICE
+ average, better than typical Chinese restaurants
COST
+/​-​most items were reasonably priced, Beef Short Ribs were a bit on the higher side, even with the 5 star taste rating

Went to Abacus last night for the first time and would go back… tho I think the later in the evening the more impossible it gets to park in this ‘hood…at 6:30pm on a Thursday, no problem for street parking.
Anyhoo, the food was good, the atmo elegant, quiet and relaxing. We had the spinach potstickers which were delish, kung pao chicken = tasty, and mu shu vegetables. And I had a nice glass of sauv blanc, perfectly chilled.
Not worth crossing town for, but def worth a small detour. If you live in Nopa, lucky you.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve made some terrible choices in my life…
From moving back to SF for a then bf who turned out to be compulsive cheater to choosing men who think that my idea of being «intellectually stimulated» means watching porn, I often wonder if I had been drunk for the last 13 years of my life.
Abacus happens to be one of my terrible choices. My friend wanted Chinese food and I’m allergic to MSG so he told me to pick a place. With glowing reviews and the fact that they use no MSG in their food, Abacus seemed like a solid choice. However, Abacus IS Chinese fusion done wrong. While the food is beautifully presented, the execution was poor, the flavors dumb downed, and the prices high enough ($ 80 for two people after tip) for my Chinese mom to have a heart attack.
We started with the Bacon Wrapped Prawns ($ 8) as suggested by Unilocalers.
The quad of bacon wrapped shrimp was overcooked, dry, and chewy. How one can manage to make bacon dry is beyond me.
Next, came the Twice Cooked Pork Belly ($ 11) which was not how we envisioned it to be (I thought it would be braised then seared). The pork belly was super fatty (30 – 70 meat-​to-​fat ratio) and tossed with cabbage and red bell peppers which was an odd pairing.
The much raved about Seabass w/​Ginger Soy ($ 24) has deterred me from ever wanting to order cooked fish from a restaurant again.
With a high fat content, the seabass was surprisingly dry and stale, not to mention incredibly bland. For a 4 oz. portion, it was also a complete rip off at $ 24. The Braised Tofu w/​Shiitake Mushrooms ($ 10) didn’t fare any better as it tasted like the rest of the dishes: completely bland.
The BEST part of dinner?
Getting buzzed off a cheap glass of Zin. Thankfully, Abacus couldn’t mess that one up.