ABC Bakery & Cafe

This is a very popular restaurant that has been around for a very long time. However, the plates seemed to be as old as the restaurant itself with scratches and discoloring. The napkins came dirty. The chicken also seemed a bit under-​cooked, with blood showing on the meat, especially right around the bones. The rice is extremely tasty. The meat tasted much better as leftovers, once it was reheated on the stove for ten plus minutes on high heat.

I’m a fan, despite my usual affinity to steer clear of sub 4-​star restaurants. If you’re looking for authenticity, price, and taste and you have a burning passion (or desire) for Hong Kong style food, you must come here. But if you have a hot date – so you’re looking for that atmosphere and service – you shouldn’t even be reading my post. Don’t be cheap.
In addition to the bread and sandwiches other Unilocalers have recommended, I highly recommend ordering items on the menu such as rice noodle roll and wanton/​dumpling noodle (dry or soup).
I wasn’t a fan of the seafood congee because the shrimp had a heavy chlorine smell and only had squid and imitation crab.

Nice authentic Hong Kong style café. Super fast service and delicious food. Great for a quick and inexpensive meal. Only negative is they accept cash only.

Came here to eat with my grandparents and cousins. Not the first time here, been here a long time ago, and back then it was more crowded. Now, not as much so, depending on the time you come in.
We came in around 11am, if you come in by 12:30pm, you’ll have to wait for a table.
My grandparents get their usuals, Wonton Noodles or their special Hoi Nam Chicken rice. I got the Fish Braised Pasta while my cousin got the Pork Cutler Soup Udon.
My noodles are okay, its what you can expect from a Chinese place making western food. My cousin and grandma seem to like the chicken rice, but the chicken on my cousin’s plate had some chickens that still have hair attached. My grandma said the chicken is not the same as back then as well.
I tried some of the pork cutlet from my other cousin’s meal, crispy and crunchy, not dry at all.
Overall, its just like any other café, nothing special, but a good place for locals to enjoy a quick meal.

Nom! Lunch with my mom to satisfy my craving for some nice warm Cantonese jook. We ended up getting two egg tarts, a bowl of mixed meat jook, and two shrimp wonton soup (one was to go for later). The total came to $ 26.50
The food is pretty standard, nothing spectacular. But this is our go to place for quick and easy traditional Chinese food when we’re too lazy to cook at home.
The food comes in huge portions and we were barely able to finish our meal. Definitely stuffed by the end of lunch.
I would say ABC’s egg tarts are the second best in SF. First place goes, of course to Golden Gate Bakery.
This place is definitely recommended to any of my friends who visit me in SF and just want to hang out and eat some good Chinese food.

I’d give 3 stars for service and 3 stars for food. I’ve been coming here for the past 10 years when I used to live in the city. The food quality is not as great as it used to be and the service is still average as always. The Hai Nan Chicken rice is what the place used to be known but it was so disappointing this time around. The servers are not helpful and you literally have to flag them down if you want something. I came back for the chicken despite the terrible service in the past but now I have no reason to anymore.
P. S. make sure you finish your food and drinks because they charge 25 cents per to-​go container.

ABC BAKERY & CAFE
One of my favorite Chinese comfort food places in San Francisco. Yes, the place is certainly not clean by any means, typical of most of the restaurants in Chinatown, but the pastries and HK-​style bistro food is wonderful here! The «gai mei bao» or cocktail buns here are by far the best in Chinatown (they used to be 5 for a $ 1 and are now inflated to probably ~$ 1/​bun now). My favorite dish here is the baked seafood rice with cheese. Part Chinese, part Western!!! Delicious! Comfort food at its best, with many pastries to choose from!

Oh ABC Bakery & Café, what a chinatown classic.
If you want to talk about service and cleanliness, this place is terrible.
I don’t think their bakery is that good either.
However, I really like the food here.
This place is known for their hainan chicken dish which is well worth it and a delicious, filling meal. It comes on a tray with soup, peanuts, sauce, special rice, and the chicken. It is all presented very nicely and is generous in portion. The club sandwich is nice as well with surprisingly good french fries.
Just don’t get fooled by the menus. Some specials are only available at certain times (i.e. weekdays, breakfast hours, etc.), so read the special menus carefully or you might just end up paying the full price.

Forget about service. Know what you want, order, finish and pay. Make sure you go to the cashier and take a number to be seated.
The Hai Nan Chicken and Rice is the most popular item here. You get the chicken, special fried rice, soup, roasted peanuts, and sauce to dip your chicken in.
Only one star if you don’t know Chinese restaurants and you don’t know what to order.

I get there with my friend to have lunch together. We spend 15 minutes for waiting. I ordered Hainan chicken rice $ 9.95 .but it looks dirty (you can see the pics) that’s why I give 3 stars

I’d rate –5star (a big minus five star) if I could!
Employees cheated — no breakfast menu given to us — bill at least $ 20 more expensive than an usual breakfast meal — $ 7 tips written on the bill by the senior waitress
We walked out with anger and sick stomach cos foods were horrible! We then found out they offered the breakfast menu to others. We asked the senior waitress why she didn’t offer that to us cos we came at 8:30am. She asked us why we didn’t ask for the breakfast menu… (WTF!!!)
The bill was $ 50.03 including tax. $ 7 extra written and added in the total amount. We asked the senior waitress what that $ 7 for. She said it’s tips. Ridiculous!!! Tips should be given according the service and quality of food decided by customers. She assumed us would pay that almost 15% tips to them for the crap and dishonest service. Crazy!
We just wanted an apology and a fair deal. However, what we received and were told were just plenty of excuses and blames.
Visitor’s trap and dishonest café for sure! NO RETURN for sure!!!

Stay away from this shit. Disregard any positive reviews in Unilocal for this place.
From LA, came to sf to fuck around. Stopped here for breakfast, sat down and were given regular menu. (Little suspicious about the high price during breakfast hr) Ordered off of the regular menu. Prices were a little high. No problem, it was during Memorial Day weekend Sunday. Lie#1-The check came and there is a 7 $ surcharge with no explanations. The waitress said it was for tips. (Only recommended upon we asked). We paid for our food. Plus a reasonable tip. No problem.
We got up and started rolling out. We spotted a breakfast special menu with of course cheaper prices.
We then asked the cashier why we were given the breakfast menu. Cashier lady said ‚“you guys didn’t ask for breakfast menu! Not our fault“
We paid full regular menu price. We tipped. We left feeling cheated.
The sad thing is, I am as fucking chinese as these people in this motherfuxker.
I haven’t even reviewed their food. Luckily their food doesn’t deserve any reviews. Sucked overall and all.

It’s a mystery how ABC could have a decent health department rating. The restaurant screamed dirty the second I walked in and I could only imagine how much worse it is in the kitchen and other areas that customers do not see. My coworkers convinced me to try it out for lunch specials but I had lost my appetite before I even ordered. The menu was suspiciously sticky. It is places like these located in Chinatowns across the country that perpetuate the stereotype that Chinese people are dirty. It makes me sick in so many ways.
I tried the Pineapple Pork lunch special with milk tea and it tasted just like my coworker’s pork dish. Why have different names when the dishes are essentially the same?

Oh my god… this place is hella going downhill. Their saving grace was the Hong Kong styled milk tea but jesus, even that has gone down the crap shoot. We ordered a HK styled coffee/​milk tea mix but a regular milk tea came instead, when we brought this to the waitress’ attention, rather than replace the drink, she just dropped off ½ a cup of coffee and told us to mix it in to remedy it… what the f?!
The food was horrible, it’s not even during the lunch rush when we went so what’s your excuse?! The noodles weren’t fully mixed so the top portion was fully seasoned and the bottom was bland. When we sat down, the waitress threw the menus on the table and left, we had to spend 15 minutes flagging the waitress down before someone came to take our order.
Hey, I get it, I don’t go to these cafes for service but at this point, I might as well just do everything myself.

Slow service but the food comes quick. Cheap and huge portions. If you want quick and cheap, it’s ideal.

I came in here looking for a quick lunch and decided to get the potstickers, the shrimp dumplings, and an egg custard tart. Everything given to me was cold! WTF, at the very least keep the food warm! Egg custard tarts are not good served cold.
Plus, the shrimp dumplings had a weird plastic type taste to them. Must be something weird in the dough. Not coming here again.

COCKROACHES AND FLIES ARE EVERYWHERE, I KID YOU NOT!
I came here with my girlfriend one afternoon because I wanted to show her the home of the «best won ton noodle soup» in America. Not only did I get a mediocre won ton soup, I met two new friends, I shall call Fly and Cockroach!
We requested two waters from our waitress and she quickly brought them. Upon setting them down, i noticed our cups were barely ½ full of water. I thought to myself «wow, way to half ass it woman». As I grabbed my cup to drank, I saw a dead fly inside my water (view attached pic). WHAT THE HELL!!! i proceeded to stop my girlfriend from drinking her water. I decided not to tell the staff about the dead fly issue as I knew they would do nothing about it except possibly bring me another dirty cup of water.
We finally got our won ton noodle soups. For some reason, the soup base was really off this time and I didn’t enjoy it. The won tons were still still a delight though! Halfway through our meal, my girlfriend started flipping out and screaming. She saw a cockroach (view attached pic) that just appeared on our table out of nowhere and started walking towards our soup bowls.
At this point, I decided to end our meal early. We got up to the front register and paid the $ 12.96 bill. I gave them $ 13 and told the cashier about our witness of the terrifying cockroach. The only response she could give me was, «sorry, the vinegar tends to attract them sometimes». As we got within three steps of the exit door, our waitress called for me to come back because I didn’t pay enough. I mentioned I paid $ 13 for the bill and it was sufficient. She said, that I didn’t leave a tip and I was suppose to leave a tip for them.
I then proceeded to yell at them in Cantonese. Cliff notes of Cantonese conversation:
«Are you kidding me? You gave me a dirty water cup with a dead fly inside and my meal experience got ruined by a frickin cockroach. You want a tip from me now for no good service whatsoever, you have to be kidding me».
Without leaving a tip, we stormed out and got some dim sum.
Really, a San Francisco Public Health Score of 94? It really should be 49.

I almost always end up eating here whenever I go to chinatown because there’s not much else my dad likes to eat except for cha chaan teng style food.
They have a very large selection of cha chaan teng food ranging from noodles, rice dishes, baked spaghetti dishes, hainan chicken rice, etc. The lunch specials come with borscht /​house soup, and a hot drink.
I usually just order the tomato egg beef over rice, wonton noodles, hainan chicken, or ngau lei /​ngau gan noodle soup. The prices are very fair around $ 8 a dish, but this restaurant always seems so grimy and gross, there was hair on my plate so I had to exchange it for a new one. I honestly don’t think that matters so much, but the rest of the restaurant always seems really sticky. They don’t have the best circulation.
The restrooms always have a moldy smell too, but you don’t have that much choice in Chinatown when it comes to restrooms.
I would come here if I didn’t have another choice (usually when I am with my parents), otherwise there are lots of other places to eat in SF that are close by.

Open late and got a craving for Hoi Nam Gai Fan? This place is for you!
After a whole day of moving, I headed to Chinatown for some cheap eats. It was hard to find a place open at 10pm where I can quickly grab my food and leave. ABC easily did that. The poached chicken is flavorful, the rice is almost sticky and I love the ginger-​garlic topping which they include separately. Big portions that come with a side of chicken broth, but it still cost me $ 9.

This is part of a chain of 3 restaurants. All 3 restaurants have identical menus, and the actual food you get is pretty much the same across all 3 restaurants.
For this particular store, this is the store I go to the most out of all 3. Unfortunately it is also the most run-​down out of the 3. In any case, the service is pretty good – my orders came very quickly everytime. The food quality is consistently amazing, and stays true to the HK style I grew up eating.
I have always been a fan of this chain. You should definitely order the Hainan Chicken combo (note the spelling, *not* Hunan) – if you look around you’ll see pretty much everyone orders that. Best. Dish. Ever.