Begoni Bistro

The food and service are good. The food is mostly Chinese, with a few Vietnmese selections. It doesn’t even have Vietnamese coffee.

On Christmas Eve with my family, we encountered a one-​hour wait at Hunan Home’s. Popped open Unilocal to find another 4-​star restaurant «nearby.» And there it was, Begoni Bistro, literally right across the street. No wait at all… even better food… all with an attractive, clean, woody wine-​bar atmosphere.
«Indochine» you could say. Asian with a subtle french overtone to every dish we tried. Mango Bison: utterly unique and delicious. Pan-​seared Salmon: cooked to perfection, and not overly salty like it often is at Chinese restaurants. General Tao Chicken: pumped up by a chili-​garlic sauce. Six-​treasure Fried Rice in Gravy: as good as it sounds. Even the side of broccoli was a treat we collectively devoured.
If Hunan Home’s is worthy of 4 stars, Begoni Bistro deserves 5. A wonderful holiday surprise at a very reasonable price.

ordered the chicken noodle soup. Very bland and a waste of time and money.

I feel like this is one of the most overdue reviews I should have already written, but yet, I have only recently found Begoni Bistro. I like it, but I don’t quite know how to describe it as it deserves.
I’m a fan. Begoni Bistro hits so many of my particular preferences that it’s uncanny. They have a nice bar to sit at, and they actually have decent draft beer. Where do you go to eat Vietnamese Soup and have a bar with TV and Draft Beer? This is a good concept. The space feels modern and is on one of my favorite little stretches of Chinatown, Jackson Street.
The food is a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes. Huge menu. I’ve now tried a few things and been for two visits. Once with company and once at the bar. If you are looking for this sort of experience with lots of options, this is a good choice. The Crab Noodle Soup was solid. The Kung Pao Chicken was very good. The Mango Bison was tender and sweet. Both dishes were well-​prepared.

Service was fine, friendly and welcoming. What happened to the Vietnamese/​fusion food? I was so utterly devastated to see the delicious vietnamese crêpe no longer on the menu, nor any of the other Vietnamese dishes. The dish I ordered today, Mongolian Beef was okay, nice kick. The ma po tofu was dissapointing, really frozen vegetables in it? We also did order garlic noodles to share, I could not detect any garlic in them. Alas, I do not think my lunch companions or I will be making a return visit.

Chinatown is known for its share of dirty, cramped unsanitary restaurants. Thankfully, I think I have found the cleanest Asian restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown! Begoni also gives 10% discounts for Unilocal check-​ins too.
Begoni Bistro serves up Asian-​fusion cuisine, with a concentration on Cantonese food. Immediately when we walked in, we felt very welcomed by the staff. The restaurant floor space is also very spacious and they also got a big bar area with a TV for those wine drinkers/​football fans.
We ordered the crispy crab and pork rolls as an appetizer. This was my favorite part of the meal as it was scrumptious. Our main entrees were the combo noodle soups with free-​range chicken & tender beef slices & flat rice noodles. The rice noodle soup was’t anything special, it served its purpose of keeping us warm on a cold evening. It was a little too salty, but I didn’t regret ordering it.
O Lord behold, I found Chinatown waiters who actually refill your water glasses more than twice without my prompt! If you find yourself in Chinatown and want some Chinese food in a clean & friendly environment, definitely visit Begoni Bistro on Jackson St.

Begoni is an upscale looking Chinese restaurant disguised as a Vietnamese restaurant. The menu is 5 pages of Chinese food, with just 2 – 3 Vietnamese dishes on the last pages — they also have wine and beer. I went for lunch and there was no line (phew!); they have lunch specials ($ 11 for rice + soup + Chinese entrée).
Most of the food we ordered was very mediocre:
* Soup — 3 stars: standard Chinese restaurant egg drop soup.
* Combo noodles — 3 stars: comes with an enormous bowl of subpar nuoc cham, mediocre noodles, and from-​frozen prawns (the shrimp shell was stuck to the shrimp and it tasted gritty). I really liked the crispy egg roll (and I never do), and pork was fine. Not a terrible dish but definitely not worth $ 12.
* Potstickers — 4 stars: above average potstickers, loved the thin wrapper and sauce.
I would return for the fried egg rolls, potstickers, and to try their soup-​pastry bowls, but given the options in Chinatown I probably won’t be back anytime soon.

One of the best restaurant experience we had in Chinatown!
Loved the settings and the tasty dishes we ordered (and recommend by our waiter): medallions of beef, lemon chicken, house fried rice with shrimp, and chow mein.
Great for a Family style dinner!
The main reason I gave this restaurant 4 stars instead of 5, is the pricing in comparison with other restaurants with same quality of food and service.

I had such a great experience at this restaurant! Good food, great ambience, Their staff were all friendly. They made sure all our needs were served. I really enjoyed their garlic noodles (I can probably eat 10 bowls of that) and also their Vietnamese spring rolls.
Will definitely go back there soon!

We had such a delicious meal: the vanilla prawns and Mongolian lamb. We recommended it to a friend and plan on returning soon.

Probably the cleanest and most calm Chinatown restaurant, with a warm and comfy vibe :) the waiter was awesome and gave us bomb recommendations and amazing service!
Ingredients were fresh, and every dish tasted very «clean». Portions are just right, and we felt perfectly satisfied after having 3 dishes for 2.
What we had:
— white wine clams with butter bread: really nice, has an interesting herby aroma, and perfect for sharing
— crispy fish salad wrap: such a fun dish! The fish and rice paper are so good!
— shaking beef: on the smaller portion size, but the meat was so tender and the sauce was very well balanced

Great food and excellent service. Love the modern look of the restaurant.
If you’re in the area then you should definitely eat at this restaurant. They have a pretty good wine bar too.

Hi class Chinese restaurant! We orders 4 dishes and they all were splendid! Especially chicken fireballs. The stuff was so kind, they explained us every dish and gave recommendations.
This place is new. Its clean and cozy. Not like usual Chinese restaurants. No reservation needed.

I remember this one took a while to open, but sneaking a peek through the window, I didn’t think it looked quite like the other eateries on Jackson. First of all, it’s a Vietnamese place rather than Chinese and second, I could tell from the décor that they were going for a more modern approach than a traditional one. In fact, the restaurant is subtitled «cuisine indochine», which made me wonder if it was aspiring to be more Le Colonial than Turtle Tower. However, menu items like Grilled Ribeye Steak and New England Lobster Roll confused me like the Donald Trump campaign. Well, they offer French fries as a side option so that’s something, I guess, and also Grilled French Rack of Lamb which must be French since they say so.
Maybe the owners are trying to please a wide variety of palates through a somewhat limited menu. I decided to try two plates to see if I could reconcile the cuisine from chef Jimmy Kwok. First up was the $ 13 Bun Cha Hanoi, which is the street food you get from a cart over there, a vermicelli salad wrap with a bowl of marinated broiled pork belly and grilled pork burger in order to stuff the red leaf lettuce leaves (photo:
). Cucumber slices added a nice crunch, but the basil leaves were rather intrusive and overall it didn’t have the flavorfully carnivorous punch I was looking for as it was drooling down to my wrists as I picked the wrap up (photo:
).
The other dish I tried was arguably more Cantonese, the $ 10 Garlic Eggplant with String Beans (photo:
). Although heavily ladled with a sweet and sour bean sauce mixed with garlic, ginger, chili and scallions, this dish was ultimately a bit more satisfying than the self-​made wrap, especially as I selected the Garlic Noodles as an accompaniment. Out came quite an abundant bowlful sprinkled with scallions and lacquered completely in butter (photo:
). Ah, there’s the French touch. The lobster roll aside, they did have some interesting dishes to consider for another visit although I’m in no hurry to return since the service was spotty and increasingly inattentive as the big parties came in. Begoni, be gone? Not yet.
FOOD — 3 stars… middling results on the French twist to the Vietnamese plates served up here
AMBIANCE — 3.5 stars… more modern in tone than most Chinatown restaurants though a bit dark and sterile, too
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… likely the most disappointing aspect of my experience
TOTAL — 3 stars… interesting hybrid of flavors here but they don’t quite gel

Well, if I could I would give a higher rating for the environment since it isn’t really a typical restaurant around SF’s China town.
The décor is amazing: I give it a 5!
Now, im rating this for the food: 3, it’s quite average. I ordered the lamb and the squab (a pigeon). The squab was great but not a lot of meat. It was mostly fried and most of the flavor came from the salt, pepper, lime combo it comes with. The lamb dinner tasted under seasoned or not seasoned at all, and some parts of it were medium rare or well done. It was kind of unfortunate since I do enjoy my lamb medium rare. The rice that came with the lamb was a little dry. Sadly, the bok choy made the flavor for this one. Without it, the dish wouldn’t be worth what it is worth.
I also wish that they would’ve had a bigger menu to choose from.
Aside from all of this,
The customer service is spectacular and the environment is welcoming, modern, and relaxed. (5 stars)
I recommend this to someone who isn’t looking for a typical San Francisco china town experience and who wants to be able to enjoy a modern way eating.

My wife found this place to try. We went on a Sunday afternoon 12:30 ish. Not too hard to find. We were lucky we found street parking 4 blocks away on Grant and walked here. It’s thru China town so expect a bit of shoving your way thru.
Restaurant was mostly empty aside from 2 other parties so they took our order quick. We sat for 15 mins before getting our food.
Food: 2
We ordered fried imperial rolls (viet) but it was kind of off on the flavor. Also there’s not enough meat, feels like a lot of air inside. It’s just average.
We also ordered squab. That was juicy, sprinkle some lime, salt and it tastes pretty good with the onion and rasin? thats served with the dish.
Chicken noodle soup was too bland. Good portion though.
Shaking Beef cubes are too chewy and the garlic noodles are like yi mein. Not the stringy kind. Also flavor of the whole dish taste like Chinese stir fried.
Service: 4
Service was good since there were too many people. There’s an older man that helped us. They’re really good about taking care of my wife’s peanut allergy. We forgot to tell them about no peanuts and they had it on the vermicelli so they brought us a side order with no peanuts.
Overall, I don’t think I’ll come back here.

Nice décor, great service, but a limited menu.
A few good items on the menu, but also several that were just average.
Overall I was disappointed given some of the other 4 and 5 star ratings.

I stumbled upon this place while walking through Chinatown on Christmas. I wen tin a 2 days later. This atmoshere is chic. And this place does a great job on fusion.
We started out by getting the Banh Xeo Sai Gon to share, which is a pancake filled with bean sprouts, mushrooms, shrimp, and pork, served with a sweet fish sauce, lettuce, and herbs. I ordered the lamb chops as my main course. The lamb chops were cooked to perfection. All dinners came with choice of garlic noodles, plain rice, or fried rice. I went with the garlic noodles, and they were delicious. Also, the dinners come with a side salad. The dressing is a creamy dressing with a drizzle of balsamic. Also delicious!
My only warning about this place is that despite being in Chinatown, the food does not come out as fast as most Chinese restaurants (again this is a fusion place). However, compared to most restaurants you go to, the wait time from the time you order to the time the food arrives is about the same.
This place also has wine list and beer selection. Most beers are $ 4 – 5, and the wines are about $ 5 – 10 a glass. They also have a $ 15 corkage fee, so if you don’t like their selection, you can just bring your own wine.
I can’t wait to go back and try the lobster roll!!!

While growing up in Chinatown, my biggest fear was walking along the two block radius of Jackson Street and confronting with the Chinatown gangs.
Time has changed. The gangs are still there with newer generations. The new bunches are less aggressive. And many of the past hangouts for them have been converted into family and tourist-​friendly businesses.
I don’t often dine on Jackson Street. But the newest Chinese/​Vietnamese restaurant has a wine and beer bar with a cool décor. The newest restaurant is the quintessential to fine dining in the Chinatown.
On my debut, I ordered the Grilled Pork with cold Vermicelli noodle bowl for $ 9.00. It is so sad that this is my favorite Vietnamese dish. I still do not know the name. I am sure many of you know what I mean. Though pricey, the noodle bowl was hearty and egg rolls were top notch.
Service was friendly and very good.
The newest restaurant also serves six micro-​brewed beers on tap. I will definitely try the brews and other food from here on my next visit.

Begoni Bistro is a nice addition to Chinatown. The service was extremely good, and the interior was clean and spacious, especially compared to other restaurants in the area.
Two of us shared:
* Banh xeo (crispy pancake), with shrimp, mushrooms, and bean sprouts inside, served with mint + lettuce leaves to wrap and fish sauce to dip — $ 13
The lettuce leaves were small, which made wrapping the pancake a bit difficult. I liked the flavors of the dish. The pancake was too sweet for my taste on its own, but it tasted good wrapped in lettuce. The combination of textures was nice too.
* Bo luc lac (shaking beef), with garlic noodles + salad — $ 17
The cubes of beef were very tender and nicely seasoned with black pepper. Also available with steamed rice or fries instead of garlic noodles. I like my garlic noodles super buttery and unhealthy, so I found the noodles here a bit dry.
The bar serves beer and wine and has a TV showing games.