Cheung Yuen Dim Sum

I was walking down Pacific Ave. from Grant in Chinatown SF, when I looked in.
As the place was buzzing early, just before lunch time, I went in.
Was very pleasantly surprised at the clear menu, the quick order, and the No. 1 item that came within less than three minutes!
To this date, I can not recall a better Wonton soup in my life.
For $ 4.30 it was a bargain I did not expect.
It kept me going all the way to dinner in David Califonia later that day in my continuing travels.
Awesome, and want to go back for more (but, alas, am stuck in Atlanta again)

old Chinese Senior Citizens that eat at this place don’t do Unilocal… otherwise, they’ll be giving 4 to 5 stars.
This is their «hood» hang out place.
If you get bad service or bad food, ask the nice SMILEY lady, that’s we call her to get a refund.
This is a hole in a wall, husband and wife team. If locals go there daily, then it’s gotta be decent. Any restaurant in SF that’s more than 5 years old must be doing something right. This place does not use lard or msg which is common in other Chinese places.
Ignore the basic décor, unless you want then to spend $ 50k on remodeling… which will jack up the prices. (Hilton will spend $ 10 million on remodeling, blah blah)
yes, it’s clean, yes, there’s crumbs on the floor from sloppy customers… The wife is busy serving the customers and will try her best to clean up.
yes, the health depts checks on this restaurant and all restaurants. NO, I never got sick from this place. No I never had anything rotten. If it’s rotten, I’ll tell them.
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oh, time to get my fix on steam Chinese Rice Rolls, with parsley or green onions. It’s written in Chinese. (i’m veg) These are made to order and tastes like heavenly cream…
Or just order the shrimp or beef Rice rolls

Disgusting!!! Cold food, dirty dishes– avoid this place at all costs!

Cheung Yuen doesn’t have the lines but they have the cheap eats. there’s seating available, menu on the wall is in english and the pricing is legible, though faded.
eats:
–siu mai (3/1.5)
not melt in mouth quality, meat a little chewy, similar to many dim sum places offering cheap eats
meat had sweet taste, obviously marinated with some msg.
–steamed bbq pork bun (3/1.8)
nice fluffy texture, pork bbq inside kind of chewy, day old
take outs:
–fast in and out, quick service, no lines
–cash only

Introduced to this place by my co-​worker, Bob. Bob, you rock!
Pretty good dim sum for cheap.

(See pic)
Simple local dim sum takeout place. Very inexpensive dim sum and the food was good. 1.10 for 4 mini «Man Tao» or 5.50 for multiple items (beef dumplings, Hau Gau dumplings and shrimp rice rolls.) I also had tried the black sesame rolls for dessert.
And don’t forget the egg white flaky crust egg tart!
Service was fast and with a smile.

Sorry but serving bad food is not acceptable. The lady behind the counter was nice and helpful but the brown sugar pudding cake was foul — it was spoiled, YUCK! I can’t spit out the bite I took fast enough!
NEVER again!

So I came here this morning to buy my usual dim sum. I waited for about 1 – 2 minutes for the lady in front of me’s larger order, then it was going to be my turn. Except right when I was about to order, some lady swooped into the store, stopped directly in front of me and started ordering without skippin’ a beat and the lady behind the counter let her. What the heck?!
So I stepped out from behind her and said, «Um… Excuse me, I’ve been waiting in line *smile*». The lady who cut me pretended not to hear me, and the lady behind the counter had the nerve to tell me not to «pick on the elderly».
Oh hell no. I just left.
I respect my elders and all, but just because you’re elderly DOES NOT entitle you to cut to the front of the line OR to be rude and discourteous to others, and just because I mention that I had been waiting in line does not mean that I’m disrespecting or picking on the person who cut me in line.
I’ll take this is a sign from some higher power that I should stop eating dim sum to maintain my lean thighs and to save a little money. That, or that I should find a new, cheap dim sum place to go to, which San Francisco Chinatown is never short of.

I was first introduced to this place by Shirley Fong in her «eat your way through china town» tour. It is *dirt* cheap. For example, today we ordered 4 different things (each with 3+ pieces), and the total was only $ 5.70. There are a few tables in the restaurant, but I recommend you get your food to go. In the summer, it’s nice to take it to a park or something like that. The staff are friendly.
—
Went back recently and the quality has greatly suffered.