Hi-Tea

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Why did they close? My friend and I had a standing Monday lunch date there for the past year. The spicy chicken phở has saved my life dozens of times.
What the phở??? ;-)

The name Hi-​Tea had me automatically label this restaurant as just another tapioca shop. I was surprised when my coworker suggested that we have lunch there– I’m not usually a picky eater but I’m not down for popcorn chicken for lunch! To my surprise, it’s actually more of a Vietnamese restaurant than a tapioca shop. I had the mango milk tea and spring rolls and wouldn’t really say that I had an awesome experience. The mango milk tea came with way too many tapioca even though I had asked for no tapioca at all. The spring rolls lack the «spring». They were not too fresh and the sauce was not too tasty.
Let’s be honest though. In fidi, while there are plenty of dining options, Hi-​Tea is probably the most decent Vietnamese restaurant both in food and pricing. The restaurant got extremely crowded to a point where we literally had to snatch up chairs and squeeze three people at a teeny tiny table meant for no more than two. Three’s a crowd but I have a feeling that this happens often in this busy restaurant!

My friend & I were meeting up for lunch & he suggested Hi-​Tea because it’s fairly cheap for the area, it takes card, & because he was craving their grilled pork chop. We arrived after 1:00 to find no seats avaliable, but after taking our orders we stood by this table & the guy left within a couple minutes.
I got the five spice chicken over white rice & he got the grilled pork chop over brown rice. Both were under $ 8 & they don’t charge extra for brown rice. They sure do give big portions. My friend had a mountain of pork! I had quite a bit of crispy skinned moist chicken ontop of so much rice. They do give you some broccoli, but it was so not cooked long enough.
I know Hi-​Tea has a lot of mixed reviews, but I guess we ordered the right things, because it wasn’t bad at all.
*Side note: If you see a good looking hapa guy eating lunch here, beware, that’s my friend & flying butter knifes may follow.

I’m only rating this for their milk tea… which I am a very huge fan of. Hi-​tea has one of the better milk tea in the financial district. It is the right amount of tea and the amount of milk for my taste. The boba is chewy and good… although I wish that the boba themselves can be sweet. That would make it a true winner. $ 2.75 for a cup.
The cashiers are generally very nice and the tea comes out fairly quickly. I usually go after 1pm to avoid the lunch crowd wait.
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Review #154

Nothing special. My friend didn’t eat his meat as it was full of fat (they claimed it was chicken but looked like pork). They skimp on the veggies and their vermicelli pasta dish was extremely plain.
Veggies = iceburg cheap lettuce!
No basil or bean sprouts. They skimp on so many things. Not even that cheap.
THEY SUCK!

This is a review of lunch at Hi-​Tea (08÷01÷11).
This was a late lunch. So, I am not sure what it is like at high noon.
I actually agree with one of the other reviews. This is not truly a four star spot but it is certainly a notch better than most of the places I’ve given three stars to.
It was not super busy when I arrived. But there were a few people there.
The interior is small, clean, and bright. I expect that most folks are grabbing lunch to take back to their office though.
I was able to quickly place my order at the counter. The staff was friendly and professional.
I would guess it was a little over five minutes before my food came out. It was pretty quick.
They neatly had packed my food in a plastic container. and placed it in a bag.
Five Spice Chicken Over Rice ($ 6.75) — This was a very basic dish. It was a sliced chicken over rice with some broccoli. It was fresh and well prepared. The chicken was tender and had a nice flavor. They had also included a small container of a sweet sauce. Plus, they included a small «ketchup packet» of Sriracha sauce. I had never seen one of these before. Simply brilliant! More restaurants need to stock these. The portion was not very large but, for lunch, it did the trick. If I had been super hungry, I would probably need a bit more.
The price was right though. My lunch came it at just around ten bucks.
Overall, I thought this was a nice lunch. While nothing over the top, the food was well-​prepared. Friendly service and a decent price rounded out the experience making it a solid option for picking up a quick lunch.

The strong scent of Hi-​tea has became part of my walks in the morning on the way to work.
I’ve come in to try the baked minced beef rice dish. Pretty tasty. They throw in some veggies too. I ask for some hot sauce that gives a kick to it but it’s basically siracha in a to go packet. Nothing too spicy. It’s definitely one of those hangover meals.
Tried out their spicy beef noodle soup too. Got it to go and a big plus is that they pack up everything separately so the noodles don’t get soggy by the time you dig in. Pretty tasty as well.
Its always packed so I don’t bother dining in and it looks like people sit uncomfortably close to each other too. To go orders are pretty quick.
It’s a good take out place for quick and easy Vietnamese food. Not necessarily the best quality food but it works for me.

Everytime I walk by, I smell the delicious mixture of broth, phở, and beef. Or is that the smell of MSG?
Regardless, I came anyway so that I could have something soupy on a cold and rainy day. It wasn’t great, but I wasn’t expecting much either. Next time I might just order some milk tea so that I won’t have to walk all the way to Chinatown.

Wow. 3 stars only on average?
What you need to know is all the FOBs and non-​English speaking people come here to eat too. Not just come here, but the line goes out the door. So sure you ABCs may have a lot to say because Unilocal is for those of us who are Americanized, but we Asians all know where the FOBs are is usually where decent authenic Asian food is.
Don’t come here for «Vietnamese» food. Just come here for noodles. It’s better than anything else in that category in the Financial District. It’s not always authentic, but they have a good sense of taste.
Also, they tell me all the time they don’t use MSG for their beef broth… Take that with a grain of salt of course, or better yet, a pinch of MSG…

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.
The worst «Vietnamese» food in SF.
My first try was with their «Papaya Salad.» Try: Ice-​berg lettuce salad with saturated in dressing with a few slivers of wilted yellowish papaya strands.
Second try was today: The Vermicelli with pork and imperial rolls. Well, the pork was cold. The imperial rolls were stodgy deep fried floor with hints of other filling not even worth their caloric intake. And the rest of the dish was an oversized pile of un-​nutritional rice noodles. It was as if the huge noodles (street value about 25 cents) was trying to overcompensate for the rest of the lousy dish.
ONLY reason 2-​stars: The giggly staff was nice and refunded my money right away and with apology. They are at least nice about serving bad food.
There won’t be a strike three here though, because I won’t be going back. And with so much good Vietnamese in the city, I’d be crazy to do otherwise.

The boba is OK. Balls are soft and milk tea leans towards coffee flavors. Judging by the variety of milk tea drinks (they have about 8), this is not their specialty and you can tell because the balls must’ve been sitting in the tea too long.
Hi-​Tea looks all hi-​tech in here with the menu on TV screens. The lady was very friendly.
I hear the seafood soup is good so I’ll have to come back for that.

I was really debating about whether to give this place 3 or 4 stars. At the end I decided to go with 3. Here is why…
I come here mostly for their phở. I am somewhat of a phở-​natic, and I do need my fix more sooner than later. I almost gave this place 4 stars because honostely their phở is decent, especially for FIDI, where things typically are over price and cater to a blander taste. This phở has good taste and good consistency, and for the most part reminds me of real phở. Then I remember, I am in FIDI and as good as it is at the time, it doesn’t hold up to some of the greater phở places.
They also have banh mi’s that are pretty good as well. Expecially the pork. Their vermicelli plate is pretty good, with some Nuoc Mam. I would imagine their rice plates would be soem decent as well.
At the end of the day, this is a good fixture with good food at a decent price. The only problem is that it is just good. Not great, but it beats other places in the FiDi! Recommended!

«Hi-​Fail»
CAUTION: Vegetarian Noodle Soup is made with CHICKEN broth NOT Vegetable broth.
I am so sad. I have been going to Hi-​Tea for over a year now. I was excited to find this amazing Vegetarian Noodle Soup. The first time I came here I asked the woman, just to confirm, that it was made with vegetable broth, I was told, «of course.» I literally go here 3, sometimes 4x a week for my Phở.
I told all of my co-​workers and friends about this place and have convinced everyone to go at 11:15 in order to beat the lunch rush and get a table for us, if we’re a group. Its funny, everyone would always say, «That’s too early for lunch», but would still go and then see how packed it would get while we would be finishing our food.
On occasion, I would sometimes, think that my broth tasted like meat, but would put that behind me and assume it was someone else’s food. Well, yesterday, after months and months of talking about Hi-​Tea, I was able to finally have my man come with me to try it. His soup arrived and he said instantly, «This smells like meat». It even looked a lot darker than it normally had before. We proceeded to eat.
Today, I decided to take a new co-​worker there to try it. I go up to the counter and the lovely young girl, says, «Hi, veggie noodle?» I smile, and say «Yes please. Just to confirm, my soup is made with vegetable broth, right?» She smiles, «No, its chicken broth». I say, «This entire time you always serve it with chicken broth?» She says, «Yes, chicken.» I said, «Well, then that’s not entirely vegetarian, is it?» She said, «Would you like vegetable broth?» Me, «YES! I would very much like vegetable broth.»
This is so disconcerting, that I instantly began to get a stomach ache. Its terrible how misleading that is. I’m disappointed that restaurants are not more conscious about vegetarian and non-​vegetarian dishes. Just because there’s no actual meat in it, does not make it vegetarian if you serve it with CHICKEN BROTH!
Well, I was served my Phở, with what was basically water. There was absolutely no flavor at all. Most vegetable broths have color and flavor. I added a lot of sriracha to spice it up. Unfortunately, I will no longer be a customer of theirs. I don’t feel that I should have to specify each time I order a Vegetarian Noodle Soup, that I would like it with Vegetable broth.
«Hi-​Next» is right… must find new Phở spot. Ironically, this comes at a good time, since they have raised their prices.

11.16.10
I find myself venturing into Hi-​Tea more and more lately. Even though they load the food with MSG. Even though you smell like grease is oozing out of your pores afterwards. There’s just something about this place.
You walk in. You stand in line. Your turn comes when one of the cashier girls go «hi, next!» and waves at you. You order from the fancy TV menu. You say to go even though you just want to sit there and eat, but there are never any seats unless you wait next to a table like a hawk. The guy calls your number and you feel like you win the lotto (because I don’t know why in my case, I always am the last in my party to get my food. I don’t order anything different…).
Stick to the noodle soup. It may not be the most authentic, but it’ll do the job to cure your weekday hangover. Just sayin’ ;)

Came back to try the 5 Spice Chicken (comes with rice and 3 sprigs of broccoli for $ 7.12). This dish is a lot tastier than the phở! It really fills you up and isn’t too expensive compared to other lunch spots in FiDi.
The chicken was moist, flavorful, and had crispy skin! It doesn’t really soak up the side of fish sauce that well, but i use their hot sauce (it’s delicious!)
Just to reiterate: Avoid going here between 11:30 — 12:30, unless you want to eat your food to-​go.

This place gets pretty busy but worth the wait. The five spice chicken is solid. order it with brown rice and broccoli and you don’t get the greasy food coma afterwards.
I’d like to try the phở or the baked rice dishes next time.

Folks shouldn’t be so hard on this place for not being the most authentic Phở place in the world. They don’t claim to be, and for that, I cut them some slack. Their Phở is actually decent, although the tripe can be a bit rubbery. Overall though, I like their Phở. And it’s cheap — so I really can’t complain. Their Thai iced tea is refreshing and not overly sweet. I need to go back and try their wings and some of their noodle plates — they look really good.
Seating is really limited here and it gets packed really early. If you arrive after noon, you probably will have to stand around waiting for a table to clear out. So get here by 11:30 or wait until 1pm if you want to stay and eat here.

I always forget this place exists and it’s super close to work. Good spot to get my Vietnamese food fix instead of walking all the way over the Chinatown. Fast service, good food at decent prices. They serve sandwiches, rice plates, vermicelli noodles, noodle soup, and tapioca drinks.
— #48 Chicken Vermicelli Noodles: chicken good (lots of skin though), lots of noodles, more veggies & fish sauce would be nice

I will never go to Phở Hoa @ Embarcadero 4 ever again.
THEY HAVE PHO … CHEAP PHO … DELICIOUS … AHHH!!!
(Side note: their phone number is actually 415−391−3322.)
* Regular phở with rare steak, extra cilantro and beansprouts ($ 6.85)
They separated the broth from the other ingredients into two separate, reusable, sturdy containers and filled everything to the top. The rare steak was RARE so I needed to reheat the soup. But watching the piping hot broth immediately cook the meat made my head spin with excitement. The meat was SOOOO tender and the broth tasted fresher/​healthier/​cleaner than Phở Hoa.
I’m sooooo frickin excited to have found this place now that it’s getting colder…
Thank you for existing, Hi-​Tea. Your bubble tea is next on my hit-​list.

If you like, or is familiar with, Hong Kong style diners/​cafes — you should try this place.
But be prepared for service that isn’t as slick as you’d get at more established takeout places nearby e.g. Boudin’s, Noah’s Bagels, etc.
The fact that Hi-​Tea still haven’t figured out how to solve the lost tea issue — that the cashier don’t remember who ordered which tea — is simply ridiculous. Just ask for the person’s name for goodness sake!
It’s now mid September and they’ve finally gotten their TV screens working, which displays their full menu. They also finally have gotten designed menus, as oppose to the photocopy pink sheets.
The food… well…
Portuguese chicken is my Mom’s semi home made speciality — and I’m glad to see it on the menu. They serve it on fried rice and unfortunately the rice was very greasy and took away from an otherwise great experience. Taste exactly like the stuff Mom made from the bottle: p HUGE portions.
I had the Vietnamese style cold vermicelli with pork and egg roll today. The vinaigrette (for the noodles) was great! Quite spicy but works for me. The grilled pork was excellent, almost Hawaiian style. The egg roll was a bit so-​so. Yet again, HUGE portions.
And finally… bubble milk tea. I don’t think you can mess this up, and they don’t. Only criticism is that it’s not cold enough.
(note: I always get take out, because I’m time crunched. But the A/​C isn’t good in the shop so it’s not a bad idea to grab it to go and eat outside)
So verdict? It’s hard to find something like this in FiDi and I’m glad they’re there. It’s very good value, but to survive they really do have to lift their game with service.