Wei’s Hunan Restaurant

This place CLOSED a month ago.
The original Wei opened in 1998. Like I said in my previous review, the owner was very friendly, but the food (later years) wasn’t that great. I think that his name was Mr Huang.
He sold the business in 2011. The new owners were better cooks, but the bad reputation of the old place scared most prospective customers away. ALL subsequent owners were doomed to FAIL, because they kept the old name — the Cheng family in 2011, followed the Tang family in 2012. Most people didn’t know that this business changed hands 3 times. Finally, the latest owners had the wisdom to change the business name (it’s now called Yummy Hut) and menu (the kitchen is small, so a large menu doesn’t make sense).
In my opinion, Beijing Restaurant has the best Chinese food in the Excelsior neighborhood.

Christmas Day was windy and raining throughout the entire Bay area. Many businesses, especially on lengthy Mission Street were fortunate to avoid the drench of the rain and closed on that day. Oh yeah… «Happy Holidays, everybody!»
Not every businesses are closed on the festive day. But most Chinese businesses were opened. And this Chinese-​operated hunan restaurant was one of the very few that were open. This small place has countertop tables, which used to a be diner that serve American-​cuisine many years ago. I don’t mind a little spiciness on this recent cold days.
On my debut of this place and for my lunch, I was craving what most ABCs (like me) order: Dried Beef Chow Fun. For $ 5.95, the pasta dish has beef flank steak, bean sprouts, chopped green and yellow onions and garlic in a stir fry. Some restaurants do carelessly destroy many of the key ingredients of this popular pasta dish. But here, the pasta dish was cooked perfectly and not overly arid without leaving a burnt aftertaste. My pasta dish:
I recently became a temporary heavy-​eater again. I also ordered a dish of vegetarian egg rolls to conjoined with my pasta dish. For $ 3.95, I get three deep fried egg rolls with vegetable fillings and a side of sweet & sour dipping sauce. This restaurant makes solid egg rolls with fresh ingredients. My appetizer:
As I was enjoying my grub, I was looking at the heavy rain pour down on Mission Street and staring the small surrounding of this tiny restaurant, including the Health Department score of 92. That is not a bad score for a food business on busy Mission Street.
For under $ 10.00, my meal was cheap and pretty good too.

those of you giving them more than one star– shame! get some decent food! Yes I know chinese food very well — this place sucks–

This place is nice, if unremarkable. The food comes quickly and in adequate portions. There’s nothing wrong with this place, it just doesn’t really do much to distinguish itself from other, better offerings nearby.

I came for lunch earlier this week with two coworkers. The food is okay, though the braised duck we ordered was a bit dry. I hear the highlight here is the clay pot rice (the menu for these items are only in Chinese) but the smallest size they serve is for two people. Too bad unless I come with someone who wants the same thing.
The people running this place seems pretty nice. The lady even gave us seconds on house soup because we were waiting for our food. She also replaced the rice on the plate with warmer one because the cooked food took a while. It seems they could use a bit of help in the kitchen.

I always love these mom and pop places and this place does not disappoint. It’s not fancy by any means but good home cooking by a very friendly staff. Fair prices and good portions. Will definitely be back. They make you feel like a VIP customer. Parking isn’t so great at time as it’s surrounded by other stores but the Muni Line is convenient so take the bus if you can.

Best hometown Chinese dishes. The incredible food, makes up for the ambiance. I recommend the off menu items.

Went here and ordered the green onion & garlic chicken lunch combo. It came with steamed rice & ginger chicken soup. Not covered in msg, so that was nice. Chicken was quite tender as well.
I really enjoyed eating here because I was very relaxed. Small hole-​In-​the-​wall and I was the only customer. The elderly man sweeping in the front. The elderly lady cooking in the back. Reminded me of home so long ago. The gentleman constantly checked up on me like a mother making sure her dishes were good. Very cute.

I love the Clay pots and soups (bo tong) from here! probably the best in all of sf that I have had. The soups aren’t what you normally get with the msg and all it is made with the herbals and you can tell they are generous with their ingredients!
They also have a pig stomach dish that was good if you like that stuff! but the owner’s away on vaca right now so the food is a little off, but normally the best you can possible have of authentic chinese food!

Just had their Pepper Pork Stomach Chicken Soup, super warm soul food. It really warms up your body just as this traditional Tai Shan dish is intended for. Their soups are always 100% homemade, plenty of ingredients and herbs. NO MSG, they don’t need to because of the abundance of ingredients. Big portion too. I really don’t know why people give this place one star… you will never find good «American Chinese» food there! Being a customer since 2007, I recommend this place and have been going back again and again for their soups and clay pots. If you want to try street food or traditional food you will probably find in China, go this this place!

When my friend said claypot rice, I was like where? Clement? Grant? And he said Mission and it’s one of the better ones in the city.
I was fairly surprised to hear it. I thought, why not?
Turns out, it was fairly decent. Other items were a bit greasy, but from what my friends say, it’s pretty authentic Toysanese food. I’m not really a huge fan, but I defer to them.
We didn’t order that many items as everyone really wanted claypot rice only. Will update if I do come back.

My friends took me there on Sunday, and I returned on Monday, that’s how good it is!
The clay pot rice is absolutely the best, probably best in the city and peninsula. The owner is very friendly, and will make a clay pot according to the portion, and is willing to put any ingredients of your choice. The best part of the experience is at the end, when they put soup into the hardened part of the rice at the bottom, and make a nice little porridge all free of charge! Clay pot is about $ 16 for 2 people, $ 25 for 4.
Granted I’m Cantonese, and is crazy about clay pots, but it’s so good. It’s a great mom and pop shop, the cook is the wife, and very nice old lady. They make their own preserved ham, grow their own green onion, lol which is the first plant greeting you at the door.
Another great delicacy is their soups, not the sweet and sour nor minced beef, but it’s the ones stewed over hours. I had ordered snake soup, yes don’t get grossed out if you are not Cantonese. In any case, filter that out if you are not.

remember those days when they had $ 1 dollar food, i love this place for a quick snack… but now they remove it and focus more like a resturant, still haven’t tired it since… wonder if still good: P

Amazing Fish and Tofu clay pot! I’m in awe. Wei brought us fresh roasted peanuts to munch on while we looked at a menu that covers all of the usual and house special dishes. We decide on the clay pot and out comes this amazing bubbling pot of goodness. Big chinks of nice mild whitefish and yummy shrimp. Loaded with tofu. It’s the next morning as I write this and I’m craving more clay pot.
Also the beef chow fun was everything you ever wanted. Great wok flavor, tender beef, sticky fat rice noodle, and a lot of fresh bean sprouts so it’s lite.
Weis likes to push an expensive dish. I let him talk me in to the Green Onion Sauce Fried Whole Chicken. It was also good. But not expensive. His english is plenty good to understand what you are saying. And he smiles all the time.
We had two drinks, three dishes, and dessert of ice cold juicy melon and the bill was 25 bucks. Can’t beat it. No MSG in any dish. Wei’s is great!

Been coming here since ’00 and MAYBE the best Chinese food I’ve had in the Excelsior. Who knew this place held such a thing of beauty?
Interior: The usual hole-​in-​the-​wall Chinese look. Specials written in Chinese hanging all over the walls. They have a nice little bar area where you can eat!
Food: Real good stuff. Their Mongolian beef is «smack your mama» good. Other things I really liked were the scrambled eggs and shrimp, fish fillet with mixed veggies, and the beef stew! Food is full of flavor and is constructed of simple ingredients.
Service: The guy is real friendly! He always tries to talk you into ordering specific items, which barely works.
PS: I really miss their take-​out section they used to have! Gi-​normous chicken legs for only one dollar =[
Excellent place for a quick, cheap, lunch/​dinner! Try it!

It looks a grubby hole in the wall – a converted breakfast joint with the counter and the red seats – but the food is excellent. It isn’t the place to take a date unless you want to show her a «secret» place that no one knows about.
I always hesitate when I think about going there because it takes a lot of energy. The owner usually tries to talk to me in Chinese and tells me that he knows what I want, that he knew when I walked through the door… «You want a beef stew claypot!» It is all worth it.
The food is GREAT! The flavors are popping. It tingles. You spend a lot of time wondering, «how did they do that? My God, this is good food. How can anyone get tripe to be THAT tender?»
Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.

***Updated/​edited 5/​24/​2008***
We just moved into the neighborhood and have been eating there three times this week! :) It is a real «Mom and Pop» joint, it is run by an old couple from Tai-​Shan of China.
According to the owner, their specialties are Cantonese style soup, and Claypot (Rice with variety of meat and veggie). They don’t put MSG in any of their dishes. Their ingredients are fresh and they cook it the traditional way (slow cooking many hours to get the flavor into the soup, etc.), so it tastes great! I don’t get thirsty afterwards, unlike may other MSG-​rich Asian joint in this town.
Price is reasonable and portion is huge, but be aware Wei tends to peddle the more expensive dish to you. Stick with the more homely/​common dishes, like those written on the wall. stay away from the more expensive ones. We got a two people portion of Claypot w/​frog and eel for $ 18 (but it is so huge, it should be enough for 3 – 4 people already). They also pour in nice hot soups after you are done and making the crispy part of rice into a soup at the end. Not bad.
Not sure why they have «Hunan» in its name, it is a straight Cantonese restaurant. There is nothing Hunanish about it.
Stick to the more common and cheaper options. Fish is not that great and more expensive than their normal dish.

Can’t beat this for the price. for 31 dollars + tip, 5 people each got a large dinner plate, plus a huge bowel of soup, PLUS PEANUTS. (gotta love those peanuts). And the food was really good. I tried everyone’s meal and liked it.
We had trouble communicating with our server (wei?), but nothing some hand gestures and pointing couldn’t solve.

I’m giving Wei’s 5 stars to offset the user who rated them 1 star without even trying the food. What kind of asshole does that?
I’ve eaten here a few times and think the food’s pretty good. In fact, it’s better than most chinese restaurants in town, but that doesn’t say much, does it? It’s definitely the best chinese in the Excelsior. I like the noodles with «pork meat sauce» best of the things I’ve tried.
And yes, the fellow who runs the place does not speak good english, but it ain’t a big deal. Just point at the menu and you’ll get what you want. They’re very nice folks, by the way, so give them your money.

This place is questionable.
I couldn’t even get to the food part because their Unilocal profile is wrong. They don’t deliver.
If you don’t speak Chinese don’t even try to order over the phone.