Hing Lung Restaurant
674 Broadway
(at Stockton St)
San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 398-8838
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Breakfast, Lunch
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
167 reviews
Neighborhood: Nob Hill
"Using the internal Chinese martial art technique of Tai Chi is not necessary for kids and me to ship my wife away on her business trip. But…" read more »
164 Reviews for Hing Lung Restaurant
Their service is horrible. Their food is nothing special. The jook is good, but I've seen them pour old jook into the new pot and heat it back up to serve. Gross. After that, I've never been back, although the bad service was enough to lead me elsewhere.
The only reason I go here is late at night (usually after games) to eat. Even now, I'd rather go elsewhere. I'm sure there are better places that are opened just as late.
While we were waiting, we had the opportunity to observe the cooks do what they do best behind a glass partition. I've seen them make fresh noodles in this "open" kitchen.....pretty entertaining but not amazing.
I've always liked this place because of their Congee. The Special Seafood Congee (at $6.50) is what I usually get along with a Chinese donut. Their Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup was good, especially at $5. I'd like to try out their Roasted Duck Congee and their Deep Fried Mini Buns the next time I go back. With a menu of over 150 items, you'd have to go back!
Just recently, I found my new favorites at this busy restaurant. Their H.K. Style Beef Chow Fun and their Fried Anchovies with Crispy Taro was spectacular! Our meal hit the spot after walking around China Town into North Beach.
Oh, make sure you finish all your food, unless you don't mind paying 25 cents per to-go container. Haven't seen that sign before. I guess everyone is hurting during these tough times.
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Been eating here too long to not give them the fair rating. If you know what to order - you can become a fan too, really.
They are best known for their porridge, the noodle wrapped fried donut and their pork livers. Yes, you got that right - pork livers. They know how to make it right - it's just barely cooked so it's tender and tasty and not chewy when it's overcooked. You can get it in your porridge or you can get it boiled with ginger and scallion or stir fried with xo sauce - whatever tickle your fancy. Their porridge is the right consistency although it gets thicker at night but it's always flavorful - even the plain one. They have the best noodle wrapped fried donut - the donuts are fried fresh there and they wrap it when you order it. It's only served during lunch time. On weekends, there is actually a line waiting to buy the freshly fried donuts.
They have a very extensive menu, as well as some specials posted on the wall. Right now, they are celebrating their 20th anniversary with specials like peking duck for $20. They are also serving clay pot rice - there are two at special price of $3.99. We have yet to try any but will soon.
They also have a 3 for $16.99 a la carte menu - it's a very large menu of some homey dishes, some exotic ones, as well as some popular ones, our favorties are some of the clay pot dishes.
We've recently tried:
-spicy eggplant yee mein with ground pork - wow. This was delicious and only $4.95!
-Hainan Chicken rice was very good too - very flavorful although we still piled on the crushed ginger scallion oil, just tasty. The rice was not as expected - normally it's served with rice cooked with the chicken broth but here it's fried rice.
-spinach with 3 kinds of eggs (thousand year eggs, salted eggs and eggs)
-three shredded meat stir fried thick rick noodles
while watermelon is still in season - you can also get watermelon juice for $1 - freshly squeezed!
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Dirty place, cheap place, bad service, alright food.. i choose D&A next door :]
Yes it might be a little dirty at times (and I would, btw, not recommend using the bathroom) and the service might be a wee bit rude and rushed, but I come here regularly for the food and bargain basement prices.
This place has got it all when it comes to good homestyle comfort Cantonese food. The congee and noodle soups here are great and where else can you get such great food for $2.50-$3 in the afternoon?
Other dishes are pretty good too and I've never had a noodle dish here I havent really liked. They even serve (mediocre) Dim Sum here (selected stuff like churng fun) too!
This is my Chinatown spot for afternoon and late night cravings.
By the way, they do take credit cards, but just with a $20 minimum purchase.
I wanted to order something CRAZY. I was so happy to be in San Francisco and getting the real deal Chinese food. I was sick the whole ride back to San Diego...I think you need to hit that spot with a local becuase I missed the mark. I blame myself.
My tummy is a little upset with me, it was the pork.
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surprisingly, they weren't that busy sunday morning. they are in the midst of their 20th anniversary special, featuring peking duck for $12.99. suprised to see a young lady (out of uniform) bussing food to the tables. first time ever. it's usually older personnel who move at a snail's pace.
entree: liver porridge (6ish) shrimp crepe(3.50)
porridge-very tasty , the liver tender
shrimp crepe-the shrimp crunchy and with a shrimpy taste, the rice noodle skin very silky and smooth. this is the BEST in the whole bay area!
pros
-the authentic good tasty, comfort food
cons
-the lock on men's restroom broken, the toilet backed up.
-check never arrived, even after many requests. went to cashier to pay.
-service is spotty here since servers aren't responsible for individual tables. they all pinch in when they have time, thus gaps in service.
rating: 4 star for the food.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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01/13/2008
the jook, the chinese donuts, and the shrimp rice noodles are the best. the pricing depends on when… Read more »
yes it's a hole in the wall. yes they are not the bastions of cleanliness. but gosh darn is this place good! my co-worker buddy and i hit this place up as much as we can and absolutely love it!
highlights here are congee (in any form) accompanied w/ chinese donuts, wonton soup, the beef chow fun, the duck, the chinese donuts wrapped in a steamed rice noodle and many more. i've not been disappointed w/ them yet!
the congee is great comfort food (thing rice porridge). i've had it w/ duck, abalone, duck and a few other additions. dip a lil chinese donut in your bowl of congee and you got some good chow. the chow fun was very flavorful and not overly oily which i welcomed a lot. i can literally go on an on here!
my only hold back here is that the boba tea here is sub-par. overall a great local joint to check out!
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I don't know why, but of all the Chinese restaurants in chinatown, this one is by far my favorite. I've been going here since I was a little kid and not much has changed. The food is always good, the prices are super cheap (although they've been going up over the years), and the service is really fast, probably because the exact same people have been working here for at least the past 10 years.
That being said, this place is really really dirty and sometimes in the evening and especially at lunch when the place gets super busy, they may forget your order or something you asked them for. If you do find yourself here, their clay rice bowls, rice porridge, and you tiao are sure hits. They make so much of it in the front that it's always ready when you need to order.
Hit this place up when you're in the mood for simple, good, cheap, and fast Chinese at practically any time of the day or night.
This place serves the best claypot rice i've ever tasted. Tender tender (msged?) chicken over perfectly cooked soft fluffy rice that takes 20 minutes to prepare and crusty at the bottom with a nice assortment of shitake mushrooms and a large bowl of complementary soup. Delicious.
This place gets a 5 star if (1) they are cleaner, and (2) if service is better.
Overall, I still think they have the best porridge and wonton noodle soup. Great bouncy texture for the wonton and perfectly cooked noodles with a crunch. Their weekday breakfast combo is also a steal. See picture attached. For $4.50 you get to pick from their selections of porridge or noodles dishes, plus coffee or milk tea, and shrimp noodle and fried yau tue.
Early last week the San Francisco Health Department gave Hing Lung a score of 26/100.
http://dphwww.sfdph.or...
Um, eeew???? I can't say I was completely surprised, but I'll be getting my jook elsewhere from now on.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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03/19/2008
Horribly bad service, and I'm not even exaggerating. The kind where it takes fifteen minutes to… Read more »
3.5 stars is what I will give it. The menu is pretty authentic.
Don't expect it to be a quiet place to dine or take a first date (unless it's after a good night of booze consumption.)
Don't expect great service either. The good/cheap food will make up for it (or lack of service)
The chinese donut is one of the best in town. You can see them make it as you enter the restaurant.
I don't care what anyone says, this is still my fave place for Cantonese style breakfast. Where else can you get jook, noodles, 'ja leung' -- Chinese donuts rolled in cheung fun and for less than $5 during breakfast time? Actually it's more like 3 or 4 bucks.
The jook gets thicker as the day goes on. I prefer the consistency of the jook around lunch time.
Service is what I'd expect in Chinatown. In fact, I feel a sense of nostalgia and comfort when I get this sort of service. It reminds me of my days in Hong Kong.
You want jook? You want wonton noodles? You want a carbo breakfast? Hing Lung is it! I used to love going to the one on Sunset when we used to live in the Bay Area, but now, only this one is around and trust me... it's the best you'll get outside of the old country. In fact, it's just as gross as eating in some of the yummiest eateries on HK.
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1) No meat in the beef stew
2) Hair in my soup
3) Awful service
Enough said
I honestly don't mind hole-in-the-wall places (Tu-lan, Cordon Bleu Vietnamese) as long as:
1) the food is fantastic
2) the service is efficient and fairly pleasant
3) there is at least some semblance of sanitary practice
Hing Lung, unfortunately, has little to none of the above.
I had a craving for roast duck noodle soup and this is where we ended up one Friday evening. It was ... ok, compared with the rest of the dinner. The wontons that were included with the soup tasted a little underdone, as did the egg noodles. The duck was passable - but really, how hard can it be to screw up some rich, fatty duck? They also cook up a nice batch of sauteed, garlicky pea leaves that was perhaps the best-executed dish of the evening.
And most everything else, from the sizzling rice soup (middling) to the sauteed vermicelli to the milk tea and hard-as-balls tapioca pearls (clearly not even cooked)... was fairly awful.
Best of luck to you in managing to get the servers' attention once they've taken your order.
Great food and prices...
But: I saw an enormous rat there, 4 Sundays ago, acting like it was the boss, out in the middle of the room, at 10am...
Two days ago, Sunday, 6 15 08.... no rat, no nothing bad...
A year ago, another person had yelped about the same rat. I only spotted that conversation yesterday, by accident.
The Health Dept is in contact with them today, thanks to Aaron Peskin's "instant response" to my email..
I imagine the place will be rat free from here on..
I will find out, soon enough... I will be back for more of their "jook". (porridge)
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Service is curt and the space is dirty, but it's cheap, open late, and they serve decent wonton mein, jook, and rice plates.
If you want good service in a warm, clean environment, don't bother. If you get the hankering for some southern chinese comfort food at 1am, Hing Lung is your place.
I use to be a regular at this place and loved their porridge. I like to have beef porridge with the fried Chinese donut wrapped in white rice noodle. It's a delicious combo. But then I came here one day and my companion was grossed out by the sticky table and dirty floors. It looked as if they hadn't cleaned the place for years. We ended up walking out without ordering, which wasn't hard since nobody bothered to come take our order. I will not come here again until the rats are gone and the place becomes sanitary. Guess it'll be awhile...
the porridge was great~ tastes wonderful with the chinese donut,
i ordered takeout and was very satisfied...break up the chinese donut into pieces and jus mix it in with your porridge, it tastes really good~ the porridge is also the right consistency and its not overly salty or bland with no taste.
i dont know about health policies and so forth but its chinatown and its not the cleanest place in san francisco but when you go to night markets in asia and you eat the food there, do you really think its much cleaner?
some people are willing to eat curry fishballs at a night market in asia where health codes are unknown but they arent willing to eat at a restuarant that has good food but a low health score from the SFHD. Sounds kind of ridiculous.......
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Late night grubbin at it's best or but also good for breakfast. Their breakfast deal is unreal. Me thinks it's $6 for two bowls of porridge ,donuts and milk tea at breakfast time. But don't quote me. I know people complain it's dirty but it's Chinatown. As long as I don't get food poisoning it's all good. Call me adventurous or crazy , but not much fazes me. Porridge with donuts always hits the spot.
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This place makes the best porriage. So if your sick or in chinatown and its a bit cold outside, you should really try this place out. Everythings mad cheap but its sooo good. They make the best fried chinese bread here too. I get the donut sugar ones to go and bring them home to eat as a snack. Of all the chinese places I've eaten in Chinatown, this place is number 1 compared to the rest.
I admit, people line up for their great Chinese donuts. However their jook (rice porridge) has MSG in it.
That was 3 years ago, If I'm wrong please correct me.
Posted outside is afternoon happy hour menu. It's not a bargain for me, if the portions match the price (small)
I prefer less meat in my food and everything seems like greasy food to me.
Yes, we can have a choice of eating healthy Chinese food. Chinese food does not have have to msg or full of grease. I'm boycotting this place.
Yelp, friend, Thanks for telling me about the health inspection rating ... I've never seen such a low number before. I wonder do they have to wait another year to get better ratings?
absolutely, positively, the best Chinese breakfast gourmet. not for those unfamiliar with Hong Kong street food vendors (da pai don's), so don't expect service and cleanliness. i ordered the rice porridge with roast duck, along with the sweet fried dough and the Chinese doughnut wrapped in steamed rice sheet noodle. another authentic to the max, hole in the wall restaurant in SF Chinatown. favorite hangout for the locals in Chinatown (lo wah kiu's).
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didn't make reservations at harris steakhouse for an out of town friend, the wait was 1.5 hrs. walked down to house of prime rib, ditto, so my friend said that he was craving chinese food in chinatown. we came here and we ordered peking duck, the waiter was like "peking duck, the $26 peking duck" ? yeah, and we ordered 5 more plates of yummy chinese food, like char-sui, prawns with the heads still on, gai lon, peking steak, rice, and 3 tsing tao's for the three of us. the bill was $61, $75 including tip, the bill at harris steakhouse would've been $75 a person with drinks. for all you haters, i say suck it! BTW, the rat's name is Ben. :P
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I cannot hate on the food, because I like the Chinese donuts ("yow tiew"), soy sauce fried noodles, and porridge ("jook") from Hing Lung. But seriously, I refuse to eat my meal here in their extremely unsanitary restaurant. Sticky seats, slippery floors, flies, ugh. I've never taken notice to any San Francisco Health Department inspection report cards posted on their walls, but if I were the SFHD, I'd give them a BIG FAT F for violating the health code. Since my last visit here, I refuse to order takeout too.
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I've been here about 5 times for lunch and seen a cockroach crawl under my table only once. 1/5 ain't bad. If you can get over that, the restaurant features good classic greezy chinese food that is cheap and quick.
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They deserve two stars for their jook. But everything else about the restaurant is simply NASTY. It's impossible to eat a full meal without waving your hand a gazillion times trying to swap the flies off your food. I liked it better when they had their restaurant on 19th and Lincoln Way. Everything just degraded when they moved to this Chinatown location. Don't come here unless you want cheap and "good" jook. But to me, it ain't worth it.
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A couple of my friends and I often go here on random Sunday afternoons. We usually order porridge with century egg, and chinese donuts. Never really tried anything else... actually, we're kinda scared to try anything else. =P
My favorite jook place ever. Too bad my dad would rather get dim sum (boooring) whenever we go to Chinatown. If I whine enough, however, we will come here.
My advice is that you should only come here for jook (the shredded pork and thousand year old egg jook is the best, especially since there's plenty of both), rice noodle rolls (NEVER GET THE SPECIAL! It's SO WEIRD 'cause it has a strange variety of meats. I'm thinking it's leftover meat from other dishes), and the different kinds of fried bread (oily goodness). Everything else is okay, nothing extraordinary.
The place itself looks terrible. The tables are dirty looking, the chairs are grimy, and the bathrooms are somewhat disgusting. Sadly, I am used to these conditions (I don't like them, mind you, but I've been enough Chinese restaurants). I've never seen rats or roaches, though, but maybe it's 'cause I'm not looking hard enough (why would I want to anyway?).
The staff kind of ignores you, but that's okay 'cause as long as I get my food, I'm good.
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I've come here since I was a little girl so maybe it's a sense of nostalgia, but kid you not, the jook here is good. I recently came with a friend and order the thousand year old egg with pork jook (pay dan sow yok) mmm. Jah leang/yow tiew is consistently delicious too. Who cares about a little stickiness like some of you that mind? It's a hole in the wall joint that's proven itself through the years and has been sucessful at it. It's comfort food at it's best.
I grew up eating there msg laced congee which is more addictive than cigarettes. I think Phillip Morris has some shares in Hing Lung but the food is great.
The rice porridge (jook) is the best in town, the sliced beef with raw egg one is a classic. The fried breads are great also both the sweet one and the savory one (translated "oil fried ghost") for dipping in the jook. There's also a bombass dish with rice rolls wrapped around the savory fried bread which is crunchy and chewy.
The service is not great and the place is a little dirty but its worth it. Greasy, salty, crispy - this place is a cardiologist's worst nightmare.
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Dirt cheap place for lunch. The place used to be a lot more crowded than it currently is. That's usually a bad indicator, but then again all of Chinatown seems to have lost many of its customers, due to multiple small Chinatown like malls opening throughout the peninsula and the rest of the bay area. People don't really need to commute here anymore for their food needs. However, this place is an exception to that, they still make the best fried bread in the whole state of California I would say, I haven't found a better place to get it, their porridge is pretty good too. The place looks to be in good shape even after all these years, and the front kitchen looks like its been decently well kept and its not too dirty.
A lot of people say they have the BEST jook in chinatown. My mom heard the same and she was skeptical and wanted to try it out. This place is nasty! Last Sunday, my mom woke me up at friggin 7AM and drove me and my brother down to Chinatown to try out Hing Lung.
Right when we walked in, my brother and I looked at each other with disgust. It was so dirty in there and the seats were so sticky! Flies were everywhere and these aren't your typical house flies, they're flies on steroids! THEY'RE HUGE!! Service was super bad. The waitresses were not attentive at all! It was a good work out for our arms after waving it so many dang times to catch their attention. Then again....we can't expect decent service at places like these.
We ordered a bowl of abalone and chicken porridge, a bowl of assorted pork giblet porridge (yea, I eat those stuff!), a bowl of wonton noodle in soup and a side of chinese fried bread for the jook.
Bad choice on the jook! Too much ginger in the abalone and chicken porridge and it wasn't even real abalone! The assorted pork giblet porridge was nasty too! The giblet weren't even cooked completely and made the jook tasted bloody. We waited forever for our chinese fried bread and it came by the time we were done picking at our food. It was supposed to go with the jook!! Their wonton noodle was decent, it wasn't bad but it wasn't good either.
Bill was cheap. Will not go back again. I had a really bad tummy ache later on that day.
The only good thing about this place is that they're right next to a pet shop and the pet shop has the cutest puppies ever!!
I used to come here after high school dances. It's open late ... dirty and crowded in the afternoons. The food is okay, and cheap.
Only jook (porridge) place without MSG that I know of in the city (or very little msg in the jook that i can't tell.)
If you feel sick and want jook, come here, don't get stuff from outside that are pack with msg, it'll only make you more sick!!!
The giant clam jook is my favorite! Try it out.
Other food: cheap and decent... but I go here for jook....
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i'd rather not eat at a restaurant that had cockroaches and mice running around the lights above the ceiling...i also hate how the chopsticks and plates are somewhat sticky all the time. The food is good, but the items listed above are more important in my books.
In addition, I hate the owners kitty...it looks insanely evil.
I think by far its the best porridge you'll find in San Francisco. Been going here for like 20 years originally with my family and now on my own. Over the years, to be honest, their servings have diminished, but I guess that's just how it is everywhere else. Also the place isn't the cleanest or best looking restaurant, but they've been around for a while and its just like any other typical non fancy chinese restaurant. its a place to get yo porridge, not a fancy date or nething.
However, I just recently went there with some friends and had the ALL TIME FAVORITE "gop dai jook" which I think is pork giblet porridge because i've always known it by the chinese name and not the english equiv. But for sure you can't go wrong with that one because the porridge has so much flavor. Granted the meat or innerds aren't what you would expect to be appetizing, they are just bonuses to the delicious flavor and taste that makes that bowl of porridge and i'll say it, 'heavenly'.
and of course, to compliment the porridge, you need the fried bread or donut they are famous for. You can also order the fried bread with rice noodle wrapped around it that makes a great appetizer type dish. I think that's the #36.
Noodles and rice, I'd really pass on because they don't make it that great anymore compared to back in the days. I also remembering their fried salt n pepper calamari being somethin but that was a long time ago.
and just for people who like HK Milk Tea, they make it pretty good too.
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I give this place a 3.5 stars. The place is definitely not known for it's cleanliness and service but hands down- they have the best jook in all of San Francisco. Any type of jook is good here- I normally get the chicken and fish/beef. To go along with it, I love their "o lay so", which is a football shaped Chinese donut that's slightly sweet. I haven't been able to find this at any of the Chinese restaurants so it's an extra treat for me. Also, their salt & pepper chicken wings, beef chow fun, and salted fish/chicken tofu pot are also good to try out.
Another Check Please recommendation so off I went with my BFF. He wanted some clay pot or hot pot (I can't remember which one, some kind of pot) so we were set. Got there at 3 p.m. on a Saturday and apparently they don't serve the clay pot or hot pot until dinner which starts at 4 or was it 5p.m....whatever it was our waitress communicated to us in her best English that they couldn't cook it yet.
So we opt for some noodle soup and noodles. As we get our food, my BFF spied with his little eye a table across the way with - - a clay pot or hot pot!!!! What was up with that. It was a Chinese couple so we thought, maybe our waitress didn't understand my BFF's order. Maybe they only serve clay pot/hot pots to Chinese on off hours. Maybe...it was something else. But my BFF was not happy. He wanted some clay pot.
Oh, the food. It was okay. Cheap. The jook is the big thing here but I wasn't in the mood for jook. Maybe I'll go back, but if and when I do I'm gonna start taking some Cantonese classes and my BFF Mandarin. No more miscommunication on our orders.
Oh yeah, they only take cash. At least that's what we think they said.
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