House of Nanking

05/27/2008 Posted by izzacgoldbberg

Tourist trap. I've never seen people line up outside a Chinese food restaurant only to go in to be abused by the rude serving staff, be stuffed into unconfortable seating arangement, served food in dirty plates and be handed a heafty bill and rushed out so the next cattle can be served. $47 for 3 dishes & some lousy rice? Thats obcene isnt it? I mean there is an entire chinatown full of really good restaurants that will serve you better food for half the price. Dont be an idiot tourist, go and explore. Expensive, lousy food, lousy service, dirty and unconfortable.

Pros: Leaving the restaurant

Cons: Entering the restaurant

05/01/2008 Posted by ChineseChef

My friend found the restaurent on this website. He wanted to taste the food, so I went there with him. why I didn't like this place: 1: no one greated me when I was walking into the door. 2: there was no ice in water glass, the water wasn't cold enough 3: menu was a piece of very old paper covered by plastic with lots of hand writeing notes on it. 4: only one person can take order. 5: the price is high for what you getting. 2 eggrolls for $5. they were some size with spring rolls. 6:plates were all broken on the edges 7: no chinese food flavor. fried calamari was too sour, and the sauce too watery. the sauce for sesame chicken was so lumpy(the slurry didn't dissolve well.) 8: RICE WAS COLD AND LUMPY. AND SERVED IN A STAINLESS STEEL BOWL I can not believe there are people rate this restaurent 5 stars?????

Pros: I may take my non-asian friends to this place

Cons: everything else

04/07/2008 Posted by CorinaShin

I read and heard about the great reviews that restaurant has but I did not have a pleasant experience when we ate there. My husband and I saw one of the waiters sneeze around and onto plates of food and still served it! I'm very questionable about their sanitary practices and I'm pretty sure the restaurant is in violation of safety and fire hazards. We were seated at the same table with a different party and I had to yell to my husband across the table just to speak to him. We were very rushed- the waiter gave us the check within 5 minutes of serving our food. Their food was OK- we ordered the dishes that were recommended on the menu such as their potstickers and calamari. Portion sizes are not that big and I truly was not satisfied. I can't see how this restaurant is so popular.

04/01/2008 Posted by wilfordbrimley

I have been to House of Nanking quite a few times. I have been when it was still just a tiny little hole, and more recently since they have slightly upgraded. The owner still comes to the tables and still recommends dishes off the menu. You really can't go wrong with the food. I love the crackling fish though...it is pretty amazing, and def. not on the menu. The portions are VERY large, so remember that when ordering it is family style. The prices are still great, and if you choose your times you can get a table no problem. Just avoid the obvious... The greenbeans with garlic are amazing as well as the crackling fish with plum sauce, but try to go off the chef/owners recommendations. They will know what is the most fresh that day...(or just ask if they have a fresh catch.)

03/10/2008 Posted by dcsouthbay

After reading the many reviews that seem to jump from the positve extreme of "best Chinese food in the world" to the negative of "dirtiest, rudest restaurant you could ever find", we decided to try House of Nanking and see who was right. We visited on Sat afternoon around 1:45pm. I guess it was after the lunch rush because we didn't have to wait for a table. First the food, since that's clearly the only reason you'd go to HoN. We had the potstickers, seasame chicken and the crackling beef. Potstickers were decent, fried with a slightly spicy peanut sauce. The beef in the 'crackling beef' was very tender and tasty, but totally overpowered by the TONS of onions in the dish. Should've been called crackling onion with beef. The seasame chicken was the highlight for us. One of the best renditions we'd ever had -- lightly breaded, nice sauce and the sliced sweet potatoes were an unexpected, but nice addition. Now the service... The hostest/greeter was very cordial, but it was all downhill from there. The man who took our order (the owner?) was totally annoyed that we weren't ready to order after 30 seconds of viewing the menu. When the potstickers arrived, we didn't have plates, napkins or silverware and had to ask for them. Then the entrees came, but no rice. When we asked for some, we got a "yeah, it's coming" but it took 3-4 minutes. With 2 entrees and a bowl of rice, we only got 1 serving spoon?? And then we had diet cokes to drink. No glass with ice, no straw, just a can of diet coke. Finally the cleanliness. Well it's a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. It's pretty dirty, supplies piled everywhere and very cheap chairs & tables that don't seem to get much cleanup. Overall, we'd decided that we'd probably go back, but that we wouldn't wait in line. Several reviews have mentioned how good Chef Jia's is next door, but it was completely empty and HoN was 90% full....

Pros: Seasame chicken and decent value

Cons: Service, Ambience, Potential Wait

03/01/2008 Posted by ding0

Having read reviews ahead of time, this was one of the few restaurants cross-referenced in multiple guidebooks. Whether it was my mohawk, or the fact that I ordered right, I don't know, but this was some of the best Asian food I've had. The greens were fresh and spicy in our pork, served in a light sauce that only complemented the meat, and all of our other dishes were either above par, or nearly excellent. Very few restaurants have been this enjoyable- maybe I just went on a good day, maybe the chefs had a fluke, or maybe the House of Nanking serves good food, but I have a hard time reconciling my meal with the negative reviews on this site. The man (owner?) who took my order brought out what we ordered, even though we expected to have him substitute a dish or two.

02/16/2008 Posted by midwes

Took a chance on this place, based on a cab driver's recommendation. Everything we ate was amazing. Atmosphere was informal, looking more like a 'diner' than what I expected. Despite the casual setting, the food was amazing. Loved the "cracking beef". Also loved their egg rolls. My 9 year old son ordered beef with broccoli. It was the best rendition of that dish I have ever eaten. I highly recommend going here. Price was very reasonable.

Pros: Great food. Fast Service. Value due to large servings.

Cons: Pretty casual. Not a place for a romantic dinner. Busy and noisy.

01/17/2008 Posted by datu

It's hard to call this authentic Chinese food when there are virtually never any Asians dining here. You're in Chinatown, in a city that's almost 50% Asian. There's something seriously strange about seeing only backpackers thumbing through their Let's Go's and conventioneers off a plane from Des Moines. (I love the other review that said, "If you don't like Chinese food, you'll love House of Nanking." So revealing!) That said, HON is not bad. I'm an Asian from the Midwest who hanker for cheesy "Chinese-American" food now and then, and HON is a cut above Panda Express. The problem is so much of its food tastes the same, all swimming in the same sticky, oily, brown, sweet & sour & garlicky sauce. But by no stretch of the imagination is this the best Chinese restaurant in the city/country/world. It's not even the best one on the block! Chef Jia's next door (if it's still around) serves light, unusual, tasty dishes, and their Asian clientele gaze mystifiedly at the white people lining up next door. A few blocks away is the City View dim sum house. Dim sum is the summit of southern Chinese cuisine and offers a hundred times the artistry and creativity and discovery HON does. For high-end Shanghai food, there's Shanghai 1930. Farther afield, the multiple Spices locations will introduce you to the mind-altering thrill of the Sichuan peppercorn, along with updated dishes favored by the young set in China and Taiwan. You can even get a similar sticky brown sauce at the Alice's/Eric's/Eliza's line of acceptably Americanized Chinese restaurants. And then there's that seafood house in the Sunset that's always packed and cheap and adventurous and hole-in-the-wall and the Chronicle doesn't even know about it. But hell if I'm gonna tell the Lonely Planet set where that is! In the end, San Franciscans should appreciate HON for serving the same beneficial function Pier 39 does: To quarantine tourists so our favorite spots don't get overrun.

Pros: you can trade travel tips with other out-of-towners

Cons: so many other better Chinese restaurants in the city

01/11/2008 Posted by cmakon

I have eaten here for many years ...the food is excellent,but I eat here recently and hair was fried into my Garlic fish. It was so gross. The server offered another fresh dish. I declined ,who could eat after that. they took it off the bill. I think the lighting in there is too dark so the people cooking cant see whats in the food. I dont think I will eat there again. I couldnt finish my other dishes, I keep thinking there was hair in my food. Inspect your food before you eat here.

01/03/2008 Posted by jhoolko

We stumbled into House of Nanking by chance after spotting the Citysearch and Zagat stickers on the window and the dining room that was filled to the brim at 5:00. We decided to take a chance, and boy were we glad we did! Yes the dining room is cramped, the tables wobbly, the service no-frills (easily mistaken for rudeness), but the food was great! The mu-shu beef was full of vegetables and not overly sweet like some that I have had in the past. The chow mein was super thick and studded with delicious green beans. Our final dish, the house special sesame chicken was also amazing, though a little on the sweet side. I loved the sweet potato slices that were cooked with the chicken but was too full to finish them. My only regret is that we didn't get to try more: I got to see the calamari, mushrooms, and several beef and chicken dishes get passed over our table to our neighbors, who seemed to enjoy them tremendously. They all looked great! It's not super cheap, but it is tremendously filling. I recommend getting there early and going in a larger group so you can order more dishes!

Pros: Great Chinese Food, Hole-in-the-wall Ambiance

Cons: Crowded, Hard to get the server's attention