Reasonably-priced lunch in Chinatown?

[laurenpk]

My husband and I (both grad students) want to find a reasonably-priced, relatively authentic lunch place in Chinatown when we come in August (~1 year anniversary trip). Any Suggestions would be great!

[sfbing]

Jai Yun is available for lunch on the weekdays.

[PeterL]

"Reasonably priced" they are not.

[Robert Lauriston]

Dinner starts at $40, which is arguably reasonable for what you get, but lunch reportedly starts at $9 for 4-5 dishes:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/628152

[Ruth Lafler]

Could you be more specific? What kind of food are you looking for (dim sum, Cantonese, Shanghai, Sichuan, Hunan). What do you consider "reasonably priced"? Do you want basically one-plate meals (i.e., rice plates), or are you thinking of sharing several dishes?

[laurenpk]

Thanks for the reply...I'm not sure! For reasonably priced, I guess I mean like $10-15/person. Probably one-plate meals. I know there are several good dim sum places, so I was thinking of something else...I'm not sure how to distinguish between Cantonese, Shanghai, etc. Any suggestions would be great!

[rworange]

Here are some ideas

SF Chinatown: Best bets and a few losers
http://www.chow.com/lists/1072

For your requirements maybe Bund Shanghai would be best. Others to consider R & G (seriously read the reports for what to order), Great Eastern or Z & Y

[spinn1]

R&G and Great Eastern are great for Cantonese-style food, but they're a little pricier than $10-15/person. They specialize more in dishes to share, rather than rice plate specials.

Yuet Lee is good, however I find it overpriced for the type of food/atmosphere. It's geared towards tourist.

Skip House of Nanking at all costs. It is an abomination of Chinese food.

[sugartoof]

In addition to that list, there are good lunch specials from Chef Jia right next to Nan King.

It's been empty for lunches lately (in part because they're not the friendliest bunch) but the lemon chicken is good, or there's the honey chilli chicken, and about $6.

[rworange]

link

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Chef Jia's Restaurant
925 Kearny St, San Francisco, CA 94133

[Windy]

The original Henry's Hunan on Sacramento near Kearny for smoked ham rice plate, cold chicken noodles with peanuts and cucumber, hot and sour soup (less than $20 for two with tip and leftovers). Salty, spicy, family run.

New Hong Kong on Commercial for lunch for two for around $12 including soup and dessert. Good, cheap, sloppy noodles and simple rice plates.

For a few dollars more, you could walk across Commercial to City View for an upscale atmosphere for dim sum. These are far from the best food in Chinatown, but they are fine values.

You can eat rice places at R&G in your budget, but they don't tend to be that good.

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City View Restaurant
662 Commercial St, San Francisco, CA 94111

Hunan Restaurant
674 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94111

New Hong Kong Menu
667 Commercial St, San Francisco, CA 94111

[Ruth Lafler]

I think if were heading to Chinatown on a budget and didn't want dim sum I'd go to Capital and get the salt and pepper chicken wings plus a couple of other dishes to share. Cheap and delicious and it won't be full of office workers from the Financial District.

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Capital Restaurant
839 Clay St, San Francisco, CA 94108

[Windy]

Plus you get the whole time warp experience. It's like a visit to the 60s.

[Robert Lauriston]

Actually, the original Hunan was on Kearny and closed years ago when they moved to Sansome, which I like the best of the several locations since it has a bar with decent beer on tap. Same menu and prices, I think.

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Henry's Hunan Restaurant
924 Sansome St, San Francisco, CA 94111

[Windy]

Yup, menu and prices are the same at all the Henry's locations, as far as I know.