THREE AND A HALF STARS!

Pursuant a recent internet thing about the sweet spot for Chinese restaurant ratings being three and a half stars, which made some good points about restaurant reviews, SF Gate wrote and article containing a list of SF 3.5 star Chinese restaurants.

San Francisco's most 'authentic' Chinese restaurants
[According to viral TikTok]

It's prolix and verbose.


Here's their list:

SF’s 3.5-star Chinese restaurants
-Soo Fong Restaurant - Bayview-Hunters Point
-Mandarin House SF - Bernal Heights
-Makli Restaurant - Castro
-Red Jade - Castro
-China Live - Chinatown/NorthBeach
-Great Eastern Restaurant - Chinatown/North Beach
-House of Nanking - Chinatown/North Beach
-House of Xian Dumpling - Chinatown/North Beach
-Hunan House - Chinatown/North Beach
-Mister Jiu’s - Chinatown/North Beach
-Lai Hong Lounge - Chinatown/North Beach
-Little Szechuan - Chinatown/North Beach
-R&G Lounge - Chinatown/North Beach
-Yuet Lee - Chinatown/North Beach
-Z&Y Restaurant - Chinatown/North Beach
-7 Mission Restaurant - Financial District/SoMa
-Fang - Financial District/SoMa
-Henry’s Hunan - Financial District/SoMa
-New Ming’s - Financial District/SoMa
-Yank Sing - Financial District/SoMa
-Jo Jo’s Cafe - Ingleside
-Big Lantern - Mission
-J&E Restaurant - Mission
-Mission Chinese Food - Mission
-Wild Pepper - Mission
-Golden Horse Restaurant - Nob Hill
-Tai Chi - Nob Hill
-Eric’s Restaurant - Noe Valley
-San Wang Restaurant - Pacific Heights
-Eliza’s - Pacific Heights
-Kingdom of Dumpling - Parkside
-Ming’s Diner - Parkside
-Old Mandarin Islamic - Parkside
-Old Pier Hot Pot - Parkside
-Riverside Seafood Restaurant - Parkside
-S&E Cafe - Parkside
-Shandong Deluxe - Parkside
-Sunset’s Best Seafood Restaurant - Parkside
-Win’s Restaurant - Parkside
-Ling Ling Cuisine Restaurant - Portola/Excelsior
-Beijing Restaurant - Portola/Excelsior
-Emperor Palace Restaurant - Inner Richmond
-Hong Kong Lounge - Inner Richmond
-Taiwan Restaurant - Inner Richmond
-Chili House - Inner Richmond
-China First Restaurant - Inner Richmond
-The Claypot House - Inner Richmond
-Five Happiness - Inner Richmond
-Green Island Restaurant - Inner Richmond
-Hakka Restaurant - Outer Richmond
-Empero Taste - Outer Richmond
-Top SF BBQ - Outer Richmond
-Kirin Chinese Restaurant - Outer Richmond
-Shanghai House - Outer Richmond
-Superior Palace - Outer Richmond
-Tsing Tao Chinese - Outer Richmond
-Shanghai Dumpling King - Sunnyside
-Dumpling Park - Inner Sunset
-May Lee Chinese Restaurant - Inner Sunset
-Noriega Cafe - Outer Sunset
-Ming Tai Wun-Tun Noodle - Outer Sunset
-Hong’s Kitchen - Outer Sunset
-Tak Kee Lee - Outer Sunset
-Golden Kim Tar - Tenderloin
-King Kee - Union Square
-Buffalo Kitchen - Visitacion Valley
-Lazy Susan - West Portal

These are all clickable on the SF Gate page. Not here. Because I am lazy and none of these places are in my rotation. Which includes restaurants I shall not mention because I do not want to encourage my fellow Caucasians.

My criteria for restaurants are idiosyncratic. Do they have dumplings? Do they have Hong Kong milk tea? Do they have Sriracha? Do they have something impossibly high cholesterol? Do they have congee? Is there at least one thing on the menu with salt fish? Is there a bitter melon dish on the menu? Are there dishes written in Chinese on the wall that they were unable to translate into English for whatever reason?

If yes to at least half of those, it's worth a try.
If most of them, definitely a shot.


And if all those criteria are met, there is a very good chance that they will understand me when I speak Chinese. Not that that determines whether the food is good or not.



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