San Tung

The best way to tell whether a Chinese restaurant is good for Yelpers is not by how many Chinese are in the restaurant overall. The litmus test is to scope out the number of young adult Chinese in that restaurant. The more you see, the more you can be assured that the food is good and not your average Chinese fare. What's the logic behind it? Young Chinese adults typically grow up in families where typically the only food consumed in restaurants is Chinese food. As a result, we grow tired of the standard Chinese fare and so veto those types of restaurants when going out with friends (sucks for the non-Chinese friends who want to eat Chinese). If you see a lot of us in a restaurant unaccompanied by old adults, it means the restaurant's food is so good that it has overided our veto of Chinese food.

San Tung is exactly the type of place where you'll see us in hoards, willing to withstand a long wait, in order to consume the deliciousness that is the dried fried chicken (I prefer diced because it requires less work than the wings to eat). I can only explain it this way to the novices: think of Panda Express orange chicken only INFINITELY better. Don't be put off by the use of Panda Express. I think the chickens die willingly for that dish. My other favorites are the sauce noodles and pot stickers. The potstickers are made fresh, though careful not to order too much food because these are the biggest potstickers I've ever seen. I'd actually think about naming my first born Dried Fried Chicken Diced if it weren't for the fact that I'd feel like a hypocrite for making fun of parents who name their kids weird things such as Female and Apple.

Get here really early or really late for lunch and dinner as it gets packed easily. I hear you can call in for a reservation but I've never done that. Parking is huge pain on the weekend but easier on the weekday. It'll delay your consumption of the chicken, which may make you upset.

Honestly, this is a solid place for great San Francisco Chinese food. I see a lot of people saying definitely get the world renowned dry fried chicken and here's my hot take that no one asked for: it's gone down hill. Is it good? Sure. Was it better before? Yes. Would I wait an hour or more for it? No.

Any Chinese dish gotten here is tasty and solid. dry fried string beans? Black bean noodles? Fried Fish? Cherry Pork (grandpa's favorite)? All delicious foods. It's a really good Chinese restaurant and definitely my favorite in the city but it's not worth the long wait. You can make reservations ONLY if you are a party of 7 or more.

San Tung has been the hottest spot to visit if you're from out of town, ever since mid 2010s. And I recently had it again multiple times and it still hits!

Wait is usually quite long, especially weekend night. I would put aside 1 hour wait average if you're coming at the thick of weekend dinner times. Put your name on the chalk board. People tend to leave because they can't wait that long so sometimes you get lucky and wait less. Parking is a pain because it's always busy and it's all street.

Inside the restaurant is a typical Chinese restaurant. It's not too big, which is why the wait is long. There are big tables for huge groups so it's possible to bring a big party.

Core items are the fried chicken, string beans, black bean noodles, and jjambbong. Everything is so so good, I have no complaints. The food comes out relatively fast too.

This is the first Chinese restaurant that I've been to that's famous for fried chicken wings. The wings are the main reason to come here, otherwise you can go elsewhere if you just want Chinese food.

5:30pm on a Saturday evening and there was already a line of people waiting outside. They don't take reservations so you just have to put your name on the board and wait.

The restaurant is not big so they put the tables very close together to accommodate more people and it gets very loud inside. Just be prepared to shout if you want to have a conversation.

Now back to the Original Dry Fried Chicken Wings ($17.50). I can see why people love them. The super crispy skin combined with the sweet and slightly spicy sauce is addicting. It's best eaten with white rice. The sauce is good but really sticky. It would be nice if they provided wet wipes.

I also enjoyed their Beef Soup Noodles ($17). It's a big shareable bowl and very tasty. The noodles were cooked perfectly. The Dry Black Bean Sauce Noodles ($17) were alright if you like that flavor. Pork Dumplings ($13) weren't bad either. The Dried Sautéed String Beans ($16) didn't have the crispness that I like and the sauce was a little sweet for me.

Overall, this a solid place for a meal especially if you have a craving for chicken wings. The service is not the best but I can cut them some slack because of how busy they get.

I've tried their world famous Dry chicken wings a few times, but never dined in. Make sure to stay at the restaurant if you'e waiting, it goes by fast and we almost missed our turn.

Original Dry fried chicken (5/5); This was my first time having it fresh and it definitely met the hype. The rub was drenched in flavor as it was sweet.

String beans (5/5): Very solid, definitely the best vegetable dish

Black Bean sauce noodles (5/5: the noodles were very chewy and the black bean sauce was super yummy.

I definitely enjoyed my experience here.

Came here on a weeknight for 2 ppl at close to closing time ~7:45pm. Put our name on a long list but surprisingly seated like 15 min. Sat at a big table with other parties (which I've never done before but kudos for efficiency)

Ordered the classic dry wings, jajangmein, hot sour soup and string beans. Wayyy too much food for 2, would just order 2/3 dishes next time.

Classic dry wings were GREAT! And string beans too. I'd pass on the Jajangmein... for some reason the seasoning was lacking.

Overall would come back again and again! Super good price, super quick service!

Don't be mistakened by the name, dry chicken is not dry. The food was extremely amazing though. I would come back for it. The chicken is fried well and it holds under the sauce. The sauce was sooooo delicious. Sweet and spicy in some sense (for me). Must-try!

My boyfriend and I went here before we went to exploratorium after dark and it was super super worth it. We only had breakfast before this so eating at 4:30, we were super hungry

We ordered the black bean noodles and the original fried chicken because it seems it's their best sellers. The food was sooo good! I never had black bean noodles like that! The chicken was also a good mix of sweet, savory and crunchy! I loved the sweet sauce it came with!

We were there exactly at 430 and we were able to seat right away. The place started to get a bit more full while we were eating. The place had a lot of seating area and it was a good layout.

San Tung is SUCH an iconic SF staple. If you haven't already tried their original dry wings, you're missing out! Something about that sticky, spicy, and garlicky sauce is soooo addicting lol.

We tried visiting on a Saturday afternoon, and it probably took ringing their line 10+ times before we were finally able to reach someone. Once we got to the restaurant, the place was BUSY and packed. If you're trying to call in on a busy weekend, definitely keep this in mind! Luckily for us, our call had gone through and our order was ready by the time we arrived (~30 minutes).

I'd recommend the wings (of course)! The wings are always perfectly fried every time I go. They alwayyys load up the sauce too.

The black bean noodles are also a fav of mine. They're served better when dining in; we got this for takeout and if you don't eat the noodles right away, they congeal together quickly.

After much hype, I finally tried the locally famous chicken wings at San Tung and overall I was unimpressed.

We ordered the fried calamari, classic chicken wings, wonton soup, and the combination chow mein. The soup and chow mein were standard and something I could get in a slightly above average fast food restaurant. The calamari and chicken wings were both covered in the same sweet, sour, slightly spicy sauce. Although the meat was juicy, I didn't care for the sauce at all. It was too sticky, overpowering, and nothing special. For what we ate, the tab came out rather pricey.

Unfortunately, I don't understand the hype and feel like this place is rather ordinary. I can't find anything to justify coming back to this establishment.

This place has some of the most reviews in San Francisco so I felt like it must be one of the best restaurants in the city - it's not.

The food here is pretty good, but nothing out of the ordinary

Black bean noodles with beef and seafood - 4/5 - The noodles here are really good and there's generous portions of both meat and seafood. The black bean sauce was good but a little too bland and takes over the flavor of the whole dish.

Original wings - 4/5 -. They come coated in a sticky sauce leaving them crispy but still flavorful. The chicken wasn't as juicy as I like my wings, but they were still good.

The restaurant can get busy fast and the inside is filled with tables in a family style setting. The service is subpar, slightly understandable because it's such a busy restaurant. When my partner said 'ummm' with slight hesitation while ordering our original server walked away and said I'll give you some more time. Never came back, and someone else took our order 15 min later.

Overall this place is a good restaurant but far from one of the best restaurants in the city. Good food but overhyped.