House of Nanking

If you've never eaten here, be prepared for the best Chinese food you ever had, except for the even bestter Fang, the upscale Nanking. If the service and atmosphere at Nanking are a bit rough around the edges, Fang is in a class by itself. Atmosphere at Fang is pleasing and comfortable and the service is at least a 4 star. Some specialties are the same at both places but Fang has even more creative dishes. Peter or his wife Lilly are found at both of these and if you are smart you will let them order for you, their selections are excellent and they will often add a little extra touch for you. Nanking sometimes tends to duplicate the sauces not a similar problem at Fang - everything is unique. Been going here since they opened in a single storefront with Peter at the wok in a smaller than postage stamp area and 30+ years later still marvel at what comes out of the kitchen. THe quality f the ingredients are the best they can find, always. Don't be put off by the less than gracious service - they try but they are always rushed - as see the lines outside hungrily waiting ofr your table. ENJOY both of these terrific places.

Original Chinese dishes including best eggplant appetizer, onion pancakes and unique tofu preparations. Wait staff is energetic and courteous. Our waitress was a bit pushy but did not lead us astray ... we enjoyed her vivacious spirit. Outstanding food for reasonable price...not elegant table- cloth dining. Would definitely go again and again.

The sesame chicken was moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside because it was not breaded. Because there were only two of us, we were pulled out of a long line after waiting less than a minute. We even got a rare window seat and the service was superb.

I recently experienced the House of Nanking, actually I am wearing the T-Shirt as I keyboard away. The food was, as I rated the best! From the "Melt in Your Mouth Calamari", salad with fresh peas, pot stickers, dumplings, fish with spinach..., etc. It was ALL very good. In the "Big City" and being an authentic Chinese restaurant one can expect "tight quarters" for seating, this means you are at a truly superb place. Go enjoy and don't make the mistake of rating a restaurant on the service.

Some of the best Asian food that I have had. I have seen some reviews commenting on the service. Understand the culture first... Great scene and location. My family loves this spot!

The first time I went to House of Nan King, I really loved it and suggested it to all my friends. The service was good and the food was great! The second time I went was a huge disappointment! I went with my parents, sister and her baby, and my Uncle. The waitress had poor customer service skills and acted like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. After we made our order she was like 'That's it! That's not enough! You need to order another dish!' We actually ordered another dish after her tone of voice. After waiting a long while, we noticed they didn't bring us our drinks, which was mostly water for our table. We waited patiently and didn't press for it until it became evident that they were not going to bring us any water. We kept asking, and the other waiter would quickly walk by our table and mumble that he was busy right now. A complete lack of respect and lack of customer service. We asked several times and no water. Finally they gave us our water. And finally we were given our bowl of soup, soup bowls and soup spoons. They gave us one less soup bowl and one less soup spoon. After asking for the additional soup bowl and soup spoon, they gave us the soup bowl, but no soup spoon. Mind you, every time they gave us something, they would quickly run off to do something else. They never gave our table any attention. After asking several times for a soup spoon, after the fourth or fifth time, the waiter lost his cool with us, grabbed 10 silver spoons and THREW THEM ON OUR TABLE! We about had it after that! My sister while holding the baby got up and told the waitress who originally waited on our table and they were going back and forth arguing. I then told the waitress, we want our check for what we ate, we are leaving. We are not happy with the service. She then got all apologetic and said no the food is coming, sorry we are busy, and not enough workers. She then yelled at the waiter in her language. She ignored my request for the check and later brough out the main dishes. I told her no, I told you we want our check for what we paid for and we are leaving. I had to say this 3 - 4 times before she would give us the check! I noticed a sign in the restaurant of a new branch of theirs that opened somewhere else. The food that we had wasn't even good. Honestly, I have never been so disrespected in my life. I will never go back and will tell people to avoid this restaurant.

Whilst staying in San Francisco we asked the Concierge of the Hotel where we could get a nice Chinese Meal. He had no hesitation in recommending House of Nanking. Well to make a long story short we thoroughly enjoyed the food, the atmosphere and the friendly folks we spoke with at adjoining tables. We live in Australia and can honestly say that our night at House of Nanking was one of the highlights of our trip to America.BY the way the icy cold chinese beer really compliments the excellent food.