Hong Kong Deli

Five stars based on their hot pepper chicken alone! It has real pieces of crispy chicken and skin, not that processed chicken most other Asian restaurants use. The only thing that would make it better is if it had a little bit of sauce to eat with the rice. You will sometimes find a piece of garlic or ginger in their dishes which I like because you get different pockets of flavor.
I’ve also ordered the beef chow fun, which is good, and the sweet and spicy special, which wasn’t really my thing.

**Last night I found out the mean guy that works there is gone!!!**
I have been getting take out from Hong Kong Deli since when I used to visit Gainesville. Now that I live here, I still continue!
HK Deli is not fancy Chinese food, but its exactly what you want when you have a hankering for some tasty Chinese food!
I order their Chow Fun with Beef and Tofu and it is divine. It is a huge portion, definitely enough for 2 people with a hearty appetite. I really look forward the the soy sauce laden big chunk of ginger that will inevitably end up in my mouth as I am eating. Also, their pork buns are yummy. The meat filling does not have any gristle in it which is often the case with pork buns and one of the reasons I typically steer away from them. But not at Hong Kong Deli!
Check this place out for sone down home non fancy Chinese food! I also believe this is a woman owned business!

Giving this place back the 5 stars. They got a new lunch menu that is awesome. They have also been open on time the last few times I’ve tried it.

Yes we are now huge fans.
If it wasn’t for other fellow Unilocalers and the positive reviews we probably would have never dined here. But given the great reviews, and the timing being right we did a family outing here Halloween night ¹⁰⁄₃₁ on a Saturday. It was around 7pm, is was dark, and the place isn’t fancy by any means. We were the only one’s dining in. We were greeted with smiles by the owners (Georgia and her family).
I’ll get right to the point. This is not a dine in style place. Yes, you can dine in, but do take out.
The food is what stands out. The quality shines through. The owners worked hard to make our dining experience as best as it could be. I got the duck, which was delicious. Some BBQ steam buns.
The food was delicious !! The prices right on for the portion sizes provided. This is the best Chinese food we’ve had in Gainesville. Truly authentic. Reminiscent of China Town San Francisco quality.
We will definitely be back ! and highly recommend this place if you haven’t tried it.

I have been coming here for years whenever I’m in Gainesville. I think it the best Chinese food I’ve ever had anywhere in the U.S. I wish they would make it a real restaurant, because right now they only have 3 of the greatest Chefs working the kitchen. The place doesn’t look like the best Chinese food food would be inside, but it is! The chow fun with any meat is amazing and so is the Singapore noodle, but the duck is something that needs to be ordered, and I hate duck. It’s that good!

The lady that runs the place is nice and courteous. The food was good and as expected. The inside and outside was a little shady. Half of the store was unlit and walking to the restroom you felt like you might get mugged. The AC they had inside did so the store justice and it was still a little humid inside. Over all get place for take out.

I shall say that overall the restaurant was far below our expectation. There was no AC, no waiter. Table was full of oily stains and spots. The only waitress throw the forks and knives onto the table. They showed no respect at all. As for the foods, we ordered 7 dishes, 1 of them was not ready at the end of the dinner. For the rest of them, none of them were tasty, they were neither too salty nor oily. We won’t go this place for the next time. never!

Food is not as expected-​too much oil and too much salt. In fact all the dishes taste almost the same.
But the food is not the worst part. The table clothes was sticky and the waitress just threw our table spoons right onto it without any prior notice. No water. Very hot inside.
Probably earned this rating by its to-​go service cauz I definitely am not enjoying this dining-​in experience.

1) Ordered Sichuan beef tendon noodle soup and BBQ pork rice. Both decent and fairly consistent.
2) The lady owner’s really helpful and sweet.
3) Not quite impressed with the service.
4) The food was priced a little higher.
5) I understand business only run by 2 people is not easy, and it can be stressful sometimes. But telling my bf be careful not to give out a bank account since I am someone he met online is unnecessary. :’(
6) I would love to see them succeeded with their business.

Description:
After years, not days, not months, but YEARS of saying I would check this place out, I finally did. A hole in the wall kind of place, Hong Kong Deli was overall a decent experience. For this review, I am giving it 3 stars; however, there is a very high chance for an updated review in the future for reasons being below.
I understand the appeal of hole in the wall restaurants (the fooooood), but for the sake of being consistent, I am going to describe my experience overall. From the outside, the restaurant looks pretty shady. There’s not really any parking, the windows have bars in front of them, and the color scheme is kind of weird. Inside, the kitchen is clearly visible; it looks rusty, old and oily. The seating area is okay but they keep the lights off in what use to look like a separate dining area. I wouldn’t recommend sitting down to eat, especially not with friends. If you’re on your lunch break and need to sit down and grab a bite, it’s totally fine (that’s what I did). I think most people take out.
Food & Service:
I ordered the Sichuan beef noodle soup. It was a decent size but $ 10.95 was definitely pushing it. Being Chinese and away from home though, I couldn’t resist. The noodle soup itself was pretty good! The beef was nice and tender, the noodles were cooked well and the flavor of the broth was solid. Have I had better for cheaper? No doubt. Have I had better in Gainesville? Not that I know of. My experience with the staff was great. The young lady was very attentive and even got me a cup of water without having to ask. Her father and son were also nice and friendly. I cannot confirm any of the rude behavior that was said in other reviews.
Final Thoughts:
That being said, this was really a 3.5 star experience for me. I would give the noodle soup and staff a solid 4 stars but everything else was lackluster. Regardless, I would still come here again for a quick lunch. I am going to order the crispy roast duck and pork on my next visit and do a updated review if more stars are deserving!

There’s one big catch to the concept of «glory days»: having them implies a start and an end to the best a place has to offer. Comparing Hong Kong Deli’s ratings to my recent experiences, I can’t help but get the feeling that this place did have a day or two in the sun, but apparently resistance to change or feedback is keeping those days numbered for now.
The Space
Sunken in a bit, right before the intersection of N. 13^th St. and 23^rd Ave., HKD is easily spotted by its all yellow exterior. The structure of the place is more in line with a home than a restaurant and parking definitely would be limited, if it weren’t for the fact that they don’t get a volume of dine-​in business high enough to raise concern. Open up the steel door to reveal the kitchen/​register, where you may or may not be greeted by the family that runs the place.
There are a few chairs by the register to sit at while you wait for a take-​out order, and deeper to the right you can find what may have formerly been a dining room area. I say «formerly» because, while you can spot tables and chairs, I can’t imagine anyone would ever feel comfortable trying to dine in at HKD. It’s almost always totally empty over there, and most times the lights are just plain off.
The Service
I’ve been here a few times and you never quite know what you’ll get going in. HKD can get a decent volume of orders from take-​out and delivery services. Stack on top of that the fact that I’ve only seen 3 people working at one time, and there’s a high likelihood of their getting bogged down. Sometimes I’m quickly greeted with a smile, sometimes it takes several minutes to be acknowledged. Sometimes I can ask about what something tastes like (and even be offered tastes of certain foods) and other times I sense attitude if I don’t make a quick decision.
The Food
Thankfully I don’t get a completely similar vibe about their food as with everything else: it’s actually pretty tasty most of the time. Their menu is vast so you can take your pick from a laundry list of different items, they have dim-​sum you can order anytime, and even duck made fresh daily for use in a few dishes. The personal win for me, and the reason I initially frequented the place, was that they are both really close to my new apartment and serve Artie’s Tempeh in several dishes.
From the (protein) Chow Fun to the Sweet & Spicy (protein) and even Mixed Veggies & (protein), you’ll get to watch the fresh ingredients tossed into a wok and cooked right there. They also have a house chili oil that gives a really savory heat to the meal.
What you also may observe is how heavily-​oiled the food can be, the occasional «we’re out of that», and the price/​portion ratio for some items. It appears that they don’t have to deal with dine-​in patrons, wait staff, or the other associated costs, yet still have most of their dishes listed as $ 10 or more. Oh, and the chili oil is an extra $ 1.
Final Thoughts
Despite how close HKD is to me, I hardly ever order these days. Hong Kong Deli feels like a family-​owned business that was serving up really great, authentic food at the start: when people would come in to enjoy a meal with a happy, enthusiastic family greeting them. What may have started off great now seems to have derailed and become a bit lost. Over 3 years later and having the same décor, staff, and habits, HKD feels like a shadow of its former self.
There’s still plenty of potential: some of the meals I’ve had delivered at «best in town» status. I hope the other business essentials get that same attention soon.

Not impressed with the service tonight. We have been ordering take out about once every two weeks for about 6 months now.
I call it in, my boyfriend picks it up. Simple enough. Of course since the BF doesn’t call it in he’s not aware of what exactly we ordered.
The establishment places two bags side by side, no space between the two to indicate they are different orders and the guy behind the counter just takes the money and says bye.
I get a call saying that the BF grabbed another persons order and am asked to have him bring the bag back. No big, it’s an honest mistake. The BF brings the food back and what does he get instead of a «thank you» he gets sarcasm and made to feel like a thief because of a mistake that was more theirs than his.
He didn’t have to bring the food back but he did, it was your responsibility to make sure the customer had the right bag.
I will admit the food is delicious but that doesn’t make up for the poor service.

Based on reading some good reviews, my husband and I decided to try Hong Kong Deli. I looked at their Facebook page and saw some photos of their vegan options, which was awesome since I’m vegan.
When we arrived, we walked in and started looking at the menus on the counter. We were never greeted, but a few minutes later I’m assuming the owner, came over and asked if we were ready to order. I had picked out what I wanted and asked to confirm it was vegan. He said no, so I asked what could be made vegan. His response –fried rice no egg. Really? That’s my only entrée option? Disappointing since I saw all of these vegan options on their Facebook page… and I wanted to try something different, not just rice. He had an attitude and seemed mad, so I just went with it. My husband ordered the pork fried rice, non vegan, obviously. We also ordered spring rolls (vegan).
When my food arrived it looked pretty good. My husband’s rice came out and the guy said «we’re out of eggs, so you don’t get egg either». Really? Rude.
Now, onto the taste of the food. I know it’s fried rice, but both of our dishes had WAY too much oil in them. The spring rolls were drenched in oil and had barely any fillings in them. No sauce came with the spring rolls either.
Oil soaked food, fried rice as my only vegan entrée option and rude service? No thanks, we won’t be back.

Very interesting place to say the least. I stopped by during my Gainesville trip, and judging by the name, I was hoping for Cantonese food. When I got to the restaurant, the owners are actually from mainland China. What’s more interesting is that the chef, who’s the husband of that waitress is actually white… Who’d thought, right? So I ordered some dishes with low hopes, but the food actually turned out pretty «Authentic»! I wasn’t expecting that at all since the chef is not Chinese! It’s a family business, and I support their hard work. Very nice ladies there, except when she was yelling at her husband to «just keep cooking» lol

Get the dim sum here. It’s outrageous in the best possible way. It’s very humble and small and family run, but you can taste it all in the great food.

Deceiving. Everything in the «dim sum» part of the menu is far from dim sum. I should have known when the lady explained she adds her own «twist». By twist she meant «completely twisted». Their dimsum doesn’t event resemble close to what it’s supposed to be. To be fair though, they did make great crispy pork and roast duck.

Grabbed some late night pick up from HKD the other night, and I was certainly not disappointed! The staff was very friendly, even when I cruised in just barely under their 10pm closing time. Big, generous portions of both of the dishes I ordered (Fried Tofu and Eggplant Pepper), delicious and plenty for awesome lunch leftovers the next day.
I’m looking forward to checking them out during the day for the deli selection, and they will definitely be a go-​to for my late night munchies. Thanks HKD!

Super fresh, super tasty. Every time I order something it tastes a little bit different, but in a good way. Indicates that the food is truly home cooking and not mass produced.
Can’t go wrong with the BBQ turnovers, combination plates, napa salad (favorite), and need chow fun.

We had an overnight in Gainsville and needed something to eat, but really didn’t want fast food. We Unilocaled this place and gave it a go. At night, not knowing the place, it looks a little shady from the outside. The guy and his wife (?) were the ones cooking inside and the guy was very helpful in describing the menu and even advised we only purchase one meal as it is enough for two! Well we went with two different meals, and he wasn’t wrong, there was TONS of food. The bag must have weigh 4lbs my god! My bf had the duck and pork belly with rice, and I had some chicken and noodle concoction. Both were very tasty, my bf wasn’t a fan of the pork belly, but I think that comes down to personal taste. Mine was really tasty, the veggies and thick noodles were great.
Overall, great value for money.

I’m going to update my original review to note that Hong Kong Deli has totally revamped their menu, addling some Chinese-​style soups, salads, and other dishes. Everything still looks authentic and these are not «asian-​inspired» soups and salads but the real deal, and many of the orginal menu items remain, too. Indeed, probably all of the ones that have been on offer the past year or so including their dim-​sum. The food I ordered a few nights ago didn’t include any of the new dishes, but everything I got – sour and sweet beef, kung bao chicken, and steamed shrimp dumplings – were all superb, as always.
I want to also address the few negative reviews where patrons complain the owners have been rude. The owners are a young couple and I am guessing this is their first business. They also have a child with developmental issues who requires a lot of care, apparently. I have eaten here a lot and never found them to be rude, at all, though at times they’re busy, certainly. If they ever seem rushed or less than professional, think how you were in your twenties and especially if you were running your own business and moreover, a busy restaurant. I feel they’re doing the best they can, and the quality of the food – probably the best Chinese food in town – illustrates their success where it matters most. They’re open (I think) six days of the week and most nights until ten. That’s long hours. I’ve seen them throw out a head of cabbage that wasn’t bad, per se, but not at its very best. There is no doubt they care greatly about their customers, their food, and this business.