King of Food Garden

Its signature dish is their Hainan chicken which is excellent. Order half or a whole chicken without rice is the best deal. Don’t ask them to de-​bone the chicken or you may find that half of the breast is missing as I have learned twice!
All other dishes are just average or below average. Clay pot dishes are very small portion.
My strategy. Order the chicken to go only and forget about everything else. But if you do what I do, this place may not survive and I will miss the Hainan chicken.

Came here for lunch! The seats were too narrow (not comfortable to seat at) and all the tables were so close to each other it’s hard to get in or out. The staffs were talking loud in the kitchen (I mean «Very Loud»). The prices were decent and the portion were smaller than before. We ordered the following:
–Beef Stew Noodle in soup (OK)
–Shrimp Dumpling Noodle in soup (OK)
The waitress here didn’t give the absolute best service.
*Cash Only*

We came here last night as a party of 11 and we all enjoyed the food though the portions are a little bit smaller than other places but this allowed us to try many dishes. Their service isn’t very attentive and the kitchen should work on managing how quickly their food comes out. We ordered 12 – 14 dishes and they came to us quickly. However, I noticed four 2 tops waiting for their food for a long time. Being that we had a lot to enjoy already, the kitchen should have fulfilled the other orders by interspersing them. It didn’t help that one of the servers gave us another table’s food and they had to wait longer which of course they complained about. Almost every dish we had was hot, fresh and tasty. The Gai Lan with Oyster Sauce is served cold which is weird. Hainan Chicken and Pigeon were both juicy and prepared well. We liked the Claypots of French Style Oxtail, Vermicelli Noodles & Vegetables in Broth, Salted Fish with Chicken & Tofu, and Watercress Soup with Pork. Equally delicious were the Orange Peel Garlic Spare Ribs (not too oily and very flavorful), Garlic Pea Sprouts, Choy Sum with Beef, Egg with Shrimp and Salted Fish with Chicken Fried Rice. Nothing was oily or too salty or too sweet. They don’t serve cold water no matter how many times you ask and they look at you like you’re crazy. I’m giving this restaurant a 4 because well, service is as expected of a Chinese establishment but the food makes up for it and that’s what I most care about when taking my grandparents out.

I remember after coming here a few months ago and wanted to give them a two star review because one waitress made a bad impression and also because I find the seating at the tables by the window uncomfortable. In the end I didn’t write that review, and since then I’ve returned couple of times since then. My impression changed. I feel the other servers had been fine since then. Also the last time I came was because my date long wanted to treat me for roast pigeon because we missed out on the item at another restaurant a while back (due to it being sold out by the time we tried ordering). That was excellent, for $ 9.99 it to some extent reminds me of my dining experiences in Hong Kong.
The other times when I came myself I ordered the tomato beef crispy pan fried noodle and hot and sour soup. The noodle was well done though seems a bit on the sweet side. The hot and sour soup was decent in that it had a lot of taste though it’s done a way that’s different that I would consider being favorite. Still I’d say I enjoy it here.
I still don’t like the bench furniture they have for tables along the window and wall. For whatever reason it’s uncomfortable. Therefore can’t give this place a higher rating partly because of that. Otherwise it for me has become a typical place for Chinese comfort food with typical not-​fancy interior.

This place is okay if you are ready to fight over for seats and anticipate to wait for service (aka first eye contact when you step in the door or after standing there for 5 minutes). If you have that in mind and are prepared for their disorganization, then you’ll be semi-​ready.
DRAMA– Came here on Saturday, Christmas Day at 1pm and it was packed house (expected since its Xmas day and other non-​Chinese restaurants are either closed or just as packed). We walk in and there was already 6 – 8 people standing in front of us, but I was optimistic that the wait wouldn’t be that long. Stood there for a few minutes and no staff comes by. Then I see an uncle walk up to the cashier (passes everyone else!) talks to a waitress and then writes his name on a notebook! Where did that notebook come from?!? Why wasn’t it by the door?! Argh. So when I finally approached to waitress, I told her I came before him. She told me to write my name down. There was a ‘Chong’ for 6 and a ‘Mary’ for 4 already. Oh well, I put down ‘Iris’ for 2 after them and patiently waited. Then I see a few scenes of movie-​like drama in front of my eyes. 1) Some people who I think came in before us went to the center of the restaurant and sat down, then immediately sat into seats when people got up to leave. The lady who was leaving told them ‘there’s a wait/​line over there, you can’t just sit here’ but of course those people didn’t care. She walked by me and said to me ‘sorry, they just sat down and I don’t know if they’re supposed to, but they were eyeing me like a hawk”. I responded ‘that’s okay. No worries, Merry Christmas to you!’ 2) An older lady walks into the restaurant, past us, and sits down at a table large enough for 8 once that was cleared. I saw the waitress talk to the old lady, and said ‘ok, sit there’. That was nice of the waitress since she was old. Plus we saw a table for two leaving so I didn’t mind. But I could see how other people might get upset seeing that. Five minutes later, Finally got seated and ordered as fast as we could.
FOOD– Thousand yr old egg and pork porridge: my favorite out of everything we ordered, good, especially for the price and portion. Hainan chicken rice was somewhat a disappointment: the chicken was okay and rice was super soggy/​soft, had many better hainan chicken rice (like Smile House on Taraval). Singaporean panfried rice noodles: just okay, but ginormous portions. Chicken claws/​feet: chewy and spicy, $ 5.30 for five, not bad.
AMBIANCE/​SERVICE: brightly lit, large space but crowded with tables. Numerous staff, but not enough for the amount of customers they serve. Service from wait-​staff is a bit slow though they seem to be always busy. Food comes out super fast, though. Cleanliness level is okay, try to avoid using the restroom.

It’s Christmas don’t want to cook what’s the only kind of cuisine open? You can count on finding a Chinese one open on a holiday. This place was packed (good sign) with Chinese families (another good sign). Well looks are deceiving. We had to wait at the door while they cleared a table for us when two guys came in AFTER me and tried to jump ahead of me. Waitress told them i was first in line than one guy who needs a xanax keep repeating to me «You in line?» WTF dude they don’t think I speak Chinese and am passive. HELL TO THE NO They were both Chinese and so am I. i’m sick of RUDE people. PEACE!!!
The only way to describe almost every Chinese restaurant is CHAOTIC why the yelling by the staff & disorganization. A couple had ordered their food and they gave them the bill but he hadn’t received one dish so when he went to question them when suddenly his plate was ready. It took 40 minutes for our food to start to arrive. Half of my potstickers were broken NOT COOL but we were hungry so we ate it MEH. I asked one waitress for my check and for 10 minutes she never brought it to me, I asked again she told another waitress i had a? so she could bring me my check SERIOUSLY!!!
This was my first and last time there if you sit in the back DEATH TRAP the tables are too wide and too many. The food was EHHH service RUDE AND CURT nah i take my $$ somewhere else.

HANDMADE NOODLES! Some of the best ones I have had for awhile.
Came here a few times with my family, they have a wide selection of great chinese food. I always get their beef brisket, lai mein and wontons! Portions are huge and prices are great! Beef brisket was tender, lai mein are chewy and had a good soup base and wontons are big and juicy. It is cash only here so go to the ATM before hand.
Definitely will come here again and try their other dishes, the menu is endless!

Incredibly rude waiters and terrible service. The first time I came here I tried to get some takeaway. There were two servers and one was too busy seating a near empty restaurant, and the other (I kid you not) was too furious and cursing in Chinese to take my order. I kept trying to get one of their attention but it took a good 5 mins for someone to come talk to me. I told the server I wanted to order a number 27 or something because I couldn’t read their broken English menu so I picked from pictures. Well she snapped back at me because I’m not allowed to read out the menu number, I had to read out the exact name. Okay. I guess at that point I gave up and left.
Then I made a mistake of coming back few days later to try them again. I dined in this time. The super angry server wasn’t around today so that’s good, but their service was lacking even for a regular Chinese restaurant. Oh well. Their fried tofu is good, pan-​fried noodle is not great but their portions are pretty big.
I won’t be coming back.

Long wait, bad service and attitude. Seating is cramped up and crap. The menu is written wrong. Food is okay at best. Dont let the Grand Opening fool you. Save your money and time, dont bother with this place. That is all.

We tried to order their lamb clay pot and their Thai style pork neck– not available so we settled for their garlic ribs and oxtail claypot… Didn’t look like the picture at all. Total fail!
The oxtail claypot had a few pieces of meat swimming in a ketchup based sauce and the ribs came out like dry deep fried jerky nuggets. These were on their ‘specialty’ menu!
There are a lot of other options in the Sunset. Try those instead.

This 5 star is only for the Malaysian Hainan Chicken coz I haven’t tried anything else yet. It was very good! boneless chicken! Came with 3 sauce: spicy sweet and sour, ginger and onion oil, soy sauce. Ginger rice. Thumbs up!

They’re rebranded but I still come here for their awesome dumpling wonton noodle soup. Yummy noodles for a great price!

This restaurant uses too much MSG in their soups! We ordered two bowls of noodle soup and both of us had MSG attacks afterwards. There are way better options nearby.

**CASH ONLY**
Jeebus.
We’ve seen this place change names numerous times (always «King of *something*») and it just keeps getting worse. Won Ton Noodles aren’t really al dente and soups are flavorless… only to be exacerbated by… customer service.
People skills are well below average… even by Cantonese standards. The workers there just have zero pride in the place or themselves.
The restaurant can handle negative reviews like mine in one of two ways: stay where it’s at, allowing employees to continue hating life and their jobs or seeing it as motivation to step up their game and make a damn effort to deliver a better dining experience.
Sink or swim. Take your pick, King of Food Garden.

Terrible experience. I like the old one that was there before «king wonton noodle». This one is very very bad. Bad customer service, food is terrible (didn’t season well), they didn’t gave us a check but rather tell us how much we owe, and also they didn’t bother to clean the toilet when they took over king wonton noodle and the front is taped with a piece of cardboard. Not recommending anyone to come here. And I’m never coming back.

Didn’t say they are cash only until after the check came. Fortunately managed to scrimmage together enough cash among our group.
Also was missing three of the items we wanted.
Never coming back here again.

First there was King of Porridge. Then there was King of Dim Sum. Then there was King of Dumpling. Then there was King of Noodle. The kings are marching their way from Daly City across San Francisco. No idea if it’s any relation but now there’s King of Food Garden. Although for something with Garden in the name, they don’t have that many veggies.
Okay, this is a low, low four. The experience was awkward, but the food was a five.
First the bad. Okay, I get it, I’m a lone diner and you’re not going to sit me at a four-​top in the prime area. But instead they sit me at the four-​top that’s right next to the open door. When I complained, they did offer me the option to share a table (which was right next to the restroom entrance). As it was cold out, I took it. (And, as it turned out, no restroom smell, so it was okay. And the restroom was clean.)
Then there was the matter of choosing three items in succession from the 100+ item menu, only to be told three times in succession that they didn’t have that item. Although it’s probably a good sign that the food is fresh, it was still kind of a WTF experience.
I finally settled on the spicy chicken hot pot. They asked how spicy and I said medium.
They brought it out in a large clay pot and set it on a gas burner. The chicken appeared cooked but the veggies (actually sprigs of cilantro or something, this dish is really about the meat) weren’t and I didn’t know what to do. They came by now and then and checked on it, once replacing an empty fuel can with a new burner when the first one went out. I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to judge when it was done or they were, and I had a few (small) pieces before they apparently judged it to be done. If I die of food poisoning because of this, it’s partly my bad for not being patient, but don’t cancel my Unilocal!account! (however, as I said, the chicken seemed done)
Anyway, eventually they took away the lid and turned off the burner — no idea why they don’t cook it fully in the kitchen — maybe if you pass Chinese Cuisine 101 you get to decide for yourself when its done.
Now to the five stars. Actually, it’s a low five because the bowl of rice was on the dry side. But the chicken, nom nom nom. On the bone, chewy (probably free range), and so-​o-​o-​o-​o tasty. Definite high five for the adventurous eater.
TMI alert!!!
Possible MSG alert. I coughed up a bit of hard snot from my throat shortly after leaving the restaurant, something that happens after certain meals and that makes me suspect MSG. And shortly before that, I heard one of the folks at the next table over talking about MSG.
Service was efficient in that Cantonese way, not warm.
But I’d give them another try. That’s how good the chicken dish was.
Oh, yeah, and fix your website. You’ve got your email address wrong and the lorem ipsum text looks silly. But thank you for putting the full menu up there, even if some of it seems to be fiction.
And why no chicken-​fat rice with the Hainan Chicken? Seems heretic somehow.
Menu has some odd items like chicken with special sauce which looks from the menu picture like it has tomato/​cheese sauce. Definitely a Hong Kong style place with some cha chan teng thrown in.