Fung Wah Restaurant

We found this restaurant through Unilocal because we wanted somewhere close to our Airbnb. It’s definitely a hole in the wall restaurant, but the food is actually pretty good for the price. We ordered the salt pepper ribs, Mongolian beef, and ma po tofu. Didn’t get to take any pictures because we started eating instantly, but everything looked super appetizing! They weren’t too busy so everything came out really quick.
Overall, this is a good restaurant to go to if you want quick, cheap Chinese food, but this wouldn’t be my first choice.

A real old school Chinese restaurant! The older ladies that work here are absolutely adorable. We had someone in our party that helped us order so I can’t comment on the staff’s ability to speak English. One of the ladies suggested we order quickly, since a big group was going to be coming in soon. Good looking out!
Overall, the food was good and very easy on the budget. Sure, it’s not the best Chinese food I’ve ever had but if you want something a bit more authentic and cheap, this is the place to go. The dishes I enjoyed in particular included:
— Sweet and sour pork
— Beef and broccoli (they let you pick between Chinese broccoli and regular broccoli!)
— Garlic pea sprouts
I would skip:
— Sweet and sour soup: it was way too sour for our tastes
At the end of our meal, one of the sweet ladies started clearing our plates, refilled our teas, and told us to «take our time, chat, and drink tea». :)
This place is definitely a mom and pop shop. We heard that the only cook is the husband, so when he gets sick the whole restaurant is closed.

Fried shrimp, egg rolls, beed and green beans! So delicious! The food is incredible and the prices are great too! If you’re in the mood for some yummy Chinese at great prices, come here!!!

This place has very reasonable prices for the portions, this is comfort food to me. Great place is you just want good food but they should clean up the place a little more

Just ate here. We were immediately greeted with a smile. Owner lady is really nice too. She insisted on scooping out our soup for us and offered the other couple the option of changing tables after one away from the door opened up. Sure, you might not want to go if you’re totally starving as it did take maybe 20 or so minutes for our food to hit the table. But boy was that lemon chicken and fried rice worth the wait! Fry on the chicken was nice and «dry body» and the rice had tasty wok «breath». We look forward to coming back to try the black bean clams and the salt n pepper fish!

Fung Wah and I Go Way Back:
I don’t even know where to begin. I can never get enough of their «Orange Chicken». If they ever closed down I would legitimately go bat-sh*t crazy. I have been eating Fung Wah’s «Orange Chicken» and Chow Mein ever since I was in high school which according to my calculations is almost twenty years. I almost always order the same thing. The family knows me and knows what I order.
Why Do I Still Eat at Fung Wah?:
I do not live anywhere close by to even be eating there anymore and yet somehow I want to eat there pretty much every week. You can scoff it up to me being a creature of habit or you can call a spade a spade, and say they just serve inexpensive, really good Chinese food. I moved out of Daly City over fifteen years ago but I still frequent Fung Wah for their «Orange Chicken». The funny thing is, as I have gotten older and my palette has become more sophisticated, I can’t say that this is a place I would normally try at this stage in the game. It isn’t necessarily a place I would frequent because of it’s lack of ambiance but it goes to show you really can’t judge a book by its cover because their food is out of bounds. I am hooked on their «Orange Chicken» (among other items) and I will always manage to come back over and over again.
Preggo and PMS:
So everyone knows about the crazy cravings. Well, Fung Wah was my vise and probably will always be regardless of it being that time of the month or if I happen to be preggo. Good food is still good food. Mind you, this is a very simple, low-​key, family-​run operation and what some would call, a «hole in the wall» type of restaurant because it needs some serious updating but darn it, they have the best Chinese Food in the Bay Area as far as I’m concerned.
The Pitfalls of a Great Review:
In fact, as I am writing this review, I realize it will do one of two things and either disappear into the abyss of the internet or at some point blow up and go viral and send droves of people to come check out what the fuss is all about and then my wait goes from a 20 minute wait for a «to-​go» order of «Orange Chicken» to an hour and a half wait like at San Tung. Yeah… no thanks, man. But then I realized I would be depriving the world of their «Orange Chicken» so obviously as you read this be reminded that at some point before you are on your death bed you should try their seriously delicious, «Orange Chicken». Ultimately, they deserve good business because they’re good people, their food is dynamite and it’s dirt cheap.
Why I love their «Orange Chicken» so much:
I have been living in the East Bay for a number of years now and I have been hard-​pressed to find any other Chinese Restaurant that serves food as good, or for that matter, have an Orange Chicken dish that tastes anywhere close to being as good. Chef’s in El Cerrito has a Sweet and Sour Shrimp dish that comes at a close second but that’s about it. The Orange Chicken is perfectly portioned. They give you a really good amount for what you pay for. The sweetness is perfect. It is not overly sweet and not sour at all. The crunchiness is perfect if you can manage to get a table in-​house. If you order to-​go, be prepared it will be a little soggy but still very tasty. So if you can help it, either eat it in-​house or in the car.
Items I love:
Pretty much everything. Seriously.
Orange Chicken VS. Lemon Chicken:
Ok, so a friend and I have this on-​going debate on whether it’s «Orange Chicken» or «Lemon Chicken». On the menu it is listed as «Lemon Chicken» but when I order «Orange Chicken», I mysteriously receive «Lemon Chicken». There is no official «Orange Chicken» on their menu so if you order «Lemon Chicken» or «Orange Chicken» they will serve you the same exact dish. I’ve done this so don’t bother. Same color. Same flavor. Same consistency. The. Same. Exact. Order. NO DIFFERENCE. WHATSOEVER. But the thing is I know in my heart they once sold a «Lemon Chicken» back when I was in high school twenty some odd years ago and it was actually yellow in color and not orange like what they serve now. That is why when I order the «Orange Chicken», even though it is clearly called, «Lemon Chicken» on the menu, I still call it, «Orange Chicken» because it is orange in color and it is sweet like an orange and not sour like a lemon. However, I do have to mention in good consciousness, I did notice a lemon seed in my «Orange Chicken» one day, so they do use lemon to flavor the «Orange Chicken». But I have been calling it «Orange Chicken» since the dawn of time so I am not about to start calling it «Lemon Chicken» now! You can forget about it. It is «Orange Chicken» and it will always be «Orange Chicken». They used to sell «Lemon Chicken» in 1995 and it was yellow. I remember this well. I didn’t dream this up.
Things I Wish Were Different:
The parking in the area sucks. They could try sprucing up the joint a little bit. Cash-​Only.

When open, they make real good and fresh Chinese food. I am so glad they are close to where I live.

Definitely a hole in the wall type of restaurant. It’s pretty small but it can seat around 20 – 25 people. It’s definitely a restaurant where there are a lot of regulars and the boss lady knows every one of them.
The food is really good. It’s authentic Chinese food and there’s many food items here that I’ve never had at other restaurants, such as the eggplant dish and fried sardines (?) dish. Everything is good and super cheap. A bit dirty but it’s okay. Every time I come, it’s always packed. That should tell you something.
Definitely recommend!

I’ve been here countless times with my parents. My dad is a regular. So this review may be slightly biased. I absolutely love every single dish we’ve eaten here. The price is super affordable, and the food is delicious. The owner is a lil rude, but not on purpose. She’s just old school. Reminds me of my grandmother and grand aunt. Décor is outdated and service is average, but for authentic Chinese food my dad won’t go anywhere else. And that’s a huge recommendation from someone who has eaten at almost every single Chinese restaurant in SF

The quality & taste of food is slightly below average, but it’s good for its price.

I have been going to Fung Wah from when I was a sophomore in HS until now with my husband and 3 kids! After 20 years, I still LOVE this place! The owners are great & the food is really good! I no longer live in SF but whenever we are in the city, we hit up Fung Wah! The owner even knows our orders already right when we get in the restaurant! The place itself is very small, sometimes there’s no room to sit so they have to turn people away … Friday-​Saturday nights are super busy. I suggest just calling in and ordering to go. Their beef with oyster has ALWAYS been my favorite! Their wonton soup is yummy and the Salt and Pepper fish is the ! LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!

Best meat and vegetable dishes! The gravy is awesome! Yum! I don’t even need rice, then u get more that way. Make a little brown rice at home and your set!

This review is based on Meat quality and cleanliness.
So, initial thought when you walk into Fung wah is ahhh, a nice gem hidden in Daly City with some probably pretty bomb Chinese food. Wrong.
First let’s start off by saying I have seen cleaner quater booth peep shows on Broadway. The establisment is very dirty and the customer service does not exisit.
After this I still wanted to try the food. I’ am a Daly City/​San Fran native born and raised; so looks can always be deceiving. I order the orange chicken and fried rice. Pretty easy, right. Wrong. The orange chicken was some sort of thick syrup that was constructed out of Propylene Glycol (look it up; pharmacy compound binder) and tested like orange shasta soda. The chicken tasted soo bad I honestly thought that there had to be a mistake, and asked the woman if she accidentally gave me orange Pork (i know this does not exisit). She looked at me crazy. So I dumped the chicken.
Next the fried rice. Tasted like the rice was a few days old and had a burnt egg smell. 1 bite, so that I could at least say I gave it a try. Dumped that to. «The woman than yells. «You don’t like food», I said «honestly it’s horrible».
I think the health dept needs to check what they serving, because that chicken tasted not normal. As I was leaving I saw someone eating chicken wings and they looked very unique (notin a good way).
BEWARE!!!

Wow, they have so much money that they can seriously hang up on customers.
I called them twice: once I spoke Chinese and she said, «the wait is really long» and hung up on me. Called her back and spoke English, saying I wanted to pick up togo. She replied «yes, but the wait is about half hour.» I said no problem, that’s fine, I’ll wait. And she hung up on me again.
Wow… That’s all I can say. Wow.

Great prices, delicious food. Service is not bad, but they get pretty busy at times so don’t expect the best. They can’t be everywhere at once. Def will be back.

This was a disappointing experience. I arrived before the lunch rush, when the restaurant was mostly empty. Because I was alone, they seated me in the corner next to the garbage cans. The table was sticky.
I ordered beef tomato over rice. The tomatoes were good. The beef was blah. The sauce wasn’t tasty. The rice was OK. The service was extremely slow. It took 90 minutes to get out of there.
The prices are very reasonable. My lunch cost only $ 5.

My parents love to come here for a no frills but delish family dinner.
The space is super tiny but its always packed with locals. They’ll even turn away customers that want to order to go as they are already backed up in orders for dine in/​to go.
Sometimes there’s a bit of a wait for our food but the owner is super nice and my family and I don’t mind as when the food does come out, its always delish and we are often not waiting inbetween courses.
Their beef dishes are all really good and Looks like their fried fish and chicken wings are popular as well.
Come here earlier or after the lunch/​dinner rushes to snag a table or call ahead to order to go!

I’m half Chinese and in general I don’t like Chinese food. When the boyfriend says he wants Chinese food for lunch, I just sigh. Fung Wah was a pretty decent meal. Oily as heck like you’d expect, but one of the things that makes me give this place 3 stars is the price. Super dirt cheap. We ordered 3 dishes for less than $ 20.
Chow Fun: pretty good, but very oily.
Sweet and Sour Pork: honestly, I didn’t try this one, but the boyfriend who usually is a sucker for this dish said it was just soso here.
Salt and Pepper Fish: a must order at this restaurant. Nicely balanced. I didn’t realize it was a fried dish, so don’t expect it to be a light and healthy fish dish.
The crowd here was pretty fascinating. We came during lunchtime on a weekday and it was chock full of Chinese men during their lunch break from construction and contractor jobs. The only other woman in there was one half of a Filipino couple who raved very loudly about the chow fun and her dining partner kept burping at a regular interval. Hilariously uncouth.
I probably won’t be excited to return here, but I can see it happening in the future because the mister liked it well enough. It’s an interesting place that serves an interesting crowd at a VERY reasonable price.

The prices are excellent. Cash only payment. Would have given them more stars but there are a few things that are wrong here.
The food = it took a really long time for the food to come. It’s nice to know that they are cooking the food but it was about 30 – 45 minutes after we order before our food came. I don’t have picture but my fish with soy sauce came out last but the fish seems to be a bit frozen. The meat was still sticking to the fish bone.
Service = It’s a family own business but the owner’s son does not seem like he wanted to be there. I am a huge supporter of small businesses but he had this «I don’t care» attitude. We had to ask for things 2 – 3 times before he remembers to be bring it to us.
Ambiance = I don’t know what it is but it’s really stuffy and hot in there.

I love this place to death! I’ve been coming here for a long time now because my dad used to work across from it. And every time I visited or helped my dad at work I would have to get fung wah! It’s that good and super cheap. And their portions are huge! I usually get things over fried rice because that’s where it’s worth it. Usually only around 6 dollars.
The thing I usually get is the salt and pepper spare ribs over fried rice. I am not exaggerating! It’s the best spare ribs I have ever tasted. When I go to Chinese restaurants I always ask for salt and pepper pork chops to see how good fung wah really is and no one can beat them. Idk why I love it so much! But all my friends and family love this place. I usually order to go when I come by it.