Evergreen Cafe

Today, I had a craving for their food and stop by.
Was sort of shocked to see that the business had closed and was now under a new name, owners and chef.
The new team told me they opened up about 6 weeks ago. They are basically continuing the same format of buffet style service.
I’ll have to check out the new place when I have the chance.

Surprised…
There was a note on the door about taking a vacation and remodeling going back a number of weeks. Walked by today and the City had posted a license-​suspension notice for multiple/​repeated issues.
I’ve gone there for ages and every time the food was fresh and hot (good signs).
Wondering if it was a vermin problem.
Hope they can solve the issue.

I just walked past there today and there is a Notice of Closure on the door. That can’t be good.

I work just a block from this place and I enjoyed getting a small lunch that I could also eat for dinner as well. The food is reasonably priced.

I don’t understand why people are knocking this place down. It does exactly what I thought it would do (and maybe a little bit more) — it has pre-​made food for lunch, which is reasonably flavorful. I got rice noodles plus two sides for around 7 bucks, and was pretty happy with everything that I chose. I’d definitely go back for lunch sometime.

Tempted by cheap general’s chicken, but didn’t eat half of it because I couldn’t find any chicken in the fried chunks. My advice… Lay off the breading, get better chicken, and charge a dollar or two more.

Dunno what was going on here about a year ago with all the bad reviews, but it seems like they took the criticisms listed here seriously. Food wasn’t particularly salty and there was substantial meat in the General’s Chicken approximant. Dunno how you would even confirm or deny MSG but no indigestion or headaches after the fact.
Pricing is amazing for how much food they pile up, at least for this area. 2 items for about $ 5 after tax or 3 for about $ 6.75. 3 items easily splits into two meals or feeds two people. Chow mein and rice do count as an «item» but I don’t think you have to take them, and they’re also filled with a more generous amount of chicken thigh and various veggies than you’d expect for this price.
Yeah it’s kinda Panda Express-​y but I felt it was at least a small cut above. Not bad for a cheap filling feed for 5 bucks. Place exists only to serve the FiDi Lunch Bunch Crunch though, so don’t come looking for grub at dinnertime or on weekends.

Feels like home

I should have known better. Surely, it was rank madness on my part to think I’d find anything resembling a decent offering of General’s Chicken at an establishment like this. I have heard this place likened to Panda Express, which is a grave insult to my favorite purveyor of Orange Chicken. No, Evergreen Café is in a class by itself, with the General’s Chicken featuring a thick, stale breading surrounding a tiny piece of weird, grisled chicken. As a bonus, you get a heaping helping of MSG.
This place is terrible, even for what it is, and you shouldn’t eat here.

The rating is for the soup. They have hot and sour soup for super cheap!!!
Small = $ 1
Medium = $ 1.50
Not sure about large but Medium is probably the biggest I want to go.
Will be coming back just for the soup!

For a quick chinese lunch fix that is close to work, this does the trick. The majority of places I love are sit down and/​or pick a dish and wait for 10 minutes. Here, I can easily see what I want, pick and choose and get out. It’s not as greasy as some places which I like. For a $ 5 combo, I will come back.

sesame chicken was pretty dry. mixed veggies were too salty.
that’s all i can really say about this place.

I’ve been fighting a sore throat/​stuffed up ears for a couple of days now, so figured I’d stop in and get some won ton soup. Of course I had to get the won ton noodle soup since it was offered. I waited around five minutes while the nice women behind the counter prepared it for me.
I brought it back to my office and discovered that they had packaged two containers for me — one with the broth and the other with the won tons, noodles and two neatly trimmed stalks of bok choy. The soup was pretty decent, but really really salty. I love salt, but this was a bit of an overkill.
Would I go back? Probably. I’ll just water down the broth a little. My lunch cost all of $ 5, and I do feel better after eating all those carbs and drinking some boiling hot broth.

I’ve been eating here about twice a month for 5+ years. For cheap, fast Chinese food, you can’t do any better in the Financial District area. They are on the edge of Chinatown, so unless you’re going to walk a couple more blocks up the hill and wait for a table, this is a pretty good option.
I like the General’s Chicken, Beef & Broccoli, Chow Mein and mixed vegetables. The Hot & Sour soup is pretty good too. There is usually about a dozen dishes to choose from and a daily special. You can get 3 dishes for $ 6 and bottomless soda for a $ 1. The portions are generous. The crowd turns over pretty quickly, so you can get in and out in about 20 minutes, or take it to go.
The girls behind the counter are friendly and efficient. Check it out.

Can you say rudeness?! «3 items» rice is considered an item. I thought it was complimentary, must read fine print.
Food tasted OK, your typical oily Chinese food. You’re better off getting vegetables.

$ 5 Chinese Fast Food; I could pretty much stop there since that’s the best way to describe it.
I was on the way to Thai Thai and was told that I would have to wait 15 to 20 min for my order and since I was low on time, I decided to take a peak next door.
Total amount of time to get food = under 2 minutes. Lady giving me items from the buffet was friendly and when we reached the end of our light-​speed journey to the cash register she declared that the cost will be $ 5. I have not gotten two days worth of food for $ 5 in a while and had to ask her to repeat the total.
I am now writing this review as I am trying to finish eating noodles, a spring-​roll and some chicken, well aware of the fact that I will not be able to because of the amount I was given.
tl;dr: The food is all right. But if you remember that you paid $ 5 for it, you’ll find it a lot more than all right.

Pretty bad. Little tiny token meatletts in the sesame «chicken» don’t cut it. $ 6 is about $ 5 too much for such swill.
Can’t we have a greasy, low quality Chinese joint around here that isn’t a total rip off? Just because your customers have low standards doesn’t mean we want to pay 6 bucks for some sorry fried dough over rice.

The MSG Chinese buffet.
For only $ 4.50 you get two huge servings. Thats less than the price of a Subway sandwich and you will have more than you can eat. Everything is horrible especially the items with meat products. Your tongue will burn from all the salt and sometimes the chicken has a «fishy» taste but they stay in business and I’ll be back, often
Health Card = 83

Ill start this off by mentioning that Ive eaten at this craptacular «café» once or twice in the past during times of desperate financial challenges, but going forward, I cant really see any other reason to eat what spills forth from the the rectum of San Francisco’s Chinatown, aka the Evergreen Café.
This cheap Chinese/​Asian fast food buffet is a piss poor excuse for low cost eats and doesnt really even bother dressing up many of its piles of poisonously over salted swill, nor do they even feel the need to hide the fact that there is almost no meat in any of their carnivorous dishes.
Lets start with the ‘Black pepper chicken’
No, wait. Allow me to change this menu item’s title to be more accurate:
Lets start with ‘Black pepper celery and onion’
This well cooked mixture of black pepper, oil, grease, MSG, celery, onion, and a small flake of something that I believe was chicken actually had a fairly decent taste, despite being simply so salty that my lips and tongue began to burn from water displacement.
Moving on to the ‘General chicken’
I will alter this title as well for accuracy:
Moving on to the ‘General nauseousness inducing balls of deep fried grease, sugar, and batter which may or may not contain chicken“
I do not kid. At all.
Each of the 4 – 5 balls of twice fried dough was so hard that it made a snapping sound when I bit into it, as opposed to a crunch. I literally ate 2 of these little resinous turds without getting a single piece of chicken, unless of course the chicken had dissolved into the same texture as dough (aka batter) due to to repeated cooking and reheating.
The sauce was sickeningly sweet and not at all spicy, despite the server’s warning, «You need drink! This very hot!»
Lies.
And then, the most appealing thing on my plate was what appeared to be Filipino Poncet. This was a bland mixture of lo mein type noodles with greens, egg, onions, and a few other nondescript bits. Im trying not to think about those other bits while I write this, clutching my stomach in pain.
And the best thing about Evergreen Café, besides the numerous trash bins for disposing of uneaten food, was the price. For 5 bucks, I got what I deserved.
Since this is my first negative review on Unilocal,Ill go all out and finish this up by saying STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THIS TOXIC BUFFET! There is no reason, including being homeless and desperate, to try to eat what is served within these walls. If you are homeless, go beg near the numerous other low cost delis that exist around this city. If you only have a few dollars to spare, go to Taco Bell. Their garbage is consistently garbage and you pretty much know what to expect.
Spend your few dollars on drugs or alcohol, or SOMETHING besides this food.
Ok thanks.

If you’re broke and payday isn’t around the corner, this $ 5.50 for 2 item chinois cafeteria may just fit the bill.
The food is similar to Panda Express, however unlike Panda Express, Evergreen adds MSG to their dishes. So if you’re craving some chinese and don’t mind the msg — this place isn’t so bad. The place is clean and the ladies serving are quite pleasant and surprising do not rush you out. The servings are quite large, you can probably share your plate with your svelte friend.