Hot Wok Express

I always have a great experience when I come here. Occasionally I come for a quick lunch and have always been pleased. If you want something custom you can ask and they will be happy to make it for you! The owner is super friendly, welcoming and just an awesome guy to talk to.
It’s nice to have a place like this around the office where you can also come in and grab something like a coffee or a snack. There was even a line out the door when they were selling powerball tickets! This is a go to place to grab a quick lunch, a snack or just your on the to everyday items. You can also earn rewards and get hooked up with a free lunch, so try that out!

I love this place. I’ve been going here regularly for years. The food is great (try the Singapore Noodles and the fish dishes) and the people are incredibly friendly. I make sure I eat lunch here at least once a week.

Steer clear of this place! Not worth it.
Despite the low average rating, I wanted to check it out myself and ordered their 2 entrée lunch special. I chose fried rice, calamari, and General Tso chicken.
What the rice, calamari, and chicken all have in common was that it was cold and it was bland. There was no taste to it. I was really hungry which was the only reason why I ate most of it. The calamari tasted like rubber and I literally was given only 3 pieces of chicken meat.
I do not recommend this place.

I was craving some panda style cuisine around the area that I work. My coworker told me about this place. She described it as the same style and concept as panda but the food not that great. I said oh wth why not just try it. It wouldn’t hurt!
Well yeah, food tastes horrible to me. I didn’t eat it at all when I got my order and for almost $ 12 for a plate it wasn’t worth it!
Sorry but I’m not coming here again!

I love this little place — good food and drink options and on my way to/​from work. Contrary to the the sign in the window, they don’t open at 7am. I honestly think they just make up their own morning hours and open whenever they want. Sometimes they’re open at 7:45, sometimes 8, sometimes 8:15. I walked by for coffee this morning at 8:15 and they still weren’t open. I think they’d have far more morning business from people walking to work if they actually opened and 7 or 8 and stayed consistent with the hours.

Unfriendly service and very expensive, unauthentic Chinese food. I’m a local who grew up in the Richmond and Sunset district, grew up eating cheap dim sum that was actually good quality. I ordered a lunch plate and a piece each of the dim sum (4 total) and was just charged $ 12 bucks for it. How is lunch $ 5.95 and 4 pieces of dim sum another $ 6 bucks? The orange flavored chicken was dry, hard and tasted like sugared watery sauce, the broccoli beef tasted off and portions were extremely small. I’m no fan of Panda Express or «americanized» Chinese that caters to these transplants, however, there are still far better and cheaper places to get mediocre food. I will never go here again.

The lemon chicken is my favorite, but I’ve liked everything I’ve tried. Friendly people, quick lunch, great experience!

Been coming for a few weeks now. It’s part convenience store and Chinese fast food. They sell donuts, bottled drinks, donuts and cigarettes. Never tried any so can’t speak to freshness or pricing.
I usually get the fast food Chinese plate or maybe dumplings. They have 2 types of dumplings, meat and shrimp. I thought they are both good. Even better than their Chinese fast food.
The Chinese Fast Food… my oh my. The fried rice is steamed rice with frozen peas/​carrots and a bit of scrambled egg. Let’s be real, it’s not real fried rice but it’s decent. Have had General Tsau chicken, over-​breaded, over-​cooked and good luck penetrating a piece with a plastic fork. The fish is decent and the other sides have flavor. Selection varies and quality is just ok. Panda seems a better choice on selection alone and portion size, but where is a nearby Panda within walking distance? I keep coming back bc it’s decently priced and not Subway/​Togos or a food truck. Set your expectations low and they will be met and exceeded. And yes, Hot Wok is for lunch tomorrow. Yes, go. Eat here.

I’ve been coming here for years– Never really for their rice dishes, but mainly for their soup. Very, very yummy! When paying, I never cared too much for the price since I always knew my tummy would be happy.
Today however, I surprised myself and actually asked for a receipt…
Wow! I didn’t know they were charging .25 cents for their small food bags!!! That’s even more than the .10 cent bags at Safeway. They should be upfront that they charge for the bag.
AND the guy totally overcharged a parton behind me by .20 cents.
I did the math– Her 2 egg rolls at $ 1.29 each. x 8.75% sales tax (no bag) should have only came up to $ 2.80. But at the register her «TOTAL» came up to $ 3.00!!!
I noticed in past experiences that they would keep my change (.15 cents, .10 cents, etc. If I didn’t say «keep the change». But it didn’t bother me until today.
I’m not trying to be nit-​picky about extra change here and there. But that’s money that belongs to the patron. AND basically that’s not honest worthy business practices.
Not Cool!

I read the last few reviews here on Unilocal and am a little surprised because I had a great experience at Hotwok. I always pass by or gawk at the place but it is shut on weekends (or at least whenever I have been around on wkends) so never really could eat there. But decided this was what I wanted do Friday. Smiling, friendly patrons, decent spread of options and huge portions. We split a 2 entrée (Double mushrooms and tofu & capt tao’s chicken, the fish entrée) and 1 entrée between 2 of us and it was great. They have buns too which I will try the next time I visit. They have a tiny seating arrangement at the back of the store which is great if you want to eat there itself. And it was friendly on the pocket (all of the above and a Snapple drink came to $ 15). Left with a happy tummy and wallet :)

The best Mongolian beef in the city. Owner is friendly and very passionate about his food which in turns makes the customer service pretty excellent. Nice and quiet. Great place for lunch. Also the got Stewarts soda.

It’s ok, i’ve been coming here for awhile now… food is good, but the prices have gone up! Kind of lame, i wanted a small side to go and the dude is like $ 6 dollars please… I don’t think so.
BBQ Pork fried rice is by far one of the yummiest things there!

Solid three stars. Yeah, it’s not perfect but the food is tasty and the prices are ok. Portions are quite big and you’re served quite quickly.

The best pork fried rice ever, I was in SF for meetings for few weeks but I went there at least 6 times. I would go again when Im in SF again

The only good thing about this place is how friendly and excited the owner is (or whoever served me the food)
There was a line so I was hopeful, but this was truly the worst chinese food I’ve ever eaten, I’m not picky with chinese, especially cheap fast chinese. I ordered the orange chicken. It was so overcooked, the two bites i took just crunched in my mouth and it was just bland. The hot and sour soup, only the hotness came through, not a bunch of flavors.
The lo mein was ok, at least it was edible.
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN!!!
Panda Express (or any of those mall chains) is more authentic and taste
least it was only 8 bucks in total.

Ordered the Scambled Eggs with Beef over Rice ($ 6.99)
Strips of beef with eggs and green onions with Oyster Sauce on top of a large bed of rice. Really tasty, enough for 2 meals.

There are two types of Chinese food. 1. Good, relatively authentic Chinese food, which of course can be found easily just west of here. 2. Crappy, Americanized «Chinese» food served by a zillion delivery places with «wok» or «palace» or «dragon» in their name all around the country. And let me be clear: There is nothing wrong, per se, with the second type. I definitely appreciate a big plate of nasty fried Gen. Tso’s and some rice fried so hard it makes my stomach turn just smelling it. I love that stuff occasionally. It’s a splurge, like a ½-​lb bacon cheeseburger or something.
Hot Wok is a third kind of Chinese food. It’s crappy crappy Americanized Chinese food. Seriously, it’s disgusting, and I’ve even been back to give them a second chance. Food is flavorless, limp, and just all-​around terrible. It’s too bad because I work two blocks away and occasionally appreciate a 2 (see above). But not here. Anywhere but here.

After roughly spending $ 8 to 10 on lunches daily I told myself I was not going to pay about $ 50 for lunches per week. I just couldn’t. I found this place that had deals for less than $ 5 for a lot of food! Sah-​weet!
The food isn’t great but it’s not bad – it’s good enough! Hot Wok Express offers those for the meat-​eaters and those for the veggie-​eaters. I love their tofu with mixed veggie dish with steamed white rice — ah, it’s good, man. It’s good.
Their warton soup is super awesome on a very cold chilly San Francisco winter — they give it to you super-​hot and warms you up quite a bit.
The only downside is their foods are a bit heavier, so if you tend to get lethargic after meals, you may want to skip and/​or not over-​do it here.
I never had a problem with the owners/​the workers — they always seemed super nice and friendly.

Looks like Hot Wok stirred up a lot of haters but I won’t be one of them. Their lunch combos are a great deal and for the convenience and price you pay, you really can’t expect that much more. Yes, 50% of their offerings are heavily breaded and fried. Yes, 50% is also covered in thick sweet and sour sauces. Not healthy, but can be pretty satisfying.
The salt and pepper spareribs was not bad and the brown rice option is a big plus. This place is fast, cheap and convenient; you can even pick up a lot of convenient store items like tobacco and etc.

Mr. Hotwok is a great example of a fantastic human being… excitable, happy, and hilarious. I give him money primarily for the tea that his brother supplies him with from China. Pu-​erh tea is deeeelicious.
. Also, to the haters talking about the food being too greasy or bland. If you’d like to make a special order Mr. Hotwok will be happy to accommodate you. I used to be vegan and he would make steamed tofu, broccoli, and rice all the time. It was super yummy and all I had to do was ask.
DO IT!