Joy Hing Bar-B-Que Noodle

I used to come to this restaurant as a kid when it used to be up at Stockton Street. Though the move to Kearny leaves it somewhat out of the way from most of Chinatown, the modern and clean atmosphere of the place makes it a nice upgrade!
When you walk into the restaurant, you’ll probably think it’s a phở place, but I never thought of it as one. The restaurant’s English name may be Joy Hing Bar-​B-​Que Noodle, but the Chinese name directly refers to their signature dishes which have «yellow feather chicken» (黃毛雞). All those dishes are right on the front page of the menu.
Despite me saying that this isn’t primarily a phở place to my understanding, the one time I tried the food at this new location, I ordered the phở. The spicy beef noodle that I tried was not amazing, but not bad. The spiciness reminded me of the type of heat you might get from a spicy hot pot broth as opposed to Sriracha or hot and sour soup.

BEst value for the buck in chinatown and one of the top places to eat authentic chinese, vietnamese, etc… food. I eat often and everytime i try something different, being surprised and amazed with the quality of their flavor and ingredients. Fromt he outside it looks run down and at first intimidating but once insied, you are in for a surprise into how modern, nice, relaxing, good service, and clean the place is. Dont believe me? Next time you head there, look for their 100% score card and see for yourself why this place deserves 5 stars. The employees are firendly too!

I’ve heard this the best place for phở ga. Went in today with my family of 4. We order 2 phở ga and 1 wonton rice noodle soup. My kids share a wonton soup. Both my kids enjoy it, and I stole one of their a wonton to taste, its yummy. Me and my hubby each got ourself a phở ga. Mine was good, but my hubby bowl was too salty. He didn’t finish it cause it too salty. His broth is a little dark and mines was lighter. It would of been good if the broth was perfect. It’s good consider it’s a chinese owner. I’m use to putting beansprout, basil and clinatro in my soup, this place doesn’t offer it. The service is like any other asian restaurant they sit you, serve you and bring you the bill. No eye contact, no hello/​bye or need a refill?
The restaurant is clean and the set up is nice. The bathroom is located downstair and it’s very clean. Not all bathroom is clean in sf chinatown. Lol. Definitely be back if I’m in the area. Next time I’m going for the wonton rice noodle soup

Simple, fast but also tasty. Great location opposite Portsmouth Parking garage. Ordered Chicken over rice $ 9.80, shrimp hor fun $ 11.50, custom cooked without sauce or spring onions for my son. Quickly delivered since it was not crowded. Hot tea is complimentary. Clean and spacious setting with free wifi.
Plan to return next time I pass nearby.

I had the beef phở with tripe and other meat. The ginger scallion oil was excellent and they happily provided more. The broth was good but not as rich as other places-​this could actually be a plus as it seemed less salty so it depends what you like.
Well above normal for how clean the place was plus credit cards is helpful.
I would go back and enjoy the phở again. Next time I will report back on the chicken phở.

Broth has gone downhill & the chicken is funky, we’re over this place … We also ordered fresh spring rolls over the phone and they failed to tell us they didn’t have any until we got there to pick up our food, would have been nice to know ahead of time because we were really craving them

Not sure why this place has 3 stars – most likely the ambiance and simplicity of the phở.
This place has really good Phở Ga (chicken phở) with fresh noodles (same noodles as Turtle Tower). The best part is they offer the green sauce – which is ginger and green onion that is the perfect for dipping your chicken in. Very similar place in Oakland that people go to for the chicken phở with green sauce.
The phở itself is simple – a couple sprigs of cilantro and slices of onion, wish there was more. If it was chopped up, that would be even better.

Joy to world of phở noodles here!
I came here for lunch a few times with my team. We were craving some hot soup noodles due to the cold weather. Pretty fast service here and staff are quick on their feet, hustlers for sure. My go to order is the beef brisket noodles soup. Pretty good amount and not pricey at all. The beef brisket was tender and flavorful and the noodles they used were wonton mein noodles. Kind of wish they can use thinker noodles cause that’s my go to at every restaurant. Soup was on point.
If you are looking for fast place to get some noodles in your tummy, this would be a great one!

4-​stars for the chicken phở only. The chicken phở is super delicious! The chicken broth is like homemade and not overly salty, just perfectly seasoned. It comes with thicker phở noodles and ginger/​scallion sauce on the side (to dip the chicken in). I like more veg and add in Chinese broccoli and also request all white meat chicken. This is my perfect cold weather lunch meal!

I come to get Number 1, large chicken phở at least once a week if not twice! Love that they accept credit card!!! In addition, their chicken phở is made with flat rice noodles and not the normal vietnamese phở kind, so this is why I keep coming back. The broth has a great flavor — not too salty, chicken, and has a hint of chinese herbs in it. I love it and will keep coming back.
Their stir fry gai lan though had too much corn starch in it that made it inedible.

Since the last time I reviewed this place, it has gone absolutely downhill. I will never patronize this establishment again.
Ordered a large chicken phở and they’ve become even skimpier on the chicken (a clump) and the quality of it is terrible. The amount of noodles is pathetic. Soup tastes like canned Swanson chicken broth. I asked the waitress for extra napkins because I spilled some of my soup and she gave me exactly one napkin. Talk about cheap af.
A month ago I also ordered takeout, for chicken phở. I went to pick it up and asked for bean sprouts. Now, bean sprouts are usually free, but the waitress wanted to charge me an extra dollar and proceeded to lecture me that chicken phở is not eaten with beansprouts, like as if it’s some cardinal rule. Jesus Christ, you dumb lady. I can eat beansprouts with whatever the hell I want. They also charged me extra for the takeout utensils and bag (like 50 cents extra).
They also like to charge «variable prices»…in other words LOOK CLOSELY AT YOUR BILL. There were a few occasions where the bill was different for me each time FOR THE SAME ITEM. I was in a hurry (lunch break is only 1 hour) and didn’t realize until I looked at my receipt.
If you’re looking for chicken phở, go somewhere else. This place is not only a ripoff, but also deceives its customers.

Noodle soup: plain taste but refreshing. Not oily at all.
Beef rice noodle& chicken organs are my favorite ones for now. Pay $ 2,$ 4,$ 5 additional can add more stuff you like in the soup.
Price is very reasonable. Service is very Asian style, they won’t bother you when you are eating, but if you need them just call or raise your hand. (I like it)
If you like this countryside style southern Chinese food, this is the place to grab a quick meal.

I am very sad to come back and leave a negative reply about the food I had here on Saturday. The food was delicious but I think they use MSG Because after we had finished our meal about 30 min later I had a bad head ache.
I try my best to eat places that don’t put msg in their and I buy food with no preservatives in them. So saying all that my body is sensitive to msg.
msG is very bad for the brain it kills brain cells and does other severe damage to it .
So Jo hing BBQ please stop using MSG. I know it makes your food last longer and meat more tender but your hurting your customers.
So I will not be returning to this establishment again until they have a sign out that says «no msg»

I’m not giving this 5 stars solely because I have no other Phở Ga experience to compare this to — but the Phở Ga at Joy Hing is SO GOOD. I really don’t know what more I could have asked for here — I was very, very satisfied.
I ordered two large Phở Ga’s to go, one with vegetables (bok choy) for an extra $ 1 — so, it was $ 9 and $ 10…not bad.
Preparation was fast, about four minutes, and they packaged everything very neatly for the ride home. Everything was separated so that nothing would get gross and soggy before eating. They also gave me extra ginger sauce for free — score!
My boyfriend and I really, really liked this soup. I think the large size was perfect for him, although I could have definitely done with a smaller size (certainly from a noodle perspective; I only ate about half of mine). It’s extremely flavorful without being salty (although I used twice as much ginger sauce as they «recommend» and added a little habanero sauce for a slight kick). The chicken is fresh, tender, and substantial in size. I was basically able to get a big chunk of chicken in every bite.
I will definitely come back here — I don’t generally love beef Phở, but I LOVE chicken soup, so this was perfect for me!

Strolling into Chinatown after work and looking for dinner can be a hit-​or-​miss proposition if you don’t have a game plan beforehand. Hunan Homes is usually my go-​to for steamed chicken since they are not stingy with the poultry or the ginger-​garlic sauce. Bring it on. But I decided to break from my habit and give Joy a try. Her place is opposite Portsmouth Square on Kearny, so you’d expect it to be bustling at dinner. Nope, it was empty, so clearly they thrive on the lunch crowd since it looked like Joy and her husband were sitting at a booth shooting the breeze when I entered the premises. They got up for action when I sat myself down at one of their formica tables, and I perused their comprehensive menu.
Sure enough they have steamed chicken. There it was on the cover for $ 8.50, the Steamed Chicken Over Rice, a good price I must say, but was that enough for me? I noticed they make some Vietnamese dishes like a $ 7.95 small bowl of Phở Ga Long, which they dubbed abruptly as Chicken & Organs Noodle Soup. Did I have it in me to have a two-​cluck dinner? Why yes, yes, I did. The Steamed Chicken came out first, a good quarter-​chicken cut up into six large pieces which were hard to handle without a knife. I suppose I could have asked for one, but I was going to show off my chopstick dexterity and prove unequivocally my Asian roots. There was a lot of rice, not chicken rice, just white, and it all rested on some steamed greens (photo:
).
It was decent enough but on the lukewarm side. The sight of the ginger-​garlic sauce was pleasing though (photo:
). The phở was similarly adequate with the cilantro and green onion already in the broth (photo:
). There was plenty of shards of breast chicken but a paucity of organs with hearts, liver and gizzards in short supply unfortunately. The noodles were the cellophane kind I don’t favor in my phở since they usually aren’t substantive enough to hold up to the ingredients, and they’re slippery suckers, too. I have to say for a two-​cluck dinner, it was a middling find, and it made me long for real Hainan chicken which doesn’t really exist up here like it does in LA. I hope somebody someday hears my pleas.
FOOD — 3 stars… plenty of chicken but execution was middling in both my dishes
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… typical Chinatown eatery, maybe a bit more space than most
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… ok, not much for chit-​chat
TOTAL — 3 stars… Chinese-​Vietnamese cross-​breed that doesn’t quite stand out enough for an anxious return visit

My last real meal of the trip, and after Napa + a LONG day of walking around cold/​windy San Fran all I wanted was some phở.
We had initially tried to go to another place, but found it closed, and needing something quick we stumbled upon Joy. Not the best reviews but again, food in my belly was the main concern at this point.
I think we sat down at 7:50pm only to learn they closed at 8pm (yes on a Saturday night) and that the owner? wanted us to hurry and order. So definitely not off to the best start lol. Seemed like a lot of the Chinatown restaurants closed around this time, so more of a lunch area?
So phở we all ordered, and most of us in the group consider ourselves to be phở aficionados, including the Vietnamese in the group, so take this seriously when I note that ALL of us felt the broth was a little underwhelming and went to town doctoring it up ourselves with hoisin, sriracha and fish sauce.
Getting additional accompaniments wasn’t easy either, like I said the place was «closed» so really everyone just wanted us to get out of there, keep in mind though there were a few other tables eating.
In the end the meal was ok, and the cost was pretty good, I think a large was ~$ 9. Not a place I’d recommend to out of towners, nor anyone looking to try their first bowl of phở, but for the San Fran lunch crowd this place would be acceptable.

I sometimes come here for lunch, the chicken phở here is not to be missed! The broth is rich and delicious, and the chicken is tender as well, you can choose what noodle you want to put in.
I especially like the service here, staff are friendly and have smile on their faces: D Also they have free wifi, although I have not used it, but sounds like a nice to have!
I ordered an ordered of ho fan last time, I did not like it too much, I guess I will stick to chicken phở next time.
So if you are in Chinatown and want some phở, then this is the place to try!

Tried out the Phở Ga Small $ 7.95 I think on Sat 11÷22÷14. It was a little bit busy, but not crazy like Turtle Tower in the Tenderloin.
The Phở Ga has a bunch of fresh rice noodles, many chicken pieces, cilantro, red onions, and lots of chicken broth. Side had a small slice of lemon, 2 jalapeño pepper slices, and the salty garlic/​ginger sauce that Chinese give for the white chicken!
I liked it fine. Would go back for it if in the area. Bathrooms downstairs. Charged my meal.

T’was the day after the Giants won their third World Series in the past five years and I might have been, allegedly, really feeling it that morning.
Enter Joy Hing Bar-​B-​Que Noodle and some much needed noodle soup for my sorry ass. Really wanted beef phở but everyone else seemed to be Unilocaling about the phở ga so I went for that. Overall it was a decent bowl of noodles. Didn’t find the clear broth to be overly salty like others had mentioned and I enjoyed the ginger, scallion, and five-​spice dipping sauce for the Hainanese steamed chicken. Overall a decent bowl of chicken noodle soup, but not necessarily memorable enough to keep craving it to come back.
The move closer to the FiDi for Joy Hing Bar-​B-​Que Noodle is definitely reflected in the restaurant. Service was really sweet and their bathrooms are amongst the cleanest in a Chinese noodle spot. Mostly Chinese folks when I was here for lunch (so it probably has its authenticity cred) but it’s a comfortable space to come with most anyone from work.

3.5 STARS for food. 4 STARS for service.
At 6pm this place is completely empty. I was surprised by how the tables were not falling apart like most Chinese restaurants and that the service was friendly. The bathrooms are weirdly clean and new.
Aside from that Joy Hing is a standard Chinese restaurant serving a few Vietnamese dishes. Their famous phở ga is similar to Turtle Tower, loved the slippery wide noodles but it had a much more Chinese flavor (eg less fish sauce). I’m more a fan of TT but JH is a little closer to my office. The small and large are different by about 50 cents — large is the same except they give you more noodles.
The Hainan plate had standard «Princess Chicken» that you could get at a Chinese BBQ — steamed white skinned chicken and was pretty moist. It was really good with the ginger scallion sauce but overall nothing special and needed more sauce or broth. It comes with what seems like 2.5 bowls of white rice.
Crispy salt and pepper squid was generous. Salty and too oily for my taste.
They accept AMEX! I could see myself returning for a bowl of soup mid week for lunch but it’s definitely not a destination.