Kay Cheung Restaruant

Sad to report that my review for this old-​time dim sum place doubles as my goodbye as the business is now closed!
For those growing up in Chinatown in the 60’s and 70’s, you know dim sum places weren’t those elegant table cloth adorned restaurants (yes, restaurant not ‘Restaruant’) places that you now find in Millbrae; they were more akin to someones cozy living room where Asian ladies would wheel their metal carts around, yelling the names of their food offerings. Rude waiters would ask for your tea selection and often spill some on the table as it rested on the lazy Susan.
While walking up Jackson Street on a Sunday afternoon, I passed this place, noticing the chained doors and a notice from the City regarding the street repair. Peeking through the windows, my eyes saw that the tables and chairs were gone along with the worn carpet. I will miss their inexpensive dim sum, the local Chinatown vibe (older men and ladies either sharing conversations or perusing their Sing Tao Daily newspapers), and their metal bowls of spare ribs or chicken and mushroom over rice.
I often took out-​of-​town friends for an early lunch or late breakfast, but this is no more. To confirm that they did not relocate or plan to return, I called their telephone number which is now disconnected.
Farewell to another piece of old Chinatown.

It’s ok. Nothing special. A hole in the wall for sure. A total of $ 72 for six people. super cheap but ok. It was very busy but expected on Xmas and not as busy as others. 3 stars is generous with dirty table tops and dirty menus plus okay food. I think it should be cheaper for quality actually. Mapo tofu was eh. $ 3 for each dim sum plate. U feel like u need to wash hands after leaving this hole in the wall. It’s an experience for sure and just enough exposure to china until next year.

It’s an average Chinese restaurant. Affordable. Quality was about the same as any other Chinese restaurant. If you want a decent meal without having to wait too long (I was seated immediately) or pay too much then this is a great choice. There are some restaurants nearby that have higher Unilocal reviews, but I rather not wait 45 minutes for dim sum.

This place was one of the creepier places I used to go for my Chinese fix. Now it has gone down the drain. Last time I went, and I really mean my last time, I ordered a BBQ pork bun and a seafood fried rice. There was a human hair in the pork filling, seriously who does that? The rice was actually good and did not have the extra mentioned condiment. 3 stars gone because of the hair, 2 stars for the fried rice and none for the BBQ pork bun.

This restaurant is good because it is usually never crowded, the prices are super cheap, and it is very fast service. You can get in and get out within 25 – 30 minutes if you wanted to compared to all those other restaurants that take forever because there are too many customers. I got the beef tofu which was pretty cheap at $ 5.50 and my parents got the Tomato beef deep fried noodles for $ 7. A lot of their dishes are ranged between $ 5.50 and $ 7 so if you need a quick and cheap place to eat, I suggest this restaurant!

Love this place! I come here with my family all the time!

Call me cheap, but this place is cheap! We walked up to New Asia and saw the 30+ people waiting for a table around 10:15 AM on a Saturday. Came back down Jackson and passed a few other places with big groups waiting. Walked into Kay Cheung and split a large table with another couple. We ate until we could eat no more and the whole thing came out to $ 22! The service is amazing good here and you would guess you have no shot at getting any dim sum since they only carry out about 6 to 9 dishes at a time. I forgot that most people in Chinatown sit and talk during dim sum — there is actually very limited eating so the wait for a table can go on and on. Food comes out of the kitchen very fast and the waiters were checking on whether we wanted noodles or gai lan. The place is a little dismal but the food is pretty good and of course, cheap.

We were desperate to find a good place to get dim sum in Chinatown and happened to see this place on Unilocal.
I’ll be honest, this place seems a little shady compared to the more touristy places. However, I know better than to go to a Chinese restaurant full of caucasians! The clientele at this restaurant was primarily older Chinese folks grabbing some dim sum and lunch specials so I didn’t think it could be too bad.
Since we (me and the bf) came on the tail end of lunch hour, we were squeezed into a giant table with an old Chinese couple who were just about finished with their meal. Hot tea was immediately provided along with some dirty and sticky menus. I didn’t let this deter me too much, I was deterMIND to get good food. Anyways we placed an order for several dishes (shu mai, har gow, etc) which arrived steaming 10 minutes later. In the interlude, a waitress would come around with trays of pre-​made dim sun. I can’t remember exactly what I ate, nor can I spell it since I don’t really speak or read Chinese, but in my opinion everything was pretty authentic.
Pricing wasn’t bad either. Service is questionable but I’m used to sub-​par service from any Chinese restaurant– it’s kind of part of the culture.
Anyways…bottomline is I’d probably come here again. But I must warn you, this isn’t the cleanest place. If you are squimish you may want to pass and go the popping and overrated place across the street. From the pictures, it looks like Pres. Obama went there… yup I’ll still pass on that place.

Pretty disappointing dim sum. The dim sum were larger than average, but I found it clunky, but worse of all, most of the dishes we chose weren’t hot. The chow fun was hot and nicely stir fried with the appetizing smell of «wok hei» but it was too oily.
Even though they are supposed to have better prices, I don’t think I’ll go back. Yes there were the requisite locals who are supposed to be a sign of good food, but they weren’t eating dim sum, they were all eating clay pot dishes!

After Craftsteak, Picasso and nice restaurants in Vegas, I needed my comfort food fix. Where to go but chinaman town and get my lop churng, salty fish/​meat cake clay pot rices.
The staff here is always friendly and seem to love their jobs. I appreciate that.
This dim sum place is for true ass chinamans and our chinaman style. Don’t come and give it a low rating if you don’t know what that is and expect something else. Biotch.
30% tip, that’s how I roll in chinatown.

the dim sum here was mediocre and everything was sticky, even our chop sticks! No thanks!

It’s okay,
But we encountered a problem… first we ordered this deal they had for four people and they took a while to bring everything they brought one thing and by the time we would b finishing up they were barley bringing the next item, then our fried rice with shrimp order was mixed up with beef fried rice, do we had to tell them to change it… but what really got me to give this a one star was the fact that they seemed like they were overcharging us just because we were not from town… the bill said 3 cokes $ 6 so were thinking okay $ 2 a can soda and then the next line said $ 9 for 2 sprites and a water… so $ 5 for a water??? And then when we were leaving he said the tip was not included in the bill and was very assertive when it came to getting a tip of10% of our 80 $ meal which according to him was $ 10
All in all the food was decent, not great but the waiter ruined it for us.

My roommate and I were in Chinatown at the time and we were dead set on getting dim sum for dinner. Unfortunately, a lot of places were not serving dim sum around dinner time (that we saw) so when we found out that his place had it, we jumped on it.
The place was huge and definitely the type of place that would probably serve packs of Asian families at once but at that time (6−7ish), it was dead inside. We were the only other customers there aside from two other guys. I didn’t like the looks of that.
We were greeted right away though. There seemed to be only 3 guys working but the one old man that greeted us was very nice and did his best to be attentive and accommodating. I thought that was sweet.
The price is not found on the menu, but the dim sum price range is $ 3 – 5. We didn’t know how much everything was until after we ate.
We ordered pork shu mai (4), baked bbq pork buns (3), shrimp dumplings (4), and shrimp&cilantro dumplings (4). Price came out to be $ 17 bucks total.
Dumplings and servings are small but they are quite filing. I don’t have dim sum often, but I thought these dim sum dishes were alright. Not outstanding, but not bad. It hit the spot and it made us full.
–Pork shu mai was good albeit a little oily.
–The pork buns were good and the breading was light rather than dense and heavy. I liked that.
–Shrimp dumplings were good if not a little plain.
–Shrimp and cilantro dumplings were good. I love cilantro so of course I liked it. The water chestnuts inside were awesome too. This one was obviously my personal favorite.
This place is alright.

Only one street over from Clay and you start to get some good Chinese food.
Quite decent I’d say.
We ordered the crab soup $ 10.99, and a plate of fish with veggie, $ 9.99
Both were good for the money.
I’ll go back.

We were here in the early morning with our tour group. I’m not familiar with this area and we have to get back on the tour bus in a short time, so I decide to give as try to KC.
This place is pretty crowded in the morning. Service is pretty friendly.
—Xiu mai: There is no shrimp inside but minced pork meat with a under cooked squid texture. The meat looks dark red, it didn’t look fresh to me.
—Taro puff: It looks beautiful fried, when you dig inside. The filling is watery, over seasoned and empty.
—Luo Bo Gao: Big bland mushy bite.
–+Steamed chicken feet: It’s tender and tasty. It was a bit too sweet, but at least it’s edible.
I always got this wrong idea about the good food doesn’t necessary have to be presented in a luxury restaurant and this place breaks the whole idea of that.
This place looks dreadful and the food tasted the same as it looks.

This is a go-​to dim sum for the locals for years and my father-​in-​law loves this place because it is cheap, good and hardly a wait. I really like their fried shrimp balls, bacon wrapped shrimp balls, turnip cake and shumai.
We usually spend no more than $ 12 a person and are very full after the meal. If you don’t mind the dirty and old look of this restaurant, you can find some really good and authentic dim sum here.

Dim sum is the original tapas. These bite sized MSG laced food items have been inducing food comas in my Chinese family for generations.
Good dim sum has to be both cheap and greasy. Even though fancier dim sum does taste a little better, most Chinese people (me including) would argue that when it comes to dim sum quantity trumps quality. The price you pay for marginally better dim sum isn’t worth the cost.
No one wants to eat Asian fusion dim sum, that’s just trying way too hard to dress up unpretentious food. I think one great thing about dim sum is its consistency. The menu never changes, what changes is the restaurant you go too. A hai gow is hai gow no matter where you are.
With that said, Kay Cheung Restaurant offers up decent dim sum at an affordable price. It’s not the best tasting dim sum, I’ve ever had, but that’s okay. I already expected that from a somewhat dingy looking Chinese restaurant in the heart of SF Chinatown. The food is especially greasy, which again should be an automatic given. The menu is well dim sum. You can get all the classic items served up steaming hot.
But the most important part is the price and this place is pretty darn cheap. I think I spent $ 12 eating stacks and stacks of food. This is pretty reasonable, since I am use to paying much more for lunch items in the price inflated Financial District.
Decent dim sum that’s cheap? Yeah, I’m definitely coming back here.

Probably one of the better dimsum establishments in chinatown!
It’s a habit that I order a lot of food whenever I have dimsum with my BF. We like variety and we dont mind taking leftovers home. It was the morning of black friday and we arrived after we did our morning shopping. We were both tired, exhausted, had 1hr of sleep and hungry! The food came out fresh, fast and tasty. We were most surprised when the bill was only under $ 20! Really? Because we ate a lot and even had a few boxes to take home!

I came here for some dim sum with some of my mom’s friends and boy do they not know what good dim sum is!
The ingredients here tasted kinda old and not fresh. I didn’t like how half of the items tasted. Every time I bit into something I would think «I swear this is not what this dim sum item is suppose to taste like». All the items were pretty «rough» as my dad would call it. Aside from being cheap, what else is so great about this place?
The only thing I had here that was half decent was the har gow. Everything else was awful.
«Check please… there is good food waiting for me elsewhere…»

For my family and me, this is our go-​to place for dim sum. The dim sum items are huge, it’s cheap, and the servers are fantastic about keeping the teapots full. I don’t think there are any standout dishes here, but they’re all pretty on par (i.e., normal, average) as far as flavor and quality go. Unlike many dim sum places on Clement Street, the prices are the same whether it’s a weekday or a weekend, and whether the dish is «small, medium, or large.» We ordered eight dim sum dishes, the bill came out to be under $ 20, and the food was enough to leave four people stuffed.
It helps to dine with someone who speaks Chinese and isn’t afraid to ask for what they want, but other things to note are:
–If you want more tea (and this is customary at most Chinese restaurants, at least in SF), open the lid of the teapot
–When the restaurant gets crowded, they will try to get parties to share tables to accommodate more guests at once