South China Restaurant

It pains me, but I have a confession.
For the past couple of months, I’ve been seeing another Chinese place– one that delivers, one that accepts payment other than cash, and one that hasn’t almost doubled their prices while lowering their portions and reducing their quality.
Unfortunately, South China, your place in my heart and my wallet has been usurped by someone else.

i am sorry.
i hope i was not a cause of this place closing down.
i think people should think twice about writing «fairly».
i would hate to see everything going «out of business».
let’s all be more responsible when writing.

Smells weird, waitress was surly, and food was mediocre at best. We were also informed, *after* we ordered the lunch special, that there was no soup today, and given no reason.

Would have give 5 stars but they’ve messed up my order at least twice.
This is a great janky chinese food joint. The food is great, taste good and isn’t good for you. You can fill your stomach to the brim for under 10 bucks. South China Chow Mein and Egg Rolls are the best. The lady that works the front counter is very nice and calling in orders is a snap.

I wanted to give South China 5 stars, but I have to punish it because of the recent changes in style of cooking. I have been going to South China for 25 years and have seen it change hands (or staff) about 3 times. Each time the cooking got worse, but not as bad as anything else I’ve tasted in the entire Bay Area. The food it serves is still ok, but it isn’t what it used to be.
Beef Chow Mien is my favorite dish, especially the way it was cooked 20 or so years ago — beef mysteriously seasoned, well cooked to a slight crisp at the edges — now it is barely cooked, as if they stop when the meat is heated up. They also have been adding all kinds of chunky vegetables to their vegetable dishes, which they didn’t used to do. It makes the dish taste too watery, like they boiled the vegetables and pour the water off in the dish. The vegetarian fried rice is a little too rife with strange vegetables that they didn’t used to use, and the beef fried rice has large pieces of beef in it, instead of cut up chunks or strips like it used to have. They don’t seem to cook as hot (temperature) or even use the same oil — something is amiss here.
It seems like every time you see new people working there, the old people take the recipes away — it barely tastes like the old South China anymore… but nevertheless, it still is the best in the Bay — and the cleanest.

i’ve been walking by this place for about a year now. i kept passing it up cuz of how ratty it looked. finally, i said to myself «self, if there was a mexican joint that looked this crappy sitting here, you woulda been in there with bells on when you first saw it.»
so i went in. and it was good. suprisingly so. my girlfriend and i have had several different things from the menu already, and are happy with all of it.
my personal fave is the bbq pork chow mein. the first time i ordered it with extra meat, the lady said «how much extra meat?» and didn’t know exactly what she wanted. weight? proportions? i balked.
then she just said «one dolla. two dolla. three dolla extra meat?»
i went with three.
i like the way this lady thinks.

decent prices for good food. nothing special. i just order what’s looks appetizing to go along with my brew next door.

I am SO disappointed in you, South China Restaurant! You are my neighborhood Chinese Restaurant. I was hoping/​wanting/​expecting better. I told you I wanted a VEGETARIAN egg roll like five times. Five times! And guess what was in my egg roll? You got it, BEEF! Thank god I’m not vegan or vegetarian or allergic to beef. Cause if i was any of those I would have thrown a shit fit. Also, to be fair, if I was vegan or vegetarian I would have known better and never even stepped foot into this restaurant. And you can’t use the excuse that it was busy. There were only two people in the joint! *Sigh* At least I still have the Parkway.

The food is alright, spicy fried chicken wings I will probly eat again… but the pisser is that I’ll have to raise a fuss to get the price that’s on the huge menu above the cashier. If they actually charged me those standard chinese junk food prices, or if I spoke the right language to take them on more handily, I would see them in my distant, munchie future. As it was, I paid over $ 10 for chicken and fried rice. Not food worth haggling over.