Gourmet Kitchen

Fortunately for Gourmet Kitchen, one of the busiest places in SF is located next door so I’m sure it helps bring in some traffic for this hole-​in-​the-​wall shop. If it wasn’t for their location, I’m sure this place wouldn’t have made it nearly this long.
My girlfriend and I stopped in because we had just ordered dim sum next door, so we wanted a place to sit. I popped in to order a plate of food, but for some reason it was too complicated? I told them I just wanted broccoli and chicken, but they seemed so puzzled when I told them I didn’t want rice or noodles. They charged me $ 10 dollars for a plate of vegetables and chicken, but their 2 or 3 item was only something like $ 7 dollars? It sounded like it also came with a hot tea, which I ended up buying later for 50¢.
The owner and old Chinese ladies in there were EXTREMELY rude. There’s Chinese rude/​brash, but then this rude was on a whole different level that day. The owner was rude to another customer also, muttering something in Cantonese under his breath. It was his fault because he didn’t listen to what she was trying to order. One of the ladies kept staring down at my girlfriend while we were throwing away our trash.
Stay away from this dirty take-​out place. The people are rude and they’ll overcharge you.

Good prices. Nice owner. Great lotus root dish. Was NOT a fan of their chicken feet, which I typically enjoy. They were flavorless and didn’t seem to be cooked in any sauce. If you like plain steamed chicken feet, then you may like theirs. The orange chicken dish and fried rice were decent but nothing special.

The food is great. The price is great. And best of all the people are so nice and friendly.

I was initially trying to get to Good Mong Kok, but unfortunately it was CLOSED, so I tried Unilocaling another dim sum place in the area. Gourmet Kitchen looked promising. This is one of the rare times when Unilocal has led me astray! Why have you forsaken me, Unilocal…
I just ordered some sesame balls and BBQ pork buns. Simple, right? So hard for a Chinese restaurant to mess those things up. I read about the little drumsticks, so I asked about them too. She didn’t seem to understand what I was asking, and she just said «no» repeatedly. Okay, fine. I paid for my order and left, because there is basically no room to eat in. Lo and behold, I see the little drumsticks displayed close to the front window. Ugh… too late for that now.
* Sesame balls — Disgustingly COLD and GREASY. It had the tiniest amount of red bean inside. If you want a visual, look at my picture. All of the ones we ordered were like that, by the way. They were so gross I just threw the rest away.
* BBQ pork buns — Also cold, and erratically made. My bun was ok, but the other one was ¾ bread with very little pork.
WTF guys, if it’s only 9 am and the dim sum you have to offer is already stone cold (hey Gordon Ramsay), something is wrong. At this point I don’t even care if they could redeem themselves with their lunch offerings, because that kind of carelessness is unacceptable.
Avoid like the plague! Never again!
Food: 1, Service: 1, Environment: 2, Price: 4

Only 3 tables available and the owner speaks only simple English. We order dim sum with shrimps and mix of meats with rice. They added chili sauce which was delicious. Dim sum dumplings were could that is why only 3 stars. Otherwise the food is decent here and cheap.

Sketchy hole in the wall Chinese fast food. Tasty and hot for a good price. But lots of flies in the store and overall dirty store.

2 items for $ 4 include tea or $ 5 for three items. Otherwise, they ripping you off. Other than that, it’s quick and delicious. Just go at the right time for the food to be hot, otherwise they will microwave it. Great for the price!

I cannot understand how this place has 4 stars. I ordered a 2– item plate for $ 6 which seems reasonable until they pop it in the microwave. The peas in my fried rice were hard. The meat was unidentifiable. Overall stale and a disappointing meal. Wing Sing Dim Sum a black away is much better, and even a little cheaper.

Delicious food, generous portion, will gladly throw a plate together of whatever they have ready that catches your eye. Try the sweet buns for dessert!

Definitely hole in the wall take-​away place. I don’t think there was even room to sit down (and I wouldn’t want to sit there anyway…)
My combo with 3 dishes and rice was $ 5. I chose my 3 to be bitter melon, fish fillet, and eggplant. The food was pretty tasty but it was on the heavy and saucy side. Also I noticed everything including the veggie dishes had some pork pieces in it.
Bottom line: skeptical of health score, but it was tasty and fast. I’d give it 3.5 stars…

This is a hole in the wall with no where to sit and enjoy your food. My combo was $ 7.60 which is pretty pricey. There’s no set price for things, and it seems it’s up to the preson and his mood to call the price.
I saw someone order almost the same thing and just paid $ 4.

Gourmet Kitchen has cooked chinese food in the steam tables, ready to scoop and go.
asked for braised tofu which wasn’t available.
eats: steamed stuffed tofu (6/​$ 3)
–had pork stuffing and veggie sauce
–nothing priced. maybe it was on the signboard. not on the counter
–tasted fresh, yummy, slight msg aftertaste.
takeouts:
–in and out in minutes.
–cash only?

I was on my way to get my favorite pastry from Napolean next store (1049 Stockton) and stumbled upon this place on a Monday early afternoon. What caught my eye from the open doorway was the beautiful bright green colors of the broccoli and green beans. It looked really fresh and I didn’t eat enough veggies the prior day so I ordered this one. In my broken Cantonese, I said small dish «sai deep» and pointed to the veggies. This guy behind the counter filled up a small take out carton and said $ 3.50. I found that this dish also has tofu, wood ear mushrooms, chicken morsels, slices of red bell pepper and other veggies I couldn’t identify. I thought to myself, this is a lot of work if I were to make it myself. It was a tiny bit greasy, but otherwise great deal for predominately colorful veggie dish.

— — — -LUNCH TIME — — —
This place is my husband and my go-​to place whenever we want to grab a quick lunch. First, for $ 3.50/plate (white rice with your 2 choices for topping), it’s a pretty good deal that can’t really be beat. Service is super quick, and the food is filling. The lady there is really nice and if she’s serving you the food, she tends to be a bit more generous with the portion servings.

Why is everyone reviewing this so highly?
That was some of the grossest chinese food I have ever had… It just sits in heating trays all day until you come along and they scoop the oldest of the food onto a plate. I would say PANDA EXPRESS IS BETTER and that’s simply because the food is fresh.
The sweet and sour pork was mostly breading (grrr). THe fried rice was pretty weak. And to top everything off THEY GIVE TINY PORTIONS. Gave me about 3 – 5 pieces of meat from each entrée I ordered (3). I expected them to lay a ton of food on there.
And as the icing on the cake they have no cold water, just HOT water. So I had to buy a bottle of water for a buck. Grrrr again.
I guess if you want fried chicken wings this place might be good (I noticed that’s all anyone on Unilocal is talking about for this place), but aside from that I would go find a sit down place where you get freshly cooked food.
Oh well, on to the next poorly Unilocaled chinese restaurant in Chinatown.

Cheap, good and fast Chinese food. Love their combo rice deals! There’s over 10 items to choose from, and they’re all delicious! Rice with 2 items — $ 3.25! Can’t beat that!

Come here for their $ 3.50 rice box with two sides. There are many choices you can have with your rice box. Got their fried fish and sweet and sour pork. Minus one star because the fish was a bit stale but I guess it was my fault for going late in the afternoon though but the sweet and sour pork was very good though with really good sauce. I would prefer Gourmet Kitchen for their cheap rice boxes.

If you have read any of my other reviews then you know that most of my ratings are based upon expectations. In the big scheme of things this is not a 4 star restaurant. For cheap Chinese takeout for lunch, this place is great. When I say cheap, I mean CHEAP! 3.50 for a two item combo plate over rice. The portions are not huge, but if you want three items it will cost you $ 5 out the door. Where can you find a hot lunch for $ 5 anywhere near downtown SF? Chow Mein noodles will cost $ 1 more, still a great deal!
I would probably give this place 3.5 stars, but I’m rounding up b/​c they are fast and cheap and generally have a good attitude.
I have tried the chicken and broccoli, the fish in some sort of gravy sauce, the spicy chicken, and the tofu with gravy. All have been good and not too greasy.
I believe they only accept cash.

If you want dim sum on demand, this is the place to come!
My mother would venture into this store to get dim sum and sometimes even dinner (rice dishes).
I come here for their freshly made pot stickers (filled with chinese cabbage and pork); they’re plump and delicious, as well as their shrimp and scallions dumplings (MMMMM).
They are also well known for their giant chicken bun (yes GIANT); filled with chicken breast meat, shitake mushrooms, chinese sausage, and half soft boiled egg.
Their other buns (classic chicken, bbq pork, etc) are equally good.
You won’t be disappointed.

Man oh man… Do I love tofu! A lot of the times I get tofu cravings and a reminder goes off in my head, «I need to eat more protein!» And, boy, does Gourmet Kitchen satisfy my tofu cravings!
Rice plate with a side of their tofu cooked in a sweet gravy and little bits of meat, plus a side of their slightly fried fish in a light gravy. The first time I got this, I felt like I was in heaven and so duped because it had taken me this long to find a good rice-​plate joint! They have many other rice-​plate options — green beans, kung pao chicken, fried drumsticks, and many other items (haven’t tried many things since I love the tofu/​fish combo so much). So comforting and so delicious. And so cheap! $ 3.50 for a rice plate with two items! Awesommmmeee! And they are fast too! Sub noodles for white rice and it’s a dollar more?
This, I would say, is a twice a week spot!