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New Regent Cafe

3.4 (104 reviews)
Closed 7:30 am - 3:00 pm

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NEW REGENT CAFE ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Moderate noise
Casual
Good for groups
Good for kids

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Recommended Reviews - New Regent Cafe

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TomTom M.

Old-School Hong Kong Café in the Heart of Chinatown SF Location: Located on the slope of Pacific Ave, between Grant Ave and Kenny St in San Francisco's Chinatown. Atmosphere: This is one of those classic old Chinese / Hong Kong-style cafés that's been around for decades. From the exterior signage, the worn-in interior, and the crowd of loyal older regulars, you can immediately feel the nostalgic vibe. Food: The menu offers all the classic HK café staples -- nothing too fancy or modern, just the usual comfort dishes. * My friend ordered the beef stew noodle soup * I went with the ham and egg macaroni in soup and curry fish balls Both dishes were pretty standard -- not particularly good or bad, but simple and satisfying enough if you're craving something familiar. Service: The staff were friendly and welcoming. The place was quite busy during our visit, and we did wait a little longer than expected for what should've been easy-to-cook dishes. Overall: A nostalgic stop in Chinatown for anyone who enjoys old-school HK café vibes. Come for the atmosphere and tradition, not for anything fancy or elevated.

Mary L.

Still cash only. This Hong Kong style cafe restaurant on Pacific is still legit and very good. It is worth the long lines and long wait time for the foods and value here. Decent and authentic. Breakfast hours are also very good before 11am. I like the special lunch meals after 11am. There's plenty of selections on the menu at affordable prices. Their prices haven't gone up much, but it also increased with inflation. Staffs are always hustling and bustling inside. Tips are worth giving to them. There's an older male who pays attention and details to everything. Is he the boss? We had a special two people bar seating in back by the restrooms and can see the entire staffs busy at the counter. The man kept asking if we needed anything and checked on us. Great service in back. This place doesn't usually have great service on most days. It's very street casual inside with loud noises everywhere. The bar seats were a bit odd, but it looks great for foodie photos, LoL! I usually would prefer the table seatings. Number 39: Baked garlic fillet of sole lunch with spaghetti and tea along with my iced cup ovaltine was very good. Fish was soft and tender. Not too salty. Portions were huge! This $10.95 lunch meals did come with a house soup and either pick of coffee or hot tea. Fat wallet deals in San Francisco. Meals $11-$14 each are very decent and delicious. Chicken steak with rice meal is satisfying too. Maybe we will try the chicken legs next time. Overall very good impression and good vibes. It attracts large customers/crowds and people looking for great cheap eats in San Francisco's Chinatown district. I will definitely be revisiting next time again. They never disappoint. Some long lines are totally worth it.

Chicken preserve vegetables rice noodle soup.
Anna W.

Ordered. Chicken pickled vegetables rice noodle soup and a hot milk tea. . It was piping hot and pretty good .

Chicken mushroom with spaghetti
drew w.

I haven't been back to this restaurant in 30+ years. Our friend recommended this restaurant because her mom likes the cozy atmosphere and reasonable prices. Stepping inside, you are brought back to the 90's, pink tables and teal chairs. The prices are super affordable, $10.50 for chicken mushrooms over spaghetti noodles is crazy cheap nowadays. Service was prompt and efficient. It doesn't look like they speak English in the restaurant as all the customers are older Asian people. They do have the menu in English and have breakfast at a great price. Portion size was fair, the fried chicken wasn't crispy was our only complaint being covered in tomato sauce for too long ( probably wasn't double fried)

Pork chop eggs and toast breakfast set
John S.

This is a classic Hong Kong style diner. Think the Chinese version of Denny's but a ridiculously cheap prices. They run a breakfast special on the weekends from 7 am to 11 am and it is always crowded with local Chinese doing their weekend shopping in Chinatown. It is Cash Only. The Hong Kong milk tea is some of the best to be found in the city. Recommend an egg set and the French Toast

Nancy T.

Ordered through DoorDash. Got the baked chicken in mushroom and cheese sauce over fried rice. The chicken was under cooked and had to toss it

Montage of images from New Regent Cafe
Ed U.

If you're hankering for a Hong Kong-style breakfast, and you want it for like real cheap, this workaday Chinatown cafe on Pacific Street definitely hits the mark. Prices range from $6.50 to $8.95 for full plates and bowls. Pretty darn reasonable. They split the comprehensive full-page menu between Sunshine Breakfasts available every day from 7-11AM and... Special Breakfasts that are available all day. Special Breakfasts are actually their various soups. Got it? The first challenge though was getting a formica table since there's no single-seat counter seating. I grabbed one as soon as I saw an opportunity. Scanning the menu (photo: https://yelp.to/sDuB-H_zl9), I landed on one of their top-price items. It was the $8.95 Steak and Double Pan-Fried Eggs. Now it may sound like it might be fancier but this ain't Peter Luger's. It was a decently grilled breakfast steak with a slice of toast and two eggs sunny-side up (photo: https://yelp.to/CV3RfhteKS). Together with the complimentary Hong Kong tea (photo: https://yelp.to/8rPe_6NvL2), it was a pretty good deal. FOOD - 4 stars...diner fare well prepared for a good price AMBIANCE - 3 stars...bustling amid all the formica SERVICE - 3.5 stars...not a lot of time for chit-chat TOTAL - 4 stars...this is what a Hong Kong breakfast cafe is all about RELATED - Exploring Chinatown? Here's a collection of places I've patronized and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2WoF1Z2

Menu 03-18-21
meL Z.

They always have a rush during lunch hour but have great food with generous portions. If you are in Chinatown give it a try.

hong kong styled milk tea - complimentary with special (A), too bitter
Chloe C.

Food - came here with a friend on saturday afternoon and ordered one of the specials. special (A) was baked mushroom chicken (B) was steak (c) is fish filet and (D) was ribs. I ordered the (A) and friend ordered (B). the special came with chicken (super tender and lots of sauce). a little too much sauce for my liking, but very flavorful. your choice of rice or spaghetti (the rice was well cooked and not too soggy or dry). and some brocolli which were kinda bland by itself but with the sauce it wasn't. it also came with a soup, which tasted pretty good (it was slightly sweet) and taste just like the home made ones and hong kong styled tea, which was too bitter for my liking. I think the specials was around $10.50 for the entrée, soup and milk tea. super cheap! we also ordered garlic bread, which was a little dry. Service - surprisingly not busy around 2PM on a weekend, lots of seating. Service was pretty quick. Ambiance - a bit hot inside without much circulation but hole in the wall vibes and definitely recommend checking this place out.

Satay beef rice noodle.
Karrie L.

Unbeatable breakfast set on price. Milk tea back to being good. Rice noodles and egg noodles were good. Breakfast end at 11am.

Al L.

Meeting my friend for lunch to discuss our agenda for our upcoming trip, I suggested we try this restaurant which another friend had recommended that I try. It's located on the edge of Chinatown on Pacific off Columbus. There's two dining areas, with right side room appearing to be an expansion into the store on the right. They are a breakfast lunch restaurant with a Hong Kong style menu with some Cantonese dishes. The menu is extensive with 147 items with a three item daily special. So make that 150 items. Since my friend is a regular here, he didn't have to look at the menu while I had to go through the choices. The Hong Kong style menu and specials of the day included soup of the day, rice or spaghetti with coffee, tea or milk tea. Being a cold, rainy day, I opted for curry pork chop with spaghetti with a coffee. First came the soup, which was cup of clam chowder. My entrée was served in a casserole dish, the pork chop was sliced into several pieces with potatoes, onions and slices of carrot in a curry sauce next to the spaghetti and some steamed broccoli. I spooned the curry sauce over my spaghetti. The dish was very good as the curry sauce had a good consistency and flavor. My friend ordered the baked shrimp and corn with cheese and rice daily special, which he enjoyed. If you're looking for Hong Kong style food, New Regent fits the bill. Good food with good portions and reasonable prices with efficient service.

Baked Fillet of Sole
Rani Z.

Time & Date: Saturday, 6/26/21 @ 2:30pm Crowd: 75% of tables filled Ordered: Baked Fillet of Sole w/ Black Bean Sauce (#43) If you want delicious cantonese / hong kong cafe style food for a really good price, this is the spot to go to in Chinatown. Growing up in SF, I would frequent this restaurant every Saturday & it would always satisfy my cravings. Every item I've ever tried from this spot is so good! However even after the slight remodel job recently, this still isn't the cleanest spot. It feels pretty dingy inside and the tables & chairs are the same ones from when I used to go as a kid lol. TLDR: Amazing cheap cantonese food, but not the cleanest ambiance!

Other items they sell.
Laurra H.

Small casual hk style lunch. Must order milktea. Ambiance: very casual. Lots of tables for 4. Has AC. Located on the edge of Chinatown. Food: must order milktea. Daily specials are slightly cheaper than normal. Set meals with milk tea. I would just order the tea.

Roasted chicken over fried rice

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Sisterita

Sisterita

4.5(1.1k reviews)
0.3 miFinancial District
$$
Locally sourced ingredients
Casual dining

Excellent service! My only advice is to come and see for yourself. When we called to ask about a…read morewait, they mentioned there was not wait... part of the reason they do that is because they don't keep a list. You either have reservations or you're a walk in and you stand in line until a table is available for you. At first this was strange, but I think it makes for a better experience. The team was incredible, they were so kind on a day that can be stressful for a small restaurant. We had incredible food. I was so happy to get my Eggs Royale and my husband said the French toast was the best he's ever had. (Even comparing it to French toast in Paris) No notes. This will be our Mother's Day place going forward next time with reservations.

My partner and I decided to go to the city one weekend and decided we wanted brunch. After looking…read morethrough some place, we came across Sisterita and it looked very promising. It seems like this place is an asian fusion brunch place incorporating french dishes into thai/asian themed dishes which is up our alley. We made a reservation at 1:45 PM and we had to wait for about an extra 30 minutes before getting seated. Initially, I wanted to try their crab fried rice but unfortunately they were out of crab. We decided to get the Alcatraz Escape and the Brioche french toast which were recommended by the wait staff. The staff was generally friendly and accommodating but I can tell they were swamped and stressed out with all the people they were trying to serve. The food itself tasted decent, the Alcatraz Escape had a tasty flavor which incorporates tom yum paste (sweet, sour, tangy flavor) into their scramble with about 4 shrimps. The side of crispy chicken was good but nothing that stood out to us. The brioche was soft but there wasn't much flavoring besides the fruits and caramelized banana. It was served with evaporated milk which made the brioche soft but not adding much flavor to it. The price however was quite pricey. For two dishes as a side we paid around $78 with tax and tip.

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Sisterita
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New Regent Cafe - chinese - Updated May 2026

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