Advisory: You need 1.5 hours and patience to eat a sit-down meal and dessert here. Food presentation is great! the taiwanese noodle (B02, tad too salty), pork cutlet, and chicken curry over rice were all tasty! I enjoyed the food. when you order you must say the letter+number to avoid confusion because the menu is so big. tried the mango pudding dessert, bit disappointing. it needed more sugar, im glad we asked for and was given brown sugar syrup to add ourselves. it tasted a lot better after. Wait time: main issue is the wait time and i feel really bad for everyone, guests and the staff, to see people angry, leave, and straight up throw tantrums during lunch hour. the 3-4 person line was staring at each other and their phones wondering why their takeouts are taking so long. i feel for everyone. they would do a LOT better if can bring out the food faster. they have plenty of business and lots of people want to try it. just have to keep up the pace. a grown man was yelling at everyone and his wife was so gracious and trying to calm him down. he was hangry. not at all kidding. understandable: a 40 minute wait for a noodle soup is too long, especially on a 1 hour lunch break (including 10 min one way travel time x 2, which leaves you with 40 mins in and out of restaurant) which made many people late to return to work. some tables walked out after waiting too long for food. the server was diligent and working fast and the only one out there, everyone else is in the kitchen. there were also two delivery people with helmets on, waiting over 30 mins and came back to ask is it ready and be told no it's not ready. chopsticks and spoons are in a pull out drawer under the table! no one told me. delightful surprise. The scratch card given to me at the end was soo adorable! Won a free drink. will have to come back another day for it, short on time. read more

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They need to add more staff and fix their wait times for dishes. Came in at 12 and did not leave until 2:10. The waitress was super nice but clearly overwhelmed with the amount of tables. It took us multiple attempts to flag her down to order, clarify our order, and get the check. We ordered fried tofu, baked cheese pork chop and hamburger, laksa noodle soup, and tofu pudding. I assume there was miscommunication when it took over 20 MINUTES and asking the waitress where the fried tofu was. It was perfectly crispy and the best item we tried. The laksa soup arrived next which was extremely sour lukewarm. 40 MINUTES go by and the baked dish finally arrives with salty breading. We started to notice the tables around us were also waiting extremely long for their dishes to arrive. Complaints being made left and right. Notified the waitress to bring the tofu pudding and she was noticeably confused. She showed the menu and pointed to the Durian tofu pudding. I told her we wanted the regular pudding and I never specified durian. She apologized and told us it would be out in a minute. It took 5 minutes. The tofu pudding was bland and had no flavor even with the syrup. No ginger taste at all. Overall I would not recommend coming here until they fix their waiting and kitchen issues. 1 hr + waiting on just food is ridiculous. read more

Noriega Cafe - Baked pork chop and hamburger - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I feel like they need to iron the kinks out. Ate at tea wood before and had a good experience. Staff are nice and pleasant here which is a plus. Food is decent. My tom yum seafood pasta was missing all the seafood the first time. They made me a new one. It took almost 45 minutes for the curry chicken baked rice. An unacceptable amount of time for food. From what it looked like many people had part of their orders but things came out sort of haphazardly. So timing of food per table is an issue. I really hope to be able to revise this review in the future but they have some work to do. read more

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Downgraded to four stars. The Thai Hambagu Curry Omurice $18 was a fail. A traditional omurice's egg is supposed to soft and fluffy over fried rice. This is a sheet of egg over white rice making it boring and disappointing. Noriega Cafe's version uses a watery Thai curry instead of a demi-glace sauce. The hambagu needed more flavor. It was tender but bland. Some finely chopped onions or more beef in the mixture will have improved this dish. Service was poor again. This time I wasn't given water or tea when I sat down. I had to ask for it after my food arrived. No water refills or check-ins. At least the food arrived shortly after I ordered it. The rookie waitress must have been having a forgetful day. After my meal, I was still hungry because of the small portion. That's not good. So, I ordered an egg waffle sundae $9 to eat outside as they close at 9pm. Ordered strawberry but got vanilla. The wait for this was forever already so I just took it and didn't complain. At least the owner lady is nice and saids hi from the drink station to her regular customers even though she was hella busy. Protip, like the cafes in HK, there's a hidden drawer at your table with all the silverware. read more

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I brought my daughter here for a quick bite, because it's so cute inside and she loves iced drinks. We ordered and shared a minced pork (Rou Zao) sauce w/ rice, preserved veggies and pork katsu. There's a lot on their menu and food prices are reasonable. Friendly service and you get a scratch game when you pay - I got $5 off for next time! read more

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We ordered quite a few things from their new menu! They changed their menu and had a renovation several months back. Most of their menu items are below $20 which is amazing! They have a variety of dishes - from Thai food, to Taiwanese food, to Japanese & so much more! This is what we ordered Rose Honey fried chicken wings $9.95 Thai Appetizer Platter $20.95 Taiwanese deep fried pork chop with braised pork over rice $13.95 Baked pork chop in tomato sauce over rice $14.95 Shoyu duck breast ramen $15.95 Banana boat sundae $6.95 Basil fried calamari rings $9.95 Kaffir lime tea $6.95 read more

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Noriega Cafe has reopened as an Asian Fusion restaurant offering an extensive menu of noodle and rice dishes. The noodle dishes range from ramen to pasta to house dry noodles to traditional Asian noodle dishes like won ton noodles. They also offer a long list of drink options such as Thai tea, matcha, and boba as well. Overall it's sort of a twist on the traditional HK style cafe / diner. The interior decoration seems modern and bright. We tried the Seafood Baked Spaghetti and Teppan with Pepper Beef Rice. The seafood baked spaghetti came with a variety of seafood including shrimp, scallops, cuttlefish, fish, and mussels. I actually enjoyed the sauce which was well seasoned, and the spaghetti was el dente. The portion size was on the smaller size but would still recommend. In case you haven't tried before, teppan is a dish served over an iron hot plate. In this case, it was served with slices of rare beef including some rice, corn, garlic butter, etc. You mix up the food and enjoy. We found the beef kind of bland and under seasoned. Didn't taste much of pepper beef as the name suggests. Overall, the food was decent and the restaurant worth trying for its unique factor but I didn't come away feeling wowed. Service was like your typical Asian restaurant. I think it could be a good hangout spots for drinks, snacks, and desserts. read more

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We were fans of the original Noreiga Cafe and really liked their food and was sad to see it go. The owners have since remodeled, changed their menu and concept to a Hong Kong style café (Cha Chaan Teng). For the past few weeks, we have tried getting a table without waiting, but not until this week, were we able to grab a table without delay. The 4 of us sat down at 11:45 am. We placed our order at around 11:55. Here is where the timing went wrong. I got my Taiwanese beef brisket noodle soup at 12:05 pm. One other in my party got his deep fried pork chop 6 mins after mine, but 2 others were still waiting for their baked entrees and did not get it until 12:25 and 12:30! My friend and I were finished with our meal, while the rest just got their dishes! I think the menu or waitstaff should let customers know that the baked dishes require significantly more time to prepare so expectations are set from the start. Thankfully, we weren't in a hurry, but I believe the lengthy wait times for those baked items are creating a backlog! *** OUR PICKS *** TAIWANESE BEEF BRISKET NOODLE SOUP ~ I asked for mild spice, but it was spicier than I anticipated. This soup can be spicier if you want it to be. I found only 3 chunky pieces of brisket while the rest of the meat were thin slices of beef, a few pieces of bok choy, and a handful of noodles. Honestly, if you're hungry, this one dish may not be sufficient. I didn't really care for the flavor of the broth as it was pretty salty and spicy. The chunks of brisket were hard and tough, though the sliced beef was tender. Flat rice noodles were okay, but I felt the whole dish was underwhelming. 2/5 BAKED PORK CHOP IN TOMATO SAUCE WITH SPAGHETTI ~ the spaghetti was a substitute for the rice. This was probably the only decent dish among the 4 we had. The spaghetti sauce was sweet, but not overly sweet. The cheese was melted well and had a very good cheese pull! The pork chop was crispy in some parts. Only drawback was the wait time. It took about 25-30 minutes. 4/5 BAKED FISH FILLET WITH CORN CREAM SAUCE OVER RICE ~ I tried a bit of this and the fish was kind of salty. The cream corn was okay. The person who ate this rated it a 3/5 TAIWANESE DEEP FRIED PORK CHOP WITH BRAISED PORK OVER RICE ~ I tried the flat pork chop and it tasted like popcorn chicken and the meat was very dry and overcooked. Our friend didn't care for this dish and left most of it. Unfortunately, he rated this a 2/5. The only item worth getting is the baked pork chop in tomato sauce with spaghetti. But with such a long wait for this dish, I can't recommend it unless you're not starving and you're willing to wait an extra 1/2 hr. Truthfully, we miss the old Noreiga Cafe! read more

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Our group of 4 dined here a couple of Sundays. Hand wrote my name at 6pm and our group got seated around 7:10pm. Overall, not the best dine-in experience, but willing to give some grace as my understanding that it's newly re-opened, and possibly under new management. There were 2 young gentlemen running around doing everything, but only 1 tablet to put in orders and to pay. A suggestion is to invest in another couple of tablets so that some guests can pay, while other guests can order. Otherwise, everyone is just waiting around. My entree (pork dry noodles with veggies) was a bit too salty and the seasoning tasted similar to packaged seasonings from the store. I did enjoy the egg and veggies. The others in my group ordered baked rice dishes and enjoyed them. I also ordered a milk tea and that was ok. Another suggestion for the restaurant is that the 2 gentlemen can "tag-team" meaning cross train and communicate for better efficiency. The older lady at the cash register (probably owner or manager) was just "standing around". Perhaps, she can take care of all the payments to allevieate the workload since there's a physical POS at the counter. Behind the older lady was a young lady, she seems to be in charge of making all drink requests. If I had more time to observe, totally can create a game plan to help with the workflow. Final comment is that our group spent around $90+ but we didn't receive any promotional scracher cards. It took so long to pay that we just wanted to leave. We had already left the restaurant and decided not to go back in to ask about the scratchers. Willing to give this place another chance, but probably not any time soon. #29/2026 read more

Noriega Cafe - Inside - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Service: 1 star, has coupons they don't honor properly Food: so-so, decent Price: decent Parking: difficult except late night Wait: long, even at late night I came the first time at 11:20 am. I walked in and the two servers standing by the front just looked at me but didn't greet me or anything. I was figuring out what to do when someone else came in speaking Cantonese and the servers pulled out a waitlist and put their name on it first. I was pretty peeved because they ended up being seated 20 minutes earlier when I was there first, but I guess I don't speak Cantonese. For the seating to turnover took 1 hour 20 minutes, and they also seated larger parties first in larger tables. I received scratch cards and tried to redeem right away and the employee said it was not allowed to be redeemed same visit. I came back today to use the two scratch cards both for a free drink. I try to order to go with the scratch cards but was told it was dine in only. I ask where does it say that on the voucher, and I'm told it's just store policy. I sit down and order two entrees and two drinks, and ask for the two vouchers to be applied. I'm told I can only use one. I say the voucher just says limit two vouchers per visit. They say it's one of each type of voucher, so you can use a $5 off and a free drink. I ask for the manager, and apparently that's who I was talking to. Manager said that these vouchers are to encourage customers to come back. It's sad that something that should be fun and exciting has become a secret list of unwritten rules and frustrating and upsetting. In any case, the food is good but not great. The wait is not worth it. To go orders still took about 30 minutes tonight despite just one other dine in customer. Parking is challenging during the day but easy at late evening. read more

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First time trying this spot after hearing about the revamp in menu and style. Menu had a ton of options and helpful photos. Seated quickly right around opening time, but got busy fast. Ambiance: Modern, clean, cozy with limited seating (better for group sizes of 4-5 and under). They have a high chairs for kids, and a short hallway to the bathroom to fit 1 stroller. They have 1 gender neutral bathroom that was clean. Staff/Service: Friendly, food rolled out fast and slow. Ordered 4 food items and 2 drinks at 11:26am. Entrees came out 10 minutes later. Chicken wings took 20 min, and the Thai App Platter took 30 minutes. We were pretty full by then. Ordering: Either by phone with a QR code scan on your table (the website was all in Chinese so I couldn't read it), or you can also order with staff. Plenty of physical menus available too. ** FYI ** The one menu I was given had OUTDATED pricing. The Thai App Platter was listed as $16.95 but when the bill came out, I was charged $20.95... $4 more than what was advertised! Staff apologized after double checking the menus - apparently only my menu was outdated. They didn't honor the price, and I hope they fix the menus soon. Food: Per staff, hot tea is only available if the whole table orders it. It was just me and my husband so we went with water. The water tasted like metal in their stainless steel cups. Milk tea or tea in general wasn't ready when we got there because it was still steeping. Food was overall flavorful, below is a breakdown of what we ordered: 1. A19. Thai App Sampler @ $20.95: Fish cakes, Skewers, Shrimp Chips, grilled pork neck (the only thing we really liked on this tray), and a sliver of pineapple with a sugary crust on the bottom of the slices. Probably better to just order the grilled pork separately - it was tender and juicy. Overall 3/5 2. A11.Rose Honey Fried Chicken Wings @ $9.95: Sweet, juicy and well cooked. 4/5 3. N01. Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle Soup @ $14.95: Came with 2 small pieces of braised beef and slices of beef, the noodle was good and bouncy. 3/5 4. Seafood Tom Yum Cream Pasta @ $14.95: Not creamy, felt like the sauce was dried out and because of that, it was quite salty. Shrimp was good but the squid pieces were overcooked/chewy and had an odd taste to it. Muscles were ok. Overall, I think if it had more liquid to dilute it out, I would have liked it better. 2/5 5. M09 Silky Thai Milk Tea @ $5.25: Good portion for price, strong, and flavorful 4/5 6. SE06 Mango Pomelo Sago @ $6.95: Very sweet (if you like it very sweet), they were generous with the mango and toppings 3/5 Overall, I love visiting Sunset for all of the small biz restaurants there. I hope they have continued good business because what they offer is unique to the neighborhood. read more

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Came here to try their food after finding out this is the sister cafe to TeaWood Cafe. Their menus are very similar with some different items like their don noodles, sizzles plates, and more variety of desserts. Their food service is quick after ordering. The cafe is significantly smaller than TeaWood so there will definitely be a wait time before being seated if you arrive during peak lunch/dinner time. Otherwise the food is really good! read more

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Sigh...newly renovated but this place was not nearly as good as before. Noriega Cafe revamped as a HK style cafe restaurant. While their menu is expansive, most of the food was bland. Prices are quite expensive and for this price point, you're much better off at Cafe Bakery a few blocks over. We got the chicken wings, teppanyaki, and baked rice and a beef noodle soup. The chicken wings were probably the best out of our dishes. It had a strong rose flavor and was a good cross between salty and sweet. The black pepper beef teppan unfortunately just tasted like straight butter, almost like they just melted a stick of butter in there without adding salt or the pepper sauce/flavoring. It was also our most expensive dish. I definitely would not get it again. The baked rice was okay. We felt it needed more of the tomato sauce and flavor in general. It was over a bed of egg fried rice that didn't really taste like anything. The beef noodle soup was alright as well. It also seemed like it was missing some saltiness and some sort of spices; was quite bland as well. Service was where I was quite sorely disappointed. Upon entry to the restaurant they have a hand written sign stating wait for food dine-in is at least 40 minutes. After seating, the 4 of us waited a long time until anyone came over to take our order. Everyone kept walking inside the kitchen but nobody ever came out with anything. The staff seemed to not know the menu at all. We were ordering the sauce for our teppan (as listed on the menu) and she not only didn't know how to input it in their system, she seemed to be under the impression that it wasn't an option when it's literally stated on their own menu. She had to go ask multiple staff, then came back and seemingly forgot what we had just ordered. I will say they did notice when our water wasn't filled and a guy came by a few times to fill up our water. Overall I think the service could use a lot more improvement as well as the food. I do understand they are newly opened so there's definitely room for things to be better. Unfortunately I don't think I will be back in the meantime. read more

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​As a fan of Teawood in the Richmond District, I was excited to check out their new sister restaurant, Noriega Cafe, in the Sunset. ​Given its fresh energy, innovative dishes, and reasonable prices, it's no surprise the place was packed for an early weeknight dinner! A line was already forming when I arrived just before 6:00 PM, but I lucked out with my party of two and was seated immediately. ​The Vibe & Service The space is noticeably smaller than Teawood's Richmond location, though the menu shares a lot of the same popular dishes. Just like Teawood, the service is warm and friendly. They've also carried over the fun scratch-card giveaway at the end of the meal--a clever touch that definitely adds incentive to return. ​The Food Since they recently opened under new management, they are clearly still ironing out some operational kinks. Because the kitchen was overwhelmed by how busy it was, several dishes we wanted to order weren't available to be made, which was a bummer. Here is what we were able to try: ​Grilled Thai Pork Neck: Smoky, tender, and full of flavor--hands down our favorite dish of the night! - ​Thai Spicy Minced Pork with Crispy Balls: Unique and tasty, though not quite a standout for me. - ​Southern Thai Duck Breast Omurice: I was hoping for a soft, creamy omelette, but it came topped with a simple fried egg instead. Not quite what I expected or preferred. - ​Traditional Wooden Bucket Tofu: Nostalgic, but unfortunately, the tofu tasted sour. We couldn't tell if it had turned or if it was just a sharp syrup, but we erred on the side of caution and stopped eating it. Because it's still early days and Teawood has such a solid track record, I'm fully willing to give Noriega Cafe another try once things settle down. My main recommendation to management would be to trim down the menu--a smaller selection would help the kitchen keep up during heavy rushes and make deciding easier for diners anyway. I'm rooting for you guys! read more

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New concept after months of remodeling. The prior chef retired and is now babysitting a granddaughter, the main waitress has moved on to a location down the street and the vibe is toward a younger crowd with desserts, drinks, teppan, udon, fusion appetizers, served by a younger inexperienced staff. The remodelled place has booths and accommodates around 30 diners. We ordered: - Thai Appetizer Plate consisting of Fish Cakes, Beef Skewers (overcooked), Sliced BBQ Pork Neck (very good), Caramelized Pineapple, Shrimp Chips, and two dipping sauces - Rose Honey Chicken Wings which were addictive and different - Teppanyaki Beef Rice which could use a little more of the seasoned butter flavoring but overall good - Mango Pomelo Sago Drink, ordered at 50% sweetness and still was too sweet. Needs more crushed ice at that sweetness level. Overall, service was spotty. There's a QR Code for ordering however they have hard copy menus which is easier to look at and order from. The waiters will take your order if you don't like QR Code ordering. Water and Tea service is inconsistent as we had to ask once but they came around to check more often after the first request. The restaurant also has cramped seating at the tables near the front window. Overall, life goes on, we miss the traditional well-made Cantonese homestyle food previously served, the nice waitress named Christina, while understanding that the restaurant business is very competitive in SF. We liked most of the items ordered and will likely be back to try other things. The service is still in a learning phase and we assume it will get better. As a follow-up, we dine at Christina's new gig down the street to get homestyle Cantonese food and to see her smile. read more

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I was directed to the self order kiosk when I dropped by today. It was a simple and quick ordering process. I got a pistachio matcha latte which was nutty and creamy and not too sweet. There were chairs available to sit while I waited and the dining area was cute and comfortable, busy with people getting lunch. The drink was delicious, and the service was quick! read more

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Finally came to try their new updated menu. Unfortunately my experience was not great. While the food tasted pretty good, the wait time for food was too long. Either their menu is too big for them to handle, or their kitchen is not able to handle multiple orders. We were a table of 2, got seated at 11:25AM and finally ordered at 11:35AM on a weekend day. We ordered 3 dishes because we heard that it takes awhile to get the food so we didn't order too much. Unfortunately, we were not expecting the wait to be this long. Thai grilled pork neck came out at 12:13PM, about 40 minutes wait. The pork neck was good, crispy and juicy, great sauces that were a bit savory and acidic. Really recommend ordering. Shrimp pasta with tomato soup, came out at 12:20PM close to 50 minutes wait time. Big pieces of shrimp, the soup itself was nice and tart, had a seafood taste to it. Not bad, but not worth 50 minutes of wait time. Baked seafood cream pasta came out at 12:40PM, more than an hour after ordering. Taste was not bad, good selection of seafood, kind of small for the portion though, cream was good and decent amount of cheese. Not worth waiting for an hour. I understand some dishes being made to order and taking 20-40 minutes, but waiting upwards to an hour plus is ridiculous. The staff were overwhelmed and couldn't handle majority of the orders (only two front of staff). There's also only 7-8 available tables inside the restaurant. The two servers were friendly but again, they were not set up for success. Im not saying the food is bad, but the service and wait time is ridiculous. I won't be coming back to noriega cafe or their other location of Teawood Cafe. read more

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Noriega Cafe, a HK-style cafe, at 1245 Noriega is very much open, crowded with people and hopping! Just had lunch here! BAKED PORK CHOPS in a tomato sauce over rice, a crowd pleaser, was tasty. Would wish for more sauce. SPICY WON TONS - Chicken won tons garnished with chile sauce, plenty of Dow see, was spicy but good as well. NORIEGA CAFE has a robust drink menu full of boba, Matcha and fruit drinks. Had their house tea with lunch and it was nice and fragrant. Nice when something like a house tea pops. Their dessert menu will draw me back for sure. MANGO AND TOFU PUDDINGS AND SOUPS. See you there! read more

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3.5 stars Newly remodeled Noriega Cafe focusing on Asian fusion cuisine. Interior is small with 3 booths and tables that can accommodate single parties or bigger parties. The table turnover rate needs improvement resulting in longer wait times. Food and dessert are available are on the menu. waitlist is in front where the cashier is, 4 seats to wait inside otherwise queuing outside. There was a special event going on where 1 scratch card is given for each $20.00 spent, prizes available are $5.00 off, 1 free drink, sesame soup, spring roll or Thai spiced pork. Order: Baked pork chop rice, lacking the tomato flavor without enough sauce, pork chop was crispy similar to popcorn chicken Taiwanese Braised Beef Soup: beef is tender and lots of noodles, the broth will make your thirsty and have your drinks ready. Pepper beef rice: comes out sizzling, thoroughly cook the meat with the crispy rice. top dish for the day Deep fried chicken cutlet with braised pork dry noodle: there is some type of seafood in this dish, maybe shrimp paste. Noodles were not dry and more wet with the sauce, lots of beef. Chicken cutlet was crispy and breaded perfectly. Dessert: traditional tofu pudding, silky smooth served hot with brown sugar syrup and brown sugar on the side, must order. read more

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Disclaimer: The original Noriega Cafe closed for a while and reopened as an Asian fusion concept. This review is for the newly reimagined Noriega Cafe. The rose honey chicken wings had good flavor, the duck breast in the duck breast teppan tasty OK but was a little dry which is surprising for duck meat that is usually fatty. The garlic pork don lacked any garlic flavor and was essentially tonkotsu pork slices, furikake, onions, scallons, egg and teriyaki sauce. Basically the food was OK, mediocre, and pretty ordinary. What really dragged the review down is the disorganization. Despite the place being small, the staff seemed to be unable to handle an dining room with a handful of tables. My dinner came out last after everyone iny party nearly finished their dinner so execution and timing is bad. We expressed interest in ordering desert and they gave us a menu, then told us it was too late to order because store closed at 930 and we just missed it by less than 5 minutes. I really did want to like the place and try their new concept but the mediocre food, poor service, general disorganization and long wait time for a table, long wait time for food just made the experience not worthwhile for the trouble. Fortunately, there are a lot of good places to eat on Noriega St and while we were unable to try their desert offerings, Golden Island (a tried and true local favorite) was across the street and able to deliver and fulfilled our after dinner Asian dessert fix. Will I try Noriega Cafe again? Maybe after the initial hype dies down. But I recommend you pick some of the other restaurants on Noriega St if there is any wait for a table. To me, it just wasn't worth it for the quality of food and the service. read more

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The menu is different from what you see on their yelp. Not sure if it's the same name but different owners. The restaurant is quite small has a total of 9 tables. The tables are lined up like the letter "L" there are 4 tables then two tables are along the window. There are a couple of chairs by the door while you wait. They were really busy and not enough staff. You wait to order, wait to get seated, and the food come at all different time. My dad wanted wonton noodle but they just took of the braised beef and then gave wonton. But they didn't have enough wonton. So then gave what they had and said wait for more wonton. And by the time the wonton was done my dad was done with his meal. I ordered the baked tomatoes pork chop. It was ok. The problem that I noticed with and what other tables customers had mentioned is that not enough surface space. So they offer serving spoons as you meal spoon. So when you put the spoon in the plate it spills the rice. There is not enough space for you to dig for a bite of rice and protein. I felt there was not enough sauce and the fried rice was lacking flavor. The next table had the same complaints about the plate. Being so small that when you put your spoon in for a bite, the food spills out. My brother black pepper beef was good. It had flavor. Wished they offered more sauce. read more

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I came across this restaurant after their remodel. They serve drinks, food, and desserts. They are having a promotion on if you spend $20 there is a scratcher card they give at end of the meal with the check. I was curious about the baked pork chop rice. So we ordered it and the tofu pudding. Tomato Baked Pork Chop Rice ($14.99) had sliced pork chop with tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, and cheese on top. The base was fried rice. The taste was good and was piping hot when it came out in a ceramic dish. The tofu pudding ($4.95) was not good. It was a little sour. They remade it but the outcome was still not good. At least, there was no sour taste on second try. The place was pretty clean with booth seats. They also have a kiosk you can order to go items. The service was pretty good. The waiter was nice when we ordered and was accommodating when we told him about the tofu pudding. read more

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date & time: thiursday July 30, 2026 @ 1:30 pm & feiday july 31, 2026 @ 2pm vibe: friend groups in white tank tops , hailey extra baggy jeans, kitten heels or off the shoulder aquamarine tops w/ white skirts decor: vibey 7 table restaurant service: highly disorganized. we cancelled half our order due to the 1.5 hour wait for our entrees plus they gave us the wrong desserts devour: scallion noodles, chicken don & coconut mango dessert total: $26.98 note: they didn't honor my scratcher for a free drink on my visit today read more

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When I found out Noriega Cafe revamped its menu and made it very extensive, I knew I had to try it out. My party of three arrived on a Sunday just after 6pm and the wait was just over an hour. Parking wasn't too bad and I was able to get a spot a block away after circling a couple times. There was a huge crowd of people waiting for their tables, but keep in mind that the restaurant is very small and I only counted approximately 25 diners total throughout my whole visit. Since it took a while to get a table, fortunately we looked at the menu ahead of time and had an idea of what we wanted. There was a kiosk by the counter for those who preferred to order for takeout. Once seated, it took around twenty minutes just to place our orders since apparently the waiters were taking orders in the order customers were seated. For appetizer we ordered the Thai spicy minced pork with crispy balls. We saw it come out of the kitchen and it was brought to the table behind me, then the waiter quickly went to my table and said it was sold out. We then ordered the Thai appetizer platter as a replacement, a bit frustrated. The Taiwanese braised pork dry noodle came out first for another diner in my party and it was a good five minutes until my deep-fried chicken cutlet with braised pork dry noodles and someone else's shoyu duck breast ramen arrived. The waiter actually brought the first item to the table and said it was the chicken cutlet and had to go to the kitchen to verify which dish it was; perhaps the staff is still not used to the new menu but clearly there was no chicken cutlet on that dish. The only difference between the two dry noodles ordered was that one had chicken cutlet and the other had an egg. My chicken cutlet dry noodles tasted as expected and wasn't too salty; the fried chicken cutlet seasoning reminded me of Taiwanese popcorn chicken which I enjoyed. The diner with the shoyu duck breast ramen didn't really enjoy it and said it was very oily, I guess that was somewhat expected since it was a Chinese-made ramen rather than an authentic Japanese ramen. I tried a slice of duck breast and I thought it was prepared well and wasn't overcooked. The Thai appetizer platter finally arrived when we were almost done eating our entrees and by that point we weren't too hungry for it and weren't impressed with the quality of this appetizer. While it looked nice, the fish cake patties were spicy and tasted like they were store bought and the meats were on the dryer side. To drink, I had the strawberry yogurt with purple rice and it was prepared as expected and wasn't too sweet; the purple rice was okay and wasn't clumpy or hard. This drink was small but came in a reusable plastic cup with a metal lid. I also tried the silky Thai milk tea and thought it tasted like a standard milk tea. The new menu at Noriega Cafe was very appealing, but unfortunately the overall experience fell short. Aside from the long wait times and food coming out of order, the waiters didn't seem to have a full grasp of the menu and didn't really seem to have a structured workflow of taking orders and bringing out food as they were ready instead of in the order parties were seated. Upon paying for the meal, I was provided with scratchers based on the amount spent with prizes to be redeemed at the next visit; all of my scratchers were for spring rolls. I would like to come back to give Noriega Cafe another chance but will hopefully come during a time when the restaurant isn't so busy to get a better experience. read more

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The food was bland. Everything I ordered was not available. I wish they update the menu. The portions are ok. The guy serving me was awesome. He was amazing to be able to handle the sudden surge of hungry people that came all of a sudden. . He was great and helpful. Very Polite. The place is small but very clean. I'll give them another try time. read more

Noriega Cafe - Menu - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

The thai plate appetizer platter and it was great with the combination of pineapple and sliced pork belly. We also got red dragon fruit sparkling drink and the kumquat lemon sparkling. Both drinks were good. I definitely recommend getting their thai spicy minced pork w/ crispy ball. They do get busy even during a week day so plan accordingly. Not many seatings read more

Noriega Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

This place is awful, my hubs and I came here on a whim and spent like $50 on the worst sizzling plate you could ever have. The meat was a weird consistency and flavor, the rice was undercooked and way too hard and overall the service was not good either. The server only checked on us once, and told us to grab our own silverware from inside the table yet was placing down silverware for other tables. It was super strange. Also pretty much the whole meal we were being stared down by the other customers, which made us incredibly uncomfortable. It's a small place with some potential yet feels sticky. Oh, and last thing we should've known this place was gonna be bad because they use AI for the entire menu. read more

Very niche cafe but well worth a try. They've got a variety that covers pan Asian so that was really cool to see. I will note the establishment itself is fairly small but overall there are a few dine-in tables available. Food had a lot of flavor and I was pleasantly surprised my spicy dish was indeed spicy. read more

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Service was a bit slow and unorganized. Food came out slow as well, but that's expected considering they're so new. Even though the service was slow, the workers were still nice. Just a bit odd that one of the servers didn't speak any Chinese. They also ran out of quite a few dishes when we dined around 5:30pm. Been wanting to try their sister restaurant on Geary, but the trek is just too far lol. Overall, the food wasn't the best but it was decent. And for the amount you're paying, the portions are relatively big. Love the fact they offer a scratch card to win prizes (blindbox, $$$ off, free appetizer) for every $20 spent when checking out. Would definitely come back after a few months. Hopefully they'll work out all the kinks. read more

Noriega Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Party of 2 We came in around 11:10 a.m. on a Saturday and didn't leave until almost 1:00 p.m. We only ordered one appetizer and two entrées so waiting nearly two hours for our food was unacceptable. Unfortunately, the service made the experience even worse. Our waitress seemed easily distracted and had trouble keeping up with basic requests. We had to ask multiple times for water and eventually for the check. She kept forgetting. No one checked on our table or refilled our water during the meal. The menu is huge, but it seems like the kitchen can't keep up with the volume of orders. It was frustrating watching tables that were seated after us receive their food much sooner than we did. :((( The long wait and lack of attentive service completely ruined what was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday lunch. read more

Noriega Cafe - Baked dish - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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TLDR: Don't get the beef rolls get the tomato cream pasta. Be prepared to wait. Maybe they'll improve with more time? I would wait to go but if you see it empty give it a try. The food here is decent but the wait time for it sucks. The staff doesn't know what's out of stock and what isn't. They had a new worker who didn't seem to know what he was doing and ordering food was kind of hard with him. We asked what other tables ordered and he didn't know asked us to look through the menu and didn't ask any other worker for help. We ordered and they would tell us its out then we would have to find something else. Happened twice. Their wait time for food is long so having the staggered ordering made it even longer. Even though we ordered after the next table they got their food first. Didn't take a picture of everything because everything just took so long I wanted to leave. We tried to order their special and someone said they would check the back and they never came back... We asked another waiter ten minute later and he said someone else ordered it already and that was the last one. It's such a small space with so much confusion and so many people running around lost. They have little scratchers for when you order $20 pre tax (20 = 1 ticket, 40 = 2 tickets, 60 = 3 tickets, etc) Prizes vary, free dessert, free appetizer, blind box... Ordered the beef rolls. The menu picture showed three beef rolls we got one beef roll cut into three $12.95. 0/5 Would not get again it was not worth getting at all. Maybe they ran out and didn't want to say anything. Super disappointing. Thai spicy minced meat with the fried balls? 2/5 (free cus of scratcher) You break open the tops of the ball and put the meat inside and eat it. I think it needs a sauce or something? It was okay but i wouldn't order it again. Rose honey Fried Chicken Wings ($9.95) 3/5 I expected them to be fried and then covered in sauce like the picture. It did not look like the picture at all. Came out looking like soy sauce wings but with the rose honey sauce. It tasted good but I was just disappointed it wasn't fried. Baked spaghetti with pork chop ($14.95?) 3/5 was good similar to other places with baked pork chop rice/spaghetti but for the portion size for the price it seemed really small. wasn't enough sauce for the spaghetti. Tonkatsu Pork Cutlet Tomato Cream Sauce Pasta (13.95) 4/5 this one was yummy but again portions kind of small for the price. The sauce on this pasta was good. Tasted like tomato bisque with some cream. Cheese Hambagu Don (14.95) 3/5 - ordered this one first and it came out last. other tables got theirs before we got outs even though we ordered first. It tasted like a hamburger patty with cheese with rice. It tasted how you would imagine. There was semi cooked onions maybe caramelized with the sauce would be good? Not enough sauce for the amount of rice read more

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Noriega Cafe is one of those neighborhood gems that reminds you why San Francisco's food scene is so special. From the moment we walked in, we were greeted with warm, friendly service that made us feel like regulars. The restaurant has that classic old-school Cantonese café vibe--comfortable, unpretentious, and focused on serving delicious food at reasonable prices. read more

The service is so terrible! We live in the neighborhood, and there are always lots of people waiting every time we walk by. We thought it was because the restaurant must be really good. But in fact it is because of the slow service. We checked in around 12:30 p.m. and placed our order right after we got our table around 1:10 p.m. I got my tofu pudding almost 30 minutes later, and that was the first thing served. I assumed it was because another table had canceled their tofu pudding after a long wait, even though the server had told them it would only take another six minutes. After almost an hour, the tofu pudding was still the only thing we had received. My parents were upset and tried to cancel the rest of our order and leave. They finally served the fried tofu. Can you imagine an appetizer taking an hour to arrive? The servers never checked on us. Every time we asked, they said it would be another two or five minutes before the next dish was served. We finally got all of our food around 2:30 p.m. I took photos of everything except the two noodle dishes my parents ordered because they were starving and started eating right away. We were not the only table waiting so long for our food. The whole restaurant only had four parties of three or four people, three parties of two, and one party of five. I saw other customers getting upset as well. The food just okay nothing special and it doesn't worth to wait that long. If you would like to visit, make sure you have at least two hour for that. The scratch that we got can only redeem for next visit, my parents told me throw away because we won't visit again. read more

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it's a pretty small cafe that's usually filled quickly. we ordered the teppan with duck breast, thai pork neck, and baked rice with pork chop with the bear milk tea. the duck breast got a little dry after being left on the plate, but was still decent. could use some flavor besides the soy sauce on the rice. the baked rice was delicious, and so was the pork neck. the milk tea is strong and super cute. the servers were working as quick as they could and were very nice. after our meal, we got 3 scratcher tickets (1 for every $20 you spend). 2 blind boxes and 1 free deep fried spring roll next time (you can only use 2 game cards per visit). overall happy with our visit and definitely want to come back and try more! read more

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Yes the service can be slow. But they nail amazing food quality and cheap unlike anyone else. So it's very much worth the trek out and the wait!! Their attention to detail on the food quality is a refreshing welcome given the terrible shrinkflation that has struck the vast majority of SF restaurants. They are also much better on both quality and sheer food selection compared to their sister cafe in the Richmond - Teawood. Ambiance wise they are cozy, but every corner is decorated well. It gives it a fun Taiwanese cafe vibe. read more

Since the remodel , it's been a more hip place. Very nice and cute inside , but pretty small doesn't fit that many people. Line is always long.There's always a wait. They have to server their , and they're both , okay , but they just seem like they're just , they're because they have to be. But the food is really , really , really great. I love the ramen.I also love their baked porch up with red sauce over rice , so tender , so good. The best I had yet! I'm not sure why they charge more for white sauce but they do charge three dollars more for white sauce instead of red. Drinks and dessert definitely looks really good. Have to come back to try it. Great food great portion for the price. read more

Maybe it was around 9 pm we swung in just to check it out. There's a clean bright and cute interior vibe here. Staff is helpful and there is a host of food here from savory dishes to an alarmingly large desert section. I just wanted one of those Hong Kong bubble waffles. It took a while (bc they were freshly making it...always a good sign. It was crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle, with just the right not too sweet note. Am I judging this cafe off of one time and one thing. Yes. Should you pop in and try something. Yes. Nuff said. read more

Of all the local San Francisco Chinese restaurant staples, Noriega has my heart for their lovely service, cozy small interior and delicious food! Noriega does something that others don't do with their Chow Fun upon recommendation (Based off my initial experience as I'll write another one upcoming for my most recent endeavors here) We were immediately seated by a sweet lady that was very accommodating. From soups to rice noodles to chefs specials, everything was satisfying to the tea. On to the review....... House special chow fun (with gravy if you ask for it) THE AMOUNT OF TLC THAT WENT INTO THE WOK. This noodle dish was made with a labor of love. I usually will always order chow fun but Noriega sets the bar for the best with its saucy, wet stir fried goodness. Ask for a bowl of rice to savor in the remaining sauce after cleaning up this dish Corn & chicken soup WOW!!! Very akin to Chang's kitchen with a more hearty eggy flavor (imagine flavor profile of an egg drop soup) paired with the sweetness from the corn. I recommend adding a bunch of white pepper to really enhance this soup this soup Chefs special: sea food egg tofu sizzling WOWWWW the soft tender jiggly egg tofu with a delicate fried texture paired with fresh pieces of calamari, a sweet glaze sauce..... a flavor bomb everywhere. Easily shareable with a party of 2-3 read more

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Very slow service, food came out half cold. Heard the same complaints from other tables.

Small cute place with delicious cuisines from Thai, Japanese, and HK. Would definitely come back to try the other dishes next time. read more

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