I stopped by SE Cafe - Paul Kee Clay Pot for their official Grand Opening celebration on Sunday, 5/14/2026, and this place absolutely delivered. The energy was incredible from the moment we walked in -- packed house, welcoming staff, and the kind of atmosphere that instantly makes you feel like a neighborhood regular. What makes this spot stand out is how authentic and community-focused it feels. It's a local Cantonese-speaking restaurant that combines comforting homestyle meals with standout clay pot dishes and even private karaoke rooms for gatherings with friends and family. You can tell this is the kind of place built by people who genuinely care about food, hospitality, and creating a fun experience. The clay pot dishes were the highlight for me -- rich flavors, perfect portions, and served piping hot the way they should be. Even the regular menu items tasted fresh and thoughtfully prepared. Service was fast, friendly, and attentive despite how busy they were during the grand opening rush. One of the best hidden gems here is the breakfast combo special from 9am-11am. For around $10.50-$11.50, it's honestly one of the better breakfast deals in San Francisco right now. Important tip: bring cash if your order is under $25 because card processing fees are expensive, and they're trying to keep prices reasonable for customers. Hours: 9am-2pm 5pm-9pm If you're looking for authentic Cantonese comfort food, late-night karaoke vibes, and a true local neighborhood restaurant experience, this spot deserves your support. Definitely adding this to my regular rotation. Alan Wong, district 4 Supervisor pulled thru! Highly recommend checking them out before everyone else discovers it. read more

S & E Cafe - Alan Wong - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Came for lunch on Friday around 11 am and was able to find street parking. However, we discovered this place actually opens for breakfast too, at 9 am instead of 11 am as shown on Yelp. We ordered the following: Hainan Chicken Rice which came with a lemon tea drink $15.98 - Chicken was silky and soft, the rice was so flavorful and tasty. The 2 sauces, sweet chili and ginger scallions complemented the chicken very well. Salt & Pepper Chicken wings (6) $11.95 - Came freshly fried and was crispy and juicy with a light toss of chili and garlic bits. Curry Beef rice stew $19.95 + $5 to make it a main dish instead of a rice plate. Came with Chinese broccoli and chopped green and red peppers. Beef Chow Fun $16.95 - This was for take out and came piping hot. (good wok hei) A good ratio of beans sprouts, beef and chow fun. It was delicious. We were also served hot complimentary tea, which is a must have for Chinese food. Kerry was so welcoming and greeted everyone with a smile. We wanted extra sauce for the Hainan chicken, tea and a take out order and nothing was too much trouble. She was efficient and more than helpful. I can see the customers there regulars from the neighborhood and all felt at home. NOTE: - She told us they will have a Grand Opening this Sunday, May 17th. Seems this place must be under new management and keeping the original name. Overall, a great little HK style cafe with all the classics. I will definitely return to try their breakfast menu and the house made Cheung fun and claypot rice which seems to be popular with the locals. read more

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Order: Baked pork chop tomato sauce rice: lacking the tangy tomato flavor that brings the dish to life, pork chop were tender, albeit chewy. It was plain rice and not the fried rice with egg Pork chop rice Portuguese sauce: garlicky, curry type sauce, 1/3 of the pork was fatty. Lemon tea: strong tea flavor, balance of tart and sweet. Would get again Food is decent. Interior was well lit, order came out quickly. With the decent selection of hk style restaurants, this place is not known for their tomato sauce pork chop rice. they do a lot for the community as they're part of the CHAMPSS food for seniors program. read more

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Big menu lots of items to pick from whether noodles, baked rice or spaghetti, or meats! Food- -Baked HK style pork chop over spaghetti wifh white sauce is pretty good! The cheese over the sauce is extra tasty -prime rib available on Saturdays, despite it being on the menu with no limitations written, you must call ahead to reserve. Not available when I went on Sunday and asked for it. Would come back to try -rib eye was ok, could have used more salt - tea is complimentary read more

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This place is uber San Franciscan. Awesome Cantonese and American staples. Owner is awesome and the price is fair. Also they have a really cool karaoke setup for all the uncles to jam out to their Hong Kong classics. I'd come for that alone! read more

S & E Cafe - Steak - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Walked in at 5:40pm on a Saturday, should had been a tell tale sign. It's been at least a couple years since I've ate here so I wanted to reminisce. Big mistake on my part; the menu has been completely sparred down. Completely removed their soup options, and their drink menu is completely scaled down. Then I tried to order their prime rib special that they had posted on the wall. The waitress said it's actually not served until 6pm. Given it's only 15 mins away from this point, I told her I can wait. Then she replied saying they don't actually start preparing and cooking the prime ribs until 6 so it'll be awhile before it can be served, recommending me to order the filet minion instead. Sounded ridiculous to me as prime ribs can take awhile to cook up, if they don't fire it up now, they don't intend to actually serve until 8pm? Their flyers also dont show it's not served after 6pm. I end up ordering their onion ox tongue with spaghetti which also comes with a side of vegetables. The vegetables are the blend of frozen corn, peas and carrots, didn't even bother touching that. My husband tried all the dishes we ordered and he said everything is bland. I tend to eat things on the bland side so it tasted okay to me, just not great. Staff was friendly and courteous, just not the same from what it use to be. There's a few other HK style cafes nearby so the competition is too high for us to return. What a shame. read more

S & E Cafe - Onion ox tongue, ox tongue with tomato sauce, pork chop with meat sauce - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I come here with my parents since they do have seniors discounts and I don't mind paying full price the portion is big and makes me want to eat a lot more so I order for my lunch it is very good here.. read more

My friend and I had dinner there and I got the baked fish with spaghetti. There was a tv and few people there. read more

S & E Cafe - Baked fish with spaghetti - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

This place has great CantoHK cuisines; and exceptional prime rib and rib eye steaks. The steaks are super delicious & succulent. Amazing rack of lamb - cooked to perfection! Actually our family members liked the prime rib here at S&E Cafe more so than the House of.. something rather on Van Ness street! read more

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Menu changed , not much Hk style food anymore ! No red bean icy drink 紅豆冰that made me feel disappointed! I ordered a seafood with scrambled eggs rice , some seafood on the plate was good cuz it had some shrimps and few scallops but sauce was bland ! Only 1 waitress works there for serval tables, sometime u have to wait for service! Service isn't good ! read more

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Tasty Cantonese food spot on 19th and Taraval! We ordered the Hong Kong style rice rolls (delicious starter!), salt & pepper pork chops, dry beef chow fun, salted fish & chicken fried rice and chicken with butter melon for takeout. Everything was flavorful and everyone enjoyed the meal! Ordering was easy and server was friendly; the food was ready in good time. Additional tip--this restaurant can also make catering-type of orders for large groups of people. read more

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Went to this restaurant about 6 months ago. We presented our Champass card, right away the waitress showed attitude complaining we made her do extra work by her having to manually input our account number into her iPad. She scolded us said we should get the card with the QR code so she could zap it easily. She was unprofessional. Servers shouldn't whine in front of customers. Keep negativity to yourself. Today, 2-9-26 we returned a male server had no problem manually inputting our card number to his IPAD. I wished I had given that other waitress $1 since she showed attitude. That's all she deserved. Tonight I gave more tip to the server. He deserved it. He was very nice, he even said goodbye to us. That waitress didn't say good night. read more

4/5 for the rib eye steak. Don't come here for anything else. I'd much prefer cafe bakery for the rice and pasta dishes. read more

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Will give a zero if possible. Terrible service with this waitress named Carrie. She basically did not want to serve you unless you're a member of a senior discount program. She was busy wiping the table instead of helping customers when they're only three people in the restaurant. When we decided to leave being mistreated, she actually argued with me yelling across the room. Now I understand why business gone downhill and I will never go back!! read more

Been here a few times, food was nothing special. The service was bad and probably won't be coming back here.

Stopped by on a Friday for lunch, pretty busy but got a table quickly. One lady bussed and waited the whole restaurant, bless her. She was so friendly! Ordered the scramble egg and beef ho fun and satay seafood fried noodle dish. Both were decent, filled my hungry belly. I did enjoy the HK milk tea! read more

The servers here are racist. I went here with my Chinese friend after work. He told me his family has been going here for years. Not so busy. Just us and one other family dining in the early afternoon. I forgot what my buddy ordered but I ordered a simple shrimp egg foo yung. My friend got his order within minutes and I waited 50 minutes for my simple dish. My friend kept asking the guy about my order in Chinese and he told me the guy said oh we have a big party so busy. Really? The entire time they were dismissive of me because I'm a brown Asian? Or because I'm not Chinese? Who knows but they weren't busy at all. Just makes me real suspicious of San Francisco Chinese racism against other Asians who aren't Chinese. I should've just tossed my food in the server's face. There's always next time. read more

The food was delicious and good portions too. Servers were friendly. Definitely will come back to try more items.

Really want to love this place because the staff and owner are always so nice and food is pretty good but...just a couple things could be better. The Chinese borscht soup is my absolute favorite at HK cafes but they make it SO sweet here. Cut the sweetness down and it would've been perfect. It is a pity that meals here don't come as sets like in HK cafes that I'm used to. Soups and milk teas have to be ordered and charged separately. Their complimentary soup of the day is only available late in the afternoon "whenever it is ready." lol My go-to baked seafood rice has a GENEROUS amount and variety of seafood in it compared to other cafes: squid, shrimp, scallop, tilapia AND salmon. Two thumbs up. You can choose red or white sauce. Baked pork chop with red sauce and baked Portuguese chicken are both good as well. Comes with rice or spaghetti. I have to say the milk tea is only so-so, not as smooth as I would like despite that they use condensed milk as the sweetener. I was intrigued by the HK rice rolls as seen on TV. I like the sweet and peanut sauce but they're really just plain rice rolls. At least I can say I've tried it, right? read more

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S & E Cafe recently reopened for indoor dining about one month ago. Hooray! I'm happy to see we've turned a corner as they were closed for indoor dining for over two years. Regulars will notice there are slight changes to the menu. I had the runny egg seafood crispy noodles $17 and a ice milk tea $3.50. With fish pieces, runny egg, scallops and shrimps, this was great. The crispy noodles stayed crispy because the chef didn't put too much gravy. Good job everyone at S & E Cafe. read more

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COVID review 3.5 star Good service! The host helped us with order choices and suggestions. For credit card orders they charge a fee. Tried crispy noodle with sauce, mixed steak with spaghetti and beef tongue with instant noodle stir fry. Crispy noodle and mixed steak both had good portions. As for the Instant noodle with beef tongue, I like the noodle's dry texture with flavor but the beef tongue could use a stronger flavor. All and all we like it and the menu have lots of choices. read more

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I have tried s&e prior to covid. And they were always busy and packed. Usually every table was full of customers and even lines waiting outside. But since covid they have had limited seating but now the restaurant has not open up for any seating. I loved their steak, but the price was a bit pricey for a Cafe. But they have specials for senior. The senior discount meals allow you to select an entree and a drink or desert. But they changed the rules. Since their is no dine in they say their is no desert or drinks included in the senior meals. They have a variety of items to offer such as chicken wings, steak, fish, noodles and fried rice. For the senior meals you can choose fish and spanich noodles ot fish and spanich rice. They also offer fish and tomato noodles or fish and tomato rice. The fish and tomato rice is delicious and so flavorful. I tried the fish and tomato noodles. The tomato sauce is really flavorful but the noodles did not absorb the sauce well enough. I think the rice soaked up more. And wad amazing. My mom ordered the pineapple fried rice, it was a bit cold but when we re heat the rice it was delicious and juicy. But for the price they don't give a lot of pieces of pineapple and chicken. But still delicious for what it is. But I definitely want to try other items. Especially when the re open for dine in. read more

Do not order the $10 special, even hv the the senior/Champss, very small potion n soupy. The owner / mgr not friendly, not helpful,phone kept ringing, don't border to answer, only I person / lady do all the work , her service was very good. read more

Food wasn't ready as scheduled, missed one of my 3 things orders. Taste of food was fine. Their curry beef over rice is very good but they gave only half a container of the sauce as if it is made of gold. I enjoyed their tomato sauce pork cutlet too. read more

I got an order of chow mein here yesterday that was so disgusting I threw the whole thing out! It cost $18 and tasted like dirt!!

This review is just for the wonton noodle soup. Came here on a Thursday during lunch time and beat the lunch rush !! Not the cleanest place, but the food was cheap and good! Would definitely come back to try their other food. COST: $18 with tip for 2 orders of wonton noodle soup. RESERVATIONS: no reservations , first come first serve basis . SERVICE: fast and what you can expect from a Chinese cafe ! FOOD: Wonton noodle soup (4/5) simple but flavorful with shrimp and pork wonton side with bok choy DRINK: HK style milk tea (5/5) could really taste the tea flavor and not overly sweetened with condensed milk. read more

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This place truly surpassed all of my expectations! We had a beautiful thanksgiving dinner which consisted of the juiciest and most tender prime rib I have ever had! (I've been to house of prime rib, Alexander's , Ruth's chris, and Lawrys. They make it special here) I would 100% recommend this to all my friends, family, and fellow yelpers! Get your next dinner here and you will be completely satisfied! read more

S & E Cafe - Special order Prime Rib - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

I typically ordered a Macanese pork cutlet and baked beef tongue rice. The deep fried pork cutlet is superb, like the standard in Hong Kong cafe. Never disappointed. The sauce is just right and not starchy. This time, I ordered the fried beef noodle. It's very flavourful with chive and sprout. Definitely, this cafe is underated. I did go to other HK Cafes in the area but their food is not even up to the restaurant standard in Hong Kong. read more

S & E Cafe - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I love HK Cafe food. My go-to is always baked meat sauce spaghetti. And this place nailed it. Their portion is huge, I had enough for a 2nd meal. And my leftover tasted so good reheated. My friend ordered the baked chicken with rice. The chicken was so juicy and pan-fried perfectly. I also ordered the baked pastry soup. I don't think it's the best I ever had, but it definitely satisfies the craving. The staff lady is sooo attentive, which you normally would not expect in an authentic Chinese restaurant. She kept asking if we needed more water or if we liked our food. Their prices are super reasonable too. I will definitely come back again and again. read more

No complaints about this place--just straight-up, Hong Kong style comfort food! This is probably one of the best Hong Kong cafes I have yet to try in the Sunset area of SF. It is super small and there can sometimes be a wait. Both times that I have been here, I ordered the baked pork chop rice with tomato sauce. The portions are huge and definitely enough for two meals. For ten dollars, you get a soup, the entree, and a dessert soup--such a great deal! The food is also very good, and the pork chop is always perfectly cooked with baked cheese on top. Would highly recommend this place for a quick, delicious meal! read more

S & E Cafe - Baked Porkchop rice - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

My first time; went with a friend. They ordered off a special "seniors" menu and I ordered from the regular menu. I had shrimp with scrambled eggs and rice. The eggs came out runny, almost like a sauce, definitely not scrambled. We asked for boxes to take the uneaten portion home and were told only one box. Not box on the senior menu; eat all of it on location. I have never heard of this at any restaurant, ever. Went to my car, a block away, and brought a container, only to see someone had given us a second box. So, for $19 and a bunch of crap and not good food; I could have eaten at Red Jade on Church St. for half the price and great food. Will NEVER go back! read more

This place is super yummy! I came with my parents and was probably the youngest person at the cafe. Its a popular place with the elderly so you know this is good old school Hong Kong style food. My parents ordered the pork chop with veggies and rice and won ton noodle soup. I ordered the curry chicken. The portions are huge and the flavor of everything was delicious! Service was on point--very quick and attentive. Parking in the area can be difficult because its located on 19th avenue. However, parking is better on the side streets. FYI--minimum purchase requirement to use credit card here is $15. read more

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LOVE the food here! Really flavorful and delicious HK style meals! Spaghetti and meatballs is yummy and not bland at all. Highly recommend! Will return again.. read more

Food is good for the price. Portions are generous. Ambience and decor needs work. Plenty of seating. Nice staff.

Look MA...another place for LATE NIGHT DRUNK EATS! Since I can't go out to eat for the next 2.5 weeks, I figure I catch up on my Yelp reviews... On Thursday, January 13th, after attending the Yelp Holiday Hangover Party, my friends and I came to S&E Cafe at around 10 PM for some buzzed eats (closes @ 2 AM on weeknights and 4:30 AM on weekends). It was busy but there were still some open tables so we were promptly seated. As many Yelper's have mentioned S&E Café IS a step up from D&A Café (my fav HK cafe) and ABC. Everything is pretty clean including the bathrooms so you don't have to worry about being in contact with yucky germs like the bathrooms of the aforementioned HK cafes. F O O D: *FRIED CHICKEN WINGS (midsections): OK. WINGS ARE MY ADDICTION so much so that I've had to designate a DWS (Designated Wing Stopper) on the weekends just so I can keep my paws off of them when I'm drunk. It wasn't the weekend and there was no DSW, so of course I had to take advantage of this opportunity. :X The 6 moderately sized wings are fried w/o batter so it wasn't as crispy as I would have liked it. The meat was tender but not moist and lacked seasoning. It was accompanied by bottled thai chili sauce which added some sweetness, tang, and spiciness but was too syrupy. If you like Chicken Wings, definitely pay a visit to D&A for their Ginormous Salt & Pepper Wings, they're BOMB! *HK BAKED PORK CHOP w/ Rice (comes with soup and dinner roll): -Veggie Soup: EHHH, the soup tasted like it was made from bouillon and then watered down b/c it was bland and you can see a ring of orange color on the edges of the bowl. The only veggies were soggy onions and parsley. -Dinner Roll: GOOD! The dinner roll is similar to a Pan de Sal that's lightly brushed with butter on top for that shiny brown sheen color. The rolls come out warm out of the oven and is pillowy soft, delicate and very fluffy. -HK Baked Pork Chop w/ Rice: MEH! It took about 20 minutes for my order to come and when it did, I swear my pork chop tasted like chicken. I even had my friends taste it and they thought it was chicken also. I asked the waitress and she was convinced it was pork and even had the chef come out to confirm it. I was buzzed NOT drunk but ummm, ok... The "pork" had a very soft texture and was slathered with a runny tomato sauce which tasted like watered down ketchup; very bland and lacked a savory sweet tang. It was lightly topped with cheese, but not enough to flavor the dish. It was very unappetizing to say the least. Normally when I'm buzzed, I can polish off my food with no problem; this time I could only stomach myself to eat half of my order. S E RV I C E: Although the food took some time to come out, our waitress was very friendly and nice. Unlike some other HK Cafes, it was easy to get the attention of the wait staff when we wanted something and they did it w/o us having to ask multiple times or getting an attitude. 2 Stars for the food and 1 Star for the friendly customer service which is a rarity in Asian restaurants. The search continues for MOUTH-WATERING drunk eats... P.S. - CC's Accepted read more

S & E Cafe - HK Baked Porkchop! NO Beuno! - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Very mediocre Chinese cafe style type of food. This is my second time here and I'll probably come back. I wasn't very hungry so I got the corn chowder with puff pastry. It wasn't anything special. The puff pastry was perfectly baked on the outside but the inside was still dough-y. My brother got the baked clams and sausage spaghetti w/ tomato sauce, this was actually very good! Clams had a weird texture but I don't really have high standards for these places. My dad got deep fried pork cutlets w/ spaghetti. Also nothing special. The place was packed during Sunday lunch time. Which was probably why the food came out pretty slow. My brother almost finished his dish before my dad even got his. Price was reasonable, came out to $30 for three people (complimentary soup) read more

S & E Cafe - Corn chowder with puff pastry - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Delicious Food and Great service! Thumbs up! Will definitely go back to try the prime-rib,

This location is highly ignored as it is located on 19th and Taraval, which are usually very busy. It's a small cafe that serves delicious food and the staff is super nice. When I come here, I always order the salt and pepper chicken wings in the appetizers, and they never fail to amaze me every time. I also order the scrambled eggs with prawn chow fun and sometimes with rice, all of which are delicious. Parking can be a little difficult so I suggest you make a right on Taraval and find street parking there because parking on 19th ave is a nightmare. read more

S & E Cafe - Scrambled eggs with prawn chow fun - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Sometimes one waits for a bus and looks into the restaurant nearby. The bus arrives and one boards. This is about S&E Cafe, the day I ate there since the bus wasn't coming. It was very good. At first glance of the menu, I could only eat toast and drink milk tea since I'm vegetarian. Luckily I met two Hong Kong people; one shares tables like in Hong Kong. They asked in Chinese for the freshest vegetable, which was bok choy. Later they advised me to order the egg noodles with soy sauce. They also suggested the dry curry with rice noodles, but it was too late to change my order. Next time! The bok choy tasted fresh from the market and was flavorful, with a nice balance of garlic. The egg noodles dish was an enormous portion (plenty to take home) and also delicious. The Hong Kong milk tea was very good, and the server was so nice to give me a cup to go on the house. Merry Christmas! It tasted like the milk tea in Hong Kong. I will return to try the curried rice noodles, and suggest you stop by when you're in the area, or just waiting for the bus. read more

Solid HK cafe. Used to eat here ~3 days/week end of college/early after graduating (SFSU). Loved coming here to eat by myself because it's quick and cheap for big portions (it has gotten smaller over the years, but it used to be big enough to get full from half then save the other half for another meal)-- basically averaging less than $15 (usually $12 after tax and tip) to be able to have 2 meals (awesome/efficient for a broke college student at the time). Go-to's: any of the entree or baked (rice/spaghetti) that's chicken steak or pork chop because it's consistent in quality (not dry and does not "taste old"). On cold days, I lean towards the wonton noodle soup (super simple, not expensive, tasty, and filling). The pan fried noodles (chien mien) is a nice order if I'm eating with others-- noodles are crispy and are not oversauced (plus, the sauce is not super salty). Oh, and the lemon tea is good! Will order it if I don't plan on getting boba somewhere afterwards. read more