Hong Kong Lounge, San Francisco

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Hong Kong Lounge 5322 Geary Blvd (Near 17th Ave) San Francisco, CA 94121 415-668-8836 Hong Kong Lounge Website

Great choice for reasonably priced, solid dim sum in San Francisco.

Hong Kong Lounge is a popular Chinese Restaurant located in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond district that opened in late 2008. They serve dim sum at lunch time and are quite busy. Last meal was Summer 2026.

There was once an unaffiliated Hong Kong Lounge II that burned down and is now known as HK Bistro in the South of Market area. We found HK Bistro expensive and inferior in quality in early 2023.

• Hong Kong Lounge’s sister restaurant is Lai Hong Lounge at 1416 Powell St near Broadway, San Francisco and Hong Kong Palace at 300 El Camino Real in Millbrae. Each has their own chef.

Be sure to read:

• Foodnut’s Beginners Introduction to Chinese Dim Sum
• Best Chinese in San Francisco

Be sure to read our article How to order in authentic Chinese dinner

Decor, Vibe – Hong Kong Lounge consists of 2 medium sized rooms stuffed full of tables. Clean but simple decor with large mirrors on the walls to make the place look bigger. Hong Kong Lounge was packed with locals, both Asians and some other folks. The restaurant gets busy during the weekends, so come during the week for shorter waits.

Hong Kong Lounge Menu

Hong Kong Lounge’s Dim Sum Menu is extensive and has all the classic old school dishes along with a more modern and instagrammable specialty dishes like a character dim sum sampler.. Specialty noodle, chinese BBQ, and rice dishes are available. Prices are very reasonable compared to places like Yank Sing. Prices have doubled since 2010. They do not have as modern a menu as HL Peninsula or Pallette Tea House.

There is an early bird discount Monday-Friday during the first hour.

The waitress suggested that we order dessert items when we were ready for them, not at the same time with everything else.

Signature Dishes – Dumplings, Baked Pork Buns, Coffee pork ribs, Character dim sum

Hong Kong Lounge Dim Sum Picks:

Coffee pork ribs ($15) is a new school classic with deep fried boney ribs coated with a sweet coffee flavored glaze. No more Cool whip on the side. Koi Palace does a better version, but this is cheap and solid rendition for 4 ribs. 8.5/10

Salt & Pepper Calamari ($10) was a huge plate of overly breaded, deep fried artery clogging goodness. A bit salty but acceptable. 8/10

Crispy Shrimp noodle roll ($8.95) is a lot more interesting than the usual Cheung fun. While not as exotic as HL’s purple version, this was still soft and crisp with soy sauce on the side. 8/10

Shrimp Noodle Roll ($8.50) or Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll was big and had lots of real shrimp. Solid rendition. 7.5/10

Fish red rice noodle roll ($7.25) is another variant that uses fish and a red wrapper.  Good for those who like fish. 8/10

Cilantro noodle roll ($6.95) – vegetarian was even better than the shrimp version. 9/10.

Bunny Shrimp Dumpling ($7.80) is in a rabbit shape or traditional size. We found this disappointingly pretty average. 6/10

Har Gow – Shrimp Dumpling ($7.80) is the normal traditional one. We found this slightly above average but better than the bunny one. Skin was falling off. 8/10

Chiu Zhou Dumpling ($5.95) or Chiu Chow Steamed dumplings were huge translucent steaming hot balls filled with peanuts, pork, mushrooms and the like. A bit of zestiness was present. 8/10

Steamed Fish balls ($6.75) are almost like all the left over pieces of fish smashed together. 7.5/10

Abalone Sticky rice in lotus leaf ($6.95) were 2 pretty sizable portions of glutinous rice with lots of minced pork, shrimp, and mushrooms. One small abalone.  8.5/10

Pan Fried Tofu Skin Roll with shrimp ($6.95) were lined with bits of shrimp inside. Nice crispy skin contrasted well with the soft internals. 8/10

Crab Porridge is on the tabletop menu. Pretty decent flavors. 8.5/10

Dry Fry String Beans ($9.75) was a pretty big portion size cooked just fine. 8/10

Turnip Cake ($5.50) is pretty average, nothing special. 7/10

Black Sesame Roll ($6.50) – vegetarian – is a classic old school dish not found in many restaurants any more. Subtle sesame flavor and hints of sweetness accent this dish. 8/10

Deep Fried Pork Puff or Dumplings ($6.50) had 3 larger sized ones that while tasting fine are a bit greasy and didn’t look great. 8.5/10

Fried Green tea balls ($6.50) included 3 small balls filled with a very sweet lotus seed paste. Nice crunchy skin. A fun variation on the traditional sesame ball. 8/10

Sesame balls ($6.50 v) are old school with lots of coarse black sesame filling. Okay but we’d get the green tea balls. A bit chewy. 8/10

Baked Pork Buns ($7.25) are much better than average. Reasonably big. 8.5/10

Black Sesame Rolls ($6.75 v) are an old classic. Not too sweet, big oily on the surface. 8/10

Hong Kong Lounge Dinner Picks

We can in early 2026 for dinner during Chinese New Year. Not the best time due to the crazy amount of business they have.  Most of the food was very good. Service was severely overloaded but passable.

Soup of the Day ($18) was a long boiled root vegetable soup with lots of ingredients. 9.5/10

Coffee Pork Ribs ($18) was just like lunch. Huge portion at this price! Nice and hot out of the fryer. 9/10

Hand Roasted Squab ($24) was overcooked.  The one clinker of the night. 6/10

Dai Chin Seafood Clay Pot ($20) is a steal. Lots of seafood cooked perfectly. 10/10

Pea Sprouts with Tofu Skin ($18) was a perfect vegetable in supreme broth. Cooked just right and a more interesting combination than just veggies. 9.5/10

Pan fried sea bass ($22) was another great dish. A nice pan fried crust and lots of tender fish. Cheaper than buying a whole steamed fish. 10/10

Salted Fish fried Rice ($21) is a classic rice dish. Huge portion. Nice chunk of fish and not too salty. 9/10

Service – Hong Kong Lounge had passable but not great service with servers running around in this small space. They are overloaded and need to be flagged down. You check off what you want and the food starts to appear in a couple minutes.

Value – Prices are reasonable, quantity high, quality solid, making Hong Kong Lounge an excellent value.

Alternatives – Nearby restaurants include really cheap but marginal Good Luck. Yank Sing, Great Eastern. Koi Palace. Asian Pearl Peninsula

Our favorite is still HL Peninsula for modern dim sum with top notch ingredients.

Verdict – Hong Kong Lounge is one of the few places in this area serving up solid traditional Chinese dim sum with reasonable prices. No wonder they are so busy. See Chinese Restaurants of San Francisco for our favorite San Francisco dim sum places which include Koi Palace and Yank Sing.

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