San Tung Chinese Restaurant

San Tung has:

• Four stars and 2310 reviews on Yelp;
• 2,500 check-ins on foursquare;
• 250 votes and a 88% "like it" rating on urbanspoon.

Why so raved about?  Four words, my friends: Dry Fried Chicken Wings.  San Tung places chicken wings on a whole, other level.  In addition to crack chicken, they're known to serve delicious jja jang myun, more familiarly known as black bean noodles.  While I'm sure the many other dishes on the menu serve decent (and probably very Americanized) Chinese food, the chicken and the black bean noodles seem to be everyone's top faves.  And rightfully so.

Dry Fried Chicken Wings - $9.50

The chicken wings retained their crispness despite being slathered in a spicy and sweet glaze.  While there's a kick, you're not going to be clearing any sinuses because of 'em.  One order fed a group of four fine, but we needed to two orders to feed our greedy and hungry foursome.

Black Bean Sauce Noodles - $9.00

The noodles were made differently than what I'm used to.  Similar to the Korean-style, there were diced up potatoes, veggies, and same mein, but the black bean sauce seemed thicker and included seafood.  Overall, it was good, but I was very much distracted by the chicken wings.

Sauteed String Beans - $7.00

In an effort to create a more "balanced" meal, we ordered some "healthier" options for our "gluten-free" friend.  All these words are in quotes for good reason.  In any case, the beans were tossed in a garlicky soy sauce.  Good, but nothing to write home about. 

Family Style Bean Curd (Mapo Tofu) - $7.50

The mapo tofu included fresh tofu with mixed veggies and tossed in an allegedly spicy sauce.  Meh.

But to end on a good note, let's go back to those infamous chicken wings.  San Tung is probably not going to be one of the "Top Ten" places to eat while visiting SF, but if you're ever in the Inner Sunset area and you're craving some mean chicken wings, you know exactly the place to go!  And if you don't, I have failed you.  Bon appetit!


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cuisine: Chinese
location: Inner Sunset, SF
hours: 11:00 AM - 9:30 PM
websites:{ ST | yelp }
attire: Casual
notes: No reservations.  Instead, just show up, write your name and party size on a dry-erase board next to the entrance and wait to be seated.  Service, like most Asian restaurants, is mediocre at best, but go with low expectations and you'll be fine.  Chicken. Wings.  That is all.