A Chinatown institution for over 100 years, Sam Wo's is a ramshackle speakeasy of a restaurant where you are more likely to get yelled at and berated rather than unctuously served. As you walk directly into the kitchen, a waiter yells at you, already exasperated, to come up the rickety stairs to the meager dining area.
Saw Wo's was the home of the legendary Edsel Ford Fong until he passed away recently--this surly, rude "waiter" would treat you like a recruit at his own private Chinese restaurant boot camp. The tradition continues: you are most likely told what to eat, instead of choosing the food yourself--but its eternal redeeming quality is the fact that Sam Wo's is some cheap, cheap eats.
Fun Facts:
- The restaurant was favored by Beat writers and poets, and Jack Kerouac supposedly learned how to use chopsticks in the cramped upstairs dining room.
- At&T Park has a restaurant named after Edsel Fong - located on the Field Club Level and Club Level.
813 Washinton St
415.982-0596
