ABC Bakery & Cafe

I practically grew up with ABC (SF and SM). Was my go to place not only for Hong Kong food, but it was my refuge to detach from society. Good Hong Kong style food, reasonably priced, and great hours. Over the years, though, service and appearances have faltered. Late night at 10P, I decided to give them another shot. The signs outside were off. So it was not apparent to me if the restaurant was open or not until I spotted a small neon Open sign (probably purchase fro Costco lol). Have you ever walked into a dark empty house and wasn't sure what will happen next? That was my experience. Once inside, that expectation was validated. No one greeted me, so I did the Hong Kong / Chinese thing and motioned to the two waiters in orange for to be sat. One girl acknowledged me. She seemed nice, but was just busy. The menu presentation was sad - menu probably printed on a normal paper, protected by worn sheet plastic. When I scanned the food items, though, I gave a sigh of relief. All my dishes - Hong Kong dishes - are still here. The prices seemed a tad higher, but perhaps because I was comparing to the prices in SF. Being very Hong Kong, I ordered the fish soup with mai fun dish. It's been my favorite dish here for years. But being that it was 10P, being that it was a fish dish (fresh?) and not having a great experience coming in, I knew i was taking a chance. And a Hong Kong meal would not be proper without the obligatory HK milk tea with condensed milk. I ordered it hot, and it was delivered immediately. Instead of a mug, it was served in a cup. Looked more presentable, but there was less of it. The concentration was perfect - strong flavor. Remember to stir the bottom to give the sweet condensed milk a chance to blend! The fish noodle soup dish came. By the looks of the fish, I was hopeful. The soup was white brothy, I saw chunks of fish, and the bowl was big! The first slurp allayed all of my fears- the chefs in the back are Hong Kong, not Chinese or Mexican. Service was very good - mostly due to the girl who was attentive. My original inclination is to rate this place 4 stars. But the current rating of 2 ish does not match my personal experience and expectations of this place. It's a Hong Kong diner with good food, reasonable price, no nonsense environment, with a bit of New York attitude. These places need to be protected.

Always a good time at ABC. It is exactly what you expect and they don't make mistakes. Hey the bathroom doesn't smell the greatest ever, sometimes your dishes don't get bused and you need to do it yourself. That's how it is. Still best restaurant on 3rd ave. I'm happy all the high Chinese population prefer to wait in lines for food such as ramen thinking it is so "Japanese" when you can actually buy a frozen brand that's better than most of ramen shops, especially one of the crappiest ones ajisen across the street. Absolutely chain of horror. ABC comfort and happiness and never a line either it's my family of 4 or extended family of 12. Today I didn't get our server's name. Young guy, glasses, very nice and helpful. HK boy perfect match for HK restaurant as I can tell when we spoke Cantonese. Baked pork chop rice, I think this is the only abc that cuts it into strips for you. Helpful when you order 7 dishes on a 4 top too cramped to be cutting cutlets. Anyway, I can write for a while about how I love ABC San Mateo and other locations on Noriega and Chinatown but yea they all good with happy staff.