“ Good Cantonese inspired food, long line without a reservation. We went at around 8pm on a weekend. The wait was long, we waited for around 1.5 hours to get seated. The food was good. We got the tomato and eggs fried pork chop rice and the mapo spaghetti. My favorite dish was the tomato and eggs fried pork chop. It felt very nostalgic. The surprising factor is that there's cheese inside. The cheese was a great addition to the dish. The mapo spaghetti was decent but innovative. Is it worth the 1.5 hours wait? In my opinion, probably not. I would go back again with a reservation or when the wait is less than 20 mins! ”

“ Wow! This place was taaaaasty. :) I booked a reservation 3 weeks ahead of time, right at midnight. They are quick to book, the only times I saw were 6:15 and after 9:30! A lot of people will try to walk in at opening. For example, I heard someone waiting for a walk-in table of two at 6:15 needing to wait 1 hr and 45 minutes. They stayed! The place is pretty cute and cozy. It gets fully packed and we were almost shoulder to shoulder on the counter. Not too bad though! The food was amazing. Everyone starts with peanuts and cucumbers. When you come, take a look at the specials menu and try to order fast - they run out of items quickly. We want to come back to be able to try more items! Our ranking was: 1. Squab 2. Scallop vermicelli 3. Eggplant 4. Clay pot ”

“ Such a fun take on Cantonese cuisine. I am not Cantonese but the other three people I went with are, and they said this meal and the vibes reminded them of home and their childhood! Reservations open at midnight for 3 weeks in advance, but they do welcome walk-ins for bar seating. We had a reservation but there was also a good amount of walk-ins from what I saw. Dishes are recommended to be shared family style. They are smaller portions which was great to try a lot of variety! My favorites were the fried squab, gizzard/skin skewers, XO escargot w/ milkbread, and the claypot. But everything was pretty good and worth trying. - Roasted peanuts/smashed cucumbers (free bites): so kind of them to give these for free, and both were very fresh! - Hot mustard jellyfish salad: balanced mustard flavor, good amount of heat but not too spicy. - Chili crisp pig head: thin slices of pork that were very tender - Salted egg squash croquettes: made fresh so it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, good salted egg flavor - Gizzard and skin skewers: one of my favorites of the night. I don't normally like skin but it was perfectly crispy and did not taste fatty at all - Lamb skewers: good amount of meat and soft - Mapo spaghetti: okay flavor but not my fave, would have liked more spice and couldn't really taste the mapo - Claypot w/ chinese sausage & bacon: we all loved this dish! savory rice with generous amounts of chinese sausage. we did wish the rice could have been more crispy on the bottom but overall excellent - Fried squab: so tender and had a surprising amount of meat - XO escargot w/ milkbread: my first time trying escargot but it was really good, and the sauce was really good to dip the milk bread - Huckleberry hot silken tofu: good huckleberry flavor (not too sweet), silken tofu is not my fave but my friends all liked it Overall, this is a fun place to celebrate or share a meal with friends/family. Even though it was quite busy, the service was excellent and multiple people checked on us throughout the night. This spot is a great addition to SF Chinatown! ”

“ I've waited so long to try Four Kings and am so glad I did. Strongly recommend getting a reservation since the restaurant is quite small and wait times can be long. The interior was cozy and comforting, with fun posters and polaroids scattered across the walls. the menu is also super cute with fun designs and colors. our waitress was very sweet and gave great recommendations as well. we had the following for two people: - free bites: they start off by giving you cucumber salad and roasted peanuts and both were fantastic. the cucumbers had a slight kick and lots of flavor while the peanuts were crunchy and had a slight sweetness - sichuan cabbage: a lot spicier than I imagined but it paired so well with the freshness of the cabbage. - hot mustard jellyfish salad: personally the hot mustard was a bit too intense for me but I enjoyed the texture and chew from the jellyfish - fried squab: this was the star of the show. they have limited quantities so order one if you can! the squab was cooked medium and the meat was extremely tender and juicy. strong on the black pepper seasoning - claypot rice w chinese sausage and bacon: not as salty as other claypot rice dishes I've had but I liked how it was more subtle since it balanced out the stronger flavors from other dishes. the sausage was sweet and the bacon was smoky - mango pudding: the guava ice cream was crazy strong but it worked well with the lightness of the pudding. mango chunks were a little sour though I will say the portion sizes are much smaller than I expected so anticipate ordering several dishes. As a result it's definitely a pretty pricey meal but worth it. can't wait to come back again soon! ”

“ Yes, it is that good! Yes, the food is super tasty and fresh. Yes, they have plenty of alcoholic choices. Yes, it's worth it. ”

“ Loved my recent visit to Four Kings. The restaurant is tucked away in a little spot on Commercial St. in San Francisco's Chinatown. It has the cozy casual vibe of a Japanese izakaya, but they serve Chinese food, of course. We were able to score some last minute prime time resies at the counter via Visa. Of course, since it was our first time there, we ordered half the menu: -salted egg squash croquettes: these were delicious! hot, umami, creamy. - xo escargot with milkbread: good to try, but id skip next time - fish fragrant eggplant: prob my favorite dish of the night. this was so good! - mapo spaghetti: honestly, was kind of disappointed by this dish. i think the peppercorns were a bit too strong for my liking. - lamb skewers: good - squab skewers: hearts & gizzards. these were tasty. - salt & pepper squid skewers: these were my fav of all the skewers - popcorn chicken: these were really good, but the name is misleading as these are not "popcorn" at all, and more like chicken karaage. the coating was nice and crunchy. Overall, excellent meal, good vibes, friendly & quick service. Highly recommend making a reservation and sitting at the counter. Can't wait to come back! ”

“ I stayed up till midnight multiple nights trying to get a coveted Four Kings reservation. They'd just gotten Esquire's best new restaurant of the year, and I'd heard good things from friends and also friends who tried to get reservations. Finally, I got lucky and got a 7:45pm reservation 1 month in advance. The night finally came and I took a good friend (a fellow half-Cantonese local) who I knew wanted to go who'd appreciate it (also my parents were in Egypt--I need to take my SO and them once they're back.) Anyhoo, we walked in right at 7:45pm and the people outside said it was a 1 hour walk-in wait at 7:45pm! The place wasn't that full when we walked in ad there were some open tables, but they filled up pretty quickly with reservations. It was so cool seeing Chefs Franky Ho and Mike Long (two Mister Jiu's alums) and their partners Millie Boonkokua and Lucy Li in person working. I've seen their pictures and read their names so much, I fangirled internally. We were seated at the bar next to each other which was fine. I love the art and Canto decor. It's cozy and warm and nostalgic and modern all at once. We enjoyed the complimentary peanuts and cucumber--that was a good starter because we didn't order any vegetables because too many other dishes sounded good. Our waitress said 3 dishes would be good for 2 people--maybe 4 if we got fewer carb-heavy dishes. We ordered the squab ($45) (limited quantities), Mapo spaghetti ($21), and claypot Rice w/ Chinese sausage & Bacon ($26.) We had high expectations for the squab and claypot (which they said would take 30 minutes, but seemed like it was faster.) The squab grew on us--the lemon and powder we were given for it helped amplify the flavor. The claypot was very good--the crispy crackling rice was delicious and rich. The sausage and bacon wasn't fatty but flavorful. The highlight of the night was the Mapo spaghetti. I was excited for the fusion dish but my friend was not (even though we're fusion mixed-race kids!). It was spicy and unique--the al dente noodles perfectly delivered their refined mapo sauce and ended up being both of ours favorite dishes. The dishes were full but 3 dishes (2 carbs) were perfect for 2 people. I *need* to be back for their escargot and milk bread. Service was amazing--friendly and helpful and honest. They could've upsold us and tried to get us to order more dishes when we asked if what we'd ordered would be enough. They also refilled our water glasses very quickly and multiple people asked if we had any allergies or dietary restrictions. Someone in the restaurant was celebrating a birthday and many of the Four Kings team took a shot with them! It looked so fun and everyone was so nice. They're building something special. We didn't wait in line to walk in for Four Kings but for Four Kings, I would wait (and brave multiple midnights trying to get a reservation.) ”

“ I had a great dining experience at Four Kings! I'd give it 4.5/5, only because the host didn't give the friendliest impressive from the start, and the food was overall slightly saltier than I would have liked. Besides that, our waiter, the food, ambiance and fair price made it all a wonderful experience. We lined up at 5:20 PM on a Saturday and they open at 6 PM and there was already a line. We ended up having to wait around one hour to get seated. So, if you go on a Saturday, I would recommend lining up at 5 PM if you don't have a reservation. The hostess, who was chatting with us about the wait time did not seem very friendly almost felt like she was pushing for us to leave instead of joining the waitlist. However, our server was incredibly friendly! The meal was really well priced for what we got. Our party of 2 was full after 4-5 dishes. I would say the steamed egg & pigeon skin skewers was slightly saltier than I would like, but I notice hong kong style dishes tend to be on the saltier side! Each dish was unique in its own way, and I really like how the milkbread that came with the escargot. It was a great palette cleanser as we ate the other dishes. If I went back, I'd probably skip the popcorn chicken. The flavor, crisp, and juicy insides were great, but I prefer popcorn chicken to be bite size. The chicken chunks were a bit larger than I would have liked. The flavoring of the steak chow fun was great. I wasn't the biggest fan of steak in this dish. I prefer the traditional beef slices, as I feel like I can eat them with the rice noodles. With the steak chunks, it requires a separate bite so the noodles and meat couldn't be eaten together. The cucumbers and peanuts were such a great addition, loved the flavor of the cucumbers (not too spicy) and the sugar around the peanuts were a great touch. Make sure to ask for free refills! ”

“ Finally got a chance to try the hottest new thing in SF. Food was delicious and creative. Cant wait to go back. I tried: Steamed egg - so good with the three different eggs. If you like chawanmushi or Chinese steamed egg you'll love this. Special spicy frog legs: yum! Basically like fried chicken wings.. Not super spicy, a little sweet actually. But good umami flavour. Squash croquettes - mild and delicious, very similar to like an arancini. There's four of them too so great for sharing. Clay pot rice - sooo flavourful and the crispy parts are A+. You must try it once! Mapo spaghetti - this seems to be a fan favorite. It was really tasty but probably would save my stomach room for other stuff. Persimmon tofu dessert - the persimmon jam was delicious but the tofu itself was a bit bland and I felt like there wasn't enough jam to go with. Can't wait to try more of the menu! ”