Inga Donut and Chinese Food

Donuts are indeed fresh (fresher than most places) but either they use the same oil bath for all foods or it has not been changed recently. Took one big bite, then a tiny one before deciding this was inedible and sadly throwing mine away.

If you are in a desperate research of a warming house to eat authentic food, this place will offer to you a personal grandma that will satiate you without emptying your wallet.

Very nice! Owner is so kind and generous. Gave us two bowls of free veggies. Food tastes good too. 祝老板生意兴隆！Thank you and wish you good fortune with your business!

Small local shops. Not a lot of options, but super delicious. Gives a vibe like you walked into auntie's house and they just made food. SO GOOD AND WELCOMING!

Your chinese grandmother is cooking for you, greet her for having such good food for cheap price, SF seemed full of expensive meals and finally she was the light!

The spicy chicken wasn't as spicy as I would have liked - even with the additional hot sauce they provided - but then again, that might just be my high tolerance. The chicken itself was juicy and scrumptious and the garlic noodles had a great consistency to them. I didn't try the donuts, but the apple fritters were a great size and I definitely want to try one the next time I'm in the area. Employees were friendly and inviting, which is key for me as a return customer. And the prices are wonderful - currently 8 dollars for three items! While the selection isn't as wide as other Chinese joints (especially in Chinatown), it's great if you're craving Chinese food and want some some quick and cheap takeout.

10$ for the good lunch! Nobody there, nice smell, tasty food!

I’ve literally been blowing $10 a meal everyday at rip off places all around bush street the last 5 months... not anymore!! I can’t believe I didn’t discover this place sooner! $6 for 3 Chinese food items??? ****** I tried out most items and some of the items are NOT good, while others are good. Noodles, rice, vegetables, and meatballs are good and worth it. Two of the meat based items are not worth it (they don’t look great either). Breakfast is straight up worth it for $5.50 and same quality as nicer places. Eggs are pretty much just eggs at most places. The store isn’t nice but do you want value or ambience?? Small coffee is only $1.50 and potentially same quality as other more expensive coffee shops around here.

I give it a 5. Average of only 3 stars on yelp?? What do crazy people expect? This is San Francisco and a 1 item combo is $4.50, cash only. This isn't a Michelin star restaurant. So for what it is it, deserves 5 stars. Also, the owner is nice.

Friendly mom-pop shop. The owners are incredibly accommodating--they serve buffet-style fast Chinese food. Cash only, I believe. There are few places where you can find cheap, good Chinese food where the owner doesn't raise the price around this neighborhood. Love to support small local businesses!

Grabbed takeout the other night. It is cafeteria style, and you can pick 1 item for $4, 2 for $7 or 3 for $8. I got chicken, lo mein and broccoli. There weren't a lot of options, and no signs for what things were. It was good, definitely very greasy, but well cooked and tasty. The side chili sauce they included definitely added a lot of flavor. The food was warm, but you can tell it had been sitting out for a bit.

Friend recommended this place to me for good and cheap Chinese food. Ordered the chicken with rice for under $7 and got food poisoning. Maybe I need to get a new friend but I'm definitely not coming back here again.

Heat lamp garbage. Donuts have been sitting out for hours, to the point they are dry and stale. Egg rolls look like the oil in them has congealed from cooling. Ice Cream is advertised as ''Bud's'' on the window, but is clearly Kirkland brand. Is this place a front for some criminal enterprise? How do they even stay open?

Good and fresh food. Usually I can't even finish it all. Don't let the name fool you. It says Inga Donut, then underneath, Chinese Food. Well, that's really the main thing here. 8 or 9 trays of fresh items, no MSG. It's cash only, so be prepared. Now they have donuts, and ice cream, but I'm not into that.

I've been eating here for several years and felt compelled to post this review to counter some of what I believe are errors in some of the other reviews. First, the price has recently increased to $6.50 (for three items or a meal sized won ton soup). The Food Safety Score has always been high. The rudeness felt by one reviewer might be attributable to a cultural difference or lack of life experience. The main attraction for me is the price: $6.50 for three items (less for one or two items) and adequate quality. This is not haute cuisine. The quality is consistent and take-out is an option.

I really haven't hit the Chinese Food here. I walk in, I take a look, and I just don't think it looks that tasty. It's cheap. But hey, we're on Nob Hill. That said - I haven't tried it. I'm not sure, it may be really tasty. Why I come here is that they have breakfast food in the morning. It is cheap, and it is right up the street. When I want to grab some take-out eggs, meat, (McDonald's-style) hash brown, and toast to bring back home on a "recovery-oriented" Saturday or Sunday morning I come here. $5 gets you all of the above - with both sausage and a big slice of ham. Are these types of food welcome on a "recovery-oriented" morning? Yes. Yes they are. Wake up, drop off dry-cleaning, grab a newspaper. Drop by Inga Donut, get some breakfast for $5. Eat breakfast in bed, read the newspaper, realize that all of my Minnesota sports teams suck, fall back asleep for a few hours. Wake-up again ready to face the world. All up the block, and cheap.

Inga Donuts is the signage. inside it's all chinese food and one shelf of donuts eats: chocolate maple bar with filling + chocolate glazed =3.00 -dense, very sweet -not much selection late afternoon -kind of pricey 2.5 stars

Love the wonton noodle soup and duck noodle soup. Home taste! For the price, it's really good! Local neighborhood gem.

Yelpers, you let me down with your positive reviews. This was some of the most tasteless food I've ever eaten. No spices or flavoring. Giant chunks of vegetables that were soggy from being overcooked and in a steam table for hours. Egg rolls were the same. Rice was ok, but that's about it. At least it was very cheap and I got a nice plastic bag out of the deal.

Of all the times I have been to Inga Donut over the years, I think I have seen the gentleman owner greet me with a smile only once, which is fine since I don't come here for the warm welcomes. Inga Donut serves pretty good Chinese food at a great price. You can order one item for $2.75, two items for $4.75, or three items for $5.50 which is an excellent value these days. I usually order the meatballs, chow mein, and egg rolls to go. This place is quite popular with postal employees and hospital workers during lunch time. Kudos to Inga Donut for their many years of dedicated service to the Nob Hill community.

These people have been serving this community before yelp was even created. Although they won't serve some PF Chang's style food or treat you like you would at Gary Danko. They, by far, are very much a part of nob hill. In fact, this place has likely been open before many of you were born. That includes myself. This place serves a demographic that is steadfast to San Francisco. It's a mom and pop shop that, what I've heard, has not changed it's prices for around twenty years. I've never become sick from eating their food, and they give you much more than what you pay for. Criticisms are ostensibly ignoring the fact that this place is literally an icon of the neighborhood. Not everything has to be constructed to be a restoration hardware esque place with tiny portions where thought is placed more in the placement of food, than the actual food itself. I'd give this place 5-stars because of it's mill's-style utilitarian nature, and it's historical background in the neighborhood.

I"m sad about missing the boat on being a guy, only because I can't be a tranny and call myself Inga Donut. Inga Donut doesn't have donuts and it hasn't at least in the 15 years I've known of it; it has chinese steam table food. I used to come here because I liked their teryaki chicken thighs and their lightly cooked broccoli. But there is such a disparity between the portions the lady serves (generous) and the portions the man serves (stingy) that going there can be too much of a letdown. Inga has its devoted regulars though yes it does. It's inexpensive and fairly healthy food in a mellow setting (if you like soda pop refrigerator cases, steam tables and plastic benches.) Downtown, people! Personally I'm glad funky places like Inga Donut exist.

how can a take out Chinese restaurant that sells donuts make food (using this term very loosely) that tastes worse than the hospital cafeteria food across the street? come here and find out! after two bites I threw it away.

I went to Inga donut Chinese food with a friend. I asked the counter person if they had chicken rolls he replied yes I then proceeded to tell the person that I want chicken rolls and chow mein... counter person said we do not have beef chow mein . I did not know what the order in the window was so I asked counter person what is this ? Counter person did not answer again I ask the counter person what is this item here and to my disbelief I did not get an answer again so I concluded my order pay the gentleman and left. When I got to the car and open the bag to eat I discovered I did not have chicken roll I had a vegetable roll ...not only did I get a rude Behavior the order was screwed up also .Needless to say I would not recommend this hole in the wall too my enemy.

If you want Americanized Chinese food.. go to panda express. I work at the near by hospital and for $5, I can be stuffed for lunch. I am Chinese and the food seems normal to me, although they don't offer your normal Chinese menu... I think their entrees taste like something my mom would make. It is a break from the sweet and sour stuff I get at panda express or at other restaurants. There is a saying in Chinese that says something like "you get what you pay for" so if I pay $5 for lunch... I think the food is good for what I get for that price.

"Hello my friend" thats what I say to mama san. Shes the owner doin her thang in the kitchen with her lil PERMED FRO. $1.25 for a good size cup of coffee thats brewed fresh. They have a small selection of donuts thats fresh in the morning but I would prolly think twice about getting them in the afternoon just because they been sittin there all day in that dingy donut case. (im scanlezzz, oh well) What I really suggest people order there is the chicken noodle soup (soup on the side though) the noodles are like thin chow mein udon type noodles and the chicken is sauteed and marinated and spiced up just right, if you get the soup on the side u have an option to eat the dish like a dry noodle type thing or add the soup and slurp away. Mama does catering also, I've ordered the chowmein and fried chicken from her before and its bomb for the price.. *wink

Actually a really good place that has Cheap Chinese food and go figure donuts too! Lol. 2nd time here and you get 3 entrees for $6.00, tax included. Do not order the meatballs, kind of gross. Everything else is good. And did I mention only $6.00? The first time I also got an apple fritter for $2.00. What can I say, it was great! If you are hungry and low on cash this is place to go. Would definitely recommend! But tip they only take cash. Cute as heck hole in the wall! Next time will try the eggrolls. And yeah, got another apple fritter for later :)

This place has to be a front for something else. I went in at 630 on a Sunday evening, and half of the food trays were empty. What was there looked days old, but I tried anyways. What else was strange was that it's a doughnut shop but there was literally one doughnut. One! About 3am the next morning confirmed my feelings that I should have just passed on the food. Below mediocre, do your insides a favor and go anywhere else

Food is disgusting. The owner is extremely rude. The rice is mushy and I was unable to identify most of the food.

For $5.50 and less then 15 min to walk from my house and back, i just had a very reasonable breakfast. 2 eggs, 2 sausage links, a hashbrown patty and 2 pieces of toast. Had gone in hoping to try their Chinese food but i guess they dont start that until the afternoon. My eggs were a perfect over easy, only thing they should do is add some salt and pepper. They also pretty much gave me everything i needed to chow down once i got home except salt or pepper, i mean no biggie since i did take this food home but if you are getting this and headed to work id suggest seasoning up your food before you leave. They provided napkins utensils, butter and grape jelly which id also suggest asking for one additional jelly if your like me love jelly! :)

Everyone is so nice at inga donut you can get a little if everything. It reminds me of some old school spots in San Pedro.

I walked in and immediately walked out. The food here looked like it was sitting there for a long time. It was full but barely touched. At least stir the food to keep it looking appetizing!

FYI, UPDATE: Also, I'm a bit biased because I saw the owner lady help out an asian man before. This meek looking dude who I suspect works next door,was being physically beaten in BROAD DAYLIGHT on the streets by a drunkard (who was also yelling racial slurs), coming from the bar down the corner. That tiny lady, smaller than my baby brother, with an afro is BOSS when no one came out to help the guy. She was waving a broomstick and yelling she is going to call the police until he left. Thanks to her, all her regulars inside the store came to help. Ma'am, for being a bad ass mother fucker and an outrageously good human being (I would give you 7 ratings if i can). Let me say I am a foodie, meaning I like my range of hole in the walls, mom and pop shops, and restaurants where I might have to actually try to wear a dress and cross my legs. Inga Donut's is a small diner-ish, mom and pop place. The lady who manages and cooks is one of the sweetest people ever! She speaks half English and Canto and just engages everyone that comes in. I love their egg rolls and wonton soup here. I don't know what one of the yelpers say they use MSG because they don't (I am actually mildly reactive to MSG, so I know when places include them in their food.) The food here is cheap and arguably pretty damn good quality. The lady is super nice, I've asked to get a box of chow mein with seafood instead of the standard pork and vegetables and she charged me $5 for a whole box (which is same as if you get from the buffet table). I also got chicken noodle soup and beef noodle soup, both were freshly made. Other dishes I recommend are chow mein, meatballs, spicy chicken (pretty darn spicy!), and eggs rolls (my go-to). Their food doesn't have as much grease as Panda Express, PF changs, or the places in polk street which I like. The place also has a lot of regulars. Maybe because I grew up in the neighborhood and this dig has been here forever.... but coming here for wonton soup when I am in the city reminds me of my childhood/adolescence. They also have donuts and breakfast which are dirt cheap, are the best hang-over remedies.

I wanted to like it. Price was $6 for 3 items but they were bland and old sitting for hours I'd guess.

Chinese Restaurant I was working outside of this place an I walked in for something to eat. The first thing that I encountered was that I was the joke of of another language being exchange an everybody looked up and laughed. I asked for a menu they said that there was not a menu and what i saw was all that there was to eat. Which was two pans of meatballs and some other dish. I just walked out!!!!!

Got PF Changs last night, which made us think, should've gotten Inga Donut! The Chinese food is just traditional homestyle take-out. Those who say it's bad probably were looking for Panda Express. Donuts are freshly fried and tasty. Can't really beat the prices either. You can eat about 10 meals there for each PF Changs outing, though, of course, without the pizazz. No complaints.

I love this place. This is my local, hole-in-the-wall buffet chinese restaurant. I know that they have a cheap buffett breakfast, but I am usually too hung over to get up and check it out. I have eaten dinner there twice a week for the last two months, and I still crave it daily. You can get one item for $2.00, two items for $4.00 or three items for $4.75. I always get three items and I am usually full by the time I finish my egg rolls. I usually eat it for dinner and lunch the next day. Two meals for $4.75 is a damn good deal. Not to mention that the food is absolutely delicious. In fact, I think I will have some for dinner tonight now that I have been writing about it and picturing how delicious it is.

I live around the corner from this place, but for the life of me I can't step up and try their food. My two roommates both swear they ate there and got sick. Every time I pass by the place a rather unpleasant stench is fuming from the doors to about a 15 foot radius, reaching out past the sidewalk and into the first lane of hyde street. It smells like a mixture of sitting sweet and sour sauce and more burned sweet and sour sauce. So lately my roommate and i have been going inside just to take a look at the food, have a good laugh, then leaving. Highlights include; chinese meatballs, some sort of fried chicken dish that resembles orange chicken but it is halfway covered in some clear broth, and usually a shrimp dish. Oh and almost everything has a film of old covering it. So this weekend I made a random bet with my roommate and we agreed the loser had to eat a 2 item combo of the winners choice. I won, thank god. So today we visited the place and I ordered him the meatballs, some type of shrimp with tomatoes dish, and the chowmein. I offered him a 100 dollar buyout which he seriously considered but ultimately rejected. It took him probably an hour to finish. And half of it came back up about an hour afterward. I'm not saying the food was contaminated, he has a bit of a weak stomach, but hey it came back up. I feel kind of bad about getting him the seafood, that was a bit low. Oh well. According to him, the tomatoes were the worst part, followed by the shrimp, then the chowmein. Much to my surprise he said the meatballs were the best part. So, well, there you have it. Get the meatballs.

They had four donuts to choose from. Not four types, four donuts. Literally. The coffee wasn't good enough to call crappy and it was scolding hot. I will be back tomorrow.

Don't eat here - got takeout from here as I was walking home and felt really sick after eating the $5 takeout. Also it's pretty awkward when you walk in, there's like 8 old dudes that just hang out and stare at you when you walk in.

They sell donuts, chinese food, and pork buns. All in the same place. Personally I have only had the pork buns.

Yes the food from this place is cheap, but it is basically inedible. I can't even believe how low the quality is. The environment is ratty and the food is that bastardized Chinese stuff that would make poor General Tsao turn over in his grave.

Decided to come here after seeing it more or less everyday on my walk home. This place sells homestyle chinese food and donuts. I only tried the chinese food. The quality is not great but just like the previous reviewer said, this is the type of stuff a chinese mother would make not at all like Panda Express/Pei Wei food. That being said, the meat will have chewy parts and still have pieces of tendon and fat connected. It is not an all-white meat or carefully prepared to remove all non-meat parts. The options are limited and vary from day to day-- chicken/pork/beef made different ways/flavors: fried, braised, sweet/sour, dry and wet stir fried with vegetables; a few vegetarian options: carrots, zucchini, onion, eggplant; and fried rice/noodles. It is very inexpensive about $2.50-5 dollars depending on how many items you purchase and you get a lot of okay tasting food. For about $4-6 you can get a very generous portion. Would I come back here...? Probably not unless I was in a rush to eat something quick and pre-made. There are many other great sit down options here on Nob Hill for hot Chinese food.

Just like Cala, this is one of my neighborhood stores. Their food is fresh and made everyday. Honestly, I've tasted better Chinese food, plus they stick to the same recipe from when I was a baby, till 16 years later now. The doughnuts here are okay, but once again, tasted better! This place mainly consists of doctors from St. Francis Hospital, or employees from other places on lunch break. They're very friendly, and things here aren't that expensive.

I ate here for $4.50, and that is pretty awesome. For less than McDonalds you can have some good Chinese home cooking, and a donut. They also have super cheap breakfast foods, I think you can order that all day. Lots of old Asian dudes chatting in Asian, old school booths, buffet style seating. I pay in cash, its a mom and pops style shop. I will be back fa sho.

Been dining here since 1989 and this is by far the best of the best when it comes to value and taste not to mention the the area. I Love Inga !

About Me: Hi Shelley and I'm native San Francisco transplant since 1989. So much of our city had been trampled upon by techies which you know exactly what I'm going to say because I've said it before. Anywho this is about Inga Donuts and why after all these years and even today not one recipe has been changed or altered it's the same and has been long before I ever arrived through their doors. This consistency is one reason this is Chinatown's biggest secret outside of Chinatown. There's nothing but deliciousness in here bring the whole family lunch or dinner anytime is a good time for Inga's!

Caution fellow yelpers. This place sucks in a big way. My colleagues and I came here for lunch the other day...three items for $6, two for $5, and one for $3 (rice is counted as one item)...the rice was soggy and salty, meat was very soft and chewy with an odd consistency. I am NOT one who is looking for a cheap lunch - unfortunately my colleagues had eaten here before and seem to like their food. I cannot understand what the draw is - other than the price. In life, you get what you pay for...at this place, you get very little satisfaction but lots of indigestion after dining here. Here's a tip off BEFORE you decide to go here for a 'dine-in' experience. They serve customers who dine-in on paper plates (very very cheap and flimsy paper plates - no Chinet here) and you will get a cheap (very cheap) plastic fork! OMG If they will not spend a little money to make a good impression with customers at the point where customers are getting the food, I shudder to think wtf is going on in the kitchen with quality control, and what corners are being cut to save money on ingredients. Am I getting served expired meat that the butcher a Safeway marks down to nothing when the meat reaches a suspicious color just to move it along? I hope not and I do not know. I wanted to go and see the condition on their restroom, but I couldn't stomach the thought of what I may have found there - heck I'm still trying to shake the images on the public restrooms in Cancun Mexico - and that was 20 years ago! What I do know is this: I guarantee that you will never see my ass eating in this place again in this lifetime or in the afterlife time. Go to Trader Joes instead and avoid the inevitable disappointment and gastrointestinal pain and suffering.

So last Thursday we treated the office with some donuts from this place after all the ranting and raving from some of the workers. Well, I was really hoping to bite into a rich, glazed donut only to be disappointed. The oversized donuts did not impress me as they were poor in flavor and hardly discernable from a regular donut you can get at any corner donut place. I wonder if the oversize is meant to distract you from the taste. Had it been a truly good tasting donut I would have welcomed the oversize but in this case it just grossed me out. So I thought maybe the one I chose was not the best and pinched two or three more just to make sure I wasn't being judgmental on one item alone. I simply gave up after tasting the others. I am giving this place two stars because at least their marketing is working since they do sell out to the masses but let us not be confused with the masses' rants and raves because if you're expecting an authentically glazed donut, don't go out of your way to fight the masses here. For the quality and price of a donut you'll be getting here just stop by your local donut shop and save yourself some cash and time. I would pay five bucks for a truly wholesome donut that would stimulate the taste buds.

Let me start by clarifying most of the ignorant reviews. I guarantee you that this place does not use MSG. The lady hates unhealthy cooking and she only uses some kind of chicken flavor powder without msg. There are no bugs or cockroaches as this place is kept tidy and clean, back upped by their score of 90+. They sell pretty good donuts but it's only one batch in the morning so if you want fresh crispy donuts, go early. For the really low prices, you really can't expect them to have the tastiest food but the ingredients they use are not poor and unhealthy. It's simply homemade-style food. The best they have are the chow mein, fried chicken, egg rolls, meatballs. Others are decent but if you can be open minded and considerate, you'll enjoy it. Remember the food taste the best around noon because they are freshly made. You get what you pay for, its cheap, give it a try. Its healthy food I promise.