Venus Cafe San Francisco

First time here, and I wanted take-out for a lazy Sunday. Glad I took the lady’s suggestion of the lobster noodle with yifu noodles. Good portion of perfectly tender lobster. $24.99 is an excellent price! Steamed chicken is also perfectly tender and flavorful! A Half portion is $16 and plenty for 2-3 to split.

My wife and I visited on the last Saturday of July 2024 for the first time since COVID-19 lockdown over 4 years ago. There were at least 4 different menus of lunch specials, breakfast specials, group dinners, etc., all with multiple whited-out manual price updates and corrections. There were too many mind-boggling choices. But once you settle on one of the many familiar Cantonese/HK favorites, you will see why this is a legit local favorite. My wife enjoyed her rice noodle soup with pork & pickled vegetables, and I devoured my nicely plated beef chow fun with gravy. The prices have gone up significantly since our last visit, but the flavors are still very good. We will come again.

Overall the food was good but the service was lacking. The menu prices were different then the online menu. There is a 3% service charge for credit card payments. We got Beef Brisket & Rice roll in clay pot (which was really good), Shanghai Style Stir-Fried Thick Noodles (I didn't like the thick noodles but the season was good), Seafood Combo with White Sauce (it's a rice dish and I didn't like the imitation crab but the rice was good), and Lotus Roots & Pig Knuckles (I didn't like how soft the lotus roots were. There was no crunch at all.) Half the tables were taken when we entered so we thought it was a really good place.. but it might have been because there was only one staff member manning the place at the beginning. We ended up sitting ourselves down (group of four) after waiting a few minutes. We got a physical menu after a while and we had to stand up to find someone to take our order - it was about a 10-20 minute wait. We eventually got our tea. The service did speed up when more staff came in (we assumed they were went on break).

We stumbled in here on Clement while wandering around because it was filled with older Asian people and that's usually a pretty good sign. Service was fine, not particularly efficient but not terrible either. They seated us right away but it got pretty busy as we were dining there. The menu is very extensive, there are a million things on there and even more written in Chinese on the wall. While it is a cha chaan teng, I didn't end up ordering the usual western influenced dishes but went with some classics. The food was lightly seasoned and that was perfect for me - some people might find it needs more. Dried scallop & egg white fried rice: this is my favorite kind of fried rice and shockingly hard to find in the city. This was a really good version - it had some wokhei and every grain was separated and not too hard. I was really glad I ordered this. Garlic sauteed water spinach: perfectly cooked and not too greasy. Salt pepper pork ribs: nicely seasoned and crispy! The vegetables with it were weirdly cold but the pork was served hot. Felt like they just added the vegetables at the end and they were precooked. This place delivers on Cantonese food that is decent and has enough dishes that you can come back frequently not get bored. Prices are on the higher side but the quality is decent.

Been here a few times. My favorite is the tomato beef crispy noodles. Brought some friends here. One ate Curry another beef with soup tho he wanted chow fun style. Always busy and the guy is super nice.

Food was decent; however, they do charge 3% convenience fee for using credit card (sign is posted, and this is something I've noticed with more and more restaurants). Also note: 15% tip is enforced, and they will charge for to go containers, so bring your own tupperware and bag if you're not sure you'll finish your meal.

Updated review 3/30/2022: Venus Cafe saves the day. A lot of the restaurants in the Sunset district were closed at 7pm (Smile House closes every other Wednesdays, S&E Cafe (no indoor dining) and Just Wonton closed.) I was in the mood for some HK style instant noodles w/spam and egg or wontons. I had the fried pork chop w/fried egg on a bed of instant noodles without soup $13. My appetizer was Hong Kong style fish balls with a heavy dark sauce $5. The food tasted fine. The Yelp hours are incorrect, they close at 8pm everyday. Well done Venus Cafe for satisfying my Hong Kong style instant noodles fix. Indoor dining 5/19/2021. Venus Cafe is a not a bad Hong Kong style cafe. The service is fast with fair tasting food. Tonight I had their house combo sizzling platter, chicken, pork chop, bacon, ham, hot dog , fried egg on top and french fries on the bottom. It came with a side of spaghetti and milk tea. The milk tea was served in a dirty cup with coffee stains from the previous customer. HK cafes are not known for their cleanliness and is as expected. The first bites of the various meats were awesome. Towards the end of my meal, it felt tedious and was too much. The bottom piece of the chicken had a lot of fat and I had to cut that off along with the skin. This wasn't a bad meal. I will come back to try their other dishes.

Cash only and very busy place. Hong Kong style food. Opens late with friendly staff and service. Ordered wonton ho fun with beef brisket. Food is pretty good. Four stars because it’s a cash only cafe.

5 stars for my Sunday 5pm takeout experience: First time here, and I wanted take-out for a lazy Sunday. Glad I took the lady's suggestion of the lobster noodle with yifu noodles. Good portion of perfectly tender lobster. $24.99 is an excellent price! Steamed chicken is also perfectly tender and flavorful! A Half portion is $16 and plenty for 2-3 to split.

Given how there's absolutely no shortage of Chinese restaurants and eateries in the Richmond District, I've always found it curious how there haven't really been any HK cafes that have managed to stick around here. In years past, a few have sprouted up, but none of them managed to stick around for very long and I'm not really sure if D&A down the street really counts (they have some HK cafe types of offerings, but feel more like a Chinese restaurant). So, in that vein, it's awesome that Venus Cafe has survived not only since my first visit here when they first opened, but through the craziness of the pandemic as well! Like so many other HK cafes out there, like Venus Cafe has a semi-diner sort of feel to it and an extensive menu of dishes to pick from. However, in this case, the menu isn't just extensive - it is EXTENSIVE. In total, there are roughly 200 dishes to choose from covering a wide swath of options - appetizers, soups, salad, sandwiches, egg dishes, fried rice, rice plates, curry, noodle soups, chow mein, lo mein, porridge, stews, stir-fried plates, sizzling platters, a variety of baked dishes, and so much more. A number of dishes also appear in their list of all-day specials, which includes soup and coffee milk tea, but I'm not sure if the portion you get for those is smaller since you're getting other things with it. -- PORK CHOP CUTLET, FRIED EGG, CHEESE LO-MEIN...$14.95 Not exactly your typical sort of HK Cafe dish, but this wasn't too shabby...partly because it reminded me of what I used to make in college! Although I didn't love the ramen (it felt more wet than cheesy), the pork chop was great (crispy and moist), and I loved the runny fried egg. -- BEEF BRISKET LO-MEIN...$14.95 The portion wasn't as big as I would've hoped, but that's because I thought this was actually pretty good! There was a fair amount of beef, especially relative to the amount of noodles, and the broth was surprisingly flavorful (not very salty nor oily). -- HAINAN CHICKEN WITH RICE (and a HK Milk Tea)...$15.50 Not sure how to rate this one - the first couple of times we got this, this was really good. The chicken was tender, delicious, and meaty and the rice was so flavorful. However, more recently, there seemed to be less chicken, which wasn't as meaty, and the rice was yellow/vibrant in color or taste. -- SHRIMP & RUNNY EGG GRAVY CHOW FUN...$14.50 For or better worse, this was pretty standard. While the sauce needed a bit of a kick (some XO sauce would've been perfect), everything else about this was perfect fine - soft flat noodles, a nice sweetness to the shrimp, and a generous amount of egg gravy. -- BRAISED BEEF BRISKET RICE PLATE...$13.95 Considering this is the second beef stew dish I've had here, you could say it's one of the things we like here. There's a good ratio of fatty/tendon pieces to chunks of meat and the gravy has a nice thickness/richness to it. -- BAKED PORKCHOP WITH CURRY SAUCE Served Over Rice...$14.95 I'm a little conflicted on this one. The dish is smaller than others I've had at other places and the color of the curry sauce had a weird look/color to it. That said, the taste of the sauce was fine and, though I wish the top was cheesier, I liked the porkchop was very juicy. -- POPCORN CHICKEN...$8.95 Somewhat surprisingly, this wasn't too shabby. The chicken itself was moist and I liked how this came with onions and peppers. I wish the batter had been a little crispier, though, and had a bit more seasoning/white pepper sprinkled on it. -- WONTON NOODLE SOUP...$11.95 I used to see a lot of folks get this and I can see why...sort of. It's not the best I've had, but it's solid, especially on a cold night in the Richmond. The noodles had a nice bite, the wontons were plump, and the broth was decent, but the size of the bowl feels a little light compared to what you can get elsewhere. To be honest, if I had written this after my first couple of visits here, there's a chance this would've been four stars. However, whether it be due to them not being as good these days or having tried more things (or both), Venus Cafe feels a whole lot closer to decent than great. As much as I liked the beef stew, just about everything else I've had has been a little up and down. All in all, it's great to have a HK cafe to fall back on this side of the city, but I can't say I would go out of my way to come back again in the future when there are definitely better alternatives out there.

I came here on a friend's recommendation that Venus Cafe does really good baked dishes over fried rice. That's exactly what I came for, but unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. I ordered the fish fillet with white sauce over fried rice and added a fried egg on top. The only good part of the dish? The fried egg. I've had my fair share of Hong Kong-style baked dishes over spaghetti or fried rice, and this one completely missed the mark. The white sauce tasted like watered-down Campbell's cream soup with bits of corn, and the fried rice was hard, poorly made, and completely flavorless. I only ate the single fish fillet that came in the sauce and the egg--after that, I couldn't bring myself to finish the rest. If it weren't for the big jar of hot oil on the table, I don't think I would've even made it that far. The prices are fair for the area, and parking is metered but free after 6 PM. The vibes inside were nostalgic--classic aunties with attitude, which reminded me of those old-school Chinatown spots where the food is so good that service doesn't even matter. But here, the food didn't hold up its end. At least my dish came out piping hot, and I got some hot tea. I also liked the background TV playing Cantonese news, which added to the homey feel. If I ever come back, I'll definitely be skipping the baked dishes.

We were just in Hong Kong, so our cha chaan tang standards were pretty high but Venus Cafe still hit the spot. Service was fine, the two servers and the cashier were clearly overwhelmed, so it took a while to catch an eye and to place our order. We got a Portuguese baked chicken rice, a porkchop baked rice, and a seafood udon. The udon looked drab when it arrived but great flavors and we cleaned it all up. The baked rices actually took a while, which we counted as a plus point since many places don't bother baking/broiling them anymore. Good meat quality, though the sauces were sweeter than expected. HK-style milk teas were properly strong!

We were greeted and seated by a friendly waiter upon entering the restaurant. They have an extensive menu and specials written in Chinese on the walls. We decided to order two meal combos. Soup and choice of Hong Kong style tea or coffee is included with the entree for $14.50 each. We ordered the beef stew with rice and the pork chop, chicken steak with garlic sauce over rice, and two milk tea. The food came out within around 10 minutes, which we thought was pretty fast. The beef stew had a good amount of beef and daikons. The beef was tender as well and flavorful. The pork chop and chicken steak were tender and flavorful as well. We appreciate them trimming off the fat from the pork chop. However, the garlic sauce was kind of on the salty side. Also, the baby bok choy that came with the entree were not washed well. The milk tea had the right amount of condensed milk in them, which they weren't too sweet. We will be back to try their other entrees. They offered excellent customer service and they gave generous portions and prices are fairly reasonable.

Venus Cafe is pretty solid for a Hong Kong-style spot. The food hits the mark, especially the crispy baked pork chop rice and the milk tea. Service is kinda iffy sometimes, and you might be waiting longer than you'd like. The vibe is straight up busy, which can be cool but also hella loud. Overall, it's a decent pick for a chill meal, but they could step it up in a few areas.

Came with the family on Christmas Day for a quick lunch. Your typical fast casual HK style cafe, service was very curt and can come off as rude but that's normal for cafes like this. But the food was definitely what redeemed the review. Milk tea was just the right amount of sweetness and beef brisket noodle soup had tons of flavor. Just wished they included more meat in the soup.

Food disgusting , no service, no heart to cooked ,quantity is less and quality is low

Came in on a Sunday night and as Yelp confirms they were supposed to have a lot of DTE/down to earth Chinese fare that is not the typical - upscale trued to sell type, sort of reminiscent of ABC on Noriega street supposedly so I decided I should give it a try. I digress - I really came to Venus Care because I got a frenzy for Hong Kong style baked spaghetti or fried rice casserole dishes and this place was supposed to have it. Anyhow - the moment I walked in at 6:50pm, the restaurant was not bad at all, no waiting- though the door being opened all the way meant the place got a little chilly (luckily I had my goose down on). I sat down after telling the waitress - one person. Its definitely a homely feel as the kitchen lady came out with a warm cup of tea and before you know it, a recent table came in and - you could tell this place is a Cantonese hold out lol as I overheard a party of six people had a karen and kevin arguing loudly over groceries experience and the guy got upset and told the lady he aint helping to pick her up or up her groceries anymore, (I'm quoting it in Cantonese: "hah chee high ngum ngo mm lun ngau ley jip ley lah"-woww lol the guy literally said next time he aint ever gonna *#%^ pick her up again "). Not to mention - the place had Cantonese TVB dramas on, thats cool, it feels the right way thats for sure. Anyhow moving to the food, overall for post-pandemic prices - the prices are - Actually Reasonable. Not much more than any other typical Chinese diner place but them having baked Portuguese chicken over fried rice, Seafood over spaghetti, Pork Cutlet, is a definitive plus. They also have wonton noodles, fried noodles/chow mein, and even - one of my childhood faves- Macaroni soup . You would be surprised how not many Chinese restaurants offer that anymore, I mean they could but, it would be rare as mainlanders wouldn't know what it is nor understand why it's good in its concept of simplicity and mornings. Anyhow moving on-So I Came For One Purpose - To see if they really served a DGFF helping of Hong Kong baked spaghetti. I ordered the fried fish balls - not bad, but the waitress saw me looking at which baked spaghetti casserole to order recommended No. 1 - the Big Brother. Food came out in decent timing, avg time of ~15 min as baked fried rice and spaghetti dishes typically take a bit longer to prepare and make than stir fry and soup dishes. The steel dish had a good helping of spaghetti and sort of a half-and-half concept where half the spaghetti got baked in a tomato based sauce while the other half is a creamy-and-cheese baked sauce with two medium sized pork chop fried cutlets and also a fried chicken wing. All heavy cream based, rich in flavor, and the cheese mixed in definitely added a helping of savory flavor to it - they definitely did a baked spaghetti the right way. Not skimming people on the sauce, the metal dish was served in a plastic bowl to ensure you dont get burned touching it, and thats cool because it also can be used if you want to tear apart the meat from the noodles (I prefer mines together). Now for the fried fish balls. They came out crisp, hot, and served with a sweet hoisin-like sauce you would use for rice noodle rolls, it definitely helped warm the palette. For a meal that cost me $25, altogether it was worth it. Yeah, I would try them again but next time - I like to see how their fried noodles taste or how their sizzling iron platter udon is like. Altogether, I give it a solid 4.

We stumbled in here on Clement while wandering around because it was filled with older Asian people and that's usually a pretty good sign. Service was fine, not particularly efficient but not terrible either. They seated us right away but it got pretty busy as we were dining there. The menu is very extensive, there are a million things on there and even more written in Chinese on the wall. While it is a cha chaan teng, I didn't end up ordering the usual western influenced dishes but went with some classics. The food was lightly seasoned and that was perfect for me - some people might find it needs more. Dried scallop & egg white fried rice: this is my favorite kind of fried rice and shockingly hard to find in the city. This was a really good version - it had some wokhei and every grain was separated and not too hard. I was really glad I ordered this. Garlic sauteed water spinach: perfectly cooked and not too greasy. Salt pepper pork ribs: nicely seasoned and crispy! The vegetables with it were weirdly cold but the pork was served hot. Felt like they just added the vegetables at the end and they were precooked. This place delivers on Cantonese food that is decent and has enough dishes that you can come back frequently not get bored. Prices are on the higher side but the quality is decent.

Came here in the middle of the day for a late lunch and thought the food we ordered was okay. My friend ordered a stir-fry vermicelli noodle which was probably our least favorite dish of the meal. It was too wet, too salty, and too slimy all at the same time. We also ordered a baked spaghetti dish, which was probably the best thing we got. Finally, we ordered a Portuguese chicken rice which was fine but had more potatoes than chicken. Overall not the best Cantonese food we've had but will get the job done in a pinch.

3.5 stars Typical cantonese restaurant diner. Came on a weekend for brunch and place was filled with people (good sign). Big menu with all the standard Cantonese cafe dishes. Settled on the baked spaghetti with fried porkchops and the beef stew rice rolls. Check came out to around $35. Portions are small but food is good. The meat was very tender but the rice rolls were too mushy. I thought the spaghetti dish was really good but it was just super tiny.

Menu is sooooooo big. Everybody can find something they want to eat here for sure. I ordered the most classic Hong Kong Style dishes, the chicken with black pepper sauce. Very flavorful and I asked for extra sauce for my rice. Yummy! My husband got a noddle coz it's super hot in SF today and he wants something liquid. We both ordered some cold drinks coz we feel like we are melting these few days. i ordered iced milk tea and he ordered iced lemon tea. Both are amazing and it's so familiar. Totally Hong Kong style. They have a few tv in the restaurant playing all kind of Chinese chefs cooking food. Looks so delicious with some classic 70s to 80s chinese song. Feel like I'm visiting China / Hong Kong here. Anyway, I loved it the food. service is fast despite how hot it is. I appreciate them still getting everything we want in a timely matter. Hopefully it will feel like SF again. OMG!

I was skeptical ordering from this restaurant due to the reviews. However, my wife misses Hong Kong and was craving HK style cuisine. Baked rice and spaghetti dishes are amazing there! I decided to pull the trigger and got two orders to go. We were happy that we got some baked HK style dishes but we were not completely satisfied with the flavor and construction of the dishes. I guess it is a little unfair comparing this to the authentic dishes we get from Hong Kong. The two baked spaghetti dishes did not lack seasoning but it was definitely missing something that we could not quite put our tongue on(pun intended). The sauce is not your typical heavy whip cream base but it's supposed to be a light savory and umami sauce but this was very thick and heavy so we could not eat too much of the dishes. I cannot speak for the other dishes but if you've had authentic Hong Kong style baked dishes, I would not come in here expecting that same standard.

Upon arriving at Venus Cafe, I came here for their Hong Kong style breakfast which is paired with a drink of choice. I chose the hot hk milk tea which I really liked since it was more condensed and quite milky. It comes with a small spoon inside it to stir with which was convenient for those who need to let hot drinks air out more. Anyways, I was reading some great reviews about this restaurant and their HK style food look really good so I decided to try it out since I was in the area. I must've ordered the wrong entree because I didn't really like it too much. I ordered from their breakfast menu, combo number one. After I seated myself, it was less than one minute when a waitress came over and set the menu down. The number one is a fish fillet with 2 eggs and fries. It comes with the hk milk tea that I enjoyed. I also liked the sunny side up eggs. They were half cooked, half runny which is actually how I like my eggs done so that was great! But, the fried fish was very thin and very dry. Without the tartar sauce I wouldn't have been able to eat a lot of it. The fries were ok. Still, I would give 2 stars for this restaurant since I like the immediate hot tea on the table, their hk milk tea, and their eggs. I would try the restaurant out again since it's not expensive. My total was less than $13 after tax. Next time I'd definitely order one of their baked, cheesy items which seems to be their specialty.

Greedy scammy dishonest trap 1. Did not write clearly on their daily special board about extra charges for iced drinks. 2. Did not mention extra charges for leftover box and bags. No verbal notification and add to my bill. Their defense is "it is our rules and is written on the menu that they have the right to add any surcharges" 3. 3% fee if paying with credit cards 4. Rude customer services. They are shameless about adding hidden surcharges and will blame the customer for not complying with their shady practices.

I got the Big Brother Signature Bake: comes with pork cutlet, chicken wing, fried egg, with red & white sauce This was $15 this was sooooo delicious!!!! My favorite is the white sauce with the rice, i love how creamy it is. The red sauce was tomato flavor. The pork cutlet was so tender and so good. The chicken wing was crunchy and soft on the inside. The egg was yummy because it was runny. This was so filling and I was only able to finish about 1/4 of it. There was a lot of rice on the bottom.

I've been craving HK styled food for a month and was finally recommended Venus Cafe to fulfill my cravings. I heard there are different locations in the Bay and the SJ location might be slightly better but I enjoyed my experience at the SF location. Everyone seemed local and very familiar with each other - which perfectly captured what I would see in HK at a cafe or restaurant where locals gather. It was a decent sized restaurant with plenty of seating and servers were friendly. Most of our food came out pretty fast but they were running behind on one of them which took a surprisingly longer time than it should have. The food was hot and sizzling though so we knew we were in for a fresh treat. While the Ham Macaroni soup wasn't particularly special, I enjoyed the Pork Chop Half and Half (over fried rice and spaghetti). The pork was cooked well and still juicy. I think the rice could have been cooked a bit more to give it more of a fried taste but nonetheless the sauce made up for it. At the end of our meal, they served all the customers a beef brisket soup on the house (probably made a large batch?) which was a nice touch.

I don't know about you, but I have to be in a certain mood to eat at a Hong Kong-style cafe. I'm not sure what mood that would be, but it's similar to having a craving for a short stack at an IHOP or a patty melt at Denny's. Let's just call it the Greasy Spoon Syndrome. I get it on occasion, and that was probably pushed me into this corner cafe on Clement Street. When I sat down to review the comprehensive menu, I noticed they had an all-day menu of $13.95 sets. Dishes looked, umm, interesting like Baked Corn & Spam with White Sauce over Spaghetti or HK-Style Pan Fried Spam, Egg & Sausage Rice Plate. Notice a theme? Somehow I avoided the Spam and was emboldened by a full page devoted to their $14.95 Hainan Chicken sets. They called them the "Best in Town". OK then. I ordered #1 which came with "Rice & Hot Drink". Yep, it came with two scoops of chicken rice and a mug of slightly burnt coffee with milk (photo: https://bit.ly/3fLW46V), this on top of the mug of hot black tea (photo: https://bit.ly/3hlHrYr). The chicken itself was decent, cold and accompanied by daikon, peanuts, and garlic-ginger sauce (photo: https://bit.ly/3Uzqc4e). Yep, it's a diner alright. FOOD - 3 stars...middling Hainan chicken and no Spam was involved AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...a bit chaotic but well spaced out SERVICE - 3 stars...rather curt TOTAL - 3 stars...HK-style if that's what you want RELATED - Exploring the Richmond? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2HvkBu7

If you want to wait 30 min, see other customers come in after you, order food after you, but get their food earlier than yours, and when you request to check where is your food, receive no response. and your order is a normal quick stir fried item which you can make at home under 5 minutes, then feel free to come here to experience a totally time-wasting moment. for me, will not recommend and will not come again

Top notch service. Love the tomato beef because they do the crispy noodles. I have done take out and brought friends here. Will be back to try other items. Good place to try new dishes.

Food was good. Enjoyable meal. Nothing fancy. Quick in and out meal. Reasonably priced.

Food was ok, didn't really stand out but it was good enough that I would come back to try other items. Service is ok, they will bring you bowls and plates, then food, didn't expect more and didn't get more. I was a nice setting, conveniently located, not coming here for the ambiance.

Place is packed with old Chinese peeps and young Chinese peeps, some Latinos in the corner probably bored of tacos. Large portions and we saw many people asking for to go containers. Good service, make sure you know what you want, be ready to order or you'll get bypassed. Good iced tea. Cozy, quiet, large tables, pet friendly in the bag.

Today I found out that these folks are not honest. We sat there for maybe half an hour or so waiting for our food. I checked in at 12:30 pm to see why our food is not coming out, and one of the wait staff saying they are cooking it now. I inquired how long it will take, since we have been here waiting. They replied, you guys haven't waited that long, and shows me the order receipt, which shows the time stamp of 12:28 pm and used that to show that we weren't there that long. No way did we only sat for two minutes. Haha. We actually almost read an entire newspaper we took from a nearby stand already. Doing that while waiting...We read fast but not that fast. For the above reason, we got up and left. If they didn't lie and try to gaslight us, we might have stayed.

Proper HK style cafe. I walked by this place & decided to come here next time I was hungry. Having lived in Hong Kong for years, I really miss the food. ABC (not great) on Noriega has closed so I had high hopes for this place. I had the 艇仔粥 (3.5 Star) & HK milk tea (really strong with condensed milk 5 Star) & both were good. Will come back for to the 海南雞飯 and 西多 next time. Like HK's cafes this place is open early & closes late ( - near mid night snack!

Been here twice in the last 5 days :) the best comfort HK food in the city! Their baked dishes take a little while (15-20 mins) but everything else comes relatively quickly! I've tried their egg gravy shrimp with noodles and baked mushroom chicken -- both DELICIOUS! High key want to gatekeep this place but for yelp I will share haha. IMO, better than smile house cafe on Taraval.

I had to run errand in that area so I decided to stop here to quick lunch. Food was good. Price was cheap. Service was not bad to not too attentive. Could have been better but at least they were not rude. Parking was horrible(as expected). If you want something nice, this is not the place but if you want something quick and cheap, this is it

Ordered the baked pork chop with spaghetti through DoorDash and man was it looking sad and tragic. The food was over cooked, burnt, and extremely dry. They package it well I will say that.

Ordered the walnut honey prawns, beef Chow fun, and stir fried green beans. My favorite is always go to the green beans, crunchy and flavorful. Right amount of garlic and salt. The the walnut honey prawns was a little heavy on the mayo but overall great texture. First time having beef chow fun and damn were them onions good. Great quality meat for the price and love me some green sprouts. I recommend this place for the service and ambiance.

Ordered the double lobster set. They put 2 lobsters in one plates so you can't tell how many pieces were there. I barely see any meat and the rice smells funny. The table(their friend) ordered one lobster set after us they got for a bigger plate faster than us. I knew what's going on right away. Have been coming here a few years but never again. Sorry and not sorry. Went to U:Dessert story after to boost my mood. XD

Venus Cafe saves the day. A lot of the restaurants in the Sunset district were closed at 7pm (Smile House closes every other Wednesdays, S&E Cafe (no indoor dining) and Just Wonton closed.) I was in the mood for some HK style instant noodles w/spam and egg or wontons. I had the fried pork chop w/fried egg on a bed of instant noodles without soup $13. My appetizer was Hong Kong style fish balls with a heavy dark sauce $5. The food tasted fine. The Yelp hours are incorrect, they close at 8pm everyday. Well done Venus Cafe for satisfying my Hong Kong style instant noodles fix.

I like Hk style food but I don't recommend this place to friends cuz food is horrible!!

I was looking for a new restaurant to try while walking around in Richmond, SF and came across this Hong Kong Style cafe. It has a the traditional cafe items you would expect from a HK cafe like baked spaghetti, macaroni noodle soup, fried rice, & milk tea. We ordered a Lunch combo baked spaghetti with fried pork and fish that comes with milk tea or coffee. They didn't have any more milk tea ready at the time so they substituted it with a lemon iced tea. We also ordered a pork noodle soup with pickled mustard greens. It was good,a little salty but to be expected with any pickled mustard dish. They seemed to be extra busy, especially given that it was Labor Day weekend so it took a while for the second dish (the baked spaghetti) to come out. They were nice and gave us a hot milk tea on the house and apologized for the second dish being so late. I have read some other reviews that mention speed is not their strongest suit so keep that in mind if you are dining on a rush!

Waited for my food an hour from ordering to serving. It took so long to get the food, I am not sure what was reason. The waiter after 45 minutes said "sorry, it is coming". Finally, after additional 15 minutes all of the dishes were served to us. The food overall was good but the wait time is something that needs to be improved.

Over price good. The food the a bit expensive and service was average. The food was just so-so. They charge a fee for credit card payments too, so that is so not cool. Better off going somewhere else.

Food is pretty good, service is decent but if they are busy, service can be slow. There is no ambiance. It's a family restaurant so it can be a tad noisy. Overall, it's a good place for a quick bite and leaving with a smile!!

Overall the food was good but the service was lacking. The menu prices were different from the online menu. There is a 3% service charge for credit card payments. We got beef brisket and rice roll in clay pot (which was really good), Shanghai style stir fried thick noodles (I didn't like thick noodles but the seasoning was good), seafood combo with white sauce (it's a rice dish and I didn't like the fake prawns but the rice was very good). s were. There was no crisis.) Half the tables were taken when we entered so we thought it was a really nice place.. but that might be because there was only one staff manning the place in the beginning. After a few minutes of waiting we ourselves (group of four) were seated. We got a physical menu after a while and had to stand around to find someone to take our order - it was about a 10-20 minute wait. Finally we drank tea. Service sped up when more staff arrived (we assumed they went on a break).

I love this place! I always get their chicken rice with a hot drink even though I know I should try other dishes. The food and value are great. It can get quite busy with the lunch crowd.

This is my second time eating take out from here for lunch. I ordered the Hainan chicken over yellow rice. It comes with the ginger scallion dipping sauce. I remember last time when I ordered this exact plate there wasn't much meat on the chicken. Just bones. This time was a bit more meat. Taste is OK. Not bad at all but could use more meat. The meal comes with a drink either lemon tea or milk tea. I ordered an iced lemon tea with it and did not receive it. I would try Venus cafe again but order something else next time like their chow fun or pan fried noodles.

I ate here two days ago and loved the food. This place easily deserves more than 3 stars on yelp -- authentic chinese spots seem to get consistently low ratings here and I'm not exactly sure why. Most people claim to want authentic food, and will happily bestow 5 star ratings for an Asian fusion truck that serves $15 fusion "baos" or sushi-burrito hybrids and is likely operated by an MBA grad. Meanwhile, places like Venus Cafe get dinged for reasons that make me thing that they are misunderstood. One review mentioned the lack of "ambiance". That's about as relevant to a HK style cafe as it is to your local laundromat. Another reviewer complained about the lobster set they ordered. That's like complaining about the sashimi at Safeway. Yes it's technically there but they don't expect you to actually eat it. My wife wanted to order the Hainan chicken, which is more defensible than Lobster but in my experience growing up in Hong Kong, Hainan chicken at even the best HK style cafes is pretty mediocre. Its best to stick to the standard cantonese dishes and the western style cantonese fare like baked pork chop rice etc. We ended up taking advantage of a cash-only special. $40 for 3 entrees of your choice from a set list. We chose 1. Claypot Eggplant with Salted Fish and Chicken 4.5/5 The salted fish has a deliciously intense umami flavor which pairs well with and infuses the chicken and eggplant. I normally don't like ginger, but for this dish the ginger has been cooked to the extent that its been tamed slightly and gives contrast to the pungency of the salted fish. This dish isn't for everyone, the salted fish is very pungent and "fishy", to a greater extent than you'd find with canned anchovies. This dish pairs very well with white rice, which you can order for $1.5 (it comes in a double portion). 2. Shrimp and Runny Egg Gravy 5/5 Another Cantonese classic. The egg was cooked to a smooth, fluffy perfection, which isn't easy to do. I've tried. The shrimp was plump and juicy. A little bit bigger than the smaller shrimps typically used for this dish. 3. String beans with Pork 4/5 Very flavorful dish and they used some type of preserved pickle that had a pleasant sour taste. I was a big fan of that. The beans were a bit overcooked or perhaps not the freshest. They lacked the springy texture of fresh beans and were slightly wilted. Not a deal breaker. The free soup they give you is a pass for me. Way too much cornstarch and the seaweed had a slimy taste to it. Overall though this place did a great job with the Hong Kong classics. I'll be back to try the baked rice dishes next!

Really, really disappointed. I lived in Hong Kong before and this place serves many dishes common in HK but hard to find in the States. Was excited to try this place. Ordered a satay chicken chow fun with egg ($16). Pretty simple dish but what I got was truly terrible! First, a huge sin in Chinese cooking, the dish was luke warm. Forget about wok hei! There was no egg or any flavor of satay in the dish, just soy and oyster sauces. There was a few scant pieces of chicken and inexplicably, a few chunks of utterly flavorless pineapple in the dish. It was as if they had the pineapple chunks soaking in water for weeks until the flavor of pineapple was completely soaked out. It was so bland I had to ask for soy sauce, which I almost never do in a restaurant. If they can't do a simple chow fun right, I can only imagine what their other dishes are like. Skip this place. The 3 stars they have now is over generous to be sure!

Service was super slow and very unfortunate that the bread was mushy, batter was not fried to a crisp. The only thing saving it was drowning it in syrup and the peanut butter in between ...

Avoid this place unless you're left with no options!!!!! First time here and it was such a disappointment. The amount of variety on the menu is definitely overwhelming. From fried rice, noodles, clay pot, baked meat with spaghetti/rice, sizzling pots, noodle soup, to tons of dessert options. I got an order of the Guilin noodle soup with chicken while my boyfriend ordered a black pepper chicken steak sizzling pot with a side of popcorn chicken. Yeah...sounds delicious right? Well..my noodle soup came first. And the waitress explained that the kitchen thought that my order was for takeout. It was already packed and they just poured it into a bowl to serve to me. The soup was already a bit cold. But no problem. Mistakes happen. The soup was decent, but definitely not Guilin style noodle soup. Around 15 minutes later, she bought out the rest of our order in literally TAKEOUT BOXES! Not to mention that the food was not even hot anymore. We were excited to try out their dessert, but after all that...it really ruined the mood to order more. They did compensate for a $10 off our bill, but I don't think I'll be back any time soon.

Hong Kong cafe - San Francisco's best, with a more upscale yet casual atmosphere, great service (ok that part isn't always so authentic) and menu that rivals War & Peace. You could have every meal here for a month and never eat the same thing! And be happy doing it

It was cold day, hoping to warm up with HK style porridge. Yea: Porridge was nice need little more seasoning. Very friendly service. Nay: Noodles with cheese & egg very bland, coming from my kids. Soup noodles was also off in flavor. HK style milk tea was way off, shld just call it "milk tea". Very cold inside cafe, can accept since we are still in a pandemic.

The Hainan Chicken and Rice = deliciousness. It's perfect for a quick meal anytime. A cup of iced milk tea pairs well with my chicken and rice meal. I really like the flavoring of the milk tea. The milk tea is not too sweet or too bland. Sometimes, I just had to drink the iced version of milk tea. Reasons for 5-star rating: - friendly staff - excellent service - delicious food Although some people are thinking bad service is linked to Hong Kong styles cafés. But that is not entirely true. For the last 4 times I have been here, it's always friendly staff and excellent service. Positive experience here, so I am coming back. 8/26/2019: Well, I just tried their corn and hot dog baked spaghetti. This is delicious and I am tempted to get it again. Their iced milk tea is so good. The flavoring is real good and texture is real smooth. This milk tea is not too sweet nor is it too bland.

Not great service, however, the food was GOOD. Great for adventurous eaters looking to start with something filling and comforting.

Location is convenient when grocery shopping in area. There is constantly a long wait to order food, let alone getting food once ordered, despite counting 5 staff in kitchen area during the lunch hour. Place was not even 75% full. Boss ordered a beef brisket wonton Fun noodle soup and I ordered the bitter melon with pork ribs over rice. You would thing that the soup would come out first since most of the key ingredients are already prepared. Wrong assumption. The rice dish came first but a vast majomajority of the bitter melon was raw and the ribs were way too big. This place has been opened for years and there appears to be no improvement in terms of service and quality. Too bad.