Sam Wo.

If you’re like me, as a kid you found yourself fantasizing about being a character the quintessential action film. Kicking tukhus, secret hideaways where you needed passwords to gain access and almost always running from the cops through a Chinese kitchen.

Sam Wo’s provides you a bit of that fantasy quenching experience, the back door essentially becoming the front. Entering through the kitchen to the sound of cooks shouting, puffs of steam rising from woks, the clanking of cooking tools in an industrial kitchen and all of it being a rushed blur to your eyes. Climbing up a dim and narrow stairwell, at the top you’re introduced to a handful of small marble-topped tables. The service is fast, before you blink an eye a plate of steaming morsels appear on your table. One server whizzes past you and returns with a plastic container of water and Dixie cups. The same one your dentist gives you to rinse the sour taste of concrete flavored toothpaste from your mouth.

The food is phenomenal. Chinese-American fare that’s hot, affordable and delicious. BBQ pork rice noodle, sweet and savory pork bits inside of a naked and chewy chow fun noodle. Glistening pork with the perfect fat ratio and crispy bok choy sautéed and served over rice, the rice capturing the dishes sauce. Dry chow fun noodles with bean sprouts, pork and various greens tossed together into a heaping pile that seems almost recognizable to the eyes. But, not unrecognizable to the mouth. Is anyone noticing a pork addiction here?



There’s no Ralph Lauren paint on the walls, or Ashley modern furniture to create a generic form of ambiance. And with the History channel shooting here on this particular day, I had to sign an appearance release, I’m guessing the ambiance has served this place well. Sam Wo’s silently promises you what it represents, a sincere meal, by sincere cooks, in a sincere environment. All behind a clubhouse that I gained access to for under $15.



813 Washington Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 982-0596

MUNI: 30
BART: Montgomery Street Station, walk to 3rd street-turns into Kearny- walk West to Washington.