Big Lantern so good! Idk how to say this... You really pull through! Really hits the spot Always there for your tummy Cures every craving The best is to go The koi need a bigger pond Is my only gripe! read more

Take out was quick. Potentially tasty dishes, but way too much oil and it tasted like it was time to change the oil in the kitchen. Nice flavored eggplant dish, but eggplant was mush/overcooked. Sadly disappointing. read more

We came here on a late Friday night. The ambiance reminds me of a typical Chinese restaurant. It's cozy and open to the kitchen. I loved that there were actually Chinese cooks in the kitchen and Chinese staff in the front. Our waitress was friendly and humored my Cantonese. We got my favorite Singapore chow fun and sesame chicken. Food was on point. I recommend this spot of you have a hankering for westernized Chinese food. They are open late too! read more

This was my first time going here I was excited to try it I'm not from around here It was slow and the service wasn't good I was the only table there read more

Yum! We did dine-in for dinner on a Sunday night, and the restaurant was neither empty nor full. We ordered the dim sum combination, chow mein, and orange chicken, everything vegan. As all other reviews have mentioned, the orange chicken is amazing. The dim sum platter was interesting as well in that my favorite was different than my partner's favorite so clearly a win for pleasing both of us. Portion sizes and price were also great. We had plenty left over and it was completely worth the cost. There aren't too many vegan dim sum options around so I was very happy to have this. We will definitely be back! I want to try all the different vegan dim sum options and work my way through the mock meats as well. Highly recommend! read more

Big Lantern - Chow Mein - Dim Sum Near Me - San Francisco, California

Is this the best Chinese food in the city? No. Does it hit the spot every single time? Yes. It's also open reasonably late. We love walking over on a weekend night and grabbing takeout for a movie night in. They're super nice and it's always busy here. You can easily get a table but we usually get it to go. We like to get their hot and sour soup, chow main, eggplant and some type of protein depending on our mood. Don't think we've ever gotten anything here that we didn't like! read more

Ordered from DoorDash. Here is what we ordered: 1. Big Lantern spicy fried rice 2. Spicy cumin chicken 3. West lake beef soup 4. Numbing spicy mandarin noodle The portions were huge, which is typical from Chinese restaurants I suppose. The fried rice (1) was okay, we asked for it very spicy but didn't think it was very spicy nor flavorful. The cumin chicken (2) was also just okay, bordering on bland. I think it needed some more salt to bring out the cumin flavor. The soup (3) was delicious with a bit of added hot sauce and soy sauce. The noodle (4) dish was by far the best. The pork on top was sweet and the sauce itself was numbing and spicy. This dish really made up for the rest of the meal. read more

Big Lantern - Dim Sum Near Me - San Francisco, California

First tried this place back in 2015. Glad to see it survived covid. I try coming back anytime I am back in the neighborhood. Broccoli beef lunch is the best and lady serving food is incredibly friendly. read more

Food can be good but you have to know what to get. I order here sometimes because it opens late until 12am. !!!!!!!BE WARY!!!!! I just got my debt/credit card info hacked/stolen by ordering here and there are fake charges from CHINESE DELIGHT in Georgia! Until they resolve this, I suggest do not use their website and place an order with your card. Maybe pay CASH on delivery or something. read more

Big Lantern - Fake charges from China Delight - Dim Sum Near Me - San Francisco, California

Lots of vegetarian and vegan options. The tamale with meatless chicken was incredible. The fresh mango pudding was delicious. Great prices. Best $40 I've spent in a while. Service was on point. read more

We drove all the way from San Jo for this veggie dim sum and were not disappointed. Show the quality of the food isn't top tier, every single item was absolutely delicious. And as a vegetarian the amazing variety of options, items that I haven't been able to enjoy in forever was what made this. Oh and the excellent customer service. the Auntie was so very sweet and didn't judge us for the amount of food we ordered. Lol We were so excited to have veggie dim sum options that we almost ordered one of everything. (See photos) we honestly can't wait to visit again!! read more

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I've been here a couple times now - pretty solid Chinese food in the Mission. Some menu items are hits while others are misses. Hits: sesame beef, sesame chicken, spicy meatless chicken. Misses: chow fun (it's very bland.) The first time I came with a huge group and there was a dish brought out that nobody ordered, so make sure to confirm everyone's orders when you're in a big group! read more

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Very impressive selection of vegetarian and non vegetarian items! If anything there's maybe too many options on the menu. The chive dim sum was ok, the real highlight for me was the tofu vegetable roll which was delicious. The tofu skin wrap has a unique texture and the stuffing is great. The noodles we ordered (meatless chicken chow fun) was dry and tasty, the meatless chicken was very well made. The prices are very reasonable too, 2 people can easily have a good dinner + leftovers under $40. read more

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I would want to give it one star, but because the people here are nice, I give it a two. It is a typical Americanized Chinese restaurant. It fits perfect the "greasy Chinese food" description. We ordered a dim sum, the twice cooked pork, garlic eggplant, and sesame ball. Except the sesame balls, other dishes are rather disappointing. The dim sum was flavorless and the tofu skins was rather hard to chew, huge disappointment. The two main dishes taste exactly the same, YES, exactly the same. Twice cooked pork is a famous Szechuan food, but it tastes nothing like it. It was just a bunch of ingredients with some Chinese sauces mixed together. They were huge disappointment. I will never come back here. The decor is quite nice. You see some Chinese paintings on the wall, but as a Chinese person, I will not come back here again nor recommend to other friends. read more

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Just moved to mission area and found this place on a rainy day! Nice warm food, quick service, and affordable prices. Surprisingly , they have really good dishes with meat substitutes! The fake sausage was so flavorful and served sizzling hot! I will be getting it again next time and can't wait to return and try the other meat free dishes! Also got the tempura fried eggplant which was delicious, only regret is that we didn't order more :p read more

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** The following review reflects my takeout experience DURING the COVID-19 pandemic. ** How big a lantern are we talking about? Anyway, this particular block of 16th between Valencia and Guerrero was so hipster-heavy in the pre-pandemic days that I never thought to try this Chinese restaurant until the sidewalk was cleared out. They have a pretty robust vegan menu and I actually like mock meat dishes to take a periodic break from my carnivery. I was drawn to a couple of dishes here. The first was the $18.95 Portobello Mushrooms with Meatless Chicken. It melded well into their atypically tasty brown sauce accompanied by snow peas, carrots, and zucchini (photo: https://bit.ly/3qfq5LX). The mock chicken had that poultry-like texture without the inevitable rubberiness. My second dish was the $14.95 Wood Ear Mushrooms with Tofu which was just as hearty with the same accompaniments though less sauce (photo: https://bit.ly/2KalDyR). I really like this type of woodsy fungus, so it worked for me. I walked it home and it kept pretty warm. I never did find out how big the lantern was. FOOD - 4 stars...hearty vegan fare for the meatlessly minded AMBIANCE - n/a...nice little koi pond but I was here for takeout only SERVICE - 4 stars...definitely fast enough for seamless takeout TOTAL - 4 stars...how big is your lantern? RELATED - Hungry for Chinese food? Here's a collection of places I've tried and reviewed: https://bit.ly/36XdeaP read more

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Two huge wins with Big Lantern. 1. An immense amount of vegan & vegetarian options. 2. Cheap! Between me and my boyfriend, we had the large hot and sour soup to share, the veg dim sum combo, and the big lantern spicy chow fun. It didn't sound like much, but the portions were a lot bigger than expected. Hot and Sour Soup (7/10): It was really tofu heavy. My boyfriend isn't crazy about tofu so I ate most of it. Just wish there was more of the actual broth and a bit more of a kick. Overall it was still great and we each had about 2-3 little bowls of it! Veg Dim Sum (10/10): Only about $13 for Shu Mai, Dumplings & BBQ pork buns. What they don't tell you is that they're huge! When I saw 3 pieces each, I thought we'd take it down easy, but I was wronggg. I've had many veg dumplings in my day, but I can't remember ever having a veg BBQ pork bun since going vegan. This was such a treat. All three items were great. Big Lantern Spicy Noodles (11/10): Literally woke up this morning still thinking about these noodles. At first glance it looks like your run of the mill greasy chow fun, but the quality of the noodles is what set them apart. Our server brought us a side of chili oil and it added the perfect kick to an already delicious dish. Flavor, portion, and price were all top notch here. We left with tons of leftovers, and somehow only spent $25 each for tons of great food, a beer and a coconut water. The joint is small and cute and there is an actual koi fish pond in the front. Will definitely be returning! read more

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Yummy yummy I love the salt and pepper prawns and anything pan fried :D service is quick and everyone is super nice

They charged $7.25 for this Thai tea...... just saying. I ordered online so when I saw the price I thought it would be large or fresh or something and then it was this can of premade stuff worth $1. I'm confused as to how a restaurant owner could charge that. Even in SF that is unprecedented highway robbery. read more

Big Lantern - Thai tea - Dim Sum Near Me - San Francisco, California

Got a to-go order here. Their food tasted like basic chinese food you'd get everywhere else. Nothing too fancy, but you still get the homey friendly neighborhood chinese food taste & feeling. Parking is hard at this location, but the staff were very friendly! read more

Yes yes! First yes: I had late night cravings for some yummy Chinese food and this place delivered (see what I did there). I ordered the chive dumplings with meatless chicken, the vegetable fried rice and the meatless chicken Hunsan. Very tasty and they let you decide how hot you want it. Second yes: They have A TON of vegetarian options including more than one veggie dim sum option! It exists! So why not 5 stars you ask? Well, it was a bit pricey. The portions were huge, as so often happens with Chinese food. Almost wish you could order less for well less. Still worth it though! read more

They're open until 11pm, so of you're in the city and need to get your grub on, this is a great spot! Their full menu isn't available, but all of their dim sum is! Isn't that crazy!!! ~The more you know~ lol read more

Big Lantern - Egg Tart! You get 3, in one order - Dim Sum Near Me - San Francisco, California

Probably the least authentic Chinese food I've ever eaten. We got the chowmein and general tso's chicken which were both doused in a sauce which I can only describe as sugar syrup. No flavor apart from the overwhelming sweetness from either dish. The food in our takeout boxes was almost glued together out of it being so sticky. We slathered chilli oil and sriracha all over our food to make it edible. Terrible experience, would not recommend read more

I believe her name is Joyce, but thank you so so much. I drunk ordered food and thought it was for delivery but ordered for pickup. And the amazing kind act the employees and this business did for me (Joyce sorry if that's not your name!) when they're probably tired as fuck, is so nice and I really want to say thank you. Haven't tired the food but I'm sure it's fucking delicious but this is a business that deserves success and happiness. THANK YOU!!! read more

Decided to try this spot out as their doordash reviews and ratings were out the roof as well as their yelp reviews! So when they are 2 for 2, it's a must try for me! I ordered a few dishes for the family to share and can say it was quite tasty! my fave was prolly the chive dumplings and the Singaporean noodles. the sesame chicken was a bit sweet for me and the bok choy broccoli was a bit misguiding as they still managed to send me american broccoli. For that I reduced a star from the review & since it was too garlicy and over powered the sauce and the rest of the dish. However, the dumplings were made to perfection! just the right amount of chives and shrimp in them to make em taste real good! DEF gotta come back to order some more dumplings! Better yet, might just order all dumplings the next time I order from here. Def a fan and will be returning but not for their veggies! read more

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The chicken porridge is top notch. I ordered it recently on DD. It's just what I needed. Thank you! Now I know where to get porridge near me if I'm ever feeling under the weather. You're a lifesaver! read more

Been coming here for years, and never had a bad dish. Wonderful dim sum and so much more. Big menu and lots of excellent choices. We love any dish with tofu. Enjoy! read more

Always good. I've ordered take out, ate there, and delivery. Always good. Try one of the chef specials.

Big Lantern has 40+ vegan options on their menu. Came here for the dumplings, stayed (and will be returning) for their vegan chicken siu mai, tofu rolls AND everything else I have yet to order. Their menu is divided into sections like "meatless chicken" (mock meats--pretty sure soy based) and "vegetable & tofu" categories so you're not playing Where's Waldo scouring for veg options. We've all been there. Thank you for making your restaurant a vegan paradise!! They were super friendly despite me placing my pick up order the moment they opened at 11am :) Wish I tried their bbq vegan pork buns, but it's just something to look forward to~~ Here's what I ordered, favorites listed first, but enjoyed everything and would order it all again: -chicken siu mai (pls try) -tofu vegetarian roll (was expecting egg rolls, but this exceeded my expectations: veggies, mushrooms and tofu wrapped in yuba sheets) -general tofu -kung pao meatless chicken -vegetable dumplings (just wish these were in a sauce) read more

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Do not recommend for dimsum. Decent price, lackluster flavor, and poor ambiance. Our "meatless" options were mostly rice or vegetables with tiny bits of chopped up tofu (or something) in them. The shrimp was good but not a lot of flavor. There was a man with his head down on the front table when we walked in, seems like the workers tend to hang out in that area. At the end of our meal there was a breeze and smell of cigarettes wafting in. Less importantly, there is a tiny pond full of too many koi at the front :/ sad. Just okay. Maybe best for other menu items or take out. read more

Traditional old school chinese restaurant that has sechuan hunan and cantonese dishes that are very very good. They are non-greasy I need to point out right away! Mapo tofu is wonderful. The chicken chow mein has very fresh chicken and that wok hai taste. The seafood is always very fresh. The wait person is super friendly. Also I noticed they have an extensive dim sum menu of all types fried baked and steamed. They also have porridge. Highly recommeded! read more

If I could give zero stars, I would. My sister and I came here for a dim sum brunch yesterday. I have a serious nut allergy, and usually, I can safely eat at dim sum places without having to specify that I have such an allergy. However, as we are from Los Angeles, we did make note of asking if there was any nuts in the items ordered. Immediately after one bite of the pork shu mai, I felt the signs of an allergic reaction: the itchy ears and a tight throat. We left immediately and went to the nearest store to get Benadryl as it was an acute reaction, and not one that would need the administration of an EpiPen. On the drive back to our hotel, I was hit with the most gut wrenching stomach cramps and nausea. My sister, who does not have a nut allergy, also experienced the stomach cramps and nausea. The entire night, we were taking turns vomiting and blowing up the toilet. At this point, it's blatantly obvious that I was experiencing the effects of cross contamination, and my sister and I were both going through the effects of food poisoning. We called back today to ask for a refund as we did pay a considerable amount for our brunch, but we were met with zero care and doubt that we were even sick. It's disappointing because we wanted to support local Asian businesses in SF and because dim sum is one of our favorite pastimes. Upon reading more into the reviews on this Yelp page, you'll find that other customers have found inedible things in their food as well: cigarette butts, caterpillars, and rat poop. If you want to have less than mediocre dim sum and poor customer service and care, then this is your spot but I would HIGHLY advise against coming. read more

Great service, quiet restaurant extraordinary selection of Chinese food for vegetarians and vegans. Everything taste great. Service was great. read more

Food is good, we usually order to go. We went in the other day to pick up and they have a weird fountain in the front filled with Koi fish. The fountain is for ambience but clearly way to small for all the fish they have in there and its put me off from this place. At least give the poor fish room to swim around if it's just for ambience! read more

This place is in my old neighborhood and has been a curiosity of mines for a long time. I had some delicious dishes. The walnut prawn was great and not full of mayonnaise . I asked if they had a scrambled egg prawn chow fun which I did not see in a menu of over 60 items. They made it to order and I was very impressed and it was so delicious l. Now I will go again with over 60 decisions to make next time read more

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Best Chinese food in all of the bay I recommend Their calamari and rangoon my favorite dish is the sea food chow fun and spicy garlic chicken wings read more

Tucked away in the Mission, Big Lantern's humble storefront hides an American-style Chinese treasure trove. The extensive faux meat menu delivers flavors too addictive to resist. While far from healthy, one bite of the sweet and sour meatless "Chicken" or a veggie dumpling/buns and you won't care - it's that good. The crispy, tender batter and sweet tangy sauce is worth the sacrifice. So next time you're roaming the Mission hungry, seek out the big lantern's glow. Duck inside and indulge in mouthwatering, if not waistline-expanding, Chinese fare. Just be prepared to feel some regret the next day. Some things are worth it. read more

Great food. I've been going there for years. Try their seafood combo. Paris's difficult, so use Muni.

They have a very large menu, with some novel dishes I haven't seen before. Chili fish is good, tea-flavored lamb is OK, jalapeno chicken is great. It'll take you a few tries to really sample the menu as there are a lot of dishes that are worth trying. read more

I came here because I was craving dim sum but did not want to have to drive and find parking in Chinatown or the Sunset. I decided to take a gamble by coming to Big Lantern and was pleasantly surprised! Congee is one of those classic Chinese dishes that I HAVE to have every time I get dim sum. It is a seemingly simple dish that I am somewhat picky about. The congee I had here met my expectations; the broth was savory and they did not use MSG or over-seasoned it. The chive dumplings were also pretty good. I would definitely come here again in the future. read more

Big Lantern - Rice Porridge with Shredded Pork + Chinese Donut - Dim Sum Near Me - San Francisco, California

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