Stopped by for an early afternoon brunch today. Big mistake. But first, let me say that our server was friendly and attentive and could not have been more helpful. Promptly seated, drinks brought out, order taken and food delivered fast, hot and correct. The background music was some chinese music tv station playing modern easy listening tunes and, along with the comfortable chairs and solid table made for a relaxing environment. The food? meh. You can see our order in the latest photo and how expensive it was. the Lo Mein was mostly tasteless and certainly lacking in thast "lo mein flavor." Although the meat was tender, the sauce was just a sticky brown sauce. Surprisingly, the Spicy Pickle Tofu was essentially the same sticky brown sauce as the Lo Mein but with some fried tofu in it and without the noodles but nothing otherwise remarkable. You can tell by looking at my earlier picture attached. The old picture shows a bright and colorful plate. The dish today was a dark brown (you could hardly see the tofu from the beef) as everything was just dark. Eggplant seemed to have a similar brown sauce as well but the eggplant was otherwise tasteless. Nothing popped. Chicken bites were bland and not at all crunchy. Just fried to soft texture but no real flavor. According to our server, the menu was just recently updated about a month ago. We noticed because one of our favorites was the Fried Taro Pie which is now gone from the menu and the server said yes, that's right. Maybe this place has a new owner or chef, but it's no longer in my top asian restaurants for Tucson. read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Hefty bill for an uninspiring brunch today - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Talk about food quality and quantity, 81 HK cafe is very good and on top of it!!! Having a mint pork rice with egg Taiwanese style!!! It's an excellent and good quality of Chinese foods!!! Services were rushing due to I was here on Saturday night!!! Everything is perfect here especially when customers want Taiwanese Chinese foods!! read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Great service and atmosphere. We went early so we're just about the only people there. There menu is extensive and filled with items you dont usually see. We ordered the chicken bites, shrimp dumplings beef noodles with garlic sauce, and dong po. The dumplings were just fine, wish I had ordered something more interesting. The noodles were bland. The chicken bites were fantastically seasoned and hit the spot. The dong po was rich and tender a real highlight to the meal. Oh we got milk tea that was amazing. We will be back! read more

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Tucson location is closed. They have moved to Tempe, AZ Too bad, I had just begun to explore their menu. read more

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Tried this place tonight and everything was great. Great service, decent prices, amazing food, plenty of choices of dishes. The atmosphere was good. Didn't have to wait to be seated. Quiet enough to where there was no problems hearing or interruptions in our conversations. I can see myself going back here and would recommend it for sure. read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Mongolian Togu plate - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I stopped by for lunch on a Monday afternoon and although my experience was nothing special, I liked the food enough to want to come again! I ordered some duck with rice (and bokchoy) and it was honestly just what I needed. It came out quickly (probably since nobody was in on a Monday afternoon) and they brought an extra plate to discard the bones (thank goodness). The sauce accompanying the duck was good and salty and it was well balanced with the bokchoy. The menu is so extensive, however, that I'll have to come back often and try something new each time! read more

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My son and I ate here for lunch a few weeks ago and enjoyed the meal. The establishment was clean and the staff were friendly.The BBQ pork bun and the BBQ Pork and Egg plate were excellent. The Bitter Melon and Salted Egg was a hard pass. I was glad to support a family owned establishment. read more

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Second time back. Does not disappoint. Tried the Lu Ruo Fan, perfect bowl for one meal. And string bean stir fry. read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - String bean stir fry - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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This place was a hole in the wall living breathing diamond gem. The crispy chicken & fish thing & noodles were delicious. Wow. I couldn't get enough, the portions were big too and 3 of these family style entrees were more than enough for us- and we took some home too. Place was surprisingly empty bc it deserves to be huge. Hung out with Audrey down in Tucson after going to Suagararego National Park & was a great time : D. read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Since my son will be living here for the next 5-8 years, I really wanted to find some good Chinese cuisine so he won't miss the food back in the East Coast too much. 81 Hong Kong Cafe in Tucson is legit. I got to speak to the lovely and extremely friendly and helpful waitress. She informed us that the menu consists more Taiwanese dishes than Hong Kong. Either way, there were lots to choose from. I was overwhelmed and asked for recommendations. I decided to go with our waitress's favorite and that is the Spicy Salted Egg Fish Fillets. We also got a fried chicken combo plate and fried turnip cakes. Whoever is behind the kitchen sure knows the art of frying. Everything we had was not greasy, it was light and perfectly crispy. The turnip cakes were fried on all sides. Never had it this way and we all enjoyed it. The winning dish was the Salted Egg Fish Fillets. Incredibly delish. A huge shout out to our waitress who took the time to go over the menu with us. She was patient and had an infectious beautiful smile. I plan to come back to try their HK style dishes. read more

This is our 2nd time at this restaurant. First time last year, we had no complaint. This time I ordered Diet Coke and when I drank it, it was regular Pepsi! It was super sweet and horrible. Ruined my lunch. I wish the server had told me they don't have Coca Cola products. Don't just substitute without the customer's knowledge. I would just asked for water had I known they only serve Pepsi. My black pepper cutlet chicken was somewhat disappointing too. read more

Food was flavorful, we liked that it wasn't too salty. The restaurant is small, modern, there were 2 servers that were pretty busy, but they were very nice. We didn't wait too long for our food. We thought the prices were reasonable, too. read more

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Second time dining here but have done take out several times. One of my fav places and the dine in experience was just as good the second time. Extensive menu and flavorful food... and the only challenge is deciding what you want. There are things on the menu I have never had but the servers are super good about explaining the dish. It's a smaller dining space and so service is usually limited to 2 servers... but both times service has been awesome. There were a couple large parties but despite that, the food we ordered (and the large parties) didn't take very long. read more

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Cute little place. It was pretty empty when I arrived but it's an odd time (4:00pm). The dumplings are tasty and the waitress is very nice. read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Xiao Long Bao and Shrimp dumplings - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I ordered for Christmas and the family was so happy. This is one of my favorite places for dim sum & Taiwanese style Chinese food in town. My favorite dishes are the three cups chicken, roasted duck, wasabi mayo shrimp, and Singapore noodles. I also like the bao, har gow, and salted egg fish. I do not recommend the American Chinese dishes, and the sticky rice was bland. Check your dishes when you order to go. I was missing my garlic spinach. read more

The menu is massive, but clearly our picks were duds, well one was. The lows 1. As other Yelpers note the service is pretty awful. Nice people if you can get their attention, but the front staff consisted of two people, neither checking to see how you are doing and so forth. 2. The ice tea is instant. Not fleshly brewed. Oh, and they have no sugar or diet sugar packets. You have some syrup if you want though, to make the instant tea, sweet. 3. We asked for two ice teas. We got one, and the other was ice water. Yes, total challenge. 4. The veggie eggrolls were frozen on the inside. Yet had some warmth on the outside. Now does this mean they make them ahead of time and just keep them in the freezer? Highly doubt the "they make them," but yeah cold the first time. Oh and they were doughy - they made another order, this time warm. Did I mention they do not have sweet/sour or hot mustard? You get chili liquid or soy souce. 5. Chow Fung Shrimp - had no flavor. None. Lots of big shrimps a plus, but even with the sauce they made wverything in, zero flavor. I requested the sauce they used for the basil eggplant, which to their credit, the chef made for me. So a big plus there. Once that was added, the flavors worked. Plus 1. The basil eggplant dish with said sauce. The eggplant was cooked correctly, and the heat level was just right. This is a win of a dish. Parking is ample, they are in a strip center. read more

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Time to try a new Chinese place. Ordered BBQ pork bun and the beef chow fun Very enjoyable. The pork buns were pretty good. I really enjoyed the chow fun. Plenty to eat and nice flavor with contrast of the veggies and onions. The service was great. Very attentive without being overbearing The decor is ok, basically a strip mall feel but clean. I would like to come back and try some other dishes read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Beef chow fun, yum - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Soup dumplings in Tucson! Cute spot, my friends and I ordered kimchi fried rice, spicy beef noodles, steamed shrimp wontons, and a lot of soup dumplings. Very affordable and tasty. read more

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It's been over a year since my last visit. The menu remains extensive with so many options it's hard to make a decision, so my husband placed the order, since I had trouble making a decision. We opted for dishes we had not tried before: fried pork dumplings, chicken lo mein, poached egg beef rice and the yu-xiang eggplant with rice. It was a ton of food. The standout dish was the eggplant which was served with ground pork. The eggplant was really tender and the sauce was rich but not overwhelmingly. The poached egg with beef was good but the flavor was little one noted and heavy for my taste. The portion was also enormous! They are either short staffed or we really busy, but our order wasn't ready when we arrived. I don't mind if it's 5-10 minutes but 20 minutes+ was not ideal. We'll be back to try other items on the menu. There are still many that are on my radar. read more

Why did this place close? It was so good; not the best at seating people; but wonderful food. Did it move locations? Anyone know?

I'm glad we visited this restaurant because each of our plates was delicious!! Each plate comes out as soon as they're ready, so it gives you an appropriate amount of time to try each individually and enjoy before moving on to the next plate. Hard to pick a favorite because each brought something different to the table. I would order each one of these plates again, but there's so much more on the menu I'd like to try. Portions are generous and glad we gave leftovers to enjoy these dishes again. Our wait wasn't too long to get a table. They are short staffed so be mindful of that, but the food and quality is worth the wait. The pricing was quite fair as well. I liked the weight and texture of the tableware as well. read more

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This was our second visit to the 81 Hong Kong cafe in Tucson AZ. Visiting our No 2 son and still blown away by the diversity and Abundance of GREAT food in this Most Unassuming city in the desert! We first had an appetizer that we wanted dad to try as we'd had it last time here - it's a cold dish; super thin slices of beef shank seasoned w Szechuan pepper to give you a Tongue numbing experience!! It kinda just hits you outta nowhere!! The first time we had it we were NOT prepared!!! Your tongue will LITERALLY go numb!!! But the flavor has a complexity to it that really turns it up a notch! Next we tried a couple of new dishes - the spicy salted egg fish filet, which included bite sized golden fried catfish filet nuggets, sprinkled with dried red peppers and green onions, with little bits of tender salted egg scramble throughout. The fish was tender and the egg lent the perfect balance of salty goodness to the fish and the level of spice is perfect so as not to overpower the dish as a whole. Then we tried the beef shank noodle soup which h was TOTALLY good!!! The broth is reminiscent of a really deep flavored Pho; but take that to another level by adding huge Tender chunks of Beef shank, fresh bok Choi greens, al dente (and are these HAND MADE???) rice noodles.... ON POINT comfort food excellence like no other!!! I could BATHE IN THIS SOUP I Swear!!! We also had a Stirfry of mixed seasonal veggies, which is the old stand by and never disappoints, and my son ate the bell pepper beef chow fun like he hadn't eaten in weeks - so I guess that was fantastic too!! He did say the sauce was excellent The only thing to point out for this place is that EVERYTHING is a la carte and None of the dishes comes with rice, not family style when you order rice either; you hafta specify how many bowls you want. So I guess that's the only thing I'd change about that set up. Also make sure you check In When you get here!! You'll get 8% discount if you do!! SCORE!!! So if you are in the Tucson area (not far from the Tucson Mall!) make sure you stop by for some AUTHENTIC Szechuan eats!! You won't be disappointed!! read more

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I got the curry beef stew and it was really good! The beef was very tender, it is a little spicy but not too bad. My sister got the eggplant rice dish and she loved it. The servers we friendly and the food came out pretty fast. read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Thai milk tea with brown sugar boba - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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I'm going to say more like 4.5 stars. 1/2 off for soda fountain out of order... ANYWAY, this is go-to stop for picking up seafood porridge/congee for elderly parents with poor teeth and/or no cooking skills anymore. I took my mom there for dinner and got: beef chow fun, singapore noodles, and a curry chicken dish. The first 2 were excellent. I wasn't crazy about the curry chicken - seemed a little bland. Good service, clean, but pretty utilitarian setting - like cafeteria furniture. I'd definitely go back for noodles. read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Left to right: beef chow fun; curried chicken, singapore noodles. - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

We saw this restaurant while searching for Chinese food while in Tucson. Ordered the Taiwanese beef noodle soup, duck blood with stinky tofu, and the Malay hotpot. We also ordered soup dumplings but didn't get a picture of it. The food was delicious! Definitely need to come check it out when visiting Tucson. The owner/chef is Taiwanese so the authentic Taiwanese flavors were there. This will be a staple stop for us next time we visit Tucson. read more

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Having been here enough times i can confidently give this place a 5 star review. If you know what to order, you're going to have an unforgettable experience. Always clean and vibrant. I give these high remarks only when considering all the other options for various kinds of Chinese cuisines in Tucson. With so many misses, 81 Hong Kong is among a few that stand out and tall for their quality and flavors. Overall a well rounded experience especially with their tea and beverage options. read more

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Wow 81 Hong Kong Cafe is delicious! They have pretty stellar boba drinks, too, which is rare for a restaurant. The best part is that they are very vegan friendly with a special vegan menu. The pickled bamboo and mushroom medley and Chinese eggplant are two of my favorites. This is a must try. But save room for boba! And dessert! I've really wanted to try their brown sugar ice jelly but haven't had the room. Next time. Check in! They have a check in offer ;) read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Brown sugar crystal boba milk tea and floating matcha Oreo with added boba. Both with oat milk. Beautiful and delicious! - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Took my family to the 81 Hong Kong Cafe, and overall the experience was pleasant, It was slow because of the time we went, but there was also only one worker working (serving, taking orders, checking out, making drinks, cleaning up, basically everything but making the food) so it was to be expected that it would be a bit slow, However after getting our order the food came out fast! Starting with food, I was pleasantly surprised about the portion size! I was worried it would be an average price of like $10-14 and it would be maybe like a small tapas style place, but it was actually big portion sizes! We ordered: Chicken Bites, Beef Chow-fun, Mapo Tofu and rice, Spicy Salted egg fish Fillet, Pasted Egg Beef Chow-Fun, salted egg yolk tofu, and 2 drinks which ill get to later. I personally liked the Chicken bites the best, its your common taiwanese style basil chicken you'd get at a boba shop! Very well seasoned, came out piping hot and great portion sizes for its price (IMO compared to boba shops) next I think any of the salted egg dishes were yummy! Fish was crispy and so moist inside, the tofu was crispy bit airy it was a pleaseant surprise! I think the chowfun dishes were what you expected them to be, the egg pasted one however was fine, but personally not my preference. I also liked the mapo tofu personally, I thought actually being able to taste the spice was nice! but my brother and parents thought it was a bit light, and not salty enough (also we tend to be salt fiends so it is probs perfect for normal people) We ordered 2 drinks, the hokkaido pudding milk tea, and the peach jasmine yakult, the drinks were ok, i think they are very tea based, but the milk tea felt kind of light, almost to much milk in my opinion, and the peach jasmine yakult did have have enough yakult flavor in my opinion, it felt more just like a peach jasmine tea, which was still yummy in my opinion. overall it was a good experience food was yummy and id definitely come back again! seems like a fun place to have a casual lunch/meal or even a casual snack and catch up! read more

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Tried this place for the first time the other day and I was impressed. My boyfriend and I ordered take out through their website which was easy to do. We wanted to share our meal so we ordered orange chicken,crab puffs and we got a matcha coconut bliss. When we arrived the employee at the front greeted us immediately and verified our order. The inside was really nice and clean. Orange chicken: the orange chicken portion was shareable and it came with rice and broccoli. It was really good and even though I read reviews saying that it was flavorless I disagree. Crab puffs: the crab puffs came with 1 sweet and sour sauce. They were crunchy and soft, very delicious. They give you about 8 which is a good amount. Matcha coconut bliss: the matcha coconut bliss was so good and refreshing. I don't drink matcha often but I really enjoyed this drink. It was also very well presented and I love the cup that it comes in. Prices: prices are fair since everything is shareable We paid $35 after tip. Overall we had a really good takeout experience. I am looking forward to dining in sometime. read more

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We were visiting Tucson and my parents still prefer Asian/Chinese food so I found this place on Yelp. The restaurant wasn't very full but there were a lot of to-go or delivery orders being brought out from the kitchen while we were waiting for our takeout order. Their menu had items from Mainland China, from Hong Kong and from Taiwan. They also had a plethora of tea drinks and smoothies. Much to my delight they had an Avocado Smash drink that was basically an avocado smoothie which I love. If you like avocado, I highly recommend trying an avocado smoothie. I have tried making it at home but it never tastes as good. We also ordered congee and minced pork rice. The minced pork was pretty good but I felt like the rice was just slightly undercooked. read more

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I had one of the worst dining experiences in Tucson at Hong Kong 81 -- hands down the poorest service I've ever encountered. On one occasion, after we had already been seated and placed our order, a server informed us that the kitchen was running slow due to high volume and we might need to wait longer than usual. That was fine -- we suggested stepping out briefly (to run an errand at Walmart) and offered to prepay and leave our credit card at the restaurant. Surprisingly, they refused without explanation, simply stating that "the manager doesn't allow it." The staff were indifferent and unhelpful throughout. Even more frustrating, despite being Chinese themselves, they insisted on speaking broken English to Chinese customers in a cold and inconsistent manner -- sometimes switching to Chinese, sometimes not -- and when questioned, claimed it was their "freedom to choose the working language." It felt arbitrary and dismissive. Disappointed and honestly quite baffled by the lack of basic courtesy and flexibility. Would not recommend. read more

The food is excellent here. Service has been mediocre, but I love the different dishes on the menu. The sweet and sour tofu appetizer is amazing; bits of crispy tofu with a soft exterior in a light sweet and sour sauce. Divine. I've also tried the black pepper shrimp in a gravy sauce and I would not get it again. A bit bland. What I would absolutely order again is the spicy fish with chilis and salted duck egg. That's a burst of flavors in your mouth! read more

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What what? I can get Taiwanese food in Tucson and bubble tea all in the same place? YES!! As soon as I saw the menu I knew I had to try this place out. If you are ordering to go it's easy to place your order online but be aware there's a $1.50 extra convenience fee vs. ordering by phone. We got the oyster omelette, mixed vegetables and three cup chicken. I also got a Hong Kong milk tea and mint mojito latte. It was ready at the expected time and packaged very well. The oyster omelette was gigantic! I think it's the largest portion of this dish I've had yet. It tasted pretty much like how I remember other incarnations of this dish have been with the exception of the sauce. This sauce was more savory than sweet which I think worked better with the other flavors in the omelette. There were a good number of oysters in it. The mixed vegetables were good, but consisted mainly of cheaper priced broccoli and cabbage with just a few chunks of baby bok choy. It was well cooked and seasoned but I'd probably skip this dish next time at $10. The three cup chicken was probably my favorite dish that we ordered. It had just the right balance of sweet and savory, served in a large plastic container filled with bone in chicken and fried basil. The Hong Kong milk tea was alright. It had a light sweetness and I liked the flavor of the tea but was a bit watery rather than milk infused compared to other HK milk teas I've had. The mint mojito latte was OK as well. I liked that they had fresh mint leaves in the drink but the mint flavor clashed with the coffee flavor to me. read more

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We got crab puffs, spiced edamame, fried shrimp with chili, and beef chow fun with a side of rice. Everything was delicious! I am notmally not a fan of beef in certain dishes but the beef chow fun was amazing. Service was great and restaurant was clean. We can't wait to be back! read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Hong Kong cafe reminded my partner of growing up, his family is from Hong Kong and Hawaii and he loved this restaurant. The staff were friendly and helpful and the place was very clean with a modern design. They followed all COVID protocols, we are both fully vaccinated so we were not worried but it was greatt to see. We started with the Green tea and mango boba matcha latte and found them delicious. The green tea was bright and tasted a bit of lemon and possibly jasmine or other floral notes. The boba drink was a perfect blend of the sweet mango and more floral and bitter matcha cut with milk. The staff kept the water and tea refilled and would regularly checkin to see how we were doing. Our main dishes were bento, the steak and fish. Both were huge dishes and delicious. The steak was tender with a slightly sweet sauce that reminded him of the steak he grew up on from his grandma from Hong Kong. It had a perfectly fried egg and a large amount of rice. The second dish was the fish bento which had a crispy, again not greasy, fry and was topped with a sweet corn sauce. It also had some bok choy and the friend egg. The sweet corn was a great foil to the fried fish and brought out the natural sweetness in the fish. Both dishes were beautifully presented with the rice holding a great bowl shape. The layered pudding desert was wonderful! We had tarp and mango and loved the blend of the two flavors. Like the drinks and meal, the desert was not too sweet so we loved it. We will definitely be back and bring friends!!!! read more

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I had an afternoon craving and wanted some the veggie chow-fun that I had quite a while back. I ordered online (super easy) and my husband picked it up on his way back home. The entree was great and I even got to finish it up the next day. I also ordered boba (matcha mango with oat milk), but changed out for the sakura crystals. It was so tasty and I'll definitely have to do it again. Now they have super duper cute photos of the pudding online that I don't remember seeing my first in restaurant visit. I opted for the oatmilk again. The photos show these adorable little containers that have the 81 tea on it, but unfortunately I didn't get that. I don't know if it's because it was made with oatmilk or they changed the packaging but I was a little sad. It was just a normal takeout container with a sticker nothing like the pudding photos online. Otherwise great spot to try and I highly recommend. read more

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I absolutely love scallion pancakes, but distressingly few restaurants here have them, so when I learned that 81 Hong Kong Cafe makes them, I knew I had to go. The scallion pancakes (on 81 Hong Kong Cafe's menu, they're just listed as "Scallion Cakes") are light, pan-fried flatbread dotted with scallions. They're addictively good! These ones were ever so slightly on the greasy side, but the fluffy dough had excellent flavor. It was such a treat to have them! I will absolutely be getting them again in the future. I also got the orange chicken, which I like to use as a comparative dish between different restaurants. It was good here, certainly, but not a standout. I think next time I'll try something that's unique to 81 Hong Kong Cafe, since their specialties probably give a better sense of their strengths and represent their best dishes. My takeout order was ready extremely quickly -- less than ten minutes! -- and was waiting by the door when I arrived to pick it up. They definitely have their takeout service down pat! read more

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The food was really great i enjoyed everything but the service was better thank you ! We will be back

I'm so happy I went to try this place. I was visiting Tucson for a week and craving Asian food. I ordered the Taiwan beef shank soup. It was DELICIOUS!!! In talking to the waitress, learned the chef is Taiwanese. Probably reason why it tasted so good and authentic. Coming from Houston where there are thousands of Asian restaurants, this place did not disappoint!! Service was great as well. Also learned they also have dim sum items. When I'm back in Tucson, I will definitely be back!! read more

The 81 Hong Kong Cafe - Taiwan Beef Shank Soup. They loaded with a lot of meat! - Chinese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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So far my favorite Chinese food in Tucson. My go to is salted egg green beans with an added protein. Quick and kind service, always some interesting musical selection read more