Four Kings

“This was by far the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Every dish was so inventive and delicious! The snap peas w/tofu dressing was light and crunchy. We had a bottle of delicious sparkling tea that tasted like sparkles. The fried rice had corn and cheese and Chinese sausage and WOW was it awesome. Truly every bite was amazing. It was my birthday dinner and they made it so special, brought out an extra dessert and gave truly fabulous service. The decor feels like a set design, it’s curated but not pretentious. It wasn’t too loud, it was super clean and it’s on a beautiful, picturesque street in SF. Couldn’t recommend more!!”

“They have a Vegetarian and Vegan menu! It was really helpful to see what adjustments can be made. I got the cucumbers, sichuan cabbage and chow fun noodles. The noodles were amazing, very filling and delicious. I would love to be back when I get a reservation. Space is on the smaller end, but a nice bustling vibe. Definitely go with a reservation, someone on Friday who was walking in at 9pm was given a 2 hour wait time. Wine selection was good too.”

“Waited in their walk-in line 10min before opening and got seated right away. The black pepper steak and garlic pea shoots were the standouts of the night. The black sesame tofu pudding wasn’t my favorite though - the black sesame paste was too thick and the tofu pudding wasn’t smooth/silky enough which didn’t eat well together. But overall, great flavors.”

“Absolute slam dunk 5/5. Food is both incredibly good and inventive. They have dishes I haven't seen in many places, it's all just so flavorful, and it's reasonably priced (though not cheap by any stretch) to boot XO escargot was so memorable - probably the best snail dish I've ever had. Squab was excellent but if we went back we'd try the rabbit or chili crab. Green beans were dynamite, as was the Sichuan cabbage. Had some tasty sake. Service was warm and speedy. Such a unique experience and fully deserving of the hype.”

“Having to book an appointment and barely having any time slots available I was expecting some pretty tasty food but if you are not first during open hours of the day many specialty and popular dishes are sold out and im not one to leave a review like this but the food was very mediocre and very bland in taste for the food dishes I tried that shouldn't be the case even if your specialty dishes are sold out the normal dishes should still carry flavor and soul of culinary cooking the only thing that saved the experience was one single vegetable dish and the service was kind and welcoming, the music was toned down more chit chatting heard than music kind of dulls the theme of the Four Kings in my opinion I personally will never come back again if most of the entrees were so bland I would not expect much more of their specialty items like squab or singaporean crab biggest overhyped and let down experience for me in SF even just regular old local chinese fast food in SF china town beats the flavors here by a lot sounds like I have a lot to say but if you are a true food taster and enjoyer you will feel the same way about the taste of the food here, ok on to the food dishes and my opinion. Black Pepper Steak(presentation was great the medium rare was perfect but there was no seasoning to the steak at all it felt very bland didn't even taste any salt or pepper for Black pepper steak even the sauce had barley any flavor the butter barely gave it a bit more flavor wasnt a super soft cut either so you definitely have to cut it up with the knife at least it wasnt a super tough chewy cut i believe like a 10oz New York steak in comparison) Pork tonkotsu rice(tonkotsu was ok but it was just tomato onion with pretty flavorless cheese and a lot of rice nothing special at all no tonkotsu sauce either) Lamb skewers (single ball of ground lamb but seasoning just didnt have flavor compared to normal lamb skewers available any where else at BBQ Skewer restaurants) Mapo noodle ( didnt quite have Mapo flavor and was just spaghetti with barely any ground beef) Sichuan Cabbage( basically picked cabbage it had the most sichuan peppercorn taste of all the dishes but was very salty and I eat on the salty side) Snap Pea with Tofu Dressing( this was a decent small bite but nothing captivating enough that id try it or order a 2nd time) Finally the Fish Fragrant Eggplant( This was by far the best dish out of everything I tried the only dish that had flavor to it and also wok hei the fish fragrant comes from it being topped with bonito flakes if it wasnt for this dish having good flavor and actual wok hei that I could taste the review score would be even lower in my opinion.”