Cheap Eats-San Dong House

"Thump, thump, WHACK. Thump, thump, WHACK." Deliciousness has a sound, and you can experience it for yourself at the newly opened San Dong House located at 2nd Ave. and Geary St. The sound is the first thing you will notice upon entering this bare-bones Chinese restaurant, and comes from a guy in the kitchen preparing their already famous (at least in the Richmond District) hand-pulled noodles. 

If you have never had fresh noodles, hand-pulled to order, then you are in for a treat here. Dense and toothsome, the noodles at San Dong are worlds away from the dried variety, and even the fresh ones that are sold in packages. There is something about serving noodles minutes after pulling that takes them from "good" to "I can't get that meal out of my mind." You can't really go wrong with anything containing noodles at San Dong, and with 18 different types of noodle soups and stir-frys there are a lot of yummy options to choose from. 

In addition to anything noodle-related, another unique dish not to be missed is the beef roll which takes a naan-like piece of bread, slathers it in plum sauce, and rolls it up with cucumber and warm slices of beef. The dumplings, which they also sell frozen and in bulk, are best avoided as their preparation is uneven, arriving soggy on some occasions and overly dry on others. 

The service at San Dong tends to be slow and not very attentive, but this is a small price to pay for great food and enough of it to fill up even the most voracious of eaters for under $10.

San Dong House is located at 3741 Geary Street. For more information call (415) 668-5888.

Interested in eating well on the cheap? Check out my Cheap Eats Examiner page at www.examiner.com/sf-in-san-francisco/robyn-webster