Hanlin Tea Restaurant

Our group wanted a quiet place for a meeting. We met at Hamlin Tea Room located at the corner of Kearney & Washington St. The restaurant was very clean and contemporary. The menu was extensive and we tried quite a few items. Their daily lunch special for $10 was the best value. The waitress and overall service was very slow. The food came out warm not piping hot. The flavor was very good. We did enjoy the experience. I thought the price was a bit expensive. But then labor, rent & food cost is so expensive now days. There was only one server for the large dining room. She was not that busy. There was basically no real service. Just take our order, serve the food and give us the bill.

I was really surprised to find this restaurant here in the middle of Chinatown. The interior design is very modern and clean, and the service was great. The food pretty much all came out at once after only about 10-15 minutes. The drinks my family and I ordered were good too. Would recommend this place for a good lunch.

Food is WAY OVERPRICED and underwhelming. Poor service. $18 for a bowl of Taiwanese Beef noodle and close to $10 for a basic bowl of pork belly rice. These are basic Taiwan street food that most restaurants can do a decent job. The big disappointment is, while this place priced these dishes like a fine dining entree, the food tasted completely bland. The noodle soup tasted bland. The pork belly was one gross slob of pork fat with hardly any meat on it (I am talking about 95% plus fat). The egg plant dish was pretty good but close to $16 for that? Pretty much concluded that this is more a tea house rather than a restaurant. May be it is a decent place for tea, but don't plan to be satisfied here if you want a real meal. By the way, they have big signage claiming to be the inventor of bubble tea. I just came back from Taiwan and never heard of Hanlin. I guess there are a lot of shops claiming to be the inventors of the popular tea, LOL. The service was also quite poor. Takes a bit to get the attention of a waiter/waitress. We had backpacks and shopping bags with us and they walked us to a tiny two person table even though the whole place was literally empty (it was us and two other parties). We asked politely to see if we can take the 4 seater next to us, and the waitress said no. And sure enough, by the time we left, the place was still as empty as when we walked in. There were no help offered to help us situated with our backpacks/shopping bags neither. We ended up straddling everything as if we were eating at a food court. Not a good experience and not very smart service!

Had a couple dishes and an appetizer split between two people and ended up spending $15 each. Was quite tasty! Taiwanese beef noodles 5/5: I love Taiwanese beef noodles, these didn't disappoint. Rich broth, good amount of beef and tendon. Taiwanese popcorn chicken 5/5: Was expecting the usual boba-shop-chicken, and was pleasantly surprised that it was a bit classier. Crisp, fried basil, fried garlic chunks, and light on the seasoning made for some of the best popcorn chicken I've had. Pork dry noodle 3/5: The pork was flavorful, but there wasn't enough for the noodle portion, so overall it tasted a bit bland. Separately, had their oolong milk tea. Could immediately tell it was real tea. Good caffeine, good taste (y)

I had walked by this place over a month ago. I made a note to myself to come by sometime because I really wanted some time on these oyster pancakes. I actually ended up getting a set lunch dish instead of the oyster pancakes was really hungry that day. When we first came to the shop I was kind of confused because you walk through the door and the only menu you see is for boba tea. we walked back outside and looked at the window again and we can see that they had a food menu. So we walked back in and got seated. The menu consists of snacks, appetizers, hot pots, noodle soup, and set dishes. I got the pork rice dish which consisted of some ground pork and pork belly over rice, a dish of green vegetables, a cup of broth, and some tofu and hard boiled egg that was cooked in a soy poaching liquid. the food was very satisfying it was actually what I would considered comfort food. I also got a large boba tea which is much larger than a regular boba tea have gotten anywhere else. I actually ended up getting my tea to go because I can barely finish half the tea.

Service is great and attentive. We have beef noodles soup that comes with soba noodles, which is a bit unusual, but the broth was clearned and flavorful. Comes with carrots, diakons, bokchoy, beef with tendons. The ginger saeseme chicken hot pot was delicious. Perfect for two. Comes with a veggie plate and your choice of rice or noodles. Plenty of tea select; upgrade to larger cup for $0.75.