Tops Cafe B-B-Q House

I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten more Chinese food in the 8 months I’ve been in the Bay Area than I have my entire life and that’s largely in part to this little joint. We live about an hour and a half away, but will plan our outings for the day around ending up here to eat — it’s that good!
This place is very «no frills». For example, your drink options are hot green tea, bottled water, or canned soda. They accept cash only. The service is efficient but straight to the point and there’s noise from folks coming and going while ordering/​picking up take out — which is a good sign! Basically, come here for the great food and not for the ambiance.
The boyfriend is obsessed with the roast duck as well as the General Tso’s chicken. The beef chow mien is fantastic as well as the orange chicken. We never know when we’ll be able to make it back, so we always order more food than we’ll eat and leave with several to-​go boxes.
Don’t allow the look of the storefront or the negative reviews stop you from trying this place!

Okay so I want to give this place a shot because of new management and or owner. I know it’s a Chinese place but when you see the person cutting your meat with the same hands that they handle cash with, it’s not really appetizing. Many disease, bacteria, and viruses are carried through cash. The meat cutter wears gloves to make it seem like they are sanitary but handles cash with the gloves on. This is just unsafe. I wonder how many people got sick or at the very least upset stomach over this. Management, if you see this please take immediate action to change it.

Luv their salty fish chicken fried rice, ma po tofu, garlic eggplant, pepper salt fried chicken wings and chow fun!!! Those are just a few of my favorites! !!

roasted duck and soy sauce chicken is pretty good here. customer service is horrible though.

Some reviews are over exaggerated, this is not a one star place. So to keep the balance I am give this place a fighting chance, full stars!
Take a look people, what’s in the window when you walk by the store? BBQ! They hang that sh*t for display because it’s what they do best. So I suggest ordering their BBQ items.
My family loves to order food from this place during our family gatherings. We always get a few orders of BBQ pork chow mein and BBQ pork fried rice for the kids. For the adults, we get the gooooood sh*t! A couple pounds of roast pork, a roast duck, and the soy sauce chicken.
Don’t come here expecting a fancy meal. Like another Unilocaler (Henry L.) said «This is run by a family trying to make it work and they make pretty good food.» I couldn’t agree more :)
Just because they aren’t chatty Kathy doesn’t meant its bad service. I come here to order good BBQ, and then I’m out! Simple as that! Once you understand the essences of each unique restaurant you’ll stop having unrealistic expectations and just learn to enjoy the food! I’ll definitely be back :3

I love this place very much! Everything is so good! I love the soy sauce chicken. After I had that I will not like others. I also love the BBQ pork, taste is so so good. I recommend you guys to there to try something. My friends and their family always go there to buy one chicken or roast duck for dinner. The best place to enjoy the yummy BBQ food.

Authentic bbq place.
Not sure why everyone is giving this place bad reviews! The place looks like it’s owned by a family trying to make it work, and even though the place looks like a little old, the food is actually pretty good. There were customers in there who went with large groups, and everyone there seemed to be having a good time.
In terms of food quality, the roast duck is pretty good – juicy and warm, and in large portions. The cabbage on the side also tasted like it was marinated, which is usually a good sign since not all bbq places do that.
The price was also pretty low given how much food they give you. The one negative is that they actually didn’t put any soy sauce on the rice! What!
Overall, a good place to go and grab some bbq pork, especially for to-​go.

AVOID this restaurant for your own good. Found a huge screw in my food and was served rotten veggies. seriously…and they had the audacity to still charge?! Ridiculous.

Roast pork yeah thats what you want to try if you ever make it here. The soy sauce chicken is good. I’ve had it at other places but never really liked it. But tops puts good flavor in their chicken the fried rice isnt the best but u cant go wrong with steam rice. The roast duck has great flavor and tender. This place is pricey but the flavor is good. Theres a few other spots in the neighborhood thats cheaper but this place has good food

While a little skeptical of the empty restaurant at 6pm on Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised.
We ordered roast duck wonton noodle soup and soy sauce chicken wonton soup. Both portions were well beyond expectations. There was so much meat on top that I couldn’t reach anything below. And I was surprised to see they have us two bundles of bak choy instead of the normal boiled iceberg. We will definitely return!

Where’s the meat! This new owner is skimping out on their portions! They gave me all back meat from the duck. All bones! And the BBQ pork was old, thin and dried up. Never coming back here again!

Always my go-​to place for an inexpensive and delicious meal. Yesterday I got ½ lb of roast pork for about $ 3. Don’t be afraid to ask them to make stuff on the regular food menu spicy. I ordered the Mongolian beef and asked them for some heat. Came out perfect, not too spicy.
The wontons are also very good and I’ve seen them wrapping them by hand so you know they’re not store bought.

Only 4 stars because I’ve only tried the roast pig and can’t speak for the other items. The roast pig is fantastic! It had perfectly crispy skin with all of the fat rendered out. It was lean and flavorful. I had a rice plate heaped over with a huge portion, including cabbage cooked in the meat juices. All of this was something like $ 7.50. It was enough for two people.
This is my new favorite cheap eats and recommended if you are going to SFO and want something tasty to eat beforehand. The location is convenient as it is just to the immediate left when you take the Silver Ave. exit off 101. The only problem is parking is difficult however there is a small city parking lot the next block to the south.

Restaurant is under new ownership so we stopped in for lunch. Typical Chinese restaurant, no fancy décor. We had the roast duck, BBQ pork with crispy skin, catfish, spare ribs with black bean sauce and a tofu dish with mushrooms. Everything was very good, especially the prices. Rice plates and chow mein go for about $ 5 an order. Pretty good deal. There is a separate menu for many items besides the food you see in the front. Saw lots of people taking out orders. I’ll be coming here several times a week for take out. Quick service.

My family always order roast pork here for church special occasion since they usually make it good. But we decided to get half roast pork here since my family have a party for our guests to eat. It cost about $ 120 for a half roast pork. not sure how much it cost for a whole roast pork. You’ll have to order at least a day or two before the day of your event or party. The workers sometime help you bring out the roast pork if you need help to bring it out to your car.
They always the skin part of the roast pork so crispy and the meat part are usually moist each time we order here.
The staffs/​service here are not bad. You can either eat in or pick up food at the hot food section.
Parking around this area suck. Always have a hard time finding parking. You either have to park far or have someone else sit in the car and double park while you pick up the food.

After eating Cheung Hing last month, I was craving roast duck again without the drive. I decided to try something a little closer to home. Now I know why CH is the best in the city. Top’s duck and the order of fried rice were cold and had to be heated when I got them home. Nuking the duck created a lake of grease on the plate. The duck was so fatty it was almost inedible. I know duck is supposed to be greasy but this was way out of control. The rice was nothing special. It was not too expensive — $ 11 for the meal, but I won’t go back. Lucky there are a bunch more Asian bbqs on San Bruno with ducks in the window — I can make my way down the street and try them all…

This review is really just about the ROAST DUCK. Lately I’ve been having my share of roast duck in the Sunset, where I spend most of my weekends. And I’m pretty pleased with the duck there. But this past Saturday, I was at home, and my dad sent me on a hunt to find some nearby roast duck. I haven’t hung out on San Bruno Ave. much, especially because I was teaching abroad for a couple of years, so I forgot about all the Chinese BBQ places I could go to. So I’m walking around relearning my steps, and I run into this place. From the outside, the ducks look pretty good, and I’m kind of in a hurry because I don’t have much money on my parking meter. So I buy a whole roast duck. And after the guy cuts up my bird, he gets pretty generous with the that oily-​whatever it is-​yummy duck sauce. He drenches that bird, and I drool. I take it home. We eat it. And it’s delicious, because that generous pouring of the sauce. There are a few places in the sunset, where I like the texture of the duck skin better, but those places don’t drench the duck in the sauce, the way that Tops Café did for me this past Saturday. So kudos to this place for a saucy duck.

I must be on a Hong Style BBQ restaurant kick, because this is the second in a week. I went for lunch and had a combo of Fried Rice, Roast Duck and BBQ Pork Spareribs. For the unfamiliar follks that’s not the Barbeque that’s traditionally slow cooked, smoky, American Style. This is that unnatural looking red colored meat they have hanging at a Chinese restaurant.
Moving on, the price was under $ 7.00 and with a soda it came out to about $ 9.+ This is really a bargain for the quality and amount of food I received. I want to go back and try other dishes.
If you’re in a pinch, in that part of town, looking for a quick Chinese food joint, stop by Tops Café BBQ House.

They get 4 stars because the duck, soy sauce chicken, BBQ pork and roasted pork is awesome! Everything else is, «Blah»! They do tend to forget the soy sauce… I mean you have 4 rice plates can I at least get a handful?! Not just…1. –_​_​–

Their soy sauce chicken, barbeque pork, and roast pork tastes good. I have eaten here before and the food is absolutely delicious. I have actually eaten dinner here with my grandma, parents and sister before (back in 2003). Food and service is excellent, my parents and I love their BBQ food. I’m definitely coming here again if I want some BBQ pork and soy sauce chicken.