Ovo
Chinese
Delivery
Take-out
Asian
Non-veg

Serves meat, vegan options available. Meat-heavy menu but does offers tofu, vegetable, and mock meat dishes that are vegan suitable (faux beef, faux chicken...). Has dim sum. Open Mon-Wed 10:30am-11:00pm, Thu-Sat 10:30am-12:00am, Sun 10:30am-11:00pm.


Venue map for Big Lantern
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14 Reviews

First Review by SteveWired

StaceyP

Points +675

Vegan
11 Feb 2024

Good and filling

Incredibly delicious and filling. Nice and fast service. Plenty of vegan options.

Updated from previous review on 2024-02-11

EmdotAlice

Points +4622

Vegan
29 Jan 2024

Delicious vegan options

We ordered the vegan BBQ pork buns (with meatless chicken), the turnip cakes with meatless chicken, braised tofu with bok choy, and the mandarin eggplant with meatless chicken. The food was delicious. Good vegan turnip cakes can be really hard to find and these had great texture and flavor from the meatless chicken. The BBQ pork buns were good but not the same level as we’ve had in NYC. The braised tofu had amazing texture and came with some really flavorful mushrooms. The mandarin eggplant was my partner’s favorite. It was very flavorful but not very spicy. I would definitely come back. #Veganuary

Protip: if you order vegan buns, make sure they have a red dot. They accidentally brought us animal parts the first time but then corrected the mistake.

Updated from previous review on 2024-01-29

Pros: Lots of vegan options

@trying2bevegan

Points +424

Vegan
01 Jun 2022

Good vegan Chinese

One of the best vegan Chinese places I have eaten in San Francisco I would definitely recommend. We ordered delivery which came in good time. I was tired after a long flight so the option to dine in the Air bnb was much appreciated. The orange vegan chicken was super tasty and the tofu king poa was also awesome! The veggie chow mien left something to be desired as it was a little dry but mixed with out other dishes it worked!

Pros: Plenty vegan options, Easy delivery through Uber eats

·X·

Points +21101

Vegan
12 Jan 2022

Big Lantern

I appreciate there are vegan options at Big Lantern but the quality just wasn’t there during my visit. The food was edible but nothing inspired me to go back at any point. 2.5 stars. See attached pictures.

JulienPowell

Points +16

Vegan
15 Feb 2021

God Dang

Excellent, as a reformed carnivore I never thought I would have chicken like this again, delicious

Pros: Tons of vegan options

lulu9798

Points +357

Vegan
02 Jul 2020

Delicious food and plenty of vegan options

Would have given 5 stars if non-veg restaurants were allowed to get them. I ordered the vegetarian dim sum as my entree and it was plenty of food for a reasonable price ($15). Everything was delicious! Dumplings and buns were super flavorful, as well as the faux-chicken dish. I would reccomend ordering the sesame balls for dessert too- they are like deep fried, rice dough donut filled with yummy bean paste 💕

Pros: lots of vegan options, delicious

daveoz

Points +1124

Vegan
23 Nov 2018

Vegan Dim Sum, Yay!

Don't be put off by the exterior of this little gem. Once inside you will find a lively classic family run Chinese restaurant, Of all the vegan dishes we loved the Dim Sum. The "fake Pork Buns" were the most amazing. As a whole food plant based consumer the decadence of a sweet, white flour steamed bun filled with sweet sauce and bits of stuff that tasted like pork was quite decadent. We had not eaten Dim Sum for over 10 years but finally we can! The other vegan dishes are good and typically very oily, but you have to come here for your once-in-awhile treat!

Asi911

Points +93

Vegan
01 Oct 2017

Great food - service can be better

Very yummy and tons of Vegan options
Staff was weird and hard to get reliable recommendations.

CoralReef

Points +138

Vegan
17 Sep 2017

Dim Sum Heaven

Always plenty of room even on a Saturday night because everyone is ordering take out. ********; skip the plastic and dine in.

Big dim sum menu with lots of meatless options. You seriously want to eat that in front of the television?

The main menu is loaded with fake meat options too. Tea flavored meatless chicken is scrumptious and featured asparagus for ***** sake so what are you waiting for an invitation? [edit by staff, see tos]

purplesnowcone

Points +288

Vegan
24 Jul 2017

New fave Chinese restaurant in SF

I've eaten at a number of Chinese-American style restaurants in San Francisco and this little restaurant is my new favourite.

We had meatless sesame chicken, meatless orange chicken, mixed veggies and meatless chicken and veggie crispy rolls. Some of the people in our party said that our meatless chicken was better than real chicken and very flavourful and tender. All of the sauces were a cut above usual Chinese-American fare and were very well spiced, not too oily or greasy (even though two of our items were deep fried) and everything came out crispy and just the right temperature.

Lunch options include rice and a small salad side with crispy chow-mein noodles as a topping, a slice of orange garnish and parsley.

The service was very polite and we didn't wait long for our meal (though it should be noted that we came at a strange time after the lunch rush) -another nice touch was that there were acrylic/sturdy chopsticks instead of the splintery disposable kind.

FoodAndLoathing

Points +294

Vegan
06 May 2013

Watch out ordering online!!!!!!!!!

The last time I ate meat, it was when I ordered online from this place for delivery. Having only ordered from here once before, quite a while ago, I did not remember what their veg meat looked like, and since I'd ordered a veg dish and put a note "Vegan, please no egg," I guess I assumed that I got what I ordered.

However, after eating quite a bit, I got more and more suspicious. The meat was too plain and tasteless to be veg meat. I was tearing apart the meat, trying to decide if it seemed like actual flesh and I was pretty sure that, yes, it was. I called them to ask. Indeed, they'd brought me the flesh of chickens to eat.

They refunded me, but the damage was done. I cried a lot. I know that it's not my fault, and I don't think this place did it on purpose, but I know now that I cannot trust Big Lantern to give me what I ordered. I also decided that I would never order online from any place that serves animal flesh again. I may still order from places on the phone, because when I'm actually talking with someone, it's easier to gauge that they truly understand what I'm saying.

The other time I ordered from here, I thought the veg food was good. My anti-vegan food sister actually likes their meatless chicken better than chicken flesh from here.

Pros: large vegan menu

Cons: don't order online, cannot be trusted to give you veg meat, crying after you've eaten chicken flesh

antgirl

Points +293

Vegan
11 May 2012

Love Big Lantern

Some of the best Chinese food around. Great location in the Mission. My favorite dish is the Sauted Sting Beans with Fried Tofu. It may not sound all the exciting, but the tofus are dried and salted a bit and sooo yummy. The Yum Yum Eggplant is also really good, although it is a bit oily. Vegan is easy at Big Lantern and the food is outstanding!

Pros: Delicious Chinese, Vegan friendly, Great price

sfliberal

Points +52

Vegan
20 Mar 2012

Amazing!

Big Lantern is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in SF. As a Vegan, I have found that some of my favorite Vegan dishes are not found at purely Vegan/Vegetarian restaurants. Big Lantern is a prime example of this. Their Sesame Meatless Chicken is one of the best fake meat dishes I have ever had. If you want to impress a skeptical Omnivore on how you can be Vegan and not give up flavor, texture, etc., just take them to Big Lantern and have them try this dish. I have and the results have been impressive. B-)

Other dishes I highly recommend are the Basil Tofu, General Meatless Chicken, Vegetarian Won Ton soup, Tofu Spinach soup, Kung Pao Tofu, Vegetarian Pot Stickers, Turnip Cake with Meatless Chicken, Tofu Vegetable Roll, Garlic Noodle, Hong Kong Style Fried Noodles with Vegetable and so much more!
Updated from previous review on Monday March 19, 2012

Pros: Amazing Fake Meat Dishes, Quality Chinese Food, Location

Cons: Not Purely Vegan/Vegetarian, Default wasteful plasticware on delivery

SteveWired

Points +21

Mostly Veg
13 Feb 2012

Fake Meat At Its Best

Fake meat nirvana. All vegan. Some of the best mock meat I've had. Super friendly staff.

Try the nicely spicy General "Chicken" or the extra spicy Orange "Chicken" or the even more spicy Mongolian "Chicken". (Pass on the Cashew Chicken.)

Pros: Mock Meat, Friendly

Cons: Parking difficult




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