On a Tuesday just after noon, scooter delivery drivers, downtown office workers and Chinatown residents all gathered inside Rice Roll Express. Packed at a communal table and counter seating, diners slurped paper plates of cheong fun – silky rice noodle rolls stuffed with shrimp and barbecue pork – under bright fluorescent lights. Every few moments, a doorbell chime signaled an order was ready, followed by a robotic voice blaring, “Please take the meal.”
With its affordable, simple menu of freshly prepared cheong fun and wontons, Rice Roll Express became a hit quickly after it opened in 2024. Influencers deemed it a “must try” for its flavorful rice rolls under $10 in videos wracking up hundreds of thousands of views. The crowds followed, leading to long lunch waits even two years later. Popular North Beach bakery Butter and Crumble created a pastry inspired by the special roll at Rice Roll Express, and Mayor Daniel Lurie even recently shared a video highlighting the restaurant.
On my visit, a pair of young women told me they’d found out about the restaurant from TikTok. But Rice Roll Express draws just as many older regulars who likely have no idea of the spot’s social media fame.
The shrimp and roe wonton soup at Rice Roll Express in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Customers dine and wait for their orders at Rice Roll Express in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Rice Roll Express is cash-only, although, in an unusual move for a brick-and-mortar restaurant, it also accepts Venmo and Zelle. After placing my order and paying via Venmo, my colleague and I began the cutthroat scramble for a place to sit. Right as I was striding toward two barstool seats that had just opened up, two diners cut in front of me to steal them. I stood there, mouth hanging open like a fool. Luckily, a few minutes later, we were able to slide into some other chairs at the long communal table.
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A long 25 minutes later – it was very, very busy – my number was called. I took my heaping plastic red tray of food to the sauce station, where customers can top their rice rolls with housemade chile oil, “special soy sauce” (a sweetened house soy dressing), peanut sauce, Sriracha, vinegar and more. I tried to keep it simple, dousing my cheong fun and wontons with plenty of soy sauce and chile oil.
The chile oil station for customers at Rice Roll Express in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Rice Roll Express’s bread and butter is the Rice Roll Express special ($9.21) with beef, pork, barbecue pork and egg, as well as the “shrimp feast” ($8.98). Anything called “shrimp feast” has my name written all over it, so obviously, I loved this one. The silky rice noodles encased a comforting medley of perfectly tender fresh shrimp, pungent dried shrimp, steamed egg and scallions. The flavor of the dish on its own is mild, but came to life with the mouth-numbing chile oil and savory-sweet special soy sauce.
I also tried the vegetarian rice roll ($6.45), which came with my choice of two vegetables – I selected corn and scallions. While less satisfying than the shrimp feast, the simplicity of this roll allowed me to appreciate the textural delight of the slippery, slightly elastic rice noodles in a way I never had before. I’ve enjoyed my fair share of cheong fun at dim sum restaurants, but these are probably the best I’ve ever had. That’s probably because Rice Roll Express makes them fresh to order.
The vegetarian rice roll at Rice Roll Express in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Customers dine and wait for their orders at Rice Roll Express in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Owner Tom Zhen, who left his San Francisco tech career to open Rice Roll Express with his family at the age of 29, told the San Francisco Examiner in 2024 that rice rolls at dim sum parlors are often pre-made and reheated later to expedite service. While it’s more labor-intensive, Rice Roll Express makes them fresh. The restaurant soaks raw rice overnight and grinds it down fine, then steams it in a square metal device, fills it with meat or seafood, and steams it again. Making it fresh is how Zhen said they recreate the flavors of the cheong fun he grew up with in his hometown of Kaiping, a city in the Southern China province of Guangdong. There, cheong fun is a common street food and is often eaten for breakfast.
Zhen’s father ran a rice roll restaurant in Kaiping, according to the Examiner, but business there was very competitive. After more than a decade, he abandoned the eatery and moved to San Francisco with his family. Zhen, his son, told the Examiner that he was inspired to revive his father’s rice roll business when he saw the rice roll scene that was taking off in New York City. There weren’t many places in SF specializing in the dish, and he wanted to change that.
The signature shrimp and roe wonton noodle in chile oil at Rice Roll Express in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
While the rice rolls are undoubtedly the highlight of the menu at Rice Roll Express, the shrimp and roe wontons were also a very solid option. The plump wontons encased in thin wrappers were tightly packed with a flavorful combo of shrimp, ground pork and crab roe – served either in a light, savory soup broth ($10.82) or on a bed of thin egg noodles and doused with more of that kickass house chile oil ($10.82).
Wash any one of these dishes down with a cup of lightly sweet soy milk ($2.76), and you have a wildly delicious, very affordable lunch on your hands. Just be prepared to fight for a seat.
Rice Roll Express, 1131 Stockton St., San Francisco. Open daily, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
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This article originally published at Rice Roll Express is the viral SF Chinatown restaurant with lunch under $9.