Under $10 and in San Francisco?? Even the Mayor said, WHOA!!!

[theking]

The viral under-$10 California lunch people can’t stop lining up for
In notoriously expensive San Francisco, a filling lunch for less than $10 is apparently worth waiting for.

Rice Roll Express, a no-frill Chinatown joint that became a TikTok sensation for its freshly made chewy rice noodle rolls — known as cheung fun — is still pulling huge lunchtime crowds, with lines stretching out the door two years after opening.

The star of the show is the restaurant's namesake Rice Roll Express special: layers of thin steamed rice noodle wrapped around beef, pork, barbecue pork and egg, all for just $9.21. Its "shrimp feast" is another fan favorite, loaded with fresh shrimp, dried shrimp, egg and scallions, ringing in at $10.78.

The restaurant's prices are particularly eye-popping in the notoriously expensive Bay Area.

Restaurant menu items in the city averaged $25.51 in September, according to Market Pulse, which tracks prices at local eateries — meaning Rice Roll Express' signature dish costs less than half that average.

And customers are apparently willing to pay for the savings with their time.

Diners have been spotted waiting roughly 25 minutes for food and then jockeying for precious seats inside, according to a recent lunchtime visit by SFGATE. The hype was so high that even Mayor Daniel Lurie was swept up in the noodle mania.

"I kept hearing about Rice Roll Express, so when I had some time before an event in Chinatown, I stopped by their spot on Stockton and Pacific," Mayor Lurie wrote in a Facebook post. "I got the BBQ pork rice roll, with chili oil and lots of their special soy sauce on top, and it was delicious."

[Visualmon]

I want to try some of these.