Mister Jiu's

Brandon Jew opened this room in 2016, in the Chinatown building that held the Four Seas. In 2017 it became the first Chinese restaurant in the United States to hold a MICHELIN star. He won Best Chef: California at the James Beard Awards in 2022. The whole roasted duck takes two weeks from delivery to the table.

Why go

Jew buys his ducks from Jim Reichardt's Liberty Farms in Petaluma. Reichardt's family supplied Chinatown for more than a century. In the nineties he started breeding bigger, less fatty birds for the better kitchens around him. Cooks here lift the skin off the meat with an air compressor and debone the thighs. Then comes a rub of brown rice syrup, dark soy and a ten-spice blend. The birds dry ten to fourteen days in a walk-in fitted with two dehumidifiers and three fans. Cooks smoke them over wood on the morning of service, roast them at 350 and finish at 450. They make the hoisin in house and boost it with peanut butter.

Jew confited the legs and roasted the breast separately when the room opened, then went back to the whole bird. I'd like to think that we should be making most of our decisions based on a dish being delicious, he says. But there are these other factors that come into play: where we are in Chinatown, this historic building, being able to pass Chinese techniques on to this next generation of cooks.1

Franky Ho and Mike Long met in this kitchen. They opened Four Kings on Commercial Street, the room the Chronicle ranked first in the Bay Area in 2026. The Chronicle counts his alumni as part of what he built.

Order this / avoid

Order: the whole roasted duck, and order it when you book. The kitchen asks an hour.
Order: the scallion milk bread with sticky honey butter.
Avoid: the duck as a table of two. It is a communal platter.

What locals & experts say

MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, August 2025: Mister Jiu's is a pilgrimage site for Chinese Americans who care about food, Brandon Jew the local boy who made good.2
On the 2026 Top 100, at No. 47: Brandon Jew's landmark modern Chinese restaurant celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and it does so triumphantly.3
Lena Park, Eater SF: Brandon Jew's Chinatown room continues to shine, retaining its status as the only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in California.4
The dissent is Julia Chen's, at 7.9 for The Infatuation in April 2024, when the room was running a five-course tasting menu with a compulsory family-style entree on top. She wrote that the new experience doesn't consistently deliver enough wow factor to justify the higher price tag.7 The Chronicle reported the a la carte card back the following year, so her complaint is about a format the kitchen has since dropped. Her praise for the room stands: gold lotus chandeliers, an open kitchen under spotlights, and the lanterns of Chinatown below the windows.

Good to know

Getting in: the bar takes walk-ups for a la carte. Everything else wants a booking.
The menu: the Chronicle reported in August 2025 that it had gone back to a la carte, with a banquet option built around the duck.
Upstairs: Moongate Lounge takes seated dinners and standing receptions.
Closed: Sunday and Monday.
Where: 28 Waverly Place, one floor up.

Verdict

must-visit — Book for four or more. A smaller table eats well here and sees less of the kitchen.