Clay

I will be visiting San Francisco with my wife in a few weeks and would love to eat at a good Chinese restaurant. Will be staying in Union Square, so Chinatown would obviously be a good place to start. I had one meal there last year in Chinatown and came away very disappointed. No sushi or anything 'outrageous', just looking for a local place with great food that you can't get just anywhere. Suggestions?

kam

There are loads of Chinese restaurants in SF. The biggest and most popular for tourists is the Empress of China, but I find it rather bland food, too glitzy and expensive. Most tourists are very pleased with the Great Eastern, and if you're not that familiar with Chinese food, I would recommend it.We send our houseguests there always and never heard anything but raves. Another quite upscale restaurant is the Mandarin in Ghirardelli Square. If you are more adventurous, there are the little mom and pop places in Chinatown as well--House of Nanking on Kearny near Columbus is a tiny place with excellent food, but you'll need to know how to order. Another fun thing to do is the Wok Wiz walking tour of Chinatown which ends in a dim sum meal with help from your guide. Very entertaining stories about Chinatown. Look for their website. There are also several good Chinese restaurants in the Richmond District--China House Seafood, Hong Kong Flower Lounge on Geary, Ton Kiang as well as Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai and other Asian cuisine. All along Clement and Geary Streets and convenient to Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. BTW, sushi is Japanese, dim sum is Chinese, most commonly Cantonese.

Gail

I would go with Great Eastern , the easiest for you to get to. Part of the "trick" here is being clear on what type or region of Chinese food you are looking for and odering appropriately into the strength of the restaurant. I suggest you look at sfgate.com/food and the reviews of the top 100 restaurants. Great Eastern is famous for it's seafood so if that is not what you are looking for then you would be better off looking elsewhere. The restaurant finder here would also be helpful and the reviews are fairly reliable. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

kam

Gail is correct in pointing out the various types of Chinese cooking. The Great Eastern is Cantonese so emphasis on dim sum and seafood, which seems appropriate in SF. But, the Mandarin is, guess what, as in duck and moo shu. Hunan is hotter than most, things like kung bao. But, I've been told that the best chefs come from Shanghai and can cook in the style of almost any area. The Great Eastern's menu includes a bit of everything and is a good sampling. Don't know where you're coming from but unless you are living in California, I think you will find any of these restaurants a real treat.

arlynn

My husband and I love to eat out and we would recommend the following restaurants in S.F.:
Yank Sing Restaurant - 427 Battery St.(A good variety of dim sum, better than Harbor Village)
R&G Lounge - 631 Kearny St.(Inexpensive and still offers good tasty food)
Betelnut Restaurant - 2030 Union St.(For something different, this restaurant offers pan-Asian cuisine, a good combination of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean)
Tommy Toy's - 655 Montgomery St. (Elegant dining with exceptionally
good food)
Ton Kiang Restaurant - 5821 Geary Blvd. (Inexpensive, popular, and good)

Have fun in SF!

Gail

Let me clarify my point.{ Maybe it's just the dread of three months of empty posturing between "the smirker" and "the screacher" but I need something to take my mind off this.} Any way. My experience is that the difference between the "great meal" you are looking for and a pleasant meal is in knowing what to order and going with a restaurant's strength. I think you will find sfgate extremely helpful in both identifying excellent restaurants and in pointing out what their strenghts are.{In addition to the top 100 restaurants I'd also look at the bargin restaurants} It's the difference between an excellent meal and one that leaves you wondering what all the hub-bub is about. Seafood at Great Eastern increases the probability of a "great meal" there. I'd second Yang Sing for Dim Sum and R&G Lounge{again seafood}.OK, that's that. I'll now dutifuly remove myself from any further commentary on this inquiry and go look for my ear plugs.

Curious

Gail,
Besides restaurants, what are you talking about? Really. I don't know.
(re: your last post)

Clay

Thanks for all the suggestions. To clarify, I would probably like to eat within walking distance or a short cab ride from Union Square. I know sushi is Japanese, but wanted to make the point that we don't like it so there wouldn't be any recommendations for it. Would like to stick to basic Chinese food, could be seafood but doesn't have to be. I will eat seafood, chicken, beef, etc. but my wife will only eat something simple like chicken with mixed vegetables or something along those lines. We ate at Cathay House in Chinatown for lunch last year. It cost about $30 and we were very disappointed with the food, in fact left most of it on the plate. Any more suggestions would be appreciated.

kam

Clay, don't know Cathay House although we live very close to SF. Again, recommend the Great Eastern.

ilove

Here's a tip I learned from my Chinese-American friend: wander around Chinatown and watch where the LOCALS are going! Follow them and you can't go wrong.

aucontraire

There are numerous chinese restaurants which serve medicocre food at best filled with Chinese eating there.Just because you're chinese doesn't mean you know didley squat about what is good food. The lack of taste transcends cultural bounds.

Daisy

Definately, the House of Nanking. It's a small hole in the wall serving great food at a good price in record time. My husband and I were attracted to this place in 1991 by the line outside...the experience was such that we dreamed about a return visit until last year (we live in Boston) and it was worth the wait.

Kristin

R&G Lounge---great food, the place was packed with locals. Not fancy, but lots of good food for a small price.

get

Yeah, au contraire, what the heck would Chinese people know about Chinese food?? Best to find an overpriced place filled with tourists. Now those are people who know good food. By the way, what exactly is the definition of "good food?" Food that YOU like? It's all subjective.

Pat

Just back from California- had dim sum at Yank Sing on Battery. It was our first experience with dim sum and we really enjoyed it. The food and service were excellent although it was a bit pricier than I am used to for Chinese food. But still worth it.

Kate

I would recommend House of Nanking - don't worry about knowing how to order. The waiter came to our table, did not give us menus and asked what we wanted ie chicken, beef or pork. He ordered for us and we had an appetizer, a pork dish and chicken dish. The food was fantastic and very reasonable.

cmw

Yes, House of Nan King is excellent. We let the owner order for us & got to sample a wide variety of great food. The folks at the table next to us insisted on ordering something they were familiar with, then wished they had left it up to the waiter. I've been back twice now, & both times were great!

jan

Clay, I would definitely vote for Yank Sing @ lunch and dinner at Tommy Toy. Enjoy

topper

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jchop

We were so impressed with the food at R&G lounge we went back to eat there twice in a 5 day trip! We were the only tourists in the place (from what I could tell) and noone was speaking English. It was a great experience and the food was delicious. The place isn't fancy but the food made up for it.