Chinese restaurant in San Francisco
 

Looking for any faves preferably in Chinatown. We're going to have a group of 10 - 12, and prefebly not a place that is too noisy (ha ha). Any price range at this point is okay. Thanks all!

Empress of China
www.empressofchinasf.com

Great Eastern

I haven't been to the Empress of China for quite awhile as I can no longer eat Chinese Food (due to allergies) but trippinkpj if it is as wonderful as it use to be you will love it I would think! But no upytodate review from me sadly. BTW, we often had that amount in our group when enjoying the Empress of China.

We love Hunan Homes on Jackson between Grant and Kearny. Adore the sauteed snow pea leaves as well as numerous other dishes. They have tables for large groups in the back.

That's good to hear about the Great Eastern and Hunan Homes, as those were two that had crossed my mind (haven't been to either yet). About the Empress of China, DH and I were there a couple years ago for lunch, and weren't that impressed for the price. I've been to banquets there many years ago, and was very impressed. Thanks all!

House of Nanking in North Beach was always my favorite. Unfortunately, it's been a long time since my last visit.

I had a friend who recomended House of Nanking, though read it was very noisy. I want to be able to visit with our friends. I may still look into it. I'm also hoping for a place that's in Chinatown closer to the main entrance near Union Square.

Hi, trippinkpj!

I'd agree with you on the Empress of China - aging dowager with dirt under her fingernails. Was good 20 years ago and gone steadily downhill since then. Only for tourists nowadays.

Are you going for food or for atmosphere?

The best dinner food is at R&G Lounge on Kearny.

There are several good dim sum houses in Chinatown: New Asia Gardens and Miriwa among them.

If you see a restaurant in Chinatown where the bulk of the clientele is non-Asian, then this is a recipe for alien Chinese food, high prices, and bar-dependency (making money from drinks instead of food).

I hope Shanghainese sees this thread and can come up with other good restaurants.

Hi EasyT! I'm going for the food, although I think the others may want a little atmosphere. I liked R&G's menu on menupages.com. I'll check out the other two you mentioned. It looks like we will be doing a Brunch/ Lunch on Sunday, so dim sum sounds like a good idea. Thanks for your suggestions, and I do also hope Shanghainese sees this. :-)

If you are going on a Sunday for dim sum, I'd suggest getting to the restaurant early, like 10:30am. Otherwise you could have a very long wait.

New Asia is probably the most authentic and the prices wouldn't break your wallet. It is however a huge restaurant, and can be noisy but not overwhelmingly so. If your friends/guests are from out of town and not familiar with dim sum, they may enjoy the hustle and bustle of a normal dim sum house. New Asia is about as close to the gigantic and very fun dim sum houses in Hong Kong as one can get in the US.

Miriwa is upstairs and it's dim sum is about as good as New Asia's with like prices, maybe just a tad more. Miriwa's furniture and decor are a bit more upscale than New Asia's.

Both New Asia and Miriwa are on Pacific, about 1/2 block up from Grant (the two restaurants are almost next door to each other).

If you want fancy-smancy dim sum, try Yank Sing, although their food is no better than at a lot of dim sum places in Chinatown. Yank Sing is not in Chinatown itself.

There's only one other Chinese dim sum house that I'm familiar with in Chinatown and can recommend: that's Gold Mountain. Frankly, its food is a bit less in quality from New Asia and Miriwa's. It's on Broadway, way on the other side of Chinatown from the gate.

Will you have a Chinese person in your group? If not, I'll let you in on some of the secrets of dim-summing - next post. :)

Actually we won't have a Chinese person in our group EasyT. I'd welcome your dim sum secrets!:-)

trippinkpj:

You're sure? :)

OK, here are the key things to do in order to act like you're a real old pro:

1) When you first get seated, a waiter will come over and he'll ask you what kind of tea. There are special teas to drink with dim sum. Say: "kok bow" if you want caffeinated tea, say "kok fa" if you want herbal tea (kok fa is the chrysanthemum flower - which is abundantly used in South China as a herbal tea). For that large a party you may want to order both, in case someone in your group doesn't drink caffeinated tea.

This is also the time to order other drinks, such as coke, seven-up, etc.

2) Before he leaves, also ask him for forks!

3)The waiter will go off to get your drinks, and the ladies will come around with their carts laden with dim sum. If they are not coming around or not stopping at your table, just wave at them - dim sum is not for the shy! Just ask them to lift the covers off the baskets to see if the item is one that you want. If not, just shake your head or otherwise indicate no. Most of the time these ladies don't speak much English. At other times, they'll tell you something is good but it really isn't (meaning it may not be something you would want to try). Don't hesitate to say no any time.

4) When the waiter returns with the drinks is the time to order a large plate of chicken/shrimp fried rice and a plate of fried noodles. You need some "safe" fallback dishes for that someone who is very finicky and won't eat any Chinese food unless it's fried rice. (There's usually s small menu card wedged in with the condiments dish - if not, ask for a menu).

5) If your teapot runs empty, just flip the lid up and put the pot close to the edge of the table. When a waiter sees that flipped lid, he'll come by to swoop up the pot and go and add hot water or else he'll bring a thermos full of hot water to your table. There is no need to say anything. If you're in a hurry, you can put the flipped-lid teapot at the edge of your table, wave at a waiter and point at the teapot.

6) The items in the metal/bamboo steamers are usually the most popular (except, for your group, the chicken and duck feet). The preferred items are like dumplings with shrimp, pork, and/or other ingredients wrapped in shapes like a potsticker but steamed. For that large a group you will need at least 2 containers but 3 or 4 would allow each person one piece of each type of dim sum. Each steamer "basket" contains 3 or 4 pieces of the same type of dim sum.

7) When you are done, wave at a waiter and make a writing motion with your hand. He'll understand to total up the bill for you.

The dim sum items come in three "sizes" and therefore have three prices. You'll know how many of each size you've ordered because it will be on the card that the pushcart ladies mark.

Count up the marks under each size for yourself. E.g., when the bill comes it'll say something like "10 x $2.95" meaning that you had ten baskets at the $2.95 price. This way you'll know that you'll be paying for the right amount. Cheating is rare, but mistakes in totalling may sometimes occur.

The fried rice and the fried noodles are not considered dim sum sizes, so will be listed separately. They usually around $10-$12 a large plate.

Enjoy! :)

I have always had good luck and great food when I am the only Anglo in the room.
That strategy also works well here in Orange County, with our wonderful assortment of Vietnamese restaurants.
So peak in the window and gauge the demographics.10 to 12 people can usually be easily seated at the family-style dining tables.

I was a bit under the weather but ET said it all so trust her. My fav is still R&G Lounge, espcially dining with ET before attending the opera!

For dim sum near-ish Chinatown: Yank Sing
For dinner in Chinatown: R&G Lounge

Thanks everyone especially ET, with all your dim sum tips. :-)

bookmarking

bookmarking

http://www.eotrading.com/

Not in Chinatown, but close to it on Sutter. E&O trading company.

Here is the dinner menu

http://www.eotrading.com/assets/pdf/eo_sf_dinner.pdf

Long time locals recommend R & G Lounge, and Yank Sing for dum sum.

This was a long thread. Did someone mention that dum sum is not dinner food and to get the best selection, go midmorning?

we were just at R & G lounge, it was A+ chinese food, the real deal. ;-)