quick restaurant recommendation in San Francisco

[Scoobyqueen]

I am in San Francisco for the next two days. Can anyone give me a Chinese restaurant recommendation in China town. Seem to be quite a few mediocre ones.

[Daan]

I didn't eat Chinese when I was in San Francisco, so I'm not going to be able to help you out with that, but can I just take a minute to say I really think you shouldn't miss out on the Asian Art Museum, opposite City Hall? I loved it.

[chrix]

I ate Chinese food at Chinatown, and the Taiwanese person in our group was ok with the food, but I don't remember the name of the restaurant

But I can recommend the Japanese restaurants at the Nihonmachi...

[Xiwang]

I often take people to the New Asia Garden on 772 Pacific Avenue for dim sum lunch. It's noisy, crowded, and full of ordinary Chinese people enjoying good Cantonese food. Older Chinese women pushing dim sum carts around the restaurant and yelling out the cart contents in Cantonese add to the atmosphere.

Yank Sing has two places downtown (but outside of Chinatown) that offer high end creative and delicious dim sum. White table cloths and attractive young hostesses.

I used to take visiting friends to the Golden Dragon Restaurant at 816 Washington Street. The food was average but it was notable for a Chinese gang shooting where a bunch of tourists were killed. I usually made sure to sit facing the door.

The place has since been renamed the Imperial Palace when the former owner, having been fined for various labor law violations, sold the place to his sister instead of paying.

Brandy Ho's at 217 Columbus at Pacific has good Hunan food. Popular with office workers who work in the area.

There's usually a line of tourists at the House of Nanking at 919 Kearny St. above Jackson Street. If you're new there, the owner will offer to just order a bunch of things for you that he thinks you'll like. The food is good.

Sam Wo at 813 Washington St. above Grant (through the kitchen and upstairs). Simple food that was repeatedly featured on the David Letterman Show the last time he was in San Francisco. People used to go there just so that they could be insulted by its waiter, Edsel Ford Fong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsel_Ford_Fong

R&G Lounge at 631B Kearny at Commercial Street. Good mid-range restaurant with good seafood.

Ping Yuen Market at 1157 Grant Ave. Nothing special about the food here. However, almost all of the Chinese go there to buy their lottery tickets and, as a result, it has one of the best track records in the entire State of California for winning. The lottery right now is up to $44 million. Good luck.

Tommy Toy's at 655 Montgomery St. Fancy and expensive. Probably not one of the best restaurants in San Francisco but at least you'll be able to tell people that you had "Cuisine Chinoise."

Bon voyage and bon appétit. Have a great trip!

Edited February 11, 2010 at 02:39 PM by Xiwang