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Grant Palace Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
737 Washington St(at Walter U Lum Pl)
San Francisco, CA 94108
Neighborhood: Chinatown
(415) 982-3705
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
98 reviews for Grant Palace Restaurant
Review Highlights
"The BBQ pork was sweet but excellent."
(in 8 reviews)
"We ordered the Peking roast duck and Mongolian beef."
(in 6 reviews)
"The beef in the chow fun was tender and juicy."
(in 6 reviews)
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98 reviews in English
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Review from Stéphane S.
1/18/2012 1 Check-in Here
There appear to have some confusion on this restaurant which might explain the wide disparities in the Yelpers' ratings! The address of this place does correspond to "Grant Place Restaurant" not "Grant Palace Restaurant" which according to some reviewers is a different place. Since the address is for "Grant Place" my review is address to it!
I came to "Grant Place" one cold and rainy January night walking chinatown for something to warm me up. Found this little unassuming place with ducks in the windows. I had a duck and wonton soup which was just so amazing that I had to go back twice since then. This is all I have here, and frankly all that I want (it's so great)!
Fabulous and cheap duck soup! -
Review from Tim R.
1/19/2012
I wish I would have Yelped this place before I went there. I was in SF on a business trip and decided to venture out to China Town and try out a random restaurant. Out of all of the places I selected this one and it was a major FAIL.
I got one of the combo plates with a little bit of everything for about $14. Everything on the plate besides the rice and the tea I got on the side was the worst Chinese food I've ever had. Nothing tasted good or fresh. Surprised the rice and tea was ok at least.
Also, it was freezing inside. Let's get that heater action going please.
Would not recommend. -
Review from Pierre B.
San Francisco, CA
1/11/2012
This Yelp Profile actually caused a great confusion. I am a local to San Francisco, and knows the whereabouts of good food along with my buddies in the many districts
I am requesting for this profile to have a name change since the negative reviews are for Grant Palace and not Grant Place.
These two restaurants are actually across the street from each other and have cause such extreme confusion.
If you walk along the street, some lady gives out a flyer and welcomes you to their restaurant she's from Grant Palace but advertises along the sidewalk where Grant Place is.
Going to Grant Palace was a mediocre experience. food where a bit like leftovers, rice was low quality, dim sum was disaster and waiters where somewhat rude. Interior is a bit run-down and looking from the crowd here, they too look confused by their meal.
Grant Place is a total opposite, very exquisite selection, well-mannered, entertaining waiters, lovely interiors and from the looks of it, only locals to San Francisco are the usual patrons. For Grant Place, food is made from scratch, every flavor can be identified, very, very rare experience from a Chinese Restaurant. -
Review from Matt B.
San Francisco, CA
2/8/2012
This review is for Grant Place. I'm not sure what the confusion is about. This is the place in the pictures, green awning out front, clearly says Grant Place on it. I never noticed any other restaurants nearby called Grant Palace.
Possibly the worst food I've had in San Francisco. A friend and I ordered BBQ pork buns (underwhelming), sesame chicken (chewy), and cashew chicken (gross). The food not only tasted bad, but the presentation was poor.
To add insult to injury, the check for this and 2 beers was $36! I don't mind paying for good food in the least, but I was annoyed that the price was so high considering the food was so bad.
The only thing that redeemed the experience was that I told 2 tourists who had just been seated next to us as we were leaving that they should "just leave now". -
Review from Lin G.
1/10/2012
Whoa and i thought I disliked this place. Yelp is just spewing with hate here. hahaha And I'm stewing in the hater juice! YUM
I walked by looking for a cheap shithole sort of place for some good food. And this place looked dirty and like a shithole and was pretty busy so I assumed that it had good food. I was wrong. The food was bad. I got a wonton and beef soup for $7 and it was the worst I've had in the US. Most of the soup is this gross yellow noodle. I HATE HATE HATE the Cantonese yellow noodle that they put in soups. It's all dry, noodles look like strands of bad perm, smells like old dirty gym socks, and are tasteless. WHY???? WTF. Wonton soups shouldn't have noodles in them because wonton skins are considered the noodle product already. Cheap assholes. $20 min on credit cards. You can always tell who's cheap by their credit card policies.
There were 3 pieces of wontons in the soup and the skin was cooked off, leaving just gross wads of dry mystery meat brown balls. It was pretty awful. The beef stew was not as gross but just average. And there were a few pieces of boiled vegetables.
The guy I was there with kind of sucked in 167 different ways and he ordered some vegetable noodle soup because he wanted something light. I knew it was going to be a bad choice but I did not anticipate just how bad. It was literally a tiny bowl, with 3 pieces of vegetables, over bland white pieces of flat noodle, for $5. It was so awful I almost felt bad for him. And he already did not know anything about Chinese food, I think this probably made it worse.
There was a white family in there where the guy was picking up INDIVIDUAL pellets of rice, with his chopsticks, and trying to put each pellet of rice in his mouth. It took him about an hour to eat a spoonful. He was holding the chopsticks so close to the tapered ends that he was practically eating with his hands. Truly painful to watch. Another guy was picking up food with his chopsticks by holding one stick in each hand. In both cases, the waiters did not offer a fork. They either have a wry sense of humor or are simply shitty ass waiters. Though those people themselves are fucking idiots and probably deserve the retarded service.
After the meal, I was still hungry and had to scarf down food at the bakery. this was truly a shithole without the redeeming good food. -
Review from Kailey W.
San Francisco Bay Area
1/30/2012
Food was edible is all I can say. When the check came it looks like they added themselves a tip (for 2 people?) or was it a cover charge? This is the first and last time I am eating here. Their tea looks like tea but taste like water! The place across the street is just as bad! I suggest everyone avoid any Chinese restaurants on Washington Street between Grant Avenue and the Portsmouth Sq. Park! Turn around and go back up the block for better food or go around the corner on Grant Ave. to Bow Hon Restaurant on Grant Ave.
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Review from Britt R.
Seattle, WA
12/24/2011 1 Check-in Here
I was on a mission for the best Dim Sum experience and did not find it here. Unfortunately, all of the highest rated Dim Sum restaurants on Yelp are take-out only, so after walking to half a dozen places, I settled for this one.
The fluorescent lights and brusque service made me feel unwelcome. The BBQ pork buns were great, so were the fried shrimp balls, the fried spring rolls, and the pot stickers.
I really wanted a completely different experience, but I guess it wasn't terrible. -
Review from C J.
San Jose, CA
1/17/2012
I guess I just never learned from mistakes. Came here years ago and swore I would never ever step my foot inside this restaurant again. Yesterday, I went to Chinatown with a friend. Both of our bladders were reaching the point of ready to explore, so we decided to find a closest place to "release" and eat. Unfortunately, this place was just right in front of us. I didn't recognize that this place is in my forbidden list until we sat down.
We ordered 5 plates of dim sum and a rice with pork (6 tiny pieces). I love dim sum and I always finish every plate. This time, I couldn't even finish half of them! Every course was greasy, oily and tasteless! I don't understand how this restaurant can still survive in Chinatown?! I guess most of the customers are travelers or foreigners. The worst part, when the bill came, the waiter was STANDING right next to me, WATCHING me counted the money and WAITING to be paid!! Excuse you?! Could I have some privacy?! It felt like he was afraid that I wasn't gonna pay! Geez! Did I mention those 5 small plates of dim sum and one rice with pork costed us (2) 40 bucks?! -
Review from Taffany H.
Berkeley, CA
12/31/2011
If a negative star is even possible for a rating then this place would be the first to get such a treatment. Horrible food, mediocre service and cheating on your final subtotal on your bill. Really, are we still in the States or are we talking some shack out in some third world country??
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Review from J J.
Berkeley, CA
9/16/2011
Bad value. An average tasting to-go meal for one cost me $21 (chicken, rice, bok choy). Everything is overpriced.
Please go here! The lines at surrounding restaurants where I go will be shorter. -
Review from Jay A.
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
1/5/2012
A mistake I will not repeat.
Not only did I just have THE worst meal I've ever had in Chinatown but the service was lousy! I'd walked by before but had always gone elsewhere, well I should have continued that policy. The place I wanted to eat was closed so I gave Grant Place a try. It took awhile for a waiter to make it to me, even though they weren't busy, and that was as good as this place got.
I ordered the "House Special Chow Fun" and it was lousy - bland and barely warm. When I couldn't get the waiter back I decided to make the best of it and eat it as it was. THEN the waiter came by, grabbed the soy sauce off my table and handed it to the two old Chinese dudes at the next table - nevermind that there was a table with several freshly filled soy sauce bottles about 15 feet away from the waiter. Even though he spoke English just fine, when I asked him why he did that he just looked blankly at me and walked away- so I went over and got a bottle off the other table.
The food was even worse than the service and at $10 for the meal it sure wasn't any bargain either. Really bad chow fun with a couple pieces of bok choi, two shrimp, some beef, a couple slivers of pork (which were very tasty) and several large unappealing chunks of squid. It was undercooked and very bland - the worst chow fun I've ever had.
I will not waste my time or $$ on this dump again, there are plenty of better options within a block of Grant Place. Reading what other unfortunate diners have written here I realize that the waiter rounded up the bill by just over a dollar. This is a classic rip off joint with terrible food and even worse service.
There are so many other options nearby that are much tastier, cheaper and better service that there is no good reason to eat here. I looked at their excuse for dim sum and it is pretty meager but no doubt better than that lousy chow fun I was served. -
Review from Cristina P.
Miami, FL
9/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
Not sure why all the negative reviews, unless you don't like good food and decent prices.
My husband and I were about to eat at Empress of China around the corner, but the prices were outrageous and the place stunk of mold and must. So we left and found this place.
Decided to give it a try after seeing what looked like many locals inside. Much to our contentment, the food was great. We ordered the Peking roast duck and Mongolian beef. Everything tasted delicious and we only paid $25 (didn't include grats like some others have said). Service was not amazing, but it was fast and the food was good. -
Review from Thuy P.
Austin, TX
11/9/2011
Food is not good, not bad.
Nothing special. Service is bad. Waiter seems angry and does not like to answer questions. -
Review from Are T.
Santa Barbara, CA
11/9/2011
Bad service. Cheap but you get what you paid for.
Like one of the comment above said, they like like to add themselve a tip. 50 cents, small enough to not call the CC company for it but I wonder if they do that will al customers. -
Review from Sam Y.
San Francisco, CA
5/25/2011
Came here with my mom for dinner after a long day at work.
I was tired and hungry.
Eh. The food was ok.
Eh. The service was ok.
What sucked were the hidden costs and the pre-paid tips in the final amount. I did not really pay that much attention to the cost, just wanted to pay and leave. My mom on the other hand, being the money wise woman that she was, saw that the bill was higher than her expectations and asked the waiter to break down the items and cost for her.
In the end, she saved me enough money for a sandwich tomorrow. I almost double tipped them.
Thanks, mom. -
Review from Grace L.
San Diego, CA
4/23/2011
Two words to describe Grant Palace: RIPOFF and GROSS!
During my vacation to San Francisco for Spring Break, I made it a point to visit Chinatown to experience some delicious dim sum. Grant Palace is NOT the place to go!
As we were walking on the street looking for a dim sum place to eat at, a lady handed me a flyer and shooed us into the restaurant. We saw that it was busy for a Thursday afternoon, so we decided to give it a try. Little did I know that I was in for bad food at a high price!
The dim sum was VERY hot, and I actually questioned whether it was microwaved due to the extreme temperature and poor texture of the food. The service was non-existent, and the plates and tea cups looked less than clean.
In the end, the waiter attempted to charge us for a plate of food that we never received. When I pointed this out to him, he acted ignorant, and tried to take only $2 off of the bill. When I asked him to breakdown the bill for me (since the bill only had the total written on it), he rudely broke it down. I ended up spending almost $30 for 5 small plates of dim sum. I am pretty sure that the waiter ripped me off, but I could not prove it because there were no prices on their dim sum menu. How convenient!
My recommendation is to run when the "flyer" lady approaches you. I said "RUN!" -
Review from Jennifer H.
Honolulu, HI
7/20/2011 1 photo
I think the reviews are low because nobody wants you to know how yummy this place is! Everything was made from scratch with LOVE and they dont skimp on the filling!The BBQ Pork Buns are heavenly perfect and stuffed with a generous portion of fresh BBQ pork and the WON TON is the best i've ever had!!!! I cant believe these reviews! The bathroom was pretty clean and the place seemed very sanitary when I was there! I dont think I can trust these reviews now because me and my friend were raving about this place.
6 bucks for the best beef won ton noodle soup loaded with beef and tendon?? I dont think that's overpriced at all! What a deal!! We ordered so much from the menu we actually liked it so much we came to eat here twice in one day. Once for lunch and once for dinner!
Here is what we ordered;
Egg custard tarts
Glazed BBQ Pork Buns
Chicken Feet 2 orders
Beef Chow Fun Noodles
Beef Won Ton Noodle Soup
Duck and Rice Plate
Fried eggplant stuffed with shrimp/fish paste
Chive and Shrimp Stuffed Dim Sum
Fried Mochi Dumpling stuffed with ground pork
Seasame Balls with lotus seed paste
Everything was HEAVENLY and it is expected to be a bit greasy because it's Chinese food!!
This place has the best Beef Won Ton Noodle Soup and Chicken Feet!!! OMG The prices are very reasonable and service was excellent. I ended up taking home a ton of food to go so my parents could try it. The duck was the best!
They have really great seasame balls too and everything is made from scratch! I am soooo excited to find this awesome hole in the wall gem!
I love this place and will be back every time I'm in Chinatown. The duck and rice is incredible and every dish was made with so much love. I really felt that I was in Hong Kong eating dim sum! Love lovee lovve this place! The lady that took our order was very friendly and she also speak Mandarin. -
Review from cindy c.
Oakland, CA
5/16/2011
I would give this place 0 stars if I could.
I ordered 2 roast duck rice plates and they gave me the ends and one pieces of the duck, after showing me she was gonna give me half the duck!! Not a good Way to do business!!!!
And the Chinese donut? Hard and stale!! -
Review from Adam F.
Austin, TX
3/23/2011 1 Check-in Here
We landed in San Francisco, checked into our hotel and hit the streets. I was pretty hungry since we were up at 5 am. Since we are staying close to Chinatown, I suggested that we head that way and find something to eat. Walking down Grant we couldn't decide on something. We turned the corner and saw a big group of people going into Grant Place Restaurant. They had Peking Ducks hanging in the window. I have been wanting to try Peking Duck for some time now....so this was the place.
David M had the Dim Sum plate...a mixture of different preselected dim sum items. The pork bun was very good. The rest...meh.
The Peking Duck was ok...very fatty...maybe that is how all Peking Duck is but I wasn't that impressed.
NOTE: They only take cash. -
Review from Leslie Y.
1/27/2011
We were doing renovations at our club, so we had no place for our monthly meetings, we chose this place cause it has an upstairs that can fit up to 50-60 people.......we chose these set meals that include everything from lobster, crab and fish to all types of meat and veggies.....I have had the dim sum here many times, same as most of the places....hospitality is always ok, again, same as most Chinese restaurants, remember that we are not known for our services, only for our cooking....lol.......
I like their bbq that is up front in the windows....we usually order an appetizer dish that comes with duck and crispy pork....
This is the only restaurant I know that will use a real bottle of Bath and Body hand soap in their restroom......greatly appreciated, especially after grubbing on all that duck...... -
Review from Daniel B.
12/22/2010 11 photos
Wow, a restaurant in San Francisco that has less than 100 Yelp reviews. WTF? Grant Place, Grand Palace, what's the correct name for this place? The front of the menu says Grand Palace, but the map on the back identifies it as Grant Place. The main menu says Grand Palace and the yellow one page menu says Grant Place (photo: http://www.yelp.com/bi...). Well, the credit card receipt has the business name printed as Grant Place and Yelp also identifies this place as Grant Place, so I'll go with the majority.
This place is just your typical hole in the wall Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. It's right on the street with chicken, ducks, and baked goods (fried bread, sesame balls, etc.) on display behind the window. Someone more than likely will be standing outside trying to lure you in. This place reminds me of a casual eatery you'd find on the street in China or Hong Kong.
They serve a variety of Cantonese cuisine. Pretty much everything you can think of. Rice dishes, noodles, noodle soup, congee, dim sum (ordered a la carte). Eat in or dine out. The small kitchen is right in the open at the entrance, along with their small aquariums with catfish and lobster. They have seating for big groups (round tables with lazy susans) and tables for two.
The food here is okay and definitely filled us up. We were looking for some lunch and ended up ordering several items including:
Chinese fried bread
Pork and fish congee
Chicken feet (dim sum)
Eggplant with shrimp (dim sum)
Beef chow fun
Chinese broccoli
Roast duck
The bread was thick and a little cold. Still okay, though. The pork and fish congee was made fresh and piping hot. The congee here seems very popular as we saw many tables ordering it. The beef chow fun and roast duck were good, although both dishes were a little bit greasy. The beef in the chow fun was tender and juicy. Chinese broccoli was not bad. We ended up getting lotus balls, red bean paste buns, and sponge cake to go for breakfast tomorrow.
Service is so-so. This restaurant was busy for lunch and they could have used an extra server or two. I'd normally give this place three stars, but the restaurant itself was dirty, especially the bathroom. Then again, what can you expect of a casual joint in Chinatown? The floors were sticky and there was just one unisex bathroom in the back, where they stored cleaning supplies and a huge mop and bucket teeming with gross black water.
In the end, Grant Place will suffice if you are looking for a quick and/or casual Cantonese fix in Chinatown. Prices are reasonable. Just don't expect fine dining. Be sure to check out my Local Photos for pics of the food.Listed in: SFO - San Francisco
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Review from Justin S.
San Francisco, CA
12/29/2010
Grant Place Restaurant is horrible. City Health score card: 59 and you will be lucky if you don't get hair in you your food. I can't believe the score was so high.
Do not eat here if you value your health. -
Review from Alicia L.
San Francisco, CA
1/23/2011
Grant Place Restaurant is a really good place that has food that tastes good and very very reasonable. It's not a fancy place by any means but you also don't have the fancy price tag to go along with it. I took 130 people of which 100 were kids here for a field trip. They were so generous to all of us and even gave some special dishes to all of us for free! The owner Elaine loves kids and even wanted to do a special cooking demonstration for them. She fed all of us within 5 minutes of sitting down at the table. Service for us was fantastic.
Could you eat off the floor? No. Just eat off the tables and all is good... -
Review from Wanugee N.
Pleasant Hill, CA
11/15/2010 1 Check-in Here
This is a typical run of the mill Chinatown restaurant, you know, the cookie-cutter long and narrow type, with a little work station in front to sell items to go, and basic tables in the back, with the harsh flourescent lighting, and the waiter that doesn't talk or look at you except to repeat what you ordered.
It was a Saturday night and we were strolling Chinatown on a warm evening in November, looking for cheap curio items from the tourist trap stores on Grant. At the intersection of Grant and Washington, there was a girl on each corner handing out leaflets for free potstickers for another restaurant right across the street from this one. We went there, but after having to walk up stairs and peaking at the menu, we noticed that there was nothing but Low Fan tourists inside, and the dishes costs $15. Screw the potstickers I just wanted something cheap, simple and good. So we came across to here.
My favorite relative and I had what we always order. She likes Beef Chow Fun ($7.95) and they had both the Wet and Dry type. She likes the dry type and they made it pretty well, with green onions, yellow onions and sprouts. I had the Mapo Tofu (Spicy Bean Curd), which I am not sure is on the menu, but most places will make it for you even if it isn't. It wasn't the best I have had. The silken tofu was good, but somehow, it was lacking, mainly the pork wasn't right. (This dish you can usually ordered with or without meat.)
2 Sodas and tax and it was about $20 before tip.Listed in: Wanugee! San Francisco, Wanugee! Chinese
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Review from Les Y.
Alameda, CA
8/27/2011
!!!!Warning!!! watch out for hidden costs. Ask for an itemized bill.
Tip is already included in your total which I did not know.
They will just give you a total to pay. Is it legal to not disclose all costs??? -
Review from Ray K.
Los Angeles, CA
11/13/2010
DISGUSTING!
There was a DAMN CAT on a table scratching itself and rolling around... WTF?! I see this and make eye contact with the waiter... and what does he do? He walks over and "shoos" it away and doesn't even replace the cups and dishes.
Food was below average. My shrimp was a bit under cooked and the beef chow mein was way too greasy. And yes it's true - Grant Place does not know how to make tea correctly.... seriously, how do you mess up TEA???? -
Review from Giorgio B.
Thousand Oaks, CA
12/5/2011
Despite of what all these fellow yelpers say, i must tell you that this was the best roasted pork i have ever had. We were very hungry and decided to give it a shot, we were very impressed. Brittney got a super delicious won ton soup (one of the best i have ever tried, almost like in china), i had a half plate of roasted duck and half of the roasted pork, oh my god!! Pork was amazing! Great texture, geat crispy skin, moist inside, delicious fat! Super! Waitress was also super nice, she tried for half hour to explain to us how they make their roasted pork and what pots they use. For the whole meal, tip included, was 20$, great deal! It may lack on cleanliness, but who cares if the food is good. Go to China and tell me how clean it is there, it's just a different concept and mentality. It's like if you go to Tunisia, don't expect floors that you can eat from, but expect super amazing goat's head slow cooked under the ground with a couscous that will blow you away! a+
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Review from Kary M.
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
11/1/2011
Watch out ! The tip is included and on top of that they like to tip themselves a little bit extra. Also, that was probably the worst Chinese food ive had in my life. I think even fast food like Panda express tops them! The tea was good at least.
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Review from Ivy V.
San Mateo, CA
8/7/2010
THIS PLACE ROCKS!!!! ( Honestly) NOT!!!!! THIS PLACE SUCKS. Anybody who says that this place is great should be forced to eat their food every minute of a 24/7 timespan without bathroom breaks. Let's see, if you still find it great! This place is so bad, I don't know where to start!
Let's start with the most important advice, they do accept all major credit cards, but DON'T USE CREDIT CARD at this place!!!!! This hole in the wall (Yelp's most over use word to describe a place) is shady as hell. Makes Gordon Gekko look like a Saint.
They have the very worst business practices, that are despicable and unmoral. This place has GREED is GOOD all over it. They change you outraging prices for stuff that should be free. $3 for steamed white rice???!?! I can understand brown rice or Fried Rice, but white rice!!!! RIP OFF! They charge you for $1 for tea!!!! Tea that's normally free in other Chinese resturant, ever the cheap ass broke hole in the wall places. They charge you with a 15% gratuity fee for your small ass table. They add a $5 tip for themselves without asking you, do watch your bill!!! That's if you can read it. They write it in Mandarin, so you can't read it. They think they are so smart, by doing that.
They have overcharge people, some by mistake, some on purpose. Do watch out if you go!!!
They do have free delivery after 5.00 PM. Minimum Order of $20.00 in a Limited Area.
Now the food they have: Dim Sum $2.50 are ok. Probably the best off the menu. Party Specials are there, but expensive. Charge by the pound, but in my opinion, I think the weighter is rigged. They served the average chicken, poultry, beef, seafood and pork items that are normally on most Chinese places. It's ranges from 7.50 to 9.50. They do have Clay Pot Specials and food for Veggie Heads. There are complete dinners for two or more: 13.95, 15.95, 17.95 per person. There are Special Suggestions Iron Platter dishes.
You do get a free eggroll for lunch.
Beverages are Oriental Wine (Sake (jar) Plum Wine and Chinese Rice Wine (Jar).
Others are house wines (Glass, 1/2 Liter Jar) like Chablis, Burgundy, and Rose. Beers are Tsing Tao, Heineken, and Bud Light.
This is my opinion of the food: EWWW... This food will make you sick. It's so bad, it's remind me of that weird ice cream from that Internet video call Two Girls and a Cup.
Talking about sh*t, the bathroom smell like bad bleach. There is one Unisex bathroom. The location has nothing worth checking. It's sonetimes crowded with clueless tourists who probably have no clue that they step into sh*t.
The staff are not that friendly. Some of them are hard to understand due to the accent. They will play with your head to confuse you by speaking half in Mandarin and half in English. It's made to make you pay more. It's odd seeing the chef waving for people to come in.
Over all: DO NOT GO!!!!!! IF U GO, UR STUPID CUZ I SAID DON'T GO. LOL.
Hella Shady. Your likely to get screw for a high price, like Charlie Sheen with his women. -
Review from Silvia M.
Irvine, CA
7/25/2011
DO NOT GO THERE!!!
The food is bad. The service is worse. (They don't care because the tip is already included, 15%...while they deserve 0!!!)
It is a total RIP OFF! When they brought the check we couldn't believe how much we had to pay...all because of a series of hidden costs written in small notes on the menu.
This place is a total scam. -
Review from Abigail S.
San Francisco, CA
3/1/2011
I chaperoned a field trip of about 40 hungry second graders, and when we got to the restaurant they got the food out FAST. The egg rolls were wonderful--crispy and hot. The noodles (chow fun and rice noodles) were also good and very popular with the kids. I felt like the dim sum ranked pretty well overall, but the egg custard tarts were outstanding! Flaky crust and a little vanilla in the custard. Mmmm.
It's not fancy, but I found it to be clean and up to the challenge we provided. I would go again. -
Review from Thy R.
9/15/2010
Ugh... now I know why the review is so low!
1. The place needs some major clean-up.
2. I ordered the dim sum platter and everything is greasy. I got 8 pieces for 8 bucks I think. I got some pieces that are stale. The rice cake with filling is very good though.
3. They were playing English songs! Did I just hear the OMG?
4. The server is very nice to us.
5. They only require cash (uh-oh). And we don't have enough cash so she was forced to swipe our Visa. She was nice though when we told her we have no enough cash. -
Review from Seung Hyun Y.
San Francisco, CA
7/4/2010
I don't know wtf is wrong with those reviewers down below me but, I guess some people don't know what real Chinese village cooking tastes like. I'd rather see what I'm eating in my pot stickers than to look at it thinking "what is this mystery meat?".
My friend and I came here yesterday during a break from the Golden Gate Intl Martial Arts Championship downtown. It's a decent walk from Downtown to Chinatown if you walk along Kearny Street and then walking up on Washington. It made us all the more hungrier. I'd rather pay for a meal which is delicious and satisfying for less then $10 for lunch or dinner.
My friend had the wonton noodles with roast duck while I had soy sauce chicken, roasted duck with vegetables over rice. It hit the spot for us since the tournament drained us physically and mentally. This meal boosted the morale back up. The owner was nice enough to come by our table and chat it up with us for a bit. She's really knowledgeable about the area and about the village culture. We were able to enjoy our meal and have a good laugh afterward.
If you're really going to eat here, order a noodle or rice dish with a roasted/bbq item. That's what their specialty is. Avoid ordering food to go at this place. You're going to get a shitty experience. Like really. Most tourists around the area usually go in, eat and then crinkle their face when the food arrives. What do you expect? You're in Chinatown. It's going to be how the village people cook it over there.
If you guys think this place is bad, go to Yee's on Grant near Broadway. You won't barf after a meal here than you will over there. Sheesh! I forgot to say, its cash only too! -
Review from Enza P.
10/21/2010 1 Check-in Here
I've been coming here for years with my family and I always thought the food was A-OK.
It's true that it's dirty, a kitty likes to roam the restaurant, and the service could be better, but I can't deny the taste.
I love the BBQ Pork Noodle Soup as well as the dim sum. The BBQ Pork is SO delicious with either noodles or just white rice. I have no complaints about the food. There is a considerable amount of people going in and out which shows despite the lack of decor, they have managed to stay in business for years.
I won't stop going here because of the weird cat roaming or the yucky bathrooms. I just won't use the bathroom. Come on, it's chinatown, I think a huge percentage of restaurants aren't clean either haha. -
Review from Chris C.
11/3/2010 1 Check-in Here
Came here after pregame dim sum. I have to say the place is pretty dingy and I did not look at the restroom but my friends that were with me assured me it was dismal. We ordered half a roast duck, chow mein, soy sauce chicken and pork over rice, and soy sauce chicken and duck over rice.
The duck is easily the best part of the meal but duck historically has very little in terms of meat so it wasn't that much of an advantage. Plus, c'mon...it's Chinatown! If the place doesn't have decent duck it shouldn't be there.
Anyways, the chow mein was pretty much what you'd expect from that dish. The chicken was terribly DRY and the pork was just decent.
There wasn't a particularly good anything here. The water also had a strange, almost chemically lemon taste to mask the tap water origins. Not sure what kind of lemons they used but when we got our hands on a pitcher of water, it was...a pitcher of water....with a WHOLE LEMON JUST THROWN IN.
Although it wasn't COMPLETELY bad. There was a roaming kitten in the restaurant but however cute it was, the fact that it had free reign over the restaurant raises other questions.
You can definitely do better in Chinatown. -
Review from Al M.
7/3/2010
Some friends and I decided to stop in seeing as it was pretty busy, which to me is a decent indicator that the food is okay.
I'd like to thank Grant Place Restaurant for destroying that belief. -
Review from Raleigh S.
San Francisco, CA
8/29/2010
I was walking up and actually saw a cat casually walking around underneath the tables! The servers didn't doing anything about it.
I can make some jokes right now... but I better restrain myself.
Uhh.. Where's the Health Department?! -
Review from Dave J.
Winchester, VA
5/15/2011
Stopped here for lunch one afternoon in Chinatown. That was a mistake. poor service, poor tasting food and expensive. Grant Place Restaurant is a poor choice if in the area. Look elsewhere.
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Review from Forrest H.
Beaverton, OR
4/18/2011
It was my first time in china town and wanting to try dim sum. This place is a rip off. My wife and I ordered a few dim sum plates and the bill came to be $48. We were in a hurry and didn't ask the detail of the bill. I have $51 cash in my wallet, which just gave all to her to include the tips. Now that I am reading the reviews in here, I feel even stupider that I double tip her. She should have explained the fricken bill to me or at least informed me of the included tips. Don't ever go to this place if you don't want to feel being rip off or being treated as if you are a stupid person.
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Review from Toni L.
2/25/2008 1 photo
I sense a lot of hostility when it comes to yelping Grant Place Restaurant, but I seriously couldn't find anything glaringly wrong with it! Yeah, it was a little dirty, but I completely disagree with most of the complaints here.
Food: Nothing was cooked improperly; all the food came to the table hot and I wasn't vomiting it up later, so I'm assuming everything went well in the kitchen. As for the "cardboard" comments, I disagree. I actually thought the food was delicious and cheap to boot. There was nothing wrong with the sui mai. The wonton soup really hit the spot (although it could've been saltier, but only a tad bit so). Also, the dim sum special is a freaking good deal.
Service: Despite some language barriers, we ordered our food with no hiccups, got the check, and then left full.
Atmosphere: It is damn ugly in here, but not as ugly as some restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. Though it wasn't super clean, I'd say it was loads cleaner than most other restaurants in Chinatown (and well lit).
Synopsis: Even amidst all the whining from other Yelpers, I found Grand Place just fine. I'd come back if I lived in SF.Listed in: Chinese Food
