On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Mention Yelp to get 15% off your lunch or 10% off your dinner!
Dinner here was okay. We were having one of those giant family get-togethers and since the restaurant was practically empty, they were very accommodating. They put us at two large tables at the back room of the restaurant and it was like we had our own private room.
Had the Fookien Fried Rice (pretty yummy) and some sort of beef soup. I really liked the tofu, mushrooms, and bok choy starter dish. The chicken and charseu was tasty too. We also had a green veggie dish and a shrimp dish (the shrimp were just right). This was just the right amount of food, although, I was wishing that they would have brought out the red bean soup dessert. I guess we didn't get it because we didn't order a set dinner from the menu.
Nobody puts Baby in the corner!
But they certainly put Sammy in the corner. Well Sammy and her harem of Yelpers and non Yelper alike. Ok, not my harem per say, but a group of people who share my appetite for life. Well, more like my appetite for food.
About a month back I started harassing certain Yelpers about a potential Dim Sum Crawl. At first it was a magical distant idea in my simple little mind, but thanks to the glorious Lauren S. my dream came true.
Alas, Dim Sum Crawl 2007 commenced at 11 am on Sunday, April 22. The greatest day there ever was. Except for the day I discovered cheese.
We started our crawl (that sadly, yet appropriately only crawled to two restaurants)at Parc Hong Kong.
We were seated in the faaaaar back corner. I mean I swear we trekked through a Taj Mahal-esque palace before finally descending upon our table.
When we finally arrived at our table we pondered....hmmmm, no one really knew how you do dim sum. Do they come around with carts? Are we supposed to order off the little paper menu?
At the beginning of the meal they asked if we wanted this pork plate. The table gladly accepted their offer. Then they asked us if we wanted some Chinese broccoli. We hungrily nodded our heads (although shook them at some chicken looking dish that the waitress described, by pointing at the menu, as shrimp....hmmm, no so much).
But then we waited, and sipped jasmine tea. A lot of Jasmin tea. As our confusing and hunger grew, so did our caffeine intake and delirium.
Every table around us seamed to be heaving with pork buns, and shrimp dumplings, and odd gelatinous cubes, but ours remained empty. Waiters would walk by, stare at us, wave their hands at us in busy gestures and continue giving the food to everyone else.
I finally got the balls, due to my manic hunger, to star putting numbers on the little paper menu. Yes. In my dreams I'd like an order of shrimp dumplings, and hmmm, that taro thing looks interesting.
And wouldn't you know it? The ordering thing actually worked. They no longer dangled the treats in front of our faces like we were a bunch of hungry mongrels, they actually served us the food we ordered!
The dumplings were delicious and the taro Jell-O was a bit odd. Definitely not my favorite thing ever.
They also delivered us some scrumptious, greasy noodles.
The food was good, the cost a was low, but not compared to the next stop on our crawl, the staff was terrified of us, and therefor very distant, and the laughs were plentiful.
I'm not sure I'd come back to Parc Hong Kong if I was with my white kid harem, but if I happened upon Chinese pal would be so kind as to escort me and do all the ordering I'd be there in a snap!
I always knew I was a superhero. I just never realized how my power of invisibility kicks in at the most inopportune moments, or spreads to everyone I'm with as well. I gotta get a handle on that. I imagine it could get me into some trouble.
Placed in the back of the restaurant I thought we were special. Important. Somebody. I was wrong. They put us back there so they could completely ignore us, justify giving us the hand when we looked at them for assistance, and technically never even have to walk that far.
I'm sorry we had never done dim-sum before. I'm sorry we didn't know how to order. But when the first thing that happens is they bring us delicious pork without us ordering, I just assumed that they would keep bringing stuff, ask if we wanted it, and if not walk away. Nope. Everyone around us got their heaping orders. Way more food than any table could eat...but i guess that's how you dim-sum. Luckily we had reservations at a second restaurant we had to make....so after a few dishes we got our check, paid and left.
This place was a learning experience. The reality was if this entertaining terrible service hadn't happened, our next destination wouldn't have been so sweet. We were set for the second place...
**and apparently sometimes when you are the only white folk in a restaurant, you actually become clear.
** disclaimer....this does not happen always. this was a first for me.
Some pretty decent Chinese fare. I went here thinking it wouldn't be so good after reading the reviews, but there were a lot of Asians there, so I decided to take a chance. I ordered the Wonton soup which was tasty and had shrimp in the wontons instead of the usual pork stuff. I then had shrimp with lobster sauce which was also really tasty. It had some big pieces of pork along with it and the shrimp were nice and fresh and tasty.
They are pretty attentive there and were impressed with my few words of Cantonese ;)
Yummy yummy yummy in my too-full tummy.
I'll admit it--I don't know that much about dim sum. I really don't. I just know what I like, and I'm a picky gal (much to my boyfriend's chagrin). We went to dim sum once before at another place, and I recall NOT liking it. I really loved this place, though. I have to admit, I have no idea what I ate: I let his parents do most of the ordering, because they know what they're doing. I liked pretty much everything they ordered, which is saying a lot coming from me.
Not willing to take 5-star advice from some whitey who don't know jack about dim sum? Okay, I hear ya. But my boyfriend knows dim sum, and he said 5 stars, too. So there.
You can tell this place is good by the fact that it's crowded with chinamen and women from way back in the restaurant, pouring out the doors. Coming here was like being back in the homeland, minus the Chairman Mao posters.
Actually, I'm, as they say, a total twinkie, but I pretend to know a lot about dim sum because I grew up eating it every other weekend with the family. It was an event we could all look forward to after two weeks of hard, grueling work making nike t-shirts at the sweatshop. Apparently, my little kid fingers were great for sewing buttons and threading shoelaces. But I digress.
So a few years ago I decided to become vegetarian after watching one too many PETA videos. Becoming vegetarian was a life-changing experience, plus I lost like ten pounds. Then I moved to the midwest for a year where if you're vegetarian you'd die a slow and painful death from starvation (and boredom, but that's unrelated). So anyway, the point to this seemingly unrelated tangent is that my stomach has been much less tolerant of greasy food ever since that short stint as a vegetarian. Which meant that I could no longer eat at most dim sum restaurants.
Now Parc Hong Kong I could handle. Portion size was good, food was fresh, and there was attention to detail in preparation and presentation. I usually have to down a couple gallons of oolong or jasmine tea to cut the fat but not here.
For those of you who will be making a visit, keep in mind that this isn't your conventional dim sum place with the carts. There's hardly any room for walking let alone carts. Instead, you order from a menu sheet, which means if you're not Chinese or you're a poor excuse for one like me, you'll have to try to interpret their English translations. I highly recommend bringing a Chinese friend to help with the ordering, or just email me and bring me along (so long as you pay).
Oh, and parking is a bitch. I recommend parking in the garage on 16th (and Geary); it's only 75 cents an hour and you won't have to worry about finding a spot.
We came here for dinner so I can't judge the Dim Sum yet. I'd have to say it was really good and priced well! We started with the crab and corn soup. Great flavor and a huge portion but a little skimpy on the crab meat. We had the cashew chicken for dinner. The chicken was tender and there was a healthy amount of veggies. The snow peas were cooked to perfection. Still crispy! We had a red bean dessert that was also quite good.
I look forward to going back and trying the Dim Sum.
I've been looking for a place other than Yank Sing (spendy), Ton Kiang (used to be better), Koi Palace (daly city?), or Harbor Village (it's closed) for dim sum.. and driving around out in the Richmond, we decided to give Parc Hong a try...
The decor hasn't been updated in awhile, and yes, the service isn't exactly the most friendly, but.. you're here for the dim sum.. and it's yummy. Their shu mai and har gow are amongst the best in the city.. I like to judge places based on these two dishes since everyone has them (and they're my favorite).. Shu mai isn't too greasy, but still tasty and flavorful, and their har gow is just the right blend of shrimpy goodness and slight sweetness in the wrapper..
So yah.. tasty.. good, and usually not that long of a wait (I hate waiting)..
On the way out, my cousin and brother were arguing about the actual meaning of "Dim Sum", so here's what happened...
(Setting: as we're walking out, cousin Stephanie stops to ask the host)
Stephanie: Excuse me, what does "Dim Sum" mean?
Host: "We're closed. come back later."
S: "No no, we just ate, we're stuffed, we just want to know what "Dim Sum" means!"
H: "Go away. Come back tomorrow!"
hmm. Ok, I'm not sure what I meant to convey with that little scene, but it amused me, and that's my review. Go for the dim sum, leave for the service.
I just ate at this place again today. The Service was pretty bad. They gave us the wrong food and refused and had to re-order it. They didn't give us a refund on it either.
When it was time to pay, my friend tried to pay with his Credit Card but they said, we know you have cash, we want the cash instead. But we said no... It was a pretty bad experience
***10.14.07 The word (amongst Chinese moms and the hair stylists on the Geary Blvd.) is that they haven't been paying their staff. When the workers tried to collect unemployment, they couldn't because no social security had been paid out. My guess is that unless the owners can pay everyone along with any fines they have, they'll have to sell the place to pay off everything. So long, Parc Hong Kong
Dim Sum brunches with the family are what we do here. The food is pretty good and sometimes even great. Prices are about what you would expect for a place like this. We usually have a party of 8 - 10 and the check averages to about $20 a person.
This past Christmas though their game was waaaayyyy off. We got there at 10am, when they opened and placed or order by marking up the order sheet. Some of the food showed up maybe 10 minutes later. And then nothing else till 30 minutes later. We even asked if the kitchen forgot our order or something. And the waiter checked and he said that the kitchen was running behind. Urgh. Hungry. I mean there's only so much chatter that you can do with your sibs before it turns into gripe fest.
So 4 stars for th food. 3 for service. And it's not just because the kitchen was running behind. The wait staff needs more training. For the vibe that management wants, the staff needs to pay attention to some of the finer details of dining and not just scanning tables to see if the tea pots need to be filled.
Dimsum here is not stellar but it's decent. They do skimp on the ingredients in some dishes. We ordered this dried scallop with noodles plate and there were like 1 half piece of scallop. Service was pretty good.
Parking is the only challenge.
DimSum:
One of my favorite places to go to for dimsum. Not particularly expensive, bad service (just like home), and definately better to bust out your chinese to get any type of service. Seriously, it reminde ms of HK. Anyhow, as usual, parking sucks. Take 38 bus to get there and feel a bit of HK ^_^
Dinner:
I went there one time with my family to try it out. Good food I admit however they are trying too hard to be a "highclass restaurant" when the staff really just isn't up to par. They were very slow where one dish came after another, forgot the crab we ordered, and on top of that gave us our check before we even asked for it. Hmmm and then they price up everything higher than going to perhaps D&A,, oh right High class. Anyways, Hopefully they've improved, if not.. I say stick to their Dimsum. They seem to be better at being typical Chinese of bad service.
This place doesn't disappoint for dinner. The food here has always consistently been top notch here. My favorite the Walnut Prawn ($16.85) was plentiful plump and not overladen with sauce. My other favorite the Filet Migneon with the XO sauce is very well executed without overcooking the beef. Also note to ask for the multiple menus when you sit down because not everything is on their main menu. There is another menu but on that menu there are things that might gross out the non-Asians but the stuff on there is excellent.
Service is very accomdating and attentive, knowing when to change our plates and keeping our teapot full.
Solid place for a good Chinese dinner.
This is the first place that I've given a one-star rating to.
Dim sum was a terrible experience. They simply use stale ingredients in many of their food - jar leung (rice noodle roll) that's too become too hard, or stiff lor bak go (carrot cake). The manager did give us an extra guilingao (black herbal turtle pudding) when we complained, but still, that's not enough for another star.
Augh. I used to love coming here, especially with the management from a few years ago. They gave me and my family a carafe of sake for free at the table. I mean, that was once, and that was great. But the food was of such a good quality before.
But now that I have come back here for my nephew's red egg, the place has really been on the decline. The shrimp balls were terrible, and my aunt noted that it wasn't as clean as it should have been. Also, we ordered lobster, but instead they pulled out crab without even comping it. The venue also looks like it has seen better days, and it has.
If it improves its quality of food and place then I will consider giving them a better rating.
Don't know about the dimsum... but the cheap yet high class Canto cuisine dinner set menu's are da bomb!!!
I come for the $38 menu per person... included are sharks fin soup, braised abalone, lobster tail, and squab... these thing are normally $$$$$ !!!! And they were done exquistely in a delicate Hong Kong style that you would normally pay 3x'x as much for...
Is it wrong to just refer you to Lauren or Sammy S's reviews on the Dim Sum crawl? I mean since they've already done it so well. . . Oh, alright.
I was the first to arrive so I got a nice feel for just how little English was being thrown down at PHK. And how very few whiteys were in attendance. A very good sign. It did not occur to me however, what type of language barriers we'd have in getting ourselves fed. Once the majority of the clan had arrived, we were ushered back into the deepest, darkest corners of PHK. I mean, how would it look to their clientele to have a bunch of clueless Westerners sitting up front?! Scandalous, I'm sure.
We got off to a rip roaring start with excellent bbq pork and some Chinese broccoli. And that's where our lucky streak ended. All hopped up on six pots of jasmine tea, we started getting punchy. It was too much to watch the servers come straight at us, overladen with yummy bamboo steamers, only to smile and turn away at the last second to bestow their steamy love upon the tables around us. How could we NOT start dubbing our conversation into English like we were staring in Dim Sum Foo? We couldn't. So we did. Which, in retrospect, may not have helped our cause any.
Needless to say, we didn't stick around long. Whether it was the service, or darling Sammy's poorly thought out decision to order a gelatinous cube of taro goo, I can't be sure. But after a couple more small plates, we were out. Now how to get the check. . . when pantomiming and making the universal sign for CHECK failed to help, I even tried whipping out a credit card. I think she may have misunderstood my intentions because our waitress spit in my face and slapped me and started shouting angrily in Chinese. Okay, that may not have happened, but she did have to go for back up.
To sum it up, young grasshopper: Excellent food, bring a translator.
Not bad, not bad at all. It is a more "expensive" Chinese restaurant, but I like that they have some vegetarian choices on the dim sum menu. It is so hard to find vegetarian/meatless dim sum. It gets very, very crowded but I believe the wait is worth it.
This is one of my favorite Dim Sum places. Large, loud, authentic. You can stuff yourself with a $20 bill and get change back. Ask the waiters to mix you a tea rather than ordering just one kind. They did this for me once and it was DELICIOUS! Best part, the waiters are nice to the non-Chinese, but not TOO NICE. C'mon, you need a little grit to go with your sticky buns!
the food and presentation is excellent here. it's a great place for a birthday celebration with a family member. i ordered the man-tou (white bun) with duck skin and chips, which was superb. the tofu and green veggies were also suprisingly tasty. the lobster noodles were a bit disappointing since the noodles were a bit soggy and not as firm as i like it to be, but the lobster was delicious.
it's a more upscale cantonese place for dinner and more pricey as well, but well worth it.
The food is well prepared and honestly, the staff is supremely nice to non-Chinese. My boyfriend and I walked in and were greeted with smiles and extraordinary service. My friends, of Chinese heritage, all joined afterwards and the dishes were excellent. I allowed my friends to order for me, since they have been there on more than several occasions and they did not dissapoint. Duck, filet of beef in xo sauce, soy chicken (or some variant of said dish) and Sweet and Sour Pork. Add to that some Chrysanthemum tea and rice and we were set for the night. The free dessert was eh. But, as Chris said to us, "Hey, it's free!". All in all my second experience there mimicked my first experience, which was just as enjoyable. The ambiance is great, the service was friendly, the food tasty and the company, well, magnificent.
Dim Sum is great here. Service is good, and the prices are reasonable. Be prepped to wait in line, however, just like at Mayflower and other various sit-down joints in the Outer Rich.
big ups for the gaudy interior - it takes me back to days as a small child hitting up the dim sum places with the fam.
the food is pretty good here, and i like that there is a tallying system to their dim sum ordering so that you dont have to scan carts while your stomach eats itself.
prices are high though, and id just as soon go down to Good Luck Dim Sum at 8th/Clement and order up a grip of food for $6 and hit the park or beach to eat.
hey, i may have just made a game plan for tomorrow morning. nice.
Decent Dim Sum place in the Inner Richmond, avoid the weekend family crowds if you can. Reasonable prices, somewhat friendly service - sometimes they get too busy and 'forget' your table if it's in the back.
I always go there for dinner before the ownership change and the food was great. After they changed the owner a while ago the food just started to go downhill, dim sum is ok comapre to other places, service is above average. I like their dinner menu more than dim sum. Try the Lotus Leaf with Crab, it is pretty good. One thing i didn't like about this restaurant is that it smells! i found out it is from the carpet! they really need to change the carpet, in addition the bathroom is not very clean and smells as well.
The food here is really fresh, authentic, and just plain good. The problem is that the service isn't always up to par.
Right down the street for me so it's a fast go-to favorite for dim sum on weekends. You can't beat the $1.80 dim sum plates on the bottom of the order form. Those dishes in itself is usually enough to fill us up and we get out the door spending under $20 for 3 of us. The rest of the menu is fair but a bit pricey. Go right before noon and you don't usually have to wait for a table.
The first time I was there, the food was amazing. However, the last couple of times wasn't very impressive. Service is good though.
I went there last Saturday for dinner with a group of friends; The waitstaff is terrible with service...Here's what happened:
While the waitor was taking orders, one girl asked him if there is any dish he would recommend; He then say in Chinese "hey 'folk', there are 2 pages of full of dishes at the special menu, why don't you just read it yourself? How am I expected to remember all of them?" What the? We're just trying to ask for some casual suggestions!? Moreover, the word 'folk' is not quite the right word, as he was using a Chinese term that is rude/slang in describing females.
Then one of our order is Peking Duck. Usually this dish can be ordered as "1-eat" or "2-eat". For "1-eat", you will have the duck skin + white bun, and for "2-eat" you can also make use of the remaining duck meat to make another dish with a nominal fee. So I asked if the Peking duck dish we ordered is "1-eat" or "2-eat", and what are the options for "2-eat". Well, he replied very rudely that our order is "1-eat" with the implication that we are too stingy to pay more money for the "2-eat" option...and then I continued to ask what are the "2-eat" options, he said that anything could be made, but failed to tell us exactly what is available (usually ppl either use the meat in congee or do something like stir-fry duck meat with vegetables). At some point he suddenly said, in a derogatory way, "oh, we never have half orders for Peking Duck" as if he thinks we are too poor to order one Peking Duck to share for a table of 9.
The Peking duck is quite good though, the skin thinly sliced and crispy. Yet the dish came out small, it's definitely not from a whole duck. Factoring in the price, there's definitely better deal in other mainstream chinese seafood restaurant.
The other dishes are rip-off. Nothing exciting, nothing worth the buck. The beef ribs feels like it's been deep-fried twice, lacking juice and hardened like a beef jerky.
As pointed out by another reviewer, the bill came before we asked for it. What's more, while my friend and I was looking at the bill trying to figure out how to split the cost, the waiter walked by and threw in a rude comment saying "Do you guys need a calculator?", not in a helpful sense of course, but as if we can't figure out how much to give for tips.
It's definitely not language barrier or miscommunications as we are a group of local Cantonese ppl; I think it's just inherent in the waitstaff mindset to be arrogant since this restaurant tries to be upscale (well its name is that of a famous restaurant back in Hong Kong), but without quality food but despicable service, the name just won't last.
(it's my first time writing a review in Yelp; while I have used it from time to time, this restaurant just made me feel the urge to signup and write a review!)
I'll really miss this place. I would go here with my family and friends for dim sum. It was really delicious. evidently they are being evicted and I think might be replaced with a elderly home.
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
Category: Dim Sum
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
Category: Dim Sum
Palo Alto, CA
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Inner Richmond
Category: Dim Sum
Neighborhood: Inner Sunset
Category: Dim Sum
Loading...
