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Real People. Real Reviews.®
Mon-Sun 11 am - 9:30 pm
They served only seafood cocktails, cracked crab, spaghetti, and sandwiches. From that humble beginning the restaurant expanded three times.… read more »
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The wife and I were spending our 1 year anniv in San Fran and were looking for the highest rated Chinatown restaurant and this was it.
We ordered the Special Beef, Tofu & Eggplant in Bean Sauce and the Salt & Pepper Crab.
The beef was excellent. It had a very unique flavor. It did not come in a sauce, but was so marinated and starchy that it retained a ton of flavor without needing any sauce. It came with a lemon wedge that we sprayed over the beef which made it taste even better (I normally don't associate lemon with Chinese food).
The Tofu thing wasn't that great, very greasy and not a ton of flavor.
The Salt & Pepper Crab was the highlight. Although the concept is a little weird. With Salt & Pepper shrimp, you typically eat the shell of the shrimp as well because it's flavored and edible. With the crab though, the shell is a lot harder and you can't really eat it. So basically you have to eat it in a certain way in which you can get the meat out and also retain the outer flavor. It's a challenge, but doable.
The service was good, except for the fact that the waiter forgot to put our Crab order in, so we had to order it after we had already gotten our other food. Obvious language barrier.
Our bill for the 3 entrees plus 2 sides of steamed rice came out to $88 after tax & tip.
Overall, a good high-end chinese restaurant and I'd definitely go here again.
Keep in mind the only reason i give it 4 stars is cause of the crab!
my girlfriend and I went here last night we try to go out once a week to a place we have both never been well R&G was that place for the week
so we order the crab along with some other stuff (wanted to get a taste of everything) and it came out first before anything even the appetizer I thought that was kinda weird as I expected it to come out very late in the meal I didn't care at all cause I was super hungry and that's what we came here for so we dug in the fresh crab right out the fryer it was so hot and salty and greasy and crispy and all the other yees you can imagine I can say this with confidence probably one of the best crabs in the city we were done before our first appetizer came out at this point we were full ( from one crab) I cant really comment much on the other food it was just OK nothing great tell you the truth it was kinda overpriced for what it was so to sum it all up I would definitely go back here only for the crab and some drinks THATS IT!
You have to make it a point to eat here at least once in your lifetime.
Most people rave about the Salt & Pepper Crab, and man... count me in! Other restaurants' version of Salt & Pepper Crab will bow to R&G's.
I'm a big fan of jellyfish, and I order it pretty much everywhere I go. R&G's has an excellent version.
Don't come here with a budget in mind. Treat yourself a bit. Don't miss out.
One night, I stumbled upon R&G lounge's online menu and started CRAVING Chinese food. That never happens. Naturally, when my out-of-town friends came to visit, we went to R&G with high hopes.
The Thursday night wait was way long, but we finally got seated downstairs next to the fish tanks. Our table lacked a lazy susan (for a group of 7) and greeted us with FORKS. Losing authenticity points here.
Given a college budget & appetite, and a non-willingness to splurge, we ordered:
- Hot and sour soup ($12): only feeds 5 people, so small, so expensive
- Honey spare ribs ($13): my favorite dish of the night! the sweet and salty flavors were in perfect balance.
- R&G house special beef ($16): this dish was a near replica of Pick \Up Stix's house special beef (sad to say) and probably the biggest disappointment of the night in terms of originality.
- Tender greens in supreme broth ($13): there was nothing supreme about this broth. for a dish that takes minutes to stirfry, it was way too expensive!
- Singapore rice noodles w/curry sauce ($11): average, just average.
- Beef brisket & turnip clay pot ($16) : brisket is recommended!! The meat was extremely tender and melt-in-your-mouth. It will also make you like turnip even if you dislike it.
- Steamed rice ($10-$13): We got ripped off.
At the end of it all, I wasn't entirely full and only satisfied with 2 of the dishes. I have no idea what the hype is with this place, but you can definitely don't need to pay so much for good Chinese food!
Salt and pepper crab. That is all. Picture succulent crab with an outer fried coating that just makes you want to devour the whole thing, shell and all. If it were on a soft shell crab, watch out because I'll be booking the next flight to San Francisco.
The other things were good as well - I particularly liked the chicken soup, but um, did I say salt and pepper crab already? 2 pounds of finger licking goodness.
Get a reservation, a bib, and bring your A-game.
Man..... if I ever wanna eat family-style chinese food this is the place I'd go to!!
IMPORTANT: IF YOU COME WITH A HUGE PARTY, MAKE A RESERVATION!
It was a friend's birthday and she ordered:
- Walnut prawns (fucking yummy! big prawns, hella mayo)
- jellyfish (cold and chewy!)
- fake abalone with veggies (yuuumm again)
- SALT and PEPPER crab! (the best! I love them crab brainssss)
- this veggie combo with eggplant in it
all in all, the food is great and the drinks are strongggg.
will come back again for sure!
btw, our waiter, Jay, was awesomeeeeeeee
oh, a little note, they stopped taking orders for the bar at 9:30! so ORDER UP!!
I can't believe hubby has never eaten here! We were walking around trying to find the right spot for lunch then we were in front of R&G. When hubby said I've never eaten here, I just pulled him in and walked toward downstairs.
It has been a long while since I've been there, the downstairs dump has been upgraded w/ rich colored wood, chinese stained glass, new ceiling w/ spot lighting, nicer tables...
We were seated right away with tea but the menu never came. After sitting 10 minutes, we waved down a waiter for menu and he brought us the dinner menu (we ralized when we left and picked up the to-go menu). It's worth noting that 90% of the tables had crab.
What we ordered:
salmon & avocado eggroll - $6 - this is supposed to be one of their signature dishes. We thought maybe it would be like salmon rolls at The House but no no no...it's not bad, just not great.
Chef's special noodles - $7.75 - it's yee mein (e-fu noodles) with yellow chives and tender pork strips - good flavor but the noodle was too chopped up
seafood combo claypot - $15 - this was good, there were large pieces of scallops, prawns, calamari with tofu and a couple super thick mushroom
We will return for dinner and maybe we can bump it up to 4 stars then...
Listed in: Chinatown Eats
3.5 stars - they are best known for their crab, specifically the salt & pepper crab. I think they… Read more »
Going to keep this nice and short - I heart R & G!
We've been here many times and had a great meal each time. Don't bother with trying to find parking, simply park in the Portsmouth Square Parking Garage down the block and validate.
My favorite - their signature Salt and Pepper Crab is to die for, and worth the hype. Get it!
Other go to dishes - R&G Beef, Singapore Rice Noodles, Peking Duck and Salt and Pepper Spare Ribs = ALL YUMMY!
Where's my car keys? I'm getting hungry thinking of these great dishes...
Listed in: Favorite Restaurant…
Hours of operation: open until 9:30pm
We arrived at @ 7:15pm on a Tuesday to a lobby full if people waiting. We checked in with the hostess and asked for a table for 2. She replied that they were done seating for the night and were not taking any new names.
WTF?! It's 7:15pm and you do not close until 9:30pm. Lame.
So as we turned around and walked out I took the liberty if flipping their OPEN sign over to CLOSED.
-1 for crappy service. We made a reservation tonight and upon getting to R&G, found out that someone else had "taken" our reservation. Nice. We brought our toddler to dinner and the waiter put down a hot plate of food right in front of him, but warned to be careful with the hot plate. Uh, thanks for the semi-well intentioned public service announcement.
R&G Lounge is pretty good Chinese food in SF. While some places require you to read Chinese to get… Read more »
Wow! This place has really good food! I'm glad I checked Yelp before our visit since we were probably only going to have time for one Chinatown dining experience. This was an excellent choice.
When we arrived (about 1:30 on a Monday earlier this month), the place was still hopping with the lunch crowd. We waited about 15 minutes or so for a table.
Once we were seated downstairs, we began perusing the lengthy menu. Almost everything sounded good, but with just the two of us, we couldn't exactly order one of everything and we really didn't want anything too heavy. We ended up ordering the following: Hot and Sour Soup, Black Mushrooms with Mustard Greens, and Dragon Phoenix (chicken and prawns with broccoli). and of course steamed rice.
The mushrooms and greens dish was the star of the day. Wow was it good. Meaty mushrooms and really good greens. I'm not overly familiar with Chinese vegetables, but the greens looked (and tasted) very similar to baby bok choy (the mustard greens I'm familiar with are like the greens you see in the south and are spicy). I'd order this one again.
The Dragon Phoenix was also excellent. It sounds kind of boring (chicken and shrimp with broccoli), but it was REALLY good. Both the chicken and shrimp were cooked perfectly and the broccoli still had enough snap to it to add that fresh element.
While not disappointing, the hot and sour soup wasn't anything exceptional. I'd probably try something different next time.
Service was a little slow, but not too terrible considering how busy they were. I had to flag someone down once for more water, and they seemed apologetic so I'll cut them some slack there.
CCG does not approve of R&G Lounge.
However, the always-hungry VICKYSAURUS REX thinks R&G Lounge is smashtacular.
Sara P. and I came to R&G after venturing out into Sacramento for the State Fair, and after sitting through horrendous traffic all the way from Davis into the city, we decided that Chinese food would be a good balance for the chocolate-covered bacon and churro that we had while in hicktown.
We were seated downstairs, and I soon noticed that I was the only Asian person in the room, besides the wait staff. Then they brought us forks. To this day, I still can't decide if I'm offended by that. I've been mistaken for Latina and Filipino (and Inuit; true story. A cab driver asked if I was an Eskimo), but seriously.
After much debating, we decided to go with the steamed tofu with shrimp meat and soy sauce ($13), and the ox tails in clay pot ($14). The prices don't include rice, so make sure you get some. We shared a pot for $3.50.
The ox tails came first, and they were served bubbling hot in a clay pot. The tender pieces of ox tail (note: if you don't like to eat things that you have to pick off the bone, you will probably not want to order this) and large chunks of winter melon were soaking in a thick delicious savory gravy that tasted sooooo good, especially when drizzled over the rice. A definite order-again.
Next came the tofu, which was at least 10 minutes after the first dish arrived. The tofu was soft, topped with some shrimp meat (it looks like they pureed it and then balled it up, but it tasted like the inside of a har-gow), and it was sitting in some "special" soy sauce that was meant to be drizzled over the top. Also very, very yummy, with or without the rice.
The one star off was for terrible service: it took them forever to take our order, our water glasses sat empty the entire time, and our waiter disappeared so we had to flag down another one to get the bill.
Overall though, R&G Lounge is somewhere I'd definitely be returning to (oh hey, it's half a block from my office!), and even my CCG habits won't be able to pull me away from the ommy-nommy food.
Listed in: Default Eats, Oh Hai Chinatown!
What I mean to say so you can stop reading if you'd like: Koi Palace is better than R&G Lounge
I'm not saying R&G is bad, I'm just saying you can get more for your money elsewhere.
Came for my mom's birthday dinner.
Ordered:
Ging Doh Gwut (I have no idea how to translate this into English except red-sauce pork ribs) - they brought out the wrong dish - gave us Western something pork ribs, and we had to tell them to take it away. When the actual dish finally came out (after a while, I might add) it was pretty tasty, but it was half bone. Dislike.
Salmon avocado rolls - ok, I have to fault my mother for ordering these because they look like a gimmick for people who ordered "asian inspired appetizers" at the Cheesecake Factory, but these were awful. I think they used smoked salmon, and there's nothing good about warm gooey (overripe) avocadoes. Shudder. Do NOT order these. It's two rolls of crap for 6 bucks.
Walnut prawns - I believe it was 16 bucks? It's better and slightly cheaper at Koi Palace. The walnuts were a little bitter, and not crispy enough. The shrimp were a little smaller than I expected, but this was a relatively ok dish.
Black bean manila clams - there was no "wok air," if the canto's reading out there understand that, which is an absolute must for this dish, and any Chinese restaurant. Some of the clams were cracked - which means that they were probably dead before they hit the wok - fishy smell. While I'll give them kudos for not overcooking the clams, I felt that some of them were actually undercooked. I don't like rare not-fresh seafood. :/
Winter melon with dried sea scallops and seasonal greens - this finally tasted like what it looked like in their photographic menu (albeit, the dish didn't look a thing like it, which was disappointing). A little salty, but forgiveable. The dried scallop sauce had "wok air" and the winter melon was very tender.
I know I should have ordered the crab, but I'm not made of money. I don't have 50 bucks to spend on crab, when it can be cooked at home for 15.
The room we were in was also cold as hell. And the servers were speaking English to us. Which is weirdddddddd.
I'm just throwing in my $0.02 quickly since I doubt I have much to say that the 1000+ reviews haven't already covered. The wait wasn't that bad & make sure to sit downstairs. All the food was delicious! For ordering inspiration, we just looked around at our at our fellow diners. Thanks to the friendly locals who helped point us in the right direction!
1)Authentic Cantonese cuisine.
2)While all people order salted pepper crab, please order something different so you will catch the BOSS attention. (i.e. Chiu Chow style cold dish, drunken squab)
3)Make sure you request downstairs because I believe the chef de cuisine is cooking for downstairs.
4)I hate long lines but R&G is worth the wait.
So what's all the hype about? Go here and you will see. It's a nice place but you lose any fine dining atmosphere by the hoards people waiting for a table. But it's well worth the wait and the yes the food is that good.
My biggest complaint about SF is the lack of really good Chinese food. Tons of mediocre to crappy Chinese food. Finally. Everything we ordered was delicious. The mustard green with mushroom dish came out and looked so plain but had such a rich flavor. The Honey Spareribs look sweet and saucy but when eaten had a nice sweetness but not overly sweet and the glaze was there but not oily.
Everything we ordered was awesome and we didn't feel that coma'ish feeling afterwards. R&G Lounge doesn't have that heavy oily, starchy essence that most Chinese restaurants seem to have in SF. The food tastes great but everything tastes clean and fresh.
Now the star of this place. The Salt and Pepper crab. Yes it's that good. Yes it lives up to the hype. If you love crab you'll love it. My gf thought it was just ok but I'm not sure she is such a fan of crab like I am. If you go there you'll see table after table getting crab.
All in all the food is great. Normally I'd knock a star off for ambiance etc but this place is so good. One of the few restaurants I've eaten at recently where I've wanted to go back the very next day and try the other items on the menu. I can't wait until my next visit.
Long wait, average food, rude service.
Essentially a tourist trap.
I love this place!!! They have variety of menus and everything tasted great!
I strongly recommend you reserve a seat. There was a long line when I arrived at the restaurant at 8pm on friday.
I would say the place is more of a 3.5, but I'm a nice gal so I round up :). Went there for my mom's birthday with a bunch of her friends.
The most memorable part of the evening was the crab. No surprise here since the place is known for the delicacy. The meat was sweet and the crunchy crust wasn't too oily or overpowering. The best part was the pieces were cut so that it wasn't too much of a battle to get to the meat.
We also ordered the bean sprouts (the second best item of the evening), beef stew, steamed chicken, noodles, steamed egg custard with clams, lamb with leeks and a few other dishes that I can't remember. In general, the food was pretty good, although nothing special. And I have to say, for a Chinese restaurant, it's pretty overpriced. There are definitely better places in the city for Chinese food, but R&G Lounge is especially good for large groups.
Luckily for me, I read on yelp to make reservations ahead of time! Thanks fellow yelpers! There was a 45 minute wait on a wednesday night without a reservation! The craziest part is that the waiting area was filled to the brim! People were actually waiting 45 minutes for a table. At first glance of the people in the waiting area, I was a little skeptical as to the authenticity of the cuisine as there were more Caucasians than Asians. Since A. Bourdain popularized this place, I assumed that explained the outrageous wait time.
This place is somewhat kid-friendly. We had baby and stroller with us (ours is a fold up stroller) and we sat downstairs which wasn't a problem. If you have a huge stroller, no way can you get around this restaurant. In addition there is no elevator so it can be challenging to maneuver around.
The food was good but not outstanding and certainly not worth the wait. Being asian, chinese at that, this food is more americanized and overall a little above average. Let me preface my review by saying that chinese food is not my favorite to begin with, but at least I know authentic cuisine.
We ordered:
-Jellyfish - good. can't really mess this one up too badly.
-Hot and Sour soup - i don't normally order this but others at the table wanted it so I tried it. It's not bad. My friend insisted that it was one of the best he's ever had. I'm no expert on H&S soup so I can't really speak intelligently about it but I wasn't impressed.
- Salt and Pepper Crab ($40/crab) - fried (which is probably why so many people love it), the batter is light and has good flavor (but not that salty nor peppery despite its name), the crabmeat was cooked perfectly. It really couldn't have been cooked better but when you break it down, it's still just fried crab.
-Three treasures in black bean sauce - this had huge pieces of tofu, lightly fried eggplant, and shrimp-stuffed-peppers. Very good flavor. I don't even like eggplant and I couldn't stop eating them. The peppers were spicy HOT which was a little surprising but tasty.
-Fried stuffed Tofu - BLAND - awful. This dish looks super tasty but has no flavor!! Definitely don't get the steamed stuffed tofu either. the table next to us ordered it and it looked even more bland than ours!
-Oysters and black mushroom clay pot - The oysters were abnormally large and pretty good. The black mushrooms were few and far between but when you got one it was good! The tofu and veggies in the dish were just fillers. Not that spectular, the oysters stole the show.
All in all, I may never listen to A. Bourdain's recommendation of a chinese restaurant again. But I am intrigued by this place, particularly the other 7 styles of preparation of dungeness crab. Next time, I will order several different prepartions of crab and try them all at once.
Uh....
crustacean
pincers
carapace
chitin
filament gillies
nerdbomber eyes
its imitation makes surimi
cholesterol-laden shell
Sponge Bob's former place of employment!
It's all about the crab... crab crab crab!!!!!!
(the s&p way)
Sealed and true, their reputation
Wok hay
Umami
OFF
THE
CHARTS
(just hope your wallet is a bit padded, or that you've extended your line of credit! 50-10 is what you're asked to cough up)
R&G just got a knock, While great, try to avoid the restaurant during lunch on Saturday and Sunday's, the portions are smaller and they are the same price. Also, for lunch we I didn't get any dessert. If you're paying the same price, try to be consistent.
I came here again with some family from out of town.
A few things to note not including the food…
Read more »
Come ready to wait! But it is totally worth it. We were able to sit at the bar and have the fried oysters, OMG. My hubby had the Salt & Pepper Crab it was everything we've heard it would be and more. We also had the 1/2 Peking Duck and the royal fried rice.
The food was so "clean", tasty and rich. Everything tested fresh and was cooked perfectly. We are going to make this our Chinese Food hang-out.
So the Yelp consensus is that this is the place in Chinatown to get some authentic (or at least very good) Chinese food.
Sure, our food was good. Obviously, better than any "Chinese" food I'd ever had. But I guess I expected it to be better to a larger degree.
Oh, and I swear I'm docking at least one star for automatically bringing the white people a fork instead of chopsticks. Don't stereotype me!
Listed in: San Fran
3.5.
I thought this place was clean and nice.
The tea was great and constantly poured.
The menu was a bit different.
We had:
chow mein
veggie fried rice
3 treasures in black bean sauce
and
beef and scallops w macadamia nuts.
On the plus side, all of the veggies we had were fresh and cooked perfectly.
On the minus side, we asked for little oil and it was still doused.
But everything was tasty.
Recommended.
This place is busy! Make reservations for sure. I had a great time and the food was very good. The plates are generously filled with delectable morsels all freshly prepared and well pressented. The chinese food here is wonderful and not Amercanized. Been going to this place for years and it never gets old.
There's always a wait so it MUST BE GOOD, right? The food is tasty, but the service is a bit S L O W...
The Hot & Sour Soup (broth with shredded pork, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu, egg, and spices), is very, very spicy... I had a sweat mustache halfway through eating a cup of it! Also, I wish the broth/ingredients chunks ratio was better; I hardly tasted the tofu.
Live Deep-fried battered Crab with Salt & Pepper is SALTY, but good nonetheless -- it's a very popular dish! I'm pleased that the crab wasn't oily at all considering it's deep fried.
Main entrees were placed on our table before the side order of white rice and glasses of water... What's up with that? I had to remind the waiter for the rice... TWICE!
No reservation for two; 40 minute wait... not bad for Sunday night dinner. Will I be back? Ummm, maybe... someday.
Every time I am hosting a client that is in the mood for authentic Chinese (Cantonese) food R&G Lounge is always the destination. The salt and pepper crab and R&G beef are a must.
Good food and great service. Another great thing about the restaurant is they validate parking for 2 hours. Even if the restaurant is crowded it's worth the wait.
Of course we went here for the salt and pepper crab. We called to see if there were serving peking duck, which of course they said they had "plenty of ducks", and asked of we wanted to make reservations. We didn't plan on making any but we were glad we did. It was very crowded (on a Wednesday!) and there was quite a line. My biggest complaint is that we were seated pretty much in the hallway where they set up a few makeshift tables. There were always people passing and staring! At first I was going to ask to be moved but I didn't want spit in my food.
Onto the food. We had the salt and pepper crab, half Peking duck and veg stuffed with shrimp. Ended up being near $90 total and enough food for two. The crab alone was $38! Steep but worth trying. Must get the perfectly fried and flavored crab. So good but I wonder if other places may have the same quality for cheaper. Stay away from the peking duck - it was dry and not fresh. I guess if you aren't familiar with Peking duck you won't mind but I don't recommend it from here. The veg with shrimp was ok but nothing memorable.
While I am glad I tried it, I'm not sure if I would come back because it was almost too expensive and the seating was poor. Worth one try because the crab was good.
Definitely one of the better Chinese places in the city..
I'm usually not a big fan of Chinese food, I dont hate it, but I cant say that I like it either. However, R & G kinda shines a better light on my perception of usual Chinese cuisine. The quality of the food that comes out seems to be a lot better than the usual dive in Chinese restaurants that you see all over the Sunset, Richmond, and Chinatown areas of San Francisco. Everything comes out all "fancy dancy." Its definitely a higher end Chinese restaurant, which it better be cuz the food aint cheap here.
Theres a full bar downstairs so you can have a cocktail or a glass of wine with your dinner.
All the servers are very nice and very on point. If you ask for napkins, they come back with napkins right away. You want a drink, you dont have to wait 10 minutes for it. If you brought a cake, they'll bring it back sliced on a plate for everyone. Great service. However, the host that works there doesnt seem to be very friendly. I guess I cant really blame her though, R&G is always super busy, I guess she just gets tired.
If you do decide to try this place, make a reservation, otherwise you'll probably be waiting for about an hour.
P.S. Never any parking downtown but theres a parking lot right across the street and R&G will validate your parking!
I have recommended R&G to out of towners without hesitation just because the overall quality of Chinatown restaurants have gone way downhill in my opinion.
So, I decided to take my own recommendation for Mom's birthday dinner for nine of us. Crab at $38 when Ranch 99 is selling live dungeness for $3.99 lb is a little over the top, what happened to 'seasonal pricing'. We ordered two crabs cooked differently. Food quality was basically up to par.
My gripe and rating deduction is the overall lack of service. While the server to guest ratio was pretty high, I take exception when the servers don't serve or have loud conversations (animated) during actual table service. In a Chinese restaurant that prides in service, you should be able to do this test by asking for more hot water for your tea pot. If you tip the cover open and you get a response within 2 - 3 minutes, then service is fine...if sooner, then servers get 'brownie points'. Well, in the case of R&G, teapot never was refilled, had to ask for rice three times before we got our first bowl and they began clearing out table while we were served desert!
R&G is probably best for out of towners and not local patrons, I will choose Great Eastern next time instead.
Loved the crab and the Beijing duck. Excellent service.
R&G Lounge is one of those places that, to visitors to SF, sits somewhere in the 'must try' list. It's featured in most of the tourist's guidebook and I always get invariably questioned by the out-of-towners that I happen to be entertaining, whether I am a regular of R&G.
The answer is no.
Because, unless you are a tourist or a member of the local gang walking around collecting protection money, SF Chinatown is not a place to get good Chinese food (I'd vote for Inner Richmond or Inner Sunset).
I blame it on Mr Bourdain who featured this restaurant's signature dish (the mud crab) in No Reservations.
I think there's just an unspoken rule that tourists always end up in places that locals never end up visiting. R&G is no exception. There are just other, better restaurants serving crab and a variety of other Cantonese dishes that R&G serves up, with less wait time and lower non-SF Chinatown price tag.
+ + +. I had the salt and pepper crab, fried chicken with lemon sauce (I'm usually not a big fan, but this is GOOD), Peking duck (the skin is crisp enough) yummy, mushroom with mustard greens (stemmed perfectly, with a crunch), fried rice (with tons of ingredients), hot and sour soup (perfectly seasoned), and chow mein (this dish was just okay).
I did not feel rushed at all. After we finished the soup, they brought out the crabs. after the crabs, they brought out the rest of the food. The table was not crowded with food. The servers cleaned up and removed dirty dishes as necessary.
Great food. Also, I went on a Monday and it was crowded!!! Tells you a lot!
we went here recently with a gf and her growing family at her recommendation. boy, i'm so glad i know locals. this place was awesome!! we ordered the famous crab, three treasures, qing pork chops, black bean clams and the walnut shrimp. not a bad dish in the crowd. it was all good.
i highly recommend you make reservations and/or get there early. we got there at 6 on a weeknight. by the time we left, the place was a madhouse. and i think a fight broke out in the waiting area. they need a larger restaurant or an annex location for sure. people are hungry and need good food!!!
Hands down - R&G is the best Chinese food restaurant you will find the the Bay Area.
The Egg's parents love coming here. When I say love, I mean for birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, the season changing, any excuse they can think of to come here and eat.
You should try to avoid the rush hour - that's usually around dinner time. Especially during holidays. You can end up waiting for over an hour.
The restaurant has 3 stories. The bottom floor, the main floor and the top floor. It's a pretty big restaurant, it can fit a lot of people but there's hardly any room. Their service is really good. They bring out the food really fast and the staff are attentive.
Everything they cook up here is good. If you've been here before, then you already know what to order. But, if you're a newbie and unsure, here's what I suggest you order:
Hot and sour soup
Crab w/ salt and pepper or fried with garlic and hot pepper (this is a must)
Three treasures with Black Bean Sauce (Eggplants with peppers and tofu)
Honey Spareribs
Princess Chicken
For drinks - order the watermelon juice - so yummmy.
I'm getting hungry as I'm writing this. Really good restaurant. A true gem.
I took my family to this Chinese restaurant, which was right down the street from the Financial District Hilton, where we stayed. Even though it appears to be one of those Americanized Chinese restaurants filled w/ non-Asian people, I'd still give it high marks for Chinese food. Here are the dishes we ordered and I highly recommend:
-Wonton soup
-stuffed eggplant and tofu w/ shrimp
-hong kong style fried noodle w/ vegetables
-kung pao chicken
If I lived in SF, I would definitely come here again to try other dishes.
3.5 stars is about right. I think R&G has a slightly inflated rating because, unlike many Chinese restaurants in the area, it provides a polished, clean environment. Compared to the average Chinese joint, it's rather upscale. The service is efficient and friendly (to those who speak English only, too, which is not always the case). The food alone, however, is good without being excellent. It's also very expensive, although they don't skimp on portion size, which I appreciate since hubby is a big eater.
The fried calamari was the one dish that impressed us--very lightly battered, deliciously seasoned, and cooked perfectly. The special beef was fine, but not all that special. The honey walnut prawns were well prepared, but there was a slightly pasty texture to the coating on the shrimp (nice, plump shrimp, though). The Three Treasures ruined the meal for us because it was swimming in oil--a shame because the vegetables and shrimp stuffing had such potential. We were stuffed at that point, and wanted to get to the Independence Day fireworks, so skipped dessert. That was probably just as well because our bill was already over $80 for 4 dishes!
I would come back if I was in the area, but the calamari is the only dish I'd repeat. I like the place well enough to try a few more items, but I'm struggling a little bit with the value for my money.
They have a lot of great chinese foods, but make sure you dont go there alone to enjoy the food, because you need to order all what offer you in the menu, give a try on only one dish won't make you cooler
One of the few authentic Chinese Restaurants in the Bay Area.
Not a fan of the restaurant being underground, but the food is delicious!
I recommend getting the salt and pepper crab and the R&G Beef.
The wait is super long, the service is terrible and the food is overpriced, yet I still gave them 4 stars because they are one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area!
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San Francisco, CA
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Neighborhood: North…
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Neighborhood: Chinatown
San Francisco, CA
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Neighborhood: Inner Sunset
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