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Categories: Bars, Asian Fusion [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Gaslamp, East Village
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This place is not your typical chinese restaurants. Modern and sophisticated and very intimate. A great place to have dinner and a few drinks with friends. Not a very big place which is great if you're going for a more romantic feel. The dimmed lights and the dark decor gives it a romantic feel.
I tried this place once and I went back 3 more times the whole week that I was in San Diego. They offer different cuisines from all over asia. Definitely try this place out when you're in town.
The decor is what attracted me to go here, very posh indeed.
First, the drinks. YUM! The Tokyo Rose was my fave, bubbly with just enough blueberry. The Red Pearl cocktail was very tasty too, but I think the alcoholic content wasn't too strong in either.
The four of us ordered different items to sample. The pineapple kobe beef was so tender. The sauce was a little spicy, but I liked it. The green curry was very flavorful. It had tons of sauce, but needed more chicken for sure. The chili prawns were amazing. You get tons of big crispy shrimp with lots of green beans. The flat iron steak I thought was the worst of the four, even though it was the most expensive. The potatoes were underdone which is always awful. Flat iron steak isn't that great of a cut to begin with so it was as expected.
The souffle and cinnamon gelato was good, but definitely not big enough for four people. They need to definitely put another scoop of gelato on the plate. The souffle reminded me of a lava cake sans lava, but it did its job.
The tackiest thing was they charge for steam rice. I didn't get any with my shrimp = hella lame!
They were on top of ALL of my Diet Coke refills. Thank you dear.
Many things about Red Pearl were nice. The atmosphere was nice, the drinks were interesting and delicious, and the service was decent. But when my husband and I get the rare chance to go out for a romantic dinner, just the two of us, I would like to have some really good food. And the food here? Well, it was just okay.
I would not return for dinner. For a happy hour, perhaps. I had a Cucumber Martini that was delicious and definitely high octane.
I'm sure there are better places in downtown to spend your money and your calories than Red Pearl!
Decided to give Red Pearl Kitchen at try since I kept hearing about it. I went with my cousin to check it out. Overall, the atmosphere is pretty chill.. I guess. The place is kinda small but it's really nice inside. Everything is served family style so we just ordered the fried spicy tuna appetizer, the drunken noodles and some drinks! It was okay. Just like I rated this.. Meh. I've experienced better.
I flew down to San Diego for two of my cousins bachelorette party & ate dinner here. I must say the service that the staff provide was pretty good & the atmosphere was warm with the lights dimmed (more like romantic kind of way).
There were several ladies & the food was a good portion for having a large party. Although I do not remember what my cousins ordered for dinner all I can say I have no complaints with the food & that it was delicious! I would have dinner here the second time around anytime I fly down again.
Very nice and hip kind of place. It's really dark in there for me, but the atmosphere is nice.
Food was good and the drinks are delicious. In my opinion, the food is overpriced, but it's expected for the Gaslamp area.
Sexy restaurant and lounge. Staff was very, very nice and helpful. Good service. Food was ok. Mixology of the drinks and flavoring of the dishes were heavy handed and slightly off the mark. Pumpkin martin was eggnoggy, Cucuber martini was cloying sweet. Drunken Noodles would have been better with less sauce so the subtle flavors of the ingredients could have come through more cleanly. Its a nice date place if you aren't a foodie.
Other than the decor, really not impressed. The service was incredibly slow, the waitress didn't know the menu and was borderline unfriendly. When my sister asked if she could substitute rice noodles in a particular dish (she has a wheat intolerance) the server asked her to hold up the menu so she could see which dish she was referring to.
The kitchen was really slow, which the server apologized for but still, 2 plates of fried rice and 2 hotpots and we were trapped in there for 2 hours? Really? Was the chef punishing us for substituting rice noodles?
As a vegetarian who doesn't eat tofu I was limited to one entree, the vegetarian fried rice. Now, it was tasty. But I started to have the wheezing and swollen lips that usually accompany an MSG reaction a few minutes after eating. And my sister was pretty convinced by her sad tummy that her rice noodles had wheat in them after all. Everyone liked their food, but it was really nothing special. My mom's thai chicken hotpot seemed to be very lacking in chicken, although they made up for that by piling on the baby corn like it was on a two for one special.
In general, this seemed like the kind of tourist trap where they don't care if the service is terrible because most of their customers are from out of town and won't be returning.
The high point was when my sister got to sit in the big red chair outside the entrance.
And a tip for managers: if your interview for hiring someone consists of the single question, "are you a blonde?" then you might also want to ask the follow up, "and can you wait tables?"
The service was friendly and quick. I went on a Thursday after work and ordered the Black & Pepper Chicken and the Shrimp Garlic Fried Rice. Portions were big enough to share with my boyfriend and still had a little left over to take home.
We were even greeted by (what I imagine) was the owner/manager of the restaurant. I thought that was such a nice gesture.
Red Pearl Kitchen has a nice warm atmosphere with dim lighting (great for dates!). I'd definitely go back again to try some more of their entrees.
After reading some of the less than stellar reviews, I was extremely hesitant to dine here on Saturday evening (10/10/09). However, since Red Pearl was the bf's pick this week I had to suck it up. My two cents:
The ambiance - The heavy garlic aroma drew us into a chic, urban trendy atmosphere. It's dark and very lively. The music seems to get louder as the evening progresses. Don't expect to go here for a romantic dinner date expecting to whisper sweet nothings into one another's ear.
The service - VERY slow. Our server (Jessica I believe was her name) took our order and then we literally never saw her again. Seems that the manager needed her to focus on the rather large party of males that came in after us. It's unfortunate that she didn't even stop by to ask us if we needed a refill on something as basic as water. I was completely turned off by the level of service. As I looked around, it appeared as though other patrons were experiencing similar "absentee" server issues. Not good. I suppose that in order to get decent service at Red Pearl you need to be a party of 8 or more. The 3 star rating stems from the poor service we received, rather than the food which was excellent.
The food - Delicious. I was very impressed with how good everything was. We ordered:
Coconut Mojito - Interesting. Probably would not order this again.
Lemonade - Disgusting. Not sweet at all. Would not recommend ordering.
Spicy Calamari - Good, but really spicy. You could literally smell the hot sauce fuming from the dish as it entered our table.
Kobe Beef, papaya, mint - DELICIOUS! So tender and juicy. The best.
Spicy Garlic Shrimp Fried Rice - Very very good.
Drunken Noodles - Also an excellent selection.
Prices - For the Gas Lamp District, the prices were rather reasonable, especially for the amount of food we received. The portions were all pretty large, especially the Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Drunken Noodles. Great for sharing.
Overall, I truly enjoyed the food. I am inclined to give Red Pearl one more try. Hopefully the service will be better on the next visit.
The stars must have been in my favor Saturday night because my experience here was pretty nice.
The hostess said we'd have to wait 45 minutes but we only waited 15 minutes.
I was expecting overrated food but I was really impressed with the drunken noodles and some chicken dish. I'm apologize for not remembering the name. It's so dark in there I could barely read the menu and it was too loud to hear the bf say anything.
Our server was decent but I give extra kudos to the bus boy. He was very attentive at refilling my water and pretty much out shined our server.
I ordered a drink called the Red Pearl which was pretty tasty and I'd recommend that to all females.
Why only 4 stars? 2 dishes and 2 drinks = $50 that's why.
I know its downtown... I know the ambiance is trendy... I know I know I know... But $50?? That's a little dos muchos
I'm sure that'll be the last time we go back there.. But our one time experience wasn't that bad.
Check
Hip, trendy bar meets upscale asian fusion restaurant. Not authentic Chinese, but I don't think that's what they were going for. Ok, it's the gaslamp...it's uber trendy. I get it. I got it. I'm not going back.
Food was not impressive. Taste was so so, entrees incredibly small considering the price. I don't think it terribly wrong to pay $14 for pad thai, but that better be enough to feed a family. I could've cleaned that up as my appetizer. For $50, I got no cocktail, hardly any food, and had to make a trip to Santana's to make up for it.
I guess it's me, but when I want Chinese, I don't care so much for the trendy bar vibe. I just want my noodles done right.
Good Looking Restaurant...Love the Ambience inside. Possibly the freshest restaurant I've been to in SD as far as ambience/mood/feel is concerned. They were playin Kung Fu flicks on various tv's when we walked in. I don't usually dine @ spots like this but It was my (ex)Lady's Special Day(Birthday)&I wanted to take her somewhere Fly(that's within my budget, haha), different from the norm&doesn't scream "Hey Im trying super duper hard to impress you!".... so Red Pearl Kitchen it was. I looked thru the menu on their website& was like "fuck yeah... I'm definitely making reservations here" based on the menu offerings....soo I made reservations online. They get cool points for having that reservation feature on their website. I already knew what I wanted to order for myself before the date...
KOBE BEEF!
Shaking Kobe Beef with Papaya&Mint.
T'was pretty good mate!
They get 4 Stars alone for serving Kobe Beef.
If You don't know about the goodness which is Kobe beef, I recommend You give it a try.
She got the Pad Thai(not so authentic). I wouldn't recommend it cause I'm a snooty fuck when it comes to Thai food :) Their pad thai had shrimp+chicken+tofu... I ate all the shrimps because she wasn't a fan of seafood esp. shrimp "eww they're like rolley polley's of the sea!"
Haha maybe that's why we didn't last....(being that I LOVE Seafood&She hated it...amongst other things)
this was the last place we ate @ as a couple...we broke up about a month later and haven't spoke to each other since. Wah wah wahhh. Such is Life. No More Virgos for me! Maybe this restaurant is badluck? Oh well..fuck it...The Kobe beef dish was goood :)
So, I've been to RPC a couple of times prior to writing this review. On my past two visits, my gf and I sat in this special little room off to the side where we pretty much had a private table. These two experiences were pretty good. Food is good for the most part - an interesting mix of ethnicities and flavors. Overall, I like it.
This last visit however has prompted this review. I went here this past week with a friend of mine and we didn't receive any special seating (that's okay, we didn't ask for any, so it didn't matter to me as much). And I have to say, our service was HORRIBLE. The waitress took forever to bring us even some water and then anther 30 minutes to bring us an appetizer. On top of that, she actually said to us: "sorry things are taking so long, my manager wants me to devote most of my time to the sorority/bridal party at the big table nearby'. Wha?? Even if this IS the case, don't tell your patrons this! And get another server to us if you're backed up on the other table you're working on.
I know this wasn't really her fault, but it was just poorly managed. Really took away from what could have otherwise been a decent dining experience. And sadly, it was enough to turn me and my friend off from going to RPC again. Sorry guys.
It's a cool looking restaurant with beautiful decor and beautiful patrons. However, if you want good service in a timely manner, you might want to look elsewhere.
Nothing special.
I've been here twice. The first time i loved the place, but that's probably because my boss paid for dinner.
The second time was last night after a concert, and I had been drinking. To be honest, I was really just craving a cheap, delicious Saguaro's burrito, but Red Pearl was in walking distance, and a friend in the group was craving Chinese...so i was a good friend, and temporarily hushed the little monsters in my tummy that were begging me for Saguaro's.
We started out with the calamari, and it was pretty good - I was starving, after all. BUT, the sweet and sour sauce overpowered any flavor the calamari may have had. Also, it came with a bunch of those fried, airy noodles...obviously just a clever attempt at filling space on the plate.
The second appetizer was the veggie rolls, and those were VERY "eh." What little flavor there was was sweet - like a pastry almost. I couldn't taste any of the vegetables in my roll. Blah.
My entree was the bacon and shrimp chow mien noodles minus the bacon. Most of the noodle dishes were odd pairings - bacon + shrimp, pork + tofu..how about one or the other? My noodles were decent, but nothing I will remember eating in a week. It didn't have much flavor.
I don't think I will be back. And I am still aching for Saguaro's.
Some real strengths and some unforgivable weaknesses.
Pros: Great ambience, good bar selection, though lacking in any good west coast beers. Try the Jade Mistress, we all agreed it was one of the best cocktails we've ever had. The apps are well balanced and thought out, I feel many asian places skew too heavily toward fried stuff, or sushi only, or spring rolls or whatever. The menu here has a lot of variety.
Cons: Food execution is seriously inconsistent. Half of what we got (Ahi-eggplant app, seafood hotpot) was great, the other half (flatiron steak, potstickers) were terrible. Service is a JOKE. To wit:
On a FRIDAY NIGHT, we walked in to find the hostess station unmanned. After milling about for at least 5 minutes, we just walked down to the bar to figure out what was up. The hostess was down there chatting with the bartender. AYFKM? She could have had 3 or 4 parties walk in then leave without knowing, costing the owner $1000 in revenue. If this was my place I'd have fired her on the spot.
The waitress was no better. She had basically no knowledge of the menu, really her only job, seeing as how a barback delivered the drinks and a busboy/expediter delivered the food. When I asked what the deal with the Shaken Kobe Beef was, she answered: "Oh, it's something to do with the meat" Really? Did you figure that out yourself? She then steered me away from that dish, which looked delicious, toward the flatiron steak, which was horrible. When we asked if the coconut sorbet had any dairy in it, as the wife is lactose intolerant, she said she'd ask the chef, then came back to announce that "Yes, the sorbet is lactose intolerant" Sheesh. Where do you find these people?
Note to Red Pearl Management: A smile, a nice ass, and a short skirt are not substitutes for basic professionalism or an IQ above room temperature.
Oh, and if you have a friggin 22 top for a rehearsal dinner, get them a private room, so the rest of the place doesn't have to watch their painfully banal montage video of everyone telling everyone else what a "great couple" Garrett and Lisa are? For a solid 45 minutes? Thanks.
I'll drop in for a drink, but wont be back for any meals.
I expected a lot more from this place. Great atmosphere, laid back and mellow ambiance, but contrasting noise and not-so-great food. I expected 5 star quality which might be why I'm rating so low, but for their prices, I want more than what was given.
It's a perfect place to lounge and mellow out with some drinks at, but I'm rating on food and quality - for appetizers we had salt and pepper shrimp, which was decent. We also started off with The Malaysian Chicken Satay which didn't fail to satisfy, but that was the best part of the dinner and the portion was very small.
It's a fusion cuisine so in my opinion, they tried to get too creative with some of the entrees. The Mongolian Beef and Cashew Chicken is what we chose for the main course, but they both failed to satisfy. At these prices my jaw should drop with each bite taken. The main dishes deserve a 7 out of 10, but that's me being generous.
The drinks were actually very good. I don't remember what cocktails we all had but they were 12-14 bucks per glass. Great concoctions, a little pricey, but whatever we had tasted great.
In conclusion, I will not be back anytime soon.
Whenever the fam and I are in town visiting the weirdo with the beardo who is my brother, we hit up The Red Pearl. Being pesco-veggie, I am lacking in options, but I can always find something at Red Pearl.
This visit, we started with the spicy tuna tempura eggplant. I am not usually a fan of eggplant, but hey- anything fried, right? This was delectable. The flavor was intense and complex, yet the perfect amount to truly stimulate my appetite. In the meantime, my blueberry drink arrived. I have no idea what it was called- it was just a vodka mix drink with a blueberry puree.
When dinner arrived, my mouth watered at the sight of the General Tsao's Tofu. Hubsky ordered the vegetable fried rice. That was tasty, but the star of the evening was truly my tofu. The sauce was spicy and delicious. There was a good tofu to vegetable ratio. The veggies were perfectly cooked and neither raw nor soggy in texture.
I would love to have tried the vanilla cinnamon gelato, but I was full and also avoiding dairy.
It should be mentioned that little rabbi's favorite is the drunken noodle dish. It is also the favorite of, well, all of his friends too. I can't comment on a personal level on that one.
They also have great match books.
they would get 4 stars but i have to take one away for having the most raggedy booths! I mean seriously the place look like they were remodeling but ran out of money so the left the booths in there in hopes to have it pass off as a "vintage" look. I just had to ask the server if they were intentionally left that way. she said no as if those booths were brand new.
now for the food...
The food is tasty. everything that we ordered was rather good. what i did not like were the prices. they charged nine bucks for three spring rolls (4 if they are small enough) We had a party of four so we asked if we could get 4 and we got four and they were good. well seasoned, crispy and not too oily. unbeknown to us, the server charged us for the extra eggroll and did not tell us at all. we found out when we received the bill.
I also liked the fried rice, and the noodle dish that had seafood and chicken in it. Nothing was overly seasoned.
I would return but they could brush up on their customer service skill and finish remodeling because those booths were pretty disturbing!
for those of you inquiring about parking, i would catch a cab to the gas lamp district because its not worth it to fight with the pedestrians and the bike riders to find a parking spot.
This place is an okay time. I've only had appetizers and they're pretty decent, but nothing spectacular. The drinks are creative and innovative, but if you don't make it for happy hour, they're expensive as hell. All I want to know is whatever happened to the HOT bartender with the goatee? Seriously, if you wanna keep your lady customers satisfied, you better keep the eye candy employed.
I have been wanting to try RPK for some time now and finally got the chance this afternoon. The ambiance was totally NOT what I expected. Everyone commented that the music was loud, so I was imagining a more bar-y type atmosphere, as opposed to a dark, lounge-y, intimate, candle-lit table type joint. The service was top notch, although I couldn't hear a word our server said. Seriously, it just looked like moving lips, and I would just nod. My sister joked that the server asked if I wanted to sell my soul to the devil and I would just nod and say, yes, can I get that in a to-go box, please? I don't understand how anyone so soft-spoken would ever want to be a server.
The menu looked very enticing. I was immediately drawn to the lobster cream cheese rolls. Okay, honestly for $12, I'd rather go to pick up stix and get 3 orders of cream cheese wontons, and I hate pick up stix. I didn't taste any lobster and I didn't taste any cream cheese. For entrees we ordered the wok fired shrimp udon and the spicy Malaysian chicken-shrimp fried rice. The noodles were good. The "spicy" fried rice was...ODD. It could not have been any more UN-spicy. It was actually oddly sweet and totally reminded me of French toast, to which my sister replied, "Omg, it totally does!" It was just weird....OH and they had the smallest soft drink glasses ever. WTF...if I am going to pay $3 for a diet coke, I want more than 10 ounces at a time. Although to be fair, our server was ON IT with the refills.
Overpriced & overrated.
Cool asian-fusion type place in the gaslamp, neat atmoshpere, creative drinks, and pretty standard food. Would I come back? There's just so many other places to eat downtown, so unless I tried every other restaurant, then I'd come back here.
I used to love this place, but they changed ownership ( or management ?).
It had the coolest staff and vibe but that is all gone. The food is very oily, salty and way too spicy ( not in a good way). Many of the items like the Shrimp, seafood, and other are not the same quality as before.. I am bummed out on this one
The food is ok, it's a mix of thai, korean, and chinese. The prices are mid range too expensive.
If you have a large group of people it's a good place to go to downtown before hittin up the bars, there is a "Chef's Selection" where the chef basically cooks a bunch of courses for you without you having to think about it, from appetizers to desert. You pay a fixed amount per person, there are usually two options a $30 and $45 one. I've gotten the $30 one a couple of times and they turned out pretty good, the food was good overall but nothing spectacular, some of the flavors were actually pretty bland such as the kobe beef hot pot.
You can eat in the kitchen too which i've seen people do but never tried myself.
I went here with a friend while we were in town for a conference. We both have lots of experience with good Chinese and other Asian food. I was hoping this would be a great choice, but it was a little disappointing.
The restaurant is dark inside; and I mean dark beyond "mood lighting" or ambience. It was difficult to see our food sometimes. Had to hold the menu in a particular way to read it.
We started with the calamari appetizer, and that was good. It had a nice combination of crispness vs. chewiness and of sweet vs. spicy. But the main courses were downhill from there. We ordered and shared the pad thai and the seafood hot pot. The seafood hot pot was in a lemongrass broth; I like this type of broth, especially in a soup like tom yum goong. But the pot was fairly small, so that it seemed like this should be served only as an appetizer or soup course. The pad thai was OK. The noodles were not overdone, and the meat was well-cooked. Unfortunately, not much flavor in the noodles, and barely a hint of vegetables in the entire dish.
The server was nice, and gave just the right amount of attention without hovering. Good service is like gravy; it can't fix a poor roast.
IM totally being nice by giving them 4 stars. i really mean to give them 3.5 but ill go up one half star.
I went with a couple of friends. when we walked in we were seated immediately it took a while for our server to come maybe a few minutes but that was no big deal, since i was in amazing company not much bothered me. We ordered our drinks first off, waters Fat Tire and a Kirin draught. It was brought to us with in 5 minutes of our order. 5 minutes after that another round was brought, however we didnt order those drinks so they were on the house! Nice. (sad to say they werent completely consumed)
The server was nice enough to talk to us about the menu and share with the group her recommendations! Great ones to be exact!
She said we should get the Eggplant tempura which was mentioned to be spicy. She was right just a tad of spice to enhance the flavors that became a cacophony of awesome in our mouths! We then ordered the Pad Thai, Drunken Noodles, and the Spicy eggplant. All enough to share Family Style. The Pad Thai was delicious, it had a nice hint of spice. Not bland but perfectly seasoned with a slight hint of what i think is fish oil and citrus. The Drunken noodles were nice and spicy that i enjoyed a lot, It had chicken in it, so i didnt eat much of it. I should say i avoided the chicken, but still oh so good! My favorite part of the meal was the Eggplant! OH MY GOD!! FOODGASIM in your mouth! thats all i can say about that one....
give it a whirl. I totally like this place, i wonder what their happy hours are like?
Been to this place a few times a while ago.. haven't been there recently. What I remember is the restaurant having a fun atmosphere. I think the service was a little slow, and the drinks very expensive. The food was pretty tasty but a little too expensive.
Pluses, Red Pearl's menu is like tapas for Chinese food. Food to share if its too much or just enough for one person.
2 major problems, it was so dark, I couldn't even read my menu. And the noise level was really loud that I couldn't hear our friends or myself.
Basically for an older person like me who rarely go to rock concerts or dance clubs because of the high decibel noise, the restaurant ruins the experience.
I could understand if I was going to be dancing later but I find it a very discouraging that my meal is interrupted by the loud sounds that I heard called music.
Call me a fart but I like to eat in a low, non assuming quiet place so I can hear the food go in and my stomach sigh when it gets its food.
Maybe it will be better on the next visit if there is one.
Walking around the city and taking holiday photos like Asian tourists, my friend Paprika was getting hungry, we agreed on coming to the Pearl around the co'ner.
The hostess greeted and sat us to a cute 2 top booth. Nice interior and cool lighting. A lot of red, I don't know why everything has to be red with Chinese/Asian cultures seriously it's overrated.
Usually I don't really say much about service in my reviews if I don't say anything that means it's decent and there's nothing to complain about. This restaurant is really nice and cool and I totally expected top service.
Our waitress was not friendly, and her service was super slow. The restaurant was not busy so I don't know how hard it is to service two girls =P. Unacceptable! All we want is to order and get water refills. Ask about the food and/or any recommendations. But she was so quick to leave we didn't have a chance to say anything.
Other than that the food was good, chicken mango friend rice with bean sprouts, the rice was too oily to pick up with chopsticks though, I ended up using the fork American style. Then the eggplant veggie dish, I wanted to add tofu to it but I guess it was not doable according to the waitress. What? When you go to other Asian restaurants people always ask for add ons and subs but you can't here DUMB! Paprika asked for soy sauce and hot sauces... we got a small divided plate into 3 sections with chili, soy sauce, and sirachi, and no utensils to get the chili and scoop the soy sauce! What am I going to use my fork and chopsticks?
My buddy's water glass was empty for sometime one of us was ready to go all Asian and hold up our glasses "Excu Me 'ello? We need mo'wata? Someboddy come here"! I was going to walk up to the bar to get some water after all that hassle we got the busboy to get us water.
In the end of course waitress sounded nice setting down the bill. PFfff.... Paprika was contemplating about leaving the standard 15% tip.
Also we enjoyed taking photos at the table- typical Asians =) Oh and I want to come back and hang out at the bar... I saw Effen on the shelf.
Red Pearl Kitchen, located in Gaslamp area is a modern asian fusion restaurant. We discovered this place when I had a fashion show there. The owner's condo is right above the restaurant. We've been here a few times and the late night appetizers options is nothing exciting. The portions are small and pricey and the drinks size are rather small. However, the vibe and the ambiance is very relaxing.
This is our second trip to the Red Pearl Kitchen. The restaurant is a little dark, but other than that, it's a very nice environment. Good decor and Jackie Chan movies playing over the bar. We ordered the Kobe Beef Satay appetizer, Three Flavor Fried Rice, and the Pad Thai. All of the dishes were very tasty. The Pad Thai is the best I've ever had. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are in the gaslamp area.
After an unforgiveable night at Altitude and Visions...
a friends boyfriend was throwing her a surprise 'congrats on your graduation' dinner at Red Pearl Kitchen the following evening.
They were kind enough to accommodate a table to 15 or so, and offered a special menu.
Instead of regular plates they brought out an array of plates big enough to share among the people around us.
I knew I should have written this review earlier, because I'm having a brain fart of what we ate. I remember a tempura'd eggplant topped with fish-ahi poke like almost, salad, calamari, and a bunch of other stuff. And I was full. Went to use the rest room, and when I got back to the table there was more food. Eh? I guess the first 10 plates were just the appetizers. And now came the entrees. I didn't think I had anymore room..but I think I had some noodles, rice, etc.
So from what I can recall, they make a strong mojito, so strong that I couldn't finish it because I didn't want a repeat of what happened in my friends car the night before.
It is ridiculously loud in here that you have to scream or have your mouth ON the ear of the person sitting next to you just for them to hear you speak. Loud music = people speaking louder. Me no likey.
The food was good. The place was nice. The waitresses were friendly.
Minus stars for when we asked the host if anyone from our party was there, she said no. And 10 minutes later we saw a couple friends already seated. It's too loud. 3.5 stars.
Came here for my "21st" birthday two years ago.
Super special treatment, when you have the hookups... :)
great food, and amazingly strong drinks!
Gotta come back a see whats still good!
This is one of my 'go-to' places when I have visitors in town. The menu is very eclectic and the vibe inside is great-very young and hip-a great place to take visiting parents if you want them to feel cool:)
The portions are all very big, so it is an ideal spot for a group outing. There are one or two private-ish rooms for larger groups that you can reserve (they do have a minimum spending amount though). The service has always been friendly and competent everytime I have gone there.
My favorites on the menu:
-Edamame (best I have ever had in my life), they cook it a wok and the flavor will blow your mind
-Calamari are sweet and spicy and I sometimes have dreams about them!
-Cashew chicken is tasty!
The only downside to this place would be the noise level. The music is really loud on the weekends-so not a good place for an intimate date, but perfect otherwise.
One last thing-if you can't get reservations on a weekend night, you can always saddle up to the bar and order and eat there.
# TIMES VISITED: 16
I wrote this on the comment card the last time I visited the Red Pearl Kitchen:
"This place is so over. I am dropping your Yelp score."
I thought I wrote a review to drop stars on but I guess I didn't. When the place was new it was easily a 4 star restaurant. While the awesome decor and bar/lounge area still looks amazing everything else went to hell. I can get better food and service in almost any spot on convoy. Worse:
DRINKS ARE 10+ FOR SMALL ASS CUPS.
I'm talking $12-$15
I'm warning you that
DRINKS COST MORE THAN ENTREES!
YARRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*huff huff*
Yeah, we also noticed that the prices for everything has been raised and the quality of food has been lowered. Service feels so amateurish as food runners had no idea who's food items belong to which table. I mean really at least get the damn table right! This happened over 10 times on two different occasions. I lose a lot of confidence in a place when I keep hearing the question "is this yours? who ordered this?"
I'd only go here if I was in a pinch and flushed with cash and had to impress a noob.
EDIT: oh and the triple spice cake was super weak sauce, a glorified muffin with ice cream. Most of my friends went to heavenly right afterward instead of attempting dessert here.
Five of us were wandering around the Gaslamp looking for a place to eat when we came upon the Red Pearl Kitchen. Having never been there before, the host said "you won't be dissapointed"! Let me say that the food was delicious and if I were reviewing on this alone, it would be a 4 star.
Our wait person Joana, was a pathetic excuse for a server. We waited 10 minutes before she even acknowledged we were there and when she did, she was totally not into waiting on us. 3 of our meals were brought to the table and then we had to ask where the other two were. Hello!!!??? We were told it was the kitchens fault...the server came back with the two remaining meals and dropped them on the table and walked away, no "can I get you anything else". Our water and drink glasses went unfilled until we asked the busboy, Joana was MIA!
The food was delicious and in large portions for us all to taste. There are other restaurants that actually care about giving good service, this is not one of them.
The first 2 times I went after it first opened, the food was great. Yams were the best. However, over the past 3 years, it is not consistant and I am almost ready to give up going there. Bummer because it is a great location.
Fresh, fast, and delicious.
I really like this place, it's dark and mysterious and has a very upscale feel for decent prices. The music and ambiance is very modern and the bar area is real sleek.
My favorite dishes here are the Fried Eggplant with Spicy Tuna (which is a great appetizer) and the Spicy Seafood Lemongrass Stew (which is a lot like Tom Yum).
The speed at which they serve the food is also quite phenomenal and if you look into the kitchen (they have an open window!) from 4th street, you can see that the ingredients they use are fresh. I've not be able to hook it up, but having dinner INSIDE the kitchen looks like a real cool option if you are trying to impress some out-of-towners or if you just want a unique double date.
Thumbs up!
Awesome food. Awesome Ambiance. Definitely a place for groups or a date. Shaken Kobe beef is one of my favorite dishes. Place is loud, which I like. Makes it feel like things are happening, and it give it a great vibe for dinner. Definitely a younger vibe.
The bar is fun if there is a wait. Great place to take a date.
It doesn't get worse than this. My business partners and I make a 7 o'clock reservation. Two of us arrive at 10 til, and check in with host. The place is hardly busy, but there's a table of eight in the center of the dining room, and some scattered two-tops. Two bartenders. We announce that we'll wait for our third at the bar, and take two of the many empty seats at the bar.
The bartender gives us a glance from the other end of the bar, where she's busy juggling an order of what appears to be sake bombs. She mentions something to the other guy behind the bar (a barback?), who I assume is about to come greet us, and explain that she'll be with us as soon as she gets that order out. Wrong.
He walks right by, and off to the kitchen. We don't think much of it, and patiently wait for her to finish the round of drinks (come on, they're sake bombs, not actual bombs... get a move on, right?)
At some point, she trays up the order, and parades right by us without saying a word. No sign of the barback, and the host (who's maybe 20 feet away at the entrance) is busy staring at one of the dozen or so TV screens, instead of noticing that we're being blown off.
Just about the time it starts to feel a little ridiculous, my buddy notes that we're right next door to Oceanaire. We have time to text the late partner, and walk out of the place without a single word from anyone. It was like we were invisible.
Sad, because I love Chinese, and was really looking forward to trying this place. For what it's worth, the good folks at Oceanaire were happy to take our money, and they treated us like royalty. Lesson learned.
Join us for Yelp Drinks!
Neighborhood: East Village
Join us for Yelp Drinks!
Neighborhood: Gaslamp
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Thai
Neighborhood: Gaslamp
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Gaslamp
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Gaslamp
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Gaslamp
Category: Mediterranean
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