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The Pot Sticker
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
150 Waverly Pl(between Clay St & Washington St)
San Francisco, CA 94108
Neighborhood: Chinatown
(415) 397-9985
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 11 am - 10:30 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street, Validated
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
83 reviews for The Pot Sticker
Review Highlights
"We opted for the green onion pancakes, spicy pickled..."
(in 4 reviews)
"Their specialty is Szechuan food, but they had a lot of non..."
(in 5 reviews)
"It's their favorite Sichuan restaurant."
(in 9 reviews)
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83 reviews in English
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Review from Joel G.
Santa Clara, CA
1/30/2012
We have come here several times over the years and always enjoyed the food here.
It is not the fanciest place we ever ate but we like it.
They serve the standard schezuan fare and just about everything is quite good. -
Review from L D.
San Francisco, CA
10/8/2011
What a huge disappointment. We used to order from here about once a week, even paying the jacked up Waiters on Wheels fee to get crispy delectable goodies brought to our very door.
The Pot Sticker now only gets 3 stars because although their ONE KIND of pot stickers are quite good (thin wonton skin, nice little pork sausage-y contents), once upon a time, this place actually lived up to its name and offered some dozen different kinds of pot sticker, including several veggie ones, a couple of fowl ones, as well as the expected, obligatory pork kind they've been cut back to now. What the hell? The POT STICKER, people, should have pot sticker offerings, whatever else is on the menu.
Service is indifferent at best, and you have to pay cash if you spend less than $20. Bah. Bring back the POT STICKERS of your dang name!!! -
Review from Sasha T.
Arroyo Grande, CA
1/19/2012
Loved the food, but after 5 minutes of leaving the restaurant, I experienced a severe MSG reaction. For that reason, I would not go back. Too bad, because I and my whole family really enjoyed the food. Too bad. :0(
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Review from Wu X.
San Francisco, CA
1/19/2012
My friend who is from China loves this place, and the food was certainly spicy, which was great, but the meat (particularly the beef) was fatty and gross, IMO. The steamed rice was good, as were the spices.
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Review from Mark H.
Oceanside, CA
1/9/2012
Food was better than expected. We went here because we saw locals eating here.
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Review from Sean T.
San Francisco, CA
12/28/2011
If you eat here at lunch on a weekday, ask for the lunch menu. They don't give it to you automatically. Some of the same items (such as tan tan men) on the regular menu are cheaper on the lunch menu. I think this place is a bit shady in terms of customer service and being upfront and honest.
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Review from Brian J.
6/14/2011
Chongqing food with numbing spice and great service. Owner is from Chongqing, so if you've been there, or want this type of food, order accordingly and you'll find the ample ma la (huajiao) Sichuan peppers and other delectable flavors and ingredients that make this cuisine famous.
Chloé N. ordered all our food (she's from Chongqing as well) and here's what we got: Bean jello in red chili sauce (yummy and spicy); BBQ lamb skewers (yang rou chuanr); Kou shui ji (Sichuan style mouth watering chicken); House combination hot pot (combo is no exaggeration--includes everything from fish, shrimp and beef to blood and intestine); Rural fence basket beef cooked w/pickled chili pepper; Suan cai yu (on the menu called Tender fresh fish boiled in Sichuan pickled mustard broth w/tofu); Chinese greens (I think it was dou miao, or sautéed snow pea shoots.) We also had watermelon, watermelon juice and for desert two orders of sweet sticky rice ball with rice wine.
Some of this food is spicy, some oily (like in China) some fresh, all in all though, I was happy to be back in China once again, if only for a few short sweet hours!
Lastly, I'd be weary of anyone who reviewed nontraditional items like Mongolia beef, shrimp fried rice, General Tso's chicken, orange beef or anything with plum sauce. This place, like every Chinese place in the states, throws these items in the mix to cater to the Panda Express American mass. I didn't eat this food in China and therefore view these reviews as worthless and actually quite ignorant. Instead, take the advice above and order like a local... -
Review from Shiyuan D.
Oakland, CA
Updated - 7/6/2011
While there are a few things I get here that are consistently good - hot & sour noodles, house cold noodles - they have some ordering and customer relations problems that just make my lunch time experience there suck.
My to go orders are messed up. Constantly. At least 75%. I ask for hot and sour noodles, they give me hot and sour soup. (Sounds the same, but trust me. Two totally different dishes in Chinese.) I ask for house cold noodles without garlic, and they give me the noodles without any flavor at all.
I pay with a 20, they give me change for a 10. Of course, I don't notice until I'm back at the office.
I could go on and on.
Please hire somebody more organized to take your to go orders!1 Previous Review: Show all »
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1/26/2011
LOVES IT.
So far, I've had the cold noodles, & the hot and sour noodles. Both good!
They have a few… Read more »
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Review from Maki M.
San Francisco, CA
5/15/2011
We love spicy food so we gave it a try.
Service: Good
Ordered Monglia beef, spicy fish, bak choy with garlic, shrimp fried rice.
We love authentic Szechuan food (spicy) but the food we ordered weren't that spicy even though we requested. Their menu, delicious looking "pictures" really made us to try few dishes but we were disappointed. We had a high expectation from all the pictures on their menu. I would like to try Z&Y next time.
***They don't have much selection for vegetarians.*** -
Review from Ellen C.
4/22/2011 4 photos
Well then, the name is kind of a bit deceptive, because I was expecting like pot stickers galore, but I only saw a few, no vegetarian ones. Boo!
Per the other reviews, I'm able to garner this is an authentic Szechuan kind of joint, so d'oh - should've figured! But we didn't do our Yelp research beforehand, so that will show us!
My Mandarin sucks. It makes my grandma cry (not really, but it is THAT bad). But I still tried to stammer out some sort fumbly dumb Mandarin greeting and inquiry whether there were any vegan options on the menu. The waitress seemed genuinely perplexed as to what I was trying to communicate so I transitioned to good ole' trusty English, blasted!
There are a limited few vegan/vegetarian items on the menu. We opted for the green onion pancakes, spicy pickled vegetables and beer - perfect refreshing afternoon snack after many hours of trotting around town.
We determined the green onion pancakes to be far superior than others we've tried, although please note that they are extraordinarily oily (which is why they were probably so delicious). The spicy pickled vegetables were pretty standard issue, but a nice accompaniment with the pancakes. We also received hot tea in lieu of the usual water - a nice authentic touch!
Service was okay, but the waitress obviously favored the family who ordered a buttload of stuff over us. I can't blame her! But anyway, it was a pretty all right experience, nothing amazing. -
Review from J D.
Elk Grove, CA
6/23/2011 1 Check-in Here
We ordered the fillet sole, pot stickers, and dumplings. Most dishes here are spicy so be warned.
The Pot Stickers were good, it better be for a place that has a name like this! Dumplings were ok, a little on the oily side. The Fillet Sole was the best we've ever ate - very yummy with the perfect amount of spice. They did however forgot to give us rice and took an additional 10 min to bring it (thus 4 stars). -
Review from mike c.
Updated - 8/24/2011 9 photos
Need a destination for Andrew Zimmerman's Bizarre Foods show in San Francisco? The challenge here would be their Tan Tan Noodles (http://www.yelp.com/bi...). My friends know that I have a pretty high tolerance to spicy foods. The highest degree was a hot pot meal in Guizhou, China, a neighboring province to Szechuan, where my mouth was literally numb for the entire meal. This comes second to that meal as my hand alternated between bites and water bottle grabs to finish this meal. The veggies helped to cut the bits as did a side order of Green Onion Pancake (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) ($4.95). The pancake had a nice chewy texture and wasn't overly salted, but sadly it came only lukewarm in temperature.
Spiciness is good, if you can still taste the flavor of the food... now, this numbing spice, I think I'll pass!2 Previous Reviews: Show all »
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10/21/2010
With over fifty reviews as of this writing, this restaurant should actually be renamed since they… Read more »
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Review from Jan T.
5/22/2011 1 Check-in Here
On the last day of our SF trip we finally got around to the obligatory city bus tour, and of course we learned that tourists should "stay on Grant St in Chinatown since everything is there..."
Well, that advice came two days too late and was not very useful, as Chinatown's most authentic restaurants are, as usual, found off of the main drag. The Pot Sticker was no exception. A small, side alley place, it serves authentic Sichuan cuisine, including Chinese dishes such as intestine and tendon that usually do not appeal to Western audiences (myself included, but nobody is perfect :) )
The menu itself is big, as are the portions. I had the Chicken with explosive peppers, and yes it was spicy. Fortunately we received a pot of tea and water with our meal, the former without ever asking for it, a nice touch of hospitality missing in so many East Coast chinese restaurants.
The service was good, fast, and courteous, although it became obvious that we were "unusual" since the waitress rushed to give us silverware which again we did not ask for, just in case we did not know how to eat with chopsticks.
As to the food, it was delicious, with just the right amount of heat one would expect from Sichuan and portions that left you full but not dragging.
Overall a very good Chinese restaurant with very reasonable prices and good service. Certainly a recommendation for anyone local or daring enough to walk off the tourist path. -
Review from papa m.
Daly City, CA
11/3/2011
I don't know why the rating is not high for this restaurant as well as not many people dine here each time I visit. Maybe the location is not very visible and hard to find. But I really like this place cuz it's super close to the sichuan/beijing food I ate in China. When I miss home food, I come here to eat. You should try all their dishes except the clear noodle ones.
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Review from Li D.
Van Nuys, CA
9/7/2011 1 Check-in Here
Had a stone hotpot with sole fish with a TON of chilis floating in a broth and chili oil mixture. Under the fish was a medley of vegetables. We paired this with a plate of spicy dumplings. The dumplings were delicious and the sole fish was good but not anything out of the ordinary. We can stand spicy so nothing was out of our league. Had a good experience. Waitress was a little lagging on the service, but not unfriendly.
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Review from Yao Y.
San Francisco, CA
2/26/2011
Went tonight with two other Chinese friends. We LOVED this place for its authenticity. Large portion, authentic flavor, and very reasonable price. Too many places in the city serve either Cantonese cuisine or Americanized Chinese food, so I am very happy to see this little restaurant stay true to the original.
In general, if you like authentic Szechuan food, this is the place for you; if you are tuned to Americanized Chinese food and/or cannot handle spiciness, look somewhere else.
Also I always try to stick to dishes that are specialty of the Szechuan style in a Szechuan restaurant. This includes most of the spicy dishes and only a few non-spicy ones, so some knowledge about Chinese food will come handy. -
Review from Sydney L.
San Francisco, CA
7/26/2011
Their food is spicy, but then again, you would only come here if you are a fan of the spices!
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Review from Christopher F.
Santa Monica, CA
7/26/2010
San Francisco residents are rightly very critical of Chinese / Asian restaurants. That said, the ratings on this place miss a good deal of its quirky charm and wonderful staff and food. I have been a regular here since 1992 for a MLA (Modern Languages Association) convention and a bunch of job interviews.
Now I am a SF native (living above the also excellent New Canton restaurant).
The lead waiter here is excellent - what other place warns you away from ordering too much food, or tells you exactly how long a certain dish may take. The fact that this place has survived for almost 20 years in a city where restaurants come and go easily should recommend the place.
We love the pot stickers, the scallion pancakes, the dumplings in hot oil and the pork buns. They are excellent and remind me of Mary Chungs hands down the best Chinese restaurant we have ever encountered near MIT in Cambridge MA.
I came here alone, have had romantic lunches and dinners with my wife (of the very cheap eats variety) and brought our son who regularly brings all his friends from Washington DC and UC Santa Cruz. All are made welcome and no one has ever left disappointed. Trust me: this place is a rare gem in the best SF chinatown traditions.
The ambiance, staff and food make this a wonderful spot on a cold foggy summer's day in SF - don't miss it for any reason. -
Review from tyrannosaurus x.
San Leandro, CA
7/21/2011
If you haven't got with the tan tan noodles yet, it's time. Oh my god. They are made Shanghai style (even though it's a Szechuan restaurant?) with peanut sauce, giving a deliciously buttery alternative to this hella spicy dish. Tan Tan noodles -- it's a thing, and it's my life
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Review from Gloria H.
Updated - 6/22/2010
Downgrading them from our recent vist.
I was craving pot stickers so where else do you go? I didn't want the football sized pot stickers full of meat from U-Lee...so we came here.
Problem #1 - they are doing a photo shoot in the middle of the dining room - HELLO?!? Customers are shoved to the side so they can take pictures of food for their menu with the glaring lights?? How about using your private room? How about doing it during your off hours?
Problem #2 - service - the ladies there do not understand service. Somehow they believe they have good food and so they don't need to provide good service. Very strange thinking...
Problem #3 - pot stickers were not good! Big disappointment! It was not piping hot. It was not crispy at the bottom as expected. There was no juice flowing out from biting into it - this is SO wrong in so many ways. How can a place named Pot Stickers be so wrong on their name sake dish?!? The shame...the horror... We got the order of 8 at $5.95? (you have a choice of order of 4).
Problem #4 - the spicy combo beef dish was very small in portion with a lot of filler (celery, carrot...) and only has the beef stomach in such small pieces that you really can't taste it.
Problem #5 - the spicy combo soup noodle - I'm pretty certain someone ordered a chow mein but didn't want it so they reused the noodle for our order - the noodles were like chow mein, not the kind we had in soup noodle before. the color was brown as if it was cooked w/ soy sauce...the only upside is this dish tasted better than last time. there were more ingredients too.
The only dish that we liked was the stir fried string bean. They also added slices of tofu in there, quite interesting. The beans were cooked just right and flavorful, just a bit salty for me but negligible.
It may be years again before we visit again...Listed in: Chinatown Eats, Green Onion…
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/17/2009
It must be at least 10 years since we last visited this place. We used to come here often as they… Read more »
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Review from Laurence H.
San Francisco, CA
5/14/2011 1 Check-in Here
All the essence of true Sichuan flavors but without the heat. For you Cantonese people who cry at the sight of red, don't worry. You'll love it. For those who want the heat, head over to Z&Y.
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Review from Chloé N.
Mountain View, CA
Absolutely my favorite Chinese food place! I'm from Chongqing, so are the owner and chefs...very very authentic Chongqing/Sichuan food!! All of my friends love this place.
There's a place for karaoke downstair too, available from 9pm. Can also be used for dancing/modeling class :)Listed in: Restaurant, Princess Chloé Approved
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Review from Annie M.
San Francisco, CA
8/1/2010
[This is a guest post from the Boy, a big fan of spicy Sichuan food!]
First and foremost, this is a new restaurant, with a new menu and new management, as of July 2010. All reviews before then refer to a different place that doesn't sound very good to me either!
See http://chowhound.chow....
According to our waiter, the new Pot Sticker kept the same English name to avoid paperwork fees (?), but it has a new Chinese name and is definitely a different brand of Chinese food. The menu is Sichuanese and that's what you should order to have a good experience--there are some of the usual Americanized Chinese food staples available for the tourists, but judging any Chinese place by its orange chicken is a bit of a crime.
On to the food, we've been here 3 times now and had a solid experience every time. The food is straight out of Chengdu, and if you request extra spice the kitchen obliges. We've tried all the staples: Chongqing lazi ji (chicken smothered in chiles), ganbian sijidou (dry-fried string beans), mapo doufu (spicy tofu), zhongshuijiao (spicy pork dumplings), mala liangmian (numbing cold noodles), congyoubing (scallion pancakes), etc. We thought the ganbian lianggua (dry-fried bitter melon) was a unique highlight.
The food isn't perfect, as the Girl points out, the kaoquanyu (whole roasted fish) was disappointingly overcooked. There's cheesy music in the background (e.g. yueliang daibiao wo de xin...the instrumental version...with key changes for emphasis). And chopsticks are still by request.
In short, it deserves your visit and a new Yelp page, perhaps? -
Review from Jeff L.
San Francisco, CA
5/6/2010
I am not a serial complainer. I can handle Chinese food that is just OK. It is a couple days after my experience with The Pot Sticker, so I am not still seething.
My mistake: I was inebriated -- and hungry. I did not stop for a second and check Yelp. I just jumped on Eat24Hours and decided to try my luck with a place that delivers.
House fried noodles: soft (overcooked) and utterly flavorless. I enjoy fried noodles and can get into them even when they are not spectacular. These were just awful.
Har gow: all right, delivery dim sum is always going to be iffy. They always have to have very thick skins on dumplings for them to have a little shelf life. But the filling can still be reasonably tasty. I never realized Har Gow could even be less than mediocre.
Sesame chicken: actually has a good meat:breading ratio. Tolerable, even slightly more than tolerable, until I hit an overfried chunk obviously done in oil that needed to be changed.
I loathe wasting food, but I dumped this and tried to block out the fact that I have a $30 charge on my credit card. I don't understand how a place this bad can survive in a town like ours with all that competition. Don't you have to make at least so-so Chinese to even stay in business? -
Review from Lee H.
2/19/2008
My mom and I used to go to this place when I was young. She read somewhere that the pot stickers were some of the best in the city.
What sticks out in my mind is not the pot stickers, but the green onion pancakes. I've been to many dim sum places over the years and haven't found one that compares to The Pot Sticker's version.
I was in the neighborhood today, so decided to stop by and get an order to go. It brought back good memories of my younger years. Not too greasy, the perfect flakiness combined with the right amount of green onions make these little treats sublime.
The restaurant itself screams tourist trap and I'm not sure about the other menu items, but if you order the green onion pancakes, you won't go wrong. -
Review from Antonio L.
San Francisco, CA
7/24/2011
King of hot & spicy dishes.
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Review from lenea m.
San Francisco, CA
2/16/2009
I was feeling alittle sick last night and I wanted some Won Ton soup and wanted it delivered. I call and they were so nice on the phone I placed my order and less than 45min my dinner was at the door.
It was a rainy night and the person who delivered walked to my apt. in the rain!! That was totally professional and cool of them to do this. And wet and cold he was really nice and wanted me to enjoy my dinner with a smile.
As I was eating my food it was pretty good. My soup was really good.
Even the "To Go Food" container was well packed. It did not make my food all soggy.
I will order from them again.Listed in: Top Restaurants
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Review from T A.
Alameda, CA
3/28/2008
It was edible.. but it wasn't that tasty.
I had some chinese pancake/egg thing with plum sauce and onions. The fried prawns were..um, fried prawns.
It was empty inside, which should have been a good warning.
My goddaughter said the chicken potstickers were good. I didn't try them so, they get 2 stars for what I did try.
The bathroom was clean. -
Review from Bingying L.
San Francisco, CA
10/19/2009
There's good Chinese food and bad Chinese food. This doesn't even qualify as bad Chinese food.
We ordered the pot stickers, Mongolian beef, General Tsao's chicken, fried tofu and red bean cake. The fried tofu was edible. The pot stickers weren't TOO bad but I'd rather eat the pre-made frozen stuff. The red bean cake was the best part of the meal - we would have gone hungry without it. I couldn't bring myself to have any more of the chicken or beef after the first two bites (I like to give second chances).
It's been a long time since I've had anything that tasted this bad. I don't know why anyone would come here when the street is littered with better alternatives. -
Review from Sarah T.
San Francisco, CA
3/20/2010
So far not impressed. Waiters 'didn't understand ' our order and then tried to serve us two dishes that we didn't order. The first one we didn't notice and it was delicious. But once we realized they were doing it, they stopped attending our table. We sat around for another 10 mins before we noticed that people around us all have been served. Where is our food?? We are still at the restaurant where I am helping my angst by typing up a review on yelp.
***
We left because they completely ignored us. They were total jerks so we didn't bother paying for the 3 beers that we ordered and actually received. -
Review from Anya E.
Hilo, HI
6/6/2008
After much shopping and walking around Chinatown, my mom and I came upon the pot sticker and decided to try it out. My mom wanted some dim sum, and coming from Arizona, she does not get to eat dim sum much. We ordered the har gao (steamed shrimp dumpling), shrimp and pork shumai, hong kong style stirfry noodles and the pork and veggie noodle soup to share.
The stirfry noodles came out within 5 minutes which was weird since we had expected the dim sum to come out first, but we were fine with it. After about 15 minutes, the noodle soup came out. I was surprised by how large it was. It was made to serve about 6 people! About 10 minutes after that, the dim sum arrived.
Again I was surprised at the large portions. Each one came with 6 very large pieces of dim sum. All were freshly steamed and delicious. I would come here and try their other dim sum dishes again. They look home made, and it is nice to know that they make them to order, and that the food has not been sitting around all day.
Our tab came out to $30 which is not bad at all considering we were pigs, lol. Everything was delicious. Service was a bit slow, but we did not mind. I would come back again. -
Review from stephanie l.
New York, NY
9/28/2008
I live in the neighborhood and I would have to say that this is one of those places that I would keep coming back to. I've had a variety of dishes here and I think it's one of those places where you just have to know what to order. I am addicted to the five spiced pork wrapped in pancake. It's fatty pork with hoisin sauce and green onions. I order it everytime I go there.
I also really like the potstickers. There's a reason this place is called the potsticker.
The Mongolian Beef is also just ok. Its just the usual greasy Chinese dish.
This is one of the only places I've found that serves the chive pockets. They don't have any meat so perfect for vegetarians and not too dough-ey and full of filling.
I do not recommend the xiao long bao. They are definitely too dough-ey.
So if you come here, just stick with the potstickers and the pork wrapped in pancake.
I'm a fan of the owner Alex. He knows me by name and is very friendly. His wife is not so much and her service when she is the only one in the restaurant is not so good. -
Review from Lesley P.
Oakland, CA
8/6/2009
I think that Yelp was created for the Chinatowns of the world's cities; labyrinths of restaurants, no guidance whatsoever as to WHICH ONE to choose.
And when you DON'T use Yelp when going out to lunch in Chinatown? You end up at The Pot Sticker.
I was attracted by the tasty sounding name and cool Chinese mask illustration outside. When I walked in, the hostess/only waitress acted like it was a monstrous inconvenience to walk 5 feet to clear off a table for me (there were 2 other occupied tables in the place; she couldn't have been THAT busy!).
After I ordered, she rolled her eyes, wandered into the kitchen, and ten minutes later threw a plate of sesame chicken in front of me. It was super tough/fatty, and even the rice was pretty bad! The waitress was totally insulted that I was reading Harry Potter at the table (hey, I was by myself, and wanted to reread before seeing the movie). Then they overcharged me on the bill. Awesome.
Next time I try to be adventurous and wander into some random restaurant, I should probably remind myself that someone created Yelp for a reason. -
Review from Magda M.
Mountain View, CA
3/21/2010
Let me start off by saying that I love Chinese food and that I am hardly ever upset with my orders at any Chinese restaurant.
I ordered the General Tso's Chicken, as did one of my friends. We couldn't have been more disappointed. Whenever I eat out, I finish my plate of food or at least take the leftovers to go. However, I could only eat about 10% of my plate because it was absolutely tasteless and awkward. My friend who ordered the dish also thought the same. I will never come back here again. -
Review from k y.
Oak Cliff, TX
11/30/2009
Man, we totally regretted this as soon as we ordered.
The waiter brought fresh meaning to "demeaning, woman-hating prick", and the food was 100% mediocre. This is like textbook Chinese cum Willy Wonka's wallpaper ("Lick an eggroll, it tastes like an eggroll.", etc..).
Thank god I was with good company that spoke fluent Chinese. The best part of this meal was being able to have a translator to pick up on the hot gossip of the table next to ours.
I doubt we'll ever go back. Not with all the other options around..I mean, this is Chinatown, fer Chrissakes. Throw a rock..Listed in: Diarrhea of the Mouth
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Review from Casey S.
6/29/2009
My boyfriend and I wandered in here dressed up in crazy rainbow outfits from Pride. Even though we completely looked out of the place the owner was very nice and sat us down.
We ordered pot stickers, sweet BBQ Dumplings and Sesame Chicken. The food was good and satisfying and not too expensive.
Overall, we had a positive experience. The owner was friendly and our food came out nice and hot. I am only giving it three stars because it wasn't amazing or fantastic, but if you are looking for a cool hole in the wall to duck into while in China Town, this is the place. -
Review from roland a.
San Francisco, CA
12/19/2006
Sometimes I'm torn to yelp about a place. I don't want to give it away to the masses and have problems finding a seat. But then at the same time, I want them to stay afloat and get enough business so they don't disappear too soon. Luckily, the The Pot Sticker is already on Yelp so I'm less inhibited.
That said, I discovered the place who sells Hunan, Szechwan and Mandarin food through the true gems my apartment managers are. We shared many an appetizer, entree and desert - and it was all oh so good. I'm really picky about Chinese food but theirs was neither too fatty, greasy nor loaded with MFG - at least what my taste buds could tell. And I even tried and liked all kinds of meat where I'm usually even more picky. Service was good, the staff friendly - I'll be back!
P.S.: Their business card says "KARAOKE AND DANCING SALON" - didn't check that one out, though.
UPDATE SUMMER 007: Gotta love the waiter: I was here with a friend and we ordered obviously too much food. So he said after scribbling down one appetizer and two entrees: "That's enough." We were a bit confused at first but then saw the huge amounts of food we ordered - and couldn't even finish. And thanked the waiter. Good times. -
Review from Winnie C.
Oakland, CA
1/18/2009
No.
Seriously.
No.
Go to that place straight across the street from here, if it's not better, it's cheaper.
My boyfriend and I walked in after a long trek of museuming and chinatown exploring, hoping for something that was good. The first thing you notice about the potsticker is its very nice decor, it definitely caters to tourists as chopsticks are per request.
We ordered one of their set dinners which had hot and sour soup, mongolian beef, and some sort of chicken which resembled orange chicken. The soup was bad, tasted like vinegar boiled in with tofu. It was not spicy enough and it was sort of depressing. The mongolian beef was not spicy enough either and I could taste the baking soda used to soften the meat. Ew. The chicken, which was also supposed to be spicy, was the best, it was still crispy in its array of sauce, but the quality of the actualy chicken was... immensely saddening.
We paid $40 for that and to this day I am still sitting here wondering why I didn't go across the street to that dingier-looking restaurant instead.
Though my exp. with the food was bad, I admit that atmospherics was completely satisfactory. Beautiful decor, a little too quiet, and hard to get into door, but waitress was extremely nice and gracious.
Would not eat here again and wouldn't mind being waitress' friend though she is clearly twice my age. -
Review from carlo m.
Emeryville, CA
6/3/2008
Why is it that when me and wifey go to Chinatown to find good chinese food, we end up going to the worse places..haha..
Green onion pancakes.. ehhh.. doughy. hardly any green onions.. and why did a potsticker we had a hair in it, and when we showd the waiter.. he denied it... haha.. wow..
BTW. The potstickers we did have weren't too good.. -
Review from Christopher L.
San Francisco, CA
5/9/2010 1 photo
The beijing tan tan mein is good
the eggplant is also good
