Norm G.'s Profile

I had read about this restaurant in a newspaper article.  It had mentioned the rice and the pride they take in cooking the rice, and always using a rice paddle and never something as vulgar as an ice cream scoop.  Well, it's true, the rice was really very good.  My dish was also good; butterfish if I recall correctly.  I wouldn't say it was the space I had in mind for a more "authentic" experience, though.  Also, I would prefer green tea or brown rice (genmai) tea, instead of the oolong tea they served.  Still, it was okay, and I might come back sometime.

I guess it had been a few years since I'd been to New Empress, and I was shocked to find out I'd never reviewed the place.  It's on the second floor of the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.  Park in the parking structure and you can (as of this writing) pay $2 parking fee for 2 hours in the restaurant.

This is a reasonable place for dim sum.  More reasonable than other dim sum places in the plaza.  It's a very large space, so you are almost always guaranteed a table.  Today was no exception when my wife and I came here.  It's crowded, extra loud (the cheaper the prices, the louder the talking) and not particularly fancy, but if you want fancy, go to one of the restaurants outside Chinatown, like Jade Dynasty, Royal Garden or Panda Cuisine, and pay a higher price, too!

I was pleasantly surprised today at how delicious the siu mai (pork dumpling), har gau (shrimp dumpling), ngau yok (meat balls) and char siu bau (pork bun) dishes were!  I also had a dumpling with chives; I'm sorry, I don't know the Chinese name for it, but it was darn good. We were also delighted that they had jai (monks food) on sale, since Chinese New Year begins tomorrow, and it's traditional to eat jai the first day of the New Year.  During this Great Depression the economy is in, I am always pleasantly surprised to find a place that serves decent food at affordable prices. Plus, a couple of the waitresses are very friendly; it helps that they recognized my wife, even after a couple years.  Needless to say, we will be returning soon, next time with our kids in tow.

Oh my stars!  How I dislike being in the minority!  I really, really want to like this place as much as most of my fellow Yelpers do.  I like the fact that there's parking in the back of the store (except when it rains and I have to wade through the puddle in the parking lot), I like the way the store smells (fresh) when I enter, I like the fact that I can find a few natural items that I can't find at Whole Paycheck or Down to Earth.  What I don't like, however, is their service, or should I say, lack of it.  I have received haughty, patronizing "attitude" (for lack of a better word) from the employees here, and folks, it's just disappointing. Honestly, I shower every day (with natural soap), floss and brush my teeth, and wear Birkenstocks, so what's the problem?   For a carnivore who is gingerly working to transition to herbivore status, it is really discouraging to get this kind of treatment in a health food store.  It is not inviting, to say the least.

I am always friendly to cashiers, because I know they work hard, and have to deal with all sorts of customers.  Would it be too much for them to smile at customers and say, "Hello" or "Greetings, earthling," or even "Thank you, hope to see you again soon?"  When they asked me , "Are you a member?" and I responded "No," they became almost hostile. Shouldn't we all just try to get along and save the planet together?  If I were working in this store, I would ask, "Are you interested in becoming a member?  May I give you some information on membership?"  That's basic customer service, and certainly would make me seriously consider membership.

I might have liked Pah Ke's food before I married my wife who originally hails from Hong Kong.  Alas, my palate for local style Chinese food has changed since that time.  She spoiled me with authentic Chinese food in Hong Kong no less, and now I fear there is no way to go back.

We came here recently for the first time, and I was intrigued by the name of the restaurant.  The woman at the front counter wasn't very friendly; in fact she seemed almost insulted that we didn't have reservations.  Sorry!  The decor is very utilitarian; tile floors if I recall.  The food was heavy on "syrupy" sauces, and that is not a good sign in my book, when the food has to be covered up by sauces that don't allow you to really taste the meat or vegetables.  The sweet and sour pork was run-of-the mill, and the vegetables were overcooked.  My son normally loves fried rice, but barely touched it here.  I can see by the stars that many other reviewers have given this place 4 and 5 stars, so I very obviously have a minority opinion, which is good news for this restaurant!

One day last year, my wife and kids and I intended to hike the Hawaii Loa Ridge trail.  We got to the guard house on Pu'uikena Street, and the guard told us the parking lot at the top was already filled to capacity with cars.  I asked him if he could tell us of another similar hike nearby and he directed us to this hike.  Ever since then, we have been coming here, because the trail is wider (the beginning part) and is easier for our kids, but just a beautiful as the Hawaii Loa Ridge Trail.

In the years BC (Before Children), my wife and I used to hike all the way up to the top of the trails, but now that we have young kids, we are not willing to have them risk their lives until they become more sure-footed.  So we usually just go a little past the bench, when the trail begins to get steeper.  It's still nice to hike as a family, and I like it a lot more than the over crowded Manoa Falls and Makapu'u hikes.

My brother-in-law took us here for dinner on our first night visiting San Francisco, and it was good.  It was also very crowded because (according to bro in law) it was an auspicious date (December 22nd) on the Chinese calendar, but I don't remember what it signifies...the winter solstice maybe?

Anyhow the food was good; I especially liked the Chinese spinach-like dish. There is no English translation and I don't remember how to say it in Chinese.  Back in Honolulu, I am used to seeing women servers working harder than the men in many Chinese restaurants, but at this restaurant, I noticed the men were working their behinds off as much or more than the women.  It was nice to see men working hard and not standing around like statues. The only thing the waiter kept forgetting to bring was two glasses of "bing sui" (ice water) for my kids, since they haven't as yet cultivated themselves to drink tea with dinner.

The only thing I struggled with, not being a resident of San Francisco, was parking.  After I dropped the rest of the party off, I circled around for at least a half hour and there was NO parking!  Finally, I channeled Albert Einstein for like a hundredth of a second, and got the brilliant idea to actually drive west three blocks on Geary and turned left onto 30th Avenue.  And there, to my amazement was a hill next to a school, with at least 3 parking spaces!  So, I parked there, put my hands in my jacket pockets (a bit cold) and walked down to the restaurant.  I found out from another San Francisco friend that many people are lazy, which is just delightful.  According to her, many people don't want to park a few blocks from where they're going, and they especially don't want to have to hike up a hill to retrieve their car, even if it's just for half a block.  So, according to her, friends think she has this incredible parking "karma," when all it is is capitalizing on others' laziness!  Hip! Hip! Hooray for lazy people!  I kept the strategy going for the rest of the San Francisco vacation, and the parking karma was awesome.  But now my friend is probably going to kill me because I just gave away the secret!

My wife and I both had the sukiyaki, which really hit the spot on a chilly night!  It was really good.  We sat up at the sushi bar and my kids really loved it, because unlike Genki Sushi back in my hometown of Honolulu, the "boats" that carried the sushi were floating on real water, and not on a boring conveyor belt.  The water was moving fairly rapidly too, so the kids enjoyed timing their arms and hands just right to grab their plate of sushi off the boat.  I have to admit, I was scared that they were going to knock some of the "cargo" into the water, but their timing was really good.  (Gosh my kids are talented...maybe I should start bragging about them in one of those annual Christmas letters people like to send out.  Oops! I'm drifting off the subject!)  The sushi was really quite good and the chef was friendly too.

The jook was really delicious and it came with a plate of noodles!  I also ordered some Hong Kong style milk tea, which was also good.  It was busy with lots of Chinese people speaking  Cantonese. The service was adequate; just not very friendly.  I always take a star off if the service isn't friendly, because even though I know cheaper Chinese restaurants are not usually noted for friendly service, I still consider customer service to be important.

This was by far the worst IHOP I have ever eaten at.  The space itself is small and desperately in need of renovation.  The waiters messed up my order the first time, so I had to wait twice as long for my order as the rest of my family.  They seemed terribly disorganized, even though there appeared to be more than enough waiters to keep everything straight. The scrambled eggs had the consistency of rubber and had no taste at all.  They messed up my order the first time, so I had to wait twice as long as the rest of the family.  The food was so bad, I couldn't finish it all.  And folks, if you know me, I am not known to let breakfast go to waste, so you know it's bad when I leave it on my plate.  Two words: Never again!

Yes, it is very spendy.  But in this case, I think you do get what you pay for.  We came here for yum cha (dim sum) one morning, and it was packed with people.  My wife remarked that she could tell by the way people were dressed, that it was a bit more upscale than the normal dim sum places we tend to frequent.  I really enjoyed their dumplings with chives and the shu mai.  And as Yosie G. mentioned in a review a few years ago, they really do use real crab claw in their crab claw dumplings--a real nice touch, I think.  My son declared that their char siu bau was the best he ever had anywhere (even better than Sportful Garden in Hong Kong).  And he ate THREE of them, so he must have really liked them.  I'm not a huge fan of char siu bau, but I did notice there were no hard bits of fat in these that I have encountered in other restaurants.  We had jasmine tea, and it was a pretty good quality brew.  All the tables were taken upstairs, and there was a downstairs too (where the restrooms are), but those tables were not being used.  Perhaps they are used when dinner is served.  I couldn't eat here often on my current salary, but once every few years when I visit San Francisco, this place will definitely be at the top of my list!