Peninsula Seafood Restaurant

Ate here with my parents recently. Chinese people love fresh seafood, so my mom asked them if they would steam a live fish that she had purchased in Chinatown elsewhere and had cleaned. They said yes and charged us $10 for it. Apparently, Begoni down the street does it for $15. The fish turned out perfectly steamed with soy, scallions, ginger and cilantro (traditional preparation). We also had giant clams (very fresh but not much meat), hot and sour soup (a little bland), garlic snow pea shoots (vines were too mature so kind of tough and too oily), shrimp with bok choi (kind of boring and shrimp were too salty), longevity noodles (just right), and salt and pepper pork (not enough salt). Overall, food was mediocre but service was great.

If you come for dinner and if there is no car parked in their loading zone, you can ask the owner if you can park there even if there is a cone there. They won't tow or ticket you and you save yourself some headache of trying to find a parking spot in Chinatown!

good service mr P. was very kind and hospitable. please let me see this young handsome man again.

Went to the Great Star theatre for a comedy show last night. It was 8:40pm when we got out and this restaurant was right across the street. Sign said they close at 9 but the kind waitress still chose to seat us and brought us the menus.

Husband and I both love dim sum so were glad to hear they would serve it!
We got the har gao(shrimp dumpling), siu mai (pork), shrimp stuffed mushroom, shrimp and chive dumplings, salt and pepper chicken wings and the red bean sesame bun.

While waiting for our food to arrive I read some Yelp reviews and one of them cautioned about this place being expensive. Oh well we were hungry and had already ordered. Since it was almost closing time I wondered if any of the food would be good but was beyond surprised at the taste, freshness and quality of all the dishes we ordered.

Joyce the waitress had such a nice demeanor and we appreciated her service and talking to her .

The place is huge inside and one wouldn't know from just sitting in the main hall. It was only when walking to the restroom that I saw that they have a big hall in the back, which I'm sure has seen some very busy weekend lunches.

Price-wise, each dim sum dish was $10 and the wings were $16. Certainly not cheap but considering how expensive everything is these days, I actually didn't mind paying for the amazing taste. Joyce did mention that the dishes cost less at lunchtime so I'm definitely gonna come back during lunch hour.

Also special mention of the vibe in Chinatown during a raining Saturday evening!

DO NOT GET SCAMMED HERE!

I simply ordered a plate of Mongolian beef and a glass of water. The food was mediocre, very salty, and greasy.

It took forever for the waitress to bring me my check but once I got it... It was higher than expected... higher than what the pricing on the menu was. But it didn't stop there...

After giving the waitress my credit card she comes back with the receipt and I see that she has taken the liberty to add a hefty tip on and has already charged my credit card.

When I confronted her, she stated that the tea had to be charged - even though I didn't order tea but she brought it and left it on the table.

Also... She stated that the rest was for government tax - which is a complete lie. I know exactly how much the sales tax is in San Francisco it is 8.63%.

Like other bad reviews have stated... this place is a tourist trap. And it is too bad that they have to be dishonest and scam people. I didn't mind that the place was empty, and just wanted to give them a try but they completely broke my trust.

Scamming me out a few bucks made them lose my business which could have been in the hundreds or thousands... But that is how scammers do.

The tea was delicious! The place smelt very bad, almost like urine.... The food was quick, everything was okay EXCEPT THE PORK BUNS! I was super sad this was my favorite food and it was absolutely EXPIRED TASTING! I loved the free leaf tea.... The chow mein was decent and the spring rolls were delicious.... The place was not well kept at all! His customer service was okay just because it all came out very fast

Had an opportunity to explore asian culture while visiting San Francisco bay area. Went to this restaurant and had decent lunch for the money. Dumplings were fresh and full of flavor. However, restaurant did not have ambiance and it was somewhat ran down on the inside. Service was average. Prices were fair.

BEWARE!!!! I had dinner at Peninsula and should've taken note of the fact we were the only customers. Since it's one of the few restaurants open past 8 in Chinatown, I turned a blind eye to it.
This restaurant is the definition of a tourist trap and is severely overpriced. Beyond both of these aspects, I found a roach leg in my food. That should be enough said about Peninsula.

I had the pleasure of eating at a fundraiser with beautiful music and beautiful dedicated people. The tables were packed. We were late. The soup got cold. The tablemates were so kind to save us the soup. My favorite dishes were the fried spareribs and fried fish. I am dreaming of eating some more. The chicken was crispy skinned. The lotus root with dried meat was awesome. Whoever picked the dishes did a great job. This was banquet style. The taro tapioca finished us off. I thought the restaurant had way too many negative reviews. It would be great for restaurant to clearly indicate on their menu that tips are automatically added and that tea and rice are extra charges. These are rough times. Zip airways makes everyone pay a la carte. Olden days, everything was included. Wait staff should explain and be upfront, but their English isn't quite good. I hope everybody tries their fried spareribs, finger in length long, like soaked in coffee. I am not talking about peking spareribs. Not that. Sorry no picture. Too busy eating. Their fried fish reminds me of fish and chips without the chips. Their fryer must be super big in the kitchen.
Addendum: went back today to get the ribs to go. They are not on the menu. Secret chef special. Called "shern heung kunk" garlic signaturel rib dish. Unfortunately they ran out today. The chef has to marinate overnight. Tomorrow they will have it. Cost $22, to go. Addendum: they do add automatic tip. We went back tonight and they did have ribs, but it wasn't marinated enough. So, i have to go back a 3rd time another time. I had the fresh fish tofu $33 claypot and the mustard grerns. At night, tea and water is free.

Rating was for food only. Food was delicious. Waitstaff very unfriendly or still asleep at the open of the restaurant.

Had a wonderful lunch! Yummy choices! Great service-- very friendly and attentive staff. Place was clean. Service was fast.

Went to Chinatown specifically looking for a dim sum restaurant. This would be a very early dinner (5:30), as we had skipped lunch and our feet were tired after a lot of walking.

We didn't see the dim sum menu among the menus posted on the window, but a helpful waiter confirmed that they offered dim sum and brought out a menu and separate price list for us to review in English. Many dim sum items were priced at $8/"premium" were higher. We decided to eat here.

This is a large restaurant with many tables, but we were the only patrons throughout the dinner. Given that it was early on a Monday evening, partronage was also light at nearby restaurants as well.

The waiter sat us, and quickly brought a teapot with light tea, and gave us a plastic card with photos of offered dim sum menu options. (No prices on menu). We ordered four favorites -- (1) steamed BBQ pork buns (3 pieces); (2) Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (large oval plate); (3) steamed pork, mushroom, and shrimp dumplings (4 pieces); and (4) sesame balls (3 pieces). The waiter also brought bottles of soy sauce and chili sauce to the table.

The wait time was relatively long for our food to arrive, especially given that we were the only patrons but, that said, all was served piping hot And we weren't in a hurry. All of the food was good, but nothing stood out as truly outstanding. Both the pork buns and sesame balls were light on fillings, and we hardly tasted mushrooms in the dumplings. The large plate of Chinese broccoli tasted fresh, was fried as we like it (slightly crunchy), and was served with oyster sauce on the side. This was the perfect quantity of food for our dinner.

Our total bill came to $48, which was a bit of a surprise as we thought that we ordered 4x$8 (or $32) items. Turns out that the Chinese broccoli was $14 -- granted, it was a large plate but this seems excessive to us for stir-fried greens. We recommend that the restaurant present menus to the patrons with prices clearly stated. Also, a $6.20 tip had already been added to our bill. We would have tipped for good service but don't like that this was assumed.

I'll post a picture -- but be forewarned that the photo was taken after we had already been eating as I forgot earlier.