Best dim sum in the bay area please. Discuss.

Hang Ah Tea Room, San Francisco. Same decor for 45 years, and I swear last time I was there, the same staff. Maybe dim sum makes you ageless? Pork buns are by far the best I've ever had.

You look in the window. If it's full of Asians and you can't read the menu, that's your place

Not a big fan of Dim Sum, but when I was an account manager in the L.A. and entertained all the time, the best Dim Sum I had outside of Hong Kong was either in Monterey Park or Alhambra and I had business owners who were from mainland China to guide me through. Haven't tasted the equivalent yet. Rather have Vietnamese or Thai or traditional....ok, that doesn't answer the question. Carry on.

Yan Sing in the city one of my favs, pricey, but worth it! Shanghai dumplings are amazing!

For take out dim sum, you can't beat Good Luck Dim Sum at 736 Clement. Their custard tarts are addictive.

I like Hong Kong Lounge on Geary... Mayflower was pretty good, too. Not a fan of Koi Palace in Daly City... overpriced and overrated with a long-a$$ wait.

best ever was in Guangzhou

The new place in the City to check out is Dragon Beaux, 21st Ave and Geary. It's run by the Koi Palace people. Less expensive with some new twists and non-traditional dishes. It's getting very good reviews.

DLSbear;842508525 said:

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Yan Sing in the city one of my favs, pricey, but worth it! Shanghai dumplings are amazing!

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Was curious when/if Yang Sing would mentioned. Really like it, but seems "too nice" to me. Like Shanghai Dumpling King. Seems like the old school places with totally dinged up/banged up carts have largely disappeared in the Bay Area.

Yeah, Yang Sing caters to a more white clientele ("aka "Yank" sing...) For downtown/Chinatown dim sum, I usually go to City View on Commercial Lane off Montgomery. A bit of a misnomer (no view) but pretty good fare and value in a clean setting, though I haven't been in four years.

http://cityviewdimsum.com/

GB54;842508513 said:

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You look in the window. If it's full of Asians and you can't read the menu, that's your place

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Not very imaginative GB - you could be talking about any type of ethnic cuisine and to be honest not sure it rings true unless your palate matches the applicable ethnicity. I know you're joking, but a lot of people actually believe this to be a universal truth. This post is directed at the idea, not at you, so please don't take this as any sort of attack on your post or you. I think you are consistently the most entertaining poster here.

Even if it were true and a restaurant frequented only by those of its own ethnicity were more representative of the cuisine, there's no reason to believe that a representative restaurant is the best expression of the cuisine or best for an American customer. Particularly in the bay area where there are so many foodies seeking out the best cuisine. For whatever reason when I go to foodie type places Asians appear to be overrepresented - I think they may have a greater appreciation for the foodie culture or they just know how to use yelp better, I don't know. This is true regardless of the cuisine and frankly regardless of the location. I was at Dominique Ansel a few months back in Soho and at least half of the people in line were Asian (mostly born and raised in America as far as I can tell). If someone asked me where to go for the best burger in SF, I wouldn't tell them to look for white people inside, I would tell them to figure out where Asian yelpers are standing in line.

Further, I've been to a number of shady dim sum places where I'm the only white guy willing to step in and most of them are pretty bad, although admittedly cheaper than the likes of Yank Sing. I used to frequent You's in particular until the one on Stockton closed down but it was definitely not the best. It was cheap and filling and nostalgic because I had been going there since I was a kid, but there was a reason white people looking for the best dim sum didn't go to You's.

beelzebear;842508532 said:

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The new place in the City to check out is Dragon Beaux, 21st Ave and Geary. It's run by the Koi Palace people. Less expensive with some new twists and non-traditional dishes. It's getting very good reviews.

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Need to check this out. I clicked on this thread hoping to surface restaurants like this that I hadn't heard of!

Unit2Sucks;842508566 said:

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Not very imaginative GB - you could be talking about any type of ethnic cuisine and to be honest not sure it rings true unless your palate matches the applicable ethnicity. I know you're joking, but a lot of people actually believe this to be a universal truth. This post is directed at the idea, not at you, so please don't take this as any sort of attack on your post or you. I think you are consistently the most entertaining poster here.

Even if it were true and a restaurant frequented only by those of its own ethnicity were more representative of the cuisine, there's no reason to believe that a representative restaurant is the best expression of the cuisine or best for an American customer. Particularly in the bay area where there are so many foodies seeking out the best cuisine. For whatever reason when I go to foodie type places Asians appear to be overrepresented - I think they may have a greater appreciation for the foodie culture or they just know how to use yelp better, I don't know. This is true regardless of the cuisine and frankly regardless of the location. I was at Dominique Ansel a few months back in Soho and at least half of the people in line were Asian (mostly born and raised in America as far as I can tell). If someone asked me where to go for the best burger in SF, I wouldn't tell them to look for white people inside, I would tell them to figure out where Asian yelpers are standing in line.

Further, I've been to a number of shady dim sum places where I'm the only white guy willing to step in and most of them are pretty bad, although admittedly cheaper than the likes of Yank Sing. I used to frequent You's in particular until the one on Stockton closed down but it was definitely not the best. It was cheap and filling and nostalgic because I had been going there since I was a kid, but there was a reason white people looking for the best dim sum didn't go to You's.



Need to check this out. I clicked on this thread hoping to surface restaurants like this that I hadn't heard of!

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There's some truth to this. My comment were more applicable to the troglodyte pre social media era when a preponderance of older Asians in a Chinatown restaurant with specials written in Chinese on butcher paper was a good sign; even better if the waiter-when asked what the dish was-would reply, "You no like."

I will add though that I don't put much faith in Yelp as a reliable indicator of food-too many people interested in either a) establishing alpha male dominance over the place or b) going there because their cohorts are there so they can take a picture of the food and upload it to Facebook. I also find a strange sensibility to their tastes-it's very suburban based even in the city: the idea of what a Mexican restaurant should be-Agave bar and tapas-as opposed to what a Mexican restaurant is in, say, Mexico. I find Chowhound more reliable, particularly if you can match sensibilities with the reviewers.

Yes - Yelp can be a poor heuristic. I guess the broader point is that I would rather follow the tastes of food enthusiasts than non-enthusiasts of the applicable ethnicity. I've been to some horrible restaurants around the world that the local non-enthusiasts enjoyed and/or raved about. I have friends with obviously defective palates that always choose bad restaurants in the bay area. I would hate to think that if they were ex-pats, people in other countries would follow them around to see which "american" restaurants they preferred. Most people seem to want cheap, plentiful food and with some outlier populations nuance isn't generally appreciated. There's a reason chain restaurants are expanding around the world. Many countries don't have a restaurant culture and restaurants don't necessarily do a good job approximating the best local cuisine. I'd rather eat at someone's abuelita than at a random hole in the wall restaurant in small-town Mexico.

Unit2Sucks;842508566 said:

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Not very imaginative GB - you could be talking about any type of ethnic cuisine and to be honest not sure it rings true unless your palate matches the applicable ethnicity. I know you're joking, but a lot of people actually believe this to be a universal truth. This post is directed at the idea, not at you, so please don't take this as any sort of attack on your post or you. I think you are consistently the most entertaining poster here.

Even if it were true and a restaurant frequented only by those of its own ethnicity were more representative of the cuisine, there's no reason to believe that a representative restaurant is the best expression of the cuisine or best for an American customer. Particularly in the bay area where there are so many foodies seeking out the best cuisine. For whatever reason when I go to foodie type places Asians appear to be overrepresented - I think they may have a greater appreciation for the foodie culture or they just know how to use yelp better, I don't know. This is true regardless of the cuisine and frankly regardless of the location. I was at Dominique Ansel a few months back in Soho and at least half of the people in line were Asian (mostly born and raised in America as far as I can tell). If someone asked me where to go for the best burger in SF, I wouldn't tell them to look for white people inside, I would tell them to figure out where Asian yelpers are standing in line.

Further, I've been to a number of shady dim sum places where I'm the only white guy willing to step in and most of them are pretty bad, although admittedly cheaper than the likes of Yank Sing. I used to frequent You's in particular until the one on Stockton closed down but it was definitely not the best. It was cheap and filling and nostalgic because I had been going there since I was a kid, but there was a reason white people looking for the best dim sum didn't go to You's.



Need to check this out. I clicked on this thread hoping to surface restaurants like this that I hadn't heard of!

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The reverse is typically true. If you look into an Asian restaurant and it's full of white people, it's probably not particularly authentic and/or a huge ripoff.

GB54;842508569 said:

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There's some truth to this. My comment were more applicable to the troglodyte pre social media era when a preponderance of older Asians in a Chinatown restaurant with specials written in Chinese on butcher paper was a good sign; even better if the waiter-when asked what the dish was-would reply, "You no like."

I will add though that I don't put much faith in Yelp as a reliable indicator of food-too many people interested in either a) establishing alpha male dominance over the place or b) going there because their cohorts are there so they can take a picture of the food and upload it to Facebook. I also find a strange sensibility to their tastes-it's very suburban based even in the city: the idea of what a Mexican restaurant should be-Agave bar and tapas-as opposed to what a Mexican restaurant is in, say, Mexico. I find Chowhound more reliable, particularly if you can match sensibilities with the reviewers.

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The type of person that would take the time to write out a restaurant review on Yelp is not the type of person whose opinion I'd trust.

93gobears;842508576 said:

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The type of person that would take the time to write out a restaurant review on Yelp is not the type of person whose opinion I'd trust.

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+1

93gobears;842508576 said:

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The type of person that would take the time to write out a restaurant review on Yelp is not the type of person whose opinion I'd trust.

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Agreed, this is a person likely more interested in publishing and his own "brand" than eating. I was in New Orleans once and the owner of a joint blew up a bad Yelp review and put it in the window with a sign warning similar a$$holes away. Now, that's a place worth trying

GB54;842508580 said:

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Agreed, this is a person likely more interested in publishing and his own "brand" than eating. I was in New Orleans once and the owner of a joint blew up a bad Yelp review and put it in the window with a sign warning similar a$$holes away. Now, that's a place worth trying

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I'm not sure about that....sounds like the type of person who lives and dies by his/her smartphone, always having to be connected, in the know, can't live life without technology....which is just about half the population and most under 35 it seems. Like all the folks who don't notice you're there cause they are starring down at their device oblivious to life around them....most of them are reading that YELP review at some point.

You guys do realize you all have multi-thousands of posts on what is ostensibly a burrito message board?

Unit2Sucks;842508597 said:

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You guys do realize you all have multi-thousands of posts on what is ostensibly a burrito message board?

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Specialization is the key.

Unit2Sucks;842508566 said:

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Not very imaginative GB -

Hah! A review!

I think you are consistently the most entertaining poster here.

A conflicting review.

Well, that's two, from the same poster, but I couldn't find any reviews of his posts on Yelp.

Koi Palace is Number 1 according to him:

http://graphics.latimes.com/chinese-restaurants/

Cal88;842508554 said:

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Yeah, Yang Sing caters to a more white clientele ("aka "Yank" sing...) For downtown/Chinatown dim sum, I usually go to City View on Commercial Lane off Montgomery. A bit of a misnomer (no view) but pretty good fare and value in a clean setting, though I haven't been in four years.

http://cityviewdimsum.com/

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My vote is for Yang Sing. City view is comparable in quality. But the kitchen is too small for the lunch crowd and patrons must wait a long time between servings unless you have a table next to the kitchen.

he has eaten at over 6000 Chinese restaurants but does not speak the language or know how to use chopsticks.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-chinese-eater-20130422-dto-htmlstory.html

BearBackerinLA;842508619 said:

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he has eaten at over 6000 Chinese restaurants but does not speak the language or know how to use chopsticks.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-chinese-eater-20130422-dto-htmlstory.html

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Sounds like a typical New York Jew.

Watching him ask for a fork must be like seeing a Mexican order a Corona in a Mexican restaurant.

Before deciding which Dim Sum restaurant is best, you have to decide what kind you prefer. Many of the more traditional dim sum push carts are being phased out by the restaurants that are trying to make dim sim more upscale. The latter restaurants typically have a menu for you to choose from where you have to write down the number of each dish that you want.

In the bay area, as a previous poster noted, Koi Palace has pretty good quality, but it's also pricey. Its sister restaurant Koi Garden in dublin is similar quality. Dragon Beaux in outer Richmond (SF) is also in this same category.

Over the years, I'm finding less and less good quality and yet still cheap and tasty dim sum carts being pushed around by chinese ladies that can't speak English. My experiences in Socal and Vancouver have been similar.

Overall, I think Vancouver is slightly better than the LA for the fancier dim sum places, with the bay area coming in 4th. Hong Kong I like just tad more than Vancouver mostly because there are so many more choices for good quality (cheap and pricey) dim sum.

NYCGOBEARS;842508620 said:

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Sounds like a typical New York Jew.

Watching him ask for a fork must be like seeing a Mexican order a Corona in a Mexican restaurant.

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NYCGoBears - your posts always leave me in stitches.

NYCGOBEARS;842508620 said:

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Sounds like a typical New York Jew.

Watching him ask for a fork must be like seeing a Mexican order a Corona in a Mexican restaurant.

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Funny but not accurate. I like Corona. So do Mexicans. Corona is the #1 beer sold within Mexico. It dates back to 1925 and is a true local Mexican product. Tecate is #2 in Mexico, which I find to be terrible. My favorite Mexican beer is Modelo Especial in a can.

dajo9;842508673 said:

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Funny but not accurate. I like Corona. So do Mexicans. Corona is the #1 beer sold within Mexico. It dates back to 1925 and is a true local Mexican product. Tecate is #2 in Mexico, which I find to be terrible. My favorite Mexican beer is Modelo Especial in a can.

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'Mercun's love Budweiser. I like Tecate but also prefer Modelo Especial. To each his own.

dajo9;842508673 said:

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Funny but not accurate. I like Corona. So do Mexicans. Corona is the #1 beer sold within Mexico. It dates back to 1925 and is a true local Mexican product. Tecate is #2 in Mexico, which I find to be terrible. My favorite Mexican beer is Modelo Especial in a can.

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Pacifico all the way! Love buying cases of Pacifico ballenas (whales) and ballennes (large whales) on my baja trips. Ballenas are 920ml and Ballennes are 1.2L... tastes so good after getting out of the water.

PTBear;842508621 said:

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Before deciding which Dim Sum restaurant is best, you have to decide what kind you prefer. Many of the more traditional dim sum push carts are being phased out by the restaurants that are trying to make dim sim more upscale. The latter restaurants typically have a menu for you to choose from where you have to write down the number of each dish that you want.

In the bay area, as a previous poster noted, Koi Palace has pretty good quality, but it's also pricey. Its sister restaurant Koi Garden in dublin is similar quality. Dragon Beaux in outer Richmond (SF) is also in this same category.

Over the years, I'm finding less and less good quality and yet still cheap and tasty dim sum carts being pushed around by chinese ladies that can't speak English. My experiences in Socal and Vancouver have been similar.

Overall, I think Vancouver is slightly better than the LA for the fancier dim sum places, with the bay area coming in 4th. Hong Kong I like just tad more than Vancouver mostly because there are so many more choices for good quality (cheap and pricey) dim sum.

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i miss the carts... nothing better than the instant gratification of pointing to something that looks good and eating it right away. i don't need ambiance, and I don't need presentation or upscale, i need good, tasty food that i can eat on demand.

dajo9;842508673 said:

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Funny but not accurate. I like Corona. So do Mexicans. Corona is the #1 beer sold within Mexico. It dates back to 1925 and is a true local Mexican product. Tecate is #2 in Mexico, which I find to be terrible. My favorite Mexican beer is Modelo Especial in a can.

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I went to Ireland in my mid-20's and Budweiser was the second most popular beer in the country at the time. It made me realize: people have crappy taste everywhere (also reminds me of the closing scene of Orange County, with Colin Hanks. He gets to a party at Stanford and the girls are all going crazy for that horrible Butterfly song).

rathokan;842509057 said:

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Pacifico all the way! Love buying cases of Pacifico ballenas (whales) and ballennes (large whales) on my baja trips. Ballenas are 920ml and Ballennes are 1.2L... tastes so good after getting out of the water.

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Ha. Corona, modelo and pacifico all brewed by same company, grupo modelo. Which is owned by anhowsyer busch inbev, maker of bud.

Ima beer snob but I will drink any of the three with mexi food or on a beach, lime mandatory. It must be the commercials. Bud was my beer in college, I will also drink bohemia, negra modelo and dos equis lager. And i drink micheladas. Ok im a beer slut not a beer snob.

How about he best XLB in the City or Bay Area? Like Din Tai Fung good (or better)?

MisterNoodle;842509062 said:

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Ima beer snob but I will drink any of the three with mexi food or on a beach, lime mandatory. It must be the commercials. Bud was my beer in college, I will also drink bohemia, negra modelo and dos equis lager. And i drink micheladas. Ok im a beer slut not a beer snob.

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+1