Mystery Critic
The Best Restaurants Out There - And Much More!
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R&G Lounge 嶺南小館 - San Francisco Last Visited: July 2007 
It's always been a paradox that good Chinese restaurants are usually hard to find in Chinatown. It's true! Most major US cities' chinatowns offer the worst and unauthentic Chinese food, especially for Chinese people. Fortunately, in SF Chinatown there is R&G Lounge, the last remaining great Chinese restaurant - made to please both Chinese and Americans alike - joint that I don't mind going to when I bring Chinese visitors to SF. R&G Lounge actually has a nice Chinese name. It's a nickname for the province of Canton (Guangdong) in China. From the look of it, you may not think it's a traditional Cantonese restaurant, but their cooking techniques and menu are actually authentically Cantonese with a HK twist.
You cannot ever hear the name of this restaurant without hearing about the salt and pepper crab in the same sentence. While it is a rather ordinary dish, R&G does it extraordinarily well here. It's easy to make a nice and fat crab in Nov, but in July? It's still fat, juicy and full of flavor.
There are plenty other dishes that are worth mentioning. One friend of mine loves their meat and seafood in lettuce cups. I personally am not a big fan because I think it's a rather Americanized dish, but it is very tasty with quality ingredients. Last time we went we order some spareribs and braised melon just to try and they are both excellent. Lastly, even the noodles and fried rice were good - if you bring your kids, they can live on those two things.
You can typically expect decent and professional service at a high-end Cantonese restaurant, and this place is no exception. It's like a HK restaurant - they are nice to you if you order a lot of expensive dishes, but even if you do you won't feel any hint of warmth. They will do their job, but entertaining you is definitely not part of their job. That's the primary reason why I would never give a Chinese restaurant any thing higher than three smilies. No Chinese restaurant is respectable without a huge fish tank, some kind of fountain (for good fortune) and display of expensive liquor, and this place is no exception. The owner is actually somewhat avant-gard because he made both the exterior and interior predominantly westernized, which makes it look rather odd in a run-down and Asian neighborhood, but nevertheless it's a comfortable place to dine, not to enjoy the artistic surroundings. This is a very tricky one. If you consider quality a top priority and you don't mind feeling hungry after you eat an exquisite selection of delicacies, then you'd this the value here is good. If you need quantity and you think occasionally going to buffet is cool, then you won't like it here. The dishes are TINY and expensive by Chinese standards. Granted that they use top-notch ingredients, eight people need to share ten dishes just to that you had eaten something. You can definitely forget about free soup or dessert - NOTHING is free in this joint. BOTTOMLINE My standard for Chinese cuisine is understanding quite high because I can cook Chinese, but this place did impress me as a restaurant that I would come back to again. If you are not Chinese, you might be even more pleasantly surprised to find a clean, bright and delicious Chinese restaurant in Chinatown where you can wrap up a day of uphill/downhill touring in San Francisco. BTW Expect LOOOOONG line any time between 6-8pm. We went 8:30pm last time and had to wait for them to prep a table! I don't think they take reservation either. Also, be sure to validate your parking ticket for the parking garage right next to the restaurant. It's the ONLY free thing you'd find....
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