Birthday recommendations - Chinatown, Koreatown
Looking for a nice but not ridiculously-priced restaurant in either Koreatown or Chinatown that would be fun and have good atmosphere. It will be about a 10 person group so that's something to keep in mind as well.....thank you!
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Thank you everyone who has posted so far. These are all great, and esp. thank you for the dish recc's! The more ideas, the merrier, because my friend whose birthday it will be wants to drive around and check out places this weekend before making a decision. Again, we really appreciate it:)
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I know some people on this board savage it as nonauthentic, but I always get great food, have a good time, and emerge very satisfied at Yang Chow, in Chinatown on Broadway north of Alpine. They have their own very cheap valet lot in the back and also validate for the underground lot across the street. They have a few big round tables with the lazy susans for sharing dishes. For those who like spicy, start with the spicy wonton soup (found on the house specials page rather than the soup page of the menu). For ten people you'll want two orders of the slippery shrimp. (Insist on two rather than a double order -- easier sharing.) After that, the green beans in garlic sauce, the lamb with scallions, the eggplant in garlic sauce, maybe chicken in black bean, and a beef or pork dish to round things out. Make a reservation in advance for sure, if there are kids add a noodle dish. My only quibble is that I often ask that the dishes come out in a couple of waves rather than all at once, but that usually doesn't happen.
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Pei
Dec 19, 2006 07:35 AM
You can reserve the big table at Sa Rit Gol
They have decent BBQ, but the allure for me is the huge variety of NON seafood items. Favorites are:
the first noodle dish on the menu. I forget what the name is but it's a cold noodle in spicy sauce. Sometimes they run out, in which case we settle for one of the other noodles.
Braised cod with daikon. Sooooooooooo good! Everyone devours this every time we bring new people to try it.
Seafood pancake is huge with lots of seafood in it. Spicy grilled octopus is pretty good. The spicy crab soup is popular but I didn't like it much. Not enough crab flavor, somehow, and all the crab flavor had been leached out of the crab itself so the meat was no fun to eat.
It's a rowdy room, but clean, well lit, with attentive service. Casual, cheap, and fun.
They also have a tatami room you can reserve, but I hate sitting there and there's no grill so if you get BBQ it comes pre-cooked.
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Try Hop Li's in Chinatown on Alpine. They can accomodate large parties and the prices are reasonable. The shrimp with glazed waluts is their specialty. Also, if you like dim sum maybe you can try Ocean Seafood in Chinatown. Go to www.oceansf.com for menu info.
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David Kahn
Dec 19, 2006 12:01 AM
Yong Su San (http://www.yongsusan.co.kr/en/main/ma... ) could be fun. They serve multi-course Korean banquettes, and everything is in a private room, I think.
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SauceSupreme
Dec 18, 2006 11:36 PM
You could get the big table at one of those Korean BBQ places, like Soot Bull Jeep.
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wilafur
Dec 18, 2006 11:34 PM
i actually just had my bday dinner at opus this past saturday. you can go with either the tasting menu or a prix fixe menu (i went with the latter).
tasting menu starts at $30pp (basically $10 per course) and the prix fixe dinners start at $45pp.
all in all, i had a great time. the service was impeccable, the food was stellar, the company was great and the wine was free flowing.
