Chinese Wedding Banquet in San Francisco

[Little Chowder]

Hi Everyone,
My Fiancee and I are looking for a nice restaurant for our wedding reception for Summer of 2008. We are interested in the Four Seas restaurant or options that are reasonable in price. We don't like the over the top decor of some of the more traditional establishments and are not interested in the outdated appearance of other establishments like the Emperess of China. We have about 280 - 300 guests, most of which are Chinese so the food needs to be good. Any feedback on the Four Seas, East Ocean harbor in Emeryville, or other catered banquet options will be appreciated!!

[Little Chowder]

We're going to take some sound advice and visit the Four Seas for a meal and we'll let you all know what we think. We did have dim sum there earlier this year and it was fair to good, so we'll see.

Has anyone been to the Imperial Palace for a wedding or a banquet? We visited their 3rd floor and it looks pretty nice as well.

For the record, Yank Sing was very friendly and professional when we visited, but we did not have the chance to eat there. The Rincon Center was also nice, but not exactly what we were looking for.

[baron45]

I attended a wedding banquet at the IP last month. The room is smaller than 4 Seas but can accodate 30+ tables. Service was very good but the food, although not awful, was quite bland. Maybe they don't use as much MSG as other places.

[Chandavkl]

Haven't been to Four Seas in many years. I suspect their time has passed. If you want to stick with Chinatown, I've been to some nice banquets at Gold Mountain.

[Little Chowder]

Thank You all for the suggestions!!! We appreciate the feedback. We are looking into having the ceremony in Chinatown at Old St. Mary's, but we are open to a short drive to the reception (under 30 minutes). Ideally we would love to have a quality chinese banquet at an outdoor venue, so if anyone knows of a great outdoor venue that offers a chinese menu or a restaurant that caters weddings that would be great!!

We did check out the Four Seas and the banquet facility had a lot to offer.. The ownership appears to be under the same family, 2nd generation. We also looked at the East Ocean in Emeryville this weekend and had questions about how it would feel for a formal wedding reception with a dance floor. Comments from people that attended a wedding here would be helpful.

[Sarah]

I posted about a possible banquet destination on Clement Street/9th Av.-ish called House of Banquets -- dance floor in place, yards of gold lame tho. Huge(to me) space on second floor -- check them out?

[ML8000]

Since you have time, why not ask any possible restaurant if you could drop by for 5 minutes at a misc wedding and just to look and get a sense. Less would be lost in the translation and given you're going to spend a chunk of $$$, it seems like a reasonable request as long as the wedding party didn't mind. Of course as guest of the restaurant, do they even need to know if it's only 5 minutes and you're not participating?

[Melanie Wong]

Yank Sing caters events all over.

[PeterL]

Rincon Center's atrium feels a little like outdoors. But I have never attended a Chinese banquet outdoors. Chinese like their food hot. Outdoors in SF would cool the food down too fast.

[Melanie Wong]

I haven't eaten at the Four Seas recently, but my cousin attended a banquet there recently and said the food was dreadful.

[Little Chowder]

Thanks Melanie for the input. Just curious if there was anything in particular that was not good at the 4 seas?

[Melanie Wong]

Sorry to not have any details. But you might want to have a sample meal there, and you'll learn soon enough. I've not heard anything positive about the food for decades. Mostly folk choose it for nostalgia and the location right on Grant Ave. I would love to hear differently, so please report back.

[baron45]

I attended a banquet there last year (but not a wedding) and the food was decent. It wasn't the best I've had but it was definitely not "dreadful." Nice room though.

[calisummer]

We've been to receptions at both Gold Mountain in SF and East Ocean in Emeryville--both were good...our recetption was at Mayflower, but that's all the way in Milpitas--but excellent food and service!

[PeterL]

East Ocean Emeryville is nice, with free parking, which is a definite plus. Does it have to be in SF or east bay? Can it be in the pennisula.

[ML8000]

East Ocean Harbor in Emeryville is a nice environment, modern and tasteful (not kitcshy decor) and a view of the bay. The food however gets mixed reviews (not bad really...just might expect more given the price) but you're paying for service (which is very good). The biggest plus would be easy/free parking.

[asianstamp]

We had our reception at Gold Mountain. The third floor (I think that's the biggest floor) can accommodate your party. The food is excellent.

[kc72]

i've attended a banquet in the Rincon Center atrium catered by Yank Sing also -- very nice.

Is the ceremony in SF?

[PeterL]

I have attended banquet at Rincon Center. But it definitely isn't going to be inexpensive or even moderately expensive.

[PekoePeony]

How was the food at the Yank Sing banquet? I'd like to have my wedding and reception in SF but am hesitant to use Yank Sing since I've not been impressed the various times I"ve tried dim sum there, so I'd love to hear some feedback on their banquet dinners. I'm currently leaning towards Koi Palace but the food there has gone a bit downhill and they can't fit my entire group in one room (their main area only holds 140).

[kc72]

was busy most of the night w/ the wedding party, but the items i did get to eat were pretty good.

if you're considering Yank Sing for your banquet, you might be able to arrange a tasting w/ your families to get a better idea.

[Melanie Wong]

I attended a dinner at Yank Sing in Sept 2005, here's the report if that helps,
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/42781

[PeterL]

The Yang Sing kitchen at Rincon Center is not big enough for a banquet, so the food is trucked in. The one time we attended a banquet there the food was just average.

[Little Chowder]

Thanks for the suggestion. We are trying to plan on a ceremony at Old St. Mary's in Chinatown. We did look into the Rincon Center, but we had concerns about the ambiance and we were not sure how cozy a wedding reception would feel.

[PeterL]

As cozy as you can get with 300 guests.

[Melanie Wong]

I've attended a catered luncheon that was staged in the atrium at Yank Sing. Very noisy with weird acoustics. Did you find that as well?

[PeterL]

Don't you want a lot of noise at a Chinese wedding banquet? The one time I attended a wedding banquet there the acoustics seemed fine. There was this annoying water fall right in the middle though.

[Melanie Wong]

A wedding banquet is noisy enough itself from the participants and the clanging of plates. Having that magnified X 5 because of the acoustics is a whole 'nuther story. But if it didn't seem unbearably loud in your experience, it might not make a difference to some people.

What was served at the dinner you attended?

[PeterL]

It's been a couple of years. The only thing I can remember was that a couple of dishes had the exact same veggie complements, something everyone at the banquet noticed. Not a good thing. Also it was catered in, not cooked on site. Otherwise it was good though not memorable.

[Melanie Wong]

Actually, looks like you were there in 2003.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/25115...

[PeterL]

I guess everyone's life is somewhere on the internet.

[Concetta]

My friend had his reception at Rincon Center with Yank Sing catering. I didn't go, but it sounded real nice. Here's the link:
http://www.yanksing.com/weddings/inde...