Great Dim Sum at Golden River on Geary

[localgirl808]

Took my hubby's mom and sister here around 10 a.m. Sunday. We were one of the first people there. But the place quickly filled up and was packed (mostly Chinese families) by the time we left. We had the usual: siu mai, har gow, shark fin dumpling, look fun, shrimp/chive dumplings, bean curd rolls, gai lan, etc. Everything was $2.20 and very tasty. Food was very hot and not greasy at all. Great value--food and prices much better than Ton Kiang next door. The only misses were the house special pan-fried noodles that were bland and soggy, and the shark fin dumplings, which had too many carrot chunks for my taste. For dessert, we had the egg custard, which my sister-in-law really liked, the mango pudding, my favorite, and the black sesame balls. All were very good. Check came out to $45 for four people, including tax, tip, and enough leftovers for another meal. Will definitely go back!

Golden River Seafood and Dim Sum Restaurant
5827 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94121
415/668-5105

[Melanie Wong]

Thanks a bunch for the update on what some of us affectionately call "The Place Next To Ton Kiang". I haven't been there for a while, sounds like the prices have gone up a measly 25¢ per plate in that time and the quality is still good.

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

[Ruth Lafler]

I'm glad to hear it's still going strong, too. It sounds like the nonAsian crowd is still walking right by it to stand in line at Ton Kiang!

[localgirl808]

Definitely seemed like it the morning we were there.

[J T]

Thanks for the review of Golden River. It's a unheralded Dim Sum place, a really great value. I think they don't use carts, so know your dishes. Factoring in both cost and wait time, Golden River is one of the best dim sum places around.

J

[Tripeler]

Bless this post. It was a little old (April) when I looked at it yesterday morning (Sunday), but we went to Golden River anyway, and it was as delicious as we could ever expect as relative Dim Sum novices, and the price was shockingly low...$41 for four people. We ordered a lot of dishes, along with XO Sauce Eggplant in clay pot ($6.99, hot and huge). Every one of the dishes was excellent, even the $1.68 specials. We couldn't believe two large oysters on the half shell, seasoned with oyster sauce and steamed for $1.68. The most stunning dish came first: five smallish but whole scallops, ensconced in minced shrimp, lightly battered in a coarse batter, and deep fried, $3.80. Other knockouts were the chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and the yellow jasmine tea-scented water chestnut "jello" we had for dessert. Both $1.68.
I told the woman at the cash register that we were happy that Ton Kiang is next door -- we walked in GR at noon on a Sunday and got a table right away, while TK had a constant line the whole time we were there.
Local Girl 808 was right about the soggy pan-fried noodles, but in our case it was only those noodles on the very bottom.
We had the pepper steak pf noodles ($6 people!) and overall I was satisfied with the dish, although I wish they wouldn't use such fine noodles, and they would just fry them on one side instead of turning them into a deep-fried snack item.
Thank you LG808 for the great tip.

[Ruth Lafler]

Thanks for the update. Yeah, it's good that Ton Kiang is next door, so people who want to stand in line to eat mediocre, overpriced dim sum will have a place to go and stay out of Golden River!

[Sarah]

Do they have "special" items such as BBQ ribs, duck, etc?
I meant for this to go under Tripeler's post...

[artemis]

i'm going there tonight for dinner with my dad. we're not planning on ordering dim sum necessarily, but if they do good dim sum, we are guessing they also do good entrees... is there any feedback on dishes?

i was thinking of ordering a fish dish, a vegetable dish, and a noodle dish, but am willing to try other things instead :).

tia!

[Cynsa]

Thanks for the reminder; it's time to go back...so, we did dim sum today and it was just right! The line was out the door when we left at 12:30 pm...after the beef tripe and turnip, the spicy fried scallops, the taro, the har gow, the oysters, the meatball and greens in broth, the waterchestnut jello. My mom was pleased that she had leftovers for her dinner tonight.

[Tripeler]

I went back on Friday for lunch with my American friend and his Chinese friend. I was apprehensive about introducing a Chinese person to a Chinese restaurant (I've heard stories about this!) but she dug right in and loved the food. Later she told us "I didn't think Americans liked this kind of Chinese food."
Highlights of our visit were the chicken feet, carp in clay pot, very excellent har gow that I thought were just a touch too big (!) and the Chinese broccoli. Three people thoroughly stuffed, $38.

[anli]

We went here for lunch yesterday before going to the Monet exhibit. This was our first time and there were 4 of us. My daughter's girl friend is vegetarian and I was a little concerned that we wouldn't have enough choices, but upon looking at the selection, we found several items that pleased her. The nice thing about ordering this way is that everything comes out hot. We ordered pan fried noodles with veggies only, salt & pepper fried tofu cubes, fried cruller wrapped in rice roll, shrimp in rice roll, mushroom & chives in rice roll, har gow, siu mai, sticky rice in lotus leaf, stuffed eggplant, chive & shrimp pan fried dumpling, chinese broccoli, and the black sesame balls. We had lots of leftovers and the bill was $38.75 before tip. Great value, decent service. They were crowded at 11:30 on a Saturday, but we had barely a 5 minute wait.

[Melanie Wong]

No one has talked about dim sum at “The Place Next to Ton Kiang” for a while, so I’ll add my update here. My mother and I had lunch here in November. This was my first time back since the facelift a few years ago. Mom insisted that she’d never been here before despite our having eaten dinner at Golden River a couple times. The inside is quite slick and contemporary now with glossy photos of colorful dishes decorating the walls. On a weekday, the restaurant was less than half full before the noon hour but was bustling by the time we left.

Ordering is via a check-off menu, so it takes a little longer for the food to come out. Judging from the fresh and piping hot condition of each of our items, the cooking is indeed to order and not just assembled from trays in the back. The menu pricing starts at $2 per dish and rises from there with a wider range of price categories and more selection than I remember from before.

Here’s the menu -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/4424549952/

My main gripe about inexpensive or even middle-tier dim sum houses is the mediocre quality of steamed dumplings, lacking in finesse and going for quantity over quality. Not a problem here, both the pea shoot dumpling and the har gao (shrimp dumpling) were quite good. Sure the skins could have been a tad thinner, but right out of the steamer, they showed beautifully.

Pea shoot dumpling and Shrimp dumpling
http://twitpic.com/q0nzi

Frying had been a bit problematic here, but not this time. The wu gok, crispy taro dumplings, were excellent. Frilly, light and non-greasy coating, delicious porky filling and dense taro flavor.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/4424549944/

The chicken feet with black bean sauce were delectable in flavor, but not quite soft enough early in the day. We took them home with us for more time on the fire and enjoyed them heartily.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/4424549950/

My favorite dish was the Empress clam rice crepe roll, $3.80. Sweet and tender fresh surf clam pieces tucked into very soft rice crepes, then splashed with a sweet and savory seasoned soy sauce. Mom thought the rice wrappers were too soft, but I thought the delicate texture was a great foil for the natural chewiness of the clams. I’ve not seen this elsewhere, and look forward to returning for this dish.

Also stellar was the Ginger, egg and pig feet in sweet vinegar, a dish that doesn’t appear often on restaurant menus and is the traditional food for lactating mothers.
While this dish tasted great with near perfect balance of sweet-sour-savory, this was quite a stingy serving for $4.75. Here’s what it looked like when brought to the table, BEFORE
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/4424549942/

And this is the after-shot of the dish after we took out all the bones and anything edible, AFTER
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/4424549938/
So you can see that it was mostly inedible chunks of ginger and lots of sauce. Still, I loved this dish but I’ll have to come back without my mother as she was pretty miffed.

The only dish I wouldn't order again would be the beef short ribs with black pepper. Not terrible, just not what I expected, as the dish was steamed rather than grilled. For that style of prep, I prefer the sweetness of pork.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniew...

Overall quality is quite good here. With the freshened-up surroundings, modest prices and expanded selection, Golden River is my top value for dim sum in the City.

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Ton Kiang
5821 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121

Golden River
5827 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121

[BernalKC]

This moves Golden River to the top of my dim sum to-do list. Thanks Melanie!

I hate to cop to it, but our family has always loved Ton Kiang, though we try and avoid the peak crowds. I find there is a lot to like there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bernalkc... But clearly, its time to break out of our routine...

[Melanie Wong]

Ton Kiang has good service and more serene atmosphere, but the tab runs about 50% more than elsewhere and I don't enjoy the food that much more. Here's my report from my last visit there a year ago.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/669002

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Ton Kiang
5821 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121

Golden River
5827 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121

[Melanie Wong]

Forgot to point out that Golden River has the salted egg yolk pumpkin dish on the menu. We didn't try it but it would be great if someone who has tried Hakka Restaurant's version could offer a comparison.