Lichee Garden S.F., Unterman review from Examiner

[ChowFun_derek]

here's the link:

http://www.examiner.com/a-1448355~Lic...

can anyone add any of their own experiences? This place barely received mentions here on C'hound

[jaweino]

Four of us had lunch at LG yesterday, and were very happy. The place was very crowded with funeral banquets. We found the owner, Annie, to be extremely helpful once she had time to devote to us, which was toward the end of the meal. She was recommending dishes to try the next time we came. We were amazed at how cheap it was. The food was very good and the portions large.

BBQ Pork Won Ton Soup: This was very good. The won ton wrappers were very delicate

Pressed Duck with Taro: This was also very good pretty much as PU described.

House Special Pork Chop: This was my favorite dish. It was slightly sweet and delicious.

Shrimp in Minced Pork Lobster Sauce: This wasn’t the lobster sauce of my Bostonian dreams, but it was good.

Beef and Oyster Sauce: This was a well executed version of one of my old favorites.

Sweet and Sour Chicken: This was much better than I was expecting. It wasn’t too sweet as it usually is.

The service was a little disjointed. Things came out in seemingly random order. The soup was served last. I suppose because we ordered it last and it was on the bottom of the order form.

[Melanie Wong]

Thanks for the lunch report. So, no more dim sum service?

I think the "House Special Pork Chop" is what I referred to as Peking spareribs. It's the one dish I remember from 3 years ago.

[Xiao Yang]

Whenever we went there for dim sum my wife would order two orders of something she called "jiaoyan paigu" or pepper-salt pork chops, one to consume on the premises and one to take home. It was something like $6.00 for a huge platter. Probably the same dish.

[kc72]

Peking spareribs are usually in some sort of red sauce -- so it probably wouldn't be the same as S&P spareribs or pork chops.

[yimster]

If it has a red sauce then it Peking style ribs. Salt and pepper are not sweet.

[Xiao Yang]

It looked more or less like this dish and was sweet (too sweet for my tastes). My wife tends to apply the "jiao-i" moniker to anything that's battered

http://licheegarden.ypguides.net/cont...

[Melanie Wong]

That's the dish, but I'm surprised she doesn't call it "tang cu pai gu" or some variant.

[Xiao Yang]

Probably because it's breaded. She would never bread the meat in a tang cu prep. .

[Xiao Yang]

Are the wonton soups wonton only (no noodles?) I get frustrated at the HK style wonton-noodle places because I don't particularly care for the skinny noodles, and if you ask them to hold the noodles you usually feel cheated on the won ton quantity. It seems like 30 or 40 years ago a healthy bowl of wontons without HK noodles propping them up was the norm in Chinatown.

[kc72]

don't most places that sell wonton noodle also sell different variations of it like wonton only, wonton w/ double noodles, wonton & dumpling noodle soup, bbq pork wonton noodle soup, etc? most of the ones I've been to in East Bay have that

[jaweino]

The won ton soup had no noodles.
The pork chops definitely weren't salt and pepper.

I forgot to mention that the total bill came to just under $50.

[yimster]

I have been to Lichee Garden for the same type of meal posted by Melanie recently. I fear most of the that I go there it for that type meal.

Maybe someone can check to see what set dinner they offer.

Have found the food there to be decent and cheap.

[kc72]

ah.. so this is the place around the corner from Green St. Mortuary -- I've been there 3 or 4x for funeral/condolence(sp?) meals. Of course the menus for those meals are traditionally very plain/ordinary -- I'll have to try to revisit under different circumstances and try ordering off the normal menu

[Melanie Wong]

Three years ago, you liked the Peking spareribs.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/33602...

[ChowFun_derek]

Has anyone been there recently...re:newish menu....mein/noodle centered rather than dim sum'ish? Is Unterman correct?

[Robert Lauriston]

What she reports matches the lunch menu on the restaurant's Web site:

http://licheegarden.ypguides.net/page...

[yimster]

The only dish I remember from that meal was the chicken. It was cooked just perfectly. I do not remember much from that meal.

I think we need to check out menu more. Next time I am in the City I will do that.

[Melanie Wong]

Just re-read my old post, and yes, the poached chicken was very good too.

Now it's hard not to cry.

[Xiao Yang]

I've been there often for dim sum and have recommended it as a dim sum option, so it's somewhat startling to hear that dim sum has apparently been abandoned for a noodle format. I'll have to check if they have anything other than HK-style noodle bowls. One can always hope.

[Robert Lauriston]

Huh, I guess the old recommendations are out of date.

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Lichee Garden
1416 Powell St, San Francisco, CA 94133

[asianstamp]

Gosh I've known them to be a dim sum place for years. I wonder what happened?

[Robert Lauriston]

It gets mentioned all the time:

http://www.chow.com/search?search[que...

[ChowFun_derek]

That's mostly dim sum...I was hoping for peoples' experiences with "regular food"

[ML8000]

I haven't been to LG for quite a while. That said, when it was in it's prime, about 10 years ago, the food was as good as R&G Lounge but not as nice digs...but less expensive as well. I'm talking 10 person, mid priced banquet off the set menu. I talked to someone who went late last year and they said it was still good but not mind blowing or anything.

[moto]

derek, when someone asked about sand dabs I recommended their salt'n'pepper version. There was another thread discussing the general lack of places recommended in sf c-town (usual suspects like R&G brought up over and over), and I mentioned the place as dependable and good just not spectacular.