933 Clement St, San Francisco CA 94118
(415)668-3988
Parking: street parking and nearby parking lots
Last Visited: November 25, 2011
Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 2 to 3 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $$$
Long ago, Tong Palace was a great place to go for dim sum and for dinner. The quality used to fluctuate between three and four stars, but these days, in 2011, it's closer to two to three stars. In the past, we've had amazing experiences, and other times it’s just acceptable. Today and my most recent experiences have given me enough frustration that I have second thoughts about ever going back.
My latest experience was for dim sum. It was past 1pm, so there were a lot of available tables. While prices are reasonable, quality of the dim sum fluctuates and service leaves you wondering whether or not the staff has been properly trained. The restaurant can also be a bit crowded, so this isn’t the place you want to go if you’re looking for a quiet lunch experience (in fact, few dim sum houses are quiet places).
The tables are covered with white paper placemats on top of white tablecloths. The walls are seeing some wear despite newer paint. The granite tile that covered some of the woodwork has started to chip.
We ordered four dim sum dishes today. Two of them were hot and good. Two had been sitting on the steam table longer than they should have been and were lukewarm. If you know anything about dim sum, you know that it's usually steamed and loses flavor when it's cold. Sadly, these were way too cold.
We then ordered a Beef Chow Fun, but the server forgot to order it into the kitchen, so we waited a total of 15 minutes for it - fairly long considering the table that ordered a dish after us had their noodles come about five minutes earlier.
That wasn't too bad. The worst part was that we ordered two additional dim sum dishes and after 34 minutes, they had still not arrived. This was after the waiter and another server went to check in the kitchen on our order. When the manager came over to see what was going on, we asked him to cancel the order if it hadn't been started yet (who knows how much longer we would be waiting), so he went to the kitchen and came back saying he cancelled it and after the check came, one of the two dim sum dishes arrived. One wonders about the system for ordering and the competency of the staff. Where the other dish went, nobody knows.
With that in mind, and a few other glitches during this and my most recent visits, I will pass on coming back.
From past experiences before 2011:
- Beef with Special Sauce Pan Fried Noodles – Beef is sautéed with vegetables and a red XO sauce. This dish had great textures and flavors, but the sauce was a little on the sweet side. Otherwise, the noodles were pan fried just right, and the thick slices of beef were slightly peppered giving each piece of meat great mouth feel and flavor. Good. $9
- Seafood Pan Fried Noodles – Shrimp, scallops, and squid are cooked with baby bok choy in a light sauce and all top crispy pan fried noodles. Again, the noodles were just right. The seafood is cooked until tender, but not overdone. Very good. $10
The best:- Deep fried stuffed eggplant – Hot out of the deep fryer and tender. The eggplant is hot and the shrimp filling was flavorful. The best dish by far.
- Shrimp stuffed bell peppers – A green bell pepper square is topped with shrimp paste. A black bean sauce is lightly drizzled on top. The color is brilliant, the shrimp paste is sautéed until golden on top, and the flavor is delicious.
- Deep fried sesame ball – A glutinous rice flour ball is filled with lotus paste and rolled in sesame. The concoction is deep fried to perfection with a light outer shell and warm sweet lotus paste inside. Delicious. During my most recent visit, the outer layer was a little on the thick side, but still crispy and good.
- Shrimp stuffed tofu – Much like the shrimp stuffed bell peppers in stuffing and sauce, the tofu is quite good. The triangular tofu block is stuffed and the entire piece is deep fried until golden. Very good.
- Large Pea Sprouts sautéed with garlic – This dish is available during dim sum time and is served with caramelized garlic cloves. Very flavorful and tender, the greens are excellent.
The good:- Pork dumplings (Siu mai), Braised chicken feet, Braised spare ribs - All of these dishes were pretty good. The pork dumpling wrapper is often broken apart by the steam and juice from the pork.
- Tofu Skin Rolls with shrimp – Shrimp, black mushrooms, and other vegetables are wrapped in tofu skins and steamed in a light sauce. The result is a golden brown seafood roll that bursts with the flavor that has been absorbed from all of the inside contents.
- Lotus leaf wrapped chicken and rice – A small roll of chicken, black mushrooms, and sticky rice is wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed. The texture of the rice is just perfect and the flavor of the lotus leaf infuses all of the contents. Three leaf wrapped rolls are served together. Good.
- Barbequed Pork Bun and Yellow Custard Bun – Both of these buns are steamed to perfection and filled with an abundance of contents. Good.
- Steamed spare ribs – Spare ribs are steamed with chili peppers giving them a little bit of spiciness. There is a large quantity of spare ribs, and the texture of the meat is soft. However, I like the ribs to be infused with more flavor and just a little bit of black bean. Good. During my last visit, the balance was a little better. Very good.
- Braised Chicken feet – Four to five chicken feet are braised in a red sauce and cooked until tender. The pieces are large and plump with juices. It has a great flavor with just a hint of spiciness from red chili pepper. Good.
- Fried Pork Dumpling – Sweet glutinous rice flour dough is wrapped around chopped pork and vegetables are deep fried until golden brown. The dough is a bit too thick, though the color is beautiful. This was just fair compared to other places which have a thin dough that is light and crispy. This one is crispy, but could have a thinner shell.
The medium:- Shrimp dumplings (Har gow) – Shrimp is wrapped in a translucent dumpling wrapper. The wrapper was a little on the soft side this time, but flavor was very good.
- Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll – Whole shrimp is rolled in a rice noodle wrapper. The texture is sometimes a little on the sticky side, but usually okay. The shrimp is always very fresh. During my most recent visit, this was just right.
The bad:- Steamed stuffed tofu – of all the dishes I tried, this was the worst one because it didn’t have a lot of flavor and it was the priciest one of all of them. Just wasn’t worth it and wasn’t enjoyable. Bland tofu and bland stuffing all steamed and topped with very little black bean sauce. Avoid this one, no matter how hungry you are.
As for dinner, you’ll find that they have a good selection of fresh seafood. In winter, they serve snake soup.
- Snake Soup – The meat of the snake is shredded and braised with thinly sliced strips of chicken, strips of bamboo shoots, and strips of dried orange peel. The soup is served with two side dishes, one containing deep fried wonton wrapper strips and another containing a chiffonade of leaves from a lemon tree. The wonton wrapper strips give an added crunch, adding texture to the soup. The lemon tree leaves balance the flavor. The snake has a texture like chicken, but has an almost gamey taste, so the lemon tree leaves along with the orange peel deliver accents that create a unique blend of flavor. At other restaurants, instead of lemon tree leaves, you’ll find fresh chrysanthemums added to the soup. Very flavorful broth and tender snake. Great. $4.50 per person
- Sturgeon served two ways – Sturgeon is divided so that the bones are used to make a soup and the filet is used for stir fry. The soup is made with mustard greens, tofu, preserved duck egg, straw mushrooms, and the bones from the sturgeon. The soup is served with the broth in a large bowl and the cooked ingredients are served on the side with a dish of light soy sauce containing a couple of slices of hot red peppers. The combination of ingredients results in a soup that is creamy and full of flavor. The preserved egg accentuates the freshness of the fish. Excellent soup. The filet of the sturgeon is stir fried with sliced carrots, snap peas, sinqua, and small pieces of ginger. If you like fish that is on the denser side, you’ll enjoy the sturgeon which has an almost light pink/orange color. Although it was really fresh, I prefer a softer fish that breaks apart more easily. Of the two, I definitely enjoyed the soup more. The stir fry was nicely done with the vegetables adding brightness to the fish both in color, texture, and flavor. $20 per order
- Rock Cod served two ways – See description above, but replace sturgeon with rock cod. Rock cod is a lighter and whiter fish. It flakes more easily and has a sweeter flavor. Tonight, the stir fried dish had sliced carrots shaped like fish, snap peas, and asparagus. Everything else in the description above is the same. Excellent. $24 per order
- Braised Tofu and Mushrooms with tender greens – Tofu is cut into small bricks, deep fried, and braised with large Chinese black mushrooms. It is served with carefully placed bok choy and the black mushrooms top the tofu. Bite into a piece of tofu and it will burn your mouth. That’s how you know it’s good. The mushrooms were tender and soft, without being soggy. The bok choy crowns were lightly braised by themselves and had a beautiful green color. They were tender, but not overcooked. Very good. $8.50
- Chinese Sausage and Frog Clay Pot Rice – Rice is cooked in a clay pot until bubbling and frog, slices of Chinese sausage, ginger, and scallions are placed on top to produce tender meat on rice. Then the ingredients are topped with a little thick soy sauce. The pot is brought to the table and the meat is plated on a separate dish which contains baby yau choy. The server then loosens the rice, adds some more thick soy sauce, and serves the rice into bowls. The meat was cooked to perfection. The frog had a consistency between chicken and fish – not as dense as chicken with the lightness of fish fillets. Very good. It warms you up inside. Small $8.95/Medium $13.95/Large $16.95
- Crispy Fried Chicken – A chicken is deep fried and cut into pieces. It is served with a wedge of lemon and a plate of Chinese seasoning salt (a combination of salt with five spice powder). Colorful shrimp chips top the chicken. The skin of the chicken was a deep golden brown and crispy. The overall flavor was good, although the chicken breast pieces were on the verge of being a little dry. The chips were crisp and fresh. Okay. My second time ordering this same dish of chicken was better than the first. It was still a golden brown, but all pieces of meat were tender and juicy. Even after our meal was over, the leftover pieces of chicken were still glistening with its juices. Half $8/Whole $15
- Steamed Tofu topped with Seafood in Lotus Leaf Wrapper – Soft tofu bricks are topped with a seafood sauce comprised of shrimp, mini scallops, and chopped gai lan. Baby gai lan line the edge of the tofu which is placed on top of a large lotus leaf. The entire mix is steamed in a large bamboo steamer to infuse the lotus leaf flavor into the tofu. The tofu is silky and the sauce creates a light coating about the tofu. Very good. $9.50
- Green Beans with Beef – Green beans are dry fried with thin slices of beef and carrot slices. There is lots of wok-air in this dish. It has excellent flavor and the beans remain crispy even after cooking. Very good. $7.50
Dessert is complimentary with dinner.
- Tofu in sweet syrup – Soft tofu is served warm in sweet syrup lightly flavored with a hint of ginger. The tofu is all in one piece, which for this style is the best way to serve it. The consistency is light and silky. Very good.
- Tapioca in coconut milk – Tapioca is cooked and served in sweet soup that is made with coconut milk and small pieces of taro. The taro thickens the coconut milk further creating a creamy decadent dessert. Very good.
Overall, the food was very good for dinner. This is a great value, and the service isn’t snooty or stuffy. Good. By the way, the tea is excellent. Full bodied, full flavored, with aromatic jasmine buds.
Sadly, it's not nearly as good as it was in past years. Oh how I wish I could go back in time....
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