Grand Palace - Chinese, South San Francisco

415 Grand Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 872-1000
Parking: street parking
http://grandpalaceseafoodrestaurant.com/

Last Visited: February 17, 2008

Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $$ to $$$

Grand Palace opened a new location nearby their previous location on the 300 block.
I tried the new one and found it to be even better than the first. The new location is a large two story unit that has been newly remodeled. All the colors are warm with warm light peach walls and beautiful wood crown moulding trim. The carpet is dark green with a beautiful pattern with beautifully upholstered chairs in a regal green with gold patterns. It all goes together very well. The tables are spaciously set in the living room and the table cloths are also a lovely green. The atmosphere is fine and the high ceilings give the room a grand feel.

Service is good. We visited the new Grand Palace for a dim sum lunch.

Unfortunately, during my 2008 visit, I downgraded all of their ratings at least half to a whole star. Although the setting remains upscale, Grand Palace has gotten a lot busier and their prices have gone up. In their efforts to serve all of their new customers, service and food quality have dropped quite a bit. Sizes follow the item listed when available. 2008 prices for dim sum are as follows: Small $2.45, Medium $2.90, Large $3.90, Special $4.80. Tea is complimentary during dim sum hours.

- Pork congee with duck egg – Out of all the dishes that I tried out this afternoon, it seemed that this one would rank the lowest. The consistency was too watered down, and though I’m sure the flavor was fine, congee (rice porridge) should be thicker with more rice. Two stars. (Medium)

- Beef Noodle Roll – Nicely, though it seemed lacking of something. Perhaps it could be hotter, or a little bit more cilantro, but the consistency of the noodle was right. During my most recent visit, I found the roll nice and thin, so I’m bumping this up from the 2 to 3 star range to just 3 stars.

- Steamed Tofu pockets stuffed with shrimp paste – The tofu is deep fried to create a golden brown skin, then stuffed with shrimp paste and steamed. Three pieces per dish. The flavor was okay. Two to three stars. (Special)

- Shrimp dumplings – The flavor was good. Four dumplings filled with shrimp. The skin could be slightly thinner and then it would be perfect. During my 2008 visit, the skin had broken a bit, but otherwise flavor was still okay. Three stars. (Medium)

- Deep fried taro dumplings – Deep fried with a nice taro consistency and filled with meat and vegetable. The outer layer is deep fried golden brown and the flavors blend together well. Three dumplings per dish. Four stars. (Medium)

- Char Siu Bao/BBQ Pork buns – Three pork buns filled with barbeque pork. Good flavor and soft bun. Four stars. (Small)

- Button Mushrooms stuffed with shrimp paste – Four mushrooms are filled to overflow with shrimp paste. A brown sauce lightly covers the mushroom. Hot in temperature and juicy, these burst with flavor. Four stars. (Special)

- Eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste – Four pieces of Japanese eggplant are stuffed with shrimp paste. The eggplant is then rolled in a light batter and deep fried. The same sauce used to top the mushrooms top the eggplant. Excellent! Four stars. (Special)

- Pork dumpling – Four pork dumplings are served in a small steamer. The flavor is just right, and the presentation of the dumplings is great. Three to four stars. These were also okay in 2008. (Small)

- Deep fried pork dumpling – I have referred to this dim sum by other names, but this is basically an oval shaped dumpling that is puffed up after deep fried. Inside is ground pork and a little bit of vegetable. The outside is slightly sticky and sweet using sweet rice flour as the basis of the mixture. Very good. Three to four stars. (Small)

- Sweet soft tofu – Soft tofu is served in a bowl with sweet syrup as a topping. The tofu is infused with ginger flavor. The tofu was pretty good, but not the best I’ve had. I think I also didn’t get the top of the bowl, but the bottom instead since the pieces of tofu were sometimes on the small said. Two to three stars.

- Deep fried sesame ball dessert – Lotus paste fills a ball that puffs up when deep fried. The outer shell was crispy and golden brown. The sweet paste gives it a delicate flavor and the deep fried shell makes the texture a great match. The inside of the shell is just a little gooey making it soft and crispy in the same bite. Still good in 2008. Three to four stars.

- Deep fried stuffed tofu – Tofu bricks are topped with shrimp paste and deep fried until golden brown. A light brown sauce is served on top of the crispy tofu. Since it’s made with soft tofu, the inside texture is smooth while the outside is crispy. Good. Three to four stars.

- Cold octopus – Baby octopus is marinated, cooked, and served cold. Each piece is crispy and refreshing, and certainly an interesting sight. About 15 or so pieces are served on top of soybeans that have a bit of sweetness to them. Good. Three to four stars.

- Shrimp stuffed bell peppers – The shrimp is fried until golden brown and the bell pepper squares look gorgeous. However, once you’ve bitten into it, the bell peppers still taste great, but the shrimp is a combination of too many other items. There seems to be some fish paste, which normally would be ok depending on the type of fish paste used, that leaves the texture too chewy. The extra ingredient actually detracts from the flavor of the stuffing and left me wanting more. (Special)

- Steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce – Three chicken feet are braised then steamed with black bean sauce. Although they were very tender, they too lacked a little something in how the texture of the chicken feet held up – it seemed it had been a little over steamed. (Small)

- Golden Chives Beef Chow Fun – Although the name says golden chives, you’ll find very few golden chives included in this beef chow fun. The chow fun came on a chipped white plate and had beef, green onions, bean sprouts, and chow fun. There were some yellow chives, but very few. The chow fun was broken into smaller pieces rather than whole strips as they should be. The flavor was okay, but needed just a touch more salt. I had to ask the waiter to provide us with some soy sauce to get the flavor just right. Not worth the price considering the quantity and quality. Just okay. $10

Our most recent dinner visit was in 2005.
- Combination Cold Cut Platter – This appetizer contains warm barbecued pork, seasoned jellyfish, cold seasoned duck wings, sliced beef, and another cold cut. The plate is small, but it’s packed with goodies. There is enough to serve between four and six people. The pork was warm and juicy, and heating it makes all the difference. The sweetness of the barbecue sauce gives it a great flavor. The duck wings are boiled in a seasoned broth, removed from the broth, and refrigerated. The duck has an almost crisp texture which is just right for this dish. The jellyfish is crunchy and al dente in texture. Great. $18

- Braised Tofu with Green Veggies – The braised tofu bricks were cooked to perfection. The outside of the tofu is golden brown, forming a skin to hold the soft tofu inside which is heated through making it hot and tender. It bursts with juice. The tofu is accompanied by baby bok choy neatly placed in a row. Great presentation and excellent quality. Their braised tofu is excellent. $9

- Braised Dry String Beans with Pork – The braised dry string beans weren’t braised dry enough. True braised dry beans cause the beans to lose more of its moisture so that the beans are extra crispy. This dish was more like stir fried green beans rather than braised dry. Fair. They would have been good if the name had been stir fried or just green beans. $10

- Sauteed Sliced Lamb with Leek and X.O. Chili Sauce – Lamb is sliced into pieces and cooked with sliced leeks and red chili peppers in X.O. chili sauce. The X.O. sauce gives the lamb just enough kick that it tastes a touch spicy, but not spicy enough to burn your mouth. The leeks are crisp in texture and complement the lamb wonderfully. The lamb was tender and had just absorbed the flavor of the X.O. sauce. Excellent. $12

- Pan Fried Whole Flounder – A large flounder is lightly battered and deep fried until crispy. It’s served with head and tail and topped with sliced green onions. A little bit of soy sauce is placed on the plate prior to placing the fish on top. The fish was fresh, and the batter fried until lightly brown. Good$14

- Yang Chow Fried Rice – Rice is pan fried with egg, diced barbecued pork, carrots, and green peas. Each rice granule was separated from one another, but still retained its moisture. The flavor was very good – not too salty, but still flavorful. Great. $9

During the 2005 visit, I found service to be fair. In reality, it was just two people encountered during that visit, but it dropped service from the 3 to 4 range to just 3 stars. One person was taking the dim sum around. Her attitude just wasn’t pleasant and was barely offset by one of the happier folks doing the same job. One of the headwaiters was also quite unpleasant. She had taken our last dim sum order but seemed dissatisfied by what we had selected and even though she entered in the order, more than fifteen minutes passed before we received it. Being that there were few tables in her area, she should have checked back with us at the ten minute mark when she saw that we hadn’t received our order. The service rating would have dropped further, but there was a nicer headwaiter that offset her behavior. My last visit seemed to confirm that it was just two specific people that made service fair. Sitting downstairs this most recent time, I only encountered one of the people mentioned above, and overall, I had a much better experience.

A lot of the dishes that I didn’t try out had wonderful presentation, from the plates to the food itself. Grand Palace has done a great job of improving their level of atmosphere and food presentation rising to compete amongst some of the Bay Area’s finest. Food quality is good, and the atmosphere just makes it all the better. Grand Palace is definitely worth a stop.

However, in 2008, I found that presentation had gone downhill significantly. The plates were no longer beautiful as they had been two to three years before. Most plates were now white and chipped. My teapot was chipped and the elegance lies only in the surroundings. Service as mentioned above was disappointing. What was probably the most appalling was the dim sum service. It seems it started as a mistake. The people occupying our table had ordered the deep fried sesame balls, but likely due to the wait, had given up, so by the time the waitress brought the order to our table, she was quite disturbed that we didn’t have a tag on our receipt associated with the order. However, it’s important to have flexibility and to know what to do in this situation. Since our party wanted to have the sesame balls, and she had already taken them from her tray and put them on our table, but had not stamped our order check yet, she should have just completed the transaction with the stamp and moved on. However, she went back to the host station and started to get upset at the waiter. Meanwhile, we’re staring at the sesame balls not wanting to start eating them yet until this was cleared up. Another waiter came by and realizing the situation, told her to proceed with the remaining orders she had to fill. She then took our sesame balls away and went upstairs. Gasp. If you’ve gone to have dim sum, once the plate is on the table, you just don’t take it away, especially if the patron wants to order it and you have more on the tray. Nevertheless, this was only the first faux pas with this woman. After she had filled all of the pre-ordered sesame ball requests, she then passed our table and didn’t offer us the remaining ones. After making a full round in the restaurant, and much to our chagrin, allowing the sesame balls to cool, she came back asking if we wanted any. Faux pas number 2. The afternoon progressed with yet another step back when it came to service. Another waitstaff member came and took our soy sauce and condiments plate away for refills. Considering patrons are still using the items and eating, you just shouldn’t do this. It wasn’t just us though, every table proceeded to have their condiments removed. They didn’t return for another 20 minutes. Finally, our specially ordered items took about 20 minutes to arrive after ordering – an unusually long time considering the typical turnaround on dim sum orders, even when made fresh.
Given the number of choices in the Bay area, the lack of competition in the immediate vicinity has allowed Grand Palace to lower its standards. Service could be improved greatly and refined to eliminate some of these procedural faux pas experiences.