Chili House - Chinese, San Francisco

726 Clement St, San Francisco CA 94118
(415) 387-2658
Parking: street parking
http://www.chilihousesf.com

Last Visited: September 2, 2018

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

Chili House in San Francisco is owned by the same person as that owning Z&Y in Chinatown.   I first heard about it from the advertisements on the local Chinese news station.   While one may think that everything is spicy based on the restaurant's name, some of their best known dishes are quite mild in flavor.

The restaurant is rarely as empty these days as what you see in this photo.  Over the last year, its become more popular with locals and tourists and you'll find long lines.  If you want to order a duck, I strongly suggest making a reservation for the duck ahead of time.

Prices shown below are from my May 2017 visit and have jumped up quite a bit since then.

- Beef Roll Pancakes - One of the most popular dishes of this type of cuisine is a pancake that has been rolled with cucumber and thin beef slices.  Personally, I always find this dish to be more dry than I prefer no matter where I eat it.  This dish is okay.  $7.95

- Dumplings with Pork & Shrimp - See below. $8.95
- Dumpling with Chives and Flounder - From the outside, the dumplings look a lot alike.  I prefer the chives and flounder one more than the pork & shrimp because of how tender the flounder is - while fish dumplings are getting more popular, this was one of the first places I tried it.  The dumpling skin is just the right texture - not too thick, not too soft.  The fish inside is fresh with the chives, it's quite flavorful.  I highly recommend this one.  $8.95

- Hot and Sour Tofu Soup - Classic hot and sour soup with the typical ingredients - egg drop, green onions, wood ear fungus, tofu, bamboo shoots, and more.  Good consistency and flavor.  No extremes.  I appreciated that you can get this in multiple sizes. $6.95 small

- House Special Chow Mein - Another standard as far as noodle dishes go.  Good wok air (hot temperature) and a variety of meat - chicken, beef, and a little bit of seafood. Noodles have a good bite to them.  Nothing particularly impressive, but no issues either.  Good. $9.95

- Cumin Lamb - The cumin offsets any game flavor that you might dislike from the lamb and with the sweet onions and the spicy chili sauce, the thinly sliced lamb takes on these flavors very well.  Good. $13.95

- Beijing Dalu Noodle - If you're not familiar with the effects of Szechuan peppercorns, let me warn you now.  It can be completely numbing to some folks as it was with me. While I've had many versions of this noodle soup, because of the peppercorn oil, I ate this dish and couldn't feel my lips for most of the evening, not to mention the heat.  It's very deceiving with the fresh cucumber strips on top and the noodles in a thick, almost soup-like sauce of minced meats and egg below, but watch out.  This dish is not for everyone. $7.95

- Peking Duck - What Chili House is known for is the Peking Duck carved table-side (great for Instagram or other social media posts).  You can see the duck steaming as it's cut hot.  While presentation is lovely, and the server will help you make your first couple of duck-stuffed pancakes (see photo of accompanying condiments - hoisin sauce, green onion strips, and cucumber strips), the flavor of the duck is just ok.  I've had more flavorful ducks at other places.  They will also give you the option of using the carcass to make soup or to make salt and pepper duck.  We opted for the soup and while there isn't a ton of meat left over, it makes for a flavorful broth. $39.95



- Sweet and Sour Fish special - A rather large tilapia is cut so that the body looks like spikes, and deep-fried.  The entire fish is served whole and gently covered in a gooey sweet and sour sauce.  The presentation is impressive and each bite has a great blend of crispy, sweet, and tender juicy fish.  I would definitely recommend trying out this dish for its unique presentation (I haven't seen any other local restaurant that serves it this way) and great flavor.  $39.95

While it's hardly a year later, the prices of all of these dishes, except the fish special, are now higher.  Portion sizes are about the same, and if you're a tourist or in a large party, the service is quite different.  They will offer to pick out the entire menu for you - I watched this happen during one of my meals, so if you're on a budget, be sure to tell them that if you let them design a menu for you.  I saw a few tourists shocked by the outcome when they gave them leeway.

Also, during my first few visits, I was with one other person and the service was pretty dreadful.  During my most recent visit, we went with a larger party and service was very good.  Perhaps it has something to do with what we ordered (we got slightly better service when the two of us ordered a duck).

Try Chili House for the fun presentation of duck cut table-side,  flounder dumplings, fried fish, or to numb your mouth with some peppercorn/chili oil.