494 Manor Plaza, Pacifica, 94004
(650) 359-7575
Parking: in shopping center parking lot
http://www.tamscuisine.com/
Last Visited: November 5, 2005
Food: 2 to 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 to 4 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: N/A
Tam’s is located inside Manor Plaza near Safeway. From the outside, you can’t tell that it’s quite a large restaurant with high ceilings, recessed lighting, and lots of open space. Since tonight was a special dinner, it’s difficult to share what the typical setup is like, but there is definitely quite a bit of pink in the room.
The dinner I had at Tam’s was a set menu, so I’m not sure what typical portions are like either.
- Winter Melon Soup – A light soup containing diced winter melon, carrots, peas, and small pieces of meat is served in a large bowl and divided by the server into smaller bowls. The soup is light in consistency compared to some of the others out there, but it was still flavorful and tasted good. This does not appear to be a menu item.
- Boiled Salted Chicken – Chicken is plunged into boiling seasoned water and heated for a short time. Then the chicken remains cooking in the water while the heat is turned off. The chicken is flavored by the seasonings (typically dried ginger and salt). This dish is served with a mixture of fresh ground ginger that is seasoned with salt and mixed with vegetable oil. This ginger mixture has a very light consistency and gives the chicken an excellent flavor. Good.
- Roast Pork – A pig is seasoned with five spice powder and roasted whole. I’m not sure if Tam’s made the roast pork themselves or bought it from another place. The skin was no longer crunchy though the flavoring was okay. It doesn’t appear to be a regular menu item so I would guess it was bought from outside. Hopefully, it was bought outside, but it still taints the meal quality.
- Black Mushrooms with Mustard Greens – Mustard greens are topped with black mushrooms in a light sauce. The greens were cooked just right and the mushrooms were large (rehydrated shiitake mushrooms). Good.
- Vegetarian Delight – This dish contains fried tofu, Chinese cabbage, snow peas, black and white mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and baby corn. All are stir-fried together. The snow peas could have been a touch crunchier, but overall, okay.
- Mixed Vegetables – Broccoli, bell peppers, water chestnuts, zucchini, bamboo shoots, celery, and onions are stir-fried together. There also seemed to be some white fungus and black fungus too. The flavor is very similar to that of the Vegetarian Delight – mild. Okay.
- Spareribs in Peking Sauce – Pork spareribs are cooked in a sauce similar to sweet and sour sauce. The spareribs were cut into manageable pieces and the sauce was fine. Good.
- Steamed Rice – Standard steamed rice.
We heard from other patrons that the best thing to try is their Fried Chicken Wings, so if you go, check that out. Overall, the meal was okay with the best being the ginger dip for the chicken and the worst being the roast pork. If they garnished their dishes, it would probably be more appetizing, but in general, it was okay.
I’m not sure how many Chinese restaurants there are in Pacifica, but this seems to be the one to go to if you need to go to one. There are other places a short drive away with more authentic food, but their food is at least average.
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