Top Asian Restaurant South in San Francisco
Chutney Restaurant
511 Jones St, San Francisco, CA 94102, United States
This restaurant serves Authentic South Asian food. The food was great. Service was fast. Affordable prices considering its location in San Francisco downtown. Cleaner compared to Shalimar restaurant across the road.
Gaylord
1 Clay St, San Francisco, CA 94111, United States
I feel sorry to give only one star, because the people who work here are very nice. But I really dont know how this restaurant is still in business. Everyone is off. Careless and sloppy decor, mediocre food and beverages, terrible background music. The whole experience is so poor in relation to wonderful alternatives in the area. But the servers were quite friendly!
Pakwan Restaurant - Tenderloin
501 O'Farrell St, San Francisco, CA 94102, United States
I know everyone raves about this place, and yes ... it is in the tenderloin but I have to say for many reasons Im not very impressed. The food flavor was great, but both he and I got a stomach ache afterwards from having their chicken curry special of the day and the lamb biryani.While I was there, a homeless lady came in through the door, and took a soda off the remains of an empty table from some people who left. It is likely that the restaurant would have thrown away the soda, but they actually sent a guy outside to wrestle the soda out from her hands. She came in and asked for the soda again because they were going to toss it out, and they basically roughhoused her outside until her pants fell and she came crying in the restaurant again and ended up taking another customers soda. She became belligerent and yelled out that she just wanted the soda but the staff was rude and continued to what I would say abuse her and handle her roughly (physically).This left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. As much as I understand how a business in the tenderloin needs to protect themselves and give a good experience to their customers, I dont really think that this was a great way to handle this particular situation. Homelessness in the tenderloin is a pervasive problem and theyre honestly just making it worse. A little compassion could go a long way.I wont be coming back.
Naan N Curry
642 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122, United States
I am an experienced vegetarian foodie and all I talk would be about vegetarian food. All you hungry chaps out there wanting to eat vegetarian ... you can rely on my review.Never eat samosas at an Indian restaurant. They always and almost always contain stale food from yesterday, sometimes it would stink of going bad.Quantity : Five stars! A lot of food on the table if you think you havent ordered enough.Quality: If you dont cook authentic Indian at home, you would not know how bad the tastes are. For example, if you ordered garlic naan, the doh should contain garlic and not the garlic paste applied on top of the naan. It just doesnt taste good.Note: Indian food is a very cultured cuisine and not some arbitrary mixture of elements. It takes right set of ingredients, an evolved procedure and accurate timing to get the perfect flavor out that many cant achieve. If you want the worst example that even a person not having great taste-buds to understand ... try here!Bottomline: I went in hungry and came out unsatisfied never to return ... and standing outside I was wondering if WOW stands for worst of the Worst Of Worst!
MY-Malaysianfood
1566 Carroll Ave Unit 2K, San Francisco, CA 94124, United States
I was only in San Francisco for 24 hours and craving the Assam Laksa, but when I went there I couldn't find anything, just an industrial warehouse district, so I'm assuming no dine in (on Google it said dine in). They did not answer the phone so I never got any Malaysian food.
Chaat Corner
320 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94107, United States
After mixed experiences in my 6 visits, I am still keeping my rating as 4 and not lowering it because they still make some great curries and appetizers, better than many other Indian restaurants in the US and SF.Visit #1Nice place, we had Rava Masala dosa, idli, and masala dosa, and gulab jamun and kesar pista kulfi. Sambhar could have been better, it was watery.#2 takeout order❤️ Bhindi sabji was very tasty although it was quite oily so if you dont mind the oil you will love it❤️ Paneer bhurji was great? Naan was okayishVisit #3? Idli vada - I looooved the Idli and vada and the green chutney was probably the best I ever had in US but the sambhar was not great again so not a ❤️ for this dish? Paneer kabab plate - this was amazing, I never saw this concept in any other Indian place I went to in US so just variety wise, it was a great dish, the paneer and onions on the hot plate were love, the curry sauce and naan were great. Its just that the curry sauce was too little to have the rice and naan both, not sure if they would have given extra curry for the rice. Would have been superb if there was enough curry with this dish? Faluda kulfi was good but far from the best faltu kulfi you get in India but if you are really craving the faluda feels then definitely go for itVisit #4❤️ Achari Paneer was really good, we got the combo so it came with a mix veg, naan, rice and dal and everything was good? Aloo paratha was okay, they added too much salt in the potato filling? Kachori chat was good, it had 4 medium size kachoris which is a lot so be mindful of this fact when you order this and other things? Palak pakoda Chaat was great☕ My friend also tried their tea and it was okay good as per him, will try it myself next time and let you all know how it wasVisit #5 -[To be added]Visit #6 (just adding review for new items I tried or if something is new about previously tried items)☹️ Chole bhature were horrible, there was some bitter after taste in every bite, not sure if it was because the oil in which they fried bhature went bad or was it because of something wrong with the chole but every bite was ruined. I didnt complain because I could not figure out whats exactly wrong but in hindsight I think I should have just asked them to replace the whole dish. But even if we keep aside the bitterness, bhature were too thick and filled with oil. Chole were very bland and almost had no flavor. One good point - I asked if they will give extra chole if needed to finish the bhature and they said they can give a little bit extra.? Idli vada - dont order if you like it mainly with sambhar. If you just like to eat with chutneys then you will be fine.----- ☹️this time the sambhar was much worse than the last time and the last time wasnt good either. This time it just tasted like dal, it had not sambhar spices flavour. In my previous experience, the sambhar was too watery but at least had sambhar flavors----- ❤️White chutney was very good, just amazing----- ? the vada and idly were just how would expect so thank God they didnt screw that up? Tea/chai - the thickness of their tea good if you like your tea thick like me but it wasnt strong, it almost tasted like tea flavored milk. They can make it much better if they just add more tea and boil it a little longer. They are almost there in being the first ever Indian restaurant in the US to have good Indian tea.Visit #7 - takeout order? Malai Kofta - I am not sure if I liked it or not because it was too spicy to be able to figure out the real taste and even though I asked them to make it mild spicy, I dont think they made it mild.Looking forward to trying more dishes at this place.The best part is that they open until after midnight which is so cool.
Dumpling Kitchen
1935 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116, United States
We had a pretty large group here last night for a couple of friends birthdays. For the value, Dumpling Kitchen was pretty good. Its no Michelin star restaurant but a satisfying combination of price, portion, and flavor.XLB - The skins were way better than I expected at this price point. Their texture was smooth with the right amount of firm chewiness. Just from looking at them, the fine folds at the top was a good sign that the skins would be thin and delicate. They also didnt break open when picked up with chopstick. Not much to complain about there. The stuffing was not the best but still decent for a low end restaurant. The texture of the pork was on the grittier side, and I thought it couldve had more ginger and green onions mixed in for more brightness. The broth was similar to the pork stuffing in that it could be brighter and bolder, but it still had good body and was seasoned with enough salt . The broth was also on the fattier side, which doesnt bother me, but I know some people out there prefer cleaner XLB broths.Braised Pork Belly with Pickled Vegetables - You can tell this restaurant probably isnt run by Shanghainese people because of kitchen staff yelling at each other in Cantonese, and this is reflected in some of the menu items. This braised pork belly dish is a traditional Hakka classic from southern China, far from Shanghai. Dumpling Kitchens rendition is actually pretty good. The pork belly was tender, and the sauce was a good balance of sweetness and pickled earthiness. My favorite place to order this is at Hakka Restaurant in the Outer Richmond. If I had to compare the two, Hakkas sauce is thicker and richer with a more complex spice mixture. Theres a slight orange peel flavor in Hakkas that separates it from the rest. Despite not being as good as Hakkas, I would have no qualms with getting the pork belly here.Green Onion Pancakes - Not really my cup of tea. They have the lighter and fluffier version of green onion pancakes, and I didnt think it had much green onion flavor. It kinda just tasted doughy. The crispy and layered green onion pancakes are way better.Vegetarian Potstickers - There was a vegetarian in our group so we had an order of vegetarian potstickers. I was kinda surprised because they turned out to be pretty tasty. I probably liked them more than the pork and chive dumplings. Theres a good amount of shiitake mushrooms to give it a lot of umami and earthy flavors. They also put in dried tofu (doufu gon), and its firmer texture and five spice flavor paired well with the other ingredients in the stuffing.Noodles with Black Bean Sauce - Not good. Sauce was not very savory and didnt taste black bean-y. Noodles were mushy and gross. Skip this.Egg Puffs (Sah Yong) - Freshly fried and really delicious. They were light, airy, and full of eggy goodness. If I had to complain about something, its that instead of surrounding the donuts in sugar, its just poured all on top of the donuts. I just rolled the donut around to get the sugar everywhere.
Star India
3721 Geary Blvd #3208, San Francisco, CA 94118, United States
I should probably preface my review that I was having the lunch buffet, as I typically review full-service restaurants.The lunch buffet was gone for a while during the pandemic, and has returned, although with a much higher price: $21.95.Higher price, I can accept, but not poor service.I have been here a few times in the last two months, and while I cant claim that at $21.95, the buffet is a good value, given the small selection of foods they carry, they do have something I enjoy, which is lamb.Therefore, while I know I dont need to tip the typical 15%-20% at a buffet (typically I am told to tip $1-2 per person), I always tip as if I were in a regular restaurant, because I like to support smaller restaurants.However, todays experience really has me thinking if I would ever visit again.When I arrived at around 11:30AM (they open at 11AM), there was literally one single piece of lamb in the buffet. I took the piece and inquired if the owner could please get some more lamb.Reluctantly, she agreed. About 20 minutes later, she brought out some lamb, so I went there to get some more. And she has the nerve to tell me, Make sure you leave some for other customers.I said that, because the amount she prepared for a BUFFET is paltry to what it should be. I got like 3-4 pieces of lamb, and that was about 2/3 of the amount she brought out, LITERALLY. (see photos)I didnt want to argue with her, so I finished my food quickly (and also for the first time at this restaurant, only tipped a couple of dollars because I was just so upset with the way I have been treated.)I think its perfectly ok for my parents to tell me to leave some food for others, but at a buffet, this is unreasonable, especially given how little food there was to start with (and then the tinyu. amount of lamb with which the restaurant refilled the serving tray).I am sorry to say, this is a restaurant I will never visit again. Its not reasonable having to spend about $30 and then be told how to eat at a buffet. Yes, I didnt dress in my normal Pata***** and Coto****, but thats no excuse to treat someone, period.(By the way, I noticed immediately the difference in the way I was treated at the moment I walked in, because they didnt recognize me as they usually did, and I can only assume its the clothing I was wearing, which is the only difference).
Tikka Masala
98 Judah St, San Francisco, CA 94122, United States
As a small business owner myself I don't like to leave bad reviews. But I went there tonight. Walked in. No acknowledgement or eye contact from the owner. He was on the phone so I gave him the benefit of the doubt he was just busy and we seated ourselves.10 minutes passed. Nothing.I walked to the front and picked up some menus. The presumable owner mumbled something while multi tasking so I assumed it meant “I'll be with you shortly”.We looked at the menu awhile. The owner/manager started arguing loud in Punjabi with the cook. Awkward.Several people wandered in to pick up take out orders and they were immediately acknowledged.This went on for another 10 minutes with zero acknowledgement that we were even there so we left.We told the staff why we're leaving and they didn't even bother to look up from whatever they were doing.I'd avoid this place or at best - order delivery. They clearly give zero sh—'s about customer service.
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Phat Thai
2380 Lombard St, San Francisco, CA 94123, United States
If you are visiting San Francisco to see the beauty that can be seen in the Bay Area - this here is a MUST SEE and stop for spicy food, Thai food, and Asian cuisine enjoyers altogether.The owner Bobby (Jahanvir) has made Thai food really well and he rocked my socks off. The papaya salad has a perfect blend of herbal, acid, and fish sauce flavor with the kafir lime. I test any Thai restaurants traditional sense through whether or not their papaya salad is any good, and this place felt truly Thai to me as if the flavors from Bangkok were teleported to SF.The pineapple fried rice felt like a killer fusion - raisins with an Iranian twist, the turmeric from Jahanvirs Bengali side, and the chicken marination in lime and South Asians spices with the overall cooking execution in the Thai fashion was tasty. I didnt find myself a fan of pad thai much, because I didnt order it, but as a family we enjoyed all the dishes. I would recommend pad thai with tofuu if youre vegetarian TBH.But all in all, I was especially in love with the pad ke mao at the Thai spicy level as well as the panang curry. Everything here is made with love, and this place keeps food execution on par. You must come here and have the mango with sticky rice as well!!!! Cheers Jahanvir thank you brother !