GAI Chicken & Rice — Restaurant in San Francisco

This restaurant has delicious chicken rice, a clean interior, and a menu with a good selection, but not too many things. However, the chicken broth was too salty and the restroom was a disaster zone with fresh paint.

I had the Crispy Gai ($15.15 after tax, before tip), which was done about 12 minutes after ordering. I chose Hainan sauce for my sauce. The chicken was tender inside and crispy outside, and tasted great, which is what I expected. The rice was perfectly cooked. The sauce was minced ginger and green onion in some oil. I thought that half the container was plenty. The chicken broth tasted like real chicken, not like bouillon or some other cheap alternative. However, it had too much salt, so I didn't finish it.

The restaurant didn't have many customers dining in, but they were swamped with delivery orders. I saw a slip that was about 3ft long coming out of the order printer (there's a photo for proof). Overall, this is a great place to order reasonably priced, good chicken rice, and I recommend it if you're...

This restaurant surpassed my Singaporean-bred Hainanese chicken rice expectations. Having lived the first 12 years of my life in Singapore and having lots of HCR during that time, I was pleasantly surprised that this restaurant's dish takes one of the top two spots of "Best Hainanese Chicken Rice in My Entire Life". The rice was flavorful, the chicken was tender and tasty, the chicken skin was so smooth, and the ginger sauce was delicious. The pickled cucumber accompanied the dish to perfection. The only thing missing was the chili sauce. If I was just rating on HCR, I would give 5 stars.

My husband ordered the Mala Dan Dan Noodles. While they were also delicious, we missed the numbness of the expected Sichuan peppercorns. We could hardly taste any! And that's the reason for docking one star.

As a side note, the restaurant has a funky sterilized smell that was a little off-putting (I sometimes smell the same smell at Bart stations). However, the HCR more than made up for it, and if you're doing take-out, then it's...

On the scale of chicken & rice dishes, Gai is on the upper end for fast casual options. Rooster & Rice is my main basis of comparison which I got in both San Francisco and Irvine. Gai’s lean chicken & rice dish is savoury but not overly salty, which I appreciate. I noticed this especially with the soup, which was a clear, delightful broth with spring onions. Rooster’s soup, in contrast, tastes like straight up chicken stock from a carton with an extra pound of salt added. I can’t even eat it because it’s too salty. Rooster’s chicken also caused me to have a reaction where I experienced indigestion and slight difficulty breathing after eating their chicken. I didn’t have any issues with the meal from Gai’s so their preparation must be better, as the food seems safer. This was a great takeout option and I’d...