Palette Tea House — Restaurant in San Francisco

The plethora of positive reviews that our group received prior to coming to this restaurant were overwhelming. Our party of 10 received a copious amount of recommendations and we were all so excited to finally arrive. To make this long story short, we had a horrendous experience. Now let me give credit where it’s due, the food was good but they quite literally, and unapologetically, almost killed one person in our group. After sitting down and taking our drink orders we hastily warned the server about the allergies in the table. Then, my friend wrote “SHRIMP ALLERGY” on his menu, which you turn into the server instead of verbally ordering. Let me preface this by stating that my friend has a very severe shrimp allergy which causes his trachea to constrict until he quite literally cannot breathe. Eventually, the food began coming out and my friends girlfriend quickly grabbed the “CHICKEN and mushroom” dumplings they had ordered as she was so excited to eat them. As she split the dumpling in half, she noticed there was shrimp inside. She quickly warned the server and of course they apologized and took it back. Quickly after, the server came back to let us know that we were wrong…that in fact, the shrimp we had seen was not shrimp and chicken… because apparently we cannot tell the difference. Soon after, the server came back with another order of the CHICKEN dumplings and to our disbelief….you can already guess… THERE WAS SHRIMP! The manager (who was wearing a suit) came to our table to “negotiate”. He asked what he could do for us and we were very honest and sincere with him and told him he needed to compensate my friends meal…which is what any rational restaurant management would do. They almost sent my friend to the hospital and compensating his meal was too much of a request. Instead, the manager chuckled and told us that he could and would not do that. He then proceeded to negotiate with us some more and asked what he could bring us. The point of this review is not to bash the restaurant or our server who I must note, did a fantastic job to try and accommodate us and make us comfortable. The purpose is to make the management aware that their top employee takes no responsibility for their mistakes and instead makes excuses. Will not be coming back or recommending this to anyone we know. Attached is the chicken...

One of the most disappointing meals I've ever had, and that's saying a lot. Saw this mentioned on the San Francisco reddit so I figured I'd give it a try, especially since I love dim sum and their intuition is pretty on point. Unfortunately, I've now learned--had it cemented, the third time in two days--to never eat by touristy areas; the standards are abysmal.

Ordered some dim sum classics (chicken feet, chicken and mushroom siu mai, Portuguese egg tarts, ha gow, soup dumplings) and their Sunday features of snow candy cap pork buns and uni/scallop congee (unique, expensive). I should have known by the size and texture (sticky, flavorless, very little shrimp) of the ha gow that nothing else would be very good and to stop the rest of the service: everything came out either rubbery, dry, unbalanced in flavor and texture, flavorless, and a pale imitation of real dim sum.

The milk aroma oolong was okay, nothing special. Same with the Legend of Snake cocktail (one that had baijiu as the base, which was a first). I was very open about my distaste and kept pushing more and more food off to be collected but never had a server come to ask if anything was okay; I'm not asking for anything more than the bar minimum, but it took a few minutes (having sat at the bar as its sole occupant) before the bartender even noticed I was trying to order a cocktail.

Ambience is good. It's a clean, perfectly decorated environment, which should be your first clue in leaving and finding someplace better in Chinatown. Despite being ignored most of the time, service was cordial. After collecting the last dish that remained full, a server took off one item as a discount after I expressed my disappointment of all the food I'd received.

They do have an extensive menu of non-dim sum items, which may be better. But I'd discourage anyone for coming here otherwise.

A pricey $100+...

One of the best dimsum experience I’ve ever had and I’ve tried a lot of the classic, top-rated spots across SF and NY. Everything was delicious and it wasn’t too crowded going on a Sunday at 5pm due to the huge space.

Between me and my mom we got:

Black Swan Taro puff: This was my mom’s favorite dish - different texture from what she’s had before, thought it was beautiful, and she liked the meat filling. [8 of 10] Lobster dumpling: This was a standout for the both of us and my favorite. Recommended by the hostess and I could see why. Super succulent and delicious [9 of 10] Shrimp Hargow: I’m a huge Shrimp Hargow fan and this was great too but would order another Lobster dumpling over this next time because they had a similar shell and texture. [7 of 10] XLB sampler: This was also very delicious but would probably order something else next time so I can try more dishes and since I’ve had a lot of good XLB inside and outside of SF. [7 of 10] Abalone sticky rice: It was good but would order something else next time to try more dishes. [7 of 10] Peking Duck: Loved the crepe wrap and toppings. Duck was excellently cooked. I would order again next time but my mom thought it was pricey for what you got. [8 of 10] Supreme Crab dumpling: Delicious and pretty but would order another Lobster dumpling instead of ordering this next time since it was prepared in a similar way with added spice. [7.5 of 10] Salted Egg Lava Bun: I love a good lava bun and this was prepared beautifully. Would definitely order again. [8.5 of 10]

Also ordered 1 Chrysanthemum tea between the two of us as a palette cleanser and it was great.

Highly...