City View - San Francisco - 5 stars

Visited on: Often

Comments: Highly recommended. Best dim sum ever had in San Francisco Bay Area.

Ordered items:
Dumplings:
Shrimp dumpling 蝦餃Pork / chicken / prawn / scallop xiumei 豬肉燒賣,雞肉燒賣,蝦燒賣,帶子燒賣Cilantro and prawn dumpling 香菜蝦餃Soup dumpling 灌湯餃Spinach and prawn dumpling 波菜蝦餃Shark fin dumpling 魚翅餃Seafood dumpling 三鮮餃

Others:
Bean curd wrap 腐皮捲Beef ball 牛肉丸Cha Xiu bun baked/steamed 蒸叉燒包,烤叉燒包Cha Xiu / Prawn / Beef wrapped in rice noodle 叉燒 / 蝦 / 牛肉腸粉Cha Xiu pastry 叉燒酥Steamed turnip cake 蒸蘿蔔糕Cow stomach 牛百葉Cow guts mix 燉牛雜 Chicken feet 鳳爪Spare pork ribs 排骨Preserved egg and pork porridge 皮蛋瘦肉粥Steamed sticky rice bowl 燒臘飯Sticky rice chicken 糯米雞Deep fried taro and pork dumpling 芋頭豬肉酥

Sweets:
Egg custard tart 蛋塔 Custard bun - baked 烤奶黃包Mango pudding 芒果布丁Chinese donut 沙庸 (probably the wrong character) Almond pudding 杏仁布丁Soy bean pudding 豆花

General descriptions:
What can I say? This is the best, most authentic dim sum place in San Francisco, even the whole bay area. Yang Sim is too Americanized, with its pretty tea service, tiny portion, diluted flavors, and lack of authentic items. Koi Palace...good food, poor service, outrageous wait staff. Not to say that City View does not have its share of Americanized items. I definitely would not recommend ordering Peking duck there. How to identify their specialty? Easy. Anything with that transparent dumpling skin, any type of xiumei except chicken (but I think it is a problem with chicken, not their technique), all types of rice noodle, anything in the form of a baked bun or looks like a flaky pastry, they do very well. Their chicken feet, spare pork ribs, and cow guts are all very good too. Love their desserts, all are tremendously good, especially the custard bun. Not too sweet, excellent bouncy bun bread, crispy crust on the top, and when you get them warm...oh my god. The steamed turnip cake is amazingly good too. Much better than the regular grilled kind, you get to taste the sweetness of the turnip more. Highly recommended, and go early! Things tend to run out after 12:00.

Basic info:
662 Commercial StreetSan Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 398-2838 Daily 11:00am - 2:30pmSat & Sun 10:00am - 2:30pmGenerally about $15 to $20 per person