Daly City - Koi Palance - 2005 (MOVED)

RATING (* Poor to ***** Excellent)

Type of Food: Chinese - Cantonese

Food: ****
Service: **
Ambience: ***
Value: ***

OVERALL: ***

Koi Palace Website

GENERAL: If you are Chinese or Asian living in the SF Bay Area, you've probably heard of this place and how expensive it is. I would never return to overpriced Chinese restaurants since an authentic Chinese meal typically means low overall quality; however, I'd have to say Koi Palace is an exception - I just won't go every week since I'm not a billionaire YET.

FOOD: This place offers the best Hong Kong-style Cantonese - or nouveau Cantonese - food you can find in the SF Bay Area. Seafood is the core offering - HINT: Cantonese restaurants that do a good job with sharpfin soup can probably cook a fish or crab well too. All other dishes that we've tried are decent too, like their meat and vegetable dishes. The secret of this place is ingredient - it sticks to the best of everything, down to dried mushrooms and baby bokchoy.

Lunch and weekend dimsum offers a great variety of high-quality dimdums (of course everything tastes exquisite after a 2-hour wait). For some reason desserts don't seem to be too outstanding, but the host dimsums were delicate and delicious (like Cantonese rice dumplings that don't stick to your chopsticks - a litmus test for the quality of its wrap). Be adventurous here. I would only recommend the hotpot ONLY IF you don't like to do it at home. It's interesting that so many people are willing pay for someone to boil water and put raw food on their table....

SERVICE: Compared to other Chinese restaurants, Koi Palace offers decent service - or at least they are good enough not to splash gravy on your shirt. Most waiters actually speak English and they are patient enough to explain what you're really orderings - but somehow they always end up recommending the $20/head sharkfin soup or $10/bowl frog saliva dessert.

If you've been to Hong Kong you know that you don't get friendliness for less than $25/head at these fancy restaurants, so you occasionally get some smiles here - when they are not too overwhelmingly busy and just want to get you out of the door. They are lucky that, due to my exposure to HK culture, I truly value and appreciate HK-style efficiency, otherwise this place would have gotten one star from me.

AMBIENCE: It's not a PF Chang (it's in an office park!), but it sure beats the Golden Dragon. It's traditional Chinese with a modern twist - fairly typical in HK nowadays. The place is decorated with taste but with the usual Asian sloppiness in details (don't lean on the cabinet with teapots because it will tip over). It also looks and feels overutilitized - the place looks exhausted from hostings hundreds (if not thousands) of people day in day out. Maybe it's the food or something in the food, but everyone there looks excited - bringing the place a party atmosphere.

VALUE: Given the fact that even decent tea costs money, value is not what the owner has in mind. If you want a value Cantonese meal with seafood, this is NOT the place to be. I did have a friend who once commented: Imagine having the same amount of seafood at equivalent quality and quantity in an American restaurant that is just as popular - you'd be paying through your nose! That comment lifted this place from a two-star to a three-star in value.

BOTTOMLINE: If you like Cantonese food, appreciate having your dishes delivered to you fast but ungracefully, and you can survive the chaos of an over-popular restaurant, this is your place. Just come with lots of money and don't calculate how many Panda Express orders you can place with your next bite.

LAST WORD: Warnings - 1) Do not order dimsums during dinner hours even if the waiter tells you they are available - they taste like reheated leftover from lunch; 2) when the waiter recommends something it's usually very good - but do check price first; 3) order live fish if possible, but ask about the exact weight since you're paying by the LB.