Crystal Jade Jiang Nan

I came in here not knowing of any of the drama that had gone on with the construction or anything like that. I just saw that this place actually had decent vegetarian options for SF restaurant week so we decided to give it a shot! The staff was very accommodating of everything — they let us just order one restaurant week prix fix menu and the rest off their regular a-​la-​carte menu. This place was definitely more pricey than Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, but it also had a great ambiance and overall felt much cleaner to me!
Some of my favorites that we ordered were the fried udon noodles with black truffle and mushrooms and the steamed vegetable dumplings. The japanese mochi dessert was also pretty tasty and a great small dessert to cleanse your pallet.
You can skip the egg drop soup and the truffle mushroom steamed buns. Nothing too special about either of them.
There is a lot of variety of vegetarian options here so I’m excited to go back. It’s also a HUGE restaurant so I imagine they are good for groups as well!

Worst service and food. Managers are rude and staffs have no clue what they are doing. Foods wasn’t good. We will not go back.

OUTRAGE!
No stars! The disorganization is unbelievable. Management has no clue. Everyone is running around but there is no service. Either 4 server ask what you want to drink or no one comes to your table at all. We placed a second order and nothing happens for over 30 minutes, then when we inquire about our order, the server informs us that the computer went down and never received our order! So we waited again and a server came by and collected our plates. We told him we are still waiting for our orders but he doesn’t check on it. Don’t waste your time here. I read good and bad reviews because I believe you should always give them a chance BUT this is the WORST experience ever. Don’t bother about the food being good and the nice décor. You will just waste your time and leave with horrible experience. There were a lot more horror from the time we checked in but I will spare you all from it.
By the way, my order never came. I had to ask them to take it off my bill. Then I waited AGAIN to pay!!!

This has got to be the rudest service with the most terrible dim sum I’ve ever had. We had a long black hair in our noodle soup. They wouldn’t even discount or apologize. They are overpriced and have small portions. Do not waste your time or money.

This was my first time here, and after reading the reviews I was expecting amazing food with average/​sub-​par service.
We came for lunch for restaurant week, and so we made reservations. It didn’t seem necessary though as there were many empty tables.
We got seated and waited a few minutes for someone to serve us before calling someone over so that we could get the restaurant week menu. They forgot so 10 minutes later we called a 2^nd server for the restaurant week menu.
We ordered two appetizers: Apple Wood Roasted Peking duck roll with preserved radish and the BBQ spare rib (s) and apple wood roasted duck. For main dishes we got the pan fried salmon and their fried udon with beef. The appetizers were disappointingly small, two tiny Peking duck rolls that a tiny square of meat, and the other appetizer came with one bbq rib and two small pieces of roast duck. The duck rolls were dry and flour-​y and tasted like nothing, but the bbq rib and roast duck pieces were very flavorful.
As for the mains, the fried udon with beef was very rich. The beef was very tender and the udon was firm but not overdone. It was great.
The salmon was undercooked to the point where the center felt almost raw. They passed it off as being the proper way to cook it and we had finished half of the portion so we didn’t return it, but we were a bit skeptical.
Overall the food was ok, what we could taste was good, but the appetizers were disappointing and one of the mains left my stomach feeling funny. Probably wouldn’t get the same things again, but for $ 25 on restaurant week it was a good meal.

This review is for the bar and lounge.
Came here yesterday during SB City around when happy hour began. Happy hour is 3 – 7 everyday. Their small bites are solid. Prices were reasonable for the location. Décor was nice as I was repeatedly told by other patrons they spent 200 million on it. But the compliments end there.
First off, they don’t have cable TV. We watched the warrior game off a stream from a bartenders phone and it buffered out and we winded up rewatching the 2^nd quarter and remained a quarter behind the live action. Most amusing part was seeing the bartenders incoming texts asking what their evening plans were lol
Secondly, while they had some hard working bartenders, their setup was total shit. As it progressively got busier, you saw bartenders running all around getting a spoon, or ice, or a clean glass. Wow, talk about total disorganization.
To make matters worse, they had bussers and wait staff behind the bar waiting for their drinks but don’t even try asking for anything from them. «Ask your bartender». Wow, they need to retrain or fire their entire wait staff.
Bartenders refuse to make eye contact and remain tunnel visioned throughout the evening. They had no idea who was next and who was waiting for what. They even mis-​billed me and only charged me half of what I ordered. I’d normally fix it but I waited over 20 minutes for my bill and another 5 for my change. Not my fault
They said they are closed to the public next Mpnday through Super Bowl weekend as the NFL network bought them out. That should be a total comical shit show.
I hope they fix their issues because it’s a total awesome location. But I even saw the managers look clueless and weren’t helpful.

Waited more than an hour to get food. Service is disorganized, no one knows what’s going on.
The food is ok though, but the service is just unacceptable.

I’ve been to Crystal Jade in Hong Kong and Singapore. Both experiences were stellar! So when I heard they had opened a location in San Francisco, I was stoked! But sadly, my experience here was nowhere near what it was in Asia.
We sat at the bar, and ordered our favorite items that we had when we were at their locations in Asia. The Xiao Long Bao (pork soup dumplings), Poached Pork Dumpling, and La Mian (noodle dish in peanut sauce). All of the dishes were actually very good.
However, I felt like we couldn’t fully enjoy our meal because of what was going on around us. It made my husband and I very anxious to finish our food and get out of there. The music inside was playing so loud. We could barely hear each other talk. The service was also very unorganized. I don’t think we had a dedicated server/​bartender. We sat there for about 10 minutes before having to wave someone over so we could ask for some water and menus. The ironic part about that is there was a lot of staff behind the bar. And the restaurant wasn’t busy that night at all. It looked like 35% of the restaurant/​bar was occupied. But the staff behind the bar weren’t attentive to us or the other customers. They were literally just hanging out, having side conversations. The people sitting next to us even had to wave a bartender over because she had charged him for an item that they never ordered. When the customer showed her the receipt, she looked at it with a blank stare on her face, turned around and walked away. Didn’t give him any sort of explanation or reassurance that they would fix it. She literally just walked away, and the customer had no clue what to do next.
The staff just kept talking to each other or walking back and forth behind the bar instead of tending to their guests. No organization whatsoever. It even got more awkward when the manager (or some person of authority there) got behind the bar and didn’t seem to notice or care that the staff clearly weren’t working. They all just stood there, basically hanging out! At one point, 6 of them (including the manager) stood off to the side, having some sort of dramatic conversation and NOBODY was behind the bar for about 10 min. So you could imagine how confusing that would be to the guests.
I don’t think the staff, or management for that matter, has any clue how to run that restaurant. It was very disappointing and we have zero desire to come back. I’ll stick to Crystal Jade in Asia… where customer service is a priority.

This is a Chinese style. I guess it served Chinese food? Does it? I guess somewhat. It overlooks the embarcadero and you can see the water and pier. Surprisingly, when I was here with some friends. There weren’t that many people. Slow? I don’t know. We came here for happy hour drinks. Ok, I usually go for the usual, but friend introduced me to Mr. Pimms Cup. It was pretty tasty with ginger beer. We also had the shumai, calamari, and cheeseburger spring rolls. The cheeseburger spring rolls remind me of little hot pockets or empanadas but in spring roll form. Lol… great day.

Very good !! Very good !!! Come back next time, very good, food is good service is good,

Just so not worth it. I love this chain in Asia but the food is much too overpriced here. I came during SF Restaurant Week for their $ 65 set dinner but it was just unremarkable with sky high pricing for what is offered.
The BBQ combo had a variety of meat, but the meat was tough and the skins were not crispy. The crab meat chowder was fairly delicious but the soup leaned on the side of salty. The curry chicken was good, but tasted more Singaporean than Shanghainese and should not have been part of a $ 65 menu as the entrée. The baked rice was fairly delicious but as with the curry chicken, this was also much more of a Hong Kong style baked rice than a Shanghainese dish. The dessert was Japanese mochi with red bean paste, but the paste was not ground smoothly and the hard bits of red bean did not go well with the smooth and chewy mochi.
This restaurant markets itself as a high-​end Jiang Nan/​Shanghainese restaurant, yet the menu for the set dinner is not reflective. Worse yet, the dishes served are not worth the high price associated. Had the food been extremely high quality, it would have been worth it, but it was just so average and only a slightly better quality than what is offered in Chinatown for ¹⁄₃ of the price. The décor is amazing and it looks nice and all but I would strongly discourage others from coming here if they want food that has both value and quality.

Okay I am a fan but the service is not always top. They forgot one of our orders. The food is delicious and sometimes the service is great.
Food 4
Service 3
Décor 4
Noise Level– Loud
Lighting 4.5 if you sit my the window
Pricing $$$
Upscale– Suits and Tourist
Location :View of the San Francisco Ferry Building and water beautiful
Parking: Easy park at the Embarcadero
Kung Pao Chicken– Tasty but too many hot peppers they out number the chicken bites
Won Ton Soup– good, hot and the right portion to share
Fried Sticky Rice Balls with meat inside– perfectly crunchy and savor with meat
Shanghai Dumpling– Hot and juicy they way they are meant to be made
Great place for a group of co– workers in suits or casual technology developers to go for lunch and yell at each other about there latest work accomplishment while sharing hot dumplings and enjoying the beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay while sipping on some quality hot tea.
Happy eating for all us dumpling lovers.

If the Emperor of China still had any significance today, this is how I would imagine his living style would be. Tang Dynasty with modern clean lines and romantic views to die for. Nice!
We were lured over here for their lunch specials that were advertised online. But once we arrived, they said they no longer had those deals. Sad face. So, we decided to just order several dim sum dishes instead. I ordered everything in my naïve Chinglish language…
1) Lo bok gow (taro pan fried cake)
2) Ha Gow (shrimp dumplings)
3) Siu Mai (pork dumplings)
4) Xiao Long Bao (juicy pork buns)
5) Pai Guit (spare ribs)
6) Cherung fun (shrimp rice rolls)
The waiter explained to us that they only use local produce and don’t believe in MSG. They believe in letting the natural and organic flavors of each product shine through. Did it shine through? I didn’t really notice. All the flavors just fell flat for me… I must be missing that MSG or something was missing.
At any rate, the service was pretty good. The views are immaculate. The décor gets thumbs up from me. The price is very high for organic products that didn’t shine for what they were.
TIP: Go for Happy Hour. The cocktails are tangy and the small plates will fill ya. Make sure to sit outside on a warm summer night, it is filled with ‘I left my heart in San Francisco’ romance. And it’s super trendy and cool being out there!!!

It’s good. No doubt. But you are definitely paying for the high rent, nice view, and pristine ambiance. They are not kidding when its $$$. You can save a couple bucks and go to Yang Sing, or save a ton of money and head to Cityview.
We came here for lunch, and it was packed. It seems lots of team work meals occur here so you service may be slow. Portions are also smaller than what you may be used to.
– Shanghai Noodles: Flavorful and tasty and the baby bok choy was well cooked.
– Xiao Long Bao: Nice, and well made.
– Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaves: Good. Just a strangely small portion in comparison to others.
– Beef Rice Noodle: Alright. Sorta funky beef texture.
– Peashoot Dumpling: Delicious. Definitely clean and simple.
– Hao Gao: Typical, but good.
If I wanted to impress newbies to dim sum, maybe head here. Buts its definitely overpriced for what you get. They also don’t have the carts, so that’s a bit lame. Ok. While good, just not worth the price.

This is a trendy spot with half-​moon booths and dim lighting. Fried rice for $ 14 and sautéed eggplant for $ 13. No. You can get these items for half that price at a regular ‘ol non trendy Chinese restaurant. If you’re going to charge those prices, you better be making some kickass food, which these were not. The fried rice was kind of dry and greasy. I could honestly make better fried rice at home. The eggplant was not bad, but the portion was small and I’ve had better elsewhere.

I was here for a corporate holiday event on December 10. The staff were busy, but the bartender on the patio was unnecessarily brusque. Inside, the DJ was playing the music way too loud. Based upon this experience, I have no reason to take the initiative to come back.
I’ll end on a positive note. The view from the patio, which overlooks the Ferry Building and the winter ice rink, is fabulous.

I came here twice, once when they just opened in 2014, and 2015 December. I have to say that Crystal Jade Jiangnan has improved a lot since my first visit.
Their utensils, general attitude of servers, serving speed, and food quality has improved a whole lot! I’m wondering if it has to do with the timing of my visit.
For my first visit in 2014, I came on a Sun for lunch at 1pm. It wasn’t too packed, but server took forever to take our orders, serve our drinks, and the xlb and some other dim sum dishes came out lukewarm. It was bleah.
I won’t have come back if not for the fact that the second meal was my team’s holiday lunch, and the boss was paying for it. I was pleasantly surprised! The dimsum were of similiar standard as the crystal jade in singapore (where cj is from), served piping hot too! We ordered the Peking duck, but they ran out, so they served us a different version of roasted duck at the same price and served us a complimentary duck fried rice too. Top grade service!
Will be back! :)

We came on Christmas Day for some dim sum. We made a reservation online a bit less than a week before, when we checked to confirm the day before they only had a space at 11am so I would recommend making a reservation early. Although busy it wasn’t crazy so maybe walk ins would be fine for smaller groups.
We stuck to the dim sum menu plus some fried rice «Yang Zhou» style. My favorites were the steamed honey BBQ pork buns and mixed XLB. We also got the steamed shrimp dumplings and organic vegetable dumplings, I wasn’t a fan of the vegetable dumplings, not that they were bad but not as good as the rest. The fried rice was quality too. Dessert was mango pudding and glutinous rice dumplings with grated peanut, the pudding was okay but the rice dumplings were delicious and the clear dessert winner.
A big let down was the service, waiting 10 minutes to be seen, then forever trying to hunt down people for extras, desserts, the bill, etc.
Overall the food was 4 stars and service was 2 – 3 stars. Even though the service was frustrating the food made up for it, plus other tables seemed to not have any issues so maybe we were just unlucky.

«You want some Crystal Jade?» The name of this place sounds like some type of exotic drug or possibly an old school opium den. For better or worse, Crystal Jade is not as much a drug as it is a very solid HH spot.
For all my Unilocal followers (I don’t have any followers), I haven’t done a HH review in a while but I’ve been compelled to share my amazing experience at the Crystal Jade /​opium den.
First off, this place is ginormous! Seriously. The establishment is one part restaurant, one part lounge and one part BIG ASS patio filled with couches, tables, and amazing views of the bay bridge, ferry building and ice skating rink.
THE HIGHS:
— 3 bars (restaurant, lounge and patio) stocked with decent bartenders.
— HH Specials (3pm to 8pm): house cocktails (~$ 8), apps (~$ 5 – 10) and beers (~$ 5) and we blew up all of it. Pimm’s Cups and Singapore Slings were flowing all night while we smacked on Naked Chicken Wings, Wanton Soups, Salt and Peppered Calamari, and Spicy Dumplings (my personal favorite).
— HUGE patio, twice the size as Sens’ and filled with tons of couches, tables, and people.
— Large lounge: there’s about a dozen booths, a large wrap around bar and plenty of young professionals celebrating anything from ending prohibition to birthdays.
— Fancy yet reasonably priced. I love the high class feel with the reasonable (considering other places) bar tab at the end of the night.
NEEDS ANOTHA HIT (the lows):
— This is very much an Asian establishment. The original Crystal Jade is in Singapore and they like to employ Chinese /​Asians. I wouldn’t say there was a big communication issue but things could be lost in translation from their strong accents. Then again, I barely listen or even know what I say most of the time.
— Not enough heaters on the patio: This is hardly a complaint since I probably should have Frankenstein more. Only part of the patio has heater coverage. A couple standing heaters would be a plus.
Most importantly, I need to give a special shout out to my man, Louis, who took care of me and my party the whole night. It all started when I walked to the patio to try and find space for my party of 10 – 12 people on a Friday night. Even though it’s open seating, he approached me asking if he could help. I told him the seating concern because the place was pretty busy and he ushered me to some «secret couches» at the end of the patio. He offered, nay, INSISTED to set up a table and bring some extra chairs over so my party wouldn’t have to be inconvenienced. Then, he crushed it all night with awesome customer service– payed close attention to our table by constantly refilling waters, clearing dishes, and staying in constant communication with our waitresses (we had 3 simultaneously at one point)! Everyone did a good job but Louis provided some of the best service I’ve ever experienced. I hope him, his boss, his momma, his boss’ momma, and whoever else reads this because he was nothing short of excellent.

Good and pricey Chinese food, but super slow service. I have speculated this place for quite some time since it opened. The fact that they spent $ 14M renovating this place, just Wooow. Walking into this swanky Chinese restaurant makes you feel like you are walking into a Chinese museum. If you come on a sunny day, sitting in the patio would be ideal. The view of the ferry building and the bay is amazing.
Kurobuta pork dumplings ($ 9) are a must. The skin is thin while still thick enough to be picked up by chopsticks. The meat juice inside is delicious. Careful when you are picking them up because you don’t want the awesome juices inside to leak out! We ordered another round of this because 1 order was not enough for 3 people!
Other dishes we ordered were crab and dried scallop egg white fried rice, la main in peanut sauce, and salt and pepper calamari. The fried rice and noodles were pretty good, but the calamari was mediocre. It tasted like it was from the frozen package and the crust was too thick.
Overall, the food was not bad. The decoration is overkill. If they budget less on the renovation and specialize more on their dim sum I would totally go here again. The service was also way too slow. We were trying to get our patio waiter guy’s attention for the longest time. Our cups were empty a lot of the times sine the food is a bit salty and nobody came to refill it. The dishes also took a long time to come out.