| Rating |
Date Attended |
Reviewer |
Gender |
Age |
Where From? [v] |
Group Type? |
|
Good but . . .
|
| Sun, May 21, 06 10:00 AM |
marybeth |
Unspecified |
Unspecified |
Unspecified |
Unspecified |
| The food was pretty good and a good variety. There was some information about the food and Chinatown. We would have preferred much more information about both. Shirley was very energetic, very nice, and gave individual attention to everyone in the group. And it was a great group. |
|
History with Food!
|
| Sat, Apr 18 10:00 AM |
drhorn |
Male |
60-69 |
Local |
Family Without Children |
| What a wonderful experience. We've lived in the Bay Area for 30+ years and this is the first time we decided to take a China Town tour. We were a small group of about seven with Shirley as our guide. We ate in local establishments, watched the chef cook food, learned and tasted "real" tea from China, laughed, talked, shared and ate. This is one tour I would recommend. Shirley gave us short historical lectures standing next to the places she was lecturing about. Although my wife and I have been married for some time it was a great date experience also. Dr Horn |
|
|
Fun but just a bit disappointing
|
| Sat, Mar 29, 08 10:00 AM |
chasha49 |
Female |
50-59 |
Local |
Group of Friends |
| Shirley Fong-Torres is a delight! Charming, warm, and full of enthusiasm and energy about her hometown: "Chinatown." However, on the day my friend and I took her tour, both of the restaurants she had planned to take us to, for breakfast and for lunch, were closed, and we spent an undue amount of time roaming around looking for another place to have some jook. Luckily, I had a piece of hard candy in my purse or else my blood sugar would have crashed. The places where we ended up having our two meals were both undistinguished in their cuisine and none of the dishes were very different from what I would normally order at a Chinese restaurant.
That said, the rest of the tour's highlights were wonderful. From the musician/barber in the alley to the fabulous tea shop where we learned to "rinse" our tea leaves to the amazing Dim Sum shop where we had truly spectacular items, nothing was lacking.
The only thing we would have enjoyed having more of would have been a little more history/background information from Shirley herself about the culture and locale.
Again, lots of fun with friendly companions. |
|
|
Great tour
|
| Sat, Mar 29, 08 10:00 AM |
khbongar |
Female |
40-49 |
Local |
Family Without Children |
| This was a very fun and yummy tour.
We had a great time! |
|
|
Good times
|
| Sat, Jun 30, 07 10:00 AM |
Ilsadohmen |
Female |
20-29 |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| This was a very pleasant way to spend a day. The food was all excellent and though we are locals we would never have known which places to go into without Shirley. It was a good group size (10 total) and there was more food than anyone in the group could eat. We covered a broad range--breakfast, dessert, tea, lunch. It was less historical, however, than I would have hoped with the real emphasis on eating more than learning about the food or the area. |
|
|
I truly ate my way through China Town!
|
| Sat, Oct 28, 06 10:00 AM |
buglet71 |
Female |
30-39 |
Local |
Other |
| My goodness, if I had known we were going to eat so much food I would have paced myself a little better. When we stopped at the first place for breakfast, a really funky, hilarious place full of character (don't be put off by the looks of the place as the food was great) I just stuffed my face. I think I became so delirious with overeating that I have forgotten the order we ate things in! We stopped for the most deliecious tea with an informative talk, we ate a sweet, warm custard kind of tart on the street, we had THE BEST crispy duck and pork on the street and all the time Shirley filled us in on history, customs, the food and answered our questions. By this time I could barely walk I was so full of delicious Chinese foods but we carried on for Dim Sum which we shared with our group standing outside the shop. I loved all that eating outside and it helped we had a friendly group sharing and chatting. We walked through crowded streets while Shirley continued to educate us on China Town. And then if you can believe we went and ate lunch. This was a sit downmeal in a nice restaurant where Shirley ordered the food and we ate and ate. We had some very interesting dishes, those that I knew nothing about and probably would never have chosen! The group had fun eating and chatting around the table. I seriously could not believe I ate so much. Come hungry, pace yourself and be prepared for a LOT of food and information. Shirley was great; knowledgable, friendly, funny and popular with the locals. I highly recommend this trip, just be prepared for a few little things out of the ordinary!!!!! |
|
|
Ms Fong-Torres was great fun. Food a bit plain
|
| Sat, Sep 2, 06 10:00 AM |
rgraves |
Male |
40-49 |
Local |
Group of Friends |
| Delightful company, but we expected more detail about the foods and more of the unique and special dishes of Chinese cuisine. Different regional styles might have been emphasized. The tour seemed more geared to the palate of a tourist from the Midwest than a person visiting from a large metropolitan area who has eaten Chinese food fairly regularly.
Where was the jellyfish, dried oyster, frog's legs, etc? The pork with salt fish and bitter-melon with beef were definitely along the right line. And the stories behind them, their culinary significance, were a treasured part of the tour. Add more of that sort of thing. Our expectation wasn't just to taste a lot of food, but to taste and learn about the really unique dishes that we would never know to order unless we spoke Chinese.
This said, I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting San Francisco who wanted to eat good Chinese food with the fun, exhuberant Shirley Fong-Torres. She is so worh the price of a ticket. |
|
Totally overrated!
|
| Sat, Aug 5, 06 10:00 AM |
llondon |
Female |
50-59 |
Local |
Group of Friends |
| While Shirley is a nice, friendly, energetic woman, she's a salesperson. There was a violent occurrence at the scheduled meeting point prior to her arrival and, when told about it, she seemed thoroughly uninterested, since it didn't affect her business. The tour got started more than 20 minutes late. Shirley told us we'd be moving from funky to elegant to questionable to fantastic. Why funky and questionable when I've paid $75? Breakfast was at a dive and was pretty vile. Our visit to a teashop was the highlight of the tour in that we were given a brief education about tea, had a tasting, and it was a lovely setting. We proceeded to the "street food" which was gummy, greasy, bland, cheap dim sum that we ate standing on Broadway. Then, the piece de resistance - our lunch. This was billed as a banquet that would fill you up for the rest of the day...at least that's what the reviews said. My friends and I were expecting quality, not just quantity. There was neither. We were taken to the Imperial Palace and told that it had been recently renovated. My friend used the bathroom and found it disgusting. The staff was unprepared for us when we arrived and Shirley had to get heavy with them. All this aside, the food was nothing I would eat if given a choice. We had some decent duck and a somewhat tasty prawn dish, but everything else was so dull that there were platters left on the table. No one was interested in a second helping. I overheard others on the tour talking about their disappointment as well. My friends and I feel ripped off. What saved the day was a trip to Mitchell's for ice cream right after this sumptuous feast! We were not full, to say the least. |
|
|
I can't believe I'm still full!
|
| Sat, May 6, 06 10:00 AM |
richardc |
Male |
60-69 |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| An excellent and informative tour conducted by the effervescent Shirley Fong-Torres. A great introduction to Chinatown for the out of town visitor, and a treat for long time residents. Tour includes humor, variety, and some great food. Thanks, Shirley! |
|
|
Great overview of Chinatown food and culture
|
| Wed, Mar 22, 06 10:00 AM |
lemkneedler |
Male |
70+ |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| My wife and I enjoyed the tour very much. We live near Sacramento and come to San Francisco quite often we hadn't visited Chinatown recently. We liked Shirley's humor very much. This is a trip that can be enjoyed by seniors or almost anyone. I would certainly be open to do this again or one Wok Wiz's other tours. By the way my wife and I travel to S. F. by Amtrac and play cards on the way.. |
