| Rating |
Date Attended [v] |
Reviewer |
Gender |
Age |
Where From? |
Group Type? |
 |
Great way to view Chinatown |
| |
Sun, Mar 11, 07 10:00 AM |
SBray1 |
Female |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Other |
| |
We are a family with older children.
My daughter may be attending school in San Francisco and I felt she was a bit apprehensive about the rich diversity of this city. She really got a good appreciation of the culture and enjoyed it throughly.
If we had visited by ourselves we would have only visited Grant Street. This would not have been the best way to view China Town and the tour really helped point out many items of interest. |
|
Fascinating insight |
| |
Sun, Mar 11, 07 10:00 AM |
alisonrkerr |
Female |
30-39 |
International Tourist(s) |
Individual |
| |
Really interesting tour- saw sides of Chinatown I would not have been able to otherwise. Dorothy had great stories to tell about her childhood growing up in Chinatown.
Lunch was my first experience of dim sum- delicious.
Over lunch I got some tips as to the best shopping experiences in Chinatown which I promptly utilised.
Overall great value for rmoney |
|
a bit disappointed |
| |
Sun, Mar 11, 07 10:00 AM |
klwheeler |
Female |
30-39 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| |
I have to say I was a bit disappointed on Sunday that we didn't have time to stop at several places including the tea shop. I really enjoyed the personal perspective that our tour leader had, however, it wasn't more important to see where she was born than go to the tea tasting, in my opinion.
We did enjoy our tour greatly though. |
 |
Dorothy Rocks! |
| |
Sun, Mar 11, 07 10:00 AM |
sandynan |
Female |
60-69 |
Local |
Family With Children |
| |
Thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Dorothy Quoak (sp.?). It was educational, fun and entertaining. She's a gem.
I wish I'd signed my daughter and me up for an extended tour.....say half a day (6 hours). We both would have enjoyed more interaction with the local shop owners and people we met along the way. Also more extensive walking through the area would have been fun especially with a guide.
My only regret is that the food wasn't more "challenging" but I totally understand it's safe and not-too-far out nature to satisfy most people. |
 |
Not worth it |
| |
Thu, Mar 8, 07 10:00 AM |
uncalley |
Female |
20-29 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| |
My husband and I were really excited about this tour. We love Chinese food and were looking forward to learning more about Chinese culture. Unfortunately, we walked away from the experience disappointed. I believe other reviewers may have had better experiences due to following a different tour guide. I do not remember ours name, but he was an older Chinese gentleman. He was quite long-winded, which would have been great if his storytelling skills were more refined. However, we felt like we didn't get to see as much as was described on the website, possibly because he spent too much time at each site (we also walked very slowly). The food at the end of the tour was good, but I expected to get to sample more along the way. The only sample we had was at a fortune cookie factory. We barely discussed Chinese cuisine at all. Overall, we were certainly not miserable during the tour, but we kept waiting for the exciting/interesting part of the tour to start--that didn't happen until we sat down to eat lunch at the end. It was not at all worth the $40 a person that we paid. We would have been better served to take the free historical tour that the library offers and gotten dim sum on our own. |
|
Informative |
| |
Mon, Mar 5, 07 10:00 AM |
Susanmatulic |
Female |
50-59 |
Local |
Other |
| |
The tour had a broader scope than I expected. I enjoyed the Chinese lessons and was surprised by the number of Julia Morgan's buildings in the area. |
|
Wok Wiz Was Wonderful |
| |
Wed, Feb 28, 07 10:00 AM |
Fisher |
Female |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| |
My brother and I had a great time on the tour. We both really enjoyed the expierence. Not only was it fun---- but also enlightening. |
|
Good tour, esp if you've not seen a Chinatown |
| |
Sat, Feb 24, 07 10:00 AM |
AndrewS |
Male |
Unspecified |
International Tourist(s) |
Individual |
| |
This was a good tour, well led. The leader brought in much of her own experience growing up and living in San Francisco's Chinatown.
The highlights for me were the paper-products shop, the visit to the fortune cookie factory and the visit to the temple - both places I wouldn't have entered if on my own, and certainly I wouldn't have understood or appreciated anything about the temple without the tour leader's explanations.
In general, however, I felt that if you are relatively familiar with another Chinatown, there was a lot on this tour that felt a little superficial. The tour took in a number of food shops, but I thought maybe a bit more time could have spent explaining some of the more unfamiliar foodstuffs. By contrast, the tour ended in a modern shop selling teas, and the lecture on teas by the shop owner seemed to go on for ages - certainly out of proportion to the rest of the tour. I thought this was a shame as it unbalanced the tour, and we had signed up for a walking tour of Chinatown, not a lecture on tea.
My only other comment would be that it might be nice to have a map of Chinatown - we criss-crossed the area and streets to such an extent that it was actually quite disorientating and by the end of the trip, I'd lost track of which way north was!
Even if you go to Chinatowns regularly and eat in Chinese restaurants regularly, you will get information on this tour that you didn't know and will see - and more importantly have explained - some interesting things. |
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Great cultural experience |
| |
Sat, Feb 24, 07 10:00 AM |
kgatch |
Female |
50-59 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Group of Friends |
| |
We so enjoyed the personal background provided by our guide, since she grew up in the neighborhood and has unique, personal experience with the places we toured. I highly recommend this tour to all ages. |
|
Enojyed it! |
| |
Fri, Feb 23, 07 10:00 AM |
mathisjf |
Male |
20-29 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Couple on a Date |
| |
Got to see many neat places i other wise would not have ever seen. I didn't know people still used abacuses |
