Yet Wah – Chinese Restaurant Review

Upscale Chinese Food at Affordable Prices!

Yet Wah
2140 Clement St. (at 23rd Ave.) 387-8040
Open 7 days 10am-10pm.

Yet Wah on Clement is a large high-ceilinged place with a gardenlike setting and luxurious atmosphere.

There are hundreds of Chinese restaurants in the City. Most are family-owned and operated, and exist marginally. The clientele of these restaurants are often Chinese and Vietnamese residents. Prices are very low. Many serve complete lunches, with soup, main course, and tea for under $5. Others have many Caucasian diners who come mainly for the good food and low prices.

There are also a few dozen upscale Chinese restaurants, with prices that match the top French restaurants, with entrees up to $20, and more. They employ the top Chinese cooks and serve very good food, since the Chinese are among the best cooks in the world, rivaling the French and Italians, e.g., at The Flower Lounge, Tommy Toy’s, or The Mandarin.

Yet Wah’s food compares favorably with these top restaurants, but prices are lower, somewhere between the very high-priced and the family-run low-priced ones. For example, Yet Wah is among the few Chinese restaurants in the City that offer abalone and goose web dishes, which only highly-trained Chinese cooks can prepare. The price range of these dishes at Yet Wah are $22-25.

Yet Wah’s dishes are up to $4 higher than in the family-run places. But, aside from being much higher in quality, the Yet Wah portions are large, and that can make a meal there affordable.

For example, a group of four persons can eat well for under $10 per person, including tax and tip, by ordering one soup and three main dishes which average $8 each, and two bowls of rice. There is no charge for bottomless tea. With tax and tip, that would come to under $40, or less than $10 person. If you choose a noodle or rice dish as one of the three dishes, or an appetizer, the total could be closer to $35.

Family dinners. There are also family dinners for $12.50 and $14.50 per person which would put a party of 2-4 in the banquet category. For example, the $12.50 Great Wall Dinner consists of a soup, a noodle dish, a beef dish, a chicken dish, and a prawn dish — all large portions. Also, of course, rice and tea.

The $14.50 per person family dinner is even more elaborate. Also, one person can order a Special Dinner with soup, Mongolian beef, sweet and sour pork, steamed rice, tea, and cookies for $9.50. A great deal.

Appetizers (all large portions) include BBQ assortment platter (a good starter for four persons) $7.75, BBQ spareribs (1/2 pound) $6.75, BBQ quail $3.50, deep-fried oysters $8.50, fried shrimp rolls (8) $7.75, fried chicken livers $5.

Soups (14 kinds, a bowl serves up to 5 persons as starter) include hot and sour soup (recommended, one of the best in the City) $6, Westlake beef soup $7, combination seafood $9.

Beef dishes (12 kinds) include Mongolian or Mandarin beef $8.75, beef with broccoli or snow peas $8.75, short ribs in black-bean pepper sauce $9.50.

Pork dishes (11 kinds) include musee pork (with pancakes) $8.25, ginger garlic pork $7.75, sweet and sour pork $7.75, Mandarin spareribs $7.75, pork loin with lemon grass $7.75.

Chicken and duck dishes (21 chicken, 7 duck varieties) include Hunan chicken (hot) $8.50, pineapple chicken (sweet and sour) $8.25, curry chicken $8.25, dried or roasted half chicken $8.50, almond pressed duck (boneless) $8.75, spiced duck $10.25, 1/2 tea-smoked duck $12, Peking duck, whole $22., half $12.

Fish and prawns (27 varieties, including seasonal), include sweet and sour fish $8.50, filet of cod with snow peas $8.50, filet of sole with greens $8.50, prawns in Hunan sauce (hot) $9.75, sizzling rice prawns $9.75, ginger fried prawns $9.75.

Lamb dishes include Mongolian lamb $9.25, ginger garlic lamb $9.25.

Vegetables, chow mein, rice. Finally, there are many vegetable dishes, tofu, chow mein, and rice dishes to choose from. All together, a colossal menu of haute cuisine Chinese dishes.

Dim Sum. An entire menu of dim sum dishes which are very popular with Chinese diners at lunch. Plates are $2.20 for small, $2.80 medium, $3.80 large, Specials $5. Tea is $1 per person.

Beverages – house wine, red or white, $4 glass, half-liter $7, liter $12, and well-known bottled wines at $16-25, domestic beer $3, imported beer $3.50.

Summation: Only the most experienced Chinese cooks can cope with a menu of this size and complexity, e.g., abalone dishes. Prices are higher at Yet Wah than at the many family-run restaurants, but the quality is higher, and the portions larger.

click images to enlarge