Eat First Restaurant

Man, this place is tough to review. their service is diffently not the best and their dim sum is good and at the right price, but one time, during dinner, they served me raw chicken. My recommend is to only come here for dimsum

I used to really like this place for dinner. Too bad they closed down. Well, technically switched owners. I believe some of the staff remained the same, including one of the main chefs inside. Now it’s called Sea Garden and it’s green outside instead of yellow! Don’t be mistaken. I will miss you Eat First.

I went to Eat First on Ocean over the weekend, which I have enjoyed for lunch before. Apparently on Sunday morning’s it’s a big dim sum day. Rather than come around with carts, they give you a menu and make ‘em to order. But I thought it was
pretty decent, and a lot cheaper than other places. They did include their chicken wings on the dim sum menu, which is my favorite thing there. Their gai lan and various shrimp-​based dim sum were good too. Then there was this «Fried bread wrapped in noodles» thing that I’ve never had before and probably clogged my arteries.
Typical Chinese neighborhood place… good, cheap, all Chinese patrons, and fundamentally pretty filthy. 80 on the city scorecard.

Ugh! All the food tasted the same…
$ 4.50 for a few pieces of duck tongue (refer to pix). Come’on seriously? Even the carrots had more flavor than the duck tongue itself. Shitting me.
Rumor says this chef was from Koi Palace and quit to become a chef here… Psssh. Prepping chef doesn’t count.
I will never downgrade my taste buds to this. Some items are cheap, but here’s the catch: this place is slow and the food is bland!
I respect mom&pop shops but at least try to compete with the market.

A pretty good place for dinner along Ocean. There are plenty of seats, good selection of food, and the service is pretty good.
Some areas they can improve include getting new chairs. The cushions on their chairs feel like they’re either over a decade old or they’ve been stacked on each other resulting in flattened cushions (which really can’t be the reason because those chairs can’t stack). It can get pretty drafty in there so be sure to get a table away from the front door. They could really use a remodel of their décor.
One dish that stands out to me is their strawberry pork chops. Try them.

This place has an excellent yum cha menu! Everything is reasonably priced and the items are really high quality. Everything tastes fresh and flavorful.
The lunch and dinner menu is terrible however. I’ve been here a few times and ordered mongolian beef and its more like mongolian veggies. It was 90% bell peppers and onions, 5% sauce and 5% meat. I had like one piece of beef and it was dry. Mongolian beef is supposed to be saucy and delicious. I’ve had other items too and I wasn’t impressed.
The lady working the front is pretty nice also and the staff is quick with orders. Overall, good for breakfast yum cha but terrible for entrees.

I came here with three friends on a Sunday morning. Dim sum is typically cheap, but this place was cheaper than cheap. Considering the price, I wasn’t expecting much, but after trying it, I’d eat here again.
Things that were good:
–fried taro (surprisingly not overly oily as it can be at other places)
–xiao long bao (not dried out!)
–rice porridge (super MSG-​y though)

I walked into this restaurant bc I was attracted that they served Dim Sum. Yes! Just what I wanted a quick, tasty lunch. I was going to order to go, but my classmates wanted to dine in.
Ambiance and décor is boring.
Dim Sum was super gross. Never have I tasted dim sum so awful.
Okay, I’ve tried an AFFORDABLE sit down place for dim sum, even in San Francisco’s Chinatown, but this place didn’t even have exceptional food. Totally gross. I ordered a simple Shark/​Fin Hallow, which I always order bc I’m a fan of seafood. WOW, super MSG’d out. Just gross.
I love eggplant. Ordered the eggplant dim sum, which I am also familiar with. TOO OILY. Oil, oil, everywhere!
What almost had me was the deep fried taro, but damn that was soaking with oil too. I had almost approved until I ate the rest then my lips were covered with makeshift lipgloss.
Sorry guys but I pass. The MSG is too obvious, and it ain’t workin!

This is probably one of the cheapest sit-​down dim sum places in the city. The only reason I would come here is if I want to have dim sum and I want to pay as little as possible for it. Although it’s not as good as more expensive dim sum restaurants, the food is actually decent. If you factor in the cost, then it’s a steal. We ordered 18 dim sum dishes, and the total was only $ 41 + tax and tip. Instead of moving carts, they give you a piece of paper that you need to fill out and you put numbers next to the items that you want. They take the original and you are left with the carbon copy. I recommend staples like the har gow, turnip cake, shrimp rice rolls, and chicken feet. Those tend to be fresh since everyone orders them. I would pass on the bbq pork rice rolls and the bbq pork steam buns.
They don’t get more than 3 stars because the service here is terrible. We sat upstairs and basically didn’t see anyone most of the meal. As a result, it was very difficult to get a refill of water. Also, rather than telling us that they ran out of a dish, they just crossed it off our paper as well as our carbon copy. Even worse, they gave us a dish that we didn’t order, and they had the audacity to add a mark for that dish onto our CARBON COPY in PEN! We were able to get them to take the dish back when I complained that I didn’t mark that item and that it looked like someone just wrote on our carbon copy. But still, even having to ask them is ridiculous.

this place is so convenient, right on the smack of ocean ave.
— but, food is not so fresh.
— place is prettttttty dirty.
— dim sum is def. not fresh
— i guess it was cheap for 4 people for only $ 25, but i had no appetite because the food wasn’t fresh. really disappointing.

I think the only reason we get good eats here is because my grandparents are frequenters here and know the managers (it helps that they’re Chinese too ;)
The dimsum has changed since I last came here, the siao mai and see jut pai gwut were not as good as I remember.
Chicken feet were tender though and the fried taro root and taro cake were the best I’ve had in a really long time. I would come here just for those. The hargow was decent, same for chinese broccoli. Shrimp chowfun was okay too.
We also had some regular dishes, steamed egg– which hubby loved, but tasted too close to balut for my comfort. Pork feet and lotus, which had good sauce and the ngownam wonton, I remember that dish being better/​different.
Service/​atmosphere/​prices are pretty much standard with Chinese places throughout SF. Parking is metered on the street. I would really love to try other dishes, but its pretty much strictly yum cha whenver we come here.

Have you ever been to a restaurant where you havent read the reviews on Unilocal first? I know its hard … but remember when Unilocal didnt exist and you just had to TRY NEW THINGS AND TAKE A RISK? This is one of those times.
I agree with the Unilocalers, I would have never gone here if it weren’t for my neighbors insisting that it is great. Of course all of the reviews are accurate in saying that the place is kinda dingy and yes the service is poor if your not Chinese. You practically have to ask for everything including the water. It is also possible that the Chinese Food isn’t all that great but this is an excellent dim sum house with great prices.
I recommend taking a friend who knows what to order or doing some research first because I have had some of the most incredible dim sum here that I never even know existed. The fried shrimp balls are great and super crispy and the pork shumai is on point. I also like the rice pouch that has the sweet chinese sausage in the center and is wrapped up in a leaf. Of course I have no idea what these things are called in Chinese but they are super addicting! The MSG probably helps to enhance the flavor but I am not an MSG hater. MSG affects food the same way smoking a joint before eating does.
I think you should give this place a chance if your in the neighborhood. Compared to the other places on Ocean that boast the same fresh dim sum this place actually has big tables that are good for parties, sunny windows, and excellent prices.
The best tip I can give you is to be aggressive about your ordering and to ignore the «what are you doing here whitey?» stares.

I’ve been here quite a few times already. I live around the area. 10 minutes away by car. It is an okay place for cheap food. It isn’t the best food but it’s good for the price you pay. Service here isn’t the best. It’s hard to get their attention sometimes. It also isn’t that clean either. But given the location, I wouldn’t have that high of expectation of it being clean. I personally wouldn’t come here as a first choice unless I am really really craving Chinese food and don’t want to drive that far. If this place were to have better service and took care of the place better. There would be more customer coming here.

This is my parent’s new discovery for cheap Chinese food. We used to frequent Imperial Garden but since it has been lackluster and overpriced (although we have been told they have changed chefs) we have been trying our luck at Eat First.
Our family friend told us about this place this year and we have probably gone around 5 times. I cannot vouch for their dim sum but just their dinner service. I am not a fan of this place but since my parents have gotten quite chummy with the owners we have been back quite a bit. The first time I came here I wasn’t too impressed with the décor/​ambiance. It felt like a dirty hole-​in-​the wall Chinese restaurant you find in Chinatown. Although one redeeming factor is the sorta updated room to the right when you walk in. We are usually seated upstairs where the ceiling is quite low and not too much lighting. The seats are a disaster, think of a once very plush chair that has become so old and tired from all the ass it has gotten it gave out and all that is left is the wood base.
The food is sub-​par, usually a little too greasy and shiny, that would make Vin Diesel’s bald head look matte. Sometimes our family friend stops by randomly when we are there (don’t know if he is psychic). Once he just came back from oyster fishing and brought a bag of oysters to Eat First which they prepared for us to eat. You don’t find many restaurants willing to do that.
The service can be a bit spotty and something expected when you have high school students serving you because they would rather be getting it on with their high school sweetheart under the bleachers. Their attitude doesn’t help either. They seem so pissed to work here but I can’t blame them. I’d bitch and moan too.
Even though this place is not that spectacular it is be quite busy during dinner time as you will find that the clientele are regulars. Parking can be difficult around dinner time unless you don’t mind parking a few blocks away near the residential houses.
Would I come here by choice? Definitely NOT!

The food here is so, so greasy. I ordered take out and when I brought the dishes home, I really, really didn’t want to eat any of it. It’s sad when you eat mostly rice to cover up the taste of the other dishes.
And though most Chinese restaurants do use MSG, this place probably uses the most allowable by law before being registered as a science lab.

Eat first, get the runs second, feel ripped off, third. The only saving grace about this place is that they give you free food… on the utensils. Oh, wait. That’s a bad thing. The food is crap. My kung pao chicken was basically a plate of chicken with chopped celery, LOTS of peanuts and lord knows what else. The «hostess» was a cold, unfriendly, uninterested, socially immature, nasty, loud, and just plain icky.
The place is filthy, the floor is dirty, the paint is peeling away. My partner and I came to this place when it first opened, and it was dirty then, too. I gave it a second chance and I regret it. Whoever gave this place five stars has to be related to this disgusting restaurant. Quite frankly, I’m surpised this place hasn’t been closed down by the Department of Public Health – you most certainly would find a finger in your food at this place rather than at Wendy’s.

Three words: Cheap Chinese food.
The food here is fairly greasy with no tasty flavor enhancement other than MSG. I only ate a bit of the food before giving up on the meal.
It’s fairly quiet (business-​wise) in the middle of the afternoon with the owner’s kids running amok inside and the workers sitting down to a meal before the evening rush.
I’d definitely «Eat First» elsewhere before thinking of coming here.

This is an okay place to grab some cheap Chinese food. The food is not the best but it’s good enough for its price. I mean, like many Chinese places, the food is jam-​packed with MSG. Typical.
Service is definitely not the best. If you are a regular, you get served first. Food takes a while. If not, you better be patient. There are a lot of regulars at dim sum and can be fairly crowded during dinner time with families from the neighborhood who are too lazy to cook.
It’s also not the cleanest place in the world. Growing up around the restaurant business here in the U. S and in Hong Kong, I don’t mind the level of cleanliness but I’m sure it’ll get a horrible grade in cleanliness if it were open in LA.

I’ve read some of the reviews for this restaurant and indeed it might be the best Chinese restaurant on Ocean Ave, but that is really not saying much. The food here is very mediocre. I say when you go to a restaurant to eat it should at least taste as good as staying in and this place fell short. There’s also another reason that this place is called Eat First because if you went to the restroom first or peaked into the kitchen you’d «Run First.» The men’s room here made the gas station restroom in Barstow look like surgeon’s clean room.
This place is an avoid. Go to Mayflower. If you are on a budget, just go to Jack in the Box and get the Two Taco for $.99.

I am very inexperienced with SF dim sum and I suppose that’s why I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought it would, although it was still satisfying. To me, the dim sum was a little on the bland side. I like that they offered GOOD WATER here. And I also like their style of having customers mark off the quantity of what they want on a dim sum check off list. I suppose it’d be a little hard to push around carts at a two story establishment like this. But beware! Don’t get too greedy because you will realize you marked off way more food than you can really eat. We ended up canceling a few orders.
I really like the whole 2-​story feel. It reminds me of the Chinese movies where gangsters will hang out and, when they get into arguments, they’d pound the table and flip it over and then a fight ensues. Don’t worry about gangsters here though. It’s mostly Asian elders and other dim sum lovers.