PPQ Dungeness Island

Omg, this crab is so good and I really loved the food.
The only disappointments I had was the service wasn’t so great, the wait time was very dumb when there were tables available upstairs (had to wait 20 mins to find that out), and the garlic noodles tasted a bit burnt.
I thought the price special was amazing and they let me switch a few things out on their ‘special for 2′ because I do not eat what they were offering. The fried calamari was wayyy better than I expected. I thought that they were going to offer me small rinky dinky pieces of calamari but it was a nice size. I did not care for the fried banana dessert but the mango ice cream was on point.
I would so come back here again and order just the mango ice cream for dessert.

Not quite sure what all the hype is about. The last time I was here was five years ago and I had a much better impression. It was also when I first moved out to San Francisco, so perhaps my palate has since changed (for the better).
We ordered the peppercorn crab and garlic noodles — both of which were dry. R&G Lounge’s salt and pepper crab is by far superior. We also ordered canh chua ca (a.k.a. hot and sour fish soup) and shaken beef. Neither seemed like authentic Vietnamese cuisine. All in all, nothing was great and being quite a trek to Richmond, I likely won’t be returning.

The roasted crab was amazing. It’s messy but awesome!
The string green beans were amazing and perfectly cooked.
The sizzling beef was the bomb. Eat it.
Get the garlic noodles. God I’m full…

PPQ Dungeness Island is a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco who’s claim to fame are delicious Dungeness crab dishes. Family style dining recommend (if not required). Like many Asian restaurants, the food is great and the service is not. Food is king, so if you’re looking for great crab, bookmark now.
My Overall Rating — 4 Stars (Atmosphere, Food, Return)
Atmosphere — Located in Chinatown, PPQ Dungeness Island is like most Asian/​Chinese restaurants. There are two levels, plenty of large round tables (to seat 10+ people), and crowded. Family friendly too — you may even trip over a toddler or two on the way to the bathroom. It can get stuffy when crowded but just know this is how family dining is. 1 Star.
Service — Not so good in the service department. It was below average — almost impossible to flag someone down and drink refills were simply part of our imagination. The good news was they weren’t rude. They usually didn’t acknowledge us at all. I guess it’s par for the course. No Stars.
Food — I didn’t come for great service; I came for some great Dungeness crab. We had ours served two different ways: Salt & peppered (dry) and in a garlic sauce (wet). Both served over rice, I preferred the salt peppered style. It was prepared with delicious little bits of fried shallots & garlic that added so much pop. I mixed this in with my rice and later noodles and couldn’t stop eating it. We tore through the first crab so fast we ordered another. You can order other Chinese dishes but you’ll have to read someone else’s review. If you’re reading this one hopefully you’re now in the mood for some tasty crustaceans. 2 Stars.
Will I Return? — Yes. Even though the service was lacking, the food was not. We had a huge group and enjoying a family style meal is a great thing. Add a crab from PPQ and it becomes a great experience you get to share. 1 Star.
My Unilocal Rating Scale (Sum of all parts):
1 Star — Atmosphere — Is it a cool dive? Perhaps an upscale place? No matter the type, atmosphere plays a big part and I’ll give a star if I like it or thinks it has great charm.
1 Star — Service — You can have a great meal with bad service. But that’s also what can make a five-​star joint drop to four. It’s important to the dining experience that service is great and on point.
2 Stars — Food — I’ll award up to two stars for the food, since this is the main reason we dine out. Sometimes the extra star is given for value, but it’s really all about the food.
1 Star — Will I come back? — If I know for a fact I’ll return, I’ll give this a star. A place has to make an impression for me to return.
Each Category can be given up to 1 star except food (2 stars) because I consider all these categories important to the overall dining experience. I will sum them up to provide my final Unilocal score.

My girlfriends brought me here for my birthday last year and it was delicious. We were so lucky that we got seated within 30 minutes of arriving without a reservation. I heard it was definitely luck because reservations are highly recommended for groups.
My favorite was the roasted garlic crab and the garlic noodles. We were all in awe of how flavorful and delicious these dishes were. We were a group of 5 and two crabs and two garlic noodles were suffice.

Located on a quieter side of Clement St., there’s a giant blue & white sign that says «PPQ» with a crab on it, well-​lit so you can’t miss it!
PARKING: Street parking, free at 6pm. Make sure you read the signs!
RESERVATIONS: They take them! If you’re planning to come here, I would recommend calling and making a reservation. It wasn’t too packed when our party of 3 arrived on Sunday at 6:30pm. We called earlier that morning and made a reservation and we were seated right away.
FOOD: Lots of options! Of course, they are known for their crab! There are about 5 choices of how you want the crab and it all depends on what you prefer. We’ve gone to other places for crab, so we knew for 3 people: 1 crab, 1 order of house garlic noodles, and 1 vegetable dish was enough to satisfy the 3 of us.
Peppercorn Crab: Seasonal price (in Jan 2016) was $ 47. Very peppery and lots of flavor! Crab was crusted with some fried batter, garlic, salt, and pepper. We finished the crab among the 3 of us and were full!
House Garlic Noodles: What a big bowl! I always think you use some butter here, since it’s soo delicious. We had a little bit of noodles left over, so we took them home. Yum!
Sauteed Eggplant: A little on the «sweet & sour» side with some chili oil, I believe. Also yummy and goes great with the noodles and the crab.
I’ve been to Crustacean as well as R&G Lounge for their crab, this takes a #2 after Crustacean for their crab. But depending on what you’re looking for and what you prefer, the other restaurants are great options too!

Came here twice. The first time I came here we ordered WAY TOO MUCH but with all the great food how could we not order 6 entrees for 2 people.
Garlic noodles: Amazing! Not too much garlic & just enough salty & sweet
Roasted crab: Hint of coconut & garlic. Really good
Peppercorn crab: This is every salt & garlic persons dream
Crab fried rice: This was ok
Fried Calamari: Not like your average calamari rings or head, But battered nicely and cooked really good
Five spice chicken: This was ok also.
This is definitely a must go!

Garlic Roasted Crab. Drizzle that sauce over rice or the garlic noodles and its heaven, even better if you get the Peppercorn Crab too and sprinkle some of that fried garlic goodness over. You will leave sweating garlic but its so amazing you won’t even care. Even your burps are garlicky but will only remind you of how amazing the crab was and make you want more.
Also worth ordering are the imperial (egg) rolls, the aforementioned garlic noodles and green beans for some variety, but if you get nothing else, GET. THE. CRAB. I go out of my way when I am visiting the city to come here every time, you really won’t be disappointed.

PPQ is good, their crabs were really juicy and the shells were pretty soft and easy to crack. I’m more of a shrimp lover than crab, but I’d say if you really love crab, you should try this place! It’s authentic and their garlic noodles are really good!

I love the pepper corn crab yum #1
Asparagus as well and the garlic noodles peppercorn chicken and peppercorn prawns their food is the BEST!

I’ve been living in the Peninsula for too long and hardly go to the city on a weekend anymore. One of the reasons I would still drive all the way to Richmond is to go to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, PPQ Island. We were there to celebrate a friend’s Birthday and managed to reserve a private room, isolated from the main dining area and even completed with a karaōke machine! The various dishes ordered were truly delicious; service was personable and fabulous, our servers came check on us regularly. We had so much fun that night. I’d highly recommend coming here if you crave some garlic noodles, Garlic & Butter Crab (my favorite), and Peppercorn Crab, all really good stuff!

I’m not a shellfish fan so it’s a bit odd that I’m giving this place such a high rating lol. However, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that their five spice chicken and garlic noodles are worth the wait… and there usually is quite a wait so it’s best to plan ahead and make reservations.
I’ve been to PPQ a good handful of times and parking has always been an issue. I usually don’t even bother with the main street and head right into the residential areas for parking. Like most places in SF, patience is a must or you will go nuts trying to find a spot.
Back to the review of the restaurant. There are two floors and the place is like a typical asian restaurant. I’ve only ordered the five spice chicken, garlic noodles and beef steak cubes. These were enough for me to go back. unless of course I just don’t have the patience to circle around for parking that particular day.

TLDR — good crab but expensive!
Not sure how busy they normally get, but it wasn’t too busy around dinner time on Christmas Eve. My group made a reservation the night before in case anyway since we had 8 people.
Typical Chinese restaurant. Or maybe it’s Vietnamese. I couldn’t really tell. The staff all spoke Chinese, but there was both Chinese and Vietnamese on the menu. I guess the dishes on the menu leaned more towards Vietnamese though.
Either way, the restaurant is what you would expect from any typical Asian restaurant in terms of service and atmosphere. No real interaction aside from ordering and super casual.
The menu isn’t as expansive as normal Asian restaurants but everyone orders the crab anyway, with a few other dishes as supplements. My group ordered a salad, soup, 2 crabs, 3 proteins and 2 veggies, all of which were pretty small portion sizes. The total came out to be about $ 250 after tax and tip, which was kind of pricey.
–PAPAYA SALAD WITH SHRIMP ($ 9.75) — ³⁄₅
Light and refreshing but lacked the complexity in flavor I’m used to in papaya salads. Just lightly sweet and acidic, no spiciness or salt/​savoriness. The ingredients were fresh though — crunchy papaya and tender shrimp.
–ASPARAGUS & CRAB MEAT SOUP ($ 15.95) — ²⁄₅
Disappointing. The soup was mostly liquid with very little substance — barely any crab, asparagus or egg. Portion size was enough for 1 bowl each for 8 people.
–CURRY CRAB ($ 48.95) — 3.5÷5
Not bad but different from what I was expecting. The curry was on the sour/​acidic side with a slight kick.
–SPICY CRAB ($ 48.95) — ⁵⁄₅
YUM. The crab was fried and packed with flavor! Definitely very greasy, but mmm, so garlicky and flavorful. It had a good kick to it too. Don’t be afraid of the garlic! I was literally eating just the extra garlic after I had finished with the crab.
–SIZZLING BEEF ($ 15.95) — 3.5÷5
Beef was tender and not too greasy. Solid flavor — lightly sweet, nothing overpowering
–PEPPERCORN PRAWN ($ 15.95) — 2.5÷5
Fried and very greasy. Tender but flavor was whatevers. I didn’t taste the peppercorn part, just salt.
–FIVE SPICES CHICKEN ($ 13.95) — 3.5÷5
Solid. Chicken was tender and flavorful. The outside/​skin had a nice crisp to it.
–BROCCOLI WITH OYSTER SAUCE & GARLIC ($ 10.95) — ⁴⁄₅
Honestly, not super special. I mean, how great can basic veggie dishes get? BUT their broccoli was surprisingly not unnecessarily greasy like at most Asian restaurants, which was a win for me.
–BRAISED STRING BEAN ($ 11.95) — 3.5÷5
Again, nothing special. Lightly sweet but a little on the greasy side.

If you love crab, then you definitely need to check out PPQ! According to my Über driver, this restaurant is a favorite amongst locals, and now a favorite of mine as an out of towner! The dinner combo for under $ 70 wasn’t our cheapest meal in SF, but a good value for everything that was included: egg rolls, cabbage salad, garlic noodles, a whole roasted Dungeness crab and fried bananas with ice cream for dessert. It was the perfect amount of food for 2. Everything tasted great, and the service was really good. They let us come in for lunch before they actually opened (which was an error on my part for not checking the hours before arriving).

Get the crab. Get the crab. Don’t bother coming if you’re not getting delicious dungeness crab. I like it roasted in butter or fried with peppercorn.
If you’re still hungry, garlic noodles are okay and a cheap way to get full. I personally wouldn’t waste my carbs on this.
They validate 1 hours worth of parking next door but keep in mind that the wait will often be over 1 hour.

I recently completed the SF crab trifecta: R & G Lounge, Thanh Long, and now PPQ. I wanted to hit them all to see which one has the best crab in SF. PPQ is on Clement b/​t 24^th & 25^th in the Outer Richmond.
We ordered the canh ga chien rang muoi ($ 14.50÷10 peppercorn chicken wings), mi xao toi ($ 8.25 — house garlic noodles and cua xao bo ($ 48.95 — roasted crab). To drink, we had soda chanh ($ 2.75 — plum soda).
The wings were pretty good. They came out piping hot, they were fairly meaty, and they were reasonably priced. In addition, there was a ton of peppercorn and garlic: 4 Stars. Secondarily, the noodles were really good also. The portion was large for the price, there was plenty of garlic, and the noodles stayed warm throughout the meal: 4 Stars. Lastly, the crab was very good, but not as good as Thanh Long or the best, R & G Lounge. It was large, and the sauce tasted good. However, it was not as fresh as the other two: 4 Stars.
Regarding the ambiance, this is a small, but quaint place. We came for a late lunch (1:00 pm on Sat). I imagine there is a big crowd on Fri & Sat nights: 4 Stars. Likewise, the service was surprisingly friendly. We were seated quickly, and the food came out in order. The waitress even boxed our leftovers for us: 4 Stars.
I’m glad I hit all 3 places, but old skool R & G is the best IMHO. Don’t get me wrong. PPQ does a good job, and its worth a visit. But give them all a try and see what you think.

Came at 6:15pm on a Tuesday night. No wait and lots of empty tables. I’ve been here like 2.5 years ago and did the preset family menu for 4 which I remember being really enjoyable. This time I came by myself so I only ordered my favorite thing on the menu. The garlic noodles. My god they are so addicting and delicious! About $ 9 for a sizable serving. I ate it all by myself. Don’t plan on kissing anyone afterwards lollll but totally worth it!

This became my favorite go to place for family dinner style when in San Fran. They have great options on the group deal. Since there were 4 of us, we ordered the meal for 2 since it comes with 5 choices from appetizers to entrée and dessert. The last time we ordered the meal for 4 with 5 people, we weren’t able to finish our food.
My top choices for appetizers are the imperial rolls and chicken lettuce salad. It’s light and refreshing. As for the crab, I really enjoyed the peppercorn. Plenty of flavor to enjoy as you’re dissecting it. Another favorite veggie dish is the sautéed green beans. Quite addicting I must say. The fried banana and mango ice cream usually comes with the group meal for dessert but I was never a fan of it. That’s only because I’ve had better ones. Fried banana was too oily. The mango ice cream we had was orange which did not taste like mango whatsoever. It did not even taste like an orange flavor. No words.
Overall, food is good here. Just wish I can say the same for service which was never consistent. I highly recommend they improve on that but I’m not crossing fingers and toes on it.

We came pretty late around 8:30 ish and still had to wait a bit for a table, however there were 6 of us. It’s Vietnamese based it seems, but I could hear a lot of the workers speaking Chinese.
It’s pretty packed for a Saturday night this late. There’s also a 2^nd floor that we didn’t go to.
Décor: Nothing too fancy. Pretty clean cut for an Asian restaurant. Casual attire is fine.
Food:
1. Calamari — good and crunchy. Nice crispy breading on there. They used flat pieces and not the round pieces like what you’re used to.
2. Asparagus — it was cooked and seasoned well
3. Roasted crab — it was good and the sauce was pretty insane
4. Peppercorn crab — this was my favorite! It was so flavorful.
5. Garlic Noodles — these were pretty good too, especially because I’m such a big fan of garlic
Favorite combinations: I took the garlic noodles and poured some of the sauce from the roasted crab — this was yummy!
The my next trick was to order a bowl of rice and then mix in some of the roasted crab sauce and even some of the peppercorn flakes and that was AMAZING! (I think that was my most favorite part of the meal.)

After our lunch at a sushi place a few blocks away from PPQ this past Sunday, we realized that we were still VERY hungry. That raw fish diet just wasn’t working. Luckily PPQ was a quick walk away. We dashed over there and ordered ourselves some garlic noodles to carb it up! The noodles were just what we needed — buttery stinky delightfulness!
We also ordered the the famous peppercorn crab, which was delicious, but not necessarily $ 50 (seasonal prices) delicious. The best part was the crumbly crunchy batter that was glued to the crab shell, not the crab meat itself. We all ended up sucking on the shell to get to the batter and scraping whatever crumbly goodness that was left on the plate into our bowls of garlic noodle. Now if that batter was on some fried chicken or shrimp… MmmmMMmmmmm…NOM. One can only dream. Perhaps I can try requesting it as a special dish next time around. Will post an update then.

Came here with a good friend and ordered the $ 60 combo that comes with crab, garlic noodle, appetizers and dessert. Prices here are pretty steep for crab; and from what I have heard, it does not get much cheaper even during crab season.
The crab was good but nothing extraordinary from other places that serve crab (we had the roasted crab). I would definitely like to try the peppercorn crab as few people on Unilocal have vouched for it.
I thought the garlic noodle was pretty good, although wouldn’t mind a stronger garlic taste!

So here’s the breakdown:
The GOOD:
Amazing roast crab — get the roasted crab — it’s better than the spicy (deep fried) version in my opinion — the garlic butter sauce is out of this world. Deep frying the crab just takes away from the flavor and makes it way too oily.
The OK:
— Garlic noodles — in my opinion just ok — I’ve had better versions of this dish
— Fresh rolls shrimp — roll was good and wrapper was just the right amount of chewy — but when it lists 6 rolls and it turns out to be 3 rolls cut in half — it’s a bit misleading
— $$ — price is a bit steep — crabs were $ 49 market price each last weekend 8÷1÷15
— Service is ok — borderline bad but for the volume of customers I understand — I really feel bad for the staff here — all of them are frazzled and overworked — they definitely need more staff to help with the volume of customers
The BAD:
— The wait — luckily we made reservations — which apparently is only available to large groups — even then our 8pm reservation was pushed out and we weren’t seated until 8:45
— Chinese broccoli — small portion and it was bitter and lacked flavor — I would skip this for the regular broccoli next time
— Parking — street only and it’s kinda tough to find parking in the area — good luck

Absolutely disgusted by the manager here. Anything positive I’ve said about this place and to others, I’ll gladly retract any of those kind words. While this restaurant won’t suffer from our decision never to dine here again, the restaurant won’t get our money going forward.
I’m going to tell you about our most recent experience here and I’m calling out the skinny bald manager with the glasses with the horrible attitude and disgusting, uncivilized, and unprofessional way he treated his waitstaff when we had dinner there this Friday. First we called this place about half an hour before we were arriving as we decided spur of the moment to eat at our (former) favorite seafood restaurant in SF. A lady answered the phone and I asked if we could be put on the wait list. She said no, we don’t have a wait list. Now I know that’s a bunch of bs so I said I’ve been there before and I know you have one. She said quite bluntly that It’s first come, first serve.
So as we were taking an Über can to the restaurant, we decided to try our luck and see if we could get sat quickly. When we arrived, there was a huge party downstairs but three open tables. Great! We thought. But the guy just stood there, stone faced. My fiancé and I just looked at each other going, What’s going on? So then this other couple comes in and they give their name. So the manager confirms and has them sat. What??? So they do have a wait list so I asked the manager why the lady that I called thirty minutes ago said they don’t have a wait list. Here’s how the conversation went:
— mgr: you called too last minute.
— me: ok how many minutes should I call ahead. What’s the cut off?
— him: how many in your party did you say? (Avoiding to answer the question)
— me: it’s my fiancé and I
— mgr: that’s why. You’re only a party of two.
— me: so how large of a group do you need to have a reservation?
Then the manager after keeping us standing there for a good ten minutes decides maybe his ham handed attempt to bullshit us wasn’t going anywhere and then sat us.
So we sat next to this table of French tourists who were very pleasant and enjoying the food. While we were dining I noticed something I’ve made comment in our previous reviews: there’s an unfriendly feeling from the waitstaff. Now I understand why. It’s really not them.
While we were eating, the manager took it upon himself to berate a newer, very young bus boy in front of my fiancé and I as well as the other customers. If you’re reading this bald manager: everyone was watching you making an ass out of yourself. You can train without berating your staff.
After the first berating, the young bus boy was so damn despondent that he wasn’t doing his job well. I think he was feeling ashamed by the experience, though he had nothing to feel ashamed about. The rest of us diners were all looking at each other with incredulous eyes. The part that made me upset was after the berating, he looked at me and my fiancé and gave this weak smile as if he was doing a good thing and was embarrassed by his staff not doing his job well. Jerk.
After we got our food, I noticed that the mood of the downstairs staff got worse. Stone faced, a little angry. Perhaps they’ve experienced that treatment too.
The worst was at the point where we were just finishing dinner. As we were sitting near the kitchen exit, the manager appeared to be waiting for the young man and when he got into that back area, the manager let him have it. He was screaming at him about table 45, yada, yada, etc. the thing was, the restaurant wasn’t even busy. Just being a jerk. We decided then and there to leave before I lost my temper and say a few choice words to the manager.
I used to be a waiter. I know it’s high pressure and nerves can let out emotions. But this was way and above teaching someone. This seemed more than that and I believe this is not specific to just that young man. Such a shame for a successful restaurant with good food.

Yum yum yum!!! If you want crab and garlic noodles… You know where to go! It’s awesome that PPQ has set menus for parties of 2, 4, 6, and 10 so it’s easier on their customers that are indecisive or ones that have never been here before! I’ve been here numerous times and have almost always gotten the set menu! The set menus have the best and most popular items too so it’s usually the way to go.
I’ve tried a lot of stuff here so I guess i’ll just list the most memorable–
Peppercorn crab: OF COURSE this is the most memorable item here!!! The crabs are always a big, decent size and have juicy, sweet meat! But the best part has got to be the fried batter on the outside of the crab… Mmm. Also the fried garlic, peppercorn, and green onion topping is delicious! I always spoon it onto my garlic noodles and it adds more crunch and flavor to it!
Roasted crab: This is also a favorite of everyone cause it comes coated with some kind of garlic butter sauce. Mm! The only reason I like peppercorn better than roasted garlic is because with roasted garlic, my hands get dirtier. LOL! The sauce is garlicky buttery deliciousness, although kind of thin, and the crab tastes even better when you dip it in.
House garlic noodles: Even MORE garlic and butter!!! If you get peppercorn crab or roasted crab with this, definitely spoon the garlic and peppercorn topping on it! ALso add the sauce from the roasted crab and its bomb! The noodles are always soft and some are slightly charred from frying, which I love.
Smoky pork: I actually just tried this yesterday and was very impressed! It came out on a sizzling platter with a fried onion topping and was really tasty! Pork was sliced thinly and made into bite size pieces. It was crispy from the sizzling platter and had a sweeter flavor to it!
Steamed shitake seabass: This is a classic! Seabass was steamed to the perfect flaky texture. Doesn’t have the best appearance, but was a winner in my eyes!
Fried bananas with ice cream: YESS haha one of the best parts of the meal! I usually hate cooked fruit (like grilled pineapples) but these fried bananas are something else! Light and crunchy batter, and it tastes great with the mango and coconut ice cream! I also like how instead of just giving banana halves, they cut the bananas first into smaller pieces so you don’t have to cut it yourself haha.
Honorable mentions: papaya salad with shrimp, cabbage salad with chicken, imperial rolls, five spice chicken, string beans, and calamari! These are not must-​order items, but are all good!
Service is like any other Asian restaurant, not the friendliest but they get the job done. They always give you bibs for the crab so you won’t get your clothes toooo dirty! They have a downstairs for parties with less people and an upstairs with tables that fit 10! So it’s a great place for special occasions. Oh and you always come out smelling like garlic… always!

Ein fantastisches Restaurant — DER Geheimtipp in San Francisco, wenn’s um Krabbe (Crab) geht. Hier bekommt man die wahrscheinlich beste Garlic Crab der Stadt, und das in einem ziemlich unauffälligen chinesischen Restaurant. Auch die Beilagen sind alle Top. Service ist manchmal etwas ruppig, aber die Portionen und die Qualität der Gerichte entschädigt einen!