Cantonese cuisine and modern atmosphere at this busy Chinatown restaurant
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1020
Reviewed: 1/11/2007
Rating: 8.5
My photo gallery
I knew R&G had a swanky bar, served Cantonese style dishes, and famous for their salt/pepper crab. The decorations upstairs are modern and definitely newer than the accommodations in the basement. We have absolutely NO PULL when it comes to getting good tables and it was apparent when they sat us at the worst possible table in the restaurant. It was in the side room next to the hallway to the bathroom. Real great.
They dropped off menus and tea for the 5 of us. Someone asked if I would order for the group and took it upon myself to carefully pick the dishes. I had to order for vegetarian, unknown eater, no weird meat eater, and a anything goes type of person. For the next 10 minutes, people were repeatedly asking me, are we ready? are we ready? Oh boy, I finally put the menu down and chose;
vegetarian egg rolls (image 6) - I never order egg rolls but it was a special request and glad we ordered them. Some of the better egg rolls I've had. Very crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.
bok choy and garlic sauce (image 7) - I took a peak at Terry's review and surprised he found it average. I order boy choy at least every other chinese restaurant visit. Chinese gravy wasn't too salty or too watery but the right consistency with an excellent garlic taste. The bok choy was soft to medium and normally prefer it more firm. R & G even captured the unique flavor of a well seasoned wok. Repeat order for sure.
deep fried tofu (image 8) - vegetarian dish, it's just what it sounds like. garlic? chinese? gravy on top with chopped green onions. I think of this dish as more of an appetizer.
crispy chicken (image 9) - I think the way they cook today's chicken is marinade, steam it, then finish it off with deep fry. Chicken was juicy and everyone at the table seemed to enjoy it.
salt and pepper scallops (image 10) - I wanted to get the signature salt and pepper crab but figured it's too messy and wasn't sure how the others would take eating with their hands. Anyways, salt and pepper scallops was an excellent alternative. Salty and addicting, not too much batter and a juicy scallops sits inside a crunchy shell. Should have gotten 2 orders of this.
house combo crispy noodles (image 11) - I would comment more on this dish but by the time it got back to me, most of the toppings were gone. Portion size could have been larger. I order this dish often at other restaurants and from what I tried today, it was enjoyable and ranks with my favorites.
Looking back at my order, I should have mixed in a clay pot and baked dish for a larger variety. It's a good thing R & G Lounge did a wonderful job on all the dishes or I'd be hearing the complaints thru lunch. Plating was well thought out. Bok Choy dish had the veggies facing the same direction with no blemishes, crispy noodles had carefully positioned greens for better contrast. It's little details like this that edge out the other competitors. Prices are more expensive than the norm with each of us shelling out $17. Parking really sucks but the food is good. You know it's good when no one is talking at the table because everyone is busy stuffing their faces.
It is SO difficult to find parking around here. We knew exactly where R&G Lounge was, so we started hunting for parking early and had no luck finding a place where we could park without feeding the meter every 30 or 60 minutes. We walk up to the restaurant and see a sign out front advertising parking. I am not sure if this means I still have to find the mile long line going into the parking garage under the park or if they have their own structure. Anyway, something to look into.
We walk in and are immediately led underground to our table. Kinda cool descending under the street to go eat. Inside its standard chinese restaurant interior. Nothing out of the ordinary. We look over the menu, but turn everything over to Jason as he had heard of some good things to order and - after a few hours at Macworld we were just hungry for anything at this point.
There were 5 of us, and Jason ordered what you see in the pictures above (veggie eggrolls, bok choy, fried tofu, crispy chicken, salt and pepper scallops, and the combination crispy noodles)
I really enjoyed the veggie eggrolls (which were brought out about 5 minutes before the rest as an appetizer). The sweet sauce was tasty, but the rolls themselves were bursting with flavor. They had almost a burnt outer shell (which I like) and were moist and still retained all inner flavor beautifully. I would order these again.
Bok Choy was your average run of the mill stuff. There was plenty in the crispy noodle dish so wasn't really necessary to order a separate dish of this.
The fried tofu was supposed to be a specialty. It tasted good, for sure - could it be that it was covered with shrimp? lol If you are a tofu fan, you will enjoy it. If not, it might not be worth it.
I did not sample the crispy chicken.
The salt and pepper scallops. OMG. I could have ordered a separate dish of this just for myself. And I would have eaten them all and still pondered another dish of it. In my opinion this is the thing to order here. If you like scallops (who doesn't?) you will be ultra pleased. This dish alone rates in the 9 or 9.5 territory. The dish was more salty than spicy, but with the scallops were truly irresistable.
Crispy fried noodles were by the numbers. Nothing to set it apart, but for me its such a great dish that I rate it highly anyway.
I think I would have ordered some fried rice as opposed to the standard rice we had today, but otherwise, i found it to be a truly satisfying meal. Service was prompt and efficient. I liked the little touches they provided like having multiple waiters bring out all of our non-appetizer dishes out simultaneously. No waiting 2 or 3 minutes between dishes arriving. You have an empty table, and then all of a sudden - BAM. You are feasting your eyes on a full cornucopia of goodness. This shows high professionalism and attention to the little things. I am looking forward to my next visit.
