R & G Lounge in San Francisco

R & G Lounge
631 Kearny St.
San Francisco, CA

http://www.rnglounge.com/

We trekked out to Chinatown for the famous R & G Lounge (we asked various sources and they all recommended this place. Of course we asked Chinese ppl cuz it’s Chinatown. The rule of follow the asians. If you’re at an Asian restaurant and you don’t see any Asians in there, it sucks). Parking was expected to be chaotic in San Francisco Chinatown, but I think the huge incline of hilly streets made it even more terrifying driving up and down looking for street parking. We ended up just going with a parking lot which got free 2 hours validation from the restaurant. The salt and pepper crab surprisingly lived up to its hype, all of us were sucking on the crab, trying to get to the delicious batter (not the usual heavy American batter, a very light coating of a very flavorful spice). Hard to believe one huge crab was $38 but we had all decided to see if it was entitled to its reputation. It was. The meat was super fresh and super messy eating but totally worth it. After plenty of hand wipes, we moved on to the shrimp and beef. The shrimp was cooked to a perfect texture but the batter and sauce was a bit bland. The portion could’ve been bigger. The walnuts though were delectable crispy treats. The beef was packed with flavor and were very tender, delivered in bite size. Seafood fried rice wasn’t extraordinary, just your usual with imitation crab meat and shrimp (I just buried mine in hot sauce). A delicious, once-in-a-lifetime meal!