02/22/09

Exceptional Experience

by TriGuy09

Hosted a dinner for 26 people last Thursday. Staff was very helpful leading up to event. Chose the Signature menu and various wines. Staff/wine was ready when guests arrived. Service was prompt, attentive, but not intrusive. Food is outstanding. Some of the finest presentation ever. Perfectly prepared and delivered at right temperature and preparation. Price is reasonable for the amount of food provided and quality. Not small plate type experience, but you won't feel like you just ate a 64 oz porterhouse either. Never felt rushed throughout the evening and felt like we were the most important guests in the restaurant. Second time hosting groups but this was largest. Will always return for the experience. Ambience is first class as well!

01/18/09

Fine Chinese Food

by delicious18

We went to Tommy Toy's for dinner last night. We all picked the food from the Dine About Town Menu. It's only $35 for 4 courses, but the dessert was not included in this menu. You have to pick it from the regular dessert menu and pay extra for it. However, It's worth trying their dessert selections. We liked the triple chocolate mousse cake and the signature dessert. The ambiance was nice too, actually inside was not as dark as I thought. We'll definately return to this restaurant in the next DAT event because their services and DAT menu were great.

• Pros: ambiance, services and dessert
• Cons: can be pricey

01/01/08

Elegant Chinese dining

by jqsjqs

My wife and I (44 and 35) went here for New Year's Eve 2007 and it was very nice. I've lived in the city for 15 years and hadn't been here yet. My wife is from Shanghai and was in the mood for Chinese. The only other Chinese restaurants we could find were the ones that basically throw your plates on the table and walk away. Tommy Toy's is old-school culture and presentation in the sense that it is elegant and the waitstaff are well trained. A very small thing that can indicate the professionalism of a restaurant is what they do with your silverware after each course. Do they replace it or do they take it off your plate put it back on your table for you (presumably assuming you mistakenly left it on your plate). At Tommy Toy's they never made a mistake and the owner walked around thanking everyone for coming.

It's an elegant dining experience but expect old-school charm. The food is a B+ rather than the "A" the prices would otherwise indicate.

12/26/07

Mediocre food, *awful* service

by yucg

This is the first time I have ever left a restaurant without leaving ANY tip.

Xmas night, my 92 yo chinese grandmother, my african-american boyfriend, and i went to dinner there. We waited 15 mins w/o a thing on the table, and finally asked for menus. Another 15 minutes, and the waiter asks us, "Have you decided?" While I am in the middle of ordering, he walks away and talks to another waiter. My BF and I ordered the "signature" dinner and my GM had the prix fixe. We wait another 35 mins for first course. The pacing was all wrong -- at one pt, my BF and I are eating the lobster course, my GM is supposed to have sea bass, but they forgot her dish (we had to ask for it several times), and finally just brought it out together with her next course. In addition to that, we wanted to order wine. My BF tried several times to flag someone down for the wine list; finally I stood up and waved my arms. On the wine list, they only have bottles listed, not wines by the glass. We asked a couple of waiters, and were told that they do not do glasses. Then about 2 hrs into the meal, we heard a waiter describing wines by the glass to another table! We asked him, he told us about the wines by the glass, but I was so angry by then that we just stuck to water. Not only that, but during the entire meal, the waiters would re-fill my glass and my GM's, but not my boyfriend's! We had to ask several times to have his water refilled. This kind of service was more akin to an off-night at applebee's, not a special holiday night at a top tier restaurant.

Also, the food was not worth the $$. The seafood bisque was blah (although the presentation is cool), the peking duck was standard, the lobster was good but the noodles and accompanying veggies were standard chinese fare and what the heck, when is lobster NOT good. The squab imperial was tasty, but there is so much good, reasonably priced chinese food to be had in the city and burbs, it doesn't make sense to eat here.

• Pros: Squab Imperial, Tea smoked Black Cod
• Cons: Service was awful, restaurant is too dark, did I mention that service was awful?

04/17/07

Trust the wait staff and sit back and relax. You'll have a great adventure.

by sbourne

It's been a while since I've been to Toy's and I have to say it was superb tonight. The service was better than A+. The food was perfect. We dined on the wait staff's suggestion of the sampler menu. Everything was perfect. The decor is really nice, the staff amazing and the food delicious.

While it's expensive, it's very well worth it and I plan to make Tommy Toy's a regular destination.

Here's a tip. Enter from Geary on the alley after Clay and pull over for valet parking - only $8 and well worth it.

• Pros: Best wait staff in the city - wonderful feel - great food
• Cons: High price but worth every penny to me

07/03/06

Great, but I'll only eat there once

by cutiekatie

The food at Tommy Toy's is to DIE for. I went with my family for a celebratory dinner, and it was a perfect evening of exquisite cuisine in an elegant dining setting. The fixed menu is the best- offering course after course of the finest in Chinese-French fusion. Of course, I'm glad I went with my family so my father paid for the meal (I can't imagine paying for it myself). I'll only go once because it's so very expensive, but once was enough to create a lasting memory of one of the best meals I've ever had.

• Pros: Excellent food, decor, service
• Cons: Expensive

06/21/06

Exquisitely prepared Chinese fare meets French presentation in an opulent setting.

by Contributor

The Scene
In the elegant dining room, businessmen, older residents and tourists stare wide eyed at elaborately embroidered tapestries, carved wooden archways, regal stone Buddhas and polished brass chandeliers. Tables covered in crisp champagne-hued linens are topped with gleaming silver settings and vases bursting with fresh blooms. Tuxedo-clad servers are attentive without being overbearing, making sure nary a crumb or empty water glass goes unattended.

The Food
Classics like crispy Peking duck on lotus buns are side by side with fusion-friendly picks such as pan-fried foie gras with sliced pear. The signature, seven-course prix-fixe starts with silky seafood bisque served in a flaky pastry shell and minced squab served with a piquant sauce, and is crowned by a whole Maine lobster braised with mushrooms and chives in a peppercorn sauce. Black cod smoked with camphorwood and tea leaves offers a subtle, complicated play of flavors, but dessert--peach mousse with strawberry compote--is an overly sweet letdown.

06/13/06

Fancy Presentation and Service for Average Food

by yee_diddy

This place is unique - it takes tried and true Chinese classics and puts a fancy presentation spin on them. But quite honestly, I have a problem with paying $10 bucks for 3 pieces for the Spare Ribs appetitizer when I know that I can go up the block and pick up 3 lbs of the same spare ribs for $10 bucks. The service and presentation is good, but not worth that kind of money. Yes, the food was freshly prepared and tasty, but really nothing special. I'm glad that this was a company paid dinner, otherwise I would have been really upset to have paid for this overpriced meal.

• Pros: Excellent service and ambiance
• Cons: overpriced and overrated

05/18/06

SIGNATURE DINNER IS WORTH IT!!

by avpanda

Forget about the other entrees, order the signature menu--it will take you to a unique, journey of cuisine chinoise! Each dish is presented in style that is very "French." The maine Lobster and Peking Duck are the highlights of the signature dinner. Every course of the dinner is well-prepared, delicious, and unforgettable. Chinese food presented at its best!

01/21/06

Definitely check out this restaurant

by eleanor_lynne

I went there tonight to help celebrate a friend's birthday (1/20/06) - large group.

We also took advantage of dine about town. This was the BEST dine about town experience I have had and I have been to many other restaurants. The food, service and ambience were all outstanding.

This was my first time at this restaurant after living in S.F. for 20 years.

It was a perfect evening in all respects.

• Pros: food, service, ambience
• Cons: parking