French Concession

Classic bait and switch, the owner sold a bunch of vouchers gift cards to the restaurant and then shut it down with out refunding anyone, or returning calls.

Honestly, the dim sum here was fine and all but the name of this place really turns me off to it. Maybe I’m missing something but very weird and as silly of a reason as that is, I don’t know that I will return there. The ambiance feel a little weird for dim sum… Too modern/​French bistro-​y and I guess I personally just like the hectic yet refined feel to a standard dim sum restaurant

Is this place closed? I bought a deal through The Goods and was planning to use it but this place was locked up with no signs of life.

Is this place closed or what we had plans to try this place today and when I called it says, Celedon Restaurant which was the previous place.
Annoying

Okay, I don’t give this place 5 stars, but only because they are in desperate need of better street marketing. DON’T be intimidated by the empty first floor. Clearly, the restaurant owner has no clue about how to successfully draw in business, which is to have a full looking dining room visible at a glance from the street.
The BF and I were out for a walk around Hillcrest earlier in the day, saw this place and came back for dinner that night. The first floor was totally empty with no greeter. Very strange and off-​putting. But then another couple came in right behind us and went straight up the stairs. Obviously, they knew how this place worked. Immediately, a waiter came down to seat us, UPSTAIRS.
This is why this place looks so empty on the first floor, which is mainly a bar. The main dining room is upstairs and they don’t have someone manning the downstairs check-​in area all the time. Definitely bad owner/​restaurant manager staffing and planning.
But that doesn’t make this restaurant not worth trying! The food was good! We were seated at a very nice table in a beautifully decorated upper level. The waiter was attentive, the food came out fast, and the dim sum was very good — fresh, hot, well made. There were a few dishes my boyfriend didn’t like, but I was selecting a variety as he had never had any, and I liked them all.
I’ve been to other dim sum joints throughout San Diego and I can’t say any of them were better than this place. Most have issues, like rude waiters/​waitresses, long wait times to get dishes, etc. The only exceptions are so busy that you have to wait an hour or more to get in.
Disregarding the bad street marketing, which actually just makes me sad that this place will go out of business because of it, the meal itself was GOOD! Give it a try and don’t let the dim sum elitists and the complaints about high prices keep you away. The pricing was in line with what I’ve paid for dim sum in other cities and come on, this is Hillcrest.

We came with a Groupon to try out the dim sum. Came around 2:30pm on a Saturday, the place was dead. We were the only table.
Service was on par… which was expected since it was just us. The décor is loungy/clubby…cute but I’m not sure if it’s right for a dim sum joint.
We had the spareribs, sticky rice shrimp balls, seafood dumplings, shrimp noodles, and beef lo mein. All the dishes had flavor and was good but nothing really special. Prices are on the high side; ranges from $ 5.25-$ 6.
I was super thirsty afterwards which makes me wonder if there was MSG??? Will we be back? Most likely no.

The name throw me off. I thought it was French at first. But it was actually really good. Me and my boyfriend ordered some BBQ pork buns (which were a little to sweet for my taste) and lo mein. The lo mein was delicious. I would recommend this place. It’s cheap and good.

This place was very good! I loved the ambiance and the décor. To start we had the baked pork buns– delicious! Then we had the mayo shrimp with pecans it was really good! We wished we would have ordered two! We also had the lo mien, which was good not extraordinary or anything. We would be back for the shrimp.

BLUF: Go to a dim sum joint near Convoy instead.
The first time I went the door was locked at 1235 on a Friday, contrary to the Unilocal hours and official website hours. Fast forward a few weeks and they are only open for lunch on weekends
The food was good, but way overpriced. The dining room was dark — we went to the far back corner near an open emergency exit for some light. This place would get 2 stars except the tables are draped in construction paper and I brought crayons for the kids. They loved the opportunity and I loved the distraction. But it was short lived when $ 40 and 10 minutes later I’m ready to go somewhere else for lunch.
Celadon was a good Thai restaurant. Not sure what happened, but overpriced dim sum was not the solution. And when they label themselves as a beer joint but all bottles? Bad form in San Diego.
All that aside, the service was great. They were attentive.

As a vegetarian/​pescetarian I must say I was originally wary of this place the first time I saw it when parking across the street. However, I decided one night to go in and at least look at the menu. To my surprise there was actually quite a few items that were open to my dietary restrictions! You never fail us veggies Hillcrest!
I ordered the Chinese broccoli wrapped in rice noodles, and the Shrimp Sui Mai to-​go. I have never had dim sum before, so there were not many expectations. The Chinese broccoli was great. The noodles were cooked well, the broccoli was cooked perfectly, and they served as a great dish.
The shrimp sui mai was my favorite of the two. I was pleasantly surprised to find whole, perfectly cooked shrimp inside. The server suggested this as an introductory dim sum dish, and I found that it left me wanting more, lots more. It was quite delicious.
As for everything else, the interior was decorated wonderfully, the staff was friendly and helpful, and all that was missing was some more customers that need to give them a try!
I hope this place is successful. There are a lot of eateries in Hillcrest that I already frequent, and I would not mind having another one!

San Diego doesn’t have many dim sum places so when I found out the old Celadon renovated into an all-​day dim sum restaurant, I couldn’t pass up the chance to try it.
We came on a late Sunday afternoon and this place was very empty. There were only one other party and they finished quickly after we were seated. The interior was the same as the old Celadon, even the bill holder had the old Celadon name on it. It seemed they did not put much effort into renovating this restaurant, which didn’t bother me much as I care more about the food.
The food were actually quite fresh and good with just two exceptions. The jasmine tea that was served came out lukewarm in a very small, but heavy pot. The egg tart were not fresh and tasted like it had been out for at least two days. Everything else, including the chicken feet, pork buns, shrimp sui mai, and pork sui mai were all delicious and freshly made to order.
We were the only customer so service was attentive and our waitress was very nice and friendly. This place is also a tad bit expensive compared to other dim sum places. I don’t think the food really compensates for the higher price so if I’m craving for dim sum on an early afternoon, I’d probably go to Emerald.

Went there last night, and am looking forward to my next visit.
The food was for the most part very tasty. Had the har gow — great skin, meaty interior (they do a disservice to themselves when the call it shrimp mousse. I expected just that, but was delighted to find whole, clean shrimp in there as well. Super surprise!). Wanna try the one with spinach — yummmm!
The Chinese broccoli was super. Just the right amount of crunch, sweet and bitter, I could’ve eaten more.
Got the rice roll with shrimp (didn’t notice the pork… next time :), and it was almost as good as what I’ve had in China or San Fran. My friend had never eaten it before, and she was delighted.
One of the disappointments was the fried scallops wontons. Though the filling may have been good — looked like it, but I couldn’t eat it. When I went to cut into it, much oil came out. It was veeerrrrry greasy. Neither of us could eat it. Bummer, it looked real good, but not our thing.
Definitely try their house sauce. Has just the right amount of spice, and was super addictive. At some point I was eating it by itself. Whew… gooooog!
The service was good. It was kinda empty when we got there at 5, so only 1 server. It got busy after an hour, then a food runner/​bussed came on. Service remained attentive and courteous at all times.
The only other disappointment was that, with the exception of ceiling moldings, nothing at all related to the French concessions in Shanghai. But, the atmosphere was still quite nice.
Glad to have dim sum close to home. Wanna try more things. Will be back very soon!

If you ever went to Celadon, this restaurant is basically the reinvented version with dim sum and beer. Same exact décor and ambience as Celadon — a bit worn down and this place definitely doesn’t have the feel of a fresh new restaurant.
The dim sum is not bad at all. Comparable to Jasmine, Pearl, Emerald, but a tad more Americanized and also more expensive, which I suppose is expected for this kind of place. The selection is decent and they do have some innovative items on the menu (like a broccoli version of flat rice noodle).
We may have caught them off guard coming at 2:30 pm on a Saturday. We were the only ones in the restaurant. The hostess also served as our waitress for part of the time. Our empty plates continued to pile up and it wasn’t until after the bill was paid that they actually started clearing the plates. Har gaw was much better than expected (not sure why they describe it as shrimp mousse because there’s nothing mousse about it, fortunately). Beef chow fun was great. Sesame balls were a bit hard but fresh out of the fryer. Coconut bread was super disappointing — believe they simply unwrapped it from its plastic bag and threw it onto a plate — could have at least been heated up.
I love, love, love dim sum and this place isn’t bad. But I’d rather deal with the crowds and carts at the dirtier dim sum spots.

So I’m not a big fan of dim sum in San Diego. But, I wanted to try out this place since it is close to my apartment and I found a groupon. Surprisingly, the dim sum was actually really good! I just don’t want to give it 4 or 5 stars mostly because it is a little on the pricier side for dim sum and the selection is not big. Also, usually dim sum places come with 4 items per dish, especially for the buns, but this one only had 3 for each dish. Maybe because the location is a lot nicer than typical dim sum restaurants so they charge more? But I would recommend giving this place a try!

I really wanted to like this place. The concept, the stars…
We arrived at 7:30 on a Friday night to a cold, empty dining room, door wide open, absent a hostess or a bartender. It was really strange. I hostess/​waitress in a foot brace and a coat appears a few minutes later asks us if we want to sit downstairs or upstairs. We can hear people upstairs, and she said the magic words, «booth.» Sure!
She tells us she needs to clear a table and disappears for at least 5 minutes. It was a sign, a huge, flashing, neon sign. We were seated. Immediately we’re served some water and the food menus. But it’s a craft beer restaurant too… those menus came a bit later. There was one waiter handling the upstairs and the bar drinks.
There was nothing really on the beer menu that grabbed us, so we ordered some shrimp shumai, dumplings, pork buns, and the beef and broccoli with some tea.
This was a really, long drawn out experience. The shumai was really good, but wasn’t served with the dipping sauce (I’m used to), just chili paste and soy sauce. Both the buns and the fried dumplings were lukewarm. Beef and Broccoli was bland. The tea came out mid-​meal.
I felt so bad for the waiter and his 7 tables. He was totally busting his ass and there was this older guy in a denim shirt awkwardly wandering around like an owner that should not own a restaurant. He could have helped, and if not, he shouldn’t be nervously pacing and observing the place. The upholstery wasn’t clean, the walls had food on them.
I sincerely hope this isn’t a standard experience for this place. And really hope that this was just a bad night.

I can’t believe some people are giving bad reviews for this place.
I love the Dim Sum and I like the idea that is all day. I’m a big fan of Dim Sum and this is one of the best that I’ve had in San Diego.
The place is beautiful and clean.
The service is excellent!
I will go frequently for my Dim Sum.
Please hire a DJ for the weekend and make a Brunch, that will be cool!

So I have mixed emotions about this place. Three stars? Four? Two? It’s a tough one and you have to consider many parts of the puzzle so giving it one rating for all things put together is tough.
Let’s start with the positive:
#1. The restaurant itself is very nice, elegant even
#2. Beer selection is great (couple of local beers too)
#3. Food was all amazing. Really enjoyed everything. A friend of mine who is Chinese was with us and his family owns a Chinese restaurant and he is very critical of how Chinese food is prepared and tastes and he had nothing but great things to say. He was impressed.
and now for the not so positive:
#1. We were a group of four so we wanted to make sure that everything we ordered had four pieces in it so we asked the owner who was waiting on us and he pointed to the menu and explained to us that everything on the left side of the menu under steamed was four pieces and everything on the right was three pieces so we ordered from the left (steamed) side. When the items arrived a couple of them only had three. So we asked the owner and he said he forgot about those items. We asked if he could make us an additional one or give us an extra order, he told us he’d take care of it. Instead he left. like actually left the building and didn’t even try to take care of us. Pretty crappy, not to mention he’s the owner and he’s trying to get return business.
#2. We also ordered steamed rice which never came, they completely forgot about it.
#3. The food didn’t come out at the same time. now if you’re going to be a «fresh made to order» Dim Sum place then you would think all the food would come at once but we didn’t get our Pork buns until after we had dessert.
Also all of this was happening and we were one of three tables in the entire place. You’re telling me you can’t get one order correct when you only have one maybe two orders in at all?
Now I understand they are new but there is definitely room for improvement and hopefully it gets better because after all of the frustrating service and the food was still very good. Best chicken feet I’ve had. I think I’ll give them a while to work out the kinks and then try it again. let’s just hope they get it together otherwise there are plenty of other Dim Sum places with just as good food… time will tell!

Dim sum lovers, rejoice.
We’ve been fans of Alex Thao and his family since their original Celadon, and couldn’t be happier to have them bring dim sum to Hillcrest! Every dish we tried came out hot and fresh (yes, traditional dim sum from carts is fun, but cannot compare to the piping hot, made to order version served here, along with a few traditional noodle and other dishes.)
We were welcomed promptly, received friendly, attentive service, and were soon feasting on some great food. We tried an assortment of Pork Sui Mai, Black Bean Spare Ribs, Fried Shrimp Balls, Pot Stickers and Kung Pao Chicken. Every dish was great. We can’t wait to go back to try more of the menu.
Oh, and if the food and service weren’t enough, the new colors make the space very warm and hospitable.
Welcome to the neighborhood, French Concession!

Great dim sum and Excellent customer service. Visiting from Northern California, We were glad that the restaurant next door (the tractor room) turned down our business because they closed at 2 pm, ( Unilocal said 3pm).
We were very happy that we found this gem!
I hope that you guys try this place, you won’t be disappointed!

Okay they have some kinks to work out, but hey I think we were there only 3 days after their opening.
Key goodness:
Everything is refined!
* You get the pork bun here and there is ZERO gristle.
* You get the Vanilla Shrimp here and it is soooo clean; does not feel oily or heavy at all!
* Get any Dim Sum cause its all good BUT be sure to try their homemade sauce!!!
* Yummy Egg Tarts
Needs improvement:
They didn’t bring us out the dim sum sauces, even though we asked for it, until our first round was gone… THEN they tell us the sauces are all homemade, so of course we want some! But then we have to order another round… whomp wah! I guess we could have waited but then the dim sum would have been cold. I hoped they’d give us a little bit of a discount or free dessert or tea or something for our trouble, but no word of it… oh wells.
All in all the food quality is GREAT — as I type, I want to go back for some of the foods I listed above! 3.5 stars but I’ll round down for now and see if their service improves the next time and might rewrite.
The prices are ok — maybe a little bit pricey
The ambiance is cute inside
Easy to miss when looking for it from the street, so pay attention!
Go try it and tell me what YOU think!