Best Family Style Restaurants in Civic Center / Hayes Valley / Van Ness

Phenomenal experience from the food to the service! I will let the photos speak for themselves but you can tell they put care into the quality of the food and the ambiance of the restaurant

First visit to China Live and what a delight! The perfect execution of the Dim Sum dishes made it a memorable eating experience.

We enjoyed an early valentines dinner around 7:45pm. We were worried about the temperature in the outside seating space but the experience was very pleasant. We felt cozy under heaters and was nice to be outside during the rain. For dinner we enjoyed the “Chef’s Choice” - a family style 4 course meal that included several shared dishes. Each dish was delicious! Would be hard to pick a favorite. We left 1000% satisfied with the food and overall experience. Would recommend anyone looking to explore a cool restaurant.

We got lucky getting the best table in the restaurant, across from the bar in a nook under the stairs, so we easily heard each other! We chose a plant forward menu and our waiter Kai (sp?) decided on the order of the dishes. I’d trust his judgment again because we had a great time. The pigs head hid a shaved fennel and pear salad underneath. I delightfully learned how different parts of fennel tastes when shaved so finely. The Hokkaido scallops were soooo good and fresh and compared to a sushi restaurant, a very good value. My partner normally doesn’t like shellfish but he loved the scallops. We ended the savory portion of the meal with the seaweed noodles and the grilled cabbage with dill pickle butter and roe. Both plates had amazing, complimentary sauces and Kai brought us some bread to savor the last drops. The One Punch Man cocktail complemented entire the meal so well with its fruity yet creamy flavor. We got the chocolate semifreddo for dessert for the texture. It had a toasted umeboshi meringue that tasted like dates if they were slightly pickled. I left food drunk and with very happy tastebuds. I loved the restraint in all the flavors. I think a lot of dishes could’ve easily gone sideways in less capable hands, or even the meal because this menu had a lot of citrus and pickled items, and instead they nailed it just right.

One of our party has numerous allergies. Our server went out of her way to help her find healthy choices for the guest, including checking with the kitchen to confirm that two pastas were suitable. A wonderful experience, delicious dishes!