Ginny Kolmar: Golden River

We had stopped one afternoon, later than our usual lunch hour, at the Golden River Restaurant to have a dish of Tomato Beef Chow Mein, comfort food for this writer when a bit depressed. It was so good we vowed to return for dim sum, which looked wonderful on the plates of hungry diners.

The décor at Golden River Restaurant is plain. The walls and carpet are green and the tables have pink tablecloths with paper napkins. There are pleasant Chinese paintings on the walls and fluorescent illumination comes from the ceiling. The restaurant certainly isn't fancy, but then, the prices aren't fancy either.

The waitresses at the Golden River Restaurant are charming, always trying to be helpful to their customers.

There are some 37 choices on the menu at the Golden River, starting at $1.95 each. We ordered a nice variety of dishes: Pork Dumpling (Su Mai), Steamed Shrimp and Chives Dumpling, Steamed barbecue Pork Bun, Pot Stickers and Shanghai Bun. Each of the dishes has three or four pieces.

The two dumplings are delicious and our barbecue Pork Bun turned out to be a big favorite, with the bun being smaller than those usually found. Therefore, the ratio of bun to pork was equal. Usually one finds only a small bit of barbecue pork inside a very large bun, but not here. We always like to try one new dish when eating dim sum. This time it was the Shanghai Bun, which turned out to be nicely, if mildly, spicy with red peppers, meat and spices in it. Two in our little group didn't particularly like spicy foods, but one pronounced it delicious.

Eleven "Special Dim Sum" items are on the menu, costing $3.50 each. We ordered two: X.O. Sauce Pan Fried Rice Crepe and Tender Greens with Oyster Sauce.

The greens were perfectly steamed and delicious with the addition of the sauce. There are multiple little crepe rolls, stuffed with bland rice that didn't particularly appeal to my taste buds.

The waitress also brought us a dish she thought we ordered, which we hadn't, but was very good - flat, Hong Kong-style noodles and meat with a delicious sauce.

Our entire meal, along with excellent jasmine tea, came to $18.15, plus tip. Where else can you eat so much for so little, but at a Chinese restaurant serving dim sum?

Of course, one may always order from the main menu. There are scads of dishes from which to choose, with soups around $7; poultry dishes, $6 and up; meat dishes, $6.50 to $7.50. I believe my huge platter of Tomato Beef Chow Mein was $6.50.

By the way, Best Bites is always looking for good restaurants to write about. Let us have your suggestions and favorite eating spots in the Richmond District for future issues. They don't have to be fancy, but we would like to know which ones you particularly like, and patronize. If we check them out and agree, we will happily share them with our readers.

GOLDEN RIVER

RESTAURANT

5827 Geary Blvd. (between 21st and 22nd avenues)

Phone: 668-5105

Fax: 831-4616

Beer/wine/soft drinks; wheelchairs; Visa/MC

Hours: Seven days a week

Lunch: 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Dinner: 5 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Advisory:

Atmosphere: *

Service: ***

Food: ** 1/2

Price: *

Overall: ** 1/2