Finding the best Chinese food in San Francisco takes more than just a simple flip through the phone book. There are literally hundreds of Chinese restaurants in the area. Not all of them are equal though and not all Chinese food is the same.
Choose a Style of Chinese Food
To find the best Chinese food San Francisco area, a person first needs to know what type of Chinese food they would prefer. There are multiple regions and multiple styles of Chinese food. The choices are Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, and Zhejiang. No single Chinese restaurant can be great at preparing food for all of these styles so choose the preferred style and then find out which Chinese restaurant is the best at preparing that particular style.
Word of Mouth
The most common way to find out which Chinese restaurant serves the best food is by word of mouth. Always ask family, friends, and coworkers first before doing any bit of research on the different choices for Chinese cuisine. Most of the time their opinion will hold the most the most weight.
Reviews
Another way to find out who serves the best Chinese food is to check out the third party review sites. This method is fairly reliable. Most sites allow users to rank the Chinese restaurants in order of the highest review rating to the lowest review rating. Do not just take the list at face value though. Read through the description of the Chinese restaurant as well as the individual reviews. This will provide better insight as to what type of styles each Chinese restaurant prepares. The reviews should give a better indication as to which of the prepared styles is the best from that particular Chinese restaurant.
Menu Selection
The final way to find the best Chinese food is to look up the menus for each Chinese restaurant. Practically all of the Chinese restaurants have their menus online. This will give some insight as to what types of Chinese food the restaurant prepares.
For the most part, the best way to find great tasting Chinese food is to get testimonials from other people. First hand experience here is always the most reliable way to find out where to eat. Just remember that there different styles to choose from.