Great Eastern Restaurant

649 Jackson St (between Kearny St and Grant Ave)
San Francisco
(415) 986-2500

Cuisine: Chinese

Pluses: Sparkling fresh seafood

Minuses: Waiters will try to steer non-Asian patrons to safe and mundane dishes

Prices: Appetizers $4-$12; Entrees $7-$29

Overview: Lunch and dinner daily

Seafood is the thing to order at this typically noisy bilevel eatery with ornate crystal chandeliers: It couldn't be fresher. Tanks to the rear of the restaurant are filled with crabs, abalone, prawns, oysters, scallops, frogs, and various fin fish, which are priced by the pound. The prawns, fresh from the aquarium, are incredible steamed in the shell (you peel them yourself) and prepared with a generous amount of minced garlic - usually $22 a pound, which feed two. Among the non-seafood dishes, both quail and squab are popular. Don't let the waiter steer you to the plebeian sweet and sour pork, instead ask: "How will you cook that fish or seafood in the tanks?"

Note: This information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the businesses in question before making your plans.