I got word last week that Yet Wah at 2140 Clement at 22nd Avenue looked like it had closed. Cub reporter David reported the shades were drawn, a lot of garbage was out front and all the tables and chairs inside had been pushed into a corner.
I went by this morning and there was a simple “Sorry, we are closed” sign on the door in English and Chinese. When I tried their phone number on the awning, I got the “this number has been disconnected” message from the phone company. Not a good sign for a restaurant that thrived on take out business.
The Yet Wah website is still up but no mention of whether this closure is permanent or temporary. Every time I ate there, Yet Wah seemed to do a brisk business, especially in their upstairs banquet room where they often had large parties.
No permits have been filed against the property so I don’t think the owners are readying for a remodel or something construction-related. So it may be the end of an institution – Yet Wah has been a neighborhood staple since I was a little one.
If you have any more information on the closure, please let us know!
Sarah B.
Maybe they are the ones moving into Video Cafe?
Every time I hear the name of this restaurant, I think of Herb Caen who called it “Yet Another Wah.”
@Sunsetkid – Ha! I was trying to remember when I was a kid, I *think* there were a few Yet Wah’s on Clement Street. Or am I remembering wrong?
Sarah B.
In the late 1970’s there were three, I believe, all run by the same family. They were very popular, and kept expanding to meet the demand.
I have always wanted to check this place out I hope it isn’t closed.
Waiters on Wheels say YW is out of business. Another empty space on that corner…
I remember going to the Yet Wah in Diamond Heights as a child after church at St. Nicholas — in the 60’s. First we lost Adeline’s Bakery, then Zim’s, and now Yet Wah. WAAAAAAAAAA!
I only ate there once (it was recently) and thought both the food and service were terrible. Still, how unfortunate for another business to be gone. Hopefully, someone takes the space and hopefully it will something other than Chinese!
hey mar, thanks again! lets have petco come in now!!
Yes there were several locations of Yet Wah in the 70’s. All run by the same family. I think they even had a branch in Marin County. I went to a baby banquet here a couple of years ago. The food was mediocre at best.
There still is a Yet Wah in Marin – on 4th St. in San Rafael.
Speaking of memories … what was the name of the bookstore where Royal Grounds is now at Geary and 17th? That’s been driving me nuts.
And I was just thinking the other day how much I miss Super Subs that was there where Gordo’s is on Geary. That turkey/provolone sub and a carton of milk…. ooooh yeah!
Bookstore at 17th and Geary = Cantebury Corner.
Yet another example of what happens when there are too many of one kind of business within a defined area. Not only should another Chinese restaurant open up there, but no Chinese restaurant should be *permitted* to open up there. If we thin out the ranks of duplicate businesses within a certain radius, when/if they close down, other, similar businesses will have a better chance of surviving, and new *complimentary* businesses will be established. This is called retail diversity. It helps a retail corridor to maintain fiscal sustainability, makes for a more complete shopping/dining corridor, and tends to attract complimentary “magnet” businesses.
Oh, thanks so much, Smit. I can get some sleep now! :o)
@phil – That sounds like such a communistic idea. US is built on freedom of enterprise. It is up to the business people to decide where they should establish their store, not the govt, not the NIMBYs. Businesses succeed or die based on their products and service. If your product, service and yes customer service isn’t that good, you won’t succeed.
Yet Wah may have been good during its hey day but it has been a steady down hill fall for years.
Retail diversity – that business model doesn’t work because if you are selling something people don’t want in that space (for the sake of diversity), would you succeed? What if I open a cobbler’s shop there? Would I make money? Not really since Yet Wah borders on residentials and a school.
Also, please GOD don’t let the new business in that space be another market with produce imported from China.
MORE LOCAL ORGANICS, PLEASE!!
I gladly pay the real cost for REAL FOOD, and for regulation in the way my produce is grown, the soil, the water, the conditions of transport and handling.
If anything no need to have another Cantonese restaurant, Chinese food has so many regions.
Richmond District is fortunate to have a Hakka restaurant, Taishan restaurant, Northeastern Chinese, Sichuan,Shanghainese…..not even the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County has a Hakka or Taishan restaurant
For the Chinese community and other foodies this is great, when you say “Chinese restaurant”..well that is a very broad label, because there is so much variety
I am sorry you guys feel that way, you should be grateful for what you guys have in the Richmond
I think a really good legit Taiwanese place(like in the SGV) is missing
I always wondered why their place was purple – the color almost always signifies Thai. I used to go to Yet Wah next to the Diamond Heights Safeway. This one on Clement had a run down feel. I don’t know why business owners allow their precious restaurants – an area that requires high attention to detail – fall into mediocre decline. I would love to see a genuine BREAKFAST place open there. There is no place decently priced in the area. Ever since the Village Pantry closed (which is now Steins), and EATS on Clement and third went yuppie and doubled prices, there’s no place to peruse the Sunday paper over copious coffee refills….
Outer Richmond resident, FAY
@Jessica, I totally agree with you. I’m really disheartened by the produce offerings in the Richmond. I was at my local market yesterday and they had the same avocados from three weeks ago in the bin, all grown in Peru.
But I guess nobody cares out here since there was an absolute lack of interest for a farmers’ market in the Richmond.
As far as variety of anything, the richmond offers ZERO. The inner sunset, union street, cheasnut street, and west portal all have one thing in common that makes them desirable destinations, VARIETY. They offer a slew of differant buissnesses (not just chinese) that is why those neighborhoods are what this neighborhood is not, successful.
Dear Rob,
I assume from your comment that you mean that we don’t have much variety?
I think you need to get out more? TROYA on Clement St. ( at 5th?) is a fantastic middle Eastern restaurant (huge number of delicious appetizers that you can make a meal out of, incredibly nice people and service). Stein’s has just opened on Clement @ 8th and has GERMAN food (and boy, is it good and well=priced. Family run, very nice people, too). Clement St. Bar & Grill has been in S.F. for 30+ years and serves “American” food (and has a GREAT Sunday brunch…with fireplace, which is important in July…), Chapeau! on Clement @ 2nd has been named by S.F. Bay Guardian THE BEST French Restaurant in all of S.F., and also the best “prix-fixe” menu in the City — not too slouchy.
AZIZA (which is moving, alas) has been on Geary for years — again, Middle Eastern food, and is always picked as one of the Top 100 in the Bay Area…
Have you been to THE RICHMOND?
Can I rest my case without going further?
Chapeau! is our absolute favorite restaurant in the city.
I can point out a handful of resturaunts and other establishments throughout the richmond but as a whole the richmond has a poor selection of just about everything except chinese food. I have lived in the richmond now for almost 20 years and I’ll be honest it doesn’t come close to other neighborhoods as far having many options of differant cuisine. What I mean by this is not just having one mexican resturaunt, one american, one indian, and 300 chinese resturaunts. Yet wah failed because there is too much of the same thing. The petco incident was a compleate discrace, here we are in a recession, the land lord is trying to rent out his space to feed his family and to better the neighborhood and it gets prevented. This is why the richmond a mess, there is an eyesore on just about every corner yet people still insist on only mom an pop which is fine, but just let other people make their own choices. With the amount of chinese resturaunts here, the city really should moderate the amount of establishments that serve the exact same thing open, if the city did this the neighborhood would improve and have more options as far a dinning.
@Rob. I don’t think Yet Wah failed because there are too many Cantonese resturants in the area. The service and quality were dreadful the few times I ventured there. There was far better quality available nearby. As far as the city “moderating,” I think not. The city is murdering businesses with their interference. Nor should anyone or group dictate how a space is used other than general permitting. The market will decide. When you regulate things to death you end up losing the character that a place had. It’d certainly be nice to see something interesting in that space…
Determining what business should open is downright ludicrous. Who’s to say what should open and where?
Market demand determines if a going concern stays afloat, not “permitted” in Phil’s utopia planned economy. Are you willing to put you money where your mouth is and fund a new business? Demand determines where a business opens, not because someone “thinks or feel’s” one is needed. Business’ survive because they make money, and if they don’t make money, they close. Simple economics Phil.
BTW – the reason why there are so many Chinese restaurants in the Richmond is because when the city was family friendly, the district was, and is still home to A LOT of Chinese-American families.
SC Richmond district native: “Market demand determines if a going concern stays afloat, not “permitted” in Phil’s utopia planned economy.”
^^^
This is a typical response, from someone who doesn’t understand the way the American economy works; it’s also someone who wants to use charged words, like “utopia” to make an emotional argument. It’s also a response indicative of someone who has bought into the myth that there is such a thing as a “free market” as indicated by his/her statement …”Business’ survive because they make money, and if they don’t make money, they close.”… This is naive, in the extreme.
First, there is no “free market”; if we’re talking utopias, the myth of “free markets” lives in economics textbooks, in pure theory; it’s an idea (really, a myth) that has been promulgated by those who don’t know any better, or want to maintain economic hegemony. Anyone who believes that there is a “free market” is either ignorant of the controls and favors that governments – local, state, and national – heap upon selected winners, as a result of being paid off to make those favors. This is the way the world works.
You want examples: just look at the tax breaks that are given to selected business sectors: sport teams; private educational plays; telecommunications contracts AND infrastructure; housing and commercial development, agricultural price supports; industrial subsidies; shipping development; etc. etc. etc. etc. (I could write a book!). Free market? You can’t be serious. And, in case you haven’t been listening or watching, your mythical “free market” has been collapsing economies all over the world, lately.
Let’s talk about the Richmond District. I took a walk up Clement the other day and noticed that across the street from the new CVS (which is still practically vacant, most of the time – like we really needed a new drug store, right?), and lo and behold there is of all things a **cafe and coffee shop** going in where the old bait and tackle used to be, **right up the block from another long-standing cafe and coffee shop**. This is retail absurdity – just plain stupid! So, how is that going to impact the local shops that do the same thing? I know a guy who put up a coffee shop/cafe in on upper Geary about 7-8 months ago; he’s trying to sell it. Recently, there have been a spate of “me-too” businesses on Geary and Clement, respectively – opening, and then closing, within a year! This is happening because there is no *enforced* retail zoning.
What you are plainly missing is that retail zoning is used all over America, with many models to chose from; the most common ones are “specific use permits”.
Many walks and drives down the entire length of Clement Street over the past months reveals a series of disgraceful and shoddy store facades, many looking almost derelict. So, are we supposed to leave it to the derelict landlords to clean those facades up, instead of creating municipal penalties that *force* them to do it?
My walks and drives through the Richmond also reveal tons of vacant storefronts – some have been vacant for 1-2 YEARS. Why is that? It’s because most of the landlords who own those properties own multiple properties, and are shifting the burden of a down economy to their Richmond properties (and the local neighborhood) by taking tax write-offs on vacant space. This is legal BS of the highest order. It is NOT community friendly; it does NOTHING to create an enhanced retail (or even residential atmosphere).
Back to retail zoning: Here’s a prediction from someone who has outright owned two retail businesses, and partnered in two more – all successful. Also, from someone who has officiated on municipal committees as a political appointee. Until we get serious in this city about rational retail use permits; until we find ways to stop the easy proliferation of copy-cat and duplicate businesses, the neighborhood retail environment in San Francisco is going to degrade, just as we see it degrading in the Richmond and other neighborhoods over these last years. This degradation is happening *now*, as we discuss these things.
You claim that one’s “subjective feeling” about business placement is “against the idea of markets”. Sorry, your comment is grossly uninformed and harmful to a vital business scene. For your information (according to goo brain science research) ALL decisions are subjective because all decisions pass last through the emotional pathways of the brain (that’s another post, back to the topic at hand).
What’s so irrational about saying that within a three block area (by a circumference metric) that if there are already 10 coffee shops, that no other coffee shops are permitted to open? What I find interesting about the naysayers, who subscribe to this “free market” poppycock is that THEIR system; THEIR preference of “any business, any place” has been FAILING the Richmond, and the rest of our city. What we end up with is barely responsible landlords who will rent out to anyone with the cash; who leave their properties to fester in disgrace; who would without flinching rent 2, 3, even four adjacent properties to the SAME kind of business, as long as the cash was there for a down payment on rent.
One thing I find amusing, is all the talk of how “government” screws things up. Sorry, folks, WE are the government; WE elect the people that some whine about; WE choose to support (or not) the policies of government through who we vote for. It’s not “them”; it’s “we”. We get what we vote for; we get what we neglect to maintain (or choose to force maintenance of – that’s why lawns in the suburbs have to be kept mowed – simple).
So, keep hyping up your “free market” nonsense. That’s what it is. Realize that business and *competent* government (something we’re sorely lacking in, here, and elsewhere, because we have too much private money influencing policy) have to work together to get things done, or not. That’s the way it has always been. I HAVE put my money where my mouth is, and opened several businesses in my time. What I’m hearing from naysayers seems to be mostly uninformed “market-speak” about ridiculous things like “state-controlled economy” or “free market” or other such nonsense. Look, we’re living YOUR preferences, right now, in the Richmond. How’s THAT working out? Go out and ask around; take a few really long walks.
This District deserves better; it’s a mess. Ignorance is doing the same thing over and over again, even if it doesn’t work. That’s what we have here. I, for one, am sick and tired of long-time derelict landlords letting their properties go to hell, just because they can. I am also sick and tired of the mythical “free market” nonsense that keeps good municipal policy cooperating with the private sector to create something of value.
THere’s only one response to Phil’s rant-typical leftist, socialist, blather found on the statist left coast.
More excuses and rhetoric from ignorant statists.
Who regularly eats in the richmond? I mean unless you are chinese there really arn’t that many options. Something must be done to save this neighborhood and the only way to do that is regulate how many bussinesses that SERVE THE SAME THING open.
I eat regularly in the Richmond at such establishments as… Gordos, AK’s, Chapeau!, Royal Ground Coffee, John Campbell’s, Sapoten, Volcano Curry, India Clay Oven, Thai Noodle Jump, Clement Pho, Layaly, Asqew and many others. None of these are Chinese restaurants. In fact, we rarely eat Chinese food and we either walk to these places or have our vittles delivered.
mel,
Note that those are all *different* cuisines. That’s why those places do OK. There isn’t too much duplication in the Richmond for those kinds of cuisine. That said, how would you feel about a coffee shop going up two door down from Royal Ground coffee, or a Mediterranean restaurant going up a few doors down from Layaly? Under “use specific zoning” that would be forbidden.
From 20th ave to 16th on the same side of Geary, there are 4 coffee shops: Emmas, Starbucks, Golden Donut, Royal Ground, and Peet’s. All of which are doing well, Emma’s (which I do not care for) even did a recent renovation. Even if they offer redundant product, they give me choices and “use specific zoning,” it limits my choice.
Mel,
They’re all on different blocks, and there is a world of difference between that and having another coffee shop open up two doors down from your place. Also, how do you know that those shops are doing well?
Starbucks is inside of Wells Fargo, and they will keep shops open often as loss leaders. I think they’re doing OK. Peets seems to be doing well, but then they are cost-averaged against the rest of the chain. Royal Ground is a cool spot, always well attended. Golden Donut? I wonder about that place.
I took a walk the other day down Clement, between Presidio and Arguello; this is what I found in restaurants/cafes (I might be off by 1-2 places; it was dark)
21 Chinese
7 Vietnamese
6 Cafes
5 Japanese
4 Thai
4 Bakeries
3 Pizzerias
1 Hamburger Place
1 German
1 Bar/Grill
1 Greek
1 Middle Eastern
1 French
1 American
1 Burmese
1 California Fusion
1 Doughnut shop
That’s SIXTY places to eat on a 12 block strip, with most of them concentrated on the inner 8 blocks (between 2nd and 10th). This does not include restaurants that are on cross streets adjacent to Clement. There has to be 5-10 more of those. I haven’t looked at Geary, yet. I did not include bars (probably 3-4 of those). So, we’re probably looking at roughly 70+ eateries in a roughly 8-10 block area. I see many vacant storefronts, and many places coming and going. Why? No retail diversity. People come to Clement to EAT, mostly, and then they leave. Add to that the landlords who let their places go to hell, and you are setup for a ratty neighborhood feel. Not “home-like”, but ratty. Many of those restaurants must be hurting, because I am on the street a lot, and some of those places are almost always empty. Many will fail in the next 1-2 years.
Golden Donut is a nice place. Depending on when you go, they have tasty wasty doughnuts. Not to mention, they are some of the nicest people from which to make a purchase, and they often insist on throwing in more doughnuts. It also fun to see the groups sitting around the tables playing cards or Mahjong. It looks like this place has been here since 2007.