Reader Jill W. stumbled upon this instagram post of an interior renovation taking place in the former Q Restaurant space on Clement.
For those of you hoping that new ownership would resurrect the comfort food and tater tots of Q, you may be disappointed to learn that the space will become a Chinese fine dining establishment.
No word on name, menu or opening date (of course this is instagram where we got this info, hence the Rumor: in the title.).
Whatever happens to it, we do echo Jill’s comment that they keep the tree table alive. 🙂
Sarah B.
Great!! Just what Richmond district needs another Chinese restaurant.
I hope it’s another Manchurian one, like Dong Bei Mama on Geary, or another in the current solid run of new Sichuan spots, like Spicy Legend, and Sichuan Home’s second spot, Sichuan Table.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I was hoping for another breakfast spot, but there’s always room in the ‘hood for another Chinese restaurant. Hope it’s delicious!
I hope that have a good wine list.
You’ve got to be kidding me. More Asian restaurants have opened and closed on Clement in the last five years than Nirvana has songs about heroin. Be bold, aspiring restaurateurs. Open a good Mexican place.
Name one Nirvana song about heroin
Why not open a new mexican restaurant!!??? There are not enough mexican restaurants around the area other than smaller taquerias 🙁 Be brave; this type of restaurant will blossom in this area!
Word on the ground is the place was bought by a mainland Chinese family for their american based daughter to have something to “play” with… Talk about not knowing the past and current history of the restaurant scene in the neighborhood. What could go wrong? And yeah, another Chinese restaurant in an area of town awash in them? Dumb as dumb can be. Q was an iconic place for that neighborhood. Agree with other posters that a solid mexican/south american place would be a solid move. There is a dearth of good ones in the area. I can’t recall if they bought the whole building or just leased back the restaurant space. We can only hope it’s the latter so we get a new idea 30 months down the line after this place shutters.
I mean, seriously? How about another hot pot place? Or, I don’t know, a shabu joint?
People complaining about there being too many Chinese restaurants in the Richmond? That’s like complaining there’s too much Mexican food in the Mission! What gives, people?
@Clara – Apples to Oranges.
The Mission is AWASH in other great and amazing food opportunities. Clement street while it has some other great options is no where comparable to the Mission. No vision, no imagination, no winning.
@CLARA
Most all of Nirvana’s songs have some sort of metaphor about drugs in them. Cobain loved having multi-layered meanings to his songs. But sure, here is one: Aneurysm, which is about his love/hate relationship that he had with heroin.
”For those of you hoping that new ownership would resurrect the comfort food and tater tots of Q, you may be disappointed to learn that the space will become a Chinese fine dining establishment.“ Wow, this statement can be construed as racist. There are thousands of non-Chinese establishments in San Francisco, and here the Richmond District Blog bemoans another Chinese establishment on Clement Street.
@JB
I see what you’re saying. Just funny to hear complaints about too much Chinese food in the Richmond, when the Richmond is a Chinese neighborhood. Ya know?
@JB Aneurysm is not about heroin – where do you get that? Because he says ‘shoot the shit’? Anyhoo, no biggie.
“Wow, this statement can be construed as racist.”
Only if you try really, really, really hard.
“Clement street while it has some other great options is no where comparable to the Mission. No vision, no imagination, no winning.”
No Winning? Frankly I far prefer the Richmond to the Mission and I’ll be very disappointed when Clement Street starts “winning” with Valencia-like pretensions and a massive influx of outside investment capital. And I really don’t want the city to become homogenized.
Actually, yes, bemoaning and groaning about “another Chinese restaurant” can be construed as having racist undertones. At the least, it shows the comtempt of the commentor, if not said commentor’s ignorance of the diaspora that is our neighborhood. Richmond has a good mix of Chinese, Russian, Irish immigrants, long-timers, and transplants. That’s why we have a lot of the restaurant options that don’t aim for a Marina palate. To ignore the fact that the SF Bay Area’s population is nearly 1/3 Asian is to shove your head in the sand and go, “Gee, why are there so many businesses catering to a particular market?”
Further, it is insensitive and culturally ignorant to go like, “Oh no! Another Chinese restaurant. Do you know how big China is? How many different regions, groups, dialects, peoples, and CUISINES there are? What some of you are doing is akin to complaining, “OH NO, ANOTHER AMERICAN RESTAURANT!” when a North Carolinean BBQ joint opens up next to Vegan Fine Dining spot.
Then there’s the supposition that this restaurant is just a plaything for a bored rich kid from China. Why does it even matter? Someone could run a PR campaign heavy with catch phrases to make you feel better, but unless they’re a registered non-profit, it’s still a business here to take your money. Throwing heresay into the mix suggesting it’s a bored spoiled brat running the project just shows blatant xenophobia.
Comments knocking down comparisons to the Mission and Hispanic food because the Mission has “other great food opportunities” demonstrates further ignorance. Why the offense at our great neighborhood? We have a Michelin-starred restaurant in Aziza. Turtle Tower is a powerhouse for pho junkies. There’s Egyptian, Thai, Burmese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, etc.etc.etc. options. For the comments going like we don’t have any Mexican options, OPEN YOUR EYES. We have Tommy’s Restaurant (world famous), and Tia Margarita to complement the smaller shops (Gordos, Ciudad de Mexico, etc.) Sure, it’d be great to open up an authentic Mexican spot that serves stuff like sesos and buche, but demand dictates what we get in the market.
Happy to see it’s going to be a Chinese food restaurant and hopeful that maybe it will be owned and operated by a Chinese family. Inner Richmond has enough new hipster spots; we need to preserve the culture that existed in SF long before any of us were here.
Hopefully they’ll do better than Barley…
https://richmondsfblog.com/2013/09/19/barley-cafe-opening-sunday-on-clement-near-5th-avenue/
Some of the posts here makes one think some people want to white-wash the entire neighborhood, and/or they don’t understand how lucky we are to live in the City. One of the great things about San Francisco is the rich diversity we have within our neighborhoods. Like Karl the Fog sweeping Ocean beach, and the sun gracing the grass on Fort Mason, each district has its own distinctive food culture.
If you want a $12 bespoke cocktail, go to SOMA. If you want tacos with tripas, go to the Mission. If you want good Chinese, go to the Inner Richmond. You want authentic Vietnamese, go to the TL. If you feel like If you want trendy dining options for the mid-20s-30s crowd, go to the Marina. If you want to gritty, check out the dive bars in the Excelsior at night. You want a bit of counterculture and gentrification, check out the differences between the Upper and Lower Haight. It’s what makes SF fun–we can explore, and then explore some more!
So instead of griping, let’s welcome this new restaurant with open arms, as neighbors should do!
I think we can all agree that randos saying ‘not another Chinese restaurant in the Richmond’ rubs a lot of us the wrong way. Where do you think you live? Who do you think you’re talking to?
More people in the Richmond identify as “Asian” than as “White” and nearly half the district’s residents are of Chinese birth or descent.
Going out on a limb I’m guessing that the demographics of this blog’s active readership isn’t representative of the Richmond as a whole. Readers complaining of too many chinese restaurants… c’mon think about it.
@Kitty Katt – To call the statement in the blog post racist is incorrect. It was a factually correct statement. People expecting a restaurant similar to Q would be disappointed by any restaurant not offering similar food. Sarah was merely pointing out the facts as she knows them.
“At the least, it shows the comtempt of the commentor, if not said commentor’s ignorance of the diaspora that is our neighborhood.”
Good lord. The high-handed oration and racism allegations are really a bit much. Here’s an easy-to-understand position: It would be nice to have something new that hasn’t already been done to death already in the neighborhood. If Clement Street was home to a dozen donut shops and someone proposed opening another donut shop… See where I’m going with this? Pretty simple, no?
Can some of you be any more like Family Guy and their “Hey look! Jacky Chan?” gag? As others have said, there are multitudes of Chinese cuisine, just like as with American cuisine. Also to note, shabu is Japanese.
Maybe your remarks aren’t racist, but they sure are culturally insensitive.
Howdy folks. I’m Ethan Hawke, and I sure do enjoy a nice glass of organic locally sourced mimosa on a parklet for brunch with my besties.
Does anybody remember when that spot used to be a Fish and Chips joint complete with arcade machines? Don’t worry. Vote with your dollar as will the rest of the community. Whatever fulfills the needs and desires of the community will last. Let’s celebrate that the space will be used instead of being left vacant like the Busvan spot.
Review of my trip to Mexico: Day 1 – Mexico is great, a little hot (couldn’t they do something about that?). But there sure are a lot of Mexicans around. Couldn’t they bring in a few African-Americans, you know, to help with the diversity? And so many Mexican restaurants! I would love it if something like State Bird Provisions would move in, then I would know I had moved to the right place. People who just want to eat Mexican food all day are so limited. I fear they are limiting themselves. Change is good, rent control is bad because if forces people like ME to pay more rent. And god know, the world could be a little easier on ME. I wish Mexico would just hurry up and gentrify. That would really satisfy my palate. And maybe then I could rent out the extra bedroom in my flat for two times what I pay for it (is that legal?). It’s so cute that the people who live here think they can still live here. After all, don’t they know Mexico is changing?
“Wow, this statement can be construed as racist.”
Or pro tater-tot. Definitely either racist or pro tater-tot. It’s such a fine line.
I don’t think racist really hits the mark. But I do think there is something very ignorant about white people bemoaning a new Chinese restaurant in the Richmond. It speaks to their lack of understanding of the neighborhood, and tunnel vision with regard to their own needs and preferences, perhaps. It’s very 2015 post-racial/ironic Gawker Vice Newsy. Another way of saying it would be, it just makes you sound like an ignorant prick.
seriously, another chinese restaurant? I was really hoping for a similar restaurant to Q. Or even a mexican restaurant. we are really missing a good mexican restaurant in the inner richmond.
i dont understand why comments are deemd racist from people who want more diversity in food. i always thought more diversity was considered less racist that less diversity. btw, the inner richmond is 45% white alone, 45% asian alone and 10% of other or mixed races. of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with people being dissapointed that we cant replace the Q like restuarant with another Q like restaurant. many of us just loved Q and feel like there are a lot of good chinese options already
i think the confusion here is what about the photo says it will be chinese restaurant? because there is a possibly asian looking woman in the picture? thats weird evidence. and she actually looks japanese
never liked that tree table
i don’t like the tenantimprovement hash tag not respectful of q
born in the rich
long live richmo
Per my comment above this one one can expand the Instagram comments and see it will be chinese
I wish it was not Asian food because there’s a lot of places to get that in the inner rich
I asked a worker inside the building. He said it will be a Mexican restaurant.