Saturday, August 17, 2013
Day with the Honmas and Nancy. I was preparing breakfast when I received notice that they were a few minutes away from picking me up, so I put my granola and diced royal gala apple in a chinese to go box and ate it while we drove to the Presidio for Family Kite Day Festival. Several hundred people attended this event which was moved from (I believe) Chrissy Field to Main Post due to the America's Cup event. We ate and drank well, both free and paid food and drink from festival vendors, including Hint flavored waters, BBQ pork sandwiches, savory and sweet empanadas, CLIF bars, kettle corn. The day was mostly sunny with some overcast skies. Wind strength varied greatly throughout the day. One minute there were several dozen kites in the sky, and the next minute only two. The kids made their own kites at the Walt Disney Make-a-kite Pavilion. Activities included making a small kite, flying a kite, making a pinwheel, walking a tightrope (or rather a modern kind of tape that acted as a tightrope but I don't know what you call it), face painting, watching House of Air staff bounce on a trampoline, receiving a duck caller from a person dressed as a duck working for a company that sold window remodels, and the catch-the-kite-tail contest. At around 1:00 PM we walked closer to the marina to see if we could watch today's America's Cup race. I watched for a bit but after seeing nothing interesting I accidentally fell asleep on the ground in the sun while the others watched nearby. My sister woke me some time later, maybe less than an hour. Afterwards it was time for their customary San Francisco ice cream experience, Ghirardelli Square. Along the way the group changed plans and we instead drove to Polly Ann's Ice Cream for a quieter, faster, simpler ice cream experience. Parking was free and about 50 yards away. Lani got Four Cs (cherry, chocolate, champagne, and something else), Nancy got black sesame, Kiana got a milkshake made with root beer ice cream, Jeremy got bumpy freeway (rocky road), I got cherry vanilla, and I can't remember what everyone else got. We then bought pastries at Cafe Bakery then drove to San Tung where we had dinner. The meal was delicious but the service was awful. Yes, the service is frequently unpleasant at San Tung, but this was worse than normal. Our order of steamed rice did not come out even after all our dishes were delivered, and even after we notified wait staff of this error. Some time after the second time we reported the error it was eventually delivered to a table next to us before that table rejected it and we flagged down the deliverator and we finally received it. Nancy had ordered chicken wings to go, and they were delivered to another table next to us who left it behind after they paid their check, arose, and left. The order was taken back to the kitchen, and we spent the next 15 minutes trying to resolve the problem. Lani asked for a refill of hot tea twice before it arrived. Our server never returned to our area after taking our order. Other wait staff ignored us when we had our hands in the air. Other tables around us were in similar straits; hands in the air, complaints of "where is my check?", waiting lengthily for to go boxes or water or tea. During this fiasco there was a constant crowd of people waiting to get in, and I don't understand why people put up with such awful service. The food here is good, but it's not so good that you should endure this service. By the end of our meal I distrusted the staff so much that I double-checked their work at every step: did we get the right leftovers back? did we get the right order to go? We never received fortune cookies, but other diners did. This place is awful and I vow to never return. We ate won ton soup, two orders of chicken wings, black bean noodles with seafood, beef with snow peas, mixed vegetables, steamed white rice, and maybe one or two dishes I can't recall. Afterwards we returned to my place. Nancy picked up the suitcase she dropped off in the morning. The Honmas gave me beautiful, firm tomatoes from their front yard garden as well as two electronic candles from Mom and Dad. Late meal at home: leftover saffron rice with leftover kashmiri chicken sauce.