Mister Jiu's
French wine meets Chinatown's most ambitious kitchen
Chinatown · San Francisco · American, Chinese · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 10, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
Walking into 28 Waverly Place, you don't expect to find a Burgundy-leaning wine list tucked inside one of Chinatown's most striking dining rooms — but here we are. The list is compact and deliberately French, which sounds limiting until you realize how well that plays against Brandon Jew's Chinese-American cooking. It's a curatorial move, not a lazy one.
Selection Deep Dive
The list runs 150-250 bottles and plants its flag firmly in France — Alsace, Champagne, the Loire, and the Northern Rhône all show up with intention, and there's serious Burgundy representation in the mix. Alsatian Riesling and Gewurztraminer are smart choices here: aromatic, slightly off-dry whites that can handle the complexity of ma po tofu or wok-fried crab without flinching. The Northern Rhône Syrah angle is a strong call for anyone who wants red wine with bold, spiced food. What's missing is any meaningful nod to other Old World regions or California producers, which feels like a conscious editorial choice rather than an oversight.
By the Glass
Ten to sixteen options by the glass is a respectable range for a restaurant of this size, and at $14-$22 a pour, the program lands in the upper-middle tier of San Francisco pricing. We'd want to see more rotation here to keep regulars engaged, but the core selection tracks well with the bottle list's French focus.
Alsatian Riesling — $14
At the low end of the by-the-glass range, an Alsatian Riesling is the smartest spend on the menu — it bridges the gap between the kitchen's spice and the wine's natural acidity without fighting either.
Northern Rhône Syrah
Most guests reaching for red wine with Chinese-American food will hesitate, but a Northern Rhône Syrah — smoky, peppery, structured — is exactly what the char siu Berkshire pork is waiting for. Nobody orders it. They should.
Champagne selections
Champagne is always a marketer's dream at restaurants, and at a price range topping out at $250, the high-end Champagne bottles here carry the steepest relative markup on the list. Order one if it's a celebration; otherwise, redirect that budget toward a serious Burgundy or a Rhône.
Alsatian Gewurztraminer + Quail and foie gras egg tart
Gewurztraminer's lychee and rose petal aromatics and its slight residual sweetness make it a natural foil for the richness of foie gras and the delicate savory shell of the egg tart — it's one of those combinations that makes you stop mid-bite.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Mister Jiu's doesn't try to do everything with its wine list — it does one thing (France) with focus and a clear point of view. If you're eating in Chinatown and want a real wine experience to match one of SF's most exciting kitchens, this is the room.
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