http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/san-francisco-at-christmas-time-172484-2.cfm

If it's good weather, I'd start at Fort Mason and walk to the Warming Hut and back - about 5-6 miles round-trip.

Having dim sum on Christmas day is a popular activity.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2012/02/san_franciscos_top_10_dim_sum.php

I recommend Yank Sing if downtown, or take the 38 Geary bus to go to Ton Kiang.

>>I'd start at Fort Mason and walk to the Warming Hut and back >>>

I would keep on going past the Warming Hut to Ft Point. If the surf is "up" - watch the surfers. Then go over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Stu Dudley

Just a few observations.

IMHO, Christmas time isn't the time one thinks of dim sum, maybe Chinese New Year's would be more appropriate. Christmas time is more like egg nog, turkey, buche de noel, Christmas cookies - but to each his/her own.

Of the 10 supposedly "top" dim sum places in San Francisco, some of them are pretty far from the "top".

At the very bottom would be "Shanghai Dumpling King". A couple of years ago, Fodorite Shanghainese and I tried this place - both of us would say this is a definitely no-no place. I believe we've tried just about every Shanghai restaurant in SF and the best would be the tiny Shanghai House on Balboa.

The second place to avoid is Great Eastern in Chinatown. Recently, its fame rests on Obama having stopped there. The quality of the food is wildly erratic - there are so many better Chinese restaurants around.

Ton Kiang is really a Hakka restaurant and we have not been impressed with their dim sum.

Of the others, the most non-Chinese-user-friendly is Yank Sing but their prices are probably the highest of any dim sum restaurant. My recollection is that the portions at the Hong Kong Lounge are smaller but I haven't been back for some time.

Koi Palace remains our favorite but it's in Daly City.

South Sea is very, very good, although it doesn't have carts.

*****
Last but not least, if you're going to be staying in the Fisherman's Wharf area, you may want to attend Christmas mass in the beautiful Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Little Italy (North Beach):

http://www.sspeterpaulsf.org/church/

And I was not impressed by the rolling dim sum carts at Koi Palace although the special orders were fabulous.

Dim sum has been a Christmas tradition with us for at least 15 years. And we are not the only ones. Arrive at Ton Kiang at noon, and there will be a wait for a table.

Dim sum and opening day of Les Miz the movie - sounds perfect!

We usually take in a movie afterward.