Came on a whim as we were visiting some friends nearby. I think the restaurant is catered more for delivery as there weren't too many people dining in, but they had a lot of takeout orders available. The restaurant name is a bit misleading as although they do have items like Xiao Long Bao, it's more a mixture of a variety of Chinese cuisine rather than Shanghainese. Food came out super quick! #4 Xiao Long Bao: Better than the frozen versions, but skin is on the thicker side. #19 Spicy Lamb Dumpling/#8 Spicy Chives &Shrimp Dumpling: Nice flavors for both, but again skin is on the thicker side. #65 Dan Dan Noodle / #64 Minced Pork Noodle (Zhajiangmian): To be honest, both of these tasted pretty similar with the former having a slightly nuttier taste. Flavors again were fine. #75 Eggplant / #84 Pea sprouts with garlic: The eggplant was a bit saucy and the pea sprouts were a little chewy, but flavors were on point. #115 Sweet and sour pork: I wished it was a bit less sweet and that they used less batter for the pork. #112 Fish fillet with pepper salt : Similarly, the fish was overbattered, but flavors were on point! I'm always irked when Chinese restaurants charge you for rice ($1.75/bowl) as I feel this is so essential to the meal especially when they don't state that they charge for it on the menu. Overall, the quality is on par with other Chinese restaurants in the area, but I wouldn't necessarily say any of the dishes were too memorable. read more

Food: 4/5 Service: 3/5 Ambiance: N/A Overall: A good option for soup dumplings and other specialties. The extended review... Food: Soup Dumplings: 4/5 - A must for this place. The issue may be the wait time when you do take out. It's definitely different when you are able to eat them fresh when they come out of the kitchen so that the wrapper doesn't break. ONE DAY... Snow Pea Shoots: 4/5 - Love this vegetable. I've always loved this as an option, It's tender and crunchy. Gotta eat your veggies. Beef Filet with Honey Sauce: 3.5/5 - Tastes good. If only portion could be a little more sizeable. Seems like more veggies than beef. Service: 3/5 - Standard Service read more

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You know when you eat a meal and know as soon as you take the first bite you're going to be thinking about it for a long time? That's this place. Owners are so nice and recognize their regulars. Some of the best food I've had in San Francisco in recent memory. read more

This is my local go-to spot for Chinese food, so I've been there a lot, surprised I haven't written a review before now since I've been going there for at least 7-8 years now. The food is excellent, I've never gotten anything I didn't like. Its also very high quality, I've eaten at probably every chinese restaurant in SF and this place is by far one of the best. The string beans are amazing, get them. The Spicy Wontons are one of my favorite dishes too. My kid will always eat the Shanghai Noodles so thats a top 5 dish as well. If you're looking for something off the beaten path - Spicy Tendon is excellent. read more

I was craving sheng jian bao (生煎包/pan fried pork bun) and this came as a recommendation by a local friend. I ordered multiple items and was excited for what they offered. I got the pan fried pork bun, Shanghai steamed dumpling, wontons in peanut sauce, and spicy bacon rice cakes. Pan fried pork bun/sheng jian bao/生煎包: really crispy with green onions on top. The meat to bun ratio is really off as the buns are predominantly bun. The meat doesn't have any extra flavor or soup which is usually accompanied with the buns. However, I really liked the crispyness and the buns itself. Shanghai steamed dumpling/XLB/小籠包: there wasn't much soup in the dumplings but the meat is flavored really well. It's kinda sweet but super juicy. Wontons in peanut sauce: meat is kind of plain and the peanut sauce is one dimensional - tastes like watery peanut butter. Spicy bacon rice cakes: bacon is really flavorful however the rice cakes could've been seasoned more. It may look super spicy and flavorful but it was kind of bland and not super spicy. I would've liked the rice cakes to be stir fried with other sauces (soy sauce? Etc) Overall, come here for the pan fried pork buns (but expect a low meat to bun ratio) and the Shanghai steamed dumpling. It is interesting that the pork for each product is different and flavored differently but overall not bad. This place hits the spot for those two items considering the lack of shanghainese food in the area. read more

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第一次点，锅贴和红油抄手可谓是惊为天人。 首先两者都内馅儿松散柔软，湿润，肉质细嫩，香滑，不是那种里面一颗肉丸的常见饺子，是我喜欢的类型。 红油抄手里的酱汁调得特别好，可以说是惊艳。花生酱浓稠油润，细腻，带出红油辣味的底调。上面撒了一点脆口的酸甜小咸菜和葱花，丰富了口感也中和了乏腻。抄手本身我个人感觉是我吃过最好吃的抄手。 锅贴煎得刚刚好，皮薄馅大，一口下去先是撕咬开柔韧轻薄的表皮，一点酥脆，外加一点新揉的面那种软糯和筋道，接着汁水充盈的内馅带着肉香占领了整个口腔。配了一小份带着隐约柑橘香味的调味醋，不会过酸或浓，和锅贴配在一起口味平衡得很好。 牛腩面相比起来就乏善可陈了，首先表扬肉特别多，吃到最后全是肉，但我个人感觉牛腩本身火候不足，有点费牙，调味也不是我想象中的hot and spicy，只是普通的诸侯牛腩味道。蛋面也是普通水平，汤底偏甜，上面漂一层并不够凸显出辣味的红油，本身不是鲜或者老火煲过的味道，大概率只是调味汤。里面的菠菜倒是很新鲜。 总体来说，功大于过，值得五星，非常期待下次尝试水饺。 read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - 62. Hot and Spicy Beef Stew in Noodles Soup/ 2. Spicy Wonton/ 13. Pot Stickers/ - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Literally the best dumplings I've ever had in my life. I travel from oakland to eat these regularly. These dumplings made my INCREDIBLY picky child who only ever wants to eat pizza eat dumplings. I looooove Shanghai dumpling king! Our favorites are : Spicy peanut dumplings Pork boa Soup dumplings Potstickers But honestly everything is delicious. read more

I ordered potstickers, wontons, and meatballs. All the same verdict: worse than mediocre. Why? They changed the filling somewhere along the way. It used to be tastier because they used to put in more pork. Now it's too starchy - most likely a result of cost-cutting. If you want better wontons and potstickers, check out Hon's Wonton House. Delicious to the point of addictive, because they don't cut corners on the ingredients. The only con is their broth tends to be too salty, but I just dilute it. read more

I would give this place a 3.5 stars, but I'll round it down to 3 because there are some better options in SF/Peninsula, but this is a good spot in this neighborhood. The restaurant is old and maybe not the prettiest but the food that we had was food. It seems to be a neighborhood staple and the staff knew some of the regulars who were there for lunch. We had the Shanghai Stir Fried Rice Cakes and Soup Dumplings. - The stir-fried rice cakes is my usual go to dish at these types of restaurants. The rice cakes were nicely chewy and the sauce was a little sweet for me. I normally like It be more savory and more soy-sauce flavored, but it was cooked nicely. I also wished it had more of the veggies. - The soup dumplings are filled to the brim. They definitely had more meat than a lot of other places I've been to. I was afraid it would be too dry, but it was moist and there was a lot of soup in the dumpling. A pretty good, warm little package of food. There are lots of these types of restaurants in the city, so there is some competition, for sure. However, if you're in the area or it's close by, you can definitely try it to satisfy your craving for soup dumplings! read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - 4. Shanghai Steamed Dumpling - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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5:15 Monday Memorial Day party of 4. Parking might take a bit of time as there are many restaurants in the area. Service was excellent! Food came out quickly. Everyone was so nice offering suggestions and checking back often. It was obvious by the banter that there were regulars in the house. They mentioned never seeing us there before and were very welcoming of our first visit. We ordered double spicy won tons and double xlb. Our server recommended the special chicken lollipops and did not steer us wrong. She also suggested we order some veggies which we later did and also got a recommendation from one of the other 2 gentleman that helped. It was almost a full. House when we left at 6:15. Looking forward to trying other dishes here. We will be back. In total we ordered 6 dishes for $56 pre tip with leftovers. read more

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There are very few restaurants I would drive out of the city for but this is definitely one! A friend showed us this place and we had a large group so we ordered about 18 dishes. You honestly can't go wrong, everything was amazing. Only thing I wish they had was sake but the food made up for it. read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Got a doordash order of spicy wonton, pot stickers, hot and sour soup, and Shanghai noodles for my partner and I. Man-- this place deserves a negative score. Spicy wonton: 1/5 -- there's too much bad stuffing for seasame oil or filling. It tastes like peanut butter wontons. Gross. Pot stickers 1/5 -- decent skin but the filling is mush? There's no taste of pork or something is really off. The texture is really off putting. Hot and Sour soup 2/5 -- it's HOT and ... sour. Reason it's docked 3 points is due to the sheer amount of hot peppers in here. Can't taste anything. Shanghai noodles 2/5 -- overcooked and noodles are all broken. Oily and cannot eat anything at the bottom. I'm throwing the rest away. I was starving but even with starvation, the food wasn't appetizing and I ate out of necessity. Good Luck. read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - 13. Pot Stickers/Shanghai Stir Fried Noodles Shanghai Style/Hot and Sour Soup/2. Spicy Wonton/ - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

The bf and I have been on a XLB kick lately looking for great ones. The search continues. We went to Shanghai Dumpling King. I'd been to their other (now closed) location before for a friend's bday years ago bc it was his favorite restaurant and I recalled liking whatever we'd gotten except it was so long ago I forgot what we'd gotten haha. We started with the spicy wonton which actually isn't very spicy. It also has a peanut sauce which isn't in the description on the menu but luckily we were prepared for after seeing it in some reviews. The sauce was quite good (and I even dipped some of my greens in it later) and this was my favorite dish of what we ordered. We wanted to get a veggie dish and went with the pea sprouts with garlic sauce which tasted good. For the main event, we got the regular XLB and the crab and pork XLB. I was slightly disconcerted by how sweet the XLB tasted, especially the regular ones. The crab and pork ones were better by virtue of not being as sweet. The dough was also a bit on the thick side. The XLB were also huge! I like having the option of being able to eat one whole so the soup explodes in my mouth but these are probably a two bite effort. On the plus size you get a lot of bang for hour buck here since the XLB are so big and you get 8 for a cheaper price than other places. If I'm craving XLB though, this isn't gonna be one of the first places that comes to mind unless I'm desperate. If I'm craving a peanut sauce though, then it might be a contender to make the cut haha. read more

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This place was amazing! Walked in looking for some dim sum and they did not disappoint. Everything we tried was so flavorful and delicious. The waiter/owner was very kind and helped to point out some of his favorite dishes. Will definitely come back read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - a plate of dumplings and a glass of wine - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

For the past few years, whenever we visit family in San Francisco, we get takeout from Shanghai Dumpling King because the dumplings and potstickers are consistently excellent. Some of our favorites are: - Shanghai Dumpling - Beijing Dumpling - spicy lamb - veggie dumpling - veggie potsticker - potstickers We also love the pea shoots, which are lightly flavored. Whenever we order a large order it is usually ready within 15 minutes. read more

It was super basic. I wished they put more love into their food because it wasn't bad it just wasn't great. We had soup dumplings, pea shoots, green onion pancake, shrimp pot stickers. All about on the same par. Good tea though. read more

They just got a new banner :), I am happy they are still in business. I appreciate the staff and it is very family friendly environment. The food is absolutely delicious every time, and they always get the order correct. read more

Lots of dumpling options at a reasonable price. I got delivery, so learned that some items travel well while others don't. Huge disappointment that the Shanghai dumplings lost their "soup" during the travels, but at least other menu items were still ok. Shanghai Steamed Dumplings: These do not travel well for delivery. When they arrive, all the "soup" is gone. Some absorbed into the dough to make it limp and soggy and rest congealing near the meat. As a soup-less soup dumpling, it's not that good. Spicy Lamb Dumplings: The best of the batch. The dumpling dough was supple and chewy. The lamb inside was delicious. The outside layer of fried garlic and chili oil was so tasty. Big fan! Pan Fried Pork Buns: The sear managed to be somewhat crispy after surviving the delivery journey, though probably not as crispy as right out of the kitchen. It was really doughy compared to the amount of meat inside. Guess that's why it's called a bun rather than a potsticker. The meat filling was tasty though. read more

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Dumplings were all excellent - waiter recommended the pea sprouts which were delicious. Wonton soup was a little too salty and I've had better green onion pancakes but overall very nice meal! read more

This place was delicious!! No frills kind of place. Order the spicy wontons and Shanghai dumplings. The spicy wontons are mixed in a peanut butter, chili sauce mix, topped with season seeds. The meat to dough ratio was perfect with the right flavoring. The Shanghai dumplings were extremely juicy, not dry at all. The green onion pancake was interesting, not as oniony and you'd expect but more of a nice thin crunchy bread. Still recommend trying. We also ordered the spicy beef soup which was pretty basic but good. Glad I found a new dumpling spot in the city. Super cheap prices. For four dishes our bill ended up being only $38 including tip and tax. You can also order for takeout and delivery. Fast service once you're seated; however if you're going on weekend, there can be a short wait. They seem short on waiting staff and so it did take some time to get seated but the staff was very friendly and nice. Parking - Somewhat difficult. The area is mostly residential so a lot of spots are occupied but you can get lucky parking a 2-3 blocks away. read more

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Friendly service, generous portions and super yummy! We been here many times over the years and they never fail to deliver a great meal.

Came here around 7ish since we were craving some soup dumplings and this local place did not disappoint! Despite the massive amount of takeout orders they were doing, the food came out quickly (every single dish was piping hot)! Food was very tasty and the staff also spoke Cantonese. All the food was a good price. Would definitely recommend this place to satisfy any dumpling craving! read more

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Ahhhh! First time trying this place and sorry to say it's also my first 3 star review, well... 3.5. Nooooo! I didn't want to, but I have to be honest with y'all. Here's the good: 1. Called the restaurant to check if online order went through, and the guy answering the phone was the nicest! He even laughed at how much I ordered (me too my friend, me too.) 2. Yelp delivery was easy to use, got our food very fast (less than 30 mins), AND food was still hot. 3. Spicy Wonton, very yummy! 4 . The green beans and broccoli in the Beef & Broccoli were good. All about the texture here, so I can appreciate the firm veggies vs the soggy-ness. But more on the food itself... Honestly, this place might've received 4 stars if I did better research and got only dumplings? We were so hungry, we just ordered our "essential" Chinese take out items and sprinkled in a new dish or two. Stir Fried Noodles were rather bland, Walnut Prawns weren'tflavorful, and the pork buns weren't anything too exciting. && For A Spicy Alert! The hot & sour soup was more super hot than sour. Which is saying a lot because I'm half Sri-Lankan, I can handle my spice. Maybe the chef was heavy handed on the chili pepper today? Overall taste was alright. Cliff notes: Just get the dumplings, (I mean hence the name), and save your usual, essential, Chinese take out food items for your regular spot. read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - Star of the show.. Spicy Wonton - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

This was more of a 3.5/5. Our server was friendly and offered us suggestions on how much food to get and recommendations. We ended up getting the soup dumplings, spicy lamb dumplings, spicy tendon, and mixed vegetable soup for two people. The soup dumplings were pretty average--decent but nothing to write home about. The lamb dumplings had a good flavor and was probably my favorite of the dishes we had. The spicy tendon was a bit underwhelming; it wasn't very spicy and could use a bit more flavor, but there were some carrot and cucumber mixed in, which other places don't usually have. The mixed vegetable soup was just something to fill us up, since we didn't want a heartier dish. I would normally opt to get something else. Might stop by if I was in the area, but I wouldn't really make a trek out here just for the food. Also don't be like us and not realize there was a backside to their menus lol. They have rice and noodle dishes in the back as well. read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - Spicy lamb dumplings, spicy tendon, mixed vegetable soup - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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The Shanghai Dumpling is very delicious , waiters super nice I like the service very much

Shanghai Dumpling King has never been the best Shanghai food I've had but it's always been good enough in a pinch. But this time, it was just abysmal and that was pretty sad to see. We began our meal with the green onion pancake. Instead of being multi-layered with just a bit of elasticity in the bite, it was as crisp as a cracker and dry. It also had a really weird aftertaste. It's never a good sign when you crave green onion pancakes from the frozen aisle over this version. Next up was the dumplings in seafood soup. This was actually pretty decent - shrimp, calamari, bamboo shoots, shitake mushrooms and a fair number of dumplings made up this soup. Next came the dan dan noodles which were an absolute travesty. The noodles were so thin and essentially weighted down by the sauce which didn't impart the delicious spicy/nutty flavors that you would expect. Overall, the dish was just gummy and not appealing. As for the stir-fried rice cakes, there wasn't enough oil in my opinion. The rice cakes suck together in towers. Also, instead of using napa, they used green cabbage which definitely made a difference as well. Luckily, our last two dishes did provide a bit of redemption. The XLB was still good and the potstickers were also pretty decent in my opinion. I almost feel like it'll have to be a pretty dire day before I choose to return any time soon. read more

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Really bad food. Ordered egg foo young and orange peel beef through foodee. Both were more than 50% batter. Some of the "beef" pieces you couldn't even see much less taste the beef. The egg foo young is clearly more than half batter as you can see from the picture. read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - Egg foo young - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Sooo yummy! I definitely recommend trying this place out. The dumplings were so delicious. We ate them all up right away. The fried rice, Shanghai noodles, pork buns, and general's chicken, also very tasty. We had some leftovers of those that were still great the next afternoon for lunch. Not a super fancy restaurant but that's how you know it's gonna be good. I can't wait to come back here! read more

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Everyone in my house loves Shanghai dumpling king! Plenty of food for a great price. We always end up with leftovers and ordering too many dishes. Eggplant, buns, chicken and beef dishes and the fried rice are the go to. Love trying new dishes from here! read more

Big fan, but order what they excel at: they have an extensive menu. Love their dumplings - soup, wonton, spicy, pork, lamb. I always ordered a bunch of veggies, notably the bean sprouts, bok Choi and eggplant; veggie mapo tofu is a nice addition also. Noodles: I go Dan Dan, they don't seem to be wok heavy in cooking so fried rice and stir fry I stay away from. Would never order general Tso's or anything like that - it's not an American Chinese restaurant, don't expect them to make sweet and sour chicken. Ask what you would enjoy and they'll give you suggestions, sometimes they'll push one more dish, but if you joke around with them they'll bring out some treats. read more

Delicious!!! Food was fantastic. Prepared beautifully. Delivered nice and hot. Sam (server) was incredible. Hosted and served the entire room with the utmost in graciousness, hospitality, and exemplary service. Looking forward to returning soon read more

Food: **** Service: **** Second visit here and did not dissapoint. Good food and fast service. SLB is not the best but still good. Both broccoli and pea sprouts were good addition to the meal. Chow fun had subtle smokey flavor which was nice. My party voted for spicy chives dumpling over the steamed soup dumpling (SLB). Take ride share if you can since you may not find parking easily there. Parking was definitely the hardest part of the meal. Enjoy. read more

Shanghai Dumpling King - Shanghainese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I ordered delivery from here the last time, but figured the food would have tasted a lot better if we ate it in person, especially the xiao long baos. So we tried it again the other day. We ordered their spicy wontons, xlbs, and dan dan noodles. I really like their xiao long baos here with the vinegar/ginger dipping sauce. The skin looked a little thick, but it was actually not too bad. The xlbs were the only things I really enjoyed. The chili wontons were laying over mixture of a spicy sauce and peanut sauce or sesame sauce. I didn't really like how it tasted.. too peanut-y for me. I was hoping for something more spicy. The dan dan noodles were okay. They could've been a little more spicy as well. It wasn't bad given that I would come here again to try other things on their menu! read more

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Great dumplings, great service. What a fun night. Went on a Sunday night, was seated at 8pm and our table was fully served by 8:13pm. We had the spicy wonton w/ peanut sauce (highly recommend!), Shanghai steamed dumpling (soup dumpling, also highly recommend! A tasty pork dumpling with yummy broth), vegetarian steamed dumpling (decent), green onion pancake (decent and shareable), and sugar egg puff (lightweight and airy, I recommend!). read more

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It physically pains me to give this place anything less than a 5, but I'm hoping that being transparent about my experience might be helpful. I've been waiting almost TWO YEARS to go back to Shanghai Dumpling King. Their location on Balboa was much loved by my friends and myself, and every time I came to the city I would eat about 20% of my body weight in their spicy pork and chive dumplings and their XLB. I've eaten at this location twice now- once for takeout, once for dine in- and it's just not the same. Both times I had a lot of rips in my XLB and the pork dumplings didn't taste as bright and fresh as the other location. When I did takeout this last time, both dumplings tasted pretty flat- the pork and chive ones especially. I didn't get any of the vinegar that I would normally put on them either which I really enjoy. Altogether I'd eat here again because the dumplings are still good, but I might not *exclusively* eat here during future visits. read more

XLB here is as good as I've had it anywhere. Spicy Wontons were also very good but a little different from most places: it comes drenched in spicy peanut sauce which is delicious. We also ordered chicken fried rice which was also really good and complimented the XLB and Spicy Wontons very well. All this came out within 10 minutes and it was about $25 (not including tip). Comolimentary hot tea as well! From the outside of the restaurant (and even from the inside), this place does not look very appealing but don't judge a book by its cover! I would definitely be back! read more

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The dumplings here I would say are the best that I've tried in SF. Would give this spot a 5/5 but the staff are all over the place and don't pay much attention to you. Once I waited 45 minutes for a to-go order. read more

This was a Shanghai surprise , since I found out the original location was closed. This location is on Monterey street which is closer to my neck of the woods. I was happy to find out they had the Shanghai dumplings along with the chives dumplings. I will try this place again since the location on Balboa Avenue is closed. read more

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I first ordered from here through UberEats and was a fan of their dumplings and the price. My first time there for a sit-down experience, I noticed that one half of the restaurant had a long line for UberEats drivers to hang out and a stack of dumpling orders in to go boxes waiting to be delivered. Since they have partnered up with UberEats and Caviar, their website actually has a very nice menu layout where you can see the prices and pictures of each item. Much more useful in helping me determine what to order if I can see what it will look like. My favorites are the spicy wontons. If you're getting their spicy wonton or their spicy dumplings, you don't need to dip it in any additional soy sauce or dipping sauce. Why? Because the dumplings are already SAUCY. They're so saucy that they're straight up sassing you in the face. SPICY WONTON Extra saucy. A spicy sauce with a deep peanut sauce taste embedded. Wrapped in thin wonton skin. Could probably eat two orders of this. SPICY CHIVES AND PORK DUMPLING Wrapped in a thicker dumpling skin. Because of the thicker skin, it's kinda doughy and is not as flavorful compared to the wontons. Similar to spicy wonton but less saucy. BEEF FILLET WITH HONEY SAUCE Beef was tender and delicious with the sauce and veggies. Need a bowl of rice to go with it. read more

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Came to this location after other location closed on Balboa. Parking is pretty bad near this restaurant. This location is noisy because of the low ceilings, the other location had real high ceilings so the sound didn't seem as bad. Okay here's the good and not so good's, this restaurant still has XLB on the menu but the number is less, the skin is still pretty good but the stuffing is different, it does not seem to have as much vegetables in the mixture. The vinegar is different, the vinegar they use is a milder vinegar and it's a little sweeter. We also ordered the won ton soup, it's rather generic with no greens or vegetables in it. Also ordered was the pea shoots. It's woked with garlic and the nice thing about this dish is they did not add a lot of salt so you can season it to your own liking. I will be back, but I will bring my own vinegar. Great place if you have a urge for XLB Well, I'm back to give this place another go at it. Their XLB is much better this time and most importantly their vinegar is the good stuff again but, instead of slivers of ginger, they are using ground ginger, not as good as slivers of ginger. I also ordered their twice cooked pork dish, it had cabbage and some bell peppers, not too bad. Also ordered a shrimp dumpling dish. read more

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