The Best Dim Sum in San Francisco: A Local’s Guide to Where to Go and What to Order
Discover the best dim sum in San Francisco with a local Chinese chef's guide to top spots, must-order dishes and essential dim sum etiquette.
Discover the best dim sum in San Francisco with a local Chinese chef's guide to top spots, must-order dishes and essential dim sum etiquette.
Dim sum is a millennia-old Chinese tradition. If you haven’t tried it before, think of it like tapas meets British afternoon tea: Dim sum consists of small dishes with 3-4 pieces, intended to be shared over tea. Originating thousands of years ago, it took off particularly in the south of China in Canton, where they call it "yum cha" in Cantonese (literally translating to "drink tea").
Today, San Francisco is one of the best places outside of Asia for authentic dim sum, thanks to its rich Chinese heritage and thriving culinary scene. This guide covers everything you need to know — from where to find the best dim sum in San Francisco to what to order and what to skip.
Build your Crew
Dim sum is meant to be a shared experience. The ideal table is 4–8 people — too few and you won’t sample enough variety, too many and it gets chaotic fast.
Where to Find the Best Dim Sum in San Francisco
I've written an article about my favorite Chinese restaurants in San Francisco, but for dim sum specifically, these are my go-to spots:
Try a few different places to appreciate how each chef and restaurant puts their own spin on dim sum classics.
Cart or No Cart?
Growing up, I would see dim sum be pushed around in carts or brought on trays in big batches. At one classic establishment in Hong Kong, Lin Heung Tea House, people literally sprint for the newest dishes. In San Francisco, though, many restaurants have moved to made-to-order service. That’s a good thing — dim sum is best when fresh, and cart items can sit for too long and cool off.
When to go for Dim Sum in SF
At a good dim sum restaurant, you'll see old folks reading newspapers, sipping tea, and nibbling on their dishes, checking in with their family once in a while. Dim sum traditionally starts around 10am and runs through early afternoon. Treat it like brunch: the sweet spot is around 11am. Popular spots like Hong Kong Lounge and Lai Hong Lounge fill up fast, so expect a wait — and trust me, it’s worth it.
Here's the Tea
Dim sum is traditionally eaten with tea to help digest everything (you may find some dishes to be quite oily!). The typical is black O'long tea, but you can opt for a caffeine-free chrysanthemum tea: Just order "jewe-hua" (or, if you want to really impress, order “geh-bao” which is chrysanthemum mixed with black tea). When someone pours you tea, you should knock your pointer and middle fingers on the table three times — this is symbolic of the time when ancient Chinese would bow to the emperors in gratitude for giving them tea.
When judging a dim sum restaurant’s quality, these are the three classics you need to try:
Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings, pronounced "hah gow")
Har gow are dumplings of shrimp and bamboo wrapped in a dough made of rice flour (which is from pounded-down dry sticky rice). Sounds simple — but these three characteristics define a good har gow, and by extension, the chef and restaurant:
A wrapper that holds together when you pick it up indicates attention. When you pick up the har gow, the skin should not rip at the bottom. If it does, it was steamed too long, pre-heated rather than made-to-order, or the stuffing started to soak the wrapper before it was cooked.
A wrapper that is thin and well-pleated indicates skill. Thick skins are easier to roll out and close but fill you up quickly and have less room for stuffing (the best part!). The more pleats you can see, the more likely you’re having the har gow from a skilled chef who distributes the surface area of the wrapper to catch more sauce. What you don’t want is a thick, dense top, throwing off the shrimp-to-wrapper balance.
A crunchy filling indicates quality. Good, fresh shrimp is plump, crunchy to the bite. There may be some hints of sweetness. You want to see a bamboo stick, which keeps the inside most without turning everything soggy. You’ll know a chef has taken shortcuts when the inside is a pasty mush: low quality, long-frozen shrimp, additives like corn starch to keep it moist, and a lack of bamboo saves on time and cost.
An example of thick-skinned, doughy har gow from Good Mong Kok in Chinatown.
Shiu Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumplings, pronounced “shew my”)
Shiu mai are ground pork and shrimp inside in an egg-based wrapper, and finished with marine roe on top. The complexity and layers behind this dish can be a great indicator of the quality of the dim sum restaurant you’re at, as there are many ways to take shortcuts on this dish. Use this criteria to judge a good shiu mai:
Using real roe, like salmon or crab roe, indicate attention. A lot of restaurants will use food coloring to mimic the orange roe. Real roe will pop and burst with flavor when you take your first bite.
A thin, moist wrapper around the pork indicates skill. Pre-made egg wrappers will be drier than freshly made ones, as they require preservatives and corn starch to last longer. They are also thicker than a hand-rolled wrapper. You’ll be able to tell visually from its thickness alone; the more translucent skins provide a moist wrapper around the pork.
A crunchy and juicy shrimp and pork stuffing indicates quality. Just like har gow, you want the shrimp mixed with the pork to have a plump, crunchy texture to the bite. The pork, if sourced well, will not be overly fatty and have a balance of flavor from a light use of soy sauce. The best cuts of pork to use in this would be shoulder or butt.
An example of well-made shiu mai with fresh crab roe on top at Palette Tea House at Ghirardelli Square.
Cheung Fun (Rice Noodle Rools, pronounced “tsung fen”)
Otherwise known as rice rolls, cheung fun can have a number of different stuffings, from the most common, shrimp, to barbecued pork, to something more complex, like you tiao (“yo tiao”), or a Chinese donut. The outside is made with rice flour, as a thin layer steamed before it’s used for wrapping. The end result is a layered dish that will be begging for some sauce. After it’s steamed, the server will finish it with a slightly sweet, mostly savory, diluted soy sauce.
A good sauce indicates attention. This article details what makes a good soy sauce — long story short, soy sauce should not be dominantly salty in flavor. And the server should go light on the sauce! It’s not intended to be drenched in soy sauce, otherwise it will mask the flavor of the filling.
A thin wrapper indicates skill. You want the rice roll on the outside to be a skirt that drapes over the stuffing. If it still has uneven ridges, you’ll know the skin was pulled fresh off a steamer before stuffing. If it’s thick, taut and a solid white, the restaurant used a pre-made rice roll.
A fresh filling indicates quality. Just like every other dim sum, you don’t want a filling that’s mushy, runny, or loose. A shrimp that is plump; barbecued pork that is moist; a crispy, made-to-order yo tiao, are all signs that it is a quality stuffing.
An example of well-made, thin rice noodles draping over a beef and egg stuffing at Rice Noodle Express in Chinatown.
Some other favorites:
Baby pea shoots (“doe miao”), a delicacy because each pea leaf should be plucked off from the more fibrous stem. The usual preparation is a quick blanche with a light dressing of oil drizzled to finish. An easy way to tell if you have a bad batch is if it is tough, stringy and chewy — this means the pea shoots have been left to wilt in the fridge a day too long, or were purchased when they were past peak harvest time.
Preserved egg & chicken porridge (“pee-dan solo jook”). The porridge should not be too watery, indicating a lack of rice, or too thick, indicating an over-use of cornstarch.
BBQ Pork Buns (“cha-shew bao”), which come in a baked (ideally in a pineapple bread) or steamed (white bun) variety. These are delicious but be careful not to eat too many, as you’ll be stuffed!
Feeling adventurous? Try ordering:
Fried taro root balls
Egg custard buns
Sticky rice in lotus leaf (these are also very filling, careful)
Turnip cakes
Generally shy away from deep-fried dishes, like egg rolls, calamari, and fried shrimp balls. These are not only non-nutritional fillers, preventing you from trying the better items, but often will come out soggy because the kitchen’s priority is to steam, not fry.
And, most importantly: This may be counter-intuitive but dim sum is not the place to order dumplings. These will never be made fresh or to order, and often just frozen, pre-made dumplings in sad aluminum tins with no juice when they’re inevitably over-steamed. For most dim sum restaurants, these pork dumplings are quick money-makers.
Typical thick-skinned, broken and shriveled "soup" dumplings served in tin-trays at House of Dim Sum in Chinatown.
Final Thoughts
Dim sum is a ritual, a community gathering, and a celebration of flavors. Whether you’re new to it or looking for the best dim sum in San Francisco, this guide has you covered.
- Eddie Lo, with Tiago Raposo, June 2025