Long Xing Ji

Not bad but not the original taste of Wuxi. My hometown is Wuxi, the special dumping there is really tasty.

LOVE this place, but they really need to hire more people! There is always a wait time to place the order, to get everything, but it is NOT the servers’ fault. They were just busy running around; usually just 2 servers.
Sweet pork XLB is my all time favorite, shrimp is the second. not a big fan of the crab flavor ones; it is a bit seafood smell…
Another must have is the steamed egg, they must have the magic recipe to make it sooo smooth and so yummy!
I wish XLB is low in crabs so I can eat it Everyday!

For the San Gabriel Valley? so disappointing!
$ 40 for 3 in this neighborhood, it better be good. But alas, it was far from and I was just sad to have wasted a meal of my short stay in SoCal here.
Smoked fish: traditionally a Shanghainese dish. It was mediocre but really, just too sweet. For $ 9 and change, I expected a bit more.
Shrimp Soup Dumplings: The skin was good, there was a whole shrimp in each of these, and really was the only «good» thing of our meal. At about $ 1 a piece, a little pricey, but hell they make it in front of you so it is what it is.
Chow Mein: Way too salty, little meat/​seafood, just overall kind of a rip off. The portions were a little small too and it took a little forcing to finish.
Kung Pao Chicken: I think Panda Express would have been better and I will leave it at that.

Food was aite… Two starring since I most likely wouldn’t come back. Initially, we came by this plaza to hit dim sum but the line was chaos and we were strapped for time. Since we typically don’t see too many soup dumpling spots in Chicago, we decided to give this one a try after walking by it once or twice.
We tried their house chow mein, Kung pao chicken, smoked fish, and 9 shrimp soup dumplings to split between three people. Definitely enough food for three, and had to bring home some leftovers. Their chow mein was pretty salty and quite greasy. Would probably pass on this one. The Kung pao chicken was standard. Nothing fancy but everything you would expect from a Kung pao chicken. Smoked fish was pretty annoying to eat. It was served in this dark marinade seasoning, but come to eating it there were so many fish bones to pick out! Lastly, the soup dumplings were probably the best thing we ordered. I think if I came here strictly for this my review might be higher. Shrimp soup dumplings were delicious, yet not sure if I could say it was the best I ever had but definitely worth trying. Hard to justify $ 1 a pop for these bad boys, but I’m not a regular consumer of soup dumplings to know what their price point is.
Anyways, that’s all I got. ‘Til next time!

This was my first experience eating long bao. I loved it! It was so juicy and savory! So delicious! I’m thinking about it as I write this review! I’m not sure how much soup is supposed to be in a long bao, but I thought it was sufficient. The thing was huge! They also have the small xlbs which come in 9. I also ordered the sesame noodles which was different, but good! I ended up taking home the noodles because I underestimated the size of the long bao. The giant long bao is not sweet. I did see two types of xlbs: some were labeled sweet and others were labeled not sweet. Keep that in mind when ordering.
I had the sweetest lady service me. I’m assuming she was one of the owners. She was excellent! She was running around trying to help customers and helped in the kitchen. I have no complaints about service. I guess I got lucky!
It’s not cash only! They do take card, but they do prefer cash if you have it! You’re doing them a favor by using cash!
They are towards the center of the plaza on the second floor. I had a hard time finding it until I used the directory.

The service is horrible but the food is incredible. I came here for the jumbo xlb, which lived up to the hype for me. The insides were juicy with strong pork and crab flavor and the skin was just thick enough to be satisfyingly chewy yet still thin enough to completely sponge up the gelatinous soup.
We also tried both the sweeter Wuxi style xlb and the classic pork xlb and I actually preferred the latter despite the restaurant touting its Wuxi roots. I surprised myself as I began writing this review but I really do think the xlb here are basically as good as DTF in terms of juiciness (although the dumpling skin were not as delicate) and arguably more savory too (plus, there’s no wait here!). The dan dan noodles were also surprisingly good, with just the right amount of ground peanut and sesame oil. Tasted even better with some chili spice. Actually, the only miss in our meal was the beef scallion rolls and they weren’t even bad – only subpar when compared to everything else we had.
For dessert, we had the sweet rice balls stuffed with black sesame paste served in hot rice wine soup and osthmanthus (桂花酒釀丸子). The tang yuan had the perfect amount of chew and sweetness and the petals added a nice fragrance to the dessert.
I expect we’ll be back and I hope it is soon. SGV is not lacking in the least when it comes to good Chinese food, and as gimmicky as sucking soup out of a jumbo xlb with a straw is, Long Xing Ji makes it work. You’ll come for the gimmicks, but remain a regular because the food really is delicious.

I found this place only because I wanted 1 huge XLB to try once in my life, and I wasn’t going to Asia anytime soon lol.
Location– it was kind of hard to find as the name on Unilocal is different than what it has on the sign and also other social sites. It is also known as Wang Xi Ji Juicy Dumpling on other social media.
Service — so friendly. I brought my non-​Asian friend and they recommended taking out chilies in the Mapo tofu, even though she ended up not eating it :(The server also prevented my other friend from dying by eating the giant seafood XLB! Sad though because he couldn’t try it.
Food —
Green onion mixed noodle — soooo good. I love noodles and this hit the spot!
XLB — I’ve had better but I liked the soup and skin on these ones. The big one as too crabby for my liking but the skin was surprisingly thin! I loved the idea of this with the straw and how they were able to get the broth all in there!
Other items — string beans, hot&sour soup, Mapo tofu. String beans were good because if their favor and crunch! The other 2 items were okay.

Is it the best XLB in the area? No, not at all. But it’s pretty good. And at its price point, I’d say it’s above average.
Service isn’t going to be stellar, let’s get that out of the way first. But you don’t come to these places to be treated like royalty. You come for CHEAP, QUICK comfort eats!
You can find this on the second floor of the huge 99 Ranch plaza. There’s a sign outside that says #1 SOUP DUMPLING or something like that. Not true by the way, but props for being ambitious lolol.
These are the food I ordered that I LIKED:
–Xiao Long Bao, or soup dumplings. They’re not Ding Tai Fung level, or even Mama Lu’s. But the skin is thin like DTF, and it’s pretty juicy, and the meat is pretty good. Not the highest quality meat, but good.
–Tong Xin Cai (
), I don’t know if there’s a colloquial English term for this. The portion is heaping.
–Yin Er Tang (the soup with the white-​clear fungus) sooooo good. Could not stop eating.
NOT SO GOOD:
–The big fat soup dumpling with the straw in it. It’s gimmicky and fun for sure. I put it on my Snapchat story to make my friends jelly but to be really honest, it looked better than it tasted. The meat was mushy. It was hard to eat. Since the skin is so thin, the moment you try to lift it up it disassembles into a soupy mess.
Soooo get it once for the social media and skip it next time. Unless you’ve figured out a way to eat it without getting it all over yourself.
BTW you order on a sheet like Din Tai Fung. Unlike DTF, there is generally no wait.
I’m more a 3.5 star on this one. I rounded down because the ambiance made me feel kind of unclean. Like, the carpet looked kinda gross, the walls were definitely gross, chairs looked they wanted to retire already, etc etc
That said, I would return again if I were in the area. It was yummy and so so cheap.

Story time:
I found this place on Instagram. What caught my eye about this place? It was the HUGE xiao long bao they had. I, of course, was absolutely stoked to try this place!
Headed out there, tried to look for Long Xing Ji, but it wasn’t on any of the buildings. I figured it’s probably the one that says Juicy Dumpling. Lo and behold I was right.
My boyfriend and I came in before the restaurant was opened because the doors were opened… Whoops! We ordered the huge XLB, some soup dumplings, pan fried wontons, and beef rolls.
I love the fact that you can sit there and watch the workers make the dumplings. However I started to get really uncomfortable as they kept staring at me. Even as I was eating, out of my peripheral vision, I can see them staring at me and clearly talking about us.
ANYWAYS, the soup dumplings were only okay in my book. The soup is very deep and rich, however the dough, it was very starchy. Beef rolls were average. The pan fried wontons stayed surprisingly crispy though. I enjoyed eating them.
Last but not least, the XLB… There’s only one type, pork and crab. I’m not a fan of crab in my wonton/​dumpling/​XLB, but I figured hey, it’s pork, it’s huge, why not? Drinking the soup was difficult because everything inside it was mushy so you’d often get chunks of the pork and crab flying into your throat. Not only that it looked unappetizing when you open it up to attempt to eat it. The flavor was a weird mixture of crab and puréed baby food. Did not like it at all.
The service was very shoddy. I left terribly disappointed.

The soup dumpling here are simply the best! I tried the pork one and It was really good! I didn’t get how the regular and non sweet one was different but the regular ones are a bit sweet. I can’t wait to try the non sweet ones next time. The big xlb was interesting! They give you a straw for you to Poe into it and slurp the soup first. The soup in the xL how ever is not what you think! Its more of a thick soup and the filings are pretty much chopped off. 5 stars definitely because of the taste of the filling and light broth of the regular soup dumplings and also 4 stars for the xl xlb the skin on the dumpling ratio was perfect and the dumpling had delicious rich thick broth inside. The chili oil is also great! It’s different then the other chili oils I’ve had. It has a bit of a fruity taste to it… Idk if that makes sense but don’t leave without trying them on the soup dumplings!

On my list of regional Chinese restaurants to try was Wang Xing Li. They recently changed their name to Long Xing Li, but from my understanding, the menu has remained unchanged.
Wang Xing Li, was an outpost in San Gabriel of a restaurant in China founded in 1913.
Go for the dumplings! I’d skip everything else. Next time I’ll try their sweet version of the soup dumplings. I tried their recommended noodle soup and it wasn’t anything special.
I highly recommend getting the juicy extra large soup bun to suck with a straw and also the xiao long bao here. This is what they specialize in and it is up there as one of the best I’ve had!
The English of our server was sufficient. A little struggle when ordering food, but we managed to communicate what we wanted.

What happened to Wang Xing Ji? Basically the same décor and menu but different name. Came in here as I remember Wang Xing Ji was pretty good, and decided to give this place a shot. The service wasn’t that good as the guy did not know what he was doing. We also got a leaky tea pot that spilled tea all over the table, and the server did not care whatsoever. We ordered the giant crab pork dumpling, pan fried potstickers, and spicy beef noodle soup.
The giant crab pork dumpling came out first, and it was deflated. They give you a straw to drink it out of, and when I tried drinking it, there was no juice. Uh. what? I tore it open and there were bits and pieces of crab/​dumpling, but nothing else. No juice. The whole point of this dumpling is to drink the juice… At least the inside and the skin was decent.
The pan fried potstickers came out, and they were not crispy at all. Soggy and soft… and there wasn’t juice inside as well. Meat was flavorful though.
Beef noodle soup– too much ma la oil, not enough flavor. Beef was tough and not that good. Noodles were okay.
SO disappointed with this new restaurant– even though it is exactly the same, the food quality has decreased exponentially. I’m hoping this was just a bad/​unlucky visit as their food and service is not up to par.

Was not impressed. Poor service and ok food. We ordered items that were marked «recommended» on the menu. Maybe it’s just not our taste. They have regular options of dumplings plus unsweetened options. If we were to come back we probably would try all the unsweetened over the recommended. The sweet flavor wasn’t for us. The pork and crab dumplings had a strong crab flavor I didn’t really like. We also ordered the recommended spare ribs. It has a sweet flavor, again not what we were expecting. The spicy soup dumpling soup was just OK also. Even the hot tea was different than most places.
They didnt said a word to us. They just pointed where to sit, when we told them we were ready to order they took our paper and walked away.
We probably will stick to the long wait for Din Tai Fung lol

First things first: the giant dumpling (crab and pork). It’s fun to eat, and definitely something you wanna get if its your first time at this restaurant but beware: it’s much more fun to eat than it is to eat itself. The filling is mushy, the dumpling is SOO juicy its impossible to eat «cleanly». My biggest issue is with the mushy filling; it is so mushy you can definitely eat it out of a big boba straw.
Pork Xiao Long Bao: these were pretty good, a solid ⁴⁄₅ here. The skin is slightly too thick, where you can FEEL that you are chewing on skin; it does not become ONE with the filling as you eat it whole. The flavor is light and very tasty, thought a little on the fat side (I could feel the fat in my mouth).
The beef rolls really surprised me; I normally consider the beef rolls at 101 Noodle to be the gold standard but I’ll dare say the beef rolls here are better than 101 Noodles. The wrap is not too greasy and the meat to wrap ratio is perfect. Unfortunately Long Xing Ji does not have the amazing green sauce to go with the rolls, otherwise it would have been perfection.
I also got the rice ball (tang yuan) wine soup (sweet dessert). There’s not much to say since it was pretty standard.
Minus 1 star for price. The menu here is definitely on the higher side for this type of food. Not everything on the menu is expensive but many things are overpriced. My heart still belongs to Mama Lu’s, #1 dumpling place in the 626!

Found on the second floor of Focus Plaza (with Ranch 99). There was a good amount of people here in the afternoon.
Opted for their house spareribs, green onion mixed noodles, juicy pork and shrimp dumplings, and black sesame rice balls in wine sauce.
House Spareribs: They look like your typical chinese sweet and spicy spare ribs but tasted a little different because the meat was more dried and a little on the jerky side? They tasted good nontheless!
Green Onion Mixed Noodles: You can get this cold or hot. We ordered cold but got the hot ones. Didn’t bother to change it. This taste exactly like green onion pancakes but in noodle form. Delicious!
Juicy Pork and Shrimp Dumplings: I can here initially wanting to try their giant XLB but I read from the reviews that it was subpar. We got the smaller ones instead and the shrimp was super crunchy. Eat these hot! The ones left until the end weren’t as good anymore.
Rice Balls in Wine Sauce: This is my favorite thing ever. Mini black sesame glutinous rice balls in a fermented rice soup sprinkled with osmanthus. Should definitely try it if you’ve never had it before. Slight hints of alcohol from the fermented rice but actual alcohol content is all cooked out.
Recommended!

Formerly called Wang Xing Ji.
You pretty much only come here for then giant dumpling… which you drink the soup out of a straw. It’s a pretty fun dish to eat for almost 7 bucks and takes a couple tries to perfect. It’s actually very delicious and savory.
All the other food here is average chinese food for the SGV.
Service is a little slow.

This was my first time here. We thought we would give it a try and see how it is.
According to the stickers on the door… It says they ACCEPT VISA AND MASTERCARD. However we paid in cash.
~Service:
I took off one star for poor service. There was only 3 waiters for the ENTIRE restaurant. They were very busy running around all over the place. I feel kinda bad for them, they should hire more workers.
~Food:
Took off another star because the price of the dishes didn’t really match the portion of food on the dishes. Each dish is pretty expensive for the amount of food on the dishes. I could go to another restaurant that is similar around San Gabriel and find cheaper and more food. We ordered 8 dishes for 5 people and a lot of us were still hungry by the end.
What’s really unique is that they make the food when you actually order it. Therefore, it might take some time for the food to be out. But we didn’t wait that long. They make the dough and and there’s see-​through glass which you can see them making it and rolling it out.
But even though there’s two bad points, I’ve got to say the dumplings, xiao long bao, bun, and beef wrap was super delicious… I’ve been to other places but this place beats the other places I’ve gone. You can tell the doughs and dumplings meats are hand made and tastes really good. The foods we ordered all had a hint of sweetness in them. Like the dumplings and xiao long bao had a sweet and savory flavor.
~Atmosphere:
The atmosphere is a bit on the dingy side. The floor is carpeted but you can definitely tell that it is worn down and old.
~Parking:
Parking is inside the center. If you want to come on the weekends, come before 11am… trust me… by the time it’s 12pm you’ll have a very difficult time finding parking while everyone is enjoying their meals inside all the thousands (lol…exaggerating) of restaurants in the center.
Would I come back here again? Maybe if I want to splurge a little and taste those yummy foods if I happen to be around the area. And maybe not, it’s kinda far from where I live and I feel that there’s other restaurants that have the similar foods

Came here around 7pm with a party of 2 and was seated right away.
We came here to try out their giant xiao long baos. We also ordered the pork belly fried rice and a platter of pork xiao long baos (sweet). First of all, the pork belly fried rice was good, but hella oily because, of course, from the pork belly. There were veggies in it, but I wish it had more pork belly. I ended up enjoying this dish a lot more as time went on. Also, I never had sweet xiao long baos before, so this was a change. It was an interesting sweet flavor in the mix, maybe slightly too sweet for my taste. Last but not least, the jumbo xiao long bao. I was amazed by the size of this thing and how they made it. They even give you a straw to drink the soup from it. The soup inside is quite oily and the stuffing inside is pretty mushy. There are reasons why xiao long baos are «xiao.» If you haven’t had the giant xiao long bao, it’s nice to try for the first time. After that, I don’t think I’d want another one. It’s a bit messy to eat and it just dies. Haha, but still worth the experience.
Overall, nice place for a bite. Friendly and efficient service.

**CA$H ONLY**
This place is located in the same plaza where the 99 Ranch Market is so parking is very hard to come across! We were circling around for a good 20 minutes before we got lucky with a post. The restaurant is located on the second floor. Décor is nothing special but it does look authentic (although I am def not the right person to be the judge of this lol). They have a glass window where you can see the chefs make all dumplings from scratch, so you know it’s going to taste good.
This was our second lunch of the day, so we only ordered the extra large xiao long bao made with crab and shrimp. The dumplings came out quickly with a straw for you to suck all the soup first. Afterwards, you can eat the dumpling however you’d like but I like mine with some of their hot sauce. The skin was nice and soft and they hooked it up with the crab and shrimp meat. Def one of the better xiao long baos I’ve had.

Never made it to Wang Xing Ji but according to a good friend of mine, everything tastes the same. Same location, same décor, and familiar servers makes me think they only changed the name. We ordered a few items to share which turned out to be a ton of food thus packing some of it to go.
What is different about the xiao long bao here is that they have two varieties of the normal juicy dumpling, one sweet and one regular. According to my friend, the sweet version is popular in Wuxi which is what makes it unique when comparing the meat and soup to other places.
The first two dishes that came out was the cold tofu and the bbq spareribs. Loved the cold tofu which has dried pork along with an oyster and soy sauce mixture. This dish brings me back to eating at local food stalls in China. The pork spareribs were also good but a few pieces were a tad bit dry.
Next came out the xiao long baos. The first one that I tried was the Wuxi sweet version. The filling was similar to other places like din tai fung and you do notice a slight sweetness to the broth but it’s the aftertaste where the sweetness stands out. Normally your palate would have a savory pork flavor but with these you’re left with sorta refreshing sweetness (kinda odd). The more of these I ate, the more my taste buds were growing to enjoy the sweetness. As the waiter brought out the regular xiao long bao, you could notice the difference in the color and texture of the dumpling skin. We concluded the difference was most likely due to the fact that the Wuxi xiao long baos were probably sitting on the steamer longer (not as fresh) as the regular ones which came out later. I did enjoy the regular xiao long baos and it was interesting being able to compare the two side by side. As I write this review, I’m not sure which one I liked more but I can say that they are pretty good.
We also ordered the spicy beef noodles which were different than the normal beef noodles I’m used to as the spicy was more of a slow numbing sensation. I loved the noodles as they were perfectly cooked and had a nice chewy texture even while sitting in the hot broth the entire meal. Wasn’t big on the broth though but would order a different variation the next time.
I would definitely go back for their xiao long bao along with some other items my buddy recommended. A nice alternative to din tai fung.