Prince Dim Sum House

Prince is closed and being remodel under new ownership.

Dim sum is one of those treats that I rarely get myself or with friends, but inevitably end up having with family when in the Bay Area. It’s one of those things that are only really viable with three or more people anyway, and that’s what family is for!
I won’t bother describing everything that I had, but I have to say, Prince’s daikon cakes is one of my favorite items from their dim sum menu. My favorite dim sum dish of all time is the friend taro dumplings (first picture), but theirs wasn’t all that great this particularly afternoon. Their chang fen (fourth picture) is also pretty good, especially with the chinese donut wrapped inside, but we got the shrimp today. We also had their taro cake, which was also quite delicious, as usual. We ended on a high note with the durian pastry, which was a flaky dessert that’s sweet, and has a fairly light durian flavor. If you’re utterly opposed to durian, I wouldn’t recommend it, but it was really delicious even though I’m not the biggest durian fan ever!
Service and ambience are pretty standard for a Chinese place, and the place is clean and tidy. Tea is free, which is awesome because most places charge tea per person nowadays…

Oh my. I used to like this dimsum place but it has just been a huge mess. The dimsum they serve has changed and it’s not up to the standards it used to be. Everything is either cold or reheated!
When my mom ordered a fried shrimp wrap, it wasn’t what it used to be! When my mom asked the lady what it was, she just looked at my mom and walked away. She eventually came back to answer her question, but I feel like she should have at least said «give me a minute» or «I’ll be right with you».
Their carts only come out about every half hour, and when they finally get to you, it’s all gone.

Growing up in San Leandro, this location was usually our go-​to place for dim sum on the weekends. A few years back, they changed from East Village to Prince Dim Sum House and the quality dropped significantly. My dad used to really love this place but ever since they became Prince, even he hesitates to come here whenever he gets a call from one of his friends or relatives. Despite the slide, the place still gets huge crowds on the weekends, which confuses the hell out of me.
In terms of food options, it’s your typical dim sum restaurant, so you can get all the usual items. Nothing in particular is outstanding though. Their dinner menu isn’t any better. And it’s all pretty expensive for what you get. You’d be doing yourself a huge favor by trying one of the newer places in San Leandro; this place has lost its touch.

I’ve been around dim sum places and this place is decent for one. I’ve tried a lot worse. We came around opening time and ordered our food. But the food comes out a bit later because I’m pretty sure the chefs come in right before opening and start then, which leads to food coming out later than usual.
When it came out, I couldn’t complain! The white beef tripes tasted great. Salty but not too salty. The pan fried rice roll with XO sauce tasted excellent. Not too spicy, not too salty. Just right for my taste.
However there is a reason why I gave this a 3 stars instead of 4. Their shrimp dumplings weren’t that good, and by that I mean the wrapping was sour. I don’t know how that happens but it does. At first I thought it was the soy sauce but it just turns out its the wrapping because my family tasted it too. Another thing was that the egg tarts were cold when they came out. These things are supposed to (and best) be hot. The «egg» just melts, but in this case it was just basically cold jello.
One last thing is the milk tea. My uncle and I ordered hot milk tea and it was awesome. But the thing that got me was that if you’re gonna serve milk tea, make sure you have the tea ready. We ordered the tea when we ordered our food. Time went by and we thought they forgot. Sober finished all our food and low and behold, the milk tea finally came after we finished eating and was about to pay. The tea was good but I was too full to thoroughly enjoy it. So if you’re gonna get milk tea from this place, don’t get it when they just opened.
All in all, this restaurant is, as Unilocal puts it, «A-​Ok.»

Don’t come here for dinner! I should have known better when I arrived on a Friday night at 7pm and the place was empty. There were only 3 other tables and this restaurant is pretty big, so insert tumbleweed-​blowing-​in-​the-​desert gif.
So back to the dinner. The food is subpar, prices are high, service is lacking.
We ordered the black bean sauce spare ribs and they basically tasted like the spare ribs you get at dim sum but they were just globs of fat, no meat! Their pea sprout dish was extremely oily; the sprouts were dripping in oil. Also had a tomato beef dish that had NO tomatoes. Well there were a few pieces. My uncle actually complained to the waiter about the scarce amount of tomatoes (tomatoes aren’t even expensive!) so the waiter was kind enough to take our dish back and added a few more slices of tomatoes (hope the chef didn’t spit in it). It should have been called bell peppers and beef because there were a whole lotta bell peppers but no tomatoes.
Everything was super oily and I already have a high oil threshold for Chinese restaurants. For the price, you can get waaaay better food at other Chinese restaurants in da dro. The only enjoyable dish was the fish soup we had, and after complaining about their «tomato» beef, the wait staff (which consisted of two waiters) was a bit more attentive with our table.

When I’m looking for a dim sum fix without wanting to drive far, Prince is a good option.
It’s located in a run down strip mall next to Goodwill and other random stores. The interior of the restaurant looks old and the servers aren’t always nice but the dim sum dishes are good. They have your usual shrimp dumplings, siu mai, lotus wrapped rice and shrimp rice rolls which is good enough for me. Prices aren’t bad either.

So, being a Los Angeleno, I’ve always thought that no other Chinatown in California could beat ours… and it’s true. It’s SO hard to find ANY place with good quality Chinese food as you travel more north within this state. So sad. BUT!!! GOOD NEWS!!! I found this gem in San Leandro, which isn’t that bad of a drive. 30 mins from Downtown Oakland (where I live). And the dim sum totally reminds me of back home. This is the ONLY dim sum place so far that I’ve found that tastes real good.
The only bad thing I’d have to say is it’s sometimes hard to communicate what you want to the cart ladies. Takes them a couple of tries to finally get what you want. Also, this place is PACKED especially on the weekends… BUT that’s how you know it’s good. I’ll always vouch for my L.A. Chinatown, but this is a great find and if you’re a dim sum fan… check this place out!

Went for dim sum early one saturday recently.
They don’t have carts like usual, instead you get a piece of paper in which you write how many servings you want of each. They’ve got a picture menu for the items, so that helps a lot. Its a little different when you’re ordering from a paper rather than a cart cause all you see are a lot of ‘1’s and some ‘2’s next to your favorite dishes — but we ordered way too much, in the end we had 18 plates x_​_​_​x
One thing I will say is that they have MSG in their stuff here, definitely felt the MSG headache come on towards the end of our meal — aiyiyi. Overall it was a pretty good first visit, the servers were attentive and nice. If you’re coming on the weekend get there before 12noon to beat the rush.

Went here with 2 girlfriends. I thought the customer service here was just urgh! Unhelpful and parking sucks.
The food just okay. not impressed. I will not be returning. Customer service isn’t cutting it and why bother with the parking if the food is not worth it.
Sorry Prince Dim Sum I’ll be dim summing somewhere else, even if it means I have to drive farther.

I can’t believe this place averages to 3 stars… the food is very clean and tasty and cheap. The dim sum is great. BUT… BUT…Singapore noodle, anyone? YES! Some of the best in the bay. AND… AND…Lobster noodles, anyone? YES! Homeade noodles and fresh lobster (sorry lobster). This is the place in San Leandro to get your noodles and dimsum. Seating excellent.
I guess the place could be cleaner and nicer to look at. Not much for ambiance, and sometimes it is hard to order in English. But, still — check it out for fresh, clean and tasty.

We went for dim sum on a Friday… really liked the Yee Mein Lobster for $ 12.99…would just go back for this dish that easily feeds 4 and is more than enough for two. The lobster was sweet and fresh tasting… almost all of the tables had this for lunch in addition to dim sum.
Also had the Salt and Pepper Fried Eggplant… which came out hot and tasty… I think their specialty items are better than their steamed dim sum items. The custard in their Baked Custard Buns are also a bit saltier and runnier than other places… the way I like it but others may not.
Prince is roomier with tables spread out and a high ceiling that results in a quieter restaurant than other dim sum joints. San Leandro is lucky to have two very good dim sum restaurants (Delight Garden and Prince).
Keep dim summing!!!

I said it before… if you see Chinese people eating at a Chinese restaurant it has to be good. I went here with my wife and our two little ones because the wifey was craving Dim Sum and she wanted to try this place.
The price is fairly reasonable for Dim Sum and the food itself was pretty good. Would it compare to my usual Dim Sum haunts? I would say it’s close but I would say it fell just a bit short but not by much. I think part of it is because I’m not used to ordering my choices from a menu instead of a nice Chinese lady pushing a steam cart that insists you try her item and for some reason forgets her english when you say «no thank you», leaving you in her wake saying «ok bye bye».

If you’re in the East Bay, this is a solid dim sum restaurant with good prices. If you’re in the mood to pay too much, you can go to Asian Pearl in Fremont or Willow Tree in Dublin.
There’s an easy ordering process so if you don’t get here at the «ideal» dim sum time, you can just indicate what you want on the order sheet.
The surrounding area isn’t fancy but our family loves this place. They don’t make fancy variations but your normal dim sum dishes –siu mai, har gow, cheung fun, lo bat go, etc.– are all solid.

I was super impressed after my visit to Prince Dim Sum House. I went with my boyfriend and his family for dinner and we were seated immediately. We started with the corn soup, which was brought out very quickly, and after the soup everything else came just as fast.
For our meal we got an order of steamed pork buns, mu shu pork, black pepper beef chow fun, kung pao chicken, and bbq pork fried rice. The pork buns were moist and delicious, while the black pepper beef had a great flavor and good spice. The kung pao chicken was just the right amount of spicy, with chunks of juicy bell pepper and whole peanuts. I’d never had mu shu pork before and had a great first experience with it; served with rice paper wraps, hoisin sauce, and the pork mixed with shredded vegetables, you wrap everything together like a spring roll. Quite tasty.
The service was so quick and the food was so good, with large portions, that I wouldn’t hesitate to come back here and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Dinner dim sum is available, albeit from a limited menu, for anyone interested.

I would never come to a place like this for dinner on my own because places like this tend too expensive and taste specific for my liking. My family had a gathering here which to my surprise turned out pretty pleasant.
Food:
Among the biggest surprise this place has really good food. In particular the spinach in 3 eggs really impressed me. This dish consist of 3 types of egg (quail, thousand year, and salted) in a light broth with spinach. The Macau style pork was crisp to perfection. I don’t think there was any dish I had that I didn’t like which is impressive!
Service:
Prompt, courteous, proper attire, and the manager even came to check up on us. Not something you see too often in Chinese restaurants.
Environment:
Probably the nicest looking Chinese Restaurant you can find in San Leandro. Definitely the most presentable for a traditional Chinese meal.
Price:
I didn’t pay but it looks pricey.
Definitely will make a trip back!
Food: 5
Service: 4
Environment: 4
Price: n/​a

Came out here with my brother and we both agreed dim sum was decent. The service was extra slow giving that we were the only ones up in there.
We ordered:
siu mai
steam beef ball
bbq pork bun
deep fried shrimp ball
fried sticky rice
chicken wings
Out of all, the sticky rice stood out in flavor. Total cost $ 25

After having to boycott Oriental Tea House (
) because of the quality and cleanliness of their food and facility, I rerouted to Prince Dim Sum.
At first glance, I thought this place would be legit. My Oakland away from Oakland. with the whole fish tank, red and gold Chinese décor, waiters greeting you by pointing to a table. it was like being in Oakland’s Chinatown.
Tea service for 2 people. $ 2. I asked for chrysanthemum and they gave me Jasmine. Whatever. I’m hungry and on my lunch break. let’s get moving!
When ordering dim sum on a weekday. it’s usually having to fill out a set menu form with quantity and they bring it out as soon as it’s done. Cool. a little wait for freshness. why not? Prices are a little more than usual. but this is PRINCE dim sum. we’re dining with the royals!
Everything came out fresh and piping hot! YUM! I had to let my chicken feet chill on the plate for a little bit before devouring it. We ordered about 9 plates between just the two of us. Me and Nancy. eating away and away and past our lunch hour. Oops! Oh well! We start packing our stuff away and didn’t get to try the milk tea coffee cake that we ordered for dessert. Needless to say, this place hit the spot! We kept eating and eating until I went up for air and looked at the time. Haha.
Service isn’t the friendliest. but the job gets done. Tea refills, water refills, clearing plates. done and done. It’s not like I expected to have a nice conversation with the waitresses. we just wanted to eat and cut!

Located in the dilapidated part of town (it feels like you’ve stepped back into time almost), Prince Dim Sum was crazy busy on a Sunday afternoon, but that’s to be expected for any good dim sum restaurant. Doing good business. The wait was between 20 – 30 minutes with many hungry people anxious to be fed. While waiting, we started putting down our orders on their menu just to expedite everything once we get seated. It was a wise decision because they took one look at it and was able to tell us when and on which cart everything was. Not only did we not have to go hunt down the dim sum we wanted, they all arrived at our table with ease (on our part).
My favorite was the shrimp paste on the bell pepper slice. We ordered the tripe, har gau, shiu mei, chicken feet, shrimp & chive dumplings (my usual favorite), coconut cubes, pork riblets, etc. Everything was pretty good. Unfortunately, they had run out of the egg custard tarts for the day.
It’s nice to have a good dim sum place near by and not have to go through the pains of eating in Oakland Chinatown on a weekend. Fighting the crowds and traffic is no way to spend a precious day off.

I was looking forward to a local place for Jook and perhaps dim sum. I dropped in to order Jook and chicken feet. Those are my usual metrics.
These guys failed horribly on the lack of flavor. I had the preserved egg and pork jook. It was twice the cost of jook in Oakland’s Chinatown. Plus it had no flavor and very thin. Nice amount of egg and pork plenty of ginger but no salt and very unsatisfying given the cost. The chicken feet had good consistency but again no flavor.
I don’t think they have a chef there. Someone must be going through the motion but without any sense of flavors. Too bad. It looked so promising.