Monday, December 5, 2011

China Delights

Location: San Ramon, CA
Cuisine type: Chinese
Atmosphere: plain decor, family style dining
Meal: dinner
Overall grade: 7.5



Nina

It’s not often that we make it all the way to the far East Bay, and especially not on a week day. This was a special occasion - someone we knew (however little) was being sworn in as a city official of San Ramon, and we were invited to attend the ceremony. The long trip to San Ramon and the ceremony (which only took place at the end of a city council meeting) left us starving in a part of the bay unfamiliar to us. The logical next step was to find the nearest restaurant with reasonable online ratings and go for it - this time, it happened to be a Chinese place.
We ordered the dumplings which were repeatedly mentioned in reviews, and were shocked at how large they were - probably 4 times larger than any other dumpling I’ve ever eaten, and unfortunately with a skin proportionally thicker. The inside was flavorful, though nothing striking - reminding me more of a meatball then a fresh, tender dumpling filling.
Even though the owners were Chinese and it seemed like the restaurant was family-run, the food was closer to main stream Panda-Express fare, nothing I’d feel compelled to drive all the way to San Ramon to eat. Plus, why would I? Between San Jose and San Ramon (much closer to SJ than to SR) there is the whole area of Milpitas filled with authentic Chinese restaurants, so I knew where I’ll go next time I crave Chinese for dinner :)

Food 6
Drinks 8
Atmosphere 6
Service 8
Value 8


Ben

We stopped in for a pretty late dinner. The restaurant was entirely empty but we decided to give it a try. The service was prompt and friendly. We started off with some dumplings (a legitimate almost 2 full meals .. 6 fist sized dumplings for ~$7) that were huge, had a lot of thick wonton but the filling was delicious. I had a spicy beef, which was a little greasier than I would like but overall pretty tasty and freshly prepared. We went with a house white wine which was a pretty nice price ($4 / glass) and complemented the spicy food well. 

Food 8
Drinks 8
Atmosphere 7
Service 9
Value 8

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