Li Yuan Dim Sum

Never coming again.
I found plastic wrap in my fried tofu and shrimp. Yup. Saran Wrap. Definitely will not be returning!

Picked up as breakfast for the team today.
This store is awesome for breakfast ! Good taste, fast and best thing: open at 8am in the morning.
This dim sum taste will no be the best. But with the price of $ 2.8 for 3 pieces, what else are u asking for? Shrimp dumplings and siumai are both the must have iteam.
Tip: if you don’t speak Cantonese/​Chinese. Find a Cantonese/​Chinese speaker to call in advance to order. So when you are there, u can just quite your number and they know what to get u!

Li Yuan Dim Sum is dim sum to go. didn’t see many tables, if there were any. most items priced 3/2.80 + tax. custard tarts not priced. lunch specials available.
eats: shrimp dumpling 3/2.80
–small pieces of tasty shrimp inside
–slightly above average
take outs:
–as mentioned by others, dim sum isn’t in steamers,
they are in shelves warmed by heat lamps.
–friendly, quick service. few patrons here
–not a patron of dim sum lately, too fatty, not so healthy…

The sesame balls were nice and crunchy. The stayed crunchy through the next day. Cheap eats. no frills and friendly service with a smile. I was NOT, however, a fan of the combo bao i purchased. They have a special going on buy 2 get 1 free and boy and i glad i said no to their special. For some reason Chinese baos are not as good as Vietnamese ones in my opinion. There is some kind of additional flavor that i would prefer they omit. I cant describe it. But the flavor in a Vietnamese bao is mostly meat with a hint of black pepper and the flavor of the Chinese sausage/​egg that is always included in them I want to be able to enjoy all that kindness inside of the bao and i feel like something added to the chinese baos masks the deliciousness of everything else in it and overpowers. Not a fan. But to each their own. Three stars I say.

Came here just because I was craving some quick dim sum. I ordered a bunch of items that they had — shrimp Cheung fun, turnip cake, chow fun, custard bun, chicken feet, and pork spare ribs. The food was a bit bland but for the price you pay (under $ 20), you can’t complain.
My friend and I decided to eat here so when I told the cashier she offered to heat our food up for us. The service isn’t bad here but I still have yet to find a good dim sum place around SJ!

It’s safe to say dim sum in the South Bay is pretty horrible. I’ve tried quite a few places with high ratings and honestly I don’t understand why the other places has high ratings. Being a Boston native and having traveled to other states, trying their dim sum I’ve always felt Boston had the best. Yes, perhaps even better than SF! After having a few bad experiences with dim sum in the South Bay and steering clear from it for awhile, my cravings kicked in and I started Unilocal-​ing again.
I had stumbled across Li Yuan Dim Sum and figured I can give it a chance. On a Sunday morning I stopped in and picked up a few things like the typical ha gow and sui mai. I noticed that this place had ngau cherng (beef rice noodle roll) and that’s one of my favorites back in Boston and I realized I haven’t seen the dim sum places that I’ve tried serving that in the South Bay.
When I arrived home to enjoy my Sunday brunch, I was pretty pleased with what I ordered. I am totally hooked on the ngau cherng from here because it tastes exactly like how it does back in Boston. I’ve been back here several times only ordering the ngau cherng because it’s that good! I’ve also tried their buns which is nice to have as a snack.
The staff here is very helpful and friendly. Can tend to get busy around the morning, which is expected but the staff is attentive in helping you get all your dim sum goodies! Highly suggest giving this little place a try and don’t forget to bring cash!

Everything that wasn’t microwaved wasn’t even warm… This is not a place for their self-​advertised «Delicious Dim Sum».
Porridge was hot, as expected, but the Combination dim sum items were cold. Complete disappointment.

This little dim sum shop isn’t a «bring the family in nice outfits» type of place. It’s more of a «family wants dim sum but too lazy to look decent and don’t want to wait for ladies pushing carts of food around».
This place gets the job done when you want a quick dim sum fix! The dumplings are huge, essentials har gow and shu mai are filling, and endless buns (bbq pork buns, combination buns, chicken buns, egg custard buns and more!) they also have decent lunch combos of dim sum and porridge which is nice!
If you don’t want hot and ready buns, they also have a fridge off to the side of you want to steam them yourselves.
Remember, CASH ONLY!

I have not taste the food yet, and frankly I don’t care how awesome it will taste due to the cheap customer service they provide.
While waiting to eat at Phở Kim Long, we decided to check out this tiny spot. The food looked very appetizing, so we ordered the egg custard, bbq pastry and pineapple bun.
Paid and got out, then realized the lady gave me the more expensive BBQ bun instead of the BBQ pastry. So I went back in asking for exchange and not expecting them giving me back the difference, even though it was really their fault.
The lady who looked like the owner heard me out, looked confused, then a little girl explained to her, she got it. Then the lady proceed to tell me «you walked out (even for less than a minute), no exchange, perhaps, buy another one?» Im like «no thank you» because I simply hate bbq bun for some reason…
Not being unreasonable here but I believe the standard protocol would be letting me exchange the item that I originally want to purchase for then toss the bbq bun or Uh… Resell it if they dare to… They know I didn’t touch it. I’ve owned a restaurant so I feel that I know what the procedure should be when my employee messed up. Thanks.

Solid little place to pick up some dim sum on the go! The dim some are pretty large by my estimation too and the prices are reasonable, and they’re tasty! Just be careful when you head out here because they only take cash.

Over a year later I’m back in the area and decided to take a leap of faith at LYDS — hopefully my bad experiences were one offs. I do think my overall meal with friends was good with some slight bumps — definitely would shop here again.
The har gow was solid, figuratively and literally. The shrimp was not mushy at all and was very good. Fried shrimp, sugarcane shrimp, and turnip cakes were all hits as well! The last item was definitely gave to the fork this time, which is a good sign.
The only item I’m warning against is the soy sauce chow mein. I think it’s really good if you eat it right there, but it already started to spoil from the moisture of the take out container maybe half a day later in the fridge. But if that’s the only problem child here, not even the star of dim sum, then I’m okay with that.

LI YUAN DIM SM
This is another of my guilty fast food dim sum joints that I love eating at during the work lunch hours. Forget waiting in line at Mayflower or ABC, just come here for your dim sum pleasures. Same quality and style? Most definitely not, but for the price and options, it’s a good substitute. For only $ 6.50, you can get a dim sum/​porridge combo! My favorite is the Combo A: fish or preserved egg/​pork porridge with two shrimp dumplings, two chive dumplings, and two meat dumplings. Can’t beat the price and it definitely fills you up! The other combos come with other dumplings, turnp cakes, noodles, etc. So pick your choice (s)! They also have a lot of buy two get one free deals for the dim sum. It’s not the most clean place to eat at, but oh well… it’s quiet, cheap, and the dim sum ain’t too bad. Give it whirl if you’re looking to eat at a divey dim sum joint!

I don’t understand why this place has bad reviews. I love dim sum and have been to a wide range of places, many of which overcharge and don’t have a great selection. This is my go to dim sum place in the area. (Yes, over Mayflower across the street at the great mall).
They have a great selection for so cheap, and is available throughout the WHOLE DAY. Many dim sum places will stop for dinner. Sure, the service could be a bit more hospitable, and yes it’s a small restaurant, but people mostly order to go anyway. Note that it’s CASH ONLY. And in the occasion that you do eat there, they have clean tables with plastic utensils and condiments.
I recommend for your dim sum cravings!

I had just run 6 miles and I wanted something quick and fast to eat since waiting was not an option. I can get «hangry!»
So we stumbled onto Li yuan yesterday after getting some kick booty Vietnamese Coffee at Phở Kim Long. Today it was going to happen. Dim sum. So parking wasn’t too much of an issue this time and we walked over to Li Yuan. The line wasn’t too long and it went by fast.
We were trying to put together a strategy to get a sampler of everything. We saw the prices to be 3 pieces for this…3 pieces for that. The prices were all the same, so we figured, they shouldn’t give us any heartache if we wanted to mix and match? Yes they did give us heartached and gave us 3 pieces of one item. Sad times. So we settled on the shark’s fin dumplings, pork siu mai, eggplant with shrimp filling, coconut tart, and what I thought would’ve been a baked custard bun. We paid for the lot of things and came out to $ 12.73 and mind you… cash only.
So we drove ourselves home, prepping our gut to get our feast on. I took on the eggplant first. It was okay, a little cold considering it was supposed to be on the warm side. The sauce was not enough flavor. It had a tiny hint of garlic and then it was just cornstarchy sauce. I ended up just using my vinegar to flavor my eggplant. Also the eggplant was quite mushy, didn’t not have any bite to it. I like my eggplant to not completely disintegrate when I cut into it.
The next two things I tackled were the pork siu mai and the shark’s fin dumpling. Both had good flavor, BUT and that’s a big but there… both were undercooked! I fear my stomach as I ate both. Both were large, but with undercooked pork… it just made me sad.
The coconut tart was pretty tasty, but the most surprising for me was when I took a bite into what I thought was an egg custard bun. I did say twice «can I get a baked custard bun?» So it was a bbq pork bun. Don’t get me wrong, it was good. pretty tasty, but when your heart is set on trying out a baked custard bun, your satisfaction level just drops ten fold.
So, we had super high hopes for this place and considering it’s fairly close, I was hoping this could be a replacement for New Hwong Kwok, but alas with the wrong order they gave me and two undercooked items, I don’t think I’ll ever come back.

I’ve been wanting to expand my Dim Sum selection ever since I got a lesson that I wasn’t even close to trying the good places. Also, I’ve been wanting to take my co-​workers to new places since they literally default to New Krung Thai every week.
As many have noted, the real attraction to this strip mall is Phở Kim Long, and walking past it was packed. However we walked straight into Li yuan with no issue, as we were the only ones there.
They have a number of heated cases, showing the types of dim sum you can get ala carte, a fridge case to get stuff for home, and 6 lunch specials that include a bowl of porridge — either seafood, or egg and pork.
I went with a combo 2, as Chinese Footballs (the deep fried minced meat dumpling) is my favorite, I like shark fin dumplings and shrimp balls. The porridge was good and there were decent sized pieces of fish. However I learned from my co-​workers you are supposed to eat from the top first, not stir it around like chowders. My bad. I also learned my co-​workers thought it was odd that I was putting sriracha in my porridge, and I thought it was odd that they had never considered it when I put sriracha on EVERYTHING.
Because of the size of the dumplings and porridge, I actually had leftovers (and it was tough fitting them into a small box. Next time we go, I’ll suggest we just get a bunch of different dim sum and share.
NOTE: Cash only, but there is a convenience store nearby with an ATM, and a bank.

This place is right next to the famous kim long phở. I notice some people come here because they don’t want to wait in line for phở. This is one of those dim sum congee places that serves giant version of dim sum. Nothing is wrong with giant dim sum if they taste equally as good as regular dim sum from restaurant. The steamer that keeps the dim sum warm doesn’t work right. The dim sum is cold inside. All of the dim sum I had were extremely oily and mushy. It was 11am only so supposingly they should still be fresh, not really.
The fried items were very oily and chewy. The congee, on the other hand, was the only item that was decent.
To be honest, after the oily and mushy dim sum, I am just surprise that I didn’t get any food poisoning.

This spot is cheap, greasy, and offers large-​portion dim sum and other Chinese foods. Great for breakfast/​hangovers or a quick lunch/​dinner pick up.
Yes, it’s not high end and yes it’s not really a restaurant (more of a pick-​up spot) — however, there are about a half-​dozen small tables cafeteria style. You order, pay, and then get your food and either sit down to eat it or take off.
Cash Only.

Ever have one of those weeks where work is slow, so to pass the time you stare at pictures of dim sum on Unilocal?Well, I’d been to two dim sum take out places, namely New Hwong Kok in Milpitas and Dim Sum King in Sunnyvale, and I felt I had to give this place a try after reading all the reviews. I wasn’t about to wait it out until the weekend to go to a real dim sum restaurant. No, I needed my dim sum now before the emptiness in my heart enveloped my soul.
At around 5pm there was still a pretty decent selection of dim sum left. I knew to steer clear of the legendary Har Gao of Horrible, and decided on an order of steamed green chives dumpling, one Malaysian sponge cake, two baked egg custard buns, and one baked (snow cap) taro bun. The lady behind the counter was actually really friendly, despite the reviews that say otherwise. Perhaps she was won over by my glazed-​over eyes and foaming mouth. Charming, I am.
I’m not a big fan of the thick rice wrappers characteristic of cheap take out dim sum, and I usually try to peel the extra off, but, for some reason, I actually wanted to eat ALL of the rice skin in my steamed green chive dumpling. Could it be, it actually tasted GOOD, instead of gummy and cheap? What magic did they lace this rice skin with? Overall, the steamed green chive dumpling passes with flying (delicious) colors.
Next up was the Malaysian sponge cake. Now, I’m used to getting sponge cake ONLY at sit down dim sum restaurants, but this one was PRETTY GOOD. Even though it was near the end of the day and I got the second to last piece, it was pleasant. It was light, fluffy, light sweetness, not stale at all! WOOWOWOW.
Now, the baked dessert buns. Ok so the baked egg custard bun wasn’t warm, so the egg custard was kind of gelatinous instead of creamy and smooth, but it was still decent, especially considering it was dirt cheap. The baked (snow cap) taro bun was better. I loooove snow cap buns. Alas, I had one huge baked egg custard bun left. I was like f*ck it, I’m eating this. And I did. At this point, I looked down, and I saw that my scarf and clothes were covered in crumbs, blissful post-​dim sum crumbs. Whatevs, NO SHAME. Stare all you want, but who’s the one with a tummy full of yummy? Thass’ right.
And then I went home and still had dinner. My stomach was cussing me out «WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US???» I may have made some mistakes that day, but the dim sum was not one of them. I regret NOTHING ABOUT LI YUAN DIM SUM.
Conclusion: I may not have been in the best state of mind at the time, and I may have been delirious and desperate, but one thing I am certain of is that I had some frikkin satisfying dim sum for about $ 6, and I will definitely be back. Five stars. Don’t judge. Come with low expectations and a bit of cash, leave a happy camper.

I have wondered why it only has 3 stars… when they surely deserve an bump to a 4 star rating…
Huge dim sum and ready whenever you want it… meaning they are open 7 days a week! They are cheap… dirt cheap for the food you get. The place has a lot of variety to offer from the usual steamed ones and then there’s the greasy fried ones… they also offer the lunch combo with the congee and there’s pastries too… best place to slake that dim sum cravings.
The place is small with a couple of tables for those who want to have a quick bite or two… because of its size, it’s more of a take out place. It’s clean and doesn’t have any funky smell (that is a plus!) The lady boss was nice when we came in. She insisted to try the noodles but we declined and opted for dim sum and bread instead.
Some might say that some places are better taste-wise…esp those dine-​in dim sum that ends until 2:30 pm… well all I can say is that this hits the jackpot if you want some fried chive dim sum after work, sharks fin dumpling and some steamed shrimp dumpling at the end of a busy day.
Oh and the best thing? An hour before closing they give a good deal for their breads… a total of 9 assorted bread for $ 5.00! (SCORE!!) this includes a hotdog bread, taro/​ube filled bread and cream filled bread. YUM!!!
During our last visit we had 5 different kinds of dim sum plus the $ 5.00 assorted bread… we paid a total of $ 18.00 including tip… bodaciously awesome!

After 13 check ins here, I’ve become more accustomed to what I prefer. I am no dim sum connoisseur but I like them cheap, big, fat, juicy, and sodium-​filled and I want them now. I’m not looking to be Miss Koi Palace and all. Li Yuan delivers in certain areas but beware of the other greasy surprises.
–YES–
— Pork Shu Mai: I don’t eat shu mai anywhere else except here. Nowhere else gets you giant chunks of cheap salty meat for such a good price.
— Steamed Cha Siu Bao: the warm fluffy dough is spot on.
— Lo Baak Gou (turnip cake): With hoisin sauce, it’s delightful.
— Yellow-​looking «Fun Guo»: Really good.
–NO–
— Shrimp Tofu: Humongous. I felt sick after eating it. There’s a layer of paste in the middle that holds the shrimp and the tofu.
— Prawns Rice Ball: Big and greasy
–AVOID AT ALL COSTS–
— Shrimp Eggplant: Often undercooked, and always very greasy. 3 gallons of water is not enough to wash the slime down your throat.
— Pei guen (fried tofu skin roll): Just as much grease, not worth it.
— Wu Gok (Taro Dumpling): No flavor.
— Egg Tart Custard: Floppy. No.