The 15 Best Dim Sum Restaurants in San Francisco, Ranked
The 15 Best Dim Sum Restaurants in San Francisco, Ranked
San Francisco has one of the best Chinese food scenes outside of China and Hong Kong, and dim sum is maybe where that reputation is most earned. The Bay Area has a massive Cantonese population and a culinary tradition around dim sum that goes back over a century, which means the quality ceiling here is genuinely high and the number of places worth knowing is bigger than most people realize. Whether you're a lifelong local who grew up doing Sunday dim sum or you're someone who just moved here and wants to figure out where to go, this list is the one the Bay Area Foodies tribe keeps coming back to.
A quick note on how this is ranked: har gow quality is weighted heavily. This is not arbitrary. The har gow is the single best diagnostic tool for a dim sum kitchen because it requires skill, fresh ingredients, and proper timing. A good har gow, with thin but sturdy translucent skin and plump, seasoned shrimp inside, is a genuine technical achievement. A bad one is just a sad wet dumpling. If a restaurant can't nail the har gow, the rest of the menu gets a skeptical eye.
1. Koi Palace (Daly City, now at Serramonte Center)
The gold standard. This is the restaurant that Bay Area dim sum conversations inevitably return to, and for good reason. The har gow is exceptional. The XO sauce preparations are remarkable. The live seafood is as fresh as it gets. The new Serramonte Center location is a significant upgrade in terms of space and logistics. If someone asks you where to go for dim sum in the Bay Area and you only give them one answer, this is the answer.
2. Palette Tea House (Union Square, San Francisco)
The spot that got named Best Dim Sum by San Francisco Magazine and it's easy to see why. Palette Tea House brings a more modern, polished approach to dim sum service, which means they get a different kind of first-timer than the traditional Cantonese spots, but the food backs up the setting. The presentation is beautiful without sacrificing flavor, which is a trap a lot of elevated dim sum spots fall into. This is also a great option if you're going with people who might be intimidated by the more chaotic experience at a larger traditional dim sum hall.
3. Yank Sing (SoMa, San Francisco)
An institution. Yank Sing has been doing this since 1958 and the quality has remained consistent in a way that very few restaurants anywhere can claim. The service is cart-style in the traditional sense and the room fills with a mix of longtime regulars and visitors who've been pointed here by someone who knows. The prices are higher than most other spots on this list but the quality justifies it.
4. Hong Kong Lounge II (Inner Richmond, San Francisco)
This is the Clement Street recommendation that locals give to people they actually like. The original Hong Kong Lounge in the Richmond is good, but the second location is where the kitchen really hits its stride. Get the char siu pastry puffs. Get the egg custard tarts at the end. Try not to eat so much that you can't function for the rest of the day, but also accept that this might happen.
5. Great Eastern Restaurant (Chinatown, San Francisco)
Historic Chinatown location that has been feeding San Francisco longer than most of the city's other dim sum spots have existed. Great Eastern is the kind of place that feels like eating in a living piece of the city's history, and the dim sum holds up well against more modern competition. Obama ate here once, which the restaurant still mentions and honestly is a reasonable thing to mention.
6. City View Restaurant (Financial District, San Francisco)
City View is the weekday lunch option for people who work downtown and take their lunch break seriously. It's a little calmer than the weekend madness at most other spots, the food is consistently good, and the Financial District location means you can grab dim sum without trekking to the Richmond or Chinatown. Highly underrated for its accessibility.
7. Dragon Beaux (Inner Richmond, San Francisco)
Dragon Beaux got famous for its colorful XLB (soup dumplings) in pink, black, green, and yellow, which looks wild and could easily just be a gimmick. It's actually not a gimmick. The skins are good, the soup is flavorful, and the kitchen clearly knows what it's doing beyond just making dumplings Instagram-friendly. The rest of the menu is excellent too.
8. Dim Sum Club (Inner Sunset, San Francisco)
A smaller, more casual spot that punches above its size. Dim Sum Club does a focused menu rather than trying to do everything, and that focus shows in the quality. If you live in the Sunset this is your neighborhood gem and you should be going regularly.
9. Kingdom of Dumpling (Outer Sunset, San Francisco)
Technically more of a dumpling shop than a traditional dim sum hall, but the craftsmanship is so good that it belongs on this list. The soup dumplings here are some of the best in the city. Casual spot, cash friendly, great for a low-key weekday lunch.
10. Ton Kiang (Outer Richmond, San Francisco)
Ton Kiang has been a Richmond institution for decades and their Hakka-influenced dim sum is a little different from the standard Cantonese menu you'll find at most spots. If you've been doing the same dim sum rotation for years and want to broaden your horizons, Ton Kiang is a great way to do it.
11. Asian Pearl (Milpitas, technically South Bay)
We're including this one because the Bay Area Foodies tribe has people from all over the region and Asian Pearl in Milpitas has a legitimate claim to being one of the best dim sum experiences in the entire Bay. If you're in the South Bay or willing to make the trip, add this to the list.
12. Fook Yuen (Millbrae)
Millbrae has a whole cluster of excellent Chinese restaurants that Peninsula residents know well and SF-centric food people often miss. Fook Yuen has been one of the best dim sum spots in the Peninsula for years and the weekend morning experience here is genuinely excellent.
13. Ming's (Palo Alto)
Ming's in Palo Alto has been doing dim sum since before most of the restaurants on this list existed. It's older in feel, the service is traditional, and the food is solid. Peninsula locals have a real loyalty to this one.
14. Joy Luck Place (Cupertino)
Cupertino has a massive Chinese-American community and Joy Luck Place serves it well. Good for groups, good for families, consistent quality, and more accessible than making the drive up to the city on a Sunday morning.
15. China Village (Albany)
East Bay representation. Albany's China Village is a reliable East Bay option and a good spot to know if you're coming from Oakland or Berkeley and don't want to deal with crossing the bridge just for dim sum.
How to do dim sum like a local:
Go early. The best carts come out between 10 and 11 AM and the kitchen is freshest then. If you're going with a group, designate one person to flag down carts and actually commit to it, because the timid wait-and-see approach means you'll miss the good stuff. Don't feel bad about asking what's in something. Order the har gow first. Always. Finish with egg custard tarts. That's the whole playbook.
