1088 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
Rating: 
Located in the heart of Arcadia, Din Tai Fung serves up their famous pork soup dumplings, xiaolongbao, to the masses. Originating from Taiwan, this famous eatery draws in millions of customers each year to try their dumplings. We decided to visit their newer location as the original was next door with a completely separate line. Once we arrived, we checked in with the hostess who provided me with a ticket and took my cell phone number for a digital wait-list. We waited inside where we watched staff behind a large glass window create dumplings. We were given a paper menu where we can decide and mark what we wanted to order. Within 30 minutes, we were called to head to our table on the second floor.
After we were seated, the server confirmed our order and provided us with our hot tea. While waiting for our food, we mixed our dipping sauce at the table. There was a dish of sliced garlic already on the table, so I added soy sauce and vinegar. Today, we decided to order the pork chop fried rice, pork xiaolongbao, pork and crab xiaolongbao, and the pork and shrimp shao mai. The pork chop fried rice came on a fairly small dish with a large piece of sliced-up pork chop on top. The pork chop was tender, juicy, and had a nice amount of crisp on the outside. The fried rice was fairly light and did not taste oily. I liked how the rice had a good amount of egg and complimented well with the pork chop. The pork xiaolongbao was very fresh and had a savory soup. After biting into the dumpling, you can pour out the soup into a spoon and drink the soup. There was not a lot of meat inside, and each dumpling was quite small but went well with the vinegar soy sauce. The pork and crab xiaolongbao definitely has a crab taste in the soup, and you can taste the texture of the crab inside as well. You don’t taste the crab much at all when dipped into the sauce. The pork and shrimp shao mai was presented beautifully with the shrimp on top of the dumpling. There was actually some soup in the dumplings like the xiaolongbao too. This dumpling was not as savory as the pork xiaolongbao and looked better than it tasted. All of the meat in all the dumplings tasted fresh and delicious.
Overall, Din Tai Fung serves up delicious soup dumplings that are definitely worth trying. Staff is professional and courteous. Prices are on the high-end, but are definitely worth it.The xiaolongbao are definitely worth trying if you come here. If you like to have rice with your dumplings, I recommend the pork chop fried rice. Whether or not you tried soup dumplings before, you must give Din Tai Fung a try if you get the chance.
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