Xiang Yuan Xiao Long Bao - San Leandro

This is a hidden gem. The service was excellent, neat and organized dining area. Especially loved the windowed dumpling making area. We sampled several item and looking forward to many, many delicious returns. Dumplings

Really good xlb and SJB. The salt and pepper pork is also really good. The xlb has more of the traditional rich brown savory flavor vs more of the bright Taiwanese Ginger notes The SJB had great crunch. A little too donut sweet for me but awesome other than that.

A bit of a let down with the only notable dish being the pan fried pork buns. My friends and I arrived around lunchtime on a Wednesday and it was fairly empty inside at the time. For 3 people, we ordered 5 dishes. XLB soup dumplings just ok. Not very flavorful and the skin was a bit on the mushy sideWonton in spicy peanut sauce not spicy at all and the sauce was a bit wateryGreen beans definitely not flash fried. Oily and limpVegetable dumplings these were good but not mind blowing Pan fried pork dumplings these were the last to come out and we all agreed the only thing we'd order again from here. In fact, we wanted to order another round but didn't want to have to wait that long for them. Bottom line, come here for the pan fried pork dumplings and skip the other dim sum dishes.

This place is great. The price is reasonable and the food is filling, but at the end of the day, this is a dumpling place with food that's good, but ambiance lacking. While I enjoyed the soup dumpling, the skin was a bit dry on my end. For the pan friend dumpling, it's could use slightly more filling. Beware the spicy wontons because it's very peanut-forward.

I had heard good things about the xiaolongbao and pan fried buns here. They make everything fresh after you order. I thought the food was just ok, the xiaolongbao skin was a bit thicker than I would've liked. That being said the food here is insanely cheap. I think three of us paid a total of $40 which is an insane deal for the Bay Area!