88 Bao Bao

Bao Bao!Hello and welcome to Merced. We are sorely lacking Asian options so we were so pumped when we saw you were coming. The Xiao Long Bao was on point. Decent size. Decent price. Taste great. Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow) is standard fare which is great. It was good. Pork & Chives was good though whether someone likes it will depend on the purpose. Lava Bun was good but probably not something I'd order again mainly because it's expensive and little too sweet for my taste. I'm sure those who love sweet things will love it though. All in all, it was a good experience and I have a feeling we will come back many times over. Partially bc the food is good. Partially bc well what other Asian choices do we have!See you soon!

I was sooo excited to see this place about to open up, honestly thinking this would be my new favorite spot. The first day I could go in and order without a line out the door I did. The service was fast, I will give them that. The actual place is called 88 Bao Bao Ramen and dumplings I ordered Ramen, pork buns, lumpia, chow mein and fried rice so my husband and I could try a little bit of everything. The chow mein was barely a step above panda.The pork buns were highly disappointing once you got to the pork, the flavor was like BbQ sauce rather than the flavor should be. The Ramen broth lacked flavor, minus sodium...it really...really was disappointing. The lumpia wasn't bad so that at least was a snack but not worth going back for. The best thing we had was the rice, but they loaded the rice down with onions, I mean a whole onion was probably chopped up and put in it, half would have been perfect. We have not gone back due to the price vs. food.

A welcome addition to Merced but a little low on the quality. You can definitely tell it's a chain restaurant... the ramen is more of a light soup and not anything close to a rich ramen flavor and the pork was super chewy and low on flavor. The soup dumplings were ok but the skin was way too thick for a top notch xlb. The veggie chow mein was tasty but it's pretty hard to screw that up Cleaning products in the dining area and a shoddy self serve "to go box" area that let you know you are definitely still dining in Merced Service was very friendly. Given all this I will still return and try some more stuff

Came here for lunch as I was craving something Asian. Found 88 Bao Bao as one of the newest spots to open up in Merced and immediately knew to take the SO here to try it out. Located off of Yosemite in the same plaza as Em-Tea and Raley's, 88 Bao Bao is a fast-casual dim sum restaurant serving various dumplings and ramen. The day we went, the line to order was out the door in which we stood for a good 15 minutes before making it to the register. Whether you order to-go or dine-in, patrons will have to stand in line. If you dine-in, you place your order and receive a number placard so the servers know what to give each table. We ordered: Wonton in chili oil - pretty silky wrapping and the chili oil isn't too spicy. The meat inside had a "rougher" texture. It was very much Italian meatball vs. smooth meat paste filling feel, which I'm not sure is the norm. Still tastyPan fried pork buns - one of my favorite dishes in general. The ones here had the same "rough" meat but still super tasty. The wrapping also wasn't too thick and the bottoms were perfectly crispy.Pork XiaoLongBao - these had thicker skins than preferred, but tasted great with the vinegar and garlic soy that is provided on every table. Black garlic ramen - the SO loved this and actually demolished the whole thing. The broth was so rich and comforting. Service was quick and the people placing dishes at our table were nice, too! Definitely a great lunch, and wouldn't mind coming back.

Finally, somewhere I can order some of my favorite dim sum dishes in Merced! I tried the beef roll, chili oil wontons, fried rice, and black garlic ramen. Chili oil wontons were the favorite - they had good texture and were very flavorful. I also really enjoyed the beef roll, the beef was tender and the flavor was on point. Fried rice was pretty standard. Ramen was solid for Merced and the pork was very good (the broth, however, does not compare to what you can get in LA or the Bay). I will definitely come back to try the XLB and red bean bao!

I've gone to this location twice now. Once for dine in and once to go. The chain in northern CA was one of my favorite places to for wonton chili oil and the Merced location did not disappoint. When you first arrive you order from the counter and let them know if it's done in or take out. If there's a wait, check in for dine in is needed so you can get a table number.Dine in wait time is usually 15ish minutes, not too bad.The first time we went we got:- wontons in chili oil (5/5)-chicken & corn dumplings (3.5/5)-Beef roll (3/5)-cucumber salad(4/5)-black&gold lava bun(5/5)-beef ramen (2.5/5)The wonton in chili oil always hits and make sure to add some vinegar to each bite to take flavors to the next levelChicken and corn was good. Filling was a little bland but reminded me of chicken &corn soup. Added to the chili oil because why not. Also good dipping in the garlic ponzu sauceBeef roll- the pastry wasn't a green oil pancake and that made me sad. It was okay and the beef didn't have much seasoning. But like dipped in the chili oil, it was phenomenal. Do you see a trend here.Cucumber salad was fresh and refreshing. Black and gold lava bun is an egg yolk bun that gives you that sweet and salty dessert. Careful when eating it hot, the yolk does ooze out.Beef ramen was alright. The broth we got was super salty but noodles were good and veggies were cooked well.The second time I went for lunch: -wonton in chili oil (5/5)- steamed leek/pork/shrimp dumplings (5/5)-cucumber salad (5/5)All hit and best believe I just added the dumplings to my wonton in chili oil bowlThe wait time for to go was pretty long. I saw those who got there at the same time as me for dine in, already sitting and eating their food by the time I got my food to go.

This is my third time at 88 Bao Bao and it was amazing as always! I tried the Wonton Ramen this time and wow. It had wontons, ramen noodles, bok choy, and egg. I definitely recommend it! Also, I always get sesame balls 10/10. The service is great, the food is quick.

I phoned in my order and when I got there to pick it up the restaurant was clean and the staff was friendly. That was the best part of my experience! Now to the food, I ordered the Tonkotsu ramen. Which is one of my favorite ramens. I did like that the broth came separately but that's it, the roasted pork was sliced so thin and was extremely dry and lacked flavor. The broth was very very light on flavor. For the price I was disappointed I tried to give the ramen to my kids and they also didn't want it. I also ordered the crab and pork dumplings and the pork dumplings. These are also some of my favorites they were juicy but the flavor was not there either. I was so excited to try this place but I was let down and my order total was a few bucks shy of $50.00 which in this economy was hard to give away and not enjoy.

This is 100% a scam. I was excited for Merced to finally have a dumpling and bao spot, but was wildly disappointed when I ordered delivery from them. I got their bbq pork buns and noodles in chili oil. I immediately recognized the buns they were using, as I've bought them and microwaved them at home before. The exact taste, texture, and look. They are also massively overcharging for these, being that they are from the frozen bag. 7.99 for 3 of these when the bag they buy is 9.99 for about 10 on Wee! Also the noodles in chili oil was bland and the noodles were overcooked. I can understand the need to buy things frozen for efficiency at a place where you want other things to be the focus, but to charge almost 3 times the cost when I could pop these in the microwave at home is actually insane.Probably never gonna buy here again, just gonna buy these from Wee! again lol

Certainly the worst food I've ever paid for. The "crab" was spoiled, the beef was old. The frozen deep fried shrimp tempura tasted like what it was - probably the best part of the meal. Tempura sauce = terrible. Chili sauce = terrible. Whatever they gave me for "soy" sauce = terrible.If you enjoy Dim Sum or decent food, don't come here.