Big Dish Restaurant

What a classic dimsum takeout place right in the heart of Oakland Chinatown. I found the service to be quick and friendly. Price for most dimsum items was $1.10 each, including pork siu may, har gow (shrimp dumplings), chive dumplings, shrimp pearl dumplings, and many more. Har gow and chive dumplings were delicious, even though the skin/wrapper fell apart with it being a bit too soft. But the flavor was super spot on, especially the shrimp dumplings with good bamboo shoot crunchiness in each bite. To my surprise, my fave was the shrimp pearl dumplings which are essentially shrimp balls covered with a thin layer of sticky rice. Texture was amazing, taste was delicious! I'd get those again, and lots of them next time.I also got their bbq pork (by the pound), and price was pretty competitive at $10 per pound, compared to other competing businesses in the vicinity. The pork was succulent and tasty. I'd get that again for sure as well.I bought a handful of their pan fried sticky rice cake filled with red beans, but they were unfortunately just meh. The sticky rice was way too greasy/oily. $1.20 each.The the shop was very small, so there would not be any space for people to dine in at all.

Big Dish is a Chinese "deli", where you can get BBQ items (BBQ pork, roast duck, roast pork, etc.) as well as different baked goods (including the seasonal moon cakes) and different dim sum items. What I mean by deli is it's quick and easy, not a fancy meal.Years ago, you could get a container of BBQ meat and rice for $5, I'm sure we're a long ways from there.I like their BBQ pork (cha siu) and roast pork, as something I could use as part of a meal, and also make fried rice with the next day or so. There's also a variety of dim sum you can get (taro cake, shrimp dumplings, etc.) relatively quickly compared to a sit down restaurant. Especially during the lunch rush, they seem to replenish those steamer baskets regularly.I recently got a pound of BBQ pork for about $12 and a pound of roast pork for $19. They're always going to be salty, but they weren't too salty. They accept credit cards with a $25 minimum, these days it's safer not to carry cash/too much cash. Most people just grab the food as takeout, but there is some seating if people ever wanted to eat-in.

This place is a hit it mess, dim sum tastes good but someday- the flavors are off. Not the cleanest place but the dim sum is better tasting and way cheaper than the dim sum with the green signage (iykyk). Also, customer service is never great in Chinatown. But I'm not here for the service, just the food.

We originally wanted to go to a sit down dim sum restaurant but didn't feel like waiting an hour. We found this place by chance, and it did not disappoint. $1.10/pc and they were big and tasty. They also have party trays to order in advance. Staff was friendly and cordial, as well as efficient. This place is really simple but the food was tasty for the price.

Date: 1/28/2024 Time: 3:15 PM 63° Partly cloudyIt was at the recommendation of my sister-in-law to get dim sum pastries from Big Dish instead of going to my usual go-to place in Oakland Chinatown.Okay. There is an event happening in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza. Live entertainment with dancers and singers on the performance stage in celebrating a Chinese New Year event is occurring. Here's my chance to check out Big Dish, which is half a block away.How delightful to see a pastry that my late mom used to prepare for my siblings and me when we were growing up. That pastry is called the chicken cage (gai loong). Oh those wonderful memories of consuming them. Gai loong was something my siblings and I enjoyed many moons ago. Visiting today, the selection was limited to what they have on hand. I can only guess I have to get to Big Dish earlier and not later in the afternoon. The menu board lists all sorts of pastries. Yummy!Big Dish also has roast duck, roast pig and chicken, congee, noodles, rice, etc. The red awning indicates what they serve, and the characters are written in Chinese. I can still read some of the characters, but writing them is a different story. Service is good. The employee was helpful. I basically bought what I wanted. However, I did not see any fried turnip cake. I also should have asked if they had bowl pastries. One of my sisters calls them "flying saucer pastry." They are white and glutinous, shaped like a flying saucer. (Woon dai go)Return visit? Yes! Yes! Yes!

Big Dish is located in the heart of Oakland Chinatown. Parking is a big difficult here, so everyone is usually just doubled parked outside. It is and looks a bit run down with a few chairs & tables along the wall inside - it feels and looks dirty / greasy inside as well. My family are loyal customers here and buy their BBQ items / duck here pretty often. We also always order the large roasted pig every year for Ching Ming Festival here. Anyway, we ordered their roasted pig in advance and when we arrived on the day for our order, it was pretty busy, but we had a set pickup time. We were given attitude by most of the workers and when we were finally helped, they showed us our large roasted pig and the ears & snout were burnt. They tried convincing us that it was supposed to be like that and that we had the best one when the other roasted pigs sitting there that other customers had ordered were not like that. At that point, there was nothing we could do because we were already running late and these large roasted pigs are usually ordered at least 3 days in advance. Overall, you would think that they would at least treat their loyal customers well, but they do not and it is unfortunate to have to pay $300 for a burnt roasted pig for an important day just to be given attitude.

*** 3.5 stars -***An option for dim sum located in Oakland Chinatown. Mom likes their steamed chicken and lotus buns here but no lotus buns today...oh well.Ordered a fried taro, steamed black bean pork spareribs over rice, steamed chicken bun and sesame ball. Sesame ball are not the best here as the dough is thick even when they come out fresh and warm from the kitchen. The filling of red bean is different like they added some dried orange peel..different but I prefer the traditionalTheir dim sum is good and (to me), better than the popular place on Franklin (spot with the peach on the window and noodles displayed). The issue I have at this spot is order taking is a bit chaotic so takes longer to get your items and leave Cash and credit card accepted. Some street parking if lucky so park in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza garage. Entrance on each side on Franklin and Webster between 10/11th Streets $6 for 2.75 hr parking on a Saturday

It's your typical grab and go dim sum place in Oakland Chinatown. Some things are good here and some things are just okay. The dim sum is a hit or miss. Their turnip cake was a little too salty for me. It tasted a day old. My favorite is their chicken feet and their spare ribs. Their bbq pork is the best I've ever had. The ladies here are nice. The ambiance is very old school.

Very friendly staff, fast service, the freshest dim sum! And they have the tastiest chicken feet and har gow I've ever had in my life the roast duck is also superb. Cute lil hole in the wall dim sum spot in Chinatown and the prices are very reasonable! Love this place!

Plenty of places around downtown Oakland but this is one of the best places for reasonably priced dim sum to go. Other places charge $0.30 to $0.50 more per menu item and not as good. May not seem a lot but it sure does add up if you're buying a box full of bbq buns or sesame balls. Tips: bring cash. I think they have a minimum purchase of $25 for credit cards, and it is a small place and could get really loud sometimes.