Dim Sum Chef

We can’t go to 88 Foodcourt without getting something from Dim Sum Chef. The Har Gows (shrimp dumplings) may be the best in Boston. Other favorites are the rice noodles with beef, Siu Mai, and sticky rice in lotus leaf wrap. The cash only factor can be a pain, but worth it!

Cheap and delicious greasy dim sum. This is exactly how I like it.
It’s in a food court, so there’s not much ambiance, but the food is heaven.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good their food is for a food court place. Haven’t gotten their delivery yet, but may be doing that with the winter coming up. The pork & shrimp shu mai taste pretty close to the ones I’d get at dim sum restaurants in Chinatown back home in LA, and the shrimp noodle rolls are delicious! The sauce for the noodle rolls has a rich flavor, but not too overpowering. Prices could be a bit lower but considering there isn’t much dim sum offered in the area, they’re fair enough.

I often get the lunch special because it comes with a tiny cup of real old school Chinese chicken soup! It taste exactly the way my grandma used to make it. Also the price and quality can’t be beat!
The food is every bit as good (and sometimes better) than what you get in Chinatown. Highly recommend the shrimp dumplings*, shrimp rolls*, chicken feet*, crispy pork dumplings*, crispy taro shrimp, and all their rice plates.
*I’m Asian and I’m not sure what the menu names are for these items, closest phonetic approximation in order would be ha gow, ha chang, fowk jow, hahm sui gok in that order if that helps?
The guy that works there is also great. Been going here for years and the guy is always fast, friendly, and helpful.
And just a reminder, this place is cash only!

They make food fresh!!!

My go to place for dim sum. There is no need to wait for these metal carts to slowly come to your table for your favorite dish. Come by here and order from their vast menu and it will be ready in about 10 minutes. They taste as great and I drop by here once a week for when the crave hits. My go to items are Fried Rice Noodles with multiple sauces (peanut and oyster sauce) *always ask for the sauces separate in the containers*, Fried Rice Noodles with Fried Dough, Crispy Shrimp Cake With Taro, Shrimp Dumplings, and Shumai.

I would have to say it’s better than Chinatown. Love that they use clean plating because it’s usually for take out or eat in the food court.
The dim sum is yummy but they only accept CASH.

Reliable and fast, there is seating all around the food court area. Best bbq pork buns I’ve ever had and shrimp noodles are amazing (and come with A LOT of food, like a lot). Everything is around 3 – 4 bucks. I wish they took cards but it’s cash only. The guy at the counter is friendly and always smiling. They don’t always call it out when your food is done tho so be sure to keep an eye on the counter
Food ⁵⁄₅
Service ⁴⁄₅
Atmosphere ³⁄₅

Pretty good for some hole in the wall. Found this place on grubhub when i was craving some soup dumplings… now they didnt have those but had other great items.
I ordered the shrimp dumplings and shrimp and chive roll. Both super super good.
The bbq por bun was okay and so was the fried sticky rice dumpling with pork.
I wish this place had more options but i am thankful to have found cheap dim sum on the area that delivers.

The quality was very decent. I didn’t expect much at first but ended up being quite happy. The owner seems polite and willing to help. I like the steamed buns.

Average dim sum but I don’t have to deal with crowds and perfect when you don’t care to sit down for real dim sum. We ordered the pork dumplings, shrimp dumplings, pork ribs, beef rice noodle, shrimp rice noodle and a chicken with mushroom over rice. The rice noodle on the beef and shrimp rice noodle was way too thick. You can’t even taste the filling with a the noodle. Everything else was mediocre. For the price, it would not be on our regular list of places to go. Six dishes cost us around $ 30… Not worth it!

Still good and reliable after all these years. The staples were solid: shrimp dumplings (ha gow), pork shu mai, beef rice noodles. Just wish they would de-​vein shrimp in the dumplings — so many Chinese places seem to skip this step.
Bottom line: Chinatown level dim sum for take out (or eat in the food court) w/​o the crazy hassle of Chinatown parking or crazed, hungry, and impatient people waiting in mobs for their tables in Chinatown.

If you don’t want to wake up early to go to chinatown and than still wait for a table for dim sum, this place is for you. It’s as easy as 1−2−3. You look at the picture menu, tell thr cashier what you would like and pay her with cash only and wait less than 5 – 10 minutes for the dim sum. The bbq pork buns was delicious. The noodle with shrimp was good but I had better, the shumai I didn’t really care for, the shrimp dumpling is ok also. The only thing I miss is the ladies pushing the carts yelling out what they have. Dim sum is an experience that you need to go and enjoy in Chinatown, where you would sit in your seat and look at the carts with giddy anticipation on what is in that cart and if you want it or not is the fun part of dim sum. But if you just want a quick bite than go here.

THE CUSTARD BUNS. AHHHHH. This place is my go-​to for dessert after a meal at Super 88, and pretty much any of their buns filled with something sweet is guaranteed to be great, although the warm and gooey custard buns go above and beyond.
Their savory snacks are awesome too — I particularly like their veggie buns. Everything is cooked to order and thus can take some time, so I sometimes will put my order in while I eat dinner so it can be ready by the time I finish. They have a ton of options, pretty much all of which are under $ 5 as far as I can tell. I haven’t tried theirs yet, but they have a lot of congees available, including two options that are vegetarian! Perfect for winter, especially on the off chance that you’ve exhausted the rest of Super 88’s (many) soup options.

Nice place, but slightly overpriced (although not expensive). I got the pan fried sticky rice, which was good, but very small for the $ 5.10 it cost. Also got the coconut with red bean gelatin for dessert, which was $ 2.30. I thought it was really good. The place is CASH ONLY.

Went to the super 88 and figured I would try something new. I’ve had dim sum before in NYC and loved it, seeing as it’s just different dumplings. I never knew you could order so many different kinds of dumplings until I looked at Dim Sum Chef’s menu!
I ordered rice noodle rolls with beef. I hated them. They were very soggy and slimy and honestly had the consistency of something I never want to eat again. BUT, the shrimp dumplings were pretty good.
My favorite part of my order today was the custard buns. I think that’s what they’re called anyway. They were delicious, hot, fresh, and I have never had anything like that before.
Maybe I hit this place on a bad day, but the rice noodle rolls were disgusting.
Not sure if I was supposed to ask for any dipping sauce for any of these, but I wasn’t given any. Oh well, I’ll give it another whirl another time!

O… M…G. I have been coming here for YEARS! So much so, the owner used to smile as we walked through the front door of Super 88. My wife, sister-​in-​law and I used to come to Super 88 every Friday night for amazing take out, when my wife and I were in college.
Once you get used to the… interesting…smell of the market, and through the doors of the food court, you’ll be welcomed by the smells of fried spring rolls and tasty Asian cuisine!
First thing-​make sure you have cash! They don’t accept credit cards at Dim Sum. Everything I have had (almost half the menu at this point) is amazing. Cooked to order, it comes out steaming hot and fresh, every time! The pork buns, chive and shrimp spring rolls, shrimp and corn cakes, and custard buns are just a few of my favorite things to order.
It usually only takes 10 – 15 minutes, depending on how busy they are and what you get, for everything to be done. While you wait, there is bubble tea and various other cuisines around the food court.
You won’t be disappointed!

Dim Sum Chef @ Super 88 is not quite up to par to its dim sum restaurant counterparts in Chinatown, but they exceeded my expectations. It’s decent and convenient enough, I’d be willing to come again.
++Clear, laminated picture menus of all their dishes
— - Cash only
The pricing linked to the menu on Unilocal is wrong. Prices have risen, averaging $ 3 – 3.45 per dish if you choose a la carte. Pricier than Chinatown, but I figure it’d come out the same price overall if T fare is taken into consideration.
3 dimsum dishes + fruit shake came at ~$ 13.50. I am stuffed.
I don’t know if they make it by hand on the spot, but I can attest it’s not the frozen food aisle kind of dim sum because the size of each piece is generous and large. Everything is steamed on the spot for the right duration. Not soggy as another Unilocaler complained about.
3 dimsum dishes:
–Ha Cheong Fan (Rice noodle roll w/​shrimp). They ODed with the rice noodle and only put in 2 shrimp per roll so there’s an imbalance. Cute cup holder of sauce is provided.
–Pork dumpling, 3 pieces. Tastes and looks like xiao long bao, minus the soup. Cup holder of pink vinegar is provided.
–Shiu Mai, 4 pieces. Large, my favorite of the lot.
Lychee fruit shake was icy cold, lychee flavoring is light, would’ve liked it a tad sweeter but not going to complain. Less sugar is always a good thing.
Everything is packed as if you’re eating take out. Styrofoam overload making mother nature sad, but other than that plenty of napkins and chopstick provided.

This food court is a boba hidden deep inside the Princeton orange color of a delicious thai tea beverage. There are a slew of options, but we opted for Dim Sum Chef after reading some great recommendations via the Unilocal machine.
This spot definitely exceeded my expectations. More dishes delighted than disappointed, most notably being the BBQ Pork, with it’s melt in your mouth meat and well balanced sauce that made me want to lock myself up in my room and just hold it tenderly while I sang it R Kelly songs. Top notch.
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The fried shrimp with taro was another of my favorites, with a crispy taro exterior that balanced really well with the shrimp paste, only needing a little soy to bring it all together.
If you are trying to fill yourself up, get the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves and filled with a mystery meat; you get two portions for about 3 bucks and they are super filling.
We had one shrimp dish that was tasteless (in fact it was so bland that I forgot what it was called), but the custard dim sum made up for it’s friend by saying to me, «Drew, I am sweet and light, why don’t you just forget about my boring friend and gobble me right up.» So I did, and all was good with the world.
Also worth noting are the sesame balls with lotus paste… fantastic!
I would be all up in this spot if I lived nearby. 4.5 stars

Another Chinese take out place at the 88 Food Court in Allston, I have been here twice for the dim sum meal special, in which they give you a bowl of soup, two pieces of siu mai (a type of dumpling with pork inside), two pieces of ha gau (shrimp dumpling in Cantonese Chinese), and a small rice dish for about $ 7 – 8.
Recently, I got Chinese Sausage, Liver Sausage, and Pork Strips on rice. I think they give a good amount of rice, but a little less meat. The Chinese sausages were good, tasted a little like the Chinese sausages that my mom buys for me to cook at my apartment. The liver sausage had a nice chewiness, could use a tiny bit of salt. As for the the pork strips, they were okay, the texture had a gummy chewiness, and needed to be meatier.
As for the siu mai, it was nicely plump and tasty, but not the best siu mai I had. The ha gau was sufficiently good, the soy sauce provided gave a good flavoring. As for the soup, it had a good amount of cabbage inside. Since there was excess rice in my dish, I poured the rice into the soup, and it was a good way to finish the soup.
Service took a while, but I was patient, because when I looked at the back of this place, I saw two women carefully preparing the food and they looked old enough to be my mom. Prices for dim sum dishes ordered «a la carte» are about the same price compared to typical dim sum dishes served in Boston’s Chinatown.
Overall, this is not a bad choice to get satisfactory dim sum dishes in Allston, though I would rather go to Boston’s Chinatown if I really have this craving for dim sum. This is not high on my recommendations, but this is probably the only place in Boston outside of Chinatown I can think of that can actually serve passable dim sum.