Ruby King Bakery

Worth the trip to Oakland for the egg tarts and pork buns. Soo fresh.

This place never fail. It’s the best! Call in my order at 1pm and pick up time was 3pm they were okay. I’m from sacramento and I come this far for the best sponge cake and dan tat (egg custard). Thank you so much Ruby King bakery, please continue making the best sponge cake

A bit different from most other bakeries in Chinatown in that there’s lots of seating for older folks to play lotto, but once you walk past all the commotion up front, the key is the baked goods.
They’re perfectly decent, average Chinese buns and baked items all around, whether staples like the dan tat (egg custard tarts) or cha siu bao (roast pork buns). Cheap prices, but average quality that comes with it. A typical, average Chinatown bakery.

Ruby King has the BEST Dan Tat I’ve EVER eaten. I mean, just LOOK at that incredible FLAKY crust. The egg custard is silky and luscious. It melts in your mouth. How DO they DO it?! PERFECTION. The search ends here. You need these in your life.

Love all of the delicious Chinese pastries. Sponge cake and cocktail bread are my favorite !

I was helped as soon as I walked in!
All the pastries looked delicious,
and the red bean cake was great — flaky and tasty!

Best cocktail buns ever (gai mai bao).
So fricken good.
Their dan tats are great too.
Like as good as Hong Kong… maybe better, since it’s local.
Just go and listen to the loud Chinese ladies yell their orders out.
Get take out so you don’t ruin the flavor nirvana you are about to experience.

I have been coming to this bakery for probably more than 10 years. It is far less crowded than Napoleon and the employees are much friendlier (not that they’re super friendly but at least they don’t ignore you). This is more of a stop by and take out place for me since I feel a tad out of place sitting at a table in a sea of elderly Cantonese men playing the lotto.
A reliable and cheap (relative to other stores in the area) place to get your fix of egg tarts, pineapple buns, pork buns, the typical Chinese buns. I will continue coming here for my bun fix whenever I’m in the area.

I only come here for an egg custard or a lemon swirl cake slice. I never come here for anything else. The egg custard is really good, especially when you eat it when it’s fresh and still nice and warm. It’s still good after you take it home and retoast it in the oven.

Delicious and fresh Chinese pastries. Egg tarts are delicious and the mini paper wrapped cake are good too. Prices are cheap and employees are fast and friendly.

Think this is my new favorite bakery in Oakland. I came here and ordered a pineapple bun, a few egg tarts, and a bbq pork bun. Very very good and very cheap. I am a fan. As many others have mentioned it’s a quick substitute for Golden Bakery in SF.

My husband’s family grew up eating cakes from Ruby King, so we knew it was a good place to go when we needed to pick up a birthday cake. At 4pm on a Sunday afternoon we weren’t sure what to expect We arrived to see only one small cake in the case. When we asked about bigger cakes, they were so sweet and said to wait about 15 minutes and they would make us a sheet cake. The Chinese cream/​fruit cake was delicious and was a hit at the party. We picked up some pork buns, egg custard tarts and beef curry pasteries. All were great and we will definately come here way more often in the future.

The bakery has OK food. They also have elder people sitting down often
They accept only cash, and they also have bread card. They have lottery with the lottery TV. It is dirty, but their food is clean. The building is old and dirty. They also have the machine that wraps the ribbon.

I love their egg custards. Sure, Golden Gate Bakery is still the best, but hey’re the best for the price. Besides, San Francisco Chinatown is further away from me and it’s always hard to fine parking there.
I was here the other day and ended up getting the half a dozen each of: egg custards, cocktail buns, and pineapple custard buns… all for only $ 11. That averages to around $ 0.60 each… way better than some of the other overpriced Chinese pastry items you can find in and around San Francisco.

Review is only on the egg tarts because that is the only thing I have ever gotten here.
I grew up eating egg tarts from Ruby King. Nothing has compared to their egg tarts, ever. Soft, moist, and flaky crust. Don’t get me wrong, Golden Gate Bakery is great but Ruby King takes it home. If you like your egg tart on the sweeter side, then GGB is for you however Ruby King is a must try. I remember going there in the 90s when you can purchase a dozen egg tarts for like $ 3. They’ve since doubled their pricing however a dozen egg tarts for $ 7.20 in 2015? Amazing steal.
If you haven’t tried Ruby King, you haven’t had an amazing egg tart.

CASH ONLY! I haven’t been back in almost 8 yrs! Wow. I went on Sunday 3÷15÷15 around 3pm and they still had egg tarts!
They are now 75c, back in 2007 they were 50! Now can only get 2 for $ 1.50 instead of 4.
Tried to get custard bun (ni won bao) but all Sold Out! Gotta go early for those.

Strongly recommending one of Oakland Chinatown’s gems of the dan tat realm! According to my grandma, an elderly woman who frequently traverses the Chinatown hood, Ruby King has the best dan tats in Oakland Chinatown! Now… I am not entirely sure whether that is based on their cheap prices, but Ruby King surely has some cheap dan tats for sale (I think it’s like $.60 each?)!
Upon entering, you are greeted by the eyes of elderly Chinese men, usually reading newspapers and sipping their HK style milk teas in silence. If you ignore their stares and walk straight toward the counter, you will be satisfied to find the beautifully delectable pastries in the display window! I have personally eaten one of these dan tats fresh out the oven, and WOW, it was YUM. However, is any dan tat not yum when it comes straight out of the oven??? Then, it needs to pass the «couple hour» test. AKA after a couple hours, is your dan tat still in good shape?! Ruby King passed these tests with flying colors :).
So then, why the minus 1 star? To be honest, while everything went very well in terms of the quality of the food, ordering was not easy. I basically had to force the ladies at the counter to help me because they totally disregarded me and my entire family of 5 people (keep in mind that the restaurant isn’t that big either…).
Pro-​Tip: They do large party platters! I did one for a 250-​person event, and it was successful! They even added some extra dan tats, too!
Pro-​Tip 2: Parking is hard. I recommend driving with a friend so that he/​she can drop you off when you pick up these goodies!

EGG TARTS…
You no longer have to cross the Bay Bridge to get some good ones, they are just as good here, and much cheaper at 70 cents a piece, need I say more…

In Chinatown, you can never expect a place to be cleaned or to have really good customer serivce. Here, I can always except to be in and out really quickly. There’s rarely a line and if there is, it moves really quickly.
I’ve been coming here since I’ve gone to preschool at the closed preschool at the corner of chinatown. My absolute favorite things here are the egg custard tarts and the sponge cakes (sponge cake with lemon filling too!) For the price that I pay, you can always except me to walk with with a box costing me less than 10 dollars. What more can I really ask for? Yummy pastries and more yummy pastries… I’m happy!

No wait. AT ALL.
With egg tarts that rivals the famous SF ones? Why not!!!
One time I just went in there, strolled over to the counter, asked for a dozen warm egg tarts and left. Record time of 5 minutes!
They’re also delicious! I wish there was more custard than flakey crust but other than that, I have absolutely no problems with their egg tarts!
Don’t forget all the other delicious Chinese pastries you can get from here!