Dol Ho

The food here is pretty good and reasonably priced. I like the fact that they bring the food out in carts although they only had 1 cart out at a time, and there was a 5 min wait between carts. This place gets really busy on the weekends, they don’t lead you to your table, you have to just take a table when it frees up. As a result you have to be aggressive when taking a table or else someone will cut in front of you and take your table.

Best dim sum served ever with free fragrant hot tea! We ordered:
— standard shrimp (har gow) and pork (shumai) dumplings but there was nothing standard about it! Super flavorful with such thin and slightly chewy wrapping paper that you can see right through the filling!
— spareribs over rice was pure heaven in a small tin bowl. The ribs were cooked perfectly and juices laced through to the rice packed in the bottom of the bowl. So good that I was secretly battling the urge to order an extra portion to take to-​go!
— stuffed eggplant. Looks very unassuming but just packed with flavor and perfect ratio between filling and eggplant.
— chicken feet. omg, juicy fat chicken feet… nom nom nom
— stuffed bean noodle dish that I’ve never had before. Bean thread noodles filled with ground chicken, ground pork, mushroom and tofu. Deliciousness!
No soy sauce needed just top it off with housemate chili paste in oil — not usual standard chili paste but chili paste on steroids full of flavor a such as black bean sauce and garlic.
This is a HOLE-​IN-​THE-​WALL place smack in the middle of SF Chinatown. Don’t expect a lot a fancy ambiance with waitstaff that can speak English. We sat community seating with a table of 4 older Chinese people that cannot speak English well. Signs of good restaurant people — old native diners!
Restaurant was so busy that they literally sat us at the table and cleared out dirty dishes as we are being seated… barely wiping the table clean. But the dumpling is so amazing that it more than makes up for the ambiance.
Super tasty food but set your expectation correctly in the décor and lack of English speakers. Lucky it’s a dim sum restaurant so you can pretty much point at what you want when the cart is pushed around :)

I have has dim sum at quite a few places, from NYC to LA to Houston and San Fran Chinatowns. The best dim sum at local mom & pop, non tourist trap restaurant. The Steamed Stuffed Bean Roll, Spareribs over Rice, the Chicken Feet, shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, chicken stuffed eggplant are heavenly tasting! The Spare Ribs over Rice tops it all!!! And it’s cheap!!! And they have their own spicy chili oil where you don’t even need soy sauce!

The food and prices here are unbeatable. Their spare rib rice is what they’re known for and its only $ 3.75! Did I mention how delicious it is? It was so good I had to come again the next day. On the first day, we dined in and everything was fine. We received decent service, especially for Chinatown. As for the second day I wanted to order to go. I walk in there and the worker is sitting behind the counter staring off into space. I asked her for two spare rib rices to go and she quickly runs to the kitchen to get it and comes back in about 2 mins. (They always have their rices ready cause it’s basically all anyone orders). I then asked her for extra soy sauce cause I didn’t get to ask before she ran off. This was where the lady looked pissed and said «There’s already soy sauce in here, why didn’t you ask me earlier?» Like are you serious? You’re sitting there staring off into space and your mad that you have to walk an extra 5 ft to the kitchen to get me more soy sauce? You should be grateful a paying customer is giving you something to do. But this is Chinatown, and I know better to rate based on service.
⁵⁄₅ for food and price
³⁄₅ for cleanliness
²⁄₅ for service

TL;DR: Hit or miss.
My first time at this place was fantastic. It was extremely crowded on a Saturday morning and the food was piping hot and delicious. Service was great and it was very cheap.
My second time there, however, was a different experience. Despite visiting again on a Saturday afternoon, the restaurant was kind of empty. That should have been our red flag from the start. The lady at the front manning the cash register asked what tea we wanted, and my mother asked to give us a second to decide. When we flagged down that lady a few minutes later, she exclaimed «You weren’t ready when I asked, and now I’m busy and you want your tea?» Damn, rude.
You’d think that a well-​known place that lacks in customer service would make up for it in quality of food, but that day’s selection was quite meh compared to last time. Some of the dumplings were cold. The shrimp rice rolls were lukewarm and kind of pasty.
This place doesn’t function quite like a normal dim sum place. You need to constantly ask the server what you want because the place is so small, the cart won’t physically get to your table. Where you get your food depends on what type of dish you want. The Wu Gok (taro balls) or Cha Siu Bao (BBQ pork buns) are actually pulled from the front counter where they are continually made for to-​go orders. Fresh steamed dumplings come from the carts, if the cart is carrying what you’re looking for at that moment. Random things are, I think, made fresh from the kitchen.
This place was fairly cheap considering the quality and service. Before the new year, it was around $ 20 for 6 dishes. Apparently they raised their prices after the new year, so the second time around, it was $ 24 for around 7 dishes.
Not sure if I’d come back for a third round. After the poor quality and service, I think I’m going to try another dim sum place in Chinatown.

Weird and lovely.
One cart at a time, and it’s a sh! tshow. Don’t bother ordering anything else because its futile, unless you want a pork bun from the window, but the pork bun isn’t anything to write home about.
We ordered about 7 dishes and the bill came out to $ 18.
Just grab what you can and enjoy.

So this place will put you out of your comfort zone, it is noisy, crowded and no frills. At the same time there is A palpable energy to the place. When you come in you have to try to find a seat as quickly as you can as there is no seating service. Once you find a seat waitress shortly comes up and gives you chopsticks and plates and starts bringing food. There are no menus. You wait and the waitress brings you different dishes and you decide if you want them or not. We tried spare ribs and shrimp dumplings before seasoned perfectly and came piping hot. Don’t be afraid to be adventurous year as you may not know exactly what you’re ordering but don’t be afraid.
A quick tip this is cash only so make sure you have some when you arrive, also you may end up waiting in line because there is a line out the door.

The siewmai and the shrimp har gao were really delicious! The black bean ribs over rice is sooooo tasty. The chicken feet was good too. The rice crêpe w shrimps is not the best one i’ve had, the crêpe was too sticky and a bit thick. The food came quickly. Dont expect it to be a nice neat clean place becos it’s not. But for the price it’s great value for money and they serve great food!

i think my experience would have been INFINITELY better if i spoke cantonese or knew exactly what was available to order at dol ho. with that said though, everything i has was pretty good — i was just confused as to what was available! this joint is PACKED with locals and elderly canto folks (with a few hipsters here n there), so you know the stuff is legit. will be back next time with canto speaking people!

Very small dim sum place in the heart of Chinatown SF. The sparerib with rice and cilantro fun with shrimp was okay. But I really liked their ha gow (shrimp dumpling).
Service was fast. I was a bit skeptical about how clean everything is… definitely one of those hole-​in-​the-​wall places!

This was a great experience and about as authentic as you can get.
We stumbled in on a cold Saturday. Space is tight and the restaurant was packed. We ended up sharing a table w/​another party which worked out well because he told us what to order. The food was delicious. The clientele is overwhelmingly Chinese and most of the people seemed to know one another.
All the staff does not necessarily speak English but they are happy to accommodate you. Just hang back for a bit and watch the locals… you sometimes need to approach the dim sum cart because of space restrictions… you will be able to get food and be glad you did.
We stuffed ourselves (2 people) for slightly more than $ 20.

The food is okay but some of them are cold.
They have an okay selection of dim sum. I like the pork dumpling because they put mushroom in it. The shrimp dumpling is okay.
All fried items are not freshly fried so they can be cold. I also don’t like their taro cake because I think it’s too doughy and they should put more taro in it.
The service is fast and friendly. The place is relatively clean and they have bathroom for customers.

Delicious dim sum.
Not very English-​friendly.
Come with a Cantonese-​speaking friend for best experience.
Things to try:
Spare ribs over rice
Bean curd roll
Turnip cakes

Um… is this place for real? Three of us ate our fill of delicious dimsum for just $ 17.75. I shit you not. We started with potstickers which are typically pretty boring for me, but these were pretty damn amazing. The shao mai was great. Xia Jiao was great. Meatball thingy was good. Every single thing we ordered was excellent. Love!
This is a real hole-​in-​the-​wall. Knowing Mandarin came in handy. There were some items on the menu that weren’t available, which was too bad. I had some trouble understanding the process involved… Took me a while to figure out whether they were regularly bringing carts around or if you had to order off the menu. I still don’t think I have it completely figured out, but I believe it’s a mixture of both.

One of the best foodie adventures I had during my stay in SF! We were staying near Chinatown and decided on dim sum for a late lunch. Luckily, Dol Ho was open till 3pm!
This is one of those hole-in-the-wall’s you hear of that lacks cleanliness but has excellent food. Every one is a local, they walk in, grab their own dishware and tea and find their own seating. So if you’re coming in, better grab seating before someone else does!
What made this experience so fun was the ordering process. You can order specific dishes but most of the time, whatever they decide to make in the back, they bring out on the wheel cart. You take it or you don’t. It’s kind of a chef’s choice style, it’s a little slow but makes it an adventure! Otherwise, you can order what you want from the one lady server.
What we ordered and liked:
Siu mai — so meaty!
Ha gow — wrapping is so fresh
Ha gow with shrimp and chives — must get
Shrimp ball with fried tofu
Spare ribs over rice — fell right off the bone
We also ordered steamed buns to go, which weren’t bad and were quite cheap! Our tab was less than 30 $ for 3 people. This was a cool experience to get away from touristy restaurants and get to eat with the locals. They speak canto, mandarin and some English. I always do the point and numbers thing with my fingers, and it works without fail! Must try if you’re visiting SF and you’re looking for some authentic dim sum.

Une expérience à né pas manquer. Un peu rebutant au premier abord, une organisation surprenante, mais après on né regrette pas! Des dim sum rares, délicieux, une ambiance authentique, une clientèle d’habitués chinois. Un petit bémol sur la propreté du lieu.

There are many dim sum places in Chinatown, but none are like this one.
I went with my family for lunch. It was crowded with people. We ordered some dim sum and an item from the main course. Although the dim sum was easy to get, it was hard to get the main course. Had to ask for it twice. Overall, nice place to eat needs a bit of expansion.

If you want authentic dim sum… this is the place. It’s like a hole in the wall full of people all the time. We went there for lunch on a Friday at 11.30. You have to be really outgoing to go to this place vacate if you are not Chinese good luck not looking out of place. We were definitely the back sheep in this place but we were sat immediately and treated with an awkward but welcoming smile :)
They brought out different types of shrimp dim sum. One was just shrimp wrapped in rice paper and the other one was with scallions. We also had the bbq pork buns and the sticky rice. This was probably the freshest and most authentic tasting dim sum my fiancé and I ever had.
You really get a feel for Chinatown in San Fran and the authentic flavored of the east. They even make their own spicy chili sauce. Overall delicious and a must if you are feeling adventurous and inspired!

Almost every other Saturday I come here with my Pops to eat Dim Sum. Yes, this is a fly restaurant, it’s a bit smaller and unclean looking but the food makes up for it 10 folds. This is legit, you get the most bang for your bucks, inexpensive and big portion.
They speak Cantonese, mandarin, and manageable English :).
Recommended food:
Their short rib over rice bowl’s the most popular.
We usually get, Beef Ball! Super big and yummy compared to all dimsum places I know. Short ribs here is the bomb also. If you like shrimp-​gow, then I recommend the shrimp-​parsley-​gow, it’s a lot bigger, trust me. Yup. Their spice-​sauce is home made, you’ll love, not too spicy and great with dimsum.
Here’s how to order in Cantonese
First is Tea when you sit.
Ask for ‘Bo Lay’ best tea that ain’t fake crap, good for the heart and health.
Short-​Ribs: ‘Pie Gwhat’
Shrimp-​parsley-​gow: Hurng Say Gow’
Beef Ball: Beef Ball, you’re not gonna get it if you’re not Cantonese.
These are what I recommend, they got them fried spring roll but come on… You came to CT for authentic food… 8)
–Black Tiger

El mejor Dim Sum que he tomado nunca. Fui con mi hijo y todo lo que probamos nos encantó. El té lo dan por supuesto.

Wow, this restaurant is definitely an experience! We walked in thinking we were gonna get our order taken and be served like in a normal restaurant, right? Wrong!
A lady appears, coming around with hot trays on a cart and offering different dishes you can accept to have or not. We were lucky as the two first dishes we would have ordered anyway: pork and shrimp dumplings. Great portion sizes for two to share (about 2 pretty big pieces each), very fresh and tasty and unbeatable prices (2,50 $-3,50 $ per plate to share!).
After a few minutes wondering how we were gonna order specific dishes we had seen on the menu, we asked for BBQ Pork Bun that happened to be on the tray and got it immediately. Best bun ever! (see picture). We then decided to try the ribs over rice which were okay (lots of bones and very tiny pieces). We finished with huge fried shrimp dumplings. Very particular but I liked it!
We were very full coming out of there and the prices were so cheap: 17 $ for all of that and free tea served right when we got there. I would recommend this place for having good dim sum and an original lunch where you won’t leave hungry!

My GF and I wanted good, authentic Chinese food. While walking through Chinatown we Unilocal’ed this place and decided to try it. We were definitely not left disappointed.
It’s a bit small and when we walked in there was a large crowd — we were lucky we got a table. Once we sat down we were promptly given hot tea, which was amazing.
We’ve never done Dim Sum before and because of the language barrier, it was a bit harder than we’d hoped but eventually we got the hang of it. We got pot stickers — some of the best I’ve ever had -, BBQ pork buns (some of the freshest I’ve ever tasted), and spare rib with black bean sauce. All of the food was amazing and the quantity was large enough that we actually got full.
After all was said and done, our total was $ 11.75! Amazing food at great prices. I definitely want to return here next time I’m in SF.

Nie und nimmer wäre ich auf die Idee gekommen, in dieses Restaurant zu gehen: (
) Sowas passiert immer irgendwie durch Zufall, hier war es ein Bekannter, der schon eine Weile in San Francisco wohnt und der das Dol Ho wärmstens empfohlen hatte. Als bestes Dim Sum Restaurant am Platze. Und das will was heißen, denn Chinatown ist voll von Dim Sums, an jeder Ecke einer. Auf dem Weg dorthin läuft man von Downtown am besten die Stockton hoch, erkraxelt den Nob Hill, am Ritz-​Carlton vorbei, dann wieder runter und man ist in Chinatown, mit allem, was man so von China kennt: (fast) nur noch Chinesen auf der Straße, dann die ganzen Läden mit Tee, fremdem Gemüse, halbtoten oder ganz totem Getier, Pekingenten, chinesische Friseure, Haushaltswaren (
) (
) und plötzlich kreuzt eine kleine Nebenstraße die Pacific Avenue. Aha. Da ist also das Dol Ho. Von außen: abgenudelte Kaschemme, mit verwittertem Hinweisschilld, bei dem schon ein Teil der Buchstaben fehlt, Von innen: abgenudelte Kaschemme, die Einrichtung mit starken Gebrauchsspuren, lebhaft, voller Gerüche. Nur Chinesen (außer uns). Alte Männer mit zahnlosen Mündern und kaputten Brillen lesen chinesische Zeitungen mit Fettflecken drauf, andere diskutieren lebhaft, Frauen mit Bauerngesichtern und in Kittelschürzen der Laden könnte in China sein. Und es war voll. Das Dol Ho öffnet um 8 morgens und schließt um 3 nachmittags oder früher, wenn die Dim Sums alle sind. Geniales Geschäftskonzept.
Die strenge Chefin kam mitten im Andrang hinter der Kasse vor, wedelte an einen Tisch und redete auf einen Alten ein, der bereitwillig Platz machte und uns sitzen ließ. er war aber sowieso am Gehen. Wir bekamen Tee. Schönen, grünen, chinesischen, etwas erdig-​rauchigen Tee, natürlich mit den Blättern drin.
(
) (In dem Glas neben der Sojasauce befindest sich übrigens nicht Sambal Oelek. Sondern eine Masse unbekannter Herkunft und Zusammensetzung, von Öl bedeckt und nicht scharf. Man will da nicht immer genau wissen, was da drin ist.) Dann saßen wir da. Wie bestellt man? (Karten gab es nicht).
Aha. Aus der Küche kam, von einer Dampfschwade begleitet, ein kleines vollgepacktes Wägelchen, das von einer jungen Chinesin durch die engen Tischreihen (insgesamt ca. 8 – 10 Tische) bugsiert wurde. Wenn man etwas wollte, nahm man es sich runter. Englisch sprach sie nicht (zumindest keines, das man verstanden hätte), und wir verständigten uns mit Fingern und Händen. Die erste Runde (das kam halt grade aus der Küche): gebratene Dim Sums. (Siehe Foto unten) Whow. Wie lecker können Dim Sums sein? Die Füllungen waren unterschiedlich, mit Gemüse, Fleisch, Shrimps, Pilzen. Alles lecker duftend und noch besser schmeckend. Die Shrimps keine TK Ware, alles frisch. Noch nie habe ich solche Stückchen gegessen Wir leckten uns die Finger. Die nächste Runde: gedämpfte Dim Sums.
Himmel auf Erden. Teilweise ähnliche, teilweise andere Fülliungen, alles von der zarten gedämpften Teighülle umschlossen. (
) (
) Für jeden Posten machte die Bedienung einen Strich mehr auf einem Zettel, der da lag. Die Striche allerdings bildeten nach und nach ein chinesisches Schriftzeichen. Das erinnerte mich etwas an Hang-​Man. (
) Am Ende waren wir alle happy und echt satt.
An der Kasse neben der Tür wurde bezahlt (wir waren gespannt). Unglaublich: der Preis betrug 20 $ für drei Personen für alles !! Also: reden wir nicht über das Erscheinungsbild des Ladens. Frau Werwolf meint: des ghert so. Für das Essen gibt es alle Sterne, die man hier vergeben kann. Und das Preis-​Leistungsverhältnis ist einfach unglaublich.