XLB Kitchen — Restaurant in Cupertino

Please please please read this review before you decide to go to this place!!! (同胞们看这句，东北人开的假上海四川菜馆，老板异常粗鲁，绕道，绕道，绕道！！！）

Hi guys, be careful when you go to this place, especially for outdoor seating!!! Make sure you will definitely, completely, absolutely, be 100% sure that you will fall in love with their food and service. Make sure you are OK to seat in the cold, waiting them to serve you after they finish their main focusing business, the many or not-so-many but time-consuming take-outs. Or, if you are very generous and pay a tip over 15% no matter how terrible the food or service is.

Because if you are not, the owner (not the server) will likely block your car, "politely" ask you to get out of the car and "kindly" require you to rewrite the tips and pay 15% (at least 10%) of tips for the free water and cleaning up service, which the owner claimed to cost a lot of time and labor.

Ok, about the food itself. I will only comment on the most popular dan-dan noodles, which taste exactly like the instant one you can buy in all the Asian markets around, 99 Ranch, Hmart, K market, for 1 dollar. And the noodles, you can eat them without even using your teeth.

Now you know why I only commented on the most popular one because others are even worse. I am from China and I can tell you the owners of this place are from the northeastern part and they do fake Shanghai and Szechwan food. There are tons of great and authentic Chinese food in the bay area, and more importantly, good people and service. If you like Shanghai food like XLB, you can go to Shanghai No.1, Shanghai Restaurant. Now you even know why they go with the name XLB kitchen without mentioning of Shanghai. Because they are fake. If you enjoy Szechwan food, you can choose Apple Green Bistro. And if you really favor spicy food, Easterly is also a good choice.

I know you people are nice and generous. But we should really appreciate more owners who are serious about their food, service and life.

This is my first review on Yelp so it might not seem convincing. You can search "rude" in the reviews and you will get your own conclusion.

Please help to prevent the bad money from driving the good by rejecting...

Come here for the Xiao Long Bao and Twice Cooked Pork.

I have only visited XLB Kitchen once, we ordered take-out; Xiao Long Bao, twice cooked pork, Dan Dan mein, house special vegetable deluxe, Shanghai style rice cake.

The XLB was pretty good, thin skin, good amount of soup, and the meat was flavorful. This particular item I would rate 4 stars.

The twice cooked pork was tasty, albeit a bit oily, but comes with the territory when cooking pork belly I guess. I would recommend this dish and give it 3.5 stars.

The house special vegetable deluxe was surprisingly good. The main ingredient was eggplant, so if that is your thing then I would say go for it! I would rate this dish a solid 4 stars.

Both the Shanghai style rice cake and Dan Dan mein were a bit bland. I prefer these dishes to be a bit more flavorful. Overall for these two 2 stars.

Overall the dishes were ok. In the future I would stick with the XLB, twice cooked pork and house special vegetable delight. I would not classify XLB Kitchen as a cheap eats spot. Granted their XLB are $8 for 6 pieces, which is a little better than Din Tai Fung, I still ended up spending $84 for take out here. Taking into consideration price, quality, not service as I didn't eat in, and overall value: I would say the 3 stars seem about right. I enjoy the XLB, but the price and quality of other dishes make me less...

[update] The pea sprouts (大豆苗) were very old and gnarly the other time I came in June. They were quite tough and difficult to chew, and the color was also a bit yellowed. At that rate, it shoulda been served at a discount at the very least.

Soupiest shanghai dumplings I've seen in the Bay Area! Served piping hot though, so you have to wait for them to cool down or else you're in for a painful experience. Other places that take their xiao long bao seriously would serve the dumplings at exactly the right temperature so you can immediately eat them all in one bite. The dumplings aren't always consistent though, and I've gotten one or two that were already punctured by the time they came out. For the most part though, I was very impressed by how thin the skin was and how much soup there was in it. If it hasn't already burst by the time it was served, then it usually holds up pretty well.

Other dishes that are really good include the pea sprouts (大豆苗), spicy wonton, and soybean milk. They also have a pork belly sticky rice in bamboo that is quite popular, but I thought it was much too oily and the bamboo gave it a strange flavor.

Portions were quite small for the price, but the food was tasty and high quality! The outdoor patio seating is great for warm, sunny afternoons in the South Bay. Would definitely return and recommend to anyone...