88 Bao Bao — Restaurant in Merced

So first off you must pay immediately if you want to eat instead of paying after dining in, not a problem.

I was greeted right away and they seated me but the table was still dirty so they quickly cleaned the table.

The table was a little dirty still but it was fine, I just used napkins to cover some of the table.

Also the tables are very close to each other especially the ones in the back, very close.

I felt very squished sitting in the back and it was a little difficult getting out to either use the bathroom or get up and leave without almost touching the person next to you.

Now on with what I ordered. I ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen and BBQ pork buns.

The Tonkatsu came with a decent amount of noodles, 2 slices of chashu pork, and 1 egg. The noodles were soft but not to the point where they break easily. They were whatever however the chashu had some good flavor but a little dry. The Egg though was very flavorful and was the best thing I ate there. The broth itself is supposed to be the selling point but it was bland and disappointing. It had no flavor. I'll rate the Tonkatsu Ramen a 6/10. For $14.95 you're better off going to a nearby PHO place and ordering a Large PHO bowl for that exact price point with lots of flavor and a lot more food in the bowl and the broth is actually drinkable and filling.

Next the BBQ Pork Buns. They came out steaming hot and I had to wait a while for them to cool down. Eventually they cooled down and I took a first bite. They were nice and soft also very gummy so they stick to your teeth and the roof of your mouth. Which made it very difficult to eat without drinking something lol. The pork had some nice flavor but not impressive enough to make you wanna go out and get it again. I'll rate the BBQ Pork Buns a 7/10. For $7.50 you get 3 BBQ Pork Buns, definitely not worth the price point for I've had better.

This place is new and very over hyped but hey, maybe the other options of food they have might be better but I'm never coming here again for I can find better places to eat at for a much better price like for example Teriyaki Don or Royal India Indian Cuisine, phenomenal places to eat at for a good bang...

TL;DR: A fantastic addition to Merced. Food was great, came out fast. Limited drink options. Definitely will return. Overall 9/10

Ordering was slightly confusing. You'll queue up, reach the front and if you are dining in and the restaurant is full, you'll have to write down your name, pen and paper, and wait either outside or on the chairs inside until your name is called. They do make an effort to check outside and inside when calling names. After that, you'll order and be assigned a table.

Table service is simple. They'll bring out your food and that's pretty much it. If you need extra utensils or a take out box there is a shelf near the dining area where you can grab what you need. No fountain drinks though, only bottled drinks or water from a jug they have at the front.

Staff is still learning. A few hiccups with ordering but nothing serious. They are as perfect as they can be under the pressure they are.

Dinning area can feel small when at full capacity but is still a good size. Did not wait too long, under 8 minutes, but maybe was just lucky.

Food was great. The meat was tender and the broth was good too. Just my personal preference on the broth, it could have been richer but was still good 👍. Will definitely come back to try out other items...

Updated September 2025…

A welcome addition to Merced but a little low on the quality. You can definitely tell it’s a chain restaurant… the ramen is more of a light soup and not anything close to a rich ramen flavor and the pork was super chewy and low on flavor.

I’m pretty sure that at least 50% of the items probably come from frozen 😪

The soup dumplings were ok but the skin was way too thick for a top notch xlb. The veggie chow mein was tasty but it’s pretty hard to screw that up 😹

Cleaning products in the dining area and a shoddy self serve “to go box” area that let you know you are definitely still dining in Merced 😹

Given all this I will still return and try some more stuff

Updated September 2025

Returned and the chicken fried rice and the noodle dish were really poorly seasoned. The chicken seemed barely cooked. The leek and pork dumplings had a super thick skin and were rock hard after 5 minutes.

Still cleaning products all over the dining room and really tacky hand written signs all over the store.

Sorry, won’t be...