BAO (CMU) — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Bao. Where to begin? My date and I walked into a sushi restaurant up the block and I stopped to wonder..."what's where Lulu's used to be?" My lovely companion agreed to find out and my life was changed. This was my first experience with real dim sum and, as I write this, Sunday night Brad is sick with jealousy that he's no longer Saturday lunch Brad.

The food was of the very highest caliber, one of those meals where even the worst thing on the table was still amazing. My drink selection of blended grapes with salted milk foam felt like a gamble but it was amazing. Pork belly sliders came as an appetizer and presented me with three bites of the best pork belly I've ever had. Soon after, dinner arrived.

The siumaai ate like clouds stuffed with butter, as shrimp and mushroom melted in my throat and pooled in my gut like a delicious Exxon-Valdez spill. The bao, steamed perfectly, soaked up every drop of chili oil and soy that were given to us.

For dessert, the custard piggies were both delicious and fun to eat, as one rarely has the opportunity to take a bite out of a pig's face.

The wait staff was somewhat inattentive but I'm willing to chalk that up to them letting me enjoy the company of my wonderful date. I cased the joint about halfway through and found it to be clean, presentable, and charming.

I do not simply recommend that you try Bao. I all but command you to stop what you're doing, make the necessary calls and texts, and rearrange your schedule to hit up Bao as soon as you're able. Your renal specialist can wait. Your daughter's graduation ceremony will be recorded. There's a good chance your wife will still be in labor when you get back. Aunt Gladys knew you loved her, she'd just want you to be happy and you know what will make you happy, my...

Review is for take-out via Uber Eats. This location is called "Bao II" on the Uber Eats app.

Pick-up around 2PM on a weekday afternoon was ready in about 20 minutes. The food travelled decently well on a 15 minute walk in 35F weather.

I ordered the double cooked pork (Double Cooked Pork Belly 回锅肉) and Earl Grey Milk Boba Tea 伯爵珍珠奶茶. My requests were well accommodated, with a nut-free dish and a generous side of appropriately cooked white rice. The portions are very generous - I did not finish the double cooked pork belly and in fact had enough for a second meal later on (with extra fresh rice made at home). I was a bit surprised to note that the double cooked pork was not the Szechuan style that I am familiar with at other restaurants, but instead a more sauce-heavy style of twice cooked pork. The pieces of pork were thicker than other restaurants, and consequently not as tender. The dish came with a generous serving of cabbage, red and green peppers, and onion that all benefitted from the sauce in the dish. There were areas of high saltiness for some reason, and less spice than I would have liked. Overall, I give the twice cooked pork belly a 4/5 for the value, but this is considering that I ordered on a promotion.

The Earl Grey Milk Boba Tea was unfortunately a miss. The tea itself was very strong, which was nice. However, the tapioca was tough to chew, improperly formed (difficult to drink because 2-4 balls would be clumped together, as seen in the photo) and overall flavorless, diluting the drink poorly. I would not order boba again and give it a 2/5 for good tea flavor.

Overall, I would recommend Bao as a place to do a family-style sharing of dishes, or get take-out food (not boba) with a delivery...

They have the best siomai and other dimsum-like options in Pittsburgh. However, People mistake the restaurant for being a dimsum restaurant. I wouldn't call the restaurant a 100% dimsum place because some staple items are missing, and the menu is quite big. Dimsum isn't the center of the menu, but it's definitely the best tasting part of the menu. Think of the dimsum as appetizers for your main dish here.

In addition, the prices of the dimsum items are through the roof. 6 pieces of siomai run for $10.50 and barely feeds a person. The only dimsum item that is a full meal size is the $18 steam dumpling platter, which barely feeds a person. It costs a whole arm and leg to feed yourself here if only focusing on the dimsum menu. If it wasn't for the amazing taste, the prices would've been totally unacceptable. The taste of the items are good enough to make the price semi tolerable.

The other parts of the menu are pretty good. I had a very nice light soup one day (don't remember the name) and it's good. I sometimes got the spicy dried diced chicken (it's called Chonqing dried diced chicken in other restaurants). It's not quite dry since it's very oily, but it's quite spicy and good in taste.

You can see the workers making them in the back behind a window. They clearly love and care for their product. And you can see why the restaurant is delicious. In fact the restaurant is great. It's quite pricy, but once in a while, it's...