Sunny Dumpling House — Restaurant in San Diego

Sunny Dumpling House is conveniently located inside of the 99 Ranch Market on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. We had previously ate here a few years ago when they were new but haven’t been back since then. No problems finding parking. Restaurant was unassuming, small and family run. It appeared that they have expanded their menu greatly since our last visit. We ordered shrimp and pork xia long bao and soy milk at the cashier counter. They gave us our receipt with the assignedour order number. We managed to secure a table to sit down. This small restaurant only has 3-4 tables as the restaurant space was used as an extension of the kitchen preparation area. We have a clear view of the Chinese aunties team kneading and rolling the dough to make various dumpling/bao in the open kitchen. In the back, there’s a kitchen where they steam, fry and cook various dumpling, bao and entree dishes on the menu. There was a steady stream of customers ordering take out food at the counter through out our visit. After waiting for 20 minutes for one order of xia long bao, we were losing patience and asked the cashier/hostess for status of our order. Cashier checked and then told us that the dumplings were still being steamed and we had to wait for another 8 minutes. At this point, all our patience went out the window. It’s obvious that the cashier or the kitchen staff forgot our order. After waiting for another 3-4 minutes, an employee from the kitchen brought out the hot xia long bao to our table and apologize for the wait. No formal apologies offered to acknowledge their mistake and no efforts offered to make things right. On top of that, the xia long bao were big disappointment to say the least. The dough was thicker than the normal Kia long bao we were accustomed to. The blend of the shrimp and pork mixture was not the right ratio and lacked light and flavorful texture. We barely tasted the shrimp flavor as the pork mixture dominated the filling. Some of our xia long bao leaked out the soup/juice inside. The food was underwhelming and we had to wait for nearly 30 minutes for just one order of steamed xia long bao. We wanted to like this restaurant very much but due to poor food quality and inadequate positive customer service, we...

Food: 3/5 Service and Setting: 2.5/5 Value: 3/5

Located inside 99 Ranch Market, Sunny Dumpling House as never a restaurant that I really looked at. Going in, it is pretty clean and new looking. I like the sort of outdoor China vibe they got going. The workers are quick and snappy but not overly mean. If you have language anxiety, they do speak English so do not fear! Parking is normally easy but if you are afraid of getting trapped in the parking lot by bad drivers, definitely park in the front lot versus the back. Their credit card machine was broken so I needed to put in my information manually, very sketch I’m not gonna lie. Overall, it was okay. If you need a little snack after shopping or getting boba it’s fine but nothing more.

Green Onion Twist Roll: 4/5 If you get this, please make sure to reheat it in the microwave or steam it. They are served at room temperature and taste much better after being warmed up. Fluffy, chewy, and bland in the best way, this served with a cup of hot soy milk or milk tea is a breakfast for champions. The green onion flavor is very faint but adds a light touch of flavor for this yummy bread.

Pork Bun: 2.5/5 A bit sweeter than normal pork buns, this bun Is not really extraordinary in any way. The meat filling is slightly better quality than a frozen bao but would not convince me it is homemade or from a restaurant. It literally just tastes like sweet soy sauce and not much else.

Beef and Onion Bun: 2.5/5 When I think about beef and onion buns my mind immediately goes to rough pieces of meat and hearty chunks of onion. The meatball filling is smooth and has no texture whatsoever. The smell of onion is there, but there is very little onion flavor. Underwhelming, but I can see some picky eaters...

Update Review: I feel back to China when I was at this place, it’s a nice and warm feeling. Their buns and bao are all hand made, you can see they are making the food through the glass window at their store. Their foods are delicious, I tried Dill & Pork and Sauerkraut & Pork bao this time, so yummy!!! I feel I can eat two more for sure. I also had a pork & thousand years egg porridge, it’s nice! I sent a photo to my mom, I believe she will be happy to know that there’re good hand made bao place in San Diego.

Previous Review: I think it’s a very delicious place, the buns they made taste like the ones I had when I was little. I recommend their signature pork buns. The pork feet is yumm too, it was a little bit tough to chew, but the flavor is very nice. The dumplings we got are frozen, which stuffed with lamb & carrots. They are kinda pricy $35 for 50 pieces, but I’m looking forward to...