New Hwong Kok — Restaurant in San Jose

Ok, after having read all the glowing reviews of this place I thought I'd give it a go. Stopped by and picked up an order of shiu mai, ha goi, fried shrimp dumplings and fried crab dumplings. First off the prices are about the same as Tai Pan, However the portions are questionable. My order of the fried crab dumpling came with 2 pieces. I remember them as 3 piece orders from most other places. I could be wrong... but let's set that aside. Since this is most a take out place the only criteria will be price and taste. So the fried crab dumplings were ok, perhaps with the proper dipping sauce it might even be good. But all they offer was the sweet and sour packets, so I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10. The ha goi was also decent. I ate mine with the accompanying packet of soy and chilli oil. 7 out of 10. The fried shrimp dumplings... Those tasted a bit stale and the crimped edges were unbearable to eat. Beware not to chip your teeth. I'd give it a 3 out of 10. And finally the shiu mai. I usually consider the shiu mai along with the ha goi, duck feet, steamed beef balls, and noodle rolls to be the litmus test in determining how good a dim sum restaurant is. So these 5 items are pretty important. Even though their ha goi is passable, their shiu mai is not. Not by a long shot. In China this place would be out of business inside of a week. No lie. I've eaten dim sum in over 100 restaurants, in over 20 cities, in 2 continents so I know a bit of what I'm talking about. About a 10th of the places are similar to New Hwong Kok in that they depend on largely takeout. And I can honestly say I would not eat here again. I know some here have given New Hwong Kok good or great reviews but.... I simply can't... Best of luck to them and I hope they improve and prosper, but...

Today we found a solid alternative to the usual spot that we would always visit in San Francisco for dim sum.

Pros: This place has a menu in English which is a great thing for those of us that can't read Asian languages.

Staff that speaks English and are really pleasant.

A huge parking lot.

A great variety of choices for dumplings and baked goods.

Item names, number of pieces included in the order and price.

And they give you a receipt. Why I wrote this down, simple, many places you go to in San Francisco will start adding things up in a simple calculator and then add taxes, and whatever other things they want to charge you for "out of thin air", and then they will charge you and you are left sometimes (not always) wondering if they made a mistake and questioning why your bill was less than the last time you came. So having proof of your purchase is nice.

The quality of the food is good and the portion sizes I would say a bit larger than other dim sum places, the flavors and textures for the different items we bought were also great.

The place inside is modest and the surrounding area perhaps not the best, but in my opinion you won't leave disappointed with the quality of the food, so don't come in expecting servers and white table...

My first time to enter this to go/pick up dim sum place. The atmosphere is not warm or welcoming so you can easily see that decor/ atmosphere is not deemed important. Since it is pickup only, I assume this is why no importance is given to looks as customers will not be eating in. I bought: shrimp fry ball( 2 for $4.50), 3 fried sesame balls($4.25), fried shrimp tofu(3 for $4.50), and a sticky rice lotus leaf($4.50). I immediately ate the 2 shrimp fry balls. It was lukewarm but delicious. I couldn't help myself and ate a fried shrimp tofu: delicious. I will eat the sesame balls, sticky rice and 2 shrimp tofu this evening. You might be daunted by the unattractive look and decor of this business but their strength lies in the taste of their food. I'm not a gourmand in dim sum. I'm more of a plebeian taste and this dim sum tastes good. The presentation and lighting in the display counters could be improved so the customer can clearly see what is available and how it looks. You should come at least once so you can taste for yourself whether the dim sum suits...