Sushi Table — Restaurant in San Luis Obispo

Summary: Great! Fresh Dim Sum every Sunday 11AM to 2 PM. New place in the ranch. They have buns, dumplings, chicken feet, rolls, & more. All other times they serve Japanese food.

Detail: We found out about this new Dim Sum spot on the Nextdoor app, from some of their fans that had their Dim Sum before in sort of a pop-up situation here & there...such as in a Chinese New Year celebration in downtown SLO.

In any case, since we love Dim Sum, and have eaten it thousands of times over the years, and one cannot find any in our area for over a hundred miles, we were eager to try this new spot.

We showed up around noon, and there was both a long line and a long wait, which was fine, since we expected it.

Once something gets onto Social Media that involves good food, people will come out of the woodwork to get it. 

I remember the long wait, at the then new BaO place, at the other market, which is called SLO Public Market.

In any case, we waited patiently as dish after dish came out. I was especially yearning to get my fix of Phoenix Claws....AKA 
Chicken Feet. They looked good, but how did they taste?

DA FEET were WonderBar!

They had the classic gelatinous texture of skin and cartilage and had a savory sauces as well. It was different from the typical spicy black bean sauce that I am used to, but who cares?

After starting on the feet, I also sampled some of the buns as well. Two choices were the sweet desert type with either Custard or Taro. Another was a pork type. We also tried some more choices later on, as we also filled up on good Jasmine Tea. It was really fun, since we chatted with other customers and some of the staff, and everyone was in a great friendly mood.

I have no idea why, but both times we have been at this Market Ranch, most people seem quite happy. Seeing people happy in these trying times is really a relief. Of course, while it could be simple denial about our very identity being swiped, or our freedom being stolen, it still feels good sharing Hot Dim Sum, and Hot Tea.

We also had the pleasure of meeting the two owners, Sonny & his charming wife, of their
 small empire, of 4 restaurants, and one food truck. They have two places in the SLO area, and 2 in Central Valley, 2 hours away.

 We had a nice long conversation with Sonny as we continued to sip on Tea, and nibble on Dim Sum.

It was just a perfect way to spend a nice Sunday afternoon brunch in the SLO area. We then went to the next door SLO Ranch Market to see what they had, and then hit the shopping mall next door. My wife picked up a bag at Nordstrom Outlet, a cup at World Market, and then a bunch of groceries at Sprouts.

Of course, because of Bird Flu, they, like most stores, were out of even ordinary Chicken eggs, and of course, no Phoenix Claws were in sight.

Dat's right.... DA FEET must have ran away, to avoid being made into Dim Sum next door! :)

Since we were already full, it did not seem to matter, since we were still buzzing around with too much Theophylline from all the Jasmine Tea we drank at Sonny's...

FOOD: I would say some are definitely better than others. The first time I went I got the 4 hand roll set (soy cured ahi tuna, yellowtail with green onions, salmon with sesame and lemon yuzu and albacore with green onions) and honestly it was okay. The seafood did taste clean and not fishy or smell fishy at all so that was good but taste wise it was okay. It felt like it lacked something. We also got one unagi sushi taco a la carte and that was delicious! I ordered the taro matcha latte but the guy misheard and made me a taro latte instead but no big deal because it still ended up a really good drink! The taro taste was there but not overwhelming and neither was the milk. Perfect balance. The second time I came around to give it another shot I ordered the 3 sushi taco set (spicy tuna with avocado, salmon and sesame and blue crab and kewpie mayo) and I also got the wagyu nigiri. ALL OF THEM WERE DELICIOUS. That wagyu nigiri was soft and buttery. A good amount of wagyu ratio compared to the rice. Very minimal soy sauce that was put on by the chef. So so good. If it wasn’t $13 a piece I definitely would have ordered more lol. The sushi taco set was definitely more tastier than the hand roll set I got my first visit. The blue crab was my favorite. Real crab and not imitation. Plenty of it as well. Melts in your mouth and not overly dressed by the kewpie mayo which was perfect. I also ordered an uni hand roll. They tasted it to make sure it was good to serve since it is a more delicate tasting and I’m glad to see that they were willing to taste their own product before serving. It shows quality control is on point here. Uni was clean and buttery tasting instead of getting a taste of the entire ocean lol. Highly recommend the taco sets, wagyu and uni when they have it.

SERVICE: The service felt so personal in a good way. It wasn’t busy hours so that could be why. On my second visit I asked to sit by the bar seating so I can watch the preparation and said that was perfectly fine. The chef and owner is very hands on which was a good thing to see. He strikes up conversation and gets to know his customers and even gave a free tote bag. He kept asking if everything was okay and the other cooks and servers too were very nice and helpful in teaching customers how to pull the plastic wraps to expose the seaweed roll to maintain crispiness until ready to be eaten. Amazing service.

AMBIANCE: Small little stall with bar seating. If you want more space there’s plenty of communal seats and tables inside the building and outside with shade. It could get loud depending on the hours or days you decide to visit. The stall is basically in a food hall setting. But the bar seating gives it a more intimate feel with your food and company. Clean and good ventilation.

I highly recommend this place or at least try it once. They do offer bobas, teas, ramen, teriyaki bowls and even a dimsum brunch on sundays only! Locally and family owned. Delicious food and...

This is a dim sum only review. Growing up having dim sum every Sunday morning in LA made me really excited at the thought of having dim sum here in SLO, where we have nothing of the sort. I didn’t have super high expectations coming into it, knowing that it’s a Japanese restaurant, but I was optimistically hopeful that the dim sum would be fresh and at least tasty since it’s only offered once a week. I was unfortunately wrong and my worst thoughts about it being prepared frozen food came to fruition.

Me and two friends split quite a few different dishes: pork bao, wagyu beef shu mai, sticky rice, radish turnip pancake, beef green onion rolls, sesame bao with “black sesame” but was really red bean.

The pork bao had a good texture. Didn’t come out hot but seemed relatively fresh based on the softness of the bun. The char siu pork filling was okay.

Beef green onion rolls would have been one of the best items but the inside of the roll was doused in hoisin sauce that overpowered all other flavors.

I have not spit out food many times in my adult life but the wagyu beef shu mai was inedible. It looked like ground beef smooshed into a wonton rapper, which I think it was. It tasted like a frozen Costco patty smooshed into the wonton. It was seriously bad.

Radish turnip pancake was ok but deep fried and was extremely greasy. Flavor was ok and bland but normally these aren’t super flavorful.

The sticky rice was the only item that I would get if I was forced to eat here again. It was moist, had good flavor from the leaf wrapper. I did enjoy this the most and so did the rest of my group.

The absolute worst item (pretty close tie to the wagyu shu mai) was the sesame buns. They were deep fried and the red bean filling resembled overcooked, dried out refried beans. It somehow had no flavor and just a weird fried and dried out texture. It was their “special” of the day. I also had asked if it was black sesame flavor to two different workers and they both said yes. It was clearly red bean paste.

I do think their Sunday dim sum is a cash grab to sell unknowing customers bland frozen “Chinese” food that they market as authentic. Although I was not expecting the best dim sum I’ve ever had, I was hoping it would at least be fresh. It was seriously disappointing to say the least and deters me from wanting to try anything else here. My friend said she had the sushi before here and it was good. I can believe that but it’s hard for me to believe that their “cooked” food is worth anyone’s money or time. Skip this place and get frozen Trader Joe’s shu mai instead and I promise...