Big Dish

My sister-in-law recommended Big Dish to me. It is located in the heartvof Oakland Chinatown, across the street from the East West Bank. Specialties: Roast duck, chicken, pork, bbq pork, assortment of dim sum pastries. Menu board of the dim sum is mounted on the wall. Trays of pastries are in their display case. Food is mainly for take out. There are a few tables and chairs for dining indoors. Purpose of visit: to buy the chicken cage pastries (gai loong). They do sell out fast because it is a very popular item among us elderly Chinese people. The cost for 6 of them is $6.60. I have also purchased 3 sesame balls and 3 savory dumplings.

Very fresh and tasty

Came in to order catering for $500+ of food and put down a $200 deposit. Lady that helped with the catering order was nice and honest/upfront about costs, timing, and quantity. We then proceeded to order dim sum a la carte only to have another lady tell me 1 order of dim sum comes with 4 pieces minimum. She lied and and it’s my bad for not looking at the menu clearly. When I called her out on it she tried to claim she said the standard order is 4 pieces but you can break it up and order 1 piece if you wanted. Their menu clearly shows pricing for 1 piece. This happens a lot at some Chinese to go spots when they want to get rid of their cooked food for the day…they push you to buy more or lie so you’re stuck with more than you want to eat. I’m ok with the pushing but don’t appreciate the lying. Sketchy all around. Their dim sum wasn’t the best or the freshest. Best thing I had was their fried taro puff so maybe their fried food is the way to go. Really hoping I don’t regret ordering catering from here with all the red flags.

Went here on 09/13/23, ordered the Cheung fun (shrimp noodle) it was ok, not much shrimp, all noodle, other places I've had this had green onions, more shrimp ECT, here it's bland. Ordered pot stickers, I've never had pot stickers that were steamed that were rubbery, crunchy and a very bad consistency, never again, I wanted chicken buns, but they were out (at 130-2pm) got the pork bun, not much filling, I don't think I would come back

Do note, opens at 7 but don’t expect all dishes to be ready until around 7:30 My standard go to’s: Fong tzhao (chicken fingers) Pai gwut (pork ribs) Ha gao (shrimp dumpling) Sew Mai (pork dumplings) Foo pay gernn (tofu skin rolls) Law bak go (turnip cakes) Depending on when you get, quality can range from good to passable. Earlier is better instead of sitting there of course. Also, varies on some days. Prices have gone up since Covid but so have restaurants, so not cheap but still relatively cheaper. Worth a shot.

This is my go-to dimsum takeout spot in Oakland. Cheap, convenient, and delicious. Their wait times are also pretty good compared with other spots in Chinatown. Staff are super helpful as well.

Best to grab and go. Very little room to sit.

When the food is fresh and not cold, it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve been here about 5 times, and 4/5 times have been phenomenal. This last time I went the food was cold, and the hagao (shrimp dumplings) were very soggy for some reason. I’ll still come back but be aware that it can be a hit or miss