The 8 Best Dim Sum Restaurants in San Diego, Ranked

The big building on 54th Street has a restaurant history. Before it was Diamond Palace, it housed Crystal Palace, and before that, Lucky Star Seafood. Today it's a 15,000-square-foot hall with two stages and two dance floors, set up for weddings, birthdays and business events. On weekend mornings, though, the job that matters most is dim sum off the carts.

Diamond Palace is the best dim sum in San Diego right now because it does the full yum cha routine well, and it's been the steadiest of the big cart halls lately. The praise centers on hot, fresh baskets and a wide range of Cantonese standards, so you can judge it on the classics. The first round writes itself: har gow, the steamed shrimp dumplings, then the fried ham sui gok and a plate of chicken feet. Once the table settles in, add a noodle plate to share.

Owner Toan Tran came to restaurants from music, event planning and entertainment, and a dim sum hall with two stages makes more sense once you know that. The restaurant soft-opened in November 2022, and the same ownership runs Golden Island in Mira Mesa, the last entry on this list. Diamond Palace sits right at the edge of City Heights, in the College Area near San Diego State. Parking gets plenty of love, too, and that helps a lot when three cars of relatives are all trying to arrive at the same lunch.

Plan for a crowd. Weekend demand builds fast, so the first hour after opening is the sweet spot, while the carts are moving and the baskets are fresh. It's a big, busy room, so give your stamp card a quick look before the check comes. If carts are the whole reason for the trip, call that morning to ask when they're running, and if you're bringing a party, ask about the banquet room.

If Diamond Palace is the classic cart hall, China Max Dumpling House is the comeback story. This Convoy Street restaurant was gutted by a three-alarm, $4.5 million electrical fire in April 2020 and sat closed for nearly five years. When it reopened in early 2025, CBS 8 reported crowds lining up down the street.

It came back as a different restaurant. Original owner Cindy Woo sold the rebuilt space to a group that includes one of the owners of Kanpai BBQ & Shabu and the owners of nearby Taste of Hong Kong. They first planned to keep China Max's old Cantonese focus, then switched to dumplings and noodles so they wouldn't be competing with their own Taste of Hong Kong. You can see the result near the entry: a glassed-in station where the dumplings are made every day, from pork xiao long bao to chicken wontons in chili sauce and steamed shrimp har gow.

For a group, all-you-can-eat is the draw, with more than 45 items cooked to order and 90 minutes at the table. There are no carts, so everything comes straight from the kitchen, and fans of the place talk about that made-to-order freshness and a menu with far more range than most dumpling houses. Two dishes come up again and again: the truffle xiao long bao and the lamb-and-scallion dumplings. Start there, add har gow and char siu bao, and order in small rounds so hot food keeps landing all the way to the end.

The menu runs well past Cantonese dim sum into noodles and fried rice, so agree on a game plan before the clock starts. The all-you-can-eat price is a little higher on weekends than on weekdays, and it has changed before, so check the current number before you go.

Jasmine Seafood Restaurant calls itself San Diego's largest Chinese restaurant, and it's the Convoy District's big, traditional push-cart room. Hong Kong-style dim sum goes out on carts every day at lunch, and at night the room switches over to old-school Cantonese dinner service.

Where Diamond Palace wins on consistency, Jasmine wins on range. It has the deepest traditional lineup on this list, and the dishes reviewers mention most are the benchmarks: har gow, siu mai, barbecue pork and steamed tripe. That makes it the place for a group that wants the familiar yum cha rhythm, where carts come by, you point, and the stamps add up. Reviewers have mentioned quick table service lately, too.

Seafood is a big part of the Jasmine story. The kitchen keeps live seafood in tanks and prepares it Cantonese style, good to know if part of your table would rather go for something from the tanks than another round of dumplings. For big birthdays and work lunches, there are banquet and business-luncheon rooms. Need takeout? That's Jasmine Express, the counter next door, because the main dining room is dine-in only.

Two planning notes. The lot is paid, and there's a break between lunch and dinner service, so an afternoon arrival can land in the gap. And at the table, take the baskets that are steaming and let the rest roll by until the next round comes out.

Imperial Mandarin is one of the many Cantonese restaurants that line Convoy Street, on a corridor that Asian-owned restaurants and markets built up over decades.

There are no carts here. Dim sum is cooked when you order it, and it's on the menu all day, so Imperial Mandarin is the smart call when the craving hits in the middle of the afternoon. The dish reviewers bring up first is the turnip cake, and the praise for hot, made-to-order dim sum carries through the rest of the menu. Pair the turnip cake with stuffed eggplant, har gow and siu mai and you've got a solid first round.

If Jasmine is the grand cart room of Convoy, Imperial Mandarin is the made-to-order standby. Prices stay moderate, reviewers describe attentive service, and the broader Cantonese menu behind the dim sum lets the table add a couple of entrées and turn a snack into dinner.

Because everything is made to order, it also works well for a smaller table that wants three or four dishes without waiting for the right cart to come around. One planning note: call ahead before you go, especially around a holiday, to confirm the day's hours.

Tom's Chinese BBQ is the one stop on this list built around a roast-meat counter. It has been on University Avenue in City Heights for more than 20 years, turning out Hong Kong-style roast duck, roast pork and char siu, plus baked barbecue pork buns and a short dim sum list.

Start with the baked char siu bao. It's the counter's best-loved item, and it's the reason Tom's belongs on a dim sum list at all. Add roast pork and chicken feet and you've covered the counter's strengths in one order. People who love Tom's talk about the mom-and-pop counter service and the low prices, the kind of neighborhood place that has kept doing its thing on the same avenue for two decades.

It earns the #5 spot as a rare City Heights counter that does roast meat and dim sum under one roof, and does them consistently. Where Diamond Palace is a whole afternoon with the family, Tom's is a quick, satisfying lunch. Think of it as a lunch stop or a takeout run. Seating is minimal, the dim sum list is short, and the counter closes early and takes Tuesdays off. It's also cash only, so hit the ATM first. A box of baked bao and some roast pork to go makes for an easy lunch anywhere in City Heights.

Hong Kong BBQ Dim Sum & Kitchen, on Camino Ruiz in Mira Mesa, is where the dim sum table meets the roast-meat menu. It lists 18 dim sum items next to a full roast-meat lineup that includes whole roasted duck and several ways to order Peking duck.

The Hong Kong-style roast duck is what reviewers praise most, along with the fried rice. That makes this a smart pick for a mixed table, where some people want dumplings and others want a plate of duck and rice. The kitchen takes made-to-order requests, too, so if you want something cooked fresh, ask. For a group that can't agree, a whole roasted duck in the middle of the table with a few steamers around it is a strong plan.

Freshness can vary from day to day, so ask what just came out of the kitchen and build your order around that. Finish with egg tarts. It ranks here for real dim sum depth plus the roast meats, and it's on the same stretch of Camino Ruiz as Golden Island (#8), so Mira Mesa gives you two very different dim sum plans on one road.

Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum is the newcomer on this list. It opened in February 2026 on Kearny Villa Road in Kearny Mesa, in the space that was long home to Golden City, a well-known Cantonese room, and reviewers are already calling it a promising successor.

Ordering happens by check sheet: you mark what you want and it comes out of the kitchen. The local food blog mmm-yoso covered the opening in two posts, and early diners pointed to fresh siu mai. That's the right place to start, and the room fills up on weekend mornings, so it's a comfortable pick for a family group even so.

The kitchen is still finding its rhythm. The selection is short and popular items can sell out, so keep a second choice in mind as you fill in the sheet. It's on this list because a new check-sheet dim sum room was something this part of town needed, and it's one to watch as it settles in. If you've heard about a weekday deal, call to confirm it before you go.

On Friday nights, Golden Island in Mira Mesa turns dim sum into a night out. Its Dim Sum & Jazz series pairs Cantonese small plates with a live jazz band, and it has run for about five years, one of San Diego's longest-running jazz dining series. In 2023, The Syncopated Times wrote that the hall had become a home for San Diego's swing scene, with swing dancing to live bands on Fridays.

Golden Island dates to 2017 and used to go by the name Fung Fung Yuen. It's the sister hall to Diamond Palace, our #1, under the same ownership. The room seats roughly 365 to 425 people and doubles as Mira Mesa's dance hall, music venue and wedding venue, so size is the whole idea. A big birthday, a reunion or a table that keeps growing is exactly what it's built for.

Fans of Golden Island point to the carts, the broad menu, the parking and how easily it seats a large group. Beyond dim sum, there's whole steamed fish and other banquet-style dishes that suit a celebration. Start with har gow and siu mai, then let the carts set the pace when they're running.

Give yourself time. When the hall is full, things move at a relaxed pace, so save Golden Island for an unhurried meal. Cart service and all-you-can-eat availability change, so call the same day if either is the plan, and check the bill for an added gratuity before you tip.