Dim Sum - Emerald, Jasmine, China (something) Or...

[Gypsy Jan]

Yeah, I know that no one considers them great, but our daughter is coming for a visit and she hasn't had dim sum for a long time and I would like to take her out for a treat.

Which is currently better or is there another contender?

[royaljester]

Pearl is great for dim sum (worth the extra drive, but super busy on weekends), and so is Okan if you don't mind Japanese.

[Gypsy Jan]

Thanks for all the input; I am sad to hear the unanimous opinions that Jasmine and Emerald are underwhelming/declining in quality.

China Max looks like the best option, but I have a question about a switch up - what do you think about taking my Asian food loving daughter to Wa Dining Okan?

[karaethon]

Re: Wa Dining Okan

You might prefer reserving a booth at Robota-ya Oton as they are owned by the same group and have similar menus. I personally preferred the taste and experience I had at Oton over the one at Okan...

[cgfan]

An excellent choice. My standard recommendation there would be to order as many of the cold apps as possible - for me they are the star of their show - then supplement it with their traditional hot entres from the kitchen. Many enjoy their more "creative" dishes, which I am sure are good, but their fantastic execution of traditional dishes makes it a no-brainer choice for me.

Okan and their "brother" restaurant Oton are both very good restaurants, but they are quite different. If anything I find Okan executes much more deftly. If you are feeling like a Nabemono (hot pot), then Oton does that very well and to me, is their specialty, despite their self-billing as a Robata-ya.

[chezwhitey]

Okan is a much better choice than any dim sum in san diego. Where is she visiting from? There are a handful of cities with good dim sum (SD is not one of them). There are fewer cities with a place like Okan.

[JRSD]

We haven't been for Dim Sum in a while but we found Pearl in Rancho Bernardo to be the best of the lot. Added advantage of being a nice restaurant adjacent to a park where you can see a small lake. Same owners as Jasmine I believe. Cart service.

[araknd]

+1 for Pearl. We used to go to Jasmine alot back in the '90s, and even had our wedding reception there, but the dim sum is average at best. Highly recommend Pearl. RB is not that far to go, unless, of course, you are coming from Chula Vista or National City. :-)

[araknd]

Actually, the owners are the same as Emerald, not Jasmine. BTW, Jasmine owners used to have Jasmine Bistro in El Cajon, but that recently closed its doors.

[sandiegomike]

Although San Diego is an also-ran in the Dim Sum race, the choice boils down to Emerald if you seek the looky-pointy experience (waitstaff is clueless about looking around and their collective ability to describe the dishes in their carts in English is minimal) or China Max where the Dim Sum is made to order from a menu with pictures. The spicy fried squid at China Max is excellent as are their egg custard tarts. Jasmine has been in steady decline for several years.