Chinese Food in Oakland (2025)
A Chinatown staple for hand-cut noodles and dumplings, with lines that prove its staying power. Praised by local food writers and named Best Chinese by Oakland Magazine readers, it’s where many Oaklanders first learn to love sesame paste noodles.
This Cantonese canteen is beloved for congee, rice noodle rolls, and roast meats glistening in the window. Frequently recommended by Eater SF and Oakland food writers, it remains a comfort-food anchor inside Pacific Renaissance Plaza.
A grand, two-level dim sum hall where families gather for har gow, roast meats, and celebratory banquets. Recent diners and OpenTable reviewers note lively service and a mix of classics and playful desserts like pig-shaped custard buns.
Set upstairs inside Sakura Bistro, this fiery Sichuan standout is Recommended by the Michelin Guide. Think sturdy mapo tofu, chongqing chicken, and malatang; portions are generous and spice levels unapologetic.
A long-running Sichuan spot locals rely on for numbing heat, stinky tofu, and wontons in red oil. Highlighted by KQED and listed by Visit Oakland, it delivers big flavors without fuss.
The Bay Area’s pioneer of Guilin-style rice noodles serves bowls layered with pickled long beans, peanuts, herbs, and your choice of meats. Eater SF regularly spotlights it for introducing this Guangxi specialty to Oakland.
Reborn at Swan’s Market after a devastating 2020 fire, this family-run kitchen hand-cuts Shanxi-style knife-shaved noodles to order. Visit Oakland and Swan’s Market list it among Old Oakland’s must-eats.
A specialist for Cantonese double-boiled herbal soups and steamed rice in lotus leaf, often praised by Eater SF for restorative flavors. It’s a quiet antidote to the bustle outside.
A Cantonese-style steam feast: seafood, meats, and vegetables cook at the table while congee below catches savory drippings. A favorite in local guides for interactive, group-friendly dining.
Oakland’s late-night legend, serving until 3 a.m. most nights. Celebrated by KQED for feeding generations of night owls with Cantonese barbecue, chow fun, and big bowls of wonton soup.
Shooting Star Cafe takes after Hong Kong-style cafes also known as cha chaan tengs. These cafes catered to the working class looking for around the clock, affordable, and quick food usually paired with a strong cup of milk tea. Reflecting the British Empire’s colonial influence, the dishes mash-up European and Chinese flavors with staples like scrambled egg sandwiches, macaroni soup, beef chow fun, and congee. This place is also popular with the late-night crowd looking for more contemporary desserts like egg puffs, shaved ice, and sago puddings.
Stepping inside under the sun-faded kelly green awnings, I found a bustling, multigenerational family market in Oakland’s Chinatown where kids scurry between shelves and neighbors call each other by name; over nine decades the Quan family has built Yuen Hop Co. from Quong Pon’s 1931 stand selling homegrown bean sprouts and fresh tofu into a full-scale Asian grocery, produce market, and noodle distributor. The shop still carries Asian produce like bitter melon and fresh lotus root alongside rice and egg noodles, wonton wrappers, and dumpling skins, but noodles became the main business after the family added a second space to accommodate production. Today they sell about 20 different types of noodles, eight of which are made in the family’s factory down the street, and they supply local chefs, retailers such as Berkeley Bowl, and home cooks across the Bay Area with chewy egg noodles made fresh daily. The proprietary egg noodles are made only with “real eggs,” flour, salt, and water — Cribbin says they don’t skimp on ingredients — and they lend themselves to favorites like garlic noodles, an enduring example of Asian fusion reportedly originating in the 1970s with Helene An; the family’s version balances fish sauce, oyster sauce, and Parmesan for an umami punch. I learned about the family’s deep history — Quong Pon immigrated from Guangzhou and started the business, David Quan engineered irrigation and noodle machinery, Sabrina Cribbin now co-manages the market and factory alongside her mother Sylvia Quan — and how that commitment to hard work and community earned Yuen Hop a 2017 Oakland legacy business distinction. Despite pandemic pressures and uncertainty about the future, the shop remains a gathering place—full of memories, family rituals (noodles at a red egg and ginger party for a new granddaughter, for example), and a dedication to quality that the Quans hope younger generations will carry on.
