Sugar Spice Cafe

I came here serval times before, never had such experience. Server/​cashier came in with her pet and on her cell phone all the time. No utensil till I asked and food is on the table. 15% gratis on the bill without telling me. Tip before you check the bill! Food is always good.

Don’t order anything except dumplings

My friend and I dropped by here for dinner. They close at 9 PM, and we didn’t realize the time. By the time we ordered, it was almost 8:50 (sorry!) but they were very accommodating and friendly.
For the 2 of us, we ordered:
— Pork Xiao Long Bao (8 pieces) — juicy and full of flavor
— Wonton Soup (10 pieces) — okay, wasn’t anything special
— Pork and Cabbage Dumplings (10 pieces) — the skin was Q, tasty
A satisfying meal of various kinds of dumplings at a very reasonable price.

I came here a few times for the xiao long bao and its amazing! I have Indian friends who does not eat pork, but just b/​c he doesnt like pork. I had him try the dumplings here and he eats pork.
The dumplings are DELICIOUS!!! Oh man…
I ordered xiao long bao, shrimp ones… both amazing.
Why isnt it 5 stars?
1) I ordered a stir fry vegetable. It wasnt very tasty… and salty in general.
2) No sweet and sour soup! How can you be a dumpling place and not sell this!
I had to order seaweed soup. It was ok…
I think you can only order the dumplings here… and I wouldnt venture too far from this. BUT, for the dumplings, it totally rocks!

Pork Xiao long bao + crab Xiao long bao + plate of veggies + a dry noodle w spicy meat sauce (I forget the name! — but came highly recommended by restaurant).
Had to ask for a side of ginger to eat with the Xiao long bao. Friendly service. Small restaurant within the Hilton plaza off valley Blvd. IMO very reasonable menu prices. Would definitely come back to eat more Xiao long bao and try their other menu items!

We waited 30 minutes and our food was not even started to being prepared. Very rude service.

They have a great menu, fair prices, good service (very kind, helpful, fairly quick), and their food was respectable.
What we ordered:
— Boiled Dumplings — pork and cabbage, pork and celery, pork and leek (OK)
— Pot Stickers (Better than Boiled dumplings, still just OK)
— Fritter — you tiao (No)
— Mustard Green and Pork Noodle Soup (Yes)
— Seaweed cold dish (No)
The restaurant has similar food to JJ café (next plaza over), but with a better environment, but I have to say I prefer JJ’s food. Check it out if you’re in the area and be sure you are at the right place — they changed their name to Shan Dong Dumpling!

They have the best Xiaolongbao ever. Even better than those Xiaolongbao I had when I was in Shanghai!

I am surprised by the low ratings. In my eyes, this place serves up better xiao long bao than ding tai fung! Having lived in Shanghai for 14 years, this place’s xiao long baos are as good as Shanghai’s! Even though the setting is modest, this is a must try!

3.5 stars because they open early 8:00 am. So if you want to get some XLB, dumplings or noodles at 8 am to 10 pm. This is one of the few places that is open early and you can get Beef Noodle Soup and Starbucks coffee at the same place. The sign on the door says they are proud to serve Starbucks Coffee although I did not have any. We ordered the Beef Noodle Soup and the Ma La Noodles. See pics. The noodles are kinda special a cross between thick and hand pulled noodles. The beef noodle soup was spicy and very good. The Ma La Noodles were just plain spicy and not much flavor. The Ma La sauce was very greasy too. The menu consist of XLB and different types of dumplings. The service was good and the place was clean and organized.

This place was pretty good
We got
— Juicy Pork Dumpling
–Juicy Crab Dumpling
— Beef Roll
— Onion Pancakes
Their juicy dumplings were pretty good and had a lot of soup inside
The Beef Roll and onion pancakes were okay not awesome but pretty good.
It was a little pricier than I would have liked but overall, it was good and I wouldn’t mind coming back.

The food is a solid 4 star. Minus 1 star for bad service. Minus 1 star for not having rice. (REALLY?! NO RICE!?)
This little restaurant in the Hilton plaza has great potential. The Xiao Long Baos (steamed soup dumplings) are amazing. There’s so much soup in each little dumpling. They have good variety of fillings like pork, crab, and fish. The other items like cucumber sides or beef hot pot were pretty good too.
The downfall is their staff. I really wish they try a little harder to actually wait on the customers. I’ve always had a problem getting their attention or finding them within sight. The last time I was there, they didn’t have rice! Seriously? It was 6pm on a Wednesday, and this Chinese restaurant says they don’t have rice? Couldn’t someone drive across the street to 99 ranch and buy a bag of rice?
I don’t know who owns and runs this restaurant, but it is a joke.

I’m a super regular to this restaurant and I’m a Shanghainese myself. Is there better XLB place than this in Shanghai? Yes! Is there better XLB place in LA? Haven’t found it yet.
Pork XLB is what I always order, make sure you know how to eat XLB, carefully pick it up without breaking the bun, dip in vinegar and blow inside of the bun before eat it.
Noodle dishes are just alright, I don’t recommend it to anybody, just skip it…
Big wonton soup taste very similar with my home made ones,
Beef Roll Pancake, this has almost surpassed my XLB here. LOve LOve Love it! It’s thin sliced marinated Beef rolled up with Sweet and Spicy sauce and Cilantro in a flavored pancake. it’s a MUST TRY!
Pot Stickers uses same inside ingredients with the big wonton, so don’t order both of them if you have a small party.
Ma La tang (Shabu) it’s alright.
Mini Wonton, It’s alright.
Over all, there are many other dishes all tasted ok, but what I always order is 1 Cucumber salad, 1 XLB (Pork), 2 Beef Roll Pancake (1 togo).
You’ll need to order more than 20 dollars to use your credit card.

I came here to eat because I’m a Shanghainese and I miss all kinds of food there.
The Xiao Long Bao tastes ok here.
We ordered the crab meat one and I think the smell of crab is too strong.
The wonton is ok too.
Overall I think the taste is just average from a traditional Shanghainese point of view.

I’m a clumsy eater, but even I’ve never had XLB break apart in the steamer. Sugar Spice Café’s are difficult to eat without unreasonable concentration. I felt like a member of the bomb squad handling explosives — not soup dumplings.
If you can manage the chopsticks to spoon transfer, the XLB are merely okay. Not worth the trouble unless you’re Mr. Miyagi.
Service does this place in. The staff tried to give me black vinegar when I asked for red (yes, in Mandarin), and they wouldn’t close the front door to keep the cold weather out. Are they deliberately trying for a bad impression?

Delicious XLB! Impressed to see the chef hand roll my dumplings to order. Because it was fresh the skin held together better, had a nice chew, and filling was soft and über juicy.
Pork XLB (8pcs/​$ 5.95) — soft, tender and juicy. mildly unassuming but full of flavor.
Crab n Pork XLB (8 pcs/​$ 8.95) — used real crab and some type of refrigerated orange paste… maybe crab fat? prominent shellfish flavor without tasting fishy.
Noticed every table ordered some type of noodle soup. Will try that later. They also offer other variations of XLB like pork n shrimp.
Staff seem to enjoy themselves there and value the quality of their food.

Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars
Green Onion Pancake: I did not like it. It was way too greasy for me and not enough flavor. Also, I’m not sure how they sliced it but bits and pieces of it were falling apart.
Xiao Long Bao: Compared to Din Tai Fung, the skin is a bit thicker and the meat is denser. However, there is hella soup inside!!! Totally juicy! Yum!
I still prefer Din Tai Fung but if you are looking to get more bang for your buck, this is the place.

Quick, clean, cheap, and they take credit card. wt? Not to mention the most authentic Xiao long bao currently in the SGV. Forget Dintaifung unless you’re a tourist. The xlb skin is just the right thickness, and soup inside is just the right amount. This is the real deal.
The noodle soup was also really good.

There’s no need to go to Shanghai anymore. Finally, there’s a place serves XLB that tastes just like what you can buy in Shanghai. Seriously, it’s better than any other place in the SGV including DTF.

Why did I go back to a place I gave two stars previously? Because I am nice (and bored, and just wanted spicy food without company).
The food is a lot better than I remembered. The flavor is actually good enough for me to go back (and I loooove the fact that they make it spicy enough).
The place isn’t doing very good business and here is I think why:
1. The regular pots are too small. The portion of the food is actually ok but with small pots like they use, it does mislead people. Also, because of the size of the pots, you can’t stir your food freely to get everything in the soup without spilling. It’s not a fun eating experience.
2. Also because the pots are too small, there is no space to add items. Sure some people will like to add a few things in their order when they are hungry. The waitress told me they have bigger pots if people want to add stuff. The reason the pots are that size is because the stove can’t hold anything bigger — that’s exactly what I meant! You want a business to succeed? Then choose the f***ing right size pots and stoves! All they need is a pot bigger to contain all the food while with a little room to add items and no need for much bigger pots. The fact is that they don’t even specify how much additional items cost on the menu. Not encouraging is discouraging in this business.
3. They spent way too much money and space for dining art. People don’t go to restaurants for art! With the money and the space, they could really triple the sizes of pictures of the food on the wall instead.
4. Peppers not ground up well so there are chunks/​flakes of peppers in your way. Not a fun eating experience either.
5. Drinks are too expensive. Come on, with Papa Walk right by you, you dare to charge almost $ 4 for a drink?