J & J / Jin Jian Restaurant

I’ve been coming here for years and years now on a monthly basis. Best Xiao long bao I’ve ever had. I also always get the Shanghai fried noodles, which is a can be a bit inconsistent in taste at times, but I love it when they get it just right 70% of the time. :) Also recommend the stir fried rice cakes

The xiao long bao or «pao» (XLB) here is amazing! It surpass Din Tai Fung, Mama Lu’s, Dumpling Inn (San Diego) and A&J (Irvine) by 5 stars! Their juicy pork XLB is super juicy and thick, giving you at least 2 big bites per pao.
They are generous in their young fresh ginger slices, just ask for more.
Don’t get me started on their pork & crab XLB. They use real crab meat which gives each dumpling a subtle crab taste and again, each dumpling was filled with a lot of filling (all meat & crab) and were so juicy.
Their cucumber salad was refreshing and delicious. They used fresh garlic slices, so beware for garlic breath. The portion was nice and big enough for 2, unlike Din Tai Fung’s order which allows you a measly bite or two… what a tease!
We also ordered the peanut sesame sauce wontons. Meh, I don’t recommend it. The wontons were ok but the meat/​filling was on the squishy side and their peanut sauces tasted powdery. You can skip this dish.

The food here is consistently very good, waitresses are attentive and hardly a wait, if any and I think only because there are so many Shanghai choices in the 626. Favorites are shanghai rice cake, beef stew noodles, xlbs, onion pancake (is really good here and they don’t offer it at DTF). Our favs here at J&J are just as good or better than DTF.

Best place for shanghai food — especially xiao long bao! Tastes wayyyyyyyy better than Ding Tai Fong and costs less. My family and I have been coming here since before i was born. Will always come here for great food and service.

I’ve been visiting J&J on a regular basis for quite some time now, but last Sunday was the first time I had a negative experience with them. As much as it pains me to write this, I still feel it’s better to write down my experience than to remain silent (and to be honest, I was a bit grossed out).
The service was up to standard as usual. I’m ok with the fact that you’re being treated as an outsider if you don’t speak Chinese, and the food was good as always… until we got to ¾ of our wonton soup. When we inspected the broth, it became painfully clear that there was a small cockroach floating around in our wonton soup! We immediately notified the waiter, who then responded in a way too «oh yeah, it happens» manner. She did take the wonton soup off the bill, apologized and tried to laugh off the awkward situation, which in a way kind of made things worse. The image of the cockroach floating around in the broth made it impossible to finish the rest of our food, so we paid and went home…
I’m not sure what the verdict is here, that’s up to you. The food is still good and the price/​quality ratio decent, but it’ll be a while before I’ll bring them a visit again. :/

I’ve been coming to J&J since high school, never mind how long ago that was. Trust me, it’s been a minute! Why I have not written a review yet is a shame. This place is one of my best kept secrets. This is my favorite place to get XLB and yes, I’ve tried Din Tai Fung — in Asia as well as here. It’s all hype in my opinion because these XLB are just as good or even better, yet there is NO WAIT.
This place is a CASH only restaurant, so be sure to hit the ATM before you get here. More is better in this case, because the food is freaking delicious and you want to be able to order to your heart’s content.
Every time I am here, there are the essentials I MUST order: The XLB — crab and regular, cold cucumbers, the pan fried dumpling, the fried eggrolls, a vegetable sauteed in garlic, and the gluttonous sesame rice ball soup.
What do I love about the XLB? Well, first the crab XLB are definitely made with real crab as I have seen the workers «harvesting» the crab meat and picking it out of the shells (thank you to the workers for doing this monotonous task!). As for the regular xlb, the meat is tender and seasoned well. Thus, the quality of the meat is outstanding. The skin on the XLB are thick yet not too thick and hold the soup well. Really, the quality of XLB are strongly determined by the skin (okay you dirty minded people, shame on you!) The soup: meat ratio is the other quality that strongly determines great XLB — it is in perfect ratio and the soup is flavorful and isn’t scalding hot when it is served. Once it pops in your mouth, you are HOOKED.
Cold cucumbers: NOM NOM. I can eat the whole order by myself. They are refreshing, flavorful, and crunchy when you eat them! How do they make them crunchy when they’ve been sitting in vinegary goodness?!
Pan fried dumpling: The same delicious meat as the regular xlb encased in a thick skin that is fried to perfection. They are fried so that it is crisp, yet not burned. SO GOOD!
Fried eggrolls: My girlfriends and I fight over who gets what is left after we had eaten our fair share of the portion. ‘Nuff said.
Veggies in garlic: Now the vegetables will vary according to what they have available, the last time we had A Cai in garlic and it was sauteed with just the right amount of garlic. Just right to keep it healthy and get a few servings of your veggies in!
Gluttonous sesame rice ball soup: The perfect dessert to end a delicious and filling meal. Asians, like my daddy, don’t like mixing cold foods with hot foods. Here you don’t have to. The soup is slightly sweet and the sesame balls are absolutely delicious. I love these balls! ;) The balls are soft and chewy with an explosion of goodness in your mouth. I always want to order my own bowl of this because I hate sharing it.
Popping XLB and explosions of goodness in your mouth… Can your mouth handle all this!!!

This is hands down the best place to get xlb in LA. It’s much better than ding tai feng in my opinion and much cheaper too. Their crab xlb is sooooo juicy and addicting. They also have a lot of other mouthwatering shanghaiese dishes on their menu all of which are very authentic. I have to say the service here is top notch too compare to your average chinese restaurant. The owner is so sweet too she is always giving us appetizers to try for free and asking how how meal was. I drive pretty far to eat at j&j at least a couple times a month but it’s most definitely worth the trip. If you are ever in the San Gabriel Valley, you have to stop by here and try their crab xlb. Yes, it is really thatttt good!

Came here with my husband and mother-​in-​law. MIL is a pretty healthy and picky eater. She doesn’t eat greasy foods. J&J won her over.
I loved the xiao long bao and crab meat XLB. This beats the line at din tai fung by a mile.
Fried bean curd vermicelli soup tasted very clean (not oily) and satisfying. MIL liked the plain noodle. The soup base was very tasty.
This place is tiny. We came on a week night and some foods ran out like certain veggies and the fried radish cakes.
Didn’t like the mapo tofu. Too greasy and the Sichuan spice was too overpowering.

Before I start… CA$H ONLY! Decided to try this place because I ate at Man Chan next door and noticed it! After looking on Unilocal,it seemed like a good place to try. It’s a small hole in the wall located in the same plaza as Man Chan. The food is decent, service is great, and lots of parking everywhere.
FOOD.
Stir fried A-​Choy (vegetable) — they ran out of stir fried pea tips so we opted for this instead. I was pleasantly surprised because I actually enjoyed this dish. I usually don’t care for a-​choy because it’s not my #1 choice for chinese stir fry veggie. They must put some type of garlic oil in it + the fresh garlic slices of course. REALLY TASTY.
Xiao Long Bao (pork soup dumpling) — is it sad that I enjoyed the pork one more than the crab one? At P P Pop in Monterey Park I enjoyed the crab one very much… but when I compare it to J&J. I can’t. The XLB is not juicy, the skin is too thick, and it came out just warm.
Crab Xiao Long Bao (crab/​pork soup dumpling) — this was just ok. If I ever ended up back here for whatever reason, i would probably stick with the regular XLB. Like the pork version, it was not juicy, the skin was too thick, and there just wasn’t very much flavor.
Stir Fried Rice Cake — this dish was also ok. I actually enjoyed the rice cakes and stir fry veggies more than the XLB itself.
SERVICE.
Very good service. The lady was attentive and very friendly. She asked if we had heard of J&J through Unilocal to which we said yes. I can’t believe this place has been here for 25 years!
PARKING.
Lots of parking around here since it’s in a plaza. You can park underground too.

My parents would take me here all the time when I was a little kid. I love there crab soup dumplings. My favorite!

Have you ever loved a place so much that you actually didn’t want to tell people so lines don’t get crazy long? GUILTY AS CHARGED!
I’ve loved coming here for years. Their juicy dumplings (Xiao long bao) is on par with Din Tai Fung. The beef noodles and dan dan mein are my favorite of all of LA. There isn’t much here I don’t like eating, from the radish buns to the garlic stir fried veggies, I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!
So — what you should get:
Radish bun
Crab Xiao Long Bao (2x)
Pea spouts in garlic
A Mein (dan dan, beef or just plain green onion)
Good luck! =D

J & J is a fine establishment with delicious soup dumplings and Shanghinese cuisine at an affordable price.
There’s a good amount of parking underneath, so no need to stress out. They’re cash only so there’s that to take into consideration.
Service is fair and clean but the condiments stuck in cheap containers were something that stuck out. Their soy sauce was inside a ketchup container and the vinegar was inside a mustard one. Also their tea was served in a styrofoam cup. Points off for presentation there.
Their soup dumplings and salted fried pork were delicious. I was super pleased with what I got. Their presentation needs a bit more work but I wouldn’t mind coming back if I were jonesing for some soup dumplings in the area.

Had this place for lunch yesterday… OMG…it’s the BOMB!!! Couldn’t stop thinking about it today! The dumplings are the best that I’ve had and the food tastes like mama’s home cooking! Din Tai Fung… you better watch out! :D

look, i’m a vegetarian, so i can’t really tell you about where the best xiao long baos are in los angeles. but what i can tell you is that i’ve been here for about 20 years, and it’s always consistently good. jin jian is always my go-​to restaurant after i come back to LA from boston (yes, even ahead of in-​n-​out), since it’s got the best shanghainese food around. i always order the shanghainese rice cakes and/​or the shanghai stir fry noodles, and you literally cannot go wrong. i’ve also ordered the vegetarian pan fried dumplings, but those are bland. the only reason why this place has 4 stars instead of 5 is that their menu has greatly decreased over the last 5 years, and their selection of vegetables isn’t that great, but that’s okay.
i would agree with everyone else’s statements about bringing cash and bringing someone that speaks mandarin and/​or shanghainese — the waitresses don’t really speak english.

Best xiao long bao in Los Angeles! So juicy and hot, and it’s always excellent when I go there (although I have heard that there are off days). I prefer this place to Din Tai Fung, and it’s way cheaper. I typically order the shanghai stir fry noodles and pork xiao long bao, and it’s something I always get whenever I’m in the Pasadena area.
I do recommend coming with a friend who speaks Mandarin: the waitresses, although friendly, only speak Mandarin. I asked for the trash can, and they pointed me towards the ATM machine. They also only accept cash.
The place is pretty small and easy to miss, but is in a large plaza with plenty of parking so do yourself a favor and have their amazing XLB!

I love this place’s Xiao Long Bao. In my opinion they are better than Din Tai Fung’s however, it is sometimes inconsistent while Din Tai Fung’s XLB are relatively consistent every time.
My typical orders include XLB, sauteed bean leaflet, and the shanghai stir fry noodles.
I do recommend that you have someone who speaks Chinese with you. The place is pretty small and can get busy at times. They only accept cash.

Their siu lung bao (steam soup dumplings) is the best that I ever had!!! Compare to the ones from din tai Fung, their dumplings contains more soup and taste better! Also, it’s cheaper than DTF. The Shanghai noodle is really good too! But it’s cash only.

went back– seems portions have been greatly diminished while prices have skyrocketed. (The menu has also been cut down).
The dishes are a hit or miss. So order wisely.
The won tons here have always been super solid, as close to my moms as possible. The sautéed shrimp was delicious, but at 12 dollars a plate, and was it 12 shrimps? They’re definitely skimping now. Look for the specials on the walls, and avoid the stir fried rice cake, hunk of carbs with a few sprinklings of greens.
If you want more spot on dishes go a few doors down to Mei Long.

some good some bad and mostly avg dumplings, yef #4 stop on the dumpling tour
Well this is a mini dumpling stop from that LA Weekly top 10 dumpling joints in LA and it came in as #4. So I came here with a group of the homies and the munchkin to dumpling it up.
Well it was not like whoa whatsoever. It was a very average kinda Chinese place. Some dishes were good, two things were great and several were meh…
Pro Tip: Bring someone who speaks Chinese with you! The menu and the servers don’t help on the English front very much.
The regular pork dumplings were decent. They had a bit of soup, but not a lot, but the pork was tasty. They had a pan fried on its side version of this that was very good IMHO. My friends said the crab n pork dumplings were quite good as well. They also had a leafy greens veggie that we got at the beginning that was super good and tasted buttery but was made without butter! Just a little bit of oil and the greens! The fried garlic green beans were not very good and seemed almost overcooked.
Pro Tip #2: Cash please… =\
The tea barely came out at all as well and getting the waitresses attention was a major PITA! Parking is downstairs underneath the plaza as is the case in many places in Asia and Alhambra. So yeah overall I am kinda wutevers about this place but wouldn’t mark it as the #4 best dumpling house in LA.

We were out looking for a place that was still open on a Friday night in the SGV without the maddening crush of DTF. We thought about JTYH but they were closing in 15 minutes at the time so I continued down Valley until we got here…
It wasn’t too busy, but we managed to snag the only two orders of XLBs that they had left. In our luck it was the Steamed Pao with Crabmeat
which is exactly what I wanted to try anyway. Eight XLB to an order, they had nice shape and size, juicy, full of crabmeat with binding pork. I had the lions share, at least half of them, and I only ran into one which had a tiny bit of the shell in it, which to me is statistically acceptable, like eating a fish and finding a bone…
I don’t know my Chinese greens as well as I feel that I should, but the Sauteed Bean Leaflets
taste similar to snow pea shoots that I am used to and love. When my wife ordered this, I turned to her and said «.is that ‘dao miu…’ ” and the waitress nodded in the affirmative which was good considering my zero command of the Mandarin dialect; she could understand us, I could not understand her. Sauteed and wilted in garlic, they were tender and tasty…
We also ordered the Stir Fried Rice Cakes Shanghai Style
, and just as in the case of the leaflets, I asked «…this is like ‘haw fun’…» and again the waitress nodded yes; we could have had this exchange all night. I liked the bite sized portions, and yes it tastes like dry style haw fun noodles…
My better half also wanted some kind of soup so we also went for the Shanghai Style Wonton
. Besides being a smaller portion than I had originally imagined from the picture of it in the menu
, it seemed more of a soup dumpling (sui gow) to me than what I am used to calling a wonton, but no disrespect to the restaurant because that’s the way it was depicted in the picture…
Not a bad experience, everything tasted fine, I just felt fortunate to get the last XLB order in for the evening. They also turned away another couple coming in at 1000pm telling them that they were closed when the sign says that they close at 1030pm; I guess they felt that they had enough business for one day. To quote my son: «It sucks to be first…», well in this case ‘it sucks to be last…’ too…