The food was amazing, the vibes were on point, and coming later in the evening made the experience even better! Willy was amazing--such good energy and such a great vibe. I found this spot on TikTok labeled as a "Din Tai Fung dupe," but honestly... it was NOT giving dupe! Everything stood on its own and exceeded expectations. Definitely a spot I'll be coming back to! read more

Parking: Easy, open lot in university village I am surprised this place actually has average reviews. I ordered the garlic salty ribs. They're what you want if you're looking for something rich. It's fatty, crispy, and perfectly salted. It's all topped with garlic. I really recommend this dish. I had their wontons in chili oil. The chili oil was just that. It was a spicy oil. I wish it had more things to it. All in all, I would come back. read more

Food wasn't anything to write home about. These style restaurants these days are crushing it and this one let them all down. Chicken chow mein was soggy and flavorless even though it had multiple ingredients. Mongolian beef was soggy and had oil separation on the plate. Pork buns with broth inside had no flavor, no flavor ! That's insane. Beef bone soup was ok. Service is fine, not attentive at all. They weren't rude, they were just not focused on customer service and the experience. There's a bad plumbing smell upon entry and almost ruins the appetite. Beef roll was served cold and pastry was busted open. Not sure how you cook a pastry and served insides cold. I can only assume it was frozen then thrown in the oven. Overall I wouldn't recommend. Pics were taken at the end of the meal. The food was thrown away read more

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Bright nice open space. Booths and tables. Ordering is digital for dine in - you go online after scanning a QR code to place your order and pay. Which is great if you're splitting the check and each person is paying for only what they ordered. Not so great is you decide you want to order more and now have to order and pay again - just s slight inconvenience. So no personal interaction with the waiter/ waitress letting you know what the specials are (if any) until they make their rounds and visit you. The food was ok, but not great. Being an Asian family and having some great dim sum and dumplings from many places - many of them even bragging about being hand and house made - we've come to appreciate the quality of the food. The Siu Mai and Hargow, while giving us 8 pcs (most give 4, some only 3), we're quite small and pale in comparison - both size and taste than what we're usually accustomed to. The Juicy Dumplings ( Xioa Long Bao - XLB at LOC) were far from juicy like other restaurants. Overall the dim dim and dumplings felt like they had been previously frozen and commercially made and not reheated properly with tough skin and drier fillings, rather than juicy, plump and moist. The wontons in the Won Ton soup did not have the issue with dryness, but that probably had to do with them being served in a broth. The Beef Rolls were about the best of the items - savory Beef Flank Steak, thinly sliced and wrapped in a Scallion Pancake. It would have been nice if they offered more selection of Asian vegetables like Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli, more Bok Choy dishes, etc instead of the standard broccoli found in beef and broccoli dishes). Hope that helps! read more

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I went recently and noticed that they updated their menu. I like the offerings though I think calling it a replica of Din Tai Fung is quite a reach since it's a very different restaurant. We ordered a sauerkraut lamb mini pot, mapo tofu, bbq pork bun, and garlic pork ribs. The mini pot was awesome given that I was not feeling well and wanted something that would help with my nausea. It had a good helping of vegetables and other items without being too heavy. It's also a nice combo with a drink and rice as usual - a great decent-priced combo to get everything you need. The bbq pork bun I would give it to them for being a bit unique. It tastes like they make it themselves and the bbq pork sauce has great flavor. The pork tastes like it is pretty good quality pork as well compared to other places I've tried. However, the bun texture could use work. I wouldn't order it again personally since I'm used to MPK quality, but my boyfriend really liked it (and he's not used to the MPK quality). Mapo tofu was nice and spicy for "medium spicy". The friend I came with had trouble eating it, but I personally loved the kicked of flavor and thought it was just right. You can really taste the Szechuan peppers that you don't always get at other places. The garlic pork ribs was great with the garlic flavor and crispiness of the exterior. My boyfriend was super happy. Overall the cost was $60ish - the portions were great and we had leftovers. It was nice to fix a craving and also deal with my nausea given there are not a ton of options at the moment near UCR. Also, the fact they extended the hours to 1am is crazy and much appreciated!!! I hated the fact most restaurants worth going to closed at 9pm near a college campus as some classes end late. I wished they did that hours change during the school year though as the attendance is very dead during the summer for people to know how appreciated the late hours are. read more

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This restaurant has been featured by several influencers, so we decided to see what the hype was about. Conveniently located on University Avenue, it stands out among the many dining options in the area. We were seated immediately upon arrival, which made for a pleasant start to our visit. One thing that could use some improvement is the menu presentation. The menu was printed on plain white paper and appeared somewhat worn with visible stains. Offering a QR-code menu could provide a more modern and cleaner alternative. For my meal, I ordered the Chongqing Fried Chicken, which came with mixed a small portion of French fries as shown in the photo. The flavors were wonderfully authentic, and it's definitely a dish I would recommend. I also tried the Peanut Noodles. It's a solid vegetarian option with a rich, nutty flavor. However, after finishing about half the bowl, I found the peanut sauce to be a bit overwhelming and heavy. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience, and I'll definitely be back to try their dumplings, which seem to be one of the house specialties. read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Chongqing Spicy Crispy Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

The facility looked bright and clean. We were greeted right away and service was great! Super welcoming and friendly. We tried several items so we can try different tastes. Everything came out quick and they were very fresh. The fried rice and the pork fried ribs were good. I would say our favorite was the sesame balls. The only complaint I have is there was a small hair in one of the condiments. It was something that could've been overlooked and no big deal but I chose not to use it because of that purpose. They also have a "spin the wheel" activity we were able to do which my daughter enjoyed! All in all I would give it an 8/10! read more

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It LOOKS SO GOOD!! This is such an adorable and charming place, but like the other reviews said, it's not really the best when it comes to service. Im compelled to write a review because of the several funky mishaps that occurred Maybe we were just unlucky, but within the first few minutes of sitting down, we encountered some strange things -- 1) They were out of popcorn chicken. And 2) They were unable to do steaming work in the kitchen today. Sucks to suck for us We ordered a specific vegetable dish but what came out were green beans instead. Im not sure how that happened. What was good, however, was I think the dish came out free to compensate for us The food was very nice and tasty regardless. I liked the taste of the green beans, especially. I liked the pineapple chicken fried rice too but could find it more nice if it was seasoned/flavorful. It wasnt completely bland at least Good food, just be prepared for hiccups read more

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Finally a place in Riverside open till 1am. Food was amazing and the people here (Toby) was kind and attentive. I think I found my new late night spot. I ordered the Scallion Beef which was good and wasn't too salty with a healthy portion. And some Pork Buns yum. Will come back and try others. read more

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Really nice addition to the University Village plaza! Came here with some friends for a family style lunch on a Sunday. The restaurant was a bit busy but our party was seated and served right away. We tried a variety of dishes and the highlights were definitely the green beans, beef noodle soup, sauerkraut fish and the garlic pork ribs. The dumplings were just okay and the only option they had this particular day was boiled. Everything tasted great otherwise and the noodles in particular were good and chewy. The custard buns are a good dessert option as well although it took awhile to come out. Service was good throughout and checked on us often. They also have a cool prize wheel you can spin gift every $45 you spend! Overall we had a great experience here and will definitely come back again! read more

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Overall this place is pretty good. It's nice to see more Chinese restaurants opening up around the riverside area. From social media, this place was referenced as the dub tai fung dupe but personally, this is not it. It's more of an authentic style Chinese restaurant. The menu was a paper menu, it looks like this place is still a soft opening so the menu could change? We ordered the pork and cabbage dumplings which were just ok, they were kind of small as well. We then ordered the beef noodles and dan dan noodles - highly recommend, the noodles tasted pretty fresh. The menu also had the sauerkraut fish, written in only chinese, on the menu so we tried that as well. I have to say this dish was pretty delicious and authentic. It's rare to see this type of dish around here. The other items we ordered were the green beans and pork ribs - highly recommend! Service from what I heard can be a miss but all the food was brought out in a timely manner except the custard buns, but the taste made up for it. Its definitely a great spot for chinese food! read more

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The service is slow, if you see the tables are packed expect a long wait time for your food. From the time we signed in to the time we got our food was approximately 65mins and there was only 1 person in front of us. They do not serve alcohol. Sitting in the restaurant felt like sitting at yoshinoya same colors and seating style. We ordered the sweet bbq pork bun, the pork dumplings, sweet n sour pork ribs, house special spicy beef noodle soup, and the Yangzhou fried rice. Out of everything we ordered only the fried rice was good. Fried rice had layers of flavor! The house noodles was very bland, the pork ribs were good, the pork buns were ok, and the dumplings were not good. Not worth the $$ They said they were better than dim tai fun. Absolutely not. read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Fried rice, pork dumplings, pork ribs, pork buns. - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

Decent concept but little care for their food nor attention to detail. Cool staff but the place isn't really efficient. The menu is massive but the taste profiles are off. There's a lot if similar restaurants in the area so consider other options. read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

I came by with a coworker for a quick lunch and I had to walk around the building to find it based on the maps app. Upon entering the place was clean and it had an ambiance that I had experienced at other Asian restaurants. Not bad nor good, just different. The ordering and payment was done through an app, which seems to be happening more often now that most people have smartphones. They did have a register so I think traditional ordering is an option. I ordered a dish of Mongolian beef and another dish of stir fried bok choy with garlic. The food was fresh made and tasty. But the service was on the low side. We didn't order drinks, so we were given room temperature water in paper cups. My coworker finished his food, but wasn't impressed. The water situation didn't seem to help with his impression. I may come back with my wife to give it a second chance. read more

LOC is a new spot in the University Plaza near UCR that is authentic Chinese food The space is clean and bright, with orange upholstery on the booths and large floor to ceiling windows facing University Ave. Expect to wait a minute to he seated as the Server is also the Host, so they might be waiting on a table. The food is top notch Chinese and on par with spots in the OC. They have everything from scallion pancakes and hotpot to pig ear stir fry and bao. I took my wife and daughter. We had boiled pork & cabbage dumplings with chili oil, pan fried beef dumplings, beef roll, scallion pancakes, cold beef appetizer, wok fried green beans, pork buns, dan dan noodles, spicy beef noodle soup, and golden beef hotpot. Everything was really good So fresh and hot. Things came flying straight from the kitchen to our table. The appetizers were on point. The dumplings and bao were hot, chewy, full of meat and flavor. The hotpot is served in a pot over a flame, bubbling hot and delicious. The spicy beef noodle soup was just as amazing It comes in a large bowl full of beef broth, buckwheat noodles, bok choy, and the star of the show is the huge beef rib with all that tender meat attached to it. We ate like it was our last meal and loved every bite. We'll definitely be back......in a few days read more

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Went looking for a late night restaurant and so glad we found this place off of University. Very clean and relaxing atmosphere. The Tom Yum soup is my favorite, with a large amount of seafood and mushrooms. We also got the garlic cucumber salad, 2 orders of crab rangoon (genuinely the best crab rangoon we've had), pan fried dumplings in chili oil, mini hotpot, and the shrimp with noodles. Everything was so flavorful. The gentleman assisting us, Toby, is such a sweetheart as well. Thank you for the recommendations! read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Tom Yum Soup, Pan Fried Chicken dumplings in chili oil, mini hotpot, shrimp noodle - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

I would give this place 4.5 stars if I could. We came here by accident but were not disappointed. We ordered their pork dumplings in chili oil and their shrimp dumplings along with the combination fried rice. The rice was delicious and the dumplings were also tasty. The restaurant was clean with plenty of seating, the ambiance is bright and welcoming and the staff were nice and attentive. We will come back. read more

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Newer casual diner spot for dumplings and noodles near UCR! They have a cool wheel to spin for rewards, and the staff was very kind. read more

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Came here on a Sunday for a late lunch/dinner. The restaurant didn't seem too busy. My immediate first thoughts made me a little nervous and honestly set my expectation low. The menu is a basic paper menu, I can picture the restaurant adding pictures in the future because the eyes usually eat first. The restaurant is very white with minimal decor and pretty quiet. It would have been nice to have some music playing in the background just to create a nicer ambiance. The food did take a little bit of time to come out after ordering. I considered this a little bit of a good thing because it feels like the food is made to order, just as it should be. My party ordered Har Gow shrimp and shrimp Shumai, as well as chow mein, kung pao chicken, orange chicken, scallion beef and garlic eggplant (originally wanted the green beans but they were out of them). I initially came here because a social media post described this place as a Din Tai Fung dupe. I've gone to DTF once and I'm not an expert on Chinese cuisine, but the food was very flavorful and delicious, not one dish was overly sweet or salty. I was genuinely surprised! I noticed the doors were left open the entire time so I did have to shoo away a couple of flies once the food arrived. I also noticed that the soy sauce, vinegar and sriracha bottles were dirty and crusty which is quite common in a lot of restaurants but it would be nice to know and see everything at the table be clean. After packing up food to-go and paying, we were able to spin a large wheel twice for a couple of prizes which was fun. Just before leaving, someone in my party went to the restroom. When they got out, they informed the staff as well as the rest of the party that there was not any soap in the restroom. A staff member said that the soap dispenser was not working (I sure do hope the soap dispensers in the kitchen were working)! I know this is the "soft opening" time period so there are some improvements to make. The experience was a really good one until I learned about the lack of soap in the bathroom at the very end. I am willing to come back at a later time because the food was really good but I'd probably check out the restroom first. TL;DR - the food was really good and flavorful, but the cleanliness of the bottles at the table that everyone touches was questionable and the lack of hand soap in the restroom made me question overall cleanliness. read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Wok-fried beef with scallions, kung pao chicken, eggplant with garlic sauce, orange chicken and chow mein - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

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Food was delicious! I also had the pineapple fried rice, house made noodles with peanut sauce, and the noodles in beef broth. Everything tasted really good! The only thing that was mid were the regular pork XLBs, but I did like the red and yellow ones!! Service was friendly and the location was clean! I'm definitely coming back and will be bringing some friends! read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Orange Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

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This spot is low-key my new go-to. Ordered the twice-cooked pork (huiguorou) and the peppercorn beef--both hit different. The huiguorou has that legit street food vibes, super smoky and savory. Straight up a rice destroyer. The peppercorn beef? Huge portion, loaded with veggies. Easily gave me like three meals' worth. Perfect spot for anyone on a student budget. Definitely my little campus canteen now. read more

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Great Chinese food! For a non-Chinese like me, I like simple, real Chinese food. Our Chinese friend invited us to LOC Chinese Kitchen. We really liked ... well, it was all good, but my wife liked the eggplant, we both liked the tomato fish. My mouth is watering now as I think about the beef roll. Oh, and they have buns filled with CHOCOLATE! The service was great. The people were friendly. We liked the simple restaurant layout. Each of the "booth" tables have high "dividers" so it's private and quieter... and ... if you have a large party, you can slide the divider down to have two long tables together! #riverside #riverside美食 #ucr #ucr美食 #原味缘 read more

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The Food is really good here but no working toilets is crazy work! I'm 38.5 weeks pregnant, we had to leave because of it

Walked in, the host was asleep at a corner table at 3pm. Stood there for a couple minutes till I was acknowledged by a server cleaning a table, told me to seat myself. Sat down at an open table and 5 minutes later the server came over and told us someone else was going to sit at the table we were sitting at, and then he pointed at the table next to me and said those people were going to sit where I was sitting. Then I asked him, then where should I sit since you told me to sit myself and the server walked away mid sentence. So I just got up and left. Really confused cause multiple people told me this place was amazing, had great food and amazing service. Won't be coming back. read more

This spot was just okay. I saw a ton of hype on Instagram saying this was a DTF dupe but it doesn't live up. They were out of all XLB so we ordered pork and chicken pan fried dumplings instead. You can tell the food is made with quality ingredients but lacking flavor. Garlic pork ribs were dry and had no flavor. Chow mein and cucumber salad was good. Green beans were GREAT. Best thing we ordered! Custard buns were cute and perfect amount of sweet. Service was decent and food came out extremely quick. For the amount of food "influencers" that posted about this place I also expected it to be cleaner with a nicer ambiance. Cleanliness was lacking a bit, ESPECIALLY in the bathroom. Overall, didn't love but didn't hate. We ate at 7pm on a Saturday so closing time wasn't an excuse for the experience. I may give them another shot in the future. read more

Went to try on 5/27 for my wife and I's anniversary. We had high hopes due to the hype on TikTok about this place. I will start with the good, I definitely loved the kung -Pao chicken with vegetable noodles they have. The cucumber salad was great. The bbq pork buns were good. Service was good over all, we got a table right away. There was a spinning wheel, which you got to spin after you pay if you paid a certain amount. I think it is geared for children perhaps, but was fun to spin. Now the bad. The dim-sum that day did not taste good, it tasted off, not sure if it was seasoning but did not taste like any dumplings I've had in the past. I tried the colorful dumplings, which I knew were an assortment of flavors but would have been great to have a little chart to know what flavors each were. Most of the flavors though, did not taste good. I tried to like them but couldn't. My wife ordered a wonton noodle soup and the broth was not good. I don't think I will be back to eat here any time soon. But try for yourself! This is just my opinion! read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Wonton noodle soup - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

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We ordered the pork and shrimp shumai, the sweet bbq pork buns, and the cumin lamb for pickup. When we got there, we asked if their bbq pork buns where made with honey. They looked at us like we were crazy and annoyed that we were even asking. The only response was "I have no idea." Now I'm convinced that their stuff comes from a frozen package because, how do you not know what ingredients your food is made with?? What if someone has an allergy? Is it that inconvenient to ask the person who is cooking? For comparison, we went to a BBQ place recently and asked what dishes had honey. They were able to list every single dish that did and did not contain honey. The food was also just ok, I probably wouldn't go back. There's better dim sum out there. read more

I'm old school, but ordering everything from your phone, logging in, entering passwords, and then getting an average meal is not for me. The waiter sits around doing nothing, and the atmosphere is cold and unappealing. I gave it three stars the first visit, but two is all I could offer after this last and FINAL visit. read more

There's not that many chinese spots near UCR so it's great that there's another one close to campus. Their soup dumplings had good flavor though when I wish they were more hot when I got them. Cumin lamb didn't have as much cumin flavor as I wanted but still good. read more

Food quality was very bad. Food had little flavoring and taste, XLB dumplings broke very easily trying to take it out of the steamer and also had no flavoring. Service was sometimes slow, lots of open vacant tables, took a while for servers to show up. read more

food was great!! me and my bf got the jjang noodles and the dan dan noodles, although the noodles are a bit soggy but that was fine since the sauces on each dish was flavorful and coated them nicely. We also got a beef scallion roll and that hit soo well! It was crispy,flavorful, and huge portioned, if you want a quick meal you can honestly just eat the roll by itself since it made me full after lol. Overall i'd give the place a good 9/10 (- the slightly soggy noodles) I'd definitely come back! read more

Delish delish, food was amazing quick and friendly service will definitely be coming here often!

Food was ok service could be a lot better if you are jonesing for dumplings Will will get you by but it lacked flavors and they do not give you a small bowl for your chile oil or soy sauce. The seating is nice but they don't give you but only one napkin so there will be a mess afterwords. read more

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Great Food everything we ordered tasted delicious! Service was great and very friendly. Everything came out fresh and all the recommendations given by our waitress Amy and Theo were great. 1st time here and we will definitely be back! read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

We came in at 11pm after party for a late night snack and it was delicious. We got the har gow and siu mai and the Dan Dan noodles. I didn't even know they existed so for my wife and I it was a great hidden gem. read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - We forgot to take pictures before - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

First time trying it and enjoyed it. The meat was tender and a good portions of noddles. Would recommend read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - House Special spicy beef noddle soup - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

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Tried the red chili oil beef stew at this newly opened restaurant near UC Riverside and it was fantastic. The stew came out bubbling hot with a bright red chili oil broth that looked intimidating but was actually really flavorful. The beef was tender and soaked up the spicy, savory broth perfectly. Portion size was generous and great for sharing with friends. read more

LOC Chinese Kitchen - Red chili oil beef stew - Chinese Near Me - Riverside, California

Tried for the first time last week. Absolutely would recommend. Good food, fast service, large portions. Loved!

Don't expect Ding Tai Fung. Not a bad place but I believe tik tok overhyped this location. Food was good (but nothing to grab about) and it's a chill spot. They have lots of staff which makes it worth mentioning that they take some time to get your orders in. Not bad to try it once. read more

The dumplings were raw and undercooked. The bathroom had no hand soap or hand towels, messy bathroom as well. The services were very poor and slow as well, had to wait to have someone available which took over 15mins. Over all very not good, wouldn't recommend this place. read more