Seven Grams

Ever since Seven Grams opened in 2023, some influencers and Yelp reviewers have offered the same suggestion: Skip Costa Mesa’s legendary Taiwanese soup dumpling chain Din Tai Fung, and go to this Tustin-based restaurant instead. Their claim was that Seven Grams offers the same quality at a lower price point, which might make sense given Din Tai Fung’s almost certainly higher rent. But like other DTF-like restaurants we’ve visited recently, notably including Mimi Garden, there’s a reason the South Coast Plaza original (and newer Anaheim location) still draw unparalleled lines – they’re on a higher level than most of their competitors.

We give Seven Grams credit for what it has accomplished. The Tustin location makes great use of a 60-ish person dining room adjacent to a Golden Spoon, 85 Degrees C Bakery, and Subway to create an environment that’s decidedly more upscale than the typical strip mall Chinese restaurant. And though the menu is very short, it’s essentially Din Tai Fung’s greatest hits with a few unique riffs. Most notably, they include four xiaolongbao soup dumpling options that are in no way equal or superior to the ones at DTF or Paradise Dynasty, smaller and generally forgettable pan fried dumplings (here served 10 to an oily plate), wontons, and buns. The rest of the menu includes soups, noodle dishes, fried rice dishes, katsu, and appetizer plates (cold or fried) that will all look familiar if you’ve been to other Taiwanese dumpling shops.

We ordered and liked the chili pig ear, which turned out to be the highlight of our meal – cold, fresh, and unexpectedly a bit herbal – but could easily have gone for plates of sliced cucumbers or mushrooms instead. Another highlight was a sliced beef roll, wrapped in a crispy fried pancake shell, which nicely combined room temperature meat with sliced cucumbers and hoisin sauce. Less impressive was a scallion pancake, basically the beef roll’s wrapper served on its own, which we found to be similarly crispy but more obviously oily and flat in flavor, not worth ordering again. Two passion fruit green tea boba drinks were strong in fruit flavor, and just a little too sweet, but worthy of their $5.75 prices.