China Max in San Diego: Ok Dimsum for Not Being SGV But Wouldn't Return

I must say I was skeptical about how good dimsum would be in San Diego. After all, I refuse to go west of San Gabriel Valley to have any kind of Chinese food period. China Max in San Diego's "Asiatown" in the Convoy area wasn't exactly SGV, but it wasn't the West Side either.

 
I actually discovered a new chicken and cilantro dumpling that I usually don't find or order in most joints. I usually like pork or shrimp dumplings better but this was my favorite. I liked the combination of the mild chicken and the cilantro flavor. The shumai above was on the excessively porky side for me. I love pork as much as the next person but this was overkill.

Har Gow, whole shrimp dumpling in a translucent rice paper skin were ok. The shrimp wasn't too fresh and the skin was on the thick and sticky side. I like the skin thin and not too stretchy.

I usually don't like the veggie one because I find them too bland and this one was no different. I had to douse it in the chili soy sauce mix I had on my plate to give it any flavor.

 The shrimp rice rolls were ok too. I found the shrimp not too fresh and skin too thick and stretchy. Good sauce, though.

The shrimp and greens one was also just ok. I'd say my favorite was the chicken cilantro one. We were waiting for the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf and barbecued pork buns (steamed) but they messed up our order so just cancelled because we were full by the time we found out.

Service was rather slow but then again, I don't go to dimsum joints for the service.