Flora W.
Yelp
This is a PSA - run here now (and bring all your friends and family, too)! In my years living in the San Gabriel Valley, I have seen dim sum restaurants come and go, and I always missed the traditional Cantonese push cart experience as it's been phasing out in Arcadia. Little did I know, my boyfriend and I should've looked in Monterey Park for one of the best dim sum experiences we've had in a long time.
I am not exaggerating here, because it may sound like I am, but I promise it's 100% true. We sat down and got 7 of our favorite dishes in less than 2 minutes, thanks to the amazing push cart ladies who saw us sit down and surrounded us with food (and love). I legitimately could not keep my jaw closed because I was in shock and so surprised that we were so well taken care of in a matter of less than 2 minutes. Note we came on at peak brunch time, 11 am on a Sunday, and expected to wait a while to be sat down. Maybe we got lucky, or maybe the dim sum spirits really wanted to treat us that day, and for that, I am so grateful.
At dim sum, my boyfriend and I know all our favorites, so the minute we spot a push cart with it, we wave and smile to get served our steaming dish. We got the pleasure to try: Egg Tart, Shrimp Dumplings, Spare Ribs, Tripe, Sui Mai, Chicken Feet, Congee, and Duck Blood. Everything was served piping hot and hit all the marks. The push cart ladies are all so nice and made us feel so welcome. We couldn't say no to a lot of things and got too excited so we ordered too much food. Their Chrysanthemum Tea was good to wash all the oil down. But hey, you didn't have dim sum if you didn't leave with a little food baby belly. 8 dishes came out to be around $50 with no tax, so about $6.25 each dish (some may be more than others but we were not keeping track). We fully expected the whole meal to be more than $70 so I'd say they are very reasonably priced and get extra bonus points for treating us so well and being so fast. We also had a dedicated waiter assigned to our table, whom was very nice and attentive. He brought us our spicy dipping sauces, refilled our tea, and came to check on us a few times.
We parked in the underground car parking lot, right off of Atlantic. For a directionally-challenged gal like me, they sure notate this and put signs around the plaza to direct you to the entrance. It's a nice walk, maybe a brisk walk if you're really hungry, and the signage really helped us. You'll notice a flight of stairs that will lead you up to level two where the front entrance of the restaurant is. Super helpful.
Needless to say, my boyfriend and I had a wonderful experience from start to finish and left with a big smile on our faces. We will soon be back with more friends and family to enjoy this traditional Cantonese-style dim sum.