Stinky G.
Yelp
I was happy when I saw this new dim sum restaurant under construction during the last few months. Usually, I travel to Chinatown Manhattan or Flushing when I want good Chinese food. There is virtually nothing in Lower Manhattan that is acceptable.
So it was interesting that Dim Sum Palace appeared to be a "modern style" Chinese restaurant that, in least in appearance, promised to have reasonably authentic and tasty Chinese food.
I went in with my son to order some food to take out. (First of all, this is not an actual "dim sum" place where they come around with carts and you can select what you want. Everything is a separate order.)
I ordered congee with century egg and pork, pork and chive dumplings, beef chow fun, duck spring rolls and my son wanted noodles with sesame sauce.
The total came to $58, which was already quite a bit more than it would have been in Chinatown.
My verdict on the food - Extremely mediocre, bordering on inedible. Of course, I should have been forewarned when I saw the dining room had only non-Chinese customers, but I had hopes that there was a decent place near me, so I persevered.
1) The congee was inedible at $8.95. It tasted old. There were only tiny flecks of pork and century egg in it, just watery rice soup with hardly any pork or egg, very chintzy, and it had a weird taste. It was also off-color. I had a few spoonfuls and threw it out. I was afraid to consume it.
2) Pork and chive dumplings were barely OK, but it was a tiny portion for $6.50. No thanks, not again.
3) Sesame cold noodle for $9.95 was thick, udon type noodles with a ultra sweet sauce. There were also tomatoes which did not belong there. Again, I felt gypped and couldn't finish it. Not really what I usually order but I expected it to be better from a restaurant that takes pride in what they are cooking.
4) Beef Chow Fun for $18.95 was more expensive than in Chinatown. It was OK. Small pieces of beef and small portion, with an acceptable "breath of the wok". It was the only thing we ordered that was OK, which is faint praise. On a scale of one to ten I would rate it a "5".
5) Duck Spring rolls were absolutely disgusting. I could not find any duck in them, just a greasy wrapper for $6.95. I don't know what was in the filling but it tasted like pure grease and no duck that I could discern inside.
So it's a no-go for me. If I want good Chinese food, I'll continue to make the trek to Chinatown. This place looks the part but it's all sizzle and no steak.
I suppose if their target audience is non-Chinese people in FIDI the ignorant masses will be pleased. I will not return. I suppose I am being over critical, but any Chinese restaurant which does not have Chinese customers is certain to be bad, unless it is specifically "American-style Chinese", which is a whole different genre of food.
The food here is a simulacrum of Chinese food, which aspires to look like authentic dishes, but is, in fact, food aimed at Western customers at high price points. If this is you, and you are happy when you order "chicken fried rice", "sesame chicken" or "General Tso's Chicken" when you crave "Chinese food", you might be happy here because you don't know the difference of what Cantonese food is supposed to taste like. So this new restaurant will probably do OK in this location catering to uncultured bozos with uneducated palates. I suppose Dim Sum Palace knows their target audience since they are part of a chain and they correctly aim their marketing at such people.
I'll cut this off here. If you are happy eating here, you are lucky, you are easy to please.