Dim Sum

[The_Scientist]

FG wanted hot pot for Sunday brunch, but read that Hot Pot 101 was closed. She decided on dim sum as a substitute rather than another place for hot pot, so we hit Canton House. They were crazy busy, with a line out the door, but she was willing to wait, so we did. Fortunately tables cleared pretty fast, so it was only about 20 minutes before we were seated.

We've been here a couple of times, and it's probably the best spot I've experienced for dim sum. FG is a bigger fan than I am of this style; most places give you big piles of greasy, starchy, lukewarm gut bombs. Here most things are served fresher than average. We had some good shrimp balls with sweet chili sauce, stuffed mushrooms with black bean sauce, shu mai, and great fried squid tentacles with jalapenos, though we skipped the chicken feet. No Chinese broccoli available to our disappointment, but we left quite satisfied. 

[shoeshine boy]

we hit a dim sum place on Sunday as well.  we were big fans of China Delight and were very sad to see them close. they treated us like family every time we went in. we regularly take groups of 10-15 of our friends for dim sum and they rely on us to help pick the right dishes and get good service. so far we've tried Royal China and East Pearl as replacements for our regular dim sum destination. on Sunday we decided to give Golden House a try after hearing good things from a friend and also reading a glowing review from John Kessler. Kessler's review alone would not have been enough to convince me since he was a big fan of Happy Valley back in the day and the one time we visited it was almost completely empty and we found it disgusting.
we arrived at Golden house a little after noon and promptly received our wait number from the hostess. I'm not sure how long we waited but my girlfriend (who's Asian) noted that several
Chinese parties of the same size that came in after us were seated before us. to me this is unacceptable. when the time did come for us to be seated we were asked if we'd mind sharing a table with another couple who also were non-Chinese. I was hesitant at first but they looked like nice people so we said ok. we lucked out in that they WERE very nice people and it turns out, foodies as well. they had driven all the way from Newnan for dim sum so we had lots to talk about. we had been placed over in the corner about as far from the kitchen as possible. carts were pretty good about coming around though. the food we had was pretty good but I felt that for a busy Sunday the selection should've been better. the other couple asked a few times about shrimp toast and each time the server would say that they would check and then we'd never see them again. overall I'd probably give Golden House a B-. the food was good and tasted fresh but between the horrible service and marginal selection I don't think we'll be bringing our group outings here.

[Fooddoc]

We have had Dim Sum twice at Golden House and for me it is OK but not that special.  We found the food quality to be good, pretty fresh considering stuff does stay on carts for a variable period of time at any Dim Sum palace, but there was a paucity of specialty plates, despite staying till 12:30 when it seems these plates are more commonly offered.  Having experienced Dim Sum for so many years, in so many places, I have come to prefer places that offer Tapas-Like small plates of dishes in addition to the numerous variations on fried and steamed dumplings.  This may not be true Dim Sum, I don't really know, but I do recall the Dim Sum in Quebec and San Francisco offering a greater number of these types of specialty plates.  It is a great way for two people to sample a larger variety without having to order multiple large entrees (which we still do and take home leftovers).  I thought East Pearl was pretty good at this but at our last visit the regular Dim Sum offerings seemed to have stayed on the carts too long. I have not been back to Canton House in a long time.  What do others think?  What places are offering both quality and variety?

[Hrothgar]

If you haven't done Royal China yet, that would be my pick for both quality and variety. There was general consensus a few months back that they are the best dim sum going right now, but East Pearl still has its adherents. I've done East Pearl many times (they were my favorite before RC), but the selection was often disappointing and there were trips when the quality was too.

[Fooddoc]

I have not been back to Royal China (and Canton House) in a very long time.  Frankly I had virtually forgotten about Royal China, having for years gotten caught up in the newer places.  For a while, the re-invented Oriental Pearl was a favorite of ours but eventually we came to favor China Delight and then East Pearl.  Royal China used to be one of our favorites, going way back to when it first resurected the prior Honto's location.  We will give them a try again.  Would like to hear if others are still giving them a very favorable review and also opinions about Canton House.

[Jmolinari]

Royal china has become our go-to since China Delight closed.

[shoeshine boy]

Royal china has become our go-to since China Delight closed.

I'm thinking that it will become ours as well. a little concerning though that friends I sent there 2 weekends ago told me that the bathrooms were inoperable. hopefully just a one-time problem though.

[Hrothgar]

Royal china has become our go-to since China Delight closed.

I'm thinking that it will become ours as well. a little concerning though that friends I sent there 2 weekends ago told me that the bathrooms were inoperable. hopefully just a one-time problem though.

There's an inverse relationship between the niceness of the bathrooms in an ethnic restaurant and the quality of the food. If the bathrooms are pristine, leave immediately. 

[Fooddoc]

We did make it to Royal China this Saturday for Dim Sum. 
The food was fine with some slightly different variations that we had not had before but there were no specialty plates brought around, not one offering, even during prime time from before Noon till well after 1 PM. (No, the two of us did not eat for that long, see dancing dragon below). You could of course order a Dim Sum portion of clams with black bean sauce (which we did) but this requires you knowing exactly what you want and removes the enjoyment and choice of seeing something different and enticing coming your way.  Perhaps it has just gotten too expensive to make specialty small plates that may not all be consumed.  I would have thought that if there were going to be specialty plates they would have surely been on New Years. They did have a drummer and dancing dragon that kept the little kids entertained (OK, and this adult couple also, which is why we stayed there so long). 

Unfortunately (or fortunately) we did not test the restrooms.

[tanline]

We did make it to Royal China this Saturday for Dim Sum. 
The food was fine with some slightly different variations that we had not had before but there were no specialty plates brought around, not one offering, even during prime time from before Noon till well after 1 PM. (No, the two of us did not eat for that long, see dancing dragon below). You could of course order a Dim Sum portion of clams with black bean sauce (which we did) but this requires you knowing exactly what you want and removes the enjoyment and choice of seeing something different and enticing coming your way.  Perhaps it has just gotten too expensive to make specialty small plates that may not all be consumed.  I would have thought that if there were going to be specialty plates they would have surely been on New Years. They did have a drummer and dancing dragon that kept the little kids entertained (OK, and this adult couple also, which is why we stayed there so long). 

Unfortunately (or fortunately) we did not test the restrooms.

They had specialty plates last Sunday, we had the clams, crispy skin roast pork and Chinese broccoli...  But I think the bigger plates like these are usually served on Sunday at Royal China.  I avoid the bathrooms...

[Fooddoc]

Sundays may actually be the secret. Years ago we always went to Dim Sum on Sunday but more recently circumstances have made Sunday unavailable so we switched to Saturdays.

[shoeshine boy]

funny you should mention this....we went on Sunday and were very pleased. first off, I like they way the host was running the wait for tables. he had 3 lists and 3 sets of numbers depending on how many were in your party. it seemed to be separated by parties of 2, 4 and large groups. I think it ran very well.
after a modest 15, maybe 20 minute wait we were seated and immediately bombarded with a variety of dim sum. we had just about all of our favorites in the span of about 3 minutes. I did test the bathrooms out of necessity. the unisex bathroom on the main level was dirty and out of TP so I headed up the small flight of stairs to the other bathrooms and found them to be operational, well stocked and perfectly clean. back to the food, everything was hot and yummy. I will say that I didn't see any of the "specialty" plates rolling around though the table behind us ordered the clams. there were plenty of Sundays at China Delight where they didn't have pork and duck as well so this isn't a big deal to us. overall I was very pleased with both the service and food. I think this is our new go-to dim sum place.

[Hrothgar]

Yeah, I think you have to go on Sundays (and a little bit later in -- like 11:30 or so?) to have any hope of seeing the dishes you describe. We usually go on Sundays and I know we've had the clams in black bean sauce, Chinese broccoli, salt and pepper shrimp, etc. off the carts.

[LizR]

Travelled to the hinterlands to Golden House in Duluth on Sunday. Just ok dim sum - nothing really had much flavor or stood out, and we were there with a party of six adults and three kids, so we got to try a lot of different items. When I just googled to get the location, I see that Kessler was not a fan of their diim sum either - but he does seem to like the regular menu items. Same chef as BoBo house, which also left me a little cold a couple of weeks ago. Go figure.

[bettylouski]

Chef has now left Golden House and returned to the former Wan Lei where he started (now called Coco or something like that).  Much more convenient location on BuHi near PDK.