NBC steam cart vibe doesn’t make up for the lackluster food for me.
Lunasia took a downturn during and after Pandemic.
We’re past peak dimsum quality now. It’s like Singapore’s hawker stall situation. The best place may be the one who has declined the least or hasn’t retired yet.
After all, it worked out so well for Red Lobster…
To be fair, because I feel the mocking narrative of endless shrimping killing red lobster is way too prevalent because the media doesnt attack private equity.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91129776/what-really-killed-red-lobster-bankruptcy-private-equity
I’m not a big fan of Gish Bac (or, sorry to say, any other Oaxacan restaurant around town). Forced to choose, I would go with Sabores Oaxaqueños.
We have decided on Sea Harbour for lunch tomorrow. It seemed to check all the boxes - a fair amount of praise, no major detractors, looks to be traditional style dim sum rather than a modern or “fusion” take. Suggestions on what to order would be greatly appreciated as we are novices to both Sea Harbour and dim sum more generally. I’ve only dined at a true dim sum restaurant a handful of times - The Palace on Wilshire in Brentwood a couple times, and the now closed Iron Teapot in Culver City once or twice. Neither place was particularly memorable though I liked Iron Teapot a bit more.
Must gets (AKA classics): Char siu bao, har gow, siu mai, fried turnip cake, tofu flower (soft tofu), chicken feet (AKA Phoenix claws), cheung fun (rice rolls), pork ribs, fried taro pastry, egg tarts…
If memory serves, the order slip allows for two rounds. If you have the space, try a larger format dish with the live tank crustaceans, and a durian crepe as dessert.
See if they have iron goddess tea (tieh guan yin). Enjoy! Sea Harbour is where I’d choose as well.
This is fantastic, thanks so much!
Some variations on the classics that I’ve liked. Steamed Rice Noodle with Chinese Donut & Shrimp (I like the texture variety in this cheung fun), Shrimp Dumpling with Chives, Steamed Lava Salty Egg Yolk Bun. Hope you’re ready for leftover though, I’ve never been able to avoid it if you’re rolling with two people.
LA doesn’t have the best dim sum, but Sea Harbour is on another level compared to what we have on the west side.
The best or perhaps most interesting Oaxacan restaurant is prob Comedor Tenchita. This doesn’t include weekend barbacoa spots or poncho’s tlayudas.
Haven’t been there. Thanks
I’d also add a greens dish to your set list. Gai lan (Chinese broccoli) with oyster sauce is my dim sum go-to…it helps to have something fresh and vegetable-y to offset dim sum. Some folks like the pea sprouts. And it’ll be good leftovers later with the dim sum you’ll take home.
Some more to add steamed lava buns and French style charsui bao, charsui puff pastry, egg white egg tarts, get the clay pot ribs and Chinese sausage “casserole”, instead of the steamed sticky rice.
And seconding @boourns cheung fun selection
thats a real bummer that gish bac disappointed 
… hopefully sea harbour lives up to its reputation today! (i have high opinion of their tripe in xo sauce - i think they call it ox something in xo - and their egg tofu in abalone sauce)
Ok…Sea Harbour.
We ordered a smattering of the items suggested on here. Thank you to those who provided recommendations. We had a good mix of types of dishes and types of meat/seafood, along with one veggie. I was so worried about grossly over ordering that I purposefully under ordered and it ended up being the perfect amount of food. Everything came out piping hot (I burned my mouth more than once) and was absolutely delicious. Every dish was the best version of the dish that I’ve ever had (albeit in my very limited dim sum experience).
Ok, now on to the experience. I debated whether or not to post this, as it’s going to be controversial. For the first time in my entire life, and I completely recognize the privilege in that statement, I felt profiled. I don’t know if it was based on race or race as a proxy for language (i.e. my race making it evident that I didn’t speak Chinese). But…it was unequivocally the case. Before I get into the specifics, I will caveat by saying that I went in knowing that the type of service at say a dim sum restaurant is completely different than say a “farm to table” American restaurant. I also fully understand and appreciate that the restaurant is all about efficiency - from the screens showing the waitlist, to the ordering forms - their goal is to be efficient and turn tables without wasting time. Ok, so…first, we had a question about a menu item, and then we wanted to order a bottle of water (nowhere on the ordering slip that I saw had drinks). After trying to flag down a few people and getting nowhere, we gave up on our question about the menu item. We then placed our order slip at the edge of the table, and……numerous servers walked by without grabbing it. They would go to other tables and grab theirs, but they would not grab ours. We waited over 10 minutes, with countless servers walking by and ignoring our order form. Eventually I grabbed it and nearly put it in the hands of a server as they walked by. Now, the water. There was one gentlemen who I believe was technically assigned to our table. I tried to get his attention a few times as he walked by, to no avail. I was able to speak to the food runners as they dropped off various dishes - I would ask to order water, and all they would do is point to the aforementioned gentlemen. We’re now 25 minutes post ordering, and I’m finally able to make eye contact with the
man with my hand slightly raised, in the universally known “could you please assist with something” fashion. The guy locks eyes with me, and gives me a literal cold shoulder as he turns around and walks the other direction. I try again for the next 10 minutes to flag him or any other server down to order water, to no avail. More than 45 minutes after ordering, I finally get up, walk across half the room, and ask who I presume is the manager (the only person wearing a suit), who was very kind and immediately brought us water. It was….one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. I understand there could be a language barrier - it’s possible the servers/runners do not speak English well. But that does not explain or excuse the gentlemen who was clearly assigned to our table, knew we needed assistance, and refused to acknowledge our existence. If it really was a language issue, he could have sent over the manager, who was gracious and spoke English fluently. And I didn’t mention this earlier, but my girlfriend had to use the restroom most of the meal and felt so uncomfortable asking where the restroom was that she simply waited until we got home.
I’m not asking for sympathy, and I don’t feel like a victim. I just feel….like I went to a fantastic restaurant and experienced unacceptably rude and abysmal service. I’ve been to Korean restaurants, other dim sum restaurants (though only 2 others, and both on the westside of LA), non dim sum Chinese restaurants, Japanese restaurants…Thai restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants….and never experienced anything like this.
All of that said, I’m not opposed to going back, though I might bring my own water 
Curious if any of you have thoughts. Perhaps there’s something I’m missing here.
(“Inexperienced white person at dim sum restaurant - threat or menace”)
That sucks man. Even if the food was perfect that would be enough to ruin the entire experience. 0/2 so far on your lunch expedition so the positive news is it is only up from here.
I just keep wondering if I did something to offend….
I wore a hat, is that considered rude at a Chinese restaurant?
I took about 10-15 minutes to fill out the order form after sitting down (though some of that time was devoted to trying to ask a question about a menu item and/or order water). Maybe I violated an unspoken “order within x minutes of sitting down policy”?
Anyways, I don’t consider it a failure. The food was great, and I got to explore a new neighborhood I’ve never ventured into.
If you don’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese fluently, that could be considered “rude” enough.
If you have a Mandarin or Canto-speaking friend, bring them w/ you next time.
Glad you enjoyed the food and that the service experience hasn’t put you off to going again. Dim sum service can be… an experience in and of itself. I do think the rudeness is more from indifference (colored by racial biases) than a deep, toxic malignancy, if that makes any sense.
If it makes you feel any better, Chinese servers in Chinese restaurants can be a$$holes to Chinese people, too. My parents (who speak Mandarin natively) have gotten into it a few times over the yrs at various restaurants in the SGV…
No need to be too shy at a dim sum place, IMHO. If they ignore you, take the order slip and hand it to them (meaning, it’s okay to be more assertive than you would be on the westside).
First, glad you liked the food!
But that service issue was not cool. Traditional and large Canto dim sum houses use a Captain/Runner system of service. Though there is an unofficial “server” assigned to your table, a customer can usually leave his/her seat and flag down any person that looks like an employee, and that person should be able to assist you. And flagging down is often necessary - it’s just a different system of service that may need getting used to. Seasoned dim sum patrons feel zero qualms about the need to get assertive and flag down servers for items or service issues. The people in the suits are the Captains (Area Managers), and they should be the next higher chain of command for things to get done.
I don’t think your hat was the issue lol. Unless it was green (green hats are a fashion’ no-no’ within Chinese culture, but that is an internet search for another time).
BTW, did you end up ordering tea?
This. It is not unusual for customers to… make themselves known to waitstaff.
Didn’t know about the green thing! Will need to look that up…
My hat was not green, so that wasn’t the issue 
The captain / runner info definitely helps provide some more context to how things work. And perhaps that was a contributing factor to my thoughts on the service generally - it is a very different system than I’m used to. I did spend some time watching how other tables interacted with the staff - which generally transpired similarly to what you’re describing - other tables had to flag people down a couple times, be a little forward, but to a relatively reasonable degree. What I experienced was purposeful neglect. As @paranoidgarliclover said, it was probably a language thing. And, if I can stereotype my own race for a moment, I imagine the staff at the restaurant has dealt with their fair share of rude, entitled white people over the years.
As for tea - the woman who seated us asked if we wanted tea - before I could respond, she was gone, and minutes later, someone else arrived with tea (that we hadn’t ordered ). I had planned to order the iron goddess tea. What I actually drank was probably the house tea, maybe a jasmine? It was good!
Sadly, all my Mandarin/Canto-speaking friends have moved out of LA. Would love to go back with you or others on the board at some point! My girlfriend’s family lives in Pasadena, so we’re over on this side of town fairly often.