Dim Sum House (Westwood): A Pictorial Essay

Tea service charge is normal but when they also charge per condiment.

Agreed…condiment charge is insane…unless maybe if they were making all of condiments themselves? Nah…still think it’s a bit much.

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Siu Mai looks like a mess completely, esp. execution.

Principle or not, you have to factor in how high their rent is because of the location. They’re never fully packed, so if there’s a way to help offset expenses and costs…

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At most restaurants, we prefer the actual flavors ex kitchen, sans condiments. Since we rarely use the soy sauce, mustard, hot sauce, etc… on the table, it is actually incrementally better for us to have the condiments charged as a separate line item.

There’s no free ride in this world. You pay for what you get. I’d rather not pay for something I don’t use.

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I literally just drove by this place this afternoon (on my way to pick up takeout from Qin West) and saw the sign and thought I’d check FTC. To my surprise when I got home and checked, Eater had just written about it today, mentioning this thread: New All-Day Dim Sum Restaurant Opens in a Prime West LA Strip Mall - Eater LA

I do like how Eater got some additional details about the owner and the chef.

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Dude FTC’s all over this new opening lol…

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Comparing the pros & cons, I won’t be going for now-

Pros
-Free condiments
-Free parking (if lot has room)
-Head chef with strong bg in dimsum

Cons
-$5.99 for 3 baked or steamed pork buns (Capital Seafood BH charges $4.95)
-Lukewarm food
-Flavors and/or preparation off on some staple items (baos, shumai, etc.)
-No complimentary tea?
-Limited tea selection. No puerh/bolei tea (my fave to melt down all the fatty stuff)

If the Cons are fixed, I’d be interested in trying especially since I don’t wanna drive to SGV during the summer.

Thanks to @J_L and @Bookwich for taking one for the team!

To be fair (as I’ve stated in the original writeup), I went on their very first day. Hopefully their temperature issues and lack of tea selections will get better. After all, the owner of Dim Sum House himself reads these FTC threads! FWIW, I don’t mind paying for good tea service at dim sum.

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And the irony with the owner is that his place Hop Woo had been serving up dim sum of pre-packaged goods… which were pretty bad.

Could you do that a little more? We be missin’ you.

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Yep, I understand principle. But if $2.50 for condiments helps keep Capital’s doors open on the Westside I’m in.

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Thank you for all your feedback, I really appreciate it! It helps us better serve the foodies here in the West LA:blush:

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There’s more you can get from Dim Sum House than just dim sum. English menus for the Northern Chinese hot pot and skewer dishes will be available beginning this weekend. So the owner from Meet in Chengdu in Monterey Park, sold the restaurant and then got into a partnership with West LA’s Hop Woo, now opens up Dim Sum House. Oh, and I got a server to cross off the dim sum items that are still not yet available.

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We tried to eat there the other day, but just didn’t have the time to wait. There were 3 parties ahead of us. Surprised at how small the space was. I think 8 or 9 tables total?

good luck with the new venture, yang!

Tried it today, nearly empty before 2pm. Got the Shrimp Dumplings, Shrimp & Spinach Dumplings, Shrimp Rice Roll, Scallion Pancakes, Chicken Pot Stickers. The latter two dishes were for younger daughter.

Have to say pretty disappointed. Pricey and very inconsistent. The dumpling skins and rice roll skins were really nice. Rather thick but balanced with the size of the filling, and proper amount of “q” and not too sticky. But the fillings were meh. The shrimp filing was all over the place, one piece would taste overpoweringly of sesame oil, one tasted a little freezer burnt, one tasted more freezer burnt, some over salted some not.

The scallion pancakes were serviceable. The chicken potstickers on the menu looked like dinky little gyozas but when they came out they were arranged in a star formation with the extra starchy “web”. Presentation was pretty nice and like the dumplings the skin was decent but the filling was just okay.

(Testing the portrait mode of the non-Pro iPhone 11.)

I skipped over trying some dim sum staples like siu mai and chicken feet because I didn’t want to spend $50 on 7 dishes, so I won’t say I have tried enough to more thoroughly judge but personally I don’t have a reason to come back.

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Always a pleasure to see you pop in @theoffalo!

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