| Recommended: | yes | 0 | no | 0 |
| Kid Friendly: | yes | 0 | no | 0 |
Gone are the days of variety and plenty of dim sum carts. Early birds must wait longer for the popular dim sum dishes to roll out of the kitchen after 10. Patience is tested here on weekends. Waiters and bus boys do what they can to quench the patrons. If you have the time and want the convenience of a simple dim sum experience in Chinatown, Empress is still the place for authentic Chinese food.
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I had the worst experience at the Empress Pavilion Restaurant. The service was horrible. My friends and I were there for 40 minutes and did not receive any decent service or food. One of my friend tried to speak to an employee and was completely ignored. The one plate of food we did get was bbq pork buns and it was very soggy. DO NOT go to this restaurant.
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Worst dim sum experience ever! I had been to Empress Pavilion one time before, and it was a horrific experience. Waiting for more than an hour for the har gow and siu mai once before, I stupidly decided to go back and give it another chance. Today, I was dissed again. Because we were not of the Caucasian race, we were relegated to the back of the restaurant. When we asked if we could move closer to the middle (where there might have been a chance we could eat), the hostess rolled her eyes at us and gave us an pretentious attitude. We were moved to the table next to our first table. It took 10 minutes for us to get our tea. In our 40 minutes there, only 3 different carts came by. After waiting 30 minutes, the only carts that came by was the chicken feet cart, the dessert cart and the char siu bao cart. I decided to get up and inquire a cart pusher if she had what we wanted, but she turned her back to me and didn't even bother to acknowledge my existence. When I asked a waiter if he can help me, he ignored my inquiry and continued on. I can't believe some people would call this restaurant the best dim sum in L.A. They must be tourists. Service was awful. I can't rate the food because I wasn't offered any. Being realistic, I did not expect five-star service. However, I did expect to be treated a modicum of respect. Frustrated with the horrid experience, we decided to leave after only getting 3 dishes. The bill was ridiculously overpriced. While leaving the restaurant, there were people waiting in line to get in. What they didn't know was that they would get dissed at dim sum.
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Empress Pavilion has the best dim sum in LA and Orange County. They offer a variety of delicious dim sum and all of their prices are really cheap. The ingredients they use is fresh and they have a lot of waitresses pushing a cart around to let you choose the items you want. It has the ambiance of being in Hong Kong as there are not many restaurants that still uses a cart to cross sell food.
PROS:
CONS: Long waits on weekend
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Empress Pavilion used to be one of the premiere Dim Sum restaurants in the Los Angeles area, but it has been overshadowed by other restaurants in Monterrey Park. Still, they have a good ambiance and plenty of vegetarian options as well.
PROS: Nice ambiance, decent food
CONS: Not as good as it used to be
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One of the best places for dim sum. Although their selection and variety has dwindled slightly over the past few years, it's still worth the trip out there.
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Good and reasonable Chinese renstaurant in China Town. This restaurant is famouse for Dim Sum. But it is always crowded. I waited for one hour to get in on rainy Sunday. And they do not take reservations. But you can see gift shops in the same mall while you wait.
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This is a dim-sum place that has the advantage of being conveniently located to downtown, in Chinatown. The offerings don't seem to be quite what they used to be, however. The last few times we have gone, the selections seemed more limited, and tended towards deep-fried. If you want dimsum and are willing to drive, you are probably better off going to Ocean Star or one of the other places in Monterey Park.
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