Any decent Dim Sum in Phoenix area?

[Dookie]

I sued to go to a place on 7th Ave and Osborn before it changed hands and went from the best to one of the worst place... Anyone have any recommendations? (I am in the NW valley but am desperate enough to travel!)

[ccl1111]

I don't know whether I should post this as there is already a sizeable wait...but after having gone to C-Fu a few weeks ago, we went to China King this weekend and it absolutely rocked over C-Fu.

Food was way, way, way better. Looks like C-Fu is trying to come out with a bigger variety of interesting dishes but their execution just seems way off.

[Chandavkl]

This may be heresy, but the dim sum at Phoenix Palace, the buffet restaurant in the same shopping center as Lee Lee Supermarket isn't bad. The rice noodle rolls (cheung fun) are quite good, and some of the others are OK. I doubt if it makes economic sense to go to Phoenix Palace just to eat dim sum, but the entire buffet is pretty good, with authentic items predominating as demonstrated by the largely Asian clientele. Actually, I rate Phoenix Palace higher than Moonstar buffet in San Francisco.

[pgerding]

We like Great Wall a lot. It's on Camelback at 35th. Very busy on weekends, good turnover and busy carts. We're always pleased with the quality of the food, though it can sometimes be the same ole, same ole kind of thing. Not the most exotic of dim sum, but it's tasty, reasonably priced and fun.

We drove all the way out to C Fu twice and neither time impressed us. A lot easier to get to Great Wall so that's become our standard.

Good eating to you!

-----
Great Wall Cuisine
3446 W Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85017

[kittyfood]

Great Wall, to our dismay, seems to be permanently deceased. It closed suddenly around early summer, with a sign on the door announcing that it was being remodeled. Nothing has changed since, and no remodeling appears to have occurred. According to a post elsewhere on this board, there was a fire in the kitchen.

[pgerding]

Oh, crud - that's a clear indication of how shut-in we've been since our daughter arrived in July, I guess! Hope they make it back and will keep an eye out for them. Dang ... any other Central/NW valley options we should try, KittyFood?

[Firenza00]

From what I remember, GW was about the only place west of the 17 that anyone mentioned on a regular basis.

[kittyfood]

UPDATE: Last night I drove by Great Wall and it appears to be open again. There were many cars in the parking lot, lights in the restaurant, and an "open" sign on the door. Don't know if a real renovation has occurred, but we will be checking it out before today is over.

[sundevilgirl]

Yes you're right. Went there for dim sum today and a few weeks ago, and it is better than before. The interior looks the same, but the bathrooms have been remodeled. We used to go to Golden Buddha alot, but now Great Wall is our fav place to go.

[starlightjulian]

Took my sister and her two kids from VA there, along with our Mom- our first visit, after our living here for five years now! They had combo dinners consisting of one tiny butterflied shrimp and one eggroll each, egg flower soup (aka eggdrop), pepper steak and sweet and sour pork, chicken lo mein and sweet and sour chicken. I had the 1/2 roasted duck. I only tasted the egg roll (good), lo mein (tasty!), and duck (delicious!), bec. I cannot have cornstarch (often used in Chinese sauces, and, unfortunately, used here).

[Dookie]

Thank you for the replies. Yes, China Doll.. sigh.. I remember the sign being up when it changed management and/or ownership - how to destroy a wonderful place 101....
Thanks for the link, I will have to take a trip down to Chandler in the near future and hope somewhere opens up near the new Football stadium *crosses fingers*.

[foodie_21]

China Chan (on the outer ring of the metro parkway mall) is the best dim sum I've had so far in Phoenix. If you ever wonder where all the Chinese Aunties & Uncles are on the weekend, well certainly more canto speakers than I've found at any of the other dim sum places (C-Fu, Great Wall, etc). Would recommend going there on the weekend. While the menu is quite short, it does cover all the usual suspects from har gow to siu mai to char-siu bao (and even some unusual ones like tripe with ginger and scallion -- highly recommend this one in particular). Would also highly recommend the steam cheung fun and the egg custard tarts.

Note that since this is a small space, they don't do cart dimsum, but rather steam items to order which IMHO is the superior way to serve dimsum...and is the way that dimsum are now served in HK and Vancouver. Also very rare for a Chinese dim sum place, it is actually a chef-owner restaurant...so the dimsum should stay quite tasty for a while.

However, would caution against going there for dinner -- when I was there the dishes were quite average and not worth the drive.

China Chan is at
10227 N Metro Pkwy E (Between the Olive Garden and Barnes & Noble)
Phoenix, AZ 85051
[phone]

[p_dubs]

thank you so much for that recommendation. I'm always skeptical with Chinese food in AZ, but your review is spot on. Great service, clean, and fresh and delicious dim sum in AZ, wow, never thought I would say that.

[Chandavkl]

Cheung fun at China Chan was OK, but not as good as that from the Phoenix Palace Super Buffet. Before you have me committed I should point out that at Phoenix Palace the cheung fun is a prepared to order item, much like the noodle soups, as opposed to something that languishes under the heat lamp.

[ciaogal]

Had Dim Sum @ Jade Palace yesterday, it was fabulous as always...
As usual we ordered too much.....chicken feet, shu mai, har gau, sticky rice, spare ribs w/ black bean and garlic, eggplant w/ shrimp, a mushroom and shrimp dumpling, salt and pepper shrimp, a cilantro and shrimp steamed dumpling....it was all good! There were so many more offerings....we had to pass....
Jade palace is definitely on par w/ China King...unfortunately they only offer dim sum on Sunday's from 11am to 3pm......

[Chandavkl]

Is this the Jade Palace on Shea Blvd. in Scottsdale? I'd be curious if the dim sum clientele is primarily Asian or not. I went there for a weekday lunch and it was a decidedly Americanized menu with an Americanized clientele.

[ciaogal]

Yes, Jade Palace on Shea. The other two locations do not offer dim sum.
Yes the dim sum clientele is a mix of Asian/American. Though the dim sum offerings are classic dim sum items.
I do agree the regular menu @ Jade Palace is geared to the American palate.....
If you are looking for something in particular speak w/ Leon the owner....he is working on expanding his menu...always trying new items...and always open to suggestion.

[andyeats]

A group of six of us (all Chinese by the way) went to China Chan for dim sum today. We ordered almost every one of the items available and thought the food was pretty mediocre. IMHO, China Max is still the best in Phoenix.

[ccl1111]

We went to China Doll right there for probably 20 years. It used to be great. For the past several years, we've been going to C-Fu in Chandler but agree with Firenza that China King is probably the best place to go now.

[Firenza00]

Well, I'd recommend not going to Golden Buddha. It used to be our dim sum standby, but has suffered a turn for the worse of late. Many people have recommended China King. Here's a link to the thread I posted a couple weeks ago:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/448421