Xino's In santa monica.
This place has the best dim sum ever. Best dim sum cooks from all around town.
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Xino is closing early next month.
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Xino
395 Santa Monica Blvd #308, Santa Monica, CA 90401›8 Replies-
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re: maudies5
wienermobile
Oct 21, 2011 06:57 PM
I am actually surprised we aren't seeing more closings up there on the third floor.
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re: gordo26
wienermobile
Nov 2, 2011 12:26 PM
Primi al Mercato, Piero Selvaggio's Italian restaurant and bar in The Market of the Santa Monica Place mall, closed on Monday. Third floor is in big trouble.
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re: maudies5
It looks like The Curious Palate might be the only one haning in there. At least it looked moderately busy in the evenings. And it additionally has the cachet from the original location along Venice in Mar Vista.
The mall's efforts in creating the The Market at Santa Monica Place seem to be misguided. Perhaps they would have been more successful if they had brought in other restaurants, cafes, and vendors.
As far as coffee houses, they probably would have done better by bringing in Intelligentsia, which now operates a handful of locations. Maybe a Wolfgang Puck restaurant would have helped matters as well as an outpost of Huckleberry. Perhaps. Just my two cents.
Overall, it just seems to be a bad version of the permanent market in San Francisco's ferry building.
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The Curious Palate
395 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401
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re: kevin
wienermobile
Nov 2, 2011 12:40 PM
They wanted to be like the Ferry Building in S.F. but got everything wrong. It would be great to get a Gott's Roadside or a Cow Girl Creamery. The third floor is both a big disappointment and a missed opportunity.
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I waited quite a while before trying this place since they had bad reviews at the start and I'm not a big Chinese food fan. I am however a fan of good dim sum and the juice dumplings every few months. My husband and I really enjoyed their pork belly porridge - it was seriously good, just seasoned so well. As it was a pre-dinner cocktail thing, we ordered just 2 other dumpling dishes, and both were huge. I think the prices are pretty fair considering the portions and the fact that it's in the Santa Monica Place.
I also like that they have the same hot mustard sauce that is served at more traditional (and less upscale) dim sum places.
That being said, I will not be a regular as I am at Sonoma. If I'm in the mood for dim sum, I'd rather have it at one of those more traiditional places. If I'm in the mood to the dine at Santa Monica Place, I'd rather it not be Chinese food.
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re: Chandavkl
Finally went yesterday, albeit for dinner. We would go back. We thought the food was good (westlake soup, garlic noodles, eggplant, roast chicken, side of rice), the patio ambience is very nice. The prices are of course a bit higher than what you would pay for similar food on the Westside (let alone SGV) - usually if we are not cooking Chinese food ourselves, we would do takeout from Mandarin Kitchen (previously Hop Woo), so this is a nice change since we rarely choose the option to be stuck on the 10 trying to get to SGV for dinner. There definitely is a niche for Xino, and would opt for this over PF Changs on the other side of the Third Street Promenade (which we've never gone to)..
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Hop Woo Restaurant
1 W Main St, Alhambra, CA 91801Mandarin Kitchen
1822 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025Xino
395 Santa Monica Blvd #308, Santa Monica, CA 90401-
re: thranduil
Had an excellent Dim Sum lunch today at Xino. Har Gow were outstanding and filled with a bountiful serving of shrimp. I also had the Chicken Shu Mai and the Shanghai ginger dumplings. All three dishes were superb. The portions were generous and the prices, IMHO, were quite fair. My lunch was approximately $16.00. The service could have been a bit quicker, but my server explained that each dish was cooked to order. I believe it. Each dish was extremely fresh and hot. The ginger-vinegar sauce served with the Shanghai dumplings was great. In fact, I would return again and again just for those 3 dishes. Also, nice patio and it was a good day to sit outdoors.
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Xino
395 Santa Monica Blvd #308, Santa Monica, CA 90401-
re: maudies5
Update on Xino. Returned today with a friend who heard me rave about the Dim Sum, particularly the Shanghai Ginger Dumplings. There was a large menu posted outside listing all of the dim sum I remembered and the excellent $19.95 prix fixe meal. We walked in and the hostess seated us (height of lunch hour). There was only 1 table occupied. When the waiter handed us our menus, we were completely confused as it bore no resemblance to the menu posted outside. We asked what happened to the Shanghai dumplings and were told that they had been taken off the menu as well as most of the other Dim Sum items. Then we asked about the Prix Fixe lunch and the waiter told us that there is a new chef and the Prix Fixe Lunch is no longer being offered. Instead, there are "Chef's specials" which are around $15.00 a dish. He said that the restaurant was kind of "in a state of transition." With that, we said we would return when they get their act together. We left and had a perfectly nice lunch at Primi.
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Xino
395 Santa Monica Blvd #308, Santa Monica, CA 90401-
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re: maudies5
Ok, illl have to try it out
How much are the dishes, it's not the same as the charcuterie section, correct?
what are some of the handmade pasta dishes you had there? do they make the duck crespelle? or pumpkim ravioli in brown butter sage sauce? or the beef with barolo wine sauce?
how are the prices for the pastas and entree dishes?
do they have an on-line menu? now i am very intrigued.
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