King Hua - Alhambra

If you want pricey, average tasting dim sum, this is your spot. They don't have the traditional push carts and everything is made to order. Each dim sum dish ranged from $4-9 and about $4 for each tea set (choice of tea and sauces) which is quite expensive for the area. Service was ok considering it's a Cantonese dim sum restaurant. Nothing spectacular though. Not my first choice for dim sum.

I wasn't originally intending on coming here, but my favorite Lunasia was somehow massively busy at 2 pm (we're talking waiting 10 tables for the 4 person tables to clear up). Thankfully I had been previously recommended King Hua and remembered that it was basically down the street from Lunasia. And yes, the wait was much more tolerable at 15 minutes. The way I measure how good a dim sum restaurant is fairly simple. Nail the basics, and I'll be very happy. And that's exactly what King Hua does. Shu mai, har gow, fried turnip cake, chicken feet, pork spare ribs...everything here has huge portions and tastes great. Hell, I even dabbled in getting some beef chow fun and it was one of the better ones I've had. They don't have any crazy special items here, but they get the important items right and that's all that really matters. Service was prompt, although it did take a while for them to remember I asked for water. Meh, there are worse things in the world. IMO, King Hua is just a step under Lunasia. Both are definitely on the same tier of being in the conversation for best dim sum in L.A. I'd still take Lunasia over King Hua, but King Hua definitely deserves some recognition for being one of the best dim sum restaurants in the city.

Me and family came here twice in the last two weeks for dinner. It 's great for authentic Chinese food and large parties. This place is never over crowded because it is slightly pricier than the many Chinese restaurants in Alhambra, Monterey park area. I would like to say everything on the menu is pretty good. The king crab is a little much at $60/lb, but the other seafood is reasonable. We ordered hainan slippery chicken, chicken can be fried Chinese style, steamed Cod, ong Choy (Chinese veggie similar to spinach with large stalks cooked in garlic and bean curd sauce), sweet and sour pork, black pepper diced beef with red and green peppers, and my favorite dish the large prawns with garlic on top of flat rice noodle bed (see pic). For desert, you can order walnut, almond or red bean in bowl. The consistency is between a custard and thick smoothie. I like walnut, which tastes like creamy walnut butter oatmeal. Pros: lots of parking, great staff service, lots of food leftovers Cons: slightly expensive, come prepared to splurge on fresh seafood

Food here is delicious. Not all dim sum places are created equal and they have some good dim sum comparable to what you can find in Hong Kong the capital of dim sum. Quite authentic Cantonese experience which is what I hope for at a dim sum place! I tried a bunch of their dumplings with assorted seafood and veggies. The skin was soft and not too thick yet the dumplings didn't fall apart when I picked them up with chopsticks. The shumai had a normal yellow color and tasted like good shumai. Their deep fried dim sum was delicious too, like the soy wrap roll 腐皮卷 and the seafood salad roll 沙律海鮮卷。 The other highlights were their dinner dishes. My friend ordered their soy sauce chicken, roasted pigeon and the Osmanthus mussels 桂花蚌。ooolala, they're top quality! So hard to find roasted pigeon that isn't dry and mussels that are not chewy! The chicken was well marinated, smooth and juicy too without being greasy! We ordered a lot for 3 people plus a kid but we got a lot of leftovers. Definitely would come back again. Just that pigeon is worth it already!

S/O to ZQ for this recommendation! This is the type of place you take the traditional mom/dad for dim sum, despite them not having the rolling carts. Came here with my dad and brother after dropping my mom off at LAX. Pro tip 1: come early!!! Especially if your party is 5 . Pro tip 2: street parking is the only way, unless you snagged a spot in the small parking lot. Pricing: $1.50/person for tea of choice (and it says sauces...but there is sauce on the table already S is $3.58, M is $4.58, L $5.58, SP is $6.58, and C is $8.88 We sat down within 1 minute of waiting, and were quickly given menus to mark off our orders for round 1, and round 2. We quickly ordered: 1. 1 order of Shrimp and pork dumpling (L : fancy fancy! They add some fish roe on top of this. Pretty good! Meat is good quality, and a good balance of fatty and lean. 2. 1 order of Shrimp dumpling (L : The shrimp was plump, and the skin was bouncy! This was good. 3. 2 orders of Beancurd rolls with pork in oyster sauce (M : Yum! My dad and I really enjoyed this, and they give a decent amount of filling inside. They also added water chestnut (or jicama? for the extra crunch. 4. 1 order of chicken feet in black bean sauce (M : Not bad, but not the best I 've had. A classic dish to order, but 1 is good enough for me. They add some peanuts to the bottom, which is like a nice snack. 5. 1 order of Sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf (L : Oh wow! Pretty impressed with this. Instead of one huge one (that is impossible to split , they wrapped 3 separate ones for easier consumption. The inside had a lot of filling, and the salty egg made a nice addition to the flavors. 6. 1 order of XLB (M : The skin was pretty good, and there was actually a lot of meat inside! The meat was leaner, so the juice was not as explosive (LOL . Not sure if I would get this again, though. 7. 1 order of Seafood congee (L : They gave a decent amount! However...they only had shrimp in it...where is all the other seafood?! The tea was pretty good! The pot was small so we needed lots of refill, but the servers were fast to refill and remove our empty bamboo racks/plates. Service wise- everyone was really....civil. They didn 't rush you, or try to force food on you. Overall, wouldn 't mind coming here again! I would definitely try their other dishes.