House of Lee

Quick update:
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The potstickers were nice; nothing out of the ordinary (the potstickers at Wildfox in Novato is much much better).
The Kung Pao shrimp over rice was decent.
AVOID the curry chicken over rice.
I was told there was too much onions in the mongolian beef but was otherwise tasty.
But then again my personal experience is that mongolian beef and mongolian chicken always has a lot of onions by definition.

Recommended: The Chicken in black bean sauce over rice is my personal favourite but it's hot (just that way I want it).

Note: It's minimum $10 for a credit card.
And I think they don't accept more than one card per party though I am not 100% on this one.
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This time I was out with a big bunch colleagues out on the prowl hunting for a decent Chinese lunch place. We shared a huge bowl of the chicken hot & sour soup.

I had the kung pao chicken with rice lunch special. It was ok. My palate demands "spicy" so I added the chilli oil-paste to kick things up a little bit.

I was told that the dim sums (potstickers and bbq pork buns) were really good. I will definitely come back to try the dim sums. The other dishes? well, only for working lunches. It's not going to be a dinner destination for me.

In conclusion: the lunch plates were definitely good value for money. $6.95 for a lot of food (includes a slice of orange and an egg roll)

eww, I would give it no stars if I could. I guess I am spoiled with REAL Dim Sum in the city on Clement or Geary. I had a dim sum craving, went there and was so saddened by it. The potstickers were gummy, the siu mai had so much grizzle in it it wasn't funny, The shiu chau with chives, peanuts and pork was stuck to the inside of the metal container, and fell all apart trying to take it out. The fried sesame balls were extremely greasy, full of dough and hardly any paste inside :( The only good one was the fried pastries with chive and shrimp. But not served with the traditional mayonaise.The wait staff was rude as well. Don't look into their filthy kitchen on the way to the bathroom, you may change your mind eating there.

Maybe the regular chinese food is better. I'd rather pay the toll and gas and go into the city for my fix from now on.

***** Pier 6 on 4th down the way has GREAT dim sum.... horrayyyyyy :)

I have been to House of Lee a few times for only lunch. Every time I come here, I hope for it to be different, thinking that perhaps it was just the certain times I have visited. I was wrong. I'm not one to give terrible reviews, but House of Lee really deserves that.

The service at House of Lee is not good whatsoever. I understand that not everyone speaks English, and I don't expect much at a Chinese Restaurant, but when it comes to the point where I have to repeat myself multiple times, pisses me off. Like come on, I am being patient, and have repeated myself like 3 times, but I will not do it more than 3. Anyway, we ordered our food, and I was excited to finally eat.

I ordered the Cashew Chicken with rice. 1 STAR. Did I get the order wrong? I ordered Cashew Chicken not CARTILAGE CHICKEN! Do NOT order this dish. They pile the plate with a poor quality chicken, that is literally CARTILAGE, not meat, that is piled into a plate and cut up into thousands of cubes. YUCK. The cashews were soft and disgusting. Plus, there is not enough rice to supplement the meat, or cartilage that is.

I'm not so sure how I feel about returning to House of Lee, and I know for a fact, that I do not recommend it.

How come this location for House of Lee has been sitting empty for more than 5 years now? Does anyone have any updated news? Marin County really needs a really good Chinese restaurant.. I miss House of Lee.

This was a good little inexpensive dim sum restaurant. They closed and put up a sign saying they were remodeling. 8 months later as of September 2015 the sign was down and had in fact been remodeled. But its not open. Rumor has it it was sold and might reopen as a new Chinese restaurant.

I was hesitant about trying their dim sum based on mixed reviews. We found the dim sum to be pretty good. The sheet noodle dish with dried shrimp and chives was quite tasty, as were the turnip cakes.

One of the nicest parts was that they made it fresh while we waited - no cold plates that have been pushed around a while.
Sure, the selection on their dim sum menu is limited - 31 plates I believe - but we preferred it over driving to San Fran and back.

Their steamed buns taste like they were made in Heaven by angels.
Also, there's not alot of Chinese food places in Marin that also offer Dim-Sum...Brownie points for that.

Will the new place Zhu ever open???

I guess when the place you're eating at says "Dim Sum" that's what you should get, and not stray from their specialty. Well, she wanted pot stickers, so we got pot stickers. Maybe we should have stuck with the dim sum?

Although the restaurant is clean and has no MSG, I probably won't be going back there. We wanted to go to Tommy's Wok, but it was too far and we were attempting to save gas. We should have driven to Sausalito.

The dim sum I had was good, but I've had great dim sum in Chinatown both here in SF and NYC, so it takes good dim sum to make me quiver. The pot stickers were too doughy and although mine were steamed (her's were fried) they were too greasy for my liking. Just too heavy.

My rice plate lunch special wasn't bad though. I opted for the beef and egg scramble (I love breakfast anytime) and had them substitute the beef for soft tofu as I'm a vegetarian. It was good, not great, but good. The eggs were slightly running, the way I like them and definitely weren't dry. The scallions gave a little kick but it was pretty bland. I poured all of her hoisin sauce on it (they didn't have BBQ sauce, which goes on anything in my opinion) that was from the chicken mu shu. She ate half her mu shu, and decided to just leave it, very unlike her (and me) as we devour food like a pack of voracious wolves when we're hungry.

An ok standby, not a destination spot, their sesame ball dim sum was ok, so if you need to hit this place up for watever reason, maybe just do dim sum to go and spare yourself the stomach ache and heaviness that I'm experiencing right now.

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars here. The prices are great - you can stuff yourself into agony for under $10 and still have leftovers for midnight indiscretions. The joint is just a joint - the nicest thing about it is the bathroom (freaky - nice tile, clean...makes the rest of the place look kinda dumpy).

I like the ordering - you pick what you want by checking off a little form, and then it just comes. There's a picture of a bunch of the dishes (numbered for convenience) to help you pick.

The service is about what it should be - they're not there to be friends with you, and they trot the food out in regular intervals, dropping it off as they swoop by, arms full of metal baskets and plates. If you need help, you just flag someone down on their way by.

I kinda love this place. The best thing: TURNIP CAKE (with pork). Serious. Try it. Savory and not what you're thinking at all. Who knew the turnip would be such a good friend of pork? Turns out they've been tight for years.