On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Loading...
One of the top Dim Sum places on the "East Side," and that says a lot since this area in general is known for better Dim Sum than anywhere else in California. Good food, bad wait. We thought going before 11 was moderately okay, but we were already number 80 and within 15 minutes they were on number 120.
What we had:
-Tea (tastes really good--we had oolong mixed with chrysantemen)
-Shui Mei (best I've had, so much more fresh than all the others)
-Taro Cake (similar to Turnip cake but made with Taro, good)
-Shrimp wrapped in rice noodle -- good
-Bean curd roll (vegetarian)--decent
-Steamed Green pepper with fish ball filling--good
-Steamed leek dumplings (YUM! Flavorful and healthy)
-Fried leek dumplings (good too, but not as healthy as the one above)
-Shiao Long Bao (mediocre, Din Tai Fong's is better)
-Chicken feet (ha ha don't get grossed out, but if you are a "real" Asian you won't be scared)
-Ma-La-Gao dessert (Asian steamed sponge cake)--the little one is a fan!
Do yourself a favor, go early, even at 9am (they open at 7am!) and avoid the crazy bad driving in the parking lot. Save yourself the stress.
Oh, one interesting thing is they charge $4 for tea and hot sauce. I guess it's no big deal given how cheap the food was ($35 for 4 of us including tax, tea and tip). Service was lacking, just hunt down men in suits if you want to get anything done.
Again, go early unless you like being part of a mad house...you know how good us Asian drivers are. LOL
We will definitely go again!
This dim sum house is Rated: Y for YUCK!
I know that is very popular among dim sum lovers and reviewers but I had my first visit and there will be no second. It's like a first date gone bad. Everything did not work out for me. We had to meet up with our friends and they chose this location because they said this is one of the best dim sum houses.
After my experience, I beg to disagree. We went Sunday, the parking was horrendous. Even if we were fifteen minutes early for our appointment, we got in ten minutes late! That's how bad the parking was. When we got seated, the plates were soaking wet as with the tea cups. Food carts were bumping our chairs. And, in their open door custodian room, there was a nasty bucket of brown, murky and filthy water, which they use to mop the floor. I almost gagged! The worst part was, I had the misfortune of seeing two of their servers use the bathroom and just rinse their hands with water, they did not use soap! I could go on and on rambling about the experience.
By the way, the underground parking is one of the worst too. It's steep, muggy and had tight spaces. Not to mention that the elevator from the parking is inaccessible for wheelchairs or baby strollers because it has no ramp.
With regards to food, I've had better, food and dining experience wise, one of them is in the Great Seafood Harbor in Artesia, California.
The only good thing that happened to us, I heard, was we got lucky not to experience the hour long wait that most people usually endure in this place.
This review should have been about food but because of the bad sanitation issues, the supposed greatness of the food was overshadowed.
http://www.supercalifo...
Wahhh wahhh..the dim sum ladies didn't stop for me. Boo freakin hoo.. Seriously, if you can't wave down a dim sum cart, you don't belong here. Note: There's a McDonald's down the street on Valley.
Also, if you're Asian, and you complain about bad service..you really have some issues.
I'm giving an extra star to make up for these losers whining about the service. Its an Asian restaurant with great food.
Cry me a river
I must have good luck with this place b/c I haven't had a bad experience so far.
For weekend dimsum, it's awesome.
Come in before 11am and you'll get sat quickly.
Last time I went with 7ppl and the bill came out to only $60.00!
For weekend dinner, come in before 8pm and there won't be wait.
I would recommend bringing a Cantonese speaking friend,
otherwise you better be good with broken English and body language.
On the Hit or Miss scale: Miss
I didn't enjoy the dim sum the last I came and parking is the pits. I'll pass
I like dim sum like the next guy but this place gets pretty hectic. Geeze! Waiters running around… Read more »
Decent Dim Sum, but this place can sometimes get hectic as it seems like some one can easily get laid out by one of the carts. They are just running around trying to sell their stuff like car salesman. Overall, the food was good, specifically the mango crepe, but their service can use some help.
I remember when this used to be a variation of Sam woo...but anyway.
Large restaurant, cramped waiting area, and dirty facilities. The perfect combination for an authentic Chinese restaurant. I've only been here for dim sum, and I must say it can get pretty packed by noon, so come early. It can be hard to get the items you want, so be prepared to go on an adventure to find the good stuff. The prices are excellent, which is probably why it's so popular for dim sum.
Parking can be a bit tricky because it's located on the 3rd floor of a giant strip mall/shopping center, but luckily there is an underground parking area with elevator access directly to the restaurant level.
Large restaurant, cramped waiting area, and dirty facilities. The perfect combination for an… Read more »
There's cheap dim sum and then there's not as cheap good dim sum. I've been here twice and have been very hesitant on writing a good review. Why? because I don't want all of you to know about this place!
New Capital Seafood gets busy at about 10:00 am with no less than 30 minutes wait on the weekend and a lobby area about 100 sq feet with nearly 100 chinese people pushing and shoving every which way. That, of course, means this place is good!
It might be hard to get a table easily with no knowledge of the Chinese language but grab your token Canto/Mandarin friend and you're good to go!
Some people may look and say $1.99?!?! For 4 small pieces of food, but I tell you this. It's worth it. it's Dim Sum! Everything I ate here was very yummy and one friend said that their sausage "burger" looking thing was good too.
5 star for dollar cost value but -1 star for the wait/parking/craziness.
Another top dim sum establishment in Los Angeles, New Capital Seafood's convenient location across from the San Gabriel Hilton Plaza and neighbor to dozens of other restaurants in the 99 Ranch plaza makes having dim sum on a Sunday afternoon a great treat. Because New Capital is so popular though, getting their early for a place in line is highly, highly recommended.
$1.99 on weekends for all dim sum. any dim sum on any cart is $1.99.. it's cheaper during weekdays too. This is a great place to go w/ ur friends cuz u get to order a lot of varieties and u split the food and bill with each other!
perfect brunch place!
i suggest u go early cuz it gets packed!
i love their bo lo cha siu - pineapple bun w/ bbq pork
one thing i forgot to add.. yes this place have service problems.. but u just have to flag those ppl down. dont expect them to circulate around and asking if you're okay w/ ur food, if you need anything..w/ the amount of ppl in the restaurant, it can get crazy...and remember you're are surrounded by asian ppl.. u gotta be aggressive!!! rawr!
The foods deserved 3 stars. -2 for terrible service though.
Went there for my aunt's birthday dinner. The service was not only inattentive but unresponsive. Took forever for the food to come out, didn't refill our tea, never changed our plates, failed to inform us when they replaced one of our orders, etc. Just unbelievably bad even for a Cantonese restaurant.
This is some really good dim sum. Try everything at least once. The food here is usually hot and steaming. I don't believe I've had a bad experience here...expect the service..to be..Chinese..meaning they seem like they don't give a hoot about you but they will still do their job in a somewhat timely fashion.
I travel from OC just to eat here for dim sum at times. I've been doing that since it was Sam Woo. Also, the Bakery nearby is the bomb. Yum.
I've been going to this location for years...ever since it was Sam Woo! The dim sum is cheap and hot… Read more »
This place was not good. I didn't eat Dim Sum here, I had their regular fare for lunch. Many dishes were ordered, but not one was to my liking (and I like Chinese food!) That being said, I would never go back here again. It was filthy. There were flies buzzing about the entire time. I went to use the restroom and there was water everywhere and it smelled terrible. The door that went in and out of the kitchen was smeared with filth. Honestly if I wanted something this dirty I would have just gotten on a plane to China and had street food.
My grandma insists that we go here, and that sums up why I go to New Capital. I've had a few dinners here, and have never really enjoyed the experience.
The awkward location on the top floor of the plaza causes dinnertime crowds to build up into a nasty sea of anxious, jostling Asians, blocking the elevators, spilling into the staircase, and even into the restaurant proper. Something doesn't ring right about having a guy stand at the wall, watching you eat while he waits for a table to open up.
Oh, the WAIT. I've waited no less than an hour for dinner to start on some nights. Sometimes even nearly two hours. Yes. Two hours. Granted, there was two wedding receptions going on that night. And it's a huge enough restaurant to handle that, and more. But you gotta ask yourself, is it reaaallly worth it? Waiting that long just to get SEATED? Maybe it is for you, but not for me. Maybe I just come at the wrong days, at the wrong times. Maybe.
And on the night of that two-hour wait, after we finally get seated, a roach falls from the ceiling into the middle of the table and scurries off before we could do anything about it.
C'mon, a roach?
God.
Dammit.
Good thing there wasn't any food on the table yet.
I can't really enjoy the food after all the hell it takes to GET the food, but it's pretty decent, I guess. You can try your luck.
So who knows, maybe you're more hardcore than I am. Maybe you're smarter about what times to come, and you know which dim sum items to go for. As for me, I'd rather not go back. And i was really hoping to like the place.
this review for any bride and groom thinking about having their wedding banquet here. DON'T DO IT!
the good: while the ambience is nicer compared to other chinese restaurants. they provided chair covers and custom color napkins. Their audio system/projector system were modern so it made it very easy to do announcements and present the slide show. those are the only positives i took away. otherwise, the food sucks. other guests who were there complained about the food as well.
the bad: i recently went to a wedding banquet for a close family member and apparently, they charged $650/table which is pretty steep for what they provided for the banquet.
bbq platter: i can't really speak to this because i am not a big fan of it.
scallops with veggies: nothing remarkable here.
shark fin soup: the highlight of the evening. real lumps of crab in steaming hot bowl of soup.
lobster: TINY pieces. while there were many pieces of lobster pieces, i felt for such a banquet, they should have used bigger lobsters.
abalone with mustard greens: nothing remarkable here either.
squab (or pigeon): just tasted like it was a few days OLD. yuck.
fish: CATFISH. relatively cheap for a formal banquet. i heard that it was suppose to be rock cod or chilean sea bass. total bait and switch for the quality of fish, considering catfish is considered to be a low end fish for the price charged.
fried rice: nothing remarkable here either which means i didn't think too much of it at all.
dessert: red bean soup and fried lotus pastries. the lotus pasteries were pretty gross.
other negatives: corkage fees applied which i haven't heard of at chinese restaurants. maybe times are tough but i don't remember corkage fees elsewhere.
traffic and parking are a complete nightmare in this plaza. do you know where i park? ditch all of the bullshit in the main parking lot. mosey yourself to the behind the building to find some parking though you have to hike it.
two very slow elevators to the top floor. you can also take the escalator but it's a lot of round about walking and i think you have to walk up 2 additional flights of stairs. not really convenient after a long walk from the parking lot.
we were so hungry after an unappeitizing dinner, a huge group of us had to go out to get real food after.
bride and groom, just say no.
Found this place via Yelp and decided to give it a try. New Capital is a pretty big restaurant with plenty of tables and seating. We were a group of 5 and were seated in 2 minutes on a Saturday afternoon.
The food here was decent, but the people pushing the carts around suck! They would just walk by without saying anything or stopping at tables. When they did stop, they didnt tell us what was inside the cart- so frustrating, especially when youre hungry! Another patron had to flag them down and the table behind us was getting upset as well.
Great dim sum place based on the following factors:
- cheap as hell! they don't separate their dim sums by big, medium, or small! it's all 1 price so order as many lo mai gai's as you want! it's the same price as a dish of cha siu baos. A lunch for a group of 8 only cost us $65 and we were all full.
- food is good. There's always an abundance of carts rolling by. They have some crazy dim sum dishes I've never even heard of...pineapple chicken bun? That's just weird...
Not so great dim sum place based on the following factors:
- wait is almost an hour if you come on a Saturday morning around noon. It's crazy because the restaurant is HUGE, takes up the entire top floor.
- parking at the 99 Ranch plaza is insane. Zero parking, and most likely some little Asian lady will roll her cart into your car.
My grandma loves this place because it reminds her of the dim sum places in Hong Kong so if my g-ma's happy, I'm happy!
I've had a great time each time I've been to New Capital, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the food. It's always great to hang out with good friends, even over bad food. Plus watching Sue Z. create a chicken feet graveyard is always entertaining :).
New Capital's dim sum however..... is what I would call fast food dim sum. Not IN n Out, more like Rallys. It's cheap, oily, boring, and comes in large portions designed to do one thing "expand your waist line." Servers run by your table with carts as usual. You literally yell at them to get their attention, and even when they hear you that doesn't guarantee they will acknowledge you. If I get talked into going here again which I might since my friends like it, I'm bringing a lasso or a stun gun.....
Veggies here are far from fresh, they are wilted and devoid of flavor "apart from the gag reflex you get from them being soaked in MSG." The meat is low quality; even the pork inside the pork buns was flavorless "apart from the MSG." Seeing a pattern!!! When I left here I was literally coughing off and on the entire day, and my usually non-existent asthma was acting up. The only reason this place deserves one star is they have a good selection of tasty sweets, designed to make you forget you just downed a pint of MSG. PIneapple buns YUM!
Putting a formal review aside, new capital SUCKS! don't go here go anywhere instead.
Chinese Cuisine at night - Great for weddings and more formal/business casual dinners, such as meeting the parents, meeting family, taking the boss out, announcing something special etc..
Wedding Banquet: Only good for half the restaurant, but have to know the random public can see everything and its not completely secured or closed off.
Food: The usual, fish, duck, shrimp walnut, ... basically pick the banquet foods.
Service: Usual, horrible. But any good Chinese place is usually like this.
Parking: Same lot as 99 ranch market.
Atmosphere: Its a huge place up on the 4th floor. Not much of a scene.
Rooms: They have private rooms if you want to RSVP.
Been going here since a kid, Dim Sum is pretty good too but you gotta know it does get crowded!
This place is serves some pretty damn good dim sum.
I grew up in Westminster, and I grew up on dim sum... but damn, dim sum made by Vietnamese people doesn't hold up to anything New Capital Seafood has to offer.
I came here with my girlfriend and her family for a mid-morning meal and when we got here, the place was packed. The parking lot was extremely full but we got pretty lucky and found someone who was leaving just when we got there. The restaurant itself is very busy. The wait wasn't long, but I was told that the wait is usually upwards of more than an hour, and I could see how that's true because by the time we left, the waiting area was completely packed with people.
The service here is like any other dim sum restaurant I've been to. You don't have to hail down the people walking around with food, but if you don't, the chances of you getting food are significantly lowered. Don't be ashamed. Yell! Wave your arms! Or, if you're my girlfriend or her sister, get up out of your chair and chase down the person selling the food you want - it's the only for sure way of getting what you want, when you want it. Dim sum is definitely a dining experience that should involve active participation on behalf of the consumer.
We spent over an hour and a half eating plate after plate of single-serving deliciousness.
The list of the things we ate:
1. Pig's Blood - The pig's blood was served in cubes the size of a standard sugar cube along with chunks of turnip and green onion. The pig's blood was delicious - especially when dipped in the chili and mustard sauce. If you've ever had pig's blood, you'll know that the texture is indescribable and the taste isn't as salty as one would imagine blood to taste. It as a very subtle taste and the texture is very pleasing in the mouth - be sure not to put too much dipping sauce on it because the sauce will easily overpower the blood.
2. Turnip Cake - So good. There was a nice crust on the outside while the inside was soft and gooey. It was so creamy and savory - I couldn't bring myself to dip it in the chili and mustard sauce - it would have just killed the taste of the cake.
3. Shrimp Dumpling (Ha gao?) - The first thing I noticed was that the transparent pastry surrounding the shrimp wasn't soggy and actually held its shape and texture unlike the ones I've had in Westminster which often fall apart even before one applies pressure via chopsticks to pick them up. Also, the inside actually has clear and distinct flavor! It's not messy tasting like the ones I've had before.
4. Shiu Mai(sp?) - Like the shrimp dumplings, these held up their shape and texture even to chopstick pressure. Also, I could clearly see that it was made of meat and wasn't a bunch of mystery mass like at some other restaurants. Good with the chili/mustard sauce.
5. Beef Short Ribs - These weren't too great. A bit too tough for my tastes..
6. Fried Tofu - Wow, I've never had tofu with this kind of texture before. The outside is similar to most other fried tofu skins, but the inside is almost like an egg custard. It was very enjoyable and ridiculously silky. I don't know how they did it, but I'm a fan.
7. Sugar Cane wrapped in Shrimp Cake - The shrimp cake, in combination with the mustard sauce that comes with it, tastes very much like walnut shrimp. I wish the sugar cane were larger so that munching on it after eating the shrimp would be more satisfying.
8. Almond pastry - This was SO GOOD. The pastry was so delicate - just holding it made deep imprints in its shape. The pastry itself was light and fluffy and topped with an almond powder. The almond filling was wonderful - so creamy and not too sweet - it goes will with the slightly salty outer pastry. Divine.
9. Ginger Pudding with Pastry Crust - My favorite dish from New Capital Seafood. It reminds me a bit of chicken pot pie because you have to break the crust to get to the goods but my god, the pudding inside is SO GOOD. It is very distinctly flavored with ginger which gives it not only a warm temperature feel, but also a warm taste feel. It was subtly sweet without taking away from the ginger flavor. The crust adds a nice solid texture to the silky pudding, which I think is silken tofu.
Overall, I don't think I've had enough dim sum to give this place five stars, but the service is typical of a dim sum restaurant but the food was phenomenal. Definitely a new favorite.
Report on the dim sum:
Had chicken feet (medium spicy), rice wrapped in tea leaf (kinda chewy), har gow (delicious), shrimp balls (my wife found them to be a bit bland), and chia siu bao (soft outside, sweet barbecue pork inside - delicious). Had jasmine tea to drink (ask for that instead of the standard black tea, it's not as bitter). Seems like everybody knows where to go for dim sum; it took 20 minutes to seat us in the noon hour on a Saturday. Plus the dining area was full of loud conversation. I prefer things a bit less crowded. Three stars from me, plus one for my wife who insists we keep going here in spite of me wanting to try dim sum elsewhere.
Note: CC minimum is $20, which is about ten dim sum items, plus the hot sauce/hot mustard (which is an extra 99 cents).
Chinese special...Free fresh lobster (green onion w/ ginger) with dine-in orders of $30 or more...that's according to the last time I ate there, July 31st, 2009. They've been having this special for a while now. Sometimes, they also let you choose between lobster and jumbo shrimp. You'll have to read the signs (chinese) for details.
The price is right, the food is above decent.
imo the best dim sum in los angeles (forget that tourist trap ding tai fun in arcadia). if you come for weekday dim sum it's $0.99/any item. the quality is very good also, as well as the views from their 4th floor windows. better yet, come for late night specials (after 9pm) and you get free lobster /shrimps / fish (pick 1) with any $30 order.
Great dim sum at cheap prices!! Unlike many other crappy dim sum restaurants, the dim sum here are all the same prices. $1.39 (or $1.69) per dish on weekdays and $1.99 per dish on weekends and holidays. Another good thing is that the dim girls aren't pushy with their dim sum and won't indirectly force you to take them. Dim sum carts will pass you by if you aren't aggressive..so if you want it, take it!
It is always packed here so I would recommend to go before 10am to avoid the wait and the annoying crowd. However if you know someone who works there, then go whenever. There is this hostess named Ying (I call her Ying Jei) who always give my bf and I a table. If you don't know anyone, try to befriend someone who works there. If you are going to eat with a bunch of girls, then you should definitely use and abuse any male worker(s) there for a table and some free dim sum.
**They accept credit cards but only if your bill is $20 or over. So bring cash if you know you'll eat under 20 bucks.
My favorite place for dim sum mainly because of one thing, IT'S GOOD AND CHEAP AS HELL!!! I ate here with my sister and ordered as much as I wanted until it got me full and the check turned out to be $14 and that's with a two dollar charge for water (so basically the dim sum is like a $1.50 each.)
As it goes for the service, it's your typical asian resturaunt service, SHITTY, but i wouldn't even care because the food and price outweighs the cons, plus if you don't have crappy service in an asian resturaunt it ain't real asian food.
Avoid this place.
All I have to say is that the food is horrible and the service is even worse.
I went with 2 other people and we had a stack of plates piled high and an empty tea pot. Nobody came to collect the plates or refill the pot. On top of that, the dimsum ladies barely even came over to our side of the restaurant. We sat there for about 2 hours. We only got 8 orders. 2 out of 8 were ordered ones.
I had dinner here the other night. From the reviews, it seems most people eat here for dim sum. I've done dim sum here as well but it was a while ago.
However, try this place for dinner especially if you like seafood. We had a private room and about 9 dishes including the seafood (sea cucumber and abalone) soup, baked pigeon, tofu, salted chicken, scallops on the half-shell, stir fry beef with medley of mushrooms, stir fry vegetables, steamed fish, and crab fried rice. My favorites were the scallop, steamed fish and then the stir fried beef.
I realize the attraction of dim sum is that is can be done inexpensively. But, all dim sum restaurants are open for dinner too and while dinner may cost more than dim sum, you still won't get a better or cheaper seafood meal at a non-Chinese restaurant.
Lastly, because they are in the same shopping center as the 99 Ranch market (that also encompasses many other shops), parking will be tough but should be available. You might have to park further from the restaurant or park underground.
Crowded (even on a weekday afternoon), noisy Dim Sum restaurant reminiscent of Hong Kong. It's pretty modern inside, and bustling with patrons. Prices are reasonable (which explains the crowds) but parking was tough (even on a weekday). I probably would not come here on a weekend (too crowded).
The Dim Sum ? I thought it was average - not bad, but not spectacular either . They have a lot of staff working during lunch hours, which helps the service.
4 stars to a chinese seafood restaurant located in the infamous Focus Plaza? IMPOSSIBLE! But.... let me explain... I come here for one reason and one reason only, FREE LIVE LOBSTER. Yes, you read correctly, FREE. So this 4 stars is solely for this great dinner deal they have going on. Nothing else!
From 3pm - 1am, for 1-4 people, if you just order $30 worth of food, they will give you a free 3 pound live lobster cooked any way you like. If you don't like lobster you can ask for crab or shrimp. So my family's been coming here for this "cheap" dinner special for some time now and we've gotten it almost down to an art.
How many people to go with?
I recommend going with 3 people. 3 is the most ideal, where everyone gets more than enough to eat. With 4-7 people all you get is just 4 pound lobster to share, which isnt very much.
What to order? Unfortunately, the chef is not always the same, there's 2 main head chefs and one definitely cooks a lot better than the other. A typical ordering menu for us is the Spicy Salt Pork Chop ($9.99), which is REALLY good. The Shrimp w/ Cashew ($12.99), another yummy dish and String Beans ($8.99). Giving us a total of $31.97, which means we get a free lobster. I highly recommend the lobster be cooked the usual green onion with ginger way. So that means for under $40, you've just managed to have a lobster dinner with 3 other dishes, add the tip and we're talking about $14 a person for a great chinese seafood dinner. If you want you can also order individual fresh scallop dishes which runs about $4 a person. We've also had their Lotus with Braised Pork which is good only if the right chef makes it as well as a few other dishes. The menu is extensive and there are many good dishes to choose from. It doesn't matter if the 3 of you spend $60, you still only get one 3 pound lobster, so whatever your combination, just keep in mind to keep it around $30 to get the most bang for the buck.
Now, this place is not known for great service. In fact, service really sucks when it's busy and it DOES get REALLY busy. Half the time the waiters ignore you, even if you frantically wave your arm around. When they do see you, they barely stay long enough to hear half of your request before they take off... so basically it's your typical chinese restaurant. However, if you go when it's not busy, they're definitely a lot more attentive.
A cool thing they do here tho is they print out a list of what you ordered so you can make sure they dont make a mistake. And... the busboys here are a little obsessed with changing your plates.
Came here with a friend and some out-of-town visitors. They seemed to enjoy it, and I did too, but I wouldn't say it was fabulous. It was just A-OK. Still good, and I can go back, but nothing special, in that I didn't find this place to be different than other dim sum places I'd been to.
Agree, Agree, Agree....with many of the reviews that this place gets packed and the parking can be a hassle. Check, got that.
However, here is the tip, I arrived at 10am, parking was easy and I walked right up to a table. Ahhh, loving life !
More pluses?
I actually enjoyed the noisy atmosphere, it felt so alive to me. I closed my eyes and imagined being in the middle of China somewhere as the only Anglo in the entire place, not kidding.
I actually enjoyed the non-english speaking Cart Givers of wonderful treats. Come on people, you point and click all day long, what is wrong with a little point and get? Gesh, remember you are in the middle of China !!
I actually enjoyed that crowds that built over time. Why? Ha ! I laugh at YOU, I have a table already Suckas !
I actually enjoyed the primitive crowding around the favorite cart. Come on people, there are natives in the plains that still run miles to chase down their food. Think crowding around a watering hole OK, a little crowd around a cart? Cake.
I actually enjoyed the variety of food, tasty goody to me.
I will be back, early, but I will be back.
Quality of the dim sum has greatly improved but the service remains the same. Anyway... no complain cos you can't beat the price.
I would have given this place a 3-star if it's in South Bay since there is barely any competitor to… Read more »
I have been coming to this place with my family for years and it has become our favorite dining destination. All my Uncles own restaurants which says A LOT about this place. They all live near the area and have tried almost every single Chinese eatery in the area and this has been their cream of the crop.
After they close up their restaurants on a late Saturday night, we all meet up here after 10-11 pm and finally get to relax after a hard day's work. We always order the usual: Steamed Tilipia Fish with Soy Sauce, Salt & Pepper Pork Chop, Chinese Broccoli, Salt & Pepper Crab/Lobster, Sweet & Sour Spare Ribs, Seafood on a Sizzling Pot, and of course the soup. If we're lucky the meal comes with a free dessert. My favorite is the Sweet Taro with water chestnuts.
The place is quite packed even in the late night. There's a bald man, who I assume is the manager, who always makes sure that we are well taken care of. The service definitely isn't the best, but that's not what Authentic Chinese cuisine is based on, quite simply put, the food is the star of the show.
New Capital is definitely one of my favorite dim sum places in San Gabriel. They're located on the 4th Floor at Focus Plaza so parking is atrocious on weekends. The parking and the wait are well worth it though considering the excellent dim sum (particularly the lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice) and clean atmosphere. Since its renovation a couple years ago, it is probably the nicest dim sum/seafood restaurant around. 888 Seafood and Elite are still places I frequent, but when given the choice I always go with New Capital.
Review is for the dim sum.
Ok so from what I've heard from my parents apparently the owner of the New Capital restaurants had to sell some of his restaurants because of money he owed due to gambling debts or something.
Either way it sucks that he chose to sell off the popular Arcadia location.
Enough New Capital lore, so how does this compare to the one in Arcadia I so fondly reminisce about. Well I'll keep it short, I personally thought the food was pretty good and they have some interesting variations of classic dim sum dishes such as shu-mai that sits on top of a tofu square.
The real star here are the bread items. The cha-shu bao (bread) is really great even after taking some home and eating it cold it still beats the many other dim sum places' fresh and hot ones.
Now my only complaint is the wait, holy hell its not worth, in fact I came on a Friday morning because my graduation was the same day and my family wanted to celebrate before we went. What the hell... shouldn't these people be at work? Shouldn't these kids be at school?
Blah whatever, if you have the patience of a wise shaolin monk or if you wanna send one friend first and have him bring his PSP or DSi then that works best or in fact... just show up early. As the cliche goes, "You snooze, you lose"
Came here for dim sum. We got here pretty early in the morning, and I'm not too sure of other dim sum locations that are ready to go by 8am. So I guess that gets them kudo points. (And going this early meant we didn't have to fight for parking) If you're interested in the environment, this place looks quite nice. The sort of extravagant beautiful decor people tend to see in a fancy restaurant type locale. But I mean, if you're there for the food, then you're there for the food. And well..
Their food wasn't as good as I hoped such a place would serve. The most notably bad items that left a bad impression on me is the Cheung Fung. We got both the shrimp and meat ones. And well, you can't mess up the inside really. The rice noodle type thing that's wrapped around it, on the other hand; I just couldn't even finish mine for the sake of clearing the plate. It just wasn't "waat" (Canto) enough. And another thing I'm docking them for is the lack of Egg Tart. (Dan Tat!) How do you not serve that at dim sum?? Very disappointing.
But overall.. our party of five left pretty filled (I think) for only $30. Not too shabby. And the service wasn't extremely horrible. We just had to hunt them down to come around to us, but you do what you gotta do for food right?
We were lured into this place by the free lobster deal. We were supposed to get 5lbs of lobster with the number of people we had, but we barely gotten 2-3 and they were all shells. We ordered a shrimp and veggies dish, which looked like they took the frozen mixed veggies and added frozen shrimp in it, then sprinkled in some pine nuts. Also ordered a dried tofu with chives dish, and you could count how many pieces of chives they threw in there. The whole chicken we ordered barely had any meat. What happened to the legs?? Some of the dishes were decent, but nothing to write home about.
Cleanliness is questionable. I got a bowl with a piece of CURLY short black hair. YEWWW. Also, the middle of the veggies had some dark dots... I still wanted to eat so I didn't investigate if it was bugs or dirt.
It ended up pretty cheap - $12 a person after tax and tips, but I had higher expectations for it being supposed good.
Dim sum has to be the best hangover food ever! I went with Sue Z., Letitia W. and Mike K and as usual, we pigged out but we did it super cheap. $40 for 4 people!
New Capital is always crowded and for good reason. Their dim sum is good and their prices can't be beat. They have the usual dim sum pickings rolling around in metal carts. Most of the ladies that work there don't exactly speak fluent English, so it definitely helps to have someone who speaks Cantonese or Mandarin with you.
Thankfully I can butcher enough Cantonese to order food and get glasses of ice water. Yes, I am Sue Z.'s "very loud cantonese friend (with built in volume)". I help procure mountains of chicken feet.
If you're craving dim sum, give it a go. It's worth the drive (even from the westside).
Parking is insane here. I parked in the underground garage and took the elevator directly to the restaurant on the 4th floor.
I read some of the reviews and was surprised with the 4 and 5 stars rating. Really?? That good of an experience?? It could be because we came on an off day but the dim sum was just average. All the food tasted average and there wasn't a specific dish that did it for me.
Maybe because I was looking forward to dim sum as I hadn't had it for a long time (couple of months) but they definitely did not exceed my expectations. The variety was lacking -- it wasn't impressive or lackluster -- just average.
The punchline is that you are hungry 30 minutes after you eat at a Chinese restaurant, but I was hungry right afterwards, (still in the parking lot). There are better dim sum places than New Capital.
If you're not too concerned about quality consistency for dimsum then you're good to go.
It was Mother's day and this place was packed. If I had to wait an hour to eat dimsum, forget it! Fortunately my gramp knows people who work here so we got a table in less than 15 minutes. We (party of 10) were lead to a smaller room which decreased the loud chatter in the main room down a bit. Upon sitting down, I noticed the table cloth was dirty, the place setting was scrambled and the chairs felt sticky.
It took awhile before we got our teapots of Bo-lay. Understandable since it was so crowded and hectic.
We had...
Guy-lan (Chinese broccoli): old and hard to chew, YUCK!
Nai wong bao (Custard buns): yummy!
Bean curd wrapped sticky rice: it's ok.
Curry fish balls w/pork skin: it's ok.
Eggplant w/fried shrimp paste: yummy!
Beef/shrimp rice roll w/soy sauce: yummy!
Beef ball w/green onions: yummy!
Shrimp and chives dumpling: yummy!
Shrimp and parsley w/water chestnut dumpling: it's ok.
Siu mai (steamed pork and shrimp dumplings)- yummy!
Ginger-milk custard: yummy!
White Mochi balls w/black sesame filling: it's ok.
Green Mochi balls w/mung bean filling: yummy!
Bowl of tripe and stomach w/radish under: yummy!
Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf: yummy!
Sesame ball w/lotus filling- yummy!
Jelly fish- it's ok.
Cha siu bao (BBQ pork steam buns)- it's ok.
Fried Smelt fish- it's ok.
Stuffed mushroom w/shrimp- it's ok.
The dimsum here is not the greatest, but it's decent and cheap.
Rosemead, CA
Category: Seafood Markets
San Gabriel, CA
Category: Dim Sum
Rowland Heights, CA
Category: Seafood
San Gabriel, CA
Category: Dim Sum
Rosemead, CA
Category: Dim Sum
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
all my san gabriel reviews packaged for your…
From your pork shu mai, chicken feet, to your deep…
I'm picky about Chinese food/activies, but these…
Don't get me wrong, I love Orange County. There…
The best Chinese eateries in the San Gabriel…
A: DIM SUM!! The places I have frequent in the…
good places to eat and hang...loud as hell. don't…
