Yum Cha Café

- Locale Destination -
It's on Westminster Blvd and Magnolia St in Westminster.

It's in "My Thuan market" (supermarket), located in relatively big shopping center. It's a to-go dim sum place. They offer not only dim sum, but also noodle soup, noodle, congee etc. But they have tables if you wanna eat there! Decor is nothing fancy and outdated for sure. Cash only!! Plenty of parking. Unlike SF Chinatown dim sum places, the staff can say "this is chicken, shrimp etc.." :) You just point your fingers to get what you want - there're signs for the items but they aren't there in front of the items... ;( So you don't know which was which well.. lol



- Gluttony Expedition -
Everything is like $1.69 (3 pieces for smaller items) to $4.

Shrimp dumplings: 3 pieces. It has only a whole shrimp inside. Tasteless.
Chicken Shu my: Chicken was stinky. Pass!
Pork Shu my: Not bad, but not as good as the ones in SF.

Deep fried shrimp dumplings: 4 pieces. Shrimp, chives, and egg were inside. Not bad!

Pan fried pork dumplings: 3 pieces. Lots of meats and chives. Good!

Soy bean curd: You see this on "Com Tam" (Vietnamese broken rice dish). Not bad.

Sesame ball: I wish it were fresh. This is really tasty when it's fresh.



- Conqueror's Deduction -
Very cheap yet decent for to-go dim sum place. It's not as good as dim sum places in San Francisco, but decent. Many table service places in OC offer lesser quality and more expensive tags than this.

What people need to realize is this isn't a sit-down and get served type of dim sum place. This is a dim sum to go cafe, so if you're expecting high quality food, head down a few blocks to Seafood Paradise on Newland/Westminster - but the prices are higher - nearly 2 or 3 times the cost of a entree over there than here. If you're wanting to pay top dollar for high end dim sum, go for it, but at the prices and the speed of the service and food here, it's not that bad at all.

Anyway, on to the actual review.

Yum Cha Cafe is located inside the My Thuan supermarket - just walk in, and turn right, walk past the cellphone vendor.

You can essentially start ordering/waiting in line at either end of the counter - although from my experience, it's best to wait on the far left end and move to the right. There isn't really a numbering system here, so make sure you make eye contact with one of the servers behind the counter, so someone else doesn't cut in line. Also, it helps if while you're waiting, you're eyeing what items you want. If you take too long to decide once you get a server's attention, don't be surprised if they "pass" on you and help someone else.

The selections here start off at $1.19 per "serving" and go as high as $3.00 per serving. Each serving usually contains 3 or 4 pieces, depending on the item, or could be a small bowl of something (like the meat + tofu dish). They have all your basic "favorites" at a typical dim sum place - rice rolls with your choice of bbq pork, marinated beef or shrimp, pork/chicken dumplings (siu mai), shrimp dumplings (har gow), steamed buns (lotus seed, bbq pork, combo), tofu, and a bunch of other stuff I don't normally eat so I don't know the names for. They also have chinese egg tarts.

For the English-only Yelpers, there are English translations for each item, although it helps if you've had Dim Sum before so you already know what each item is like. If you don't know the name or can't pronounce it, pointing excitedly at a item works just as well.

I ordered 4 items (as you can see from the picture I took and attached to this review) - Rice rolls with beef + rice rolls with shrimp, pork siu mai and the egg tarts. Had enough to share with my roommate - total was a little under $8.

Rice Rolls - anyone who's had dim sum at multiple places know that this is a pretty hard dish to mess up, that being said, a lot of places fail at this - including the fancier sit-down dim sum places. Yum Cha's rice rolls have a nice thickness to it, and the flour is dense, fresh and chewy. I also like that they don't skimp on the fillings. $1.49 for 3 pcs - choice of filling.

Pork Dumplings (Siu Mai) - these were a bit smaller than your typical sized dumplings, despite that, these tasty morsels packed a lot of flavor! Texture of the wrapper was consistent and chewy, while the filling had a good amount of pork and other fillings in it. $1.19 for 4pcs.

Egg Tarts - I tried these at this location for the first time today - all other times I've visited, they were already out. I can see why - at such a bargain price, you get 3 of these tasty tarts - the buttery flaky crust literally melts in your mouth as you bite through the egg-custardy center. $1.49 for 3 pcs.

Overall, a great place if you're looking for a quick - grab and go type of dim sum place. Understand that the quality is not going to be the best, but for the price and speed of the service (short wait even if there's a line), you can't get a better deal anywhere else.

Cash only. Parking is a nightmare since its in the My Thuan shopping center, so avoid going on the weekends. If you must go on the weekends, park in the lot with the bank building (corner of Magnolia and Westminster) adjacent to the lot, since no one is there on the weekends and it has a separate entrance/exit, and you can just walk over to the supermarket.

Check out the picture I attached to this review!

Ever since my parents discovered this place, they've been consistently coming here for their dim sum fix. Nothing beats the price since it's cheap, not to mention it's good too. $20 probably can get you 18 different dim sum where you would normally get 4 or 5 from a sit-down dim sum restaurant.

If you can overlook the following, it's pretty good!
1) it's inside of a supermarket called Sieu Thi Thuan Phat.

2) Peak hours, you might not even find a seat or might have to share table with people. Afterall, it's a food court.

3) Tables aren't clean so you might have to bust out those anti-bacterial stuff and disinfect the table before you would sit down.

4) People walking by might be checking out what you order so if that's the case, just look up, put your thumbs up smile then go about your business and enjoy your dim sum!

5) Or, like my parents do, they bagged them up then you enjoy it however way you want it room temp, cold or hot in your pajama...

I really like this place because sometimes my family and friends don't want to eat dim sum as much as I do, it's a place I can go on my own grab some dishes and go home.

No one wants to eat dim sum with me. *tear* :P

It's cheap, it's fast and very efficient.

Don't get me wrong it isn't the best but to get your dim sum fix as often as I do. It's good.

Cash only

*Stars 3 1/2

So here's the DL on Yum Cha Cafe ....

PROS:
*everything is super cheap
*there is an abundance of choice
*service is fast and efficient
*they all speak Cantonese

CONS:
*dim sum were all room temperature
*small area to sit in
*not any better than any average OC dim sum (is that a con or a pro?)


So the Pros outweigh the Cons. I thought for the price it was decent dim sum. I mean this isn't top notch stuff people, it's to satisfy a craving and satisfy it FAST!! There are other items you can order off the menu which aren't laid out on the steam tables and I'm sure those will arrive hot. In fact, I think next time I will ask for the baskets down below as I'm sure those will be hot. They were taking it off the top and it had been exposed so the heat no doubt would've escaped rather quickly.

We had the har gow -- it was alright.... the bbq steamed buns had a lovely filling but too much bao. I liked the lotus wrapped rice the best (although it was at room temp). We got two more orders to go and you can nuke them after you've wrapped them with a wet paper towel and they are delicious after.

Definitely a place to stop by to pick up items to go. I don't think eating it there is necessarily the best idea.

Dim sum is 3 stars -- an extra star for its price and the service.

I've been here MANY times. It's pretty nice. Food can be a bit lukewarm at times, but they can also be steaming hot. Things do tend to be a bit inconsistent, but cold or hot...it's still pretty tasty. Btw, they have buy 2 get 1 free specials too! There are signs on the tags.

I would recommend anything on the menu, but for new dim sum people:
pork shu mai ($1/4 ct)
fried/baked pork buns ($1.39/3 ct)

I would NOT recommend:
chicken shu mai ($1/4ct and buy 2 get 1 free)

+1 Star: Right inside the supermarket, so it's an awesome location for you to eat then shop or vice versa or whatever you want!
+1 Star: They cook constantly, so you'll be able to get fresh batches of the dim sum. Plus, they're ridiculously generous with their condiment packets.
+1 Star: Yay to seating availability...it's kinda small, but pretty nice considering that it's inside a Vietnamese supermarket!
+1 Star: Yay to incredibly inexpensive dim sum ($1-$1.39 an order..some come buy two get one free! Also an order generally has about 3-4 ct)
-1 Star: People who go here are often rude, have tendencies to cut, and annoy the workers...in turn, the workers aren't very happy with their jobs and show it when they get you food....(make their day and put some $ in the tip jar)

TIP: Speak up and tell the lady what you want to order...and if anything's unclear just point to it and with your fingers, indicate how many orders you want.

Two words: HELL NO.
I should have been warned by the open tops behind the counter, but Im a risk taker. I'll try everything at least once. And once was all I needed.
Check your food before consuming as who knows what creepy crawlies have snuck in.
In my case, I had a spider inside of my chicken chongtzu (don't remember the Viet name, but it's the one in the bamboo wrapper.
Yes, the spider was not outside but lovingly mummified INSIDE of my food.
Thank you, but, no, I did not need the extra protein. Wish I could give a no star rating because that's how I feel - empty after the purging you caused me.
Otherwise, food was cold, nothing special flavor wise (plus or minus the "extra" flavor), and greasy as all heck.
Service was ok. You pretty much walk in, mark the available menu or point at the item through the glass, pay, and eat (at the tables provided or at home).
Easy peasy, right? Right...

If you're feeling frugal and like saving a few bucks at the expense of quality then this is the perfect place to get dim sum. I wouldn't recommend eating it there. Take it home and microwave it because most of the food is not warm. It will save you about half the price of going to actual dim sum restaurant.

The food taste like how it should and you get your money's worth. There are some cons though. It's in a Vietnamese super market that's always packed. So parking can be hard even on weekdays. Also it's cash only.

Just a quick way of satisfying your dim sum cravings.

You can't go wrong with 99cent dim sum! It's extremely crowded on the weekends, but I'm so glad that they opened one in Orange County. The only time we ever got some Yum Cha was in Chinatown.

Don't be fooled by the price of the dim sum, it's just as good as any $5/plate dim sum restaurant. Ok, so I'm exaggerating a bit with the $5, but you know what I mean.

It's basically a dim sum to go place...which is perfectly fine with me. You just walk in there, order everything you want, and you're outta there. If you're anything like me, you'll end up ordering everything because it all looks so delicious. I totally reccomend the shrimp wrapped in seaweed, and then fried. Also, if you're a fan on chicken feet, they make it pretty well.

They apparently also have other things on their menu, like noodles and stuff...but I have yet to try it because I'm always so entranced by the dim sum when I walk in there.

you should go there...you can't go wrong with yum cha cafe.

After discovering this place through Yelp, I decided to give it a try...

We were pretty disappointed. I wasn't expecting high quality food, but almost everything was cold =(. Shoot, I have even tried other Dim Sum places in other supermarkets and this place was the worst one (Ranch 99,My Thuan). The chicken feet was insanely spicy, like ridiculously spicy. The steam items were cold. We asked for one order of fried shrimp balls and they tasted stale and were teeny tiny. Many of the other items came with stuff I call "filters". For instance, their pork spare ribs container were filled with pumpkin to "fill" the container. Same with the tripe, it came with a bunch of melon pieces. So yes it is cheaper but you are actually paying the same. And worst of all, we were unsatisfied and definitely not worth the parking.

I find this place to be okay if you are already in the supermarket shopping for groceries. It is convenient to grab some for the house on the way. Otherwise, go elsewhere.