Aberdeen Seafood & Dim Sum — Restaurant in City of White Plains

There isn’t much in the area for traditional Dim Sum cuisine. Ratings were good and I remembered having a decent meal here years ago.

I heard another patron welcoming her guests to what she described the “best” dim sum in Westchester county which might be better phrased as the ‘only’ dim sum experience? I can’t verify this but was eager to have a decent option that did not involve driving into Chinatown, Flushing in Queens and parts of Brooklyn and New Jersey along the Rt 46 corridor.

My family takes our dim sum experiences seriously and I’m sad to say this did not live up to the hype this time around.

We arrived as a party of 4 as they opened on Sunday at 11:30 am and were seated right away. The ordering process is hi-tech in that you scan QR code at the table with your phone, browse and select the items you wish to order and then the food arrives shortly to your table because the QR code indicates where the order originated from.

Most establishments in Chinatown, Flushing, Brooklyn etc would have been quite busy as dim sum is big amongst the Asian community on the weekends but the restaurant was barely full after about an hour. This is relevant later in my review.

Some items came right away, I would say about 6 dishes out of the 15 plates that were ordered. Glasses of water were filled and a pot of tea was offered.

Occasionally the wait staff would pass by and pick up the gathered empty plates that we left at the edge of the table as well as offered a refill of several waters.

This is where the service ended for us as we finished the portions in about 10 minutes and waited another 30 minutes or more for the rest of the food. Nobody came back to refill the waters and the pot of tea had long since been emptied.

Finally, a waiter came to check on us - probably because we had our disappointed faces on. He checked the receipt that they clip to the Covid barrier to see what we were still waiting for. The rest of the food eventually came after a quick review of what they already delivered after another 5 or 10 minutes. However, I had to stop another waiter to ask for the waters to be refilled - pointing the the empty glasses so had placed at the tables edge.

The staples of any dim sum cuisine for us are the egg custards and roast pork buns which were hugely disappointing due to their tiny proportions - barely bite sized. While the tiny baked pork buns had a tasty filling, there was so little of it and the egg custards were just a tiny joke. The crust was not buttery but leaned on the chalky flavorless side.

Based on those disappointments and the poor service given on this day I am giving a 3 star review.

The other dishes were fine, if not for the poor service I would have happily given a 4 star as a passable experience but there was no reason other than perhaps their ordering system does not have a way to check that the entire order has been fulfilled. It was not really that busy as the restaurant was not at capacity with many tables still vacant at around 12:30, an hour after they opened and we...

On a recommendation from a Doctor friend whose almost as big a 'foodie' as I am, the fiancé and I went to Aberdeen Cantonese Restaurant and Dim Sum for Chinese Lunar New Year - by the way, Happy Year of the Rabbit. We arrived five minutes past 11 in the morning. The restaurant does not open on Sundays until 11:30 PM - it made little difference however, for the line went out the building and around the block by the time we were just being seated. By the sheer number of people willing to wait outside in the rainy cold of a January morning, I knew the food had to be more than worth the wait and that we were about to experience something magical. For future reference, make a reservation ahead of time - it will save you a great deal of time waiting. As we sat down at our cramped little table, the interior of the establishment looked very clean - spotless even. Even the fish tanks were freshly scrubbed and the many finned, gilled, clawed and shelled creatures that floated about within them seemed content in their fates - doomed to be eviscerated and their carcasses tossed together with many different sauces, vegetables and exotic spices within one of the many blistering hot steel woks feverishly being worked by a skilled Cantonese 'chef de cuisine'. We ordered Dim Sum - we were not disappointed. Quite oppositely, we were blessed. Everything that came out was spectacular - the Har Gow, Shui Mai, even the Noodle Crêpes. The one that stole it for me had to have been the Chive Dumpling with Shrimp - easily the best I've ever had - and the Steam Baked Honey Pork Bun was sinfully good. We could have ordered something more substantial - everything looked so fantastic on their menu - but we stuck to just Dim Sum. As far as service goes, there wasn't any - it sucked. The Maître d' was incredibly pushy; wanted you in, fed and out faster than they could bring the food to you. If he could have just taken your money and thrown a doggy-bag at you, he probably would have. Even the tableside service was lacking. It was practically impossible to get a server's attention, and when you did, it was for approximately three nano-seconds before they began 'yes'ing you to death. 'Yes, I'll get you some more.', 'Yes, you're order is coming.', 'Yes, I'll go check for you.' - meanwhile, they'd disappear and that was the last you would see of them. I can understand the curtness and the pushiness seeing as how it was insanely busy due to New Year's, but regardless of how crowded and packed the establishment was I feel that this is no excuse for being unattentive or negligent. The big question; will I go back? Short answer: absolutely. The food is simply too good NOT to go back. Now that I know to make an ahead of time reservation and to expect fast-paced, pushy service, I can overlook it and focus on what's served before me; and what's being served is not to...

You can always tell when a Chinese Restaurant is legit, when you see 2 older Asian Grandma's waiting in line to get into a restaurant even before they opened. Great establishment. I really love the simplicity of their decor bc all their focus is on the food quality, which is exceptional.

Unlike the traditional carts that Cantonese people are accustomed to, this restaurant has a qr scan code to order your food through your phone, and then they bring it to you. Very modern, but I do miss my carts.

The dimsum is OMG, so good! I believe it's actually freshly made, not like most mainland Chinese-owned dimsum restaurants nowadays that are serving dimsum that's frozen then steamed. This place is the real deal. We ordered Shrimp Crepe Noodle, Siu Mai, Shrimp dumpling, Char Siu Bau, Beef Meatball, Sticky Rice, Fried Shrimp rolls, and Peking Duck. WOW, everything just WOW!!! The Dimsum, especially the beef meatball has a nice springy texture with delicious flavors. The sticky rice actually has little bits of dried shrimp in there to enhance the flavors and aroma. Siu Mai and Shrimp dumplings are standard, but are always good. Probably my least favorite was the Fried Shrimp Rolls. I would have preferred to have had a Deep Fried Shrimp Balls, but I don't think they have that available.

The Peking duck was fabulous. The duck was cooked/fried to perfection. The skin nice and crispy, accompanied with some fresh greens like green onions and cucumber, as well as shrimp chips and hoisin sauce. It came with Bau buns, which I am not normally used to; I guess that's the trend now, but I would have preferred a flat pancake, but it was still awesome.

The waitstaff, the owners were very helpful and kind. They also spoke Cantonese which is always nice for me. So many dimsum restaurants are just flooded with rude mainland Chinese staff, who don't speak Cantonese and they expect you to speak Mandarin to them. They were very helpful and refilled our delicious chrysanthemum tea, and cleared out empty dishes promptly. They provided my bestie with tons of chili oil bc that's his favorite. I also like the name Aberdeen bc my aunt and uncle used to live in a city called Aberdeen, SD and had a Chinese restaurant there, so it brought back lots of nostalgia unintentionally. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone that's a dimsum lover. I will be...