Mo Mi Mei — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

I was actually super excited about the opening of Mo Mi Mei. I've been to the same location back when it used to be an Indian restaurant.

Quick Summary: Food takes over an hour and service was lacking. Overly priced that you can get for half the price at a Chinese restaurant. Great decor. NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.

Key Takeaway:

1. Food & Price: This is not the same Hong Kong style you would expect and you end up paying $15 for something that costs $6 at any Dim Sum restaurant. The food itself wasn't bad but again, the restaurant bills itself as Hong Kong street food. So you can go in with certain expectations.

2. Service Time We waited over an hour for our food. So did everyone else in the restaurant during that afternoon we were there. The reason wasn't so much the number of customers, it's that the restaurant only has one steamer. They steam 1 individual dish at one time for 15 minutes so you can see where the backlog is.

Seems like the owners who run this place are not food oriented operators.

When I went up to the front to ask about the timing, I got a nonchalant brush off about how there were 5 other people ahead of me. Again, not the answer you would be expecting when you have waited over an hour.

3. Decor Decor looks great! Love the giant posters plastered all over. Unfortunately, great decor doesn't make up for long wait time, not so great service, and...

Mo Mi Mei has, perhaps accidentally, created a new genre of lunch spots: "slow casual."

I came in around 1:15pm on a Wednesday and was delighted to see that each order was freshly prepared. However, my delight turned into horror when I realized they were only operating with a single machine for the steamed rice rolls, creating an unfortunate bottleneck for the main thing on their menu. I waited 36 minutes after placing my order before I received my one plate. I actually saw another couple give up after 30 minutes of waiting, cancelling their order and walking out without anything. I saw multiple delivery app drivers having to wait around for a long time too, probably because the restaurants is currently promoting a BOGO offer on Uber Eats, perhaps further adding to the bottleneck.

My order of the Pork "In the Mood for Love" (glow up version) was fine, but certainly not worth the wait. The portion was filling and $14 price was fair.

I'd advise the team to invest in getting a second steam machine and also informing customers about the current wait time before they place their order. It would've been nice if they offered a free canned drink to make up for the delay, but perhaps the employees aren't empowered to do that by...

First impression the decor and seating is good. Once we order they had a limited of items which made it great. Food concept is a great idea since we ate these type of food before from all over Asia. BUT service was really bad. We ordered three items one pork, one beef and cucumber salad. Our beef came out 7-10mins then we waited total of 25mins and seeing other customers after us getting their food. First time we asked they said it’s coming. Second time we asked they said it’s coming and they can refund with the food too. But understandable I decline on the refund and waited for the food. After I decline they gave us the food 1mins later. Kitchen and cashier was not on top of things and gave our order to other guest. After trying the food all the ingredients were decent but the steam rolls were soggy and undercooked. If the food was made correctly with this bad service then they would’ve...