Peking Tavern — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Great Ambience, Delicious Food, Friendly Service - So we were driving/touring through the downtown LA area in our rental car on Christmas evening (having flown down from Seattle), tired and hungry, and craving some Chinese food. Peking Tavern was open. Didn’t know what to expect, but were we in for a surprise. The food was unexpectedly authentic in taste (something one might not expect given its location with stylish modern decor and ambiance), with creative twists. Everything tasted very fresh and flavorful. We ordered quite a few dishes, but to name a few favs, The Gingery Scallion Noodles, Sichuan Fish Dumplings, Scallion Pancakes, and the Sweet Lava Buns, were hits for our family - very delicious. To top it off, the staff were all really friendly and made us feel at home. I don’t write many reviews, but we had a great experience there, and being that it was our first Christmas in a restaurant and we were very happy with our choice, it’s a meaningful review. Honestly, one of our best restaurant experiences in a while. I’d be a “regular” if I lived close. Definitely...

In a word TERRIBLE!

If you'd like some more words here goes...

The decor is a miss-match of very dated and uncomfortable chairs that are the wrong height for the tables. The wood is different in each room and not in great condition. The bar stools are covered in a brown leatherette reminiscent of the 60s.

The "Kobe" beef potstickers were overpriced, tough and obviously just re-warmed. The sauce was kind of a gummy mess.

The Gailon (Chinese broccoli) seemed actually just steamed but it's still sitting in that same gummy sauce that was on the Kobe beef. (Classically this should be an oyster sauce)

We also had some shrimp dumplings that fell apart when touched. The shell was rubbery and the "shrimp" inside was just ground shrimp in a hard ball - also, not fresh.

Strange that there was no soy sauce on the tables, we had to ask for it.

Felt bad for the one service employee out front handling seating, order taking and check out.

Maybe they can survive because they have a liquor license but I wouldn't go here...

Certainly an unexpected find while visiting Little Tokyo! Went with three people to get a Chinese meal and was pleasantly suprised when we walked in. The decorations and design of the restaurant is stunning; the atmosphere was nice and the choice of furniture was stylish and comfortable. The alternative music was nice background sound so we could comfortably talk without feeling like it was overbearing. We were the only people in there (interestingly enough) so the service was exceptional and fast. We got a bunch of food: scallion pancakes, beansprout salad (?), their special dumpling set, as well as two noodles. All the food tasted pretty good and the pork dumplings and wontons were especially wonderful. The only thing was some portions felt small, the pancake was a bit dry, and the noodles felt heavily seasoned with pepper. However it was a good price for the amount of food ordered, highly recommend the special dumpling meal deal. I hope more people come to this restaurant, it's...