Mama Lu's Dumpling House — Restaurant in Monterey Park

The last time I was here visiting home several years ago and it tastes just as great as I remembered. Best of the locations. Didn't take great pictures because I was so hungry!

--Table Wait-- Was maybe 20 minutes. You need to stay nearby to hear them call the number (you put down the number of your party and take the number on the line that you wrote on). We did walk out for a few minutes and then decided to come back. There are a bunch of chairs lined against the hallway for this. You will miss out otherwise!!

--Service-- Was very nice, especially considering how busy they were. They were prompt with ordering, water, and happily took care of other requests we had. We didn't feel rushed. Very considerate!

--Food--

I gave a couple of recs but let my friend choose because it was his first time.

When I came with another friend in the past he was so ashamed to get the tang cu ji / sweet and sour pork but it was unexpectedly a highlight of the meal. I told my friend that story and he was curious about it, so we got it this time too. It was the perfect amount of crisp+batter : chicken ratio, which I was a little embarrassed for how much of it I ate. I think it was actually better than I remembered it. Guilty pleasure!

The niu rou juan bing / beef roll pancakes are always a highlight, where the wrapper is slightly sweet, flakey-puffed, and crispy versus the more savory pancakes you might find in street fare. The beef slices are tender and separate easily. I remembered that they garnished more sauce in the past but it still hit home for me. It's nice with the cucumber touch too, which balances out the flavors. Get a firm grip or it will fall apart!

Do I need to talk about the xiao long bao / soup dumplings ? Pretty solid. Wrapper is the right QQ texture requiring minimal teeth/ shearing force yet strong enough to hold ALL. THE. LIQUID. I'd say it doesn't have as much soup as I've seen in others but the filling has the optimal bundle of flavor and texture that I'm expecting, where it's soft to the bite with the different levels of umami that come with the collagen and minced pork combinations. I took too long to eat and even when they were cold it was still very enjoyable and pleasant to slurp. My friend didn't even eat them with the sauces; just had them straight.

Side note: This is a higher value, authentic alternative to Din Tai Fung. The comparison I will make is the the XLB here is much better than DTF's. However, with regards to the underdog at DTF: hong you chao shou/spicy wontons my sweet tooth does prefer the DTF ones because the thicker, full-bodied sauce comes from the additional sugar (but hey, sugar serves many culinary purposes!). The spicy wontons at Mama's is good too (closer to the original preparation) but I found myself adding some vinegar and chili to it last time to match that mouthfeel + sour flavor I wanted. So I didn't get it this time.

Yang chow fried rice and beef chow fun were good too. Fried rice was fluffy and light. Chow fun had a good bite/spring to the noodles. I didn't pay as much attention because those were for my friend to take home to his roommate, and they were starch fillers, which I was trying to avoid ☺️

I'm so full.

-- Price -- My friend couldn't stop raving at the total amount. Upon leaving I took a sneak at the bill: ~$80 for 5 dishes including tip. He ordered the extra dishes to take home but we could barely fit them (they almost exploded) within the 3.5 boxes we had to ask for. So it was maybe.. 5 meals total? Especially in these times, it felt like a steal!

Always love coming back to SGV. This is one of those spots that hits the nummy and nostalgia chords. Thanks for the...

My overal rating are fair. The food was good, I've heard good things about this place so I decided to come here with my two friends. My greatest issue about this location is the ridiculous attitude from one of the female staff working there. Hell, I can't even call her lady let alone a woman because of how unlady-like she acted. I was paying overall and I decided to put a custom tip of $2.01 IN CASH and I paid with my credit card. They took my payment but at least 3 other staffs looked greatly confused when they saw cash and a credit card and freaked out over it. I assumed they didn't want cash as tip so I took it back as they didn't even take it. I took the receipt and left. This is where the ridiculousness comes, I leave and this woman who I assume is cantonese, chased me down (literally ran to find me) and told me I took their reciept, reasonablly I was like ohh okay thx i guess BUT NO! she proceeded to ungracefully ask me for a tip. I told her I had left $2 and a penny on the table for them to take, that was my tip and nobody took it and she was baffled after I told her and left a huge question mark on her face. She asked me what was wrong with her service and I actually didn't tell her anything wrong, I was trying to be polite yet I was so shocked someone stepped this low (mind you im a uni student) to beg, literally beg for a tip. I asked her do you not accept cash? and she proceeded to ask what percent of tip am I giving?! This was fueling me with anger and I was very much prepared to make a physical move on her to tell her to back off of me. It was clear I did not want to tip at this point. I was already being very generous about giving them $2.01 as I dont tip unless the server does something great for me, yet she pushed me to tip her 10%. How ridiculous! The service wasn't even good to begin with, it was just mediocre, why do I, a youg girl need to tip for someone who showed me nothing but low-classness. I don't write reviews on places I dine & I wish I was making this up, I really do! I believe whoever runs this location, please teach your employees how to be respectful. Stepping so low like that to the point of chasing me over a tip and wasn't even thankful for $2.01 tells me LOUDLY she doesn't get paid enough which is just completely disrespectful to whoever pays her and also a huge disrespect on the company as workers represents Mama Lu's as a company. I didn't write anything on the reciept they are suppose to take originally, that means NO TIP TAKE THE CASH. I work in customer service as well, so I know how to treat people but this was just ridiculous, I can't believe this...

Where do I start?

First, there is so much controversy and scandals around the history of the restaurant that this alone probably drives constant popularity of the place. Look it up - it's searchable on wiki!!

We came here on a weekend and it was SUPER busy. We had to wait about 30 minutes although I am told by frequent diners that it is not unusual to wait anywhere from 50 minutes to 1.5 hours for a table.

Once seated, we were given tea. They are so busy that when we ordered, and stated we may order more later, the server very matter-of-fact indicated she is too busy and we should order everything at once...

Service was to the point, quick and reasonably approachable. Servers speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin so take your pick of how you want to communicate.

What strikes me most are the portions for the prices. It's really, bang for your buck. The hot and sour soup tastes tangy; a bit sour IMO but you can adjust the taste with house hot sauce which is fantastic. My only criticism is that it is not thick enough of a soup. But wow, the bowl was huge for $9.95.

We also ordered their signature soup dumplings or XLB - the original (pork only) and pork with crab. Personally, I think the pork is tastier and has more meat juice inside the dumpling. Pricing was great - I think the pork one for 12 was $10 and the combination one for 8 was $12.

We liked vegetables with our meal so the dou miu with oyster mushrooms hit the spot. Only improvement is they can give more sauce to the dish. Otherwise, it's not overly greasy like the way most restaurant drenched their dou miu in.

We were quite satisfied and can appreciate what all the hype is about for Mama Lu's. Think of it as a poorer (wo)man's version of Ding Tai Fung...which less of a wait.

Will return, though dress casually. Bathroom isn't the cleanest and you go for the food, not for the...