JS Chen's DimSum & BBQ — Restaurant in Plano

Went here twice - once for dim sum takeout and once for in-person dim sum. The takeout experience was fine - I live an hour away so I expected that I would have to reheat some of the items in my steamer when I got it home, so no problems or complaints there. The (reheated) food was good and packaged well. Probably 4-5 stars for that experience alone. Decided to eat in because getting it fresh must be better than driving it an hour and then reheating, right? Unfortunately that wasn't the case on my visit.

tldr - service was good but food was cold

Arrived when they opened on a Saturday. I didn't experience any issues with the wait staff - they came around frequently enough with the carts. The carts they used however consisted of 3 carts - 1 legit dim sum cart (which I'm not even sure was on/heated) and 2 plain unenclosed, non heated utility carts, which begged the question of how they were going to keep food warm. They didn't. Everything that came out to us was lukewarm at best - the vegetables were actually cold as if they prepared it and let it sit out, unheated on an open cart until they got cold. We were the first group of customers in the restaurant when they opened and this was the first dish that was served - no excuse for cold food at that point. Even the food that came out of the real dim sum cart was not hot - the metal steaming baskets should not be able to be touched with bare fingers without any discomfort - steam should be rising from the cart or at least somewhat visible when lids are removed. When you rip open the roast pork buns, steam should escape and you shouldn't be able to handle the bun for an extended period of time without your fingers burning. None of that happened here - the only thing that had any kind of heat to it was the tea.

I wanted this place to evoke memories of my childhood, growing up in NYC and going out with my family after Chinese school every weekend. Unfortunately, this fell far short of the mark. That's not to say that this was a miserable experience - I finished all the food that I ordered, but this could have been a much better experience if the food was actually served at the proper temperature. On the upside though, tables/seats were spaced out more than in other dim sum places I've been to, so it was more comfortable. The robot was cool, but I don't know how it works and nobody was saying anything, so do you just grab food off it, or do you stop it and use the keypad? I don't know - just seemed to be there as entertainment more than serving any practical purpose. Should have spent that money on functional carts, imho.

If you can't get more dim sum carts and maintain proper steam in them, then at least get a steaming cabinet and swap out dishes after every pass so that food can get and stay hot when served. Or if you can't do that, then at least cover each of the dishes with a glass bowl to retain some heat. Those vegetables that were cold when they got to us had 4-5 other similar vegetable dishes on that non-heated, non-covered cart that went around 3+ times when we were there and were still sitting on that cold cart by the time we left.

Cart service itself was good. Ladies pushing the carts were more amiable than what you get in (NYC) Chinatown - but I suppose that has to do with different target audiences and clientele. Rather than understaffed, we saw 3 employees who were just walking around in the other adjoining room with no customers there, so seemed like they had extra staff the day we went.

Overall, I would be hesitant to go back for in-person dim sum, but would likely go back for take out if I'm in the neighborhood. I hope that our in-person experience was just an off day/fluke, but if they can't get food temps right on their very first dishes, not sure that I would trust it throughout the day. I would give 3 stars for the in-person dining experience, but 4-5 for take out, so I'll just average the overall...

Today we had hands-down one of the best Dim Sum meals here that we’ve had in North Texas in years, and it was a great value too. We stopped in on a Saturday around 11:30 and were immediately greeted, seated, and asked what we’d like to drink. Food carts were already circulating with lots of fresh, hot foods. The restaurant was well-staffed and staff were attentive and quick to offer help and request additional food items from the kitchen.

We enjoyed baked BBQ pork buns, steamed crystal shrimp dumplings (har gao), steamed shrimp and pork dumplings (siu mai), chicken feet with black bean sauce, taro pie, turnip cake, steamed Chinese broccoli, fried sesame ball, egg custard tarts, stuffed bean curd skin, shrimp wrapped with rice noodles (Cheong Fun), and pineapple buns. All food items on the were very fresh and perfectly cooked when they arrived at our table. It was clear that everything was prepared fresh in-house here-the items were all very flavorful, had lots of filling, and were well-presented.

The egg custard tarts were a standout-the filling was a nice smooth texture and the crust was thin, light, and flaky. The pineapple buns were also exceptionally prepare-bread was so soft, topping was the right texture, and the filling was delicious. The taro pie was also outstanding-there was plenty of savory pork filling and the outside was just the right thickness and had a light crispy crunch. We also ordered Singapore style noodles-the entree portion was generous with plenty of shrimp, BBQ pork, eggs, and veggies with the rice noodles. I don’t have more photos to share because we ate the food too quickly.

All of our food was outstanding on our visit, and we enjoyed the nice ambience, as the restaurant was nicely decorated and though it was very busy, it was still quiet enough for us to talk, and staff were attentive throughout our visit. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re...

I was really surprised here. When we went in, no one came up to see us, so we eventually after some very awkward looks with the people working near the back counter sat down, and then ordering also took forever, but once all of that was out of the way things went amazingly well. The food was so good that all of the awkwardness and unserviced waiting at the beginning can be overlooked. we had planned an order for the two of us but then went for the three dishes plus a soup for $37 and it was a completely incredible experience. the service was wonderful, and we even had our individual bowls filled for us and served to us from the serving bowl by the wait staff, and not only the soup but also all three entrees we ordered were top notch for flavor. The beef and eggplant was just crazy rich and rice was necessary to cut it down, in a good way. the beef got very chewy and I ended up always having to take a piece of bell pepper or some more rice to help get it down, but I don't mean that in a bad way. The fish and tofu in Sichuan sauce was my favorite dish, and I pity anyone who doesn't order it. I mean that, you messed up and should order that next time. The Beijing spare ribs looked like anemic chicken fingers in Orange sauce, but did taste like pork strips and had a deep sweetness to them that I...