Ming Dynasty — Restaurant in Sacramento

Update: we went back for our second time, and the food was greasy this time. I did get the sweet and sour chicken like I mentioned but it was soggy. It could've been the Lunar New Year rush, I'm not sure. There were a lot of other people waiting for their orders. We had to keep checking back on our to go order and I think the woman up front was getting frustrated with me (language barrier, physical barrier, masks) when I was trying to answer her questions about the online order. The first guy we talked to came back up after the third attempt to get it across, he got the order name again from my fiance (before when it was just me, the woman needed me to show her the order on the phone, not just take the name), handed him the food, and just...stared at me as we turned to leave. Stared in a way that implied I shouldn't have been there. Very, "you don't belong," lingering until I turned away. I smiled behind my mask but I don't think it made a difference. It was a stare that you would only recognize if you knew/felt it from someone before. I was kind of iffy on the accusations of not getting decent service if you weren't obviously Asian, but I kind of felt it tonight. It just made me sad. /:

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Our first time here, most likely won't be the last! Fiance was looking at restaurants from the Michelin list (I guess??) and landed here. It doesn't take much to convince him to try a place if they mention bbq pork buns, we thought they'd be sold out here like a lot of other places tend to be in the late evenings but nope! We ordered the baked pork buns and the baked egg custard buns (I think they were lol) with pineapple. Both were soft and fluffy and warm, the custard one had a crunchy top and it was perfect! We also had some of the best orange chicken we've tried in the entire time we've lived here, some great fried rice, and the sweet and sour pork was unfortunately mostly sweet and sour fat, but the sauce was delicious. I'd try it again with chicken. Service was fast but we ordered online and picked it up. Coming back here whenever we're wanting buns! Oh! And apparently the beef...noodle thing was a favorite too. It wasn't for me but...

Sigh. Brought my family here to enjoy a much-looked-forward to, Christmas dinner. Typical activity for my tribe, along with going out to a movie, this time of year. It was busy inside the restaurant and clearly a robust night for takeout, but there were many empty tables.

We knew in advance there'd be no dim sum and we were happy that there wasn't a wait (unlike the hour wait we were told at Teacup House). Ordering went smoothly and the won ton soup arrived fast. The won tons had a nicely-thin won ton wrap and good flavor, but the first one contained a large piece of hard gristle. Then the sizzling rice seafood soup arrived (family couldn't agree on 1 soup). No sizzle at all as the waiter slid the room-temperature rice into the soup, which was definitely only lukewarm at best. Next came the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce. Meh. And then we waited for what seemed like 15 minutes.

This was followed by burnt potstickers, minced chicken in lettuce cups with too many chopped green bean pieces and way too few water chestnuts, and beef chow mein which had little flavor and tasted under-cooked. The clay pot fish and eggplant in garlic sauce was served in a metal wok, but at least had the best flavor of any menu item we ordered that night. Finally, the pork fried rice was average and the chicken with mushrooms had as many green beans as fungi.

Overall, very disappointing. We've eaten at Ming Dynasty for lunch before and thought the quality was much better, including the dim sum. However, that was pre-Covid and not on Christmas.

Maybe it was the day or the pandemic, but they were short-staffed and they definitely needed more cooks. The wait staff was clearly harried and occasionally running- so we knew they were working very hard. They were professional for the most part and one waitress made a point of apologizing for the excessive wait between dishes. But the long wait for the food wasn't the main issue.

I also get that restaurants are struggling all over, but we were served several dishes that never should have left the kitchen. A big...

Michelin bib gourmand all-day dim sum eatery. Stopped by on the way down from Lake Tahoe back to LA on a Sunday, and left with happy tummies. There was a short wait (write your name and party size on the paper by the hostess stand) for indoor dining (no outdoor dining available). Takeout is also available. Free parking is available in the back of the building and in the alley. Credit cards are accepted. Bathrooms are available in the back right and side of the restaurant. They have tea service ($1/person).

Food-wise, everything was on point. We got ~11 dishes for four people and still a couple of dishes leftover. To summarize each dish:

The siu mai was super moist and piping hot - we ordered four. The har gao had juicy shrimp but the skin was a tad thick The green tea mochi was super chewy and I loved the filling The BBQ pork bun was large and pillowy, but had a small portion of meat The fried shrimp dumpling was a bit cold but still good; it came with a sweet pink sauce Similar to the above, the shrimp and scallop dumpling was cold but had a good amount of stuffing The spareribs were soft and juicy; my mom really liked them The custard buns come with a lot of custard filling and are just the right amount of sweetness

They have cart service so you can easily eat a variety to your heart’s content. They had several tables good for large parties (8 people or so). Overall, it’s a delicious restaurant that truly merits a Michelin...