Bistro 1968 — Restaurant in San Gabriel

Updated Review!!! Bistro 1968 – Classic Dim Sum with a Modern Touch

I visited Bistro 1968 for brunch on Mother’s Day weekend with my parents, and we were excited to try their dim sum offerings in a modern setting that still honors traditional flavors.

🥢 What We Ordered: We went with the à la carte option instead of their All-You-Can-Eat (AYCE) menu. For dim sum, we ordered: Shrimp Har-Gow, Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, House Special Crispy Shrimp Roll, Shrimp Rice Noodle, Jumbo Sticky Rice Wrap, Baked Snow Capped BBQ Pork Buns, and Creamy Egg Yolk Bao.

📋 Pricing Info:

AYCE is available at $19.99 per person on weekdays and $25.99 per person on weekends/holidays.

AYCE includes the condiments and tea fee.

For à la carte diners (like us), there’s a $2 per person charge for condiments and tea.

🌟 Highlights: The restaurant was very clean, and the servers were attentive throughout our meal. The ambiance blends traditional dim sum charm with a sleek, modern vibe.

The standout dishes were the House Special Crispy Shrimp Roll—a unique item I haven’t seen elsewhere—and the Baked Snow Cap BBQ Pork Bun, which reminded me of Tim Ho Wan’s version but was larger and honestly, better.

⚠️ Areas for Improvement: The food took a while to come out, but that’s often the trade-off for freshly made dishes. The only real downside was the parking situation—the garage is small and fills up quickly, and free street parking is very limited in the area.

💡 Tips:

Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends and holidays.

Arrive early to secure parking or be ready to walk a bit.

Credit cards accepted.

À la carte diners should factor in the extra $2 per person for tea and condiments.

Great spot for a relaxing dim sum brunch with a modern twist.

Old review from before

Went here this past Wednesday afternoon with my family. We did the ayce dim sum for $25.88. This includes tea and condiments. The food was just as good as if you did Al La carte and other premium dim sum. Our favorite was the crispy shrimp roll and the baked snow cap char siu (bbq pork) bun. Don’t get me wrong everything was delicious. I would skip their xo sauce, it was lacking in flavor.

The service was fantastic and the atmosphere was your typical upscale Chinese restaurant.

The parking could be problematic on the weekend since their lot is small and street...

I heard a lot about this place. My friend who came here 2 days prior than me, said there was a two-hour wait. 👀💢! Was afraid if that was the case, I might have to change the venue. Luckily, things looked pretty empty. Had to wait for most of my party to arrive, and they still had a table for us. We sat down, tea pots arrived (GREAT selection by the way), and then they offered us a bigger table. At first one of my friends said a smaller table would be better to talk intimately, but honestly, he was totally wrong. The bigger table was more comfortable, and we were surrounded by 3 walls, which made it more enclosed, with less noised coming at us from all over. My problem is, if I was nosy like someone recommended I be, I should have snooped around at each table to see what they ordered and how big it was. We ordered thinking the standard 籠 ("cage"/plate) of Dim Sum only had four pieces. Turns out each piece was slightly bigger than your average, and some plates had 50% more pieces. Which ones? I can't remember, but because I ended up miscalculating the portions, we all ate until our stomachs bursted. Then, just when we were all already full and done, the lady brought out two more bowls of something, and we were like, "Hold on! We didn't order that!" But then we looked, and it turns out it was the 排骨腸粉 (pork rib rice rolls). Honestly, the 腸粉 I'm more used to actually are long and look like 腸 made out of 粉. I get that there's the type where it's neatly rolled up into a cylinder, but having the ribs over the rice rolls? Eh... Not as smooth as the bigger ones that are loose and soft. Those two dishes coming around were a bit disappointed. Would like them to be more like other 腸粉, and you could charge more if you just stripped the bones off the 排骨, and inserted them inside, like they would be with standard 腸粉. Anyhoo... Except for that last bowl of stuff, we were thoroughly impressed. Oh, and you can AYCE the dim sum on weekdays. What I love best, is they use the Japanese loan word 放題. That's a very Hong Kong thing to do recently, so these guys...

I visited Bistro 1968 in San Gabriel two weeks ago, eager to give it a try. The restaurant is easy to locate, with ample covered parking. The staff was professional and attentive, and the place was bustling with diners, many of whom appeared to favor the all-you-can-eat option—so I decided to go with that as well.

Upon being seated, I was given a sheet listing the available menu items in both English and Chinese, though there were no pictures. While I recognized some dishes, others were unfamiliar to me. I asked my waitress, Eunice (who remained my server throughout and was wonderfully accommodating), if my selections made sense or if I had ordered too much. She suggested bringing out a few dishes to start and adjusting from there.

The first dish to arrive was fried shrimp, which I didn’t recognize at first. I mentioned to Eunice that I don’t usually eat fried foods and asked if many of the items I ordered were fried. When she confirmed that they were, I requested to cancel those and asked for her recommendations instead.

From what I tried, the standout was the greens—they were healthy, at least! However, the BBQ pork and pork dim sum were disappointing; they tasted bland or just off. The egg tart, on the other hand, was delicious as usual, and the black tea was excellent.

Curious about the cuisine, I asked Eunice which region of China the food represented. She explained it primarily came from Guangzhou, near Hong Kong. Having traveled extensively in China, I noted that the abundance of fried food felt unusual compared to what I’ve experienced. Eunice candidly explained that the menu was tailored to American tastes, as fried dishes tend to be more popular here.

I tried to finish what I had ordered and left a 20% tip out of appreciation for Eunice’s great service, but I won’t be returning to Bistro 1968. That said, tastes vary, and it’s clear that many people enjoy...