dan modern chinese - santa monica — Restaurant in Santa Monica

Let me preface by saying that we are Taiwanese in heritage and in culture, so we are familiar with how these dishes are meant to be. (This review is two parts: the experience, and the food. Skip to the second part if that's all you're interested in).

The experience: My sister and I visited here earlier today shortly after they opened for the day (11am) at 11:30ish am on Sunday 8/29. The inside looked clean and tidy - nice. I used the bathroom and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned - trash bin was overflowing, toilet paper in the toilet bowl, paper on the ground. We decided to sit outside as it was a nice day. We ask to turn on the heat lamp that already beside the table. Don't get me wrong here, we didn't expect the process to turn it on to be silent but GOODNESS it was as if he tried to make the affair as loud and cringey as possible. It just didn't seem like he cared about our customer experience at all or regret joining the service industry. He was nice enough towards the end but he was not having a good morning.

The food: Beef rolls were, honestly, not bad but the portion size was laughable, as if they decided not to serve HALF of it. Pretty much all of the other restaurants that serve this dish have 8 pieces, this one served 4. It looked like they just didn't serve the ends. Also, BONES - we got two bones in the roll! In my decades of ordering this, this is a first. It overall tasted good but paying $10.25 for that amount of food seemed like we were being taken advantage of. The pork xiao long bao was cooked well. But don't confuse that with "it was good". The ratios of filling-skin-soup, as well as texture of it all was good. Shame all of it was bland. If you are going to come here and order this, I recommend adding the black vinegar - game changer. The ginger it came with was best part of that dish. $6.50 for 5 pieces? Not bad, price wise. For the short rib dan mein, I'll talk about the short rib and noodles separately then the dish as a whole. The short ribs were pretty tasty, good sized pieces, and cooked well. Not the kind of meat I expected but it worked. The noodles were thick and felt pretty doughy which happens to be how I like them so no complaints there. All together, it was alright. BUT another joke of a portion size for $16.50; absolutely not worth it. We also ordered the oxtail beef noodle soup for $10.25. Bland. It tasted super watered down, with the bulk of the flavor coming from oil and black pepper. The oxtail meat was good though. We actually meant to order the spicy one though. When we told the waiter that, he was nice enough to bring us a sample of the broth. It was spicy and VERY flavorful. Again, it wasn't the classic beef-noodle-soup broth we were expecting. My sister enjoyed it though. I wasn't sold. The shrimp fried rice came out so oily but that's probably why it tasted so good. This is the best thing we ordered. The rice was cooked well, good ratio of ingredients that wasn't shrimp; not much of that overall. This, we agreed that could order again....just not for $14.50. It came out in the same bowl as the dan mein so there was just not a lot volume-wise.

One can only hope the Sawtelle and Pasadena locations are different. We really wanted to like this place but we were both so disappointed today that we won't be coming back. If we're getting Chinese food, there are too many other good options to do this to...

Nothing to brag home about - just another overhyped approach to make chinese food more posh. I wonder if my disgust is a result of trying the restaurant via take out vs. via dine in.

Got takeout from Dan Modern Chinese, Santa Monica

What they did well - was package the dishes, seal the bag, and have pickup ready and fast for those online orders where folks pickup by double parking illegally on the street. Yeah I was one of em as my partner ran into pickup.

Where they failed beef roll, outer layers were soggy and soft. Inner meat was a nice short rib like tender meat filling but outer wrap fell apart like a soggy tortilla in a wet burrito. With only 5 meager pcs in an order, while nice and evenly sliced, makes me feel cheated compared to the flavor or volume I'd get elsewhere at any Chinese restaurant (101 Noodle, Ding Tai Fung, Luscious Dumplings, Mamalu's, etc)

snow peas with garlic. The dish was excessively watery. Why is there so much liquid in the takeout container? The flavor was a little funky, like the snow pea leaves were undercooked. I expected this dish to be 1) stir fried garlic in oil; add snow pea leaves; and dash of water or soup, cook until leaves are cooked. voilà... However this was watery and slightly undercooked

vegetable dan noodle stir fry. The flavor was exactly what you'd think of shanghainese stir fry noodles. But they used snow pea leaf as the vegetable -- which made it stand out more and not as soft as the rest of the noodle dish was softer in texture. Like the texture inconsistency was intentional somehow. Weird. I kept wondering what was so modern about this approach but could only guess it was a westsider's view of what Chinese food in SGV was made like.

Where they did okay.- but made you wonder... XLB, we got the spicy pork. Even after takeout they were still soupy within, which is a feat in and of itself. 5pcs in a $7 order. Made me wonder what's "modern" about this approach other than it's smaller volume, higher prices?

broccoli with garlic. Stir fried as expected. Strange they got this one right but the snow pea leaves came out mushy and watery. Why different approaches to in essence the same vegetable cooking style?

I probably won't come here again. I'd rather spend the same amount (if not less) money on any of the classics for this type of cuisine (DTF, MamaLu's, Luscious Dumplings,) but get an authentic and...

Of course everybody taste buds are different but throughout my family we all experience similar takes. If you had one thing to take out of this review it would be that some things are stupendously flavorful or, they are very underwhelming. Some very good dishes we tried were the Dan mein ribs noodles which had a nice caramelized flavor and the Shrimp and Crab soup. They where both good but as many other reviews, wished the portions where bigger to actually using the sharing spoon for everyone to try. Some disappointing dishes were the soups and even the dumplings. The soups were very, 2 dimensional, with lack of flavor. I understand the simplicity of the dish direction but even so it tastes like they just boiled meat and ingredients. And whatever flavor leaked out was the soup. One of the soups, taste like this one hospital soup they’d give me when interned( I actually enjoy it so take it as you will.) The dumplings were very, disappointing. They taste very similar to the dumplings they sell at Costco’s for 13$ and you get a whole lot, while for 10$ you get only 5 pieces. The only big difference outside of flavor is texture and small soup inside the dumpling. The texture is thing and soft. Honestly, for your money worth, Costco dumpling are far better and even the taste is negligible. Even Costco dumplings come with some sort of sauce on the side. Which after consistency eating dumpling, it requires a nice twist in my option. Update: before leaving I tried the actually noodles of the soups and my my. I am not one to spit out food unless absolutely bad. It wasn’t bad per se that warranted me to spit it out, but the texture, and flavor. It quite literally felt and tasted like bad quality, mushy flour that was cooked just enough to barely retain their structure. Overall, if you know what to get, I think this place can be worth it for a nice time out. But be careful with some item as they definitely pale in comparison...