China Mama Restaurant — Restaurant in Spring Valley

I just move to Las Vegas from California so I would like to think I have a well rounded knowledge on asian cuisine. On social media I've been seen this restaurant "China Mama" been popping up when I browse my Instagram, so today I was set on having lunch at this establishment. When I walked through doors, I was fascinated at the interior design of the place, the walls, tables and lighting because it had an atmosphere of exclusivity in a foodie type of way however at the same time the staff and service was impeccable and very welcoming to newcomers. What I noticed when I sat down is the teapot, the plates and the menu, the reason why I mentioned those things is because in a typical chinese restaurant, you see a white/red plastic plate with a chinese design on the front of the plate with teapots and teacups that have some residue on them. Along with a sticky menu book that sounds like velcro when you pull the pages apart. Rest assured because the dining set at this restaurant is nothing like that and the level of detail the manager or owner put it in must be applauded because it displays that they care for their customers and uphold the highest level of sanitation. The plates and the teapot were immaculate and also the menu was colorful and clear where I didn't know what dish I wanted to pick because I was so astonished with how vibrant the menu was designed.

For new restaurants I always conduct my version of a litmus test regarding food. For chinese restaurants I order fried rice and whatever special pork dish they have on hand to gauge the type of quality I can expect. I will say this, I've had homecook fried rice, traditional fried rice and my goodness is this fried rice really spot on when it comes to flavor, seasoning and cook temperature. I order the shrimp egg fried rice and everything was delicious from the star of the dish being the shrimp to the vegetables. The blend was so harmonious that I was silently eating and lost track of time due to it being cooked to perfection. Secondly, I ordered the twice cooked pork with spicy sauce and the tenderness of the pork was so heavenly I indulge in more after more, even when I was full, my body was pushing my hand to eat more because I subconsciously didn't want the sensation of the umami to fade. I have never had a pork dish like that in a chinese restaurant. It's a far drive from where I currently reside so ontop of the lunch I had I decided to order to dish for to go so I can have the experience again for dinner. I order the pan fried pork dumplings along with signature salted egg yolk prawns.

As much as I want to encourage people to try the restaurants I share on reviews, I secretly want to keep this restaurant to myself and just keep it hidden so it dosent get packed in the near future where I have to fight over reservations. That being said, whomever is looking for the best pound for pound chinese restaurant in Las Vegas? CHINA MAMA is THE best hidden secret in this city. It was a wonderful experience and it will not be the last time I visit this extraordinary establishment.

Update: I took my mom, brother and sister to try this restaurant that I have been endorsing. Let me tell you how the popularity of this restaurant skyrocketed. I got there at 11:30, put my name down for a wait list not even 5 minutes has passed and 4 more people came in to put their name down. After a 20 minute wait there was an additional 12 names that were on the wait list. Service was so fast, and the pan fried pork buns was informed to us that it would take 45 min to a hour to make, of course we ordered appetizer, entrées, to be served to us when it's ready, so in the mean time we can have some food in our belly before the pork buns but that gors to show how popular that food item is and how its taken off. The waiter that waited our table was so excellent that we tipped him 30%, he was amazing. He's chinese with black...

First of all, do not order the Sesame Beef dish because there is no beef in it, it is all deep fried flour with sauce and we can assume that any meat dish that has a flour coating over it will be the same. The waiters do not speak English or understand it well enough to serve an American clientele because I clearly asked for shrimp and broccoli with the light-sauce instead of the brown sauce and when she brought me my dish it was a tasteless steamed shrimp and broccoli with no sauce so I realized the misunderstanding and regretted having said anything at all. In order to make it taste better I used the only thing on the table that looked like soy sauce because it was a clear glass pouring container with dark black/brown liquid like soy sauce but it ended up being something else that tasted like vinegar which made my food taste even worse. I was letting my husband know what had happened and I know I had a look of disgust when I turned towards the server that took my order who was sitting with her crew talking, eating and playing on their phones and she was looking straight at me what seems she had had her eyes on me for so I waved her over to my table and she immediately turned her face away pretending she didn't notice. By then my husband was already on his third bite of his Sesame Beef when he was realizing that there was no beef in any of the bites he had so he started breaking apart every chunk of what was supposedly the beef and it was all flour so now he was upset and called out for the waitress that served our meal to tell her that's not what he ordered, so she went to the back and another lady came out and my husband told her what was going on and by then we were just so upset we didn't want to eat there anymore so the waitress that had turned her face away from me when I waved her over told us we had to pay before we left. We refused because they did not serve us what we wanted and that "beef" dish was deceiving. She had the nerve to tell us why didn't we say something so I mentioned how I did waive her over and she turned her face away from me so she said well I was eating my lunch, so she pretty much admitted what she had done. We were the only customers in the restaurant and I told her if they were going to eat their lunch they should have closed the door and put a sign outside so we would have not come in, there were other restaurants in the same shopping center where we could have gone to instead of wasting time and being upset and leaving hungry. We will never go back to that...

I made a reservation for a large party a week prior to our set dinner date. On the day of the dinner I humbly called the restaurant in the morning and asked if there’s anyway they could accommodate five more people and I was very thankful when they said yes. Had they said no I wouldn’t extend the invite to my five extra guests but anyway our entire party of 15 arrived at the restaurant 40 minutes before our 6pm reservation and waited for an hour.

Rattled? Yes, but we all remained calm because it was raining and it was my mother’s 80th birthday dinner and we wanted to celebrate her day. When our reservation was finally called, a waiter waived us over to the tables but then another female hostess walks over and tells us that the one table is ours and the other was reserved for another party.

Eight of my guests squeezed themselves to one round table while the hostess had my other guests standing in the corner while the empty table was just there. When I reasoned with the hostess she gave me an attitude as if we were there to eat for free. She told me “ you made your reservation last minute” Really? Yet she confirmed the reservation for 15.

I walked back to our table and ten minutes later the male waiter walks over and said it was okay that the rest of my party may sit at the empty table because the “people called to cancel their reservation.”

At that point I was very sure I was never returning to China Mama, ever again. A dish so simple like Chinese broccoli was over cooked and soggy. We ordered 3 lobsters and they very dry and rubbery.

We had ordered so many dishes that night and I only ate walnut shrimp and drank hot tea. I realized they’re popular and crowed and they should focus more on good customer service and making sure the food quality is all together. Needless to say I paid close to $800 dollars with a massive gratuity tip which was not worth the...