Palette Tea Lounge & Dim Sum — Restaurant in Spring Valley

OVERALL EXPERIENCE: unique touches to your traditional dim sum. My family and I enjoyed the food and service, and will def be back!

PRO TIP: make resos, and try for the first seating at 11am when they open! People started to line up at 10:50am. They have two lines, one for resos, and one for walk-ins. Came on a Sunday for resos at 11am. The wait did not seem too long for those who did walk-in, but the restaurant filled quickly. I know its IG worthy, but opt to NOT sit at the river table. It's cute, but there is limited space for all the yummy dishes you want to order!! Don't forget to look down! The mosaic koi fish on the floors are pretty!!!

AMBIANCE: Casual. Noise level is average.

DRESS CODE: Casual

ORDERED: Love how they save paper by using laminated menus with a washable marker so you can mark your dishes! We ordered typical dim sum dishes, and their unique dishes, which I will comment on. XLB (soup dumplings): each order comes with 4 with caviar/pearl vinegar, which melts on the dumpling. Ask for ginger! They don't provide it with the XLB (IYKYK!). They were delicious! Lobster Gow: (not sure why they put "har" bc that means shrimp). But these came with a butter dropper to insert the warm butter. This was tasty!! Each order comes with 3. Abalone Siu Mai: each order comes with 3, and these were delish!!! Crispy Dumpling w Minced Pork/hom sui gok: each order has three and they come in cute duck shapes! usually see them as football shape. I love the mochi consistency of these and they had just the right amount of minced pork and were tasty! Rainbow Prawn Rice Crepe: was a bit disappointed... the rice noodle was too thick. Softshell Crab Rice Crepe: different... but it's a no for me. I think this would've been better with actual crab meat, not softshell. And again, the rice noodle was too thick! Chocolate Fondue: it was my bday wknd. they offer a chocolate fondue on the house. Fresh strawberries, canned pineapple, egg waffle, marshmallow (plain and mini fruit flavored ones) and chocolate.

SERVICE: Service was exceptional! Everyone was so friendly! Several staff came to ensure that our tea pot was full throughout, and even served us when our cup was low! I want to emphasize... AMAZING SERVICE!!!!

PRICE: really depends on how hungry you are and how large your group is.

PARKING: private parking lot

Food: 5/5 stars Service: 5/5...

OVERALL: Aesthetics on point, food is good (not the best as a traditional dim sum place) but someplace I would love to go back and try more of.

FAMILY FRIENDLY: Yes PET FRIENDLY: No PARKING: Shared parking lot of the strip mall

FOOD/MENU: Seeing this place go viral and their aesthetics décor, made me really really want to go. It took a couple of Vegas trips but I finally made it! Cute and playful food – some things were good, some things I’ve had better, but still a nice place to revisit.

Pork Soup Dumplings (XLB) $8.00 for 4 pieces (added caviar): 3 Star – run of the mill XLB and the caviar didn’t add anything to it.

Pork & Shrimp Siu Mai $8.00 for 4 pieces: 3 Star – run of the mill, okay at best.

Chicken Claws in Black Bean Sauce (phoenix feet) $8.50: 3 Stars – run of the mill, okay at best.

Crispy Dumpling with Minced Pork Filling (IG little ducklings) $8.50 for 3 pieces: 4 Stars – higher star rating because of how cute they were LOL There is a lot of dough and not a lot of filling but to be expected.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun $8.00 for 3 pieces: 3 Stars – run of the mill, okay at best.

Rainbow Prawn Rice Crepe (Steam Shrimp rice roll) $10.00: 1 Star – big pieces of shrimp but the “rainbow” part of this does nothing. Its literally all for looks. Putting it out there but I’m not a fan of this dish in general lol

Crispy Shrimp Toast with Cheese $10.00: 5 Stars – What’s not to love about fried bread? Even better when there is a tasty filling and with cheese!

XO Wagyu Beef Fried Rice $25.00: 5 Stars – this is the best thing that we had. Super yummy but I will say I don’t think I would taste the difference if you had different beef.

Steam Custard Dumpling $7.00 for 4 pieces: 2 Stars – definitely had better

Golden Swan Durian Puff $10.00 for 2 pieces: 4 Stars – really good. The Durian taste was light which is good for me as I was worried about the pungent smell and taste. The puff was flaky and buttery. My only issue is with the way everything else looks so cute, modern and playful, this looked like it came from a 70s/80s design.

RESTAURANT/SERVICE: Cute little space with modern Asian décor. I don’t need to say much about it since this place went viral and I feel like everyone’s seen the inside already without even being there.

Service was great from arriving...

I am Cantonese and have had dim sum in more cities and restaurants then I could ever name (including in Hong Kong and Guangdong China). And the overall service, food and ambiance of Palette had to be the best that I've ever experienced. I'm sure other folks had hits or misses with the food, but everything we ate was amazing - we had to go back another time because it was so good and just as good the second time!! (First time with party of 8 and second with party of 4 so we ate a lot!). I recommend making reservation!

We had (usually multiple plates of each): Lobster Har Gow - amazing with squirt tubes of drawn butter. We've had lobster har gow in other places, but those had lobster mixed with Shrimp. These har gow were all fresh delicious lobster! Shrimp Har Gow - fresh and tasty Siu Mai - delicious Crispy Typhoon Shrimp Dumplings - amazing! Pork Soup Dumplings - good, but yes probably not as good as some northern chinese restaurants' soup dumplings Crispy Typhoon Siu Mai - delicious and a great alternative to the steamed Siu Mai Spicy Wonton - good Crispy Dumpling with Minced Pork Filling - fun, crispy and tasty - just needed a dip in a sauce but definitely a repeat order Pan Seared Chicken Pot Stickers- really good and light - better than China Mama's!! Crispy Crab Claw- huge and very good Sweet and Spicy Crispy Chicken - came with cauliflower - we needed some veggies! It was good. Sichuan Green Beans - excellent - better than most restaurants' version Wagyu Beef Chow Fun - best chow fun I have had in ages!

And for desserts: Crispy Milk Custard - everyone was surprised at this novel dessert and how crispy and tasty it was Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle - another big hit Mini Sweet Sesame Balls - the perfect small bites with ratio of filling to covering.

And on our second visit when the staff heard it was one of our's birthday they brought us a beautiful fresh fruit and egg waffle plate with a candle and happy birthday chorus!!

Overall food came out very quickly, staff was very attentive and kind and restaurant was very pretty and interesting.

Wish Palette was somewhere close to me - I would go 12...