Two out of our party of six arrived first just before 11 am and there so happened to be a table, fitting for six, by the door that just cleared up when they walked in without anyone else in front. The staff didn't want to give us the table because they said our whole party wasn't present. After some back and forth, and the promise to order dim sum ASAP (since it takes time to prepare anyways and the other four members were just 5 minutes away), they finally agreed to seat us. This started off our experience poorly as it wasn't like there was another party of six present to be seated, etc.
From Monday to Friday, all day (9 am to 9 pm), this joint offers their S/M/L items for $5.25. They also don't charge for tea due to the self-serve set up they have, whereby they serve you your first cup but refills require you to go to their station, which also has cold water and condiments such as hot sauces.
Overall, the food was good but some dishes were a little overcooked/over-steamed making them a little softer than usual. My grandparents who have been here before said this is not usually the case so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt but either way, it wasn't bad by any means. The siu mai, har gow, and other dumplings had a good chew to them with a good amount of filling. The curry cuttlefish was again, softer, but had good flavor. The congee was a good consistency and flavorful without being too salty and didn't leave you thirsty. I personally really liked the mango mochi which was soft and chewy, with a filling of real fruit and cream. The "most disappointing" was the BBQ pork rice only because there was a lot of rice compared to toppings of pork and choy. However, the leanness of the BBQ pork was perfect without being dry. The shrimp rice rolls were also a little underwhelming.
Again, service is minimal due to the nature of their setup. But the servers do bring the food and clear empty baskets and plates. They were very fast when it came to clearing tables but I felt it was because they're so busy that they want to turnover tables as soon as possible. During our stay, I would say 11:30 am was when they had the biggest rush and wait for tables. Even though our family said many thank yous, the employees weren't very responsive.
The place is new so it is quite clean and the decor looks nice. Seating was actually quite comfortable because of the chairs, but I find long rectangular tables are difficult when it comes to dim sum since it is hard to puzzle out the dishes due to space and makes it harder for sharing as one end of the table can never reach the items on the other end. They don't really have many circle tables, minus a few small ones for 2-3 people.
Overall, you can see there's lots of pros and cons but their affordability, decent food, and cleanliness makes this spot one to put on the "frequent list". Service is not their main selling point so I didn't expect much, just as it seems they do not expect much in tips. read more