Tong Cheng Seafood Restaurant Review

INcredible food for little prices. We had an awesome time and the place is well decorated. You have to dress casual at least, no flipflops.

After walking all around Chinatown in the rain looking for Dim Sum we came across Tony Cheng's Seafood Restaurant. This is the last restaurant in the area to serve traditional Dim Sum, some of the other places had what they call "rice crepe", what I know as rice roll or rice noodle roll but nothing else. After being seated we were brought traditional Chinese tea (they charge per pot here) and placed our order of shrimp & pork Shui Mai, Steamed roast pork bun (bao), pan fried vegetable dumpling, fried taro with pork & shrimp, shrimp rice noodle, and fried sesame ball as our dessert. We normally get beef Chow Fun (what they called Chow foon here) but the price was $15, which is absolutely ridiculous and basically 2x the price we pay where we live. I didn't care for the shrimp rice noodle at all. It tasted like it had been frozen and was like watery mush instead of sticky. The shrimp had an odd flavor so I stayed away. Hubby and the kids ate it and no one got sick but it just tasted off to me. The steamed pork bun was good, not the best I've had but it settled my craving. The pan fried vegetable dumpling was very good, lots of flavor and the sesame balls were crispy and sweet. We left full but it was not the Dim Sum experience I was expecting from Chinatown. Apparently on the weekends they have the Dim Sum carts out, maybe it's more fresh on those days. Definitely not up to par with San Francisco or Oakland Chinatown. Although there were Chinese eating there I think it caters more to the tourists. The staff was friendly and the Dim Sum menu was reasonable. If we are ever back in the area I would give them a second chance.