Today my family and I decided to stop by for a gathering. This place has such a great location in Manhattan Beach and it has a fresh, chic interior. We ate a variety of soup dumplings, Dan Dan noodles, and fried rice with dungeon crab. My favorite was the fried rice with Dungeon crab! Although the soup dumplings were good, I was looking for something with a bolder flavor. But, I must say, the wide array of Chinese cuisine at Dandan made up for it. Overall, we had a blast and I can't wait to come back to this amazing place soon! read more

Dan? More like "Damn, this Chinese food is good!" I'm consistently satisfied with the variety and quality of the food. Great for dine-in or take-out! Service was prompt and friendly. read more

This actually surprised me with both the service and food quality. Basically DTF without boba. We had our4 y.o. And 1.5 y.o. They gave us high chair and a booster seat but took away their plates and utensils. Kinda strange but whatever, I got them their own plates and utensils again. They did give them cups with lids and straws. We got short rib Dan Dan - tasty. Fresh noodles. Not too goopy but flavorful. shiitakes were great and meat not over cooked. Chicken noodle soup - clean, yummy broth and thin fresh noodles. Wish it was dark meat vs light but kids loved it. XLB - tasty but missing ginger. Delicious and came out pretty quickly. Crab fried rice - fIiiiiiiire Seaweed and tofu salad - standard and loved it Popcorn chicken, salt and peppered perfectly, with nice aioli. Crowd pleaser. To have this quality asian food this close to me is worth the premium. DTF without the wait. read more

Food was fair with the exception of the noodle dish we ordered. Meat was overcooked and almost burnt and dish was so saucy and salty. Overall, service was good. read more

Amazing food and amazing and fast service, The staff is always so kind and our server Tatiana S was so great!

I know about Dan from the one in Playa Vista, I think I like both but prefer this branch better. In terms of the restaurant setting, this one is very spacious, clean and well-lit (not too bright nor dark). Customer service was top-notch, very polite and knowledgeable about the menu. I much prefer that the waiters/waitresses know if there are onions on any given dish, and this branch didn't disappoint. Thank you for training your employees well. In terms of pricing, I thought they did price their dishes fairly, so cheers to that! Anyhow, it's time to talk about the food! These are what we ordered on our last visit (I will state if I recommend the dish or not: - Dan Dan Noodles: flavorful, noodle textures are chewy and tasty, mushrooms and steak are juicy. One thing I would say is the seasoning can be a little salty for some people, otherwise this is a delicious one. (Recommended) - Popcorn Chicken: Good appetizer, crispy and flavorful. The sauce taste kind of like honey mustard mixed with mayo? Yummy! (Recommended) - Pea Sprouts w Garlic: This is my dish of the day. Pea Sprouts are hard to find (in grocery stores as well as restaurants), so I was hoping this would be great and it didn't disappoint! (Recommended) -Shrimp Fried Rice: What makes a good rice plate? Not the soggy ones. Thankfully these aren't, very flavorful and I enjoyed the shrimp! I enjoyed their fried rice so much that when there were 2 spoons worth of fried rice left I still asked for to-go box for it. (Recommended) - Pork and shrimp dumplings: Taste pretty good. My girlfriend loved it. I just personally find dumplings to be alright. However if you love fried dumplings, this is awesome! (Recommended for dumpling lovers) Overall, my dining experience here was great and if you happen to be shopping at the Manhattan village, you must try this restaurant and then you would be coming for more! read more

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I had a craving for Chinese food so I wanted to stop by here to give it a try. The service was TERRIBLE. There was absolutely no service at all. There was only one waiter working and one hostess that also had to pitch in and help serve tables as there was no other waiter. The food was so mediocre and terrible. I assumed that this place would be good since it's in a rich plaza "Manhattan Village" but absolutely not. If I could give this place 0 stars I would. It has nothing to do with real Chinese food. There wasn't even real Chinese/Asian chefs working in the back as the kitchen is viewable to guests. There was 2 latinos working in the kitchen. What surprises me is that a Chinese restaurant doesn't even have real Chinese chefs cooking the food. I ordered the handmade dumplings with pork (5pc) crispy for $10.75 to start, and let me tell you. They were NOT crispy at all. I was served with a whole layer on top of the dumplings that looked disgusting. It was like a layer of fat oil/grease on top of the dumplings to make them "crispy" absolutely embarrassing that this is how they present crispy pork dumplings. The pork inside was terrible I could not swallow it. It was that bad. Absolutely horrible. I sent them back immediately. For my main dish I ordered the short rib dan mein noodles. The noodles are made fresh. It was nothing to say wow. The meat (short rib) pieces were hard and had a rubbery chewy texture. The meat was cheap quality. The noodles were okay, I didn't send them back. This plate was $22.25 and not worth the price at all. The chow mein at panda express is way better than this. I had ordered a sparkly water and they proceeded to bring me glass cups with ice which I don't drink sparkly water with ice so I asked nicely for glass cups without ice and they proceeded to bring the most dirtiest glass cups I have ever seen at a restaurant. They were so dirty and looked like they hadn't been washed. I had to ask for plastic cups to drink my sparkly water because the glass cups were horrid. I also had to get up myself to get napkins since the service was that bad. There was absolutely no service whatsoever. Don't waste your money on this place. The service is TERRIBLE. read more

dan modern chinese - Pork Dumplings "Crispy" - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

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Well, i'm comparing the tastes with another chain din tai fung, which has a similar menu. I really like some of the dishes din tai has, but dan has not disappointed me. If you're looking for northern cafe like authentic, this isn't it, but what i'm saying is, this quality is what appeals to most and if you like din tai you'd probably like dan. I'm not saying this is the best chinese food around, but i like it better then good, and it might be just short of great, but i think people should give it a try. If you dont know where it's at it's in the new manhattan mall area sort of between Joey's and sidecar doughnuts. Very modern sort of almost modern cafeteria sort of layout, but it's nice, new and clean. Now on to the food. The salt/pepper tofu appetizer - i found these to be pretty yummy, i dont think they travel well though, but it's the green onions and other toppings you find with salt/pepper pork chops that i like. The tofu is i think cornstarched and fried, which is very similar to a japanese "agedashi tofu" which means fried and sauced tofu. Here it's just fried, with the toppings and has a light soy like sauce to dip in. I enjoyed it. Tried the pork spicy soup dumplings. Now theres not a whole lot of soup in these, but they're great, bite into them, and you get that soup, then chew and you taste the pork then a little bit of spicy kick at the end, but not intense, just enough. They were good! I could use a tsingtao with this lol. The garlic/spinach is very much like din tai's but the flavor is slightly different. Maybe the garlic isn't as potent as din tai's, but overall it was good, sauteed spinach in garlic, who doesn't like that??? Next the chicken chow mein, or pan fried noodles. I can tell these are hand made noodles, they have that springy texture and i love the thick cut. They are fried with your choice of meat, or vegetables. Mine had mushrooms, maybe shiitake type, with like gailan (chinese broccoli like greens) and chicken and stir fried with black/dark soy sauce which is great. Lastly i tried the mapo tofu, which i ordered it with pork (i think that's probably the most popular). But what it is, is a ground pork, chili oil type sauce with tofu and is eaten on rice It had just a little bit of heat, so it's toned down a lot. But overall, again, it's a familiar taste and i liked it a lot. I think it could be a little spicier, but i think most will like it. read more

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Always enjoy coming here. They had some new items on the menu. Service is always good. Our server tonite was Tatiana and she was wonderful. Will be coming here again soon. read more

Tatiana was our server and she was wonderful -- very friendly, quick, and attentive. We had an amazing dinner with our family. We will definitely recommend this place and look forward to coming back because of her read more

Not bad at all. It's hard to trust a dumpling spot in a commercial development across from an Anthropologie and a CorePower yoga, it just is! They scored huge points because there is parking. Not just a lot but a structure, be still my beating heart. The food- it's not din tai, but it's actually pretty good, it's cheaper, and there was no wait for lunch. SOLD. The cucumbers I recommended as an app- are pickled, which at first was weird bc it was different but then I found that I couldn't stop eating them. The generous portion...much appreciated. The XLB- we tried the crab and pork they were pretty good. The skins were not as delicate as other places but still well done and the filling was flavorful and of course the dumplings were juicy! A must try- crab fried rice! Generous portions of crab cooked with egg and scallions. Yum! read more

dan modern chinese - Pickled cucumbers - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

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Something changed, portions are smaller and the quality & service have declined; crab pieces were smaller, green beans were soggy and small, we requested the dumplings well done & crispy and they were basically steamed, chopsticks missing, our takeout order was 20 minutes late this is after waiting 1 hr. An overpriced disappointment... not planning to return. read more

I've dined here once and gotten take out once and overall I am a fan! To compare the quality/taste of the food from dining in to the take out, I would say our dine in food was much better than take out even though they were all good. Portions are also big so I love having leftovers to take home. Favorites: - three cup chicken - mapo tofu - shrimp fried rice - garlic string beans When you dine in you can order the soup dumplings which are very soupy, juicy, and plump! I love that I've always been able to walk in and get seated right away, and the free parking. Looking forward to dining here again! read more

Tatiana was such an amazing waitress. I was really confused on what I wanted to eat but she helped me pick a delicious meal! Great service and highly recommend this spot! read more

We've been coming to Dan Modern Chinese in Manhattan Beach since April, and it's become a favorite tradition. The food is consistently amazing, especially the Dan Shrimp Noodles, Fried Rice, Garlic String Beans, and Scallion Pancakes. The vibe is similar to Din Tai Fung but with a more family-friendly atmosphere. Special thanks to our wonderful server, Tatiana, who was incredibly kind, patient, and accommodating. We hope to have her again next time! read more

I didn't know what to expect when I saw this restaurant for the first time it's a little hidden within Manhattan Village, but not too hard to find. I moved to California recently and have been obsessed with the amount of Asian food that I can find. This means that when I find any new Asian restaurant especially if it's close to my house I'm the first one to tell my friends that we HAVE to try it. Anything you order on the menu is delicious from their bok choy, to their string beans, to their soup dumplings, and their fried dumplings! The one thing that I really wanna emphasize is how amazing their noodles are! It has the perfect veggie to noodle ratio while the flavor is indescribable and you'll just have to take my word for it. I definitely recommend this place but mostly I recommend going with the group and eating family style so that you can try a little bit of everything read more

dan modern chinese - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

Parking shouldn't be a problem since the restaurant is connected to the mall. Sitting was quick. Waitress was nice and energetic.but only came to my table once. Food- the pickled cucumbers were okay serving is definitely a la cart so it's enough for 2-3 people. Would I order it again! No nothing bad but pickles are okay for my taste buds. Sautéed broccoli with garlic was exceptional but you have to eat it hot/warm. It was fresh some crunch and good taste not dry so 10/10 but you have to like broccoli Vegetables Dan noodles. Okay had a small problem with those I get it it says vegetables but I think I got way way more veggies than noodles. Three cup chicken had good taste not dry the touch of sautéed onions was good but again for a good 2-3 to share. Pork xiao long bao I did not try but my other half stated she expected a bit better of quality taste. I got stuck with drinking water. They have a decent alcohol list and some teas. Typical sodas but NO lemonade... NO LEMON-ADE!!! read more

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The place is really good! Beautiful interior, not expensive prices, fast service and delicious food. My fav was pork and shrimp wontons. Recommen ! read more

dan modern chinese - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

I do like the decor of the place. The place is spacious with an open kitchen. My Veggie Steamed Dumplings and the Pork And shrimp ones were tasty. One of the sauces was extremely salty. The Short Rib Dan Mein was flavorful but the meat could have been a little tender. Overall, the place does have a good vibe and tasty food. read more

dan modern chinese - vegetable fried rice. - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

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Slow service. Grossly sticky table but very nice server. The scallion pancakes was super dry. Def now how I grew up eating it. The Xiao long bao was tasty and good broth inside. Greens beans were nice and crunchy. And crab fried rice was good not dry. read more

dan modern chinese - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

Excited to finally see this location open and for the opportunity to check out the food. Overall, had a really good experience. I love restaurants with open concept kitchens. Service was good. Tried several things on the menu. The scallion pancake was delicious (and you don't see this on menus very often). The soup dumplings are LEGIT! My husband had the oxtail noodle soup and really enjoyed it. I got the short rib dan mein. The noodles are very fresh. The dish was a bit heavy for my personal taste. I will definitely be going back to try other dishes alongside more dumplings and scallion pancakes! read more

The noodles were especially flavorful and perfectly cooked. The rice and dumplings were also fresh, tasty, and satisfying. On top of that, the service was friendly and efficient. Definitely a spot worth coming back to! read more

Second time to Dan Modern Chinese and enjoyed the food both visits. It has a bit of a chemically smell when we walked in. I think it's because the building and establishment is still new though. The place is casual, modern and clean. I love that you can see the kitchen with the glass. Service was friendly and attentive. Recommend if you want dim sum and don't want to make the drive to Torrence. read more

Noodles are chewy & substantial, pea shoots are surprisingly flavorful and the soup dumplings are packed with rich broth & huge chunks of filling. Really great quality for a chain & at reasonable price to boot. South Bay take note, there's a new dumpling contender in town & their name is Dan. read more

dan modern chinese - Vinegar in the tall bottle, soy sauce in the short - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

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Nice new Taiwanese addition in the newly renovated Manhattan Village. Posh, modern interior. Good-tasting comfort food for the Caucasian palate as well as Americanized Taiwanese like me. Dumplings, beef noodle soup, beef roll, chow mein, fried crispy tofu, etc. -- all excellent. read more

dan modern chinese - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

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The food left a lot to be desired. I will not return. The rice was dry and overcooked and the dumplings were lackluster. The food is overpriced. The customer is paying for Manhattan Beach rent, not a delicious dining experience. read more

This place doesn't disappoint. The food is always good and the service is fast. My friend liked it, too!

Pretty good but not as good as I was hoping. I have been to their Playa location in the past and liked it enough. However I was not particularly impressed with my visit today. Soup dumplings were quite good with appropriately thin skin and an ample amount of soup in each dumpling. The flavor of the meat was not authentic nor flavorful in its own way. The pan fried dumplings skin had a doughy pita bread like texture. The sriracha and hoisin sauce that came with it didn't seem to fit a pan fried dumpling. The meat was once again unauthentic and light on flavor. It took significantly more than the 30 minutes stated on the menu. It took more like 45 minutes. I don't understand why this dish requires extra time to begin with. The restaurant wasn't busy at lunch on Saturday. The chicken Dan mein was pretty good but too sweet for a savory dish. The chicken noodle soup and oxtail noodle soup were my favorites. The flavor of the broth, the quality of the meat, and the texture of the noodles were all quite good. Popcorn shrimp was good quality meaty pieces and lightly fried, so no complaints. Overall, the taste was not as good as the photos look and the food came out slower than you would expect for a non busy time. The crab soup dumplings came out one full hour after we ordered. We had followed up half way but it still took much longer for it to come out. We weren't even expecting it to show up as we were just talking and wrapping up with our friend at that point but the dish came unexpectedly. Decent food and location, but I don't see a need to come here vs other dumpling places in the South Bay. read more

Food was amazing and Tatiana described the pickled cucumbers perfectly when we were on the fence! They were delicious! Definitely coming back read more

Food and service were great! Tatiana was attentive and made sure we always had enough food/drinks and got it all quickly. I will definitely be back. read more

Dan Modern Chinese is consistently amazing, both in taste and atmosphere. Me and my family frequent about once a week and my kids always beg to go more. The customer service is always on point, our server TK is an absolute delight. I highly recommend this restaurant for families or anyone looking for delicious food and friendly staff. Keep it up Dan's Modern Chinese! read more

12/20/21 - This is the first time i visit. I was doing some christmas shopping at the mall and on my way to the car i saw this place. it was new to me, as i hadnt been to this side of the mall in a long time. Looks freshly built. clean and spaceful. As i walked in, i was greeted and informed that there is only 2 wait staff, and although there is plenty of seating, the short staffedness would cause a 15-20min wait. no biggie, in this pandemic world that is the new norm. so i waited. Finally seated at 15min total wait time. They promtly brought me a cup of ice water w/ lemon. nice touch. The waiter introduced himself, William, and appologized for the wait. i needed a couple of mins to finalize my choice so he went to attend other tables. The 2 on wait staff and what seemed to be the GM and possible owner were out on the floor clearing/setting up tables as patrons left. I decided on ordering the Short Rib Dan Noodles & Pork pan fried dumplings. to my dismay, they were out of the pork, so i went with Chicken. Now the wait for the food to come out. About 15min after placing my order the main dish came out. i found that to be a little weird as usually the app comes out first. The noodles are thick, taste fresh made, wonderfully coated in their garlic soy house sauce. the short rib pieces were cooked perfectly. The meat was very juicy and tender. read from a few previous reviews that there was no flavor. trust me, it has plenty of umami. i added some sambal hot sauce and it kicked up the flavor an extra notch. I finished my main, and still no dumplings, i asked and they went to check, "kitchen is very busy but will be out shortly" was the answer. 10min after i finished my main the dumplings came out. The chicken filling is very flavorful. They are served with a lil dish of hoisin sauce and siracha, which i found to be wierd, no special dumpling sauce. table side they offer a black vinegar, not labled, and soy sauce. would be nice if they labled the bottles! they also charge $1 extra for pan fried dumplings, which perplexes me, i guess they need to cover the cost of the oil used? found that weird as well. there's also an additional cost of you want them crispy. They were SUPER heavy handed with the green onion "decoration" i would hold back on that. a little goes a long way. All in i spent $35 for the meal + tip. They have canned sodas at a whopping $3.50+ tax. no adult beverages. i assume they still dont have full permit for alcohol sales. maybe havent had their soda machine delivered either. Would i come here again. yes. would i come often? no. it would be for a special treat. i will come back to try the bao and maybe they'll have thr pork dumplings. Suggestions to the establishment. Come up with a house dumpling dipping sauce. hoisin sauce alone is not great, too salty. label ALL your sauce bottles so someone doesnt pour vinegar thinking its soy sauce. please PLEASE try and hire more wait staff. The wait and non-ability to send out food in a normal order caused it 2 stars. read more

dan modern chinese - Chicken pan fried chicken dumpling - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

The service was off the charts. The server was attentive, kind, prompt and thoughtful. The soup dumplings were good, as were the potstickers... but the cucumbers did not taste good. The sauce was hardly palatable. I really wanted to like it... I usually love cucumbers in a spicy sauce, but this was doused in something that was hard to stomach. And the cucumbers looked old. The service saved the day as the food was mid. read more

These are my favorite dishes that I get when I eat at or get take out from Dan Modern, Manhattan Beach: Short Rib Dan Mein - handmade soba noodles w/snow pea leaves, short rib chunks and shiitake mushrooms mixed with their delicious sweet garlic sauce; vegetable fried rice w/broccoli, egg, green onion and spinach; and the most delicious sautéed string green beans w/garlic that I have ever had. The food here is fresh and so evident in the taste. Dan Modern is very casual dining with good service and (I can't say it enough) the freshest food! I do believe that all of the dishes are made to order. It can get busy with a wait but I have found that weekend lunches are served pretty quickly. There's ample covered parking very close to the restaurant. Bon appétit! read more

dan modern chinese - Chinese Near Me - Manhattan Beach, California

Lived in Beijing for a year--the food is so incredibly good there. I've never been able to find Chinese food restaurants here in the US that live up to both the quality and authenticity of that food (tends to be one or the other at best). Dan Modern Chinese is about the closest I've found, and a really incredible place. Our waitress Nicole gave great recommendations. LOVED the oxtail soup, spicy pork soup dumplings and scallion pancakes. We'll be going back for sure. read more

Food is good and i love that the menu offers gluten-free options. We rarely order chinese food nowadays b/c the majority of the food is cooked w/sauces that has gluten. We ordered pork & crab xiao long bao, potstickers, green beans and mapo tofu. The xiao long bao (soup dumplings) had a generous amount of soup, flavor was good. the amount of meat is on the skimpier side. I'm used to eating at Mama Lu's in Monterey Park where you get 8 and the size is bigger. Since Dan Modern in in Manhattan Beach, cost is higher, I get it. Potstickers were not bad, I've had better, filling was also skimpy. String beans were yummy , not limpy and not soggy, good garlic flavor. Ma Po tofu was very good considering it was gluten free , no soysauce or bean sauce. It was garlicky too and full of flavor. i have to say the ma po tofu was my favorite. I would consider coming back since it is conveniently located near me, close to where I work and would satisfy my dumpling craving. Portions are not generous, hence the amount of food we ordered was for myself and my 21 yr old son. We boxed up the Ma Po tofu for my 13 year old since the order was really for him but we wanted to try it. Service is on the slow side, but the people bussing the tables are constantly moving about, clearing out table and removing dishes off your table. We hardly saw our server (who took our order). Unfortunately, one of our orders (potstickers) were missing and it took an additional 20 minutes for us to get it. Definitely worth trying. it is not your typical mom and pop chinese food but truly does live by it's name as being "modern" and a little bit different. read more

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Tatiana was an amazing server. She's enthusiastic, willing to listen and accommodate to any of your requests to make your meal better thsn you expected. read more

This is my favorite location but also because of the staff. Tatiana S was so great and smooth with our service! I didn't have to ask for a thing! Thank you Tatiana!! read more

Great place, very delicious. Our server Tatiana was the best, besides being from my hometown!

Loved the food; atmosphere was good for getting together with friends. What made it great was our server, Tatiana. She was amazing, so nice and knowledgeable about the menu items. Five stars for Tatiana! read more