Dim sum carts may be a thing of the past, but dim sum can now be enjoyed in the comforts of your own home. You can drink regular water at your leisure instead of flagging down waitstaff only to served lukewarm tap water. You can provide your own condiments and eat plenty of it without having to make laser eye contact with a waiter to get what you need. Anyway, ordering dim sum at Dim Sum Express is an experience in itself. You fill out a menu sheet and hand it to the cashier on the right hand side of the store front. Pick up is at the window on the left. My family and I ordered the following: -turnip cakes ($1.29 each) -siu mai ($1.19 each) -har gow ($1.29 each) -baked bbq buns ($1.25 each) -baked chicken pie ($1.45 each) -custard egg tarts ($1.39 each) There's no set amount per order. You can order as little or as much as you'd like which is really nice just in case you just want a little bite of something. Was it the best dim sum I've ever had? Probably not, but it was certainly very cheap and convenient. *Cash only so make sure to bring plenty of cash. read more

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Driving down Garfield between lunch and dinner this place might not look like much from the outside but there's a reason you will see a line of people at all times of the day. This is Asian comfort food and it's very reasonably priced for this day and age. Welcome to Dim Sum Express. A family owned establishment that is CASH ONLY. You order at the window and wait for the food to be prepared so will be a little bit of a a wait and as there is nowhere to sit most folks just park behind the restaurant and eat from their car. At times the service can be spotty but this is a minor nuisance at best. This isn't the. E Tried their charshiu (bbq pork) buns - both steamed and baked. The former was hot and fluffy and the latter was slightly sweet and on the lighter side but cannot go wrong with either. read more

Dim Sum Express - Steamed bbq pork bun - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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So authentic and delicious. Great portions and the price is amazingly affordable. I'm so happy I found this gem. The lady's are so nice

The food here is very good. The perception is it may not be due to its hole in the wall appearance and take out only but that is all false. It can be quite busy with customers too. Thier rice plates are generous with meat and veggies not loaded with just rice. Recommended! More of a 4 star plus IMO. read more

WAS RIPPED OFF. They were short of 2 shu mai i ordered. Coming here was convenient like eating McD's but slightly better. Not a good place for fast food when you're in a rush for a quick bite before work. You can't trust this place and must check your order before you leave. read more

Monterey Park has some awesome old school joints which I consider Dim Sum Express to be like. It has been here for so long and they still are cash-only spot so don't forget to bring some cash. It is a fast style spot where you write what you want on a piece of paper and give it to the lady inside this little hut style spot. Everything you order is by piece but these pieces are super large and big. Don't forget to ask them for extra sauce because seriously they don't give enough with any order. Also if you want chopsticks and things like that you'll have to ask them for them when you pick up your order. The food is tasty and I brought some to the office to enjoy with a few people and they did like it! I would recommend their noodles, dessert option, and the shiu Mai and shrimp dumpling! Overall a nice and tasty meal for people to enjoy when the dim sum is still not available for outdoor dining just yet. If you are not sure about what to order they have a picture menu right in front of the store. So if you are craving some dim sum, why not try this spot out. read more

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When I used to live in Alhrambra, I would pass by the take out dim sum joint all the time and forever wanted to check it out. I was able to ONCE before COVID hit and moved back home. I'm so damn sad bc this was a bomb dim sum place. I have ordered the sui mai, har gow, lo bak go (turnip cake), bbq pork bun, and the ham sui kok (fried triangles?). The sui mai and har gow are huuuge! Good but nothing different from most take out dim sum places. BUT the biggest surprise and BEST thing there is the ham sui gok. Like holy shit it's not usually my first pick at dim sum restaurants, bc they are usually small, cold and skimpy on meat. But this place makes is SO FUCKING GOOD. I really recommend to eat it when it's hot (wait to cool down a bit tho bc it can burn). If you get it right after they fry it is the best. They are also big and the insides/batter is so chewy and melty and they stuff it with lots meat. The most amazing part is the satisfying CRUNCH of the outer layer. Chewy, crunchy, hot, savory mess. Pretty sure you can reheat the ham sui gok in an air fryer or oven to get the crunch back there is a small lot in the back, less than 10 cars. CASH ONLY. read more

Dim Sum Express - Sui mai, har gow, lo bak go, bbq pork bun, ham siu gok - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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Definitely on the pricier side as their dimsum is sold per piece which is roughly $1 (more or less) each. I must say though, they're all made FRESH and DELICIOUS!!!! I've seen several comments about the servers being rude, but based on my experience they were so polite and friendly!! I had to wait for a good 20mins, not sure if because I ordered a lot including the beef chow mien which sadly didn't satisfy my palette... so I'm skipping on that one but the rest were so sooooooooo good!!! Siomai -juicy with oozing flavors Lomaikai -just the right stickiness and the marinated meat inside was so good it blended well with the rice! Baked bbq bun -heavenly!! Sesame lotus balls -this one came as a surprise. I honestly wasn't expecting much of this, but all it took was one bite for me to decide to go back YES I LITERALLY WENT BACK to buy 4 more!!! Dimsum lovers, here's your haven! *CASH ONLY* read more

Dim Sum Express - Siomai, radish cake, lomaikai, baked bbq buns, beef chow mien, sesame lotus balls, and malaikao - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

Ambiance: to-go order only, plenty parking behind the establishment Service: very impatient with question, and kinda rude, almost threw out the change to the table Food: limited choices of dim sum, no longer serve the combination platter, which included the most popular items and was the best value, bummer! Baked BBQ Bun - *** ordinary Baked Pineapple Cream Bun - *** ordinary BBQ Pork Puff - **** crispy and flavorful, recommend Har Gow (Shrimp) - *** steamed dumpling Siu Mai (Pork) - * the meat was not fresh and tasted weird Hom Suey Gok (Glutinous Rice) - ** too sticky, not much filling inside Custard Tart - *** average egg tart Turnip Cake - **** warm and tasty, recommend Price: cheap price per item, less than $15 for a fulfilling meal, cash only read more

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Decent. Above average price when comparing to plate prices. Pro: can order individual items instead of bt plate. Above average size and quality but only in certain items. * Lo mai fan (lotus chicken rice): they're frugal so instead of wrapping the entire rice in lotus leaves they only wrap half and use parchment paper for the other side. This results in less lotus flavor. The white sticky rice tasted like white rice instead of lotus infused and sauced flavor. * har gao - huge pieces. Good flavor. The wrapper was maybe just a tad bit too thick but since there was so much shrimp it kinda balanced it out. * turnip cake - nailed it * char siu bun - nailed it. Huge bun too ! * Dan tat - nailed it. Puff pastry SO good & crispy. Perfect ASMR. Not so good items: * pineapple bun: dry, little filling * siu mai - was actually quite poor. Very meaty taste instead of the traditional blended taste. CASH ONLY there's a private parking lot and plenty of street parking as long as it's not Wednesday cz Wednesday is street cleaning. read more

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I bring home over $125 worth of shu mai, hargow, bbq buns, and noodles for my family. We've been going here for 16 years, when my kids were young. Now I bring my grandchildren with me. Family tradition. Shumai is large and full of meat. Hargow is full of tasty shrimp. No one can match the flavor and wonderful selection of authentic Chinese dim sum. If you haven't been to this wonderful place, I recommend you go and try their selections. Guaranteed you will come back again and again. read more

Small free parking lot in the back. Located in a tiny hut where all the magic happens. Open 7 days a week 8-530, except Tuesdays they close at 330. Cash only so come prepared since I almost never carry cash with me. You order, pay, wait, pick up at the other window. They don't speak much English. The good stuff runs out by early afternoon. The sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf, shrimp hargow , xiu mai were pretty delicious, except I didn't really like the buns. They weren't very flavorful and the insides were not special. I'd go again but skip all the buns. You order by piece. No where to sit and eat so hang out in your car or take it home, or park/beach etc read more

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We were running errands and passed by this place and it caught my eye. I'm a big fan of dim sum so naturally I asked my husband to circle back so we can try it out. We ordered the dim sum on a paper and paid in cash. We had Siu Mai, Har Gow, and steamed buns. The portions were large and tasty. There's a small parking lot behind the building and the spaces are a bit tight. Will come back next time we're in the area. read more

Overall it was not bad. I will return but probably skip the pineapple bun. Im not a fan of custard pineapple bun. Everything was good. read more

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I remember eating Dim Sum Express a long time ago and thinking the food was not too bad with prices being fairly cheap. And since I drive past this little food shack almost all the time, I always see customers lining up for dim sum. It wasn't until recently that my team decided to have a dim sum celebration during lunch. We wanted a place that wasn't too far with fairly cheap but tasty dim sum. And we ended up with Dim Sum Express. Over the years, the prices have definitely gone up. I was a little surprised that most items were priced individually - baos, siu mai, har gow, etc. So prices did add up. We called in our order - which I definitely recommend if you have a larger order. The line wasn't too bad and luckily everything was ready by the time we picked up the food. We all agreed that the dim sum wasn't too bad - I think we all had our own notions and preconceptions of what the dim sum would taste like because it's been so long and somehow we associate this place with lower end dim sum. But they were pretty good and helped cure our dim sum craving. Items I recommend: -Har gao ($1.25 each) was actually one of my favorites. I don't usually enjoy har gao as much, but there was a good amount of shrimp. Each bite was pretty tasty, and I liked that the shrimp were pretty plump! -Siu mai ($1.15 each) was also pretty good. Not my favorite, but the pork was sweet and the overall size of the siu mai was pretty big. -Steamed BBQ pork bun ($1.35 each) - these buns are huge! Also not an item I normally order, but I was surprised by how tasty this was. The bread was soft and fluffy with a nice sweetness to it. The BBQ pork inside had just enough sauce and filling. The other items that we ordered were alright: -Chicken rice in lotus leaf ($2.50 each) - not much filling; there seemed to be more rice and everything was a bit too sticky. Usually the lotus leaf wraps around the entire rice ball, but all of our orders had only half a lotus leaf with the remaining being covered with wax paper. Because of this, there wasn't enough steamed lotus flavor that seeped into the rice. -Baked pineapple cream bun ($1.35 each) - these were huge, but the taste was lacking. Not sweet enough and the pineapple top lacked in flavor as well. -Custard tart ($1.35 each) - quite small and didn't taste fresh. It wasn't bad for an egg tart, but I'd skip ordering this from Dim Sum Express next time. You can probably buy frozen ones and get a similar taste. -Yang Chow Fried Rice ($8.50); for the price, the portion is pretty good. There's a good amount of shrimp as well as mixed vegetables. Taste was alright. -Beef udon with black pepper ($8.25); again, worth it for the price. The overall dish was a little on the oily side and not too much flavor in the beef. But it tasted pretty good after adding in hot sauce. We also ordered baked BBQ pork buns (also huge), potstickers (4 for $2.75) and fried wontons (4 for $2.25). I didn't try those, but my coworkers had good things to say about those items. So our order ended up being over $100, which was a bit too pricey considering each one of us paid around $15. We all had enough to eat, but the quality was not the best. This place is also located on the very busy Valley with a tiny parking lot next to the shack. Cash only! tl;dr - Will probably only return for the essential dim sum. read more

Food is always good. Prices are okay as well as service. It's a small place with a big menu.

With Covid-19 and restrictive dining, I have been able to get takeout from places that I would not normally go. One place is Dim Sum Express. I've seen this no frills takeout dim sum location every time I drive down Garfield Avenue but have never had the desire to stop. The name alone conjures up low expectations. However, I've seen some positive comments about the place so I was open to finally judge for myself. The biggest surprise is that their dim sum menu is priced per piece. Shrimp dumpling (har gow) is $1.29 each. Pork Sui Mai is $1.19 each. At a regular dim sum restaurant, an order of 4 would be about $3.85 or $0.96 each. For a small family-run place, pricing is much higher than expected. As far as the items themselves, the steamed chicken bun had a good amount of tasty filling but lacked any ginger and was a bit dry. The har gow was certainly a bit larger than most but lacked seasoning. The sui mai was just average in taste. None of the sampled items were significant enough in size nor taste to charge Lunasia type pricing or 20% premium over most other takeout dim sum places. Dim Sum Express will satisfy your cravings for some savory dim sum, but unfortunately, I personally did not get either the quality nor value that I expected but could certainly find elsewhere. read more

Dim Sum Express - Menu - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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I am torn. I think this place deserves a three and a half. The cha siu baos are totally bomb. They may be a tad too much on the bao (bread) side. Like a 65%, but that's ok because the cha siu is very tasty and I could handle it being at 35% because it is that good. It's even ok that they are $1.45, about .50 more than Chinatown. Fine. But the wait is a bit much. I ordered ten cha siu baos, one single siu mai, and and an order of ( four) wontons. It took over 40 minutes. It actually seemed longer because the other customers kept crowding around me and giving me Covid anxiety. I kept moving away, and sure enough, someone else would come too close to me. There are no markings as to where customers need to stand. I even went behind the building. There's a speaker that shouts out your number, but the lady who took my order never told me that they'd call my number or showed me my number as it just looked like a hash mark. ( It was the number 1.) When I heard the number I hovered around the window, as did one other man, way too close to me, and asked if that was my order. She just kinda threw it at me. Whatever. The baos are great. The wontons were ok, no sauce. I didn't eat the siu mai. One of the kids ate it. Next time I'm going to Chinatown. read more

Always order har gaws here ! Cash only It's a take out place! They used to have a table not anymore! read more

Food was expensive and wasn't that great to be honest long wait and place smells bad and very dirty . I wouldn't go there again and the customer service was rude and not very nice . It's small and the parking was not the business . Someone recommended this spot and I was excited to try it out and it was disappointing I'm sorry to say . My first and last time here read more

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Literally a hole in the wall that serves up some good 'to go' dim sum only. You order at one window and pick up at the other. Some people will eat in their cars after pick up. They sell by the piece and each piece is larger then the average dim sum you would get in a restaurant. The price is quite reasonable. They don't have a wide selection of steamed dim sums type dumplings which are my favorites. Mostly more variety of bread type dim sum. They also offer some Chinese food which I have never tried. read more

There is no seating. Cash only. Order and out fast. I have only ever ordered the dim sum and it is very good for the price. read more

Easy in and out. Order using a check sheet. Dim sum items are good! I like the lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice. Custard buns are also good. Cash only. Dim sum isn't s as cheap as it used to be. Prices on the menu are for individual pieces (e.g. 1 siu mai) not a plate of 3 like at a restaurant so keep that in mind when ordering. Adds up quick. read more

This place has been here forever. I ordered siu mai & ha gow. It's not good & not bad. I've had better. In my opinion, it's overpriced, just like everything else. No seating area & cash only. read more

Dim Sum Express - Siu mai & ha gow - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

It's an easy place to pick up dimsum and I think the size of the hargow and siomai are pretty big and tasty (it is their best sellers). I liked the crunchiness of the fried wontons. And the steamed chicken buns & the custard tart is good. It's really no frills, to go place. Will come back to try the others! read more

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This place makes and serves delicious dim sum to go. The weird part is the place is small and very enclosed. You can't even see the people inside working, nor taking your order. You simply get a pencil and a paper menu and order. No hellos, can't see the person inside, just simply give them your written order, pay, wait, and pick up from the other window. LoL. It seems like they don't care about your business! Anyhow, they make and serve delicious dim sum. Their other menu food items such as their noodles... Is alright. You could probably order better food items elsewhere. I like their barbecue pork bao, their egg custard don tats, their turnip cakes, and the rice noodle rolls. It's always served fresh and warm. Yummy! Overall, if you want a quick dimsum meal away from the restaurants, this is a good place. Parking stinks because it's located on a busy street. They do have a small lot in the back, but it's easily missed. I'll give four stars for their dimsum, but don't expect special treatment. read more

This is going to be my family's go-to for har gao, siu mai, and char siu bao. Both my mother and sister said the siu mai were excellent (I didn't try any). I loved the har gao. It was great even without any sauce. What sold us were the pork buns. We tried one steamed, one fried, and one as a puff pastry. Dim Sum Express is generous with the stuffing and all the bread was delightful. Our favorite was the puff pastry. Note to newbies: When ordering, the prices are for individual pieces. I had thought this was the case when the prices were so low and debated with my family over it at the time. read more

Where I'm from in the Bay Area, on the weekends I usually either go out for Dim Sum with the fam or there are little spots all over the city that have a sort of cafeteria-style pick what you want and be about your way type spots. Well basically its the weekend and I'm craving some Dim Sum so I find this spot and so I head out and lucky enough it's still early where there was no line (around 10a). Had to order the essentials, if you come upon a new dim sum spot you always gotta try the Har Gao because like who doesn't love scrimps amirite?! and of course the every delicious Siu Mai because it is just that good. After that, ya'll can order whatever else your heart desires. Both came out fresh. The wrapping of the har gao had a little more wrap than I like but the flavor was there and the siu mai was a good size. All in all, I can't be mad about this spot because so far this is the only spot I've found in LA that has a service like this. TIP: ask for some chili oil or hot mustard as a dipping side for the dumplings or grab yourself a bottle of Chiu chow chili oil from any Asian supermarket and enjoy it at home. Trust me the oil brings it to another level. read more

Dim Sum Express - Love me some dim sum! - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

Food is mediocre. Cash only. Outdoor seating to the side. Small window where they take your order. No indoor seating/standing area. It's on a main/busy street, making it a convenient place if one is super hungry and in need of a quick bite to eat. Very casual ambiance. Prices are typical for dim sum. Wouldn't recommend. read more

Dim Sum Express - siu mai & hom suey gok - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

3.5 stars?! this is totally misleading. this dimsum street corner beacon of light is absolutely 5 stars hands down! For a literally street food stand establishment, this place is affordable, fast, and delicious!! Their ham sui gok is HUGE and super crispy and delicious. the siu mai were super tasty and fresh. the steamed buns also soft and pillowy. We also ordered house special chow mein - made to order and super hot! You order by marking off the items you want. it is super helpful they have pretty accurate pictures of the items on their window for the non-chinese speaking folks like myself. i may not speak the language but my belly is fluent in dim sum! literally a fast food dim sum joint and i am totally for it. who needs the long wait lines for a table? i will happily scarf down this delicious food in my car in the parking lot. read more

Be sure you follow your google maps on your way here since it's easy to miss this small spot! Initially had to make a loop since we missed it the first go around. TIPS: 1) Come early since the parking lot is small 2) CASH ONLY We came around 10AM and there was already a queue in person and those that called ahead. If you're ordering a lot of their buns would recommend calling ahead since they make it fresh. We ordered around 2 dozen and had to wait 15 mins or so for the order but they came steaming in the bags so we definitely had to keep them open. Buns were super fluffy and recommend the chicken and bbq pork. Nice texture and taste contrasts between the two as the bbq pork is sweeter and more broken up while the chicken comes in a ball and more savory. Buns hold up pretty well but would recommend eating them within 3 days to maximum freshness Didn't get too much aside from the egg tarts which are best fresh and warm! read more

07/20/2019 A snack for lunch means quick dim sum items. It has been so long since I was last here. Probably before Yelp exists. Walk up to the order window and grab a sheet. Use the pens provided to mark what you want. Each item is a single item so if you want 4 har gow, mark 4 next to har gow. I got 3 har gow, 2 siu mai, 1 glutinous potsticker, and 1 BBQ pork baked bun. I was definitely satisfied and dim sum craving crushed. read more

Dim Sum Express - BBQ pork bun, har gow, siu mai - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

In the past, post boba and taco trucks, this was the go to place in SGV. They get 5 stars because of service? Mid-century decor? artisan unicorn dust? Nope. None of the above. This place is pure as they come. For my peeps that couldn't afford Sam Woo or ABC cafe, this was our adobe; yes I'm of age and I know that. There was no Uber or DoorDash then, we rode our bikes as this was our destination for all of SGV. Meaning, we saved a whole week of lunch money to eat here. Hands down, hawk-style food at its most approachable. If you like dim sum, come give this a try. Shumai (pork dumpling), har gao (shrimp dumpling) and ham sui gol (think deep fried mochi with stuffing). Eat this in the parking lot behind on, plate your food on the hood of your car and wash everything down with iced tea (sorry, no lemons here). It's a no-frills quick service real attitude with good food. Look past the busy street and awkward ordering system. Indulge yourself in what the closest HK street food this side of SGV. read more

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I love the food here and have been coming since i was a kid. However, "express" is a strong word be prepared for a wait

ONE OF THE BEST DIM SUMS EVER! The food was cheap and delicious! Worth every penny! My friend and I shared everything and still got full! read more

Dim Sum Express - Hargow,Sui Mai, Pork Chop! Custard treats! - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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Efficient dim sum to go. It's not the best but it's better than anything you will get on the west side of LA, especially with these prices. 4 stars because it's good, parking is easy (behind the building) and they are fast. They make everything fresh to order, so if there's a line you might have to wait a bit longer. I come here on a consistent basis when craving some dim sum but not wanting to stand an hour in line. read more

This place has changed their hours, but has not updated the hours on YELP. Drove so many miles to find the place closed. The hours they have displayed in the side of the building doesn't match either as I called before 3: 30pm and no one answers the phone either. read more

I've been to this spot several times before. Usually in the afternoon. It does get busy for lunch time. They are cash only. It's been a good experience every time I've gone. This place is great if you're craving dim sum but don't want to dine in. They have a pretty good selection of dim sum. I stop by this place if I'm in the area and get just a few pieces as a snack or get a meals worth of dim sum. I have also tried their fried rice (Yang Chow) was pretty good. I've had the Steamed BBQ Pork Bun, Baked BBQ Pork Bun, Baked Pineapple Cream Bun, Siu Mai, Pot Sticker, Turnip Cake. This visit I got got the Baked Pineapple Cream Bun, Siu Mai, Steamed BBQ Pork Bun and Turnip cake. They were all great. Nothing over cooked, or too dry. read more

Dim Sum Express - Baked Pineapple Cream Bun (Left), Siu Mai (Top), Turnip Cake (Right), Steamed BBQ Pork Bun (Bottom) - Dim Sum Near Me - Monterey Park, California

I've been coming here for years. I love their food and dim sum. Their prices have definitely gone up over the years, but they still have me coming back regardless. That's how good it is. I Honestly recommend trying it all! Though that might be pricey haha. I'm sure whatever catches your attention will be great cause I like it all. Especially when it's all fresh fresh!? Sometimes the wait can be long but that's because it's freshhhh. Trust the lady when she says it's hot lol. You'll burn your mouth/tongue haha. read more

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Food is good and I would come back mainly because of the convenience. Service is quick and you can get dim sum without having to sit at the restaurant and wait. Definitely nice for days you want to eat dim sum at home in your lounge wear! read more