Dined at our old favorite and food was still consistent. Service was courteous and efficient as usual. We ordered our usual items: Beef Chow Fun, Fish Fillet with Tender Green, and French Style Beef Tenderloin. Portions were still big and of good value. Prices went up about a dollar per plate as compared to last year, roughly about 6-7% which was reasonable because ingredients are costing more these days. They do charge 2% for credit card USA. If you're looking for a casual place to eat reasonably good and reasonably priced Chinese food, this is a solid option. read more

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Been here only a few times and yes if we went with others we have to send each other the right address as there's two mama Lu's on the same street! Just East vs West. We were able to find parking in the back and it was full so there's more parking underground. This place was pretty full, but given the capacity, the place had more ceiling space than seating place. We met family and friends while they already were in the middle of dinner and we came pretty late. Mama Lu's is known for their dumplings but they also serve Chinese dishes such as beef chow fun, roasted duck, fried fish fillet, and more. Staff were friendly, they were helpful and a wasn't hard to flag them down if we needed something. Overall, good place, would come again to try dumplings. read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

I arrived late to a family dinner so all the dumplings were already gone. Although I missed out on the dumplings, we had the fried fish, fried sweet potatoes , duck, shaken beef, and clam soup. The fried fish was very good, crunchy a little bland but the seasons on the side worked out. The beef noodle is just classic, I feel like I eat this all the time at Chinese restaurants. The service was good, My grandma's friend apparently scoped out the place before hand and put her card down for the table. Sneaky sneaky, she put down one of the trickiest plays. The place has a very high ceiling, Spacious doesn't seem like it had a lot of tables, but it wasn't packed. read more

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Good food, but nothing spectacular. The servers are not very personable, though they are prompt when needed which is appreciated. There's plenty of seating and they have TVs up for entertainment inside. I've only ever gone during lunch and it's been a ghost town, so I can't speak for dinner if it gets busy or not. I appreciate that they have so much variety on the menu, so there's something for everybody when you go here. The dumplings are pretty good and the portions are generous for the plates you order. Beijing beef and string bean chicken were both pretty good. This place can be a bit pricy, so keep that in mind if you start to order more than one thing per person as it'll add up quick. Not sure how this locations stacks up to the others, but it's a solid spot that's worth checking out if you're in Monterey Park. read more

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Went here recently (2 weeks apart) and while the food and service were good, the experience was unpleasant because of how hot it was inside. It was so hard to enjoy the food especially the soup because it feels like we're in a sauna. Hopefully they will address this soon. read more

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The food is delicious, delivered quickly and hot. However, their customer service needs improvement. Maybe it's a language barrier issue (I only speak English) but that shouldn't matter. When someone ask for water refill, to go containers or even a fork, the servers should respond appropriately. They speak loudly like snapping at you while continuing to walk away and act like you are bothering them. read more

It's been a while since we've had Mama Lu's and we wanted to grab some of their Seaweed Fish for dinner. I looked them up on UberEats and saw that they were having a deal! Woot! Purchase one of their listed dishes and you can pick another of their listed dishes for free. I placed my order and headed on over. They were not too busy around 4 pm and the food was ready and waiting for pick up. - Seaweed Fish (yummy and crispy) - Shanghai Style Chow Mein (tasty) Overall, it was good food at a great value. Pickup was easy and they have underground parking. Credit cards are accepted. read more

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Decent Chinese food for a reasonable price, though much worse than it used to be. Service and cleanliness leave something to be desired. Expect a significant wait during peak times. Pork soup dumplings - Comes out steaming hot. Delicious soup with great umami and extremely tender pork. They do not provide ginger. Crispy noodles with seafood - We asked for the sauce on the side so the noodles would stay crispy. They were indeed crispy, but the sauce was terribly bland. Lots of seafood though. Fried pork buns - Very doughy but in a wet and unpleasant way. Also would not order again. Fried rice noodles with beef - Extremely greasy with beef that tastes like nothing; would not order again. No wok flavor. Scallop and egg white fried rice - Solid rendition of a famous fried rice dish. No complaints. Overall extremely disappointed by the food this time, as I recall really enjoying this place as a teenager maybe 10 years ago or so. Perhaps the choice of dishes we made this time was poor, or maybe their opening of more locations has led to a quality decrease. Portions are also smaller thanks to shrinkflation. read more

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Still good food and good service. Prices still reasonable. Many other items have not tried yet read more

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Delicious Chinese food with hearty portions. Tried and true classic that consistently delivers. Service was solid with a casual ambiance. read more

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The food was good, but the customer service left us disappointed. We visited as a family of four--two adults and two children--and ordered three meals and waters. Our server repeatedly pointed out that we were "only ordering three plates" and seemed bothered that we didn't want any other drinks. This made us feel uncomfortable over something that should not have been an issue. The payment experience was even more uncomfortable. The server held the payment machine instead of letting me hold it and took my card to process the payment. I didn't add a tip on the machine because I planned to leave cash. Before I had a chance to do so, she stood very close to me and asked, "Are you going to give cash for tip?" She remained there while I took money out of my wallet, which made me feel pressured and crowded. We did leave a cash tip, and she went back to the table to check it. By that point, I honestly no longer felt comfortable tipping because of how we had been treated. I understand that tips are appreciated, but customers should be given the space to make that decision without feeling pressured. As much as we enjoyed the food, this experience left a bad impression. read more

Food has gone down hill. Xiao long bao tasted like ones I could get frozen. Hot inside, no ac on. It was 90 degrees outside. Service is on par for most Chinese restaurants. read more

Note to self... This is a dumpling house, not a dim sum place. Although they have many dim sum like options. Best part was no wait on Sunday when we showed up at 10:30AM. Food was very tasty and the servers were on top of things. By the time we left more people showed up but there were still tables available for any walk ins. read more

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I was craving some Chinese food and decided to stop by. I was really in the mood for a good fried rice, so I ordered the Chinese broccoli with preserved meat fried rice - and it definitely hit the spot. I also ordered the golden fried shrimp and pork soup dumplings. The shrimp were light and crispy, and the dumplings were so juicy and flavorful. Everything was delicious. I noticed that if you dine in, the portions seem much larger compared to takeout. The prices are reasonable, especially considering how generous the portions are. I ate until I was full and still had enough shrimp to take home. There are plenty of tables inside, and I didn't have to wait at all. They do take card and parking is easy - either outside building or under parking garage. Definitely would recommend if you're craving authentic chinese food. read more

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I had not been to Mama Lu's in many years. I estimate about fifteen years. I remember the food being very savory and the ambience bright and bustling. I had high hopes for a repeat experience. We came here for my birthday celebration very early one morning. I believe the restaurant had just opened so they appeared not to be prepared for a large group this early in the day Still, we were seated right away and our orders were taken quickly. It took a bit for our orders to arrive but when they did the plates were hearty and overflowing with food. My order consisted of the following: * Fish ball with vegetable soup * Veggie egg rolls * Veggie dumplings The egg rolls were tasty but a bit too crisp. The soup was very hearty and flavorful. The dumplings were fine. I plan on visiting Mama Lu's again but I am hoping that the food will be superb just as it was years ago. Plenty of parking behind the restaurant. Enjoy your visit! read more

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I was in the area running errands & decided to grab a late lunch here. The place was half full and there was only one staff in sight. He was the host, the server & the busboy. Surprisingly, he handled the whole restaurant quite efficiently. The crispy sole was perfectly fried. I also ordered the crispy noodles with beef. I love that there was a good portion of beef... but the crispy noodle was too soggy because they over sauced the dish.. which also made the dish too salty. This dish would have been perfect if they put some restraint on the sauce. read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - deep fried sole... so crispy... so good - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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I hadn't been to this restaurant in a long time because it was always packed, but I decided to give it another try. We came on a Sunday afternoon and were surprised to see plenty of open tables and no wait. We ordered the kung pao chicken, juicy dumplings, two bowls of white rice, and a lemon iced tea. The kung pao chicken had good flavor, but I wish it came with more peanuts and veggies, there were only a few pieces of green pepper and mostly onions. The dumplings tasted good too, but they barely had any juice inside, which was a little disappointing. For what you get, the prices feel a bit high compared to similar places. The entrées don't come with rice, so you have to add it for $1.25 per bowl. Also, the lemon iced tea is $5.75 with no refills, which seems excessive. Service wasn't great either. No one checked on us at all until it was time to pay. Overall, the food was decent but between the pricing and the lack of service, I won't be rushing back. read more

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It's been a while since we've last been here. My fiance was craving Shanghai style chow mein and this was the only place I could think of that served it so we decided to give it another try. We order the Shanghai style chow mein, beef wrap and pork pot stickers. The entire meal was very underwhelming. The Shanghai style chow mein wasn't authentic. They used udon noodles instead of the orange noodles and the flavor was pretty lacking. The beef wrap has got to be the worst I've had. The beef was very dry and there was very little flavor and very little cucumber. The little hoison sauce that it did have was bitter. The pot stickers were grilled nicely with a good crunch but it also lacked flavor. It tasted better with the sweet vinegar. Overall was disappointed in our meal. Service was ok. The lady did come and refill our waters but other than that we barely saw the server. Located in a plaza with plenty of parking in the rear and underground. Unfortunately,I probably won't be back. read more

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This Mama Lu's location was so disappointing it made me wonder if it was serving the same food as the original location. The spicy wonton flavor was spicy and salty with some sweetness but the wonton itself was disappointing. The pork inside wasn't fresh. We also for the sesame chicken. There was barely any chicken. I think it was just fried batter glued together with the tiniest pieces of chicken. Chow mein was decent but you really can't mess it up. The soup dumplings were sub par. They felt smaller than the original location and most of them didn't even have soup in them or there were holes. And again the pork inside wasn't fresh. There's this slightly old pork flavor to it which bothers me. I would not come back to this location. Extremely disappointing! The only positive was that the portion sizes were big and the chow mein was good. read more

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This is a newer location but just down the street from the original. Large portions, delicious food, made fresh and fast. My friends and I came at lunch time on a Saturday and didn't have to wait. Amazing! Our favorites were the dumplings and beef wrap. Tried the Indonesian rice because someone else on Yelp said it was good. My party did not care for it. Lots of rice and decent protein. Uncertain of the flavor. Anyway, next time sticking with XLB, other pan fried dumplings, shen jiang bao and the beef wrap. Very reasonably priced for what you get and the ambiance. They had Big 10 basketball on too, so we were happy to watch some basketball, talk and stuff ourselves. read more

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I've been here a few times and there's good and bad days, but the food was good this time! Unfortunately now they use QR codes for menus which I'm not a fan of. Overall I enjoyed the food and it came out quick. read more

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Been going here for years, same great taste. Food is always flavorful and portion size is fairly large when you dine in. Tofu with enoki mushrooms and the Chilean sea bass with preserved veggies are still my go to dishes! Highly recommend. read more

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Our family loves Mama Lu's... This (newer) location has peking duck available... it was ok... probably wouldn't order again... But we loved everything else... We like their fried rice - combination and shrimp, beef wrap, beef chow fun noodles, orange chicken, seaweed fish, mongolian beef, salt and spicy pork chops, dumplings, spicy wonton etc... All the dishes were good & portions huge... I like this location because it's cleaner and is spacious. Service has been good every time as well. read more

I been passing this location so much that I decided to stop today and I was not disappointed at all the food was perfect. I had the chicken sweet and sour what I love about it that the chicken was crispy and I love that texture of food, the white rice was so delicious. We also got the pork dumplings . The food was amazing, the price also good and I will love to come here and have the soup next time. Come and support this restaurant in Alhambra. read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - 1 Xiao Long Bao JUICY PORK DUMPLINGS (10) - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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i liked what i ordered, but my sister pick fell flat. We both liked the crispy noodle seafood great taste and crunch! But the Thai noodle seafood was the thin chow fun with a light color and mostly noodles. When asked why it didn't look like the menu pic they said seafood mixed in....so we searched. The $4.99 Corona bottle beers made up for that. There's two Mama Lu on Garvey Ave maybe we should try the other location? read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

Food was legit tonight Ordered half duck my 8 year old was down to try, first bite he said so so...... but he asked for 6 more pieces after that LOL I Gave him the side that has more meat and I pull the bone off before serving to him. Then he went for the drum stick and he got all the meat around the bone! Also ordered fried rice 5/5 Soup dumplings 3/5 Duck 4/5 Bean sauce noodle 5/5 Service was great, couple ladies kept checking on my water level and gave me refills. Had a good chat with one of them! Price is fair Now the dumplings almost tasted like it's been steamed an hour ago and sat under a heat lamp for a moment, the skin was actually dry to the mouth. Not like freshly steamed and it would be moist. Certainly wasn't All other dishes decent to good! read more

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AMAZING PORTIONS, AFFORDABLE PRICE!! We got the Indonesian fried rice, pork xiao long baos, and golden fried shrimp. The shrimp was super crispy and light 8.5/10. Indonesian fried rice was amazing, flavorful and meat was tender 9/10. The xiao long baos was good as well, nothing extraordinary 7.5/10. Service was quick and lots of seating inside. We were able to have a decent amount of leftovers after since the portions were huge!! Would come back again read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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The food as definitely changed. Everything used to be reasonable priced and savory, but now each dish is approximately $15+ each and everything taste sweet. Sadly, even the tea is $1 per person now. 1. Hot & Sour Soup - Thick, full of meat, tofu, and egg drop. But it tastes so sweet. Even with vinegar, that didn't help. 2. Pork Pot Stickers - Nicely fried, but the filling was on the sweeter side. This dish should always be savory. 3. Fried Sole Filet - Fish was fried more on the extra done side. But once again, the soy sauce that was provided was sweeter than usual. 4. XLB - The meat and juice was well seasoned and reasonably priced. I can understand why this is slightly sweet. I don't know what happened to this place. Maybe, their over expansion affected the chefs flavor profile. read more

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I visited Mama Lu Dumpling House, and the video says it all. The family-sized portions were enormous, lol. But I must say, every dish was absolutely delicious. I ordered sautéed string beans, Indonesian fried rice, spicy wontons, and coconut bread. I have enough leftovers to enjoy for several days, lol! I definitely plan to return to try more dishes, especially since it's not far from where I'm staying.#lafoodsceneisamazing #travelnurseshavemorefun#abutravelstheworldforfood #travelnurseswithoutborders read more

Great people. Great food. Great service. Go there. You'll like it. ........................................ read more

Service and ambiance are a typical chinese restaurant so focus is on food: 1. XLB (7.8/10) - the skin was a tad thick but overall pretty solid soup dumplings 2. pork/shrimp/chives dumpling (8.5/10) - this was the best dumpling flavor of the ones we got, the vegetable was really needed to balance out the flavors 3. garlic pea shoots (7/10) - standard garlic stir fry chinese veggie, I prefer the baby pea shoots 4. chili wontons (7/10) - didnt really taste like much, the filling was masked by the chili oil 5. pork and shrimp dumplings (6/10) - this one was too much meat and not enough vegetables to balance it out For a dumpling house, I'd say it's "ol reliable" but I think individually there could be better dumplings elsewhere. read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - XLB, pork/shrimp/chives dumplings, garlic pea shoots, chili wontons and pork and shrimp dumplings - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

We've had very good meals at this Mama Lu Dumpling House, which is different from the chain Mama Lu's Dumpling House with several nearby locations. So we double-checked that they were open Christmas Day and they were (as were many other local Chinese restaurants). But when we got there to order take out it was already a madhouse. The wait for our order was quoted as 30-40 minutes. Not too bad... But the place only got busier and busier with each minute. Phone pick up orders and Uber Eats type orders were piling up too. One customer who phoned in and paid just gave up and left without any food. We got our order at 90 minutes time. Glad we were not in any rush! While dishes are generous for on site dining, it is not so with their take out containers. And this time the portions were marginal at best. Although the fried flounder was freshly done. We went back for hot and sour soup take out the next day and it was good but not great. Oh, by the way - $25 minimum for credit card use and 2% surcharge, so bring cash $ USD. read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - Fried flounder, sweet & sour spareribs, pea leaf sprouts & tofu in brown sauce. - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

Came here with some friends out of LA. I've been hearing rave things about Mama Lus!! This is the first location I've been too though I've heard they have multiple. The interior has fairly high ceilings and more modern decor. Service was pretty fast for the number of dishes we ordered. Honestly everything was a 10/10 for me, they did all the classics super well. - Crispy Fried Coconut Bread: first time having this, crisp warm bread, sweet condensed milk dipping sauce - Green String Beans: crunchy & well seasoned - Pork Xiao Long Bao: juicy & plump - Chinese Broccoli: perfect balance between crunchy & soft - Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice: my favorite dish, nice little dried fish & chicken pieces mixed with egg - Egg White, Dry Scallop & Chinese Broccoli Fried Rice: less over seasoned rice compared to the salted fish & chicken, little crunchy dry scallop piece on top - Beef Chow Fun: another classic done well, tender beef Wait wasn't too long around 10 min on a Saturday afternoon. Ambience wasn't too crowded and had a decent amount of parties dining in for mid-afternoon. Will definitely be back to check out more of their locations! read more

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Very disappointing service. A young waitress placed a sizzling hot plate right next to my arm without giving any warning that it was extremely hot. This was a safety hazard and could have easily caused a burn. Throughout the meal, I also noticed a clear difference in her attitude toward customers. She was warm and friendly to non-Asian customers but noticeably colder and less attentive to Chinese customers, which made us feel unwelcome. I hope the restaurant improves its staff training. Every customer deserves the same level of courtesy, respect, and attention, regardless of their ethnicity. read more

Value & Service: portions are huge and prices reasonable, making it ideal for groups. We arrived just before closing and were still greeted with warm, speedy service. The dumplings were absolutely delicious--bursting with flavor--and the fish was pure heaven. Everything came out quickly, and the attendants were incredibly friendly despite the late hour. The seating was comfortable, the tea was excellent, and having a large parking lot nearby made the visit even smoother. Highly recommend for anyone craving flavorful , even close to closing time! read more

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This Mama Lu location can be a hit or miss. My most recent experiences were a miss. The pan fried veggie with meat buns and the beef wrap were all burnt. I'm appalled at the fact they still served those to me. Salt and pepper pork chops and golden fried shrimp were soggy... not enjoyable whatsoever. Juicy pork soup dumplings were lacking soup! Only dish that was at least ok was the beef chow fun. Even still, it felt drenched in oil. read more

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From the Chinese forums and from reviews, this place has EXTREMELY high reviews, so of course I had high expectations. We ordered the honey garlic pork chop, sautéed garlic string beans, fried salt and pepper calamari, green onion pancake, xiao long bao, and some oolong tea (which is the only hot tea they had). Here's a review of everything: The honey garlic pork chop was not fried evenly. When it came out, I saw pieces that weren't even coated in the batter before being fried, so it was just squishy pork chop on top of a plate of honey sauce. Trust me, I've had this dish MANY times at other restaurants, and the way this sauce didn't even stick to the pork chop shows the poor quality of the dish. If one can't even evenly dip the pork in batter to fry, then the dish isn't going to have the right texture or taste. The sautéed string beans were actually the most fresh because they weren't stringy/tough (like beans that are old). The flavor was lacking in the garlic department (unfortunate) but this was probably the most flavorful dish out of all of them. The fried salt and pepper calamari was the biggest disappointment. The cuts were so large that it couldn't fit into my mouth. The first piece I ate was just fried batter... I only ate one piece of the calamari after before trying to ask them if they would take it back because I did not enjoy the dryness and the lack of flavor. Frankly, it was just oily with no real flavor, and had some ingredient that made my throat dry. Even a 5 minute request to have them take it off our bill wasn't successful. Bad customer service (more on that later). The green onion pancake had great texture but NO strong taste of green onion and an even lesser taste of salt. It was under seasoned. Trader Joe's frozen one tastes better... Lastly, the xiao long baos. The texture of the skin looked interestingly thick but was actually not bad. The issue is that the pork was either undercooked or the filling didn't contain enough pork because every single one I ate was squishy on the inside. Steamed pork should not be squishy. Even over-steamed pork is more firm, texture wise. The only other reason it could be squishy inside is if the filling consists of mostly NOT pork, which would explain the lack of pork taste that it had. Go to Din Tai Fung for better quality xiao long bao. The tea was sad. Not enough flavor. Everything lacked flavor so don't come here if you like good Chinese food. Also, customer service sucks. They wouldn't take the dish off our bill and also another table of four were forced to get up and move after being seated and ordering food and drinks because the staff had another group of people who could fit at the table they were at (clearly there's no organization whatsoever). read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California

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The food is very amazing and the server Yu Mon is very kind and good at serving. The atmosphere of the store is great too. We will definitely come back again for sure. read more

Haven't stopped by this Mama Lu location for a while. Ordered the 63 Hei Jiao Niu Rou Chao Wu Dong Mian BLACK PEPPER BEEF TENDERLOIN STIR FRIED UDON & 4 Xie Fen Xiao Long Bao JUICY PORK & CRAB DUMPLINGS (8). The beef udon tasted fine, even tho it was a bit greasy. The xiao long bao, however, was not good at all. Found lil pieces of crab shells inside. There was no flavor and it tasted like it's been frozen in the fridge for a long time then they defrosted it to cook. Also, their ginger slices and sauces tasted weird like it's been sitting there for a long time. So very disappointed with our meal. Service was good tho. read more

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There are only 2-3 tables with 1 to 2 customers. I ordered the "Hainanese Chicken Rice" for lunch. I feel really sick after I ate and I got diarrhea most of the afternoon. One of the chicken purse still have blood. This is the first time I return to this restaurant after COVID restrictions and the services are really slow. read more

Mama Lu Dumpling House - Hainanese Chicken Rice - Chinese Near Me - Monterey Park, California