Long Beach is well known for being culturally diverse, and the food scene is no exception, but there's a glaring lack of good, authentic Chinese food. Sure, there are Chinese restaurants, but they either belong in the fast-food variety like Panda Express or the menu is catered to the western American palate. This was true until Northern Cafe arrived. Replacing the much beloved La Creperie Cafe, Northern Cafe finally brought authentic northern Chinese cuisine to Long Beach. I was hesitant to try it during soft opening because there were stories of partially cooked buns, but I have enough confidence to visit after several months of refinement. I was not disappointed. Their xiao long bao was delightful and traditional. The doughy skin wasn't as delicate as the ones at Din Tai Fung, but the filling rivaled the best of them. There's definitely enough hot soup within each bite that would satisfy the best of connoisseurs, and you would know to be careful not burning your mouth when eating one of them if you're experienced. The fried rice was also full of flavor and not too salty or greasy. I still yet to try their noodles, and this gives me the perfect excuse to return with my wife. Service was attentive, but it did take a while because it was later in the evening and there might be less staff compared to peak hours. The indoor dining area was spacious, and there's an outdoor patio when the weather is pleasant. Parking on 2nd Street is free after 7 pm. Otherwise Belmont Shore parking is as infamous as you know. read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Long Beach, California

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If you're hungry for din tai fung but don't have the DTF money, Northern Cafè is a great alternative. We didn't make it for happy hour but they still offered a discounted menu after the time that it said it went till so I was really hyped about that. We got to try an assortment of foods at half the price. My favorite was the veggie wontons in spicy chili oil. And if you don't like peanuts make sure you order them without because they sure put a lot. Everything came out super fast which I liked because I was starving. After we got some food in us we ordered the lychee sangria and the watermelon drink. I liked the lychee sangria but the watermelon drink was just for show and I felt like there wasn't much alcohol in it. I'll deff come back if I'm in the mood for a quick cheap meal read more

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We go to Northern Cafe in Cerritos and Gardena often, and when this location on 2nd Street opened, we were thrilled to try. The first time at dinner was a bit off, so we chalked it up to them being new. We visited this LB location the second time for brunch dim sum last weekend, and while I understand that this location has different menu items, it still didn't wow me. * Shrimp Wontons in Chili Oil: I know the menu said "contains cucumber" but they put so much that the cucumber overtakes all the flavor and texture. I stopped eating after two because the overwhelming cucumber taste and smell started to affect the other dishes. * Pork Soup Dumplings: Classic and this was pretty close to what the other locations served. This was my favorite. * Steamed Seafood Pork Dumpling: This was also a good choice. All the ingredients were chopped pretty finely, so I didn't really taste the different ingredients or feel their texture. * Mala Spicy Beef Noodle Soup: This was numbingly spicy and the noodles were deliciously chewy. Like the other locations, I thought we could choose the noodle sizes (thin, thick, knife cut, flat), but I think it's just thin noodles here. * Salt and Pepper Tofu: Good snack on the side. It was piping hot as it came out of the fryer immediately, but they could've benefitted from letting the food dry a little longer to get rid of excess oil. * Popcorn Chicken: Another good snack on the side with good portion and fried basil leaves. I would get this again. Service was a bit disappointing both of the times I visited this location. The staff do not come around to check up on us often, and they are either hanging out by the bar or inside the kitchen so it's hard to flag them down. As we were waiting for our check, I saw customers waiting to place their order, get seated, or look around to find a server. I love NC and hope they succeed. I'll try this place again with different menu items to see if the third time's the charm. read more

I enjoy eating at this Northern Cafe location! For dinner we ordered lots of items on the menu to try: thai tea, soup dumplings, pork,chive, and shrimp dumplings, fried rices, spicy wontons, green beans, orange chicken, Mongolian beef, House special beef soup, Green onion pancake, and pan fried noodles with beef. My only notice is that their fried dishes were pretty oily compared to my other experiences. Overall food was great! Portions were very family style and shareable. We came on a busy Sunday for a family dinner! The restaurant is very clean, and has a warm at moving. We were greeted and attended to quickly throughout the evening. read more

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Was walking up and down second not knowing what i wanted but this hit the spot for the day. Went with the orange chicken and beef roll. Two great dishes. But there were many i wanted ... read more

Northern Cafe - Orange chicken and beef roll - Chinese Near Me - Long Beach, California

I'm posting this review with misgivings about doing so. We had mininal weather complains this year and considering the horrific and sorrowful year's events, I feel whiny and insensitive to complain about anything. However, a party that included a disabled person arrived while we were leaving. While we in the street at front, they too left. I'm not sure the reason that they left immediately but I do know one of them said that they had traveled a long distance to get there. So I was able to recommend to them some nearby Long Beach restaurants that we do like. To start with some positive words, Northern Café is roomy and lunch menu is moderately priced. Roomy is very nice but when a restaurant makes you wonder how it possesses such a high rating, that is not enough. I had lamented the lack of a dim sum in Long Beach for a long time, so I was very disappointed. There was nothing that couldn't be found better either homemade or from the grocery store's frozen section. Pulsing music so loud many would take to clubber's gyration yet not loud enough to drown out the Second Streeter infant's piercing screaming and screeching in the adjacent booth. This was intensified by the cereal box shape high ceiling where sound bounces like one of the underboiled buns. Clueless parent. No water, no forks or napkins given unless requested. We should have eaten on the outside front patio on this hot October afternoon but that exposes one to higher density Second Streeters who remind me of faux Newport Beachers. Decent hot and sour soup but thick with corn starch. Tough shrimp in dense buns. Seaweed salad's slick structure seemed flavorless and slid off the chop sticks. Potstickers average. Oil on the plates served no enhancing purpose. I was really hoping the red bean buns would be good. So very sweet and caused an inner mouth burn from the searing hotness which is as irritating as a earworm snippet for which you cannot remember the source. The server might have said it was served this hot since sugar can give a nasty burn. Sugar cube is the only flavor that I detected, which was also a strong aftertaste accompanying the blister. read more

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I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Northern Cafe! I was expecting an overly Americanized Chinese food restaurant, and although it is altered to appeal to an American palette, I think it still hits some great ingredients and flavors of Chinese cuisine. I got the Beef Rolls, Beef Noodle Soup, and Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and Ground Pork. Beef Rolls - $14.95, great flavor! The beef was tender, and it was loaded with cilantro for freshness. The pastry was a bit dry and fell apart with a few bites, but it holds together well if you take it to go. Beef Noodle Soup - $16.50, it was good, but definitely missing some umami and complexity. Beef noodle soups usually have a very deep flavor on bone broth and spiced, but this unfortunately just tasted like soy sauce and water. Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and Ground Pork - $15.50, truly one of my favorite bites in Long Beach! The eggplant is perfectly soft, and it is smothered in a wonderful garlic sauce. This dish also has wood ear mushrooms and bamboo shoots, which offer such unique flavors and textures. It's a must try! With all of this food, we only received 1 bowl of rice. If you're Asian, you understand that this ratio is off. We did ask for extra bowls of rice, and they served us with no additional charge, so it was no big deal at all! I definitely recommend Northern Cafe if you're looking to try Chinese food in a more approachable environment. read more

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Chinese person here: The pictures of the food on yelp looked good and authentic, so I gave it a try. But the moment i stepped inside, I saw that there were no Asian customers and no Asian employees. Red flag. To be short, this restaurant is not authentic. Everything tasted off. They use thick dumpling wrappers for the spicy wontons instead of actual wonton wrappers. The sauce was completely off. Sweet, not spicy at all, and thick. And topped with peanuts, that shouldn't go on wontons. No exaggeration, it was the worst dumpling/wonton I've ever had and it actually made me mad and lose my appetite. Would have spit it out but I hate wasting food. In short, read the 3 star and below reviews, they are accurate. read more

So it's kind of mixed for me because me and my buddy love coming here for the food but the service is so slow! It took 20 mins just to receive menus and the. Another 30 mins after that to get waters, my friend actually walked to the coffee shop next door to grab bottles of water and he left and came back before we received our water. read more

Food was fresh and tasty. They surprised me. This is a great cheaper alternative to Din Tai Fung, a much more expensive favorite of mine. This place is closer and much cheaper and the food is almost as good. I didn't love the vegetarian bun, but that's a personal issue. Everything else was incredible. Service was great, our food came out fast. We sat outside to enjoy the weather. We stopped by for lunch. Glad we tried it out! We will be back! read more

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I've been to the one in Cerritos and I'm so glad there's one in Long Beach now! We went during the Belmont Shore Christmas parade so it was packed! Despite it being super busy, the staff were very attentive and the service was great! The food was delicious and the portions were a good size! What we ordered (and it was enough to share between 3 hungry people): - house special beef noodles - honey walnut shrimp (my favorite!) - Mongolian beef - boba read more

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Yummy food and great location on second street. The pork soup dumplings were excellent. Super flavorful and it comes with two delicious dipping sauces. The string beans are well seasoned and come with a side of rice. Lastly the Dan Dan noodles were an excellent choice. It a large dish and meant to share. It's very heavily peanut flavor over anything else. Would have liked it to not be so heavily peanut flavor and a little mode savory. Overall a great spot, nice staff, solid food. read more

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Great food and great service! Excellent ambiance as well! Thank you Genesis for the great service!!

Me and my Husband decided to visit this location for Happy Hours. We were greeted and menus were handed to us. We received full price menus, we ask for the Happy Hours Menus. Nothing in this location was Happy, the Thick Latino gentleman it was obvious he had NO personality none what so ever. Granted the food was good but lukewarm and the billed OMG $40 kinda left a bad taste especially the non personality sever. Not sure I'll come back customer services is everything especially when you spending $$$ 01/02/26 read more

I've eaten here several times and have given them the second and third chances to get things better and then I thought well let's go back in and check it out and see if things have gotten better a few months later and after a fourth try, I think I've given up on this place. They can't seem to make a basic dish of beef with broccoli without garlic. The second time that I visited this restaurant, the young man taking the order did not include that I did not want garlic in my meal. When he handed me the ticket for the meal, I mentioned this to him and he said that he would go back and talk to the chef and make sure that garlic is avoided with my meal. When I got home, the beef with broccoli was loaded with garlic. I was so infuriated, even though there was a thick fog outside. I called and I said I'm coming back and I expect this to be made correctly. I was hungry and very pissed off. The young punk made sure to make himself scares so it's not to face the wrath of of telling him that he should have written down on the meal order no garlic. As I did on my first visit to the restaurant. The last time I was there the meal that I ordered to go. It actually had broccoli that would was soaked in ice water and they somehow stirfry it with the broccoli beef and when I got home, I was able to bite into ice, cold broccoli mixed in with lukewarm beef. Quite a disgusting experience. I did call back and left a message for the manager because she was too preoccupied to bother to come to the phone. And apparently she must be too preoccupied to even bother to return phone calls. I would say this place is heading towards closing up soon if this is the way they're going to conduct business. And speaking with my friends and colleagues that live in the area we have all come to the same conclusion that this place is a must avoid location. There's just too many other restaurants to choose from to have to put up with very poor service and very poor quality food preparation. read more

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3.5 stars, will round up. I was so excited when I heard that they were opening a Northern Cafe on 2nd St, as Long Beach doesn't have much Chinese food. The interior is very spacious and pretty, and service was good, but food was just alright. The menu is expanding and this place is still fairly new, so hopefully they will continue to improve. We ordered the pork soup dumplings, pan fried pork buns, Chongqing crispy chicken, sauteed eggplant, and custard buns. A number of the soup dumplings were not very soupy, and the garlic soy dipping sauce was a bit sweet; the spicy sauce was fine and there is black vinegar and soy sauce on the table. The fried pork buns were okay, but I've definitely had better. The eggplant dish was tasty and contained bamboo and wood ear fungus, though was a bit too sweet for me (granted, this dish is often sweet). The crispy chicken was probably the tastiest dish, though it was weird having chicken breast meat plus the dish was a bit oversalted. The custard bun had nice bread but the filling was so-so. Overall, prices were fair and presentation good, but the food is just not quite as good as other Northern Cafe locations. I am not sure if they tweaked the flavors for the area as well, but I think it would serve them well to keep things more authentic because of the scarcity of competition in this area for real Chinese food. read more

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really wanting to like this place, but somehow is not 100% there yet. The staff is great, and some of the dishes are very tasty. best part, it's well priced. We'll continue going until we find the dishes we love. read more

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It was empty when we got there but then it was also 2pm. The service was excellent though. They were very attentive but then again ... there was nobody else there. The place was really clean and very roomy. Great ambiance for those who really wants a nice, sit down restaurant. The food wasn't bad! The portions are huge and it all looks great but the flavor was a little bland without the sauces. The crispy chicken looks like it could be either spicy or sweet or a little of both but whatever the spice combinations were, didn't really quite go together. It lacked the promise of mouth watering flavor! A tad disappointing. The chili oil dumplings had a slightly hard texture that you wouldn't expect with dumplings and once it went in my mouth, it had a slightly card-boardy after taste. I will give it another chance though because the ambiance felt nice! read more

Checked out Northern Cafe on 2nd street today for lunch. To my surprise it was pretty empty! But the food spoke for itself. Here's what we ate: - [ ] Beef rolls - [ ] Pork Soup dumplings - [ ] Dan Dan noodles - [ ] Pork wontons in chili oil For two people, we had LOTS of leftovers. Even as hungry as we were, we definitely over-ordered (happily). The noodles and the beef rolls came out first. Noodles were v good with a little kick and a hint of peanuts. We finished those off quickly. The beef rolls, to our surprise at least, were cold. I wasn't sure if that's how they were supposed to come out. But we will definitely heat them up to eat later. Six huge pieces. The soup dumplings and pork wontons in chili oil came out next. Both were v good as well, but we were pretty stuffed already. The dumplings in chili oil weren't that spicy (which is good for me). Maybe 3/10 for spice. The soup dumplings had a nice sized piece of pork inside each one. Delicious broth inside. Less than $40/ea with tax +20% tip but you could easily do one entree with $2 white rice for less than $20 and be happy. I have 2-3 more dishes I want to try out next time. Service was very friendly and food came out quickly. Welcomed addition to 2nd street. We will definitely be back. read more

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Overpriced & gassed for sure. We cane after seeing it on TikTok. The food was very bland, my son found hair in his rice and the service was mediocre although my friend said his pork soup dumplings weren't bad, we won't be back. read more

Food is at 10, but when you called the place an order they never pick up. They have a voicemail not set up nowhere to call to go orders. I have given up on these guys and it's a shame. Their food is delicious. They should be getting five stars from me instead they're getting two for lack of attention and detail read more

At first, the service was awkward and most of the staff was pretty cold and unwelcoming. UNTIL we got served by T and took care of me and my friends. She was so kind and helpful, her service was 10/10 it really changed the vibe and we actually began to enjoy our time there. So shoutout to T, that was amazing service! read more

There aren't many Chinese places in the area, so I'll take what I can get! The decor inside is updated and modern; very different from any other Northern Cafe I've been to. We came in on a weekend night and were promptly seated (yay for the last open table). We were greeted pretty quickly by our server and we got to ordering right away. Our party of 3 shared the pork soup dumplings, pork wontons in chili oil, beef rolls, and the Szechuan boiled fish. The winners of the night were definitely the beef rolls and the Szechuan boiled fish. The rolls were wrapped in a super crispy scallion pancake and the beef inside was flavorful and tender! As a cilantro lover, I looooved how much cilantro they also included inside the rolls! Whenever I see some sort of a boiled fish in a spicy sauce on the menu, I have to get it. Their boiled fish included a generous amount of fish with lots and lots of veggies. I thought it could've been a tad bit spicier (personal preference), but I'd say it was a solid mild. Pro tip? Order extra rice so you can pour all that sauce over the rice. The pork soup dumplings and spicy wontons were a little lackluster for us. The soup dumplings lacked soup and the spicy wontons were sweet..? Not sure what's going on, but probably wouldn't order these again. I want to say they're still in their soft opening phase as the menu is really limited. Do beware of the prices on the menu vs what's actually on your bill because we spotted a discrepancy on ours. We weren't told until we were handed the bill that they're still trying to work out the kinks on their pricing and it wasn't updated on the menus. Our server mentioned it to the restaurant manager and someone else quietly dropped off an updated bill to us honoring the price on the menu. read more

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Solid food. Friendly service. Clean environment. Liquor license still pending but they carry beers and wine. Outdoor seating available. read more

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Came here with my friend during my lunch break and let me tell you, everything hit. I've been to the one in Cerritos and Irvine before, but the Long Beach one might be my favorite. We ordered the chili oil fish, green beans, fried rice, and the green onion pancake. The prices are so reasonable and everything was delicious. Service was quick and friendly. Constantly checking in, but not overbearing. The interior is also very nice, spacious with large tables. I'll definitely be back. read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Long Beach, California

I didn't realize that all the foods I usually crave are here like knife cut noodles and soybean fish. They're all delicious. Will order again! read more

Great food and service. The staff is super helpful and friendly. If you need a great place to dine at while visiting, you won't regret it.

Came for a last min let's go out to dinner decision around 6pm on a Wednesday evening, we were seated right away and it def picked up while we were there, there was a famous food crawl event going on but the service was still attentive. Located in a busy area of 2nd street we had no trouble finding street parking with a small little walk (but it's a nice area to walk around.) I loved first and foremost how family friendly this spot is, there were clean high chairs and lots of small children and babies dining in with their families. We were able to feed our 11 month old off our plates which is something that helps a lot, she loves tofu and they were able to put the sauce on the side for the dish so we could be sure what she was eating. She probably ate most of the tofu dish we ordered, the portion for that was very generous! I can also recommend the classic chicken and broccoli, the pork soup dumplings (get on board with these if you've never tried them, so comforting and delicious, a little drop of soup in your mouth!) and the garlic green beans (YUM.) There was plenty of rice to go around for all our dishes which is always appreciated. read more

Northern Cafe catered a large event for us recently and was so great to work with, even helping us choose vegan and gluten-free options. I think our guests were expecting run-of-the-mill Chinese and were pleasantly surprised by all the dim sum offerings. Kids loved the scallion pancakes. My son loved the wontons in chili oil. Adults loved the sautéed string beans. This place has been our go-to Chinese option in Long Beach for a couple years -- so glad it's here! read more

Food is really good but they charged $3 to substitute tofu for chicken in the fried noodles. Money is not the issue, it's the principle as it's an equal swap. read more

Slow, and they already bring other table ( who come later than us) water and plate, and still no one come to us.

The food is ok but I was disappointed to find out that they no longer have a different/changed the happy hour menu. Previously we (wife and I) had been able to mix and match different potstickers or dumplings, that was removed. Nice to have local beers and the environment was ok. It was empty and still took a little to get service read more

We were not at all familiar with the restaurant nor the food they offer. It would be great if the menu explained what was in the dishes. (Especially important for people who have food allergies!) That said, our server did help us with making some selections. The beef roll was good, but the outside wrapper was greasy. The orange chicken was really good. The dan dan noodles would have been very good, but were not hot. Instead they were barely lukewarm. The biggest problem was the blaring music...way too loud and sounding tinny! Turn it down so your guests can talk to each other! We sure hope they make some improvements so they can be a 5 star review. read more

Everything was so tasty and flavorful. The green beans are to die for!!!! Noodles perfect, but wish they weren't so long. So many tables and really nice server. 10 times better than Din Tai Fung. The server was attentive and always checked in on us. Such a cute and spacious place. Great music!!! read more

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I love this place! Family style makes it a great place to try a little bit of everything. I was here alone so opted for a bowl of noodle soup and it did not disappoint! Everything I have tried thus far has been so good. read more

Northern Cafe - Beef Noodle Soup - Chinese Near Me - Long Beach, California

Great soup dumplings would come back and just eat these all day. The wonton soup was a huge hit too and the balance from the crushed cucumber salad really made the whole meal. Eggrolls were cooked perfectly and the beef roll was solid but a tad on the sweet side. It was a family dinner date and the kids ate more than I did which puts it in the upper echelons for us. read more

STEPH JUDGEMENT: A nice-casual spot for some great Chinese food. The hubby and I joined a friend here for a weeknight dinner. It was the first time for all of us and we were impressed. The interior had a nice ambiance: fairly large and open, with brick walls and casual but nice furniture. We decided to sit at one of the booths, which was plenty big for the three of us. A friendly server came by right away to take our drink orders and I got their Black milk tea with boba, which was quite good. They had a good selection of veg items, and we ordered the following, with leftovers in mind: - String beans in garlic sauce - Eggplant in garlic sauce - Vegetarian steamed dumplings - Vegetarian mapo tofu Everything was great: fresh and flavorful. Combine that with reasonable prices and generous portions, and I think this might be my new favorite Chinese place in LB! read more

Been craving DTF, but didn't want to drive all the way to DTF. Came here with my bestie since we were craving some things. We ordered the Green Beans, Orange Chicken, House Special Fried Rice, Garlic Cucumber, Golden Beef Soup, Dan Dan Noodles, Shrimp Wonton in Chili Oil, Beef Rolls, and Pork & Crab Soup Dumplings. Our favorite items were the green bean, fried rice, golden soup, and pork & crab xlbs. We came on a Thursday night, and it was surprisingly really busy. There's plenty of booth or table seating inside. It's very dim lit inside, and they have beer/wine options available. There's street metered parking available or free neighborhood parking if you don't mind the walk. Our service was lovely from Juan and Paulina. Would definitely come back! read more

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The family and I wanted to eat at a place with nice and relaxing vibes and stumbled upon this place! We were seated quickly and got our food incredibly fast! They have quite the selection of food. My family ordered the hot and sour soup, dan dan noodles, pork soup dumplings, orange chicken, walnut shrimp, green beans, and fried rice. Everything was delicious and flavorful. I highly recommend getting the green beans! They have the perfect texture and are a light healthy palate cleanser for the intense flavors of your other dishes. read more

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Best dim sum in the area, this place is a small local chain and absolutely worth visiting. All the usual dishes are wonderful, but the beef roll will blow your mind. Check it out... You will be very happy. read more