Food Review: Mama Lu's Dumpling House (L.A)

Mama Lu's is one of the first places I went to while exploring Monterey Park, CA.

It's a small chain restaurant with 3 Mama Lu's on the same street, not too far from each other. But it was BIG difference when we checked out 2 of them. The decorum and style were complete opposites. The new one that we went to is very spacious and modern looking.

New Mama Lu's (left) | Older-looking Mama Lu's (right)

A look inside their menu:

It was a good size menu. =0) 

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Our food list for the night....

You can't go to a dumpling house and NOT have Shao Long Bao

Taste: It was pretty good. The soup inside tasted good, but it wasn't hot enough. It was luke warm.

Shanghai Style Chow Mein (photo below)

Quite honestly, this was a bust. Being from Toronto, Canada where Chinese food is ALWAYS great (especially in Scarborough, Ontario). The dish lacked all taste. It was bland and very oily. 

Our last dish, did not save the day. An order of the Seaweed Fried Fish. It was over battered and not cripsy. 

Overall, it was quite disappointing in every dish. But I was told that, same dishes, were made better at the older Mama Lu's down the street.

Give it another chance? We'll see.

1/5 stars

Food Review: Luna Park (L.A)

Lunch slash Brunch to a new venue and new city for me today.

My family and I had our first L.A dining on a late Sunday morning @ Luna Park (in mid-city Los Angeles, in Koreatown)

From the outside, the restaurant has a very old L.A slash diner feel to it. And once you enter a similar feeling, but with a bit more burlesque atmosphere, gushes in.

The decor is very unique and fun feel.

The service was fairly good. The servers were courteous and accomodating (big stroller, coming through). The space between the tables were not much, so it feel like tight pushing through my nephews' ride. 

As it was still "morning",  I decided to order a brunch-y food item: Bagel and Lox. 

This is what appeared in front of me:

Quite different from what I'm used to. There wasn't a bagel on my plate, nor thick or creamy cream cheese. Inside I had 4 pieces of whole grain bread, smoked salmon, and a very watery white sauce. Much as the presentation was, it was very unfulfilling and left me half full. 

For the one dish i had a Luna Park, I was left a unsatisfied. However, if I ever do come again, I'll give it  one more try to see how the others come to taste.

2/5 stars