Dim Sum Palace
It’s the evening and where could be a good place to get fairly traditional Cantonese style Chinese food? Dim Sum Palace! We originally visited the Midtown location pre-pandemic, and it was pretty decent. Recently, they opened another location in Long Island City in a dense new-aged Chinese area. We’ve been missing Cantonese-style restaurants, especially dim sum, in this very close quartered area of over abundant boba places and spicy cuisines. We were able to walk in without reservations around 5:00 PM on a Saturday without issues. This restaurant is located in the former Brooks 1890 bar next to the Long Island City court house on Jackson Ave.
Ambiance & Service
The interior is very no frills, and it reminds me of a regular Chinese restaurant. What’s noticeable is it seems they have an extensive bar area from the previous restaurant that seems like they decided to not tear it down because maybe there can be some reuse.
When we ordered, the service was very prompt as expected for a Chinese restaurant.
Food
The pork ribs (páigǔ; 排骨) is pretty decent. It came out piping hot with a lump of black bean that probably was suppose to be mixed in the sauce. It’s a little different than other dim sum places, but still pretty good.
The salted pepper prawns were really good. The shell is good and digestable too. You can see little fried onions with peppers and stuff. I wished there was a little more pepper and spice to it, but nonetheless still tasty.
The chicken feet (fèngzhuǎ; 鳳爪) is something I usually crave every so often. It’s a little sweeter than other dim sum places. There are little peanuts at the bottom of the sauce.
The shrimp dumpling (har gow; xiājiǎo; 蝦餃) tasted just like other dim sum places. Pretty good.
The BBQ pork meat buns (char siu bao; chāshāo bāo; 叉燒包) were quite delicious as usual. Again, nothing particularly special about this compared to other dim sum palace other than it being hot.
The pork shrimp dumplings (siu mai; shāomài; 燒賣) was also piping hot and good. Again, nothing significantly noticeable than other dim sum places flavor wise.
As usual for Cantonese restaurants, I always want to order the pepper salted pork chops. This place’s version was alright. There are a lot of fried onions and peppers, and the porkchop is nicely crispy and tasty. In some cases, I felt it was over salted. My all time favorite is still Sam Woo BBQ in Los Angeles as it has a more spicy kick to it.
When you first sit down, the waiter gives you a dim sum sheet with pictures on it and a pen. They also give you a menu with the other traditional Cantonese dishes on it too. Once you order, they give you a sauce plate of 3: sweet soy sauce, chili oil, and something else that was gingery I think. I only used the soy sauce.
June 28, 2025 - Second visit in Long Island City.
The Salt & Pepper Jumbo Shrimp w/ Shell ($13.25) came with 4 pieces with the typical Cantonese-style saute with salt, pepper, and pepper aromatics. The shell is edible with careful chewing, and the size of these is pretty large. At ~$3.30 a piece, it’s a decent deal.
The Shrimp Roll ($6.95) came with 3 pieces, and tasted as expected. The interior had shrimp and encased with the typical egg roll wrap.
The Pork & Shrimp Bean Curd Skin Roll ($6.95) came with 3 pieces, and it also tasted as expected to other dim sum variants of this.
Overall Impression
For traditional Cantonese style food, I think this place is a safe non-adventurous place for pretty good food. I would definitely come back again for the cravings if I am annoyed by K-town traffic and want something fast to get into. And now that it’s in Long Island City, it’s even more accessible.
Yelp Jabs
So expensive!!!!!!! OMG. 4 dim sum for $7? Yikes. We actually also left the restaurant because tea cost $8. Yes I know…NYC Prices but NO WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. why does no one else say something? Truth be told, it’s not worth it unless the shumai is wrapped in gold. HARD HARD HARD PASS.
This person is from Long Beach in California and is expecting Manhattan prices to be comparable. That’s just doesn’t make any sense unfortunately.
The place was clean but when the rib tips came out it looked like the cheapest quality of meat
Must be the first time this person has had rib tips at dim sum. Also this person’s post has no periods in it, so it’s just a long run-on sentence of sewage.
Revisions
- Jun 28, 2025 - Second visit in LIC.
- Oct 4, 2019 - Initial revision.