Pacificana
“The dim sum fare is done really well with common favorites like shu mai and har gao to more traditional ones such as rice porridge.”
“The har gow was unspectacular, but good, and we actually ended up ordering a second serving as it was popular on our table.”
“Add that Pacifica is in a banquet hall that would perfectly befit your local rotary club.”
Pacificana
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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First off, the wait was insane. It was not only Sunday, it was Father's Day so we put ourselves
in the situation. We weren't celebrating the holiday but just showing some folks from out of town where the best dim sum was. My bf and I happened to try get in in the weekend before and gave up when we couldn't find parking. We chose another restaurant in the Sunset Park Chinatown which was just average so when we were asked where to go for dim sum by our visitors, we decided to try Pacificana again. The last time we were here was at the tail end of Chinese New Year and we were treated to an in house lion dance. This time, there was no lion dance, just the best and freshest dim sum in New York. There is nothing innovative like the dishes in Hong Kong but everything was good except the mango pudding which was nothing but sugar, starch and food coloring, no mango flavor whatsoever. The dish we always order which makes up for any shortcomings is the roast pig which comes with jelly fish, just to let you know. If you have any aversions to jellyfish you may be able to order the roast pig as a special dish without the jellyfish. The other times we ordered it I think it was just the roast pig but as a dim cart item, it was pretty pricey at $17. For 6 people however, the bill came to around $92 and with tip, that's less than $20 per person, still a good deal for Sunday brunch. Yelp says this place opens at 8:00 am which if you want to beat the crowd with the 1 hour plus wait, you can go at this ungodly hour or you can send a scout to grab a number, grab some coffee (which dim sum places don't usually have), do some grocery shopping and come back. That's a more productive use of your time and would reduce the number of people in your party waiting anxiously with the other multitudes for their number to be called. Once in, seated and after a few rounds, you'll appreciate the wait. They are the best in town. If you're too impatient and hungry, you'll regret you settled for 2nd best at another tea house with the shorter/no wait.
Good experience went here with my girl and her family for Father's Day.
Loved everything plus we got the hook up of plenty of extra things that weren't being cooked that early in the morning.
Had lobsters steak and other things. So good.
My favorite was the onion and pepper steak.
This place is definitely the nicer of the dim sum places, definitely banquet style place, huge room with a bunch of tables. When you enter the building, it's upstairs. If you don't speak Chinese, just use the universal language of using your fingers to tell them how many people in your party.
It wasn't terribly busy when we sat, then I saw the carts making a beeline towards us. Yea, I want this, this, this, this and that. So we just started picking out what looked good and off we go. Pretty standard dim sum, not every item was super hot, but only warm-ish, nothing really blew me away or anything. Same carts came around and around each time with the same stuff, not much of a variety was offered nor was it ready yet as the response of "coming later" was to be told to us. We ate slowly in anticipation that more stuff would come out "later" but unfortunately "later" meant much later.
Good amount of pastries on the carts was the highlight for one of us, but overall it was just ok.
It was a little tough flagging down someone in a suit to get our bill, so I just went to the front counter and paid. Prices were pretty good so that was a plus, I think they prefer you pay in cash.
How in the world have I never written a review on Pacificana?
I have a car, so it is fairly easy to get to and you can get parking validation for the garage below the restaurant.
Come for dim sum on a Sunday and you will be met by a huge crowd- come as early as possible! If you wait until a more reasonable time, you will wait and wait while numbers are called out in Chinese and hope that the hostess will remember that you speak English only and will help you out.
Once you are seated, delicious dumplings and other plates come by in carts. You point to what you want and shoo away the somewhat pushy ladies (do they work on commission??) when you don't want something. I used to go the adventurous route – chicken feet, super fatty beef knuckles (ok, they aren't knuckles but they seemed like they could be), snails – but now I stick to the easier to palate stuff.
Order soup dumplings from any staff member – they will bring them out. They aren't mind blowing – but they are soup dumplings.
Go here with friends – you can order more of a variety to try – eat too much and spend only about 20 bucks a pop.
Alright, so who likes waiting? Raise your hand! And you're right – noone. So, if you're deciding between Pacificana and Park Asia you're better off choosing Pacificana because likely, you'll have to wait at Park Asia for at least thirty minutes. And the food is exactly same, although to be honest I prefer Pacificana because of the detachable tables and it's just much better for two people as with Park Asia they mostly have larger tables and two people will likely end up sharing a table with a larger group.
The only thing that threw me off was definitely the hostess speaking Mandarin, whereas most of the wait staff spoke Cantonese. I don't understand Mandarin so it's difficult for me to understand when my number was being called but I went at a time that wasn't too full of people so it wasn't too difficult to get the hostess to confirm. With Park Asia, if you miss your number, the next person is called and you're automatically out. Plus the hostess/host is hard to find – they're usually somewhere with a microphone unfortunately. The food is also similar to Park Asia, except much cheaper. I felt like I ate much more food here for $30 than I did at Park Asia which was about $40. Plus, the staff goes around for everyone to see selections, which is better than Park Asia where you may be hidden off in a crevice somewhere, away from all the food!
There is parking for a fee below Pacificana, I believe. However, a few blocks down is a school and if you're going on weekends, you're in luck.
Ordered a bunch of stuff off the menu. Thought it was well prepared and fresh. The sesame chicken is definitely one of the better ones i had along with the noodles.
If you want an authentic taste of chinese food try this place.
Occasionally they have cute and nice dim sums but if they can keep it warm, it would be better on the carts.
This is the only on within a 5-10 block ratio so if the locals don't feel like walking to 65 street, they will come here hence the reason why it is always crowded on the weekends.
The wait on the weekend can be around 2 hours.
On the weekends, the carts are pretty diverse but on the weekdays, they tried to force you to "say yes" to the dishes on their the carts, which isn't many dishes.
If you can, just order "dimsum-on-the-go" from the front counter and bring it home.
This is a good quality Dim Sum restaurant with good selections, everything you'd expect from a Dim Sum restaurant. Snugged in Sunset Park, you can be seated immediately since there isn't a lot of people around in the area compared to Manhattan.
I have to say some of the food seemed like it could have been cooked a little longer. The food were also somewhat lukewarm, not steaming hot.
Very reasonable price to say the least! Dropped only $30 that fed the four of us!