Oriental Garden Restaurant
“Located just next to Jing Fong and rarely as crowded, I highly recommend OG for weekend dimsum!”
“Call 2-4 weeks before and order the King Crab in advance, as well
as giant clam (gooey duck sashimi) and giant lobsters.”
“This was my first time to this restaurant, most of the time I would go either Golden Unicorn or Congee Village.”
Oriental Garden Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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I never eat in Chinatown. If I do, it's 1-2times a year. I thank you to my friend who invited me to join her Chinese New Year's 10 course meal (serves 8-10ppl for $780ish). This was an amazinggggggg dinner! Most of the appetizers, entrees, desserts were very new to me. My Chinese friend they were very authentic and considered pretty legit. So I was definitely even more satisfied with my exploding belly. It was TOO much food for most of us.. But I still kept eating. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten beer from the start… Anyways, the only one dish I did not like was the geese feet. There wasn't much to eat off of it but some of our friends were really digging away. The whitefish dish (sorry idk the name:( ) was so tender and juicy. I would come back just for this…I hope it's on their menu… The lobster was HUGE. If you saw this lobster you would think $780 is a good price. Service is attentive, quick. They're good at trying to make this hectic restaurant (there were 3-4tables with huge parties) organized by serving your food for each dish and cleaning away the used plates. I'll be honest- I am skeptical with some restaurants that have less than 4stars on Yelp but I would def come back to oriental garden and I recommend it!
I've been here numerous times for dimsum and i feel the quality is much better than other dimsum houses in ctown. It's slightly pricier, but still very affordable. The wait staff is great and you can order off of the regular menu as well! My good friend recently had her daughter 100 day party here and the food was amazing! Love the lobster and whole steamed fish! Can't wait to be back!
Oriental Garden Restaurant is an authentic Chinese restaurant that is known for its seafood dishes. This restaurant is ideal for dim sum lunch or authentic Chinese dinner with family and friends as well as celebrations (e.g., wedding, birthdays, child births, and life).
We had a seven course meal consisting of Soft Shell Crab, Bay Scallops (on the shell), Brandy Oysters (on the shell), Steamed Chicken, Crispy Fish, Sautéed Choy Sum, and Longevity Noodles. I liked how they served us and changed plates between courses.
The Soft Shell Crab consisted of crispy soft shelled crab garnished with scallion and chili peppers.
The Live Bay Scallops consisted of steamed large scallops served on the shell and topped with vermicelli, scallion, and minced garlic. I liked how the garlicky taste and how the shell wasn't overloaded with vermicelli noodles.
The Live Brandy Oysters consisted of steamed large oysters served on the shell and topped with ginger, scallion, and spicy black bean sauce. It was quite tasty as well. However, I didn't enjoy it as much due to the spicy black bean sauce.
The Steamed Chicken consisted of steamed whole chicken (served with the head and tail), with sautéed bok choy in a light chicken stock based gravy.
The Crispy Fish consisted of a deep fried fish bone topped with sautéed flounder filets and vegetables. The vegetable variety consisted of sea cucumbers, carrots, snow peas, and red bell peppers.
The Sautéed Choy Sum consisted of sautéed choy sum. It was interesting that they didn't serve the tips. Despite the amount of canola oil used to prepare this dish, I liked how it tasted. I liked how they made use of every part of vegetables.
The Longevity Noodles consisted of egg noodles, black mushrooms, and yellow leeks sautéed in a blend of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and possibly sesame oil.
They ended our meals with orange slices and Jasmine scented wet napkins.
Oranges
I LOVE Dim Sum, and even though I give Oriental Garden 5-stars, that's comparing it to places in NYC.
If I compare it to Bao Dim or Din Tai Fung (both in LA and are the best in the country in my opinion), then I'd give OG 4-stars.
And I know everyone likes to go to Golden Unicorn or Jing Fong, but to me, Golden Unicorn is more touristy as it's in every foreign travel guidebook and Jing Fong can be too big and overwhelming, and wait times are outrageous.
So, I prefer Oriental Garden or Nom Wah Tea Parlor. And, if I wanna go more high-end, I'll do RedFarm in the West Village (but doesn't have the "Chinese-feel' that I like about Chinatown).
To me, Oriental Garden is higher quality, more authentic, faster, cleaner and more intimate, probably cause it's smaller and not as well known as those other places. The high percentage of Chinese to Non-Chinese patrons here is a good sign you're in a good spot, and was introduced to this place by a friend from China who feels this is the best spot in Chinatown for Dim Sum. I'd agree and have been coming for years.
We Ordered:
– Shark Fin Dumpling
– Shanghai (vegetable) Dumpling
– Shrimp Rice Noodle
– Taro Dumpling
– Roast Pork Wedges
– Shrimp Dumpling
– Vegetarian Dumpling
– Chive Dumpling
– Baked Custard Bun (dessert)
– Hong Kong Sweet Cake (dessert)
ALL of it was Excellent…ALL of it.
And as the person I was with had not had dim sum before, I spared her some of the more unusual dishes that I usually order, but are great as well – Chicken Feet, Bean Curd, Peking Duck, etc.
Service is fast and as it's small, they are constantly rolling the Dim Sum carts by your table so you never have to go chase one down as you do at Jing Fong.
And as this place is pretty authentic, pretty much NONE of the Cart Ladies speak English, so don't even bother asking what each dish is – just point at one or two, they'll put them on your table and enjoy! Sometimes you never know what you're eating, but that's half the fun! And I can assure you that all of it is tasty, so you can't go wrong.
Lastly, I know you can eat Dim Sum all year, but it's one of those hearty brunches that I like to only have during Wintertime or colder months, not to mention Chinatown isn't that pleasant in August, haha, with all the unique smells, etc.
Insider Tip- and make sure you get here RIGHT AT or BEFORE NOON on weekends as the major crowds, tourists, tour buses, etc, start rolling into Chinatown around 12:30pm/1pm and the restaurant will go from No Wait to a 1-2hr Wait in a matter of minutes. Just my two cents.
Overall, Oriental Garden is my Go-To Dim Sum spot, specifically during colder months, so make sure you come here to satisfy your craving! You won't be disappointed.
Good dim sum, not as cheap as next door but you don't have to wait an hour either.
Stopped here for dim sum….and boy was this place disappointing. It has seem they serve dim sum to americans and the only selections on the menu were various har gow dishes and a couple pork buns…I personally would not come here for dim sum as the selections very limited.
Jing fong next door would have been a better choice for dim sum.
Five stars.
I don't understand the lower rating of this restaurant compared to other dim sum restaurants nearby. It's my favorite dim sum place in the city. Every dishes I've tried by far taste good. It's always a nice treat to come here for a weekend brunch.
The restaurant is pretty clean, at least the bathroom and the dining area, which is something I always appreciate. But, beware, this place received a grade of B in the recent sanitary inspection.
A little bit strange that they accept only American Express for credit. So if not, bring cash.
2.5 Stars
Came here with nine colleagues for dim sum the other day since the place next door, Jing Fong, had a 30+ minutes wait. Plus, we didn't want to wait forever since we had to go back to work. So, Oriental Garden had a table to accommodate all of us. This is not your typical dim sum restaurant where the staffs are rolling out the dim sum carts around the restaurant. But, the place is small for a dim sum restaurant tho. You just place your order and then you'll get your order at your table. We each ordered our own dim sum dishes and I got the shrimp dumpling (har gao) [$4], beef tripe [$3.50], bean curd [$3.50], and shrimp noodle roll [$5 – the pieces of shrimp were BIG! Loved that the noodles were thin]. I thought that the food was good but slightly expensive since I usually pay less than this for dim sum.
Service could have been better tho. Maybe it wasn't a good afternoon the day that we went I guess. It took FOREVER for our dim sum dishes to come out. My colleague who planned this gathering for us ended up getting her dishes last! She did followed-up a few times and one dish never came so she just cancelled that order. (BTW, she did speak Cantonese and informed the staff that she didn't get her food yet). There were also times that the staff placed dim sum dishes that WE DID NOT ORDER for our table and we had to tell them that. Sigh, I wished they had the dim sum carts and we just picked out what we wanted right then and there.