Review Tang Gong - Monterey Park

We went to this restaurant for dim sum yesterday. Other dim sum flavors are ok. French BBQ pork buns are not my favorite. But it takes about half an hour to wait for dim sum.

Place was lively on a weekday lunchtime. Feels like the Chinese folks in the know love this place. I love seeing the bad one star reviews. Yes please stay away. This place is so good I’d like to steer people away and keep it all to myself. They are taking covid protocols well. Keeping things very clean and also have some limited outdoor tables. The food is just beyond amazing. Basically order anything off the dim sum menu and it was delicious. Prices are on par with other dim sum spots. The stand out was the baked crispy pork bun. If you don’t wanna believe this review. Please please take the advice of the one star reviews and stay far away.

Good, solid dim sum. Was able to make a reservation for a table of 12 the same day. The restaurant was large, brightly lit and clean-looking. The dishes that stood out for us was the Har Gow (crystal shrimp dumplings), Ngao Yuk (beef meatballs), Siu Mai (pork and shrimp dumplings), Lo Bak Go (pan-fried radish/turnip cake), Liu Sha Bao (lava egg custard buns), and How Choi Gau (pan-fried chive/leek dumplings). I'd avoid the Don Tot (egg tarts) and Mai Lai Go (yellow steam cake)...they are better elsewhere.

Dinner was excellent. I have not tried dim sum yet. The interior is clean and new. Seafood was very fresh and prices were reasonable. We had lobster, geoduck clam, and fish. The geoduck clam was cooked in two ways--sliced/stir fried with veggies and the shell portion was cooked in a soup which was really good. The fish was also cooked two ways-- filleted and stir fried with veggies and the belly, fins and bones were fried and then cooked in sauce...all very good.

Recommended for dim sum yum cha but price per dish was a bit higher than other dim sum places in the area, regardless of Small, Medium, or Large dim sums. Egg Tarts were well worth it with very crispy crusts and standard Shu Mai also good choices. AVOID Roasted Pork Belly with Macao Style. Menu states photos are for reference only and they really mean it with this order. Photo in menu looks like a generous plate with 20 pieces. The real dish had 12 and laid out in such a way to look somewhat scarce (one piece was eaten in photo). It's a small complaint but it was a premium dish so other restaurants (Monterey Palace) serve this better. If not for this incident, would have rated 4. Management kept insisting this was the order they serve and that of course it's a little exaggerated as it's a stock photo but despite the fine print, it felt misleading (other dishes we ordered with photo references matched quantity [egg tart]). Order swapped with a Beef Chow Fun which was good. This is a new restaurant and interior is very...grandiose (excessive gold theme borderlining tacky). One other complaint is the table set up. It felt uncomfortable that the tables and chairs were set such that people had knees touching table leg frames. Would have preferred if one of their morning setup checks was to make sure tables were organized so there was actual legroom underneath for customers. Would still remain on list of dim sum places to go but is middle pack.

Good dim sum but bad service. We waited for 15 minutes before we can find someone to take our orders. Their dim sums are ok as it offers the usual Cantonese style dim sum like Ha Gao and Xiao Mai. This is not the same as the restaurant chain with the same name in China. The food varieties are different on the menu. Will not come back again

Dinner was very good. Fresh food including lobster, shrimp, fish, pork, something for everyone. Service was excellent.

NOT a fancy place, but very good food for dinner! Dinner food was excellent, with nice crisp vegetables in the dishes and nicely cooked food, plus for no apparent reason we received a bonus dish (entire plate) of fried chicken for free! Ordered a pork-belly dish, chow fun, scallop & shrimp & sugar-snap peas, fish maw soup. When you add in the free fried chicken, what was enough food for two meals for three people came out to just over $100 before tip. Be warned that the place is not fancy, and dinner had few diners even on a Saturday night; the lights were actually turned off over much of the restaurant. This restaurant deserves to have more customers! Also be warned that ordering consists of marking up a paper menu. The Chinese and the English descriptions of the dishes aren't necessarily lined up with the boxes where you mark the quantities, so be careful that you clearly indicate which dishes you want.