Mama Lu's Dumpling House

I used to go to their Monterey Park location and was really happy when they opened the Arcadia one, which was an easier drive for me.

My go-to here are the Xiao Long Bao and fried pork buns. The XLB can't compare to a certain Michelin starred restaurant famous for their XLB, but Mama Lu's is a solid second place. The fried pork bun is good with the sesame bottom adding to the crisp. This is just a bit filling though. I also like the fish dumplings.

Mama Lu's also has some dishes, but it seems like they throw red onions in everything - from the shrimp with pumpkin and snow peas to the black bean fish. They even add this to the rice cakes. I like onions okay so this is overkill for me, but onion lovers will be happy here.

I saw some negative reviews about the service here being rude - I have never experienced that here. The staff has been nice enough every time I've been here. They can be a bit slow when they get busy, but that's normal for any restaurant.

One of the best soup dumplings in town!

While the food was okay, their service was absolutely terrible. Upon walking in we were not greeted nor directed where to go as we were new and the dining room was hidden behind the front counter. Waved at us from the dining room and then walked off, we were unsure if to follow or not before doing so. When taking our order she got it wrong and upon correcting, she gave me attitude for offering to repeat the order again for her. While eating, we were not checked up on throughout the entire time even though there was only 2 other tables. Which would’ve been fine. If at the end, they didn’t hold us hostage and force us to tip when we paid. He demanded we tip either by card or cash even though we pointed out tipping is optional seeing as our tab was only $72 and the receipt said ‘SUGGESTION’. When we asked if we could not just not tip (bc we have every right not too) he said that it was fine. But then proceeded to ask if we’re gonna tip in cash then and stood by our table until we did so. We were nothing but polite and simply ate and kept to ourselves. Whether or not we should’ve tipped for service to begin with is debatable, but it stopped being debatable as soon as they forced us to tip. Forcing someone to tip is never okay, we paid what we owed for our tab so we were in no obligation to give more. And if this is the way this establishment is run, I’d hate to have someone else be put in a position my friends and I were. I don’t normally care this much about “bad” service, but that was straight up heinous and probably illegal. Their food is not worth being put in a position like that.

Pan Fried Bun: 👎
Not what I expected. It looks nice and crispy from its appearance, but it has a soggy, thick bun inside and meat that is kind of “dry” because all the juices have soaked into the bun.

Beef Roll: 👍
Crispy skin, tasty inside, but other stores like Noodle Street are better.

Pan Fried Noodle with Beef:
Just OK, it is overpoweringly salty from the soy sauce flavor.

Parking is kind of hard to find. Most of them belong to Wells Fargo Bank and Bank of America customers only.

Food was excellent and not too oily for asian food. Nothing was too salty. We've had friend rice, soup, and some side dishes. We enjoyed everything. The service was mediocre as they forgot about is, but they made it up by giving us free dishes. We will come back again for sure.

They do not give an accurate estimate waiting time. Tell everyone around 15-20 minutes and make you wait like 40

I ordered 2 meat dishes 4 stars, juices pork dumplings 5 stars, and noodles 5 stars. Pan fried dumplings and crab fried rice 2 star

First of all, they don’t close at 10pm. We walked in at
8:50pm, a guy came to us and told us that last call was 9:15 and they close at 9:30pm. We felt very rushed and tried to order as soon as we can . Food was delivered by a guy that didn’t talk at all. My son said Thank you when one of his food was delivered to the table and the guy had NO response. Then a lady sent us the check when we were not even half way done with our food. We ordered three dishes . Egg Tofu with mushroom , dumplings and chow Mein . Tofu was too dry with not enough sauce . They other dishes were ok. We will never come back here . You can definitely find better food and way better service around Arcadia .

Quick service

While the food and service was fine the constant array of beeping noises from the kitchen counter was unpleasant. One of the noise sounds like a truck backing up. I hope the restaurant finds a way to eliminate all the beeping so patrons can enjoy their meal. Portions are very large so keep that in mind when ordering.

Great spot for delicious dumplings!!!

I've been to various Mama Lu's locations and have always been satisfied with the food. When I found out they opened one in Arcadia, I had to check it out with my folks. The food was just as good as expected. It was a bit crowded, so the service was a little slower, but overall, the experience was great. Parking is in the back—coming from Baldwin, turn onto Duarte and enter through the small passage next to Wells Fargo.

This time, I got fried dumplings. They were pretty good. Always clean restaurant. I appreciate that. Some staff could try smiling more.

Excellent authentic Chinese restaurant with great service. We enjoyed a variety of selections from their menu. They let us come in before their closing hours, so that was very kind.

Good food