Unexpectedly found this branch of the Northern Cafe chain here in Brentwood area while we were here this weekend so it was much more convenient to just stop on than drive off in the unusually rainy weather to seek dinner elsewhere. It's located in a nondescript commercial building right up along Wilshire Blvd. at the end of a row of small storefronts. Probably can have outside seating when sunny. Inside it was a nice spacious space. Overall felt nice and not crowded with tables of anything. Immediately greeted by the only wait staff who let us seat ourselves as he finished a call-in order and then brought menus over to us. We ended up ordering beef noodles which I'd say was an 8/10 overall. Nothing special but points for noodles being properly cooked and soup being tasty. Just the right amount of beef and veggie. Also had the String beans which we pretty much polished off which were good. And also a Shanghai Fried noodle which despite taking a bit longer because they had to make a fresh batch of thick noodles before making the fried noodles -had excellent taste and was nice and piping hot when it arrived. Overall was a very good meal
Mian S.
This is what you would get if you ordered lamb skewer from this place. It's all burned and look at the size. Such a joke
Jocelyn Wang
I ordered takeout today— the staff are super nice and the food came out quickly! I got an order of their炸酱面 and dumplings(8pcs)三鲜饺子. I thought the portion of noodles was really great—Easy to share with others. The dumplings were really delicious— right amount of thickness of skin with juicy insides. Every dumpling was consistent with the other and the size of the dumplings were good. I see why people enjoy their dumplings! Noodles might not be their main sell: but the zhajiangmian really hit the spot for me today. The sauce is not a thick paste so it’s more on the liquid side. It coats the noodle easily and I love that there was a lot of cucumber and enough meat for so much noodle.They also provided utensils and dumpling sauce ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Babak Missaghian
Very delicious
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
James Lee
TL;DR, don’t come here. Go to Palace seafood or hop li or hop woo.Ordered in person and ended up waiting 40 minutes for my food (picture as proof). Took 30 minutes for them to realize the order never got from the cashier to the kitchen. If I hadn’t paid in advance I would’ve left. Didn’t even offer anything for the long wait. No service basically. I would’ve taken back my tip if I could. Food was fine but for such lack of service even for a Chinese restaurant I’d rather go somewhere more local. Never coming back. And why do soup dumplings need peanut sauce? Smh
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
James L.
Don't come here. Food took almost 40 minutes to arrive despite ordering in person and dining in. Took them 30 minutes and me asking for them to realize the order never got from the cashier to the kitchen. And they didn't offer anything as an apology. Even for a Chinese restaurant, this is not good service. Go somewhere local like Palace Seafood, hop li or hop woo instead. And why do soup dumplings need peanut sauce in them? Smh
Deanna S.
between this chain, dan modern chinese, and din tai fung -- my personal trifecta of modern chinese food chains in LA -- i think i like the XLBs here the best. maybe it's because they're somewhat sweeter, which is just a personal preference. the other two chains still do solid XLBs. here are the dishes i normally get (or rather some combo thereof), and here is how i'd rank each at all 3 chains, location-agnostic -- xiao long bao: 1. northern; 2.tied dtf/dan noodle dishes: 1. dan; 2. northern; n/a dtf (dtf does noodles i think but i never get noodles there. i remembered not loving noodles from northern so i stopped getting noodle dishes here too.) wontons: 1. dtf; 2. northern; n/a dan (i don't think dan does wontons, just dumplings. northern's wontons are fine, and i will sometimes order this here, but nothing beats dtf's spicy pork/shrimp wontons.) beef rolls: 1. northern; 2. dan; n/a dtf (they're both different but good in their own ways, so it would be a tie, but northern beats dan due to better value. dtf does not do beef rolls.) fried rice dishes: 1. dtf; 2. northern; 3. dan garlic stir fried string beans: 1. dtf; 2. tied northern/dan (this is the dish that is overpriced at all three and yet still so good from all three) pickled cucumbers: 1. dtf; 2. dan; n/a northern (tbh i don't remember if northern cafe does pickled cucumbers.)
Andrew T.
This food has some of the best food ever! It's really hard to find some decent Xiao Long Baos in Los Angeles other than Din Tai Fung, but this place never misses! The dumplings never break apart when you pick them up and taste delicious. I ordered the beef roll as well which tasted good but the presentation was a bit weird. Beef rolls are usually filled inside, but we were served a really loose one. The service was also a bit terrible. It used to be a counter where you ordered and then they delivered you your food, however they now have you wait for them to come. They have only two chefs and one person at the counter that is also the waiter. He prioritizes the takeout orders over the in-restaurant orders which is really frustrating. Giving it four stars because it's a great restaurant but the service needs to improve.
Samantha K.
We go at least twice a month. Their food is so delicious and service is consistently good.
Brett Benner
The Lao Gan Ma Fried Noodles were delicious! Great prices, food and atmosphere.
What an awful restaurant. Cashier was grumpy, and rude. I ordered at the counter and he tried to force me into leaving a tip although I ordered myself and the water is self service. He refused to let me order until i left a tip and lost his temper so I was forced to leave. I would never eat here and recommend anyone to eat at one of the neighboring restaurants.
Mary D.
I ordered online, food was hot when it arrived. Food tasted okay, not great, however I was not given chopsticks, or a fork, zero napkins and zero hot sauce, zero soy, zero chilies zero sauce of any kind. Disappointing
Samuel E.
Great food prepared with care! The service is also good. I will definitely be back for the beef soup.
Rosalie V.
We tried this place tonight and sadly, it was underwhelming. The lack of customers should have been a sign. Ambiance has a quick service feel but there was one waiter who was perfunctory. We ordered 3 types of dumplings, sautéed green beans and steamed rice. Dumplings are either boiled or pan fried. The wrappers on the dumplings are too thick and do not have that delicate texture one would expect. The fillings for each all tasted the same, despite being chicken, fish and shrimp. Definitely opt for pan fried as boiled was too bland. Green beans were over cooked and drenched in garlic. Not sure how you mess up rice but that too was dry. I would drive a little further to Century City and go to Din Tai Fung instead for your dim sum cravings.
Lo S.
The beef rolls were mostly cilantro and green onion. The scallion pancake didn't have scallions in it lol
Unexpectedly found this branch of the Northern Cafe chain here in Brentwood area while we were here this weekend so it was much more convenient to just stop on than drive off in the unusually rainy weather to seek dinner elsewhere. It's located in a nondescript commercial building right up along Wilshire Blvd. at the end of a row of small storefronts. Probably can have outside seating when sunny. Inside it was a nice spacious space. Overall felt nice and not crowded with tables of anything. Immediately greeted by the only wait staff who let us seat ourselves as he finished a call-in order and then brought menus over to us. We ended up ordering beef noodles which I'd say was an 8/10 overall. Nothing special but points for noodles being properly cooked and soup being tasty. Just the right amount of beef and veggie. Also had the String beans which we pretty much polished off which were good. And also a Shanghai Fried noodle which despite taking a bit longer because they had to make a fresh batch of thick noodles before making the fried noodles -had excellent taste and was nice and piping hot when it arrived. Overall was a very good meal
This is what you would get if you ordered lamb skewer from this place. It's all burned and look at the size. Such a joke
I ordered takeout today— the staff are super nice and the food came out quickly! I got an order of their炸酱面 and dumplings(8pcs)三鲜饺子. I thought the portion of noodles was really great—Easy to share with others. The dumplings were really delicious— right amount of thickness of skin with juicy insides. Every dumpling was consistent with the other and the size of the dumplings were good. I see why people enjoy their dumplings! Noodles might not be their main sell: but the zhajiangmian really hit the spot for me today. The sauce is not a thick paste so it’s more on the liquid side. It coats the noodle easily and I love that there was a lot of cucumber and enough meat for so much noodle.They also provided utensils and dumpling sauce ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Very delicious
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
TL;DR, don’t come here. Go to Palace seafood or hop li or hop woo.Ordered in person and ended up waiting 40 minutes for my food (picture as proof). Took 30 minutes for them to realize the order never got from the cashier to the kitchen. If I hadn’t paid in advance I would’ve left. Didn’t even offer anything for the long wait. No service basically. I would’ve taken back my tip if I could. Food was fine but for such lack of service even for a Chinese restaurant I’d rather go somewhere more local. Never coming back. And why do soup dumplings need peanut sauce? Smh
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Don't come here. Food took almost 40 minutes to arrive despite ordering in person and dining in. Took them 30 minutes and me asking for them to realize the order never got from the cashier to the kitchen. And they didn't offer anything as an apology. Even for a Chinese restaurant, this is not good service. Go somewhere local like Palace Seafood, hop li or hop woo instead. And why do soup dumplings need peanut sauce in them? Smh
between this chain, dan modern chinese, and din tai fung -- my personal trifecta of modern chinese food chains in LA -- i think i like the XLBs here the best. maybe it's because they're somewhat sweeter, which is just a personal preference. the other two chains still do solid XLBs. here are the dishes i normally get (or rather some combo thereof), and here is how i'd rank each at all 3 chains, location-agnostic -- xiao long bao: 1. northern; 2.tied dtf/dan noodle dishes: 1. dan; 2. northern; n/a dtf (dtf does noodles i think but i never get noodles there. i remembered not loving noodles from northern so i stopped getting noodle dishes here too.) wontons: 1. dtf; 2. northern; n/a dan (i don't think dan does wontons, just dumplings. northern's wontons are fine, and i will sometimes order this here, but nothing beats dtf's spicy pork/shrimp wontons.) beef rolls: 1. northern; 2. dan; n/a dtf (they're both different but good in their own ways, so it would be a tie, but northern beats dan due to better value. dtf does not do beef rolls.) fried rice dishes: 1. dtf; 2. northern; 3. dan garlic stir fried string beans: 1. dtf; 2. tied northern/dan (this is the dish that is overpriced at all three and yet still so good from all three) pickled cucumbers: 1. dtf; 2. dan; n/a northern (tbh i don't remember if northern cafe does pickled cucumbers.)
This food has some of the best food ever! It's really hard to find some decent Xiao Long Baos in Los Angeles other than Din Tai Fung, but this place never misses! The dumplings never break apart when you pick them up and taste delicious. I ordered the beef roll as well which tasted good but the presentation was a bit weird. Beef rolls are usually filled inside, but we were served a really loose one. The service was also a bit terrible. It used to be a counter where you ordered and then they delivered you your food, however they now have you wait for them to come. They have only two chefs and one person at the counter that is also the waiter. He prioritizes the takeout orders over the in-restaurant orders which is really frustrating. Giving it four stars because it's a great restaurant but the service needs to improve.
We go at least twice a month. Their food is so delicious and service is consistently good.
The Lao Gan Ma Fried Noodles were delicious! Great prices, food and atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
What an awful restaurant. Cashier was grumpy, and rude. I ordered at the counter and he tried to force me into leaving a tip although I ordered myself and the water is self service. He refused to let me order until i left a tip and lost his temper so I was forced to leave. I would never eat here and recommend anyone to eat at one of the neighboring restaurants.
I ordered online, food was hot when it arrived. Food tasted okay, not great, however I was not given chopsticks, or a fork, zero napkins and zero hot sauce, zero soy, zero chilies zero sauce of any kind. Disappointing
Great food prepared with care! The service is also good. I will definitely be back for the beef soup.
We tried this place tonight and sadly, it was underwhelming. The lack of customers should have been a sign. Ambiance has a quick service feel but there was one waiter who was perfunctory. We ordered 3 types of dumplings, sautéed green beans and steamed rice. Dumplings are either boiled or pan fried. The wrappers on the dumplings are too thick and do not have that delicate texture one would expect. The fillings for each all tasted the same, despite being chicken, fish and shrimp. Definitely opt for pan fried as boiled was too bland. Green beans were over cooked and drenched in garlic. Not sure how you mess up rice but that too was dry. I would drive a little further to Century City and go to Din Tai Fung instead for your dim sum cravings.
The beef rolls were mostly cilantro and green onion. The scallion pancake didn't have scallions in it lol