Chef Tony in Arcadia

Chef Tony is a fancier dim sum spot that has really good Cantonese dishes. I went for dinner so I got to try their a few of their non dim sum dishes as well as traditional dim sum plates.🍽️Ordered:1. Egg tofu with mushrooms2. Clay pot rice with chicken3. Braised eggplant with pork4. Crispy bun with pork & shrimp5. Deep fried pork dumplingEven though the prices for dim sum here are a little more than other places, I feel like it was worth it because of the quality of the food. Each dish was so delicious and freshly made. I would def come here again during lunchtime to try more of their dim sum🤤🥟

Lovely place for dimsum. Decent amount of parking as it shares it with a few stores like the bakery and a ramen spot. Food is always fresh and delicious. Staff are friendly and attentive.

Good food. Satisfactory service. Place itself is a bit small. Be mindful to check back in frequently after getting on the waitlist. They do not have a paging system, so you have to keep your ears peeled.

First of all, its good and crowded. We arrived at 0950, 12/31, and already a queue of about seven or eight groups waiting ahead. Once its occupied, the second rounds have to wait outside and at least one hour waiting.Second, tips, DONT order the house special Roast Crispy Chicken with Black Truffle. Yes, its wonderfully crispy, but the black truffle dipping sauce on the side had no black truffle smell AT ALL. The sauce was tasteless and even a plate of Chinese garlic chives blossom (韭菜花) would be better, even though I dont like to eat Chinese garlic chives blossom.Third, DONT order any dish that should have a strong fragrance. Like Shrimp and Pork Dumplings with Black Truffle, Deep Fried Durian Pastry. They didnt have the smell they should have.Otherwise, all the rest were good or acceptable. Every dish met the standard, they were traditional, and they were authentic.Here are some recommendations:Shrimp Wonton with House Spicy Sauce.It was mildly spicy, the spicy everyone could handle it. The wonton was full of shrimp, soft, tender, and delicious. The sauce was full of flavor.Deep Fried Japanese OctopusIt was only the octopus feet without the body, you could read it from the menu if you know Chinese. It was crispy and very well seasoned.Shrimp DumplingWhich was steamed and fresh, very tasty, and very classic. Textbook level.Deep Fried Shrimp Spring RollIt was deep-fried but not oily at all, which was good, no one likes a mouthful of oil.Rice Noodle Roll with ShrimpRice Noodle Roll with Minced Beef and Chinese ParsleyFor the rice noodle roll, the shrimp one was better than the beef one, you still can order the beef one in case you already had the shrimp dumpling, shrimp wonton, and shrimp spring roll, too many shrimp in Cantonese restaurants.Deep Fried Pork DumplingThe personal favorite dish in any Chinese breakfast tea restaurant rarely had a bad one.Coconut PuddingThe pudding was in rabbit shape, order it if you have kids with you. The next lunar/Chinese year is the rabbit, its a good fortune hint.Something not that good:Juicy Pork DumplingThe shape of the dumpling fails. The juice of the dumpling fails.Wok Fried Radish Cake with XO SauceThe green bean sprouts were undercooked, even in their raw stage with an unpleasant smell. The cake was not even warm.

We made a reservation for dinner and arrived early so it was empty. The service was fast and friendly.We tried a lot of food and all was good. The tofu and shrimp won most people’s applause.

I have to say I was really looking forward to eating at this place, so we went in very hungry.We got there just in time to get the last parking spot.There was a little wait to get a table, after numerous attempts at getting the hosts attention (who were multitasking).The flavors were disappointing, to say the least. The coconut jelly did not taste like coconut, there was no hint of squid ink in the squid ink dumpling, and the egg yolk in the black bun just tasted like sweet, salty, yellow, gooey stuff. The pork in the truffle siumai had a boar taint smell, which was off-putting (ironically, the truffle magnified the smell). Everything else was average-tasting. The presentation and technique tells a different story though. I can tell that the food was made delicately but I cant say the same thing about the taste, which is far more important to me than appearances.The restaurant and its tables are small (cramped would be a better word).The service was fast but the wait staff were not attentive. It was a busy lunch service but for the prices, you expect more attention and not have your food just dumped in front of you. If this was a cheap or averaged-price dim sum place, I wouldnt have cared, but its not.I give it a one star because I left the restaurant unhappy, cursing at myself for deciding to eat there, and going home with leftovers that I later then refurbished to make it more palatable.I honestly dont know what the hype is all about.

We got there late (11 AM on a Saturday) and had to wait 45 mins to get seated.The options on the menu is not as comprehensive as other traditional dim sum restaurants but they do have some modern dishes that are interesting.I really enjoyed the black truffle chicken and the chick feet (very fresh). The spare ribs were good as well. Everything else is on par with other decent dim sum joints. Overall it was a satisfying meal, but a bit pricey.Had I knew the wait was going to be 45 mins, Id probably go to another restaurant.

FYI Chef Tony was the former head chef at the popular dim sum restaurant Sea Harbor, who branched out on his own. Chef Tony has two locations (Pasadena & Arcadia), and this is the review for the Arcadia location. Funny that I didnt notice this location was the old DTF, and when I walked in and got seated, I was like I think Ive been here before. Lol. Anyway, here are the pros and cons comparison.Pros:1. The wait time was much more reasonable, and you dont even need to wait to be seated.2. A few of the items that are always unavailable at Sea Harbor, can be found there! And they were yum!Cons:1. Some must-have dim sum dishes were not as good as we expected. The most disappointing dish was the Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf. It was kinda flavorless and not sticky enough2. We noticed that it was a little pricier than Sea Harbor.Okay, let me put it this way. If SH is the standard, you might be a bit disappointed in this place. Nevertheless, if you treat it as a new dim sum restaurant to replace the old DTF, I think Chef Tony dim sum is a good addition to Arcadia.

Chef Tony have been opened at this location for while. They are a fancy Chinese restaurant serving dim sum. I should say Cantonese dim sum restaurant. You can still order stir fry dishes and other Cantonese dishes but most people come here for their dim sum. This picture I posted today is one of their unique items - Deep Fried Chinese Donuts filled with shrimp paste. Very delicious! The only suggestion I would give them for this dish is to add a thin layer of the Cheung Fun (Rice Paper) on the outside to make it complete.

A good place to meet with old friends and not your traditional dim sum place. It does not have an extensive menu but plenty of new dishes to try. Though the price per dish is higher then most but worth the try.The service was fast and courteous. But the seating is not the best.