Joy Tsin Lau

Food and prices were excellent but service was horrible. Servicers were often called to large party tables in pairs leaving other patrons waiting and waiting. I had to ask for my rice and shrimp rolls. My shrimp rolls came after we had finished eating. I would never revisit this restaurant.

After having an awful time at Ocean Harbor, Joy Tsin Lau saved the day with their dim sum. My family and I were seated and had food brought to us to choose from immediately. The staff was pleasant enough and the food was hot and plentiful.
The food itself was good, but it was average dim sum fare. And don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing at all. I like that they have normal dim sum and even some things that are a little harder to find.
The fried pork dumpling was my favorite, with the clams in black bean sauce coming in a close second. And I know this doesn’t count for much, but I like their tea. I don’t know if it’s just me, but most asian restaurants I’ve been to serve weak tea. This was definitely a little stronger than most.

found a piece of plastic in food
service is poor on some weekdays
have been coming here for many years but it is in decline
sad to say the day has come where we say good bye

More health violations at Joy Tsin Lau
«Five pounds of raw duck feet and another five pounds of seaweed were tossed into the garbage last week after a city health inspector returned to Joy Tsin Lau, the Chinatown eatery where, in February, 100 lawyers and law students at a banquet were sickened.
The inspector took the temperature of the feet and found they weren’t cold enough. At 44 degrees Fahrenheit, they were in what the USDA considers the „danger zone,“ where dangerous bacteria can double every 20 minutes.
Inspector Thomas Kolb cited the restaurant for three foodborne risk factors and four lesser violations. The restaurant’s owner did not return calls for comment Monday.»

«We’ll never come back again.»
I have never commented in Unilocal but I have to say the whole experience was almost horrible.
We drove half an hour from DE to Philly China town just to have a good dinner. By the time we stood by the entrance of Joy Tsin Lau, we were just trying to ensure some of the dim sum dishes are still available. But that Beijing «manager» urge us to first walk in and sit down in order to know that availability. We did as he asked. And when I tried to ask him what Dim Sum dishes are available, he told me to order first and he’ll let me know whether it is available or not. Btw, when we sit there I only found three table of guests in the entire restaurant.
Of course this kind of attitude is kind of impatient and annoying, but it’s not the worst. I let him know that we’re here just for those specific food we want. If it’s not available there’s no point we stay here and eat things that we’re not interested. But apparently the «manager» is getting mad because he was trying to get more customers yet we indicate that we’re not so willing to stay here. So he started to be really impatient to me, also very arrogant and aggressive. Seeing the situation, my friend said something to comfort the atmosphere and this «manager» said to him in front of me ironically:“Yeah I like to talk to YOU better.“
I suddenly feel really bad because I’ve never seen this kind of the subjective and immature personnel. We didn’t end up with ordering too much because we just don’t feel comfortable staying there for a long time and we decided to go to Dim Sum Garden later.
But it took almost 1 hour for us to get all the 3 small plate of Dim Sum and we’re the only guests in the whole restaurant!!! The waiter is not doing his job as well. It seems like he’s unable to talk or something. He never came to our table or check anything. The food delivering is so slow but he never came to explain. We tried to check with him twice and he didn’t explain nothing.
My friend was pretty nice at first but he got SO upset and said he’ll never come back again, and definitely so do I.

Horrible, inedible food and don’t care service. We wanted a cocktail close to crib with late night snack. We knew no better

Went there with 5 guests including me and we all had to run to a toilet every two hours after our Dim Sum brunch. Terrible!!! Never going back there again!

I been a customer of them for 5 years, just love there their food. especially dim sum is really good…

This is where Chinese food goes to die. Very sad even for their Americanized versions. Not really clean. More dingy. The food just not real in any way. Take your grandmother and she will think it’s great! Just like it was in the 1960’s

«Health code violations!»
You’d think I’d have learned my lesson the first time I ate here, but I gave them two more chances. Three strikes and they’re out. And yes, I have eaten at a large number of dim sum places, so I know they’re not that great in general, but this one takes the cake.
First, the service is slightly worse than your typical dim sum service. The kitchen area looks dirty and I’m fairly confident no one washes their hands. They don’t speak English well to explain the food so I’m grateful to have some knowledge of Mandarin and friends that speak fluently.
The food is nothing to write home about. If it’s hot, you’re lucky. However, it tastes just like the frozen dim sum plates you can pick up at the market next door so either they buy frozen dishes or they make them and freeze them way too long.
To explain the opening of my review, the restaurant has had so many warnings from the health department, any other city would have shut them down. There’s even a lawsuit against them that was mentioned in the news due to food poisoning. They have violations for rodents, feces, having to be repeatedly «taught» how to wash hands (what!?), and not refrigerating food properly. I’m sure there are a bunch more but I was getting disgusted just thinking about those. Of note, they «donate» lots of money to various organizations.
Suggestion: Eat in the bathroom of any nearby place. It’s likely cleaner and the food might taste better. Or, better yet, go to Dim Sum Garden. The place across the street is also okay if you still prefer the Chinese banquet atmosphere.

We got noodle plates and soft shell crab. It was the best we ever have had without exception. Very reasonable and a block from the convention center.
Came back for lunch the next day as well!

We love Joy Tsin Lau. We love it so much that we totally disregard the recent food poising banquet ordeal. Currently some people are asking that the city shut down this place, so we are trying to get there as much as possible since we do not know what will happen!
Although this place has been sited for multiple food safety violations, according to my research, this food poising can happen in even the finest and cleanest of restaurants, it’s just one of the risks you take when dining out.
We also find the service here to be better than other surrounding dim sum joints and they have certain items that others do not. Please don’t let the bad reviews scare you– be brave and go have great food and a great experience!!!

If in Philly, I would definitely come back again and again because I love dim sum and there are simply not many traditional dim sum restaurants in the city.
First of all, make a reservation! Every time I come here (usually on a weekend), the restaurant is packed and there is no way you can come with a group bigger than 2 people without waiting for at least an hour. The space is jammed with as many tables and chairs as possible, so it is easy to feel claustrophobic (add that to the fact that all the tables are circular, and traffic flows even less easily).
There is a perfectly acceptable selection of all the traditional dim sum dishes. The only dishes that were less than mediocre were the blood rice balls stuffed with… shrimp. and the ribs which quickly became cold and had no meat or flavor. The non-​dim sum dishes, except for the green vegetables, are also definitely not worth it (the sweet & sour pork we ordered was… chewy…and a strange consistency) – so stick with the traditional dishes. The desserts, especially the puddings and sesame balls, were delectable. Otherwise, everything was very average, but acceptable.
The service is pretty rude, but I have come to expect that in Chinatown. Barely anyone speaks English, so perhaps they get frustrated when they try to speak to me in Mandarian and I answer back in English…
After splurging and ordering everything the group of 8 of us wanted and not holding back at all, the bill still only totaled $ 15 per person. Definitely a great deal if you’re coming with a large group of friends who want to try traditional canto dishes!

February 27, 2015 at Joy Tsin Lau gifted me – and an entire banquet hall (second floor) full of folks celebrating the Chinese new year – with a ridiculous case of food poisoning. Friends ended up in the E.R., while others (including myself) simply took it out on the bathroom, trash cans, etc.
Unsurprising after-​the-​fact, if you look up the Philadelphia Department of Public Health reports health violations (e.g., mouse droppings, unsafe handling of meat, etc.) for Joy Tsin Lau, you see the same violations occurring year after year. What is surprising that the establishment is still in business – certainly won’t be getting mine again.

I can only speak for the dim sum. I’ve from the philly area and used to come here every sunday with my family… it’s not as good as it used to be. I prefer the dim sum across the street at Ocean Harbor. I know the line here is shorter but it’s worth the wait across the street. If you have a car go to wokano in south philly– there’s a parking lot there.
There’s just something off about the flavor here.

If you enjoy being on your back for the 48 hours post-​dinner writhing in pain, burning up, and exploding out of all orifices then this is the restaurant for you.
Went here for a banquet that had over 200 attendees on Feb 27. A large number of people got a stomach virus and in some cases it was so bad that they had to go to the ER. Needless to say I will not be eating here anymore.

it is a special tradition at my work place that my director take us to Dim Sum to after chinese new year and major events like passing our annual inspection. Four years ago was my first dim sum experience and I was NOT wowed about it. Two possible reasons: a) I’m not that food adventurous. b) many pork plates and i don’t eat pork… I like the flavorful steamed shrimp dumpling, the smooth and slippery steamed rice sheet rolls. Everyone else likes the steamed pork dumpling and the Turnip cake. Whenever we go its always packed. My boss is chinese, which helps overcoming the language barrier between us and the friendly waiters who do not speak english. Not my fav but still go at least twice a year to enjoy the fun and lively low-​key lunch around the round table.
Three Unilocal

Unfortunately I was not too impressed with the food, but definitely cool experience. The place is packed with tons of asian memorabilia and pictures of famous people, so it has a homey/​messy feel. We went for brunch and tried out the cart experience, where you pick things off the cart as they come about. I liked the fried pumpkin dish, but the dumplings, rice and even the shrimp balls had odd aftertaste and I wasn’t able to really finish them. So maybe it’s just not my type of food. The place is super packed and there is a long wait, so maybe I’m just missing something? I think it’s worth a try for the experience, and you won’t leave hungry!

Well, I can’t say it was totally a disappointment. The food was edible and not too bad, but I have to be honest, it seemed like variations on the same thing. As an American, I am slightly biased and may not be able to detect the nuances of fine Chinese dining, but even my dining companion (who is half Chinese) agreed with my statement: each dish was basically some sort of mashed meat wrapped in won-​ton and drenched in some type of soy-​based-​sauce.
The service was also pretty bad. This particular establishment’s version of service included wheeling up several carts of food (Chinese style tapas) and pointing to various plates while motioning with the hand to indicate if we wanted them. Thankfully my date had knowledge of Chinese because the extent of my ordering involved pointing, grunting, and head nodding. No explanations of the dishes were given and the food was unceremoniously dropped onto our table.
This was followed by 20 – 30 minutes of no service whatsoever. No occasional «check ins» to ask how the food was. My water glass quickly ran dry. No spare napkins were offered.
I entertained myself by looking at the odd décor. Newspaper clippings of a Chinese girl in a dress standing next to a BMW adjacent to paintings of flowers and directly above was a Chinese style fan made of 5 dollar bills. It’s almost as if Asian 50-​cent met Country Home and Garden Magazine met Japanese-​Auto Expo.
I’ll try to spare the more graphic details, but about 3 – 4 hours later I’m pretty sure all of it came out the other end and half my colon. My dining companion experienced much the same result.
The only reason this is a ²⁄₅ instead of ¹⁄₅ is the cheap price, the fact that none of the food was «that bad» and the simple fact that I am being generous given that I am not Chinese and may not be qualified to critique Chinese food.

Pretty solid dim sum place in Philly Chinatown. One of the few nearby that actually brings food around on carts rather than just serving dim sum dishes à la carte via a menu. The food is good quality and fairly authentic, and there’s a pretty wide variety of choices as well. I can’t pinpoint it, but there’s just something missing from Joy Tsin Lau when compared to the awesome dim sum in NY or China/​Hong Kong. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m vegetarian, and there aren’t a lot of vegetarian options at all here since they seem to add a little bit of pork and shrimp to most dishes. So vegetarians beware — not the most accommodating for us plant-​eaters.
There is additional seating in a downstairs part of the restaurant, which makes it great for large reservations and parties (they can accommodate more than 100 downstairs!), so the venue is definitely larger than it seems.
I’ve also come here for the hot pot in the evening, and it was surprisingly very yummy! I went with a group of friends (total of 4 people) and got the hot pot dish meant for 4 people… And the amount of food that they gave is was enormous; it could have fed at least 6.
Most people know this place for their dim sum, so this review largely takes into consideration the average dim sum dishes. But if you do get the chance and come here outside of the morning dim sum hours, I definitely recommend you try the hot pot! It’s a pleasant surprise!