Tampa Garden Chinese Delight

Great food, probably the most authentic and flavorful in the Valley. They definitely get the ginger right. The homemade dumplings were amazing and the ingredients were fresh.
I highly recommend the Fillet with Silken Tofu (we asked for it spicy, yum!!).
I would pass on the orange chicken, only because it was nowhere near as flavorful as the fish. Still tasty, but not in the same league. I felt like we missed out by not trying something with veggies.
We had to wait over an hour because the place was PACKED. I know it’s a Saturday night, but wow!!! They were hosting a party of twenty plus the other patrons already seated. While the food was worth the wait, I don’t think we’ll stay if it’s that packed next time. We were driving while hangry by the time we left, which is never a good idea.
Would love to give it a 5/​5, but waiting over an hour to eat the yummy goodness took away a bit of the magic for me, plus:
*I feel like the restaurant should have more than one $ sign. We spent over $ 30.00 on two entrées and one side. Worth the money, just wish the price range was better reflected by the reviews*

We’ve came here quite often and have yet to be disappointed. The food is not only fresh every time but it’s delicious.

The food is sooooo good! I love the homestyle menu!!! I strongly recommend Dapan Chicken, and cold spicy chicken! Next time I’m gonna try smoke chicken leg!!! It heals my homesick!!! Five stars!!!

After reading the great reviews on Unilocal for this tiny Chinese restaurant I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed. The restaurant was very busy when I arrived and people were still coming in a few minutes before they were closing after lunch (closed from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm). The server was very friendly even while running around taking care of the 10 or so tables in the restaurant.
I knew coming in I was going to have the «Juicy Xaio Long Bao» that other Unilocalers rave about, but what to have with them? Do I try another type of dumpling? How about an entrée? After perusing the menu I ordered the XLB, an onion pancake, and Cilantro Shrimp.
The onion pancake arrived first: crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. a great start. Next, the XLB even after sitting for a few minutes while I finished the pancake the filling was still hot enough to burn my mouth from the broth inside. Finally, the waitress brought my Cilantro Shrimp. The cilantro flavor was strong but not overpowering. The tender shrimps were cooked perfectly. Even the oil at the bottom of the plate was flavorful so I poured my rice over it to absorb that.
This is possibly the best Chinese place I have ever been to. I’ll be back.

Darn good Chinese food in the valley and perhaps beyond! Hand made dumplings too!
The inside décor may leave MUCH to be desired, but relatively clean, and I don’t want to ruin things and not come here, so I won’t use the bathroom. but the food makes up for it.
Looking around, it just gives you that vibe, that they do clean enough to make it acceptable. Although you don’t get that feeling that they have a regular maintenance schedule of a thorough scrub down. *I’m not saying its a unclean place… Maybe all it needs is a face-​lift?
That tree at the counter needs to go. The floors and counter area need a make over. They would open a new channel of business if they could take $ 5−10K and make some changes that could actually attract clinets… OK enough about that stuff. The food is GREAT! No need to create expenses to take away from the food grade :-)
I asked the waitress what might be a signature complex tasting dish she can recommend, and she said, «I’m not the best person to ask», but she recommended the Pungent Shrimp. While it was good, its just friend shrimp with chunks of broccoli. It was the most simple dish and it was deep fried. In the photo above the counter, I noticed a couple ingredients I can’t remember, But I remember it wasn’t on my plate. Fried shrimp is something I would have avoided. Although the shrimp itself was good, it was a very boring dish to eat alone (all you could do is pop them in your mouth). Dumplings are also very good.
Anyway, much to be explored here, and I look forward for the next time!
The owner and mom are super cool and nice, although they are in a super rush often.

We ordered takeout for Christmas day dinner. Food was really good, but they forgot to give us our order of potstickers! When we discovered this, we were already home, so it being LA, we didn’t want to drive out again and complain as it’s a holiday and it was super busy. We ordered 小籠包 (Xiao Long Bao/​Soup Dumplings), and usually it’s really hard for me to be impressed by XLB, as my favorite is Taiwan’s Din Tai Fung, these were really good. The sauce that came with it paired perfectly, not sure if it was vinegar or not since it seemed sweeter than vinegar. We also ordered the beef chow fun, which was really yummy. The seafood chow mein was also a bit of a disappointment, as I only found shrimp in it. I’m not sure if my family took the rest of the seafood, but there was definitely a disproportionate amount of shrimp.
However, aside from the misunderstandings, this place was really good. Food deserves a 4.

A foodie friend recommended this place to me a while ago, so I ate here yesterday, and then I ate here yesterday. No, I did not suffer a stroke, nor was that an editing mistake. I actually ate here twice yesterday, because neither my fiancée nor I could resist the temptation to eat here again for dinner, and saying «we will go back tomorrow» just sounded so very very very far away. In fact, I have a really strong desire to eat there again at this moment. My reasons are threefold: Spicy Wontons, Three-​ingredient dumplings, and (last on this list, but first in my heart) Xiao Long Bao.
I have a sinking suspicion I will start having dreams of Xiao Long Bao. Is that a bad thing? Only when I wake up.

The food here is spot on. Its known for the chicken & lamb dumplings but everything else seems to be tasty as well. The apperance of the this place gives no clues to what awaits. We had the chicken and lamb dumplings, pepper fish and beef noodle. Plates are less than $ 10 each.

Amazing! Chow main was phenomenal, made with thick noodles. The cilantro beef was super tender, will definitely order again (and I usually hate cilantro).
It did take 35 minutes for the food to be prepared, but it was worth the wait!

I know that it’s quite difficult to find a decent or good Chinese restaurant around. Decided to go with Chinese for dinner and I called ahead to place an order for pick up. I believe I called 25 min in advance asking for them to have my order ready by 8pm. Which gave them a little more than 30 min to prepare. I arrived and its in a small plaza structure off roscoe. Parking wasn’t too bad at that time and when I arrived, my order wasn’t completed yet. So I waited, Anne about 15 min? Not too bad, I guess.
Anyways! On to the food. ** make sure you ask for light salt and oil. I know that Chinese food can get a bit greasy, but since I requested that for all of my orders, it came out perfect!** curry chicken fried rice, this entrée was different and probably the reason why my boyfriend wanted to try it. The chicken was well cooked and the flavor was there, but very light. Maybe because I asked for light salt, but hey better than eating a lot of it. Sautéed garlic spinach, I don’t know how much spinach they used. but, it was definitely A LOT! I mean we were both happy since we liked vegetables but I even felt like it was a lot, considered that spinach is always cooked down to basically nothing. Then Mongolian beef. Since we had chicken already, I went with beef. It was really tender and full of flavor. I think this was my favorite, although I wished the onions could’ve been cooked down more.(I know traditionally it isn’t, but I’m just picky haha).
Overall, I would come back whenever I can’t Chinese, which is quite rare. I did want to try the dial long baos, but maybe next time! This is a whole in. The wall place and I’m not complaining, I’d rather find a whole in the wall than to find an overly busy place.

Stopped here for the first time on Saturday for carry out. Had the combo fried rice (with no peas or carrots) and the combo chow mein. They were both delish. Also tried the orange chicken. Flavor was good but the chicken was too dry. Good size portions.
Will definitely try this place again. Want to try the dumplings and a few other dishes.

I’m a dumpling fan. I’m a Taiwanese food fan. I’m a Szechuan food fan. I’m also a Dong Bei (Northeast China) food fan. This place pleases me because it has it all! Whenever craving hits, this is always our go-​to spot in the valley.
Soup dumplings AKA XLB (Xiao Long Bao) — 8 pieces. The dumpling skin was perfect and not too chewy like Din Dai Fung. Size was on the normal side but it’s OK because the reasonable price makes up for it. Filling was adequate, meaty, juicy, and sweet. (I like it sweet).
Pork and chive dumplings — 10 pieces. The dumpling skin was firm and dense, good texture for the mouth. Size was ginormous. Filling was plump, meaty, and very fulfilling.
Those baskets of joy were there to please! We ordered them to pair with our Beef Lomein entrée. The portion was great! I like the generosity. Topped with tons of bean sprouts and beef. I like the wok-​char taste to it therefore it’s awesome for me. Best of all, no MSG.
The lady is nice and always made me feel like home. This hole-​in-​the-​wall is real and they’re on the right track. I’ll definitely keep them in mind whenever I need a fix. Well recommended to all ages, race and culture.

So the Wor Wonton not my fave cuz the broth was so lightly seasoned, dumplings, ok. Nothing blew me away the dirty tables from lunch stated that way even after I left and sat in my car to write this. The part that bothers me most is that they charge a buck to use a card if under $ 20.
It’s ok but I won’t waste a trip here

My friend and I stopped in for a quick bite. We ordered the beef with veggies and fish with black bean sauce.
When two different named dishes come out looking the same, we start to question. But, keeping an open mind and the fact that we were starving, we dove in to our meal.
The beef was good and veggies scarce. But just way too salty for my taste buds. The fish with black bean sauce was too starchy and salty as well.
Parking slightly limited outside. The place is located in a mini mall.

The service:
we walked in and theres was a ladfy who immedietly greeted us and asked if we wered eating in or taking out. she seated us and was super friendly to us the entire time we were there. Even though she spoke minimal english she did her best to communicate with us.
The food:
the food is good not the best you’ll ever have but it’s good and the portions are rather large and the prices very reasonable.
the bad:
the entire time we dined there were dishes on tables as people left they never picked up after anyone the dished just sat there so cleanliness is not of high importance to them.

Ordered
Cream cheese wonton —
Hot n sour soup
Lamb & zucchini pan fried dumplings
Chicken fried rice
Orange chicken
Cream cheese wonton … with a tasty sweet dipping sauce
Hot n sour soup was vastly different than most places. One size. Lots of yummy stuff inside it and the taste was great. Not super thin like most places. I don’t normally eat hot n sour soup but this one might change my mind
Dumplings were delicious and cooked perfect
Chicken fried rice… meh. Wouldn’t order again.
Orange chicken was a good choice perfectly breaded and deep fried bits of chicken tossed is a tasty spicy sweet orange goodness sauce. Great with a side of white rice

I can’t believe that i forgot to write reviews about this hidden gem in my area. I always come here frequently with my friends, my parents, my coworkers, my family members for yummy handmade dumpling such as pork and Napa cabbage, pork and chive, three kinds dumpling aka pork, cilantro, shrimp etc. Grandma freshly makes dumplings everyday except weekend meaning she takes care of Michelle aka owner’ baby during weekend. This place is very convenient for valley residents without having to drive all the way to 6
26 San Gabriel Area such as Alhambra and Din tai dung in arcadia I mean those who are craving for fresh handmade dunplings. One great authentic handmade dumpling place I forgot to mention in the valley area…

This place is so good! The owner speaks limited English but she’s awesome!!! I think she calls herself mama or something but we asked her what was good. She pointed to the spicy dumplings and it was xiao long bao in a spicy chili sauce.
We came during lunch time around 1:00 and was seated immediately there was no wait. I ordered the three spice xiao long Bao and the spicy xiao long Bao and the Singaporean noodle. All were really delicious and I will definitely be coming back. Ifs the place to be if you don’t want to go into the San Gabriel valley for authentic Chinese food.
The setting is a little run downesque to normal I would say. It’s like any other typical taco joint that you would find in the SFV. The bathroom is alright, I had to use it but I am lucky I am a male who does not have to sit on the toilet.
My experience was so wonderful I left a 20% tip because their hard work was much appreciated.

For the longest time, I thought that the only authentic Shanghai-​style restaurants in LA where East of Pasadena in the SGV. Because happiness is measured in proximity to handmade dumplings, I had always planned on living in this area in the event I was to return to the City of Angeles.
What’s this? What’s this? Award winning, authentic handmade dumplings!!! At the corner of Tampa and Roscoe!!! Damn straight. Located just down the street from my place of birth in Tarzana rests another [albeit newly acquired] place of affinity for me — Tampa Garden Chinese Delight.
Let me set the ambiance for you… Resting in a TINY strip mall with way too little parking, Tampa Garden is a small order-​at-​the-​counter style joint with an Americanized-​façade, yet some REALLY good authentic Chinese cuisine underneath the surface. As you walk in, you will see a loud menu board with pictures of Chinese American cuisine — you will not be ordering any of these.
As far as I’m concerned, Tampa Garden should have a three item menu: Handmade Pan-​Fried Noodles, Handmade Wontons in Spicy Sauce and Juicy XLB.
The Noodles: Not too thick, not too thin. Chewy and laced with some form of addictive substance, these noodles greatly exceeded my expectations. And boy do they give a generous portion. In truth, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a larger plate of noodles that didn’t come in the form of a challenge!
The Wontons: The highlight of this dish for me was the sauce. Think peanut butter chili oil. And don’t let the peanut butter scare you off [unless of course you have a life-​threatening food allergy]. My peanut-​hater-​of-​a-​wife could detect the controversial legume and loved it regardless!
XLB: Xiao Long Bao, also know as «soup dumplings», are a definite lust of mine and every purveyor makes them slightly different. The XLB at Tampa Garden where slightly larger, had a thicker dumpling skin and a moderate amount of soup when compared to other Bao I have previously tried. Definitely a GREAT dumpling; however, I can’t rightly call them the best I’ve ever had.
If you live in «The Valley» and haven’t yet dined in or taken out from Tampa Garden, I believe you are missing out on a gem and one of the region’s best artisanal eateries.

Tonight I took (Dora. B) advice on din din! You’re totally right, the delivery time took about 1 hour. I should’ve drove there myself.
The food was really good! I had the Schwann beef plate, spicy kao pao chicken and of course the pan fried dumplings. The food portions were really large! I still have leftovers for tomorrow. The chicken was sweet and a bit spicy, I wish it would’ve more peanuts. The beef was juicy and the onions were really sweet. Overall, really good. The dumplings were freshly made and cooked. I wish they were a bit crispier and fried.
The phone service was good, I wish they could’ve suggested other items to me. Since, it was my first time calling in and placing an order with them. Overall, experience was good other than being hungry for a long time waiting for my food.