J Zhou Oriental Cuisine

Made a reservation and they crossed our name off for the managers friend
Manager is rude
He told us «hell no» when we said we made a reservation.
Also they told us if we wanted to eat there we have to rent a room and spend over $ 500 at least.
Such terrible service
All employees are cranky as if they are drunk
I don’t know how anyone can go there and be fine with their attitude and personalities.

The dim sum here is just a little better than other places. I guess you can say it’s fresh, but it’s definitely a lot pricier. On top of that, the service is horrible. The waiters ignore you during the meal yet pester and chase you down for more tip.

This was the WORST Dim Sum experience I have ever had!
There are NO carts, the Dim Sum is ordered off a menu (with no prices). We did not have a good feeling and was going to get up and leave but decided to just try some. We ordered 3 Dim Sum items, 2 of them were $ 4.78 each and the other item was $ 6.48. We did not get served for over 15 minutes!
To top it off, there is a Tea & Setting charge of $ 1.50 per person. Evidently that’s what you pay for horrible service. Also, they put the red sauce on the table automatically but there is no soy sauce or mustard sauce on the table nor do they ask if you want it.
TO SUMMARIZE:
OVER PRICED
HORRIBLE SERVICE
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE, CAPITAL SEAFOOD FOR ME!!!

This is a great place for high-​end chinese food. Good food and good service, but it is expensive. It’s become my go to place for weekend dimsum with the family.

Fresh and inventive dim sum menu. Beautiful space and fast service. It is a little pricey but well worth for the quality you are getting. Very happy with the experience.

Pretty decent food but TERRIBLE service. The waiters make faces at you, are extremely discourteous, and brush you off when you try to talk. Our last dish came just as we were about to leave and decided to cancel it – over an hour after we ordered — but they just shoved it onto our table and shrugged their shoulders. When we tried to flag waiters down, they ignored us or brushed us off, (curtly) promising to collect our empty plates and, spoiler alert, never showing up. Honestly tried to be understandable as the place was noisy and crowded, but these servers are way beyond the normal threshold of rude. Asking them for utensils or takeout boxes is like asking them for their firstborn child.
They have pretty good dim sum, but ultimately the servers totally ruined the atmosphere and my appetite and I would not come again.
Also, tea is 1.50 per person??? Bullshit. Read a review where they charged even babies who didn’t drink the tea and I’m honestly not surprised. A Chinese place that doesn’t do a bulk charge or give you the tea for free is highly suspect IMHO.
Tl;dr if you have other options, go elsewhere for dim sum. If your waiters are gonna treat me like the dirt on their shoes, they better have damn good food — and this place makes me feel like they’ll spit in your food just to be spiteful about it.

If there’s a 0 star I would have left it. The food here is average just like any other chinese dim sum place, but the service here is the worst that i have seen. Waiter here are impatient, everytime when i try to ask for something no body have the patient to talk and their attitude is extremely rude. To make things worst, one of the waiter spill hot tea on my son’s arm and when he have heard my son cried he just walked awake as if nothing has happen. As me and my wife ask him to come back and told him that he spill hot water on my son’s arm. He just stare at us for 2 sec., then said «oh sorry» and walk away again.
I have to say that i dine out a lot, but this is by far the worst experiance that i have had, and this would be the last time i come here.

3.45 stars. With some tweaking 3.5−5 is easily attainable.
Ate here twice, once for dinner and exactly one week later for dim sum. The restaurant is open and beautiful. Well lit with bright lights, a good place to set as a banquet or wedding venue.
There are a couple of private rooms that can open up during dim sum and one stationary room.
It’s legit when the flow of cantonese speaking patrons filing up the room.
5÷15− Dinner
Highlight for the night. We ordered the pork belly dish. With a smirk, the server immediately asks, «You like it fat?» Not sure if we heard correctly, so he asked us again. BWHAHAHAAHHA!
Came here seeking for the $ 9.99 dinner specials menu that was posted on Unilocal.However, there was no such menu offered tonight.
Solid Cantonese food with an upscale vibe, including $$.
Service was good and tea was complimentary. The quality of jasmine tea was excellent.
What was ordered:
— Cucumber appetizer: Crunchy and flavorful
— Half peking duck: Expensive for a few uneven slices but still good
— Pork belly: Very good, especially if you enjoy fatty but not greasy
⁵⁄₂₂ — Dim sum
Took a chance at 1:22 pm with a 30 minute estimated wait. Actual time was about 10 minutes. Some dishes were better than others and overall satisfied my craving. Service was little to none during brunch. I think they need to hire a few more people. There is a tea charge per person which is normal for dim sum.
What was ordered:
— Clay pot and preserved meats: Decent and ample serving. Salted fish would have made it perfect
— Rice noodles with spare ribs: Easily the favorite from here. The noodles were perfect in thinness and flavor. Can see this noodle being great with peanut sauce.
— Egg yolk bun — While yolky this was a miss. Bland. Needs more custard texture and sugar. I would pass on this
— Spare ribs in honey garlic: Good. This was from the $ 9.99 daily menu
— Steamed rice paper with fish paste — This came with a soy/​vinegar sauce. While had decent texture but no flavor. It’s a popularly ordered dish here.
— Shredded pork and thousand egg congee: Small portion. I am used to a bigger offering that would be accompanied by accruements, ie: cilantro, peanuts, mustard pickles, etc.
— Tofu in ginger syrup: Tofu fa– Tofu is silky and just right, the ginger sauce needed more ginger and sugar (Simply ask for more syrup to fully enjoy the dish)
— Pork and shrimp dumpling — Shumai — Good but more pork vs shrimp blend. This is where I prefer Seafood Cove #2’s Shrimp to pork. Still juicy and better than the last few places we’ve recently tried.
Overall, pretty thankful for some decent dim sum in the Tustin/​Irvine area.
Took about 9 months to make our way to this place. Will probably return.
Ah yes, I’ll be more than happy to confiscate their alchy section. grin emoticon
What you need to know:
– Egg tart dessert — Come out warm and flaky with a silky custard center. The texture is good but the taste is not as eggy or custardy
(complimentary and for dinner patrons only)
– Roast duck (dinner only)
– Parking is shared with the rest of Tustin District/​plaza patrons
-

Never dining here again. Came here on Friday, May 20^th for lunch. There were a total of 4 adults and 4 children at the table (3 of them were toddlers/​babies). Service has never been their strong suit, but it was especially horrible this time around.
First off, there was a MAGGOT in our Chinese broccoli. You could see the curves and the tiny little legs of the creature, so we were 100% sure it was not a piece of garlic. We showed it to one of the managers and he said in broken English that he would just make us another. I told him, «No, just take that dish off our bill.» He looked at me like he was confused and continued to repeat, «I’ll make you another one.» To which I replied again, «NO. We do not want another one. Take it off our bill.» I think because we had already eaten the vast majority of the dish, he didn’t want to waive the charge. After going back and forth at least 5 times, he finally took the dish off our bill.
When we received the bill, he charged us for 8 teas! Each tea is $ 1.50 and they do this every time and hope no one fights the charge or notices. Only 2 adults drank tea and they were charging the babies for tea?! WHAT THE HELL?! We again flagged him down and told him to change the receipt accordingly. He made it a point to go around and look in everyone’s cup to make sure there was no tea… I mean, seriously? You really think we’re lying to you? You really think we’re going to give scalding tea to a baby and a couple of 2 year olds?
This last experience just ruined J Zhou for me. If we find a MAGGOT in our food, TAKE IT OFF THE BILL WITHOUT FIGHTING US. If not everyone drinks tea, DO NOT MAKE IT A POINT TO CHARGE EVERY PERSON TEA IF THEY DID NOT ORDER IT.
Don’t go here. Screw this place. Go to Capital Seafood or Din Tai Fung.

Dim sum has been a weekend staple growing up so naturally I crave it every now and then. Unfortunately, the Irvine area is very limited in terms of quality Cantonese food– I’d normally have to drive to Monterey Park, San Gabriel or Rowland Heights to satisfy the craving or suffer with going to Capital Seafood. No thanks.
Then you have J Zhou, a brightly lit restaurant with high ceilings, chandeliers, and plenty of Chinese décor. We arrived on a Saturday at 1pm and waited less than 5 minutes for a table. The servers were quick to take tea and any other drink requests so no complaints on efficiency. We were left with an ordering sheet, a menu with plenty of photos, and hot Jasmin tea. I was accustomed to seeing metal carts pushed around with your standard dim sum fare but I didn’t mind having a check list to order everything. This guarantees that you’ll receive the dishes you’re interested in without having to peak into every cart that rolls by. The prices are listed on the ordering sheet so I appreciated being able to compare the prices to the dishes before ordering. Expect the prices to be exponentially higher than those in LA county simply because J Zhou is located in the Tustin/​Irvine neighborhood of Orange County.
The dishes were either a hit or miss. We stuck pretty close to the basics– ha gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (shrimp & pork dumplings), fried shrimp rolls, beef chow fun (rice noodles sauteed in soy sauce with green onions and bean sprouts), shrimp & chive dumplings, and bbq pork pastries. The ha gow were hot, fairly large, and contained a generous amount of plump shrimp wrapped in a thin skin. Strangely enough, these didn’t contain any minced bamboo shoots, as they normally should. The siu mai with roe were fresh but under seasoned. The shrimp egg rolls were bland as well. The beef in the chow fun was tender and the noodles were cooked properly. The dish was large enough for a party of 4. The shrimp and chive dumplings were standard. I didn’t try the bbq pork pastries but the bf said it was mediocre and not flaky enough. The bill was about $ 47+tip.
Service was prompt. We were in and out within an hour or so but it’s hard to get quick service at a Chinese restaurant unless you speak the language and even then, it’s not always the friendliest service. I had no problems getting water, chili oil, the check, etc but I had to ask in Cantonese, and semi-​aggressively. But don’t be deterred, there are some servers who understand and speak English. Service is usually subpar at Chinese restaurants but if you walk into this dim sum spot expecting a wide array of Canto-​style brunch tapas and low expectations for service, you’ll be fine.

Oh wow, I can’t believe I have not written a review for this place yet. My family and I literally come here every week and the waiters/​waitresses pretty much know us. J Zhou Oriental Cuisine is the perfect place to grab Sunday dim sum. The décor, food, and service of this place definitely tops other places by far. While pricier, I would say it is definitely worth the money and the experience if you have yet to try this place!
From the dim sum, our favorites are definitely:
— Steamed Preserved Salty Egg Yolk Buns
— Enoki Mushroom Dumplings
— Eggplant Stuffed with Fish Paste in Soy Sauce
— Fresh Shrimp Dumplings with Chives
In general, the dim sum here is really high quality in comparison to other places. It seems like there is not really much of a difference in terms of other dim sum places (they all taste about the same), but this place actually is GOOD. There’s something about the skin of the dim sum (be it baked/​fried/​steamed, it’s all high quality), or the filing (really flavorful ingredients used and also extremely fresh). There has YET to be one item that I’ve disliked, so just be adventurous and order what you like!
I’ll see you next week on Sunday, J Zhou.

There isn’t too many high end Chinese restaurants in the OC area. Most ppl will need to drive to Rowland Heights for Chinese food. J Zhou opened about 3 years ago. Although the food isn’t the best I have had. But considering since it’s located in Irvine, this is the best you will get. I would recommend coming here if you are looking for a good place for a special celebration. Try making a reservation first for the tables with private rooms. They do have 3 – 4 rooms available. Parking is shared with the other big retails in the block. They do not offer valet but it’s not necessary since parking is plentiful.
Overall, the food here is good and the same chinese menu like anywhere you will find in SG. The food portion is decent size and the prices are reasonable since you are in Irvine. The dishes they serve with are huge dishes and did take a lot of room in room on the lazy Susan. The overall services was also good. The staff came by to check on us often and did help clear and change the entrees to smaller dishes so we can make room for more food. They even serve dessert for you.
They also serve Dim Sum.
Note: They do not accept Discover.

Came here for Mother’s Day lunch here with my mom to be friend! We were here once they were opened so we weren’t waiting for long time. The only reason I come here is because it is close by to my friends house and I didn’t want her to drive that far away… What a bad choice to have food here again. I had several dim sum items and after a while my stomach was hurting like crazy. My friends and I had diarrhea and stomach ache after this place. I believe it was one of the dim sum we had or the oily beef fried noodle… the bill for 5 of us was around $ 110 but there was nothing we ate that I find delicious or different from other dim sum places. Food here is average but highly priced.
The service here sucks because the managers or the men in suits here kept trying to rush us to finish and leave so other people can be seated. I just don’t like the feeling of being rushed when I’m here for food. Seriously?! Parking here sucks too.

Ordered dim sum to go for my coworker: 1 order of shu mai, 2 orders of shrimp rice noodle roll, 1 order of har gow and an order of spare ribs.
This took about an extra 25 minutes to make. We didn’t double check the order at the restaurant, figured it was right. Get back to work, handed it to coworker and went on my merry way… until… I heard a loud, shrill scream… I ran back and saw an extra helping of protein with the shu mai… cockroach, stuck on it’s back, perfectly intact and steamed… I call it «the shu mai NOPE».
The other dishes were fine — nothing fantastic about them, not like the shu mai! Oh, and they put a lot of garlic in the spare ribs (not like the other places that use black bean).
Sam Woo is the way to go, folks!

If you want some good dim sum, this is not the place to go. Of course, this place is way overpriced because you are in a really nice area. For two people, the bill came out to $ 47 and we only ordered a few items. I thought the food was mediocre. Nothing really stood out. All I could think when I was eating was, Seafood Cove is so much better. I would actually wait an hour for that place than come here. I was just in the area and thought I’d check out the place since it was new and usually want to go experience many restaurants. The service was good but of course, it all comes down to the food. Never again will I come back for overpriced dim sum. Mind you, shumai (4 pieces) is $ 5. So not worth!

Decent Chinese food in a nice setting. I think this is the fanciest Chinese restaurant I’ve visited. My Mom and I came here for a weekday lunch on the recommendation of one of her pals. I put my name down on the waiting list and waited for about 15 minutes to be seated. When our waiter came to our table, we ordered the Jasmine tea. I liked the tea.
We ordered Pan Fried Leek Dumplings, House Shrimp Dumplings, and Beef Chow Fun. My favorite was the Pan Fried Leek Dumplings. These had good flavor. The House Shrimp Dumplings were too salty for my taste. The Beef Chow Fun had a slight sweetness to it that I did not like.
The portions were not large. We did not take home any leftovers. The good thing is we didn’t leave hungry. Although the food was not bad, I don’t feel motivated to come back.

Definitely one of the more expensive dimsum places but it is located in The District after all. The interior is very luxurious and upscale; definitely a place to take guests.
There are some unique/​different items on the menu as well in addition to the standard offerings. The dimsum is a-​la-​carte style instead of carts. My mom specifically brought me here to show me their chicken knee dish (fried and loaded with lots of crunchy cartilage), which was excellent.
We came here with one of my mom’s friends and left very satisfied; the food is very delicious! Service was mediocre, but then again, I think I rarely come across particularly friendly Cantonese places.

This place is good for Irvine. I came here on a Friday at 12noon. Plenty of seating.
We ordered dim sum only. Got the dumplings, the white shrimp dumplings, the birds nest soup, and special dumplings.
All were good. I’m not all that great at spelling out each dish but you can see from the pictures.
I would give all dishes ⁸⁄₁₀. Up to par with dim sum in la area.
Downfall: everyone here assumed I could speak mandarin (Chinese) which I definitely cannot. Had to speak to them in English.
You pretty much write a number down on the list of how many items you want. There are no push carts here like what you’re used to seeing at traditional dim sum places.
The birds nest for $ 18.80 isn’t bad either. Loved this. Would totally get it again.
I’d come back. It’s better than bolsa dim sum which I’m used to; but too bad this place opens at 11am. Wish they opened earlier.

After seeing the reviews regarding the customer service, I was skeptical about trying this place especially because no one in our party was Chinese. We still went because my cousins insisted and to my (somewhat of a) surprise, the service was really good!
Our tea & iced water refills were on point. I was also pleasantly surprised how nice our waiters were when we asked them to switch out our chicken feet for another flavor of it because of OUR mistake when marking the sheet. They exchanged it for us without attitude and were super nice!
I went on a Monday during lunch time, which got us a 10% discount, so that’s a definite plus. I’d say this place is a biiit pricy for dimsum, but the ambiance is nicer. I’m used to the asian-​lady-​pushing-​a-​cart kinda environment, so this was a nice change.
Also worth mentioning — they have a relatively unique sauce that’s pretty dang good! Let’s just call it magic sauce for reference. The magical concoction seemed to be comprised of some dried mini shrimp, soy sauce-​ish essence, something pickly, and possibly some caramelized onions (or so we think). Regardless, it was good so we dipped everything in it.

Beautiful Chinese restaurant with a full bar, yes full bar! Can’t we have more Chinese /​Cantonese restaurants like this?
Went for a wedding reception, they served 10 courses dinner, pretty much all the dishes were amazingly delicious, and they weren’t greasy or oily at all.
Dinner highlights:
Cold appetizer assorted items, I loved the jellyfish with spicy sauce, lots of ppl loved marinated beef, tender and flavorful.
Walnut and shrimps: a classic Cantonese dish, I have always liked it, very tasty.
Peking duck: everybody loved it, it looked good to me too.
Steamed fish: I forget to ask what kind of fish was that, it was so fresh and tender, loved it.
Small lobsters with garlic and green onions: so GOOD! Very fresh and flavorful, I had lots of it cause ppl said that I don’t eat meat so I should have had more of it.
French style black pepper beef: tender, flavorful, everybody liked it.
Mushroom and veggies wrapped in tofu skin: only vegetarian dish, it was OK.
Food was very delicious, not salty or oily, but flavorful, not like typical Cantonese /​Chinese food. So I don’t know what’s not to like about this place, full bar with delicious food? It’s awesome!