Coworkers decided that I should try the pancakes here since they’re supposed to be bomb. It may be easy to miss since they are on the far side on the second story next to a stair well. Prices are very reasonable and I think they simplified their menu to mostly dumpling and noodle soup based foods based on other Unilocaler’s pictures. You can easily feed two people full up for roughly $ 10 but there are so many to choose from, you can easily overcompensate. My coworkers and I got a huge assortment of their pies and pancakes. There’s not really much of a difference other than size but they are all super juicy! We didn’t get any XLB like a lot of people mentioned but we really didn’t have to. I did find the grease a little off-putting since they pan fry both sides of the pancakes in addition to the natural grease from the meats inside. But damn, they are tasty! I had to count this meal as my cheat meal for the week though… :( Definitely worth a try if you’re in the plaza! Another plus is the free wifi!
Derrick W.
Place rating: 4 West Covina, CA
I went there today for the first time with my pbro after carving dumplings. Apparently its called the Beijing Pie House now as of 03÷22÷14 We ordered the pork soup dumplings, leek and pork fried dumplings, beef meat pies, beef and green onion pancake, and beef noodle soup. The fried leek and pork dumplings were pretty good, nice and crispy outside and super juicy inside! The pork soup dumplings were amazing and the beef meat pies are like the bigger badder and tastier brothers. Super juicy and delicious. Beef noodle soup and pancakes were okay tho but overall very satisfied with my food! Service wise I’d say speaking Mandarin would be a plus but other than that it was okay, not great but not bad especially for a hole in the wall Chinese place.
JJ L.
Place rating: 1 Rowland Heights, CA
They changed the owner again!! its called beijing pie house now… the wonton soup had no taste at all… and the pancakes we ordered were supposed to be beef… turned out not so good. Charged extra for green onion pancake… turned out the same, no taste… we will never come back again. seriously…not worth it to try.
K c.
Place rating: 3 Los Angeles, CA
Business has changed name and owners. It is now Beijing Pie House. I went 3÷7÷14 — two weeks after they changed names per the waiter. Similar menu, now CASH only. I never went when it was Tai Fung so I can’t compare the two. But BPH is decent, 3.25 Stars.
Vickey T.
Place rating: 5 Westwood, NJ
So good — would definitely come back again!
Janet L.
Place rating: 5 La Puente, CA
i went there today and they change ownership. It’s too bad that Tai Fung Pancake House is gone!
Ivy L.
Place rating: 5 Hacienda Heights, CA
Too bad they are closed. I really liked their stuffed pancakes. Their pancakes were flavorful but not overload with salt or msg. It was a rarities where the food did not leave you want to drink a gallon of water afterwards. Maybe they will open at a different location?
Yi Keith X.
Place rating: 5 Newport Beach, CA
The food is tasty, authentic, and cheap. Makes me feel like I’m back in Beijing, except cleaner. The service is very good and you can see the chefs make the pancakes. Would recommend.
Jov L.
Place rating: 5 San Gabriel, CA
This place is so good I go there at least twice a week. We work right across the street and my coworkers are always asking for their fried dumpling. The crab dumpling 蟹粉小籠包 is my personal favorite. The owner and waitors are super friendly, price is very reasonable. If you like dumpling, you have to at least try this place once.
Connie C.
Place rating: 3 Orange County, CA
This plaza is always known for Half and Half, Four Season’s Restaurant or Jazz Cat, but we wanted to try something new. At first, we wanted to go to the Magic Restroom Café, but when we saw the prices, it was over inflated for the items that I usually order. We strolled around on the second floor to check out for any other restaurants, and we came to Tai Fung, which used to be Michelle’s pancake. The place was quite and not very inviting, but I saw a couple things on the menu and decided to try it out. We ordered the beef stew noodle soup, green onion pancake, steamed pork dumplings, and pan fried pork bun. The beef stew noodle soup was good. The soup was bland and it wasn’t as oily as other places were. The beef was not very tender. The noodle and the fresh spinach was delicious! The noodle just melts in your mouth as it was so smooth! Just make sure to add pepper. The green onion pancake wasn’t the best, but it was definitely a good try. The batter didn’t taste like flour and it wasn’t as thick as other pancakes. A big plus… it wasn’t too oily! However, I would have enjoyed it more if it was crisper. I would still recommend this dish, even though, I still like Easy Earthen’s. Steamed pork dumplings was huge and fresh. We watched them make it, which was pretty cool to me! But the top part had too much flour, but no biggie. The vinegar is what hits the spot, while the juices just swishing and splashing in my mouth. The pan fried pork bun was different. They look super oily, but it wasn’t…it was actually the juices from the meat inside that was making it taste like it was soggy. It was an odd dish, but it was ok though. Just wished it was more pan fried and also maybe dabbed a bit with a napkin… The service here was pretty quick as there wasn’t any customers except us and another couple. I would recommend coming here still, but it isn’t as good as Din Tai Fung… but I like that everything was made fresh and didn’t taste frozen.
Marissa L.
Place rating: 4 Los Angeles, CA
We stopped by this plaza to see if we could get into the restaurant with the toilets. Yeah, you know the one I am talking about. Toilet restaurant was full so we drove around, ended up back here, and tried Tai Fung pancakes instead. So…are you a din tai fung knock off? I’ve never been to the O.G., but Tai Fung Pancake isn’t bad even though I refuse – refuse – to accept that those things they call pancakes are pancakes. They’re totally meat cakes! To me, pancakes are battery things that you fry in a pan. Maybe topped with maple syrup and whipped cream. If you are feeling adventurous they are Taiwanese scallion pancakes filled with green onions, pan fried with salt. Tai Fung Pancakes are those amazing meat and veggie and juice wrapped in dough, too big to be a dumpling, Pan fried globs of squirty goodness. But they are not pancakes! The pancakes were absolutely swell(hard for three people to fight over) and their soup dumplings were pretty great, too. The only thing that I was disappointed about was their cucumber salad. It was not very good and tasted like it had been sitting out for a while. I liked the additional touch of being able to see people wrap the soup dumplings through the window. I wish they sold their meat cakes frozen. All in all, Tai Fung Meatcakes is a great alternative to that toilet place. Peace.
Kevin L.
Place rating: 1 La Mirada, CA
We generally like to come here since Michelle’s pancake used to be here. The food tastes good in general. even though now it is under new ownership But it is pretty much a taboo when you have raw food. our steam pork dumplings were raw inside. the waiter took it back, and we asked for the dumplings to be cooked instead of steamed. he did bring back a new batch, but it was a different stuffing than we originally orderd. did not bother to argue, just wanted to eat and leave. waiter didn’t show much remorse, and no apologies from management. Which I thought is a bad way to treat customers bottomline, be careful, always check the inside, we likely will avoid this place in the future because as G Ramsey would say«it’s raw(rowl) !! »
Priscilla Z.
Place rating: 3 Los Angeles, CA
Sorry I’m not a big fan of Chinese food, unfortunately. Maybe because someone mentioned their dishes taste chemicals, and that really just made me think that way. We had a veggie dish, I tasted really like chemicals. Get their pancakes, still good. Beef roll is so-so. But everything is cheap, and they give you one more dish after you spend $ 25. You will need to take home.
Yi Z.
Place rating: 4 San Francisco, CA
This is a really tough location on the second floor of the shopping plaza. It takes a very special restaurant to survive up there because even if you intend on trying it out, it’s so easy to get distracted by all of the other options on your way up. That’s why I never tried it when it was still Michelle’s. I was sick about a month ago and could barely swallow so the bf took me to get porridge from Tai Fung. One thing I really like is the outdoor seating. There are very few sit down Chinese restaurants in the SGV that have an area that’s dog friendly. Benjamin approved of Tai Fung. After I recovered, I wanted to give Tai Fung a real try and we went back to order their dumplings/pancakes. The steamed dumplings were alright(we didn’t order XLB) but the panckakes were awesome. They’re called«pancakes» but they’re really more like pan-fried circular, flat-ish dumplings. The bf despises dumplings(a serious point of contention in our relationship since I’m from Northern China and LOVE dumplings) but even he admitted that the pancakes were good. I would say that if you want non-XLB steamed dumplings, Luscious Dumplings is your place but if you want some juicy delicious pancake dumplings, Tai Fung is pretty awesome.
Kevin B.
Place rating: 3 Los Angeles, CA
This restaurant appears to be a Din Tai Fung knock off and even has the same name! It’s the location as the old«Michelles» restaurant which apparently closed down a few months ago. My mom said there were rumors floating around that Michelle’s used some chemical enhancing flavor agent while claiming they used less oil, less salt, etc. The same sign still appears however… hmmm. My party ordered the beef rolls, meat/onion panckes, leek cakes and a large bowl of pork and egg porridge. The porridge was really good but it lacked a little bit of salt. The leek and meat cakes were pretty decently fired but the dough was a little soft. I would have personally liked a little more of a crispy texture. The beef roll was tasty and it was a big portion as well. I wouldn’t rush to come back here but wouldn’t mind giving them another try sometime.
Arnold W.
Place rating: 4 Irvine, CA
It’s a new(er) place tucked away on the second floor, so it wasn’t too busy. There’s special deals when we ordered $ 25+. We had the pork pan fried buns. Damn were like juicy and delicious. Probably the best thing besides the window into the kitchen so you can watch the chef make all the XLB and dumplings. We also ordered the steamed dumplings and xiao long bao, which was all very piping hot and juicy(beware it squirts). Although the dumplings and XLB lacked flavor. I guess, you’re supposed to use dipping sauces and the crushed pickled garlic. We also ordered the string beans, it was heavily salted with the bean curd stuff, and some weren’t very tender. Also ordered the soupy pork noodle. This was a good dish, the soup was very flavorful, and the noodles were perfectly made.
Kevin T.
Place rating: 3 San Gabriel, CA
Maybe my experience was not the same as the other reviews here. We ordered our typical xiao long bao, beef noodle soup and onion pancake. Xiao long boa are made in house with a window where you can see them preparing the dumplings. I think it was okay, but it not have as much liquid as you typically would. The ingredients are fresh though. Beef noodle did not taste like much. I think it is the fault of the broth. Just didn’t have that much flavor. The noodles were good and the beef was tender. Onion pancake. Because the place is called pancake house, I thought it would probably be good. When we got it, It was not thoroughly crisp. Only the outside was crispy/dark, but most of it was very soft and not cooked well. This also did not have much flavor, but it was very salty. Typically it isn’t salty, but for some reason, this was. The service was nice and friendly, I’ll give them that! Greeted right when we came in and seated immediately. I’ll probably try this place again in case I just had a bad cook or something.
Cindy C.
Place rating: 5 Pomona, CA
This place is a little hidden on the corner on the second floor, but I’m so glad I found this place. The dumplings are exceptionally good. If you think Ding Tai Fung is good then you’ll love this place. I found out that the chef(also the owner) was a top chef from DTF. In my opinion, this place tasted more flavorful, and less expensive. Don’t miss out if you like dumplings and pancakes.
Tnkbp Q.
Place rating: 5 West Covina, CA
All the food that we ordered here were flavorful and juicy. They were big portions and packed with meats. We ordered the beef and green onion pancake, an order of dumpling, an order of xiao long baos, and the #1 porridge. We got an order of free beef roll for spending $ 25 and above. That is what the server said. It was probably their promotion. All the food that we ordered did not need any condiments, even the dumplings. My boyfriend said this has been yet the best porridge he’s ever had. My favorite was the pancakes. I will definitely go back and try different fillings. I will get the beef roll again as well. One order of the beef roll is a meal itself already. Be careful biting the pancake because the juice will spit out. They make the dumplings fresh, and you can see it in their kitchen window. We have big appetite and we didn’t expect the food portions here to be big so, we had left overs. The service was excellent. The servers was attentive, nice and helpful. The restaurant was clean and they accept credit cards. Other customers were older Chinese people. For me, that is an indicator that the restaurant’s will have good food and authentic Chinese flavor because older generations know the right Chinese flavor better. The only con for this restaurant was that there were three items on the menu that we wanted to order but they didn’t have it at that time. Overall, it was a great food experience. We will definitely go back. If you like authentic flavors and not Americanized Chinese food, this place is a must try.
Joe A.
Place rating: 5 San Gabriel, CA
I went there with my friends last Saturday noon to try this new restaurant because we love the north style Chinese food. It was a good choice. The portion was huge and the food was delicious. We just cant stop eating until we cant even move. Everything is awesome and we had a blast. Love those pork pancakes I can eat like 10 of them.