P P Pop

One of the best places for xiao long bao, make sure to eat it while it is pipping hot! It is quite comparable to places such as Mama Lu’s or 101 Noodle Express located in the 626 area. I love how this place has a variety of beef noodle soups. I got the regular beef noodle soup that has tendon and braised beef. If you aren’t a fan of beef noodle soups, there is also ramen and hotpot options which looked quite good in pictures.
Next time, I will try the beef wraps and the sichuan beef noodle soup, I think the numbing flavoring would be a nice addition to the dish.

For a group of 4, we ordered 3 noodle soup dishes, the pan fried pork bao, beef roll cake, and the xiao long bao (~50 $ total).
I got the house special beef noodle soup along with all the extra stuff we got, it was super filling, and enough to take home as leftover! The broth was the best part about the noodles, so much flavor and not very salty which makes it easy to drink. The noodles itself was cooked perfectly and the beef that was paired with the noodles was so tender that they fall apart when you pick it up! Lots of flavor, it’s really hard to stop eating!
The xiao long bao was decent. Inside, the meat was tasty, but there isn’t as much soup inside as some other places, but still good. The beef roll was probably my favorite. The outside skin was nicely fried, crispy, and thick on the outside, and not too oily, while having that awesome chewy flavor when you bite into it. Combined with the hoisen sauce, meat, and greens inside, everything so amazingly good! It comes out in a pair of 2 rolls. cut into 3s, but the rolls are really big so no need to order too much. Lastly, the pan fried pork bao was as consistent in taste as the others. The skin on the bao was nice and thin, and had a good serving of meat on the inside. There was a little bit of the tasty broth from the meat when you bite into the bao that added some extra flavor in every bite.
My parents are normally critical when it comes to chinese food at a restaurant but this place has won their approval! Service was alright, but the food was better!!!

4.5
If you’re looking for some hot, warm soup noodle dish then by all means this is the place to go.
FOOD:
Al dente, chewy noodles make me happy and it makes me even happier when the soup is full of beefy meatiness with a good enough amount of salt and spice. The soup has definitely been cooking for a while as the flavors are deeply infused together. The beef itself still provides strong flavors while falling apart easily.
SERVICE:
Service was okay. Standard in having to wave your own arm up to get something you need.
ENVIRONMENT:
It’s pretty clean, but comfortable for a space that’s kind of small. To me it feels like one of those places that you’d come for just a quick bite but definitely not for a comfortable dinner date.

Friendly service and delicious entrees and appetizers. I had originally gone here because Mama Lu’s line and wait time was ridiculous. I’m definitely glad I ended up here. The vibe in the restaurant is very playful with their bright green walls. It wasn’t crowded or obnoxiously loud like Mama Lu’s would be. The food came out in a timely manner and the recommendation by a waitress was on point. Would definitely go again when in the area.

I’ve never been to a restaurant where I had to not leave a tip!!!
I went with my mom a couple of weeks ago and the service was horrible. We had ordered 1 drink, 1 cup of hot water, house noddles and fish ramen.
Before we even got our food, a waiter comes up to us and asks us if he could take the condiments for a different customer. Instantly, we said «No» and asked «why are you asking us this when we have NOT received our food yet? We do not know if we need it.»
Reminder for people: DO NOT ORDER fish ramen. The both was gross and the noodles were spaghetti noodles.
Later on, a waiter comes up to the table does NOT ask but just simply takes the condiment tray away. From beginning of our meal to the end, my mom had not received her cup of hot water. More than half of the people in the restaurant had their food, this place had a couple waiter/​waitress just standing around but they don’t notice that a cup of hot water that was ordered is not on a table.

P P Pop is located next to Hong Kong Supermarket — they share the same parking lot. I came here with my mom and her friend who really likes this establishment.
My mom and I shared the Korean seafood hot pot and beef noodles. The hot pot was enjoyable as the seafood was pretty fresh. The broth did have too much MSG and the same goes for the beef noodle broth. I enjoyed the texture of the noodles. The beef was OK.
Be cautious of getting a cold drink. First, the mug is about a foot high and is so sweet, it is like syrup. I even asked for «xiao tang» (less sugar) which they acknowledged hearing.
My mom’s friend loved her ramen which looked really rich and decadent. They also shares the pan-​fried dumplings which I didn’t try but they said the filling was overseasoned.
There are SO many of these types of beef noodle/​dumpling restaurants in the SGV. Their prices are all about the same — I have yet to find a «favorite.» The journey continues…

I was looking for a place similar to Mama’s Lu without the incredibly long line and this was right across the street so why not give it a try?
When I first walked in, the server directed us to a table and there was leftover food that had dropped on the seats. Gross… This had already ruined my appetite.
I was super hungry (if I wasn’t I might’ve left), so I ordered the special beef noodle soup and the sheng jian bao. Sheng jian bao is basically pan fried pork soup dumplings. Similar to xiaolongbao, but the outer layer is thicker and fried.
The next odd thing… all our noodles came before the sheng jian bao so I was like huh? I thought that was our appetizer. I asked our server if it was coming and she nodded so quietly I asked again and she said yes out loud with an attitude.
The beef noodle soup was SO incredibly OILY. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten beef noodle soup with this much oil in it! The beef was INCREDIBLY salty and yes, I’m not a big fan of salty foods but the beef really tasted like it was braised in salt for days. I couldn’t even drink the soup and I barely enjoyed the noodles and didn’t even eat the beef. If you’re interested in eating beef noodle soup, please go to 101 Noodle Express (about 10 minutes away in Alhambra).
The only reason I’m giving this place 2 stars is because the sheng jian baos were pretty decent. Not great, but definitely better than the noodles. Sounds a bit harsh, but I would never come back. There’s just so many better options in the area.

Was looking for an alternative for Mama Lu’s for some good cheap eats. Came across this place on Unilocal.It is in the same structure as Hong Kong Supermarket so they share the tiny private lot. When we went in, we got seated right away and the restaurant was relatively tidy and small.
Xia Long Bao: Not as juicy and flavorful as Din Tai Fung or Mama Lu’s. BUT, they are less than $ 5 for 8 so it is definitely a bargain.
Beef Rolls: I really liked it. The wrapper was very thick and crispy and there was not as much meat as other places, but the flavors and textures were there.
Beef Noodle Soup: The broth was very flavorful and the beef and tendons were amazingly tender. Definitely recommend this dish for cold winter nights.
Hot and Dry Noodles: Meh. Pass on this one.
Overall, not a bad alternative if Mama Lu’s has a long ass wait like they always do. Don’t expect the food to be as good, but its cheap!

Decided to come here today for lunch to try their food. P P Pop is located right next to Hong Kong Supermarket, they share a parking lot. The staff mostly spoke Mandarin, but they were friendly and brought our food out promptly.
I decided to order:
Xiao Long Bao: It was $ 4.75 for eight and they was delicious. I liked the thick skin which I think helped it not break apart when I picked them up from the tray. The inside was very juicy and the meat tasted good. I can’t compare them to Din Tai Fung’s because I’ve haven’t been there, but for me, I definitely liked P P Pop’s XLBs.
Beef and Tendon Noodle Soup: The beef and tendon were really tender and good. The broth was flavorful too! The bowls were large too, a good amount of noodles inside to satisfy you.
P P Pop serves good authentic Chinese food, give them a try if you want to avoid the lines at other busier places around the area!

Mama Lu was packed so me and my friends decided to try P P Pop since its super closed to my Bf’s house and we were starving. The place was small and empty so we got seated right away. The waitress was friendly.
Xiao long bao– 2 Star
The xiao long bao here were sad and dry. I barely tasted any soup when I opened it. However, I saw a lot of Unilocaler giving great review for their XLB so I assume P P Pop might had a bad day and served me bad XLB:(However, the price is cheaper here compared with Mama Lu so if you don’t want to pay extra for XLB, you can come here.
Spicy beef noodle soup– 3 star
The soup tasted like soy sauce. Noodle was bland. However, the meat was tender and juicy. They just literally added one huge spoon of spicy paste on top of the soup so it was called «Spicy» beef noodle soup. The broth was too greasy because of the spicy paste.
Since I would rather pay a little extra for better quality of XLB, I think I will still stick with Mama Lu for now until I find a better and cheaper place. Parking is easy here, there are a lot of parking space.

My new favorite Chinese restaurant.
If you can get over the proximity to Hong Kong Supermarket and the preponderance of zombie-​like hock-​and-​spitters walking around, and the weekend crowds waiting for a table, you will be rewarded with one of the cheapest, most consistently good Chinese meals in Monterey Park.
Some notes on the food:
— The xiao long bao are [as of this writing] $ 4.75 for eight, and they’re solid. The skin’s thicker than at Din Tai Fung, but they’re more reliable than at almost any other place I’ve been to.
— The tai shi chao mi fen (Taiwanese style fried vermicelli) almost tastes like a home-​cooked meal (the Fujian version here is similar but with seafood) and is huge enough to serve as leftovers, even with two people working on it.
— The spicy beef rice noodle soup is a real standout; it’s spicy but not crazy spicy, the beef is dark and soft, the noodles cooked perfectly and the soup is almost creamy. I don’t know what they put in that broth, but it might be illegal.
— Even the niu rou zhuan bing (beef roll) is pretty good, and I am insanely picky when it comes to beef rolls. Nothing raises my hackles like seeing «best beef roll ever!» in a review because I can’t help suspecting it’s one of the ONLY beef rolls that person’s ever had.
The service is also outstanding. Every time I’ve been there, it’s been the same few servers, all incredibly nice with zero attitude. Apparently they’re from Fujian, and although I’ve never been, these guys are repping it hard.
Minimum of $ 20 for credit card, parking in the Hong Kong Supermarket lot, or I typically park in the small bank lot next door after hours.

We had a good experience here. Surprised that it wasn’t busier on Saturday night, but maybe people think of this as lunch fare? We had the house special beef noodle soup (Taiwanese specialty), the beef and tendon noodle soup (same thing but with beef tendon), fried chicken appetizer, and pork and leak pan fried dumplings. More than enough (too much maybe) for two people.
The beef noodle soup had a nice deep, rich, beefy flavor. Noodles were nicely cooked, not too soft. If you’ve never had beef tendons, they tend to be soft, gelatinous, and very rich when cooked properly. Both the beef and beef tendons were super tender. The fried chicken was like karaage. I felt like it was a tad salty, but not too bad. The dumplings were great. They burst with juice when you bit into them, like xiao long bao, so be careful when they are hot.

I’ve been here 2 times now and it deserves a review! I came here with my family for dinner on a Tuesday night. Let me start off with parking, when we got here the parking lot was full, we took the LAST parking spot and there is a pretty decent sized parking lot that is shared with PP Pop, the grocery store, and a few small «Mom and Pop shops.» I was shocked at how full the parking lot was.
Anyways, onto to the restaurant…
They have a decent amount of tables to sit. We had a party of 6 and we didn’t have to wait. The restaurant was pretty busy and most of the tables were full. Our service was good regardless. We hardly have to wait for our food and the waiter was attentive.
They have a variety of noodle soups. They have the House Special Noodle Soup, Tendon Noodle Soup, Beef and Tendon Noodle Soup, only to name a few. These are the only three I have tried. They all have the same soup base and noodles. The only difference is the meat. The house special noodle soup only has beef, the tendon noodle soup only has tendon, and the beef and tendon noodle soup has both beef and tendon. They are ALL delicious, it just depends on whether or not you want beef, tendon, or beef AND tendon. The beef is very tender and flavorful. The tendon is juicy, soft and delicious. The noodles are the typical flour noodles that were fresh and soft. Everything was cooked perfectly! Their soup broth is flavorful, not too salty, not too much anise. In fact, I think it could have a little more anise. I’m salivating again and I just ate it a few hours ago!
We also tried the Xiao Long Baos. We ordered the House special and the crab meat one. The first time we came here and ordered these two, they were DELICIOUS! We were blown away with the quality of the XLB. However, we ordered them today and they seemed a little old and the quality did not seem as good as it was the first time we had it. The skin of the XLB was on the thicker side and was a bit hard. The meat flavor and the soup inside the XLB was good though. I’m hoping that it was just a bad batch or overcooked just this one time. I’ll have to go back again to try it again!
Overall, I’d definitely come back for their Beef and Tendon Noodle

Wow this place is so good!!! My bf and I aren’t from the area so we randomly searched up a cheap noodle place on Unilocal and this one came up. So we decided to give it a shot and we ordered the beef noodle soup with tomatoes ($ 7.99), Devil’s (super spicy) beef noodle soup ($ 8.99), and fried chicken ($ 4.99).
The first thing I noticed is that the portions are HUGE! I only ate half of my beef noodle soup with tomatoes before handing it over to my bf. The broth is flavorful without being greasy and the beef chunks were hearty and delicious. The only thing I wish they did was cook the tomatoes instead of cutting raw tomatoes and putting them on top as garnish. The fried chicken plate was also really big! And the chunks of chicken were really meaty and crisp. Supposedly the super spicy beef noodle soup wasn’t that spicy… because my bf got an extra side of chili to add to the soup lol.
Service was great and they were still nice to us even though we didn’t speak mandarin. The restaurant does take card but its a $ 20 minimum.

This place is underrated. I love their crab xlb. The first time I had it, it was so crabby and delicious. Now it’s less crabby but still good. Also cheap! Crab xlb is only 6.99 and even less for the pork xlb.
My favorite part of their xlb is the skin. I know ppl like the thin skin like din tai fung but I like the thick substantial skin a la Joe’s Ginger xlb in NYC Chinatown. The only complaint I have is they’re a little stingy on the ginger but ask for more and they’ll happily oblige.
We also ordered the beef and tendon soup. Oh sooo goood. I loved the broth. Just enough complexity without being overwhelming. The thing that set it over the top was their chili sauce with peanuts on the condiment tray. It was that mouth numbing spice familiar with szechuan food. I ate gobs and gobs of that chili.
Conveniently located next to a supermarket. Have lunch then get your groceries. I would drive out of my way for these dumplings and soup. I think its my favorite in the area.

I wanted to try this place since many Unilocalers gave this place 5 stars. Initially I had trouble getting into the right parking lot. I ended up at a bank lot and couldn’t walk through the bushes to the restaurant so I had to drive around the block into the right parking lot. At 9:30 pm the parking lot was was pretty empty. When we walked inside, we were seated promptly.
Although there was a slight speech barrier, we ordered by numbers and by pointing out the pictures. The order was…
Dumpling in spicy oil — It wasn’t that great… It was overcooked and the dumpling was falling apart. Flavor wise it was okay. I would say edible but nothing spectacular…
XLB (pork) — surprisingly big and juicy. The texture and flavor slightly different from what I’m used to but still good.
They also have a variety of noodle soups, ramen, hot pots and bobas on their menu.
The best part about this place is the price… and the portion sizes.
I just wish they didn’t mess up our order…

I always feel like there’s two ways you can criticize food. Cost and Quality. You can have high cost but if it’s high quality, it may be worthwhile. If you have decent quality but it’s super cheap, it also may be worth it. In my opinion, this place falls under above decent quality (I’d say 4 star) with a low price tag.
Wifey and I went here with the brother and we spent about $ 25 on four dishes. Those four dishes stuffed us completely and we still had one piece left over. I know the menu here has a lot of different things, such as noodles, Taiwanese snacks, etc. but the only thing we really come here for is dumplings. And not just any dumplings, Xiao Long Bao or juicy pork dumplings.
We ordered 1 order of XLB, 1 order of the pain fried dumplings, 1 order of the Xian Jian Bao, and one beef roll. The XJB is the closest I’ve had to the ones I had in Shanghai which I think says a lot. As we sat there, they were bringing out an order to every table that was around us which I think means it’s good. The XLB was 4.50 for 8. WAAAY cheaper and bigger than Din Tai Fung. We also like the stuffing more since we think it has more taste. The only down side to this vs. Din Tai Fung is that the skins aren’t as thin and sometimes they break, but they’re getting a lot better at the QC. The pan fried dumplings are also good with the extra flower making a web of fried goodness on top. Lastly, the beef roll I think is pretty darn good. Chinese stewed beef with cilantro, hoisin sauce, and a wonderfully chewy pancake all rolled up.
Now the service here is no super amazing Michelin star rated server, but they’re quick, attentive, and helpful. Not much to say here.
Overall, it’s a very simple and good meal that is cheap. Would I go here over Din Tai Fung? Any day! Would I want to go to DTF if there was a guarantee no wait? Probably not still just because of the cost issue. However if DTF had no wait and I wasn’t paying, I’d rather go there. For a day to day meal though, this place kicks posterior.
TL:DR — Good cheap XLB compared to Din Tai Fung.

We decided to try this place because I’ve driven by it a few times and it has really great reviews. We came on a holiday, and the place was a little less than half full.
We ordered the stewed beef and tendon noodle soup, the minced pork with brown sauce (JJ noodles), pork potstickers and the Taiwanese sausage.
The Taiwanese sausage was the biggest rip off ever! It wasn’t Taiwanese sausage, it was 3 American hot dogs on a stick with spicy red powder. I think it was deep fried or something because it was burnt to the color of cooked Taiwanese sausage. What a waste of $ 5!
Both the noodles were okay at best, but there was a lot of value in the meal. There was lots of quantity but quality was definitely missing. The potstickers were the only enjoyable part of the meal, the crispy outside was delicious and I love the crispy texture.
The service was really good and the people are fast and nice. I didn’t really like the food, and I wouldn’t come back, but it wasn’t a horrible experience. We paid $ 27 after tax but before tip, so we got a lot for what we paid.
I think the only reason this place has a high review is because they offer a free drink for a great Unilocal review. I feel deceived by the Unilocal rating here, well I tried it, and won’t come back.

Great big bowls of noodle soups! The XLBs were also well worth it! The dumpling meat tasted good, the soup tasted unique — beef noodle soup but with their own unique flavor, and the beef pieces tasted good and were huge pieces! I love it.
The bowls were also humongous! This restaurant is tucked in next to a supermarket. But it is right in the heart of restaurant row in Monterey Park!

I like it. I can taste the value. Like its good for the price. Ordered potstickers, house beef noodle soup and xiao long bao. All for less than $ 20.
The water tastes really refreshing too.