Cinnamon Tree

We went for dimsum today around 10:30am and there were some tables there already. Had dimsum service right away and very attentive staff since they were not yet busy. I just wanted to try out the place for dimsum since we had a good experience with dinner before. I thought it was really pricey considering the type and number of dishes we had. Their shui mai was considered a Large item, which I haven’t seen before. They did include some shrimp in there so I guess that was okay. We had about 6 traditional items and one special item that they carried on trays. Plus tea was $ 1 a person. Total bill came out to $ 40

Okay dim sum. Wanted to test this place out since I’ve seen the reviews on Unilocal and my aunt said she really liked this place.
We ordered shui mai, chicken feet in black bean sauce, beef tripe steamed with green onion and ginger, sweet tofu, beef balls, some fried taro thing my aunt ordered from the carts, and another order of chicken feet in Chinese herbs.
My favorite was the fried taro thing which was different because other dim sum places I’ve been to, don’t have this. The chicken feet in Chinese herbs was also good! It taste exactly like this one soup my parents make and it’s my favorite.
The shui mai was the worse shui mai I’ve ever had! It was very fishy! I thought I was eating fish instead and I hate fish! You can’t go wrong with shui mai though! The beef tripe was a bit brownish which was very weird since I’m used to seeing it white. Very fishy, no pun intended. Everything else was oh-​kayyy. Nothing special but I don’t think I’ll be coming back.
My favorite go-​to for dim sum is still Chef Wok in Alameda but just wanted to try this place out and say «oh yeah, I’ve been here.»

Good dimsum and breakfast tea, lots of selections and it is a nice place to have a family dinner.

Took myself, my teenage son and his friend for dim sum. As most of you know teen young men eat a lot of food. Dim sum is usually not an inexpensive meal. I felt this restaurant which has replaced Legendary Palace was both reasonable and extremely good food! It had all our favorites and some more classic and exotic delicacies! I recommend this restaurant. The staff were very attentive and being Caucasian we don’t speak the language however can always communicate just enough to get by and point and nod and this was no exception. They were very gracious and it was a very enjoyable experience. We would come here again!

Having a great dim sum place is rare, especially in Chinatown where quality is second to budget. It’s been a long time since a good teahouse popped up in Chinatown and I’m very excited Cinnamon Tree is here.
Dim sum is what it’s all about. When I review a teahouse, I’m looking at a few things.
— Portion: Dimsum are actually the size they’re suppose to be. Hard to find dimsum that is not microscopic these days.
— Cleanliness: Much cleaner than the former restaurant, Legendary Palace. Carpet is clean and they actually change table cloths.
— Price: Very reasonable for the quality.
— Quality: Food is very tasty! Their fried rice has a lot of «wok power» in it and very flavorful. For people that like seafood, they even have scallops in their fried rice (a rare sighting). Spare ribs were also very good. Haw gau was very flavorful and the texture was very filling. Chinese donut is very good as well.
Note: this place is pretty big so there wasn’t much of a wait for a table.
Overall, loved this place.

Price is pretty high on Sundays which is when I visited. You can tell because I went at around 12:00 and the place had no line with lots of empty tables. While I haven’t been to Chinatown in a long time, I think this is pretty abnormal and the former-​Legendary Palace would not have been this way.
The food that we were able to try, Har Gow and Shrimp Cheung Fun (Sorry if I insult snobs who care about spelling Chinese phonetics the right way) were pretty good to me; the skin wasn’t sticky and the shrimp was big. We also ordered a Beef Chow Fun which was all right as well.
However the downsides I could see was that the place was really trying to sell their high-​priced special dishes to us, we didn’t really see much of other traditional dim sum items we like to get that come in steamed baskets. We also realized that the prices listed on the walls and the menu only applied to weekdays and Saturdays, so when we found out about the Sunday prices we decided to just get the check since nothing was coming out and most items were super pricey.
I later looked up what’s going on with Chinatown recently and there’s reports on how the new minimum wage law in Oakland ($ 12.55 per hour) might have deterred businesses from staying open here. I guess this might be the reason for why Cinnamon Tree had to increase their prices.

I come to Cinnamon Tree for dim sum frequently. The waiters are friendly.
However, I’m reviewing for its dinner service. When I arrived at 630, the restaurant was empty. The host incessantly insists that we sat on a smaller table of 8 even though we asked for a larger table. My guests have big appetite, so I know to order big enough table for the dishes we’ll devour. Had I came with my family, the smaller table would’ve been sufficient. But we complied anyways.
As we approach our table, a waiter immediately grabbed a bakery bag for my friend mistakenly for a cake. I said, it was OK. It’s a present.
The host tittle-​tattled in Cantonese on how we asked to be seated in larger table as she stood at the corner of the room with the waiter while obviously pointing and starring at us. It’s unprofessional and weird. We haven’t even sat at the table she insisted.
At this point, the suited manager came over as we intended to leave because of the uncomfortable vice displayed by the host. He calmly asked, ‘is everything okay?’ Had he hosted us, we would’ve stayed. We were the only guests at the restaurant. Needless to say, we left.
The host is the same woman who hosts during the dim sum hours.

It was my first time and I came in with my family for Dim Sum. The food was average, unfortunately we had a horrible experience with the staff. However I guess it is our fault after all for craving dim sum on New Year Day, we came here because other dim sum places was packed, and I think that is the very same reasons for other people who are not Chinese to come here today as well.
The staff do not speak English and they would not let you check what dishes are in the bamboo steamers. Make sure you do not make mistake in getting food from the dim sum carts, or else they won’t take the dishes back without getting you through troubles and say rude things about you in Chinese so loudly that other Chinese customers would laugh at you. I hoped I had great experiences like other Unilocalers, but I guess my luck was just bad. I would not recommend coming here for dim sum.

Cinnamon Tree locates at the prime location in Chinatown, with its unique Chinese palace exterior that could be easily spotted. This is the largest dim sim restaurant in Oakland Chinatown, with two floors. I came here for dim sum and lunch two separate times.
For lunch, we ordered from the ‘special menu’, we got the ‘fish cooked two ways’– in a porridge and in a chow fan; and a lobster yee mein. The lobster yee mein is very creamy, however, the lobster meat is on the lesser side, unless the lobster has an unproportionally big head and small body parts. The yee mein is well cooked being not too hard. I would highly recommend the ‘fish cooked two ways’! The fish porridge is absolutely delicious, you can taste the freshness of the fish in the porridge! I was most worried about choking on fish bones from the porridge, but the fish was well filleted. The porridge was not seasoned too heavily so you can taste the fish in it. Usually I put pepper in my porridge but I love the freshness of this porridge so much I do not want any additional seasoning! Then, the rest of the fish is cooked with a chow fan/​fried noodles, which is good as well.
The next time I came back for dim sum. We tried the regular dim sum dishes, which were average at most. The beef stew was too chewy, and another t-​bone beef dish was mostly bone with very few beef… The waitresses were very eager to sell their dim sum, which is good and bad. We did not need to actively hunt for the dim sum we want, but sometimes we were interrupted with ladies trying to sell us their dish.
Cinnamon Tree is a good restaurant for family gathering on weekends, because of its space (elderly friendly and shorter wait time). The dim sum is ok, but I highly recommend their actual main dish.

This place used to be another dim sum place, and since a friend recommended this place for its special offer, we decided to try it out around a month ago. I think that the special offer was a promotion for their grand opening, since they no longer offered the discounted price when we visited this place again two weeks ago.
We had the special deal for the fish porridge and fish noodles. Basically, they cooked the fish «two ways», using the head and bones for the porridge, and the filet for the noodles. It took quite a while, almost half an hour, for them to finally serve the porridge. The porridge was simply delicious!!! It has a very fresh taste, and was seasoned perfectly. I couldn’t stop eating it! They only used the bigger bones for the porridge, so there was no worry about choking on the smaller bones. The noodles were good, with big pieces of fish. However, it was too oily for my liking.
Unrelated to the food, I found their tables and chairs to be somewhat weird. The chairs were very low, it was too close to the ground. Also, the table was wobbly so we had to ask a waiter to fix it.
Overall, I have to give them an A+ on customer service. Their waiters and waitresses have very good manners. They greeted us with big smiles on their faces, it felt very welcoming and made me feel appreciated.

This place used to be Legendary Palace and this is the first time I’ve visited this place since it changed hands months ago. It is off the beaten path but since my brother is visiting from out of town, we wanted to take him to a different place! We ate on the second floor which is larger than the first floor and wooden floors are much cleaner than carpet when the carts roll by with their wares. Each waitress is hard selling their delicacies but they are friendly but not too pushy. All the waiters are friendly and are very helpful which is a plus. We ordered the shrimp/​fish cake with green peppers but it took awhile to come out but they were good.
Dim sum was hot and fresh. A-​ok for the first visit

I enjoy coming to this restaurant for many reasons. Not only is the food delicious with good proportions, but the staff and service is top notch!
I particularly like the wonton noodle soup. It came piping hot just how I like it, and the soup was very flavorful without being too salty. Wontons were plump and the noodles were cooked just right.
Service was quick, they are friendly and very attentive to the needs of customers. The restaurant was clean and comfortable.
I will definitely return!

Awesome dishes. We revisited and I like the congee and pig feet. Very affordable price too

I love their pineapple buns with yolk filling. The egg tart was good too. The steamed shrimp dumplings were ok. Maybe an average or lower than average dim sum place.
I didn’t enjoy the manner when the waitress kept selling me dim sum that I was not interested…

This review is for a dinner we had this evening… it was very good…
The place wasn’t that packed but filled quickly…
We had a 3 pound geoduck… made into soup and fried with veggies although I preferred fresh sashimi style…
Second was the squab, very very crispy and marinated well, fried to perfection… that’s my favorite dish…
Green veggies (dou mew) with garlic, it was very
fresh.
Giant clams steamed with garlic and vermicelli noodles
Overall, service was very good, smiles all over but I really had to take away one star for the bathroom, not one piece of toilet paper… empty as my pockets… lol
The dining room no longer had that dirty carpet stench, the bathroom was clean, the place looked clean… I didn’t like it when the old owners were there, it was way too filthy

Ok, mom & I went on Monday after seeing folks near the front door. Upon entering, there was a crowd of loud peeps. I asked the hostess when they opened, she didn’t comprehend English and had to ask another Asian sista to answer my inquiry. Well, they later both responded 10:00 a.m. No, I asked when they first opened the restaurant. Obviously clueless, someone in the crowd said Sunday, 10/11…duh!
There was mass confusion on how their system/​process worked. They give your party a pre-​printed ticket (like DMV, e.g., C385), waited about 15 minutes amongst the chaosis.
The lack of dim sum carts was obvious. The selection of dim sum was just ordinary, tasted plain, lacked luster/​flavor. It was over priced and doubt we’ll be back anytime soon. They could have painted over the first floor cashier area where previously was a print once hung, the holes in the wall was prevelent. How’s about a little putty and paint, it doesn’t cost that much now. The chair coverings look very tacky, really? Seriously!

Cinnamon Tree seems an odd name for a dim sum/​cantonese eatery. it’s the same cantonese menu. dim sum offerings varied slightly with cilantro and other cosmetic changes to justify high pricing. .
pricing: 2.95(s) 3.85(m) 4.75(L) 5.75(sp) 6.95(K)
eats: dim sum sampler (10.95)
–3 har gow, 3 siu mai, 4 fun gow
shrimp not whole, chopped up, mixed with other meats?
–asked waitress, she didn’t know what was in it
–one item, either siu mai or fun gow was undercooked or spoiled.
had stomach cramps soon after, a mini-​run a few hours later
beef rice noodle (4.75,. 6 small pieces)
–not much beef
$ 1@person tea charge
–checklist for dim sum, also carts. at least 15 minutes before dim sum arrived.
*dim sum below average, poorly prepared, bland, not even msg tasted.
drips:
–10% discount on dim sum items only after 1:30
wasn’t applied to dim sum sampler since the dish wasn’t considered dim sum
challenge it. was refunded $ 1.1 and offered an apology
–restroom really stinks. not repainted, etc…
–regular menu pricing reasonable except for porridge.
–no leg room, chairs covered with full length red «petticoat»., inhabits leg movement.
–no condiments on table, service the usual for dim sum eateries
2 stars for bad meat not for service mishaps

If you been to Chinatown before this was the Legendary Palace. They’ve remodeled it and changed the name. It’s good to have another option.
The food is fine and reasonably priced. I’ll need to come back and try dinner menu.

Cinnamon Tree Chinese Cuisine formally known as Legendary Palace. Day 2 grand opening experience was blah and prob need more time to work out the details.
New owners but the food seems to be the same lack luster quality. Dim sum is nothing special. Some dim sum items had the «old leftover from yesterday mixed in taste». Still rather go thru the tunnel to East Ocean in Alameda.
Please focus on quality and it will pay off! I would gladly pay more for better quality!!! Don’t go down the same crappy food/​cheap price road! It obviously didn’t work for Legendary Palace!!!

Time: 10:37pm/69°F partly sunny
Purpose: Ever since last previous owner told me what really happen to Legendary. I kept tabs on place, but forgot about them until a call in morning.
Ambiance: Structural wise same as former Legendary. Bottom level with tables set up for two to ten person. Average high ceiling with faux crystal chandelier gives the place a more elegant look. Some mirror panels here and there plaster on pillars. Burgundy velvet seat covering for that plush lounge chair look. Staircase to second level or elevator ride. Upstair left unchanged also with gold/​red double happiness symbol. Same set as downstairs. It’s more for traditional chinese wedding banquet than is for formal dining. Has a ceiling projector for that special occasion slide show. It’s airy clean and seats another 80+ person. Each level has a separate cashier for faster service and convenience.
Staff: Mid 30s mostly woman taking care of business. Warm greeting upon entering by host while inquired about party size. Cashier girl couldn’t speak a word of English. Phone rang was afraid to answer transfer call to manager. Cart ladies were hustling their offerings only in Cantonese/​Mandarin. If you look nothing like Chinese they’ll skip you or your table. Tea refills are never around best to waive them down or have extra pot on side.
Cleanliness: Grade B, crevices and areas were guest may overlooked is where problem lies. Cardboard boxes with heavy grease stains sat behind host stand. Velvet seat covering hides cuts on chair. Kitchen prep area had tubs of dirty utensils left in the open. Inside elevator with oil stain as busboy use it for transport from upstair.
Eats/​Drinks: Chicken feet $ 3.85 was average tasting peking sauce lacks flavor. Tasted like they were learning how to master it. Beef & cilantro rice noodle roll $ 4.75 had sliver of beef just protruding from the ends. It was also too thin not near Chinatown standards. Beef tripe with peking sauce $ 4.75 was off looking. Tasted very mediocre no hints of spice use and looks pinkish. To a point that you’ll think it was marinated with its own natural juice. Pan fried taro cake $ 2.95 had more dough mix than actual pieces of taro embedded. There wasn’t any burnt marks or grease bottom to suggest it was pan fried. To me, it look like cut from tray sitting in fridge just toss in microwave to warm up. Looking forward to my favorite dish beef chow fun $ 8.25. Even that didn’t fare any better. I was looking for that hard core wok scraping taste. That didn’t happen, but I got soy sauce coated rice noodle that was transparent. Beef slices tasted like it was over done with meat tenderizer. This dish was supposed to be dry and yet oil pods were seen. Dessert was the best part of the meal. Durian sticky rice ball $ 3.85 was super fresh fill with real durian mixed with minimal filler and dusted with coconut flakes. Must end your meal with durian ball.
Main Features: Dim sum, market price live seafood, hot iron plate, chinese-​american favorite rice plate.
Products/​Services: Appetizers, BBQ, soup specialty, fish fins, abalone & sea cucumber, seafood, steamed items, clay pot, lettuce wrapped, mmo-​shu, beef, chicken, pork, vegetable, bean curd, porridge, chow fun and chow mein, lo mein/​noodle soup, vermicelli, fried rice, rice plate, whole sucking pig. White rice $ 1.25/brown rice $ 2, tea $ 1 pp, takes plastic, baby high chair/​booster seats, elevator.
Punch Lines: Average, modest cost, plenty of seating, harried staff, laid back, kitschy décor, gracious host, hordes of people, snooty service, occasional spotty service, nothing out of the ordinary, kept its standards, struggling service during peak hours.
Tradeoffs: Just another Chinese restaurant with over 100+ menu items. However, menu number doesn’t go past 27 items for each feature section. Playing it off as not too extensive, but its way beyond that.
Final Thoughts: Cinnamon Tree doesn’t sound like a common name for a Chinese eatery. Unilocaler Victor G told me it me southern china cuisine. I wasn’t excited to come because I already knew about services at asian places and its offerings. It’s nothing more than a dim sum house in morning and normal restaurant in evening. Come if you want to impress your date, but don’t be surprised if your ignore. Lastly, if you’ve grandparents or anyone using any medical equipment/​supplies. They’ll tell you to go directly upstair because they don’t want people peering in window to see place fill with disable seniors. Just saying.