Flavor Garden

Thus spot has go through its fair share of owners. This spot is actually not bad.
We got the clear broth beef noodle soup. The soup tasted like they spent time cooking it. Not just straight up msg. Beef was tender, noodle was tender, I was impressed.
My favorite was the peanut sauce noodle. They have picked veggie, minced pork and crushed peanuts along with the peanut sauce. It’s very flavorful and good!
I also had the beef roll. It’s good too. The skin was nice and crispy with a bit of chewyness. Beef was thin, tender and flavorful. Good amount of green onion and cilantro. Yum.
I dont like porridge but their porridge was thick and creamy. I would say good if ur into porridge.
Their xiao long bao was my least favorite. Skin was thick and pork was not fresh, no soup pouring out. NOT GOOD.

Service is as bad as it comes. Even by Chinese hole in the wall standards this is bad. Flavor is good, which makes sense to call it Flavor Garden and not Service Garden.

Flavor Garden occupies the space that was formerly J&J, which I loved. We were eager to give this place a try, and I’m walking away with a just OK feeling about the food. Everything was competently prepared, but tasted rather average to me. The most interesting dish was the chive dumpling with scrambled egg & glassy noodles. This had a pretty assertive flavor to it. The green onion pancake was OK, but I would totally skip the xiao long bao. Just so little flavor there.
However, I will say that the service was excellent. Our server spoke really good English, was happy to give Baby C a water cup with a lid & a straw, and checked to us once to make sure everything was good. Very atypical of a Chinese restaurant.

I’ve only tried it once, and on that visit, there was a roach embedded in my pork rib dim sum. I sent it back to the kitchen, and they offered to get me a new one, which I declined, knowing that they all probably came from the same steamer. This place needs to buck up on their hygiene. As for me, I’m never trying it again. The waiter was reasonable enough to cancel the item from my receipt. Still, I’m never trying it again.
PS: The food was mediocre too, anyway.
*I visited this place over a year ago, but only just got down to reviewing it.

I’ve been craving the Hot and Sour noodles I had in Hong Kong and finally found a place in LA that serves them! It’s not the fanciest of restaurants but they serve interesting food in cost-​effective portions. It’s not your typical Canto Chinese cuisine so it was a refreshingly spicy change of pace.

Located beside several other restaurants, this one is the most popular in this strip mall with a queue outside the entrance during peak meal hours. The space is rather small and at 11am on a weekend, we waited about 40 minutes.
The food is OK. I especially enjoyed the leek dumplings which are huge and filled with Chinese chives (leek), egg and vermicelli. The sour cabbage noodles smelled really good and was thoroughly enjoyed but I didn’t try it. I had the spicy beef noodles which was not that great. The noodles were really soft. I prefer if it had more texture. The beef was so hard tough, I only ate one of many pieces they served. The flavor of the broth is good though (but laced with a lot of MSG).
VENTING: The food is a 3-​star experience but the service was a HUGE 1-​star experience. The marinated cucumber appetizer and sour cabbage noodle soup were served not long after we placed our orders. My beef noodles didn’t come for another 35 minutes (when the sour cabbage noodles were pretty much completely consumed). The exchange with the main tall and thin waiter was so unpleasant and hostile. Tables that came later and ordered the same beef noodles were done with theirs and I still hasn’t gotten my bowl or gotten the leek dumplings. The waiter spoke to me as if I was being unreasonably demanding when at 25 minutes, I asked when my order would be out. They said they would go check but never came back to my table with the update. It is hard to get anyone’s attention here. I finally just walked up to them at the front and asked again and the waiter pointed to my ticket by the window and barked, «That’s your ticket right there!» I was so stunned by his aggressive tone, my instinctual reaction was «Please cancel my order.» I went back to my table and 30 seconds later, a much nicer waiter came and apologized and put the noodle soup in front of me. I had already lost my appetite so I ate about a fifth of it and left the rest there. Ten minutes later, I asked the same a-​hole waiter walking by about the leek dumplings. He again barks at me with, «There are many orders of dumplings before you! We cook them fresh.» Omg. At this point, I’m feeling humiliated by his loud, scene-​making responses. Again, I said just cancel it. I don’t want it. Again, 30 second later, the nicer waiter brought it and apologized. I said I don’t want it-​thanks. He stood there kind of dumbfounded and like I was going to get him in trouble if I made him take it back so I said just leave it and told him I hate the service. Haha.
With that said, I’m never coming back here.

Pan fried meat pies, spicy noodle, buns are all pretty good. Maybe need a little more filling and flavor though, but I like the outside.
Shrimp dumplings are huge with lots of shrimps instead.
Will try their beef noodle next time!
Cash Only

CASH only! Local simple, light food. Full house on a Thursday night, full of locals and grandparents. But there wasn’t a long line outside.
Ordered:
Flavor Spicy Jelly Noodle $ 5.00 — Special dish, not found in alot of places. Light with numb spicy sauce. My mom always order it.
Chinese Leek pancake $ 7 — Like a crispy chewy soft bao. YUM!
Flavor Steamed Pork Ribs $ 4.35 — Very different from the dim sum style. My first time trying it.
Stewed Beef Soup Noodles $ 7.50 — Its a light soup, not the thicker darker soup most folks are use to. Decent but think I’d rather try a different soup dish.
In the plaza with supermarket and other restaurants. Next to a bakery. Free parking lot.

Flavor Garden offers a variety of Northern Chinese style dim sum, from soup dumplings, to pan fried buns, and pan fried meat pies. In addition, they offer a good variety of noodle dishes as well as cold appetizers.
What truly stands out here are theri Spicy Beef (or Beef Tendon) Noodle Soup, Sauce Bean Pork Noodle, Cold Spicy Jelly (Mung Bean) Noodles, Beef Roll, Pan Fried Meat Pies (particularly beef), and Spicy Wontons. Noodle dishes are so flavorful, and they do not skimp on the meat.
The jelly noodles, when mixed well, incorporating the chili oil and the grounded Szechuan peppercorns, really give you that nice hit of spiciness with a little tongue numbing sensation.
How good the beef roll is depends on how well they pan fried the wrap. If it’s nice and crispy, then it’s awesome. if not, then, although flavorful, it becomes a little difficult biting through it as the wrap gets soggy and chewy.
The beef pan fried meat pies come 4 to an order, and they are crispy on both sides. Cut into it or take a bite out of it, and all that beef juices come oozing out. It’s absolutely delicious.
Not as successful are the pan fried dumplings (aka potstickers) and pan fried buns. The pan fried buns, although prepared wonderfully with a crispy bottom, are a bit too big, so the ratio of bread/​bun is equal or greater than the amount of meat filling. Also, smaller varieties I have would ooze out meat juices when you bite into them. These are a bit on the dry side, but not bad.
The pan fried dumplings have a skin that’s a bit too thick. The ground pork filling, that’s also used in the pan fried buns, is flavorful but, again, on the dry side. The best potsickers to me are found at Mandarin Noodle House, where they are huge, crispy on one side, and filled with moist/​juicy ground pork filling.
Their cold appetizers/​salads are good, especially the one called Kofu, which is made with marinated sponge-​like bean curd sitting over lily bulbs/​flowers, wood ear fungus, and bean sprouts.
They have only one stir fried vegetable dish, which I believe is Choy Sum, and as simple as it is, it is quite tasty, and a nice palate cleanser after having eaten so much of those heavy dumplings, buns and noodle dishes.
Service is pretty good. The older couple do not speak much English, but the 3 younger gentlemen (in their early 20s) speak ample English.
CASH ONLY!

Flavor Garden is definitely a place that does Beef Noodle Soup right. The soup is super flavorful and it’s not too salty. My friend got the same Beef Noodle Soup in mild spiciness and there was a lot of chili oil in hers (soup was basically red and had a layer of chili oil on top). So watch out if you don’t like it too oily or too spicy. The portions are pretty big and they give you a lot of meat that is tender. There was around 5 pieces in my bowl, plus, veggies. The service was alright. I would definitely want to come again and try other items on the menu.
Don’t forget cash because this place is CASH ONLY.

Gonna pull a Carly Rae Jepsen and say I really really really really like you, Flavor Garden! Everything that I had here — ranging from shrimp dumplings, pork pie, and spicy beef noodle soup — was delicious or damn close to it. Trust me! You’ll leave full and happy. :-)
My family and I came in around 11ish on Saturday and it was fairly empty. What I noticed was the menu, fairly simple and kind of reminded me of 101 Noodle Express’s, and unlike places with an over-​zesty list of things *cough Baccali’s.*
Shrimp dumpling: Yummy yummy! Packed full of flavor and shrimp. My sister and brother-​in-​law did have a «squirting» problem, where all the juices would explode on them with each bite but iuno, I didn’t have too much of a problem… :-)
Chinese pork pie: Noticeably thicker skin and less crunchy than normal pies that I’ve had, but still pretty good! I usually try to avoid savory pies or thick baos since I’m one to get full easily, but this is something nice to share, since you get four pies and they got some hulk hogan heft going on.
Spicy beef noodle: Delicious! Comes with option of thin vermicelli noodles or white noodles, and is literally soaking in what appears to be red sesame oil. Don’t go ham on the soup and you’ll be fine. One thing that irked me though was the fact that this dish wasn’t spicy AT ALL, even though we got EXTRA SPICY. (To give you an idea of my spicy tolerance, in-​n-​out peppers make me cry…)
Cash only and parking is easy, since this place shares a lot with 20+ businesses including Wendy’s, which is a stone’s throw away. Restaurant also seems best for accommodating groups of 4 or less FYI. Would I be back? Hell yes! Maybe would avoid the pies since they can be filling, and try their xiao long bao next time.

This is a popular place with the locals. There are only Chinese eating here and no one else which means it is a really authentic Chinese place. Personally I don’t care much for dumplings or bao so, much is lost on me. I do like the beef tendon soup which has a clear broth and a clean taste. The tendon pieces were well cooked and there was no chewiness.
The cold bean noodle is excellent. It is not something I am familiar with but the texture and taste is good.
The spicy wontons were great and and so were the noodle soups. The noodle was al dente which is a nice touch. Overall this place is above average.

MY FAVORITE place to go for Beef Noodle Stew and Green Onion Pancakes. This is our go-​to place… it never fails us. The employees don’t speak English very well, but we manage to understand each other since our order is always right. Their pan fried dumplings are also really good.
There never is a wait, which is nice. The parking lot is also very big since there’s a lot of small businesses and a grocery store, so it’s never too hard to find parking.
Everyone must try this place!

The restaurant is very small but very busy. We started with Spicy Pork Stomach which came directly from the cold plate fridge. Garlicky and slightly spicy, the chilled pork stomach was a competent start to the meal. Chinese Leek pancake Are yummy but very hot when the dish comes to your table. Instead of being like large semi-​circles, these are like individual, flat dumplings.
Then we had the Steamed buns These are large, fresh buns that have tons of juice. It’s imperative to savor these buns fresh for the juice, and for the pan-​fried buns specifically, the fragrant and crunchy bottoms. The cost is under $ 40 to eat here and they do the your stomach.

This place reminds me of another Chinese noodle and dumpling house. Parking is ample in the shopping plaza and not usually a problem finding a spot. This restaurant is busy during rush hours for lunch or dinner. They don’t take reservations or you better show up early. There are around 15 tables. The service isn’t bad for a Chinese restaurant and they let you sit when not everyone it there.
I recommend ordering the beef tendon noodle soup $ 7.50, cabbage and pork dumplings $ 8.50, and Chinese style beef pie $ 8. The portions are large enough for family style. And we had so much food that we had left overs too. For the beef tendon noodles, you can ask for prickled vegetables with the entrees. It adds more flavor and enhances the beef soup.

Ok… I’m a sucker for a good dumpling which I thought I would find here. But NOPE:(Super Unsatisfied with their shrimp dumplings. It was the most flavorless dumpling I have ever tasted in my life! When I bit into it I was like, WHAT? And to top it off the sauce they gave me was PURE VINEGAR!
Who wants to eat straight up vinegar with their dumplings??? And if u do I’m sorry but I’m not a fan. So yeah they dissapointed me

They are amazing here, from the food to the service.
We came in tonight and the first thing the waitress asks if what language– she was able to practice her English while I practiced some Mandarin. They were more than accommodating and the waiter was so cute and said «gracias» to my Latin friend when she asked if they spoke Spanish, haha!
Our Dan Dan Mein came out first and it was absolutely perfect– the right amount of cooking time for the noodles, with a bit of stickiness, a perfectly bouncy texture. That came together with the light creaminess of the peanut sauce, and the hint of Sichaun peppercorns in the background. So freakin’ delicious. Pretty much one of the best I’ve had in a long time. I will definitely have to come back for this because it’s definitely crave-​worthy.
The shrimp dumplings were hot and filled with shrimp– each bite was filled with the clear shrimp taste and was plump with shrimp. Man oh man. If you like boiled/​steamed shrimp in Chinese restaurants, you will definitely like this. This is not a particularly juicy dumpling because it’s just packed with shrimp– whoa.
Pan-​fried Leek and Egg Dumplings are one of my favs overall, and these were worth the wait. They were piping hot with a crispy skin that wasn’t too greasy.
I showed my friend the next table’s pan-​fried buns because they were ginormous! And she was so amazed that the dad at the next table offered her one and she gladly accepted! I love the local feel to this. We offered them some leek pancake, but they said they had a lot of food already. I love how we were just having a conversation and other diners just wished they were as cool as all of us!
Also, their chili oil here is pretty darn good and red. Not among the top chili oils I’ve had, but it’s above average. The vinegar here also has some fried garlic bits in it and you can really taste it. Yum!
Absolutely love this place and would come back!

Yum! Love this place! All their cold appetizer plates are good and refreshing when you eat it with the main dishes.
— Green onion pancake — so crispy and hot! Perfect amount of greasiness
— Pan fried dumplings/​pot stickers — not your average long pot sticker, it looks like a regular dumpling but pan fried. It’s so tasty though. perfect amount of juiciness inside and skin is perfectly cooked.
— Wontons in Chili Oil — a-​ok. Flavor is really good, wonton is decent
— Dan Dan mien — yummmm. The flavor is on point.
— Beef Noodle Soup (niu ruo mien) — so good, so tasty, so flavorful. The noodles are often cooked a bit too much sometimes, but I still enjoy it. And the beef is pretty tender, just the way I like it! If you get it spicy it’ll be more like a sichuan style, so it’ll have a bit of oil in there. You can choose which noodles you want, I usually just get the ‘skinny’ noodles here.
Service is good — not extraordinary, so don’t expect it. This also isn’t a fancy place. it’s more like a mom & pop shop with great food. I always look forward to getting to eat here, I always leave with a happy belly!

This is my favorite Chinese place as of late. I still do miss the old A&J that was located here but Flavor Garden is worthy of its space. I’ve tried most of their food here and it is certifiably good. Some days are better than others but overall I would recommend the dumplings, veggie/​beef buns, sour and spicy phở… honestly everything is pretty good here. They make the best beef noodle soup too! Though sometimes I do not like the cut of beef they use. The black sesame rice ball dessert is yummy too!
Note: Their menu veers toward a more spicy palate.

Flavor Garden’s dishes are all made on the premises, authentic, and well-​executed. I came with two other people, and we ordered three dishes: the scallion pancakes, ‘chinese style’ beef pies, and a beef roll. The scallion pancake was wonderful. It was steaming when it came out, full of scallion slices, crispy and yet flaky (in a good way — you could definitely tell they prepared the dough by hand). The pancake was also pretty large (cut into 8 slices), so the dish was pretty filling.
The Chinese style beef pies were essentially four large pan fried buns with a mixture of ground beef and some vegetables inside. Just as a warning, there’s actually soup inside too (kind of similar to a soup dumpling), which is super hot! The soup/​broth was unexpected, but thick and flavorful.
My favorite dish was probably the beef roll. It’s essentially a large scallion pancake spread with a sweet brown sauce, filled with slices of beef, topped with cilantro and green onions, rolled up and sliced. This was large, and oh so delicious. The only thing lacking from this dish was a bit more sauce — the beef (it’s not supposed to be juicy like beef slices for a fajita) and the veggies fell out everywhere because there wasn’t much sauce holding things together.
Definitely try to avoid prime lunch hours because Flavor Garden gets packed! I came around 11AM on a Sunday, and my family and I snagged the last table available. By the time we were eating, there was a list of names for people waiting to get seated. Flavor Garden is cheap, quick and good. Maybe next time I’ll try a soup since lots of people seemed to order their soups!