Dongbei Hometown Restaurant

We literally had a snack next door and wanted to try something that is not spicy, so we headed next door to DongBei Hometown Restaurant. The restaurant was brightly lit, looks clean but also not very busy.
After checking out their 2-​sided laminated menu, we opted to order the following:
三鮮水餃 Dumplings w/​3 Fresh Ingredients
鮮肉鍋貼 Pot Sticker
小籠包 Steamed Bun Stuffed w/​Juicy Pork
The handmade dumpling wrappers used in this restaurant was simply not very good. Maybe it is prepared utilizing traditional DongBei style recipe, but it failed to resonate with my taste buds. The Steamed Bun (aka Xiao Long Bao) was juicy inside, but the wrapper used is rather thick, not the more delicate and noticeably thinner dumpling wrappers used at higher rated Northern Chinese restaurants that offers this menu item. Therefore, the XLB does not have that sagging dumpling skin when picked up gently with a pair of chopsticks.
Service was decent, no complaints. Food was served relatively quickly, except the Steamed Bun Stuffed w/​Juicy Pork, which took 15 minutes to steam as to be expected.
There are a lot of new restaurants that opened up in this plaza over the past year, and just a long list of other restaurants that I’ve bookmarked on Unilocal,so I really doubt I would be back here for a second visit.

I came here several time. The food is authentic BUT they are very slow. Sometime I want to ask them if they have a farm back. I wonder if they are slaughtering the pig, cow, picking the fresh vegetables, cleaning and cooking it up. The time it takes for them to bring the food out sure feels like it. Here an example… one time I order 4 dishes, and 2 dishes came out in 15 minute and 3^rd dish 25 min and last dish in 40 min. Honestly I was done eating after the 3^rd dish and wanted to cancel the 4^th one. I would have rated them higher if the server was nice. Seems if you don’t have wrinkle on your face then they will toss in bad attitude for free. Basically I would not recommend this place. Firstly if your starving then you’ll due of starvation or if young person then they will toss in a bad attitude that was not on the menu. Bottom line I do not recommend this place. Two star because the food actually taste good… assuming u get to eat it before you starve to death.

This is a small north east Chinese food restaurant. They don’t have many choices on the menu. Main popular dish is dong-​bei Chun bing (northern style pancake), you have to order different dishes to roll with these pancakes. Btw, I ordered the beancurd stir fry with green pepper last time, found metal piece inside:(not happy ! Plus they offer Chinese style breakfast here too.

Very not satisfy with the wait time, I placed an order at 12:15 and I got here at 12:40 the order still not ready and the order still not ready until 1:10, it’s lunch time and I have limited time from work. They served the dine in customer first. I would not have sufficient time to eat. I am very disappointed and will never come back again

We moved from Arcadia to Mission Viejo last year, thought we would have to drive all the way back to the San Gabriel Valley area to have authentic Dongbei (northeastern) Food. Then our friend referred us to try out this restaurant in Rowland Heights, which saves us at least half an hour of driving not having to go all the way to San Gabriel. OMG, we could not believe the quality, portion and the price of the dishes there. It was simply an amazing experience. The dishes are so authentic, from spicy to milder taste that please the preference of both my husband and myself. As busy as they are, the owner and the waitress were very attentive and took the time to pack the left over for us that could used for another two meals. The portions of the dishes were huge, when we heated up the left over two days later, it tasted just as good and the food did not go mushy, I could tell that they use quality fish and meat for their dishes. Well, they have won us as their loyal customers, we would not mind to drive 45 minutes from Mission Viejo to have good food there every weekend.

The owner is very nice lady, you feel like back to home. Unbeatable place for real northern China food

I was really disappointed.
Look thru the menu like over 5 mins, still can’t decide what I want. Its because not much of choices.
Most of the dishes are vegetarian
There are probably 2 dishes that with chicken. I even ask waiter for recommendation, take him awhile to suggest one
We end up order the following for 2 people
Pan Fried Dumpling — some pieces was undercook.
Chicken stew with mushroom — flavor of broth is pretty good but chicken is too dry and blend
When we sent the pan fried dumpling back to kitchen. The chef came out with dumpling explain the ingredient it fresh we should be okay. And she wont charge us for it. But this is pork not chicken or beef. And I don’t understand why she even bring the dumpling back to us, is not like we could eat it if uncook.

My boyfriend and his mom are from Dongbei, China, so they were pretty excited when I told them about this restaurant, as there aren’t that many Chinese restaurants that specialize in northeastern Chinese cuisine.
First thing to note is their service. Our waitress was really personable and attentive. We ordered several local specialty dishes and my boyfriend and his mom both agreed that the food tasted authentic. It was my first time trying northeastern Chinese food and I liked it. Highly recommend!

The foods are delightful, and the waitress is really pretty and cute, highly recommend

Ok, I came form that part. That is why I gave 5 stars instead of 4. In a Chinese restaurant, English service is not the part I took into rating considerations. Please ignore if you have no idea what Northeastern Chinese style is. Their Chunbing (Spring wrap) is exactly the same I had in my Hometown. I can say that is What I am gonna die for and drives me from Arcadia to Rowland Height every time!

This is typical north part of Chinese food. Very delicious. I strong recommend here. The waitress is very cute and nice.

Come from OC and the food is great! Chunbing is very thin, and the pork stew with bones are highly recommended as well. Will come back again.

This is for the steamed buns that they sell. My mom personally loves them because they do taste like my grandma (my mom’s mom) home made buns. The dough is chewy but not too thick and the filling (either all veggie or with some meat) is just right. The price is also very good as well, boy i wish i lived in LA, since you can get a half dozen for less than 10 dollars. That’s unheard of here in the bay area. Definitely have to come and try out the steamed buns!

This review is for service, not food.
I heard they have good bao zi (steamed buns). So I went in after work on a Friday asking to buy some bao zi. They said they didn’t have any more but I could special order some or they have xiao long bao instead. So I left.
I went back today before noon and asked if they had bao zi. They said they only serve them for breakfast, but that I can order xiao long bao or the lunch special instead. I looked at the menu and the description for the lunch special said it comes with buns. So I asked the waitress «What are the buns, or do I need to order rice separately?» She only retorted «Don’t read the English on the menu!» and gave no answer to my question. So I left.
When I got home, I looked at their paper menu again. The bao zi is under «Breakfast» but there is no specification as to what time breakfast is. And now I see they crossed out the «comes with bun and soup» on the Chinese wording but not on the English.
This kind of service in non-​Asian areas will not work, but unfortunately they have enough customers right now that they would unlikely find reason to improve their service.

Grand opening day.
very disappointing experience.
You would think prerequisites of a Chinese restaurant in Rowland Heights would be good and authentic. this restaurant has neither.
the three dishes we ordered were mediocre. vegetable stir fry had sand and soil in it. apparently, washing the vegetables before cooking is not done here. the potstickers and dumplings had very thick dough and the meat was tough and no flavor.
the customer service is unsatisfactory. the owner/​manager tried to be sociable but not enough to be considered friendly. the servers were rude and impatient. on their grand opening day, no special, no promo.
cash only.
I do not recommend this restaurant.
I will update this review in 6 months to a year, if they are still around.