Nom Wah Tea Parlor

First timer, excellent food, lovely staff and atmosphere. Can’t wait to go again and try more flavors

(Let it be known this review is the prelude to a pickup order that’s going to be placed immediately after submitting it.)
After a 2.5 month wait, I had the pleasure of having some fantastic food here. I really enjoyed this place and although I need to try it a few more times, it’s likely this could supplant DSG as my go-​to spot. It’s also two blocks closer to mi casa y workplace. We need more food closer to Broad Street that’s not of the Golden Arches and sub-​par pizza variety. This is one step closer to achieving this dream.
Oh yes, the food:
_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​
Original Egg Roll: The truth.
House Pork Buns: Could eat this thrice daily no problem. So good.
Salt & Pepper Shrimp: Tasty. They have eyes. They are watching you. Judging you.
Shrimp Shumai: The best I’ve had in the city, maybe ever (no really maybe).
Scallion Pancakes: Very tasty and not super-​greasy.
Minced Beef Dumpling Soup: Not bad, only ordered it because ¹⁄₃ of our triumvirate that day keeps kosher.
Chinese Broccoli: Always order Chinese Broccoli. Always. They will test your skills with a chopstick a la Mr Miyagi.
Welcome Nom Wah. It’s a pleasure to have you.
_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​
Eat here now, eat here often.
— ß

Staff was friendly and place was clean. However the dumpling soup — which I was craving for — didn’t taste fresh (the dough was leathery). All other orders was good though. Also for being called a «tea parlor» — I was expecting a more robust selection. Overall, just ok.

I ate spicy chive dumplings, service was really fast and manager personally made sure I am enjoying my food. Of course it was delicious.
I never been there in rush hours, so I can only talk about when there were couple customers around, even though I am really satisfied with food, staff, ambiance and complimentary tea. Will come there again, for sure.

As good as it gets.
First, the staff is very kind and knowledgeable and the restaurant is great for dining in. Not what you always get with a Dim Sum.
Second, the food is delicious. We had a group of maybe 7 and we ate more food than I ever thought was possible. The dishes just kept coming. Unlike many Dim Sum places, Nom Wah Tea has many good vegetarian offerings.
The price point was very reasonable. With tip I think we each paid around $ 22.
The part I liked the most was the unique wall papers in the restrooms. It looked like something from the 1970’s or 1980’s

A transplant from NYC Chinatown so I had high hopes for Nom Wah. However I was not that impressed by the food here.
First of all, the shrimp dim sum here is very salty, which I presume is to balance the milder sauces. But I think the shrimp is too heavily salted… I like the quality of the shrimp used in the dim sum — succulent and fresh… But definitely too salty! The wrapper of the shrimp in rice wrapper (虾长) is the redeeming factor.
Highlights of my dim sum dishes include: tofu skin wrappers (鲜竹卷), snow pea shrimp dumplings (雪菜饺子), and eggplant. The tofu skin wrappers (鲜竹卷) are a classic go-​to of my family, and these were done quite well. The skin had a lovely texture and the sauce was mild but flavorful. The snow pea dumplings had really fresh and generous snow pea veggies as well.
Dishes I was disappointed in: taro and pork dumpling… (I bit into a piece of bone in this one and the pork flavor was weird…)
Another dish I was disappointed in was the sticky rice in bamboo wrapper (糯米鸡). Usually this is my favorite dim sum dish, and I think Nom Wah’s chef has his heart in the right place. The meat stuffings were quality and tasted fresh and the rice is delicious… But the rice was also UNDERCOOKED, and my friend found a piece of plastic in her meat… It’s unfortunate because I really wanted to like this dish. I just think more attention needs to be paid in the process of making this.
Overall, a mixed batch of authentic dim sum flavors. I loved the quiet ambiance here and the teas. Did not appreciate needing to pay for the tea though…

The location is a bit out of the way from the rest of the hustle and bustle of Chinatown, but I paid a visit since it had great reviews and my Chinese family was in the mood for dim sum for lunch. The items were a bit pricey for the quantity, and our overall opinion was that it was okay but not worth the $ (and I think the tastes might be catered more towards American, not Asian or American Asian, tastes):
+ Chinese broccoli — a bit too sweet and salty, too much juice everywhere, but the texture it was cooked to was fine
+ Shrimp & snow pea leaf dumpling — tasty, big fan of pretty much any shrimp dumpling in those translucent wrappers
+ Shanghai soup dumpling — pretty standard, maybe lacking in very much soup, good
+ Tofu skin roll — not bad, had to dip in chili oil for more flavor
+ «Original» egg roll — the fried exterior was pretty special, but unfortunately the fillings were a bit bland, didn’t complement the roll that well, and the flavors just didn’t mesh together well
+ Turnip cake — standard, good
+ House special roast pork bun — filling was way too sweet; cool presentation of a single giant bun though
Service was prompt during Sunday lunch hour though.

I wasn’t sure when my wife made a reservation here, i told her that it’s Chinese Food and it’s DimSum. Let’s go to a real dim sum place…
Well, i was wrong. Usually when you go to your normal dim sum place, you’re greeted by a rude server (well, not all the time. Mostly on weekends m, when they are so busy and overworked). Not in this place or so it seems, the server understand about hospitality and want to make sure guests have great experiences.
We ordered a bunch of normal dimsum, everything is a la carte, so you will have to order everything. They don’t have steaming hot carts walking up and down aisles. So, things are made to order.
I thought that the food is going to be mehh… I was wrong again… food was prettty good, the only thing is the menu is pretty streamlined and you’re not going to see the weird stuff like intestines or tripes.
What’s even better, they take an actual reservation via OpenTable and there’s an actual working bar where you can order pretty decent drinks. It’s a full bar!
Ohh, did I mention that your clothes won’t be smelling like fryer oil after eating here…

Came here on a Sunday evening and was promptly seated and given a pad and pencil. Kind of a weird feeling having a la carte dim sum for dinner, but there’s a first for everything.
We ordered a lot of the usual: har gow (shrimp dumpling), siu mai, sticky rice, shrimp wrapped in rice roll, beef wrapped in rice roll, turnip cake, scallion pancake, among others. Overall I thought the food was pretty decent, but some dishes were definitely on the «room temperature» to «moderately warm» side… Would have been nice if they were steamed thoroughly enough to be hot.
I’d come back during lunch hours to try them again.

Dim sum with fancy pants on! Lose the hustle and bustle of a typical dim sum with carts and tiny ladies and replace it with a checklist of dishes, fancy teas, and zen. A party of two devoured 8 items which included a ginormous pork bun, pan fried dumplings, soup dumplings, shrimp dumplings, spare ribs, fried dough, sui mai, stuffed eggplant, and delicious white jasmine tea. The highlights were the eggplant (the better half is usually not a fan of eggplant at all) and the huge house special roast pork bun (the bun itself was so fluffy). I have to admit everything i ate tasted fresher compared to other places in the city. The prices are a bit higher but your paying for better quality, service, and experience.

TL;DR — Overpriced and average dim sum — and I found a button in my food!
I’ve been to Nom Wah a few times now. I’ve generally found the service to be friendly for both eat in and take out, but for the most part have not loved the food.
A couple times, I’ve ordered the shrimp and egg fried rice when I want to keep it simple. It’s decent, and a good-​sized portion… but not worth $ 12.
Recently, I ordered House Special Roast Pork Bun, Shrimp Sui Mai, and Vegetarian Dumplings — total $ 12.25 before tip/​tax. I loved loved loved the Shrimp Sui Mai! Really thought it was great. But the vegetarian dumplings and roast pork bun? Meh. The pork bun just didn’t have much pork in it at all. Just a lot of bun.
To top it off, there was a button inside one of the vegetarian dumplings. You can certainly find worse things in your food, but that probably dropped me from a 3 star rating to a 2 star, probably won’t go back. (Unless of course I get lazy and do go back… I will update!)

This is my favorite dim sum place here in Philadelphia, despite other reviews. Perhaps the owner uses online reviews as a resource to improve their business, and that’s A+ customer service in my book. We actually found this restaurant on Open Table and saw that Nom Wah had great reviews. We made a reservation for 9:30 pm. We arrived, realizing they close at 10 pm. The owner/​manager invited us in with open arms and insists that it was ok. We ended up ordering a bunch of stuff:
Spring rolls — nice and fresh and crispy. The duck sauce wasn’t too sweet but with some hot Chinese mustard, it was amazing.
Turnip cake — so delicious. In was fried perfectly where it is crispy and not soggy. Must places have a very starchy, soggy texture
Shrimp Shu Mai — a solid go to.
Scallion pancakes — amazing. It’s the thin and crispy ones too — my favorite
Pan fried noodles — very flavorful, but the noodles weren’t as crispy as I had hoped for them to be. But on the bright side, it made amazing left overs. Had it been literally fried, we’d have stale soggy noodles :(
Soup dumplings — these were OK. The skin was a little thick. However, I respect this plate because the owner told us his soup dumplings are not the best, but they are on the healthier side because he does not use all the animal fat that most other places uses. Without the animal fat, he couldn’t make the dumpling as thin without it breaking. Regardless, I would still order these again.
The service was amazing. He saw me continuously peaking over at the clock, and told us to take our time and to not worry. This is a small, clean eatery with a humble owner out to make an honest living by providing good food and service to patrons. You don’t find many Asian cuisine restaurants like that. I look forward to coming back very much.
And the have Guinness and Sapporo. Just sayin’

Very fun place to eat! Definitely newer, a little more upscale than some other dim sum restaurants in the area. Very fast and friendly servers. At one point, a well dressed man who I assume is the owner or manager came over to check on us. He asked us how we liked the soup dumplings (which we loved) and he explained that they might not be as tasty (which was untrue), but they were healthier because of how they make them. Very nice that he checked in and talked to us about the food!
My favorite menu highlights were the spring rolls, pork soup dumplings, and the scallion pancakes. The pan fried noodles were also great.
My advice would be to pace yourself. We ordered six or seven things (for two of us…) and regretted it as it started to come out because it was so much food. It comes out fast, so order two or three at a time. That’s plenty. Enjoy!

I love that everything comes out piping hot and fresh because you are ordering what you want rather than picking off of the carts. We ordered some staples that we love in other dimsum restaurants so that there could be a barometer for measurement as well as a dumpling sampler which contained 8 different steamed dumplings.
Sticky rice with chinese sausage — good flavor but a tad dry.
Xia long bao/​soup dumplings — filling was tasty but virtually no broth and the wrap a little thick.
Shrimp pork and chive pan fried dumplings were excellent. although heavy on the chive and minimal pork/​shrimp, the dumpling skin was thin, non greasy and crispy exterior with a tender bite.
Shrimp in rice noodle — shrimp filling was perfectly cooked but the rice noodle although tender and texturally nice was too thick.
The turnip cake was the star. It is hard to find a great turnip cake in Philly’s chinatown. In my personal opinion theirs is the best of any I have had. It is pan fried crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside. No greasy or odd aftertaste at all and fresh/​hot. The accompanying sauce is unnecessary and cloyingly sweet.
The hot oil is of a medium intensity but had a sweetness to it that was not unpleasant but did add to a repetetive sweetness component not generally experienced in hot chili oil. Service was excellent and there is a full bar so paired with a somewhat swanky yet small interior could make for great happy hour or evening noms. It is nice that they serve Dim sum only and all day so you can get your fix anytime.
A solid 3.5 stars.

If you want the whole hussle and bussle and looking at the food in a cart before ordering, this isn’t your spot. This isn’t your average dim sum push cart place. You order from a menu and mark down your choices and then hand them to a server. This is what I like about it. You order everything from the beginning and then you get to carry on with your conversation with the party you came with. No need to stop, pick your food, then remember where you left off in conversation.
Food is always fresh! They don’t make tons in advance. Only made when you give them your paper. So, when it comes out to the table — BLOW! :-) That’s my final warning. Almost everything is really good too! The only thing I would skip on is the soup dumplings. The skin is too thick and there wasn’t enough broth. Besides that, go crazy and order everything else.
Price — pretty high. If you want quality and don’t really care how much is coming out of your pocket, this is definitely a place to go to. The prices are probably an extra dollar per dish, maybe some being a lil bit more.
Service — Amazing! They check up on you, refill your water, and just beyond nice. You don’t see much of that in chinatown, so it was a nice change. A bit shocking at first though.
Here’s a plus for anyone that uses the Unilocal app — you get a discount on your bill if you check in!

Been here twice. first when they opened a few months ago, and again today.
As others mentioned, this isn’t a push cart dim sum place. It is a HK style, order with a ticket and they’ll make each dish individually. I like the concept but it does get use to dining this way. I don’t believe any «real» dim sum place serves it this way. It does make it feel LESS dim sum’ish…but i find that refreshing. Sometimes, you just wanna pick out your food and know that it will come instead of anticipate a cart coming to only have hopes dashed because they sold out/haven’t replenished.
The interior is nice, clean, and airy. Also full bar if you’re into that. The décor is a mix of traditional pieces with clean lines and modern colors. All thumbs up.
The food tastes much fresher. The ingredients and execution, i felt, were above average. The food wasn’t too greasy (the things we ordered) and just tasted better coming right from the steamer. Kept it simple and ordered the traditional items:
har gow — shrimp dumplings — shrimp were plump and juicy
shu mai —
chicken feet — pretty good today
lotus leaf sticky rice — this was a miss the first time i had it, but the 2^nd time, it was pretty good.
bean curd with shrimp — crispy (not too greasy) and good flavor
ribs — decent
stuffed eggplant — i love eggplant. I kinda wish it had garlic sauce though
soup dumplings — a little miss. the dumpling skins touch, so be careful picking them up. Actually, eat it right away when you get it so the skins don’t stick together! The flavors aren’t on Dim Sum garden and Shanghai 1’s level.
They had other family style dishes. I never really examined it much, but looked to be typical chinese dishes (not the chinese corner store traditional…).
I feel the prices were higher, but not by much. Also, i feel the quality is deserving of the price. Again, the atmosphere might be different for some since its not loud and crazy inside!
I don’t know how they are on the weekends, but weekdays are pretty good. hopefully people come here to give them business. Its on 13^th, so its 2 blocks out of ctown, but parking might be easier.

This place is expensive — $ 5 for one dim sum item and $ 10 for a regular entrée… plus $ 1 /​person for regular tea, $ 1.50/person for chrysanthemum tea !!! Came with a group and all we could complain about was the price of everything. For the price of one thing we could get two at other dim sum places.
We got seated immediately. When we asked about drinks, the waitress gave us a stank face. She was having difficulty understanding us so one of the guys came over to translate for us. They didn’t even give us a pen for us to make our order.
We got the shrimp roll, Chinese sausage sticky rice, turnip cake, chives dumpling & the Lotus leaf sticky rice.
The food is good, the sticky rice was really hard unfortunately.
The place looks nice, but too pricey for the little portions!

After a recommendation from a friend who’s taste buds I trust completely, my boyfriend and I came to see what the hype was about last Saturday. I know Sunday is more a «dimsum» kind of day, so maybe that explained why it was surprisingly empty inside.
The restaurant is small and a little further away from all the busier china town spots, but it is definitely cleaner and less «Asian» inside, which I appreciated.
The dim sum isn’t on carts, but you fill out paper sheets, kind of like at sushi places. I liked that the menu had pictures of every item.
We had the Chinese greens, which was basically Bok choy. I loved it! We also had the pork bun, pork shumai, soup dumplings, and scallion pancakes. Everything was so good! You can taste the freshness as opposed to when you’re picking off a cart, not knowing how long ago something was made.
I would come back, but there’s something I still like better about the traditional dimsum. Maybe the instant gratification?

I give this place a solid 3.5 stars.
I liked that I was able to order my dim sum all at once and not have to chase down a push cart to get something to eat. Everything we had was pretty good except for the chicken feet and the original egg roll. The chicken feet were a little too sweet for my taste and the egg roll was too greasy (and big). I think the biggest bonus about this place for me is that I can eat dim sum anytime during the day and not just for brunch. Since it’s a little on the outskirts of Chinatown, parking was not a problem and the restaurant wasn’t crowded at all. It’s not the best I’ve ever had but a solid choice for dim sum.

Finally, the historic New York based Dim sum has opened! With all the buzzing surrounding its opening, I was intrigued, like many, to go and give it a try.
As soon as I sat down, I was given a pot of tea, and note pad menu. The restaurant was offering a limited menu for the soft opening. I don’t eat pork, and my choices were even more limited. I ended up checking off three numbers on the menu card: Shrimp sui mai, vegetarian Rice Roll, and Scallion pancakes. My three small plates were all good, but I’ve had better.
They were wrapping up the last minute interior details while I was walking in around 4ish pm!!! during there soft opining! I will have to go back and give it a second chance, for a better dining experience up to their expected standards.
Three and half Unilocal