Bamboo Creek

I guess it’s the 3^rd time’s the charm situation. After 2 unsuccessful attempts, we were finally able to dine at Bamboo Creek. A small place tucked away toward the back of a newer non-​descript mini-​mall. Service is attentive, though there may be a little bit of a language barrier when it comes to ordering.
The food here is very good. We were ordered their Signature BBQ Fish which is this huge pan featuring 2 whole west lake fish bathing in a sauce of your choice (we chose Ma La (spice flavor found mainly in Sicuan cuisine at low spiciness level, which was perfect for us as we wanted a little kick without the spiciness overwhelming our taste buds). For $ 2.50 per item additional, you can add vegetables to the dish (we chose mushrooms, Napa cabbage, vegetable mix, and tofu skin). For an additional $ 3.50 per item additional, you can also add a meat garnish to the dish such as crab meat. We opted not to. The fish was enough to feed 4 to 6, especially if you order other dishes. For $ 30 (fish) plus $ 10 in add-​ons, it was worth the price.
Their glutenous balls with veggies (baby Shanghai bok choy) was delicious. Minced fish meat wrapped by a layer of glutenous flour and cooked in a thick clear sauce (wasn’t sure if it was vegetable or fish based).
Their beef noodle soup hit the spot for this cold Friday night. The noodles were cooked perfectly upon service, but don’t let the noodles sit too long as it will slowly absorb broth and become soft and gummy. Nice pronounced beef broth, which could have used a stronger spicy kick than what we got. Only one problem, I only wished that they cut up the brisket meat into smaller cubes, as well as being cooked a bit longer, to make the brisket meat more tender and easier to chew through.
Jellyfish marinated in black vinegar was quite good as our starter.
I noticed they had framed a review of Bamboo Creek by LA Weekly from March 2014, mentioning that one should order the eel burgers. Upon reading the article, it mentioned that their stir fried eel was served with steamed buns, which are used to stuff with the eel and eat it like a burger. Well, no buns were served with the stir fried eel dish, and we didn’t bother asking about them. The eel served is a Chinese variety known more as a shan fish, which is a far cry from it’s Japanese relatively. The eel was served in a thick sauce that was sweetened a bit too much.
They do accept MC/​Visa.

The signature bbq fish was large in size and filled with added vegetables at $ 2.50 for each vegetable option. The dish was very tasty and fresh at a low spicy level which is quite spicy. Medium or hot would be unbearable for me, a person who likes spicy food. Not quite sure of the name of the fish but as far as we can make out it is suppose to be a Westlake fish according to google.
Quite notable are their gluten fish balls. It is fried gluten cooked in soup as a result there a spongy texture to gluten ball and within it is a delicate piece of fish. This particular kind of cooking is quite hard to find in America but more common in Singapore and Malaysia. It is similar to yung tofu.
The jelly fish dish was good and the beef Noodle was good too but pales in comparison to the bbq fish. I would not recommend the Chinese eels. Too oily and the flavor is on the sugary side.
Definite return to try out the other dishes.

Our family came here as a recommendation. This is a very small place, that is tucked away from the sight of the street, so if you don’t know about this place, it could very easily be missed just passing by. Clearly a mom & pop shop with one assistant cook. They get very busy and this small crew has trouble if too many large parties. The night we were there, I believe there were 4 or 5 parties of 6+ folks/​tables, along with 2 – 3 small tables. Not sure if the food was cooked to order or just overwhelmed causing the delay in serving of food. The food is definitely worth the wait. We ordered a lot of different things to try:
Signature Barbeque Fish (w/​added: Enoki Mushroom, Black Fungus, Soy Film, Firm Tofu, Leek)
Lion’s Head w/​Salted Preserved Egg Yolk (Meat wrapped)
Shanghi Deep Fried Rice Cake with Sugar for Dipping
Chicken Egg Roll (Chicken Meat Wrapped around Salted Preserved Egg Yolk)
Farmer Lotus Roots
Peppers & Potato

The chef is the fish cooking master! Love their spicy tofu fish, grilled fish and smoke fish. Been a great experience. They even gave a meat jelly for free! Love it.
The only problem is the location, in a secluded plaza, not even visible from the road.
Other than that, definitely a hidden gem.

Ambiance: small but very bright restaurant
Service: fast, friendly and attentive
Food: in general good taste
Sorted mushroom — *** average taste
Salted egg yolk chicken roll — *** salty
Honey smoke fish — **** flavorful, recommend
Original lamb pot — *** average taste
Dry tofu and pork shreds — **** tasty, recommend
Sweet sour spare rib — *** average taste
Pork with Chinese cabbage — *** salty, recommend
Tasty shrimp pot — *** average taste
Shanghai deep fried rice — ** so so
Grilled fish house spicy pot — *** huge portions with tofu skin, seaweed and luncheon meat
Noodles mixed with scallion — **** smelted good, tasted better, recommend
Price: a bit pricy because the portion of most dishes is small, expect $ 20 per person

nice food and very reasonable price! The located at an alley on Garvey. I really like the food here!

Tried all the dishes Unilocal recommended. The food is not tasty enough. For example, the signature fried fish did not get cooked long enough to have the flavor soaked in. I am Shanghainese, so I know what authentic shanghai food taste like, and this is not it. And it’s overpriced for what it is.

My sweetheart suggested trying this restaurant, stating, «They said it’s really good.» My first question is always, «Who are they?» Usually I don’t get a definitive answer from her and usually when we go to said restaurant, it’s not very good.
But, Bamboo Creek is a real find. Not an easy find, but a good one.
It’s located off the street at the back of a newer retail complex, so you have to turn into a driveway and enter a parking lot. It’s small, extremely clean, and the service is as good as the food. We had the smoked fish with honey sauce, Shanghai shrimp and a vegetable dish. Everything was prepared when we ordered it (nothing pre-​cooked). The sauces were light and subtle, allowing the flavors of the chicken, shrimp and vegetables to dominate your palate. Oh my, I’m getting hungry talking about it. It’s obvious the owners take great pride in their restaurant. We live in Sherman Oaks, but I have no problem driving to Monterey Park if Bamboo Creek is our final destination.

Rating is based on what we ate last night… 3 stars for the tofu with fis meat. My wife loves it… she also like the meat ball stuffed with egg yook… Now the bad … Beef hot pot… Very fatty and lots of chewy pieces! Their famous pork belly noodle is too fatty! Some people might like fatty pork, but not me. Sup is also very plain… Both of these 2 dishes are not good… One star. Definitely will not order again, my wife wants to come back to try some more, but not me or my son… We love shanghainese food but maybe b/​c we are not shanghainese…

Been here several times due to my gf’s insistence (she really likes it). First time here, I didn’t like it but this place grows on me. Their restaurant interior is very memorable because they have a random fish tank with parrot cichlids in the center and all the interior walls are like a pictorial menu of dishes. I’ve had this restaurant several times after and they have some dishes I’ve never tried before, and some are surprisingly good while others do miss the mark slightly. But the good and unusual, is actually really good.
This time around (I don’t do the ordering), I had the cold cucumber garlic dish as the appetizer (very good). Then, had something called «spiced salted tofu skin» on the receipt — which looked like fried tofu but was actually made up of layers of tofu skin. Pretty cool and yummy. Spicy Tofu and Fish soup is not good, when asked to make it no spicy, but I had a normal spicy previously and it was very tasty that time paired with rice. Have to commend them on this dish in which it was like a fishcake/​egg white creampuff with vegetables but they call it «vege gluten». Very delicious. Will continue to try this place out as I always discover some interesting dishes.

We came to this place yesterday on the recommendation of a good friend who lives in the area. It is off the beaten path, but worth going to the trouble to find it. Our meal was fried shrimp with some rice vinegar based sauce, a cold dish somewhat like a salad, not sure what it was, sweet sour pork spareribs with sesame seeds, and the spicy pork noodle soup. Everything was very good, and the waitress was very nice. Service was very good. In this area of Monterey Park that is a sea of Chinese resturants this place stand out.

Have been coming here for many times. Food quality and services are really awesome! My friend and i all enjoyed our meals and the service was great as always. I really recommend this place to everyone. :)

Authentic food, great tastes! will definitely come again
Remember to check with secret menu!

Poor tasty. The server told us the fish was fresh but the truth is totally different. In addition, the server did not know what kind of fish they cooked. Obviously, they were hiding something negative in their store. Please think about it when u decide to go there!

Had our first dinner in this small place. We are so happy that we bumped into it, it is kind of hidden in the ally way off Garvey. The owner servers authentic Shanghai fusion dishes, but with some creative touch. He and staff were super friendly and nice. We talked a lot about food passion and how that affect the quality of the product and customer experience. Most importantly, we are blown away by his food! Next time we are in town, this is a must-​have stop for years to come.

We came last Friday for lunch. Really enjoyed our meal, so we brought our friends for dinner two days later. The food was unique, very different and yet we liked it so much we came right back. It’s unusual so you have to try something new. Of all the dishes we had, the jelly fish and the fish tofu puff were THE best. Never had the vegetarian fish gluten before, but we will definitely order it again next time. We also noticed other’s recommendations like «dancing eggplant» and claim noodles that sound so interesting. We will definitely be back soon.
Service was great. The ladies speak limited English but they are extremely helpful. If you want to try something unique, this is the place.

clam noodles– delicious, vegetarian dish something– delicious, intestine hot pot– delicious, fish tofu puff– delicious, salted egg yolk chicken roll– too salty (not good)
Hard to find the place. It’s at the end of of a small plaza.
$ 25 minimum for credit card purchase.

This place is delicious! It’s hidden in a little plaza in Monterey Park. Everything was original. The food is amazing. Food was served quickly. The service was great. The owner was very friendly. He advised us to not order too much. The food is beautifully presented, very appetizing and delicious. I would definately come back often!

The food was good but the décor not so great. The service was attentive. If this place remodeled they would get more customers!
There was only 2 of us so we didn’t get there special fish. But we got the mixed tasty pot. Less spicy! She also suggested the gluten free balls filled with shrimp that came on a bed of bok choi.
Then the sweet and sour spare ribs! Very tasty but didn’t like how little meat there was. Don’t get the cold side dish of tendon! It’s not what u think! It’s just pieces of meat vs tendon. Pretty nasty.
Next time ill go back to get the full steamed fish.

EDIT: it’s NOT shanghai-​ese. more zhejiang style.
the chef was allegedly a national second grade chef in china before coming to the US. it’s too bad they’ve chosen a location that’s been kinda cursed. they’re going to need a lot of word of mouth because they’re definitely NOT going to get a lot of foot traffic situated where they are at the back of that mall.
they just upgraded the menu as of yesterday, even the waitress wasn’t sure about everything on the menu. there were only two of us for lunch so we split a 3 selection lunch special at $ 18. (they also charge $ 1 for rice person). if you’re a huge eater, those three orders might be enough, but i think some folks will find the portions large enough to be the right size for lunch.
the popular items include the honey smoked fish, the vegetarian duck. i liked the spicy fish/​tofu. it wasn’t over the top spicy, which i liked, because then you could appreciate how fresh and perfectly cooked the fish was. but it was IMO the inclusion of pickled vegetable that struck the right balance and made it a great dish. some folks may be accustomed to more spice in the dry pork/​tofu dish, but i think you need to add the spice when the basic ingredients need masking. i liked the dry tofu/​pork because i could appreciate the flavor of the soy tofu as an ingredient, although my companion thought the pork wasn’t as fresh as it could have been.
there are a lot of things on the menu we did not get to sample. my subjective impression is that they’ll be well done, though the size of the serving portions may prove to be a disappointment to those who prefer quantity over quality