Nom Wah Tea Parlor

A quick comment on dim sum restaurants in Chinatown. For a city and neighborhood that has a high concentration of Chinese, we do not have great dim sum restaurants, especially when you compare with places like Vancouver, San Francisco, even Dallas. You may get great places in Flushing but not in Chinatown.
That being said, Nom Wah is one of the more outstanding places. Despite the «hipster» quality of the restaurant and often, clientele, this place delivers solid food, particularly in comparison with other venues in the area.
Came here with a big group for lunch on a week day and luckily, was able to fit our group of 10 in with no wait. The food selection includes all of the traditional dim sum dishes (turnip cake, har gow, chicken feet, etc) but also a few delightful specials. The restaurant keeps the same ambiance of traditional Chinese restaurants — that is to say, it is quite «hole in the wall». Plastic furniture, tile flooring, etc. There are no carts — everything is ordered from the menu. The pricing is a little more expensive than other dim sum places in the area, but the quality more than makes up for it.

This is a solid joint for dimsum. My friend and I came in here because we saw a lot of people seemingly enjoying their food yet there was no line. Service was fast and friendly, but they did forget about one of our orders and we had to remind them 3 times before getting it. They were apologetic though.
The ambience is casual but nice. They will seat you at tables with others if it’s busy. Not a big deal. New Yorkers can be nasty but usually not at good dimsum.
In any case, they offer the standard dimsum fare. No carts here, which is a good thing because the items are prepared fresh. You can taste it.
1. Turnip cake: decent with just the right amount of browning on both sides.
2. Scallion pancake: I liked the crunch and the texture but wish it had more scallions. I tend to like thicker pancakes.
3. Shrimp shumai: this was so good because it was freshly steamed, but the portions were small.
4. Potstickers: very good! The skin was thick and well pan fried. Great flavor.
5. Shrimp rice roll: these were pretty classic as well with great texture and flavor. Each roll had two small shrimp.
I think overall the food quality here is good. Prices are moderate for the portions but quite reasonable!

Tried this place out and it was pretty unique! The place looks like your typical American diner but it serves dimsum. What I really loved was that it was sans the carts. Although that’s traditional, sometimes it’s hard to get serviced and find everything you want. You fill out a sushi type menu for your foods and reference a guide with photos!
Loved it. Especially the soup dumplings!

It’s a meh dimsum place. And it’s a bit pricier compared to other dimsum restaurants in the area. It’s good to be at the «first dimsum place in NYC» though. The chicken feet was dry (tasted like it was fried first and then smothered with sauce which made it hard/​soggy instead of soft). Turnip cake and shrimp dumplings were another meh. Guess they can never go wrong with pork shumai so that was okay. I didn’t even try the soup dumpling but my boyfriend said it was NOT very soupy. (as compared to how’s Shanghai). Plus, they don’t even have the xlb sauce! Haha. I wouldn’t come back.
*They only accept cash or Amex cards

Non Wah Tea Parlor is a historic restaurant in Manhattan Chinatown whose claim to fame is serving dim sum since 1920. Nestled away in a smaller street, it has an old school vibe with memorabilia-​lined walls and historic fixtures like coat hangers at each table. It caters to a more Western and/​or tourist crowd (see who’s giving it good reviews on Unilocal!) and, as a result, the food is a bit lacking. You should come here at least once to experience a bit of history, but after that I’d probably pass.
Having lived in Vancouver, HK, and San Francisco, the food is okay, a bit uninspiring. We grabbed one of the supposedly famous BBQ pork buns, and it was not particularly impressive. Too much bland bun and the insides weren’t flavorful enough. The shrimp dumplings were good though, though maybe a bit on the small side. Suffice it to say, you might want to be a bit choosy with what you order and poke around a bit at other reviews/​photos depending on your taste.
Is it also weird that the service seemed to be lacking toward us here? The server went from nice and smiling to our (non-​Asian) neighbors to curt and cold to us. I get that dim sum restaurants aren’t known for their service, but usually you can only get away with that if your food is worth it. Not so here.
Overall, it’s pretty remarkable that a place like this has existed for nearly a hundred years. It definitely makes you feel a part of history when you can imagine yourself in 1920s New York. My recommendation? Go to enjoy that nostalgic feeling, but just don’t have too high hopes for the food.

After much hype and sampling other various Chinatown eateries, it was time to make the trip here. Put my name down for a table of two, and didn’t have to wait too long for lunch on a Saturday afternoon.
Got an amazing spot near the window with pen and paper ready for dim sum. Breaking down the meal from best to rest:
Stuffed Eggplant ($ 4.50) — several large pieces of eggplant stuffed with what turned out to be shrimp paste. Finished immediately.
Roast Pork Bun ($ 3.50) — large fluffy bun filled with minced pork. Good stew-​like quality that bread soaks up.
Pan Fried Dumplings ($ 4) — standard fried dough wrapped over pork, needed a good amount of sauce.
Bean Curd Spring Roll ($ 4) — thin, chewy skin soaked in a flavorful sauce surrounding an okay combination of shrimp and pork. Took most to go.
Turnip Cake with XO sauce ($ 10) — was excited about this one, but the sauce was more of a seasoning then actually drenching the food and the chilies didn’t really add any spice. Packed most to go.
Shrimp and Bacon Roll ($ 4.50) — three thick shrimp balls fried up and wrapped with very thin pieces of bacon. Decent concept but was much better the day after.
Scallion Pancake ($ 4.50) — super salty dough with even saltier sauce on top. Still sitting in fridge.
To wash down got a couple of beers (Beerlao and Taiwan Beer) — $ 5 a piece.
Overall a pleasant dining experience, though many of the items are super oily and needed more time to cool off. This is one of those places where the food is somehow better as cold leftovers.

Amazing food and an accessible dim sum experience.
This was the first time I had ever gotten dim sum so I was a little scared about the process. However, here I was given a little card to mark down all the things I wanted and the menu was clear. The prices were reasonable and service was fast. Three of us got a wide variety of items and only paid $ 15 each. We did have to wait 30 minutes to get a seat at noon on a Saturday and your whole party must be there before they’ll seat you. Also, they were pretty aggressive about getting us to leave once we had paid our bill.
The shrimp wrapped in bacon, shrimp dumpling and turnip cake were the best items we got.
I tried chicken feet for the first time and it was quite tasty! Their take on the egg roll was good as well.
They have a nice tea selection as well. I had the jasmine tea which was good. You get an entire pot of tea for $ 1.50.

So more take-​out from my favorite new food delivery service, Caviar (delivery in 15 minutes? I’m there)… Had their shrimp and chive dumplings (heavy on the chives and light on the shrimp :). Also had their stir-​fried rice noodles. Very little protein to be found in these dishes and if you know me that’s usually a huge negative. But both were absolutely wonderful. The chive dumpling skin was a little thick but for delivery I don’t know if it could have been any thinner (nothing worse than when your dumpling filling isn’t inside your dumpling).
In any case, looking forward to visiting this restaurant.

This dim sum is definitely not as good as other places. Though it is the oldest place in manhattan so that is kind of cool, but if you are going here for the culinary experience of dim sum, I suggest heading elsewhere. Red egg, jing fong, to name a couple nearby and at the same price point.
In general, the items you get here are lipidy and bland, and many items are fried. I will say, though, if you do go, get the pork buns. That was the only item we had that truly stood out. It is huge and delicious.
The soup dumplings mediocre (for these try joe’s shanghai or the bao), scallion pancake is somehow both dry and oily, and many of the others we had (shrimp sui mai, spare ribs, sesame ball, snow pea dumpling) were either heavy on the frying, or underwhelming.

I don’t understand why people are waiting outside for this place. This place is dirty and the food was inedible. We were placed in the center of the tables and the waiter had a difficult time jumping over other people and tables to get to us. I will say, that service was great.
Tip: If there are no Asians eating at an Asian restaurant, you probably shouldn’t be eating there either.

Considering I’m a local (born and raised in Chinatown) it’s almost crazy to pay the prices they charge for Dim sum. But I’ll give credit when it’s due, they make up for it since things are made fresh when you order and you’re not picking things off a steaming push cart that’s made its way up and down many times over.
They are a modern dim sum house with that old fashion coffee shop appeal. Décor takes you back a few decades but fun. The coolest part, they sell a variety of beer and wine … not many dim sum places do that.
Heads up, gets busy mostly at lunch hour but worth the wait. Best time to go, late afternoon so you can eat in peace and avoid the crowds. Bring friends, that way you can order more food/​more tasty dishes to sample!
My favorite dishes were the Chinese Broccoli with Oyster sauce, any rice crêpe/​rice roll, and the Har gow (shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (steamed pork dumplings wrapped with the wonton skin).
Hate to say it, but it’s true, their patrons are usually tourists or non-​Asian local city folk. Your fellow Chinese grandparents and parents alike would balk at the pricing. Plus, it’s not push cart style which does take away from the classic dim sum dining experience. But come for the great food and atmosphere.

I went here with my family for my mother’s birthday as a casual dinner and LET ME TELL YOU. This place is horrible. Besides from the rude staff, the food was alright to say the best. There were so many problems when we went there let me first start off by saying the staff is SUPER RUDE. Whenever you ask for anything, they shake their heads and walk away and you have to ask three different people just to get one thing.
The owner kept starring at us while we were eating and also when we were paying. It really PISSED ME OFF at the fact that when he bought the bill over to me, he pointed at the tip bar and said, «15% is $ 15.00» because our bill was $ 108.88. You were even lucky that we put down $ 10.00 because I kept telling the person who paid to not give tip at all because of the horrible service. How do you have the nerve to tell me how much tip to put down. You gave me horrible service and another thing before I forget, the carryout person was even more RUDE.
When i asked for a few to go containers, i asked him «can we please have a few containers so we can pack up the food?» He then said «What do you mean? I don’t understand what you mean.?» uhm… hello? I said CONTAINERS SO WE CAN PACK UP FOOD. I’m not speaking rocket science just give me a container to go and we can call it night but he had to make it a big deal. Maybe i am overeating, but this place definitely needs to step up their customer service game because I GUARANTEE YOU that there are better Dim Sum places around ChinaTown.

We waited for 1.5 hours. Totally worth it. We could have been standing in a blizzard the whole time without coats on and this would still be a five star rating.
Having never done Chinese food on Christmas, we couldn’t have picked a better spot to kickstart the tradition. Everything about this place is part of the experience. From getting your number, to jockeying in line for position, to the eventual sit down… that when you do finally get to your table, you’re absolutely ravenous. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of choice and everything on the menu is delicious. I couldn’t even begin to say everything we ordered, but if you just tick off anything that sounds yummy, you’re guaranteed to leave satisfied.
Bonus: they were super friendly and helpful when it came to gluten free options, with everything clearly labeled on the menu.

Decided to go to Nom Wah Tea Parlor for lunch on my birthday the other day. There was a short wait, but we were seated pretty quickly. Inside the restaurant is so cute. It looks like an old school luncheonette. I definitely think this place is better for lunch than it would be for dinner.
Went with my mom and we decided to order:
–The Classic Egg Rolls: Have a feeling this is technically what a real egg roll is supposed to be like. It was a little strange and not really what I’m used to when ordering an egg roll, but it was pretty good.
–The Scallion Pancakes: They were just ok. The pancakes were good, but the sauce on top was a little strange. Definitely could’ve lived without these.
–The Shrimp Dumplings: Delicious!
–The Pan Fried Dumplings: These were excellent! It’s a mix of pork and shrimp.
–Shrimp Fried Rice: This was alright, but a little bland. Not necessarily worth $ 12.
–Shanghainese Soup Dumplings: Excellent! The soup inside was very good!
Overall I really enjoyed Nom Wah Tea Parlor. I would definitely recommend stopping by for lunch!

DIM SUM FOR DINNER? old school small american diner atmosphere that serves dim sum
Colleague had a large party dinner here so items were pre-​selected for us and served family style but in larger portions!
–turnip cake: MY FAVORITE DISH, good sear & savory flavor
–shu mai: standard, can’t go wrong with this one
–har dow: standard but good
–soup dumplings: wish they served these with spoons, not bad
–bbq pork steamed buns: these HUGE babies were enough to stuff you for the rest of dinner! fluffy but not all that flavorful, i much prefer golden steamer’s buns
–meatballs: i think these were beef? never had them before but definitely eat them with the Worcestershire sauce
–vegetarian dumpling: interesting mochi like skin. not a huge fan
–fried rice: bland
–chow mein: nothing special
if i’m craving dim sum in NYC i may need to come back so i can see what else is on the menu

Chinatown Dim Sum Tour Stop #3:
Everyone says Nom Wah is THE dim sum place to go to because it’s like, been there forever or something like that. Well, just because it’s old does not mean it’s good. Of all the dim sum places we’ve been to, Nom Wah is one of our least favorites. All the dishes we tried either lacked flavor (the scallion pancakes had no salt to them) or were way too greasy, or both. I’m Chinese, I know Chinese food is greasy, I know dim sum is greasy, but the food was here was just too greasy across the board and needed a pinch (or 3) of salt.
Judging by the clientele, it’s clear that this place has become a tourist stop on Chinatown tours because it has by far the largest percentage of white people I’ve seen at a dim sum place. That and hipsters who think it’s cool to dine at a 90+ year old dim sum joint. People clearly come for the novelty and do not know what good dim sum actually is. I would not recommend this place if you actually enjoy eating dim sum.

Giant, big portions. Not your a-​typical dim sum small servings of one or two. So of course this meant that we ordered WAY too many dishes. The chrysanthemum tea was wonderful — if only one could take that to-​go.
We also ordered the egg roll, chicken feet, snow pea shrimp rolls, sticky rice with sausage, rice rolls with spare ribs and… it was overkill. Thankfully we were able to cancel our turnip cakes in-​time. Next time around, bring a LARGE group with you so that folks can sample a little of everything.
The décor is ice-​cream parlor meets dim sum. I do have to say though, for us who aren’t fluent in Mandarin (or rusty, in my case), having the sheet of paper to order your dishes vs. yelling at cart ladies — worth the $ 50 bill.

It’s good so worth coming here. The egg roll was pretty heavy and greasy. Dumplings were good. Pork bun was huge and different. Service is great. They don’t do the cart thing so be prepared for that, order off a menu like sushi. Fun place in cool ally.

J’ai goûté les ravioles à la soupe et à la viande, tres Bön et la crêpe nature de riz à la ciboulette et coriandre, pas mal.

Quite literally a year later and I’m writing this review.
This nondescript but wholly touristy spot has a special place in my heart. Not only is it in a tourist enough area where people are expecting them to do something funny, or stupid but they are a wholly legitimate Chinese style dim sum parlor.
The food here is great. The dishes compliment each other well and the amount of food you can order is pretty long. My favorite was the Chinese donut wrapped with rice noodles. That was the ultimate comfort food for a hot humid NYC summer.

Food wasn’t anything close to what good dim sum should be like.
The old school décor is nice though.
Pork buns — huge turn off… would not get again
Eggplant with shrimp paste — way too greasy
Shrimp wraps — good/​tasted like it should
Egg Roll — too much grease as well
They took too long with the pork spare ribs so we cancelled it (probably would’ve been disappointing too)
Overall things here are overpriced, the food wasn’t good compared to other restaurants in the area, and it seems more like a tourist trap than the authentic dim sum place it advertises itself as.
It’s a nice place to take photos of but if you want good dimsum, you’re better off elsewhere.

Rien de tel que le Nom Wah Tea Parlor pour faire une pause Dim Sum.
Très bon rapport qualité prix pour NY.
Attention venir tôt car ils ferment à 21h tous les jours sauf le vendredi et samedi à 22h.
Testés :
— les Shrimp Dumplings à 4 $
— les Shrimp and Chive Dumplings à 4 $ — pan fried
— le turnip cake à 4 $
— les Taro Dumplings à 3,5 $
— le Tofu Skin Roll à 4 $
Le thé Oolong à 1 $ est bon.
J’ai aimé tous les plats mais les taro Dumplings auraient été meilleurs revenus à la poêle que cuits à la vapeur.
Institution depuis 1920, belles photos de stars dans ce restaurant à la décoration minimale.
Hint: Le code pour le wifi est le numéro de téléphone du restaurant.