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NBC Seafood Restaurant

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Seaotter71
Seaotter71
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
2
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Editor Pick

NBC Seafood Restaurant

  • January 29, 2007
  • Rated 3 of 5 by stvchin from Tustin, California
NBC Seafood Restaurant

NBC Seafood Restaurant is a very well known Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park. It's located in a strip mall off Atlantic Blvd., just south of Garvey. It serves traditional Cantonese Chinsese food, specializing in dim sum in the morning and lunch, and usually has a banquet or two booked for the evenings. The restaurant itself is quite large, with several private dining areas reserved for banquets, and a huge central dining area. I think it probably seats about 600.

I went with a bunch of friends on a Saturday evening, and we made sure to call in a reservation beforehand. When we arrived, there were two banquets already in progress, and prospective diners who hadn't made reservations were lined up out the door.

We were seated and given a few pots of tea. The decor in this restaurant, much like most traditional Chinese restaurants, is more more of an afterthought. There are some Chinese woodcarvings on the walls, and a few Chinese paintings, but the focus is more on the food. The menu is typical of a traditional Cantonese restaurant, no real new dishes, but the same tried and true dishes, served family style.

We ordered a bunch of different dishes. We ordered a suckling pig appetizer, roast duck, two noodle dishes, three lobster dishes, dumpling soup, and dessert. It turns out that the lobster dishes use different parts of the same lobster.

We ordered one half of the suckling pig and it came out on an interesting gold colored platter adorned with little metal pig feet on the bottom. The pig platter came served up with its head. The pig was very delicious and juicy, if a bit fatty. The skin was especially crispy and nice. Our lobster dishes came next. The tail section of the lobster was served in a clear sauce with mushrooms over a bed of Chinese greens. The claws also came served with mushrooms over a bed of Chinese cabbage. The midsection of the lobsters was lightly battered and fried. Our beef chow mein (stir fried beef and vegetables over crispy noodles) and lo mein (soft noodles) arrived. There was also a dumpling soup with mushrooms and leeks.

After a fulfilling meal, the last dish arrived. Our dessert was an assortment of three different jellied puddings. There was the red bean paste dessert, the taro root pudding, and the black sesame dessert, which resembled little concrete blocks. I especially enjoyed the black sesame dessert.

The food here was quite good. The vegetables are fresh, crisp where they need to be, and softer where appropriate. The lobster was tasty, and quite interesting as it was prepared three different ways for us.

If you can brave the crowds and the noise, lack of decor, and not too personable service, you will be rewarded with very good traditional Cantonese Chinsese food. I recommend NBC Seafood restaurant for such an experience.

From journal In the Valley (the Other Valley)

NBC Seafood Restaurant

  • January 26, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Seaotter71 from Monterey, California
NBC Seafood Restaurant

Unfortunately, LA's Chinatown is somewhat dead. And while there are good restaurants (Ocean Seafood and Empress Pavillion), you have to head east to Monterey Park for the prime Chinese food.

NBC Seafood has, in my opinion, the best dim sum in town. The dishes taste fresher, and in spite of the large numbers of tables they turn, the food does not taste mass-produced, like at other restaurants.

Expect long lines on the weekends and avoid days like Mother's Day. If you get there by 10:30am on a normal weekend, the wait should be short.

NBC does the standards well: Siu Mai (wonton-wrapped steamed dumplings), Har Gow (shrimp dumplings in a rice wrapper), and Cha Siu Bao (steamed barbecue pork-filled dumplings).

But don't limit yourself. NBC's selection is dizzying. Inspect the contents of every cart that comes your way and hope to God you don't get seated in a lousy cart traffic area.

From journal Los Angeles: Food and Hikes

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