Nom Wah Tea Parlor

by Will Liu

My expectations of Nom Wah were pretty high, considering that they are one of the most famous dim sum spots in the city. There’s always a line out the door, and they even got a 7.8 from the guys over at The Infatuation. So naturally, I could not resist popping in when I walked by and saw there was no line (I had a random Monday off to show my friends around the city). Eh. It was very very average. For most restaurants, average is not such a bad thing to be. But when you’re a dim sum shop with so much history and hype, average becomes bad. Now I know how my mom felt when I got a C- on my high school Chinese test (I’m Chinese).

The Food

We didn’t order a whole lot because we had other dinner plans and just wanted to try the place out. We ordered:

  • Shrimp Dumpling
  • Shrimp Noodle roll
  • Shu mai 
  • Chicken feet
  • Sticky rice with sausage

Everything was just very average. Nothing special. None of it was bad, but nothing stood out either. I don’t think I’d order any of the dishes again, because there’s just better shit out there.

The Service

The service was surprisingly good. Generally my expectation of service in a dim sum place like this is low to nonexistent. Nom Wah doesn’t have the traditional dim sum carts being pushed around, they just do menu-order. I like the carts because I think they’re fun.

Final Thoughts

I don’t think Nom Wah is worth your time. At this point, I’d categorize it under “tourist trap”. Although there’s a lot of history with this place, it just doesn’t live up to the hype. If you’re going to wait over an hour for dim sum, go to Tim Ho Wan.