| rev:text
| - It's an entire day later, and I think I'm still digesting this meal. Man, I'm so full.
First off, huge props go to Sarah K, Pierre T, and Jeffrey O for meeting me out in nondescript west Phoenix for Chinese food. I've been trying for two whole years to get people to meet me here for dim sum and the thought of "dining in west Phoenix" turns off just about everyone (especially most native Phoenicians I know who are surprisingly "west side"-phobic.). So a big thank you to you guys for indulging me.
Next, the restaurant itself. Imagine a giant banquet-hall sized Chinese restaurant actually filled with mostly Chinese customers. Families seated around big round tables: grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, and the little kids. In Phoenix, this is a rare sight, and as opposite to seeing Grandma Ethel eating fried wontons with sweet & sour sauce at the Abacus Inn as it could be. So you know from the get go that Great Wall is doing something right with authenticity.
We sat down and were immediately brought tea, and if you've ever been to dim sum, you know that servers are constantly wandering around, pushing carts full of goodies. Steamed dumplings, fried dumplings, sweet dumplings, savory dumplings, buns, giant flaky egg rolls, stir fried kai-lan (Chinese broccoli), chicken feet, custard and other desserts, lo mai gai (sticky rice), noodles, the list goes on and on and on. We picked a variety of dishes as they went by (sans chicken feet), and went to town.
I'd say the dim sum we had was pretty decent. Not the best dim sum I've ever had, but obviously I liked it all enough because I was a nonstop eating machine until I was ready to burst (which was frustrating because there were so many more dishes being carted around that I wanted to try but I just. Couldn't. Do. It.) To be fair to Great Wall, probably next time I'd come earlier than 11 am and request a table closer to the kitchen in order to get the dim sum as warm and fresh as possible, instead of picking dishes that have been carted around the dining room for who knows how long.
The atmosphere was great - there's a certain cacophony in big dim sum halls that I really enjoy. Tables full of families and friends talking, laughing, and enjoying their food as more than a dozen servers are hovering around with their carts. And the best thing about us finishing our meal with us stuffed to the gills? Only $11 plus change per person. You really can't beat that.
All in all, a great change of pace from all my dismal Chinese restaurant experiences in Phoenix. And a restaurant like this will no doubt also have a full-on Chinese menu along with their standard Americanized menu for lunch and dinner, so I'll definitely have to swing by and try that as well.
So if you're ready to try Great Wall for some weekend dim sum, let me know and I'll be more than glad to join you.
Just not today.
Because I'm still full.
4 stars.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)