Oriental Pearl

Several years ago, my first trip for dim sum in Atlanta was at Oriental Pearl. I took a friend who was visiting at 9.30am. Based on my past experience in New York, I knew that 9.30 was really the latest time that one should venture out for dim sum and it would be violently busy. Much to my surprise, Oriental Pearl was not even open yet for business. When we sat down as one of the first tables, I was horrified by the service, all by giggling teenagers and the lack of real flavor in the food. I decided never to go back.

After recently reading many review of Oriental Pearl that they had recovered from their brief decline and the enthusiastic review of a Chinese co-worker, I decided to give Oriental Pearl another try. Today, J and I set out to go, admittedly at the late hour of 1.30pm. (Oriental Pearl is open for dim sum until 3pm.)

First, I was surprised how many of the staff at Oriental Pearl speak Mandarin. We did a fine job conversing despite the dialect difference, but since dim sum is Cantonese, I was still surprised. We received all of our food as quickly as we did at Royal China. I suppose that is the benefit of being seated when all the steamed dish carts are nearby.

The ha cheong were probably the best of the dishes we had. The char siu cheong was okay but not great. The seen jook geun were very good, light and with scallions inside (something I had never seen before). Their lau mei gei was bland and tasteless.

The dofu fa was okay but not spectacular. The young guy spooning out the dofu fa did an indelicate job of slivering off the dofu fa, and it was not as soft and luscious as I prefer it. The egg tarts, rumored to be the best here, were not ready when I requested them and we waited over 15 minutes for them to be made. Finally, we decided not to wait and went to pay the bill. While we waited for the credit card to run through, the egg tarts came out on their cart and meandered their way around the dining room. A dish was not even brought to us despite our specific request and waiting time!

All in all, we were not impressed and will stick with Royal China. Next on the list to try is China Delight.