Famous Bao

Nice Hotpot, Reasonable Prices Having read so many good reviews, I decided to give Famous Bao a try. I went on a Thursday afternoon. It was after lunch hours so it wasn't too crowded. I ordered the Signature Spicy Hotpot for $10. It was yummy though a little too salty. The portion was large, and came with a rice too. Maybe it was the expectations I had so the experience didn't seem quite as enjoyable as it should be. Go with no expectations to enjoy!

Highly recommend the beaf rib noodle(牛肉干扯面). This noodle is the classic meal for farmers in the middle west part of china. That area is a plateau and always lack of water. At hot summer, farmers are pretty tired and thirsty when finishing a whole day's of work. So theirs wife will save the noodle in the cold water. When husband come back, they grap the noodle from water, add chili powder and vinegar on the top, then pour a touch of boiled oil to release the sour and spicy flavor. With this flavor, farmers could cheer up theirs spirit quickly and get cooled down from the hot weather. That's the history behind the dish. You could taste 90% genuinue flavor at this restaurant. RECOMMEND!

I was lured to this place by the good reviews but I had a bad experience overall. My noodle bowl was served pretty much cold and the taste was not the one I expected given the price and portion. They were oily and very salty. They surcharge you almost a dollar for purchases under $20 if paid with card (when most places around requires a $5 minimum purchase or no minimum, I think this is ridiculous since an average meal there cost under $20). 355ml soda can cost almost 4 dollar with taxes, like c'mon! In addition, you can tell the lady at the cashier don't like her job by the way she address to you. Who knows! maybe was not her day. In any case, I hope you have a better experience than mine, but I won't be eating there again.

It's shockingly bad. I went in for some bao but they didn't have it. Asked for the Chinese pork burger, they didn't have that either. Finally I got the cumin lamb rice. It came out without a single cumin in it, tasteless! The lamb was flavorless and rubbery. You can just tell the meat quality is horrible. Onion was still raw and pungent. Worse food I've ever had. Felt so sick right after eating there.