Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant

Really really bad and unfriendly service. We eat their often, but we never recieve good service which you think you would get as being a loyal customer. Today was just so bad that I had to write a review. We called ahead, as they allow and in addition waited for about 30 mins. It wasn’t that busy, and even though the owner lets in people she knows ahead (we’re used to that) toay they were just too many. In addition she sat us in the worst place of the restaurant where the carts have a difficult time getting through. We used to go there at least once or twice a month, but stopped because of the service and today might just be the last time as we walked out without eating.

Oh, my heart is so happy!
Gung hay fat choy! Happy New Year! The year of the Monkey starts on Monday.
We were able to drop in on a Saturday lunch for tea cart dim sum. Thanks to previous reviewers’ suggestions, we called ahead to get ourselves «a number» and therefore we were seated almost immediately despite an overflow crowd in the vestibule. Despite a less-​than-​optimal table (in a cul-​de-​sac of the restaurant), the tea carts came around, full, and we were never lacking for good things to eat.
We had a number of dim sum standbys: turnip cake, shu mai (pork dumplings), har gow (shrimp dumplings), wu gok (taro crescents, my favorite and my mom’s longtime favorite), gai lan (Chinese broccoli), and char siu (roast pork). Also sesame balls, at my friend Flora’s recommendation that they have the best in the Triangle. Right when we were ready to go, pea tips came around and we were forced to sit back down to revel in them (Thank you, Aunt Mary, for instilling that particular love!)
We wish we could have met up with friends there because we had to turn down so many delicious options that were just beyond our stomach’s capacity to sample. I feel like we only skim the surface when we come to HKCR, but now that we’ve discovered it’s far closer to home than we previously thought (only 70min, not 2h away), we expect to drop in more often.

The food here is very decent. I’ve ordered takeout multiple times and have tried many things on the dim sum menu, as well as several entrees. The dim sum is a-​ok, although sometimes I wonder if some of the items were just frozen and not made from scratch. As far as entrees go, my favorite is the roast pork fried rice (I always ask for it to be made extra spicy, and they fry it up with a nice helping of chilli oil). The egg foo young is pretty decent too.
The service can be slow. This definitely seems to be much more of a take-​out restaurant than a sit-​in one.

Need to make a correction: I just had some shrimp dumplings from frozen package, they taste way better than what I had at the restaurant. My apology to the frozen foods.

I feel that this review is extremely fair as I’ve been twice:
My first experience I was really caught off-​guard at how inattentive the wait-​staff is. We waited 15 minutes to get our drink orders taken. Another 20 minutes to have our food orders taken. But the food did come out quickly. They food was okay. It wasn’t Dim Sum that you would take your Asian family to eat to impress them… by no means. But it was tasty.
Further, they do not allow you to order dim sum individually and the dim sum got placed on the ticket for everyone at the table while with a ground of 6 friends, only 3 of us ate the dim sum — the other 3 ordered traditional entrees. This got complicated.
I went back a second time with only one other friend. We sat down (only 3 tables in the restaurant had guest) and we waited 23 minutes and the waitress had still not come to the table to give us water, take our order, or anything. So we go up and left… As we are walking out she yell, «YO NO WAIT FOR ME???» I said, «I’ve been waiting for you for over 20 minutes…» and walked out.
I will not be going back due to the:
–Poor Customer Service
–Poor Food-​Server skills
–The owner’s children running around
–Leaving Drinks Empty
–Loud phone always ringing

Had a really great time here when my friends and I went for dimsum. The wait is LOOOONG — we forgot to make a reservation so we sat around for about 35 minutes. It is also PACKED. The food is pretty decent quality, and there is a solid variety of classic dimsum dishes. Of course, I’ve been to better dimsum places on the west coast and in Asia, but this place is not too shabby considering that we are in the middle of Durham, North Carolina. Service is a bit slow, but that’s understandable because of the number of customers and the chaos.

I loved my experience here the Hong Kong noodles are to die for. The spare ribs are really great. I really recommend this place for anyone.

We wanted Dim Sum for lunch and close to Duke University Hospital to visit a relative. Hence, we picked this restaurant. Arrived after 1pm and place is packed! I got inside and was given a number. Patrons in waiting area, I think, inconsiderate. No one offered to give up their seat to me with a baby. When a seat became available other standing patrons rushed to get it. Yes. Really!
Food: It’s great. We ordered dim sum and off the menu for our 5 year old daughter. She loves the fried beef chow fun.
Service: Staff is friendly, caring and fast. Very accommodating to our needs with two young children. Our drinks are always full. Always check on us too.
We will definitely come back again!

We ordered around ten different dim sum dishes. The sao mai, crab claw puffs, and congee were definitely our favorites. The restaurant is in a great location, although a little trouble parking and a little wait to be seated since there are so many people.
Overall, amazing food and great service at a good price!

Great little place to get dimsum on the weekend. Always a large group of people waiting to get in, so definitely a good sign. The parking is always hard at peak hours, but parking across the street always works, and luckily we never got our car towed.
Food:
Most of the small plates, (in the cart, in metal steamer crate) are 2.99 each, which is reasonable. The weekend specials (like roast pork, fried squids, etc) are around 7 dollars. I think only a couple of the seafood related ones are about 3.99 (stuffed crab claws), but we never got them.
Personal favorite: chicken feet and black bean spareribs. If you are really a dimsum lover, and does not mind bones, they are really good.
Other great plates:
Bbq pork buns. (Both steamed or oven baked) it’s little sweet, little savory, but just yummy overall.
Sesame balls: great little dessert with sticky rice and sweet filling.
Savory sticky rice dumpling: fried to perfection and stuffed with pork.
Shu Mai and Har Gao (shrimp dumpling): standard fare, always good.
Egg tart: very creamy and eggy. Melt in the mouth. Try to catch them when they are fresh.
Aside: they have bowl of chili oil sauce on the table already, so it’s great for spicy food lover like me.
This place overtaken Dim Sum house after the latter changed management, which made them much worse. So definitely come Hong Kong for dim sum, it is worth the wait!

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we walked in but MY GOODNESS THIS FOOD IS INCREDIBLE!!! I’m definitely coming back!

4 stars for the dim sum dishes, especially given that this is Durham, not San Francisco Chinatown. 3 stars for the service. It took us awhile to get seated; we had to approach a waitress directly to ask for her a table of 4, and I got berated in Chinese when I asked how much the tea cost…
I was pleasantly surprised that Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant preserved the usual dim sum experience of having the waitresses push metal carts around filled with steaming dishes that you can pick and choose from. They hand you a small card and when you pick a dish from the cart, the waitress places a stamp on the card depending on whether the dish is considered small, medium, or large. The smallest dishes are $ 2.99 each and the price increases as the «size» of the dish increases.
We tried the egg tart, spareribs, shrimp cheong fun (rice noodle roll) – even better if you drizzle it with soy sauce, luo buo gao (steamed turnip cake), stuffed crab claws, zhong zhi (savoury sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, kind of like a Chinese tamale), deep fried taro cake, BBQ pork buns, and shrimp dumplings.
We also ordered a huge bowl of congee (rice porridge) to share, made with pork, green onions, and duck egg. Congee is one of my comfort foods and I loved their version of it — warm, flavorful, and filling.
Don’t expect amazing service, but the dim sum here is pretty good!

I was told this was the best Chinese fare in the area. Unfortunately, it turns out to really be nothing more than standard Chinese American food. Nothing about the menu really even jumped out as «Hong Kong» considering it’s the name of the place.
I ordered Mushu Chicken, which was served with Mexican style tortillas as opposed to crepes, which screams inauthentic. The rest of my party opted for the usual Chinese American dishes, most of which are neither actually Chinese or Hong Kongese. One person did order the dim sum, but for the price it didn’t seem worth it.
Overall, if you want something that’s a step up above Chinese takeout, then you might like this place. But if you’re at all aware of actual Chinese or Hong Kong cuisine, then you’re really just paying more for slightly higher quality American food.
With that, it gets a ³⁄₅.

Authentic dim sum at reasonable prices. The waiters are super friendly and the atmosphere is no-​frills and comfortable. Try the short ribs and sesame balls.
Also the parking lot can get full, but there’s plenty of parking on the nearby side streets.
Highly recommended!

Dim sum portions are way too small for the price. Don’t order the shrimp dumplings or shu mai.
This place isn’t worth the price.

Dim sum festival!
I visited during Sunday brunch with a group of six to check out the dim sum carts and we were satisfied with our experience!
We waited around 30 minutes (we came there at 12.30 pm) before seated. The line was very long for the smaller groups.
This is not the best dim sum experience I’ve ever had (I’m from Asia), but this is pretty authentic, the best one I’ve had in months!
I’ve tried the hakau (steamed dim sum filled with shrimp), fried crab, chicken feet, noodle rice filled with shrimp, sesame chicken, and the fried sesame dough filled with white bean. My friends eat more: fried spring rolls, shiumai, and seriously many more (that I can’t remember)! We ate a lot of dim sums and was soo full afterwards.
All were pretty good (not awesome, but okay!). The best part is, it only cost us $ 16,45 each (include the tax and 18% tip).
Definitely a must try place in Durham!

The best Dim Sum on the weekends, parking is limited so you have to park down the street but food is so good

You have to get the dim sum menu its a lot better than the regular menu. Totally better than dim sum house which has smaller portions and fast like they were frozen.

From what I hear, this is one of the best dim sum spots in the Triangle, if not THEE best. Gets very crowded very quickly on weekends. Parking is very limited, look for street parking (street parking lacks sidewalks so be cautious when you walk to and from the restaurant, depending on where you park). It’s a little strange to me whenever dim sum food is served by non-​Chinese staff, especially because the items in the cart/​tray are usually named out loud for customers, and the English translations of many Chinese words sound awfully funny. Granted, only a few servers are not Chinese here, but still. Weird.
Food is good. The only dishes that are different than what I’m familiar with are the sticky rice wrapped in leaves (it came as only one square piece, rather than multiple, smaller wraps) and the pork bun (came with only 2 pieces instead of 3). Everything else was prepared in the typical fashion. Some of the items need to be cut into smaller pieces in order to be shared (dim sum, after all, is meant to be a shared group meal). However, they don’t seem to have scissors here, unlike all the other dim sum places I’ve been to. Instead, they tried to use a butter knife. Yes, a butter knife, on Chinese food. Again, weird.
Total came out to be about $ 15 per person. Pricey, but then again, we ordered A LOT of food. Dim sum is a very visual experience. You have the wonderful privilege of being able to see what you order before you order it. Basically, you order whatever looks appealing. Here are some of the items ordered, though not all are listed because there are far too many to remember.
$ 2.99 per order
–Shrimp Dumplings (3 pieces)
–Siu Mai (4)
–Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce
–Fried Shrimp and Vegetable Dumplings (3)
–Pork and Bamboo Shoot Dumplings (2)
–Steamed Roasted Pork Bun (2)
–Spring Rolls (3)
$ 3.50 per order
–Chive Dumplings (3)
$ 3.99 per order
–Sweet Rice with Chicken (1)
–Stuffed Crab Claws (3)
Specials for the Weekend
–Egg Tart (3) — $ 2.99

This was my first time here and I was impressed with the service and quality of the food. Everything was fresh, hot and very tasty. Be sure to try to the Roast Pork — it’s super tender. I will definitely be back to try more items from the cart.
Just be there to get there early if you are going on Sunday mornings. there was a line at 1030am!