Cafe 101 Johns Creek

Café 101 Johns Creek is an excellent authentic Chinese restaurant and, in my opinion, one of the best places to find xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) in the Atlanta area. The restaurant opened March 2014 and one of its chefs is Chef Liu. Yes, the same eponymous chef from Chef Liu on Buford Highway.
After Chef Liu left Chef Liu, the next owner decided to keep the restaurant’s name the same, despite Chef Liu no longer working there. If you want to find the real Chef Liu, you’ll have to go to Café 101 in Johns Creek. To make things more confusing, I was told by a manager that Café 101 in Johns Creek has no relation to the old Café 101 (or at least, its last incarnation) on Buford Highway.
The restaurant’s interior is spacious with a couple different dining areas, one of which is semi-​enclosed and great for large groups and private parties. There’s a bar and covered outdoor patio seating. The ambiance is nice, but casual.
Along with xiaolongbao, Chef Liu has brought several of her Buford Highway favorites to Johns Creek. These include Chinese crullers (youtiao), scallion pancakes, buns, dumplings, and more. In addition to Chef Liu, other chefs contribute to the restaurant’s vast array of Cantonese and Sichuan dishes.
Prices are reasonable. Breakfast items such as the cruller and scallion pancake are only $ 2 – 3 each. Main entrees are in the $ 10 – 15 range.
Going strictly by menu names, dishes I really like include the Tray Cake w/​Twisted Cruller, Shanghai Juicy Steamed Pork Buns (xiaolongbao), Leek Pie, Spicy Sliced Beef & Beef Tendon, Fish Fillet & Tofu in Hot Bean Sauce, Spicy Boiled Fish Fillet, Basil Chicken (in clay pot), Peking Duck, Salt & Pepper Pork Chops, Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves (seasonal), Ong Choy (Chinese spinach/​watercress, seasonal), and Basil Eggplant.
The Tray Cake w/​Twisted Cruller is like the regular scallion pancake except wrapped around Chinese crullers (youtiao) and topped with a little sesame seed. It’s filling and for those familiar with scallion pancake or youtiao, Chef Liu’s versions aren’t as greasy. You could also try the scallion pancakes alone or with other ingredients such as egg and Chinese mustard greens. If you want the complete breakfast experience, order these with sweet or salted soy milk.
The xiaolongbao are almost a must-​order. Six come to an order. They’re steamed and served in a bamboo basket. Be careful not to eat them immediately as the soup filling is hot. Xiaolongbao is actually prepared by preparing a gelatin of the meat soup/​broth and then steaming it inside of the bun, which liquifies it. The buns come with a side of Chinese black vinegar.
There are many ways to eat xiaolongbao. One of the most common ways is to gently place a bao in your soup spoon and eat/​suck away. Another method is to place the bao in a bowl and poke a hole in the bao to let the soup drain out. You can then use your spoon to hold the bao against the bowl while drinking the soup from the bowl before placing the bao in your mouth.
In addition to pork soup dumplings, Chef Liu also offers a crab-​filled variant.
The Leek Pie is tasty and sort of resembles a small flattened burrito. Inside is plenty of leeks, translucent noodles, and egg. The outer layer of the pastry is grilled so it has both an appetizing crispy and soft texture. A savory snack for sure.
The Spicy Sliced Beef & Beef Tendon is what’s referred to as «married couple» or «husband and wife» «lung slices» when translated from Chinese. I like to order this at Szechuan restaurants and, while not the healthiest thing on the menu, find it delectable. It consists of thin slices of beef and beef organs served cold and marinated in a flavorful chili oil.
Speaking of chili oil, the Whole Fish in Hot Bean Sauce and Spicy Boiled Fish Fillet feature a lot of it. You can get the hot bean sauce fish filleted too. Both come with lots of scallion, cilantro, chili peppers, and chili oil. These intense dishes bring the heat, so if you like spicy food, you’ll love these.
The simple sounding Basil Chicken is absolutely fantastic. This is not the basil chicken you’re probably accustomed to seeing at other Chinese or Thai restaurants. Café 101’s version is served still cooking in a clay pot with vegetables and lots of garlic. The partly caramelized brown sauce is rich and flavorsome.
Both the Peking Duck and Salt and Pepper Pork Chops are served bone-​in with crispy skins. The duck can be ordered half or whole and is pre-​sliced. The pork chops, more salty than spicy, are quite savory and slightly oily. They taste so good, I wish there was more meat on them.
The Snow Pea Leaves and Ong Choy are phenomenal. These are my favorite Chinese vegetables. If they’re available, order them. Sauteed with garlic, I could demolish entire plates of these by myself. Ong Choy can be difficult to find and I consider it a treat. The green vegetable’s stems are crispy and hollow, a defining characteristic.

I only had the Beef Noodle Soup. But it was pretty good.

Food was definitely authentic, I love the service and the food was awesome. I didn’t have any complains. Food must come out at a proper temperature and they were able to get this on point. I am definitely coming back because of the service and food.

Came here on a Sunday lunch. Didn’t know they have buffet on Sundays. We came in past 2pm so this means we broke one of the golden rules of eating in a buffet restaurant — don’t show up too early or too late. Why? Too early means you will be eating yesterday’s leftovers. Too late means you will be eating food that’s been sitting there all day.
But since it’s late in the day and were all so hungry we went for the buffet option. And the golden rule prevailed once again. Good buffet restaurants would make you a plate of what you wanted in the buffet that ran out and place it on your table. This place did not make any effort to refill any of the dishes that are completely gone. And you know the good ones are the first to run out. Still, I can imagine how so much better would our buffet experience have been if there were more of the good stuff. I can tell they have good food. Just don’t show up late for a Sunday buffet.
I would give this place another chance if I’m in the area and maybe not on a Sunday buffet.

The best good. This is what Cantonese good is suppose to taste like. The Orange best is to die for. Great atmosphere, really nicec staff and great service. You must try the dim sum!

Ex New Yorker. Very picky about Chinese food. It is very hard to find traditional Chinese cooking here. Most places in the neighborhood serve a poor version of American Chinese Cuisine. But this place doesn’t disappoint in the flavor department. It’s also the only place around where you can get soup dumplings. Now don’t go expecting Chinatown quality but they’re still pretty good. My only gripe is their slow takeout. I’ve called ahead 5 times and still have to wait longer than 10 minutes upon arrival. So I’ve learned my lesson. However, dining in isn’t bad. I will return when I get a craving for dumplings.

My family and I were looking for an authentic Chinese restaurant for a New Year’s Eve family dinner. It was pretty empty for dinner that day… maybe that is why the receptionist/​owner was so grouchy. He was totally unpleasant and rude.
We ordered several dishes including the salt and pepper squid, spicy intestine hot pot, basil chicken, braised beef belly hot pot, and spicy sliced beef and beef tendon. All the dishes were kind of too salty/​saucy. The flavors were mostly good, just too much. I feel like they needed to be toned down. The basil chicken was strangely made with fried chicken pieces like general tso chicken. It was not the authentic way of cooking it. The spicy intestine hot pot was not appetizing to me. You really have to clean the intestines well for it to not have any foul remnant smell and I feel like it was not done well. I was not very impressed from the meal.
I just feel like I can deal with bad service as long as the food is good and makes up for it; but it was not the case on the day we visited. I did not have as good of an experience as the other Unilocal review writers. What bothers me the most is when people are rude to my parents and disrespectful in front of my 93 year old grandmother when we are trying to be polite and have a good family dinner.

Always a good experience! Great taste and flavor. Delivery is an option too and welcomed! Fried rice is fantastic.

Real, authentic Chinese food. There’s not much more to sell it than that. There are very few places that will serve you authentic Chinese cuisine and few places that succeed at serving good authentic Chinese food. Café 101 succeeds in both of these categories.
Let’s start off by saying that this place is located, kind of deep, in Johns Creek, GA. Which already has a plethora of fast-​food Americanized Chinese restaurants. Now, you’ll still be able to find some of the stereotypical dishes like egg drop soup and orange chicken, but it’s made with a bit more elegance here.
To begin, the restaurant is located on the 2^nd floor of a little shopping plaza, it will require to go up a flight of steps to get to it. Don’t worry it adds to the adventure you’re about to go on. The restaurant is a lot more fancy than it should be inside. The place sits a decent amount of people so you should be able to find a seat if it’s not super busy.
The food here is very flavorful. Each dish is prepared right and you can tell they put in the effort here to make it that way. The food doesn’t come out right away, because it being prepared fresh for the most part. Most people come here for the soup dumplings, which is surprising hard to find anywhere else in the state, as soup dumplings are not as well known as regular steamed or fried dumplings. Definitely recommend trying the soup dumpling if you haven’t before, they taste best when dipped in vinegar and soy sauce. The other options on the menu are just as good. There are plenty of options, I have some direct shots of the menu below that you can use to see what best matches your palette.
Overall, I always had a good experience when eating at Café 101. It’s the best authentic Chinese food in the area for sure! You can’t really go wrong with any of the options on the menu. Be sure to asked the staff for recommendations if you’re new to Chinese food or just simply want to explore a bit. They are expertly knowledge and will give you great recommendations. Now with all that being said. Be sure to check out Café 101 if you are in the area. Most people would agree it will be worth the trip.
My Recommendations:
–Juicy Soup Dumplings (crab and pork)
–Fish Maw Soup
–Hunan Chicken
–Fresh Soy Milk (only served a breakfast unless you ask them nicely!)

The 101 in their name might be a nod to Taipei 101. I think they might even claim so somewhere on social media or their website. Anyway, they deserve to make this association because their food really does remind of Taiwan and its famed soup dumplings.
Café 101’s dumplings were approved by my hubby, a discriminating soup dumpling eater. They’re small in size, thin-​skinned, and filled with soothing, porky broth. (Pork and crab soup dumplings are also available on certain days.)
Besides the soup dumplings, we also ordered shumai (gorgeous purse-​shaped bundles), zhajiang mian (the Chinese version), sauteed onchoy, scallion pancake, and chive leek pie. The leek pie was probably my favorite, just really comforting and flavorful. The zhajiang mian is good, but I can’t imagine finishing the whole thing by myself. It’s a good dish for sharing. The sauteed onchoy was good, though not unlike other Asian greens on other menus. Well-​prepared but not super special.
Generally, the food was delicious and quite affordable. Also, the service was great. The manager helped us along with a nice server. The manager was super efficient – getting our orders for the items that took longer to prepare right away («Soup dumplings?» He asked) so those could come out around the same time as the more quick-​cooking dishes. The plates didn’t have to be staggered because our table for six was pretty sizable.
The quality is pretty up there – no grit in the greens, delicate-​skinned soup dumplings, and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside leek pie. Yep, they got things right.
Recommended for those who are looking for Taiwanese food in the ATL area.

Went in for a weekday dinner on a cold damp evening. The interiors was clean and comfortable. The service was quick, prompt and pleasing. The food came in quick and was flavorful.
Highly recommended!

Being from San Francisco, I’m picky about my Chinese food and I had zero expectations coming here for a late lunch. The place was empty and my family sat in the middle of the place and ordered a few lunch specials. Here’s the thing. They were all good. No problem there. BUT the hot and sour soup was solid. And the green onion pancake and the lamb kebab were just great! I kinda wish there was a place like this back home as it would be one of my mainstays… but there’s not. That’s ok… I’ll give it a Woohoo still!

The service is excellent and the food is always amazing. I highly recommend the juicy dumplings as they are the specialty. Anything that says «Clay Pot» is worth trying, very tasty. There were also a couple of fried rices that I tried, that I really liked, but I can’t remember the name of them. It’s the only one on the menu that you probably wouldn’t know if you don’t know chinese. We also always get a sauteed ‘greens’ dish. If the snowpeas are available, go for that, if not ask what it is.
Last point, try things that you wouldn’t necessarily see at something like a Panda Express. You’re more likely to enjoy the meal than not. If you order something like a Sesame Chicken or Orange Beef, you will likely be disappointed.

My co-​workers and I visited this restaurant yesterday for lunch since we have all heard raving positive reviews about this place. So we all hoped in one car and drove over here early before the lunch traffic rush began. When we first arrived, we were the only ones there. We were concerned they were closed because no one was there. But eventually laoban came out and told us just to sit anywhere.
We choose a table to sat down and ordered a few diff dishes (see pictures)
My favs: Xiao long bao (grab first before it gets cold and sticks to the bottom of the steamer, basil chicken, jian bao.
Not a fan: sweet crueller aka you tiao with powdered sugar… we all took a bite and were like «its tasteless». I can only eat it with doujiang.
Everything is delicious and pretty authentic. Not as good as buford hwy in doraville china town area but considering we are in white people only area, very good.
laoban was running everywhere so service was slow (aka bring cash so you do not have to wait for him to come back and forth with your card) and he was a bit cranky (but thats also part of Chinese restaurant experience haha). Dosent bother me though. Worth it for the food.
This was probably my tastiest cheat meal I have had in a while.
You know this place is authentic when the only people going in are ALL chinese (not one white person ordering off the stupid lunch menu — that get thrown aside as usual).
Overall, great spot, def will be back.

Good authentic Chinese food, $$/​4 price wise, service prompt polite professional, décor modern little disjointed with lots of angles doesn’t look anything like Chinese restaurant but that’s ok you’re eating here not living here
Had lunch and had the beef chow fun– good, steam dumplings-​good
Everything was good down to the service and oranges and fortune cookie at the end was a nice touch.
WOULD RECOMMEND and definitely will be back.

I’d bookmarked this place months ago when I learned my office was moving. It was an obvious choice for my Welcome to Alpharetta UYE series. 4 of us met at 11:30 (to an empty restaurant) to try out the many dishes recommended by Unilocal.
Will had a long list of items he’d researched, so we chose from that list. We chose the soup dumplings, garlic eggplant, salt and pepper calamari, and basil chicken in clay pot.
The soup dumplings come in a bamboo steamer — 6 to an order. They were good. My favorites were the basil chicken in a clay pot and the garlic eggplant. I love the aromatic flavor and tenderness of the basil chicken. The garlic eggplant was good, though the sauce got quite thick as it cooled, so I recommend digging in right when it arrives at your table. The salt and pepper calamari was also quite nice, not too greasy, just crisp and relatively light.
The service was excellent, both friendly and highly attentive.
Great option for Chinese food in the area.

Great lunch at this place today. Don’t think the waitress liked us very much or maybe there was just a language barrier. Nevertheless I will be back for more dumplings soon especially since I’ll be living in the area. Cheap lunch too! $ 38 for three people with appetizers and entrees.

Was going to give it 1star… cuz they call themselves taiwanese cuisine but they have no idea what they are making… not even close… Neither the flavor nor the look. Disappointed

Café 101 is still good overall, but I have a few disappointments to mentioned since my most first visit.
There were two people working the front of the house and for a restaurant this size that resulted in service delays.
Two items I planned to order were not available; bitter melon soup and lamb dumplings.
The smoked duck and leek pie were as good as my first visit.
The house Chardonnay was not bad. I did not ask from what vineyard it came, but I detected green apple and grassy notes.
The leek with pork dumplings were good.
To finish, I ordered their sweet cruller beignets and high mountain tea.
Everything I ordered was good notwithstanding the delay in service and the Scoutmob deal savings was a mitigating factor.

The meal here was quite good but it fell a tiny bit short of my expectations so I am giving it a 4 star for now. I am a fan, I’m just not 100% sold on it just yet. Here’s how our meal went:
Service: Very nice servers with good English. Owner came around to check on us and even gave us a few samples of their chicken wings. Overall excellent service. I did get the feeling that they were stereotyping us into «American tastebuds» with their suggestions but that’s a common mistake here in Georgia so I won’t dock them for it. Also, my in-​laws were with us and they do have the average American taste buds so that’s not such a bad thing I guess :)
What we ate:
Xiao Long Bao: Decent, nothing amazing from a global perspective but certainly the best in the Atlanta area I’ve tried.
Lamb Kebab: Fantastic! I loved the heat and the whole cumin seeds.
Green Onion Pancake: Solid. Nothing that’s gonna blow you away but it’s a good representation of what the dish should look and taste like.
Boiled Fish: This dish was the best entrée we ordered. The filets are thicker than I’m used to and it comes with tofu as well which was a nice change. They crush the Szechwan peppercorns coarsely and sprinkle liberally which is awesome. It was not nearly spicy enough for what we are used to but that should be an easy fix to order next time.
Xian Chicken: Do not order this, it was bland and tasted like dish water. Not spicy at all and just lacking any redeeming qualities.
Pea Vines: Excellent. Not greasy, fresh flavor and nice amount of garlic. If you like pea vines you will not be disappointed with these.
Chicken wings: These were a sample the owner gave us and they were good but quite sweet. He said that the chef sometimes makes it spicy and so next time I’m going with that instead. If you like Shanghai style sweet and soy flavored sauces you will like these though as they were well done for what they were.
Cashew Chicken: Decent representation of this dish, possibly a bit more soy sauce than I’m used to. Mother in law ordered this and said it was a bit bland for her. She orders this dish a lot so if you are also someone who gets this a lot, you may feel the same.
Sweet and Sour Chicken: I didn’t try this (just don’t like this dish in general) but the rest of the table liked it. It’s as scarily colored as I’ve ever seen the dish and the sauce was sticky and saccharine-​y so I would say it’s probably a good version of this dish if you like sweet and sour things.
Tea: Decent and they refill the pot frequently when you run out of hot water.
Atmosphere: It was pretty dead when we went at 9pm on a Monday but the place was very clean and the overall atmosphere was very nice.
We are very excited that they are in our new hood and will be going there a lot, if only for the lamb and pea vines! Hopefully next time we will be in time for the Dan Dan noodles, they were out this time.