Peking Tavern

And there you have it folks! Customer service will be compromised for lack of a reservation or on a busy night. Asking for a server to acknowledge us is asking for too much.

Interesting place. The atmosphere is great… very nice basement feel with nice décor, open space, studio type feel. I’d live there if it was a studio.
With that said, I can’t say the food was all that tasty. Fresh… extremely. Tasty… lacked a bit. The tastes are subtle… and with some things that’s a good thing. But with Chinese food, I’ve come to expect bold flavours and subtle is what I get from places such as PF Changs and the snow-​pea shrimp type of dish… yeah…the one that has ZERO flavour.
The beef noodle soup was fresh… but again lacked a bit of zing. I think I could get used to this place but since I don’t live downtown, it’s a PAIN to get to and find parking and isn’t the best of neighbourhoods.
This place is definitely more for the locals.
Try a few places in Alhambra if you like this type of food… compare and contrast and see what comes out the winner.
Oh one more thing… come here during happy hour… good deals for sure.

The food here is only alright. I felt as though none of the plates really stood out to me. You could definitely get the same food elsewhere, for a better price. This is the kind of place where you pay for the ambience more than anything. When I ordered my beer it tasted flat. The server also forgot about my friend and I multiple times. We didn’t really get served until the owner took notice himself

A mix of American food with some Chinese appetizers, why not?! I was quite surprised at how good the fish dumplings were, although those fish dumplings were a custom request because I did not want to have whatever meat they normally served it with. The waiter was very inviting and enthused about the foods and drinks they serve. Loved the atmosphere here; therefore, I will definitely be returning!

Came here on a Thursday night for DineLA, but ended up ordering from the regular menu. Why? The prices here are extremely reasonable, and we (party of 3) felt like we would get more value if we just ordered family style!
So to back up a bit, this place is somewhat hidden, and such a cute little gem! It’s right next to Terroni’s on the corner of 8^th and Spring. It’s downstairs, next to «crave bar.» When you first walk in, it’s got a trendy bar vibe, with farm tables and an open concept. You forget that this is a «Chinese» cusine except immediately to your right, there is a big window where you see two asian ladies hand making the dumplings, which is one of the things they’re known for! The second? The craft beer selection.
Dinner:
Crab & Pork Dumpling: interesting dumpling, not my favorite but still tasty. (6 dumplings)
Fish Dumpling: DROOL WORTHY! White fish hand wrapped in a thick skin, over a bed of sichuan sauce. Nice little kick to it! (6 dumplings) ** highly recommended/​popular dish here**
Scallion Pancake: traditional dough with chives/​onions and pork. A little greasy, but that’s the good part!
Old Bejing Zhazing Noodles: vegetarian dish as its just tofu, and noodles. However very very flavorful. One of their most popular dishes here and was recommended to us from our server. Noodles are «glazed’ with a thick soy bean paste.
Sweet Sesame Balls: a variation of the ones you order at dim sum. But freshly made, hot and soft fried dough with the red bean inside, glazed with some red bean sauce or chocolate type sauce (I couldn’t tell, I was too busy stuffing these in my mouth LOL)
Great atmosphere to come with friends for Happy Hour or dinner! Will definitely be back.

We are never ever, ever, EVER coming back together.
It cost about $ 70.00 between me and my significant other for a meal that tasted like pre-​made Chinese food I could get at a 99 Ranch Chinese market.
The broth tastes almost like the cheap Maruchan beef flavor ramen broth though a little less salty. Noodles were way too soft. The dumplings were the most ok thing, but I felt that you could buy a bag of frozen dumplings from a Chinese market, steam them at home, and have better. Scallion pancakes were tough as hell and tasted nearly exactly like the frozen ones from the Chinese market.
The waitress did not tell us that they ran out of the beer we ordered and brought us an odd tasting very yeasty beer that we did not like. We flagged someone down to tell them that our order was mixed up and we had to accept it and order more. Having to pay for beers that we didn’t even order was just a weird example of customer service. Never coming back.

When my buddy mentioned to me about a place that was «Chinese» and «Gastropub» in the same sentence, I was sold. The fact that it was in DTLA was even better. I love finding these hidden gems.
If you’re lucky, you can find parking on the street. There is also valet service right in front of the entrance. Peking Tavern is an underground establishment — reminiscent of many bars I’ve frequented overseas. It is located in the basement of an Italian restaurant called Terroni’s.
Upon entering, the venue is well decorated with a very modern/​urban theme. Glass wall kitchen, giant bar counter, communal tables, booths, flat panel TV’s, hanging art and cool staff. They have a very decent list of craft beers on the wall, as well as a fully stocked bar, and even offer «baiju» in a few different ways.
Since we wanted to keep it simple, we simply ordered booze and their special plate for the evening — dumplings filled with duck and squash. Delish. Eventually, out bartender convinced us to try the baiju — it was nice!
I grew up in the SGV and still eat/​drink at many places in the SGV. But, Peking Tavern offers Northern Chinese street food with a Hollywood twist along with great beer and cocktails — all under one roof!
The restaurant is big, can accommodate parties, and has great working staff. I even recognized one of their bartenders from another bar ;) As far as pricing, that’s all relative to who you ask, or who’s writing the review.
I recommend checking out the Peking Tavern the next time you are bar hopping in DTLA.
Enjoy!

Ya… So this place is amazing. Wonderfully hidden underground this modern Chinese restaurant takes a spin on some of the classics. They are hand pulling their noodles and freshly making their dumplings in house. Oh didn’t I mention they have chorizo dumplings? CHORIZO DUMPLINGS!
In addition to the great food and location you have to take advantage of their happy hour. Cheap drinks and food that taste good? Sign me up.

Pretty cool new spot to grace DTLA. Basically transplanted everything good in the San Gabriel Valley, brought it to downtown, and raised the prices by double and slapped a ‘Peking’ in the name. It suffers from an identity crisis. Is the place Taiwanese or Chinese? I mean the name implies Chinese but the dishes are reminiscent of Taiwan. Oh yeah, they added Err Guo Toh and Baiju cocktails too. Sure, location has a huge bearing on price, but the 626 isn’t that much of a drive away if you’re craving some hand thrown noodles or hand wrapped dumplings. I guess Peking tavern really does have a niche market. After hearing a bunch of rave reviews for this place, I just needed to check out the hype. I grew up on this type of fare straight from Grandma’s kitchen. While Peking Tavern does satisfy an itch when you’re craving it, the price tag is what deters me from giving it a higher rating. Sure the dumplings are good, but the clientele is specifically catered to people who don’t know how to navigate the San Gabriel valley. They are far better options in the area for much less the price.

Cool, hipstery spot tucked away in the basement below Terroni in DTLA. Great atmosphere and vibe, cool décor and furnishings — even table tennis in the back! Saturdays are fresh-​cut, handmade noodle nights, so we took advantage of that. We ordered both the beef and veggie options; I especially loved the beef noodle bowl. It was actually my favorite off all the dishes we ordered that night. Other standouts included the spring rolls (not on the menu), veggie dumplings and beef potstickers. Nothing blew my socks off, but it was all really tasty and we pretty much licked the 10 plates clean — they were shared among 8 of us.
Other pluses: I hear they have a great craft beer selection and the prices are pretty reasonable; our dinner was pretty affordable considering all the dishes we got to try and all the wine that was consumed.
Why not more stars then?
It came down to service. We hardly saw our waiter, so we had to bother the food runner on numerous occasions to get him, refill our drinks, bring napkins, order more food, etc. The restaurant wasn’t busy for the majority of the time we were there, so I’m not sure what the issue was. I’m not sure if it was his responsibility or the food runner’s, but none of the dishes came with dipping sauces (soy sauce, chili paste); we had to ask for those on a couple occasions. The spring rolls came with a delicious sauce (teriyaki? duck sauce? eel? sauce?) that would have been lovely with some of the other items, but it didn’t come out till the very end so we didn’t even know it existed until after it was too late.

Looking for great Chinese food in DTLA? Look no further! Both times I’ve had Peking Tavern, I’ve ordered from TryCaviar so I can’t comment on ambiance or service. However, the food is the most important right?
*Old Beijing Zhajiang Noodle (Fresh noodle topped with fried soybean paste, pork, tofu, cucmber, and bean sprouts): You can really taste how handmade these noodles are. Dried noodles can’t compare to the chewy freshness of fresh noodles! Also, I usually only like Korean ZhaJiang noodle but, Peking’s reminds me of my momma’s ZhaJiang noodles thus, it’s a winner, winner!
*Duck Roll (Crispy duck breast with cilantro, green onions, sweet and savory sauce wrapped in flatbread. Only available on Thursdays.): GO ON A THURSDAY JUST FOR THIS! I haven’t been to a place that prepares this with duck. I’ve had beef, pork & chicken. So, so tasty. If you’ve never had it, it’s basically like a chinese burrito!
*Beef Noodle Soup (Braised beef shank with fresh noodle or gluten-​free bean glass noodle, Chinese sauerkraut, and cilantro): I’m SO impressed with the flavor of the broth here — really flavorful and tasty!
*Smashed Cucumbers (With chunks of raw garlic): Eh, my mom makes this better BUT this isn’t bad. Nice appetizer
You can’t compare Peking Tavern prices to 626 prices. Costs are SO much higher out here in DTLA so I think the prices are pretty fair. We’re no longer in the 626, Toto!

Extremely disappointing. Well that is my take on this place… I came here with a large group of friends on a Monday funday trek around DTLA. Well disappointed is how I left after having my ethereal dreams crushed to pieces…
Seriously this is stunning. They have a large chalkboard of various draughts on tap. It wasnt until my 5^th choice beer before they had one available that was on the chalkboard or their menu. Seriously cross something out its in chalk or on your printed what beer we have menu. Needless to say I was kinda irked about that to begin with.
So my group was still hungry and wanted some grub to go with our grog. So we had the bright idea that dumplings would be delicious as it is a Chinese joint. So off to the dumpling order we went… FAIL… the dumplings were not even nearly half as good as Ling Ling dumplings in a bag from Costco’s frozen aisle… wanh wahhhhhhhh… heres your booby prize… or so we felt…
Needless to say we didn’t stay that long and the pricing wasn’t horrible. The service wasn’t the greatest nor the worst. They also do have a ping pong table available for those that are interested… Do I detect the idea of beer pong??? hmmmmmm…
none the less not only is this joint subterranean… it is substandard and not worth it to me. Also the bathroom was equivalent to your standard Arco or Chevron restroom… definitely not the greatest but will make due in a pinch…

The best Unilocal find of life. First off, I came here on Thurs, Oct 15^th since it was my birthday and came in pretty late with the boyf because I had a midterm and legal memo due. I was exhausted and mentally drained, this place did not disappoint.
Around 9ish the boyf and I walk in and I was throughly impressed about this hidden gem of a place. From the outside, one would assume that this is a weird, small hole in the wall, but once you arrive the décor can’t be beat. The waitress was really nice and overall cool young hipster vibe.
My suggestions:
1) Sichuan Fish Dumplings
2) Seafood Dumplings
3) Chicken Wings
4) Mango Margarita
5) Smashed Cucumber
Also for the ping pong fans, you can play off the calories, since the ping pong table is located in the back of the restaurant.

Been here twice — first time, the bf and I stopped in for a quick beer before heading to dinner and the second time was for their happy hour. We actually enjoyed our first time there! Around 6:30pm on a Friday evening, the place was quiet and only a few tables were dining. We sat at the bar and had $ 4 beers, checked out the HH menu and decided to come back and try it. Came back the following Friday around the same time — totally different vibe! Pretty crowded with every table filled, most of the communal tables and the bar. People were also playing ping pong on the right side of the restaurant. We waited a while before we were seated at the communal table. Didn’t receive any service so we moved to the end of the bar. Still no service, so we went to the middle, flagged down the bartender (super nice and fast! She served us the first time) and ordered our food.
Food was a disappointment! Spring rolls are actually egg rolls — very misleading and they’re tiny! Seafood dumplings were all right but you only get 4. Zha jiang mein — WHAT A MISNOMER! Zha jiang mein is supposed to be very flavorful and slightly salty, and also usually made with ground pork. This version was made with bean curd and was SO bland! I added, soy sauce, vinegar and chili and still was not very good :(
The place has a good vibe, I really like the window where you can see the aunties making dumplings and noodles — but service is spotty. The female bartender and the other female server and fast and efficient, but the male servers — not so much. The owners also move quite slowly and don’t really go out of their way to do anything. The bathrooms are really pretty though.
NOTE: Peking Tavern is located down a flight of stairs, and there’s no elevator that I could find. Not handicap-​friendly! There was man with a cast on his leg struggling to make his way down the stairs when we were leaving.

Yum! Our group of 6 came here after experiencing the Escape Room LA down the street, and this turned out to be a fantastic spot. I mean, we walk down the stairs and immediately see from the weekly schedule that we’ve landed on Ping Pong Saturdays — automatic extra star for that.
The fact that it’s Chinese AND gastropub may raise eyebrows at first. But if any place can do it, it’s the garment district in DTLA — and any place that makes both their dumplings and their noodles in house is good in my book. Our group got several different dishes, but most enjoyed the beef dumplings, Old Beijing Zhajiang Noodles, and despite not being vegetarian I really liked the veggie dumplings too. They had a great selection of craft beers on tap (18 of them!), and I got to try something new: William’s Dragon Breath Hard Cider with Ginger. Everyone in the group enjoyed their beer or cocktail; even the one guy who’s super picky about his Old Fashioned really liked their version of it. On top of all this, we had a great meal for what ended up being about $ 25/​person (including 1 child) which was incredibly reasonable for an upscale specialty gastropub place.
Definitely worth a return visit — and we may even hop across the hall to Crane’s bar, which has the coolest vault door entrance you’ve ever seen.

Solid 4 stars for one of my bookmarks. I’ve been wanting to try this place out and now that I’m working in downtown, I figured why not?
Peking Tavern opens at 5, I was here at 5 but they didn’t open until 5:10. Even though the bar tender said they were in a meeting and I waited a couple of minutes at the bar. (–1 star), other than that lil mishap everything has been gravy, chunky grandma gravy!
So I ordered an IPA on Happy Hour special, $ 2 off all IPA’s, sign me up! I also ordered the pork dumplings for $ 5 happy hour, those were THE BEST DAMN DUMPLINGS in the west! They didn’t taste like your commercial P.F. Chang Chinese food, seriously, these people know what they are doing. The dumpling skin was nice and tender and thick, not over or undercooked, just perfect. The pork filling was the closest I’ve ever been to authentic in my life. Ground pork seasoned right, with just enough filling in every plump dumpling. Awesome thing too, my happy hour order came with 6 dumplings, normally when you have happy hour food they skimp on your portion size.
Omg!!! Beef rolls are a must!!! Slices of tender beef with sweet hoisin sauce and veggies wrapped with a scallion pancake, simply heaven! You can taste the freshness and love put into the scallion pancake.
The restaurant is inviting, nice bar area with well stocked top shelf liquor. There are a few booths and community tables, great place to come after work for happy hour or have an event here. I can’t wait to try the beef noodle soup!
Changed my mind. 5 stars– 10 if I could. The service here is exquisite.

The ambient is definitely great. A mix of a huge loft and Chinese design. But I seriously had no idea what I was eating. Chinese? For sure that wasn’t it.
I was here with 17 friends. Being all Chinese and in additional coming from San Gabriel Valley you know what’s authentic Chinese food. The only thing I enjoyed was getting drunk here with Chinese rice wine. I’m sure that wasn’t possible for them to mess up the drinks.
But pretty much every one ordered Beef noodle soup. That tasted nothing close to authentic. The soup was just salty and full of soy sauce. Not a bit of beef flavor. I’m good at cooking but my Chinese cooking skill sucks. This places food sucks as hard as my skills.
Clearly we all agreed this place is very white washed. Good enough for white people who doesn’t know what’s good. Another failed attempt outside the SGV area looking for good Asian food.

I wasn’t expecting much when I came in and was waiting to be seated before deciding to situate ourselves at the bar.
We ordered some drinks and the bartender assured me that whatever he makes is strong, so I settled for the most popular cocktail– the Peachy Keen. Not a fan of candied ginger, but I will say the drink was made well. I could barely taste the alcohol in there but I know that it was there. My friend ordered the Brazillionaire in China, and it was a bit tart and very much like fruit punch. I could taste the alcohol more in his, however.
We shared a Beef Noodle Soup and Beef Roll since they don’t do Duck Roll on the weekends (something about free range duck and only being shipped on the weekdays).
Having had many beef noodle soups in my life with the quest for the perfect bowl still on, I would say that this one was actually pretty good. The meat was tender, the noodles were the right amount of chewy and I like bolder broths. This one was a bit more salty and richer than I expected but nonetheless good.
The Beef Roll was good, but as it all fell apart, I realized that the pancake itself was just ok and wasn’t flavorful or cooked to perfection. This relied more on the hoisin sauce and beef to really pull the whole thing together. There was no shortage of cilantro and green onion though! I still much prefer Mama Lu’s Beef Roll, but given that this is the most legit Chinese food around the area and not in the SGV. they did a pretty good job.
The atmosphere was trendy and comfortable. I’m a hard critic when it comes to Chinese food, but I have to say that this exceeded my expectations. Still not completely sold on it, but I can’t exactly give 3.5 STARS here.
Funny thing to note was that as we left, we still didn’t see a hostess and there was a large group just waiting to get seated. Interesting.

Was just here for happy hour last week.
Parking:
Valet parking for $ 7 if I remember it right. I found a spot on the street though.
Service:
Service was great. Servers were helpful and they brought out food in no time.
It’s in like a dungeon lol. Cool ambience but smells funky.
No cellular reception. Use their Wifi.
Food:
Honestly, I was really disappointed. We ordered pork dumplings, beef roll, spicy beef noodle soup. Only thing I really liked was the beef roll which is really close to the authentic one I had in SGV. Spicy beef noodle soup wasn’t spicy at all. It was very very salty that my friend and I couldn’t even drink the soup. Good amount of meat in the soup but it was seriously wayyyy too salty. The pork dumpings were okay… nothing special. It just tasted like the ones you buy at Chinese market. I guess for $ 5, you can’t complain but if it’s not happy hour, I wouldn’t order it. I ordered a bottle of beer also.
Overall, very mediocre. Probably won’t be going back…

Stars for awesome chill atmosphere. Noodles are the star here. Dont expect real Chinese food, but clean dtla versions.
Great snacking while catching up with friends over drinks. Located downstairs. Cute atmosphere to catch din with friends. Again, get the noodles!
Restaurant also has a bar.