Northern Cafe

It can be a hit or a miss with Chinese food. Our friends introduced this place to us and I am very glad to say that this place was a hit with us.Delicious food and not overly greasy (as in other places).The place is very big and very spacious. Cool staff, they were very busy. This place has vegetarian\vegan options.We ordered Sautéed Mushroom, Vegetarian Eggplant W Garlic Sauce, Vegetarian Mapo Tofu, Steamed Vegetarian Dumplings and Red Bean buns.Absolutely loved all the dishes. The Red Bean buns took forever to come, so order in advance as it takes a while to be cooked. But it was a delightful, very soft bun with yummy filling.Their portions are not very generous as other Chinese places but the food is just so delicious.Would we visit this place again? A hell yes!!

The food is ok but I was disappointed to find out that they no longer have a different/changed the happy hour menu. Previously we (wife and I) had been able to mix and match different potstickers or dumplings, that was removed. Nice to have local beers and the environment was ok. It was empty and still took a little to get service

Family first time to this amazing restaurant called "Northern cafe dumplings" here in Long Beach Belmont shore. Parking was street. We arrived for dinner around 5:30am. Was quickly seated for a table (4 adults, 1 child, and 1 baby). The dining area was spacious and clean. As a San Francisco resident who is a dumpling connoisseur and have to say this place was pleasantly wonderful. The pork dumplings steamed was freshly tasteful. The fried shrimp noodles was also fresh and flavored. I have to say the beef roll was our favorite! Orange chicken was perfectly crispy and sauce perfect to the taste. Price was right based on the location of the restaurant.Overall the service, place, and food all deserved a five stars! We will definitely come here again.

We don't do dim sum for lunch very often. I can't imagine why not! My best friend of 30 years directed us here anyway. The menu is basic and complete. We were over whelmed with the selection.Our server was friendly and helpful. He let us know when we had made a good selection from the array of dumplings and pot stickers and soups and buns!The dining room was clean and comfortable, light and bright. The crowd was rather thin on a Wednesday at noon. When the dumplings started to arrive we were delighted. The food just kept coming, it was delicious, and we just kept eating.When we had finished we had eaten everything! I love dim sum for lunch!

Been hearing great things about this newer Chinese Restaurant. Very excited to finally try it out as it is walking distance from our house. Overall, a bit underwelmed by the food and setvice. It was very busy during our visit. Our server was wonderful and kept apologizing for the wait on the food. She was juggling many tables and checking people in on the waitlist. Staffing definitely needs to be addressed but again, a newer establishment that may still be working out the kinks.For the food, we ordered some of our usual dishes to compare with our regular Chinese Restaurant. Kung Pao Chicken, it was flavorful but chicken was a bit chewy. Mongolian Beef, again good flavor but the meat was very tough. House Special fried rice waa excellent! BBQ Pork Bun was too doughy and very little filling. For a cocktail, my husband ordered a Chocolate Sake Martini, a bit too sweet. The hot tea was great! There may be other dishes we should have tried out but it was just the two of us.

I enjoy eating at this Northern Cafe location! For dinner we ordered lots of items on the menu to try: thai tea, soup dumplings, pork,chive, and shrimp dumplings, fried rices, spicy wontons, green beans, orange chicken, Mongolian beef, House special beef soup, Green onion pancake, and pan fried noodles with beef. My only notice is that their fried dishes were pretty oily compared to my other experiences. Overall food was great! Portions were very family style and shareable.We came on a busy Sunday for a family dinner! The restaurant is very clean, and has a warm at moving. We were greeted and attended to quickly throughout the evening.

When you forget to put my entire order in the bag for pick up, it's an automatic fail. Especially when you put the check mark next to the name on the receipt.

Servicer was attentive and the restaurant had a lovely atmosphere. Portions are quite generous. We got the beef roll which was packed with cilantro, great fresh punch to balance the beef. Both our fish and shrimp dumplings were juicy and pipping hot. Great two bite dumplings that didn't skimp on filling. We also ordered the dry spicy shrimp pot, multiple items stir fried in mala spices. The shrimp were big, larger than a golf ball. It had french fries in it, weird but works, spam, mushrooms, and other veggies. It was delicious and more than enough for two meals alone. Comes with a side of rice.Great price for flavors and amount of food.

I love this place! Family style makes it a great place to try a little bit of everything. I was here alone so opted for a bowl of noodle soup and it did not disappoint! Everything I have tried thus far has been so good.

Who knew! Northern Café in Belmont Shore: what a pleasant surprise. I spotted the restaurant while cruising through 2nd Street. Parking was kind of hard to find as always but not impossible. The restaurant is probably the biggest one I have been to, and I have visited many of them. Inside is spacious and clean with a modern layout.We got seated pronto and the waiter was very nice and handed us the menu right away. The menu was quite extensive so decided to order a variety of dishes. Below are the highlights:Pork soup dumplings: or Xiaolongbao : even though the skin wrap shape was not as crafty as Ding Tai Fung's, they were perfectly steamed with the broth soup intact inside. The meat filling was nicely seasoned and thoroughly cooked.Shrimp and yellow chive dumplings: love the crispy bottom pan fried wrap skin and tasty filling of shrimp and yellow chives.Steam seafood and pork dumplings: thicker wrap skin but it was cooked thoroughly but maintained its nice texture (not soggy or torn). The filling was well seasoned with nice combination of pork and shrimp.Beef noodle soup: the clear broth was flavorful, and the noodle was cooked perfectly. The sliced beef was tender. Next time I would like to try it with the traditional spicy broth.One suggestion: visit the restaurant during lunchtime because they offer special pricing (with less quantity) so you can try different dishes.Great find and definitely coming back when visiting LB again.