I'm a big fan of dim sum. Having been introduced to it at a young age in Chicago China town. I didn't really know what it was called at the time. Fast forward about 20 years when I was living around Boston and there was a place down the street from my house that served dim sum on weekends (they had a great and simple lunch buffet on the weekdays). They were a mirror restaurant of the flagship down in Boston Chinatown. Awesome hang over food.
Dim sum is a bunch of traditional lighter dishes served in little bamboo steamers or on small plates. Examples include dumplings, rice noodles with various ingredients, small custard pastries, steamed buns with various ingredients and tea...tea is very important. You usually go with a big party as it is a social sharing experience. But it's difficult to find people...hence the title of the blog.
On to the review...I was excited to have a new dim sum place to try outside of the normal spots in Denver. They had a lunch menu which I was tempted to try but I was there for the dim sum. Perhaps another visit.
Well after a rather long wait, I was the only one waiting to be seated in an empty waiting room. It took about 5 minutes before I received my tea and water and another 10 minutes before the first dim sum cart rolled by. I got all my favorite dishes: pork shu mai, rice noodle w/ prawns, pork bau, sticky rice, and pan fried mixed vegetable/pork dumplings. I was a little disappointed they didn't have tripe, maybe on a different cart. I usually always try something unique and different in addition to my staple dishes. However there were only four total carts, so the selection is not very big. The food itself is average but I'm comparing to places like Chicago and Boston Chinatown. It's good enough for a fix. Some of the dishes I received were cold which is ironic for dim sum. The carts are suppose to keep the food hot and steamy. The stuff on the plates has a short shelf life because it doesn't get the benefit of the cart. So the problem lies in getting the food from the kitchen to the customer in a timely manner and that all points to slow service. (remember it was 15 minutes before the first cart pasted me).
The service overall is lackluster, there were a few helpful wait-staff but they were few and far between. It's more than likely a cultural thing. Plus there are growing pains since they just opened, so forgivable.
The dishes are a little pricey but you can probably walk out of there for under $25 for two people. A final note, I was sad by the amount of waste when walking by larger tables. I almost opened my to-go container and took home other peoples leftovers. Take the leftovers home, it's much better later that night as a snack.
Profile: Heaven Star
Southeast corner of Main St & 120th Ave
Broomfield, CO
Dim Sum & lunch menu is served 11:00 am - 3:00 pm, dinner menu after that.
Rating out of 5 stars
Service: **1/2
Food: ***
Atmosphere: ***
Price: **
Overall: **1/2 (but I will go back) so ***
