Photos from Dim Sum House’s Facebook page.

Maybe you’ve been there: you want dim sum but you don’t feel like getting on the trolley or the El all the way to Chinatown to go to Dim Sum Garden. Not to worry, Dim Sum House has arrived in University City with a heavy Cantonese lean thanks to restaurateurs Jane Guo and Jackson Fu.

According to captain server Khoa Nguyen, Guo is related to the owners of Dim Sum Garden but she has no shared business interests. “The owner of Dim Sum house is the wife of the owner of this place. We didn’t take any of their servers or chefs or anything like that,” said Nguyen.

Guo also owns Szechuan-style Chinese restaurant Jane G’s in the Rittenhouse Square area.

When you walk into Dim Sum House, the decor is a little upscale and the bar is set up to look trendy. I know what you’re thinking, this must be pricey. Well, it’s not. The cheapest thing on the menu was in the neighborhood of $5 while the most expensive entree was $15, save for a few chef’s specialty items like Peking Duck, which go for as much as $25. The offerings also go beyond just dim sum, including more common entrees like Szechuan Beef. 

We tried the Spicy Shrimp Dumplings. They were tender and not too spicy. Although I heard mixed reviews about the spice levels, one friend said she couldn’t handle how spicy it was, but now I doubt her ability to eat spicy food altogether. We also tried the Sticky Rice, which had a melt-in-your-mouth slow-cooked pork on the inside of a sweet riceball encased within a crunchy banana leaf. Then came the fried beef dumplings, which actually required chewing, and so we chewed with no regrets because there was an adequate amount of chili sauce in every bite.

Dim Sum House’s kitchen is also open every night until 1 a.m., which presents late night food dwellers with options that include more than just mediocre pizza.

Dim Sum House (Facebook page) is located at 3939 Chestnut St., 2nd Floor.

– Rana Fayez