Lucky Deli

Love this place, recently raised their prices from $ 3 an order to $ 3.25 an order though.

This is my absolute favorite place to get some ShuMai… These little steamed meat dumplings takes me to heaven all day long!
Let’s get an overview here…
Lucky Deli consists of 4 sections… Chinese BBQ, Quick Chinese Food take outs, and Dim Sum area, and the Steam Bun Section…
– Chinese BBQ: Never had it yet… will try and give you guys an updated review.
– Chinese Food Take outs: Decent… Price is great and food is normal… nothing to complaint here.
– Dim Sum Area: My favorite… I don’t get anything else but the Shu Mais! The texture of these little morsels are just so good here! (This is their top seller!) If you calculate it and compared them the normal dim sum places, 4 giant and juicy shumais for only $ 1.75, but their one order is 8 pcs for $ 3.25 so it’s an awesome deal! Trust me… it’s so good and juicy that I usually get about 4 – 5 orders (around 40 pcs or so) Bring it home and eat it up for a week! After microwaving it 3 days after the shumais are still as delicious as ever!!! mmmmmm…
Egg tarts here were surprisingly good as well because it’s not too sweet unlike other places.
– Steam Baos: Have not tried it yet, but it was very affordable according to some of the people who purchased them.
Pros: ShuMais!!! And cheap dining options!
Cons: Parking! There isn’t any!!! Good luck finding street parking on the small street behind or look for a public parking! (around 4 – 5 bucks all day parking)
Last thing… Don’t forget dem ShuMais!!!

This place is busy! The Buffett style options were varied and good. This is quick, inexpensive food. The dining area is small and not cleaned often. The orange chicken was good, but the chunks were huge. The Bao was good as was the shumai. We chose this place as it was recommended. I would opt for other dining options while in China Town.

Great food and good price! You may not be able to find a seat on busy hours but its worth the food.

Lucky Deli is now my go-​to spot for shu mai. The steamed dumplings are huge and pretty damn cheap for the amounts you get. Food was readily available on hot trays behind the counter as well. May have to stay and eat next time!

The food is no nonsense good. LOVED the ginormous pork dumplings. At .50 a piece, they are beyond a deal! The mapo tofu sauce was too thick and cold=not so tasty. The eggplant was the worst thing because the sauce was sweet and bland and the eggplant was overdone. The bbq pork was delish as were the dim sums. The place has a B rating but if you want simple delish Chinese food and cheap… Come here. Meter parking out front available. If it’s all locals eating here, must be good.

Dim sum is good! My fav is hargow, 8pcs = $ 3! Green bean side is $ 2. Ive been here a few times, food is good enough to keep going back!

Looking for pretty good cheap Chinese fast food takeout? This is your place! I’m still in shock of how cheap it all was! $ 23.50 fed 6 people! (3 adults/​3 big eating kids) a lunch plate sized box with a choice of starch and two sides was just $ 5! And heaping with food! You can buy sides in smaller foam takeout containers for dirt cheap also. $ 1 for a ~3“x3“x2″ «small» box. I would guesstimate that a small box can fit about 1.5 cups of food because they give a lot. $ 2 for a ~5“x5“x2″ «medium» box. Roast duck for $ 8! This place is Cash only.
Got a lunch plate sized box with chow funn with orange chicken and stir fried green bean sides. Yum! Order of 8 shu mai $ 3! Cheaper than eating at dim sum. 8 har gow also $ 3. Those were ok, edible, but lacked proper seasoning. Bitter melon stir fry, YUM! Very flavorful. Pork in this side was tender and very well seasoned. Bitter melon cooked to perfect tenderness and wasn’t overly bitter. Stir fried kalbi with onions, YUM! The meat was so tender and flavorful. A whole tilapia with black bean sauce, $ 4! That was good. The meaty body (~8″) just barely fit the takeout box. The tail had to be bent over so the box could be closed. Just a little overcooked, but it probably got that way from being in the food warmer. You’d be dreaming to buy a tilapia you still have to clean and cook for $ 4. Try $ 4.99/lb in Hawaii and at a restaurant it would be running you around $ 15 for the same dish served here. Foong jow (chicken feet), good.
Service wasn’t great. It helps when you can speak Chinese. If you can’t speak Cantonese, I would suggest pointing at what you want. I watched them struggle to understand people speaking to them in English. And the workers kept talking to each other in another dialect of Chinese I couldn’t decipher. The one helping me had her back turned to me after she rang me up, chatting away with two other workers so she couldn’t see I was trying to get her attention to get utensils. Which they don’t give unless you ask if you want chopsticks or a spoon. Forks are on the tables for dining in. If you ask them for forks they will direct you to the tables. I don’t come with the expectation for great service from places like this so I can overlook it a little. They have a B rating on the window.

great little spot in Chinatown for mostly to go items all types of different meats pastries dim sum noodle dishes and many others. Very inexpensive and set in a cafeteria style layout. Only a few tables that you must share if you’re going to eat in. Definitely worth a stop especially for the issue my and roasted pork and ha goa.

Parking is difficult and restaurant only accepts cash.
Great selection of pre-​made items: har gow, sieu mai, steamed pork buns, custard tarts, chicken feet, roasted duck, noodles, rice…
There are only 3 – 4 employees so be prepared to wait. There’s no line or system of ordering. You have to flag down one of the employees, otherwise, you’ll be standing there while the Chinese speaking customers order before you.
Bring your appetite and try everything — it all looks great!
I ordered 8 har gow, 8 sieu mai, 4 steamed pork buns, medium serving of Chinese broccoli and 10 custard tarts and the total was $ 17.00. Pretty good deal and the food was good, too!

My destination was originally Sam Woo but I passed d this place and became curious.
Con: Chaotic service
Pros: For the price and quality, the prices are absolutely unbeatable and the locals have apparently aways known this!

Yes, its dingy, and yes the workers can be pushy, and yes, they only got a B from the health inspector. But I love this place!!!
If you are nice and respectful to the workers, they will treat you like family. This place is what it is. If you get their early food is fresher, later, not so fresh. Cheap prices and good flavors.
I always get the shumai, dumplings, and shrimp. Shumai and shrimp dim sum 8 for 3 bucks. Giant dumplings two for a dollar. all the other food is cool. but the three items I list are why I come.
fast, easy and cheap… says the dragon egg!

Oh yes, there are things about Lucky Deli that I really dislike.
First of all, I hate it, hate it, hate it when there are no prices posted — ANYWHERE.
(Like an Arab-​owned liquor store — LOL)
The prices here do fluctuate, also.
CLEANLINESS
And then of course one can’t help but notice that everything is sticky and needs a good clean. Would it really kill then to mop the floor and wipe the tables and bring up the cleanliness to B grade? Apparently so.
CUSTOMER SERVICE & DEMEANOR
And one of the old Chinese ladies is so rude and abrupt. The other workers are acceptable but SHE is definitely not acceptable at all. I try to avoid her like the plague.
And they hoard the napkins like they are a valuable commodity. Really, two napkins for greasy Chinese fast food?!? And don’t give me that ATTITUDE when I ask for more, like I am being pushy and unreasonable. There is no bathroom to wash your hands, so your napkin count is very important unless you want to walk away with greasy hands. You have been warned. You also need a napkin to handle the soy sauce and hot sauce containers. Oh yes you do.
YOUR FELLOW CUSTOMERS
Don’t make me go there. It ain’t pretty.
PRICING
But you can’t beat the prices. Lots of somewhat tasty food for less. For example, you can get a whole big tilapia for $ 3.50 and a small (big) styrofoam container of rice noodles for $ 1.00.
RATING
I’ll give them a begrudging four stars. GGGGRRRRRRRRR !!!

I stopped in this place yesterday, April 27, 2015 at 3pm, after spending time in DTLA. This place is FILTHY!
The server behind the counter is prejudice. I was standing in line and the server pretended not to know that I was ready to order and exchanged words in their native tongue and helped her. I share with her what she did is not acceptable.
She answered me in English and then all of a sudden pretended not to understand me. I took my business elsewhere. I found Long’s Family Pastry at 715 Spring Street, just 2 blocks away where the place was clean and where they seem to appreciate their customers, Chinese speaking or not.
I will never come into this place and purchase any food items because they are prejudice! And filthy! They use to same spoon in many different trays, unacceptable in my eyes.

Delicious!!! Came here for Chinese New year. Service is difficult you have to practically yell so someone can help us. Then you have to point to get what you want, then after all that finding a clean table is impossible!
No one picks up or cleans! I just took it to go and ate my dumplings while watching the parade. So three stars because they need good customer service and some one to wipe the tables.

To be sure, this place is uncomfortably dirty. When I come here, I try not to brush against anything. The floor is stained from hundreds of daily customers trudging their dirty soles on the sticky damp floor.
That said, their roast duck is the best in Chinatown and then some. They are large and it is the only thing I get there. Half a duck feels like a whole duck anywhere else, and it has the proper skin crunch with fat and that soft meaty flavor of a well-​cooked duck. The ladies there are hilariously rude or really friendly. They do everything old school – they don’t use gloves and the women, not the men, chop the meat after you select it. I wouldn’t take anyone here and once warned my wife to stay in the car while I fetch that carcass, but I really like coming here alone, listening to the Toisanese yelling, the chop chop of the butcher knife, the steam from the precooked dishes, the foreign barbarians pointing and rolling their eyes around the shop, the smell of old Chinatown.

Good cheap food. It’s not a four star restaurant so don’t expect it to be sparkling clean. It’s a joint where hard working people can feed their families well and quick after toiling all day long. I’m a stickler for cleanliness but go here keeping a when in Rome mentality and if you don’t like it… Don’t worry because chances are you didn’t need to take out a second mortgage to eat here.
Appreciate it for the fact that people who may not be as well off as you can enjoy a well cooked meal for a household with real food. No mystery nuggets or pink paste meat here from what I saw. I enjoyed a huge lunch for 5 bucks and was satisfied and would go again. And today was not my first time here. If you don’t enjoy the surroundings take it home and eat it there. This place has heart and so should you. If you don’t enjoy what you’ve bought… Show some love and humanity and give it over to that homeless person you would otherwise sneer at and step over. Don’t make them dig it out of the trash cuz that’s just cold, man.
Keep this place alive and give it a try. I’m full, have extra cash in my pocket and feeling fine!

This review is only for their dumplings, which are huge, cheap, and pretty good. I don’t know why I didn’t get any of their shumai or other dimsum because it looked good and this place is super cheap. I got 3 giant dumplings and it was $ 1.50. Does the B rating bother me? Not so much haha. Ordering can be tricky when trying to get someone’s attention but you just have to be assertive!

When you walk into a restaurant with everything from the floor and tables to the walls and ceiling looking like the inside of a garbage can, it is very difficult to convince yourself to eat what they offer. Plus, when you ask an employee to clean a filthy table and their manager tells them not to – then it provides you with the notion that a walk away should be without delay.
We gave it one more shot after trying it, because in a prior visit, it seemed like having been hit with a bullet of gross culinary dreck. We ordered their fried rice that tasted like it been a leftover. Their chicken was not cooked enough and was solid as a rock. The Tso Fun had no taste. Everything (from the atmosphere and employees to the food) could be rated with a negative number. Sorry, but the name should truly be changed to Unlucky Deli!

An entire duck chopped up.
Huge portion of grilled BBQ pork chopped up.
A bag of delicious bao buns.
A packet of noodle wraps.
Amazing sweet sauce.
TOTAL of only $ 15 STUFFED 3 of us for lunch. Fuck a flying pig; Lucky Deli is where it’s at!