Lucky Bamboo

Hey there, firstly this location is still open and under new management as of Jan. 1, but before you hop in your car and head over read what I have to say:
When I went inside it took my breath away because it is so fancy and nice with a coy pond in the middle and a tree growing on the edge of it. It has a bar and a karaōke stage with large dining area. This area features club lights and a disco ball for light shows. The staff is very friendly and understanding.
So why 2 stars?
Well when you go to a restaurant you mostly go for the food, right? Of course. Well, the food was very very sub standard. If they spent half as much money on food as they did for décor then this place would’ve gotten more stars. I ordered take out last night and when I got home the chicken for my girlfriend’s soup was RAW. Now she’s already down with a bad case of the flu and it was difficult for her to even get out of bed and drive to the place, but we drove back (after they closed) and demanded our money back AND that they fix the order. They gladly did both, so we went home and ate up. The food was just OK, nothing to write home about. This morning when we went to go reheat her soup, there was still piece of chicken that were raw, and needless to say we tossed it right out and we will NOT be going back there.
This place should be as lucky to even get 2 stars, it was a bad food experience but the people there were personable enough. My advice: make sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly before digging in.

ok, 3 stars for now as I didn’t want to give bad rating… went on Sat. (Nov. 5, 2011) only to find that they are closed for renovations! I should have guessed there was an issue because when I called their phone number, the auto-​attendant stated that the number was not currently taking any calls…
Will check back in couple weeks and hopefully they will be open…

I had a great experience at Lucky Bamboo for dim sum a few weeks back.
My only sadness was that they didn’t have carrot cake, a traditional dim sum dish that is oh-​so delicious.
Not the best, but definitely worth it in Nashville if you’re a dim sum fan.

So reading the reviews, I came to Lucky Bamboo with pretty low expectations. Man, somehow Lucky Bamboo did not even meet that. The bread and butter of any dim sum place are har gow and shu mai. And what, they don’t have pork shu mai available?! Fine, I got the shrimp shu mai, and I’m pretty sure ¹⁄₈^th of the stuffing (I’m being generous) was made of shrimp. Furthermore, the individual pieces are the tiniest I have ever seen at a dim sum place. Overall, everything was bland, fake, and dry.
The only thing good was the fried shrimp ball. The server did say that around 11:30, they have more dishes available. I came at 11. Maybe just maybe, the quality is better in the afternoon. I doubt it though. Sad that this is my only option for dim sum.

I appreciate Lucky Bamboo as a Chinese place closer to the authentic end of the spectrum than, say, Pei Wei, but don’t come here expecting too much. Unfortunately, one spring afternoon my family did just that, and we left disappointed. Like most Asian families in the area, we got really excited by the prospect of dim sum in Nashville and heard good things from a few friends. They were wrong.
I’m pretty sure the dim sum is taken from the freezer aisles at the international market right next door, reheated and put into the bamboo steamers for Lucky Bamboo. Part of me wants to laugh with them for this business trick, but the part of me that paid for that is seething. The thing is, if you get frozen dim sum and reheat it at home, it doesn’t sit there in the bamboo steamer in a restaurant, being carted around for 20 minutes before reaching you and your chopsticks. It’s actually better for your wallet, your mouth and your stomach to just go next door and buy some to cook yourself. If this sneaky trick isn’t what they’re doing, then I really wonder how they could be screwing up their dim sum so badly. The xia jiao (shrimp dumplings) were weak and soggy, the shumai were rubbery and dry, and the chang fen (I actually have no idea how to translate this into English) were just tragic.
The other food isn’t bad, but it’s nothing I can’t make at home. Asians of Nashville, hear me: don’t bother.

For a dim sum place, the Lucky Bamboo falls short in quality. We visited this establishment on a couple of occasions, and find inconsistencies (beyond its inconsistent décor motif). Some of the traditional dumping tastes (texture too) like one of those ready made /​pre-​packaged dumplings you buy at the grocery, while others did have that «hand made» feel.
When asked questions from our waitress about the menu, she was not able to explain… and it was not because she speaks Mandarin or Cantonese… Spanish was her primary lingo.
The hot tea came in a pot with one green tea bag… not your traditional jasmine or long tea.
Since this is the only dim sum in Nashville, you don’t really have a choice, but hope they would improve over time.

One thing about Nashville I loathe is its complete lack of authentic Chinese Food. For someone raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in a Chinese family that loves cooking, I’ve missed much of those unique dishes and special flavors of the four (yes there are others) great schools of Chinese cuisine: the seafood and dim-​sum heavy Cantonese, the warm buns and breads of Beijing style, the European-​influenced sweetness of Shanghai cuisine and the innate spiciness of Szechunanese. The fact that no restaurant here is more specific than «Chinese» makes me hightail down to Atlanta to hoard some dishes when I’m in need of that fix.
That being said, Lucky Bamboo is the closest approximation to real Chinese food in all of Nashville. While still not particularly authentic, the cooks at least seem to know how to cook for Chinese people, as seen by the horde of hanren present when we gathered for dim sum on the weekends. Indeed they do serve dim sum, the tapas-​like Cantonese selection that you enjoy with tea. Its not particularly good dim sum, and as someone here mentioned might possibly even be from the freezer, but it is dim sum nonetheless and you can show your friends who are unable to appreciate the finer aspects of that cuisine elsewhere. My friends seemed to especially enjoy the Sao Mai and the Cha Sao Bao.
The ambiance of the place is nice; there’s a quaint pool in the middle of the restaurant with some koi and murals of pandas frolicking in the woods (as if that actually happens).
Lucky Bamboo serves a descent selection of tea, including Oolong, which is greatly appreciated. They also serve a somewhat watery salad and fried huntung strips with duck sauce. While it screamed of fraud, most of my friends seemed to appreciate the free appetizer.
Note: I order from the Chinese menu. Request it and they will hand you one (there is English written on it!)
The restaurant seems to be Cantonese, but there were a few nice Szechuan and Taiwanese influences as well. Notably, the chef loves Szechuan pepper, and the Hakka chicken, the three cup chicken and the bamboo shoots were literally covered in the spicy pepper. These are positive things, and it reminded me of Nashville’s famed Hot Chicken. The portions were large, the herbs and sauces all worked very well, and and in general the food was delicious-​the three cup chicken I think was the best Chinese dish I’ve had in the entire Eastern United States. The Bok Choy was fresh and tender and not completely drowned in oyster sauce. A friend of mine once struck out ordering a greasy fatty pork shoulder that I can no longer remember at the top of my head, but almost everyone enjoyed what they had ordered.
There is one final issue: I have enjoyed this restaurant enough that I have visited quite a few times with my friends, but I am sure the last time the chef was different. The peppers were out and the food was generally blander, so that my vegetarian friend and I ended up hogging the Hunan pepper sauce. Hopefully that was an anomaly, for I would hate to see the quality of this place deteriorate to just another.
In summary, if you’ve never had real Chinese food, pay this place a visit. Lucky Bamboo is cheap, its portions are large, and I can claim that it is the best Chinese food you can get in a hundred mile radius. The restaurant might be in quality a slump right now, but hopefully it will recover and finally provide Nashville with some much needed authentic Chinese food.

Okay, we got it. Nashville doesn’t have a good chinese food place, if you live here you know this. However, I just have to beg to differ with everyone giving Lucky Bamboo low reviews based on Dim Sum weekend when they are the ONLY place in Nashville that has dim dum… the only.
Rant aside, I really liked Lucky Bamboo. It is a far cry from the greasy soupy canned-​ness of Chinatown in Green Hills or the bastardization of Asian cuisine done by Pei Wei. I ordered hot tea. It was really good, and I appreciated them using loose leaf tea. My boyfriend and I got there in time for the lunch special where you get a spring roll and soup included with your entrée. I had the egg flower soup (my favorite). The soup tasted fresh and delicious. My boyfriend has the won ton soup, and he said it was lacking flavor but still thought it was good.
Then came the entrees. I got sweet and sour shrimp. The veggies were FRESH and had not been sitting in sweet and sour sauce all day. They bring the sauce on the side so you can add as much or as little as you want. The shrimp were incredlbly fresh and lightly fried, not a hard candy coated fried.
I was very pleased with our visit and I am excited to go back soon.

There really is no good Chinese food in Nashville. I was already apprehensive about this new restaurant offering dim sum in Nashville, but I decided to give it a chance because I was craving dim sum so badly. In summary, though, it’s not worth it. The dim sum comes out in carts, as traditionally designed, but the quality is much lower than other places I’ve had. Yes, it’s better than frozen dim sum but I would be appalled if you could compare restaurant food to microwaveable food. Also, hint #213 that I wouldn’t be satisfied with this restaurant, I tried to speak Chinese to the waitress to order what I wanted and she didn’t understand.
I will say, however, that they did a pretty good job on the interior design. It’s completely decked out with decorations, even including a pond!
Overall: Probably the best dim sum restaurant in Nashville. But, that doesn’t really say much if there’s no competition. I applaud the effort to try to bring authentic Chinese food to Nashville, but when you compare it to anywhere outside of this city, it seriously falls flat.

I guess we just have to face it. Nashville will never have a good Chinese restaurant. I’ve been to a lot of dim sum restaurants from New York to Hong Kong, some better than others and this place is definitely others. All the dim sum (ha gou & shu mai) comes from a factory (in L.A. I think the box said) i.e. none of it is made fresh in house and the selection is tiny. I’m not kidding, they have tastier stuff in the freezer section next door.
Too bad they spent all that yuan on décor and not on a chef.

The food is terrible for authentic Chinese. Service was bad also.
I was thrilled to hear about Dim sum being served in Nashville. I found it very disappointing. I’d much rather take a 3 hour drive to Atlanta for dim sum than eat here again. We ordered tendons and hoped to enjoy it. It was so salty no one could even swallow. There is little to no dim sum selection.
I was pissed about the service because they barely had any customers so they weren’t going to push anymore carts and wouldn’t let us order any dim sum items during brunch.
I’ve had dim sum in many major cities and this one is at the bottom of my list.

Here’s a shocker… NashVegas leaves a bit to be desired in the ethnic food area. Natives may be under the belief Taco Bell is authentic Mexican food so a real Chinese dim sum hangout may be a stretch, but Lucky Bamboo delivers. You can go standard dumplings fare but feel free to venture out with chicken feet as well. The place is clean although the strip mall it’s in is a pit and yes… the restaurant abounds with real and fake bamboo. The fish, on the other hand, weren’t so lucky with only a few survivors in the giant tank. Service is fast, friendly and more than willing to guide gringos in picking from the dim sum cart. Five can catch dim sum on a Saturday or Sunday for $ 40.

Went in on the Sun after New Years to flush out some of the party toxins with a hearty meal. Alas, hearty is twas. I’m a Dim Sum rookie so I have to admit I couldn’t tell you if it’s good compared to others. One of my standards for a decent ethnic restaurant is if my Caucasian clan is a minority in the sea of patrons and in this regard I was not disappointed.
Now most of what I tried I liked especially some of the dumplings. The portions are good and the prices seem pretty reasonable for the amount and caliber of food you get. My husband and I found the service really slow. However, in all fairness we didn’t know dim sum technique. It appears unlike the sushi places with the sushi on the belts circling the restaurant where you just grab a thing or two at a time, what you do is actually get several portions when the cart basses otherwise you are waiting 5 – 10 minutes at least for it to make it back your way again.
All in all it’s pretty fun and the food is good even though it’s not earth shattering. I’d definitely go back.

— Massive portions for the price = good value. We took home a large amount of leftovers that served as lunch today and will probably give us lunch tomorrow too. Considering that both of our entrees were under $ 10, that’s pretty darn good value.
— Beautiful interior. Most Asian restaurants in Nashville have shabby or generic interiors, but Lucky Bamboo went all out with a massive panda mural and a koi pond with colored lights and smoke effects. Who doesn’t like staring at chubby pandas while chowing down on Chinese food?
— The comfortable booths are nicely arranged around the central courtyard. The dining experience feels somewhat upscale and private.
— Unexpected, unannounced free appetizers? That’s a bonus star in my book. The fried noodles with combo of sweet sauce and scorching hot mustard sauce were a nostalgic throwback to the Chinese restaurants of my Pennsylvania childhood (Props to China Delight!). The iceberg lettuce was meh (upgrade to red leaf or mixed greens or something that is not just cellulose and water would be nice), but the creamy dressing on said dressing was kinda interesting, even if I couldn’t exactly place the taste.
— Our (Mexican) waiter was extremely nice.
— As with the interior design, I liked the interesting stylistic touches with the tableware. The side of steamed white rice came in a cool little wooden bowl. The farmhouse kitch salt-​and-​pepper shakers gave a touch of Tennessee. The teapot and tiny black teacup were fun too.
— Ordering was a little confusing. I asked for some advice about the chicken dishes on the Chinese menu. I ended up ordering something called ‘Three Cup Chicken’. When the waiter delivered the food, he said he checked with the chef and found out that another dish called ‘Diced Chicken’ was more popular, so they gave me diced chicken instead. Basically it was lightly fried small chicken pieces in a sweet-​and-​spicy sauce. The sauce wasn’t too heavy or gloopy. The chicken tasted fresh. And they’d thrown in a nice amount of sesame seeds, which elevated the dish above the norm. There were some hot peppers for spice and some well-​cooked broccoli (not too raw, not too mushy) in the corners. My wife ordered beef fried rice and thought it was a little mild tasting. I agree, but then I’m not really a fried rice connoisseur.
— Service was leisurely paced, which was totally fine with us, but if you have limited time in which to eat, I’d mentioned it up front when you place your order and perhaps ask for the check to be delivered at the same time as the food.
— My fortune cookie not only contained two fortunes, but the fortunes were also bilingual Spanish-​English. First time experience for me.
— FYI, I believe the restaurant is owned by the same folks who own K&S Supermarket next door. If you go into K&S, you’ll notice a giant banner in the produce section advertising Lucky Bamboo.
— This may be irrational, but I believe that all Asian restaurants (at least all casual-​dining Asian restaurants) should have a basic free tea option. They can serve fancy teas and charge money for them, but you should always be able to get a pot of free tea, just like you can get a glass of tap water at any American restaurant in the States. Anyway, I believe that Lucky Bamboo charges for tea. I’m not sure how much it costs.
— Several of the other customers were Asian, which is usually a good sign.
Based on this experience, I think I’d like to come back on a weekend morning and try the dim sum. If anyone has any recommendations of particular ‘must try’ dim sum dishes, direct message suggestions are much appreciated! :)

If my visit to lucky bamboo last night had been my FIRST visit, it would have been my last.
It was like a Glorious Honeymoon followed up by a dreadful visit from your mother-​in-​law.
Lucky Bamboo was hosting a Karaōke party in another room, and apparently decided that this was more important than any of its other customers. Our one waitress, near as I could tell, was servicing the rest of the guests. The service was slow and dreadful.
The Karaōke was LOUD and very distracting. I also have a horrible version of «Summer Lovin’» from the GREASE soundtrack stuck in my head.
Soda was completely flat, followed up with one that was PACKED with carbonation.
For my meal I ordered the Teriyaki steak, which came in these BIG FAT pieces, WITHOUT a knife. I have read that chopsticks came into existence because of the nonviolence of Buddhist humanism. If there is a way to cut steak with chopsticks, someone feel free to teach it to me. The Teriyaki tasted more like gravy, and less like anything delicious.
When we were finally done with the meal, I had to flag down the waitress just to get the check so we could get the heck out of there.
I KNOW they can do better than this because I’ve experienced it, but this time they just didn’t deliver.

A new hidden gem in Nashville TN…
Pleasantly surprised to find an authentic Chinese restaurant in Nashville TN, my sushi old chef took me there before my trip to Cuba and our group got a nice large private room. Service was very good, fast and clean, with good prices.
I did learn that you can get the English menu or the Chinese menu and the food will vary considerable, the Chinese menu serves more authentic Chinese food and that’s what I love the most! Not a dim sum place that I would go unless in a large group, I am sure it will get a dim sum following but that takes years to develop as the customers get to know the place.

how do you spell Dim Sum in Nashville — Lucky Bamboo. We have eaten here a couple of times, the food is great and the quality is top notch. They do however have limited carts so expect to wait,
Everything is fresh, so that makes the wait worth it. The staff is very helpful and the place has terrific feel. This is one of those places you do not want to judge from the outside or the parking lot. Inside is completely different and that sets the pace for great Dim Sum and terrific service and value.

I’ve eaten here a couple of times, but never for dim sum. I was drawn to the place because I had read of their having dim sum, but just had more traditional fare.
I am surprised by the harsh comments — I enjoyed my two meals there. The food was good, and the service was prompt and friendly! I definitely plan to go back.
Vegetable dishes are typically my favorite — had two different green bean dishes that I really liked. Same with the steamed dumplings. Everything was fresh and flavorful.
If you like Chinese food, I think you’ll like this place! I do agree with the poster, however, on the building itself. It is an old shopping center/​strip mall, and looks a bit rundown. But if you can get past that, it’s a go!

This place is not at all what I expected — but in a good way.
It’s in a drab strip mall but looks pretty neat inside. The dim sum was good. Best I’ve had in Nashville so far. There is one older lady pushing one of the carts who is extremely rude. She won’t tell you what anything is no matter how many times you ask. «Just pick what you want!» and if you ask a question she pushes on all irritated and ignores you. Our server was very polite and all the other dim sum servers were great.
Also if you’re over here and haven’t checked out K & S Market next door, have a look.

I have only been here for dim sum (brunch), and am soooo thrilled that Nashville finally has decent dim sum. Mind you, this is not San Francisco quality, but it definitely towers over any other dim sum I’ve had in Nashville or Atlanta. The service was great, mainly because one woman stayed on top of the other servers, teaching them how much sauce to put on the chinese broccoli and how to cut certain dishes for you at your table. They rolled around the carts of wonderful goodies and made sure that my friends and i got our fill. I loved the shrimp dumplings and pork shiu mai, and the congee was delightful. We tried at least 9 dishes, and all of it resembled the dim sum I’ve had in San Fran in taste and appearance. (I’ve had dim sum in the Nolensville area that left me wondering what the heck it even was, didn’t have that problem here).
We filled our bellies with a wide variety of dishes, and most were priced around $ 2 or $ 2.50 per dish, cheap! The interior is impressive, with a pond stocked with koi fish and painted walls. It would be a great place to rent out for an event. I want to go back for dinner now!