What is not to like about dumplings? Especially when there are 3 of you and you just get a lot of them. Mama Lu's is located was close to our hotel, so it was an easy choice for dinner on enight. It isn't the biggest place, but we got there early and did not have to wait. Service was good, and I appreciated them accommdating the need for 3 seperate tickets. Onto the food: I personally ordered the green onion fried pancake, juicy pork dumpling, and the spicy wontons. My colleagues got pork pan friend dumplings, chive fried pancake, pork and chive dumplings, coconut bread, beef tenderloin, veggie and meat bun, and a pan fried noodle dish. Everything was really good. We did not like pan fried veggie and meat bun as we felt like there was too much bun to meat, not a lot of veggies, and the meat was kind of cold. We did like how the dough was fried though. All of hte portions were huge. The panfried noodles had shrimp which were perfectly cooked. The beef tenderloin was cooked well. My other favorites: The pork and chive dumpling; it haed so much flavor, almost like there was more than just the chives flavoring it. I also really liked the spicy wontons; really good spice, there were peanuts in it so if your allergic bewarre. All the other dishers were good, really really good, but there were just those few that were stand outs - I was so glad we all shared a few dumplings from all of our orders. I ended up taking a good portion of food home, and it heated up nicely the next day (a plus, my husband got to try.a little!). I would definitely go back here (though I may not order as much next time - or maybe I'll order more and take it home!). You really can't go wrong at Mana Lu's.

Ah Mama Lu's! A classic staple of Monterey Park. If you're from the area and don't know the classic Mama Lu's, go and grab a table and order yourself some soup dumplings, spicy shrimp and pork wontons, green chive pancakes and a beef wrap. I've also recently tried their fried fish and it's reminiscent of a nicely beer battered fish and chips. It's good as a sit down but also as a take out.

Out of town visitors wanted to meet for lunch. Since we all like Chinese food, we decided on Mama Lu's. Not sure why there is so much hate for this place. Yes, we're Asian, however, no one spoke Mandarin/Cantonese. Ok, my barometer for a good Chinese restaurant is the percentage of Asian clientele. This location was approx. 90% Asian. The waitress was running around as is typical in most Chinese restaurants. My Chinese friends tell me, you always need to flag down the staff. Anyway, she took our order, returned with our multiple items. Not super friendly, but who has time to chit chat when you're taking care of the ENTIRE restaurant. At least we got waters from the get go. We ordered A LOT. Gotta say, the portions are a bit small than my visit a few years ago. However, they are still huge compared to other places. 1) Pork xiao long bao-piping hot. Juicy with flavorful broth & filling. Skin could've been a bit thinner, but this is kind of the norm (except for DTF-super thin skins). 2) Crab & pork xiao long bao-served in aluminum mini cups. Very tasty. Skins a bit thick, but ‍. Tasty nonetheless. 3) Crab & dried scallop fried rice. Huge portion, very tasty. Drier type as is usual. Yummy. My fav fried rice. Didn't even order fried rice at Chinese restaurants till recently. I've always thought it was an Americanized thing. So glad I've changed my attitude. 4) Beef chow fun-yes everyone orders this. But we love it! Besides, who wants to deal with making this with the rice noodles at home? No thank you. Their version is flavorful. Plenty of oyster sauce, dark & light soy sauce. That's the down fall of some places. Not enough saucing of the noodles. Too little and the dish is bland. A winner. 5) House special crystal chicken. Cold boiled in flavorful broth. Grated ginger & oil condiment on the side. Yummy. If you prefer the green onion, ginger & oil condiment, order #63 steamed chicken with gr onion. 6) Honey garlic pork chop-tender deep fried chop with sticky not overly sweet glaze. Really yummy. 7) Oyster mushroom & veg (bok choy this time). The bok choy was fine. However, the oyster mushroom had a different(I.e.-kind of weird) texture & flavor. Koya dofu in Japanese, not sure what it's called in Chinese. It's frozen & has a spongey texture. Had a canned sort of flavor. Will skip this next time. 8) Choy sum-actually looked like gailan, Chinese broccoli. Maybe they made a mistake? Or ran out of choy sum? Anyway, this was sautéed with garlic & was yummy. We left happy, stuffed from over indulging, & had plenty of leftovers. Always a plus since I'm now bringing food to my MIL. At 91yo, she's tired of cooking! Imagine that. Cooking dinner for 65 + yrs. I TOTALLY get it.

I've been living in the SGV my entire life and didn't know this Mama Lu's location existed o.O we came around 11:30am on a Saturday and were quickly seated. the ladies that work here are super nice and friendly! we ordered xlbs, nian gao and the garlic honey pork chops. everything was YUMMY! i think I was most impressed with the garlic honey pork chops. as expected, the place got packed around noon. quick and efficient service. I will definitely be back :) not sure if there is a lot, but we parked on the street.

came for lunch around 12pm on a Tuesday. waited a few min before a table emptied out. after we were seated a crowd came in and had to wait for seats until almost 1pm when the wait lines disappeared but still a full house. service was prompt and friendly. 2 of us ordered 2 dishes, a carb and a pork chop. the food came pretty fast. the portions were huge. we didn't really make a dent after we're done so we took home for another meal of two. honey garlic pork chop looked really appetizing, that a lady came over to ask what dish is it so she can also order it. vermicelli was average since I always thought this dish is dry but mom likes it and always order it whenever she comes. prices were reasonable that total bill was just a little over $30+tips.

Mama Lu's is a comforting Chinese restaurant that I'll never get tired of. I love that Mama Lu's is so affordable -- reminds me of how restaurants are in Hong Kong. There is a variety of foods you can try here besides the dumplings. This time my friend & I ordered the sautéed green beans & spicy wontons (pork & shrimp). I usually order the Xiao Long Bao's & a dish of the beef chow fun (my absolute favorite thing in the world). I love doing family style when I eat here at Mama Lu's -- it's so affordable with a big group!

Been here couple of times, good thing it wasn't busy the times I went here. I always like fried tofu with bokchoy, I like the sauce a lot and the tofu. Juicy pork dumpling is okay, don't really recommend getting it. Fried salt and pepper pork is always good. Fried rice and crispy noodles is highly recommend to get it. All the vegetables dishes is always good. Service was okay. Hard to get there attention and didn't refill our water. Ambience is casual and not as clean.

I swear my mom does not own this restaurant despite my last name. Food: 5/5 My family ordered a bunch of food to go for a party. We got spicy wontons, Singapore noodles, fried string beans, pan fried buns, sweet buns, fried rice, Shanghai noodles, beef rolls, Singapore noodles, scallion pancakes, and xiao long baos. Everything was super duper delicious. My personal favorites were the spicy wontons and the pan fried buns. They meat inside was juicy and flavorful. It paired very nicely with the chili oil. The only thing that wasn't the best was the scallion pancakes, but I think that's only because we got it to go, so it wasn't crispy or flakey anymore. Overall this place never disappoints whether you dine in or take out. Service: 5/5 We called in to order ahead of time so they called us when everything was ready. Once we got there the food was still nice and hot and neatly packed for us to carry out. They have two stores in Monterey Park that are down the street from each other. I definitely like this one a lot more because it's more spacious and can accommodate more people for dine in.