Rate-A-Restaurant, #124 in a series

Restaurant: Ocean Star

Location:145 N. Atlantic Blvd. (Monterey Park)

Type of restaurant: Dim Sum

They stipulated: It's the usual dim sum set-up: Wait until someone wheels by with a cart of food; pick what you want, and the waiter/waitresses stamp your bill.

We stipulated: We were in the mood for dim sum, but wanted to venture away from the usual pick, Chinatown's Empress Pavilion. It had been years since either of us had been to Ocean Star -- so it was time to finally return.



What we ordered: A wide variety of items -- including a chicken bao; short ribs; etc. It came to a total of $29 combined.



High point: Unlike Empress, where a half-hour (or more) wait for a table is standard, we were seated immediately. Also, unlike Empress, we were immediately visited by waitresses and waiters pushing various carts of food. (It's sometimes a long wait between food carts at Empress).

Low point: The window-less Ocean Star dining room is darker and as a result more claustrophobic than necessary, Also, having to drive all the way to Monterey Park for what's considered the region's best dim sum -- if you go, make a morning/afternoon of it. (Actually, this is turning into more of a high point -- we enjoy hitting some of the local supermarkets afterward, to pick up imported delicacies.)



Overall impression: I used to meet up with friends at Ocean Star; but more recently had settled for Empress Pavilion. In the battle between both shops, Ocean Star and its huge dining room feel like you've stepped off the plane and into Hong Kong. As their name suggests, seafood is the specialty here. The variety is also fantastic. Expect the usual dim sum selections, as well as several decent tofu choices (one was excellent, while another -- with a piece of scallop on top -- was tough to navigate with a chopstick). You can't go wrong with the steamed rice and meat wrapped in banana leaves. And for dessert, we love the black sesame gelatin pudding.



Chance we will go back: We won't let another five years go by without a return trip to Monterey Park,

(For our complete list of nearly 125 restaurant reviews, visit our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.)