Great tasting food. Everything was delicious!!!!

Really tasty, really... Clean? I think that's the word I'm looking for; really well done Chinese food. The fire cracker chicken, clay pot fish, and sui Mai dumplings were excellent. The restaurant is tastefully decorated, with neat porcelain figurines. Would definitely return.

Awesome dim sum. Prices are very reasonable and service is great!

Spendy but DELICIOUS high quality ingredients prepared with a light, tantalizing New Asian style. One of my favorite restaurants of all time. Excellent and skillful service in an elegant and spacious dining room that has quiet and beautiful acoustics. Perhaps the only restaurant in Palo Alto where it is easy to hear your dinner companions.

I was able to experience Tai Pan through having their food delivered. It was my first time trying them and OH MY GOD!!! This may sound cliché but this is the best place to have real, clean, superb Chinese food from. There is just no other place like this when it comes to preparation, flavoring, not greasy, fresh ingredients and the dishes are so beautiful and give your palate wonderful experiences. I would definitely recommend this place. 🥢

Went for saturday brunch, they have outdoor seatings and plenty of indoor seatings. My chinese friend took me here so I knew it’d be good 🙃 food was yummy, i liked that broccolini as a side and of course all shrimp dinsums.

It’s just really, really nice food with really, really nice service. We had various dumplings to start, a few seafood dishes, a few veggie dishes, the Singapore noodles — all just very nice. And that service was lovely.

very friendly staffs with delicious food. parking is a bit of pain during weekends. highly recommend!

+2

Pretty delicious dim sum, but also pretty expensive.

+3

The food was very good. Service was excellent. The restaurant was full, but the noise level was very comfortable.

The glutinous rice chicken and the radish cake were so good that they were gone before I had a chance to take pictures!

Really good authentic cuisine here. Legit. Culinary experience w Palo Alto pricing. Great wait staff. True chef in the kitchen. Quality controlled every time. Great flavor.

I have been to Tai Pan for many years and like everything about it: the food, the atmosphere and attention for detail.

I went with two other Chinese people, my wife and a friend. We thoroughly enjoyed some dim sum plus other items. The service and atmosphere are always excellent. There are other diners which we like, while not being noisy at all.

On the pricier side, but it is hard to find a traditional Cantonese place these days. Wait staff are wearing changshan, and speak Cantonese, Mandarin and English. Dimsum is made fresh, and I would especially recommend their萝卜丝酥饼 (baked radish puff), which is incredibly hard to find in dimsum restaurants in the US due to the skill needed to make it, and its lower popularity.

Great take out dim sum. Bring cash or use a debit card to avoid the fee.

Amazing chinese restaurant in Palo Alto downtown! Highly recommend their soup!

So this place is 10 out of 10 place for me. It might varies for others since everyone has different taste but these are the reason why I gave them perfect score. 1. The taste of food are clean and very neat. You can taste that this place cook the food with perfection. No overdoes on sauce, no over spice, no over added ingredient. Pure perfection. 2. The place will keep knocking your head after you leave....... Has anyone remember when you had In and Out for the first time? You be like "meh this is just another burger. I don't know why there are so much hype???".... yes... this place will have such a same reaction but the next morning you wake up, you want ro go back. Just like in and out. You would like to eat again and again and again. 3. Their Mapa Tofu and Fish are perfectly cooked. Not so much sauce and not so greasy. Their King Pao chicken is very neatly made. Their Mongolian beef is perfectly salty enough to make a perfect pair with rice. As a SoCal guy, I hate almost everything in NorCal but so jealous about this place and Hong Kong Lounge in SF downtown.

Highest standard of dim sum in Bay Area. Everything is fresh and tasty. For sure can beat Saigon Harbor, Sifu Wang, Koi Palace, Harborview and HL Pennisula.

Food is really good and reliably high quality. A small menu but everything I've tried has been excellent. Dim Sum is excellent; the best in the mid to southern peninsula. Really recommend the wings, the duck, the chow fun, the fried rice. Great wok hei flavor. My only negative note would be the value for money isn't great: Tai Pan is expensive and the servings are not generous. However for special occasions it is hard to beat.

My friend told me about dim sum but I had no idea what I was getting into. Meaning this was a first time experience. Talk about unbelievable food and service. The food was very fresh, tasty and perfectly cooked. I don't think I've ever had such great seafood. Pair with their jasmin tea, it was all smiles. The prices are up there but you get what you paid for and totallt worth it for a first time. Parking is tight, they have outdoor/indoor dining, follow covid protocols with clean environment.

I like their environment and food. Food are so delicious and of not so big of a portion, which is a good thing for chatting with friends meanwhile you can try lots of different dishes.

Ok, so I'm not from California so maybe my standards are lower but the dim sum here is amazing. The service is also the best service I've ever had in an Asian restaurant. The place was so beautiful and the service was so good that I thought the food would be horrible. I was wrong, food was amazing. The only down side is that it's super pricey for dim sum (but then again everything in plao Alto is super pricey).

Peking duck is amazing. Dim sum is so delicious. Their crab and fried rice is soooo yummy. Food isn’t greasy and is always consistent. Very fresh veggies as well!

Rick L.

The Fresh Basil Garlic Fish Fillets in a Clay Pot is my go-to favorite that I order each time. Don't miss the Sesame Balls!

+2

Stanley Qi

We’ve been coming here for over a decade, and the quality has been consistently outstanding. Truly authentic Cantonese cuisine, with a warm vibe that works equally well for small dinners or large group gatherings. It’s easy to book, the staff are super accommodating, and they don’t just serve food, they tailor dishes exactly to your requests. Reliable, delicious, and welcoming every time. Highly recommended.

Aneil Kamboj

If I could give 10 stars I would ...food, service, atmosphere, location. Loved our meal!

Deovandski Skibinski junior

It's a refined place. Went during the week and had Two dishes. Forgot their names but they were really fresh and tasty. Bill was 100 bucks which means it's spendier than the average (I think. I'm not a local to Cali) but it was a treat!

+3

Jiin Park

I’m a Korean tourist visiting with my child. This is my second time here, and while the food is great, what really stood out was the kindness of one of the older male servers. His warm and friendly service made our meal even more enjoyable and memorable. Thank you so much — your kindness truly made a difference! :)

Sarah Touchstone

Pick up order. In time, very fresh, hot and sent out so that we could add sauce to each dish and not have “mush” when we got home. Sweet and Sour Pork had perfectly crispy fried pork and the best sweet and sour sauce, (without the scary claggy goop). Fresh vegetables, and excellent Hong Kong noodles with peppered beef.

+1

Chiucat / Angel

Outstanding dim sum (all we ordered) in an elegant setting, with highly attentive service. Tai Pan pays attention to the quality of their ingredients, and the dim sum is freshly made to order, not mass produced. This combination makes for an excellent dining experience. The baked BBQ pork buns are a standout - probably the best I've had: well flavored (not overly sweet), lean meat in a fresh baked, delicate bun. The XLB is also exceptional - thin skin that packs a bundle of flavor (especially the ginger) in a generous serving. The stir-fried beef he fen (rice noodles) has just the right amount of flavor (good restraint on salt), with quality beef that's tender. Couldn't ask for better. The chang fen (glutinous rice flour wrap) is made with the kind of glutinous rice flour that delivers an authentic mouth feel (soft). We loved the 2 gao dishes we had, both with seafood & greens. The shrimp & chives gao was fabulous, perfectly flavored, and a (large) mouthful. The only 2 dishes I wouldn't repeat are the pan fried stuffed tofu (tofu is too bland, and the wheat flour coating is a bit too tough - they should try rice flour), and the sesame balls (they're OK - not extraordinary). This place delivered on the promise of an elevated ambience with truly attentive service. We never needed to ask for more hot water in the teapot, and had fresh napkins handed up just in time. The tea (Jasmin w chrysanthemum flowers) was really good quality. All the details were seen to with care. Despite the premium pricing, we would return and would highly recommend this restaurant.

+12

teadrinker

Amazingly attentive service every time we visited! Nice decoration and really made us feel dining in an upscale Chinese restaurant. Food: fresh ingredients with appropriate seasoning made delicious dishes! One word to describe: yummy!!! Great place for banquet and casual dining.

+11

Evan C.

Ok, if you want to PAY for what you eat, this is the place. It's NOT cheap, but food has great quality. Some places usually have one or two dishes that are great and others are just ok. This place has all dishes tasting great. The flavor is subtle, not enormous (think too much spices or add-ons). One could taste the natural flavors of the food. Although my pocket bled a bit, lol, I was satisfied with the experience. The service was exceptional, truly. They make you feel special and that one needs to enjoy the moment. We went at a good time (a bit after opening time) because when we left there were people waiting. Glad to have found it.

Victor

Premium quality ingredients at a premium price with professional service in an upscale setting. Enjoyed all the dishes we ordered quite a bit from the fried green beans, BBQ pork buns, peking duck is a must get, scallops with eggplant stir-fried was tender, juicy, and flavorful. Beef fried noodles were extremely tasty, good noodle texture, good amounts of protein. Wouldn't hesitate to come back if you wanted to have an outing with friends and were craving Chinese food. Didn't make any reservations and was able to be seated without a wait on Tuesday at 6:30pm.

+2

Ono Y

Came here for a family gathering. I was pleased with the quality and service. We'd gotten one of the best fish I've tasted for a long time. All the dimsum items were delicately made with craftsmanship. The waitor was courteous. We had a very good time.

+2

Fancy interior and good dim sum. We had a large group so we ended up occupying the back room, so that was nice. The food came out fresh and hot, and tasted authentic. Recommended.

One of the best ham sui Guo and ca liong. They also have a great beef ball which I really like and can't stop eating. The seafood. Hong Kong pan fried noodle was just okay. Little bit bland. I do like the fried egg yolk pumpkin. Pastry was flaky but not enough filing.

The food quality at Tai Pan is probably the best within all the dimsum restaurants in the bay area. The food is delicious and I could taste the flavor from the food ingredients with a nice balance of the seasoning. The only downside is that the price is also slightly higher compared to other places. However, if you enjoy really nice dimsum with high quality, you don't miss out on this place.

Food is consistently fantastic every time we go there. Welcoming service not so nice but we somehow run into the same grumpy lady every time. Once you get seated though, the service is good and attentive. The place is more on the expensive side but I don't blame them since they have to pay Palo Alto premium rents.

Early 2020 meal: Good food, not great. Sauteed fish super... Dec 23, 2022 After many more visits, very good is our rating. One of the best. Today we invaded Tai Pan with a party of 15 noisy, hungry people. Our freshly prepared Dim Sum appetizers arrived soon after we were seated. We ordered those in advance. The meal was excellent. We had a private room, great service, and a manager who cared. Expect an excellent meal to cost $30. Recommended are: Amazing spare ribs Shrimp balls with crispy arms Mandarin beef Fun gor Potstickers Soup dumplings Har gau and, if you have patience--get a sauteed fish.

Dim sum was delicate and delicious. Hot and fresh as the dishes are made to order for your table rather than produced en mass and transported on a cart to everyone. Service was attentive and friendly. Shanghai dumplings were lacking in soup.

I'm guessing Tai Pan has a new chef coz the food quality is much better from years past. It is truly Hong Kong style dim sum as I know it as a child. Always a fave for dim sum in the neighborhood!

If you know of a GREAT dim sum place I would love to know it...this places is super delicious..service to notch...my favorite

For the local Palo Alto area, this is decent Hong Kong style Chinese restaurant. Compared to what you can get elsewhere in the Bay Area, you can find much better. One of the big issues is value. You get some very nice decor, but for the quality and size of the dishes you get, the value is not very good.

Man these prices are for Atherton residents. The prices are nearly double what other traditional dimsum places offer. It was $8.80 per plate of dimsum which is pretty outrageous. However, each dish was made with care and is delicious. My favorite part is that there wasn't a dish that was greasy or oily. There is definitely craft in the dish but not sure if that is comparable to the price.

Ordered the flounder - had to wait 30-40 min...but very tasty and worth it. Done traditionally- celery, Chinese chives, mangetout, carrots...fish was very fresh and beautifully cooked...then had to wait another 15+ min for my pea shoot

Excellent service and atmosphere, but quality of food is not up to the price. I would rate 3.5/5 to the food. We paid $80 for 2 people (after tax and tips)

Upscale Chinese restaurant in the middle of Palo Alto. Service is good and the food is good too. It is popular. Recommend but not cheap

Service was fast. Food was not bad but pricey and portions were a little small. All dishes cost above $15. We had a group of four and got five dishes that includes basil jade chicken, kung pao pork, and house special noodles, which costed us $130.

Everything is okay except Shanghai dumplings. I need more juice in them. Staffs are not that kind, too.

First time at Tai Pan and I have to admit the food was really good. Especially the fried rice. Not too oily and it had the perfect collaboration of ingredients. The Walnut Prawns were delicious, not over-cooked or over-sweetened w/ honey mayo sauce. Our Crispy Salt n Pepper Seabass was well seasoned and tasty. Indoor and outdoor seating. Not exactly inexpensive to dine here. Two people, 3 dishes, an appetizer and a couple drinks ran us $160 out the door. Definitely coming back though. Great location in downtown Palo Alto, CA.

Food is good but pricey! We usually get the dim sums (mushroom > pea shoots > fun gow dumpling) and the braised tofu with fried rice. Their mu shu veg isn’t bad either!

Great food, good service

+2

Authentic Chinese food, great service, and comfortable atmosphere. The tea was about average though.

When you are not near San Tung, the wings from Tai Pan are pretty good too. We also tried their siu mai (pretty good) and string beans (not the best I’ve had. It could have been fried more so it has more of the wrinkly texture)

+6

We’ve ordered fried rice, salt and pepper fish, and sweet and sour chicken. The food are nicely cooked and prepared. The fish was surprisingly have a nice crisp outside and soft inside. The sweet and sour chicken was prepared with an actual pineapple shell. However, considering the portion size we didn’t expect to pay more than $120 for 3-4 entrees.

Located in Palo Alto, this popular Chinese restaurant serves good dim sum, Cantonese cuisine. There are private rooms for large groups, and dishes are enjoyable.

+5

Kimie Mou

Taste is pretty good. I’d say the dim sum’s style, options, taste is not as traditional as I thought (when comparing to dim sum restaurants in Guangzhou 20 years ago in my childhood :p)

+4

Junhua Chen

I really enjoyed the experience, and the food was good. I especially liked the shrimp dumplings. For dinner, I really enjoyed the crab. The meat was firm and flavorful, and the sauce was just right. The steamed egg was smooth and delicious, a perfect accompaniment to the crab. However, I was disappointed with the beef chow fun. The beef was dry and the sauce was bland.

+9

Amanda Chang

This is kind of a fine dining Chinese restaurant. It’s nice to come for a family/friends gathering. The price is a bit high but with good service and good food! I love their shrimp & pork siu mai definitely a must ordered dish. 🤤

+2

Cristina Olano

A Friend took us to Tai Pan for lunch. The place is well decorated inside. The Staff very pleasant. The food is very delicious. There are dim sum dishes that were a first for me. The price point is good for this area. We will be back once back in Palo Alto.

The food was really good. The restaurant is clean and the service is great. However, I noticed that they charged us for tea even though we didn’t order it.

Not too many vegetarian options. Service can be better. Had to wait a while before someone asked us about getting a drink.

The variety and quality of the dim sum here is not bad. But the price is absurdly high for what it is. Given the lack of other nearby dim sum places, as well as the generally inflated Palo Alto price, I supposed I shouldn't be surprised.

I first have to say that the food was pretty good. The service was extremely cold and unfriendly. I felt like my waiter was a snooty butler who got us everything efficiency, but with an indifferent attitude. I also felt like the cost was too high for the quality even though it was a decent meal.

I haven't eaten there yet... I live in Texas and am coming to the Bay Area in the summer... casually checked out the dim sum restaurant selection and found Tai Pan... saw an order of Sui Mai for $5.8! Are things really that expensive out west?! We're talking about an order of 4 dumplings roughly the size of a hard boiled egg yolk each, right? I am sure dim sum restaurants in the Bay Area are collectively better than Texas', but an order of Sui Mai costs half that in Texas. I am not complaining (again, I haven't been to Tai Pan yet)... just trying to understand if it's typical in the Bay Area.

The quality is of the food is excellent. The dishes are executed with finesse. However we waited about 45 minutes for the Chinese broccoli.

m sun

Bamboo mushroom soup hardly had any bamboo mushroom. All stir fried meat dishes that we ordered had nearly-raw vegetables. Steamed rice was dry and hard. Shanghai Crab was a Dungeness WITHOUT its body meat. 6 people spent close to $500 for an ordinary dinner. Oh, one more thing, tea was not free, and was charged per person for all persons, even though some of us ordered and drank ice water.

Hannah Jin

Heard this is an authentic dim sum restaurant , but it fell below my expectation. The rice rolls are not good while others are mediocre.

Jason Xiahou

Good, satisfying meal. Definitely not cheap but a good option for a nicer family gathering, and all of the food tasted like it had quality ingredients. Nice service, though a tad slow. My favorites were the pan fried pumpkin covered in salted egg yolk (typo on the menu) - that was something that I had never had before but it was fun to try, though pretty salty - and the steamed bean curd roll (but I’m always a sucker for that). I would pass on the soup dumplings - there was basically no soup despite the premium price.

Harsh Sharma

Items ordered: Mongolian beef Shrimp and pork siu mai Pecking duck with lotus bun Chowmein beef The Mongolian beef was good but oily. The chowmein and the siu mai were very average. The pecking duck with lotus bun tasted really good but had a slightly high price point for the quantity served. Service The servers were prompt but slightly impolite. They weren’t able to answer our queries about the dishes. Overall, I think the place was very costly compared to what the place had to offer. So feel free to skip! Note: You will be charged for the tea served at the start of the order. So politely refuse for the tea if you don’t want it.

Food is decent, but the woman who handles the front of house is downright rude. We've been eating here for years, but I've had it with the stuck up attitude of the staff. Done.

Waited for a long time for food. A little pricey. Edit: Come here for the second time. Still very slow and the waiter is so rude. He needs to go back to school to learn what service is.

We ordered : Flounder Two Taste (Fried and Sauteed with Vegetable) Tofu with Duet Mushroom Mixed Vegetable Fried Brown Rice Mushroom dumpling. My husband was disappointed by Flounder - too oily - not well prepared, tasteless vegetables. We didn’t like the vegetable fried rice. The tufo was mediocre. I will not go back and certainly will not recommend it to anyone.

We ordered : Shrimp dumpling Pork bun Lobster fried rice, this was an expensive special Order, not in the menu. I chewed little Pieces of lobster shell with fried rice, bad and lobster meat was dry and not soft. This was my one of favorite one but not any more. Buns and dumplings were average.

The food is delicious but BEWARE of the menu! I ordered from Doordash and picked, among other dishes, the “sticky rice mixed chicken in lotus leaf” only to find when I opened it that it also contained shrimp and pork, neither of which I can eat! Even worse, when I called to ask why it’s not noted on the menu, I was met with a very rude and unhelpful response that made it clear they don’t value customer safety. Will not be returning, unfortunately.

The staff are very rude with dashers and ignore them, even they don’t allow to wait them inside the restaurant.

Very fancy looking Chinese restaurant but the dim sum (點心）were very average and did not match the setting. The xiaolongbao (小籠包）looked very deformed and has a very thick doughy wrapping. The other dim sums I tried were not bad, but do not meet expectation.

Impossible to get in touch with them. Their phone number is non functioning.

They really don’t know how to respect their customers, no knowledge about the language just ignore the customer and walk away

Awful. One of the worst Chinese restaurants I’ve had the displeasure to visit. And the most disgusting surroundings: dark, with furniture piled up in the second dining room and the hallway leading to the restrooms. Sweet and sour pork: too sweet and bland. Kung pao chicken: noticeable lack of variety of vegetables, and also bland. We had a large group and paid about $50 per person. And half of our group was children! Outrageous. No alcohol, just plain water and green tea. If you have a group of 6 or more people, 20% is automatically added to the bill. But don’t you dare think that the service is good as a result. Oh no. “Give me your money and get out!“ was the attitude of our waiter. Quite the opposite of good service is what we got. The waiter, who is an an older gentleman, acts like you’re imposing on him. Well gee, I’m sorry mister that you are only getting $120 to bring us a few plates of food, and a little tea and some water. Last time I checked $120 per hour is a pretty good wage even with inflation. The dessert menu is mediocre at best. Really bad service, bad food quality and bad atmosphere. My recommendation? You could drive all the way to the Richmond district in San Francisco, pick out any Chinese restaurant on Clement, and it will be 50 times as good and less than half the cost of Taipan. So even if you have a gas guzzler and pay for parking you’ll come out way ahead. I’m not ever going to this place again. NEVER. EVER . AGAIN. Zero stars ⭐️, stay away.

My family and friends were treated quite rudely. We had several black guests. The waitress delivered the food and was not seen again until it was time for the check.

Easy to reserve a table online for a lunch in the weekend. That is the only reason I will rate it for one star (if not, I will rate for zero star) The food is at the average level. The service was really really bad, especially for one waiter who is about 50 years old. It seems that he is the boss. Otherwise, if I am the boss of the restaurant, I will fire him for sure. When we wanted to order something and asked for suggestion, he was very rude and not patient. Everyone was scared. While there was only bad service, we were charged 18% service fee (tip) automatically at the end !!!!!! Hope you not try it. However, if you try and get bad service, you must ask to reduce the tip rate.

Worst experience ever. Extremely overpriced for mediocre food, and dishonest service!! Just four dishes came out $200ish for 4 people! Arrived and ordered at 7pm, and food didn’t come out until 1.5 hours later. There were not that many customers that night and ALL the other tables around us were waiting as well and nobody got their food! The waiter was extremely slow and didn’t serve at all. Didn’t even come by to say anything about when would the food come out!! He deserves no tips. WARNING: the waiter even changed and doubled the amount of tips I left on the receipt when I checked my credit card bill the next day. DISGUSTING!! Will NEVER EVER come back.

Once upon a time, this place had lovely dimsums and food. Not any more. Now it is just another over-priced restaurant which will continue to be in business because of their patio. We had dimsums there this past weekend - they were average at best, small portion-sizes and the dough was very thick. The Shangahi soup dumpling was a disspointment. The meat was undercooked and lacked flavour. The XO lamb - the meat was not fresh , and it had more greens which were under-cooked as a filler than meat. A meal for us two ladies was $80 and we were not even that full. Service was also very slow - and we had to constantly flag the waitstaff down - not what is expected from a 'high-end' place. Lots of other places in Mountain View which do much better for Asian food.

Never go there! Horrible water taste. Broken and dried dim sums. Greasy and cheap fried shrimps. Not fully cooked rice. Very low amount at an outrageous price!! But service was pretty goo

Waited over 40 minutes for my 干炒牛河. When I asked the waiter, he said it would take another 10+ minutes. I ended up canceling the order and leaving hungry. Disappointing

If you want to impress people who never been to Chinese restaurants, then you can bring them here. But if you are looking for a good food with reasonable price, look else where. Don't get me wrong, the service and the atmosphere is great, but they charge an arm and a leg for a mediocre food. Over priced item.

This used to be my top dim sum restaurant of all time and would visit two times per week. They used to have the best hot chili sauce but because of cost and demand they changed their recipe and now it is way too hot so that demand has dropped and they saved a few dollars. Very short sighted. Food is great but the hot sauce is horrible.

Natthaya M Gerasymenko

The service felt unfriendly and inconsiderate. While waiting for our table, I sat on an empty chair and was told by one of the staffs to move and not to sit and this chair then she placed a paper bag on the chair instead. I’m 34 weeks pregnant. I told her I just needed a place to sit down and she told me then sit somewhere else. So this was especially disappointing.