Golden Unicorn is one of the few restaurants still doing cart service for dim sum. I’ll be honest as a non-Chinese Asian person, I usually avoid these kind of places because I feel a little bit at the mercy of the cart ladies. It’s exactly this way here, but it does make it fun. And the experience is more about the fun than the food. The dim sum is ok. Not super hot sometimes, but it happens…it’s getting wheeled around the dining room. My usual faves at dim sum are basic – har gow (we did have a pretty good shrimp dumpling, but not sure if it was har gow), sui mai (solid) and turnip cake (not very good – not fried enough so lacked the crispy end bits. The service is what you expect and I don’t mind it, but if you’re unsure…service is pretty businesslike without a lot of niceties. There are better dim sum restaurants around, but still fun. If you’re going for food…I would head to Sunset Park or Flushing.

One thing I like about Golden Unicorn is how reliable it is. I mean, I’ve been coming here occasionally for 15+ years, and I never had an experience that was less than good. This bi-level Chinatown classic is located in the less touristic side of Chinatown east of Bowery. Because of that, lines here may be less crazy than at other dim sum places. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be a line, but if you arrive here no later than 12 noon your chances of scoring a table in a reasonable timeframe are higher than at other places. On a recent visit on a Saturday we arrived at 12 noon and our party of 3 was seated immediately As always, part of the fun of dim sum is ordering like there’s no tomorrow and sampling as many different things as your stomach can handle. All the dim sum dishes were delicious. The only dish I did not particularly like were the xiao long bao/soup dumplings; then again, maybe this is not a dish you necessary order at a dim sum place. Being on the fancier side of dim sum, prices are higher than at other dim sum places, but still very affordable. Unlike most dim sum restaurants, dim sum here is also served at dinner, although I’ve only been here for lunch.

The restaurant decor was elegant and traditional. There were cart services, which was so cool, and there was so much to try. We had to be mindful, not to eat too much all at once. I liked the egg custard, which was soft and lightly sweet. The mushroom and tufu dish were unbelievably savoury.