Ever seen “cheap” and Los Altos in the same sentence? Here you go: Cho’s Mandarin Dim Sum is very cheap and located in Los Altos.
Cho’s beloved potstickers, cash-only menu and utilitarian charm came to downtown Los Altos in February. Owners Daisy and Cho Yu had operated their hole-in-the-wall on California Avenue in Palo Alto for 35 years until last year, when their lease was not renewed.
Fans will appreciate three major improvements about the Los Altos location: easier parking, sidewalk tables and a Facebook page.
As always, Cho’s Mandarin Dim Sum is mostly about takeout. There are no carts clattering around a dining room, no dining room at all, no pointing to the item you want. If you want to eat inside, there are two small tables and nothing to look at but the kitchen and a handwritten sign clarifying an important issue: “Potstickers are boiled and fried right in the pan for a crispy underside. They are also bigger. Dumplings are smaller and are only steamed.”
Out on the sidewalk, the city has lined First Street with tables and chairs, shade trees and arbors. Eat out there, or somewhere quickly. This is not food that appreciates a long wait.
As always, Cho’s menu is simplicity itself. There is one menu, posted at the front of the restaurant, with eight items, two combination plates and no paper menus to add to your recycling.
The signature pork potstickers are three for $3, six for $6. Chicken potstickers are three for $3.25, six for $6.25. Right out of the stir-fry pan, the crisp-bottomed won-ton wrapper enfolds mildly spiced chopped meat and begs to be dipped in vinegar, soy or chili sauce.
To my mind, stick with the potstickers. Other places have higher quality, higher prices and dining rooms. At Su Hong To Go in Menlo Park, pot stickers are two for $2.90.
If you want to branch out, consider the No. 4 combo — $6 for one veggie egg roll, two pork buns and three pork potstickers — or the No. 6, which gives you chicken pot stickers with your egg roll and pork buns for $6.25. (One wonders what happened to combos 1, 2, 3 and 5.)
Potstickers also are available frozen. If you’re going to wait more than half an hour to eat, doughy and gummy food is your fate. Microwaving only makes it worse. Better to buy frozen pot stickers and pan-fry at home.
Shrimp dumplings, three for $2.50, are soft and bland. Barbecued pork buns, three for $3, are very bready. One veggie egg roll is $1.25. On my first visit, the egg roll was crunchy and tasty. Second time around it was way too oily.
Shanghai pork balls are three for $2.50. Note that these are not soup dumplings, just chopped pork in purse-shaped, steamed won-ton skins.
As with the menu, the beverage list keeps it simple: bottled water and soft drinks ($1.25).
If there’s a cheaper restaurant in Los Altos, I can’t think of it. A person can dine heartily and quickly at Cho’s, then have time and money left for splurging on vegan sorbet or salted butterscotch ice cream at Tin Pot Creamery next-door.
Cho’s Mandarin Dim Sum
209 First St., Los Altos
650-815-9082
facebook.com/chosrestaurant
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. daily
Reservations: no
Credit cards: no
Parking: Street and parking lots
Alcohol: no
Children: yes
Takeout: mostly
Catering: no
Outdoor dining: yes
Party and banquet facilities: no
Noise level: low
