Tim Ho Wan has soft opened Wednesday, May 8 in Irvine

eyephone said:
Just me. I?m not going to wait in line that long. (does not sound like fun, but some people might like that)
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TBF..it's a soft opening of a brand new place with lots of publicity.  It was the same for 85 Deg for a long time. 

We put our names down on Saturday night and could have gotten seated with a 40 minute wait..many of the people on the list didn't stay. 
 
Compressed-Village said:
Went there earlier today. 11:17 AM to be exact. Use the Mcgaw entrance and parked at the church lot to avoid the chaos. Made my way thru the alley on foot without any commotion. Then as I get closer to the dumpling place, people already forming a long line outside and stretched all the way to BCD tofu house.

Given up on the ideas of eatin? dumpling, I went to the sushi revolving place for quick few plate to tie me over. 11:55 done and walk back to see what with the line at thw. The line still have not moved much. I decided to grab the menu to see pricing and option and use the bath room.

LO and BEHOLD, about half of the restaurant tables were unoccupied. There were plenty of workers yet the line is increasingly longer. And....people willing to wait. It as if that?s their purpose for the day is to stand in line no matter what to eat dumpling, no matter what it takes.

Then I had a flash back of the younger me, back in the day going out to clubbing and the line were horrendously long yet when you finally get inside, you like the only few people roaming around.

Is this intentionally done to create a hype? I think so. I can?t critique on the food yet because there is no way in hell I am going to kill 2 hours of my day to sample their food.
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It's a soft opening...they probably was more focused on getting good food out rather than rushing. 
 
irvinehomeowner said:
So what is the pricing here since it?s Michelin rated?
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About $5-7 per dish. Food was very good like I mentioned earlier.

And to the people wondering why the restaurant was only half full with a line...it makes sense from an operations perspective to space out your customers so you can buffer your variability. If you suddenly had 50 tables sitting simultaneously and ordering food it would overwhelm the kitchen. Then those 50 will get up and you'll seat another 50 together.
 
eyephone said:
You may be right. But the optics of half the restaurant full and the long wait doesn?t make sense.
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Well their screw up is having people actually wait in line instead of starting up the Yelp waitlist right away.
 
I was checking out the google map reviews on this place.  3.4 stars is pretty shitty, but why do people keep saying it's Michelin starred?
There are only 2 Michelin starred restaurants in Orange County, and they are Hanare in the LAB, and a Mexican taco place.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tim+Ho+Wan/@33.6880799,-117.8346074,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!1m6!3m5!1s0x80dcdf605e5f2d9d:0x618035a57ef23e8a!2sTim+Ho+Wan!8m2!3d33.6880788!4d-117.8340602!3m6!1s0x80dcdf605e5f2d9d:0x618035a57ef23e8a!8m2!3d33.6880788!4d-117.8340602!9m1!1b1

Michelin guide just updated for LA area recently.
 
zubs said:
I was checking out the google map reviews on this place.  3.4 stars is pretty shitty, but why do people keep saying it's Michelin starred?
The only 2 Michelin starred restaurants in Orange County are Hanare in the LAB, and a mexican place.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tim+Ho+Wan/@33.6880799,-117.8346074,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!1m6!3m5!1s0x80dcdf605e5f2d9d:0x618035a57ef23e8a!2sTim+Ho+Wan!8m2!3d33.6880788!4d-117.8340602!3m6!1s0x80dcdf605e5f2d9d:0x618035a57ef23e8a!8m2!3d33.6880788!4d-117.8340602!9m1!1b1
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People do this all the time...TWH has two Michelin star restaurants in HK.  Just like Ding Tai Fung's flagship restaurant is Michelin starred.  The rest of the restaurants are not. 
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTop...m_Ho_Wan_branches_are_Michelin-Hong_Kong.html

Just as remainder that the people who run TWH in US may not even be the same group as the ones in HK...it could be an investment group who bought the franchise rights.
 
My wife went the other day, said there was no wait in the afternoon. I liked their signature pork buns. She's from HK, she said she'd go back.
 
HMart said:
My wife went the other day, said there was no wait in the afternoon. I liked their signature pork buns. She's from HK, she said she'd go back.
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Not to change the topic. What are you or your wife thoughts regrding the Hk protests?
 
HMart said:
My wife went the other day, said there was no wait in the afternoon. I liked their signature pork buns. She's from HK, she said she'd go back.
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I was there at lunch time (1 pm) last week and there was no wait. Two months ago, I waited two hours at 11 am. At this rate, THW won't last long. Food is too weird. Shumai with gogi berry and pork bun dusted with granulated sugar? Really?
 
THW is pretty terrible. The food is NOT good and WAYYY overpriced.  It's definitely not going to survive at Diamond Jamboree
 
The food are ok but not up to par for what they are charging.

My biggest disappointment was the limited selections in their menu compare to other Dim Sum restaurants.  Is this how THW are in other locations?  Maybe I?m just overhyped and was expecting a full Dim Sum menu. 

 
^ i agree, i don't think the food is "not good", just overpriced for what it is, i wouldn't go back...
 
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