Diamond Palace (Rolando)

In those days when; other than fine dining and out of town places, I did my best to do multiple visits before doing a post, I had tons of "one-and-done" photos that ended up in the recycle folder. But since around 2022, I've been doing some single visits. As to how many visits; well, it depends on price, and possibly if I'm on the fence about a place. Also, with JJ around, many of those meals will be single visit based as well. And in some cases; like Diamond Palace (and a few more), so much time elapsed between visits, that I decided to start "the clock over again".

I first noticed Diamond Palace was taking the place of Lucky Star back in May of 2022. Back at the beginning of 2023, the Missus and I paid a visit….and then just kinda forgot about things. Here are some photos from that visit.

While it was nice seeing Michael, the former manager of Golden Island, we really weren't impressed. Though I did tell myself to revisit in the couple of months; which became two years! So, those photos were headed for the junk pile…..but…..the Missus was asking about some dim sum. So, we went and (re)visited Diamond Palace and while I did delete most of the photos from that first visit, I had kept a few…which you see above.

And so, it was on a recent weekend morning that we headed to Diamond Palace arriving at around 1030. The place was pretty busy!

The dining room space is large, but only takes up a part of the huge building. DP serves Dim Sum all day, but we quickly noticed that there was only two carts hovering around and the offerings were limited.

We got some of the Tripe, which was undercooked, super hard, and had not absorbed any flavor.

Our favorite item by far were the Shrimp Siu Mai; while the wrapper was quite typical; the shrimp filling was tender, sweet, nicely flavored.

  These seemed a bit over-stuffed, but heck, that shrimp was so good, I ain't complaining about proportion this time around.

The Bean Curd Roll with Abalone Sauce was a disappointment. Mushy and other than being super salty, lacking in flavor.

As was the Chicken Feet, which the Missus said was too hard and lacking in flavor as well.

The Roast Duck was pretty good.

The skin was on the rubbery side; but the fat had been nicely rendered. The flavor on the milder side, the flesh nice and tender. This did well as leftovers, brushed with the duck fat-sauce and put into the air fryer.

We saw Salted Fish and Chicken with Eggplant under the "Chef's Signature" portion of the menu so we ordered it.

We took a taste and the first thing both the Missus and I said was "where's the salted fish?" The dish lacked the umami-savoriness and the eggplant was undercooked; as we enjoy versions where the eggplant holds it's shape, but then melts as it hits your tongue. This was one of the blandest versions we've had.

So, a mixed bag, but the siu mai was quite good. We returned with a slight "strategy" in mind. This time the place was empty when we arrived. And based on how things were; there was only one cart at a time patrolling the dining room.

What was our strategy? Well, we'd try to stick with mostly shrimp-seafood dim sum items.

And while it was rather lean pickins' at least the basics were available.

The Shrimp Siu Mai was just as good this time around.

We also got the Har Gow.

While the wrapper was on the thicker and rubbery side of the scale; the shrimp in this was also plump and tasty.

With seafood in mind, we decided to get the Seafood Pan Fried Noodle. The shrimp was perfectly cooked, sweet, and tender. The fish had been nicely velveted and almost melted in one's mount.

The sauce as quite mild, with just a touch of white pepper and savoriness, but that really helped to make seafood the headliner. Unfortunately, the noodles were undercooked, almost plastic like. Too bad, because this dish was "so close".

What wasn't even "close" was the House Special Roast Chicken. Looking at the photo on the menu, I got serious "Fat Fat Chicken vibes".

Sadly, the skin was on the rubbery side, the seasoning very mild, not much going on, and worst of all, the flesh was dry and stringy.

Not a great way to end the meal.

I do think we'll return to Diamond Palace for the Siu Mai, Har Gow, and related dishes. Maybe they'll have a better variety of items available. And perhaps some duck. But as a whole, stick with seafood items.

You can read Soo's post on Diamond Palace here.

Diamond Palace
3993 54th St.
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 10am – 9pm
Sat – Sun 930am – 9pm