Review Lau's Restaurant - Rivonia

My husband and I had a wonderful dinner here! The service was ok. One server was really nice and the other not so much. We loved the food though! Our favorite was the shrimp dumplings, but the fried pork dumplings, wonton soup, sizzling beef, and salt and pepper calamari were also fabulous! We would definitely recommend eating here! We didn’t have a bad dish!

Lau's is a nice restaurant to go to for authentic Cantonese dim sum. I particularly like their radish cake, pineapple buns and steam milk pudding. However, I was disappointed with their har gau and siu mai. I would still recommend this restaurant for dim sum though.

What an Experience! An introduction to Chinese cuisine! Was awesome!

Good food.. medium to high price. They now have a hot steam station with dim sum and other little tappas ready to pick and eat. You can still order off menu. Confusing talking to the busy waiters. Bill makes no sense all in chinese. Odd table layout and style. Not romantic quiet or upscale but food is good. Mostly asian customers.

Good variety of 'dim sum' with new ones that I haven't tried before. Yum Cha does get very busy during peak hours so best to book or come early to avoid long waiting periods. Service is 'ok' and can definitely be improved upon.

Good dim sum buffet on Saturday lunch, the choice may not be as extensive as the place in Cyrildene chinatown, most of the favourite are there. Usually busy go in early, the various dim sum are excellent, like the prawn har gau and pork siu mai. The menu is extensive, the special fried rice is highly recommended as well as the calamari black beans. Charsiu was good. Reasonable R30 corkage, limited choice of wines but some good offerings like Alto Estate Rouge, well priced. Dinner is usually quieter, ample parking. Highly recommended, in fact it is the best Asian restaurant in Sandton area outside of Cyrildene. #MiguelChan

Great place to have dim sum. All the food are good and well made. The price is a bit high so it's not a place I will be coming weekly but I will come back occasionally.

Pleasant experience and good food. Only reason for 1 less star is that everything is in Chinese so can’t understand menu and the bill. Staff also chinese so lots lost in translation. Food was awesome though.

Fantastic yum cha / dim sum brunch.

After searching far and wide for good Chinese food in jo'burg we finally found Lau's. Good, authentic Chinese and variety in the menu. Portions are generous as well

The most authentic Dim Sum ( Yam Cha) outside of Cyrildene, seriously happy that I don't need to travel all the way to Bruma for this. Of course I would also consider Lau's Dim Sum to be superior to those in China Town

Great service and food was excellent

If the Chinese residents eat there..you know you are going to get genuine Chinese food & we did..sooo yummy..different tastes Will go again. Service was also spot on

food is great. Service is a bit slow due to too many people. But they actually remember what you asked for and bring them eventually.

The food is always good, both dinners off the menu and yum cha on Sundays! Never been disappointed.

Very tasty dim sum. Great selection, always coming fresh crom kitchen.

Best Yumcha (Chinese tapas) in Jozi by far!! Fresh, authentic and delicious as always. What more could you ask for... Definitely one of my must stops whenever I'm in town.

Very authentic and traditional. No americanised dim sum to be seen. We went for the dim sum buffet and loved the overall experience. Please make very sure to book. Two settings available on Sunday.

Terible staff but the best chinese we ate in town

The food is amazingly good! Overall the experience was good, the food came out slightly slow as they are still new and are trying to adjust ☺

Real Chinese restaurant as in not westernized food. <br/><br/>The service is nice, polite and efficient but could be more attentive.

Great Chinese Breakfast !!!<br/><br/>Evening menu good try a private room and order chilli beef, prawns and calamari dishes ... Great<br/>Service a bit slow  but food good

Authentic, tasty dim sum and Chinese food. Lots of local Chinese folk frequent this place, so to me that speaks volumes of the quality :) it's not 5 star because bill is in Chinese and most of the waiters are rather indifferent. But then with such great food, I don't mind too much.

So I have been in search of a new Chinese food place for awhile now. Since it was my friends birthday over the past weekend, we decided it was a good time to try out Lau's based on the recommendation of another friend.<br/><br/>Oh boy are we glad we did. This is a really authentic Chinese place. Complete with actual Chinese people there. No sweet and sour chicken, chow mein or chow faan in sight. So you know it has to be good.<br/><br/>We had a wide variety of Dim Sum and it was all incredible. The real highlight was the Peking Duck. You get some meat with the skin; as well as the duck bones, made to your liking. Heaps of sauce and pancakes. A real treat.<br/><br/>But be warned. This is the kind of place where you will never stop eating because it is so good!<br/><br/>The only downside is the service. It was alittle inconsistent and the whole place feels like it needs a good clean.<br/><br/>But overall Lau's is now my new favourite place!

I popped into Lau's to try out their food. It was late afternoon and I wanted to order a takeaway. The manager turned me away and said that they were closed. I've never been back

To be honest, the food was great but in terms of service, it is usually pretty much self service. The beef cubes were tender and the Peking duck has to be one of the great highlights here.

Decent dim sum every Sunday! Good amount of selection to choose from. The prices leans towards the expensive side and lack of service; thus be prepared to be proactive to get your own food.

A wide variety of Dim Sum to savour. Assortment of sweet and savoury dishes to cater for everyone's tastes. Self service is the norm for the dim sum menu.

If you're looking for an authentic spot for Yum Cha on a Sunday, Lau’s delivers. It’s a self service affair (don’t expect much when it comes to service) where you head up to a table filled with mini bamboo steamers and plates of delicious little tapas style Chinese foods. There is a lot to choose from and it’s all authentic and delicious. The bao, dumplings and spicy cucumber salads were stand outs, as well as my favourite congee soup. Be warned though, it all starts adding up quite quickly and we managed to rack up a bill of R400 for three people.

Make sure you come over a weekend and try the buffet food. Amazing dim sum! Authentic desserts. We couldn't believe we randomly walked in this place and it was packed! Super nice service.

I finally made it to my namesake this past weekend and it certainly is an authentic Chinese (and Dim Sum) restaurant so I am going to start with the fact that I love the name and as such I desperately wanted to LOVE this Rivonia Boulevard local! :) <br/><br/>As I sat down, I selected the Jasmine tea which is really delicious. On looking around, I did notice that they do also stock some wines (including Nederburg wines) and other spirits although I wasn't offered any.<br/><br/>On Sundays, Lau's Restaurant has a buffet type lunch set up and despite asking the waitress (who looked irritated, said she would come back and didn't), I honestly could not even tell you what I ate I am afraid. <br/><br/>Service: 1/5 - As service goes, it was pretty awful. The waitress that I got, had no interest in introducing herself, assisting with drinks, answering any queries that I had on the dishes from the buffet table. I almost felt in the way for occupying a table to be honest. <br/>Food: 3/5 - The most authentic dim sum outside of Cyrildene that you will probably find, and good value-for-money although I still could not tell you what I had from the buffet table. I'd like to think that I am pretty adventurous with options like pepper & salt duck chin and cold jellyfish, I honestly could have eaten anything yesterday to be honest, but apart from my pot stickers I did not enjoy what I got on this first visit. <br/>Ambiance: 2/5 - Think round glass tables, gaudy plastic flowers in vases, white couches, black couches, different color walls, waterfall paintings everywhere and shiny light fittings. There is just so much happening in these rooms that it is an assault on the senses. <br/><br/>Was it an experience? Yes. <br/>Would I return? No. <br/><br/>*Recommendation: If you can deal with everything else, you will certainly find an authentic Chinese experience at this local Rivonia spot and the prices aren't bad either! <br/><br/>For more, find me on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter: LaurasWorldza

Go for the dim sum only. Don't expect much in the form of service. Loud and bustling with Chinese families, so must say something about the authenticity of their food.

As it's been awhile since having dim sim, we decided to get some at Lau's restaurant.<br/><br/>Firstly the food: <br/>We tried multiple dishes including some starters of wonton soup, chicken and corn soup and cold jellyfish. The starters were great and the jellyfish was unique, interesting and spicy. Ordering dim sum, we got pork spare ribs, pork bao, prawn dumplings and fried buns. My favorite was the bao and prawn dumplings. Sadly some (Chinese sausage and baked BBQ pork buns) were not available. The food though was pretty good. Interesting flavours and steamed/fried perfectly. The portions were suitably sized and while we didn't have main meals, the dim sum was enough to satisfy us.<br/><br/>On cost and service:<br/>The service was a let down as most of the staff couldn't describe the meals and menu/cost for the dim sum weren't in English. Additionally we waited awhile for service and the bill even though was only a few tables of customers. While the food was good, the pricing was high, especially when it came to the drinks.<br/><br/>Overall it was a good experience but I'm not sure if I would go back unless they notch up the service.

After hearing on this group about Lau we got a booking at the first seating yesterday. Lau has a dim sum buffet on weekends and is in Rivonia right next to the McDonald's. It was such a surreal experience, it felt like we were in China. Amazing authentic food and friendly staff. We had a lot of different dim dim, quite a few beers and ordered noodles from the menu and the bill came to R160 per head, including tip.

Hi folks, this is a delayed posting of a visit with a friend to this Dim Sum place.  Took place last week Sunday over the semi-long weekend.<br/><br/>Decided to induct my Portuguese Chef friend into the wonderful world of Dim Sum by taking him to this establishment.   As everyone knows, Dim Sum is dime a dozen in Johannesburg, but authentic Dim Sum is hard to find outside of Cyrildene.  No no, I'm not talking about those so called avant-garde places which serve cheese and spinach har gou and the likes, bleh!!!<br/><br/>Since the demise of Regal Palace in Linksfield Terrace, the only other decent Dim Sum restaurant is Shun De.    But Shun De, I feel can be somewhat of a hit and miss place.  Sometimes good, sometimes very average in the food quality.  And the service, well, that's a different story.  I recall some weeks back when I took a friend there for Dim Sum brunch, she was visibly shocked and taken aback when the waitress just plonked the tea pot (with panache I might add) on the table and walked away.<br/><br/>Nevertheless, back to the review of Lau's.  There is secure parking behind the building where Lau's is. Just  turn where you would turn if you are going to McD's.   But I have seen some patrons park their cars at McD's car park too.<br/><br/>When we arrived there at 1pm, lunch service was in full swing and there were no empty tables save one which was right by the entrance which I politely declined.  The waitress then suggested to "tap toy" (no, we don't tap any toys here) but that's Cantonese speak for share a table which is the norm in Hong Kong Dim Sum places and of course where I come from in Singapore.  <br/><br/>The 8 seater round table that we would be sharing with was already occupied by a young couple.  We sat at the other side and gave a running commentary to my Chef friend on the whys and wherefores of the etiquette of Dim Sum dining.  <br/><br/>After ordering Jasmine tea (and stopping my friend from ordering a cool drink) and it was delivered albeit with less plonk and more grace, we got up with our Order Chit and proceeded to where the food was displayed and dished.  <br/><br/>For the first round (referring to the pic), we ordered all the steamed and boiled items.  It included Tripe (for Chef, not me) the ever popular and Pork & Century Egg Congee and Char Siu Pau, etc.  <br/><br/>Chef was particularly impressed with the tripe as it was done very Asian style with pieces of Daikon in it.  I helped myself to the Daikon while Chef devoured the tripe which was done in a slightly spicy gravy.  <br/><br/>The congee was nice, but the Restaurant used pieces of pork instead of minced pork (which I prefer).  But the flavor of the congee was nice still.  The quintessential Siu Mai, Har Gou and Char Siu Pau were good. <br/><br/>For second rounds, we ordered more of the fried and baked stuff.  Of special mention was the Char Siu So.  The flaky pastry that surrounded the sweet Char Siu filling was outstanding, and easily the most sumptuous offering that we picked.<br/><br/>All in all the restaurant was really promising and the quality of the food in my opinion is of a higher grade than that of Shun De.  I see a lot of families there and as usual, they would be ordering items from the a la carte menu to supplement the Dim Sum dishes and as we were seated quite near the exit from the Kitchen, we could glimpse the dishes being carried out and they do look quite amazing.<br/><br/>A gem of a place to have been discovered and I am pretty sure I would be there again real soon to savor more of the delicious Dim Sum dishes they have to offer!

After a long search for good yum cha in SA finally found this little gem. Dim sum and dumplings were deliciously authentic. Almost everything contains pork as a filling but the flavours vary tremendously. Caution: eat slowly and pace yourself as these tiny morsels are quite rich and filling. Great value for a large family.

Terrible. Rude service. Paid R408 for 2 plates of cashew nut chicken, 2 bowls of steamed rice and 2 soft drinks. An all round shocking experience.

Dim sum heaven if you go for he Yum Cha on a Saturday or Sunday morning (from 11). You go and select what you want from the counter (as a non-Chinese speaker, this aids communication greatly) it gets brought to your table and marked on the menu sheet. Apart from the fantastic dimsum, there are steamed buns, congee, spring rolls, duck. Many more Chinese delicacies like tripe and chicken feet. This is all served with a. Never ending pot of jasmine tea.

Very good restaurant for a great dim sum experience. Nice variety of rare dishes such as suckling pig and other dim sum. Fresh ingredients cooked the traditional Cantonese way. Lovely Saturday and Sunday dim sum buffet. Really a must try.

Lau's in Rivonia is a real hidden gem! Amazing delicious authentic dim sum. In fact it's as good as China. If you a fan of good Chinese you will not be disappointed. Sunday is the highly recommended dim sum brunch