Best Chinese Food & Dim Sum in St Louis: A Local's Guide
Revised July 17, 2026
Where is the best Chinese food in St. Louis?
The Olive Boulevard corridor in University City is St. Louis’s authentic Chinese engine. For weekend dim sum carts, Wonton King and LuLu Seafood & Dim Sum lead. For regional cooking: Cate Zone (Dongbei/Northeastern, U City and Chesterfield), Corner 17 (hand-pulled noodles, Delmar Loop), and Sze Chuan Cuisine (Sichuan). For hot pot, Tai Ke Shabu Shabu (Olivette), Umami Seasons, and Movoc (Loop). Don’t miss the St. Paul sandwich, a St. Louis Chinese-American original, at corner carryouts like Fortune Express. West County and the Metro East add Dynasty, 88 China, and more.
Keep reading ↓Chinese food in St. Louis is far richer than the takeout menu most of us grew up on. Drive the Olive Boulevard corridor through University City and Olivette and you’ll find weekend dim sum carts, hand-pulled noodles made behind glass, fiery Sichuan, Northeastern Chinese comfort food, and Taiwanese night-market snacks — a genuinely deep, authentic scene that rewards a little exploring.
And St. Louis has its own Chinese-American curiosity found almost nowhere else on earth: the St. Paul sandwich, an egg foo young patty on white bread with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and pickle, invented right here decades ago. It’s a local rite of passage, and we’ll tell you where to get one.
This guide covers the whole metro — the authentic Olive corridor, the Delmar Loop’s noodle and hot-pot spots, West County, St. Charles, and the Metro East — from proper dim sum to regional specialties to the beloved corner carryout. Grab some chopsticks and a pot of tea.
📌 Dim sum and dumpling fan? Keep this — and share it.
Bookmark this guide and send it to the friend who’s always up for dim sum, the group planning a weekend cart feast, or the coworker who’s never tried a St. Paul sandwich (a true St. Louis experience).
Every share points one more hungry person to a table worth the drive. That’s the whole idea.
Dim Sum: Where to Get It
Let’s start with the search everyone makes. For true weekend push-cart dim sum — where servers wheel around steamer baskets of shrimp dumplings, char siu bao, and egg tarts — the metro has two anchors, both on Olive in University City. Wonton King ($$) is a 40-year Cantonese institution that food writers have called the best Chinese in Missouri. LuLu Seafood & Dim Sum ($$) is the other classic cart house. For Cantonese baked goods and takeout dim sum trays, Wei Hong Bakery & Restaurant ($-$$) has Olive and South Grand locations. And for made-to-order Shanghai soup dumplings (xiao long bao) and Peking duck, Private Kitchen ($$-$$$) does reservation-only precision. Go on a weekend morning and come hungry.
Authentic Regional Chinese
Beyond dim sum, the Olive corridor is a tour of China’s regions. Cate Zone ($$) does soulful Dongbei (Northeastern) cooking — cumin lamb, dumplings, big-plate chicken — with a huge following and a second location in Chesterfield. On the Delmar Loop, Corner 17 ($-$$) makes hand-pulled and hand-shaved noodles behind glass, plus soup dumplings, and it’s always packed. For fiery Sichuan — mapo tofu, garlic eggplant, dry-fried green beans — Sze Chuan Cuisine ($$) on Olive delivers the real numbing heat. And for something different, Tai Ke ($$) in University City is the city’s Taiwanese spot, with popcorn chicken and beef noodle soup. This stretch of Olive is one of the best eating corridors in the metro.
Hot Pot
The interactive, cook-it-yourself joy of hot pot — a simmering pot of broth at your table for cooking thin-sliced meats, vegetables, and noodles — has a solid foothold here, concentrated around the Loop and Olivette. Tai Ke Shabu Shabu ($$) in Olivette does Taiwanese-style shabu with a night-market feel. In the Delmar Loop, Umami Seasons Hot Pot ($$) and Movoc ($$) both offer DIY hot pot for a fun, social, build-your-own meal. It’s the perfect group activity on a cold St. Louis night — gather friends, pick your broth, and cook your way through the meal together.
The St. Paul Sandwich: A St. Louis Original
Here’s a piece of edible St. Louis history. The St. Paul sandwich is a Chinese-American invention born right here — an egg foo young patty (a fried egg omelet with bean sprouts and minced onion) served on white bread with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and dill pickle. Local legend credits a cook at Park Chop Suey in Lafayette Square in the early 1940s, who named it after his Minnesota hometown — so, oddly, you essentially can’t find one in St. Paul. It’s a fixture of corner Chinese carryouts across the city; Fortune Express in South City is one reliable spot, and many neighborhood chop-suey counters make their own version. Try one at least once — it’s pure St. Louis.
Around the Metro
Good Chinese food spreads well past the city core. In West County, Dynasty ($$) has been a Manchester-and-Chesterfield standby for around three decades, and 88 China ($$) does multi-regional cooking in Chesterfield and St. Charles. In O’Fallon, MO, First Wok ($-$$) is the made-to-order St. Charles County pick, and in Brentwood, Joy Luck ($) covers the buffet craving. Across the river, China King ($) in Belleville and The Orient ($$) in Edwardsville — the latter open 30-plus years — keep the Metro East fed. Wherever you are, a good Chinese meal is close.
What St. Louis Chinese Does Best
A few genuine strengths define the scene. Weekend dim sum — the shared, cart-driven brunch of dumplings and small plates — is a real destination experience at Wonton King and LuLu. Regional authenticity is a strength thanks to the Olive corridor, where you can eat Dongbei, Sichuan, Cantonese, Shanghai, and Taiwanese within a few blocks. Hand-pulled noodles and soup dumplings shine at Corner 17 and Private Kitchen. Hot pot gives you an interactive group meal. And the St. Paul sandwich is a one-of-a-kind local original you can’t get anywhere else. The range here is genuinely impressive once you look past the takeout menu.
Understanding Dim Sum: How to Order
If dim sum is new to you, here’s the rhythm. It’s a weekend brunch tradition (usually late morning to early afternoon), meant to be shared with tea. At cart houses, servers wheel around steamer baskets and small plates; you simply point at what looks good and they mark your card, tallying the bill by the number of dishes. Must-tries include har gow (translucent shrimp dumplings), siu mai (pork-and-shrimp dumplings), char siu bao (fluffy BBQ pork buns), xiao long bao (soup dumplings), and egg tarts for dessert. Order a variety, share everything family-style, keep the tea coming, and don’t be shy about flagging down a cart. Half the fun is the grazing.
Chinese Bakeries & Sweet Endings
Don’t overlook the sweet and baked side of the scene. Cantonese bakeries like Wei Hong turn out soft custard-filled buns, flaky egg tarts, pineapple buns, and BBQ pork buns — perfect for grabbing on the way home or rounding out a dim sum haul. At dim sum itself, the classic finish is a warm egg tart (dan tat), its flaky shell cradling silky custard. You’ll also find bubble tea (boba) around the Loop and Olive corridors, and sesame balls, mango pudding, and almond cookies on many menus. These small sweet touches are an easy, delicious way to cap a Chinese meal — or a reason to make a bakery run all on its own.
How to Order Like a Regular
A few tips to eat well. For the authentic experience, head to the Olive corridor and order off the specials or the Chinese-language menu if there is one — that’s where the good stuff lives. Go for dim sum on a weekend and get there before the mid-day rush. Try a regional specialty you haven’t had — Dongbei cumin lamb, a proper mapo tofu, or hand-pulled noodles — instead of defaulting to General Tso’s. Round up friends for hot pot so you can share broths and ingredients. And do yourself a favor and grab a St. Paul sandwich from a corner carryout at least once. The more adventurously you order, the better St. Louis Chinese food gets.
A Note on What’s Closed
One honest update for anyone hunting an old favorite: a couple of well-regarded spots have closed. Shu Feng, a longtime Sichuan spot on Olive, has shut its doors, as has Guo Bin on Delmar. The good news is the Olive corridor remains deep and well-populated, with plenty of thriving rooms to take their place. As always, a quick check before a special trip is smart — and when a Chinese kitchen wins you over, become a regular and spread the word. These family-run spots run on loyal customers.
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Chinese food is one of the deepest, most rewarding corners of the St. Louis dining scene — if you know where to look. For the bigger picture, see our guide to the best restaurants in St. Louis — then go chase down a weekend dim sum cart or a St. Paul sandwich. The best Chinese food in this metro isn’t on the takeout menu taped to your fridge — it’s on Olive Boulevard, in a steamer basket or a bowl of hand-pulled noodles, waiting for you to be a little more adventurous.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called dim sum?
Dim sum is a Cantonese phrase often translated as “touch the heart.” The small portions were originally meant to lightly satisfy rather than fill you up — snacks to enjoy alongside tea at teahouses. Over centuries the tradition grew into the beloved shared brunch it is today, a spread of dumplings, buns, and small plates. In St. Louis, Wonton King and LuLu on Olive Boulevard are the classic weekend cart houses.
Is dim sum the same as dumplings?
Not quite — all dumplings can be dim sum, but dim sum is much broader than dumplings. Dim sum refers to the whole style of eating: a variety of small shared plates enjoyed with tea. That includes dumplings like har gow and siu mai, but also steamed BBQ pork buns, rice-noodle rolls, sticky rice in lotus leaf, egg tarts, and more. Think of it as a category of many small dishes, not one item.
How to eat dim sum for beginners?
Go with a group on a weekend, sit down, and order tea. At cart houses, servers wheel steamer baskets around the room — just point at what looks good and they’ll mark your card. Share everything family-style, using serving chopsticks where provided. Start with classics like har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai, and char siu bao, order a few at a time, and finish with an egg tart. Don’t overthink it — grazing is the point.
What is the most ordered Chinese takeout dish?
In the U.S., the most-ordered Chinese takeout items tend to be dishes like fried rice, lo mein, dumplings, and crowd-pleasers such as General Tso’s chicken and orange chicken. They’re tasty and familiar — but in St. Louis, the real reward is venturing past them into the authentic regional cooking on the Olive corridor: Dongbei cumin lamb, Sichuan mapo tofu, hand-pulled noodles, and weekend dim sum.
What is a St. Paul sandwich?
The St. Paul sandwich is a St. Louis Chinese-American original: an egg foo young patty (a fried egg omelet with bean sprouts and minced onion) served on white bread with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, and dill pickle. It was reportedly invented in St. Louis in the early 1940s and named after the cook’s Minnesota hometown — yet it’s a St. Louis staple you’ll find at corner Chinese carryouts here and almost nowhere else.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.