If you’ve driven down Atlantic Blvd in Monterey Park recently, you might’ve noticed something weird—Chef Tony Dim Sum is gone. In its place? A brand new sign that says Crystal Palace.

We were confused too. So we decided to check it out for ourselves.

Wait—Is This Still Chef Tony?

First, we tried visiting the Chef Tony Dim Sum website. It now redirects to a new site for Crystal Palace Fine Dim Sum & Chinese Restaurant. Same address. Same kind of food. But no mention of Chef Tony anywhere.

So what’s going on?

We visited Crystal Palace to get some answers.

A representative told us that this restaurant is no longer affiliated with Chef Tony.

Although we mistakenly reported in our video that it was still owned by Chef Tony based on what we were told by our server.

The team here is under new ownership, and they’ve decided to go with a new name and brand. That mystery was confirmed pretty quickly: Chef Tony left, and Crystal Palace took over.

So… Is It Still Good?

We’ll be honest—we went in with our guard up. Chef Tony had built a loyal following, and any sudden switch like this can feel sketchy. But here’s what we found:

✔️ Everything is still made fresh daily.

✔️ The dim sum is made to order, not sitting on carts.

✔️ The staff was super friendly and upfront.

Eli, the representative we spoke with, even emphasized that nothing is pre-made or reheated. They’re committed to fresh, hot dim sum and the quality reflects in the taste.

What We Ordered

We tried a few familiar dishes and a couple new ones:

• Shrimp Har Gow – Thin wrapper, juicy filling, still solid.

• Cajun Fried Rice – tastes like a seafood boil with fried rice.

• Rice Rolls – With truffle & egg.

• Spicy Wontons – A little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, a little bit savory.

• Pan Fried Radish Cake – A tiny bit of spice, chunks of radish + small bits of meat. Lightly fried.

Honestly, if you didn’t know the name had changed, you probably wouldn’t notice a huge difference in the food. The great thing is that there are new menu items and we’ve been told that they will be adding new things to differentiate from the many dim sum/seafood restaurants in the area.

Objections We Hear (And What We Think)

“It’s not Chef Tony anymore, so it’s probably worse.”

Fair—but we didn’t feel that. The food quality was still there, if not better. They’re not trying to hide the change. They’re just doing their thing under a new name.

“SGV has so many dim sum spots. Also why is it so pricey?”

Totally valid. But the Crystal Palace team seems confident in their food—and they’re offering a 15% discount through April 30.

So now’s actually a great time to try it and judge for yourself. More on the pricey food topic below.

Final Thoughts

No, this isn’t Chef Tony anymore.

But Crystal Palace seems like a genuine continuation—with a focus on quality and made-to-order dim sum. If you’ve been hesitant, we’d say it’s still worth a visit, although we do hear you the priciness of it.

But we feel that Chinese food including dim sum takes a lot of time, care and preparation and becoming a dim sum chef takes years of work to master.

We don’t want Chinese food to be permanently seen as ‘cheap & fast food’. It has earned its place among the high-end cuisines and the price should reflect as such.

Not only that, but costs for everything has gone up. Although most of us as end consumers don’t care as much about the technical side, we should be understanding of the challenges restaurants are facing in SGV right now.

We love exploring SGV and sharing stories like this, especially when things change behind the scenes.

Although we should have gotten the full, correct story before creating our video.

Whether you’re a loyal dim sum lover or just curious about what’s new in the neighborhood, we’ve got you.