dan modern chinese - santa monica

"NICE PLACE! My boyfriend and I stopped by here while looking for a place to eat after going to the beach. We saw the prices were decent so we decided to give it a try. We got the chicken noodle soup, spicy oxtail beef noodle soup, and popcorn chicken. The food was more of an Americanized version of traditional Chinese food. The service was really good and the place was clean and not crowded."

"Loved the chicken fried rice. So authentic. Would recommend chicken dumplings in chili sauce. Sadly there was no dessert menu except for boba tea."

"The food here is absolutely phenomenal. The popcorn shrimp and short rib Dan mein were a person favourite! 12/10! Lovely restaurant space, very clean and staff were super nice. A definite must if you are in the area!"

"Wow! This place is the best! I wish I took pictures of our food but we were so hungry we ate everything so fast. We will be back soon and be sure to take pics. We ordered so many things and every item was so delicious. For appetizers we had the scallion pancake, beef roll and pickled cucumbers, all three cooked so perfectly. I loved the dipping sauce with the scallion pancake. We had the pork soup dumplings and I have never had a soup dumpling that still has so much broth inside when you finally take a bite, so juice and they held together so great when handling them. We tried the handmade dumplings each way they came, steamed, with chili oil, fried and crispy. Each one was perfect, I thought wow it can’t get better than this than I would try the next and it was just as good. The three cup chicken was so fresh and warm, we had 5 people and the portion was enough for us to all have a little to try! We tried the short rib Dan noodles and the noodles were so thick and the short rib melted in your mouth. For vegetables we had the sautéed string beans, they tasted so crunchy and good! The service was also so friendly and attentive. They were quick to get our drinks and make sure they were full. We can’t wait to come back!"

"Very tasty food, but the prices are a bit on the higher end. We shared food. We enjoyed the crispy pork dumplings, because I was curious. They were hard to eat, but tasty. It comes with a hoison dipping sauce. I will not order these again because they were not THAT DELICIOUS and the presentation was not appealing. The shrimp fried noodles were bland so we asked for condiments and were brought chili oil. The noodles were flavorful! We would order these again. Overall the food was okay. Service is 5 plus star!!! Our server was very pleasant and prompt. Clean modern interior. The metal chairs where we sat by the window were not that comfortable and there was not place to put my hat or purse. There are 2 Gender Neutral bathrooms and I used both. One was dark and didn't seem clean. I was reminded of the bathroom stall down at the beach. The only illumination came from the mirror on the wall. The second one had lights and and seemed cleaner. This one had a urinal in addition to a regular toilet. We have been to the Dan Modern Chinese in Manhattan Beach and was very impressed there, so this is why we wanted to try the Santa Monica location. I want to like this Santa Monica location too, but I will have think about it."