The carts start rolling around 11 a.m., and if you’re not there by 11:15 on a Sunday, you’re already fighting for a table. That’s the first thing I’d tell anyone about Jade Palace on Macon Road — this place fills up fast, and the crowd knows exactly what it came for.
I started going to Jade Palace a few years back when a coworker dragged me there on a Sunday after church. She grew up eating dim sum in Atlanta and had been quietly disappointed by Columbus’s options until she found this spot. I understood immediately what she meant when she said it felt legitimate. The har gow skins are thin and translucent, the shrimp inside plump and seasoned just enough. The siu mai are dense little parcels of pork and shrimp that hold together when you bite them, not the crumbly, sad versions you get at lesser places.
The room itself isn’t going to wow you. It’s big, fluorescent-lit, and loud in the best way — families spanning three generations sharing lazy Susans, kids reaching across each other for turnip cake, older couples moving through the menu with the confidence of people who’ve eaten here dozens of times. The noise and the motion are part of it. This isn’t a quiet lunch.
A few things I make sure to grab every time: the pan-fried taro dumplings, which have a slightly crispy shell and a savory filling that’s hard to stop eating; the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, which you have to unwrap carefully or you’ll lose half of it to the tablecloth; and the egg tarts, which arrive warm and are gone in about thirty seconds at my table. The bbq pork buns — both baked and steamed — are solid, though I lean baked on a cold morning.
Pricing is genuinely reasonable. Most dim sum plates run two to four dollars each, and I’ve walked out full and satisfied for around twelve to fifteen dollars a person including tea, which they keep refilling without being asked. If you go with four people and order freely, you can cover the table in food for well under sixty dollars.
Jade Palace also does a full dinner menu — the Cantonese-style seafood and roast duck are worth attention — but Sunday dim sum is the main event. I’ve been for dinner and enjoyed it, but it doesn’t have the same energy as a Sunday morning when the carts are out and the place is humming.
One practical note: they do take cash and cards, parking is easy in the lot out front, and the staff is efficient without being rushed. If you’re new to dim sum, don’t be shy about flagging down a cart and asking what’s on it — I’ve never been met with anything but helpfulness. And if you’re bringing someone who’s never done this before, show up hungry and let the carts do the talking. That first bite of fresh har gow explains everything.
