China Mama is a Cantonese-Shanghainese restaurant that has earned a devoted following for its handmade xiao long bao — soup dumplings with thin skins and a proper gelatin-rich broth that collapses into the dumpling on cooking. The pan-fried pork buns and scallion pancakes round out a reliably good dim sum-adjacent menu.
The room is informal and service is fast — this is a lunch and early dinner destination rather than a lingering place. Come hungry and bring a group to sample across the menu; the dumplings are the reason to come but the cold sesame noodles and the salt-and-pepper squid hold their own. A short drive or rideshare from the Strip and consistently better value than anything on it.