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Ratings and reviews

RATINGS
Food
Service
Value
Atmosphere

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CUISINES
Chinese, Asian
Special Diets
Vegetarian Friendly, Vegan Options
Meals
Lunch, Dinner
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meals, features
Reviews (136)
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Traveller rating
74
40
11
4
7
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Time of year
LanguageEnglish
Traveller rating
74
40
11
4
7
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All reviews hot and sour soup steamed dumplings chicken chinese dishes birmingham alabama oriental salty dine
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Reviewed 4 weeks ago

The gluten free options are many and delicious. It is difficult to find good gf Chinese food but this restaurant deserves a 10. The whole family loved it.

Date of visit: February 2024
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Reviewed 10 February 2024

Nasty, dirty and filthy are the only words I can use to describe this place. It used to be a bit funky in the past but the last 2 times I have been I found it to be filthy beyond belief. Never again will I...go there.More

Date of visit: January 2024
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Reviewed 29 January 2024

Great food and value, everything was delicious! I loved the pea greens and eggplant dishes and was amazed how fresh everything was.

Date of visit: January 2024
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Reviewed 13 January 2023

Having heard all the great reviews, we decided to finally dine at Red Pearl. We asked the waitress what were their best items and she recommended the Basil Beef and Double Spicy Chicken. In addition we asked for two egg rolls to start. The egg...rolls were delivered with the main meal, not in advance. The Double Spicy Chicken was breaded chicken mixed with jalapeños and other peppers. There was no sauce. A third of the "chicken' was just breaded bits with no meat. The breading was way over salted, had a kick, but was dry. Is this even Chinese? The Basil beef consisted of tough beef with a meh brown sauce and over cooked vegetables. We must have been there on an off night as this was the worst Chinese meal I have had in a long time and maybe the worst ever. You can make better Chinese yourself at home - not even close. We will not be back.More

Date of visit: January 2023
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Reviewed 26 August 2022

Some good, some not so good. First the good: (1) Absolutely the best Chinese dishes we have experienced in the Birmingham Alabama area. Both my Kung Pao Chicken and my wife's General Tso's Chicken were tender, flavorful and delicious. Lunch special only included white rice,...no egg roll or soup for $9.99. (2) Steamed Dumplings were delicious and very worthy of their $7.99 cost. And the not so good: (1) Online menu prices for lunch were laughably out of date by 15 - 50%. (Although every restaurant has had to increase prices rather dramatically, it is probably time for someone to get this updated for 2022. (2) Small bowl of hot and sour soup was good, but not worth the $3 cost. (3) Fried rice was very forgettable. All-in-all the lunch was good but quite pricey at around $45 with 20% tip.More

Date of visit: August 2022
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Reviewed 12 June 2022 via mobile

Might be the best Oriental restaurant in Birmingham Alabama. Good service, clean location, great tasty food. I had some dim sum steamed dumplings (12 for 7.99) and Crab Rangoon (6 for 8.99) both were fabulous.

Date of visit: June 2022
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Reviewed 19 May 2022

I ordered shrimp fried rice and rice was mushy and falling apart. The shrimp looked like it had been chewed before boxed. I will never eat here again.

Date of visit: May 2022
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Reviewed 3 April 2021 via mobile

Very good Chinese food. I am a Chinese food regular and this is one of the top three restaurants I have eaten at in a while.

Date of visit: April 2021
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Reviewed 29 December 2020

My wife and I decided to return to our home in Florida following a wonderful week in Branson, Missouri celebrating Christmas week. We decided to drive and see how far we would get prior to nightfall and find both lodging and dining options in the...area. To be honest, driving on Christmas day is great for travel with minimal traffic but also challenging for food and dining options since most restaurants close for the holiday. We made it to Birmingham, Alabama, pulled off on an exit and found lodging just off the exit. We inquired about dining options and were told only a Waffle House was open and nothing else. We searched for Chinese restaurants and lucked out with one less than a mile from our hotel. The Red Pearl Restaurant is part of a much larger complex called the Super Oriental Market and as we drove into the parking lot, it was packed with cars, no surprise there given no other food establishments were open to choose from. We entered the restaurant and were told it would be at least an hour wait. We gave our name and began to stroll the large Oriental Market which offered every food item I have ever bought in a supermarket and also had a large fresh seafood and produce department featuring a huge selection of Asian and oriental products. Since we had to wait for an hour or so, this was an entertaining way to pass the time. The thought occurred to me that since the market operated in conjunction with the restaurant, the food would definitely be fresh and extensive, and both came to be true. Back in line, the dine in and take-out business was booming, and the rush of people and orders became a bit overwhelming for the staff to cope with at times. Long wait times were noted by both online, in-person and pick-up order volumes. Social distancing was also in place, so dine-in options were halved over normal seating. Finally, it was our time to be seated and we each ordered a glass of wine and set in to review the substantial menu of food options which was extensive. My wife ordered Chicken Chow Mein with hard noodles and I opted for Chicken with Cashews, rather mundane choices but we like those selections, and they were amazingly good, plentiful, and fulfilling. We also ordered pork fried rice and that was wonderful too. As we enjoyed our meals, we noticed the volume of customers had subsided since our arrival and now things seemed a bit more normal. Apparently, we had arrived right at the peak of the dinner hour and it then being 8 p.m. the rush had ended. We felt both blessed and very fortunate with our good luck and fortune to find such a wonderful gem so close to our hotel, literally about 2-3 blocks away. What might have turned out to be a pretty limited dining venue turned out to be a find that was both impressive and excellent by any given standard. Christmas had been saved in so far as both lodging and dining were concerned and we were grateful the way things turned out.More

Date of visit: December 2020
Helpful?3  
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Reviewed 5 May 2020

Only place on earth they use jalapeno peppers as the "Extra Spicy" in their Generals Tsos and kung pao chicken!!!! I mean really? No flavor other than the jalapenos, everything very bland. I will never be eating here again... STOP IT WITH THE JALAPENOS. Please...contact China King off Exit 1 in Mc Calla Alabama. They can teach you how to make real food. YOU ARE WELCOMEMore

Date of visit: May 2020
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Reviewed 6 March 2020

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in town on the south side of Birmingham. The good is ALWAYS delicious. The decor is due for an upgrade and some booths badly need reupholstering. Other than that, this place is phenomenal and has great prices! I'd go...back tomorrow just for the mango shrimp!More

Date of visit: June 2019
Helpful?2  
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 14 January 2020

Attached to the Oriental Market is a great, authentic restaurant. Food is cooked by chefs using market ingredients and is always tasty. Steamed rice is excellent. A cut above the typical American-Asian restaurants. Reasonable prices.

Date of visit: September 2019
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Reviewed 9 January 2020

The food was decent but not any better than your average Chinese restaurant. The service was terrible! The store attached to it is cool though!!

Date of visit: December 2019
Helpful?2  
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Reviewed 25 December 2019 via mobile

We love to get together with friends at The Red Pearl! The food is served family style and is delicious as well as reasonably priced. Service is always friendly. On the other side of the restaurant, there is a grocery store where you can find...a variety of interesting food items.More

Date of visit: December 2019
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Reviewed 22 December 2019 via mobile

So, I’ve been told how incredibly good this place is and we decided to try it. We had 6 people to seat and although we were told we didn’t need reservations, we waited 45 mins to be seated. There were at least 20 open tables,...but the manager would NOT move 2 small tables together. He also made us wait for this particular gigantic booth that seats 8+ even though we could have used a regular booth by pulling a chair up to the end. Highly annoying, but okay we’re here for the great food... We were starving so we ordered soup so it would come out fast. It did and was good, not great. We also ordered all our entrees at the same time. Some dishes were better than others and they didn’t come out even close together. I ordered Beef with Jalapeño and it was one of the better dishes- it came out 5 mins after the first entrees. My husband ordered Beef Brisket Szechuan style and it was just okay (like mushy pot roast stew) and it came out 20 mins after the first dish. Our son ordered Low Mien but it looked like Chinese fettuccine. He loves noodles, but this dish was not good at all- yuck. And it came out last- 30 mins after the first entree did. A friend ordered Shrimp & Broccoli with very little sauce- it was okay, not much flavor at all, and had a lot of sauce. It came out 15 mins after the first entree. The other two friends ordered Mongolian Beef and General Tso’s chicken (these came out first) but they were both loaded with jalapeño, which is odd. There was a 30 min gap between our group receiving our first entree and the last. It wasn’t an enjoyable dining experience. The waiter was nice and very apologetic, but we won’t be back. I’ve had MUCH better service and food in many other places and Mr. Chen’s in Hoover remains our solid favorite! This place uses tons of MSG and we are “feeling” it.More

Date of visit: December 2019
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Questions & Answers
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Emily Bergen C
5 August 2015|
Answer
Response from GrandTour18975432975 |
Yes there are. Ask for gluten free soy sauce and let them know ur gluten free. But it's not a gluten free kitchen so there's always risks involv2d.
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RED PEARL RESTAURANT, Homewood - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

Frequently Asked Questions about Red Pearl Restaurant

Yes, Red Pearl Restaurant offers takeaway services.

Red Pearl Restaurant is rated accordingly in the following categories by Tripadvisor travellers:
  • Food: 4.5
  • Service: 4
  • Value: 4.5
  • Atmosphere: 3