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Take the old Champions/Taiwan Deli space in the Pacific Asian Plaza, spruce it up, expand the seating, and bring forth Shanghai soup dumplings and Jing Dong meat pies prepared to a fare thee well, and ELV will be at your door faster than you can say eight treasures in hot sauce noodle.

Finding that door will be difficult, of course, because there’s no sign to speak of — certainly not one speaking to gwailos anyway — but look down the hallway and you’ll see an entrance to a clean, new, brightly-lit restaurant that’s bringing forth a host of eastern Chinese specialties.

Our two visits have seen some intensely-flavored fare brought to the table, including the aforementioned (and addictive) eight treasures hot sauce noodle. The dumplings may be a touch doughier than China Mama’s, but the soup within was a better broth. Speaking of soups: the hot and sour was (for once) truly worthy of the name on both counts.

There’s no doubting the flakiness of the Jing Dong pork-stuffed, meat pie either, or the sourness of the finely shredded potato. As good as they all were, it seems the “three flavors” and “pan-fried” dumplings are the things to get — as we saw them delivered to table after table, causing us a case of serious ordering envy.

Between this menu and some other new additions, it seems this shopping center is reasserting itself as a place for superior Asian eats…something the Chinese and Chinese-Americans seem to have discovered for themselves, as they stream in to Three Villages for platters of crispy rockfish, shrimp in red soy sauce, and other eye-popping treats that keep parading past your table….giving you ample reason to return.

THREE VILLAGES RESTAURANT

5115 Spring Mountain Road #208

Las Vegas, NV 89146

702.425.2159