The key to answering this question is to realize that joining a Chinatown firm means essentially putting your trust in a particular senior lawyer. It is not so much the firm you must be concerned about, but the lawyer. The firm is merely the legal entity through which the lawyer practices.

So rather than focusing on the firm, focus on finding out who is the principal lawyer or sole prop of the firm whom you'll be training under.

A Chinatown firm run by an ex Big Law partner is going to give you a much better experience than a Chinatown firm run by a lawyer who has always practised low value work.

The only exception to this is probably if you're looking to practice pure criminal law or family law, as specialist crim or fam lawyers usually don't practice in large firms.