Last summer we got word that Harbor City had changed hands and was reopening as a dim sum joint. Our previous lunch there was good and we were not overly excited to have yet another dim sum place to visit. I've lost count, but I think we can no longer count the ID dim sum spots on our fingers. We ventured out today with a small, yet eager, crew of four.
There are other changes to note in the ID: Vegetarian Bistro has gone out of business [tear]; China Gate has a sign up that declares, "Under new management" [joy]; Made in Kitchen closed its doors (the city shut them down because of the stupid name) and is being replaced by The Crawfish King in a couple of weeks (possibly as early as the 23rd); And, there's a new hole-in-the-wall that the MSG150 crew has high hopes for but you'll have to wait until next week to fine out what it is.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, MSG150 was featured in Seattle Magazine's cheap eats issues. Also, fellow Seattle luncher Elliot lauded us in his blog as having "somewhat questionable wisdom". Thanks for the compliment Elliot, but where did you see any wisdom? I think even completely questionable wisdom would have been a stretch.
Address: 707 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Dim Sum
Average rating: 4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 12/1/2008 @ 11:55:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 35 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Canton
Number of tables: 18
Number of occupied tables: 18 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (5%)
Number of "local" tables: 17 (94%)
Healthcode Score: 45
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon
Family Style Dishes
- Sticky Rice
- Pork and Ginger Dumpling
- Shrimp and Cilantro Dumpling
- Shrimp Dumpling
- Sticky Rice
- Shu mai
- Fried Shrimp Dumpling
- BBQ Pork Pastry
- Green Pepper with Shrimp
- Green Onion Bun
Luncher: Geary
Lunch: Family Style - $9.00Rating:
Geary's Review
The first thing I noticed upon returning was that the new Harbor City was packed. We were only one of two tables when we ate here last. Today, however, we were sat at the last available table. We were also the only non-Chinese table in the place. My hopes were high.
We started off quickly and within a few minutes had our table full of dim sum. There was nothing fancy, but everything was hot and tasty. A couple of items stood out. The Pork & Ginger Dumplings were excellent. Always a favorite of mine, these were fresh and flavorful. The Green Onion Bun was also a winner.
The four of us ate our fill of good dim sum for under $9 each. This place is second only to Jade Garden in my current ID dim sum rankings. I will be back again.
Luncher: Emmett
Lunch: Family Style - $9.00Rating:
Emmett's Review
We're back for a re-review, and this time Harbor City has moved on from serving merely typical Cantonese fare and added Dim Sum to their menu. After the raw shrimp experience at Duk Li I was skittish about these cart-less, boutique Dim Sum places. However, I enjoyed the service last time at Harbor City, and they were commended by the health department, so my mouth is open.
There is a hustle and bustle to this place. It's positively jammed packed with locals, chit chatting, drinking tea, etc. I was ready to lay down at Mahjong but then realized my competitive Mahjong skills are limited to the shareware version I played when I was 11 years old. Dominos on the other hand, well. . . let's not go there. We were seated and served quickly, thanksfully the great service is still here.
Food was above-average, mostly fried, but all-in-all fresh and definitely competes well with Jade Garden. I will return.
Luncher: Adam
Lunch: Family Style - $9.00Rating:
Adam's Review
A new Dim Sum restaurant? It's time to rock and roll. We rolled up on this mission with an elite commando force of Dim Sum-ers... all with at least 4 tours of Dim Sum duty.
This place had a couple of dumplings that I'd never had before: the pork and ginger dumpling, and the shrimp and cilantro dumpling. Both of these had excellent flavor, and I would highly recommend both of them. We also had some of our traditional dim sum dishes: shu mai, sticky rice, and a few others. All of these dishes were also pretty tasty and quite fresh.
This place has quite a few tables, and was totally full. For a new-ish restaurant I thought this was quite impressive. We were the only whitefolk in the whole place.
At some point we'll have to make an ordered list of the best Dim Sum restaurants in Chinatown, and when we do this one should have a pretty solid place near the top.
Luncher: Jared
Lunch: Family Style - $9.00Rating:
Harbor City Photos
Harbor City
Harbor City window
Fried Shrimp Dumpling
Shrimp Dumplings, Pork & Ginger Dumplings, Shrimp & Cilantro Dumplings
Shu Mai, Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf
BBQ Pork Pastry
The Spread
Green Pepper with Shrimp
Green Onion Bun
Dim Sum Prices
