Lunch #47: Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440670896700743511.post-10507005586804235942008-04-16T17:51:00.000-07:002008-04-18T18:13:32.385-07:002008-04-18T18:13:32.385-07:00Lunch #47: Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant<a href="#280656722_fZBUi"><img style="margin: 0pt 10pt 10px 0px; float: left;" border=0 alt="Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant" src="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280656722_fZBUi-Th.jpg"></a> The MSG150 crew headed out a bit later than usual, around 12:40, to find the next spot. Just down the street from Bush Garden is the Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant. Like many of the spots on this last stretch, Ho Ho is a place where none of us had ever been. Also, unlike you might expect, Ho Ho is neither Christmas nor chocolate cupcake themed.<div style="float: right; margin: 10pt 0pt 10px 10px;border: 1px solid #CCC; padding: 5px; width: 300px;">Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant, Seattle Address: <a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=651 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104'>651 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104</a> Cuisine: Chinese: Hong Kong Average rating: 3.6 chopsticks Lunch date: 4/16/2008 @ 12:47:00 Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes Time to take order: 1 minutes Time for food to arrive: 10 minutes Total lengh of meal: 47 minutes Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic Do they use MSG?: Yes Where is the owner/chef from?: Hong Kong Number of tables: 18 Number of occupied tables: 7 (38%) Number of business lunch tables: 4 (57%) Number of "local" tables: 2 (28%) Healthcode Score: <a href=http://www.decadeonline.com/insp.phtml?agency=skc&forceresults=1&record_id=PR0012244>0</a> Links: <a href=http://www.yelp.com/biz/ho-ho-seafood-restaurant-seattle>Yelp!</a>, <a href='http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/1/2016/Seattle/International-District-restaurants/Ho-Ho-Seafood-Restaurant.html'>Urbanspoon</a> <a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/1/2016/Seattle/International-District-restaurants/Ho-Ho-Seafood-Restaurant.html"><img src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/2016/minilink.gif" alt="Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant" width="130" height="36" align="center" /></a> </div><h3 style="clear:left;">Family Style Dishes</h3><ul><li>4 x Hot & Sour Soup</li><li>8 x Egg Rolls</li><li>Grandmom's Tofu</li><li>Beef with Double Mushroom</li><li>Pepper Salted Prawns in Shell</li><li>General Tso's Chicken</li><li>Shrimp Fried Rice</li></ul><h3 style="clear:left;">Luncher: Geary</h3>Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95 Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office. Rating: <img src='http://www.floodzilla.com/images/4-chopsticks.gif' title='4 Chopsticks' alt='4 Chopsticks' align='Center' /> <h4 style="clear: left;">Geary's Review</h4>Wow! The first thing you notice when entering Ho Ho is the modern interior. So many places in the ID are either <a title="Tai Tung" href="http://msg150.com/2008/03/lunch-40-tai-tung.html">outdated</a> or <a title = "House of Hong" href="http://msg150.com/2007/12/lunch-12-house-of-hong.html">over themed</a> (or <a title="Bush Garden" href="http://msg150.com/2008/04/lunch-46-bush-garden.html">both</a>). Ho Ho has attractive modern furniture and decor. Its large windows and stylish light fixtures provide ample lighting. It's how you would expect a modern restaurant in Hong Kong might look. The lunch menu has the typical American Chinese lunch offerings but in addition to the standard per person lunches, they had a couple of family style lunches with 2, 3 or 4 entrees depending on the number of lunchers. Al went with the General Tso's Sticky Goo lunch special, while the rest of us went with the Pearl Lunch for four. With the Pearl Lunch, we got Pepper Salted Prawns in Shell, Grandmom's Tofu, Beef with Double Mushroom, General Tso's Chicken, Shrimp Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, and soup. The H&SS was good with just the right amount of tang and spice and not overly thick. The Egg Rolls were a surprise. I usually avoid these overly greasy "delicacies", but the Ho Ho Egg Rolls are a petite, cocktail-frank-sized variation on the usually kielbasa-sized rolls. They were hot, crisp and delicious. The Prawns were large, finger-sized prawns deep fried with shell, heads and all and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and jalapenos. They were delicious. No need to peel, just eat from the tail and stop at the head. The shell is fried crisp enough that it is not chewy at all and adds a pleasant crunch. The Shrimp Fried Rice was light and fluffy and not at all greasy. The beef and tofu were good, but nothing outstanding. I tasted General Tso's Abomination and was again amazed that anyone would choose to put this concoction into their body given other reasonably edible options. <h3 style="clear:left;">Luncher: Adam</h3>Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95 Fortune: You will lose your fortune on the way back to the office. Rating: <img src='http://www.floodzilla.com/images/3-chopsticks.gif' title='3 Chopsticks' alt='3 Chopsticks' align='Center' /> <h4 style="clear: left;">Adam's Review</h4>Seriously? This place is called Ho Ho? There has to be some meaning behind the word... because I know Hostess isn't going to let them sell delicious goo-filled baked goods. Luckily they sell Chinese food in a building with plenty of windows and natural light in a recently-remodeled eating-room. After a quick rundown of the menu, we noticed a reasonably priced family-style lunch. We'd get the basics, plus 3 entrees for a normal lunch price... sounds good to me. All of the food was good, and there was plenty of it. The General Tso's was unique -- it was much redder than I'm used to seeing. Other than that, nothing stood out. All of the food was on the tastier side of 3-chopsticks, but nothing pushed it over to a 4. It looks like they have some other decently priced lunch options... some of their soups looked like they would be pretty good. This is definitely a solid standard Chinese lunch place. Good prices. Good food. Well lit. "Ho Ho" means "Good Good."<h3 style="clear:left;">Luncher: Emmett</h3>Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95 Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office. Rating: <img src='http://www.floodzilla.com/images/4-chopsticks.gif' title='4 Chopsticks' alt='4 Chopsticks' align='Center' /> <h4 style="clear: left;">Emmett's Review</h4>Ho Ho - another nondescript storefront in this ocean of Chinese Food - surprised in many ways. The first thing you notice is it's very clean, and very well lit - with big floor-to-ceiling windows. The decor is modern and classy looking. The menu is detailed, and has a large selection. They're playing whiny Chinese pop songs. We got the Pearl Lunch Special, and shared four dishes amongst the four of us. I got to try a little bit of everything. The egg rolls were tasty, fresh fried, and hot. The tofu had a nice pepper flavor. The shrimp came whole, complete with heads and legs, deep-fried. We had to eat through the skins, but they were scrumptious. The mushrooms and beef were average, and the General Tso's was surprisingly tasty. For the price, this place delivered a lot of tasty food, with good selection. I look forward to exploring the rest of the menu. I'd come back.<h3 style="clear:left;">Luncher: Al</h3><a href="#280659560_hMy8o"><img border=0 style="margin: 0pt 10pt 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="General Tso's Chicken Lunch Special" src="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280659560_hMy8o-Th.jpg"></a>Lunch: General Tso's Chicken Lunch Special - $4.75 Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office. Rating: <img src='http://www.floodzilla.com/images/4-chopsticks.gif' title='4 Chopsticks' alt='4 Chopsticks' align='Center' /> <h4 style="clear: left;">Al's Review</h4>This General Tso could win Iraq on a budget.<h3 style="clear:left;">Luncher: Jon</h3>Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95 Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office. Rating: <img src='http://www.floodzilla.com/images/3-chopsticks.gif' title='3 Chopsticks' alt='3 Chopsticks' align='Center' /> <h3 style="clear:both;">Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant Photos</h3><a name="280656722_fZBUi" ></a>Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280656722_fZBUi-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280656722_fZBUi-S.jpg" alt="Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant" /></a> <a name="280657117_cr3Fr" ></a>Ho Ho's Entrance <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280657117_cr3Fr-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280657117_cr3Fr-S.jpg" alt="Ho Ho's Entrance " /></a> <a name="280657483_z2vJp" ></a>Ho Ho's Lunch Menu <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280657483_z2vJp-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280657483_z2vJp-S.jpg" alt="Ho Ho's Lunch Menu" /></a> <a name="280657921_4anCi" ></a>H&SS <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280657921_4anCi-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280657921_4anCi-S.jpg" alt="H&SS" /></a> <a name="280658302_6Yjc2" ></a>Egg Rolls (-2) <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280658302_6Yjc2-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280658302_6Yjc2-S.jpg" alt="Egg Rolls (-2)" /></a> <a name="280658699_4cDWC" ></a>Grandmom's Tofu <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280658699_4cDWC-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280658699_4cDWC-S.jpg" alt="Grandmom's Tofu" /></a> <a name="280658936_5MSaz" ></a>Beef with Double Mushroom <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280658936_5MSaz-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280658936_5MSaz-S.jpg" alt="Beef with Double Mushroom" /></a> <a name="280659304_ZrPKz" ></a>Pepper Salted Prawns in Shell <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280659304_ZrPKz-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280659304_ZrPKz-S.jpg" alt="Pepper Salted Prawns in Shell" /></a> <a name="280659560_hMy8o" ></a>General Tso's Lunch Special <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280659560_hMy8o-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280659560_hMy8o-S.jpg" alt="General Tso's Lunch Special" /></a> <a name="280659739_aVDTu" ></a>General Tso's Assault on American Tastes <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280659739_aVDTu-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280659739_aVDTu-S.jpg" alt="General Tso's Assault on American Tastes" /></a> <a name="280655063_4VsHH" ></a>Shrimp Fried Rice <a href="http://acaciafarm.smugmug.com/photos/280655063_4VsHH-XL.jpg"><img src="http://AcaciaFarm.smugmug.com/photos/280655063_4VsHH-S.jpg" alt="Shrimp Fried Rice" /></a> Geary Eppleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00332711939433575282noreply@blogger.com2