Lunch #51: Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant

The MSG150 crew headed out for the nondescript meat in window joint next to the nondescript A & B Cafe but found it closed on Tuesdays. This bounced us on to the next spot, Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant, only twenty feet away.

NOTE: Sandie's is closing its doors sometime this month and the owners are moving to Alaska.

Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant, Seattle
Address: 664 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Taiwanese
Average rating: 4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 5/6/2008 @ 12:20:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 2 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 30 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 55 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?:
Where is the owner/chef from?: Taiwan
Number of tables: 9
Number of occupied tables: 4 (44%)
Number of business lunch tables: 2 (50%)
Number of "local" tables: 2 (50%)
Healthcode Score: 10
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Shredded Pork and Mustard Green Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Geary's Review

At first glance from the street Sandie's looks like the Chinese version of a Hallmark store with its heart logo, red tinted glass, and flowers in the window. The interior is densely decorated with Chinese art. The tables and place settings are fairly typical for the neighborhood. Nothing other than the sign really says "gourmet." I sensed a winner, however, with my first pass through the menu. They offer a nice selection of Szechuan and Taiwanese dishes and don't hold back on things that tend to frighten whitey like Spicy Simmered Pigs Ear, Pork Bung with Sour Mustard, or Preserved Pickle with Pigs Intestine. No Americanized dishes here (sorry General Tzao). There were already multiple orders for the Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup by the time it was my turn to order, so I went with the Shredded Pork and Mustard Green Noodle Soup. I thew in an order of Green Onion Pancakes for the table as well.

The Pancakes came out quickly and were delicious. They were lighter and flakier than the ones at Szechuan Noodle Bowl and we got twice as much for about the same price. The Beef Noodle Soups came out quickly, but the rest of the food took a while. Fortunately for me Adam was in a sharing mood. While the Beef soup tastes very different than my gold standard at Szechuan Noodle Bowl, it is equally as wonderful. The noodles were thinner, there were more gooey bits like tendon included (I'm a big fan of gooey bits), it included a heap of cilantro and the sauce had a more pungent flavor. I plan on going back and ordering a full order for myself before they shut down.

While we were waiting for the vastly understaffed kitchen to push out our food, the elderly man who was serving us fed us almost too much detail about the finances and impending demise of the restaurant. My Pork Soup finally arrived and had a very distinct smell because of the diced mustard greens. It concerned me at first, but once I dove in all was good. The pork was tender and the mustard greens provided a distinctive, pungent flavor to make a surprisingly tasty combination. I also was able to snag bits of other's dishes as well. Rob's eggplant was exceptional as were the fried pork chops. The kitchen was slow, but if you want great authentic Chinese food you would have trouble finding better.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Oyster Pancake with Egg and Vegetables - $7.00
Rating:

Emmett's Review

So we've walked by this place a few times in our post-663 recce and on the way back from A & B. We were going to head somewhere else today, but Wing Wah was closed, so we ended up Sandie's. My first inmpression from our walkbys was 'potpourri'. I don't know why I get that feeling, but it's got red trim on the exterior, some flowers in the window, and you can smell incense. That reaction might perhaps explain why this place doesn't get much business, which is a shame, because the food was delicious.

On examining the menu, I discovered this place was Taiwanese, and they had several Taiwanese specialties, which was great! Years ago my buddies and I were in a night market in Taipei, and I had several fantastic dishes that I've never seen anywhere else. One I particularly remember was the Oyster omelet, which is Taiwan's favorite snack, beating out Geary's beloved milk tea with tapioca pearls. Sandie's had it on their menu! Done and done.

We started with an appetizer of green onion pancakes, which were flaky and delicious. The oyster omelet came and was delicious, a nice blend of green veggies, eggs, sweet oysters, and some gummy substance that I could have probably done without. On top was a sweet hot sauce reminiscent of Bibimbob sauce.

Definitely check this place out, if you can make it before they close.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Adam's Review

After my poor ordering decisions at A & B Cafe. I decided to try a classic stand-by... Szechuan Beef Noodle soup.

The extremely nice (and chatty) server came over and gave a recommendation for the soup. After our food was delivered, he came over again... and let us know that Sandie's was closing. He also disclosed how much money they make in a day and that he was just helping out... not working for money, he was working for friendship.

The food was a little slow, but this one-chef-show was pumping out dishes pretty fast. My soup was the first to come... Did I wait for my friends to get served before I dug in? Eff no -- When food is placed in front of me it's "go time." The soup was delicious, but it wasn't Szechuan Noodle Bowl delicious... it is definitely worth a taste, though. It has a beefy flavor, but this broth was spiked with a healthy helping of delicious cilantro.

Sounds like this place is closing pretty soon, so if you want to try it out... head over soon.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Szechuan Style Eggplant with Tofu - $9.00
Rating:

Rob's Review

We finally found that awesome, secret, hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant that none of us had ever been to! Unfortunately, it's closing in a week. Harumph!

At my table (we took over two, a six-top and a four-top) we ordered two scallion pancakes -- I'm used to these having four to six small pieces. The server brought out a plate with two pancakes on it, each about eight inches in diameter -- huge and well-prepared (flaky on the outside, a bit chewy on the inside). Then he brought out a second plate with two pancakes on it, which was a surprise. One scallion pancake order = two scallion pancakes, apparently. My order, Szechuan Style Eggplant with Tofu, eventually came out and looked promising, and, I'm glad to say, tasted even better. The sauce was flavorful and spicy, the tofu was soft and silky, and the eggplant was perfectly cooked. Usually when I have a Chinese or Thai dish featuring eggplant there are a couple pieces that are hard -- you bite into one and your lower teeth stick into the thick, hard, somewhat raw eggplant flesh and your upper teeth squeak across the taut skin. I hate that. Here, however, it was soft but not falling apart and really took on the flavor of the sauce. Yum!

I'll have to go back before they close.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Michael's Review

Big heaping plates of fresh scallion pancakes. Beef noodle soup that is full of spicy and juicy goodness. This place rocks. But you better get over there and try it right now - or you'll never know just how good it was.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Joey's Review

These Szechuan noodles have nothing on the ones at Szechuan Noodle Bowl. I found the soup to be way too salty. It left me feeling like I just had instant noodles with over 10 packs of seasoning. I did appreciate that the owner took the time to tell us about his restaurant mishaps though. I hope they make it out okay.

Luncher: Jason

Lunch: Kung Pao Chicken - $10.00
Rating:

Jason's Review

It's a shame this quaint Chinese restaurant is going out of business, because it is heads and tails above others in the area. My Kung Pao chicken packed both the kung and the POW! It was delicious and the service delightful. If anyone could remember the restaurant's name, maybe they wouldn't disappear.

Luncher: Lydia

Lunch: House Special Fried Rice - $8.95
Rating:

Lydia's Review

The House Special Fried Rice was OK, but I’ve certainly had better. It was lacking a certain amount of flavor. And, while the waiter's tale of the restaurant's impending demise made me feel for the owners, it didn't make my lunch arrive any faster. I wish I could say this little place will be missed, but rather, I can see why it didn't really distinguish itself from the abundance of small Chinese restaurants in the ID.

Luncher: Wayne

Lunch: Pork Chop Rice - $7.00
Rating:

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Shredded Beef with Green Chili - $10.00
Rating:

Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant Photos

Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant


Menu Cover


First Page of Menu


Green Onion Pancake


Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup


Shrine


Shredded Pork and Mustard Green Noodle Soup


Oyster Pancake with Egg and Vegetables


Szechuan Style Eggplant with Tofu


Shredded Beef with Green Chili


Pork Chop Rice


Kung Pao Chicken

Lunch #50: A & B Cafe

Once more the MSG150 crew headed up Weller to find our next spot. This is a dense part of the ID and there are three other restaurants on the half a block between J Sushi on the corner and the alley to the west. The first is A & B Cafe, formerly known as J & L Cafe.

A & B Cafe, Seattle
Address: 670 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Cantonese
Average rating: 2 chopsticks
Lunch date: 5/2/2008 @ 12:15:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 35 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 75 minutes
Chopstix quality: Cheap Plastic
Do they use MSG?: They say "No." We're skeptical.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Taicheng, Guangdong (Canton region)
Number of tables: 10
Number of occupied tables: 7 (70%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (14%)
Number of "local" tables: 7 (100%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: #62 - Assorted Meats Rice Noodles - $6.25
Rating:

Adam's Review

I was in the mood for food-venture... so I went with a slightly vague option: Assorted Meats Rice Noodles. That was definitely a mistake. There were a couple pieces of BBQ Pork that were good. Then there was really chewy chicken (at least I think it was chicken). Then there was some decent squid. But the kicker were the meats that I had no idea what they were. They were also disgusting. There were no less than 3 unidentifiable food-stuffs.

Yes, I know that its my fault for ordering something that I had an inkling would be disgusting. But, not only was my food bad... it took forever. We waited for over half-an-hour for our food, which is unacceptable for lunch food... especially as we watched other patrons enter, order, eat, and leave before us.

The wait for our food was ridiculous. I'm not going to be headed back to this place again.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: #71 - Satay Beef with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Geary's Review

We were seated quickly by a very friendly server. The restaurant was sparely decorated but clean and had a good sized lunch crowd of predominantly young Chinese folks. The menu is huge. There are over a hundred and fifty options on the English menu and then another menu under the glass of the table top with hundreds more items in both English and Chinese. The waiter came by and suggested some "Baked Rice Bowls" off of the in-table menu as she delivered forks. I suspected profiling. Doug and Emmett were suckered in. Adam apparently hasn't learned anything in our visit to the 50 previous restaurants and ordered an item with "Assorted" meats. I went with #55, Satay Beef with Rice Noodles.

The meal started with a bowl of cabbage tomato soup. It was very basic, just cabbage in a light, slightly tomatoy, clear broth, but it was good. This was immediately followed by nothing. Then a long wait and more nothing. After about 30 minutes the food finally started to arrive. My #55 somehow got turned into a #71, which is the same Satay Beef, but on rice instead of noodles. The Satay Beef is beef with onions and green peppers in a brown sauce. It had a nice, simple taste, but nothing grand. I can see how this might remind someone of their home and be a nice comfort food, but for me it was just boring. Looking around the table, however, I felt like I really lucked out. My three chopstick yawner was the the best thing going. I had the best dud at the table. If A & B has any winners in it, none of them showed up for us today.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Baked Seafood Rice Bowl - $7.50
Rating:

Emmett's Review

This place started off normal enough - another ordinary restaurant among many - plain interiors and a sizeable lunch crowd. This could be great. It wasn't.

Perhaps the first sign was that they changed the name of the restaurant. Yelp still reports it as being J & L Cafe. Maybe they wanted to start fresh? Cover something up? Who knows.

At the waitress's urging I ordered the Baked Seafood Rice Bowl. Forty-five minutes later the food came. The dish was steaming, large, loaded with fish and rice. It looked good. I dug in. Basically, it is some fried rice, topped with some seafood, coated with some creamy gravy, and then baked. It wasn't bad, just a little odd. The gravy is what got to me. The dish kind of tasted like Fish Pot Pie, though I've never had Fish Pot Pie, but hopefully you get the idea. Michael commented that you could easily pass this off as Midwestern food to a farmer and they would enjoy it. True enough.

All in all, not the worst dish, but I wasn't overly impressed. I sampled some of the other cuisine and nothing stood out as being particulary good. The service was slow. I'll probably never come back.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: #81 - Black Bean Fish Fillet with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Rob's Review

Soon after we arrived, the A&B was packed, and I felt like we'd just discovered another little gem. When I asked the waitress what sort of fish was in the black bean fish fillet, she shook her head and said, "Don't know." Smiling, she continued, "Good fish." So I ordered it, and she repeated back to me, "Black bean fish fillet with rice." What I received, over a half hour later (don't order the baked rice bowls if you're in a hurry), was just fish fillet and vegetables with rice. Not sure what happened to the black bean part of the meal. The first two pieces of fish I tried weren't even Good Fish, and I was tempted to give up. Everyone else was just beginning to eat, however, so I soldiered on, and fortunately, the rest of the fish was okay. The size of the portion left something to be desired, as well, although there was certainly plenty of rice. In the end, I considered the whole thing to be an oddly entertaining experience, but one that left me unsatisfied.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: #52 - Fried Rice Noodles with Beef & Scrambled Eggs - $6.25
Rating:

Michael's Review

Don't waste your time. Lunch took a long time to arrive, our tea was never refilled, and our waitress seemed to push us into ordering what turned out to be bland americanized casserole dishes. There was some amusement to be had in Doug's obviously ketchup based 'tomato' sauce, and Emmett's casserole was actually very good. That corn syrup in the ketchup gave an otherwise boring dish some appeal, but this just isn't what we are looking for in a Chinese restaurant. The casserole that Emmett got wouldn't have been out of place in a midwest family diner. And my dish? Good but forgettable.

Skip this one.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: #72 - Beef & Scrambled Eggs with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Joey's Review

A&B Café formerly known as J&L Café is part of a growing trend in Chinatown... HK style cuisine restaurants. Going back only 5 or so years ago the only HK style restaurant I knew of in Chinatown was ABC Garden, which is no more. Now there's LA Café, HK Cuisine, Purple Dot, A&B Café, etc (I’m probably missing one). HK style restaurants have been in Vancouver, BC, for a while and have finally made their way to Seattle. If you’re used to traditional Cantonese/Mandarin cooking then you may be caught off guard with the ingredients and preparation of the food. Many rice dishes for example are baked with creamy sauces on top. Other dishes will have corn and peas, which you won’t usually find in other Chinese food. I think about half of us opted for a baked rice dish. I got rice with beef and scrambled eggs. The scrambled eggs were thin and mixed into a creamy sauce. I suspect they mixed it with water and corn starch. The best way I can describe this dish would be to call it comfort food. The combination of the creamy sauce, rice, and beef was satisfying and made me feel at home. I could’ve gone without the corn mixed into the sauce, but I didn’t mind too much. I give A&B Cafe a 3. I would go back just for the reason that they have a huge menu and I want to see what else they have.

Luncher: Doug

Lunch: Baked Beef Rice Bowl - $6.50
Rating:

Doug's Review

1 chopstick FAILFAILFAIL. I wish Chinese restaurants wouldn't assume white people only like bland gross food. I ordered some vague "Baked beef" pot pie monstrosity that looked like a Chinese interpretation of American food. Waitress recommended it. They used ketchup! Blech. Run away. It makes me ill just thinking about it. I couldn't believe it took 30 minutes. I had to leave my half eaten ketchup beef dish to be finished off by Adam and Michael. If we were running an A/B test of the A&B café... never mind.

A & B Cafe Photos

A & B Cafe


Huge Menu


English Menu Details


Tomato Cabbage Soup


Soup


#71 - Satay Beef with Rice


Baked Seafood Rice Bowl


#81 - Black Bean Fish Fillet with Rice


#62 - Assorted Meats Rice Noodles


#72 - Beef & Scrambled Eggs with Rice


#52 - Fried Rice Noodles with Beef & Scrambled Eggs


Baked Beef Rice Bowl

Lunch #48: 663 Bistro

The MSG150 crew was seven lunchers strong today as we headed back past the intersection of Weller and Maynard to find our next spot in the Heart of the DLZ. Just next door to Ho Ho is the simply named 663 Bistro (at 663 Weller). Program note: Semi-vegetarian Rob is back with us after an extended battle with the flu. Welcome back Rob!

663 Bistro, Seattle
Address: 663 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Congee, Chinese: Noodles, Chinese: Cantonese, Chinese: BBQ
Average rating: 4.3 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/18/2008 @ 12:17:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 8 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 53 minutes
Chopstix quality: Really Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Canton
Number of tables: 18
Number of occupied tables: 11 (61%)
Number of business lunch tables: 2 (18%)
Number of "local" tables: 9 (81%)
Healthcode Score: 20
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wontons - $5.95
Rating:

Emmett's Review

The first time I came here, Geary and I tag-teamed an entire duck. For some reason we thought we could put it away ourselves. But they brought this humongous piece of fowl against which we had no chance. It was delicious, I looked forward to our return.

663 is another bright Cantonese spot with an extensive menu covering soups, noodles, congee, etc. We had a good crew, affording us the opportunity to try a few different things. I wanted to do soup, cause I had such a good experience at Ocean City II with their soup. I ordered the Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wontons.

They offered three different types of noodles - Cantonese noodles, wide rice Noodles, and thin rice noodles. I opted for the Cantonese, which are the standard. Their soup was fantastic, and the pork was as savory as Ocean City II. It held up well to Mike's Noodle House. I also got to sample some of Rob's Curried Fish Fillet, which was fantastic, and the other assorted Beef and Noodle dishes.

Everything was solid. I'll return.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: XO Sauce Pan-Fried Noodles with Sliced Fish + Pea Vine Greens - $7.95 + $9.95
Rating:

Geary's Review

663 Bistro has a medium-sized dining area that is clean with appealing, but muted, decor. Even though it isn't much of a name, it is unusual for a Chinese restaurant to have a name that doesn't immediately identify it as Chinese. And it puts them in the same neighborhood as Travis Shred and his neighbor, The Beast. 663 has a sizable menu and no specific lunch specials (YAY!). The menu selections include noodles, soups, congee, BBQ meats, and various other southern Chinese favorites. I was in the mood for noodles so went with the XO Sauce Pan-Fried Noodles with Sliced Fish. I noticed our waitress delivering a plate of greens to a neighboring table, so threw in an order for some Pea Vine Greens of our own.

Rob's fish arrived first and was a clear winner. He was kind and shared bites. The curry was thick and flavorful. The fish was fresh, moist, and flaky. My XO Noodles were also great. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. It was similar to beef chow fun, except with fish. The fish wasn't deep fried, like Rob's curry. It was just stir-fried in with the noodles, onions, and sprouts. The sprouts and onions gave it a nice crunch and the XO sauce added a tangy flavor. Yum! The Pea Vine Greens were cooked perfectly and were a welcome companion to the heavily noodled main course. The fish balls, however, were a bit too fishy for my taste.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Noodles in Soup with Roast Duck and BBQ Pork - $5.95
Rating:

Adam's Review

The menu for 663 Bistro was pretty damn huge... so I was having a hard time deciding what to get. I thought the 663 was because of their address, but it turns out it's the number of items on their menu... <groan>. I saw some Meat in the Window, so I knew I wanted to get something with that. I opted for the Noodle Soup with Roast Pork and Roast Duck.

I didn't actually get roast pork in my soup, there was a bit of a miscommunication, and I got the Honey BBQ Pork. This little mishap ended up being quite a little pig-tastic blessing. The Honey BBQ Pork is sweet and salty (as opposed to just salty like BBQ pork from some other MIWs), and lent a nice flavor to the soup that it was in. The roast duck was good, but I wish there had been more.

I was going to give this place a solid 4-chopsticks review, until I tasted the Curry Fish Fillet on Rice. The curry sauce was very flavorful and creamy. The bowl that contained the curry was nearly overflowing with fish... they crammed-in at least 2 servings of fish. This is one of the best lunches I've ever tasted, and I'm heading back to this place to specifically get this dish! It was so good, I didn't even mind that the Vegetarian Rob ordered it.

Great prices. Great food. One of the International District Gems.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Curry Fish Fillet on Rice - $6.50
Rating:

Rob's Review

I'd been to 663 Bistro once before well over a year ago (and I sat at the same table in almost the same seat), and the dish I had was fairly unremarkable (what Joey got, but sans beef). This time, however, I went with the curry fish fillet, in no small part to Joey telling me, "The curry is pretty good here," and I must say that I won today's lunch lottery (they even served me first!). The curry is actually pretty great -- creamy, flavorful, with a decent kick (didn't need any extra hot sauce) -- generously poured over an ample amount of breaded, tender, and moist flounder, onions, bell peppers, and potatoes. One of the best curries I've had in quite a while, in fact. The pea vines in garlic sauce was a great side dish to the curry -- the garlic sauce was nice and light (a smidge too salty on first taste, but fine on subsequent ones). So, there are great things here at the 663, but you have to choose wisely. Today was my first msg150 lunch in three weeks (I was out sick with a horrible, horrible flu and what have you), and it felt so good to be back that I didn't even mind Adam's feeble attempts at humor.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Tossed Noodles with BBQ Pork and Roast Duck - $6.25
Rating:

Michael's Review

I had the opportunity to sample most of the dishes on the table and with the exception of Joey's RMV everything was far above average. My noodles with duck and pork, Rob's curry, and Geary's pan fried noodles were all spectacular.

This isn't your usual boring lunch fare with breaded chicken covered in sugar. Fresh noodles, tasty broth, juicy barbeque, and the most awesome pea vines in garlic sauce make this bistro a big improvement over the usual 'lunch special'.

If you consider that this feast cost maybe 10 bucks including tax and tip you will have to agree that this is one of the best lunch spots we've found in the ID.

Luncher: Torrey

Lunch: Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wide Rice Noodles - $4.95
Rating:

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: Beef and Fresh Vegetables on Rice - $5.75
Rating:

663 Bistro Photos

663 Bistro


Menu


Curry Fish Fillet on Rice


XO Sauce Pan-Fried Noodles with Sliced Fish + Pea Vine Greens


Tossed Noodles with BBQ Pork and Roast Duck


Noodles in Soup with Roast Duck and BBQ Pork


Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wide Rice Noodles


Pea Vine Greens


Beef and Fresh Vegetables on Rice


Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wontons


Curried Fish Balls

Lunch #47: Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant

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.

Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant, Seattle
Address: 651 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
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: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Family Style Dishes

• 4 x Hot & Sour Soup
• 8 x Egg Rolls
• Grandmom's Tofu
• Beef with Double Mushroom
• Pepper Salted Prawns in Shell
• General Tso's Chicken
• Shrimp Fried Rice

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95
Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office.
Rating:

Geary's Review

Wow! The first thing you notice when entering Ho Ho is the modern interior. So many places in the ID are either outdated or over themed (or both). 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.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95
Fortune: You will lose your fortune on the way back to the office.
Rating:

Adam's Review

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."

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95
Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office.
Rating:

Emmett's Review

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.

Luncher: Al

Lunch: General Tso's Chicken Lunch Special - $4.75
Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office.
Rating:

Al's Review

This General Tso could win Iraq on a budget.

Luncher: Jon

Lunch: Pearl Lunch (family style) - $6.95
Fortune: Someone will lose your fortune on the way back to the office.
Rating:

Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant Photos

Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant


Ho Ho's Entrance


Ho Ho's Lunch Menu


H&SS


Egg Rolls (-2)


Grandmom's Tofu


Beef with Double Mushroom


Pepper Salted Prawns in Shell


General Tso's Lunch Special


General Tso's Assault on American Tastes


Shrimp Fried Rice

Lunch #45: Ocean City II, Noodle Cafe

On our first visit to Ocean City, we noticed that the space was split into two different dining areas: one is a large dining room that serves mostly Dim Sum for lunch, the other is a small noodle house. The second area, called Ocean City Restaurant II, Noodle Cafe, seemed separate enough that it deserved its own visit, so today we headed out with a comfortable group of seven to give the sequel a shot.

Ocean City II: Noodle Cafe, Seattle
Address: 609 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Noodles
Average rating: 3.6 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/11/2008 @ 12:00:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 10 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 45 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Wood
Do they use MSG?: Didn't Ask
Where is the owner/chef from?: San Francisco
Number of tables: 13
Number of occupied tables: 4 (30%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (25%)
Number of "local" tables: 4 (100%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Congee with Pork and Thousand Year Old Egg + Chinese Doughnut - $4.50+$2.50
Rating:

Geary's Review

The Noodle Cafe is part of the same building as the large main dining room and shares a main kitchen, but it has a separate entrance, its own small kitchen for noodles and soups, and its own menu. In fact, we were given three menus. In addition to the Noodle Cafe menu, we were given a short lunch specials menu and the full Ocean City menu. It's a nice cozy space, about the size of Mike's or HHKC, but with no crowd. It's perched up half a story above the street with lots of big windows that give a nice perspective on the lunch traffic walking and driving past.

Since the few other guests were eating noodles, I figured it was safe to skip the lunch specials without violating rule #2. I missed out on the congee at HHKC so I went with the Congee with Pork and Thousand Year Old Egg and added in an order of Chinese Doughnuts for good measure. The food arrived quickly and we dug in.

The congee was good with ample pork and egg enhanced with spices including slivers of lemon grass. The doughnuts were great, larger and crispier than the ones we have had at previous spots. If you are not familiar, the Chinese Doughnut (Youtaio) is not sweet. It's a crispy deep fried log of dough cut into large bite size chunks each a couple of inches long and the circumference of somewhere between a nickel and a half dollar (these were in the half dollar range). It is very light and full of holes, sort of like a miniature loofah. The doughnuts are often served alongside congee and eaten like crackers in clam chowder.

Mike's and HHKC have a better selection for noodles and congee, but for if you want a less crowded alternative with good food and friendly service then Ocean City's Noodle Cafe is a great option.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: BBQ Pork Dumpling Noodle Soup - $6.25
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Ocean City, like Jalisco, has a sibling - Ocean City II. This place is more my style - quiet, nondescript, good food. It also exemplifies the goal of our quest - to find good eats otherwise overlooked. In fact, we almost overlooked this place as it is housed in its Dim Sum serving brother. Good thing we didn't - this place was awesome.

We were seated at a large table in the back of the small, bright place. I had a seat by the window, and had a nice elevated view of Weller. They have three different menus - a Noodle menu, a Lunch Special menu, and a regular dinner menu. I went for the Noodles, and got BBQ Pork Dumpling Noodle Soup. The soup was fantastic. The broth was flavorful, the noodles were tasty, the dumplings had a nice consistency, and were plentiful. The BBQ Pork was the highlight - sweet, juicy, melt in your mouth delicious. They didn't skimp on the puerco either.

I have noticed I tend to give all of the places that serve noodle soups a higher than average rating. Other restaurants should heed this advice - you can't go wrong serving a delicious noodle soup. I'll be back.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: BBQ Pork Braised Noodle Soup - $5.95
Rating:

Adam's Review

After Ocean City's mediocre showing for Dim Sum, I didn't know what to expect. Although, they weren't showing their true guns like they should, because this Noodle place is actually a Meat in Window joint! My favorite kind of joint.

I had to hurriedly pick my food from one-of-the-three menus because I was late to this lunch party. I picked the first thing on the first menu I was handed: BBQ Pork Braised Noodle Soup. The star of this show was definitely the BBQ'd Pork. It had an excellent flavor. Wasn't fatty. Wasn't too salty. And one side had a gentle crisp to it. ZOMG, I'm in love.

The braised noodles and soup that came with it were good, but nothing too special.

If you're heading into Ocean City, you'd do well to turn left into the Noodle place.

VIP Luncher: Joe from Joe's Blog

Lunch: Roast Duck Lunch Special - $7.95
Rating:

Joe's Review

The MSG150 folks were kind enough to let me tag along for today's lunch at Ocean City's unassuming little annex. It's a cramped dining area which is either called Ocean City II or Noodle Cafe, depending on which one of the three different menus you want to believe. The only remarkable feature of the place is an enormous roasting oven that takes up about 3/4 of the kitchen counter, just tempting you to order one of the birds or swine hanging inside.

Unable to resist that power, I ordered the Lunch Special with roast duck. It included a cup of hot & sour soup that might have been the high point of the meal. It was perfectly hot in both senses of the word, and chock full of the stuff that goes into hot & sour soup (bamboo?). The broth was thick and savory, just the way I like it.

The main course came with a scoop of fried rice that was pretty standard, an egg roll that I didn't eat, and about 8 small pieces of roast duck, still on the bone. The duck pieces were rather inconsistent. Some were crunchy, others soft. Some were choice meat, others fatty or sinewy. The one consistent thing among all of them was the delicious roasted skin covering the whole thing.

The portion was on the small side. I probably wouldn't come back here a second time. Also, no fortune cookies! What was the deal with that?

Luncher: Jeff

Lunch: Roast Duck Lunch Special - $7.95
Rating:

Jeff's Review

I missed the original voyage, so my only frame of reference is the sequel: Ocean City Part Duex!

The cafeteria style venue had me wondering how "take out" this was going to feel. I decided to order directly off the lunch special menu – which seemed to be written specifically for visitors looking for standard unintimidating Chinese food.

That said, I ordered the Roast Duck which was probably the most adventurous of the pre-fab lunch plates. To be fair, the H&SS soup was good. Not the best I've had in the ID, but better than main-stream Chinese in the suburbs. The generic fried rice left a lot to be desired. It was pretty bland. At least the texture was good. The Duck was pretty darned good. The ducks themselves were only 10 feet away in the roaster so my confidence was high. The duck was nicely prepared and flavorful. I was glad I ordered it. My only complaint was the quantity. They gave me a ton of rice – but not much Duck when you remove the bones from the mass served. For $7.95 it wasn’t the most affordable of the lunch specials – but I didn’t feel it was over-priced either.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles - $5.95
Rating:

Michael's Review

Given the choice of going to OC1 or OC2 I'm going with Ocean City 2. Fast and cheap with a side of awesome. My soup was just right, with savory wontons and chunks of duck to chew on. The dim sum next door was really nice, but this is what lunch is supposed to be. I stole a chunk of Adam's bbq duck when he wasn't looking and it was amazingly tender and fresh. Next time I want duck and pork!!

Luncher: Torrey

Lunch: Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles - $5.95
Rating:

Ocean City II: Noodle Cafe Photos

Ocean City II, Noodle Cafe


Lunch Menu


Noodle Cafe Menu


Inside the Noodle Cafe Menu


H&SS


Congee w/ 10k y/o Egg & Pr0k


Roast Duck Lunch Special


BBQ Pork Dumpling Noodle Soup


Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles


Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles


BBQ Pork Braised Noodle Soup


Chinese Doughnuts


MiW


Noodle Cafe Shrine

04/15/08 - Fixed typos. Thanks Rob.

Lunch #44: Ocean City

We started into the inner most loop of the MSG150 route today as we headed up Weller to find the next lunch spot. Even though we only have a handful of blocks left, the restaurant density is pretty high so I figure we still have a couple of months to go before we have to expand the DLZ. We headed out with a good sized group today and met up with Erin in front of Ocean City, arguably the most ornately decorated restaurant in the ID. They make China Gate look like they are not even trying.

Ocean City, Seattle
Address: 609 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Dim Sum
Average rating: 3.4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/7/2008 @ 12:00:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 41 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Didn't Ask
Where is the owner/chef from?: San Francisco
Number of tables: 30
Number of occupied tables: 20 (66%)
Number of business lunch tables: 2 (10%)
Number of "local" tables: 18 (90%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Family Style Dishes

• 2 x Shu Mai
• 2 x Tofu Wrapped Shrimp
• 2 x Fired Tofu w/ Shrimp
• Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant
• 2 x Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf
• Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce
• Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce
• BBQ Pork Hum Bow
• BBQ Pork Turn-over
• Steamed Dumpling with Scallops
• 2 x Egg Tart

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: You are surrounded by true friends.
Rating:

Emmett's Review

This place is huge. Big, fancy, ornate lions guard the entrance. They're not fucking around - they have a parking garage. Walking inside - what is this? Is that a ... an Elevator? Don't know where it goes, but dang, those other dim sum places don't have elevators.

As is often the case, we were the only white people in the building. They have disco balls on the ceiling and a big throne in the corner. So the king can sit there and watch minions eat dim sum and dance the night away. I didn't inquire to the rental rates, but I will.

The dim sum itself? Nothing stood out. The scallops were alright, I guess. I think I remember having some chinese brocolli. The rice was really hot. The Sui Mai weren't bad.

Nothing here really distinguishes it from the competition. The hustle and bustle of Jade Garden is just more fun. But the atmosphere here is relaxed, and the service was good.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: You will soon travel on a business trip.
Rating:

Geary's Review

Ocean City is all about the glitz. Other places have private parking lots, Ocean City has an underground parking garage with an elevator to the main dining room. Other places have murals with pandas, Ocean City has giant golden dragons on the walls and golden lions flanking the entrance. It's a bit more toned down once you get into the dining room, but they do have fancy chandeliers and, like House of Hong, they are set up for Chinese weddings with a large dance floor and stage with a golden throne.

The large dining room was not completely full, but there was a large crowd of mostly Chinese. This was a good sign and offset my innate fears brought on by all of the gold paint. Dim sum appeared to be the lunch of choice and a cart showed up as soon as we were seated. It started a bit rocky as they brought us all forks and were quick to offer egg rolls and pork buns, but we were able to work through that and were even glad that they served us all ice water. Not all profiling is bad. It's a shame that they didn't recognize that I'm accustomed to foot massages during my lunch. We loaded up the table pretty quickly and set about working away at our bounty. This part was made slightly more difficult than it could have been since our large table had no lazy susan and the plates were tiny. They have an elevator but no lazy susan.

Even though we were there in the midst of the lunch rush, many of the items were only lukewarm. Nothing was bad but most was just average. The sticky rice was good but the shu mai were sub par as were the spareribs. I think we were recognized at some point during our lunch. Near the end of our lunch, the managers started each stopping by making sure we were happy and making suggestions like, "make sure you get a picture of the throne". Unfortunately, however, there were no bribes.

In the pantheon of Seattle ID dim sum (so far) I place Ocean City just above House of Hong (even with all of the gold, it doesn't feel as much like Disney's version of a Chinese restaurant; It's more like the Vegas version) and just below Sun Ya.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: Your lover will never wish to leave you.
Rating:

Adam's Review

Another day, another dim sum. This is one of those places we've walked-by and noticed... but never bothered to go in.

We ordered all the standard stuff, and it tasted like all the standard dim sum. The shu-mai was tasty, as per usual. The one real kicker about this place was the potatoes in the blackbean spare ribs. I took a big bite of (what I thought was) a spare rib, but it was soft and mushy... and felt like a big piece of pork fat. But, it wasn't, it was just a potato.

This is decent food, but in the sea of dim sum of the ID, swim elsewhere.

Luncher: Wayne

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: You will soon find a treasure.
Rating:

Wayne's Review

• Plus 1 for the giant golden throne at the end of the room.
• Minus 1 for hot dishes that weren't hot.
• Plus 1/2 for the wild bird flying around inside the restaurant.
• Minus 1/2 for the lazy-susan that wasn't at our table.

It was an OK dim sum experience. They had some tasty dishes, but nothing particularly exceptional. Worse yet, some of the dishes were not served as warm as they should have been. The worst was the Asian broccoli which was barely warm.

If Ocean City was the only game in town, I’d give it another try. As we have multiple better choices, I doubt I'll return.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: You will have an opportunity to reach your goal.
Rating:

Michael's Review

A really nice looking place to have lunch. Very tasty foods at a very affordable price. My only real complaint was the forks that were rushed to our table as we sat down.

The little egg custards at the end of lunch were flaky and fresh. Egg custard good, forks bad.

Luncher: Erin

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: You will speak to an important person today.
Rating:

Erin's Review

Ocean city has a very elaborate building – like something I imagine would be in Hong Kong (from what I’ve been told) – so it’s very distinctive. It has a grand entrance. Inside it has very old school Chinese decorations, lots of red and gold, and we were seated at a table on a dance floor. A dim sum cart arrived almost immediately after we sat, and several more streamed by in short order. The dim sum offerings were pretty standard, although well executed. I tasted eggplant stuffed with shrimp, a square of tofu with a shrimp stuffing, a honey walnut shrimp, sticky rice, some Chinese greens, shu mai (shrimp and pork), and of course an egg tart. Some of our food was not as warm as it should be, since it looked freshly prepared; some was nice and hot. It seemed to depend on which cart it came from. Everything was fresh and tasty, but not really different from any other dim sum offering in the ID. The egg tart was very good, with a fresh eggy custard and a nice flaky crust. This is a place to return to, especially if you wish to introduce a newbie to dim sum. I give this 3 chopsticks instead of 4; it was well done, but nothing was particularly outstanding.

Luncher: Al

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: You will have good luck in your personal affairs.
Rating:

Al's Review

If you can’t get a seat in the Garden, the larger Ocean will suffice.

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Family Style - $10.00
Fortune: You will receive a promotion soon.
Rating:

Ocean City Photos

Ocean City Restaurant


Ocean City with Adam as The Lion Tamer


Ocean City Parking


Throne


Dining Room


Shu Mai


Tofu Wrapped Shrimp


Fried Tofu w/ Shrimp


Chinese Eggplant w/ Shrimp


Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf & Spareribs


Chinese Broccoli


Pork Buns


The Spread


Again with the Spread


BBQ Pork Pastry


LBB (little brown bird) on Party Lights


More gold dragons

Lunch #42: Sun Ya

Adam: Hey! A New York Times writer who wrote a book about Chinese food in America is going to be at Elliot Bay Books in a few weeks.
Emmett: Yeah. I saw her on Colbert. Her middle name is a number.
Adam: That's her, Jennifer 8 Lee.
Geary: That's the kind of VIP we need lunching with MSG150. Let's see if she'd be up for it. Adam, pour on the charm.


Well, long story short, we somehow tricked her into joining us. She was filming a TV talk show in the morning and had an interview in the afternoon followed by a book signing, but she still managed to have lunch free to eat with MSG150. It seemed a shame for her to come all the way out to Seattle on her whirl-wind book tour and be subjected to some random lunch spot in the ID. Shouldn't we take her to one of our favorite spots? Sorry, no. We have rules. The next spot on our list was Sun Ya, a large Dim Sum restaurant that was somehow completely unknown to us. Jennifer would meet us there.

BTW, I was able to read the first chapter of her book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, before our lunch. Unfortunately, I didn't have it with me to get it signed. ("To a really great guy. Stay real. Jenny 8.") It's a fun read so far, and not at all like The Chronicles of Narnia or even The Chronicles of Riddick. She brings together her personal history as a second generation Chinese American with actual real facts and stories (unlike the kind you get here) to explore Chinese food in America. It reminds me a bit of one of my favorite books, Swallowing Clouds, by A. Zee.

Sun Ya, like Four Seas and House of Hong, has its own parking and even a parking attendant. When we arrived today, just after noon, the lot was full and the attendant was juggling double parked cars to get more in. I don't recall ever seeing the lot even close to full before. Maybe I didn't look on the right day. Luckily, we were able to walk right in and grab the last large table in the back. Jennifer had written to let us know that she had some other friends of hers joining us. They showed up first and we chatted a bit until Jennifer arrived. It turns out that Larry is a fan of Sun Ya and has been a regular for years. OK Sun Ya show us what you're made of.

Sun Ya, Seattle
Address: 605 7th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Dim Sum
Average rating: 3.7 chopsticks
Lunch date: 3/31/2008 @ 12:30:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 79 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Yes, some.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Hong Kong
Number of tables: 32
Number of occupied tables: 32 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 4 (12%)
Number of "local" tables: 25 (78%)
Healthcode Score: 7
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Family Style Dishes

• 2 x Fried Squid
• 2 x Roast Duck
• Roast Chicken
• 2 x Honey Walnut Prawns
• Chicken Feet
• 2 x Pot Stickers
• Shrimp on Green Pepper
• 2 x Shu Mai
• Chow Mien
• BBQ Pork
• Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce
• Shrimp Ball (Ha Gow)
• Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant
• Fried Tofu
• 2 x Lemon Custard
• Sesame Ball (Gin Duey)

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Family Style - $17.00
Fortune: The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.
Rating:

Geary's Review

Right off the bat Sun Ya passed two key litmus tests for dim sum: no large red dragons or other gaudy decor and lots of Chinese customers. The place was packed. Jennifer told her friends to look for the white guys and they picked us out right away based on that alone. They didn't even see my "I <3 Jennifer 8" lapel pin. The carts seemed to be flying around and we never had to wait long for another to pass by. We grabbed lots of the usual dim sum staples as they went by plus lots of the specials. We really went all out on the specials. We had multiple orders of squid, roast duck, and honey walnut prawns.

All of the food was good, but nothing really stood out. The squid were tasty, if not a little greasy. The shu mai and other dumplings weren't as flavorful as some I've had nearby. It was also on the spendy side. It ended up over $15 a person, which is twice what we usually spend at Jade Garden.

So far, my stack ranking of the Dim Sum spots is as follows:

1. Jade Garden
2. Vegetarian Bistro
3. Sun Ya
4. House of Hong
5. Four Seas
6. China Gate

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Family Style - $17.00
Fortune: Exercising now will cut your medical bills later.
Rating:

Adam's Review

Ahh... the dim sum. We were meeting Jennifer 8. Lee and some of her friends at the restaurant. Jennifer said: "they'll be the group of white guys." Are we that transparent? Anyways, we had quite the spread of food-- I liked that they had more of a selection than other Dim Sum places we've been to.

I didn't feel like anything was tastier or noticeably better than other Dim Sum places, and even though the place was packed... we kept getting luke warm food. The duck was a welcome option, and I devoured several pieces... although I think it still could have been a bit more flavorful. Fried Calamari was good. Then a popular dim sum dish that I've never had before: fried chickens' feet. They're just like fried chicken drummettes but with less meat. Its pure skin, batter, and sauce. It's OK, but nothing to write home about.

Some of the reviews of this place on Yelp! were way off base. This is definitely a decent place for some dim sum, and they're doing enough traffic that you know the food is pretty fresh. But, having negative reviews keeps the riff-raff out. Thats probably why Rob wussed out on this trip-- typical vegetarian.

Behind Jade Garden and Vegetarian Bistro... this place falls right into line for good dim sum.

And its worth noting that Jenny 8 brought us fortune cookies filled with fortunes she wrote.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Family Style - $17.00
Fortune: The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Like Four Seas, this place has a parking lot, which is incredible. The interior: average. We were seated at a large table. Being Mariner's Opening Day, I was a little bit excited for game day street meat, but these are the things we do for the cause. My buddy Sam spoke highly of this place, saying it was his favorite after Jade Garden. We had guests again! It was a beautiful Seattle day!

By the time I sat down, there were about 15 options already on the table. Highlights were the duck, pork, pot stickers, greens. The noodles were okay, as were the Chicken Feet I tried! Years ago in Taiwan I got suckered into eating Chicken Butt. Now the feet. I think I need to get some beak and I'll have that whole friggin bird covered. The shrimp buns were alright, but a little on the doughy side. Everything had a nice flavor, my one complaint would be that the food was slightly cold. Service was excellent.

We got to show our guests the unfortunate fortune cookies at the Fortune Cookie Factory! I also learned that they sell Ginger, Apple, and Pina Colada fortune cookies by the door. They look like normal fortune cookies, but there's a little label on the bag indicating the flavor. We tried some of the strawberry in our unfortunate bag and they were a real treat.

I liked Sun Ya. I teetered on 3 vs 4. Their selection and service break the tie. I'll be back.

VIP Luncher: Jennifer 8. Lee from Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Lunch: Family Style - $17.00
Rating:

Jennifer 8. Lee's Review

pi chopsticks

VIP Luncher: Tig & Serena from Adventures in Remuddling

Lunch: Family Style - $17.00
Fortune: Tig: You will make a life-altering decision soon. Serena: You should accept the next invitation that comes your way
Rating:

Tig & Serena's Review

Knowing the table was filled with mostly young westerners, the dimsum cart lady was a little pushy with pork buns and other popular dishes. Vegetables were in slim supply with only an order of chinese broccoli at our table. The roasted duck was middle of the road, flavorful but lukewarm and the skin was a little soggy