Mystery Critic

Overall
Food
Service
Ambience
Value

OVERALL

I'm not a hugh fan of seafood.  I mean, I do eat it, but I can go days without thinking about any creature from the sea, lake or river.  I'm much more inclined to order a juicy steakhouse whenever I had the chance.  Nevertheless, I still LOVE this place - it's food is more than good, but actually attractive to anyone with any kind of taste.

FOOD

The name of the restaurant gave it away - this is a SEAFOOD place, so don't order beef with brocolli and kung-pao chicken.  The hybrid of Cantonese. Vietnamese and Chao-Zhou cooking styles, as well as a hugh variety of seafood (how about everything that breathe underwater) makes this place a true seafood heaven.

REMEMBER TWO WORDS: SPICY LOBSTER.  That is the best dish they offer.  Even my two-year old son loved it!  Their geoduck and plain old steamed fish were great as well.  I tried their crab too but was a bit disappointing - even though it wasn't crab season. but I would assume they knew how to address that issue - OR just don't tell it in August!

SERVICE

Just like all popular Chinese restaurants, the second you walk in this place you know you will be treated only slightly better than the crabs swimming (or more like dying) in the filthy fish tanks.  Man, at least their lives are worth something here.  You'd be lucky if they don't pour hot tea on you when you are wearing a tanktop.  Then again, this place is actually not too bad compared to many of its comrades - at least they never cursed at us or forgot to bring the water we asked for.

AMBIENCE

Also just like all popular Chinese restaurants, this place is the product of a bad cooking cutter - it's got a fish tank, many large round tables, and strange mix of colors.  Not to mention the funny looking pictures of China, Vietnam and beach in Hawaii (what........).  Well, at least it's reasonably clean and comfortable, so it's a cut above its comrades (there's the explanation for two stars).  I never expect them to be romantic or elegant anyways - that would be too unchinese!

VALUE

Com'on, it's a seafood restaurant - so you can't expect to walk out with paying a $4.95 special (not even in LA!).  Even a Chinese seafood restaurant will set you back at least $100 a table for four.  But, we're talking about lots of real seafood, not the seafood-fried-rice kind of stuff.  You can easily spend $50 a person but you'll be stuffed by a ton of seafood - very good seafood too.

FINAL WORD

This place is packed just about every night and I don't trust their reservation "system", so the best thing to do is avoid weekend and ALSO go early even on weeknight.  Also, the seafood is sold by pound, and the waiter will always push the most expensive per-pound seafood, so beware.  Finally, when you ask for "2-3 lb lobster", you will most likely get a 3.5 lb lobster, so ask for a 2 pounder if you want a 2.5 lb (usually good for four adults).