First time dining here and not disappointed. Food was fantastic and probably the best Asian food we have ever had. Full of flavor and big portions to share. Alot of Asians were eating here and I find that a good sign of quality and not some tourist trap slop. Service was good too. Staff topped off our drinks and asked us a few times if we enjoyed the food. Don't hesitate to go. This is great tasting, authentic Asian food. Yum! ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lisa C.
We ordered 6 oysters dishes but look like replacing 2 mussels on each oyster. Very disappointed.
Keyuan Huang (Kervyn)
The dishes were good, but the waiters forced me to give 15% tip. They offered almost no service beyond taking the order and putting dishes on the table. Such service doesn't worth 15% tip from my viewpoint. At first, I tipped 7%, and then they returned the receipt and told me to pay 15%. They still expressed dissatisfaction even after I raised the tip to 12%. Honestly, I'm OK with their service since I care more about whether the dishes taste good, but I'm really annoyed with they were forcing customers to pay tip since the tip should be up to the customer. If they want more tip, they should first learn to be more friendly and more courtesy.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Crystal Barrientos
Very friendly staff. Food was delicious and great portion sizes. Extensive menu to choose from, clean place, and you are given hot tea!!! Loved it. We ordered dumplings and shrimp for our first time, but we are going back for more next time…
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Daniel Mok
SURPRISE, it is a very good Hong Kong style tranditional Chinese restaurant. I am pretty sure the cook is from Hong Kong and he is cooking in 80's to 90's style, very tranditional and it is hard to find even in Hong Kong. Too bad that I am a traveller but I will miss this place and come again for my next visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ada Z.
My family and I have been going to tai lake for dinner, since my childhood. We love ordering various dishes and enjoying it together. Tonight, we ordered onchoy, ginger scallion lobster, fillet flounder with corn, egg fried rice, and fillet steak cantonese style. Everything was flavorful and delicious! The flounder with corn was a tad too salty, but everything else was seasoned perfectly. The egg fried rice was super basic, but it was a hit for the toddlers in the party tonight. We really enjoyed the fillet steak and actually ordered a second order of it. Service was nice and attentive. Our servers came over and were talking to the toddlers as well. I loved the red bean soup that came for dessert too!
Mandy S.
This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Philly! Coming from California where there's an abundance of Chinese food, I can say this restaurant serves really authentic and yummy Chinese food. Whenever I miss those authentic Cantonese flavors, I will be coming back to this restaurant! We asked the waiter for recommendations from the menu and he told us that they're known for seafood dishes. They have multiple tanks of different kinds of live seafood at the entrance of their restaurant so you can bet on them to serve you the freshest seafood! Most of their live seafood don't really have a set price. It's calculated by market price (by pound). The service here is really quick. They bring out the food really fast and it comes out piping hot. The waiters do not check up on you to see how the food is but that is typical service at a Chinese restaurants. They offer bowls of white rice at no extra charge to go along with your food. FILLET GROUPER AND BEAN CURD - 3/5 The first dish that came out was the fillet grouper and bean curd. The grouper (fish) in this dish is fried before they mixed it into a clay pot with some sauce. The grouper is already deboned which made it very easy and pleasant to eat. To my surprise, there is a layer of Napa cabbage on the bottom of the pot which is a nice way to incorporate some veggies. The flavors in this dish wasn't too great. I've had better but it was decent. I wish it had more sauce. I would probably try something else from their menu next time. I forgot to take photos of the other dishes because they all looked and smelled so good LOL SNOW PEA LEAVES WITH GARLIC - 5/5 This was delicious! The snow pea leaves weren't too tough, you could tell they used good quality young snow pea leaves to make this dish. It was stir fried with some garlic and had the perfect amount of seasoning. A classic veggie dish to go with the rest of your meal. CRAB AND DRIED SCALLOP FRIED RICE - 5/5 Out of the 3 items that we ordered, my favorite is their crab and dried scallop fried rice. This fried rice tasted super authentic and had all the flavor notes that you would look for in a fried rice. It was seasoned perfectly where it would make your mouth water. There is umami flavors from the dried scallops and they use real crab in their fried rice! None of that imitation stuff. The rice wasn't stuck together and had the perfect texture. I would come back just for this dish. At the end of your meal, they even bring you a free dessert! 3 dishes from their menu was enough variety to feed 2 hungry adults plus some leftovers to take home.
Yi Zhu
The price is very reasonable, but the taste is first tier.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Luiyong
Great Cantonese food!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Laura Pariso
Delicious and fresh seafood restaurant, my favorite were the steamed oysters with gingers and onions and the fried lobster typhoon shelter style, you can get generic American Chinese foods there as well if that's what are into, they serve alcoholic beverages and cocktails, ask your server for details!
The food was insanely good, diverse, surprising, and tasty. We got a huge variety of things—the fish based items were the best, and I loved the noodles. We also had eel, which was fantastic. Very nice waitstaff, and BYO if you want.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Pan Fried Noodles, Lobster in Garlic Sauce, Sautéed Chinese Broccoli & Dried Radish w Wine 老酒菜冂匍芥兰, House Special Fried Rice
Laura P.
Delicious and fresh seafood restaurant, my favorite were the steamed oysters with gingers and onions and the fried lobster typhoon shelter style, you can get generic American Chinese foods there as well if that's what are into, they serve alcoholic beverages and cocktails, ask your server for details!
T A
Horrible service. Do not allow to sit down after certain time. The owner is disgusting.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Anthony Logan
Bad service, not impressed. We sat paid our money. They literally told people they closed with giving us 30 mins to swallow our food
Paulette Watson
I never got a chance to eat there. I was waiting in the lobby area for my dinner companion. After waiting about an hour, I went inside and told them my companion was still running late and I didn't feel comfortable in the lobby because a man sat down near me talking to himself. I'm an elderly woman. I told them I'd like to go ahead and dine alone. He told me I could not????. He told me to go back to the lobby. I asked if they only seat 2 people. He said yes. I don't believe that. I'm inclined to think he was being racist. He wasn't pleasant at all. I will never go there again and will definitely tell others.
First time dining here and not disappointed. Food was fantastic and probably the best Asian food we have ever had. Full of flavor and big portions to share. Alot of Asians were eating here and I find that a good sign of quality and not some tourist trap slop. Service was good too. Staff topped off our drinks and asked us a few times if we enjoyed the food. Don't hesitate to go. This is great tasting, authentic Asian food. Yum! ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We ordered 6 oysters dishes but look like replacing 2 mussels on each oyster. Very disappointed.
The dishes were good, but the waiters forced me to give 15% tip. They offered almost no service beyond taking the order and putting dishes on the table. Such service doesn't worth 15% tip from my viewpoint. At first, I tipped 7%, and then they returned the receipt and told me to pay 15%. They still expressed dissatisfaction even after I raised the tip to 12%. Honestly, I'm OK with their service since I care more about whether the dishes taste good, but I'm really annoyed with they were forcing customers to pay tip since the tip should be up to the customer. If they want more tip, they should first learn to be more friendly and more courtesy.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Very friendly staff. Food was delicious and great portion sizes. Extensive menu to choose from, clean place, and you are given hot tea!!! Loved it. We ordered dumplings and shrimp for our first time, but we are going back for more next time…
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
SURPRISE, it is a very good Hong Kong style tranditional Chinese restaurant. I am pretty sure the cook is from Hong Kong and he is cooking in 80's to 90's style, very tranditional and it is hard to find even in Hong Kong. Too bad that I am a traveller but I will miss this place and come again for my next visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
My family and I have been going to tai lake for dinner, since my childhood. We love ordering various dishes and enjoying it together. Tonight, we ordered onchoy, ginger scallion lobster, fillet flounder with corn, egg fried rice, and fillet steak cantonese style. Everything was flavorful and delicious! The flounder with corn was a tad too salty, but everything else was seasoned perfectly. The egg fried rice was super basic, but it was a hit for the toddlers in the party tonight. We really enjoyed the fillet steak and actually ordered a second order of it. Service was nice and attentive. Our servers came over and were talking to the toddlers as well. I loved the red bean soup that came for dessert too!
This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Philly! Coming from California where there's an abundance of Chinese food, I can say this restaurant serves really authentic and yummy Chinese food. Whenever I miss those authentic Cantonese flavors, I will be coming back to this restaurant! We asked the waiter for recommendations from the menu and he told us that they're known for seafood dishes. They have multiple tanks of different kinds of live seafood at the entrance of their restaurant so you can bet on them to serve you the freshest seafood! Most of their live seafood don't really have a set price. It's calculated by market price (by pound). The service here is really quick. They bring out the food really fast and it comes out piping hot. The waiters do not check up on you to see how the food is but that is typical service at a Chinese restaurants. They offer bowls of white rice at no extra charge to go along with your food. FILLET GROUPER AND BEAN CURD - 3/5 The first dish that came out was the fillet grouper and bean curd. The grouper (fish) in this dish is fried before they mixed it into a clay pot with some sauce. The grouper is already deboned which made it very easy and pleasant to eat. To my surprise, there is a layer of Napa cabbage on the bottom of the pot which is a nice way to incorporate some veggies. The flavors in this dish wasn't too great. I've had better but it was decent. I wish it had more sauce. I would probably try something else from their menu next time. I forgot to take photos of the other dishes because they all looked and smelled so good LOL SNOW PEA LEAVES WITH GARLIC - 5/5 This was delicious! The snow pea leaves weren't too tough, you could tell they used good quality young snow pea leaves to make this dish. It was stir fried with some garlic and had the perfect amount of seasoning. A classic veggie dish to go with the rest of your meal. CRAB AND DRIED SCALLOP FRIED RICE - 5/5 Out of the 3 items that we ordered, my favorite is their crab and dried scallop fried rice. This fried rice tasted super authentic and had all the flavor notes that you would look for in a fried rice. It was seasoned perfectly where it would make your mouth water. There is umami flavors from the dried scallops and they use real crab in their fried rice! None of that imitation stuff. The rice wasn't stuck together and had the perfect texture. I would come back just for this dish. At the end of your meal, they even bring you a free dessert! 3 dishes from their menu was enough variety to feed 2 hungry adults plus some leftovers to take home.
The price is very reasonable, but the taste is first tier.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great Cantonese food!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delicious and fresh seafood restaurant, my favorite were the steamed oysters with gingers and onions and the fried lobster typhoon shelter style, you can get generic American Chinese foods there as well if that's what are into, they serve alcoholic beverages and cocktails, ask your server for details!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
The food was insanely good, diverse, surprising, and tasty. We got a huge variety of things—the fish based items were the best, and I loved the noodles. We also had eel, which was fantastic. Very nice waitstaff, and BYO if you want.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Pan Fried Noodles, Lobster in Garlic Sauce, Sautéed Chinese Broccoli & Dried Radish w Wine 老酒菜冂匍芥兰, House Special Fried Rice
Delicious and fresh seafood restaurant, my favorite were the steamed oysters with gingers and onions and the fried lobster typhoon shelter style, you can get generic American Chinese foods there as well if that's what are into, they serve alcoholic beverages and cocktails, ask your server for details!
Horrible service. Do not allow to sit down after certain time. The owner is disgusting.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Bad service, not impressed. We sat paid our money. They literally told people they closed with giving us 30 mins to swallow our food
I never got a chance to eat there. I was waiting in the lobby area for my dinner companion. After waiting about an hour, I went inside and told them my companion was still running late and I didn't feel comfortable in the lobby because a man sat down near me talking to himself. I'm an elderly woman. I told them I'd like to go ahead and dine alone. He told me I could not????. He told me to go back to the lobby. I asked if they only seat 2 people. He said yes. I don't believe that. I'm inclined to think he was being racist. He wasn't pleasant at all. I will never go there again and will definitely tell others.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1