Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant

Everything but the shrimp was tasty! We went on a busy day and waited about 20 mins. The food came out quick and hot. We enjoyed many of the vegetable dishes and the BBQ bun was delicious. The shrimp just didn’t seem to taste right, a lil bitterish. Overall great food in a loud restaurant!

I came here on Christmas day with my family. My dad was able to make fairly last minute reservations a few days prior. We arrived for our 12 o’clock reservation a few minutes early and had to wait about 10 minutes or so to get seated. The décor of the restaurant is top notch and quite high end. The menu featured photos of every item (helpful for dim sum newbies/​tourists/​out-​of-​towners staying at the casino I can imagine) and you get a check-​sheet where you can write down the quantity of items you want on the menu. That day they were out of one of my favorites, the egg tarts! Unfortunate, but I guess that means I’ll have to come back.
As there were 8 of us, we ordered multiples of many dishes. The ha gow, siu mai, the chicken feet phoenix claws, fried turnip cakes, stuffed eggplant, shrimp rice rolls. we must have ordered a dozen different items. The food came very promptly but more importantly, was piping hot and tasted really fresh. Everything was delicious; I was in dim sum heaven! Even my husband who is not normally a fan of dim sum, complimented the food. Prices are higher than average, so this is not a restaurant I would frequent on a regular basis, but I would definitely come back for a nice occasion. Service was quick and courteous with the exception of one of the staff whom I believe was someone from management. We had been seated at our table for less than 10 minutes and were still going through the ordering check-​sheet when he came by wanting to take our order. He was really impatient and was eager to remind us we only had an hour and a half to eat. Not so nice. Other than this minor incident, it was an enjoyable meal.

I am surprised at all the mixed reviews here. But when they charge this much for dim sum compared to other places in town then maybe not. I came here with my wife’s family for dim sum on Christmas for lunch. We had a reservation at noon and got seated in a timely manner. I wasn’t sure what to expect but this is actually quite a nice restaurant, especially for a Chinese place. The décor is upscale and as we walked to our table I noticed a mega orchid (or a combination of about 15 – 20 regular orchids) they had on display which was actually real. Classy! Everything about the looks and décor just seems to be a step up above some of the other «fancier» places in town. More impressively, and to my surprise, was the food. We ordered several dishes and every single one of them was fresh and piping hot. The chowmein noodles were cooked to perfection. I’m not sure but I even thought they could have been fresh noodles instead of dried. The Chinese donut wrapped in rice noodle (ja lehng) was fresh to the max. I’ve never had a fresher, crispier Chinese donut wrapped in rice noodle than that. It was like it came fresh out of the deep fryer, wrapped up and served immediately. Another item that is worthy to note is the sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. They had some wild rice mixed in which was different and made it feel like it was slightly higher class than your typical sticky rice at any other average place.
The servers were quite attentive especially when the restaurant was packed for Christmas. It is more expensive but again, if I’m comparing to Kirin for example, I thought the food and overall experience is better here.

Worst service among Cantonese restaurants in Van ever! The rude manager pointed at me with his fingers when hes talking to me at all time which pissed me off. Waitress and manager treated us with very impolite tone and attitude. Food was okay. Go learn how to treat your guests politely.

I am most fortunate to be able to write a review because I was almost unable to get in. Two of us phoned and were told that the restaurant did not accept reservations, so we delayed our arrival until after the rush and on arrival were told the wait would still be about 30 mins … We waited and waited. Two other Chinese couples who arrived after us were immediately seated … They had reservations I was told. So we waited and waited … More enquiries and polite prods and after an hour and less than an hour before closing time we were shown to poor seats at the back of the half empty restaurant. Unfortunately, the mediocre quality, lacklustre service and absurd cost of the dim sum that eventfully arrived in erratic sequence did not justify either the rudeness or our tolerance. If you are either a masochist or a slave to previous reviewers this is decidedly a place to patronize … Otherwise save your wallet and palate for one of the dozens of good dim sum restaurants in Richmond who will treat you with respect and a world-​class dining experience at fair market value.

People that come here are for the place not for the food that is how I felt. The food was very salty and when i got home I am super thirsty. Very pricy.
The server don’t seems to know English. So I asked what are they famous for and he said seafood. So we basically ordered all seafood. So sad. Well actually i ordered a set combo and yes I don’t know what I ordered. Came out too much shrimp and scallop and mushroom.
Not worth the price and definitely not coming back. As well we had left over but I was still hungry and went home and just had bread with truffle oil to fill my tummy. What does that tell you. My dad didn’t like the food eiger

Reservation at 12:30 but didn’t get seat until 1:45. The 1 hr 15 min wait is unacceptable. Not only does the receptionist does not seems to recognize our concerns despite we have raise this to their attention over three times during our wait, the receptionist also response to us with an attitude with absolutely no intention to help and resolve the problem. Will not recommend to people unless you can secure a table within a reasonable time frame.

my review for Sea Harbour Seafood in three words — Expensive, Disappointed and Hungry. 6 orders of dim sum and bowl of congee, I walked out hungry.
my friend was a regular there, so she ordered … $ 8.80 for small dish of sliced cucumber in many sauces and oil, nearly $ 6 for large dim sum, and $ 5 for medium, and we had one seafood congee for another $ 8 (couple large shrimps, 1 or 2 scallop and slices of squid), sui mai was acceptable for its price, Sea Harbour #1 bun turned out to be mini three BBQ bun for $ 5. durian dessert was tasty but the dough was really sticky. meh, last time for me here.
arrived with reservation, still waited good 40 minutes for table!

AC temperature is too low.
Actually it’s better than most dim sum places in the united States. However it’s just average compared to the Cantonese restaurants in Vancouver.

I sometimes wish that Unilocal would let me give half star ratings, because I feel like Sea Harbour truly does not deserve 4 stars but is better than a lot of the restaurants that I gave 3 stars to.
First of all, you seriously need to make a reservation if you’re coming on a weekend or holiday, because the wait times can reach up to an hour if you come during their peak hours! Sea Harbour is infamous for their long waits and subpar service, but people continue to dine here because of their experienced chefs.
I understand that a few Unilocalers had bad experiences at this restaurant, but my friends and I have never been served bad food at Sea Harbour so perhaps they were just having a bad day?
Anyways, I would say that the food here is very authentic while the quality and taste is almost as good as Kirin’s or Jade’s dim sum. The majority of their dishes were very good but nothing really stood out or «wow-​ed» me. I felt that the service was just a bit cold and I didn’t like the overall design/​ambiance of the restaurant itself. Since it’s just as expensive as Jade, I would prefer dining there instead!

It is my favorite dim sum joint in BC, and that says a lot. Shanghai noodle and Fisherman’s Terrace and the relatively recently opened Empire restaurant on No3 are close second. What is great about this place is great free parking, lots of seatings (which does get full often), and great atmosphere. And it has the best chinese seafood in BC period, dim sum or not — the selection, consistent quality, and reasonable price. They also provide excellent wine selection and lots of staff — and they are quick and courteous relatively speaking (to other cantonese chinese restaurants). I come here often and great place to take out of town guests. Even many people from China that I taken there were impressed.

I’ve eaten a lot of dim sum, and when I was told this was rated the best dim sum spots by Diner’s Choice Awards, I had to try it. It definitely seemed promising — they were in their new location, and the space was big and new. However, the women at the front desk refused our reservation when they found out we were less 3 people for our reservation of 8, and instead put us on the wait list. And then, they confused the names and called the name written below us to the table that was supposed to be ours. Hmmm… ok — so not a good start.
We sat down, and I admit, there was a large selection of food. However, be warned — the list that you must mark down with your selection is ALL IN CHINESE. They have an english menu as well with photos, but only a handful to go around.
Now about the food– it was ok. Nothing really was that great. I would say, expensive for what you get. Would I go back? Probably not. I’ve definitely had better dim sum in Vancouver and Richmond.

I had dim sum here and I have to say this was the best dim sum I had in my life! I lived in LA and SF and thought I knew what good dim sum was until i hate here. Har gow, sui mai and eggplant was the best, hands down. Har gow was so twice the size of most places but it was so flavorful. Sea Harbour gets really crowded so get there early.

The restaurant is famous for high price and great food. But the most recent experience is quite disappointed. I would say the glory days are gone for this restaurant.
We were a bit excied to purchase one coupon online for $ 36.80 for 7 items of dimsum, we can not wait to try the resturant. We made reservatio one day before per the coupon requirement for table of 5. When we arrived there, the front desk girl take us to the very end of the corner, couple steps from the entrance of the kitchen by the hallway, and the table is tiny is good for 3 people only. We talked to the front desk right away and requests the bigger table since the table is very small. The girl looked at me and said, we don’t have bigger table right now, you better take the table, it is good for 5 person. The girl is not willing to help or switch the table. Then we asked to wait until the bigger table is available.
While we waiting at the waiting area, we heard the girl spoke with other girl that mentioned we came in with the coupon, the other girl mentioned: those people come with coupon are those people wants to save money, they should seat where they arranged, they has saved some money while dinning in the restaurant. Well, I did not stand up to talk with this girl, what a meant people speaking things like that. If their boss does not care coupon customer, they better not to do the promotion with coupon online.
I am wondering if their boss ever teach these 2 girls customer service, or how to treat the customer right.
30 mins later, we finally seated, the food came very fast, the service from waiter is not too bad, the food is average, not too good, not too bad.
Anyway, for the dimsum experience, we would not go back again because of the rude girls at the front desk and the food is not as good as what we expeced.
I better called Kirin early enough to make the reversation next time.

TL;DR: NOPE. Hard pass. Bland.
Went on a whirlwind trip to Vancouver and immediately prioritized where to eat. Because of such a limited schedule, hubby and I quickly decided we should hit up a dim sum joint in Richmond where it is famous for authentic and tasty Chinese cuisine. We did due diligence, reading some top 10 lists and seeing some Unilocal reviews, of course. All said to check out Sea Harbour, it was worth the wait, etc.
Honestly when I see complaints about service I don’t really care as much about that if the food is 5 stars. However the only positive thing that happened was that I was sat immediately for my table for two – a positive that I thought would translate to the rest of the meal but didn’t.
The food was bland. What?! I don’t mean the dim sum’s flavours were delicate: out and out bland. We ordered a slew of dishes (9 in total which was overkill for just 2 of us but hey, go big or go home) and nothing stood out that made us go, «yeah worth the price!» Worse, we felt most things were under seasoned at best.
Whatever, I thought. Can’t win them all. And then despite asking our waiter if I should order dessert along with lunch immediately or wait until the end, he assured us to just wait… Big mistake. 26 minutes after they cleared out lunch, I was given more bland egg tarts with some birds nest on top.
Now this might have just been a 2 star review but I had to take it all the way down to one when the waitress at the end pestered my husband for not giving a tip. Rather rudely and apparently even with slight drama as he watched her carelessly throw the receipt to the ground when he told her frankly we weren’t happy with service, hence no tip.
Wow. I don’t expect anyone to bow down in deference to us but to be so rude is appalling. Reading some reviews below it seems like once the main chef left for LA, the quality went with him.
So disappointed.

I like how they fill half of the tea pot with lots if tea leaves, but other than that, the food is not so authentic. I came at 1 pm on a Monday for dimsum, so the service was not bad. Food plating was well displayed.

Really, really disappointed. We flew to Seattle and drove to BC for the weekend, FROM HONOLULU, just to eat «The best food outside of Hong Kong». A friend sent us with a list of what to order at which restaurant, and we were hungry.
We’re still hungry. We had a few good meals at hole in the wall places, but when it came to high-​end dim sum and seafood restaurants we weren’t even able to get a table. I realize it was the weekend, and it seems everyone in Richmond was out to dine, but come on. If the host at the door wasn’t scowling at us, asking where we’re from, they were laughing in our faces! It was surreal.
Sea Harbour took the cake. Having been rudely turned away twice, we thought we’d out smart ‘em, and arrived right after opening. Empty but for a few tables, they reluctantly sat us. As unwelcome as we felt, we stayed, eager to enjoy the AWARD WINNING SQUAB Sea Harbour is famous for. The menu is almost entirely in Chinese and we didn’t mind. We knew what we were there for and a lot of the Dim Sum selections were in English.
Well, when we tried to order the squab, we were told «No, no, we don’t have that here.» We traveled about 6,000 miles round trip to eat squab at Sea Harbour, and that’s how it went down. Hungry, angry, frustrated… We ordered three baskets of amazing dim sum, choked it down with jasmine tea, and headed back to Seattle.

Beware! Not a place for non-​Chinese speaking patrons!
Yeah, the food is good BUT the inadequate service is enough to knock off three stars. The staff looked like chickens run amuck, and you couldn’t tell who hosted, waited, or bused. The other night I stood for ten minutes at the hostess podium, and she did not look at me and made no attempt to greet me. Truly if you are not Chinese-​speaking and not used to this poor level service, do not come here!
I’m come from LA, and we even have better service in our Chinese restaurants. As I said, the food is good, but the feeling I got that I didn’t belong there was too uncomfortable to enjoy the meal.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
I like the fact that this restaurant is located on the hotel side of River Rock, that is, in a separate building on the opposite side of the casino. So people who do not like to gamble or families with children can access the restaurant without passing through the casino.
The décor is upscale. Table setting is business like a d comes complete with a pair of common chopsticks and condiments in serving dishes with spoons. Hot tea comes with an extra pot of hot water. Service from start to finish has been attentive and a notch above the average Chinese restaurants.
Food is good but not spectacular. The har gaw and siu mai are both flavorful and moist. The har gaw skin is thin but doesn’t break apart. The pork spareribs taste very good albeit there’s more bone than meat.
The minced fish with pea tip rice roll is very well prepared and is presented in a long dish with sauce on the side. We are adventurous today so we try a special delicate dish, which is black chicken steamed in lotus leaf with Chinese medicinal herbs. The black chicken tastes fresh, with a rich flavor of Chinese medicinal herbs and black mushroom. It’s a very tasty dish but it came with really a few tiny pieces of chicken with bones.
Overall it has been an enjoyable dim sum lunch, but given that this is Vancouver/​Richmond, I have higher expectations, and there are at least a few other restaurants that are a notch above in quality but comparable in prices.

Per my last 2 reviews, I wrote about my experience of waiting table and the dim sim. I came back for dinner this time and looking for new/​delicious/​decent dishes.
When I walked in, I saw most of table were reversed and set up for big group. The manager who served us was attentive and friendly.
We had pre-​ordered the signature dishes while we’re making the reservation. Unfortunately, the hostess omitted to reserve the free-​range chicken and we only got live crab sharp fin soup.
Well… talk about the superior foods…
Live crab in sharp fin soup — Definitely live and fresh crab meat with average quality of shark fin soup. The soup taste very strong and a bit salty. But, pls expect the live crab charge on top of shark fin soup.
Live prawns in premium soy sauce — Huge live prawns and delicious to cook in premium soy sauce. However, same problem salty.
Choy Sum in clear broth — Simple and healthy dish. It’s cooking in clear broth with fresh choy sum.
Sweet and Sour pork — They didn’t use the can juice and artificial flavour to cook it. It cooked in fresh hawthorn and fresh fruits, it tasted ok but the porks were too fatty.
Stir fired Osmanthus mussels in XO sauce — thick cut mouthful osmanthus mussels so tasty! Just a perfect cooked, otherwise, it would be so chewy!
Pan fired minced pork w/​black truffle — I believed the minced pork were hand chopped coz it’s refreshing, delicious and bouncy.
Stir fired mixed mushroom with Gai Lan — It stir fired with black pepper and made it a bit spicy but flavor.
I heard from my friend that they do new dishes and add on menus by season. Therefore, it always have new things to try.