Tai Yuan Seafood Restaurant

The dimsun is very good, beef is yummy. And there service is nice!!! Shiu Mai, tripe are authentic and flavorful.

Tai Yuan is one of my favorite restaurant. My family and I come here very regularly. We come here for dim sum and also dinner. We like the food and service in Tai Yuan. This time, we ordered the fish maw with abalone sauce, Ginger fish, vegetables with seafood, Clay pot oxtail.
The fish maw with abalone sauce is taste really tradition Chinese New Year dish and I love that. The ginger fish is my first try and it is very tasty. I like it because it is not very oily and not dry at all. The clay pot oxtail is one of my favorite dish in here. I really recommend people to try it.

Dim sum has never been better! My family and grandma loves this place. The owner is super nice and courteous and treats us like family. My favorite is the chicken feet and roasted pork. All of the classic dishes like hand made cilantro noodle, shiu mai, tripe are authentic and flavorful. This is our go to every morning! Only good vibes here.

I ordered four dishes and only one taste good; beef stew pot. The waiter kept pushing for live fish; almost in every sentence. I succumbed to his push and ordered a live sea bass stew pot. It did not taste good. I would not come back again. Cold as hell around there. I rather go to Millbrae.

I have been here once before when it was Tai Wu but under a different ownership. I wasn’t impressed then but at least it wasn’t disgusting. Yesterday was one of those days when nothing seemed to go right. Tai Yuan was really my Plan C. Plan A was abandoned after I circled the block multiple times and failed to find parking. Plan B was funny. There were ample parking right in front. I could see from the glass window the restaurant was dead (that explained the easy parking) and the servers were busy swatting flies! That wasn’t inviting at all plus lukewarm reviews from Unilocal didn’t help either. So we ended up with Plan C only to be served with some horrific seafood at outrageous prices. Quality seafood can be expensive but methinks that expensive subpar seafood is a definite double whammy. The décor was typical Chinese banquet style with unimpressive glass chandeliers.
I acquired the taste for sea cucumbers both from mom’s cooking and eating out. They were in abundance then and way cheaper than today ($ 24.98). While shaped like a cucumber, the outer skin looked grotesque and unappetizing. The texture of a sea cucumber needs getting used to and should be slightly crunchy to the bite. It usually acquires the taste of whatever sauce the sea cucumber is cooked in. Tai Yuan used like an abalone/​oyster sauce that was actually quite delicious with a couple of stalks of mustard greens. There were some setbacks to this dish. It was described in the menu as sautéed with onions and mushrooms. There were none but instead there were dried shrimps, which I detested. It was then overcooked causing the meat to be soggy and mushy (in Cantonese lingo «lum phat phat»). The WORST offense though was the sea cucumber was not thoroughly cleaned before cooking, leaving behind the innards and a foul repulsive taste. (¹⁄₅)
Fish maws are the swim bladders of some large fish. I have always enjoyed a hearty bowl of fish maw soup with crabmeat. In Tai Yuan, the entrée version was not a soup. It was prepared in the similar way ($ 12.98) as sea cucumbers. Had the server alerted me to that, I would have averted this order. A sure overkill! The fish maw that I am used to is usually cut into small bite size pieces and had a smooth, soft texture. Tonight it was all shriveled up with an unpleasant glutinous crunch. Not quite what I expected! (¹⁄₅)
The server tried his luck at up selling and we were dumb enough to allow him to succeed! I guess we were so hungry at that point that if he tried to sell us a horse, we would have said «yes»! I thought what could possibly go wrong with steaming a live rock cod swimming in the tank. Holy crap! It did go wrong! Firstly our faces were against the tanks and we had no idea how «healthy» the fish was. He sneakily figured in a price tag of @29.98/lb that is the highest I have ever seen for a rock cod. The steaming was fine, not too well done nor undercooked. But to add insult to injury, the fish could have been an almost dead fish or at least terminally ill. The meat had a fishy odor and taste. When asked, the server feigned a dumb look on his face «whatcha talking about?» (¹⁄₅)
The saving grace was a huge platter of Abalone Sauce and Mushroom Lo Mein ($ 13.98). Thick egg noodles (Lo Cho) were tossed in abalone sauce with a paltry sprinkling of enoki mushrooms. After all the dismal seafood, the noodles got to taste decent! They were and al dente too! (³⁄₅)
Lesson learnt: Never be adventurous and stay with the tried and true when dining at a restaurant you have never been unless it came highly recommended or you have read rave reviews! Never order something exotic from an unfamiliar restaurant.

Busy Mother’s Day. We waited for almost an hour for a four person table. We checked with them and they scratched our number off the list. Seems they called our number already. But four of us didn’t hear it, despite standing right outside the front door.
After seating, we were giving a small dim sum menu, not the usually big menu. Had to go to the front desk to ask for it since it was so busy and the service isn’t the best.
The food came out very slowly, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we became really full as the food settled in our stomachs while waiting, so we weren’t able to enjoy it as much.
Most food was pretty good. Although the Macau Egg Tarts were a bit dry and didn’t look that appetizing. Shrimp Dumpling skin was too thin and kept ripping before even eating.
It’s pretty average for a dim sum restaurant, but then again, most are like that.

Came Here On My Off Day Just To Spend Time With My Family Which Was On A Monday!!! And For Me It’s Been Such A Very Long Time That I Have Not Eating Here At Tai Yuan Until On My Off Day And My Drought Of Not Coming Here Just To Eat My Most Favorite Dim Sum Has Finally Ended!!! When We Got Here On A Week Day Of Monday And It Wasn’t That Busy It’s Because We Got Here Early As Soon As We Walked In…
Our Hostess Was Very Friendly And Took Us In To Our Table Immediately Which Was Very Fast And We Didn’t Have To Wait That Long Just To Wait On A Table!!! Other Than Dim Sum King, Koi Palace, Grand Palace, Asian Pearl, Yank Sing, City View, I Consider Tai Yuan As Another Of Favorite Go To Chinese Restaurant!!!
And The One Thing That I Really Enjoyed Eating The Most At Tai Yuan Is The Xiao Long Bao, Steam Beef Tripe, Sticky Rice, Fried Chinese Donut, Tai Yaun For Me Is A Great Place For A Family Gathering And Just To Sit Back Relax And Forget About Everything Else While I Am Eating My Most Favorite Dim Sum!!!
~ THIS IS MY 440TH Unilocal REVIEW AND 60 MORE Unilocal REVIEWS TO GO JUST TO REACH MY 500 Unilocal REVIEW ~

For dinner, quail, duck, abalone, sea bass are amazing and juicy. I’m also a fan of their dim sum so I recommend going there for lunch as well. Their housemade XO sauce is delicious with some of their dim sum dishes. We usually order extra to bring some back home. VIP room provides a more intimate and clean atmosphere. Always enjoyed good service here.

I came here for Chinese New Years gathering with my extended family members. We came here specifically for new years and we wanted delicious chinese food however, the meal was expensive, nothing tasted good, and the service was terrible.
We came here a week into new years and we were told we could only from their dinner set meals. We were perfectly fine with that since the food in the set sounded good.
Food — As each dish was brought to our table, we were less and less excited for the next dish to be delivered. The portions were small, and food was over oily or bland. The lobster had no taste and it was oily. All the vegetable dishes were so oily that our plates were drenched in oil. The only good dish was the steamed fish. The dessert soup we had at the end was only half a bowl full for each person.
Service — Extremely nonexistent. The management is terrible and they surely do not know how to operate their restaurant. When they brought our steamed fish out, the soy sauce dripped all over my cousin’s peacoat. The waiter did not apologize and their excuse was «oh.nothing is wrong, it is new year’s» and walked away. Another waiter who brought the other dishes to us kept hitting my cousin with the plates. My aunt told him to be careful when serving the dishes and his excuse was the same! «It’s Chinese New Years». The whole night, our table was so crowded since they didn’t take away our glasses (we don’t drink soda) and our plates. They finally decided to remove our appetizers plates when our last dish came out which made no sense at all.
Ambiance — Extremely crowded. Waiters would bump into you, the person sitting behind you from the other table would have to get up if you need to walk by. The decorations itself are pretty nice though, with a banquet backdrop and gold letterings.
Overall, I would only come back for dimsum since I came here several times for dimsum before and my experience was pleasant. I would not come back for dinner especially on a Chinese holiday. After this experience, with the amount that we spent at this place, we would have change left over if we all ate at a Vegas Buffet. If their excuse he whole was was «It’s Chinese New Year’s», maybe they should hire a few more waiters and cook better food since customers expect a nice dinner with their expended families.

3.5 stars… I would’ve never tried this place but was a meeting place for uncles, aunt, mom for lunch.
Place was packed for a holiday Monday at 12:30 with limited parking… had to circle around the neighborhood for street parking then realized we could probably park where the trucks are in the back…(across from the Jiffy Lube). No signage until you walk and leave the lot which says for King Plaza…
Food was good and service was surprisingly attentive… dim sum items on the pricier side than i’m used to but i guess its ‘fancy’ restaurant. Very spacious and definitely great for banquets with VIP rooms which we were seated…2 large tables in the back room that seats about 15 people (uncomfortably) but good for privacy.
If in the area, i would return but not rushing to go back as there are plenty of other options.

Typical dim sum restaurant. One of the biggest pain points I have is that there is almost always no parking, and you find yourself circling the lot or the neighboring streets hoping to catch someone as they are leaving. The restaurant itself tends to always be busy whenever I come, but we were able to get a table right away this last time.
Ate a bunch of dumplings and felt gross after, but everything was good. I would especially recommend their bbq pork buns.

Came here with family for Christmas dinner because my brother loves seafood. We ordered the Alaskian King Crab which was priced at $ 40/​lb (so pricey!) and ended up getting a 9lb crab which was made in three ways. The dishes were fried crab with fried egg yolk as the batter, steamed crab with garlic, pepper, and cilantro over a bed of vermicelli noodles, and steamed egg mixed with crab roe. We also ordered squab and bitter melon with frog.
Every crab dish was very delicious. The batter was very tasty with the addition of salted egg yolk and the crab was very moist! The steamed crab was a nice dish to balance out eating all the fried crab. It was juicy and the vermicelli noodles was a nice complement to eat with the steamed crab. Steamed eggs is a classic chinese dish but mixing crab roe in with it was genius. The crab roe provides a savory flavor to the eggs while still maintaining the creaminess and lightness of egg. Although the crab was expensive, Alaskian king crabs definitely taste different compared to regular crab. The crab meat is much more tender and juicy compared to regular crab, and definitely more meaty!
Overall we were very pleased with the meal and service. The waiter also gave us extra dessert for dinner which ranged from mango pudding, grass jelly, and the classic chinese porridge made with 8 ingredients.

I didn’t even eat here. This is purely based on the 5 – 10 min interaction I had with them. It’s Christmas Day and my family thought it’d be a great idea to have dim sum at nearby Koi Palace (it’s not). We considered other places, such as this one.
Phone call:
Me: Hi, I was wondering how long the wait is for 8 people?
Lady: Very fast, very fast, do not worry. (I hear lots of noise in the background)
Me: Oh really… can you tell me about how long?
Lady: 10 minutes, we seat you very fast.
Me: Are you sure about that?
Lady: Yes, very fast. (hang up)
I didn’t believe her given the background noise but since we were waiting at Koi Palace, my boyfriend and I popped over to see if this was true. (Of course, if it was indeed a 10 min wait, then the food must be terrible since it’s Christmas Day of all days to eat out). Of course there’s a large crowd in front of the restaurant and I fight my way to the podium.
Me: Can I have a table for 8?
Lady: (stares at me but does not acknowledge that I asked her a question)
Patron near me: Haha, if you want to wait a minimum of 1.5 hours, there are like 15 parties ahead of you.
Me: Just so you know, I just called and you people told me it was 10 minutes.
Lady: (stares at me) Do you want a ticket or not?
Patron near me: HAHA, you got fooled, they told you that to get you to come in. (Thanks, Captain Obvious).
It’s hard to predict a 15 minute wait vs a 30 minute wait in reality. But really now? Telling me 10 minutes over the phone and it being a complete and utter lie? You obviously don’t need more customers, so why don’t you just be honest so I don’t have to write this review? And your employees need to be less rude over the phone and in person. And this is coming from someone who has really low expectations for service from Chinese restaurants.

Came here for a traditional styled Chinese wedding banquet for a friend. Tai Yuan serves all of the traditional typical Chinese wedding banquet dishes and does a fantastic job at it!
Specifically, I really enjoyed the Fried Crab Claw, Abalone and Smoked Sea Bass. The Fried Crab Claw had a good chunk of meat and was crispy but not oily. The Abalone was tender. The Smoked Sea Bass was cooked perfectly with the meat just flaking into pieces. I was fortunate to be seated at a table where two of the guests were no show, so I was able to get more of the good grub!
There is a parking lot that is shared with many other restaurants and stores, so it can be difficult to find parking at times; but street parking is always an option! I would definitely comer back here again to try their non banquet dishes!

Tai Yuan Seafood Restaurant is located inside the King Plaza Shopping Center, and sits on the property in which was formerly Tai Wu.
I think the food here is better now, than when it was Tai Wu. New ownership comes new restuarant name and even better food. As I was taking pictures, one of the guys from the restaurant (presumably the owner) saw me taking soo many pictures of the front and started asking if I was coming for dinner. Lol.
My family and I came here for a little get together with friends and family from the city. The food here is pretty good and the service is decent as well for a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant started getting busy after we got there, after 6.
We had a variety of things from soup, noodles, rice, pork, combination of things and more.
Crispy Fried Chicken, Black Bean Sauce Fish Fillet, Roast Pork, Chicken, Mushroom & Vegetables, Broccoli and Fish and more. All mostly yummy! Especially the Whole Roasted Suckling Pig!!!
The food here is great, yummy and very tasteful. They certainly know how to mix flavor with pleasure lol. Certain items may have been a tad bit salty, but it was still good, tender and flavorful.
They even provided a few dessert items to our party, such as Red Bean Tapioca dessert, Mango Pudding Dessert, Steamed Cake, and little dessert buns. Not many restaurants give these many options.
The customer service here was decent as well. Most of the time, while we were here, they were pretty attentative to our needs and very somewhat polite as well.
Overall, this was a good expierence and so was the food. :)

My family and I wanted to try a new restaurant in the area and we saw that Tai Yuan had a high review and decided to give it a shot. Although the restaurant didn’t look like much from the outside, the interior was pretty well maintained and looked clean. We came to try this place for dinner, and were impressed with the different specials for the night. We ordered the Peking duck special as well as the steamed clams and one other vegetable and tofu dish. The service was very quick, and the staff was very friendly. The food prices were reasonable and the portions were quite generous, so we will come back again!

Came here for Chinese New Year dinner. My bf’s mom was maliciously talked into the «seafood medley» special by this shady ass server. It was RIDICULOUSLY expensive — i think over $ 100. I remember the server was pushing this dish hard on her. I was thinking it was going to be several dishes of different seafood platters since it was so pricey but unfortunately that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We were a party of 7 adults and 2 children. Any reasonable person would know that ONE dish would not be adequate for a meal for this many people, especially on Chinese New year. We were all in shock and disbelief at what came out. This seafood medley was the NASTIEST OVERPRICED dish i have ever had. It was a a big soup pot of stuff that should not go together… Like CHICKEN, shrimp, mussels, fish, squid in one pot along with anything that was just laying around in the kitchen. CHICKEN and seafood TOGETHER… WHO DOES THAT???
One f*&#ing dish for 9 people… In what world is that ok in any kind of establishment? And there was no lost in translation bs as my bf’s mom speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese. I think that it was just the server doing what management pushed him to do… get the specials sold so they can make some easy $$$ and get rid of old sh*%, that or he was just being a d*ck.
Really it was HORRIBLE. While everyone around us was having multiple platters like normal dinners usually go, we got a seafood medley because our server was a freakin’ idiot and didn’t give a crap about us. We asked him if that was all that was included and he confirmed it was and was not concerned at all with our obviously perplexed faces.
I think i ate a few shrimp but i could not eat much although i was starving because the food was just NASTY.
Thank-​you for exponentially ruining our Chinese New Year dinner. I recommend you avoid a shady ass restaurant like this one.

We come to this restaurant every year. My brother-​in-​law and sister-​in-​law really loves this place. This used to be called Tai Wu but he sold it to new owners and they changed the name to Tai Yuen with new cooks. This is what I’ve been told.
Same décor with nice fancy tables with waiters dressed in uniforms.
We started off with their BBQ combination plate with had pork with crispy skin and seaweed (I forgot what else was on the plate sorry). Really liked the crispy pork and the seaweed. It was really tasty and fresh. We then had their fish maw with crab meat soup nice and hot with chunks of crab meat and fish. Really like this too. Then all then sudden a barrage of dishes started coming out.
Let’s see. Beef steak in Maggie sauce. There were cubes of beef over a bed of red onions. The beef was so tender it wasn’t even funny. Man almost melt in your mouth goodness. Then the lam in clay pot. The lam was tender and they give you these raw vegetable leafs that you put in the clay pot to cook. Leafs were so fresh and good. Then came the tai yuen special chicken which was really good and was devoured very fast. Now the deep fried fish fillet with tai sauce was so good. You basically dip the fried fish in the dipping sauce and boom. So good. Great flavor and fresh fish.
Lastly, we got the mushrooms over vegetables where there were four different types of mushrooms over Chinese broccoli. Really loved it. Then we got a bowl of noodle which was good.
Wow. That’s a lot of food and really proud of myself for just remembering all this food. The service was really good. They kept on filling up our glasses of ice water over and over. It got to the point that we had them leave the pitcher at our table. I’ve heard that this is really fresh tap water that they get from the mountains. I have to admit it was really good ice water too. They even took our empty plates off the lazy susan and freshen our dinner plates.
So another great dinner here. So good and fresh. I’ll probably be back next year when we visit again.

My parents love this place!
It’s hard to find a place that creates dishes that is delicious and isn’t heavy on the grease and salt. My family and I come here for dinner and dim sum and there’s never been a complaint about the dishes. They have so much variety and their dishes always taste the same.
Some places, you go once and the next time when you want the same dish, you notice that it tastes different. Well, be assured, at will not happen here. Their staff is super friendly and not the kind who just brings you what you need without a smile and walk away like it’s your fault they had a sucky day or something. They great you with a smile!
My fav is their sticky black rice dessert but they have on specific days in the week and their pumpkin short ribs is my current go to dish for dinner.

Came by for brunch the other day and it was surprisingly a decent experience! Tai Yuan took over the Tai Wu that used to be at this location.
The interior has been fully remodeled and service was excellent by the staff… the head waiter came by to suggest the fish cooked 2 ways for brunch and the waiters kept on grabbing our empty dishes as soon as we were done with them!
…the only drawback is that they didn’t have roasted suckling pig until dinner… but it was on their dim sum list…
Teriyaki Short Ribs
— Freshly prepared out of the kitchen… this was decent. although the beef was a little hard to chew on!
Fish Balls w/​Lettuce
— Decent fish balls and a generous portion of lettuce… complemented with the soy sauce very nicely
Rice Noodle w/​Fried Crisp
— The Fried Crisp was very crispy…
XO Sauce Rice Noodles
— XO sauce was decent and the rice noodles weren’t the freshest…
Beef shank
— Decent portion and flavorful.
Highlight of the meal was surprisingly the service! …Food was decent…3.25 and the ambiance was better than the usual Chinese restaurant!
~$ 28/​person after tax and tip for brunch