East Lake Seafood Restaurant

Food is mediocre. Service is beyond horrible!!! Do not come here. Asked 5 times for utensils. They rush you out the door when we are still eating! Then when we asked for dessert they packed it for us to go. Thanks but I didn’t ask for it to go. Worse dinner ever!

After walking around for 15 minutes or so starving, checking out menus at various Chinese restaurants that my hotel recommended I decided on East Lake and I am so glad that I did. The lunch specials were fairly priced and the food was delicious. For just $ 6.50 you get tea, soup, and your entrée including rice (most of the other restaurants I checked out charged you extra for rice and were way more expensive). I decided to get the chicken with vegetables, which was not on the lunch menu, but I was able to request. My food was brought out hot and quickly. My food was great – full of flavor and not too salty. What I really liked was I was able to take my time and really enjoy my food – the servers were not rushing me out the door.
I liked this place so much that barely 30 minutes later I came back and brought my mother. She ordered the chicken and Chinese Broccoli, which was very delicious and full of flavor as well. All around us were families and couples trying various entrees, which all looked delicious. I definitely will be coming back here during my next trip to Flushing!

Typical Chinese food I would say more Cantonese style. Lots of seafood options but also pricey because of what it is. My party really wanted the dungeness crab but it was $ 45 for one. The lobster actually was cheaper for two. Anyway, we went with a steamed fish, lamb, mayo shrimp, veggies and noodles and everything was delicious and tasted like all the foods in my Cantonese childhood. Parking is horrible at the municipal lot across the street, I always go to the one a few blocks away. The waitress spilled something, not exactly sure what behind one of the chairs and offered us free drinks so we got some free beers. That’s good service for Flushing! Crowded on weekends! Make sure you look out for people ordering seafood because they will bring out the fish/​crab and show it to you. The table next to us ordered a massive king crab and we really got a kick watching them take pics of it. If the dungeness crab is $ 45, that would have been at least $ 200!!!

I’ve been going to east lake with my family for over 20 years (it was in a different location before) and their food has never dissapointed. Their food is fresh and consistently delicious. The service has always been great. They never make you feel rushed, even when it’s busy and they’re all really friendly.
If you’re really into seafood, you can pick your own. The last time I went, the table next to us ordered a crab that was 4 times the size of a human head, at least. At lunch you can get a whole flounder for under $ 8. Their braised fish and tofu casserole… yum! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

This is my favorite place to get seafood! I recommend to anyone that loves lobster & crabs. My favorite is the white stuff covered shrimp (I forgot what it is called) with walnuts. The staff is friendly & recommends the favorites of the menu.

I would consider their dishes to be pretty standard for an Asian family style place. Nothing of excitement or new/​fusion. So if you like your classics. I would come here. The walnut shrimp mayo, the T-​bone steak with broccoli, the roasted garlic chicken, the steamed sea bass, the salt pepper pork chops, the grouper fish and tofu and so forth. Down a star for parking during prime time and another one for bit much on the msg.

We were there about 6ish. Only 3 tables were occupied. A little quite but it’s ok. A dish of salted peanuts was on the table already. We like that! We had black bean sauce with clams, rock cod with sweet peas, & seafood tofu pot for our dinner. Everything was tasty, not too grease or salty. We really enjoy the food. The dishes came quickly. They even served us dessert of red bean soup, oranges & honey drew. Compliment from the restaurant!

I’ve been coming here ever since they opened pretty much, and the food has always been great. Service has always been attentive and amiable all the times I’ve been here.
As far as Cantonese food goes, this place does it extremely well. The seafood always tastes great, albeit it is on the pricier side (when compared to the other dishes). I’d basically recommend anything seafood, but I really like their lobster. Their salt and pepper pork chop is also really, really good! It’s so crispy and tender. Their signature (I forgot the name) fried rice is also really, really great! I would totally recommend it over their other fried rice dishes (which are also good).
I’ve been to both Imperial Palace and here, and though their menus are pretty much exactly the same, I prefer East Lake. Imperial Palace gets way too crowded, and I feel that it’s just not as clean. The service is obviously not as attentive as East Lake since it’s basically packed all the time.
Speaking of service, East Lake has some of the best waiters I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant! Finally, I can have waiters that don’t seem like they want to murder my whole family, or haven’t slept in decades! These guys are basically all smiles, and are pretty polite (as far as Chinese restaurants go). They’re also attentive, and they will pretty much fetch you whatever you need without giving you death glares.
This place definitely gets packed by around 6:45−7, so I would suggest coming a bit earlier if you don’t want to wait for a table
Will definitely be back!

I love the authentic Cantonese food here! It’s just the taste from HongKong.
Huge fan of their Bozaifan and everything! Great place to go have a Chinese feast.

Delicious food EVERY SINGLE TIME. Salt and pepper pork is always crispy and tender. Service is excellent, even when it is hectic and crowded. This is my go to spot for any special occasions or even just regular sunday lunch.

Accept credit card. It should not be a selling point for a restaurant but in this area it is rare. I feel much better knowing I don’t have to count my cash before ordering.
It is a medium size restaurant with around 100 –120 seating. Yes it also takes reservation. I am not sure if I should be praising them for presenting the live fish or crab before cooking it to us at the table.
Sliced conch stir fried — if you like sliced squid or calamari. Pretty good with the smoke hint and pungent shrimp paster as dipping sauce.
Seafood egg noodle — smaller size but packed with scallop shrimp and other seafood. Not the best.
Filet fish in black bean sauce — fresh fish. A bit oily but tasty.
The Dungeness crab in lotus wrapped sticky rice — better than the one at Imperial Palace. The sticky rice has better flavor.
The restaurant was packed by 7. I tried to order hot dessert but it was out. I wonder if they just want us out for the new customers.

One of the most authentic Cantonese restaurants outside of Hong Kong, East Lake Seafood Restaurant is actually the newer, sister restaurant of Imperial Seafood, a restaurant that has consistently been voted #1 seafood and Cantonese restaurant in New York (and Flushing) and which earned a glorious 1 star review from the New York Times. Their menus are the same, so you can pretty much order anything you can get from one from the other.
The best stuff to get is the live seafood. Ask your waiter what the fresh fish or shellfish is and what they are charging (SP = seasonal price). There are a variety of different fish that I don’t know how to translate into English. «Gum been soon hook» (golden sided Cambodian sand goby) is fatty with flaky white meat. «Mon cho» (striped bass?) is a fish I’ve never eaten at another restaurant and is equally delicious. The only way to eat these is lightly steamed with soy sauce, ginger, and scallions.
If you’re feeling wealthy (or just won the lottery), order a Dungeness crab, cold Chao style (~$ 45), or the lobsters steamed with sticky rice (~$ 35). Razor clams (when available) are sticky with the spicy black bean sauce and beautifully deshelled and cleaned (~$ 15).
The restaurant is by no means cheap if you go this route, but it’s worth the money. You’ll be eating like Chinese royalty. The seafood, especially, can get quite pricey because they usually charge by the pound. Just make sure you know upfront how much certain things weigh!
Other great things: cold jellyfish (head or flowers), giant oysters steamed with XO and glass noodles, the Hong Kong steak, any of the special soups (Four Treasures soup, Buddha Jumps Over The Wall soup), frogs legs, house special chicken, … The list is endless. Just don’t get chicken with broccoli!

This place is expensive. $ 28 a pound for a fish. Tried to tell me the smallest was 3.5 lbs. After I refused and wanted a different entre selection, the manager brought a smaller fish, 2.5 lb. Good cooking, good serivice, but they want you to really pay.

Great place to dine for king crab

My first time here for dinner and the food tasted amazing. We got 3 dishes and a soup, DELICIOUS! If you do decide to come here you must try their house special roasted chicken. OMG! that chicken was juicy and tender. The best part was the crispy skin it was so crunchy and I love how it ripped right off the meat.

I’m not sure that Flushing has any bad Chinese restaurants, but this one gets 4 stars. The ambiance is exactly what you’d expect from an authentic Cantonese joint– loud and full of children, with a scent that’s sure to give you order envy from the table to the left. There isn’t much to be missed on this menu, but our favorite items were the eggplant casserole special (included scallops, shrimp, calamari and fish with a brown sauce to DIE over!), the whole fried flounder, dungeness crab with sticky rice and jellyfish. Nothing was overcooked, the rice was sticky and full of flavor and the texture of the fish was near perfect.

My sister was trying to get reservations at Imperial Palace for a Chinese New Year celebration. Unfortunately, their restaurant was completely booked and I was really disappointed because I love that place. However, they did tell us there were a few openings in their newly acquired restaurant, East Lake Seafood Restaurant. This place fell short compared to the original Imperial Palace. Their dungeness crab over sticky rice was very dry and not very flavorful and everything else was greasy like typical Chinese food. Their spicy clam soup needed a little bit more of a kick too.
Lesson learned, stick with the original. =(

This restaurant is known in my family to be very good for their dungeoness crab sticky rice. I love how the restaurant takes their time to cater to this dish. This restaurant is the one of the best authentic chinese restaurant my family and I go to. However the bill always comes out to be in the pricey end for only ordering like 5 – 6 dishes and one appetizer.
The go to appetizer I always order the is the fried red pig intestine. I would dip it into the sweet sauce and love eating the pickled carrots and radishes that comes with it.
The entrée that never fails is the dungeoness crab rice and the lobster noodles. The seafood is always fresh and piping hot which i love.

East Lake is actually pretty decent for a Chinese restaurant in Flushing. When we have our big family dinners, my relatives usually end up choosing to come here. They have all the staple «authentic» Chinese dishes: a variety of steamed and broiled fishes, stir fried crabs/​lobsters/​other shellfish, frog, sea cucumber, stir fried Chinese veggies (snowpea sprouts being the perennial Chinese favorite), noodles, seafood soup, and red bean paste desserts. My favorites here include a seafood tofu dish (the downside of going with family is that I never know the names of these dishes– but see the pic I uploaded as a reference) and the steamed dungeness crab and sticky rice. The dungeness crab with sticky rice is so rad. I’m a sucker for sticky rice to begin with. But add a giant dungeness crab to the mix– oh man, game over. The flavor of the crab seeps right into the moist sticky rice– making it a must-​eat at this restaurant. Everything else I’ve tried here, including the seafood, has generally been good too. Other favorites have included the seafood soup, various tofu/​bean curd seafood clay pots, the stir-​fried beef and asparagus and stir-​fried lobster.
It’s hard to find good seafood at a lot of Chinese restaurants these days (since they’re always trying to cut corners– so god knows where the stuff is sourced from. or how old it is!). So it’s always great when you stumble across a place that has decently fresh seafood.
The downsides about this restaurant are universal to all Chinese restaurants. My main gripe about this place (and all Chinese places) is the greasiness. Why do Chinese restaurants always have a greasy feel? Why can’t Chinese restaurants be like Japanese or Korean restaurants? Clean, simple and zen. It’s not as though the kitchen is in the dining space. So why do the tables, seats and walls always have a layer of grease on them? The food is also generally on the oily side. I don’t understand why Chinese food at restaurants tends to be so oily (and often salty). Home-​cooked Chinese food is never so oily. Finally, the service is authentically Chinese: rushed and brusque. Some of my relatives know the owner (who actually takes orders and helps with table service– which is respectable) — so service is not as awful as it probably could be. But even so, the owner is always trying to peddle the most expensive dishes, the food comes in 5 minutes, and we’re usually rushed out.

My dad decided he wanted Chinese tonight so we agreed upon going to Imperial Seafood since that’s our go-​to spot for Chinese. Imperial was packed but luckily we had the option of walking two blocks to East Lake since my pops knew it was owned by the same people. East Lake has the same exact menu as Imperial and even has some staff that used to work at Imperial. They also wear the same uniforms which consist of a vest and a bow tie. The only difference was that there wasn’t a line out the door and we were seated immediately. We sat down and got the complimentary peanuts and a pitcher of black tea. All the food we ordered was on point.
Clams w/​black bean sauce — The clams were fresh and the sauce tastes even better over some white rice.
Cantonese style steak — I don’t exactly know what cut of beef it is but it was moist and meaty and had a slight char to it. I love the sweet n’ sour ketchup based sauce. Plenty of onions to cut the grease in your belly as well. The portion was huge enough for a body builder.
Steamed Flounder w/​ginger n’ scallions — The waiter de-​boned the fish in front of us. The sauce is also awesome over some white rice. No fishy smell and melt in your mouth delicious.
Jumbo Shrimp w/​walnuts in mayo sauce– Mmmmm Chinese comfort food. The sweet shrimp was plump and succulent as advertised. The condensed milky sweetness in the sauce marries well with the savoriness of the mayo. The candied walnuts add a sweet crunchy component and the perfectly steamed broccoli help cut the greasiness of the dish. Scientists claim eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli help prevent cancer; so eat your broccoli people.
It seems as though Imperial is expanding on their empire. East Lake might even be better than Imperial. I thought I was the first one to know the secret but upon reading the other Unilocal reviews, I guess the secret’s out.