Dun Huang Seafood Restaurant

Came here for dim sum with my mom and a couple of friends on Sunday. As soon as we stepped in through the doors, we realized we had walked into utter chaos. The hostess was nowhere to be found (turned out she was hiding behind some plants and a pole). When we finally got a number, the hostess could not tell us how long the wait was except that it was going to be «a few minutes.» The speaker system was horrible and it was difficult to understand her when she called out the numbers. When we finally sat down at a table, which was all the way at the back of the restaurant, we realized there was a speaker above our table. That explained why it was hard to hear the hostess up front – because the speaker was at the BACK of the restaurant instead of the front for the people waiting to be seated. Throughout our entire meal, we had to endure the hostess screaming out numbers and parties waiting to be seated.
Some of the ladies pushing the carts walked right past our table without asking if we wanted anything. I had to get up and chase them down! On the other hand, there were some ladies who did come over but would not take no for an answer when we turned down the dishes they were serving. In the hour that we were there, a particular lady came over to us 3 or 4 times with the same dishes and pushing everything on us even after we told her that we were full.
Now to the most important piece – the food. Some of the dim sum was dry and bland. Everything else was just okay. Definitely not worth wasting a weekend afternoon.

Dont ever eat here! The food is gross and there’s like no service and when there is the staff is really rude.

ordered cold jelly fish and sauteed frog with special sauce. First no one gave us menus and we had to go get them ourselves. then the jellyfish came. yuck! OK so that is probably just a dislike for jellyfish so i wont blame that on them. We were SO hungry btw.
when we ordered the frog with special sauce the waiter kept asking us which one and if we were sure we wanted that one. «you know its the whole frog right?» exactly why we ordered it… but whatever… then he scoffed/​laughed @ us and said ok and walked away quickly. No one ever checked on us for the rest of the time we were there. We watched people come into the restaurant, eat and pay and leave a few times as we sat there letting our stomaches eat themselves as we stared at a bowl of nasty pickled jellyfish. The waiter was super mean looking and gave everyone dirty looks. then we watched him leave in his street clothes and there were no waiters and no one else in the restaurant and i finally stared down someone who wasn’t a waiter long enough for them to tell us our food was coming soon…
i don’t think they gave us what we ordered because there was no actual sauce on it. There was mostly chopped up frog spines and bones and little disks of meat that i think werent frog because the frog meat off of the bone tasted like chicken and the other meat tasted like fish. it was just sauteed in bacon pieces/​grease and had no other flavoring/​spices whatsoever. we ate almost all of it because bacon makes everything tolerable and we were starving but we had to keep spitting mouthfulls of bones into out napkins. Finally a lady came up to us and just started staring at us with an angry look on her face which we finally figured out meant that she wanted us to pay and leave
will never go again :(

It is now closed and renamed under Royal Seafood Restaurant, which is supposedly under new management. A review will follow shortly of the new place. =D

So the owner of the restaurant changed recently and now the place is called Royal Seafood Restaurant. Based on my experience a while back for this place, I normally had the Dim Sum which was not bad, but not the greatest. I came here with my family to celebrate my Uncle and Grandfather’s Father’s Day and have a nice dinner.
It seems they split the room for reservations and walk-​ins as all the tables that seemed to be reserved had a nice red tablecloth, fancy water goblets with a red napkin folded into it. They also included a 2 Liter bottle of Coke and Spirit. It reminded me of a wedding setup I went to two months ago without the table gifts so I was kind of sad they weren’t included but it’s not a wedding, just a dinner. Our table was set for 10 but we only had 9 people so we weren’t crowded.
Service that night leaved much to be desired as we came in at 7 pm and it looked like the place was half empty though there looked like a birthday party in the back of the restaurant. We had finished our ordering by 7:30 pm and then we waited slowly for our food. Once 8 pm rolled in so did the crowd and it looked like a struggle for the handful of waiters and waitresses in the restaurant. I could say I counted about 6 waitstaff running around to the full restaurant of 30 or so tables. It wouldn’t be so bad if all the waitstaff was more spread out and covered their own section.
About 20 minutes passed and we finally got our first dish which was a House Special T-​Bone Steak with broccoli garnish which we promptly devoured. Overall it was juicy, nice and medium rare though some parts were a bit more well done and tough to chew. Still it was the first dish so it was still too early to judge.
The next dish that came out was a Pan Fried Flounder which we also promptly destroyed or my grandpa did as he ripped all the good pieces out first. Still the entire fish was deep fried and put on top of a delicious sauce. Just about every part from the fin and tails were nice and crunchy and the sauce was a nice compliment. The fish meat was not fried but moist and chewy so that was a good dish.
Lobster was our next feast so now came the good stuff. Still for two lobsters this was sadly lacking in meat and it looks like they either gave us two small lobsters or they chopped and/​or chucked out pieces of it. The lobster looked like it was just steamed and topped with ginger and scallion pieces. It was okay as I enjoy lobster either way but I saw two other diners who looked like they had 2 lobsters as well and alot more than what we got. I think it was cause they were girls not to be sexist =P.
Shortly after all our dishes started coming in all at once. I think the kitchen finally caught up with the orders. The next dish I tried was what I think is the Salt & Pepper Triple Delight which is a mix of coated fried calamari, shrimp, and some fish. The dish looked like chicken nuggets at first. I had other versions of the Triple Delight and I had to say while this looked unique, it’s taste was very meh… it looked like in their rush to make it, they barely salt and peppered the food before throwing them in the fryer so they were relatively tasteless aside from the batter which oozed oil as I bit down into it. Sadly the most flavorful part was the seasoning on the side of the dish. This kind’ve set the mood for the rest of the meal as this is a relatively simple dish to make and one of my favorites and somehow they botched it. Not good for a Seafood Restaurant.
The next dish I sampled was a stir fried Chinese broccoli dish which was good and tasted similar to what my aunt makes at home so not wow, but not meh.
Since my aunt did most of the ordering I can only describe the other dishes or guess what they are. The dish with squid, taro root, cucumbers, and walnuts had an interesting texture with it, but overall it was good and well seasoned.
Our second to last dish was half a crispy chicken with garlic sauce. Skin as usual had all the flavor but the white meat of the chicken was a bit overcooked and tough so meh.
The last dish was a soupy veggie with ground pork dish. I didn’t care for it much but my cousin enjoyed it so that’s a plus for them.
Our final bill for our meal came out to $ 130 something which was pretty good and I guess included a discount since my grandpa knows one of the waiters. All in all, decent, not spectacular, but tolerable and could warrant a second trip.

Bright sunny day in April. Not a cloud in the sky. Warm enough to go sans-​jacket.
Life is good… let’s take a long lunch break…
Having been to most dim sum places in Chinatown, I decided to stroll to Dun Huang on Mott Street. The colorful flags would suggest to me that this place recently reopened or changed owners. What the hell, let’s pop in and give it a try.
What a mistake. I tend to be a big eater and I always order more than I can finish, but I ended up with 5 plates of dim sum (which is pretty few by my standards) with most of them unfinished. There is something wrong with this picture.
First cart lady stopped with the dim sum and I noticed how big the Har Gow’s were and nearly wet myself. I excitedly order myself a plate along with a plate of Siu Mai. What a disappointment. The Har Gow’s, though huge, were filled with shrimp that are super mushy, which probably meant that the shrimp were probably not too fresh. The Siu Mai’s had a strange taste to the meat that I to this day cannot pinpoint. Undiscouraged, I proceeded to ordered steamed beef balls which though edible was lacking in flavor (Worchestershire sauce only helped so much). The chicken feet were ok, not great, but not too bad. And the beef tripe was actually pretty good — the only real decent thing I came across.
Food wise, this was probably one of the worse places I’ve came across as far as dim sum goes. Oh well, at least I saved myself on some loot and some calories on my fat ass. Sigh, the walk back to the office seemed extra long now…

Brought my family here, quality of the dim sum was good I thought for Manhattan. Not overly crowded spot, you can get your own private table instead of sharing with random neighbors, and it’s not so ridiculously huge like Jing Fong where you have to chase carts down to get what you want… not too greasy either like Hop Shing.
Very traditional dim sum, clientele all Chinese but don’t worry, cart frequency is decent so you can just point and choose.

I don’t know what all the negative reviews are about… maybe it’s just that I haven’t had good Manhattan dim sum in a while (have been going across the street to Shanghai Café for soup dumplings for the most part).
I went with a party of 4 on Sunday around 12:30…only had to wait 10 minutes. It was crowded and bustling but at least the host at the front door wasn’t rude. The first thing I will say about the dim sum is that each item is HUGE! About 35% bigger than the average dim sum place. So much so, that once you have a few dumplings, you’re going to feel stuffed and bummed out that you couldn’t squeeze in more variety.
There was one dish in particular I was looking for, but couldn’t find and that was the steamed spare ribs sitting on top of rice noodles with a sweet soysauce. My sister later pointed out that it existed as a standalone on the menu, but at the very end right before I was about to leave, I think I saw it as a dim sum entrée in the cart where they usually have the shrimp/​beef in a rice noodle blanket. I didn’t know to ask!
Some things that I didn’t see were — the radish cakes, baked roast pork buns (they had steamed), the taro fried puffs, shrimp balls, soymilk jello and tripe. But maybe it just so happened I didn’t see them. We also had to ask for hot sauce and soy sauce (and they bring it out in this tiny dish — really? just leave a little soy sauce at the table — may have to bring my own next time!
Everything else was super delicious, and so robust. My mom really liked the meatballs and fishballs (which I hate). We ate like kings and the bill was only $ 45, so only a little over $ 10 a person. I would definitely go again!
Warning tho, rest rooms are pretty gross downstairs. Yech.

mehhhh i’ve had much better dimsum in Brooklyn.
no wait on a monday around 1pm. the waiters are super nice but the food didn’t make me as happy as when i eat the ones in bklyn… it’s not bad… it’s just once you’ve had a taste of places in Brooklyn, you just can’t eat anything else.

It’s getting worse. I’m guessing that the purpose of renovating was supposed to hide the fact that their quality in food went down. An relative/​employee told me that people got laid off.
Oh well.

We didn’t got there for dim sum — we had lunch in the late afternoon, and it was very quiet. There was employee activity around, as apparently there was a banquet going on that night. We found the food to be very fresh, with lots of vegetables, and not greasy at all. We were able to make a second meal out of the leftovers.

I swung by this place with my parents after Sietsema’s dramatic «best dim sum in any borough» shout-​out in the Village Voice. It was appropriately bustling for a New Year’s Day lunch, but we were seated in less than ideal position — the ladies pushing the carts seemed to orbit around a center of mass far from our table, necessitating a lot of frantic gesticulating to flag them down. Still, such travails are all part of the dim sum experience, as far as I’m concerned.
As for the food itself, the various steamed dumplings were relatively fresh, with nicely plump shrimps filling many of the dishes. The variety could have been better, but the basics were well-​represented. Siu mai was reasonably good, and the har gao was better, but the ha chong fun wrapper was a little too gummy. Chicken feet, char siu bao, and the fried scallion bun were all quite good. Generally, I found the fried offerings tastier, a rare trait for a dim sum hall, though I was disappointed that the deep-​fried spring roll didn’t come with good ol’ Worcestershire sauce. The egg custard to finish was one of the best examples I’ve ever had in a non-​bakery, which was a nice bonus.
Overall, I don’t think Dun Huang bears comparison with the palaces of Flushing (and who knows about the unexplored-​by-​me frontier of Sunset Park), but for Manhattan Chinatown, it’s a solid choice. I would still rank Ping’s higher for food and Jing Fong higher for pure entertainment value, but I’ll definitely put Dun Huang on the rotation for friends seeking a full dim sum experience.
Probability I’ll return within 1 year: 80%

I hadn’t gone to this restaurant in several years, however upon the suggestion of my buddy Albert W. we had some Dim Sum here the other day. And oh god… it’s got to say something when I can say I’ve had Dim Sum with 10x more flavor and freshness in *New Jersey*! I have to concur with Albert’s review of the food, it was mushy, oversteamed and the shrimp tasted a couple days old. Among the best dishes were the chicken feet and the soy wrapped vegetables, but even they had «just acceptable» flavor. Nothing came across as robust or delicious, just either acceptable or not acceptable.
The service left quite a bit to be desired too. I really wanted some hot sauce to go with my Dim Sum (as is my way) and I think the waiters actively avoided our side of the restaurant. Fortunately one of my fellow diners is a regular and just grabbed the hot sauce himself from the waiter’s station.
On the good side, the restaurant was brightly lit and clean looking. It was a Friday morning so there was plenty of room. But that’s about all the praise I have.
There are much better Dim Sum places in Chinatown, so I don’t plan on going back here any time soon. Maybe during the next change in management!

Came here for dim sum with some friends and as usual people are always late. The ones on time got a table for 12 the minute we walked in and that’s awesome! I mean it was 1pm on a Sunday, so it was really sweet. The dim sum cart pushers kept coming by asking us what we want, but we kept telling them we’re waiting for more people. So we pretty much sat there for 45 minutes before we ordered food. We got a few plates down then we found out there’s a total of 14 people and we all couldn’t fit. We told the waiter and they were so kind to let us switch to a bigger table and moved all our food over and gave us new plates and cups. That’s awesome service right there! One of the waiters was just so funny and kept cracking jokes with our group, not that many waiters at a Chinese restaurant really do that (not that I’ve encountered any).
The food was pretty good or maybe because an hour of waiting I was just extremely hungry and would probably just eat whatever dim sum that’s leftover. The dim sum as usual like other places were not expensive. I haven’t tried anything else but their dim sum, but I got to say their service was really good! After we finished eating my friends and I just sat there for what seems like another hour to catch up with life and the waiters didn’t kick us out or anything =)

This is a dim sum spot right in the middle of Chinatown. We came here a little late, around 2pm and they were starting to wrap up their dim sum. What was available was good, and if you get there earlier I’m sure there’s a much wider selection.
To supplement we ordered a shrimp fried rice dish and a roast pork noodle dish. Both portions were huge for less than $ 10 each. I don’t think the noodle dish was anything great and the shrimp fried rice was decent, but I also have pretty high standards when it comes to Chinese food.
I think it’s worth going back if you want some decent Chinese food in the area at cheap prices… about $ 10 a person will definitely fill you up.