Leslie S.

It's been a while, but couldn't stay once I saw they had shark fin soup on the menu. Hopefully they have quit serving that; it's just wrong. We walked out!
(1)
Wen W.

It isn't the best place to have Chinese food. I first came here in the summer of 2009 to have dim sum for breakfast. I thought it was good. I came back for the second time in 2013 for my college graduation dinner with my family. The restaurant was closed down due a wedding next door, but they still dedicated the other half of the restaurant for regular business hours. The family dinner was OKAY. Nothing was worth the bill of $300, but it was already done. I won't come back here to have family dinner until I finally read a newer and more updated review than mine about how good their foods finally become.
(2)
Nancy C.

Blah, had high hopes for this place. Theres not many dim sum places around renton and we were hoping this would be the new spot. We havent gone back for months now.not that something terrible happened during the last visit, its simply because if were going to have dim sum, it has to be good n not a measly -meh-. The place is big, nice decor but its the food that attracts us (especially me). The food is usually warm and I like things HOT! The spices are eh, ok. Not savory. Chicken feet isnt nearly as good as other places.. So in return, we wont be back. Its like what I say "once youve had the best you cant settle for less"
(2)
Alan S.

I don't know why others rated it so low, but I like this place. I am writing a review for the dim sum. The food is great and the prices are low compared to Top Gun. The basic dim sum are fresh. They have a good selection of choices. The services are decent and the seating is comfortable. There is no need to look for parking because there is a parking lot. This is one of my favorite places for dim sum. Should give it a try. Pro: Price, food, comfortable seating, parking, no waiting Con: the restaurant is not visible from the main street ( hard for newcomers), the area is not the neighborhood
(4)
Kayan H.

Came for a wedding. Venue was perfect for the occasion. There are not many locations in Seattle for Asian weddings, and I know of none that has a reputation for really good food to go with it, but this place was pretty decent. I'd recommend it to friends and family for weddings, not so sure about just a regular meal though.
(3)
Karen L.

A good place for dim sum, although definitely not my favorite. It's not particularly busy, so like some reviewers have said, there aren't many carts going around. I've never had absolutely bad dim sum, but I've definitely had better. We come here usually with my BF's relatives, and that's about the only reason we have dim sum here. They have the usual dim sum you'd find elsewhere: har gow (shrimp dumplings), chicken feet, siu mai, etc. but I wasn't very impressed.
(3)
Ken O.

Food quality - average to sub-par. Price - overprice. $15 for stir fry beef, $13 for string beans? more expensive that restaurants in Bellevue or Redmond. Food portion - not enough for the price. Interior decor - it is quite nice, big and spacious. It is clean too. Great for wedding reception or big party. Service - very poor. We were the only table there at 5pm. Took 25 minutes to get our food served. Maybe chef was on break? Location - close to where I live. But it is located in a strip mall that is not well run. Rent must be very cheap. Others: 1)Restroom - I must say though, the restrooms are quite clean for a chinese restaurant. Maybe they don't have enough customers/traffic. 2)Bar - they have a huge bar. Great for after work social drinking. The business model just doesn't work - they try to be high-end by charging more in prices and provide nice decor, but food portion and quality are not good, service is poor and it is located in a trashy strip mall.
(2)
Sieu C.

Good variety but dim sum was just so-so.
(3)
Tomi Y.

If I want to go for dim sum in Seattle, I would come here. Why? This place is huge and well lit so it feels much cleaner (as supposed to Jade Garden in International District) and don't have to wait for long. The food at this place is very good, one of the best ones in Seattle (alright, it may not compared to those at Vancouver but still, it's good). Some people may not like their services but I was fine with it. You can read more about my experience on my blog: ricendine.com/2010/12/diâ€¦
(4)
Long T.

Quite honestly, this is one of few places I tend to gravitate to for good dim sum. I would recommend it if you're looking for a place to park and enjoy simple dim sum. It may not match up to the dim sum I found in the International District, but it's an easy recommendation.
(4)
Nina N.

The only time I've been here are during weddings, so the food is sub par, and the location is a bit far for me to dine at. It seems like if you a chinese or vietnamese family that has more than 50 relatives to dine with, this will be your restaurant. decent tasting chinese food for a good value. As for the wedding reception, they are on you like white on rice. They hassle you before you get to cut the cake before they ask you to fork over the dough. Like seriously, so tacky!!! I understand that you need your money, but seriously, can you just deal with that at the end when everyone's dancing?? that's just tacky to me, and I could care less to deal with that or even be associated with that type of business.
(2)
Thach N.

Clean restaurant, good service which is important to me. Lots of selection on the menu, good food and great place to do a wedding big, big party or any function.
(4)
Corrine C.

We had a coupon in our Entertainment book so we decided to give it a try. The entire experience was mediocre to say the least. The restaurant is huge but when we got there at 1:30pm it was relatively empty on a weekend. However the parking lot out front was fairly full. It looked like there were a bunch of student volunteers setting up for a banquet for later on in the day. Onto the food - the dim sum carts that came around were the same 2 or 3 carts so the variety was limited. The dimsum we did get was ok. Nothing different or exciting. We also ordered a beef chow fun which was good and yang chow fried rice. (we actually ordered their house fried rice, but yang chow fried rice is what made it to the table.) The fried rice was dry... dry... dry. The rice was almost crunchy dry. We decided to make it a light lunch and wait for dinner... PS - If you have an Entertainment Book coupon - you should note that the restaurant no longer accepts the coupon. Just FYI...
(2)
Oanh M.

I've been to this place probably 4 times just because its very convenient for me. 3 out of the 4 times I got annoyed when i walk out of this place because for the huge amount of space they have going on here they only have about 2 savory dimsum carts going around -- sometimes only 1! It's kind of ridiculous. We usually go around 11am on Saturday or Sundays too. They have girls pushing around the "sweet" food carts but I dont want that when i first enter a dimsum restaurant! When I arrive I want to be bombarded with steaming hot hum bows, chicken feet, shumeis but no..... they are usually all the way on the other side of the restaurant. By the time they arrive to my side they are practically out of all the good selection and I'm still starving. Most of the ladies here are very passive too and don't really look like they know what they are doing. However, there is one lady who goes out of her way and actually remembers what you asked for so when they are ready in the kitchen she brings it to your table and you wont have to wait for the cart. The food here is OK. Since there isn't many dim sum places to choose from in Renton its ok/maybe good for the area. Just remember to grab what you can when one cart comes because you wont see another cart for a long long time!
(2)
Kazuo O.

I took my mom and dad here for Christmas. It was great to know there's a dim sum spot near Newcastle/Renton area. There's a nice fountain in the entrance when you walk in and no nasty smell that you might experience at some other locations. This place is huge, plenty of seating area, you will have no problem coming with a large group. Everything looked clean and the manager was around making sure things were okay. The dim sum tasted great. I think the prices ares slightly higher compared to Chinatown. Total for three was $43 without tip.
(3)
Kjell S.

This place is awesome dim sum really close to home! Excellent. I couldn't hope for better close to home dim sum circumstances.
(4)
Karen H.

We have been here twice for dinner and twice for dim sum. It was all quite good, and we plan to continue to go back. The prices were mostly OK, although the Chinese broccoli was over priced. To get five stars from me the food would need be more extra special or the prices amazing, but this is a fine option in Renton for yum cha.
(4)
Amary N.

This restaurant wasn't easy to find. It's behind Viet Wah. But from the side street it's not obvious. The way the restaurant is laid out. I thought they do valet parking. So, we decided to drive in front of the entrance. We waited and no one came out. No VALET parking. But, I just had to find out. Decor: It looks like a 4 star restaurant. Brand new, clean, light cream colored wall. Nice lightings. It's huge and a nice place to have a banquet. This is nicest Chinese restaurant that I've seen in Seattle. Service: Once you come in you're greeted with people who are dressed very professionally. You may feel that you're entering in very expensive restaurant. The hostess was nice. Our waitress was a bit pushy and we went back and forth with the menu. Food: It was just average. Menu is written English, Chinese and Vietnamese. The owner of the restaurant is Vietnamese-Chinese. You can order small or regular size dishes. I wouldn't say it's 100% authentic Chinese food. Since they have to cater to the people who prefers Americanized food. Another note, they do have a wine bar. Overall, I feel that the restaurant tries too hard to be a high class restaurant. The restaurant doesn't have a house specialty. Which most top notch Chinese restaurant has. I find it a bit pricey for their dinner menu. Food in Chinatown is better. The plus side, they have plenty of parking here. A place like this you can definitely find a table easily. Not unless there's a banquet going on.
(3)
Rowena T.

Went here with my family there was like two other families there and the service wasn't that great. Tell me why I ordered something and he goes "No you shouldn't get that, get this" He reccomended something better but he like cut me off! He was trying to be polite but he doesn't know how. We also felt kind of ignored.. they didn't check to refill our water right away and it was a pretty quiet restaurant no music or anything.. all I sould hear was clanking and people sipping congee.. They need to work on setting their atmosphere! The food is pretty tasty ..kinda expensive.. I haven't been there for dim sum yet.. The place is huge and nicely decorated. You can host dinner parties here... hopefully the next time I decide to go there their service will be better. Overall - boo boo.
(1)
Jeremy M.

What I love most about this place is, it was built over an Asian Massage Parlor(with happy ending)! HAHAHA! I used to live in the area and drove by it couple times a week before they got busted! HAHA! So I came here for lunch a while back with my girlfriend and personally I thought in my head this place is HUGE and it sucks because at the peak hour of a normal lunch rush(12:45) there was probably only 4 other small table dining. I don't remember much from our encounter other than the fact it seemed like they had more dessert items than they did actually food dishes. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as dim sum goes, personally I don't think it's worth the commute to give this restaurant another chance, but if they offer happy endings with their dim sum............I will definately be back! HAHAHAHA
(1)
rolo m.

So I've been wanting to check this place out since it opened and finally got my chance to after my parents so graciously asked us to go... Dubbed as the "BIGGEST CHINESE RESTAURANT IN THE NW", I had to check it out... So I pull up to the what has to be the biggest restaurant I've ever seen and although we were early enough to beat the 'after church crowd', I had a difficult time finding parking close enough to the damn thing. After finding parking about a block and a half away in another stores parking lot, I braved the trek to the restaurants entrance. While passing the frickin' huge ass windows boasting a nowhere near full restaurant, I reluctantly entered the...uh...entrance and almost slipped on the super clean [and recently polished] marble tiled floor. After being seated, my parents stated they were starving and found that my dad has only been to dim sum one other time in his life [whaaa?] and he wasn't familiar with the proper etiquette on what was what on those steam carts... So after I explained to him what each item was on each cart each of the cart pusher people were pushing around, I ordered up pretty much two of everything I thought they would like and some stuff for my sis, bro in law and my niece could eat when they got there. In the end everyone in our party [incl the kid] loved the food, the service was excellent and pretty fast and they kept our teapot filled the whole time. Except for the fact that this cavernous place was pretty chilly, they get my tummy's approval and I guarantee I'll be back for more...
(5)
Dena R.

4 stars for great venue for banquet rental and loose leaf tea variety (Tien guan yin/tie kuan yin, pu'erh, chrysanthemum, oolong). Owners well connected and supportive of Renton community. Friendly and helpful wait staff. Tasty dim sum; I want to see more vegetables with dim sum.
(4)
John P.

We went there with another couple for dinner. Great dishes all. Expensive, though. The best thing is that you're going to find Asian dishes that you can't get anywhere else or in such variety.
(4)
Theresa L.

Have been back several times since my last review and things have gotten better. Staff is better at paying attention but still not that great. Food still has a lot of MSG. Place is still clean. If I want a fancy place to bring out of town guest to eat dim sum, I think this maybe the place. The dim sum is still over priced.
(3)
RV T.

I expected a lot from this restaurant since it got such good reviews in the Renton Reporter. Unfortunately I was pretty disappointed. The food was just "okay". Both soups we tried, the corn chowder and seafood chowder were bland with almost no discernable flavor. We also ordered Kung Pao Chicken which was unlike any we have had at any other Chinese restaurant. Again very bland. The Vegetable Stir Fry was good but just good. The last dish was a Chicken Prawn dish with noodles. He thought it was decent but again nothing great. The seating area was very open, too open, for out taste. More like a comfortable cafeteria. Staff friendly but kind of push. The menu was large and it took us quite a while to view it but the staff kept coming by and asking if we were ready. I think if we were ready we would have put our menus down! We will try others before going back there again.
(2)
Jane A.

Rating 3.5 Northwest Asian Weekly had just put out an article in regards to a new Chinese restaurant called Tea Palace by the guy who ownes Viet-Wah. I am still in search for good dim-sum in the Pacific Northwest that compares to SF dim sum and the closest to that is Richmond, Canada (geez do I have to go out of country to get good dimsum)? Trying to not expose places for fresh dimsum, i have to Yelp about it and make it known. Saturday morning was a decision between American breakfast or Chinese dimsum, it was overruled and we ended up going to Tea Palace to adventure off to try new places. Finding the place wasn't so hard. It's right behind Viet-Wah in Renton. We called in advance to ask "is it busy" and the response was "we are busy but there are still open tables". Parking wasn't hard, walking into the restaurant and scoping out the architecture... not bad for 3 million dollars. You definately can tell whoever runs this place has money in the bank, geez!!!! The place is really clean, maybe because its a brand new restaurant. The space is huge and there are walls that we can tell lead to more tables. We were seated and the first thing I asked for was Xiao Long Bao (Xui Long Bao aka Shanghai dumpling with soup inside the dimsum). The wait staff mumbled in Chinese and it seems like they placed that special order in the kitchen. I was pretty stoked they plan to make a special request just for me. Fast service. Food was pretty good... most of the dishes. I tried out their beef Shui Mai... it tasted like Vietnamese meatball you find in your Pho. Maybe the influence of taste was because the owner, as i hear, is party Chinese and Vietnamese. It wasn't to my liking and we ordered regular Shui Mai. I also tried the spare rib in orange sauce. Interesting but I definately prefer the regular spare rib. I liked their sticky rice, seasame balls, and really enjoyed their Shrimp and Chive dumpling and steamed hombow. The waitstaff was pretty friendly and they communicated way better then all the other dimsum places I've been to in Seattle. Word traveled in the restaurant that I'm the one who had a special order for Xiao Long Bao and unfortunately waiting for 45 minutes to hear that they are way too busy and cannot make it. Understandable but wish they told me that 40 minutes ago. But I do appreciate the courtesy and kindness of the wait-stuff. I hope our tip money went to them instead of somebody else. They deserved it. The overall bill was pretty affordable for what we ordered, approv. $35ish. I was satisfied. I plan to make a stop here again to get some Dimsum. it's either Tea Palace or Tea Garden in the International District for decent dimsum. Service: Pretty Good/Attentive Food: Good Space: Good and Clean (just wait until this place gets exposed then I'd be complaining about waiting in a long line) Price: Good Satisfaction: Decently Satisfied
(3)
Jeeya A.

Popped in for DimSum on the fly and it was awesome. The staff were very sweet and offered us a menu of everything that was available for DimSum (things we could order that may not be on the carts, too). The food was excellent, it was a nice variety, and the prices were great. The decor of the actual dining room is very bland but who cares!
(5)
Slav S.

My family and I went to this place cuz we heard they had dim sum. Now just to let you know the best dim sum is in San Fran, but anyways. Few carts and we basically felt we were being ignored. We finally had to get up and talk to the manager and just order food from the menu because no one was coming to our table. I don't know what it was but the service sucked. I am however glad that renton is starting to see some more resturants and shops.
(1)
Myra R.

Tea Palace I've gone there twice already; it's really close to my house and to be honest I'd rather trek it else where. Went on a Sunday @ 12, party of 5. CONS: Service SUCKS. most places you're in and out in 30-40 minutes. It took us 2 hours and we barely ate. Carts were scarce and the ones that did come out went straight to the large tables and were emptied out by the time they even came near us. We had to wave at carts to come to our table. They charge for tea per person. I had to stand at the desk to pay for my bill after waiting for 20 minutes for someone to take it from our table - everyone else around us had a waiter/waitress take it for them. We ordered items off the back of the bill/menu so that the waitress could bring them straight to us - it took 40 minutes for some Shu Mai (pork.shrimp dumpling) and Har Gau (shrimp balls) what the hell? Those are like the 2 things in every freakin cart?! and when we got them they were cold? BOO PROS: HUGE venue, they have a piano and a speaker system on a raised platform, a full stage, and a full bar. Clean, it is one of the cleanest Chinese restaurants I have even been in, including the bathroom. Parking; plenty of it, flat and easily accessible. As convenient as Tea Palace's location maybe; I'll take the extra 15 minutes to drive down to Hongs Garden for dim sum (see review), at least I know that there I can get what I order before I fall asleep at the table.
(2)
Wendy S.

Ahh tea palace...I've been here twice, the first time I came here with my boyfriend and brother and his girlfriend & a couple other friends....the wait wasn't too bad. The room was HUGE and they spread everyone pretty far apart so they were taking forever to come around with the carts. We had to order so much food at once because we never knew when they were going to be back around. The second time we went, it wasn't so bad because we ended up getting seated right next to the door. Which had it's good & bads...the bad is that we kept hearing the dishes and it was somewhat loud...but it was made up quickly when we were the first stop for all of the food carts. Everything came out so fresh and super hot! In my opinion I would stick to my regular dim sum places.....good but not enough consistency...
(3)
Janelle D.

This restaurant was really great. I liked the service. I thought the service was pretty fast and simple. There was ALOT of good Chinese dim sum Food choices. I recommended to get there pretty early especially for dim sum. Other than that. Its a great place. and its not that pricey.
(4)
Curtis L.

nothing memorable... We went here for dinner on Saturday and it was pretty quiet except for the banquet and VIP room. We wanted to see what this place was about. The restaurant was clean, bright and pleasing on the eyes although it felt smaller than it really was. It is a conversion and remodel of 4 strip mall stores combined into one. Therefore it was a long and skinny restaurant that is touted to seat over 800. Anyways...for the food. It tasted good but not remarkable. And for what you pay, it should be remarkable. I guess you are paying for the environment and service which was up to par. I would stick to Chinatown for the food and price unless you live out in Renton and the cost of gas and time makes it worthwhile to go here. They try hard to be upscale. Upscale and Chinese restaurant is a tough combo and once in a while it works. I'm not sure about this place, especially where it is located. I will have to try out the dim sum some day to give them a chance to shine.
(3)
Roy C.

I went there on a weekday for dim sum recently and it appears that they changed the format to "made to order". Basically they don't push carts anymore, instead, you order the dishes from a list by writing down the quantity next to the dish you want. The list itself is a ghetto looking xerox copy of the original, and there's a separate photo card if you're interest in what the dishes look like, but you will need to match the picture of the dishes to the name of the dishes on the order list. Although the dishes come out piping hot, but the new format took away the essential part of the whole dim sum experience: waiting for the cart to be pushed your way, see the dishes, and point at them to order; no reading required. But now you have to complete an aptitude test in order to eat. I guess I'll be going there strictly on weekends from now on since they still have the traditional format of pushing cart on weekends.
(3)
Henry L.

We had dim sum finally. I would have to say that I'm impressed by the quality of the food. Flavor was on the spot to my liking. But I'd have to say that I'm a bit disappointed about the serving sizes. At virtually all other dim sum places, you'll typically get a quantity of 4 per bamboo basket. But here at Tea Palace they decide to only give you 3 Haw Gow, 3 Shaomai for example. I feel ripped off. Lets say you have a party of 4, and there's only 3 pieces of food, then one person gets shafted.....then you're foreced to order two bamboo baskets. I didn't get to pay this time, so I wouldn't have known the prices for this meal. what a rip. 3 stars at best.
(3)
Jon L.

For the convenience, well less than 3 miles this place offers decent dim sum, however if we're willing to make go "an extra mile" we can be at Top Gun in Factoria. The pro is definitely better than average dim sim service and generally there is no line (a sign of bad food usually); however Tea Palace is "decent". If you're craving and don't want to make the drive to ID or wait the 45-1hr wait at Top Gun, then this place is where you need to be! Perhaps the better service and the clean atmosphere is a feasible justification. =)
(3)
The-Hoa H.

food is good, prices are goood, service is good, this place has wayyyy too much room. idk how they stay open for business when it's so slow for a restaurant this size?....
(3)
Kevin L.

Foods not bad. Service is slow and the portion are small
(2)
Shiny T.

Hey B.H Maybe you are one of the unlucky out of a million....I've been there so many times and the place is amazing, their food is just so great.......Dim sum is the best and their Dinner menu is just so good. I definitely come back and eat here again!!the service is also fabulous...sometimes you get free dessert too.
(5)
Jarrod L.

They were out of the cold beef shank appetizer, so I had the jellyfish and pork, which was very good for jellyfish, but I'm not a huge fan of jellyfish. The lamb stew was excellent (the waiter recommended it as the best item on the menu). The eggplant with tofu and ground pork was incredible; it was some of the best tofu I've ever had. I'm definitely planning on going back sometime, hopefully with a big enough group to get one of the specialty set group menus.
(4)
Nikki R.

We recently tried Tea Palace for the first time for dim sum on a weekend, when the carts were out. Our usual dim sum haunt is Top Gun in Factoria, so I couldn't help but do a direct comparison. The carts didn't come by as frequently here, the serving staff didn't speak English as well to understand our requests for certain dishes, and there didn't seem to be as much variety as we're used to at Top Gun. That said, the dishes that we tried were actually tastier than the ones at Top Gun. For example, the shrimp dumplings at Top Gun, while tasty, are fairly plain, but the shrimp dumplings at Tea Palace are lightly seasoned - we liked that! In the end, I suspect we'll come here again for the tasty food from time to time, but we'll be going back to Top Gun for the variety and service as well.
(3)
Tom A.

Tried the Dim Sum as take out. The place looks great. It is new, large and clean. The hostess at the front counter was pleasant and helpful. The location is great. Plenty of parking, easy to find and in a good location. Plenty of Chinese restaurants in the area but none with Dim Sum. Now the food. I just tried the Dim Sum and all I can say is it was OK not great. The price I thought was a little high (not too bad) for the quality. The place was busy with lots of families. This place as great potential and I hope it will be successful because this area could use a good Dim Sum place. With all the other businesses in the area (e.g. Boeing, Paccar) it would be great if they could deliver. Since this place just opened they will probably be better in the future. I say give it a try.
(3)
Antonio R.

My first impression was "this restaurant is huge!" Very nice and clean inside. Very professional wait staff. The food was OVER-PRICED and tasted like any other chinese restaurant out there. I think it was like $18 for a plate of fried rice. I guess they have to charge those prices because it cost $3 million to create this restaurant. I recommend saving your money and driving down to chinatown to eat. The food in chinatown will taste the same, but it'll cost 3 times less than Tea Palace.
(1)
gary g.

well, the food is not awful. we didn't barf afterwards (or during). however, the woman wheeling the first cart (which toook forever to come) was so STUPID that she gave us crap we didnt want or order and was, frankly, an idiot. that was highly annoying. this, compounded with the not so great taste of the dim sum, makes this place blow balls. bummed.
(2)
Trang D.

My husband and I went there on the weekend for the dimsum. The lady tried to get us to try the new dumplings or whatever I dont remember, but they were so doughy. And the other dishes didnt taste good either, except the chicken feet. The bill was about $50 for just a few dim-sum dishes. They becomes so pricey now, i think because they don't have as many customers as before. Thats why their price goes up, to whoever walks in the restaurant. My husband said "never go back here again". And I totally agreed.
(2)
Fiona D.

Well it has been awhile since I've been back for dim sum, but I'm glad my family went in today!!!! The place is always met with such friendly hostesses and servers! After we were inside we were seated immediately. Hot tea was served, and the dim sum carts started to roll in. One of them had all the hot items in the bamboo steamers, like shrimp dumplings, chicken feet and beef meatballs! The other had pastries galore, like egg tarts, turnip cake as well as savory fried mochi dumplings! Everything we ordered was fresh and hot, and we resumed our afternoon chatting away, sipping on tea, eating and sharing things here and there. After all, that IS the spirit of dim sum, right?! I was super impressed with the lau sa bao, which are sweet custard buns with molten egg yolk in the middle, they are to die for!!! I'm serious, you don't need to go to Vancouver B.C. for such a treat anymore. It's the real deal. The bun is piping hot and the inside just oozes out as you break it into two. I will definitely come back for that! I'm a sucker for food that is sweet and savory, so their savory fried mochi dumplings with meat filling definitely made an impression on me - it was crunchy yet remained elasticity, and the inside had enough meat that it did not overwhelm your palette. Delicious dim sum! I will definitely come back again!!!
(5)
missy c.

Well, you never have to wait for a table here. You get seated right away. Other than that their food is only medicore. They have the same basic dim sum dishes here, but they are only OK. Nothing special. They aren't even that great. If you get here too early, then they don't have everything out, like the honey walnut prawns and chow mein. But if you get here too late, then they don't have any of those things. Their dim sum carts are too broing. They really need to work on what they can offer their customers. I would rather drive to Seattle or Bellevue to get GOOD dim sum than eat here again.
(2)
kellie j.

I love the Tea Palace! I am the Event Director for the Renton Chamber of Commerce and have held 2 Holiday Auctions, a Business Excellence Award Banquet and am having 3 more big events there this year. Mipo Seto, the banquet Coordinator, is professional, responsive to her customers needs, is very good at her job and never misses the tiniest detail. She and the staff are very responsive and never fail to give 110 per cent. The venue is beautiful, the sound system is the best in Renton, Duc Tran went all out when he built the Tea Palace and it shows. They provide valet parking for our events which is a huge plus in our rainy climate. I am looking forward to the next event in March. Mipo and the staff make my job easy!
(5)
Harold G.

always had good food here. if you don't see it on the menu get the lobster fried rice. always had good and friendly service.
(5)
christopher h.

What happened, Tea Palace? What happened to that optimistic/giddy vibe you had when we first came through your doors a few years ago? You amazed us with your hot, fresh, dim sum, friendly/timely service and beautiful new facility! Now, where have you gone? By way of the others I suppose: too good to be true! Or, maybe too much to handle/live up to? I don't know. It makes me sad to write this, but Tea Palace: I'm not coming back! Our dim sum was just too cold/old. Our service was just too slow/ indifferent/discombobulated! We ate four things( that kept coming around) and one we couldn't because minutes after our server put it on the our table, we were told it 'belonged' to a ninety-year old lady @ a different table, and promptly took it away! Whaa?! I've never heard of yanking plates off the table after they've been served exept in the British comedy show Fawlty Towers. Only this wasn't so funny. 2o minutes after this, the carts STILL hadn't come out of the kitchen, so we just payed for what we ate, then left to get dim sum in Seattle while there was still time. Sorry, Tea Palace. I don't know what your'e doing, but you'd better figure it out and turn it around soon!
(1)
John M.

We live near this place and have had two bad experiences. When they first opened we went for dim sum - it was ok but the carts rarely came by our table - we didn't want to invest our entire day for a few meager morels so we walk up ( because no one came by our table) paid and left. We thought we'd give them another chance and went by about 7:00pm News Year's eve. They had half the place set up for a New Years eve party and the other half for evening dining. Though they were not yet busy with customers we stood there for a while and waited to be seated. They just looked at us but didn't acknowledge us. We waited for a bit longer but our daughter was hungry so we walked out, they looked at us but they didn't give a shit. They are Renton Chamber Members as I am, and occasionally they sponsor Renton Chamber events. I am going to go out of my way to avoid their establishment and sponsored events.
(1)
Richard T.

I haven't been to Tea Palace in a long time and came here to try their dim sum as I've only been here once before for dinner. One thing about this restaurant is that it is huge and could definitely accommodate a big wedding banquet. With that being said the sad part is that their parking lot is tiny compared to how many people the restaurant can fully hold. When we came here for lunch the parking lot was almost full while the restaurant itself was only 1/4 busy. The restaurant itself is just too dark with the big drapes and not much window lighting. It felt kind of depressing with the big open spaces and dark table clothes. Dim sum here is definitely way better than Renton Seafood which is not too far away and which I thought was almost disgustingly unedible. For some reason with such a big place they only have 2 carts being pushed around. Maybe they are trying to save money on labor cost of hiring more people, but the service here was still quick with us getting our food served here within a couple minutes after we sat down. My fiancÃ© and I tried our usual items of chicken feet, steamed humbow, Siu Mai and beef rice roll. They were all pretty good, but the rice roll was some of the best I have remembered eating here in Seattle. It was a nice size and with the extra garnish on top it made it even better than usual compared to other dim sum restaurants. Overall good service and the price wasn't too bad, but they do charge for tea here per person which some places in Chinatown don't charge extra for.
(3)
Nam V.

I'm going to make this to the point but this place has no integrity or respect and people who wants to come here should be informed. Was here for a wedding on June 6. The groom and bride had a set course for the guest. I want to say it was 9 courses. Noticed certain tables was getting food that we weren't (mind you we are the table of the groom and the bride at the center stage) we question the waitress and they said the bride and groom didn't order seafood for us. Seriously outrageous but didn't want to ruin the wedding. Talked to the groom and it was confirm every table were to get the full course. To not serve the groom and bride table is one thing but to tell the groomsmen and bridesmaids that the groom and bride did not order it is very low and shows no integrity whatsoever. I hope your reading this tea palace because your management needs to change. I will give them some redeeming credit in that the duck was cook well, the vege dish wasn't overcook and over seasoned, the fried rice was decent a bit on the soggy side. Food was fairly good just wish the whole course was sent. Can't get people to come if you treat your customers like the way you did to us.
(1)
Dalina L.

i came here for a banquet, and didn't like the food at all. I'm sorry, i could be extremely picky when it comes to vietnamese/chinese food, but i was just not a fan of this place.
(1)
Sophia H.

My boyfriend and I use to come here quite often for their dim sum.. It use to be so good!!!! But now their dim sum taste like poo. Literally. Shrimp ha cau had a weird fishy, expired taste. Almost threw up. Their rice roll with shrimp and beef did not taste fresh at all. Basically their quality of food is so disgusting now....
(1)
Avanna H.

Came in around 3pm on a saturday (which I believe was when dimsum ended) but we still got seated anyway. At first I thought oh no, we we're coming at the end and weren't going to get anything good besides the leftovers roaming on the carts lol but we ended up ordering some other things on the menu and they all came out in about 10 mins which was fine. It was awkward at first because the ambience of the place was silent, no music playing... and there was not much people there so we were all bundled in the same area of the restaurant. Other than that, customer service was good because they checked up on us often and everything went smoothly. Food tasted good, typical dimsum nothing super special but wasn't bad. I would come here again. And for 2 people, our total was $45 ish.
(4)
Ben B. N.

Forget going to dinner here. It's over priced. The Dim sum is as well. It's really only good for weddings.
(2)
Savy M.

I was the first customer when they opened at 11am. I was expecting everything to be super fresh but was very disappointed to have everything taste like they we're reheated from the night before. I am very specific when it comes to my dim sum and this place takes the bottom poll. Thumbs down for me.
(1)
Kaylee P.

Unbelievable. This review is solely for Jackie. Regardless of all the bad reviews I read online about Jackie...I decided to give tea palace a thought. We wanted to book 10 tables here for our son's one month. I called and left a message about food pricing and to see if the date we wanted was available. I got a call back from Jackie. She told me to come in anytime on the weekend Sat & Sun to talk about food menu and check out the restaurant seating for our tables. I came to the restaurant the following weekend Sat. And Jackie was no where to be found. I called her and she did not pick up. She finally replied to my text and said she was busy and that she can meet next Saturday at 2:30. I said great see you then. I came in the following Saturday at 2:30 and she was not there. The server said she will be here is 10 minutes. 30 minutes pass the same server came back again and said 10 minutes she will be here. Another 30 minutes pass. We decided to call Jackie on the phone and we left a message. Still no call back from her. Jackie never replies to my texts or picks up my calls. And when she says she will call me back about the date I hear nothing. I have to schedule appointment to meet with her and she pretty much stood us up 2x. We drove 45 minutes just to come see her. Very unprofessional. We will never giver her our business!
(1)
Ryuichi H.

I want to go 3.5 stars. The dim sum here is pretty decent and convenient for those living in renton. The service sucks and you have to ask for pretty much everything. Some of the fried dim sum dishes weren't fresh but the popular steamed things were good. It's not a place to go out of your way for but ok if it's convenient.
(3)
Juliet D.

We used this venue for an event we were holding with about 25 tables. We have used Tea Palace before for our events, and have had great service with the previous manager. However, with the new management who were extremely difficult to deal with, our event was not at our standard of quality and service. Each table was supposed to receive 2 jugs of pop, this was included in an initial discussion on the menu. There were no other drinks served besides water, and the manager said we had not specified this was to be included, when in fact we did. As well, we requested for bottles of pop for our volunteers. The manager brought us 4 bottles of warm pop and charged us $10 per bottle. When wine was served, we requested for wine glasses, management said it would be too difficult to get the wine glasses from storage and wanted to give us plastic cups. Now, how can people drink wine from plastic cups? In the end, wine glasses were brought out, but not with ease, which is ridiculous. Food was not cleared after dinner was done, thus plates were just left in front of guests where messes accumulated. We needed to have a photocopy of a document, at least one copy, and the manager refused to let us use the machine. All requests from us were taken with argument and unpleasantness. We will not use this venue for future events. We paid them to provide us good service, which was absent. I do not recommend holding an event here.
(1)
Amy W.

Hard to find if you don't know where to look. The restaurant is in the back behind the strip mall. There is plentiful parking, one less thing to worry about. Ten course meal for a wedding. Cold plate was mostly good. The duck (?) had WAY too much fat on it. Soup was good. Lobster was too stringy and had a rubbery feel. Sea food bird nest (the "nest" itself) was too hard, so we couldn't eat any of noodles. Steamed fish was too small for nine people. Peaking duck was too greasy. Shrimp fried rice was good, not too fried or too soft. I really liked their seafood dish with green beans. Their bok choy and babylon dish was good, would have liked the bok choy to be cut into smaller bite size pieces, but that's a personal preference.
(2)
Christina K.

Hello? Can anyone hear me? The walls echo by how empty this place is. I am not at all a fan and would resort to this place only if every other dim sum place was closed. I came here a while back and discovered it being located behind a hidden, worn down Asian strip mall. All I have to say is that it's disappointing dim sum. The food comes out cold. Dishes ordered: The usual dim sum.
(2)
Linna S.

You go to the place for the venue; not the food! Because if you visit the place for food let's not say I didn't warn you!
(1)
Dan C.

I've went here 10 times and it varies, depending on the host(ess). If you get a guy in mid to late 40s, then you got the owner and it will be fine. The food is par when compared to other non international district restaurants. But if you get a female then you are screwed. Especially the one who kinda has the face of a pig. It's true what they say, ugly woman just hate people. She'll ignore the customers and just sit on her fat (yet flat) ass, treating staff and customers like crap. And that's what you get. Food tastes like crap and service sucks. Then there's the younger pretty one- she's just nice, so you get staff that are lazy - no checking up on you and you gotta go get water refills. I think the owner only shows up on Saturday mornings. I only eat dim sum as dinner is for the "American fare" - you know; sweet sour pork type. For the price you should go to ID. Or even Noble Court is better.
(2)
Natalie S.

After seeing quite a few negative feedbacks, I feel compelled to stand up for one of my favorite places. Their Dim Sum is amazing - has a lot of vareity, great in quantity and very generous. It is, by far, our favorite place to go for brunch and to treat ourselves, hubby and I, on a lazy week-end. All that shrimp, and crab, and chicken, all wrapped in delicate rice paper. Seems see-through and light - and so delicious. I love that they have vegetarian and dieter's items too, like steamed broccoli sprouts with sauces on the side. It is instant gratification by staff that anticipates your needs and comes to check on you. And plenty of delicious food for fairly low price for a pretty elaborate brunch for two. It's definitely a treat. I also always see lots of large Asian families eating there (which to me is telling of authenticity and quality in case I would not trust my own judgement :) ) I'm giving them 4, not 5, because they do get busy at times. It's a huge establishment, and you can tell that they try to section off just enough space. Yet, when they get slammed, it's too late to move the walls or call in more staff. Those little hiccups in the end of service do not happen often, and I will still keep going there for as long as they have Dim Sum.
(4)
Wina B.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR DIM SUM ONLY Food: The siumai was very porky and doesn't have much flavor. The lomaigai was bland with not much fillings on the inside. The shrimp cheong fun was cold even though the waitress said that we had to order it since it was made "fresh". The only good food I had was the rice porridge. Everything else was yucky and overpriced. Staff: I noticed that there were PLENTY of staff on a Saturday noon but not many patrons, so the staff were mostly hanging out and talking. Despite the abundance of the staff, I had to flag them repeatedly before getting their attention, even when paying! We sat around, wondering if we were supposed to come up to the cashier (keep in mind that I still saw a lot of staff just hanging out, not paying attention to the customers). Price: Overpriced. Way overpriced. All we paid for was COLD dimsum and lack of staff attentiveness. Place: I'm not going to complain about the location, it was perfectly fine and my GPS found it with no problems. My problem is that we found a PIECE OF CHEWING GUM underneath one of our plates on the table. DISGUSTING! Overall: I am never coming back here. The food was not good, overpriced, and the staff were unprofessional. Not to forget that old chewing gum underneath my plate. Ew. The only good experience I had here was to meet up with a friend whom I haven't seen in a while.
(1)
Nancy B.

Frequent cart passes during a Saturday lunch, but only 1 person knew what a "Diet Coke" was resulting in a half hour quest for a beverage - but never fear - non tea drinkers were also charged for the hot tea placed on the table and no one at any table had water... grrr. 1 + on Nikki's description of the offerings as more tasty than Top Gun... The Har Gow contained small slivers of fresh ginger, and there was a fruity (strawberry?) vinegar on the table in addition to hot soy sauces. The bus boy was gracious enough to take our orders and coordinate carts when he saw we were having trouble... he was the only person who understood what a Diet Coke was... I wish he had come by sooner so the folks at our table that don't drink tea wouldn't have had to eat the items off the steamer cart beverage free. The carts were very quick to the table and there was one small pause when all 6 were refilling at the same time, but given that there were 50+ people eating it didn't seem like too long. There are also a good selection of lunch plates available similar to a non-dim sum house with very reasonable prices. The pictogram was very helpful even for those of us who know our Bao... there were a couple of items listed that were not on the carts and they were made to order without extra charge.... but they did take about 15 minutes. The only dish we did not enjoy was the beef spare ribs. The broth was great and the chunks of sweet potato were a nice touch, but there was more bone and gristle than meat. The congee soup looked really good, but we were all to full to give it a try... next time!!
(4)
Sam G.

Three of us went to lunch there today. I had Dim Sum and they had 2 chicken dishes. My eggplant skin was very tough. My companions did not like the breaded chicken, there was hardly any chicken in the middle of the breading . The sweet Sesame Balls tasted like they were fried in fish oil, not appetizing! They also charged each of us 75 Cents for the plain tea pot on the table. This is the first time a Chinese restaurant charged for tea.Will not go there again.
(1)
Levi T.

Good place for dim sum if you don't wanna drive to Chinatown but a little bit on the expensive side. Parking is easy to find usually don't have to wait long to be seated
(4)
Paris L.

One of the main reason I go here is because it's near where I live and the price is reasonable for dim sum. However, the last 2 visits has made me give it 1 star. On the 9.1 visit, one of my order was totally forgotten by the waiter and she didn't even noticed until I asked what is taking so long. Overall the dishes that day were average. It seems to be a hit and miss with this place, sometimes dishes such as the beef tendon, chicken feet, and pork spareribs are good and other days it's bland and poor. Today, I ordered take out from this place. My order was wrong and I had to wait to correct it. Usually a sweet sauce is provided with the rice rolls instead I was given soy sauce, which totally ruined the dish. Additionally, the rice rolls today were extremely oily that I had to use napkins to pat away the oil. **If you order take out from this place, always make sure you check your order on the spot.** I doubt I will go back to this place for some time after two consecutive weeks of bad service.
(1)
Lynn C.

WEDDING SERVICE REVIEW This is NOT a review on their food because it's only okay (which I was completely fine with being the venue is so big and gorgeous). My husband and I used Tea Palace as our reception venue. When you first met with Jacqueline (the owner), she was actually very dialed in, knows her stuff, etc. But after you put your deposit down,... it's really hard to get a hold of her couple of months before the wedding. Tea Palace gave me the most wedding stress out of all my other venues (photographer, designer, cake venue, etc). When you do get her to respond to one of your many emails, she's very short, borderline rude, and unapologetic. The cost of the reception venue is probably your biggest wedding cost. Being that we spent OVER $16K just for the reception alone, we expected some professionalism and courtesy for our business. Whatever messaging and business system she has going doesn't seem to work very well. It definitely is not a smooth operation. We had an open bar (alcohol we provided) and used her bartender. Her bartender does NOT know how to make a margarita from scratch. She apparently only know how to make it from the margarita mix ONLY... huh? I don't have a bartending license and can make a margarita from the mixer... Are you kidding me? So of course, none of our guests were able to get a margaritas and we ended up bringing home all the stuff to make margaritas. To top it off, the night before, my husband bought a bag of limes and mints for the mojitos and on the DAY OF the wedding, the bartender and staffs had no idea where it was. We heard of the news when we were out front taking pictures with our guests. We had my brother-in-law tell them to double check again because it was brought to the restaurant the day before. After many attempts to search for it, my brother-in-law, ran out to buy another bag of limes and mints. That really pissed us off. By the end of our wedding, we found out the staffs/bartender found the original bag of limes and mints. The point is not in the cost so much as in the extra stress and time wasted because they were unorganized. We were told to come in the night before the wedding to test out the audio for the video we were planning to play on our wedding. Apparently she was not there (not surprised) and the staff had no idea where the remote was. So of course, on our wedding day was when when we actually tried it for the first time... and of course,... no audio.... but luckily, they figured it. Same wedding night, but after after the wedding was over, we told her about how disappointed we were about the audio failure and how we tried to test it out the day before but she wasn't there and her staffs had no idea what to do. And we told her about the lime/mint incident. She was unapologetic and said she'll look into it. She did, however, gave us a small discount because of the lime/mint incident (which was nice). After the wedding, we realize we forgot our Starbucks rental canister outside of Tea Palace. While on our honeymoon, my husband emailed her 4 times and she did not respond to any. After our 3-week honeymoon, I emailed her about the canister again and she said it wasn't there. Well, after 3.5 weeks, I'm not surprise the canister isn't there anymore... but if she had read or responded to our first email to look for it, maybe there was a chance it was still there. Over-all, disappointed. It's too bad Tea Palace is probably the prettiest and largest Asian restaurant in Seattle to host a wedding. I have to admit though, when you do get to meet up with Jacqueline face-to-face, she's very dialed-in and professional. Just wanted to share my wedding experience there for those planning to have their wedding there.
(1)
Chariya S.

This is our usual spot for DIM SUM :) The prices were super affordable and the quality of the foods were quite delish! It gets pretty busy on the weekend. One time it got super busy that the cart never made its way to our table. This girl that we were dining with, decided to flare her nostrils by inhaling a deep breath and chased after the cart lady. Let me tell you, it was quite hilarious! At least she'd got her deep fried taro dumplings, lol. She was good for something at the time. We should have taped it on our video phone. On the serious note, my Husband and I held our wedding reception here. We initially invited only 250 guests, but 300 showed up. Some people brought their kids or extra friends. We were extremely frustrated, but Tea Palace accomodated our extra guests. The receptional hall was beautiful! We'd played our slideshow on their big screen projector. They had a big stage where they'd set up our cake. The only disappointment was I asked for plated dinner for the wedding party. Since we sat at a long table, we can't reach around for family style. They'd failed to plate our dinner for us. I felt so bad for my wedding party because they didn't get to enjoy their meal. Much thanks to Mipo, Tim, and Philip for everything! Thank you so much for accomodating our big party!
(5)
Aunt L.

Just...meh. Some of the dim sum was tasty (I liked the lo bat gou, but was the only one at my table who did) and some of it was gross (sin juk gyun come to mind - SO greasy). Prices for Small, Medium and Large plates are clearly marked on the dim sum tally sheet, which is nice, but NONE of our dishes were "small." Not even the lo bat gou, which was only two pieces. If lo bat gou is medium, what on EARTH could be small?? Anyhow, lunch would have gone down a lot better if the end total wasn't $70, with tax and tip, for four adults and two kids. Same price as Top Gun, but not the same quality. (One thing in their favor? The interior is GORGEOUS. Like, my kids thought they were in a hotel. I could see how a large party here would be fabulous, if you vetted the dishes first.)
(2)
Leigh F.

From the pictures on the website and the fact that a lot of people have wedding receptions here, I thought it would be a really nice place, but it is in fact kind-of not that great. I made a dinner reservation on a Sunday evening here for a group of about 15 people. I was glad that it wasn't busy in the area where we were seated, but I was not thrilled about the fact that we were split into separate tables, especially because the deciding factor for coming to this place was that I thought we'd all be in the same space. There was also a karaoke thing going on, so although they had that dividing wall up, it did nothing to drown out the extremely loud and horrific singing that ended up being the background music for our entire evening. Now, had the food been great, I could have easily overlooked all the crap with the seating and bad karaoke, but the food was BAD. We did two orders of a nine course family style menu and added some additional entrees that we thought we'd like. The honey walnut prawns were pretty much the only thing that didn't suck. The fried rice was extremely hard, almost as if the rice was very undercooked or overly fried. Most of the other items were not terrible, but not worth mentioning either. I don't know, I was just not thrilled with anything about this place, nor were my guests, so I think it's safe to say that I will probably never, ever be back.
(2)
Tan Lo S.

I officially am never coming to this place ever again. I've been here once before and loved it... but the 2nd time was horrible. They're none for their dimsum, which is why i go here. I think their shrimp balls are either overly cooked, or under cooked. their dimsum prices range from 2.50-3.50. Most of the good stuff though, the most popular ones, are 3.50. I didn't know they charge you for tea, so it ended up being like $7 for 2 tea pots... which in China town, i can get for free, thank you, let alone, make it at home. I also had a bad experience with the server, which I would prefer not to write about on this because it was embarrassing too, having to do with tipping and the bill.. and I was so irritated. Let's just say, they're not as professional and courteous as I'd like. But their main menu items are expensive, and you can get better food in Chinatown. Also, their chinese broccoli is probably a 5/10. Ehh, never coming back.
(3)
Sylvia W.

Was there last night for a wedding banquet. There were 8 dishes and two desserts food. Please note that the groom is Chinese and the bride is Japanese. I mention this b/c in an ode to the bride, there was a Japanese Wakame Seaweed salad versus the traditional jellyfish in the appetizer platter. I thought that was a unique twist. Appetizer Platter Imitation Shark Fin Soup Shrimp & Crab Claw Ball Faux Abalone w/Baby Bok Choy Real Abalone w/Iceberg Lettuce Stirfried Ginger Scallion Lobster Crispy Fried Cantonese-style Chicken Sweet & Sour Sauced Fried Whole Fish Fuk Gien Fried Rice Mini Almond Cookies & Sesame Ball Red Bean Dessert Soup I thought the food was okay. Two marks blemish the experience: (1) I found a gnat in my faux abalone/baby bok choy serving. Ugh! But then again, how many bugs have we all consumed w/o knowing it?! (2) The crispy chicken was indeed crispy however a tad over salted. Didn't need the additional saucer containing finely ground white pepper w/salt as a dip. I was wondering why there was an extra plate of abalone and lettuce when I learned that the kitchen forgot to mix the faux and real abalone w/greens dish as an ensemble. Thus the two platings. Decor and acoustics of the venue were pretty good. The restaurant was split in two with the divider and we didn't hear them at all. In the foyer you could hear the other group was using PA and karaoke. That's quite impressive acoustics indeed! The banquet I was at had 150 guests. The other side of the restaurant looked to be 200-250. Wouldn't mind being invited to a banquet here again!
(3)
Elsa B.

I went to a wedding here & the food was unbelievably bad. Now, I am not very picky when I am hungry. A girl's gotta eat! But this food was just awful. I'd give it zero stars if I could. Everyone at my large table agreed it was just nasty- all 8 or 10 courses of it (didn't really matter, I left hungry). I know the bride's family, and they are not cheap & they know good food. All I can think is that the food served to them when they were evaluating the restaurant is not the same quality of food that was actually served. So disappointing.
(1)
Elizabeth R.

I had been here several times before but this was my first time coming here for a wedding reception. Luckily I knew this place and we managed to get there early, because parking is a pain! If you don't get there early enough, you gotta park far! Anyway, my friends had half the restaurant reserved for their wedding reception. It was great that it was sealed off. The managed to have an area for the professional wedding photographers for guests to take pictures with the bride and groom. There was a table setup for the guest book, wedding games and for your seating assignment. We walked in and everything was organized so simple. I was glad we were seated at a table near the stage where we could see the bride and groom, the projection screen, the wedding cake and even near the restrooms. The only disappointment I have to say about this place was that they really didn't know how to organize themselves for this party. We didn't get any ice refills on our ice bucket. Some of the waiters were all over the place and wouldn't know which tables already had what dish. And one of the waiters even took one of our dishes before we were finished. I know most Chinese restaurants that serve for weddings, if the plate isn't empty... they don't take it. And with that being said, the guests are usually allowed at the end to box up the leftover dishes. So before the waiter could take another dish that wasn't done with, we had to stop him. Then there was the cake cutting. The bride and groom did their cake cutting and right after, the staff finished cutting the cake for them. There were about 4 staff members helping with cutting the rest of the cake, along with plating them and having them ready to get passed out to the guests. Since my table was so close to the cake, I noticed one of the waiters had gotten cake icing on her arm and straight up licked her arm and continued to cut the cake. I was somewhat disgusted with the fact that that is not only unprofessional but also unsanitary. All in all, the food wasn't bad but I will say that I have had better Chinese food. I think I'll stick to just eating dim sum here.
(3)
Mandy S.

I like this place more because of the location, parking and service compared to my experience at Noble Court.
(4)
Thuy D.

What a disaster! Picked up 2 spoiled dish that smelled so soul from the moment I stick my chopsticks in it.. How can you served customer spoiled food? when complained..the manager didn't try to do anything. Would never come back!
(1)
linh h.

This was the worst Dim Sum spot I have ever tried in my life. If I could give this place ZERO stars I would. Let me start off with the fact that Dim Sum should have MULTIPLE carts going around with lots of different options. I came here for lunch on a Wednesday and they had ONE dim sum cart going around. Yes, you read that right.... ONE!! They only had like 5 things on that cart and that was it! Seriously though.....What the hell kind of dim sum place is this?!! I then asked for a menu to see if I could order some other dim sum items and when the waiter brought me the menu, it turns out that they weren't even offering half of the things on it!! I will never return to this place ever again.
(1)
Melody P.

A little out of my way since I live in Seattle. However, this is another meetup with a friend, who lives in the area. Nice interior, but the food was ok. There are much better places in Seattle. If you have had Jade Garden, you would know what I am talking about.
(2)
Alice T.

Decent dim sum, for the convenience (I live only about a mile away) and the specialty dishes. Most of what I order are considered "special plates" that I order off the dim sum menu; they won't come around on the carts unless someone special orders it (in which case they'll make a few batches and send them out): Salt and Pepper Prawns Salt and Pepper Calamari Turnip Cake in XO Sauce (the BEST dish in the house) Flash Fried and Lightly Breaded Mini Fish (This is just a description. I'm not sure what the official name is). Garlic Honey Spare Ribs (a recent discovery and easily my second favorite dish here now) Of course, the standard dim sum dishes (hai gow, siu mai, spareribs) are there, and solid. Nothing to complain about, but nothing that stands out about them. Tip: Go around noon. The place starts to get busy, so they'll be more carts with more options around. We've eaten here at earlier times but the selection is limited and disappointing, and sometimes they won't let us order the special dishes yet.
(3)
Derek L.

Great place to have Dim Sum in Renton. New clean enviroment with plenty of parking. Go early in the weekend or you can wait up to 1 hour. I love their service and the servers can speak good English.
(4)
Robert L.

Good dim sum on the weekends, and fair prices. Not crowded like Top Gun's Seafood in Factoria, but pretty good selection of authentic Chinese dim sum. Rice pooridge, shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork steamed buns, and egg tart cakes are some good ones we regularly get. Worth a visit when you need quick dim sum, though it's a little hidden behind a Vietnamese supermarket.
(4)
Brie W.

So I gave this restaurant 2 chances before I decided to write. Lets go. Dim sum, is one of my favorite meals. Not here. The only thing worth going there for is their Hargow. Its amazing. Their shumai is...not super good. The hombows are really airy..not much filling...more breading than anything. I went by myself on a Thursday afternoon for dim sum...and there were no carts. I had to order everything...but they dont tell you that, so when you ask where something is, they tell you 'soon' and run in the back...They bring it out...then by that time you want something else...so you get what you want...but it comes out at different times, so you dont get the flavors of everyhing at once. I do not like. I went this morning at 11am, since everyone on Yelp has stated that if you do go, go on a weekend. I agree, BUT wait until after noon to go. We showed up and got a table for 7 people, there were about 3 carts for about 50 people...and everything we had to wait for. The steam cart came around, we asked for shumai and hargow....then said, 'its coming.' What restaurant doesnt have the MAIN things on their cart? Frustrating.... They dont have sticky rice in the bowl...which is my favorite..,, Right when we were leaving...I saw a cart with dim sum chow mein, gai lon, and honey walnut prawns..which werent out when we got there at 11am...so we missed a lot of the good items since we were already full. I dont think I will be going here for dim sum anymore...i might try dinner...but no more dim sum. I would rather go for a drive, and go somewhere in Bellevue (Noble Court).
(2)
Nam N.

large floor - big tables - pretty big selection of dim sum - and yet still a bigger disappointment. i've been here a few times and its usually due to it being convienently located up the hill from my house. and every time i have been disappointed. it always takes forever for the food carts to come around and when it finally does - the food is always just above room temperature. if you need water, hot sauce, extra plate, napkins, or whatever... it takes forever to wave someone down and then another forever for them to get it to you. and to top it off they don't do anything with a smile. mediocre food for a higher price than most dim sum spots. i'd rather take the extra 10 minutes to drive out to Top Gun in Factoria than come back to this place.
(2)
Karina V.

I came here for a baptism reception. I have to say the food was seriously yummy. The duck w/ super delish. Salt and pepper prawns were perfectly seasoned. Their lobster was overcooked though- although the flavors were really good. The service was on the spot- refilled my water once my glass was half full. The only thing that annoyed me was a wedding reception going on next door- it got really loud. . can't really complain it's an asian restaurant. . . . Would come again to try the dimsum!
(4)
Jim H.

As a dim sum regular I thought I'd try Renton's Tea Palace for dim sum. I was completely satisfied and look forward to eating there often. I live in Maple Valley, 30+ miles SE of Seattle's International District, so I'd like to find a good dim sum place in the south end. I was driving through Renton a little after 1:00pm Thursday when I thought I'd go up the hill, check this place out. So I did, using the map on the Yelp site. When you turn north off Sunset, into the parking lot, there's a big oriental market on your left, a big discount store on the right; between them is a "Tea Palace" sign over a driveway. Enter the driveway, there's the restaurant, pretty easy to find. I was seated quickly and politely, hot tea and ice water. There were about 30 customers in the restaurant, almost all Chinese. The staff was polite and attentive, the restaurant was very clean. There were two carts rolling around, but I was told I could order anything from the 40 item dim sum menu and they'd prepare it (the menu is on their website, has pictures of everything they offer). I decided to have a small quick snack, so from the carts I had steamed BBQ pork bao, su mai and shimp dumplings. All three were very good, as good as anything I've had at Seattle dim sum restaurants. When I visit San Francisco or Sacramento (a couple times yearly over the past 30 years) I go to the "Chinese family-type" dim sum restaurants, not the fancy dim sum lounges featuring hummingbird wings sprinkled with fairy dust, etc. I'm a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, not big on overly fancy food. For me Tea Palace was a perfect find - good quality dim sum being enjoyed by the various families there, nothing ostentatious. So I gave Tea Palace five stars because it was exactly what I was looking for; if you prefer waiters in tuxes, incredibly elaborate food, very high prices this isn't the place. I don't understand some of the negative comments below; the food was very good and exactly what I was looking for, chili oil was on every table (yeah, I'm a chili oil nut...), the staff was attentive and professional. I paid $9.90 for my three plates plus hot tea; look forward to going back frequently.
(5)
Corey Y.

Okay, so I'm going to start out saying this isn't the best Dim Sum I've ever had. I didn't take a bite and then have a religious epiphany about shellfish. What I did, however, do is have some very tasty Dim Sum at reasonable prices on Christmas Eve. The Dim Sum is just that, tasty. It's not the same as what I've had at places in the ID, but was perfectly good and the selection was good enough to fill our table with tasty items to serve as a background for good conversation. Long story short, if you're looking for food of the Dim Sum variety, this place is more than serviceable. If you're looking for the most authentic experience that takes you direct to China while in the middle of Renton, just drive the extra miles down Ranier and get what you actually want in the ID.
(3)
Betty D.

It sad to give this place 1 star because I had high hopes for it being my wedding venue prior to the initial meeting with the banquet coordinator. For weeks my husband was on the phone with her going over details of what we were looking for, prices, menus, number of people etc. We set up a meeting for when we were in town from San Fran to visit Tea Palace. We even called the week of to confirm. We get there, introduce ourselves and she sits us down. After talking to us about the menu and prices, she flips to her calendar and goes, "Ok (insert another couple's name here that wasn't mine or my husband's), I have you down for this date." Um, right date, WRONG COUPLE. She booked our date. She's frantically flipping through her calendar and goes, "You're not so and so?" NO! Then she goes, "Oh, your date is booked." Is she serious? You just wasted our afternoon and time on the phone all this time because you goofed and booked our date?!!! I'll just take my nice deposit check that I was going to put down to the next venue. Thanks for nothing Tea Palace, you really disappointed us :(
(1)
Sandra Y.

meh. I currently live down the street and was too lazy to drive out to Top Gun in Factoria for dim sum... and Seattle seemed like light years away. Then Tea Palace punished me for my laziness. My favorite part about dim sum is the hot sauce that chinese restaurants have. You know the fried one, in the chili oil. yum. This leads to my first complaint: Our table was missing the hot sauce, and instead sriracha was in it's place. Don't get me wrong, I love the rooster, but with dim sum I prefer the oily one. So I asked for my hot sauce. The waiter informed me that sriarcha is the only hot sauce they have. SERIOUSLY? FIIIIIIIIIIIINE. The dim sum is pricier compared to Top Gun, and def not as tasty. Usually I can remember plates and dishes that stand out to me. Here, not so much. The gai lan (chinese broccoli) was cold too! That's Cooking 101 folks. get with it. The second to worst part was that they were having singing auditions on the other side of the restaurant. WTF? The WORST part was that my waiter LIED to me. As we were walking out of the restaurant I discovered the other side of the restaurant had the chili oil hot sauce I had been craving this entire time! HOW RUDE.
(2)
E F.

We showed up 10 min after noon today and got seated pretty quickly, even though there were plenty of people. We didn't get through more than 3 carts before we filled up on shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, taro balls, egg tarts, pork-stuffed bean curd, and a few items I've never had before: beef tendon, beef tripe, and soup versions of those. Oh my, talk about tender, savory, flavorsome goodness. I'm surprised this place doesn't have higher ratings, but oh well, more for me. Everything was super fresh and done just right. I've tried plenty of places on the Eastside, but Tea Palace is my favorite now: they're close, rarely any wait (lots of seating), close to Viet Wah, my new favorite Asian grocery store, and the price is oh-so-reasonable. Our tab came to ~$27 before tip, and we were stuffed. I love this place.
(4)
Stan B.

The Tea Palace is awesome. It's so close to where I live, and the Dim Sum is great. I've been going here with my family since they opened, and it has become our regular place for weekend brunch. We used to drive to another place in China Town, but not any more. The quality and selection are why we stay close to home. The prices are great, there is plenty of parking, and the place is huge. Even if they are hosting an event or party, there is always enough room for me and my family to get right in and start eating.
(5)
Ken L.

This place would have been better if they kept the so-so HOT POT special. The dim sum is subpar and with the three visits I made, I decided that I could do without. Don't do it.
(2)
Alex D.

Decent Dim Sum for the price. For sure, the dim sum up in Vancouver is by far better, but if you aren't willing to drive 3 hours to Vancouver and you're stuck in the hell hole called "Renton" or "Kent" then this place is as good as it gets! The dinner selection is OK as well. Though they do use way too much oil and extra sauces.
(3)
Lili T.

It's a large restaurant but when we came in for dinner tonight, the place was divided into three sections. There's a Bistro/Karaoke area to the left, then the dining room, then a Hawaiian concert happening in the "room" next door. Each area is partitioned off by walls that slides out. The R&B music from the Karaoke started clashing with the jazz music in the dining room...which was then drowned out by a war dance being performed next door. It was quite an ...interesting experience. On top of that, service was unusually off. Two wrong dishes were brought out and was sent back to the kitchen. The dishes that successfully made it to the table however deserves a solid 3.5. Jellyfish with pork shank. Seafood & tofu soup. Honey walnut prawns. Cod fillet with vegetables. Seafood & Egg tofu. Roasted duck (2 courses: duck + steamed buns and the lettuce wrap with minced duck meat). All were very satisfying.
(3)
Avery H.

Went there last night, the food was INCREDIBLE! The owners and their daughter are so hospitable and sweet! They amazed me in everyway! It was my first visit and I will DEFINITELY be going back, my husband is so excited because I brought him leftovers :) To find out they have live bands weekly and their own bakery, well lets just say IMPRESSED! Thank you so much for your hospitality! We will be back! 5 STARS! Avery Holder
(5)
C B.

I don't think I can be really fair to Tea Palace because I was the only person in my party. And I did not get the hot tea because it was (finally) warm outside; I was instead served ice water. So I only got one dish: sauteed (free range) chicken with vegetables. Rice was on the side, not included with the dish itself. First, the iced water was quite refreshing. It tasted filtered, not tap. And refills were offered quite regularly; I was happy no one just dumped water in my glass without asking first. Second, the food itself was good. However, rather than having baby corn, bamboo shoots, bok choy, snow peas, or other Asian vegetables, the vegetables were regular broccoli, carrots for coloring, and a few mushrooms. Sesame seed oil was evident as were slices of ginger, which looked very much to me like bamboo shoots - so my mouth was shocked to get a bit of ginger bite. The chicken was almost shredded and, at the time, did not taste quite fresh. Finally, there was so much food, that I ate half and, with my glass of ice water, got quite full. Heating it up the next day, it tasted quite nice - and, oddly, the chicken tasted fresh. And, while it may be my imagination, I detected MSG the second day (as I need to drink lots of water to counteract it and had been at the restaurant, but not at home). Note on the building, decor, and layout. from the outside: this building does, indeed, seem to be almost palatial, and does seem to suggest a nice Chinese palace. The interior is well appointed and very spacious, although the chairs, wood with a nice yellow brocade-like cover, could do with some cleaning. (I'm surprised they were not covered with plastic, unless they were purchased used and somewhat soiled.) Somewhat confusing is that there is a foyer with two entrances to the same space: Silk and Tea Palace. In the foyer itself is a large reception desk which has a glass waterfall behind it. Since there was no one at the reception desk (it was about 6 pm), I wandered in the Tea Palace side and looked confused until a waiter led me to my table. Note on wait service: just about right. No one hovered, and inquiries were made just enough to make it seemed they cared a bit. Oh, and yeah, I echo all notes that say it's in the parking lot BEHIND the store. Definitely don't park near the store unless you're trying to walk off some of those calories from your meal. Grand total for this experience, including ~20% tip: $15. For a birthday or celebration of some sort, this may not be a bad place to come as it has somewhat of a festive or special occasion appearance. However, if you're on a budget, there are probably better restaurants (food quality wise) that don't charge as much.
(3)
lux l.

Was invited to a wedding and the reception was held here. I don't know where to start... The restaurant itself was spacious enough that I thought the kitchen and staff would be experienced enough to serve decent food. The usual asian weddings, soup, crab/shrimp ball, veggie noodle basket, honey walnut prawns, fish, and a rice dish. The food that came out on the table was the worst, soup tasted like soy sauce in warm water, crab/shrimp ball tasted nothing like it --- flour mixture covered what looked like rice crispy, veggie noodle basket was more like broccoli/coliflour and a pile of hay, the prawns were over cooked-- drenched in yogurt, fish was either under cooked or way over cooked that it was too tough to make in smaller pieces--we didn't even bothered with trying to taste it, and the rice that was covered in lotus leaf.......what was the point in bringing it out?? no taste, rice was not fully cooked. Although the food was not great, the servers were all rushing to clear the tables as if they had another party lined up behind this one and did not even bother to give out boxes for those who wanted to take the left overs home. Some silver ware were disgustingly dirty. Another time, (long long time ago), we went here in a larger group for dim sum. The selections were not that great as they did not push around carts and simply handed the little menu and made our choices from there. They had posted an ad that if we cut this coupon and present it to them we would be able to get percentage off of the total bill. So we went there, ate, and presented the coupon when we went to pay. They did not honor the coupon and denied that there was such coupon posted. Another time, went there for a table of two for brunch. We both ordered noodle soup, duck and spicy beef. The broth/soup was so so, duck was little portion piled on top of a giant plate of shredded lettuce and the spicy beef was over cooked. a v o i d t h i s p l a c e a t a l l c o s t !!
(1)
Yee V.

Decided to come here with a friend from out of town. I've been meaning to stop in here to take a look since it's just next to Viet Wah. Well, yesterday was the day since I didn't wanna make a long commute to chinatown. The paved lot in the back of Viet Wah is small, but there's an overflow gravel lot and another paved lot a bit further down. Plenty of parking if needed and if you don't mind taking some extra steps to get in. The restaurant itself is huge, or at least it seemed like it. It was somewhat awkward to me that there were so few customers inside for a Sunday morning, but I suppose that makes it easier for me to get food right? There's not many dim sum carts rolling thru and somehow they even have a cart of sushi that I had to resist because we're here for dim sum. Everything seemed to come by really slow and there wasn't much variety. I was disappointed, but at least they had the bare essentials. I didn't get any water until the end, but they did give us some HOT tea from the start. The tea was so hot that I had to let it cool down for five minutes in my cup until I could drink it. Plates were 1.95, 2.50, then 3.50 and up. Would I come back? Only if I was too lazy to drive down to chinatown. BTW, this place would be a great venue for parties/receptions because it's quite large and can be sectioned off.
(2)
Alix H.

Every time I visited this place, we were the only people in the entire ginormous space. The food is so-so but it'll tie me over and tame the Chinese food cravings until I visit a better Chinese restaurant. Apparently this place is supposedly really popular on the evening weekends since they have dancing and karaoke (or something similar). Try the crab meat and fish maw soup. It's not bad!
(3)
Vince N.

I don't know what happen to this place, but I'm taking a star back.. The quality of the food just went down hill. Dim sum is cold, and just doesn't taste good no more. I hope they didn't change chefs?!?!?! When this place first opened the food tasted great..Albiet expensive, but everything tasted fresh. No one in my family will eat here anymore..I'm on that same red radio flyer wagon. No good..no good.
(2)
Jonny G.

I'm amazed at some of the negative reviews for here. The service has been nothing short of fantastic every time. Fantastic lo mai gai and har gow. The baked char sui bao was very delicious. I felt the prices here are reasonable and the atmosphere is welcoming.
(5)
Tung L.

Not allergy friendly. Management would not accommodate a nut free dish for my daughter who's allergic while attending a wedding banquet. We were forced to grab takeout from another restaurant.
(1)
Rose B.

Good dim sum. They didn't have a ton of selection though. Price seemed fair enough. Restaurant was clean.
(4)
Sam G.

Three of us went to lunch there today. I had Dim Sum and they had 2 chicken dishes. My eggplant skin was very tough. My companions did not like the breaded chicken, there was hardly any chicken in the middle of the breading . The sweet Sesame Balls tasted like they were fried in fish oil, not appetizing! They also charged each of us 75 Cents for the plain tea pot on the table. This is the first time a Chinese restaurant charged for tea.Will not go there again.
(1)
Levi T.

Good place for dim sum if you don't wanna drive to Chinatown but a little bit on the expensive side. Parking is easy to find usually don't have to wait long to be seated
(4)
Amy W.

Hard to find if you don't know where to look. The restaurant is in the back behind the strip mall. There is plentiful parking, one less thing to worry about. Ten course meal for a wedding. Cold plate was mostly good. The duck (?) had WAY too much fat on it. Soup was good. Lobster was too stringy and had a rubbery feel. Sea food bird nest (the "nest" itself) was too hard, so we couldn't eat any of noodles. Steamed fish was too small for nine people. Peaking duck was too greasy. Shrimp fried rice was good, not too fried or too soft. I really liked their seafood dish with green beans. Their bok choy and babylon dish was good, would have liked the bok choy to be cut into smaller bite size pieces, but that's a personal preference.
(2)
Christina K.

Hello? Can anyone hear me? The walls echo by how empty this place is. I am not at all a fan and would resort to this place only if every other dim sum place was closed. I came here a while back and discovered it being located behind a hidden, worn down Asian strip mall. All I have to say is that it's disappointing dim sum. The food comes out cold. Dishes ordered: The usual dim sum.
(2)
Linna S.

You go to the place for the venue; not the food! Because if you visit the place for food let's not say I didn't warn you!
(1)
Dan C.

I've went here 10 times and it varies, depending on the host(ess). If you get a guy in mid to late 40s, then you got the owner and it will be fine. The food is par when compared to other non international district restaurants. But if you get a female then you are screwed. Especially the one who kinda has the face of a pig. It's true what they say, ugly woman just hate people. She'll ignore the customers and just sit on her fat (yet flat) ass, treating staff and customers like crap. And that's what you get. Food tastes like crap and service sucks. Then there's the younger pretty one- she's just nice, so you get staff that are lazy - no checking up on you and you gotta go get water refills. I think the owner only shows up on Saturday mornings. I only eat dim sum as dinner is for the "American fare" - you know; sweet sour pork type. For the price you should go to ID. Or even Noble Court is better.
(2)
Natalie S.

After seeing quite a few negative feedbacks, I feel compelled to stand up for one of my favorite places. Their Dim Sum is amazing - has a lot of vareity, great in quantity and very generous. It is, by far, our favorite place to go for brunch and to treat ourselves, hubby and I, on a lazy week-end. All that shrimp, and crab, and chicken, all wrapped in delicate rice paper. Seems see-through and light - and so delicious. I love that they have vegetarian and dieter's items too, like steamed broccoli sprouts with sauces on the side. It is instant gratification by staff that anticipates your needs and comes to check on you. And plenty of delicious food for fairly low price for a pretty elaborate brunch for two. It's definitely a treat. I also always see lots of large Asian families eating there (which to me is telling of authenticity and quality in case I would not trust my own judgement :) ) I'm giving them 4, not 5, because they do get busy at times. It's a huge establishment, and you can tell that they try to section off just enough space. Yet, when they get slammed, it's too late to move the walls or call in more staff. Those little hiccups in the end of service do not happen often, and I will still keep going there for as long as they have Dim Sum.
(4)
Wina B.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR DIM SUM ONLY Food: The siumai was very porky and doesn't have much flavor. The lomaigai was bland with not much fillings on the inside. The shrimp cheong fun was cold even though the waitress said that we had to order it since it was made "fresh". The only good food I had was the rice porridge. Everything else was yucky and overpriced. Staff: I noticed that there were PLENTY of staff on a Saturday noon but not many patrons, so the staff were mostly hanging out and talking. Despite the abundance of the staff, I had to flag them repeatedly before getting their attention, even when paying! We sat around, wondering if we were supposed to come up to the cashier (keep in mind that I still saw a lot of staff just hanging out, not paying attention to the customers). Price: Overpriced. Way overpriced. All we paid for was COLD dimsum and lack of staff attentiveness. Place: I'm not going to complain about the location, it was perfectly fine and my GPS found it with no problems. My problem is that we found a PIECE OF CHEWING GUM underneath one of our plates on the table. DISGUSTING! Overall: I am never coming back here. The food was not good, overpriced, and the staff were unprofessional. Not to forget that old chewing gum underneath my plate. Ew. The only good experience I had here was to meet up with a friend whom I haven't seen in a while.
(1)
Nancy B.

Frequent cart passes during a Saturday lunch, but only 1 person knew what a "Diet Coke" was resulting in a half hour quest for a beverage - but never fear - non tea drinkers were also charged for the hot tea placed on the table and no one at any table had water... grrr. 1 + on Nikki's description of the offerings as more tasty than Top Gun... The Har Gow contained small slivers of fresh ginger, and there was a fruity (strawberry?) vinegar on the table in addition to hot soy sauces. The bus boy was gracious enough to take our orders and coordinate carts when he saw we were having trouble... he was the only person who understood what a Diet Coke was... I wish he had come by sooner so the folks at our table that don't drink tea wouldn't have had to eat the items off the steamer cart beverage free. The carts were very quick to the table and there was one small pause when all 6 were refilling at the same time, but given that there were 50+ people eating it didn't seem like too long. There are also a good selection of lunch plates available similar to a non-dim sum house with very reasonable prices. The pictogram was very helpful even for those of us who know our Bao... there were a couple of items listed that were not on the carts and they were made to order without extra charge.... but they did take about 15 minutes. The only dish we did not enjoy was the beef spare ribs. The broth was great and the chunks of sweet potato were a nice touch, but there was more bone and gristle than meat. The congee soup looked really good, but we were all to full to give it a try... next time!!
(4)
Paris L.

One of the main reason I go here is because it's near where I live and the price is reasonable for dim sum. However, the last 2 visits has made me give it 1 star. On the 9.1 visit, one of my order was totally forgotten by the waiter and she didn't even noticed until I asked what is taking so long. Overall the dishes that day were average. It seems to be a hit and miss with this place, sometimes dishes such as the beef tendon, chicken feet, and pork spareribs are good and other days it's bland and poor. Today, I ordered take out from this place. My order was wrong and I had to wait to correct it. Usually a sweet sauce is provided with the rice rolls instead I was given soy sauce, which totally ruined the dish. Additionally, the rice rolls today were extremely oily that I had to use napkins to pat away the oil. **If you order take out from this place, always make sure you check your order on the spot.** I doubt I will go back to this place for some time after two consecutive weeks of bad service.
(1)
Karen L.

A good place for dim sum, although definitely not my favorite. It's not particularly busy, so like some reviewers have said, there aren't many carts going around. I've never had absolutely bad dim sum, but I've definitely had better. We come here usually with my BF's relatives, and that's about the only reason we have dim sum here. They have the usual dim sum you'd find elsewhere: har gow (shrimp dumplings), chicken feet, siu mai, etc. but I wasn't very impressed.
(3)
Lynn C.

WEDDING SERVICE REVIEW This is NOT a review on their food because it's only okay (which I was completely fine with being the venue is so big and gorgeous). My husband and I used Tea Palace as our reception venue. When you first met with Jacqueline (the owner), she was actually very dialed in, knows her stuff, etc. But after you put your deposit down,... it's really hard to get a hold of her couple of months before the wedding. Tea Palace gave me the most wedding stress out of all my other venues (photographer, designer, cake venue, etc). When you do get her to respond to one of your many emails, she's very short, borderline rude, and unapologetic. The cost of the reception venue is probably your biggest wedding cost. Being that we spent OVER $16K just for the reception alone, we expected some professionalism and courtesy for our business. Whatever messaging and business system she has going doesn't seem to work very well. It definitely is not a smooth operation. We had an open bar (alcohol we provided) and used her bartender. Her bartender does NOT know how to make a margarita from scratch. She apparently only know how to make it from the margarita mix ONLY... huh? I don't have a bartending license and can make a margarita from the mixer... Are you kidding me? So of course, none of our guests were able to get a margaritas and we ended up bringing home all the stuff to make margaritas. To top it off, the night before, my husband bought a bag of limes and mints for the mojitos and on the DAY OF the wedding, the bartender and staffs had no idea where it was. We heard of the news when we were out front taking pictures with our guests. We had my brother-in-law tell them to double check again because it was brought to the restaurant the day before. After many attempts to search for it, my brother-in-law, ran out to buy another bag of limes and mints. That really pissed us off. By the end of our wedding, we found out the staffs/bartender found the original bag of limes and mints. The point is not in the cost so much as in the extra stress and time wasted because they were unorganized. We were told to come in the night before the wedding to test out the audio for the video we were planning to play on our wedding. Apparently she was not there (not surprised) and the staff had no idea where the remote was. So of course, on our wedding day was when when we actually tried it for the first time... and of course,... no audio.... but luckily, they figured it. Same wedding night, but after after the wedding was over, we told her about how disappointed we were about the audio failure and how we tried to test it out the day before but she wasn't there and her staffs had no idea what to do. And we told her about the lime/mint incident. She was unapologetic and said she'll look into it. She did, however, gave us a small discount because of the lime/mint incident (which was nice). After the wedding, we realize we forgot our Starbucks rental canister outside of Tea Palace. While on our honeymoon, my husband emailed her 4 times and she did not respond to any. After our 3-week honeymoon, I emailed her about the canister again and she said it wasn't there. Well, after 3.5 weeks, I'm not surprise the canister isn't there anymore... but if she had read or responded to our first email to look for it, maybe there was a chance it was still there. Over-all, disappointed. It's too bad Tea Palace is probably the prettiest and largest Asian restaurant in Seattle to host a wedding. I have to admit though, when you do get to meet up with Jacqueline face-to-face, she's very dialed-in and professional. Just wanted to share my wedding experience there for those planning to have their wedding there.
(1)
Chariya S.

This is our usual spot for DIM SUM :) The prices were super affordable and the quality of the foods were quite delish! It gets pretty busy on the weekend. One time it got super busy that the cart never made its way to our table. This girl that we were dining with, decided to flare her nostrils by inhaling a deep breath and chased after the cart lady. Let me tell you, it was quite hilarious! At least she'd got her deep fried taro dumplings, lol. She was good for something at the time. We should have taped it on our video phone. On the serious note, my Husband and I held our wedding reception here. We initially invited only 250 guests, but 300 showed up. Some people brought their kids or extra friends. We were extremely frustrated, but Tea Palace accomodated our extra guests. The receptional hall was beautiful! We'd played our slideshow on their big screen projector. They had a big stage where they'd set up our cake. The only disappointment was I asked for plated dinner for the wedding party. Since we sat at a long table, we can't reach around for family style. They'd failed to plate our dinner for us. I felt so bad for my wedding party because they didn't get to enjoy their meal. Much thanks to Mipo, Tim, and Philip for everything! Thank you so much for accomodating our big party!
(5)
Aunt L.

Just...meh. Some of the dim sum was tasty (I liked the lo bat gou, but was the only one at my table who did) and some of it was gross (sin juk gyun come to mind - SO greasy). Prices for Small, Medium and Large plates are clearly marked on the dim sum tally sheet, which is nice, but NONE of our dishes were "small." Not even the lo bat gou, which was only two pieces. If lo bat gou is medium, what on EARTH could be small?? Anyhow, lunch would have gone down a lot better if the end total wasn't $70, with tax and tip, for four adults and two kids. Same price as Top Gun, but not the same quality. (One thing in their favor? The interior is GORGEOUS. Like, my kids thought they were in a hotel. I could see how a large party here would be fabulous, if you vetted the dishes first.)
(2)
Leigh F.

From the pictures on the website and the fact that a lot of people have wedding receptions here, I thought it would be a really nice place, but it is in fact kind-of not that great. I made a dinner reservation on a Sunday evening here for a group of about 15 people. I was glad that it wasn't busy in the area where we were seated, but I was not thrilled about the fact that we were split into separate tables, especially because the deciding factor for coming to this place was that I thought we'd all be in the same space. There was also a karaoke thing going on, so although they had that dividing wall up, it did nothing to drown out the extremely loud and horrific singing that ended up being the background music for our entire evening. Now, had the food been great, I could have easily overlooked all the crap with the seating and bad karaoke, but the food was BAD. We did two orders of a nine course family style menu and added some additional entrees that we thought we'd like. The honey walnut prawns were pretty much the only thing that didn't suck. The fried rice was extremely hard, almost as if the rice was very undercooked or overly fried. Most of the other items were not terrible, but not worth mentioning either. I don't know, I was just not thrilled with anything about this place, nor were my guests, so I think it's safe to say that I will probably never, ever be back.
(2)
Alix H.

Every time I visited this place, we were the only people in the entire ginormous space. The food is so-so but it'll tie me over and tame the Chinese food cravings until I visit a better Chinese restaurant. Apparently this place is supposedly really popular on the evening weekends since they have dancing and karaoke (or something similar). Try the crab meat and fish maw soup. It's not bad!
(3)
Tan Lo S.

I officially am never coming to this place ever again. I've been here once before and loved it... but the 2nd time was horrible. They're none for their dimsum, which is why i go here. I think their shrimp balls are either overly cooked, or under cooked. their dimsum prices range from 2.50-3.50. Most of the good stuff though, the most popular ones, are 3.50. I didn't know they charge you for tea, so it ended up being like $7 for 2 tea pots... which in China town, i can get for free, thank you, let alone, make it at home. I also had a bad experience with the server, which I would prefer not to write about on this because it was embarrassing too, having to do with tipping and the bill.. and I was so irritated. Let's just say, they're not as professional and courteous as I'd like. But their main menu items are expensive, and you can get better food in Chinatown. Also, their chinese broccoli is probably a 5/10. Ehh, never coming back.
(3)
Sylvia W.

Was there last night for a wedding banquet. There were 8 dishes and two desserts food. Please note that the groom is Chinese and the bride is Japanese. I mention this b/c in an ode to the bride, there was a Japanese Wakame Seaweed salad versus the traditional jellyfish in the appetizer platter. I thought that was a unique twist. Appetizer Platter Imitation Shark Fin Soup Shrimp & Crab Claw Ball Faux Abalone w/Baby Bok Choy Real Abalone w/Iceberg Lettuce Stirfried Ginger Scallion Lobster Crispy Fried Cantonese-style Chicken Sweet & Sour Sauced Fried Whole Fish Fuk Gien Fried Rice Mini Almond Cookies & Sesame Ball Red Bean Dessert Soup I thought the food was okay. Two marks blemish the experience: (1) I found a gnat in my faux abalone/baby bok choy serving. Ugh! But then again, how many bugs have we all consumed w/o knowing it?! (2) The crispy chicken was indeed crispy however a tad over salted. Didn't need the additional saucer containing finely ground white pepper w/salt as a dip. I was wondering why there was an extra plate of abalone and lettuce when I learned that the kitchen forgot to mix the faux and real abalone w/greens dish as an ensemble. Thus the two platings. Decor and acoustics of the venue were pretty good. The restaurant was split in two with the divider and we didn't hear them at all. In the foyer you could hear the other group was using PA and karaoke. That's quite impressive acoustics indeed! The banquet I was at had 150 guests. The other side of the restaurant looked to be 200-250. Wouldn't mind being invited to a banquet here again!
(3)
Elizabeth R.

I had been here several times before but this was my first time coming here for a wedding reception. Luckily I knew this place and we managed to get there early, because parking is a pain! If you don't get there early enough, you gotta park far! Anyway, my friends had half the restaurant reserved for their wedding reception. It was great that it was sealed off. The managed to have an area for the professional wedding photographers for guests to take pictures with the bride and groom. There was a table setup for the guest book, wedding games and for your seating assignment. We walked in and everything was organized so simple. I was glad we were seated at a table near the stage where we could see the bride and groom, the projection screen, the wedding cake and even near the restrooms. The only disappointment I have to say about this place was that they really didn't know how to organize themselves for this party. We didn't get any ice refills on our ice bucket. Some of the waiters were all over the place and wouldn't know which tables already had what dish. And one of the waiters even took one of our dishes before we were finished. I know most Chinese restaurants that serve for weddings, if the plate isn't empty... they don't take it. And with that being said, the guests are usually allowed at the end to box up the leftover dishes. So before the waiter could take another dish that wasn't done with, we had to stop him. Then there was the cake cutting. The bride and groom did their cake cutting and right after, the staff finished cutting the cake for them. There were about 4 staff members helping with cutting the rest of the cake, along with plating them and having them ready to get passed out to the guests. Since my table was so close to the cake, I noticed one of the waiters had gotten cake icing on her arm and straight up licked her arm and continued to cut the cake. I was somewhat disgusted with the fact that that is not only unprofessional but also unsanitary. All in all, the food wasn't bad but I will say that I have had better Chinese food. I think I'll stick to just eating dim sum here.
(3)
Elsa B.

I went to a wedding here & the food was unbelievably bad. Now, I am not very picky when I am hungry. A girl's gotta eat! But this food was just awful. I'd give it zero stars if I could. Everyone at my large table agreed it was just nasty- all 8 or 10 courses of it (didn't really matter, I left hungry). I know the bride's family, and they are not cheap & they know good food. All I can think is that the food served to them when they were evaluating the restaurant is not the same quality of food that was actually served. So disappointing.
(1)
Mandy S.

I like this place more because of the location, parking and service compared to my experience at Noble Court.
(4)
Thuy D.

What a disaster! Picked up 2 spoiled dish that smelled so soul from the moment I stick my chopsticks in it.. How can you served customer spoiled food? when complained..the manager didn't try to do anything. Would never come back!
(1)
linh h.

This was the worst Dim Sum spot I have ever tried in my life. If I could give this place ZERO stars I would. Let me start off with the fact that Dim Sum should have MULTIPLE carts going around with lots of different options. I came here for lunch on a Wednesday and they had ONE dim sum cart going around. Yes, you read that right.... ONE!! They only had like 5 things on that cart and that was it! Seriously though.....What the hell kind of dim sum place is this?!! I then asked for a menu to see if I could order some other dim sum items and when the waiter brought me the menu, it turns out that they weren't even offering half of the things on it!! I will never return to this place ever again.
(1)
Melody P.

A little out of my way since I live in Seattle. However, this is another meetup with a friend, who lives in the area. Nice interior, but the food was ok. There are much better places in Seattle. If you have had Jade Garden, you would know what I am talking about.
(2)
Vince N.

I don't know what happen to this place, but I'm taking a star back.. The quality of the food just went down hill. Dim sum is cold, and just doesn't taste good no more. I hope they didn't change chefs?!?!?! When this place first opened the food tasted great..Albiet expensive, but everything tasted fresh. No one in my family will eat here anymore..I'm on that same red radio flyer wagon. No good..no good.
(2)
Jonny G.

I'm amazed at some of the negative reviews for here. The service has been nothing short of fantastic every time. Fantastic lo mai gai and har gow. The baked char sui bao was very delicious. I felt the prices here are reasonable and the atmosphere is welcoming.
(5)
Tung L.

Not allergy friendly. Management would not accommodate a nut free dish for my daughter who's allergic while attending a wedding banquet. We were forced to grab takeout from another restaurant.
(1)
Rose B.

Good dim sum. They didn't have a ton of selection though. Price seemed fair enough. Restaurant was clean.
(4)
Nancy C.

Blah, had high hopes for this place. Theres not many dim sum places around renton and we were hoping this would be the new spot. We havent gone back for months now.not that something terrible happened during the last visit, its simply because if were going to have dim sum, it has to be good n not a measly -meh-. The place is big, nice decor but its the food that attracts us (especially me). The food is usually warm and I like things HOT! The spices are eh, ok. Not savory. Chicken feet isnt nearly as good as other places.. So in return, we wont be back. Its like what I say "once youve had the best you cant settle for less"
(2)
Alice T.

Decent dim sum, for the convenience (I live only about a mile away) and the specialty dishes. Most of what I order are considered "special plates" that I order off the dim sum menu; they won't come around on the carts unless someone special orders it (in which case they'll make a few batches and send them out): Salt and Pepper Prawns Salt and Pepper Calamari Turnip Cake in XO Sauce (the BEST dish in the house) Flash Fried and Lightly Breaded Mini Fish (This is just a description. I'm not sure what the official name is). Garlic Honey Spare Ribs (a recent discovery and easily my second favorite dish here now) Of course, the standard dim sum dishes (hai gow, siu mai, spareribs) are there, and solid. Nothing to complain about, but nothing that stands out about them. Tip: Go around noon. The place starts to get busy, so they'll be more carts with more options around. We've eaten here at earlier times but the selection is limited and disappointing, and sometimes they won't let us order the special dishes yet.
(3)
Derek L.

Great place to have Dim Sum in Renton. New clean enviroment with plenty of parking. Go early in the weekend or you can wait up to 1 hour. I love their service and the servers can speak good English.
(4)
Robert L.

Good dim sum on the weekends, and fair prices. Not crowded like Top Gun's Seafood in Factoria, but pretty good selection of authentic Chinese dim sum. Rice pooridge, shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork steamed buns, and egg tart cakes are some good ones we regularly get. Worth a visit when you need quick dim sum, though it's a little hidden behind a Vietnamese supermarket.
(4)
Brie W.

So I gave this restaurant 2 chances before I decided to write. Lets go. Dim sum, is one of my favorite meals. Not here. The only thing worth going there for is their Hargow. Its amazing. Their shumai is...not super good. The hombows are really airy..not much filling...more breading than anything. I went by myself on a Thursday afternoon for dim sum...and there were no carts. I had to order everything...but they dont tell you that, so when you ask where something is, they tell you 'soon' and run in the back...They bring it out...then by that time you want something else...so you get what you want...but it comes out at different times, so you dont get the flavors of everyhing at once. I do not like. I went this morning at 11am, since everyone on Yelp has stated that if you do go, go on a weekend. I agree, BUT wait until after noon to go. We showed up and got a table for 7 people, there were about 3 carts for about 50 people...and everything we had to wait for. The steam cart came around, we asked for shumai and hargow....then said, 'its coming.' What restaurant doesnt have the MAIN things on their cart? Frustrating.... They dont have sticky rice in the bowl...which is my favorite..,, Right when we were leaving...I saw a cart with dim sum chow mein, gai lon, and honey walnut prawns..which werent out when we got there at 11am...so we missed a lot of the good items since we were already full. I dont think I will be going here for dim sum anymore...i might try dinner...but no more dim sum. I would rather go for a drive, and go somewhere in Bellevue (Noble Court).
(2)
Nam N.

large floor - big tables - pretty big selection of dim sum - and yet still a bigger disappointment. i've been here a few times and its usually due to it being convienently located up the hill from my house. and every time i have been disappointed. it always takes forever for the food carts to come around and when it finally does - the food is always just above room temperature. if you need water, hot sauce, extra plate, napkins, or whatever... it takes forever to wave someone down and then another forever for them to get it to you. and to top it off they don't do anything with a smile. mediocre food for a higher price than most dim sum spots. i'd rather take the extra 10 minutes to drive out to Top Gun in Factoria than come back to this place.
(2)
Karina V.

I came here for a baptism reception. I have to say the food was seriously yummy. The duck w/ super delish. Salt and pepper prawns were perfectly seasoned. Their lobster was overcooked though- although the flavors were really good. The service was on the spot- refilled my water once my glass was half full. The only thing that annoyed me was a wedding reception going on next door- it got really loud. . can't really complain it's an asian restaurant. . . . Would come again to try the dimsum!
(4)
Jim H.

As a dim sum regular I thought I'd try Renton's Tea Palace for dim sum. I was completely satisfied and look forward to eating there often. I live in Maple Valley, 30+ miles SE of Seattle's International District, so I'd like to find a good dim sum place in the south end. I was driving through Renton a little after 1:00pm Thursday when I thought I'd go up the hill, check this place out. So I did, using the map on the Yelp site. When you turn north off Sunset, into the parking lot, there's a big oriental market on your left, a big discount store on the right; between them is a "Tea Palace" sign over a driveway. Enter the driveway, there's the restaurant, pretty easy to find. I was seated quickly and politely, hot tea and ice water. There were about 30 customers in the restaurant, almost all Chinese. The staff was polite and attentive, the restaurant was very clean. There were two carts rolling around, but I was told I could order anything from the 40 item dim sum menu and they'd prepare it (the menu is on their website, has pictures of everything they offer). I decided to have a small quick snack, so from the carts I had steamed BBQ pork bao, su mai and shimp dumplings. All three were very good, as good as anything I've had at Seattle dim sum restaurants. When I visit San Francisco or Sacramento (a couple times yearly over the past 30 years) I go to the "Chinese family-type" dim sum restaurants, not the fancy dim sum lounges featuring hummingbird wings sprinkled with fairy dust, etc. I'm a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, not big on overly fancy food. For me Tea Palace was a perfect find - good quality dim sum being enjoyed by the various families there, nothing ostentatious. So I gave Tea Palace five stars because it was exactly what I was looking for; if you prefer waiters in tuxes, incredibly elaborate food, very high prices this isn't the place. I don't understand some of the negative comments below; the food was very good and exactly what I was looking for, chili oil was on every table (yeah, I'm a chili oil nut...), the staff was attentive and professional. I paid $9.90 for my three plates plus hot tea; look forward to going back frequently.
(5)
Corey Y.

Okay, so I'm going to start out saying this isn't the best Dim Sum I've ever had. I didn't take a bite and then have a religious epiphany about shellfish. What I did, however, do is have some very tasty Dim Sum at reasonable prices on Christmas Eve. The Dim Sum is just that, tasty. It's not the same as what I've had at places in the ID, but was perfectly good and the selection was good enough to fill our table with tasty items to serve as a background for good conversation. Long story short, if you're looking for food of the Dim Sum variety, this place is more than serviceable. If you're looking for the most authentic experience that takes you direct to China while in the middle of Renton, just drive the extra miles down Ranier and get what you actually want in the ID.
(3)
Betty D.

It sad to give this place 1 star because I had high hopes for it being my wedding venue prior to the initial meeting with the banquet coordinator. For weeks my husband was on the phone with her going over details of what we were looking for, prices, menus, number of people etc. We set up a meeting for when we were in town from San Fran to visit Tea Palace. We even called the week of to confirm. We get there, introduce ourselves and she sits us down. After talking to us about the menu and prices, she flips to her calendar and goes, "Ok (insert another couple's name here that wasn't mine or my husband's), I have you down for this date." Um, right date, WRONG COUPLE. She booked our date. She's frantically flipping through her calendar and goes, "You're not so and so?" NO! Then she goes, "Oh, your date is booked." Is she serious? You just wasted our afternoon and time on the phone all this time because you goofed and booked our date?!!! I'll just take my nice deposit check that I was going to put down to the next venue. Thanks for nothing Tea Palace, you really disappointed us :(
(1)
Sandra Y.

meh. I currently live down the street and was too lazy to drive out to Top Gun in Factoria for dim sum... and Seattle seemed like light years away. Then Tea Palace punished me for my laziness. My favorite part about dim sum is the hot sauce that chinese restaurants have. You know the fried one, in the chili oil. yum. This leads to my first complaint: Our table was missing the hot sauce, and instead sriracha was in it's place. Don't get me wrong, I love the rooster, but with dim sum I prefer the oily one. So I asked for my hot sauce. The waiter informed me that sriarcha is the only hot sauce they have. SERIOUSLY? FIIIIIIIIIIIINE. The dim sum is pricier compared to Top Gun, and def not as tasty. Usually I can remember plates and dishes that stand out to me. Here, not so much. The gai lan (chinese broccoli) was cold too! That's Cooking 101 folks. get with it. The second to worst part was that they were having singing auditions on the other side of the restaurant. WTF? The WORST part was that my waiter LIED to me. As we were walking out of the restaurant I discovered the other side of the restaurant had the chili oil hot sauce I had been craving this entire time! HOW RUDE.
(2)
Alan S.

I don't know why others rated it so low, but I like this place. I am writing a review for the dim sum. The food is great and the prices are low compared to Top Gun. The basic dim sum are fresh. They have a good selection of choices. The services are decent and the seating is comfortable. There is no need to look for parking because there is a parking lot. This is one of my favorite places for dim sum. Should give it a try. Pro: Price, food, comfortable seating, parking, no waiting Con: the restaurant is not visible from the main street ( hard for newcomers), the area is not the neighborhood
(4)
Kayan H.

Came for a wedding. Venue was perfect for the occasion. There are not many locations in Seattle for Asian weddings, and I know of none that has a reputation for really good food to go with it, but this place was pretty decent. I'd recommend it to friends and family for weddings, not so sure about just a regular meal though.
(3)
E F.

We showed up 10 min after noon today and got seated pretty quickly, even though there were plenty of people. We didn't get through more than 3 carts before we filled up on shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, taro balls, egg tarts, pork-stuffed bean curd, and a few items I've never had before: beef tendon, beef tripe, and soup versions of those. Oh my, talk about tender, savory, flavorsome goodness. I'm surprised this place doesn't have higher ratings, but oh well, more for me. Everything was super fresh and done just right. I've tried plenty of places on the Eastside, but Tea Palace is my favorite now: they're close, rarely any wait (lots of seating), close to Viet Wah, my new favorite Asian grocery store, and the price is oh-so-reasonable. Our tab came to ~$27 before tip, and we were stuffed. I love this place.
(4)
Stan B.

The Tea Palace is awesome. It's so close to where I live, and the Dim Sum is great. I've been going here with my family since they opened, and it has become our regular place for weekend brunch. We used to drive to another place in China Town, but not any more. The quality and selection are why we stay close to home. The prices are great, there is plenty of parking, and the place is huge. Even if they are hosting an event or party, there is always enough room for me and my family to get right in and start eating.
(5)
Ken L.

This place would have been better if they kept the so-so HOT POT special. The dim sum is subpar and with the three visits I made, I decided that I could do without. Don't do it.
(2)
Alex D.

Decent Dim Sum for the price. For sure, the dim sum up in Vancouver is by far better, but if you aren't willing to drive 3 hours to Vancouver and you're stuck in the hell hole called "Renton" or "Kent" then this place is as good as it gets! The dinner selection is OK as well. Though they do use way too much oil and extra sauces.
(3)
Lili T.

It's a large restaurant but when we came in for dinner tonight, the place was divided into three sections. There's a Bistro/Karaoke area to the left, then the dining room, then a Hawaiian concert happening in the "room" next door. Each area is partitioned off by walls that slides out. The R&B music from the Karaoke started clashing with the jazz music in the dining room...which was then drowned out by a war dance being performed next door. It was quite an ...interesting experience. On top of that, service was unusually off. Two wrong dishes were brought out and was sent back to the kitchen. The dishes that successfully made it to the table however deserves a solid 3.5. Jellyfish with pork shank. Seafood & tofu soup. Honey walnut prawns. Cod fillet with vegetables. Seafood & Egg tofu. Roasted duck (2 courses: duck + steamed buns and the lettuce wrap with minced duck meat). All were very satisfying.
(3)
Avery H.

Went there last night, the food was INCREDIBLE! The owners and their daughter are so hospitable and sweet! They amazed me in everyway! It was my first visit and I will DEFINITELY be going back, my husband is so excited because I brought him leftovers :) To find out they have live bands weekly and their own bakery, well lets just say IMPRESSED! Thank you so much for your hospitality! We will be back! 5 STARS! Avery Holder
(5)
Yee V.

Decided to come here with a friend from out of town. I've been meaning to stop in here to take a look since it's just next to Viet Wah. Well, yesterday was the day since I didn't wanna make a long commute to chinatown. The paved lot in the back of Viet Wah is small, but there's an overflow gravel lot and another paved lot a bit further down. Plenty of parking if needed and if you don't mind taking some extra steps to get in. The restaurant itself is huge, or at least it seemed like it. It was somewhat awkward to me that there were so few customers inside for a Sunday morning, but I suppose that makes it easier for me to get food right? There's not many dim sum carts rolling thru and somehow they even have a cart of sushi that I had to resist because we're here for dim sum. Everything seemed to come by really slow and there wasn't much variety. I was disappointed, but at least they had the bare essentials. I didn't get any water until the end, but they did give us some HOT tea from the start. The tea was so hot that I had to let it cool down for five minutes in my cup until I could drink it. Plates were 1.95, 2.50, then 3.50 and up. Would I come back? Only if I was too lazy to drive down to chinatown. BTW, this place would be a great venue for parties/receptions because it's quite large and can be sectioned off.
(2)
Long T.

Quite honestly, this is one of few places I tend to gravitate to for good dim sum. I would recommend it if you're looking for a place to park and enjoy simple dim sum. It may not match up to the dim sum I found in the International District, but it's an easy recommendation.
(4)
C B.

I don't think I can be really fair to Tea Palace because I was the only person in my party. And I did not get the hot tea because it was (finally) warm outside; I was instead served ice water. So I only got one dish: sauteed (free range) chicken with vegetables. Rice was on the side, not included with the dish itself. First, the iced water was quite refreshing. It tasted filtered, not tap. And refills were offered quite regularly; I was happy no one just dumped water in my glass without asking first. Second, the food itself was good. However, rather than having baby corn, bamboo shoots, bok choy, snow peas, or other Asian vegetables, the vegetables were regular broccoli, carrots for coloring, and a few mushrooms. Sesame seed oil was evident as were slices of ginger, which looked very much to me like bamboo shoots - so my mouth was shocked to get a bit of ginger bite. The chicken was almost shredded and, at the time, did not taste quite fresh. Finally, there was so much food, that I ate half and, with my glass of ice water, got quite full. Heating it up the next day, it tasted quite nice - and, oddly, the chicken tasted fresh. And, while it may be my imagination, I detected MSG the second day (as I need to drink lots of water to counteract it and had been at the restaurant, but not at home). Note on the building, decor, and layout. from the outside: this building does, indeed, seem to be almost palatial, and does seem to suggest a nice Chinese palace. The interior is well appointed and very spacious, although the chairs, wood with a nice yellow brocade-like cover, could do with some cleaning. (I'm surprised they were not covered with plastic, unless they were purchased used and somewhat soiled.) Somewhat confusing is that there is a foyer with two entrances to the same space: Silk and Tea Palace. In the foyer itself is a large reception desk which has a glass waterfall behind it. Since there was no one at the reception desk (it was about 6 pm), I wandered in the Tea Palace side and looked confused until a waiter led me to my table. Note on wait service: just about right. No one hovered, and inquiries were made just enough to make it seemed they cared a bit. Oh, and yeah, I echo all notes that say it's in the parking lot BEHIND the store. Definitely don't park near the store unless you're trying to walk off some of those calories from your meal. Grand total for this experience, including ~20% tip: $15. For a birthday or celebration of some sort, this may not be a bad place to come as it has somewhat of a festive or special occasion appearance. However, if you're on a budget, there are probably better restaurants (food quality wise) that don't charge as much.
(3)
lux l.

Was invited to a wedding and the reception was held here. I don't know where to start... The restaurant itself was spacious enough that I thought the kitchen and staff would be experienced enough to serve decent food. The usual asian weddings, soup, crab/shrimp ball, veggie noodle basket, honey walnut prawns, fish, and a rice dish. The food that came out on the table was the worst, soup tasted like soy sauce in warm water, crab/shrimp ball tasted nothing like it --- flour mixture covered what looked like rice crispy, veggie noodle basket was more like broccoli/coliflour and a pile of hay, the prawns were over cooked-- drenched in yogurt, fish was either under cooked or way over cooked that it was too tough to make in smaller pieces--we didn't even bothered with trying to taste it, and the rice that was covered in lotus leaf.......what was the point in bringing it out?? no taste, rice was not fully cooked. Although the food was not great, the servers were all rushing to clear the tables as if they had another party lined up behind this one and did not even bother to give out boxes for those who wanted to take the left overs home. Some silver ware were disgustingly dirty. Another time, (long long time ago), we went here in a larger group for dim sum. The selections were not that great as they did not push around carts and simply handed the little menu and made our choices from there. They had posted an ad that if we cut this coupon and present it to them we would be able to get percentage off of the total bill. So we went there, ate, and presented the coupon when we went to pay. They did not honor the coupon and denied that there was such coupon posted. Another time, went there for a table of two for brunch. We both ordered noodle soup, duck and spicy beef. The broth/soup was so so, duck was little portion piled on top of a giant plate of shredded lettuce and the spicy beef was over cooked. a v o i d t h i s p l a c e a t a l l c o s t !!
(1)
Ken O.

Food quality - average to sub-par. Price - overprice. $15 for stir fry beef, $13 for string beans? more expensive that restaurants in Bellevue or Redmond. Food portion - not enough for the price. Interior decor - it is quite nice, big and spacious. It is clean too. Great for wedding reception or big party. Service - very poor. We were the only table there at 5pm. Took 25 minutes to get our food served. Maybe chef was on break? Location - close to where I live. But it is located in a strip mall that is not well run. Rent must be very cheap. Others: 1)Restroom - I must say though, the restrooms are quite clean for a chinese restaurant. Maybe they don't have enough customers/traffic. 2)Bar - they have a huge bar. Great for after work social drinking. The business model just doesn't work - they try to be high-end by charging more in prices and provide nice decor, but food portion and quality are not good, service is poor and it is located in a trashy strip mall.
(2)
Sieu C.

Good variety but dim sum was just so-so.
(3)
Tomi Y.

If I want to go for dim sum in Seattle, I would come here. Why? This place is huge and well lit so it feels much cleaner (as supposed to Jade Garden in International District) and don't have to wait for long. The food at this place is very good, one of the best ones in Seattle (alright, it may not compared to those at Vancouver but still, it's good). Some people may not like their services but I was fine with it. You can read more about my experience on my blog: ricendine.com/2010/12/diâ€¦
(4)
Nina N.

The only time I've been here are during weddings, so the food is sub par, and the location is a bit far for me to dine at. It seems like if you a chinese or vietnamese family that has more than 50 relatives to dine with, this will be your restaurant. decent tasting chinese food for a good value. As for the wedding reception, they are on you like white on rice. They hassle you before you get to cut the cake before they ask you to fork over the dough. Like seriously, so tacky!!! I understand that you need your money, but seriously, can you just deal with that at the end when everyone's dancing?? that's just tacky to me, and I could care less to deal with that or even be associated with that type of business.
(2)
Thach N.

Clean restaurant, good service which is important to me. Lots of selection on the menu, good food and great place to do a wedding big, big party or any function.
(4)
Corrine C.

We had a coupon in our Entertainment book so we decided to give it a try. The entire experience was mediocre to say the least. The restaurant is huge but when we got there at 1:30pm it was relatively empty on a weekend. However the parking lot out front was fairly full. It looked like there were a bunch of student volunteers setting up for a banquet for later on in the day. Onto the food - the dim sum carts that came around were the same 2 or 3 carts so the variety was limited. The dimsum we did get was ok. Nothing different or exciting. We also ordered a beef chow fun which was good and yang chow fried rice. (we actually ordered their house fried rice, but yang chow fried rice is what made it to the table.) The fried rice was dry... dry... dry. The rice was almost crunchy dry. We decided to make it a light lunch and wait for dinner... PS - If you have an Entertainment Book coupon - you should note that the restaurant no longer accepts the coupon. Just FYI...
(2)
Oanh M.

I've been to this place probably 4 times just because its very convenient for me. 3 out of the 4 times I got annoyed when i walk out of this place because for the huge amount of space they have going on here they only have about 2 savory dimsum carts going around -- sometimes only 1! It's kind of ridiculous. We usually go around 11am on Saturday or Sundays too. They have girls pushing around the "sweet" food carts but I dont want that when i first enter a dimsum restaurant! When I arrive I want to be bombarded with steaming hot hum bows, chicken feet, shumeis but no..... they are usually all the way on the other side of the restaurant. By the time they arrive to my side they are practically out of all the good selection and I'm still starving. Most of the ladies here are very passive too and don't really look like they know what they are doing. However, there is one lady who goes out of her way and actually remembers what you asked for so when they are ready in the kitchen she brings it to your table and you wont have to wait for the cart. The food here is OK. Since there isn't many dim sum places to choose from in Renton its ok/maybe good for the area. Just remember to grab what you can when one cart comes because you wont see another cart for a long long time!
(2)
Amary N.

This restaurant wasn't easy to find. It's behind Viet Wah. But from the side street it's not obvious. The way the restaurant is laid out. I thought they do valet parking. So, we decided to drive in front of the entrance. We waited and no one came out. No VALET parking. But, I just had to find out. Decor: It looks like a 4 star restaurant. Brand new, clean, light cream colored wall. Nice lightings. It's huge and a nice place to have a banquet. This is nicest Chinese restaurant that I've seen in Seattle. Service: Once you come in you're greeted with people who are dressed very professionally. You may feel that you're entering in very expensive restaurant. The hostess was nice. Our waitress was a bit pushy and we went back and forth with the menu. Food: It was just average. Menu is written English, Chinese and Vietnamese. The owner of the restaurant is Vietnamese-Chinese. You can order small or regular size dishes. I wouldn't say it's 100% authentic Chinese food. Since they have to cater to the people who prefers Americanized food. Another note, they do have a wine bar. Overall, I feel that the restaurant tries too hard to be a high class restaurant. The restaurant doesn't have a house specialty. Which most top notch Chinese restaurant has. I find it a bit pricey for their dinner menu. Food in Chinatown is better. The plus side, they have plenty of parking here. A place like this you can definitely find a table easily. Not unless there's a banquet going on.
(3)
Rowena T.

Went here with my family there was like two other families there and the service wasn't that great. Tell me why I ordered something and he goes "No you shouldn't get that, get this" He reccomended something better but he like cut me off! He was trying to be polite but he doesn't know how. We also felt kind of ignored.. they didn't check to refill our water right away and it was a pretty quiet restaurant no music or anything.. all I sould hear was clanking and people sipping congee.. They need to work on setting their atmosphere! The food is pretty tasty ..kinda expensive.. I haven't been there for dim sum yet.. The place is huge and nicely decorated. You can host dinner parties here... hopefully the next time I decide to go there their service will be better. Overall - boo boo.
(1)
Jeremy M.

What I love most about this place is, it was built over an Asian Massage Parlor(with happy ending)! HAHAHA! I used to live in the area and drove by it couple times a week before they got busted! HAHA! So I came here for lunch a while back with my girlfriend and personally I thought in my head this place is HUGE and it sucks because at the peak hour of a normal lunch rush(12:45) there was probably only 4 other small table dining. I don't remember much from our encounter other than the fact it seemed like they had more dessert items than they did actually food dishes. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as dim sum goes, personally I don't think it's worth the commute to give this restaurant another chance, but if they offer happy endings with their dim sum............I will definately be back! HAHAHAHA
(1)
rolo m.

So I've been wanting to check this place out since it opened and finally got my chance to after my parents so graciously asked us to go... Dubbed as the "BIGGEST CHINESE RESTAURANT IN THE NW", I had to check it out... So I pull up to the what has to be the biggest restaurant I've ever seen and although we were early enough to beat the 'after church crowd', I had a difficult time finding parking close enough to the damn thing. After finding parking about a block and a half away in another stores parking lot, I braved the trek to the restaurants entrance. While passing the frickin' huge ass windows boasting a nowhere near full restaurant, I reluctantly entered the...uh...entrance and almost slipped on the super clean [and recently polished] marble tiled floor. After being seated, my parents stated they were starving and found that my dad has only been to dim sum one other time in his life [whaaa?] and he wasn't familiar with the proper etiquette on what was what on those steam carts... So after I explained to him what each item was on each cart each of the cart pusher people were pushing around, I ordered up pretty much two of everything I thought they would like and some stuff for my sis, bro in law and my niece could eat when they got there. In the end everyone in our party [incl the kid] loved the food, the service was excellent and pretty fast and they kept our teapot filled the whole time. Except for the fact that this cavernous place was pretty chilly, they get my tummy's approval and I guarantee I'll be back for more...
(5)
Dena R.

4 stars for great venue for banquet rental and loose leaf tea variety (Tien guan yin/tie kuan yin, pu'erh, chrysanthemum, oolong). Owners well connected and supportive of Renton community. Friendly and helpful wait staff. Tasty dim sum; I want to see more vegetables with dim sum.
(4)
Kazuo O.

I took my mom and dad here for Christmas. It was great to know there's a dim sum spot near Newcastle/Renton area. There's a nice fountain in the entrance when you walk in and no nasty smell that you might experience at some other locations. This place is huge, plenty of seating area, you will have no problem coming with a large group. Everything looked clean and the manager was around making sure things were okay. The dim sum tasted great. I think the prices ares slightly higher compared to Chinatown. Total for three was $43 without tip.
(3)
Jane A.

Rating 3.5 Northwest Asian Weekly had just put out an article in regards to a new Chinese restaurant called Tea Palace by the guy who ownes Viet-Wah. I am still in search for good dim-sum in the Pacific Northwest that compares to SF dim sum and the closest to that is Richmond, Canada (geez do I have to go out of country to get good dimsum)? Trying to not expose places for fresh dimsum, i have to Yelp about it and make it known. Saturday morning was a decision between American breakfast or Chinese dimsum, it was overruled and we ended up going to Tea Palace to adventure off to try new places. Finding the place wasn't so hard. It's right behind Viet-Wah in Renton. We called in advance to ask "is it busy" and the response was "we are busy but there are still open tables". Parking wasn't hard, walking into the restaurant and scoping out the architecture... not bad for 3 million dollars. You definately can tell whoever runs this place has money in the bank, geez!!!! The place is really clean, maybe because its a brand new restaurant. The space is huge and there are walls that we can tell lead to more tables. We were seated and the first thing I asked for was Xiao Long Bao (Xui Long Bao aka Shanghai dumpling with soup inside the dimsum). The wait staff mumbled in Chinese and it seems like they placed that special order in the kitchen. I was pretty stoked they plan to make a special request just for me. Fast service. Food was pretty good... most of the dishes. I tried out their beef Shui Mai... it tasted like Vietnamese meatball you find in your Pho. Maybe the influence of taste was because the owner, as i hear, is party Chinese and Vietnamese. It wasn't to my liking and we ordered regular Shui Mai. I also tried the spare rib in orange sauce. Interesting but I definately prefer the regular spare rib. I liked their sticky rice, seasame balls, and really enjoyed their Shrimp and Chive dumpling and steamed hombow. The waitstaff was pretty friendly and they communicated way better then all the other dimsum places I've been to in Seattle. Word traveled in the restaurant that I'm the one who had a special order for Xiao Long Bao and unfortunately waiting for 45 minutes to hear that they are way too busy and cannot make it. Understandable but wish they told me that 40 minutes ago. But I do appreciate the courtesy and kindness of the wait-stuff. I hope our tip money went to them instead of somebody else. They deserved it. The overall bill was pretty affordable for what we ordered, approv. $35ish. I was satisfied. I plan to make a stop here again to get some Dimsum. it's either Tea Palace or Tea Garden in the International District for decent dimsum. Service: Pretty Good/Attentive Food: Good Space: Good and Clean (just wait until this place gets exposed then I'd be complaining about waiting in a long line) Price: Good Satisfaction: Decently Satisfied
(3)
Myra R.

Tea Palace I've gone there twice already; it's really close to my house and to be honest I'd rather trek it else where. Went on a Sunday @ 12, party of 5. CONS: Service SUCKS. most places you're in and out in 30-40 minutes. It took us 2 hours and we barely ate. Carts were scarce and the ones that did come out went straight to the large tables and were emptied out by the time they even came near us. We had to wave at carts to come to our table. They charge for tea per person. I had to stand at the desk to pay for my bill after waiting for 20 minutes for someone to take it from our table - everyone else around us had a waiter/waitress take it for them. We ordered items off the back of the bill/menu so that the waitress could bring them straight to us - it took 40 minutes for some Shu Mai (pork.shrimp dumpling) and Har Gau (shrimp balls) what the hell? Those are like the 2 things in every freakin cart?! and when we got them they were cold? BOO PROS: HUGE venue, they have a piano and a speaker system on a raised platform, a full stage, and a full bar. Clean, it is one of the cleanest Chinese restaurants I have even been in, including the bathroom. Parking; plenty of it, flat and easily accessible. As convenient as Tea Palace's location maybe; I'll take the extra 15 minutes to drive down to Hongs Garden for dim sum (see review), at least I know that there I can get what I order before I fall asleep at the table.
(2)
Wendy S.

Ahh tea palace...I've been here twice, the first time I came here with my boyfriend and brother and his girlfriend & a couple other friends....the wait wasn't too bad. The room was HUGE and they spread everyone pretty far apart so they were taking forever to come around with the carts. We had to order so much food at once because we never knew when they were going to be back around. The second time we went, it wasn't so bad because we ended up getting seated right next to the door. Which had it's good & bads...the bad is that we kept hearing the dishes and it was somewhat loud...but it was made up quickly when we were the first stop for all of the food carts. Everything came out so fresh and super hot! In my opinion I would stick to my regular dim sum places.....good but not enough consistency...
(3)
Janelle D.

This restaurant was really great. I liked the service. I thought the service was pretty fast and simple. There was ALOT of good Chinese dim sum Food choices. I recommended to get there pretty early especially for dim sum. Other than that. Its a great place. and its not that pricey.
(4)
Wen W.

It isn't the best place to have Chinese food. I first came here in the summer of 2009 to have dim sum for breakfast. I thought it was good. I came back for the second time in 2013 for my college graduation dinner with my family. The restaurant was closed down due a wedding next door, but they still dedicated the other half of the restaurant for regular business hours. The family dinner was OKAY. Nothing was worth the bill of $300, but it was already done. I won't come back here to have family dinner until I finally read a newer and more updated review than mine about how good their foods finally become.
(2)
Sophia H.

My boyfriend and I use to come here quite often for their dim sum.. It use to be so good!!!! But now their dim sum taste like poo. Literally. Shrimp ha cau had a weird fishy, expired taste. Almost threw up. Their rice roll with shrimp and beef did not taste fresh at all. Basically their quality of food is so disgusting now....
(1)
Richard T.

I haven't been to Tea Palace in a long time and came here to try their dim sum as I've only been here once before for dinner. One thing about this restaurant is that it is huge and could definitely accommodate a big wedding banquet. With that being said the sad part is that their parking lot is tiny compared to how many people the restaurant can fully hold. When we came here for lunch the parking lot was almost full while the restaurant itself was only 1/4 busy. The restaurant itself is just too dark with the big drapes and not much window lighting. It felt kind of depressing with the big open spaces and dark table clothes. Dim sum here is definitely way better than Renton Seafood which is not too far away and which I thought was almost disgustingly unedible. For some reason with such a big place they only have 2 carts being pushed around. Maybe they are trying to save money on labor cost of hiring more people, but the service here was still quick with us getting our food served here within a couple minutes after we sat down. My fiancÃ© and I tried our usual items of chicken feet, steamed humbow, Siu Mai and beef rice roll. They were all pretty good, but the rice roll was some of the best I have remembered eating here in Seattle. It was a nice size and with the extra garnish on top it made it even better than usual compared to other dim sum restaurants. Overall good service and the price wasn't too bad, but they do charge for tea here per person which some places in Chinatown don't charge extra for.
(3)
Trang D.

My husband and I went there on the weekend for the dimsum. The lady tried to get us to try the new dumplings or whatever I dont remember, but they were so doughy. And the other dishes didnt taste good either, except the chicken feet. The bill was about $50 for just a few dim-sum dishes. They becomes so pricey now, i think because they don't have as many customers as before. Thats why their price goes up, to whoever walks in the restaurant. My husband said "never go back here again". And I totally agreed.
(2)
Nam V.

I'm going to make this to the point but this place has no integrity or respect and people who wants to come here should be informed. Was here for a wedding on June 6. The groom and bride had a set course for the guest. I want to say it was 9 courses. Noticed certain tables was getting food that we weren't (mind you we are the table of the groom and the bride at the center stage) we question the waitress and they said the bride and groom didn't order seafood for us. Seriously outrageous but didn't want to ruin the wedding. Talked to the groom and it was confirm every table were to get the full course. To not serve the groom and bride table is one thing but to tell the groomsmen and bridesmaids that the groom and bride did not order it is very low and shows no integrity whatsoever. I hope your reading this tea palace because your management needs to change. I will give them some redeeming credit in that the duck was cook well, the vege dish wasn't overcook and over seasoned, the fried rice was decent a bit on the soggy side. Food was fairly good just wish the whole course was sent. Can't get people to come if you treat your customers like the way you did to us.
(1)
Dalina L.

i came here for a banquet, and didn't like the food at all. I'm sorry, i could be extremely picky when it comes to vietnamese/chinese food, but i was just not a fan of this place.
(1)
Avanna H.

Came in around 3pm on a saturday (which I believe was when dimsum ended) but we still got seated anyway. At first I thought oh no, we we're coming at the end and weren't going to get anything good besides the leftovers roaming on the carts lol but we ended up ordering some other things on the menu and they all came out in about 10 mins which was fine. It was awkward at first because the ambience of the place was silent, no music playing... and there was not much people there so we were all bundled in the same area of the restaurant. Other than that, customer service was good because they checked up on us often and everything went smoothly. Food tasted good, typical dimsum nothing super special but wasn't bad. I would come here again. And for 2 people, our total was $45 ish.
(4)
Leslie S.

It's been a while, but couldn't stay once I saw they had shark fin soup on the menu. Hopefully they have quit serving that; it's just wrong. We walked out!
(1)
Ben B. N.

Forget going to dinner here. It's over priced. The Dim sum is as well. It's really only good for weddings.
(2)
Savy M.

I was the first customer when they opened at 11am. I was expecting everything to be super fresh but was very disappointed to have everything taste like they we're reheated from the night before. I am very specific when it comes to my dim sum and this place takes the bottom poll. Thumbs down for me.
(1)
Kaylee P.

Unbelievable. This review is solely for Jackie. Regardless of all the bad reviews I read online about Jackie...I decided to give tea palace a thought. We wanted to book 10 tables here for our son's one month. I called and left a message about food pricing and to see if the date we wanted was available. I got a call back from Jackie. She told me to come in anytime on the weekend Sat & Sun to talk about food menu and check out the restaurant seating for our tables. I came to the restaurant the following weekend Sat. And Jackie was no where to be found. I called her and she did not pick up. She finally replied to my text and said she was busy and that she can meet next Saturday at 2:30. I said great see you then. I came in the following Saturday at 2:30 and she was not there. The server said she will be here is 10 minutes. 30 minutes pass the same server came back again and said 10 minutes she will be here. Another 30 minutes pass. We decided to call Jackie on the phone and we left a message. Still no call back from her. Jackie never replies to my texts or picks up my calls. And when she says she will call me back about the date I hear nothing. I have to schedule appointment to meet with her and she pretty much stood us up 2x. We drove 45 minutes just to come see her. Very unprofessional. We will never giver her our business!
(1)
Ryuichi H.

I want to go 3.5 stars. The dim sum here is pretty decent and convenient for those living in renton. The service sucks and you have to ask for pretty much everything. Some of the fried dim sum dishes weren't fresh but the popular steamed things were good. It's not a place to go out of your way for but ok if it's convenient.
(3)
Juliet D.

We used this venue for an event we were holding with about 25 tables. We have used Tea Palace before for our events, and have had great service with the previous manager. However, with the new management who were extremely difficult to deal with, our event was not at our standard of quality and service. Each table was supposed to receive 2 jugs of pop, this was included in an initial discussion on the menu. There were no other drinks served besides water, and the manager said we had not specified this was to be included, when in fact we did. As well, we requested for bottles of pop for our volunteers. The manager brought us 4 bottles of warm pop and charged us $10 per bottle. When wine was served, we requested for wine glasses, management said it would be too difficult to get the wine glasses from storage and wanted to give us plastic cups. Now, how can people drink wine from plastic cups? In the end, wine glasses were brought out, but not with ease, which is ridiculous. Food was not cleared after dinner was done, thus plates were just left in front of guests where messes accumulated. We needed to have a photocopy of a document, at least one copy, and the manager refused to let us use the machine. All requests from us were taken with argument and unpleasantness. We will not use this venue for future events. We paid them to provide us good service, which was absent. I do not recommend holding an event here.
(1)
Curtis L.

nothing memorable... We went here for dinner on Saturday and it was pretty quiet except for the banquet and VIP room. We wanted to see what this place was about. The restaurant was clean, bright and pleasing on the eyes although it felt smaller than it really was. It is a conversion and remodel of 4 strip mall stores combined into one. Therefore it was a long and skinny restaurant that is touted to seat over 800. Anyways...for the food. It tasted good but not remarkable. And for what you pay, it should be remarkable. I guess you are paying for the environment and service which was up to par. I would stick to Chinatown for the food and price unless you live out in Renton and the cost of gas and time makes it worthwhile to go here. They try hard to be upscale. Upscale and Chinese restaurant is a tough combo and once in a while it works. I'm not sure about this place, especially where it is located. I will have to try out the dim sum some day to give them a chance to shine.
(3)
Jeeya A.

Popped in for DimSum on the fly and it was awesome. The staff were very sweet and offered us a menu of everything that was available for DimSum (things we could order that may not be on the carts, too). The food was excellent, it was a nice variety, and the prices were great. The decor of the actual dining room is very bland but who cares!
(5)
Slav S.

My family and I went to this place cuz we heard they had dim sum. Now just to let you know the best dim sum is in San Fran, but anyways. Few carts and we basically felt we were being ignored. We finally had to get up and talk to the manager and just order food from the menu because no one was coming to our table. I don't know what it was but the service sucked. I am however glad that renton is starting to see some more resturants and shops.
(1)
Roy C.

I went there on a weekday for dim sum recently and it appears that they changed the format to "made to order". Basically they don't push carts anymore, instead, you order the dishes from a list by writing down the quantity next to the dish you want. The list itself is a ghetto looking xerox copy of the original, and there's a separate photo card if you're interest in what the dishes look like, but you will need to match the picture of the dishes to the name of the dishes on the order list. Although the dishes come out piping hot, but the new format took away the essential part of the whole dim sum experience: waiting for the cart to be pushed your way, see the dishes, and point at them to order; no reading required. But now you have to complete an aptitude test in order to eat. I guess I'll be going there strictly on weekends from now on since they still have the traditional format of pushing cart on weekends.
(3)
Henry L.

We had dim sum finally. I would have to say that I'm impressed by the quality of the food. Flavor was on the spot to my liking. But I'd have to say that I'm a bit disappointed about the serving sizes. At virtually all other dim sum places, you'll typically get a quantity of 4 per bamboo basket. But here at Tea Palace they decide to only give you 3 Haw Gow, 3 Shaomai for example. I feel ripped off. Lets say you have a party of 4, and there's only 3 pieces of food, then one person gets shafted.....then you're foreced to order two bamboo baskets. I didn't get to pay this time, so I wouldn't have known the prices for this meal. what a rip. 3 stars at best.
(3)
Jon L.

For the convenience, well less than 3 miles this place offers decent dim sum, however if we're willing to make go "an extra mile" we can be at Top Gun in Factoria. The pro is definitely better than average dim sim service and generally there is no line (a sign of bad food usually); however Tea Palace is "decent". If you're craving and don't want to make the drive to ID or wait the 45-1hr wait at Top Gun, then this place is where you need to be! Perhaps the better service and the clean atmosphere is a feasible justification. =)
(3)
The-Hoa H.

food is good, prices are goood, service is good, this place has wayyyy too much room. idk how they stay open for business when it's so slow for a restaurant this size?....
(3)
Kevin L.

Foods not bad. Service is slow and the portion are small
(2)
Shiny T.

Hey B.H Maybe you are one of the unlucky out of a million....I've been there so many times and the place is amazing, their food is just so great.......Dim sum is the best and their Dinner menu is just so good. I definitely come back and eat here again!!the service is also fabulous...sometimes you get free dessert too.
(5)
Jarrod L.

They were out of the cold beef shank appetizer, so I had the jellyfish and pork, which was very good for jellyfish, but I'm not a huge fan of jellyfish. The lamb stew was excellent (the waiter recommended it as the best item on the menu). The eggplant with tofu and ground pork was incredible; it was some of the best tofu I've ever had. I'm definitely planning on going back sometime, hopefully with a big enough group to get one of the specialty set group menus.
(4)
Kjell S.

This place is awesome dim sum really close to home! Excellent. I couldn't hope for better close to home dim sum circumstances.
(4)
Karen H.

We have been here twice for dinner and twice for dim sum. It was all quite good, and we plan to continue to go back. The prices were mostly OK, although the Chinese broccoli was over priced. To get five stars from me the food would need be more extra special or the prices amazing, but this is a fine option in Renton for yum cha.
(4)
John P.

We went there with another couple for dinner. Great dishes all. Expensive, though. The best thing is that you're going to find Asian dishes that you can't get anywhere else or in such variety.
(4)
Theresa L.

Have been back several times since my last review and things have gotten better. Staff is better at paying attention but still not that great. Food still has a lot of MSG. Place is still clean. If I want a fancy place to bring out of town guest to eat dim sum, I think this maybe the place. The dim sum is still over priced.
(3)
RV T.

I expected a lot from this restaurant since it got such good reviews in the Renton Reporter. Unfortunately I was pretty disappointed. The food was just "okay". Both soups we tried, the corn chowder and seafood chowder were bland with almost no discernable flavor. We also ordered Kung Pao Chicken which was unlike any we have had at any other Chinese restaurant. Again very bland. The Vegetable Stir Fry was good but just good. The last dish was a Chicken Prawn dish with noodles. He thought it was decent but again nothing great. The seating area was very open, too open, for out taste. More like a comfortable cafeteria. Staff friendly but kind of push. The menu was large and it took us quite a while to view it but the staff kept coming by and asking if we were ready. I think if we were ready we would have put our menus down! We will try others before going back there again.
(2)
Nikki R.

We recently tried Tea Palace for the first time for dim sum on a weekend, when the carts were out. Our usual dim sum haunt is Top Gun in Factoria, so I couldn't help but do a direct comparison. The carts didn't come by as frequently here, the serving staff didn't speak English as well to understand our requests for certain dishes, and there didn't seem to be as much variety as we're used to at Top Gun. That said, the dishes that we tried were actually tastier than the ones at Top Gun. For example, the shrimp dumplings at Top Gun, while tasty, are fairly plain, but the shrimp dumplings at Tea Palace are lightly seasoned - we liked that! In the end, I suspect we'll come here again for the tasty food from time to time, but we'll be going back to Top Gun for the variety and service as well.
(3)
Tom A.

Tried the Dim Sum as take out. The place looks great. It is new, large and clean. The hostess at the front counter was pleasant and helpful. The location is great. Plenty of parking, easy to find and in a good location. Plenty of Chinese restaurants in the area but none with Dim Sum. Now the food. I just tried the Dim Sum and all I can say is it was OK not great. The price I thought was a little high (not too bad) for the quality. The place was busy with lots of families. This place as great potential and I hope it will be successful because this area could use a good Dim Sum place. With all the other businesses in the area (e.g. Boeing, Paccar) it would be great if they could deliver. Since this place just opened they will probably be better in the future. I say give it a try.
(3)
Antonio R.

My first impression was "this restaurant is huge!" Very nice and clean inside. Very professional wait staff. The food was OVER-PRICED and tasted like any other chinese restaurant out there. I think it was like $18 for a plate of fried rice. I guess they have to charge those prices because it cost $3 million to create this restaurant. I recommend saving your money and driving down to chinatown to eat. The food in chinatown will taste the same, but it'll cost 3 times less than Tea Palace.
(1)
gary g.

well, the food is not awful. we didn't barf afterwards (or during). however, the woman wheeling the first cart (which toook forever to come) was so STUPID that she gave us crap we didnt want or order and was, frankly, an idiot. that was highly annoying. this, compounded with the not so great taste of the dim sum, makes this place blow balls. bummed.
(2)
Fiona D.

Well it has been awhile since I've been back for dim sum, but I'm glad my family went in today!!!! The place is always met with such friendly hostesses and servers! After we were inside we were seated immediately. Hot tea was served, and the dim sum carts started to roll in. One of them had all the hot items in the bamboo steamers, like shrimp dumplings, chicken feet and beef meatballs! The other had pastries galore, like egg tarts, turnip cake as well as savory fried mochi dumplings! Everything we ordered was fresh and hot, and we resumed our afternoon chatting away, sipping on tea, eating and sharing things here and there. After all, that IS the spirit of dim sum, right?! I was super impressed with the lau sa bao, which are sweet custard buns with molten egg yolk in the middle, they are to die for!!! I'm serious, you don't need to go to Vancouver B.C. for such a treat anymore. It's the real deal. The bun is piping hot and the inside just oozes out as you break it into two. I will definitely come back for that! I'm a sucker for food that is sweet and savory, so their savory fried mochi dumplings with meat filling definitely made an impression on me - it was crunchy yet remained elasticity, and the inside had enough meat that it did not overwhelm your palette. Delicious dim sum! I will definitely come back again!!!
(5)
missy c.

Well, you never have to wait for a table here. You get seated right away. Other than that their food is only medicore. They have the same basic dim sum dishes here, but they are only OK. Nothing special. They aren't even that great. If you get here too early, then they don't have everything out, like the honey walnut prawns and chow mein. But if you get here too late, then they don't have any of those things. Their dim sum carts are too broing. They really need to work on what they can offer their customers. I would rather drive to Seattle or Bellevue to get GOOD dim sum than eat here again.
(2)
kellie j.

I love the Tea Palace! I am the Event Director for the Renton Chamber of Commerce and have held 2 Holiday Auctions, a Business Excellence Award Banquet and am having 3 more big events there this year. Mipo Seto, the banquet Coordinator, is professional, responsive to her customers needs, is very good at her job and never misses the tiniest detail. She and the staff are very responsive and never fail to give 110 per cent. The venue is beautiful, the sound system is the best in Renton, Duc Tran went all out when he built the Tea Palace and it shows. They provide valet parking for our events which is a huge plus in our rainy climate. I am looking forward to the next event in March. Mipo and the staff make my job easy!
(5)
Harold G.

always had good food here. if you don't see it on the menu get the lobster fried rice. always had good and friendly service.
(5)
christopher h.

What happened, Tea Palace? What happened to that optimistic/giddy vibe you had when we first came through your doors a few years ago? You amazed us with your hot, fresh, dim sum, friendly/timely service and beautiful new facility! Now, where have you gone? By way of the others I suppose: too good to be true! Or, maybe too much to handle/live up to? I don't know. It makes me sad to write this, but Tea Palace: I'm not coming back! Our dim sum was just too cold/old. Our service was just too slow/ indifferent/discombobulated! We ate four things( that kept coming around) and one we couldn't because minutes after our server put it on the our table, we were told it 'belonged' to a ninety-year old lady @ a different table, and promptly took it away! Whaa?! I've never heard of yanking plates off the table after they've been served exept in the British comedy show Fawlty Towers. Only this wasn't so funny. 2o minutes after this, the carts STILL hadn't come out of the kitchen, so we just payed for what we ate, then left to get dim sum in Seattle while there was still time. Sorry, Tea Palace. I don't know what your'e doing, but you'd better figure it out and turn it around soon!
(1)
John M.

We live near this place and have had two bad experiences. When they first opened we went for dim sum - it was ok but the carts rarely came by our table - we didn't want to invest our entire day for a few meager morels so we walk up ( because no one came by our table) paid and left. We thought we'd give them another chance and went by about 7:00pm News Year's eve. They had half the place set up for a New Years eve party and the other half for evening dining. Though they were not yet busy with customers we stood there for a while and waited to be seated. They just looked at us but didn't acknowledge us. We waited for a bit longer but our daughter was hungry so we walked out, they looked at us but they didn't give a shit. They are Renton Chamber Members as I am, and occasionally they sponsor Renton Chamber events. I am going to go out of my way to avoid their establishment and sponsored events.
(1)

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Address : 2828 Sunset Ln NE
Renton, WA, 98056
Phone (425) 228-9393
Website https://www.teapalacebanquet.com/
Click To Get Directions

Opening Hours

Mon :11:00 am - 3:00pm

Specialities

Takes Reservations : Yes
Delivery : No
Take-out : Yes
Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
Good For : Brunch, Lunch, Dinner
Parking : Private Lot
Bike Parking : No
Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
Good for Kids : Yes
Good for Groups : Yes
Attire : Casual
Ambience : Casual
Noise Level : Average
Alcohol : Full Bar
Outdoor Seating : No
Wi-Fi : No
Has TV : No
Waiter Service : Yes
Caters : Yes

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Tea Palace

2828 Sunset Ln NE, Renton, WA, 98056

Tea Palace Menu

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