Arco Seafood Restaurant 東海海鮮酒家

Their family style dishes were nut allergy friendly! A very family style restaurant, I went with a group of 11 people for a holiday dinner. They have a curated "prix fixe" menu for the holidays that consists of a 9 course meal. There are some private tables in the back that fit around 10-12 people.All of the food was pretty good. I would say the highlights are the Peking Duck, the Lobster, and the Yee Mein w/ Abalone. We didn't get any white rice or water on the table, but I think someone could have asked. The tea with the meal was very smooth and flavorful as well.Overall a lovely place for their family style meal if you can get the private room.

Great higher end seafood restaurant in the Bellaire family that is great for family dinners. We go here all the time for family style meals. Good food and classic Chinese restaurant ambiance. Price is on the higher side for typical dishes in the area but still good. Service is adequate.

We always love coming here and are regulars throughout the year. From gnoshing just the two of us to large 13+ people family dinners, there's a good time to be had here. The manager and staff here are always very nice and friendly. Take a minute to ask how they're doing, and like just about anyone, they'll return the courtesy with kindness. A few of our favorite dishes: Typhoon Shelter Eggplants - great fish to eat there, not as great as takeaway unless you live/work close by. Crispy, airy, and packs a Tyson-like uppercut of flavor. Tamago Tofu - a silky smooth, almost buttery tofu that is just brilliant over rice. Fried sweet and sour fish - fried to perfection after a scalloped-style filet job to maximize the crunch, then add the sweet and tangy sauce. Pro tip...eat the fins too, when fried like this, they're like tater chips. Crab and rice steamed in lotus leaf - a little pricy, but worth it. Fresh dungeon was crab wrapped in rice and seasoning, in a Christmas pouch of lotus leaf which imparts a delicate flavor to the whole dish. Salt and pepper shishamo - a sardine-like fish fried whole and eaten whole, tossed in a savory salt and pepper concoction. The bits of onion, scallion, and garlic on this dish is heavenly over hot rice. If eating whole little fish is too adventurous for you, try the squid or pork rib versions instead. Lamb with black pepper - if you like lamb, get this dish. It's like the black pepper beef in a lot of restaurants, but has that extra hot of flavor from good quality lamb meat. They do charge you a nominal amount for each serving of rice, which I honestly don't mind. I hate wasting anything, especially food. So this is a great way to pay just for what you eat.

So many people recommended Arco Seafood Restaurant 东海海鲜酒家 for a fancy dinner setting. Before I bring people here, I need to check it out myself.On my first visit, I ordered a Cordyceps Flower Pork Ribs Soup 虫草花排骨汤, egg tarts 蛋挞, soupy dumplings 小笼汤包 and a pot of chrysanthemum tea 菊花茶. Egg tarts were warm and flaky. I believe they were freshly baked. Soup was very flavorful and it had tender pork chunks. Dumplings got me wonder. The shape was like small pointy hats. And, the wrap was doughy and kind thick for me. I can taste the soup as I bit into them. But I can't produce the flow to show you.In my honest opinion, Arco has the top-of-the-line seafood dim sum variety. Normally, you can get dim sum for $15 per person on the average in Chinatown. But the quality and experience are noticeably different.To bring my friends to a new restaurant, I pay close attention to details. First stop, I visited the WC (vocabulary for wash closet in Hong Kong). The restroom was clean and feel more luxurious than other restaurants in Chinatown. Then, the décor has a close resemblance of a traditional Hong Kong dim sum restaurant. Finally, I looked around for customers expressions. They all seem to enjoy the food, because I did.On my second visit, I ordered from the Dim Sum Menu. I was really curious about Salted Egg Custard Bun 流沙包 and Rice Noodle Roll w/Abalone Sauce 鲍鱼肠粉; I also ordered the jumbo abalone chicken clay pot soup from daily special menu as recommended by the waitress on my first visit. Ok. abalone was not big, but the soup was fantastic. It sure worth my $13.95. Custard bun was out the steamer. So, the filling was really hot, salty, sweet and runny. Rice Noodles was fresh but the sauce barely coated every surface. Because of the freshness and common interest of the other dishes, I decided to host my first party here. It was a very memorable one. Because Arco has the dishes that people are familiar with and they are made fresh. Service was pretty good. I am still learning their names. My favorite waitress is 阿珍 and I'll be sure to ask for her next time.

Family friends recommended Arco and we decided to give it a try over Labor Day weekend for dim sum + some regular menu items. The service leaves much to be desired. When we arrived mid-day there was a line of people and no one had taken names to start a waiting list for seating. It was apparent that you needed to be in line to hold your (and your party's place). After a 20 min wait we were seated at a large table and waited another 20 minutes to place an order. That's where the service started to run in the opposite direction. It was weekend dim sum so we marked what we wanted on a single page (pictured), and it all came ... within 10 minutes of each other. Between our dim sum dishes and regular menu dishes, our table was over flowing and chaotic. Once our table's lazy susan was full, they continued to bring dishes and put them on the table between diners, wherever there was room. There was no checking in to see how we were enjoying the food of if we needed a refill on water or to bring us any rice for our entrees. Dim sum stars were the eggplant, fried tofu with shrimp, and egg tarts. We were excited to try the soup dumplings (placed 2 orders); they were missing soup and had thick wrappers, more like a dumpling than anything special. The Peking duck was good but not as great as Peking Cuisine. After all dishes had been around the lazy Susan a few times and they could see some empty plates, they brought the check. Hmm .. thank you? Our search for the best dim sum in Houston continues.

Arco Seafood restaurant is located on the same side as Hmart in Bellaire. I only started going there in the last year or so. For some reason, my extended family always chose to go elsewhere, so it was never in my radar. Unlike other dim sum places, this place serves it all day, not just weekends, and you fill out what you want instead of hoping for what you want to come by. Hot tea in a tiny cup is a must if you eat dim sum, plus it's refillable. I'm pretty basic when it comes to dim sum, so I usually just get the Shrimp Ball, Rolled Shrimp, Har Gow and Taro. The egg tarts are pretty good here too. I thought the service was decent. I've never had to wait for a table either, but there was a line forming by the time I left. Overall, solid spot if you are craving some dim sum.

What happened?? Used to be my staple for food. Haven't gone back for 3 mos because of the increase in menu food prices and the dishes shrinking in size. Well, went back today still had their managers from before. However, menu changed. No pictures like the menu before. Got some dim sum ...cha siu bao very little meat. The siu mai ok use corn instead of masago. The seafood fried noodle ok scallops old and chewy so did not eat it. I really think they got a new chef and maybe dim sum chef only coming on weekends. The table and everything else is clean. Not sure if I will be coming back until things change.

As always, this place delivered. Ended up coming here for dinner on a weekend. It gets busy but food is worth it and service is always excellent. The sweet and sour fish is a favorite, it's beautifully presented with its sliced fried fillets and red sauce. Crispy, soft, and very satisfying. Tried something new this time, the crab special. It's a large plate of fried rice with big pieces of crab, including legs to crack open full of meat. It was quite tasty and fun to eat. Definitely a nice portion especially with the rice.

Service and time to wait to be served or even get food is a 1...if that. It made a 3 because the food is decent and it's clean.We've been here before and the last time I was there I said I wouldn't come again bc we waited over 30 min to get order taken and almost an hour for food. We had asked the server several times when the food would come and he yelled it's coming! Later we found out that the order was never even placed This time we got in and order was taken quicker. It was not busy and many tables were open. However it took almost 30 min before we got broccoli and waited another 20 min for a couple buns. The servers, male and female, instead of excusing them selves pushed their body while shooing us to the side with their hand to pick up or place down food. At one point the waiter pushed so much she made the water tip over bc she was rushing and water went all over the table and part of the food. She didn't apologize or bring new dish. It's chaotic and slow service and the servers clearly don't care about anything or anyone. I won't come again.

We came here for a dim sum lunch because of all the great reviews we saw. However, when we got there, it was nothing short of horrible. When we first tried to get our party in line at the entrance, the lady completely ignored us. After waiting and getting seated, no service such as asking for drinks was given, and instead, we had to ask the waiters for a pot of tea ourselves. We ordered and no food came out for about 45 minutes. After our first dish came out, it took about another 30 minutes for the rest to come. Again, waiters were standing around doing nothing this entire time, not even going around and refilling drinks even though multiple tables were out. We came in at 12:45 P.M. and left at 3 P.M.From observing, I could see that this restaurant treats their customers differently. I noticed that their "VIP" customers in the restaurant's special rooms received great service with all their dishes delivered hot. Meanwhile in the main dining room, other tables received the complete opposite. I don't know what the deal is with the management and waiters of this restaurant, but from the quality of the food and service, it seems like this type of behavior has been going on for a while. I highly do not recommend this place for any type of occasion.Food Review:- Chinese Broccoli: cold and barely any sauce on top- Pan Fried Noodle Roll with XO Sauce (as seen in the picture): bland, cold, and had half-cooked onions that were extremely bitter- Steamed BBQ Pork Bun: mostly just dough that came out raw, barely any meat in the middle, bland, and cold- Rice Noodle Roll with Dried Shrimp: came out cold, bland, and barely any soy sauce was given with the dish- Siu Mai and Ha Cao: the only two dishes that came out slightly warm, but only tasted okay