East Lake Chinese Seafood

We use to go here since back in the day during high school. This was the spot for some good ole MSG flavored Chinese food dishes. Their lunch specials were some of the best deals in town. Anyhow we've been here a few times since then with the most recent visit being on Thanksgiving day 2024. We came here during lunch to celebrate Thanksgiving with the in law's side of the family. Everything is still the way it use to be. The old ladies still push the dim sum push carts around the tables. Fish tanks are still located against the back wall. And of course the food is still on par. We ordered the garlic pea sprout, Peking spareribs, Mongolian beef, house special chow mein, and house special fried rice as our main dishes. In addition we also grabbed the usual dim sum favs such as the deep fried taro, fried shrimp balls, rice noodle roll with shrimp, and siu mai from the dim sum push carts. Everything is delicious and appetizing. The staff and service is efficient. When it comes to both quality family style Chinese food and dim sum, East Lake Chinese Seafood is still one of the solid mainstay restaurants in the San Jose Evergreen area to provide that.

One of the best Chinese restaurants in this area of San Jose. On the pricey side for Chinese food though, which as you know is generally cheap.We went on a week day so they didn't have the lunch dim sum carts rolling. I think they do on weekends. But you can order dim sum through the waiter. The wet chow fun is yummy. Soft noodles, a decent amount of beef, and tasty gravy. Jin mein is crispy chow mein, and if you've never had it, I recommend to try of you like texture in your food.I mentioned dim sum so at least try the ha how (shrimp dumpling) and shu mai (pork dumpling). They're big and plump.Jook (aka congee) is very good and you MUST get the Chinese donut (aka fried bread) to pair with it!I do NOT recommend the soup dumplings (aka XLB). They are terrible.

Final Thoughts: 4.48/5Dim sum for lunch with my friends after my 8-hour shift feels very rewarding. For this place, their dim sum menu is only available until 2:30pm, so just a caution with the time. We came at about 1:30pm and I had quite the pleasant experience from food to service. Food:1. Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow): 4.4/5The texture of the har gow is to my preference - Optimal balance of softness, thickness, and chewiness. Filling was also optimal for all 4 that were provided. The shrimps are nicely cooked and well-seasoned. Texture of the shrimps were crunchy and I enjoyed it. I did dip this one in soy sauce, but it could have sufficed even without the extra seasoning.2. Siu Mai: 4.6/5My personal favorite item was this item. Four are provided to you. Size, temperature, and flavor were all very nicely done today. Each item actually came out piping hot, so please don't burn yourself. Texture wise, there's a nice crunch from the shrimp mixed with the pork. I split mine in half to cool it off and get a cross section. Optimal amounts of both proteins are provided. Flavor wise - Delightful. I love the balances of salty, sweet, and some umami from the sauce and fish roe. 3. Steamed BBQ Pork Buns: 4.1/5Seems to be your average buns. They came out nice and hot. Dough itself was still very fluffy with a good ratio of dough to filling. The meat was the standard red color. Flavor was also quite standard - well-seasoning with what I believe tasted like oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. 4. Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll: 4.1/5Texture of the rice noodle rolls were nice and thin. Good chewiness and softness with some body to hold its shape. Ratio of the rice noodle and shrimp was alright. The shrimps are plump, but they are smaller in size than other places that I have tried. Light seasonings and balanced flavors overall. The sweet soy sauce has a nice umami and sweetness to it that just compliments this dish. 5. Pan Fried Green Onion Pancake: 4.0/5Very crispy pancake with some subtle flavors from the green onion. Lovely golden brown exterior. The outside texture is very crispy and the inside has the slightest bit of chew and pull to it from all the flattened out layers. Nothing too extravagant about this item, but it did pair well with a protein.6. XO Sauce Stir-Fried Rice Rolls: 3.9/5This dish always needs some kind of a protein to it because it's just rice rolls. There wasn't a significant amount that contribute to it, but I appreciate the shredded meat provided between the rolls. Personal preference, but I enjoyed the thickness of these rolls. They seem quite thick, but pair well with a protein. Nice spice and flavor from the jalapenos. Regarding flavor, some more flavoring would've elevated it. The sauce has a lighter taste to it that seemed to only be on the outside charring layer of the rice rolls.7. Salt and Pepper Fish Fillet: 4.2/5Definitely the protein that helped elevate the rice paper dish. Both paired fairly well together. Nice flavor of salt. I think I would have preferred a strong scent of the black pepper, but it was still good. They came out nice and crispy. Texture wise - Optimal. Slight crisp exterior and the interior was cooked to perfection. Not dry and just breaks apart with a soft interior.---------Quality: Fair All food items were good overall. Temperatures were desirable and very palatable. My two notes would be the shrimps used and BBQ buns. One of the buns had a crack running through the top, and I usually see that with frozen, thawed, and reheated buns. The shrimps aren't the biggest concern, but the size is smaller than others that I am used to. Price: Fair Between the three of us, we paid about $21 each, which I deem a fair price for what we got. Considering we got 7 items and still had leftovers afterwards - Ideal for a simple, but nice lunch date out. They have a variety of items from dim sum to kitchen menu items, so the price will range and vary depending on what you get. Service: Very efficientThe waiters and waitresses here took no time in seating us, checking in on us, and managing each table. They checked on us multiple times and there always seemed to be someone overlooking the tables. Each time we made a movement to signal for something/someone, they were usually already on their way over to us.Ambiance: TranquilSeems like a very nice and quiet area. The interior is quite large and did get a little drafty, but that wasn't too big of a concern here. We were seated at a large table and ended up huddling together to one side. Tables and space seemed fairly parted, so we were able to enjoy our lunch and talk comfortably even in the quiet space.Location/Parking: Fair to optimalThis place seems to be your average dim sum restaurant. The plaza is not one that I visit often. There are a variety of different stores presented here. Parking doesn't seem to be a concern at all. Some traffic is seen, but there were many spots available to us, nonetheless.

The parking duck is terrible, Thing sling not crispy 10 slice rest is shrimp chips, causes so much for the packing duck how worth it theyl south China Cantonese packing is North China so they don't know how to make stop order picking that at this place

The people are so nice, but it is very overpriced for the food that you get. I get that times are rough, but 3 dishes shouldn't cost over $70 when you don't get much of each item.The last time I ordered takeout, I got the salt and pepper fish as one of my items. It stank up the car so bad that I had to drive the car with the windows rolled down... never had that happen before. The quality of the fish must have been terrible!

We had shrimp chow mein, beef with pan fried noodles and shumai. All the food was really good. Shrimp chow mein wasn't too salty and had good flavor. One of the better chow mein dishes I've had. The beef pan fried noodles was good. A little too much sauce for my taste but the taste itself was really good. The beef was seasoned and velveted very well. It made for a tender and nicely savory flavor. Noodles got a little overwhelmed by the sauce. I could've controlled it by putting less so if I get this next time I will do that. Shumai was good. The flavor was what I would expect it to be. Nice balance of savory, sugar to balance but not sweet at all and the sesame flavor popping through just perfectly. My only criticism would be that the dumpling wrapper was slightly soggy and it fell apart too easily. It wasn't terrible to be fair. I'm making a very critical observation. Service was alright. They were busy and I expected to pay for my food, grab it and go as I ordered my food for takeout. Should've mentioned that up front. Anyhow, that didn't happen that way. I paid, I asked for fork and chop sticks and then I had to wait for the person at the front to help all the people a little by little while also answering the phone. She could've just put the forks and chopsticks in the bag so could be on my way. It took her about 10 minutes to finally get the chopsticks and forks from the back and to get me out of there. Not very good multitasking in my opinion. That's one big knock for me. It just didn't make sense. My food was in a bag ready to go when I got there. I digress. The restaurant itself was very clean and pretty standard Chinese decor. It was nice not shabby at all. I would enjoy eating in if I were to do so. Overall experience was good because the food was good. Service could be slightly better for the reason I mentioned. I want to leave by saying the lady helping was very nice so it made it easy for me to be patient. I will give her that. Will repeat for sure.

This is as authentic as it gets. Don't expect crisp kind service and extra napkins or to go containers that you can fit all of your food in when it's time to go, but do expect delicious food well seasoned and prepared and delivered to the table quickly. My last time here, I had the dim sum, and it was great as usual. The little plates piled up, one more delicious than the next. Our table also ordered the short ribs, which are my favorite, Chinese broccoli and fried rice. The restaurant is pretty old and inside the tables are rickety and sticky and I'm definitely sure they could upgrade their decor and seating but the food is so good that I look beyond that and just appreciate the meal. I've been coming here for years, and I don't recall one bad experience.

Food is always good. This is your hole in the wall Chinese restaurant. Don't expect too much for service and ambiance but food is always great!

This has been our local go-to spot for dim sum since I was a kid and now we bring our kids here. We love that it's close to home and it never disappoints. Food and service is always great!

Our usual go to spot for takeout!Honey walnut shrimp and the salt and pepper pork chop is the best! Always friendly and quick.