Tai Lake Restaurant

This is my uncle's favorite restaurant in Chinatown, so when we came to visit, he took us here.We ordered the crab and fish maw soup, steamed fish, sautéed pea leaves, seafood clay pot (abalone, scallops, shrimp and sea cucumber), house lobster, and house crab. That was a lot of food for 4 people! In terms of quality and flavor, I thought the food was pretty good. My only negative feedback is that the crab in the fish maw soup had a freezer taste and smell. Everything else was good. Our server was very pleasant and the restaurant was very clean. Complimentary dessert was provided at the end of our meal.

Overall - food was good, service was actually really nice and friendly here, and my friends and I were happy to come here late in a Thursday after the Phillies game for dinner. I'd come back for sure!

Family's favorite place to take our grandparents for special events.Mayo shrimp aka honey walnut shrimp is my go-to

This place was packed with people and that means it's good, and it was. We had a small wait for a table. Food was rolling out to tables left and right. Quick service once you ordered. Very good food. I would come back when I'm back in Philly. No nonsense service but the food is good. Huge menu.

Tai Lake was recommended by our Airbnb host, and he was spot on. It's what one expects from a reputable Chinese seafood place, from the tanks containing live seafood to the free dessert (usually some type of sweet bean soup) served at the end of the meal.We ordered the stuffed bean curd, eggplant and pepper with black bean sauce & the salted egg yolk prawns. Both were served piping hot and were off-the-charts delicious! I haven't been able to find salted egg yolk preparation in forever, and was so happy that this place had it. Actually, just the salted egg yolk lobster was listed on the menu, but when asked, our server confirmed they could easily substitute with prawns. Gonna head back to Tai Lake next time we're in Philly for more yummy seafood.

Was recommended by a family member to visit this authentic Cantonese restaurant that has been around since 1988. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! The flavors were definitely on point and the dishes were all flavorful. The food was also relatively cheap, so a great value while in the city. Our server was also great and on top of things. Would 100% recommend if you want some great Cantonese food!Apps: Black Bean Oysters and Cold App Combo (came with jellyfish, cold cut meat, and crispy pork intestines)Entrees: Sautéed Clams, Lobster Sticky Rice, Black Pepper Short Ribs, Braised Lamb Casserole, Snow Pea Leaves, and Seafood Casserole

My family and I have been going to tai lake for dinner, since my childhood. We love ordering various dishes and enjoying it together. Tonight, we ordered onchoy, ginger scallion lobster, fillet flounder with corn, egg fried rice, and fillet steak cantonese style. Everything was flavorful and delicious! The flounder with corn was a tad too salty, but everything else was seasoned perfectly. The egg fried rice was super basic, but it was a hit for the toddlers in the party tonight. We really enjoyed the fillet steak and actually ordered a second order of it. Service was nice and attentive. Our servers came over and were talking to the toddlers as well. I loved the red bean soup that came for dessert too!

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Philly! Coming from California where there's an abundance of Chinese food, I can say this restaurant serves really authentic and yummy Chinese food. Whenever I miss those authentic Cantonese flavors, I will be coming back to this restaurant!We asked the waiter for recommendations from the menu and he told us that they're known for seafood dishes. They have multiple tanks of different kinds of live seafood at the entrance of their restaurant so you can bet on them to serve you the freshest seafood! Most of their live seafood don't really have a set price. It's calculated by market price (by pound). The service here is really quick. They bring out the food really fast and it comes out piping hot. The waiters do not check up on you to see how the food is but that is typical service at a Chinese restaurants. They offer bowls of white rice at no extra charge to go along with your food.FILLET GROUPER AND BEAN CURD - 3/5The first dish that came out was the fillet grouper and bean curd. The grouper (fish) in this dish is fried before they mixed it into a clay pot with some sauce. The grouper is already deboned which made it very easy and pleasant to eat. To my surprise, there is a layer of Napa cabbage on the bottom of the pot which is a nice way to incorporate some veggies. The flavors in this dish wasn't too great. I've had better but it was decent. I wish it had more sauce. I would probably try something else from their menu next time.I forgot to take photos of the other dishes because they all looked and smelled so good LOLSNOW PEA LEAVES WITH GARLIC - 5/5This was delicious! The snow pea leaves weren't too tough, you could tell they used good quality young snow pea leaves to make this dish. It was stir fried with some garlic and had the perfect amount of seasoning. A classic veggie dish to go with the rest of your meal.CRAB AND DRIED SCALLOP FRIED RICE - 5/5Out of the 3 items that we ordered, my favorite is their crab and dried scallop fried rice. This fried rice tasted super authentic and had all the flavor notes that you would look for in a fried rice. It was seasoned perfectly where it would make your mouth water. There is umami flavors from the dried scallops and they use real crab in their fried rice! None of that imitation stuff. The rice wasn't stuck together and had the perfect texture. I would come back just for this dish.At the end of your meal, they even bring you a free dessert! 3 dishes from their menu was enough variety to feed 2 hungry adults plus some leftovers to take home.

Customer service is vital in this industry. Unfortunately I didn't get to try this amazing place that fans raved about. Due to the man that answered the phone when I called to place my order. He was RUDE and hung up before I could ask a question about their menu. #Disappointed

I usually have a stellar experience here since I ordered the classics that my family always go for : Lobster ginger scallion, fish maw soup, snow pea leaf stir fry, steamed fresh fish with soy sauce and scallions, salted fish fried rice, etc. However today I tried something new and was very disappointed. Chicken tofu casserole with salted fish was weird ! Tofu isn't fried and just mushy, chicken was dry since they use chicken breast, salted fish didn't go well in a watery casserole at all. Salted baked squid was undercooked and had a gritty texture from uncooked starch. Also bland. This review is just for these 2 items. Their menu is HUGE and I will update as I order better stuff