888 Seafood (Dim Sum)

[jschyun]

I had heard bad things about 888 Seafood from my friends, but then it's been highly praised on this board, by people whose opinion I have every reason to trust. I hadn't been, so I went to 888 Seafood yesterday, and checked it out.

Caveat: I'm just not cut out for the big dim sum places like 888 Seafood anymore. I'm one of those people that flags down carts, chases after them, and orders stuff if it's not coming fast enough. Yeah, one of those. After eating dim sum at one of these places, I almost feel like I've gotten a workout. And I still never get everything I want.

I only got a couple of dishes because the same carts kept going by me, and when I tried to order stuff from the waiters, they kept saying I had to wait some minutes for it to be ready. Meanwhile, other people were getting the same dish sent to them from the kitchen. I really need to learn Cantonese, damnit.

Like I said, we only got a couple things, mostly sweets, a few seafood, because that's what kept coming by. The fun noodles were not as stretchy gooey delicious as I've had elsewhere, but they were good snacks reheated at home. Their har gao were small but decent. Their egg custard tarts were okay, I loved that filling, just as good as good stuff elsewhere, but I've had flakier crusts. Ton Kiang's egg custard tart is a dead ringer for 888 Seafood's, at least the ones I've had were. I liked their green tea mochi (don't know what they call mochi in Chinese). Wasn't able to get much else, because it was so crazy busy. Oh yeah, we had a mango pudding and it was okay, but I had a much better version just the other week at Y. Ben House, probably for cheaper. Their buns were decent. Next time, when I'm with someone who wont be grossed out, I'll check out the pai gwat and blck bn chicken feet and the other brown stuff.

Chinese New Year's celebration meant that the line at 888 Seafood was 100 people long. I miscalculated the line length and missed an opportunity to snag some stuff at the bakery while we waited. Damn. We did manage to eat a really tasty snack at Claro's, the awesome Italian market across the street, while waiting the 2 hours for our number to be called, so all was not lost. Their custom subs are damn good, and they have what appears to be every single brand of panettone on the planet.

As we ate, I kept zoning out, lapsing into daydreams about the wonderful, relaxing meal we could have been having at nearby Sea Harbour, where I could actually hear what is being said to me. At 888 Seafood, I literally had to yell a couple times to get someone to hear me, due to bad acoustics and the number of diners. I tried not to think about how, at Sea Harbour, I could have been checking off items on the dim sum menu and gone back to my conversations, instead of watching for carts as I ate. I tried to keep out thoughts of those delicious mochis with black sesame inside, I had at Sea Harbour, when I was with the eGullet group. The times I went there myself, the black sesame filled mochis were never as good.

Just based on this first impression, I'm not a fan of 888 Seafood, but maybe you guys know something I don't. Please, tell me your secrets.

Edited January 26, 2004 by jschyun (log)

[FoodZealot]

Thanks for the report. I've been to Claro's, but I had no idea 888 was across the street.

[jschyun]

There are 6 Claro branches, so this may or may not be the one that you've been to. It's kind of nice to know it's there, because after dim sum, I can grab some pasta and parmesano reggiano, maybe a sub or some of their sausages to go.

What really shocked me is they have a branch in Tustin! Tustin???? But then there are some pretty decent Italian restaurants in Tustin, so it sort of kind of makes sense.

[mongo_jones]

my wife and i were in los angeles over the weekend. we ate dinner at chungking in monterey park on saturday (excellent as always) and had dim-sum for brunch on monday at 888 seafood. i am happy to report that my experience continues to be the opposite of yours--by which i mean only that we had an excellent meal. our l.a chinese food aficionado friends and we have eaten at pretty much every dim-sum house all over the san gabriel valley and we're pretty much unanimous in our choice of 888 seafood as the place to go to for consistent quality. i've never had any problem getting variety (and quality), and since we tend not to go on sundays (and to go early when we do go on saturdays) we've never been slammed by the kinds of wait-times you get at the monterey park stalwarts (or at empress pavilion).

for what it is worth.

also: we had the black-bean chicken feet on monday--pretty good.

we also did some korean comfort food: shul-lung tang at hanbat and yook gae jiang etc. at hodori on our way to the airport today.

[jschyun]

Thanks for the input mongo_jones.

Usually if a restaurant is busy, I tend to think it must be good. By that measure, 888's among the best! On the other hand, we had the bad fortune of being there during Chinese New Year.

Yeah, I remember Empress Pavillion's wait, even early in the morning was always awful. I haven't been there in ages.

--Actually, I too have a lot of Chinese friends. I'm not going to guess what you mean by 'afficionado' but if you mean hearty dim sum lovers, I think I can safely say I have my fair share. I've eaten at all of the popular dim sum houses on the West Coast, except Kirin (Cambie st) in Vancouver, Hong Kong Flower Lounge (sf), Tin's (small place in Oakland), NBC, and 888 Seafood. Who needs Hong Kong when I can just use frequent flier miles and eat in Vancouver, then come back all in the same weekend? I've eaten with my Cantonese speaking friends, with white friends, by myself, and with my sig other. I've shared my experiences with my friends and I always hound them for more advice, just in case I missed something. So I've been around.

It was a Chinese friend who loves dim sum, that said 888 wasn't that great. She said she didn't like how the food wasn't fresh, and she had stopped going there. I think I'll probably go one or two times before attempting to form a real opinion. I actually think the meal I had at 888 Seafood was decent food for the price. I didn't have any problems with freshness, except for some old broccoli, though I didn't have anything there that struck me as particularly wonderful. Plus Claro's is right across the street, which is very convenient. I wonder how many of 888 Seafood's patrons know what a jewel of a store Claro's is?

Edited January 28, 2004 by jschyun (log)

[tissue]

Last time I went to 888 for dim sum. They pissed me off because they didn't have any food left and it was only 1:30pm.

I still contend that they do very nice banquets and they make great shark fin. You gotta pre order all that stuff but it's quite good.

[FoodZealot]

I think it's time for dim sum. Considering I haven't been here yet and jschyun's reports from Mission 261, I want to try 888 Seafood.

I'm suggesting next Saturday, May 15, 2004, but I'm willing to move it if more people can make it on a different date. Who's in?

~Tad

[jschyun]

I think it's time for dim sum. Considering I haven't been here yet and jschyun's reports from Mission 261, I want to try 888 Seafood.

I'm suggesting next Saturday, May 15, 2004, but I'm willing to move it if more people can make it on a different date. Who's in?

~Tad

As per usual, I am a sucker at any mention of dim sum, so of course I'm in, barring unforeseen schedule changes. I still have to give 888 Seafood at least 2 more tries.

You know the black cod dumplings at Mission 261 are actually pretty good, in fact I would say excellent. I forget the geography, but if you were so inclined I would go along with you, if you wanted to make a short dim sum run to M261 just for those. There were some other good stuff there, but nothing particularly unique that I can remember, except for those egg custard bunnies, which don't taste particularly interesting but sure look cool.

One of these days, I'm going to get the foie gras wontons at Sea Harbour. Maybe I can pick some up while waiting at 888 and we can try them.

If the wait's long, perhaps we could go to the mexican place next door and get a snack.

[pim]

Caveat: I'm just not cut out for the big dim sum places like 888 Seafood anymore. I'm one of those people that flags down carts, chases after them, and orders stuff if it's not coming fast enough. Yeah, one of those. After eating dim sum at one of these places, I almost feel like I've gotten a workout. And I still never get everything I want.

How funny. That's my idea of a quintessential dim sum experience. I can never get used to the order-from-the-menu places. I agree that the latter places are often better, but I just couldn't get used to them for some reason.

Chacun a son goût, to each his(her) own, and all that. I suppose.

[FoodZealot]

Dim sum crawl? I'm in.

[FoodZealot]

888 Sea Food Restaurant

8450 Valley Blvd Ste 121

Rosemead, CA 91770-1681

Phone: (626) 573-1888

This Saturday, the 15th. Who's in? Shall we say 11am?

[mongo_jones]

going to be in l.a for two weeks starting wednesday. we may well be at 888 on saturday, but i won't complicate the group's plans since all our meals are being played by ear (but happily, eaten by mouth).

[grandcru]

Awww, it-shay! I'm gonna be in Paso Robles on a wine tasting day. Have some sticky rice in lotus leaf for me. Hopefully I'll make the next trip.

[jschyun]

I believe I can make it, but you'd better make it for earlier than 11, which means most people will not want to get their asses out of bed for this...

--or you can get there at 11, and wait in line, while I make the rounds to Mission261 and Sea Harbour for selected good stuff. Quick! Synchronize watches!

--screw it, the pics are more trouble than worth.

Edited May 15, 2004 by jschyun (log)

[mongo_jones]

in my experience if you go in a large enough group (>8 people) you'll get a table much faster than if you're in a group of 4 people. this because most of the dim sum houses have large, medium and small tables and will not seat groups of 4 at large tables even if they've been waiting for an hour and a group of 7 only just walked in. this is why the numbers don't always get called in sequence.

by the way, jschyun, the site those image-links you've attached to your post are from demands acceptance of a user-certificate each time a page with them on it is loaded.

[jschyun]

oops sorry. I was working on a site and forgot to change to non ssl encrypted.

thks for the tips. i think bf and i will either get there extra early and save seats, or I'll drive around and pick up favorites from elsewhere while FZ, and whoever else shows up, waits.

Since they open at 9am, I think we might do 10:15 or 10:30 depending on how fast we can get up.

[adobohead]

I missed the Thai get-together (I think there may have been two...) but I won't miss this one. I'm in!

[mixmaster b]

I wish I could join but I am out of town til after the event.

ENJOY!!!

[FoodZealot]

Too bad you guys can't make it, but we'll do our best without you. So far we have:

jschyun +1

fz +1

adobohead

mongo +1 (maybe)

Anyone else care to join us?

[mongo_jones]

i'll try to get to an internet connection and confirm by friday evening--i'd like to meet you guys but won't know until we get to koreatown tonight whether m-i-l has a full schedule for us.

[FoodZealot]

888 Sea Food Restaurant   

8450 Valley Blvd Ste 121

Rosemead, CA 91770-1681

Phone: (626) 573-1888

This Saturday, the 15th.  Who's in?  Shall we say 11am?

Ok, I won't be checking the thread in the morning, but I'll see you all at the restaurant. My guests are waffling, so I might end up being solo.

jschyun and I will attempt to get there a few minutes early, but please try to be there at 11am. Thanks.

~Tad

[jschyun]

--Just a quick note.

888 Seafood: okay, this time it was actually pretty decent. We got there hella early though.

Mission 261: Imitation crab in the black cod/shrimp dumplings? I think I would have remembered seeing that before.

[tissue]

I'm curious, how was the food?

[FoodZealot]

adobohead, I hope that we didn't miss you somehow, or you were there but gave up on us and went home... We got a table right away and sat down, but we kept getting up to try and find you.

I have some pictures and comments which I'll post later today. I had a great day exploring San Gabriel and Monterey Park.

[FoodZealot]

As usual, please correct any inaccuracies, misidentifications, or misspellings in the post.

The exterior:

jschyun and Mark indulged my curiosity - we ordered a few standards - shiu mai (excellent), shrimp har gow (good), char siu bao (good) - and we also tried some less familiar (to me) dishes. Unfortunately, my hearing is quite bad, the room is noisy, and I don't speak any Chinese dialects, so I missed a lot of what the servers were saying.

Green bell pepper topped with ground chicken(?)

Bittermelon stuffed with pork - I try bittermelon all the time, thinking that maybe I haven't had a good version of it, but ...

Shiitake (?) mushrooms stuffed with shrimp

Taro puffs with chicken (?) and vegetables - I love these. The exterior melts away a little during frying, leaving a lacy crust. The filling was a little more on the creamy/savory side than I'm used to, but still very nice.

Tripe in fermented bean sauce with chili paste - a little chewier than I'd like, and the sauce didn't match, IMHO

Shrimp and vegetable bao - nice bun texture, lightly fried. Yet, I wanted this to be a little better than it was.

Custard buns - custard filling inside of layered bao dough, steamed. Very good.

Char siu bao - nice, fluffy, tender dough, but the filling was a little too gloppy for my taste