East Harbor Restaurant — Restaurant in Beaverton

Nothing about the old, out-dated, unassuming exterior appearance of East Harbor prepares you for the traditional & delicious fare available on the beautifully illustrated menu (which is the polar opposite of how this establishment looks from the outside.) Nor is the casual appearance and the seeming inattentiveness of the staff an indicator of what's to come. The food is (plain & simple) the only real attraction to this establishment... fresh, hot & delicious! I almost didn't stop, because if how run-down & unkept the exterior looked. The staff that greeted us were equally unappealing and cause for doubt, as both were glued to their phones when we came through the door & neither was quick to acknowledge our presence, leaving us to stand there for a couple of minutes, before finally looking up and greeting, then seating us. The interior of the restaurant was just as discouraging as the exterior... horribly out-dated, neither unappealing, neither inviting or attractive... a rather haphazard scattering of tables scattered across a huge expanse, with a single row of booths along the front window area. An unused bar stemwear rack hanging awkwardly out of the ceiling and back bank of refrigerator units left as the only testament to a previously existent bar, sitting to the left of t he entryway, exposed and open to the dining area... giving a very "dis-jointed" impression, as if someone simply tired mid-job and decided not to finish getting the remaining items out of there... The staff were attentive & very sweet towards my 3 year old granddaughter seeing to her comfort by stacking 2 chairs together so that she was at table-height in a "big girl chair", providing her with a covered "big girl" cup. Strangely, a separate staff member appeared from the back of the house, without saying anything, removed everything (cups, teapot & condiments) to the far end of the table, completely out of reach, the disappeared again. I sat for a few minutes, puzzled, not understanding what had just taken place... eventually getting up out of my seat to reclaim my cup and the tea pot, to pour a refill, then placing them back to my right side once again (leaving the center of the table open). This woman appeared again a few minutes later, once more moving the teapot over to the opposite end of the table and repositioning my water cup out of reach again, before setting the Eggflower soup I'd ordered down in front of me, and leaving after commenting on how "cute" my granddaughter was. A few minutes later she returned to drop our main dish & rice, also bringing a separate smaller soup cup and spoon for me to share the soup eith my granddaughter, which was thoughtful & sweet. I waited a few minutes before getting up again to retrieve the teapot & place it within reach, as well as my water glass. The egg flower soup was rich and delicious, but the General Tso's Chicken surpassed every expectation and was honestly the best I've ever had. The menu presentation made me want you try much of what they offer. And, when we were finished, we were full, satisfied & happy to take the leftovers home with us. If you can overlook the undesirable appearance of the exterior & interior finishes and not fixate on the inattentive floor staff, who remained glued to their phones in plain site of the patrons in the dining room, the food makes East Harbor...

I've dined-in here a few times before the pandemic began. The service was ok. The food was good. They got dim sum carts which is almost always an indicator for good dim sum. I remember my first impression here was "good Cantonese food" and "a bit pricey." Then COVID-19 hit, I stopped indoor dining for over a year and this was one of the places I missed. I had two takeouts from East Harbor this year. One was several months ago and the second time was just yesterday. Each time we got decent portions and enough leftovers for the next day. Overall, the food was as good as I remembered from dine-in.

For yesterday's take out, hubby & I ordered 3 dishes and 3 dim sums. I don't remember the full names for all of the dishes, though I think most were just named by their main ingredients? The three main dishes were lotus roots stir fry (蓮藕小炒), cod fillet (fillets were fried first and then tossed into a stir fry?), and stir fry clams (避風塘炒蜆). The three dim sums were shumai (燒賣), chicken feet (鳳爪), and steamed ribs (蒸排骨). I love dim sum, though that clam dish was the bomb to me. The dish with cod fillets, in comparison to other dishes, seemed bland. The free pot stickers were also kind of bland, but they were free and we were given 3 choices: pot stickers, crab puffs, and egg rolls. Next time we'll choose the crab puffs. We ordered everything in-person as it was a last minute decision to get takeout, and food was ready in 15 minutes.

The only real downside of having food from here is this restaurant never included rice when ordering main dishes, which is actually the norm at restaurants in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Rice were extra, or at least that's how I remembered from my visits. We made our own rice at home to eat with the...

Lousy service, comparatively high prices, and unimpressive portions of very peculiar dishes are the most memorable features of this place.

When this place opened up, we were THRILLED to have an actual Chinese restaurant so close to home here in Aloha. Couldn't wait to try it.

The first off-putting thing is the menu which is full of downright WEIRD choices that most Americans will want to just skip right over. Lots of very fatty pork belly, and many organ meats (the most "popular" being intestines. Many, many dishes will not appeal to American palates, and the photos are not particularly appetizing.

Credit where credit is due: their Singapore Noodles were excellent the first time I got them. However, a few days later, when my husband stopped to pick up some to-go for me, they LEFT OUT the curry, a primary component in the flavor of Singapore Noodles. WTH?? That was a big disappointment. Good hot & sour soup. Sizzling Beef & Scallops is delicious. That said, they are charging high prices for skimpy portions of mostly unremarkable foods.

Oh, and their tea cups are straight sided, larger than those you usually find in a Chinese restaurant, lack handles, and the tea is so hot, you cannot comfortably pick them up without burning your fingers. Kind of the last straw. We dined there twice, and got take-out once. Three strikes and you're out. We...