Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Bellevue

Rating: 3.5/5.0

I find it funny that most of the reviews are either 1-star or 5-star reviews. No, Google showing the restaurant is open despite their not being officially open to the public yet and not getting a call back because their waitlist is incredibly long (as is expected for a HIGHLY anticipated restaurant that JUST opened) do not warrant 1-star reviews - you didn't even eat there yet for goodness sake! The 5-star reviews are a bit of a stretch as well in my opinion, but maybe the reviewers either benefitted from the (supposedly) 20% soft opening discount or have lower standards since the Seattle area is sorely lacking in good Cantonese food; one of the better Chinese restaurants in Seattle would likely not survive in NYC or Vancouver, B.C., for example.

Now, on to my review. I came on a Tuesday - one day after their grand opening. I arrived at 10:34am, just four minutes after their doors opened, and was quoted a two-hour wait time. Yes, you read that right. Two hours. Like I said earlier, Sun Sui Wah's opening was highly anticipated so get here one hour before doors open at either 10:30am for brunch/lunch and 5pm for dinner to line up if you do not want to wait that long. Otherwise, wander around Asian Family Market and do some grocery shopping while you wait.

While I was quoted a two-hour wait, I was seated two and a half hours after arrival but I didn't mind the extra half an hour wait as I found amusement in people either (1) leaving in disbelief or (2) insisting they get put on the waiting list upon being quoted a three or four-hour wait especially when the restaurant closes for break at 3pm.

Before coming, I already looked at the menu online and planned to get three dishes: 盐焗鸡，雀巢海中宝，and 干炒牛河. However, I kept getting mixed messages from different waiters when ordering: the regular menu is not available during lunchtime (despite their website and Instagram saying otherwise), 干炒牛河 is not available because they sold out of it yesterday, 雀巢海中宝 is not available but 盐焗鸡 is available, and the items on both the 点心 and regular menus have the same exact portion size despite the differing prices. At the end of all the confusion, both the 盐焗鸡 and 雀巢海中宝 were not available, the 干炒牛河 was available, and the 点心 portion sizes are smaller than that of the regular menu.

I ended up ordering: 桂花蚌 ($28.00), 干炒牛河 ($22.00), and 咕噜肉 ($22.95). Honestly, the food was average in my opinion. The 桂花蚌 was tasty but lukewarm; it would have been better piping hot. The noodle "nest" it came with, however, was light, crispy, and just yum! The beef was alright but the noodles and flavor of the 干炒牛河 were wrong. And the flavor of the 咕噜肉 was fine - close to perfect, even - but the uneven breading of the 炸肉 threw off the 口感 of the dish.

I believe a 3.5/5.0 is a fair rating given the small portions and high prices in addition to the above. Because problems are to be expected when a restaurant just opened, I plan to return in two to three months to see if the food has improved since. That said, I do not recommend trying Sun Sui Wah right now because the menu is very limited. I also heard through the grapevine that the head chef is from Seattle, so don't have high expectations like I did or else you will find yourself sorely disappointed. The restaurant is beautifully decorated though!

You may be wondering why I did not try their 点心, and the short answer is it is too expensive. $7.95 for 虾饺 and $9.95 for 肠粉 is just crazy! For reference, these are the November 2023 点心 prices from their Richmond, B.C. location (Bellevue prices in USD right of the arrow):

小点 Small: $8.00 CAD/$5.84 USD -- $5.95 中点 Medium: $9.25 CAD/$6.75 USD -- $6.95 大点 Large: $10.25 CAD/$7.48 USD -- $7.95 特点 Special: $11.25 CAD/$8.21 USD -- $8.95 顶点 Deluxe: $12.25 CAD/$8.94 USD -- $9.95

I also noticed that 炸两 and 虾肠粉 are considered "Special" in Richmond, B.C. whereas they fall under the more expensive "Deluxe" in Bellevue, WA, but the category for each dish may have been updated...

-good chicken feet rice but that's it -

Food: 3 stars Price: 3 stars Service: 3 stars Ambiance: 3 stars Overall: 3 stars

My husband decided to finally try this place on a Sunday, so I joined their yelp wait-list at 11:08 am and the wait is like an hour. However, it was down to 30 minutes when we arrived at Asian food center,, so we decided to do some grocery shopping in the meantime. Our table was ready at 11:34am, but we were still shopping for groceries. I noticed they called us after we paid, so we went to restaurant right away and saw at least 25 people waiting in the lobby. We got the small table at the corner of the restaurant, and we took a while to decide what to order.

The menu seems pretty normal and comparable to the 20+ dim sum places that I have been to. Most of them are in Vancouver, bc and some in hong kong, or Taiwan. I have a love-hate relationship with dim sum because it's usually more fun when you go with a huge group (so you can just get a bite of everything), but it could be boring if you go with your relatives. On top of that, dim sum usually takes a long time since people like to enjoy their tea slowly, and you can refill the tea. This place is well-known in Vancouver, but it's not very good by any means as the competition there is fierce. I've seen so many reviews on its pricing and that was on my radar.

Here are the list of things we ordered: 2 - steamed pork and shrimp siu mai 北菇切肉燒賣 $8.95 32 - steamed rice with chicken feet and spareribs 鳳爪排骨飯 $13.95 34 - pan fried eggplant stuff with shrimp paste 百花天婦羅茄子 $8.95 64- deep fried squid with spicy salt (basically salt and pepper squid). $16.95

#2 is quite standard and comparable to what we had in other places. Italso comes with 4 pieces, which is also standard. The size wasn't the largest I've seen. Hence it's a safe choice.

#32 is amazing. I love their sauce and the rice was super flavorful. I also avoid ordering chicken feet because I will have to eat all of it since my husband doesn't. Then I'd be full and can't eat anything else, so getting two chicken feet here was great. Plus the rice gets crispy too if you let it sit longer. Highly recommend!

#34 was fine, but the portion was disappointing. 6 pieces for $8.95 seems crazy. I'd avoid this and anything between #34-37 since they are all easy to make with small portions..

#64 was also a disappointing dish. The squid and spices were separated and not well seasoned. It's like they put two strangers on the same seat... This is the worst thing that can happen to salt and pepper anything... The squid (or tofu) tastes bland without the tiny pieces of green pepper.. id avoid this as well.

They have 4 individual bathrooms, two for male and two for female. They also have two sinks outside for people to wash their hands without using the toilets.

They charge $2/person for tea, so the bill wasn't pretty. As far as I remember, they only have 3 kinds of tea to choose from too (Jasmine, pu'er, and another one I forgot). The service was alright, but if you are hoping to see the pushing carts, you'd be disappointed. I doubt we will come back again unless our friends want to try this place. Their price is similar to Vancouver price, but it will be in Canadian instead of USD. Typical Bellevue price I guess. I'd still prefer triumph valley...

I have never been to the 新瑞華 in Vancouver BC but have heard good things.  We arrived at the 新瑞華 in Bellevue on Wednesday night at 5:20pm, just before the dinner rush.  I had heard about the queue lines when they first opened, so it was lovely to be seated right away at a relatively empty restaurant.  We typically order the same dishes that we know we like and then add a new dish, which was what we did.  I asked the waiter if they have 蒜蓉四季豆 in Cantonese.  He said he only spoke Mandarin or English, so I requested in English for garlic green beans, and my mom repeated the order in Mandarin.  He did not comprehend, and he asked another waiter who can speak Cantonese to help us.  We successfully ordered five dishes:  garlic green beans, honey walnut shrimp, beef chow fun with gravy, house special chow mein with seafood, and salt & pepper tofu.  All but the Tofu dish was off-menu.

The food arrived one by one, but none of the dishes were hot:

Garlic Green Beans - Not crispy, and very salty!

Honey Walnut Shrimp - The walnuts were burnt and the shrimp were soggy, and it was covered in a strange sweet sugar, not honey.  The bed of lettuce was good.

Beef Chow Fun in Gravy - The fun were hard and in clumps, lacking in gravy, and no wok hei.  The beef was tender with good Chinese broccoli.

House Special Chow Mein - The crispy noodles were partially on the side to maintain its crispiness, and the sauce was tasty.  The seafood included fish, squid, shrimp, chicken, bbq pork strips, and bok choy.  The bok choy was slightly bitter.

Salt & Pepper Deep Fried Tofu  (this dish was on the menu, and the description sounded similar to agedashi tofu) - The tofu was brown and FRIED to the point that the inside was dried out and the outside was hard (not crispy).  The remaining ingredients appeared to have been sprinkled on top (not cooked together in the wok).

We had so much leftovers, but my mom took them all home to doctor them up.  Maybe some will go in the compost; waste not.  We joked about going to McDonald's on our way home because we were still hungry.

We were seated at a table that comfortably fit all 5 of us, but it didn't have a lazy susan, so we passed the dishes around - which worked out well because the portions were not large.  Oddly, the teacups did not contain the heat from the tea, and it was nearly impossible to hold the cup to sip the tea.  The atmosphere was nice with very high ceilings and the Olympics were playing on the super large TV.  They had nice displays of teapots and pottery.  My dad stated that the men's restroom was very narrow.

We will not return to this restaurant and do not recommend it.  You will have a much better experience at Royal Kitchen...