Capital Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Irvine

I wanted to try this place out because it seemed like a more upscale version of dim sum but I left the restaurant with something to be desired.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS It’s located at Irvine Spectrum and the decor is absolutely gorgeous. I love that they have a bar at the front of the restaurant and thought that the little paper decorations for the bathroom were a nice little touch. The aesthetic is very pleasing and definitely looks authentic.

FOOD

Seafood noodle for $18.88 — definitely order this! It is so worth it. This is a huge platter meant for sharing and it comes with several different types of seafood and vegetables. You also have the option of ordering crispy noodles which make it that much more delicious. I love watching the crispy noodles cook on top of the hot sauce and items.

Xiu Mai (4 pieces) — HUUUGE pieces and oh so yummy! Definitely worth trying out. They weren’t dry and they had a lot of filling inside. Overall, something I’d order many baskets of.

Pork dumplings (3 pieces) — also three big pieces but they were delicious as well. The skin was delicate and flavorful. The fillings complemented each other.

Pork Xiao long bao (4 pieces) — DO NOT ORDER THIS! I was so stoked to come here because of the xlb and the moment the basket was placed on the table I was beyond disappointed. The top of the xlb was dry as if it was steamed for too long and without enough water. The inside of the xlb also showed this as there was no soup to drink of. In fact, had someone just told me it was a pork dumpling I would’ve said it wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t. So don’t order this if you’re expecting good xlb.

Bbq pork bun — I liked this because there was a lot of pork in it but overall it fell kind of flat. There was a lot of bread and it needed to have more sauce inside the bun because it was dry.

SERVICE I actually strongly disliked the service we received here and is largely in part the reason for the scathing review. One very important component to successful dining is by asking the guests if it is their first time eating here, that way you can explain to them how the restaurant works. What essentially happened for us was that we were seated at a table and then people immediately kept coming to us asking if we wanted something off of their tray. For my family, we were a bit thrown off because of how aggressive they came in and because they did not give us time to think or even order gecer

I also didn’t appreciate how the server did not mention to us that the tea was NOT complimentary. When we asked if it was, he pretended as if he did not hear or understand the question so he returned with one pot and three cups... only for us to find out that it was FIVE DOLLARS FOR ONE MEASLY POT THAT WAS NEVER REFILLED.

Our water cups were all empty and they were never filled. Not once did the server come to ask us how we were doing. The servers with cold items were far too aggressive and tried to force us to order items from them that we had already repeatedly told them we did not want. The servers with the hot cart took forever to come to our table and I still don’t get why there was only one person for the entire restaurant on a busy Friday lunch.

— Overall, it really takes a lot for me to write a one star review for a restaurant but Capital did not leave me room to give them anything else. I hope that they take this review to heart so that they can focus on how to drastically improve this restaurant because from the looks of it, the only ones I can see actually enjoying this restaurant are people who have no idea what food to compare...

I know I'm spoiled after growing in the SGV and having dimsum in Monterey Park and Rosemead area. I would say taste wise, this is the closest I can find to that area. However, it wasn't without some typical service woes.

Coming here with a party of 7, took us 45 minutes to be seated which I guess is typical of any dim sum. I believe the longest I've waited in my childhood years, I've waited as long as 2 hours. But upon sitting down on one of those round table around the corner, we felt a little neglected. No water, no choice of tea for first 10 minutes. As for the carts, we had one lady with a total attitude after she explained to us what she had and we only took one item. She dropped the item on the table and shoved the ticket she stamped to me.

The shrimp siu mai is good The Calamari here is excellent The tripe here is just ok The egg tart here is above average, though quite small The HK style noodles is drowned in too much sauce

To get knive utensils, we asked who looked like a runner. We also asked him for water but he never came back. It wasn't until we found an Asian guy, who happily took our noodle order, got our drinks, and my spicy mustard. We don't ask for much but it felt like you had to get the right person. So for dessert and the check, we also asked him and he was fast and friendly.

Be advised, food is great and service is a hit and miss here just like your typical...

I’m going to go ahead and say that you’re better off getting panda express instead of this. I’ll tell you why - read below.

My wife got us a reservation (on their website) for 8PM on last Thursday night. We get there at 7:55 and are seated by 8 PM. By 8:05 we get two menus and by 8:13 server comes to get drink orders - they’re out of the 3 beers I choose (out of total 5) and cant make the simplest substitution to my wife’s cocktails.. all she asked was for some sake instead of gin in her drink. At 8:15 the server tells us the kitchen is about to close in 10 mins so we’re obviously rushed into placing an order for food.

We ordered a dumpling platter + capital spicy chicken & rice. Dumplings are good.. not great.. just good. Spicy chicken was mild, undercooked and mediocre at best - a fast food Chinese restaurant would have done better.

By 8:30, other tables start to clear out (there are still 4 tables finishing food) and the staff starts cleaning the floor.. now I have to smell clorox to go with my food - great combination, no?

When the bill came, I noticed I spent 65$ in 30 mins on what I can easily term the worst dinner of the year so far. That’s my reason for a 1 star.

Here’s my question to the rude, inconsiderate staff - if you want to close up, why would you take a reservation for 10 mins before close time? Never coming back here...