Macky’s Dim Sum — Restaurant in Issaquah

If I could rate the atmosphere more highly I would. This is Old Town Issaquah, a lot of space around Macky's distinctive building, a little park next door, and the railroad museum just behind it. The building itself is quite appealing. I saw a banquet room. There is outdoor dining, and there appears to be upstairs dining as well as seen from the outside. It's cool! See the accompanying pics.

Thanks to the city, there's plenty of parking right nearby.

Here is what we enjoyed. Steamed pork sui mai Steamed black bean spare ribs Pan fried tofu with shrimp Deep fried cod fish Hong Kong style chow mien Oven fresh pineapple custard rolls 🥐

House blend tea

Options for next time: Honey cashew prawn Xiaolongbao, soup dumplings Salt & pepper calamari

My wife and I agreed that the gai lang, the Chinese broccoli needed a little QC. I've never seen such a fat stump as these. At least they should have been cut to smaller sizes. My wife said that she would have peeled them..

She is a fan of the chicken feet and she said that these were tough.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the food and I thought the portions were adequate. We especially liked the black bean spare ribs. The deep fried codfish was wonderful, making me crave some tartar sauce. :-)

When I was satisfied and full, but still eating, a lady came out with a big tray of fresh-from-the-oven rolls with a thin sweet cheese topping. Oh my gosh! They had a bit of pineapple custard inside and were delightful! Fresh from the oven!

Unlike a lot of dim sum places, here at Macky's, the servers were very attentive. They removed empty plates and they refilled the teapot. They checked back frequently.

We were disappointed that the food was not pushed around on carts. That norm for dim sum seems to have ended with the pandemic. I've been thinking of one or two places to revisit to see if they have the carts. Even so, our food came super quick.

Macky's has plenty of staff members. My wife said she prefers our regular place near Greenlake, but only two people work the dining room there, along with a little girl. Their service is adequate -- because the kitchen cannot keep up! The last two times we went we waited more than half an hour for the food. Macky's really has them beat for a quick, well-staffed kitchen and plenty of attentive servers in the dining room.

We must have enjoyed dim sum at a dozen places in greater Seattle and the food at Macky's is right near the top of the list. I would...

We arrived a little bit close to closing and we had originally wanted to dine outside but there seems to be some construction going on. As we entered, the restaurant was gorgeous with soft piano covers of different classic songs. They had a beautiful fish tank in the corner of the restaurant. All tables had a soy sauce container, chili oil container, and sugar. We were greeted by a male waiter who directed us to our table with menus. He brought us waters and gave us ample time to look over the extensive menu. We decided to get the dinner for two as it came with dim sum which was I mainly wanted and we also got their hot tea, broccoli beef, Szechuan seafood, pork fried rice, and a large egg flower soup.

The hot tea was very comforting and the perfect accompaniment with the food coming. We received our soup first and the waiter was kind enough to scoop out our portions which I thought was hospitable. The egg drop soup was seasoned well but I love spicy chili oil in my egg drop soup for that extra kick. We received our dim sum next and it was piping out, so be careful cause I burned my mouth a lot but it was so worth it. The dim sum was huge and full of flavor. We then received our entrees and it looked so delicious. My boyfriend was raving about the beef being some of the tender beefs he has ever had in his life and I'm inclined to agree. It just melts in your mouth! I liked the flavors of my dish but the vegetables were pretty tough and it was making my teeth sore. The choices of seafood options were tasty but it was hard to enjoy the vegetables which some of them I had to leave leftovers of. The fried rice was delicious too, the wok hei taste was very present and the BBQ pork was excellent.

The service was attentive and they checked in on us to take plates away, to see if we needed anything else, or if we...

Chinese is one of my favorite cuisines and I eat it often; I may be harsher than some.

I went in on a Saturday evening, not a lot of people, but that seemed normal with all the bars next by. The people working there were nice. That swift, down to business, but friendly attitude.

They offered both a dim sum menu and one for entrees. I decided to stick with the dim sum menu and order a few things. I ordered the soup dumplings, garlic green beans, and salt/pepper tofu. Let's break each one down:

Soup Dumpling: Mediocre at best. The wrapper was incredibly thick and also over cooked - essentially a mushy pot sticker. They also served it with red rice wine vinegar rather than soy/vinegar mix which was odd to me and made it feel even less like a xiao long bao. In fact, the gentleman who served me, put a dumpling in the vinegar and put it in the spoon for me. In theory, very thoughtful - but not a great idea to assume.

Garlic Green Beans: Slimy and undercooked. Absolutely disgusting. I ate some out of politeness. The garlic had no color... I'm pretty sure it was just raw.

Salt/Pepper Tofu: ... this was barely food. I ate one piece. I normally LOVE this dish but what... It was pieces of tofu, LIBERALLY battered and deep fried (that's fine), but it had no seasoning. NONE. A few green onions on top. It should be salt and pepper flakes and garlic and..... it tasted like nothing.

I think I'll just shell out for Din Tai Fung. Top Gun has great dim sum! And just for fun, Facing East on Bellevue...