East Lake Chinese Restaurant and Dim Sum (東湖海鮮酒家) — Restaurant in San Jose

Came out here to celebrate the going away of my boss. This was one of his favorite places that he used to go to with some of his colleagues from our company. So it was fitting that he sort of ended his career at our company by inviting colleagues old and new to come have a meal here.

This restaurant is located in a sort of a shopping center. It is a classic Chinese restaurant where you can find the usual fare. Most of the tables are the round kind with the lazy Susan in the middle so that you can have a family style meal by ordering a la cart dishes and rotating it around so that everybody can get access to it.

This restaurant appears to be more of a family style environment. The waiters and servers are not dressed up in any kind of uniform and where T-shirts and are friendly. The food is good but not necessarily eye opening. This is neither good nor bad. I believe you would be satisfied with the dishes that they serve. Typically when I eat at a restaurant of a type that I frequent, I look for something that would catch my eye to make it stand out from the crowd. For this particular restaurant, I really liked their hot and sour soup. The flavor was quite good and most noticeably it was spicy. Spicier than the average person would probably like, but it was fantastic for me. None of the other dishes were bad in any way nor particularly outstanding, but all were satisfying.

If you were looking for a classic Chinese food experience and don't need any of the fanciness, this place will...

i have been a customer of this establishment since they opened, must be close to 20 years. we have had NUMEROUS parties and gatherings there and have gone there for the last time yesterday for lunch. the place was not overly busy and we sat a party of 6. we ordered 7 dishes and everything came out in a timely manner except for the salt and pepper ribs, the waiter aknowledged that we had 1 dish coming as he brought out dish #6 but it never came. we asked a different waiter to check on it and it still never came. we were all done eating and it finally come out, a good 40 minutes after we started eating.

that is unforgivable in my book, i am a reasonable person and i can see through an error or oversight no problem. the thing that really bothers me about this place now is that any party of 6 or more gets charged 15%, 20% or 25% depending on their discretion. we were charged 15%, again not unreasonable but mandatory i do not like.

when asked for an extra box because we were unable to fit everything into 1 box the waiter was peterbed and snatched the plate from out table.

i know cindy the owner from going there over the years and she has gone to a different location to manage, ever since her brother has taken over service has been on the decline.

NEVER AGAIN, YOU HAVE LOST A LIFELONG...

East Lake has been a long time staple for me in San Jose. Located on Quimby and White road, it’s a seafood Chinese restaurant located right between east side San Jose and Evergreen.

I’ve been coming here since 2014. The lunch special is where I was first introduced to this place. Over the years it has evolved! From being a super small hole in a wall to becoming a bigger, celebratory restaurant.

My favorite dish is the salt and pepper fish. Everything taste super good here tho! When I need a quick Chinese food fix, I can always count on East lake!

We ordered: wonton soup walnut shrimp fried whole fish salt and pepper fish chicken fried rice house chow mein Mongolian beef warm sweet red bean soup

They happily refill water when you eat inside. Love this place! See...