Harbor City Tacoma Restaurant — Restaurant in Tacoma

A family friend spoke about Harbor City, and we hadn't had dim sum in years, so we decided to give this local restaurant a try.

The atmosphere was simple with remnants of the previous restaurant still in use. It was relatively clean with an almost ethnic market vibe. The staff was very off hands and not very communicative, which wasn't an issue since you made your food orders via phone app. The demographics of the patrons were all Korean(I'm assuming based on the language they used), so I found that interesting and fun to hear Korean primarily spoken at a Chinese restaurant.

The selection of food was good. A nice variety of dishes to choose from, including dim sum, an assortment of appetizers as well as a wide selection of classic Chinese/American cuisine. We tried Xiao Long Bao, Steamed BBQ Pork Bun,  Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumpling,  Shrimp Dumpling with Chives, as well a their Mushu Duck The quality of the food was above average, and the dumplings were well made with exceptional care. The flavors had more of a subtle, traditional flavor instead of the overly sugary and salty food of most Chinese/American restaurants we've visited. The Mushu Duck was quite nice, although it didn't come with any green onion, but the flavor was still good.

Between the two of us, we had the 5 dishes with good portion sizes as we ate till we were full, and we still had some leftover.  The tab was around $50($25 per person), which, with the quality and quantity of food, we thought was very reasonable.

All in all,  despite lacking much personality or interaction with staff, Harbor City is highly recommended for those looking for a local option for Dim Sum and possibly the best option for the South Sound area.  It would be best enjoyed with company so you can order a variety of dishes without...

It's Saturday and there's a line out the door and only two ladies working the floor of this relatively large restaurant. They weren't seating the bar half of the restaurant which is fine since they only had two front of house employees working but the real solution is to adequately staff your restaurant. It took 20 min to even get acknowledged for picking up my Togo order which wasn't quite ready yet so I suspect their back of house is understaffed as well. The food quality was OK but not particularly impressive.

I will say that they are a new restaurant but they are also a sister restaurant to the Seattle location so I would hope they'd know a few things about running a restaurant. One thing which stood out to me was that the women kept running tickets from the front to the kitchen implying that they don't have a dedicated kitchen printer. The phone order I placed was hand written meaning she didn't use the POS to take the order which should have been the easier and faster way to do it. The online ordering system doesn't work which would save them time so they don't have to answer the phone. They would benefit from a bus cart with all bussing supplies so that bussing and clearing tables doesn't require trips to the kitchen. My point is that not only are they sort staffed, they are screwing their staff over by undermining their ability to be efficient.

I'm honestly on the fence as to whether or not I'd order from here again or try dining in, which might be merciful to the staff who I don't blame for their short comings. They have the benefit of being one of the few dim sum places in Tacoma but that's no excuse for...

The food was great, but the experience was definitely ruined for me by the way the staff served people who got there before us and treated them with kindness and polite service, but when me and my mother sat down before the table before us, they provided very poor service to us, and we had to ask them to bring our food and proceeded to bring the bill when we asked for boxes, knowing we didn’t receive our food. It was extremely disrespectful and displeasing to see them serving people who came later than us, as well as the fact I saw another couple who had gotten seated around the same time as us get treated the same way we did, with poor service and politeness.

Especially, I would not want to bring race into this, but I predominantly noticed the fact the group that continued to get served before both of us was predominantly white, got a better demeanor, whiles me and my mom and as people of color, got a distasteful demeanor of service, as well as the other party of two, consisting of a white woman and Black Black man, got worse of service and treatment than we did, as well as the fact the predominantly white party proceeded to get their bill when they asked for it and said they were ready for the bill, but we got our bill when we just asked for boxes.

But a factor to bring into this is the fact they were busier than normal, as it was a Friday night, and I hope the only reason for the service change was that, because I’ve never been to a restaurant that hasn’t been able to keep customer satisfaction whiles with...