Ocean Harbor Reviews

Ocean Harbor provides the widest selection of dim sum in Chinatown, incorporating more modern Hong Kong style dishes that are more seafood based (clams, snails, squid). Similar to the other dim sum places in Philly, this place gets packed in a hurry. Unfortunately, the execution is mediocre- custard buns were overfilled and spilling out, egg tarts were cold, beef meatballs had too much water chestnut, fried foods were soggy. On my first visit, everything was quite good, but two subsequent trips were disappointing ordering the same dishes.

My friend and I walked through Chinatown for awhile trying to find dim sum, and a receptionist at another restaurant directed us here. Although it was crowded, we were seated very quickly and the food exceeded expectations. My friend had never experienced dim sum, and it was a wonderful introduction in an authentic environment.

Busy restaurant. Full of Chinese patrons. Great place for dim sum. Reasonable prices. Tasty food. Exactly what we were looking for from a Chinatown dim sum restaurant.

The location is prominent in Chinatown but what a disappointment for the rest a restaurant can offer. Service is disorganized since it seems no one knows who is assigned to serve. Then it comes the sarcastic and ignorant server who happens to bring overly salted and MSG filled cuisine. It was topped with a surprisingly lofty bill compared to the neighboring dim sum places I have tried in 10 years at philly chinatown.

Best dim sum in philly.

We've been going here 2 to 4 times a month for many years. My wife speaks Cantonese, that helps some, but even when I go without her, I have no trouble pointing at what I want on the steam cart. Only downside, and this isn't just Ocean Harbor, but Chinese are infamous for their bathrooms. I'm always careful to limit what I touch. My wife points out this is a carry over from China, bathrooms are generally less civilized and clean there. At least, they always have toilet paper at the bathroom here, which is not true in China.

I joined the throngs of people at Ocean Harbor for dim sum this past weekend. The lines were long, but moved well. The dim sum came by on carts and by waiters. Many different varieties and sometimes it was difficult to understand what they were explaining to me when I asked what the items were. Nonetheless, very tasty, and rather inexpensive compared to DC/Maryland area. It is one of the larger restaurants in Chinatown and it was noisy the day I went.

Dim Sum and Sundays go hand in hand in my book, so when friends mooted the idea of a road trip, I thought "Perfect!". We left NYC mid morning and after a leisurely drive, showed up in Chinatown, Philadelphia in time for lunch. Friend of friends recommended Ocean Harbor and boy, it's a popular spot! Throughout our meal, there was always a line but it moved rather quickly.. It's pushcart dim sum so there's a never-ending supply of food that trundles past your table - just look up, point and ta dah! The restaurant is fairly large - about 30 tables, and the staff was always around to tend to most requests. But importantly, how's the dim sum? The steamed dishes were hot. The others - cold. Flavour? Mediocre. Variety - great! Overall, the food was a little too greasy for my taste. Pricing - Medium $2.75 Large $3.50 Special $6. Would I recommend it? Not likely. Sometimes I take the crowd waiting for a table as a sign of good food. Ocean Harbor just turned that little theory upside down.

Overview: -Great, hot dim sum -variety of tea -cart service dim sum till 3pm -great price My family and I visited Ocean Harbor for dim sum just to try out a new restaurant. We typically visit Joy Tsin Lau across the street when we come for Dim Sum, but wanted to try out a new place. We got there pretty late, around 2:15 and were prepared for the worst. But to our delight Ocean Harbor was still serving dim sum. Although it was obvious they were getting ready to stop their cart service as there were only 2 carts left out. As soon as we were situated the carts were brought over and we picked what we wanted. The selection left something to be desired, but this could have been due to the fact that we came late and they weren't making any more dishes for the carts. But this did not stop them from providing exceptional service and hot dim sum. After the cart service ended they came over and asked us if there was anything else that we wanted that they didn't have, and they would have the kitchen make it for us. My family (all foodies) took advantage of this and ordered more shu mai and some other dishes. When it came time to pay, we were pretty shocked to learn that it was well below the normal price we pay when we eat dim sum. In all we were satisfied by our visit and will probably return.

We visited for dim sum as a group of 5 on Saturday AM and had great selection, very prompt service and good food.

The best dim sum here ever, started coming here since i was a kid, the people here are nice and the food are mouth-watering. I've tried dim sum from different places but they can never beat the dim sum here.

Our first experience with a DimSum meal. The food was tasty and a good variety to choose from. Service was ok. Noise level in the restaurant is quite loud. Seemed to care to larger groups. Price was inexpensive. Worth a try.

What I've noticed about dim sum restaurants: service is poor by American standards, you can't get an explanation of what anything is because the vast majority of the women pushing the carts around speak no English, you have no idea how much anything costs until the end, they aren't the cleanest of places. Ocean Harbor is as above. The positive: the dim sum was above-average. It only cost $35 to stuff a family of four. The negative: it seemed like the same items came around again and again. Also, see above. Not sure if I prefer this place or Imperial Inn. Might also give Joy Tsin Lau a chance.

Not easy to find street parking can be rough. Not the best service difficult to communicate with staff. Average dim sum selection slow to come around. One nice shock was a very clean restroom.

My wife, my sister and I visited for dim sum brunch. We loved it! Plenty of food carts delivered fresh and flavourful food frequently. The waiting time to be seated was only a few seconds until about 10:30 when the entry line began to form. We enjoyed a fresh hot pot of Jasmine tea along with banana leaf wrapped sticky rice, chicken feet and various dumplings and other shrimp (prawn) dishes.

Celebrating my niece's graduation from Wharton, we had a feast - a festival of dishes. From jelly fish, to lobster to tofu with golden mushrooms, shrimp and walnut, salty fish fried rice, roast chicken, scungilli and scallop platter, to pan fried crispy flounder - it was a gourmet delight! Just as good as back home NY Ctown. If you're in the mood, go and enjoy!

Standard chinese restaurant (quality, service, cleanliness and price). We went mid week and had no problem getting a table and service wasn't slow. Dim sum offered was the standard dishes and all tasted good. Ha gau and siu mai ran out but was brought directly to our table 10 min later. We had plenty of other things to eat in the mean time. No complaints at all.

Don't bother. The best I can say is that this place is somewhat clean, and the lighting is very bright. Otherwise, the service and the food is apathetic and uninspired. We ordered spring rolls, which were very xrispy, but did not contain much filling. The fried dumplings were good. They were unusual. They were like small omelets filled with atasty minced pork filling. The hot and short soup tasted add off it were several weeks old. The prsnhe beef wss sickeningly sweet, and the Singapore rice noodles were bland and flavorless. Definitely a Chinatown tourist trap.won't go back. Ever. I would give it a negative rating for wasting my time, money, and appetite

Philly has a small but impactful and delightful Chinatown, but only a few places serve traditional dim sum, complete with roving carts. Ocean Harbor is one of about 3 very authentic dim sum restaurants. Tasty food, with many of the usual dim sum items you will find in a bigger Chinatown. Service is very prompt and helpful. You will be seated at group style tables to accommodate all diners. Who knows, you may even meet new and interesting fellow diners.

First choice for Chinatown dim-sum. Very crowded during peak hours, but rotation is pretty quick. Usually very quiet during nights but they offer pretty decent dishes are competitive price. Good for large gatherings at night.

This is the REAL dim sum experience: good food, roving carts, lots of noise, a generally chaotic scene--but with English-speaking waitresses! That's something we've never seen before and we've eaten dim sum in several countries. I liked that they had several different types of items on each cart rather than dedicate each entire cart to just one kind. It was inexpensive for what it is. There are lots of extended Asian families having a leisurely meal. On Sunday at "prime-time", like 11 AM to 2 PM, the wait for a table is forever and you tend to eat too fast. They may ask you to share a table with another party. Take your time and you'll enjoy it more.

4 of us came for DimSum lunch on a Saturday afternoon. It was pretty full with lots of families and kids enjoying a DimSum lunch. We got hot tea right away-very aromatic- and then the carts started coming to our table. Everything was good! Favorite things were the pork buns, the sticky rice in the banana leaves, the egg rolls, the cold noodle salad! It was a really fun lunch and we all left full!

Of all the restaurants I've been to, this was, by far, the worst in terms of customer service. I went to the restaurant in hopes of eating good food, but was heavily disappointed by the lack of hospitality. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew that I would have to judge the restaurant based purely and soley on its quality of food. Waiters running with overflowing carts of dim-sum and hot pots would be a danger to children. The host waiting at the podium took one glance at our party and marched to a table without a word of "hello" or "welcome." We waited for our water to be given to us, which took some time. It took even longer to grab a waiter's attention due to the loud environment. Customers and waiters had to basically yell at each other over the noise. As a waiter approached our table, he asked us what we wanted (in a rude manner) and quickly gave us the dishes and left. We assumed that he would back the next time we raised our hand, so we decided to only choose 3 dishes amongst the 7 people that were present. Of course, we quickly ate the food and searched the busy restaurant for him. It took a few more minutes for him to finally return to our table. Knowing what had happened before, we ordered several dishes. Now, the food was decent. I have to admit that. However, multiple Chinese restaurants have that quality of food. However, other restaurants typically have better service, no? When you pick a Chinese restaurant to go in Philly, avoid Ocean Harbor.

While it was definitely authentic the food was just ok. Definitely the place Chinese prefer so perhaps we are not adventurous enough.

We arrived just after the lunch hour rush. Extensive menu. Food was tasty and portions large enough to share. Prices were very reasonable. Great place to go for either a couple or for larger groups.

Ocean Harbor is the quintessence of a dim sum cart restaurant. As with the other dim sum cart places I've been to, the experience was fun and exciting - being able to point and choose what you want off the carts. The food here was good - not too greasy. Definitely the authentic experience. We came on the day after Christmas, and the restaurant was jam-packed within 30 minutes of opening - a sign that it is the best in the neighborhood. The space is a little cramped, though. The carts barely have enough space to pass between the tables, and the whole experience was a little claustrophobic. I think this adds to the busy/exciting aura, but have seen dim sum cart places that are more spread out, and I think that works a little better.

best dim sum in chinatown; bad service

Ocean Harbor has the best Dim Sum in Philadelphia's Chinatown. Very attentive folks with the carts and opportunities to special order from the kitchen as well.

This place remains consistently great over the years that we've come here. If you really are craving authentic Chinese food, and my in-laws are Chinese, then you must try this place.

The small plates of delicious, bite-sized morsels of food arrive to your table, steaming hot, on heated carts, and all you have to do is point at what you want. If you don't see what you want, and just happen to know the name of it, the servers will get a runner to find the cart that has it, or have it made up fresh. The service is good, if this is what you are prepared to receive. But if you want detailed explanation on preparation, ingredients, and etc. in English, you may well be out of luck. If you are travelling on business, and need a receipt, you won't get one that is itemized, so your accounting department will just have to be understanding. Come here for any sized group around lunchtime if you want delicious, hot dumplings, PDQ without spending a whole lot.

My spouse and I visited Ocean Harbor for brunch on a Tuesday morning in early January (New Year’s Day). Ocean Harbor is open daily from 10:30 am until 10:30 pm (with opening time a little earlier at 10:00 am on weekends). We don’t think that the restaurant takes reservations, but if you arrive and no tables are available, they’ll add your name to their wait list. Ocean Harbor is located on Race Street (between North 10th and North 11th Streets) in Chinatown, which was initially settled in the 1870s when the first restaurants and laundries opened. Other competing dim sum restaurants occupy nearby storefronts, but we chose Ocean Harbor because it seemed to have the most activity, the largest crowds, and the best reputation based on reviews that we had read. Patrons access the large dining room by climbing a few steps. The big room has a tiny bar near the front stairs (although it is more of a service bar than somewhere you can sit to enjoy a drink; you’ll also pay your check here after you dine), but the focal point is the rear of the room with its raised platform backed by mirrors and Asian artifacts. (The platform housed three round tables for very large groups on the day that we dined, but we can envision it be used to hold a wedding or banquet party during special events so that the guests of honor are raised enough for all to see.) Most tables at Ocean Harbor are larger to accommodate groups of friends and family who like to share the many dishes offered; what is at a premium are tables for two, so we were lucky that we were seated immediately (likely because we were sure to arrive exactly when the restaurant opened). Tables are set close together, the noise level is high, and the pace is fast. Ocean Harbor serves Chinese food, which isn’t immediately apparent from its name. Although we have access to different types of Chinese cuisine where we live, we don’t have a local restaurant that offers dim sum from rolling carts. So it’s always fun to find a restaurant that has carts when we are in a large city like Philly (or NY or Boston or San Francisco). Since we are just a party of 2, we aren’t able to try as many dishes as we would like without wasting food, but we selected a number of dumplings and buns and other tasty dishes from the steam carts as they rolled past (there are also cold carts and sweets carts). Staff is friendly and patient, even with those of us who are less experienced and only speak English! As guests accept various dishes, the servers note your selection on a tab that is totaled at the end of your meal. Ocean Harbor has a liquor license, so you can enjoy a beer, wine, or cocktail with your meal. We enjoyed our dim sum brunch at Ocean Harbor!

We always come here for dim sum when we are in Philadelphia m. Nice variety, delicious. We also order noodles and fried rice which are all good. Extremely busy on weekends so cone before 11 to avoid the long wait.

Everything was al a carte.Food was hot.Hot and sour soup was very good,best I’ve had since House of Chen closed between 9th and 10 th on Race St.We waited a long time before the waitress came.A market priced steamed flounder was $29,way too expensive for Chinatown.The front desk added an 18% tip,the lowest they would allow...we took the check there because it seemed the waitress was never coming to get it from us.I wouldn’t return,but I think my wife and son would.

Incredibly, I keep coming back for the food- but wow- the service is the worst. Don't ask for anything you want in a hurry. Expect lots of noise- from customers and the staff. Not a stitch of class. That said - best dim sum in town. Go with expectations in check, laugh at how noisy and cold the servers are- and enjoy the food.

This place is great. We tried the pork dumplings, fabulous, shrimp dumplings, clams, spring rolls and egg custard. All delicious. We only tried these items because there a few other places we wanted to try. Next time we will spend more time trying other delicacies. I highly reccomend this place.

It was a big shame to eat in this place, negative 100 service, rude staff and fake food. Horrible place to go!!!

First time there. Have never had Dim Sum before. Be ready to order as soon as you sit down. Wide variety of choices. Affordably priced. Not much to see in the way of decor or ambiance but you're there for the food

This place is nothing fancy but it has excellent dim sum. Quite reasonably priced in my opinion. Go on a Saturday and expect to wait a bit. My favorite place in Philadelphia for dim sum. My son-in-law, a New Yorker, thought it as good, if not better, than his favorite in Manhattan. If you love dim sum, it is well worth it.

We came here with my cousin who recommended this place for dim sum. We don't have dim sum where we live so we were looking forward to having some in Chinatown. It's bigger than the other dim sum places. We went around 10:45AM on a Sunday and there were still tables available. When we left an hour later, the line was out the door with at least 15 groups of people waiting! This place has the carts with people pushing them around the dining room. You don't need to speak Chinese, you just need to look & point at what you want. All the dishes we had were warm/hot and tasty. Prices were reasonable too.

This restaurant is very crowded on Christmas Day but since they open at 9:30am you just have to come early (before 10:30) to beat the crowds. It is typical dim sum so you'll find something you'll like. The food is good and the carts come around with frequency. Sometimes you'll get something that has made it around the room a few times so it isn't hot anymore. However once the room is full (about 250-300 people) this is rare. The people eating there are 95% Chinese but that is fun since I am not and its a family affair with lots of kids. Expect no quiet. The servers don't all speak English but you can get what you want with little trouble. The cashiers are a bit rude but most of the other staff is fine. Recommend.

We visit this restaurant at least a dozen times a year. Usually for Dim Sum at lunch time. The food is good, the variety could be better, but shy of going to New York / Flushing, or Toronto, it's the best I've found near Philly. I tried about 8 dishes: shrimp dumpling (ha gau), pork dumpling (siu mai), fried shrimp balls (my favorite!), and a handful of others. If you are comfortable with Chinese food, you'll really enjoy the food. If you're squeamish, go with a knowledgeable friend the first time or two. While chicken feet and tripe are delicious to Chinese immigrants, Yankees (white people) may be a little put off by them. Most of the dishes involve pork or shrimp, so a vegan / vegetarian may not be thrilled about the fare. The staff is efficient and helpful, though busy, so not a lot of time for idle chit chat. Most speak Cantonese, some maybe Mandarin, aka, Chinese, and a few speak decent English. Certainly not all. Go before 1:00, and the food will be fresh on the steam carts they push around the restaurant. If you go at 1:30, much of the food on the carts may have been there for a while, and may be getting a bit dry around the edges. Not unsafe, just not as satisfying. As lunchtime can get very busy, ideally you'll want to get there by about 11:30.

Visited Ocean Harbor Restaurant during our recent visit to Philadelphia in June 2009. I used to live in Philadelphia so I've been to Ocean Harbor several times before. Went to the restaurant around 1pm on Thursday. Had various dim sums including shrimp balls, sticky rice, pork ribs, beef and shrimp shu mai, shrimp wrapped in rice noodle, etc. Food was pretty good but I can't say the same about the service. The host and waiters just assumes that every Asian who walks thru the front door is Chinese and speak Chinese to you immediately. Well, no one in our party was Chinese and none of us spoke any Chinese. Waitresses come by with a cart of food but you need to ask for a dish right away; otherwise, they just leave and don't come back for several minutes. There's really no service at this restaurant. Normally, service at Chinese restaurants are not the best but Ocean Harbor is the worst I've ever experienced. The food is not good enough to justify this kind of service. In fact, nothing justifies the terrible service we received.

I fondly remember many weekend mornings waiting for my number to be called in the lobby of the Golden Unicorn on the Bowery in NYC. One hour wait was short. After moving to Philadelphia we have been looking for the same kind of place. We found it: Ocean Harbor on Race Street. We waited only twenty minutes for our number to be called and were not disappointed by the number of carts and the quality of the food. Smaller by far than our remembered restaurant, but great food and service. And no train ride to NYC.

decent dim sum

We were a group of 6 visiting on my birthday. We waited about 20 minutes at around noon. Not too bad. The food was good, with many dim sum choices. Menu items were also available. We enjoyed it but it was pretty loud and hectic. But that's how dim sum is in Hong Kong anyway!

The service was horrible, everytime I needed something like a drink or a fork, I had to get up and look for a waitress. When I went to pay I had to pay more cause I used a card. The bill was $110 and I tipped $10 and the waitress came up screaming at me cause she wanted $5 more. It was just unbelievable.

On our way to downtown Philly we decided to stop in Chinatown for a quick bite to eat. We were a family of seven (7 adults & 2 infants). We just arrived from NYC the evening before and this was our first visit to Philly Chinatown. Unfamiliar with the area eating establishments my brother in law asked for a recommendation from a local patron. She suggested that we dine at Ocean Harbor Restaurant which was just around the corner. This turned out to be a very good recommendation. We were seated right away and just in time for dimsum service. The food carts had a good selection of shrimp,beef, and steamed bun products. We also ordered mushroom noodles and fried rice. These were prepared fresh and very tasty. If you are in Philly Chinatown be sure to visit this restaurant for Chinese food. You will not be disappointed.

The place serves authentic Chinese food, and, at lunch, you can have a dim sum. Several charts run through the table showing food and you can ask what looks good to you. Dishes generally consist of small portions for 3-4$ each. This is a perfect occasion to try something new, in particular for big groups. When we arrived, Sunday 1pm, the place was busy and quite loud. However, service was attentive and explained us some of the dishes. After a while, the place got quieter. We totally spend there a little more than one hour, it's a good place if you are not in a hurry

We normally go here for dim sum however my husband decided to try for dinner! It was the best choice. The lobster was so fresh; fish was steamed with perfection; sausage fried rice was SO good!!!! We barely made it out walking.... It was definitely one delicious meal and cannot wait to return!!!!

This place was great. It's located right in Chinatown. The waiters walk around with carts and as you see something you like, you tell them and they just take it off the cart and give it to you and write your choice on a card that you will later use to pay. There is a wide variety of Chinese food and it is all very authentic. I enjoyed everything I tried. For a party of eight and splitting the bill equally, we all only paid $11 including tip and we all left feeling very full. I would recommend getting there early for lunch however because there is a very large lunch rush and you may need to wait a while before getting a seat.

My wife and I are from Hong Kong so we know Chinese food well. We had dim sum for lunch here. The quality of the dim sum here was comparable to most mid-tier Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. We had shrimp dumplings, Char Siu Bao, deep fried beam curd and a pork and egg congee. We had thoroughly enjoyed each dish. The place was packed for the whole duration of our meal so be expected to wait for a table. We would definitely be back!

We chose this restaurant because it was Zagat rated. We had a vegetable dish, Fish maw soup (was okay), Orange Beef that was drowned in some brown sauce that was awful and not worth the price for the taste, quality and quantity of the serving size. Their saving grace was the vegetable dish we ordered, sweet pea leaves. After dinner, my husband got an upset stomach. It might’ve been the beef but couldn’t say for certain. When we were walking back to the car, I noticed that all the restaurants were all Zagat rated. I don’t know if you could buy those stickers or if the Zagat name can no longer be trusted.

4/2/2018 This is highly rated based on the reviews I read but my experience was mediocre. The shrimp in har cheung is much smaller compare to the Ones we are used to. Service is slow, at one point all the ladies with the cart just stood around chatting while one was on her phone. They didn't clear the empty dishes till much later on and didn't change our plate. I still enjoyed it since it's dim sum but comparing to the ones we frequent in NY this is below par. I am not certain how this compares to other dim sum places in philly but based on reviews the one across the street is good as well.

Pampered traveler beware. This is not the place to go if you want to be waited on hand and foot. But for those of us who are passionate about FOOD, this is heaven. Staff push around carts loaded with steaming trays of dumplings, vegetables, soups, meats, and everything else authentic and delicious about Chinese cuisine. My Chinese grandfather has lived in Philadelphia for over 60 years and this is where his years of searching have led him! Go in ready to use hand gestures to get what you want because English isn't always available, but for the best Chinese food around, look no further than the carts whizzing around the dinning room!

Busy place with people queuing on the steps; had never been here before and took us a while to realise we had to get a number from the guy at the top who was seating people. Waited about 10 minutes but would have had to wait longer if we hadn't been willing to share a table. All the food is brought round on trolleys; though there was a menu we didnt use it. There was a good choice of dishes but it's a bit hit or miss as they come in no particular order in typical dim sum style so we got meat before the fish courses. All were tasty; I had trouble eating some of them with chopsticks but I'm not very competent with them...no-one offered me a spoon and fork...but maybe that meant I didnt look too hopeless!! My only complaint would be that many of the waitresses were unable to tell us what the dishes were so it was all a guess!

Went for lunch, order the steamed dumplings - Don't order anything fried, tastes like they used motor oil for frying. Not going back.

I've been here about 5 times with small groups of friends. Each time hasn't disappointed! The line starts to back out the door after 1100 for brunch (dim sum) on the weekends, so get there around 1030 to save time. Order drinks off the bat when you first sit down as its hard to flag down waiters. Don't bother with the menu, go with ordering straight from the carts. Will definitely be back!

This Chinatown place is good for dim sum. We came on a Sunday morning, the day most popular for dim sum for members of the Chinese community. We came at 10:05 and the place was not crowded. By 10:45, people were waiting to get in. Come early. The dim sum is standard, not superb but good. Prices are reasonable also. The quality of the tea is excellent. I would recommend it as walking from many places near the convention center isn't but 10 minutes.

Wonderful dim sum experience! The whole family appreciated the delicious food and great service. We love the variety & quality.

I went here with a few friends and we got dim sum style for lunch. We went into it on a walk-in basis. It didn't take us too long to get seating. I did appreciate the waiter hustling to clean up the table and prepared it for us. We picked what we wanted from the different carts and they served them to us. Food quality is pretty authentic in my opinion. Although we weren't able to get a few things we wanted because only one of us in the party spoke Mandarin. We also got the shark fin soup which was unique. I like the style of dim sum but it's a little hard to recommend something like this to other people because we never knew what each portion of the meal called! Lol. That's what makes it a little more unique because you never know what you're gonna get, but regardless you'd still have to pay for what you picked out. Kinda like a buffet but not unlimited. This place worths a try if you're looking for somewhere to get quick lunch in the Chinatown area!

We usually go for Chinese in Philly at Imperial Inn. We wanted to try something new. Big mistake. Dirty tablecloths and glasses and at best mediocre food. Egg rolls mostly the wrapper with tasteless filling. OK Spareribs. Sesame Shrimp was basically Sweet and Sour Shrimp sprinkled with sesame seeds. Fried rice with crab meat and dried scallop lacked taste, visible crab, and visible scallop. Short rib in black peeper sauce was not bad, but certainly lacked any pepper taste. The fact that all the other Chinese restaurants on Race Street were crowded and this place was almost empty should have clued us in.

Presented with tip options for lousy service starting at 18%, I refused to tip at the cashier and said I’d tip at the table. Back at the table, a miserable guy standing there rudely asked for the tip. I'd never seen him before and his attitude was projecting that I was obligated to leave a generous tip for his nonexistent service. So this was our waiter who was supposed to refill our water. If he had asked me for the tip politely, indicating my generosity would be appreciated by himself and the staff delivering the dim sum carts, I might have obliged him. But he was incredibly rude, and I only tip for good, polite, friendly service, and he neither demonstrated nor was capable of any of these, and his attitude of unfounded sense of entitlement was obnoxious, so I did not leave a tip. What followed was incredulous, with 4 or 5 employees erupting into a screaming tirade demanding a tip and following us out the door and threatening that we never return to Chinatown. We'll be back to Chinatown, but not to Ocean Harbor, nor will our friends & relatives (Chinese & non-Chinese), nor will the friends & relatives of our friends & relatives... Is it ambivalence or stupidity that the staff of a restaurant in 2019 does not realize the impact of negative social media reviews propagating through the population and resulting in expanding loss of business. Scanning the restaurant’s reviews, hysterical unsocial and unprofessional behavior stretches back at least 10 years.

So here we were wanting to try this dim-sum place for the first time. Food trays came along and we had a variety of choices to choose from. Wife's favorite was the fried shrimps. Mine was everything! As usual we chose our favorite dishes. Food was pretty good. I wouldn't say they're better than other dim-sum places, and they do have more variety to choose from here. Lunch time is always crowded here too. After we were done, I left tips on the table snugged underneath a plate and still good enough to see it. Went up to pay at the counter, and then a waitress came and say "you no leave tips!" Huh was my first reaction. Then right away I walked her to our table and pointed like Bruce Lee would have done it to where the tip $$ was. Very rude of that woman! We decided not to come back to this place anymore.

Every major city I visit, I try to find Dim Sum. I cannot count how many Dim Sum places I have tried, but Ocean Harbor in Philadelphia is one of my favorites. They have the carts on the weekends so you can view and select the Dim Sum that looks interesting, but you can also request a menu or ask for specific items and they will bring them out to you (if they understand what you are asking for). This is a great place to have an authentic Dim Sum experience and they have a much larger variety of Dim Sum than other restaurants in the area. Unfortunately weekends have long waits and service can be tough as English skills of the wait staff can be less than desirable. Still, it is worth it and we eat almost every time we visit the area.

Good dim sum. Typical rough no frill Chinese service. On the cleaner side for China town. Our big complaint was we were at the farthest table from kitchen. So the popular items would be gone when the cart got to us. After the third time of being out of our request they brought some to our table.

Our party of six ate at Ocean Harbor Restaurant on a Sunday evening and found the food to be, in general, good but not great. The best dish was the Peking duck which was excellent and gets the highest marks. The worst was the vegetable spring rolls, which were very dry, very overcooked, and not tasty at all. Better than average were the scallops with garlic sauce, the braised scallops, and the lemon chicken. Just average were the shrimp were cashews, shrimp dumplings, and shrimp with walnuts and cream sauce. The dining area was one big room with a few TV screens and little atmosphere.

I was little nervous about hosting a big family dinner in Chinatown since a lot of times the service is slow and rude. I was very pleased with Ocean Harbor and everyone had a great experience. I made reservations over the phone couple hours prior and they were able to accommodate our group of 14. The food came out in a very timely manner by our friendly server and our orders were all correct. The food was delicious and the portions were huge. We probably should have ordered less and shared instead of ordering individual dishes. I had the dim sum sampler which was amazing. I definitely want to go back when they are serving dim sum which is daily during lunch. The other outstanding favorite from the dishes I sampled was the braised scallops with vegetables. Everything was very good and made for tasty left overs. The kids loved the watching the live fish, shrimp, crab, and lobster in the tanks. They also validate parking if you park in the parking garage across the street from the restaurant.

If you do not speak Chinese then insist on being seated next to the traffic circle of Dim Sum carts, otherwise you'll have a hit or miss meal, good but not well rounded in the offerings

Excited for a Saturday brunch of dim sum during a special visit to Philly, we arrived as their first and eager customers. As we frequently enjoy traditional dim sum in our native NY (Flushing & Manhattan's Chinatown) we heard good things about Ocean Harbor and Philly's Chinatown in general. OH's tired interior didn't turn us off as this is pretty typical in the better dim sum joints. However, moments after one of the cart ladies delivered several tins of dim sum (shrimp dumplings, bean curd skin dumpling, pork/shrimp dumplings) to our table, she "open air sneezed" (i.e. turned her head away from her cart, and sprayed her sneeze -- UNCOVERED) nearby the side of our table. This happened TWO TIMES. My family & I froze in our seats in disbelief. I suddenly lost my appetite. From that moment on, we made sure to select food from other's waitresses' carts, however the gusto and excitement for eating dim sum was gone.

Dim sum at Thanksgiving was excellent, eat there several times a year, always a great taste experience. Food is fresh and hot, so many choices to choose from, if you like dim sum, you will love it here !

seafood dishes really good. Authentic type Chinese restaurant. Also liked the service. Very good value for the money. Would return to this restaurant.

It was very crowd space, we waited 30minutes to get a table. The small dishes were very testy, but at acceptable price. It worth it to try one time in your life

We've been here often for dim sum but yesterday we went for dinner. It was spectacular! We had Peking duck (very good), slippery eggs and shrimp, salt baked squid and scallops, fried lobster!!!!, huge oysters in soy sauce, noodles, bak choy. A real feast for 6! As good as Hong Kong. And very reasonable in price. Oh yes, we also had a steamed fish. Everything was delicious.

enjoyable

Made our annual holiday trek to Ocean Harbor with business colleagues for dim sum. There are few steam cart dim sum restaurants left in Chinatown these day. In the pre-Covid era this place would have been bustling with diners. Now it was half full at noon. The standard steam offerings albeit served by fewer cart ladies so longer gaps between offerings. I can’t complain under the circumstances. I long for the good, old, pre-Covid days.

This place has the most authentic Hong Kong style dim sum in Philadelphia, let alone Chinatown. Dim sum (literal translation is "Little heart") are small sampling dishes and is the Chinese equivalence of Spanish tapas. You go here mainly for food, not so much for ambience (different kind of ambience) or service. Authentic places such as this place, instead of ordering from the menu, simply push carts out with various dishes and you just point to the dishes you want. For the uninitiated, you can start from the very "American-friendly" dishes such as roast pork buns, shrimp dumplings, egg rolls. Then move up to radish cakes, egg custards, sticky rice wrapped in leaves. If you are really adventurous, you can try their braised chicken feet, steamed pig tripe (stomach), pig's ear, or even pig blood cake. This place does all the dishes very well. On weekends, it is usually packed. They use the upstairs as banquet hall (typically weddings), but occasionally open it to accommodate overflows. Like typically Chinese restaurants, the restaurant is noisy and service may feel a bit rushed. Don't rush. You are supposed to take time with your dim sum, sip tea, read newspapers, and have conversations with friends. They also have very good regular Cantonese dishes.

We went here for Sunday dim sum with the family. The decor is upscale for China Town and the place looks clean. The dim sum was quite good, but you have to be patient. The service is not great. But we were not in a rush and wanted to talk.

Maybe I ordered the wrong food but I was very disappointed with the take out order I had in September. The food was hot but the portions were small and I intentionally did not order anything challenging or hard to prepare. The veggies were OK but the quantity was small. Chicken with snow peas barely had any snow peas.

Went with colleagues for our annual dim sum holiday foray. With the closing of Imperial Inn and Joi Sin Lau, steam cart dim sum in Philly seems to be dying out. Ocean Harbor is always crowded, noisy, boisterous and filling. The offerings are adequate, served by pleasant women attendants. It’s sometimes challenging to find that specific dish you came for (chive cakes in this visit). The male waiters are brusque and all-business. It was difficult to get a hot chili oil cruet replenished. You never know if you’re being charged a fair price for dim sum because the questionable hieroglyphics imparted on your check is unintelligible to gweilos.

We had a group of 18 here - girls and moms. They did take a reservation for Friday night and were ready for us. The restaurant itself is pretty bare bones - but clean. We were the only non-chinese in there which before TA was how I picked restaurants in Chinatown in NYC. Service is abrupt - but that is again typical for Chinese. Some food was very good - other stuff was OK, nothing was terrible. Girls had mostly LoMein and Fried Rice - and were very content. We had a variety of dumplings, typical Chinese food like Kung Pao chicken etc. Best dishes were the whole rock fish in a black bean sauce (you can't be squeamish - it's the whole fish staring at you) and crispy noodles. Dumplings were also very good. Pricing was more than reasonable and portions were more than generous. You could definitely share an entree. Would love to get there for dim sum on a weekend - but our schedule did not allow it. I'd go back - but not race back the next time I'm in Phillie.

We don't have anything like this in Richmond VA so I am no expert, but it was a lot of fund and we liked all the food we tried.

Great Dim Sum and very good selection. Service can be a bit tricky and hard to understand. Make sure you leave a tip, or they will literally chase you down the street yelling at you.

A local recommended this place for dim sum, and it was so good. This is coming from someone who is authentic HKese who was looking for authentic dim sum! We were lucky enough to be seated by the kitchen, and everything came out was piping hot and delicious. Appreciated the wait staff carry some of the food items on a tray. This way they could get to you faster. We enjoyed dim sum choices that we had in our area but much better quality and dim sum choices that we didn't have in our area. Ocean Harbor will be our go-to dim sum place from now on!

The dim sum was so-so. I paid by credit card, the waitress asked me if we had left a tip on the table. I thought my friend had left a tip and I said yes. When we went toward the rest room down the stairs, the waitress came after us and started screaming that there was no tip on the table and started demanding that we give a tip. All this screaming in front of other customers going to the rest room. Two waiters then came and stood on the top of the stairs wanting to know which table we were at so they can go back and search for the tip again. The waitress ranted loudlly and tried to phsically trap us from leaving, insisted that we leave a tip. She did not stop screaming until one of the waiter told her to let it go, and we had to walk around her while she continued to scream at us for a tip. There was no way that we would leave a tip after such harrassment and potential trapping by the staff. Horrible experience.

One review suggested do not go to Joy Tsin Lau but go across the street to Ocean Harbor for better service and food. The service was very poor. It was not at all busy and we waited way to long and had to get the attention of the waitress to take our order. Tried the pan fried pork dumplings and they were last week's at best dipped into the deep fryer to revive them - awful!!! Also served tea without asking for it and also charged for it. Will not patronize again. And the biggest turn off - smoking - smoking - smoking - who wants to eat someone's smoke with your food!

I've been visiting Philadelphia for over 30 years with my family and this is now our go to place for dim sum (available sat and sun - before 3pm). It's not the most appealing looking restaurant but in Chinatown, there aren't many of them. Despite this fact, the dim sum is legit. I love the shrimp rice rolls (served with sweet soy sauce), shrimp dumplings, siu mai, spare rib tips, etc are all great options to try. For dessert, there's the almond or mango tofu and of course the custard pastries. there's always a line on the weekends so do not expect to just walk in and eat...so hopefully you come prepared to wait.

A typical Chinese restaurant, with quick service. The carts are well stocked and the staff are efficient. A very busy place, so the food is fresh. In order to be seated quicker, we shared a table. Not the cleanest of restrooms and the place is quite outdated.

This is where I go when I want a brunch of Dim Sum. It opens before the others, at 10 AM on weekends and serves a good variety and all the standards. The waitresses efficiently locate items for you if they don't carry them in their carts. The line gets long around 10:45.

Dim sum.

I've come here so many times over the past 10+ years. It's definitely good for dinner, or even dinner parties as it has a lot of room upstairs to rent out. I've even come here after 1am before, but it's not guaranteed to be open then. What it's not good for is it's dim sum. Wow, wasn't good at all. I only tried it since the my usual places were so packed. Never again.

Originally being from Philly and raised in a Cantonese family I grew up comparing ocean harbor to all dim sum restaurants I've ever been to. Whenever family was coming in from out of town, we'd bring them here. Sure the staff is rude ( that story about no tipping is so true . I was stalked when i went to the bathroom. Yet i still come back for the food!), it's noisy, cramped, and hard to get a table but if you're visiting Philly and want decent dim sum you come here. You can't even get through the front door during the chinese new year because everyone's bringing their grandma, brother, cousin, everyone! I've visited many cities and wished I could've gotten local opinions on whats good and not good because a lot of these sites really lead you into all the wrong places. Some of these restaurants in the top 10 I've never heard of or even think I'd even walk into....Sang Kee is always a safe bet any time of the day and then there's david's Mai lai wah, that seafood house diagnally across the street and tai lake for those niteowls.

THE flavors are there but not over powering, the place is clean and kept to high standards a date night or just a night or afternoon out this is a reasonably priced place big portions value for money>>>>>>

This is the place we go for dim sum most time. Although the service kind of pretty bad. I'm Asian and they assumed I spoke Chinese everytime I came. Very hard to communicate with the host and cart ladies. But keep coming back for the dim sum.

I often visit Ocean Harbour as it has excellent Dim Sum. Historically, the service has been terrible- but consistent. Much better service today. Not Four Seasons level, but very much more friendly, quick and responsive. Yeah for the upgrade!! Food remains very good.

Ocean Harbor is the go to place for a Chinese Banquet wedding. Despite planning the event from. Boston, the wedding was sealed sly executed. The manager Jeff Wong received and then chilled our shipments of red and white wines and Champagne. Every dish was tastier than the one that preceded it. The spring rolls, shrimp dumplings, Peking duck and lobster were only a few of the outstanding dishes served. The space was beautifully transformed by draped linens and chair covers and comfortably accommodated our 150 guests. Music was provided by a DJ and the sound system worked perfectly. I highly recommend this venue as the place to hold your wedding.

Frankly the only reason this place does not get 5 stars from me is because of the communication barrier, especially trying to get an answer from servers in English about what ingredients the different dishes have for people who have dietary restrictions. But they do not need it, because the place is packed for lunch by Chinese people and all conversations happen in Chinese. Excellent excellent food and bit different, so if you are willing to have a culinary experience in Philadelphia like you would have in a place that you don't speak the language but you look at what looks good and point and get (and it will be good mostly) this is the place. It really is a culinary adventure, if you have an open mind. If you have dietary restrictions, special orders, and/or cannot take a meal of about 4 grams of sodium or more, you are better off coming in with a native speaker (who might help with the first 2 parts, but not the sodium.)

Don't get here as often as I would like but when we do we are always glad we made the trip. We live 90 miles from Philadelphia so dining at Ocean Harbor has to be planned well in advance. There is ways a line on Sunday morning but the wait only adds to the anticipation of the delicious Dim Sum that is served steaming hot from carts that are rolled around the noisy and crowded dining room. The food is always fresh and delicious. The service is what you'd expect but in spite of people waiting for a table we never feel rushed in the somewhat hectic atmosphere. Upon arrival be sure to go to the top of the steps to get a number from the host in charge. This is the method they use for seating. Sometimes we are given the option of sitting with other guests rather that to wait for a smaller table. The few times we accepted proved to be an interesting experience.

We were taking a break from the Philadelphia Flower Show and decided to go to Chinatown for lunch. We were looking for seafood and picked Ocean Harbor after the first couple of restaurants weren't open. The restaurant was about half full and we were directed to a table right away. in a minute or so, we were served tea we didn't order (but were later charged for). It came in a broken pot. Then a waitress came by with a cart and offered us about six different dishes, none of which looked too appetizing. The waitress was very persistent so we took small plates of calamari, noodles, and shrimp on peppers. All the dishes were at room temperature. The calamari was a bit salty, but OK. The noodles were definitely old. The peppers were very greasy. So having finished that, we tried to get someone to take our order. One waitress I asked just said "Later" and walked away. We asked another waitress for water but she never brought it. All around us, other diners were being served hot dishes that actually looked pretty good. We gave up waiting and decided to leave. The check had nothing written on it except three zeros in boxes next to some printed Chinese symbols, so we were stunned when we got to the register and were told the bill came to $17.50. So we paid the bill and left only to have the manager run after us to say we forgot to leave a tip. So we gave him a few bucks and got out of there as fast as we could. Now maybe w didn't understand the customs there. We were the only non-Asians in the restaurant. But I have to wonder. In short, bad food and worse service. I won't be going back to Chinatown anytime soon.

Went for dim sum. Food was good, varied. Very minimal in the way of decor and settings. Service was adequate. Pretty much as expected for a restaurant in Chinatown.

We come here during the New Year day and the restaurant was packed during lunch, the line is long. The food is pretty good, dimsum, chicken feet and so on. The service is a typical Chinatown restaurant standard, fast and chaotic. If you are familiar with the food and service, you will be alright. If you want good service, prepare to be disappointed :).

This is a little slice of heaven if you are a dim sum enthusiast. It has a wide variety of dim sum and the worlds best fried rice. All of that said, in the 5 times I have gone on Sundays it is very crowded and chaotic. I try to go at the end of prime time, 130-200pm. Be prepared to point to what you want and try to block out the clattering of dishes and the loud hum of all the people around you to concentrate on the food at hand.

I was at meeting in the convention center and walked out for lunch. We were looking for something besides Reading terminal. This restaurant is just a few blocks away and served dim sum. Since the food was already prepared, we were able to have a quick and yummy lunch. The food was so surprisingly good that I wanted to go back again, but my schedule did not permit.

Hard to believe we did this - but we took 100 of our closest friends for brunch at Ocean Harbor. They weren't too pleased about it either - but willing to let us arrive at 10:00 on Sunday AM - provided we were gone by 11:00. No problems. We were on time - and they are fast, fast, fast. The Dim Sum was very good - up to the standards of the better places in Montreal and Flushing for sure. I don't know why some reviewers complain - but maybe they are spoiled. I was impressed. The red bean paste balls with sesame on the outside were divine, hot and slightly crisp, and delicious. I was also impressed with some of the more standard offerings - everything arrived hot, nicely prepared, and tasty! Most surprisingly - by 10:30 the place was packed - with a line extending way past the door. Totally justified. And of course - the atmosphere was totally in keeping the style of food. The idea is fresh and fast - and fresh and fast it definitely is! I'd definitely return when I get back to Philly - but perhaps only as a table for 4.

Needless to say, best one in Philly. You can tell from the long line after 11:30 every day. Strongly recommended.

I have visited Ocean Harbour many times over the past decade for dim sum. As the food was always very good, I accepted the numerous off-putting other oddities which are consistently part of the dining package at this venue. Specifically, it’s very loud. I mean nearly headache producing loud. Half the noise comes from servers shouting to each other and banging dishes and the occasional fork all being dumped into serving and / or cleanup bins. Add to that the at best indifferent attitude of the servers, and that you must ask for everything. Water-ask. Fork-ask. Vinegar, mustard, any sauce- ask. The steaming hot dim sum carts are often parked next to your table for refilling. And finally- the tea pots are seriously filthy. But- until today, the food was good enough to forgive that seemingly insurmountable list of negative attributes. Unfortunately, the food today was not good. The clams were full of sand. The seafood on pan fried noodles was terrible. The pork buns were like eating dry dough. The shrimp dumplings were good as was the Shumai. But on the whole- it’s not a place I will be visiting again.

Good for dim sum, decent for dinner.

We had several dishes and we thought it was very good. This place serves Cantonese food. We tried the sea bass and tofu casserole, Peking pork chop, and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce. The dishes were well prepared, not overly greasy, and very tasty. Price is very reasonable too.

Great dim sum in the PA even though not much choices compared to New York. But definitely better than any others in Chinatown. Cheap price, our family love to eat dim sum and dinner there.

Looking for a place to eat in Chinatown & unable to read Chinese, we found a sign on one that said Voted Best in 2009. Sounded promising. We ordered the dim sum for an appetizer. Incredible. I ordered a steamed bass with black bean sauce. They have tanks there with swimming fish! Fantastic. My daughter ordered lo mein. Plan on the lo mein to share for 4 people!

We stopped by this nice Chinese Dim Sum place in the morning for brunch. It is very delicious. We checked out a few other places and there are no line and this one is very crowned. Recommend to get there before 11 or you might have to wait. The service guys are friendly enough. We ate there twice already in one month. It is very inexpensive and very good quality.

I think they do a good wedding menu, and it's definitely worth it to come here for that, but I wouldn't come here otherwise unless it was late night to sop up the alcohol. The staff is ok.

Good food, but don't bring anyone you care about with you. You can get the same quality food with better service at any other Chinatown dimsum restaurant. Been here many times; but I must conclude that Ocean Harbor has the worse dim sum service in the city. Wait service acknowledges your existence but never fulfills your requests. It took 5 requests to 3 different waitstaff to get our tea and ice water. Dimsum service was the worst I've ever had. Every dish took 3-4 requests to obtain. Worst thing? After we settled our tab, the waitstaff chased us down and demanded more than a 10% tip - even though we had to hound them for service! When we explained why, they argued that we eventually got service so why not more tip. It was my mom's first time out for dim sum and I thought taking her to famous Ocean Harbor would be the best way to showcase Chinatown's premier dim sum service and instead we barely got an service and the 3 waitstaff proceeded to argue for MORE tip!

Good for dim sum. There will almost certainly be a wait for a table, but the line goes quickly. Once you are seated, food comes immediately. Very good selection of dim sum. Very authentic. Some are better than others. We found some overly salty or overly fried. The more people you have the better because you can try so many more things. English is not well spoken here but as long as you are not afraid to try different things without an explanation, no problem. I would absolutely not ever go here if there were any food allergies, though. There is no way to get an accurate representation of the ingredients. Well priced and fun experience!

Excellent dim sum. Many different choices and almost all great. But what I didn't like someone else did. Some not so typical choices like jellyfish. Get there early at least on weekends. We got there 5 minutes after opening and it was 80% full. Totally packed with people crowding the stairs when we left.

The subject says it all, but to expand. We came as a group during the lunch hour. The place was pretty full, but not overly so. We had a table to ourselves, towards the front of the restaurant. As we sat down, carts were on the other side of the restaurant. Food on other tables looked exciting and we were full of expectations. Long story short - after 30 minutes a single cart finally made it our way, and that was congee. After 45 minutes I finally went over and flagged down one of the carts to come our way, so we got to have a few items. Most carts never moved from the area they were parked in. Food was ok, but not great. I did notice that rice wrap dumplings had very little filling - the ones with shrimp had literally 2 tiny shrimps each. Same with the other service - we had to go and get our own napkins and a few other things, as waiters were nowhere to be seen. When the time came for the bill, the lady at the counter quickly typed up something on her end but never let me see how she came up with the total. It did not seem to match any possible pricing combination for the dishes we had (and prices are not posted anywhere). I am fairly sure that our bill was padded. If paying by credit card, their terminal offers preset tip amounts beginning at 18% and up. Given the poor service that felt like adding insult to injury. I love dim sum, but will go elsewhere next time - plenty of choices nearby.

OK, so a few plates (eggplant and green beans) were room temperature yet still very flavorful. Next time I won't be so hungry when I show up! You have to be on your toes to snag a barbecue pork bun (they go quickly and are made continuously, I think) We shared a table with another small party; no problems. Zero atmosphere, unless wild counts as atmosphere. Loved it!