Tai Lake Reviews

We had steamed shrimp dumpling and the pork dumplings. The Shrimp dumplings were supurb. The pork dumplings were fair. Next up was the salt baked squid and scallops. Listen up, before you die, YOU MUST eat this dish! Never in all the years of eating salt baked dishes has anything come even close to this dish. No exaggeration. Next was the eggplant and minced pork. A bit spicy with flecks of ginger and a lovely hint of mustard. I wanted more, almost ordered another dish. But sanity prevailed. When oh when can I make it back there???

We originally made reservations at Morimoto but after a long day at a conference decided to cancel and hit Chinatown instead...am I ever thankful. When we first entered we were a bit wary with the run-down look of the place including the wet floor in the lobby waiting area with leaking seafood aquariums. But after watching the food being brought out and the swarms of Asian businessmen and entire Asian families enter we thought "this has to be good." Most of the menu is family-style and most of the tables are round-tops with lazy Susans - so we asked our (multiple) waiter(s)/waitress(es) what they would suggest and finally they took our menus and said "we order, just trust." OK - we had duck, mussels, crab legs, noodles, seafood rice assortments...I can't even remember because it never stopped coming and we just kept eating. As we ate, waiters rushed through the dining room out to the lobby to fish out dinner from the aquariums and ran past us with plastic bags full of squirming eel, fish, crab, shrimp, etc. After a while it was comical and reminiscent of "A Christmas Story." Oh what fun! Yes the place is shabby and the waiters' shirts are yellowed and stained, the floors are slick with fish slime, and the decor gaudy - what's the problem? Not brave enough? Then fine, miss out on the best, total Asian seafood and Chinatown-Philly experience of a lifetime.

I chose this restaurant out of many for a get together with friends who have various dietary restrictions because it's menu offered many options and because it was BYOB and had good reports on the food. We were not disappointed, but believe we may have been ripped off. There were ten of us and there was a lot of food, but after reviewing the menu later, we believe we were overcharged about $35.--$40.00. The bill was strictly in Chinese so we had no way of figuring it out and had been there long enough so didn't want to stay any longer to get it in English, but if you ask in advance they should be able to accomodate you. It turned out to be $27.00 per person including tax and tip, which we feel is a bit much for a Chinatown restaurant. The entrees ordered were only about $14.00 and the few appetizers were the garden variety ones.

As a Chinese, food is not bad - not great... Ordered the fish, it was slightly overlooked - which is not that good for a seafood restaurent.

We selected this restaurant based on the Yelp reviews. It is VERY authentic Chinese food in the heart of Chinatown. If you don't like walking by live fish/shrimp/frogs that are waiting to be put on your plate, then don't try this. But if you want to pretend you're in Beijing, try this place. My son had just returned from a 3 week China trip and said this place was just like the restaurants he ate at. We had children with us, so didn't get too adventurous, but the shrimp were delicious as was the General Tso's chicken. The Peking duck looked great and we wished we had tried it. The fried dumplings were delicious.

2 middle age couples, well dressed and polite, were told at the door that there was no table for 4 available for at least an hour. They encouraged us (my husband and I) to enquire because there were only 2 of us and perhaps they would seat us. We were shown to a table immediately. It was a table for 4! My husband looked back at the 2 couples and said to me, "we need to leave, they wouldn't seat those two couples because they are black". We left the restaurant. One of the couples asked the man at the desk why he was able to seat us and not them? He replied that we had reservations... but we didn't. I am so disappointed by this. It used to be our favorite Philadelphia restaurant.

ALMOST DIED OF INTERNAL BLEEDING I went there last night and ordered Vegan Bean curd with garlic eggplant, and in my dish under a piece of tofu was a flat thin piece of a seashell larger then a quarter, not a clam, not an oyster, a thin sharp razor-ish sea-shell. I took a bite because I didn't see it under my beancurd/tofu and it almost cracked my teeth. If I would of swallowed it, I would of died from internal bleeding. I will never eat here ever again.

We visited for the first time with friends, whom have never dined in Chinatown. Don't be put off by the tanks, it means fresh seafood. That is the specialty here but everything we had was very delicious. I LOVED the Peking duck which is served with Bing and the skin is sooo crispy. The ginger lobster was also very very good. We were the only Americans do you know it's authentic! Would recommend.

This restaurant used to have great seafood at reasonable prices, I was there the other night and they were charging $25 per pound for U 26 shrimp that probably cost $2.20 per pound. The preparation was poor. If this restaurant was in San Francisco they would be out of business in a week

Great food, good service, leave happy. Always ready to go again. Making reservations is a must-do. Everything on the menu is good.

It was a miss for us dining in... Came here for a late night dinner. First time dining in and the Ambiance is ok, restaurant is clean and so are the facilities. Ordered beef and broccoli and salt and peeper squid. It was tasted bland had much better ones elsewhere. It was a hit on take out! I usually do takeout ordering their beef fried rice, wonton noodle soup and beef chow fun which was absolutely delicious! Will stick to just take out going forth.

Looking for a challenge? Might as well go for it here. I'll post some pics of the food I ate and what it looked like before it was cooked! Most of the food was pretty good. The frogs tasted a little swampy. The entrance is interesting since it faces the Chinatown fire station and I kid you not, the trucks go on call every 20 min. It's crazy. Check it out for a truely unique experience.

Ate here after a long night on the town at 1 AM. Was wonderful to pick out fresh fish out of the aquariums and eat it 15 minutes later. I tried fish and lobster and both tasted extremely fresh. This place has to be the best restaurants open in the middle of the night!

Ate here with a colleague and was impressed with the food. We had a chicken dish, a veggie dish and a lobster dish and all the dishes were great. The service moves a little from attentive to pushy but that was part of the charm. I would certainly eat here again. Bill was $48 for the 3 entrees with the market price lobster ringing in at $18.95.

Fresh, well prepared, reasonably priced. It was crowded even on Sunday night after 8pm. Order the set dinner for four or eight if you don't know what to order. You could call it great Chinese seafood sloppy joe style.

This is the place for authentic Cantonese seafood cuisine. The clams in black bean sauce is outstanding and the shrimps are cooked to perfection. Their beef, pork and chicken dishes are also excellent. The dishes have the authentic "wok-heigh" flavor, that is the mark of true wok cooking. They are only open for dinner after 4 o'clock. I advise making reservations.

This restaurant is heavy on pretension with a dismissive host at the door that apparently because of their past reputation, suffers from a superiority complex. Though they appear to have a loyal clientele, their average food sales to appeal to this discerning diner, and the attitude, and I am not simply talking about the typical Chinese lack of the motion but downright rudeness makes this an unpleasant experience!

Food is good. Waiter was nice and attentive. The fried rice and snow pea leaves with garlic were delicious. My only complaint is about athmosphere We were the only customers at the restaurant around 6 pm on a friday. Nearby, there were 2 tables of loud staff who were also having dinner. Innapropiate! Keep your staff separate from your customers.

Roast duck perfectly cooked, Had a shrimp dish the shrimp were large and tasty. Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce great. Food came quickly, atmosphere attractive. I‘ll be back to try something more adventurous now that I know the execute dishes so well.

My boyfriend and his friends have been coming here for a long time after they go out. Having recently been voted as best late night in philly, I thought I’d give my two cents. The food here is good, but when we went it was hard to get more water because the waiters were very busy. We had seafood fried rice, pot stickers, sweet and sour pork, and one other dish I do not remember. Overall, a good place for seafood and a good place for late night.

Literally just left Tai Lake. Our entire dinner lasted 1 hour with a bill totaling $116.00. The manager, owner, host person. . Whatever he is ..literally told us he needed our table to hurry up. Are you kidding me? Like i said we were there for no more than an hour.. There were people there when we arrived that were still there when we were asked to leave...but they were Chinese! NEVER EVER was i asked to leave a a restaurant!!! I will NEVER go back to this place ever again.

We always visit Chinatown when visiting a city as my family and I love the cuisine so Philadelphia was no exception. The menu was very authentic (I’ve visited China) and many of the ingredients were in display, alive, in the lobby area. My daughter found this a little off putting. We ordered a selection of dishes to share, all were very westernised - I don’t think I’d enjoy frogs or pork intestines. The dishes were delicious and portions large. I especially enjoyed the dumplings. The owner was very friendly and chatted to me and my family for some time. The restaurant was very busy, all the tables were taken with people waiting. Would recommend

We have visited Tai Lake twice on our recent visit to Philly. The food is excellent, the service very good, the people are friendly. Highly recommend.

The number of choices in Philadelphia's Chinatown are exhilarating, a little intimidating, and unless you are willing to pick at random, meritorious of a little research. I selected this one based on the very high rating at Zagat's and the general feel of the place. While I think the Zagat review may have been a little too generous, the restaurant has a very solid competent feel and two menus that go on for pages and pages. It is also reassuring when the vast majority of customers are ethnic orientals. You walk into the fairly drab interior by way of a foyer with six substantial seafood tanks filled with live fish, most of which are candidates for your dinner plate. The tanks are spartan and perhaps overfilled with creatures who must be as comfortable as passengers on a rush hour train. there were many exotic dishes on the menus that I would have liked to try, but I had no idea how often they get their frogs legs, whether the shrimp was farmed in China or came from closer and perhaps cleaner waters, or the source and quality of their conch, abalone, eel and oysters. I opted for fresh fish rolls and then steamed grouper with yellow scallions. The fish rolls were superb, and did contain baby shrimp and diced celery among about six ingredients. The large round plate of bite sized pieces of fish surrounded by vegetables and a ring of orange slices was both beautifully presented and delicious. It was also quite ample and relatively inexpensive. I would definitely go back and try some more unusual dishes, although I'm unlikely to vote for the shark fin soup or jelly fish appetizers. There are plenty of lobster choices, flounder, cod, crab and other ocean delicacies. Vegetarian dishes, chicken and meat are also available, although so many other restaurants in the neighborhood specialize in those other sectors. The service was polite and a little detached. They read me right and delivered a fork along with the chopsticks without a request. No desserts, just some orange slices with your fortune cookie. They have a bar, and a limited selection of beers and wines. The complimentary tea is quite good. One doesn't come here for the decoration, but the high quality seafood dishes on your plate. At a very early hour, they were packed with families with young children. I suspect they would still be packed as the evening progressed.

I ordered the beef brisket and was not happy.Very little meat but plenty of fat in the dish.I won't be going back

Authentic chinese. Local diners. In Chinatown. Got recommendations from server and loved everything.

If you want chop suey or generals chicken, go to your local take-out. If you want a taste of "real" Chinese food, go to Tai Lake. It doesn't have great ambiance, service is Chinese style, when it is cooked, you get it. The food is great, the prices reasonable, the menu is extensive and they will cook to your specification. Do Not Order American Chinese dishes. Go with an open mind and be ready for a real food adventure.

We were in Philly for two weeks in March. We ate here twice. First time we stumbled into it looking for a late bite. This place has great seafood, good service, nice tablecloths (!) and great prices. We went back for dinner, need I say more?

It is ranked one of the top Chinese restaurants in the nation. While my husband and I waited in the tiny lobby, other patrons just started raving about the food. One couple drives from New Jersey once each week to dine at TAI Lake. A doctor and his wife come one to two times each week. Huge portions. Extremely friendly staff and owner. Very reasonable prices. Numerous tanks of different fresh fish/seafood lined the small lobby. Well over a 100 items on the menu. Casual. TAI Lake stays open until 3:00 AM. We and others STRONGLY recommend TAI LAKE!

In Philly for the weekend. Ate here both Friday AND Saturday night. Friday night had salt baked squid and scallops, clams, and stuffed eggplant. All were great. The clams were perfect. Saturday night had salt bake baby fish( small fish in the salt bake style). They were crunchy and a bit salty, yum! Then sauteed mustard greens in a nice delicate broth. The best though was a crab dish, yanked from the tank, brought through the dinning room, broken up, cleaned and sauteed with a delectable mixture of minced pork, ginger, scallions and who knows what. What a dish. Although the crab was quite pricey at $41.95, ate every morsel. Every other dish we've had there has been amazingly reasonable. What a find.

I had a lot of good recomendations for this restaurant. I got two dishes. Roast duck and clams with pork. The roast duck was pretty good, but not nearly as good as Sang Kee. The clam dish was good...but lacked the heat the menu said it would have. It was a little dry, too. Having said that, it was a really nice place, and the staff was great.

Pros: Very wide Seafood selection Cons: Too many choices Know before you go: I'm Chinese and from New York City, and I still do think this place is good. It also annoys me some when people come in and order "fast food" dishes and tells the waiters or chefs that it tastes different. IT IS, it's the real stuff. It's like going to a steakhouse, ordering a burger, and expecting it to taste like Burger King. Save some embarrassment and money and just go to a fast food joint if you're looking for that. My Critique: It's a generous fare for seafood served the way you want it - Steamed, Sauteed, and probably even Fried. Enjoy a more exotic approach? They have jellyfish, snails and frog too. I haven't had my pleasure on the frogs however, but maybe someone can comment on that at a later time. Their non seafood dishes are pretty traditional and I enjoyed them each time I went. Alternatives: You're in Chinatown, there are LOTS of Chinese Restaurants. I wouldn't limit myself.

The food was excellent. The waiters and people who ran the restaurant were friendly and on point. The decor was a little rustic but I don’t care about that. The restaurant was clean , very popular I ate there twice in the four days that I was in Philly. That’s how much I enjoyed the food.

Went there after a haircut in Philly. Only because the locals said it was the place to go for Chinese food. Food was excellent... Until I saw a baby roach crawling on my table right next to me. I killed it with my napkin. No matter how good the food tasted, after you see a roach...It does give you a bad after taste. I had to stop at Wawa to get a smoothie to think of something pleasant. And I truly tried to justify my sick feeling by thinking about Andrew Zimmerman and his show 'Bizzare Foods'... and how he said roaches, spiders, amongst other things were full of protein...

Only 3 other tables occupied so service was friendly and efficient. The menu is extensive and there are large tanks of fresh fish. Drinks and beer are available.

My uncle took me there when I visited him in Philly. He's been eating there for years. I really like the food there. If you don't mind about too-much-oil food, this should be one of the best place to try authentic Chinese food.

We have travelled in US for a month in many cities.This restaurant has not been rated in any guide books we read but apparently it served best chinese meals we have ever had in term of taste and freshness. We particularly love the crab with ginger and stir fried royal clam with XO sauce. Food prices are excellent in value considering tastes and size. Very good service. We went there 3 time for dinner and the place were always full. So if going in big group, reservation is highly recommended.

on top of the fact that it is open until 4am, it is much better than the other one that serves late down the street , and has great seafood...walk in and be greeted by tanks of your live dinner options if you are there for seafood...no better way to have it.