Joy Luck Seafood Restaurant
Joy Luck Seafood Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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One of the better places in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn for Dimsum–the food isn't anything special, but it's good, clean Dim sum which is exactly what we want. The place is smaller than the average NYC dim sum restaurant but the seating system is efficient and relies on a ticket system. They'll give you a written number ticket and you wait for your number to be called. Simple and efficient–this restaurant already has high hopes for the future.
Their ha gaow (steamed shrimp dumplings) are worthy of mention–they are large and stuffed with shrimp-not fat. This is the best place to get steamed shrimp dumplings in Bensonhurst.
I usually hate dim sum spots because it's crowded, long wait, waiters are rude, have to share a table, takes forever to get food and it's extremely loud. But this place is a place I would come back for. The wait was only 10-15 minutes. Not too bad. We got seated with other people but it was expected. It was New Years on a Sunday. The waiters were extremely friendly and nice. They asked us what we want the second we got seated and brought everything to us. The food was good. The waiter and manager kept asking us what else we would like to eat so they can get for us. They were like our parents trying to make sure we were fed 🙂 It made us all feel at home and happy. The manager was very upbeat and friendly to everyone even to the rude customers near us. We were talking to him, making jokes trying to make his day better but he made us all laugh instead. We need more of these waiters/managers around to make eating out experiences so much better.
Surprisingly good.
Don't let the homey old school Canto decor throw you off. They actually make really great food really quickly at a reasonable price.
My parents are very into only eating Cantonese Seafood Restaurants, so I have my share of knowing what is and is not good at them. This place does a great job serving our favorites super quickly! I'm pretty sure we got our food within 15 minutes of ordering.
Standouts:
Shrimp with cashew nuts: very fresh, large pieces of shrimp with that nice mayo-y sauce we all love.
Yee-mein: it's a special type of yellow noodle that is great for occasions in Chinese culture. Loved it here: great flavor without too much salt or oil.
Plus free dessert at the end! (Cantonese style which is sweet paste and cut up oranges.) This place has my vote to come back.
Have been coming to this place to yumcha for over a decade now and I've lost count of how many times the name has changed! Joy Luck is definitely the most popular dimsum place in the neighborhood. Get there before 10am and there should be no wait but get there anytime later than that and the place gets packed! In the past, I've always dined in on the 1st floor but it was exceptionally crowded today and we got seated on the 2nd floor which I hated! The 2nd floor is much smaller than the 1st and consequently, there's only one dimsum cart available. There isn't even a lady there to push it around! It just sits there and gets refilled with dimsum from time to time by employees that bring it up from the kitchen on the 1st floor! I definitely prefer the more traditional method of yumcha where the ladies push the carts around. The decor also looks better on the 1st floor. The 2nd floor seems like it was just casually renovated and added on to fit more people.
As for the food, it was alright. I got the spare ribs, siu mai, tripe, chicken feet, and tofu skin wrap and I found all of them to be pretty tasty, albeit somewhat salty. The tripe here is definitely better than the ones at Golden Bay, which is a couple of blocks away. We also ordered a Chicken chow mein which was good as well. I would say Joy Luck and Golden Bay are both decent dimsum places in the area. I am leaning slightly toward Golden Bay since it's closer to my house, is less crowded, and offers the more traditional style of yumcha.
This is your typical Cantonese seafood restaurant. I've been here for dim sum, ordered dim sum to go, and for dinner. There are 2 floors, but I would stay on the main floor. The 2nd floor doesn't look as nice and I feel the first floor is more attentive. As least for dim sum stay on the main floor, since that's where all the food is at. Dim sum can be compared to Spanish tapas. You can get to try an array of small Chinese dishes. The small dishes are already prepared and loaded on carts that go around the restaurant for patrons to select. And you get a paper where they mark the cost of the dish, since each dish goes into different price ranges. After the meal a waiter will tally up the marks and calculate the cost of the food.
You also get tea with the dim sum. A lot of places charge for tea these days, but I wasn't paying attention to the bill, so I'm not sure if this place charges for tea. The dishes are on average ($3.50) more or less. These dishes are common among many dim sum restaurants and they were pretty good here. The spare ribs, chicken feet, shrimp rice roll, bean curd roll, radish cake, eggplant, and many more. But I didn't really see any special or creative dim sum dishes here, mainly the classic dishes. There's usually a wait for dim sum on the weekends. They sell dim sum at the front of the restaurant, so it's great if you want to get some to go. I enjoyed the family style dinner here as well.
I came here for dinner
The waiter spilled tea all over the table…
The waiter's hand touched the eating part of my chopstick while i was eating…
Never go to the 2nd floor, they had a private room in the back and some guys were smoking, though the door was closed, the smoke coming out of the room was unbearable…
The guy didn't care much about our table…
Service sucks, that's the bottom line…
Dim sum could use a major overhaul at this restaurant! My first trip here was for dim sum and I left unimpressed. Staple dim sum dishes like shumai and hargao should be WAYYY better!
Dinner service was a complete turnaround. I came for a second time with my family and I was really skeptical. We ordered fish, pork, vegetables, and seriously, everything, EVERYTHING! was phenomenal! EVERYTHING. I was so shocked I couldn't stop eating. SHOCKING!
The salt and pepper pork was neither too salt or too fried, rather it was the perfect middle ground of salty, crunchy pig I didn't know I was looking for. I went back two days after my initial dinner meal just to order this dish from them!
The fish we ordered was a flounder that was pan fried. It was amazeeee. I hold fish to a higher standard than most proteins because it's my #1 favorite, but my god, this flounder had me like XO! I was singing Beyonce happy.
If the dim sum chef was as good as the dinner chef, this restaurant would be my new go to!
Came here with my parents for dim-sum and I was pleasantly please at how good their food was.
Of course I was sad that they didn't offer their weekday lobster with noodles for $10 because of MLK day but needless to say I wasn't disappointed with my experience overall.
The staff was quick and despite the restaurant being a bit tight, it had a good feng-shui vibe which make my parents and I felt relaxed.
We ordered their fried stuff eggplant and I like that they made it slightly different from other dim-sum restaurants by using a red curry base as sauce instead of the traditional soy sauce with black beans.
Their steam tripe was also very delicious and tasty. More so I appreciate how thinly sliced it was which made chewing much easier and more pleasant to the palate. This was definitely a plus on their end because most places choose to cut their tripe thinker to save time but labor but inadvertently create a less appetizing dish.
We also their pan-friend seafood noodle special and it was so good. I love how the dish was prepared. The crunchiness of noodles complimented well with the gooey white sauce and sweetness of the melons just blended everything well together.
All in all my dining experience was good and despite no lobster that day, I still think it was a good thing because now it gives me another excuse to come back another day.