TopGun used to be our favorite place for dim sum in the ID, but since they’ve moved we haven’t really known where to go. We decided to try Jade Garden after hearing about it here and on ChowHound. We were daunted by the the large groups of people waiting outside (Memorial Day, what was I thinking?!) but found a place to park and went in anyway. SO PACKED! The hostess told us the wait would be 45 minutes for a two top. We decided to stick it out. I mean, I really wanted to try this place!

Once we were seated, tea and ice water arrived and once we received first plate of shrimp chee cheong fun, the wait was forgotten. It’s nice that you get to select which tea you want. I boringly chose jasmine because I wasn’t that familiar with the others. We were really close to the kitchen which probably helped because we saw the new stuff coming out. Even though everyone was busy as hell running here and there, and I do mean RUNNING, I thought the service was friendly and attentive.

We had…

• Shrimp chee cheong fun

• Shrimp and seaweed in a light pastry.

• BBQ Pork filled pastries (not bao. So flaky and yum!)

• Zha Leong, fried dough in rice noodle. This was our favorite!

• Sticky rice. So full of goodies!

• Har gau.

• Shrimp and chive sesame pan-fried dumplings.

There were so many other things we wanted to try, The lobster dumplings looked really good, for one! Unfortunately, a person can only eat so much :P We didn’t have any dessert because the egg tarts are mini which means too much crust-to-egg ratio. They were also out of custard buns. No problem! Mon Hei Bakery is just down the street!

This is my new favourite dim sum place in Seattle / International District area. If you are going on a weekend make sure to adjust for waiting time (there are always a ton of people waiting even past 1-1:30pm for dim sum).

The dim sums are fresh, I had my usual rotation of plates (shumei, shrimp dumplings, tripe, eggplant+shrimp, radish cake, sticky rice) and they are all very good. The eggplant+shrimp plate is awesome, huge slices of eggplant with shrimp inside, and the sauce they added to it is not as salty as what you will find at the other dim sum places.

The dumpling sizes are huge. They also have a lobster dumping that was very good.

highly recommended. And still very good pricing too for dimsum.

My coworkers and I went here for lunch on a Friday. We enjoyed the fast service and the food. The wait staff was quite polite compared to many other Chinese restaurants where they can be pretty rude. We got our food fast and it was good quality – especially the shrimp dumplings which were some of the best I’ve had. Finished off with a mango pudding that is my favorite. Prices are comparable to other dim sum places in Chinatown. The restaurant was also clean and decently ventilated as I didn’t come out reeking of fried food.