ABC Seafood Restaurant

DO NOT order poon choi (盤菜). We ordered it a week in advance and fully paid for. It’s for our family Chinese New Year’s eve dinner. Big mistake! Huge mistake!
We arrived on time at 5:30pm and was told by a manager that someone has picked up our order. WTF? We’ve the order receipt along with the credit card receipt. It’s already been picked up? No way, that’s a horrible excuse! How could you allow someone just pick up an order of product that worth hundreds of dollars without checking the receipt?
We ended up waiting there for over an hour for them to make another order of poon choi. Go elsewhere for you food, please.

Wow. No service and very slow food. We booked dinner with my family and in-​laws and it took about an hour between the first and last dish to come out. There were long periods of time when the table would be empty. Our large table looked really pathetic. We were almost tempted to go next door to eat at Five Guys between dishes. Seemed to be extremely short staffed and took a long time to get basic things like water or flagging someone down for hot water for our tea. Disappointing. Also the lazy susan on our table didn’t work! Seems like this place has gone downhill. Definitely won’t be booking another family dinner here. And very very very glad I didn’t book my wedding banquet here. Too bad because the food was ok.

Service is spotty and food quality has gone downhill recently. Portion sizes are smaller than they used to be, flavor has taken a nosedive, food was mushy and ill prepared, and some of the food was lukewarm when it was brought out. We’ve had other problems with the service here in the past, so we stopped coming for a while. Today’s meal served as a reminder we shouldn’t have come back in the first place.

Food was mediocre and service was horrific. We used to come here fairly often but don’t think we will visit again anytime soon. The soy sauce chow me in was rubbery and flavorless. Sui mei decent but very salty. We’ve been here for 1.5 hours now and have only received 4 dishes. Very disappointing.

Dim sum here is great! My friends and I are pretty picky when it comes to dim sum, and we would come back here if we were in the area again. I flag bad dim sum places and this place is def. on the good list. Food is fresh and made to order. We are surprised at its low ratings on Unilocal.We had attentive service, but also did not ask for much. Overall, I’d give this place five stars bc the food is yummy and the atmosphere was great.

This is the WORST service I have ever experienced in my life. The staff was so rude. I almost laughed out because it was just ridiculous. The food was slow, the quality was not as good, the table was full of paper dust that will stick on your cloths, when you ask why the food is one hour late the stupid waitress just ignored you and walk away. WOW. Then why tips right? And when she saw there’s no tips she didn’t care about why. She said «GET OUT!» We were really busy for flight catching so there were no time to argue. I would really rate 0 stars if there’s that option. AGAIN, the food is really so so comparing to the Cantoness restaurants in the bay area. So come on choose some where else. Anywhere else.

Alright, so there’s no carts rolling by… what?
…INSTEAD, there is a dry erase marker menu and they are slow to pick it up. I’m here to eay hot quick dim sum lunch and move on with my busy work day– this is a bad start. Server is taking her sweet time but this place is empty we’re not there late this is not 2:30 not 3 o’clock, it’s like 1:40 and we are game to eat. Then she’s pretending like we didn’t want all of the food on the dry erase filled out menu. So slow, just too slow. Not. Coming. Back. The dumplings are good, it’s just the service strategy and lackadaisical effort is too much to overcome for our expectionations of a good dim sum restaurant.

New menu ordering instead of cart ordering for dim sum is a disaster. The food is not bad at all… it’s actually decent. But if you go for dim sum, forget it. You will wait forever, the dim sum will be cold, the waiters will roll their eyes at you.
It will take 2 hours to eat and you will end up frustrated.
Don’t waste your time.

If I could give this place negative stars I would.
Our chive and shrimp dumplings came out completely cold. We nicely asked them to give us another order that is hot and they said the only thing they could do was to microwave it for us. What? So we had no choice but to pull out the «let us talk to the manager» card, who promised to give us a new order. Well when those sad dumplings came back, they were shrunken to half the size they were before and all the greasy oil had leaked out onto the plate itself. We asked the lady that brought them out how they were heated up and she said she was instructed to microwave them. Unbelievable.
Next up was the shrimp rice noodle. Half way into eating it we discovered hair interlaced into the noodle. Enough said.
Last but not least I’m pretty sure they are violating some safety code because the high chair we got to put our infant in was broken and held together with a plastic zip tie. The safety belt buckle was also broken which renders it completely useless.
Take your business elsewhere everybody. This place is as bad as it gets!

I would not recommend this place. I will not be going back. Food was okay, service was bad.

Food is 2.5÷5 and service is 1.5÷5. So why would I eat here? Convenience. That’s the only reason to eat mediocre food and deal with slow, disinterested, unfriendly and measly service. Whether you eat in or take out, something will be missing or a mistake will be made on the order. Unfortunately, the robotic demeanor of the serving staff and the fact that they never seem to be paying any attention won’t help resolve the issue. As a rule, any interaction with the staff here risks a scowl and a look of disapproval. Even making reservations, phone orders or questions. I tried ordering online once but they lost my order. They gave me a look of disapproval (it’s THEIR online ordering system!!!) and made me wait 20 mins to get my food. You’re welcome to try your luck.
The place is not super clean and they aren’t really working the customer service angle at all. The prices are high for what you get but if you’re looking for dimsum, there are not many options near by so you’re SOL and have to deal with what ABC gives you. If you dine in, they give you scarce condiments, are late with refilling water and tea, and the food is terribly mediocre. Some are better than others but never once did I have anything that I was like; «Hey, that was awesome and I want more!». The food is not terribly fresh and the all the meat has the taste and texture of previously frozen. The veggies are bulk, grade B veggies you’d expect at a discount grocery store or gas station market.
Take out is yet a whole new experience since they consider utensils optional. You actually have to request them and they give you a napkin that’s suitable toilet paper for a squirrel and a plastic fork you could start eating by accident without notice it’s so flimsy. Their chopsticks are made from recycled splinters. If you don’t forget to ask for soy sauce, they will give you one packet. Each additional packet requires you to absorb a dirty look. The chili oil/​sauce is hit or miss in terms of availability and also whether the container will leak all over your take out bag. They just throw everything into a bag like potpourri so I recommend you check your bag before you walk out of that place.
I’ve been here quite a few times because it’s close to my work but I can’t recommend this place. All I’m saying is that it’s okay if convenience if your primary motivation and you’re not sensitive to bad hospitality. I am writing this review after receiving 3 scowls and 2 looks of disapproval and at the end of it all not getting any chili sauce, chopsticks and 1 soy sauce packet.

I’ve been to a couple great dim sum places and this one is a disappointment.
I’ve been to ABC a few times and I’m never impressed.
Last time I was there, they had the carts come by but this time we just ordered off a menu. They didn’t help us with serving amounts so we didn’t get enough so I was hungry and they don’t ask if you want anything else.
The service is rude and you will have to ask at least 3 times to get water, food, utensils or any other extra request. They all just seem annoyed and like they want to ignore you.
The food is greasy and an item served to us had a hair in it.
Basically, they are relying on mediocrity because it’s always crowded so why change? I would have rather gone to 5 Guys next door because at least you won’t leave hungry.

The staff were very nice! The food was very tasty, but that is where the positive comments end.
The staff don’t clean their plates completely, which can get people sick. Stay away from this restaurant especially if you are concerned about health and safety.

Food: 5 stars.
Service: 1 star.
This is the kind of authentic dim sum restaurant where the food is sooooo good (spoken by Cantonese) and the service is terrrrrrrible.
First, the food. Superb.
They make the Shanghai style dumplings the way they are supposed to — with the juice/​soup still inside and the skin isn’t broken. It’s delicious.
The other dishes — noodles 乾炒牛河, shrimp dumplings 蝦餃, broccoli, rice 糯米雞 — they are all excellent.
Second, the service. Horrible.
They roll your eyes at you if you ask for water. Or napkins. Or anything. You have to demand chopsticks. It’s almost too funny. You feel like you can give them attitude back, but it’s still quite a terrible experience.
I will go back for the food, but hopefully they will train their waiters how to provide some decent customer service!

Living close by, this is one of the restaurants I frequent when I crave decent Chinese food. I’ve been here for both dimsum and dinner. Dimsum is usually packed but still within half an hour wait at the busiest times. It’s not the greatest, but it should satisfy you cravings and service is usually prompt. My only complaint is the amount of salt they put in. Even after drinking many pots of tea I still get extremely thirsty after.
For dinner, I really like to order veggie dishes and dishes that are hard to make at home. The portions are decent, tastes and presentation great, service pretty fast, price a little on the high side however. 3 dishes for dinner will usually run you about 50 dollars.
But all in all, a decent location for some quality Chinese food.

I guess all the poor reviews have caught up to this restaurant. But since friends of ours chose ABC Seafood for dinner we went. Our group of 7 arrived at 7 pm there was only one other large table of 10 and us. We ordered the paired menu at $ 218 plus a $ 40 bottle of Chardonnay. $ 336 including tip. Service was excellent, plates were changed, wine poured, and tea pots filled. There were exceptional dishes and some poorly executed ones.
Good dishes:
Lobster in a steam egg custard was excellent
Braised abalone was good
Salt and Pepper fish was good
Empress Chicken good but portions were tiny.
Not so good dishes:
Black pepper beef was sooo tough, the meat was tough and grissly
Mushrooms with Bock Choy bland huge portions must have meant to be filler.
I know this place serves Dim Sum and there is plenty of spills of grease, water, tea and sauces on the carpet. But they really need to clean the carpet. It smells of grease and damp musty water. Lot’s of parking in a large deserted center.

I was given the wrong veggie dish! The hot and sour soup was a little vinegar tasting. Let’s see how the rest goes!
The main dishes were excellent! Great turn around.

WORST SERVICE EVER!!! It’s pretty standard that most of these types of Cantonese restaurants aren’t known for their service and usually I’m okay with that as long as the food is good, but the service here is particularly terrible.
We came here for dim sum on Sunday at 1p.m. and had to wait about 20 minutes for a table even though we had a reservation. Although based on experience at multiple Cantonese restaurants, a «reservation» doesn’t mean much to them.
After being seated, we had to wait another 20 minutes before they brought us any tea. We ate a few dishes and then suddenly the carts stopped coming around and no one paid any attention to us. Every time we wanted tea or wanted to order food, it was a hassle and we had to tell multiple people before someone would actually bring what we wanted. Finally we were able to order several dishes from the kitchen since they weren’t bringing any food around on the carts anymore, but it took them 30 minutes to make our food. :(
Our total bill was less than $ 90 for 8 people!!! That shows how little we ate since the service was terrible. I was hungry by the time we got home…
The thing that really ticked me off was that when we got up to leave, several of the employees said out loud, «Finally, those people are leaving!» They deliberately said it loud enough for us to hear. It was so rude!
Needless to say, I won’t be coming back.

If you want Dim Sum in Foster City area, this is a great place to go. I love their lunch dim sum and dinner as well.
There is plenty of dining space. They have big tables for big group of people. The restaurant is inside a plaza which there is ample parking. Food is good but pricey and the service was decent. The wait is long but worth it. The thing about dim sum is, you just sit back and relax and let the food come to you.
All in all, comfortable place with good food. My best advice is order for take out or dine off hours. I liked this restaurant. I would have no problems coming back here whenever I have a dim sum craving :)

So, after having a horrible dinner experience here, i never thought i would come back. But a lot of people told me that i went at the wrong time, i should go there for lunch. So in the spirit of second chances and dim sum love, i went again for lunch on a Saturday.
We got there at 10.45 (yes we were that hungry!) So, earlier had had one star for ABC, I’m bumping it up to a whopping two star rating! Adding one star for a slightly better experience than last time.
The service remains sucky, the food remains blah, safe to say i wont be returning.