Fook Yuen Seafood Restaurant

The worst Chinese restaurant experience. The food is pricy and the service is worst I’ve even gone through. If you don’t tip, they will urge with that look…

It took me and my boyfriend a while to try this place. We always drive by it and see lines outside to be seated. The first time coming here was actually on Christmas with family and that led to us loving the food. Despite all the cons, we love this place and end up coming here a couple times a month.
Pros:
Basically, the only reason we come here is for the salt/​pepper lobster for $ 14. You can order one lobster per entrée that you get (limited to the amount of people in your party). The lobster is deliciously fried and mixed with salt, garlic, green onions, some type of hot pepper (but it’s not spicy, just gives it a nice kick). I believe you can get butter lobster and a black bean lobster which we haven’t tried. They all look good, but by the off chance that it isn’t, I wouldn’t want to be disappointed.
The quality and taste of food is always consistent and we get what we expect every time. Also, if the food takes long to come out because they are busy, it never fails to come out hot which is always pleasantly good. The price here is not much more than what other Chinese restaurants charge for their other dishes, it’s just that the lobster is such a good deal for a great taste!
Cons:
Chinese aren’t particularly known for great service… don’t expect much here. They aren’t friendly, but maybe that is just their culture. In addition to the bad service, it is a little dirty. Bathrooms are dirty, lobster tanks are dirty, sometimes I get dirty water that they have to replace, so I wouldn’t even want to think about how dirty their kitchen is. Let’s just not go there…
Parking is also the absolute WORST here. Half the stalls on the street level are so small, I’m always in awe when watching people parking or even wonder how people don’t hit each other. The ground level parking isn’t the best either, so parking is very limited. I would suggest either going really early for dinner service or really late, because otherwise it’s just frustrating trying to find a stall in McCully shopping center.

They do not take phone orders. Well, they will tell you they do and proceed with letting you believe by the time you get there your food will be ready. The reality is they just take your order and it stays at the front check-​in counter. You must get there in person, pay for your order first before they will even begin to prepare it. No different than going there and placing your order then. You will wait the same amount of time if not longer. They value their time more than they value yours as a customer. And don’t expect friendly service either.

Food is alright. Called to make a last minute reservation for my daughters grad dinner, more people decided to join. When they answered asked for party of 10, said «all full» and hung up. Crazy! Called Lobster King right after, said «no problem.» Went there 30 mins later a table was ready and service was good. Zero service from Fook Yuen.

Boy I’ve had some bad Chinese food before but this place takes the cake. $ 12.95 for the weekday lunch «buffet» but the choices on this buffet was pretty weak. Start it off with the dirty and chipped plates that you can choose from the choose from the cold food in the «warmers»…beef broccoli. with no beef… mapo tofu without the mapo… just bad food overall with even worse service. Needless to say this is the last time I’ll eat here. nasty.

First things first. Parking for this venue is bananas. It’s a parking lot for a two-​level strip mall, with over a dozen businesses.
On the evenings that I went, it was most convenient to park in the lower level garage. It’s free too.
We (my family and I) got into the restaurant immediately noticed these two large salt water tanks which are damn near filled to the rim with lobsters. It makes sense to have the inventory when they are selling lobsters for $ 12.99 — 14.99 between lunch and dinner.
After being seated, I could not help boy look around at the chaos within the dining area. It was sooo busy and loud. Food is coming out to the surrounding tables fast and furiously. Our waiter, «John» comes over and brings us hot tea and asked if we wanted any other drinks.
I am going to tell you now, YOU WANT JOHN TO BE YOUR WAITER!!!
We ordered our drinks and began ordering food. John was extremely helpful and made suggestions. He even engaged us in a casual conversation amongst all of the chaos going on around us. Then he supported his suggestions with a solid justification. John noticed we were not very «traditional» and brought forks to our table without any dialogue. Everyone else had been using chopsticks. My wife ordered the lobster. I ordered some pork chops and fried rice. Kept it simple. The food was very good. It came out in a timely manner. John began dispersing the rice to my family and I in individual servings. As my wife is devouring her lobster, she’s placing the shells on extra dish John had brought over. As the dish accumulated shells, John whisked it away and replaced it with a new one. Topped off our waters without any reminders. This guy was on his «A-​game.»
I point these things out because we went back the following evening and had a COMPLETELY different experience. The
guy bringing out the food, brought out one main dish (pork chops), so we decided to wait for the others. 10 mins later, the second main dish (lobster) came out. The food runner, a heavy build, older, Asian male with glasses said, why aren’t you eating? We explained we were waiting for the rest of the food so we could eat together, besides, we were waiting on our fried rice. (Who eats Chinese food without some form of rice!?!) This guy said, everything doesn’t come to your table at once here. This is not that kind of place. His comment seriously rubbed me wrong. About 5 mins after that a side dish (vegetables) comes out. 5 mins after that, our fried rice arrived and we were ready to go. Approximately mathematically that’s 20 mins. Realistically, it was 17−20mins. Despite the pork chops now being cold, we ate our food. We had to ask for a cracker for the lobster where as the previous night, it was automatic.
Overall, the place isn’t bad. Good food, reasonable prices and amazing service if you have John as your waiter.
Ask for John or Johnny. Same guy

We ordered the sizzling beef plate, salt and pepper lobster and the dried scallop fried rice. All were good. If you like Chinese styled seafood this is a must.

Don’t come here unless you like bad service, getting charged an extra amount if you don’t look like a local, and being charged a different credit card amount than you authorized.
My family and I (party of 4) came here due to a local recommendation. The line wasn’t long since we got there early. The server got the wrong food ordered, but ok, mistakes happen. When we asked for the check, the bill included an extra line of amount that had no explanation. I asked the server what the amount was, and he asked: «Oh I thought you all were not locals, so we charge an extra amount.» Wait what? You charge an extra amount just because the customers are not locals?! Then he added: «Since you are locals, I’ll remove the amount.»
We came back here for the second time to try out the lobster deal. This time, the check didn’t include an extra charge of being a non-​local, so I signed the credit card receipt with the amount I am authorizing the restaurant to charge. To my surprise when I got my credit card bill (good thing I check my credit card statement and keep credit card receipts), Fook Yuen charged 200% more than what I stated on my signed receipt! I will dispute with the bank on the unauthorized amount, but fellow Unilocalers, beware!

My first time eating here, my mom wanted to go for her birthday dinner. I was surprised that there were many people dining around us, speaking Chinese which was a favorable sign– backed by the exceptional flavor of the food. Although I’m more of a fake Chinese food fan (Pandas FTW!!), I really enjoyed the steamed kumu. Some of my family’s fav choices included: salt/​pepper lobster, salt/​pepper pork, seafood veggie combo.
We didn’t make a reservation in advance, but were able to be seated right away on a Saturday evening. There is hope if you make last minute dining decisions like my family: there are some open tables if you can walk in early. The environment was hustling and bustling and blowing the «closed sign» down. Literally. The sign said closed when we walked in ~5:30pm.
The good:
~exceptional service from waiter
~accommodating staff
~perfectly prepared «authentic, non-​panda» Chinese food
~$ 14 lobster with the purchase of an entrée
~good location, many dessert options downstairs: D
The ehh:
~make rsvp, unless you can walk in early ~before 5:30

Good food but very bad service! open very till very late every day, and they sale lobsters which is my favorite

If you grew up eating good Cantonese seafood. This place is awesome. coming from SoCal, I KNOW my Cantonese seafood.
Hint, this place knows sea food. Don’t come here and order panda!!!
Stick with seafood anything you will be fine. Lobster and pawns are delicious. Finish with a nice clay pot seafood and tofu.
Again, don’t come here expecting panda!!!

It’s all about the lobster here. For one main entrée ordered you can add one lobster entrée for 13.99
This is also one of the few Chinese places that’ll cook a decent pei pa tofu
I’ve come here many times over the years and they’re very consistent.
I’d recommend making reservations though as they’re pretty crowded most of the time.
You can also park in the underground garage if you don’t wanna fight for the tiny cramped street level parking

My friend always talks about his family going here for a late night meal and how good the food is here especially the jook. So tonight we finally got a chance to eat here. Surprising it was not busy so we easily got seated.
I let my friend who goes here order. He chose the following dishes: plain jook, fried tofu, tofu and spinach, roast duck, ginger and onion lobster, and black bean clams. The food came out pretty quickly and we stated to dine.
The jook was very good and after 10pm you get unlimited servings which is awesome. I think our table ate 4 big bowls of that stuff. The fried tofu and tofu spinach was also very tasty. The tofu with spinach had a nice garlic and light flavor while the fried tofu was light and not too oily. The roast duck was ok and it was very moist and came with plum dipping sauce. The lobster was a steal as it coated only $ 13.99 and the ginger and onion flavor went well with the tender sweet lobster meat. Finally the clams had a very good black bean and garlic flavor with a hint of heat from chopped jalapenos. This black bean sauce and the spinach garlic sauce from the tofu went well with the plain jook.
Overall this place is a great seafood restaurant for late night dinning. You cannot beat the all you can eat jook after 10pm and the lobster specials. The service was excellent as well as they always filled our glasses and even provided us with new dining plates when ours was full of shells. They kept refilling the jook too =).
Will have to repeat and try other dishes.

I don’t often write reviews, let alone reviews for places that are less than stellar but here goes.
I’d heard about this place from some coworkers a couple weeks ago. They make it sound amazing. So, two weeks later, my wife and I are here on vacation and decide to give it a try for lunch.
There was a buffet that we looks at but quickly decided to order off the menu. We both had lobster on the brain.
When we ordered the garlic butter lobster, we were told that we had to order two more entrees. Ok. I ordered some prawns and my wife ordered scallops. We both ordered water to drink and an order of spring rolls.
The food came out, eventually, one dish at a time. The prawns and scallops were actually pretty good. The lobster, not so much. It was cut up, which we appreciated, but it was soaking in some sort of thick, slimy fluid. It was almost impossible to hold a piece to dig the meat out. Garlic and butter, I did not taste.
The final bill, before the tip was $ 76. We both felt that the food did not live up to the price.

I haven’t been here in over two years. I’ve been getting my cheap lobster fix at another restaurant that’s on Keeaumoku. I needed a change of scenery so we headed back to Fook Yuen. The last time I was here, the food was less than stellar. This time around, the food was spectacular.
The restaurant was clean but looked a little raggedy. It might be time for a little face lift. This place is old and they haven’t remodeled. They have the same furnishings now, as back then, when I was a teen, about 20 years ago.
We got there right at 5:30pm, when they opened for dinner. We were the first party there. Slowly, diners started trickling in. When we left at 7pm, the place was 75 percent full. The waiters were attention and kept the tea kettle and water cups full. I kept asking our waiter to take pictures of us and he was more than happy to do so.
The draw to this place is the $ 12.99 whole lobster with the purchase of an entrée. My favorite is the lobster with garlic and butter sauce. The lobster is chopped into pieces so it soaks up the sauce. The base is actually made with chicken broth. Then, they add in the butter and garlic. This dish is so delicious! It’s a little sweet from the chicken broth and a little salty from the butter. This sauce is just so tantalizing. The lobster was a decent size and very meaty.
Their Chinese chicken salad was also very good. This is one of the few places that add in jellyfish. I love jellyfish. It gives the salad texture and crunch. The greens were fresh and crisp. Shredded chicken was added in and topped with peanut bits. The dressing was light and savory.
Sweet and sour sea bass was not on the menu but we requested it. They made it with no problems. The batter was light and crispy. The fish was tender and fresh. It was complimented with the sweet and sour sauce, and green bell peppers. My only disdain was that the amount of fish that they gave were on the skimpy side.
Salt and pepper pork chops or capital pork chops? We went with the capital pork chops. I like to put the sweet sauce on my rice. The fried pork chops were still crispy even though it was drenched in the sauce. The sauce was sweet with a little tang in it. It was yummy.
The last item that we ordered was the salted fish and chicken fried rice. I really like this dish. All the ingredients go well together. They were pretty generous with the salted fish. I got quite a few pieces. I didn’t taste any hard grains of rice. It had that freshly fried scrumptious aroma.
I will be back to eat their lunch buffet which is $ 12.95 on weekdays and $ 13.95 on weekends. I’ll also be back for the late night menu as this place closes at 3am.

No doubt, the best Chinese style Seafood in town.
Everything is good on the menu. My favorites are the Salt & Pepper Lobster, Garlic Butter Lobster and Clams With Black Bean Sauce. The Hong Kong Pan Fried Noodles is another tasty dish.
My only gripe is the waiters. They need to be retrained. They’re not very friendly and somewhat snobby. We got the same waiter on our last two outings. (talk about unfortunate luck)
Dispute the much needed improvement on customer service, the food is great .Plus, you gotta love the name of the restaurant. Trying saying Fook Yuen, fast five times

Where else you gonna find Chinese Food at 2AM? When you want something other than Zippy’s and you want to visit China, can’t get any better than this. Other than actually going to China. Or a better restaurant, but like I said, I don’t know of any other Chinese place open at 2AM. If you do, lemme know!
They got this lobster deal where they’ll grab a lobster relaxing in the fish tank at the front of the place, bring into their kitchen, then to your table chopped, cooked, and ready to eat. All for under $ 20. Not a bad deal, I guess. It’s cheaper, maybe $ 16 or so, but I’m typing this from my memory of last night, but I do remember it’s under $ 20. And more than $ 10.
The service has lots of character. Meaning that at 2AM, the servers are probably questioning their lot in life, wondering why they’re serving someone like me when they could be at home watching Netflix and chilling.
And at 2AM, the beast of parking at McCully Shopping Center is sleeping, so there’s a virtual cornucopia of parking stalls available.

NO, do not go here!!!
+ Our server was honest about the prices and gave us advice based on what our budget was
— They served the food in such a slow pace. The entrees should be served all at the same time! Not once every 20 – 30 mins!!!
— Their plates and tea cups are chipped and dirty
— The food was crap, sloppily thrown together
Go downstairs at the 7 – 11 instead

If you’re the type that like me that likes the exotic type of Chinese food like jelly fish, pigs feet, chicken feet, tripe, etc. then you’ll like it here:
lunch buffet — 3 stars — for $ 14 there were about 10 items to choose from. small, but what they do offer that no other restaurant usually have is their sweet sour pigs feet. although there was no meat, the sweet sour sauce mixed well with it to make a nice taste. the rest of the food was basic eggplant, tofu, beef broccoli, duck, etc but all of their food was pretty oily.
If you order by dish instead of the buffet the food is better. We had lobster which was on the spicey side and seafood with noodles which tasted better than the fried noodles in the buffet.
Dessert at the buffet was only tapioca, almond jello and pineapple.

My in-​laws love taking us to this place. Living in Los Angeles, I’ve had my share of Chinese food. However, despite having come here twice, I still can’t change the fact that I’m not really a big fan of their food. We’ve ordered the lobster with black bean sauce, and it was really bland. The calamari was very thick and rubbery. The spinach dish was very bland with no flavor. The service was very poor the last time we went. Our orders were mixed up more than once, and we received someone else’s order 3 times during the last visit. Portions are really large, and it is always crowded and packed there. The only thing that I actually enjoyed was the honey walnut shrimp.
I’ve tried to like this place, but I’ve honestly had better Chinese food. Service can be worked on, and have more communication between the servers and the people that drop off the food.