Jade Harbor

Authentic cantonese cuisine that keeps the traditional flavors and menus. I’ve tried many so call authentic chinese restaurants chinatown philly and this place is by far the best when it came to presentation and flavor. My family and I went on Christmas to celebrate and enjoyed everything we ordered. Service was good and atmosphere was what I expected. Price is on the high end, but you get what you pay for.

If I could give this restaurant a 0, I would.
I’ve been here 5 times with my family members.
We ordered:
Steamed Oyster
Steamed Black Bean Sauce Oyster
Steamed Shrimp
House Special Fried Rice
Some Sort of Spinach side dish appetizer
Let me start by discussing my experience with the service:
–The service has been consistently terrible for me. Why? The waitresses assigned to us were not attentive to us whatsoever. It took over an hour to get our food 2 of the 5 times we went. We didn’t get our drinks refilled until we flagged the waitresses (only had females) down at least twice during all 5 visits. Even when we did flag our waitresses, we have to ask again because they forgot.
My last visit to this restaurant was an EXCEPTIONALLY terrible experience with the service at Jade Harbor. I went with my sister and my brother-​in-​law. We got this waitress who didn’t even greet us. She just gestured us to hurry up and seated us upstairs in a poor-​lighted area at a small table meant for two people near the kitchen door. There were many open four-​seat tables for us. We rolled with it anyways. The waitress took our orders for food and drinks after seating us down no problem. BUT this was one of those times that I previously mentioned where we got our food an hour later. Food was good, and again, we didn’t mind much except we were hungry as fudge coming to the restaurant. MIND YOU, the restaurant was not horribly busy or short-​staffed at the time we went. In addition, the waitress we had refused to refill water or hot tea for us. God knows why she refused something so basic that’s offered in every restaurant, even McDonalds. Oh, actually I remember now, it was because we were «cheap, tricky Vietnamese» people. I’m not exaggerating. Yeah, imagine that: An Asian being racist towards other Asians. I was livid, but we came to the restaurant for the food, not for a bonding experience with the waitress. Our plates of food came one-​by-​one and not served altogether. My sister waited an additional thirty minutes for her food to be served. We casually asked our waitress a few times if her food or at least if our appetizer is ready. She keeps nodding and muttering phrases in her language in front of us while glaring at us. She disappeared for a good hour. After we all finish our meals, we still haven’t gotten our appetizer so we decided to just ask another waiter to pack it to go for us and for a check. We gave the lady a two dollar tip, which is something we NEVER DID before but by God, it was the worst experience ever. She finally reappeared, saw our tip, and immediately starting berating at us. She demanded more tip. I demanded for her manager but my sister, being the nice person she is, gave her an additional five bucks.
TL;DR My last visit at Jade Harbor in Chinatown concluded with a racist waitress who gave our food an hour+ late, didn’t serve our appetizer so we asked another waiter to pack to go, and demanding more tip for terrible service.
Other than that, the food was good. I love the black bean sauce the restaurant use for their seafood, specifically clam and oyster. The oyster was a little chewy but again, the sauce made up for it. The shrimp used for their steamed shrimp dish was very small in size, but they steam the shrimp just right. The proportion of the dishes were decent for the price.
The bathroom was. Gross.

Favorite authentic Chinese restaurant. No other place will ever beat this place. Overall great food!!! I recommend getting the seafood rolls and oyster with soy sauce, scallions, and ginger.

They have black chicken ! :-)
It took me a while but I finally found a restaurant in Philly Chinatown that serves it. They put in in a soup broth with goji berries. I had this plus the jellyfish and abalone with sea cucumbers. It was delicious. I will be going back soon.

Had a quick late dinner here. Waiters were very attentive towards us but that could be because we were speaking Cantonese with them. Their lamb soup was very flavorful but their springs rolls were terrible. Lobster and fried noodles were pretty good too.

If I could jive this place 0 stars, I would! The moved our table 2 times because we were in the way. They served 2 other tables who sat after us before giving us menus. In the end, we decided to leave because our food still didn’t come but everyone else (even those who ordered after us) got food. Additionally they did nothing when another friend shoved my friend’s chair in. Nor did they try and step in when another customer took my bag from my behind my chair (without asking me, the bag’s owner, for permission first) and placed it on the floor

Best seafood, and Cantonese cooking in town. I am usually a picky eater, but whenever I come here they always satisfy my taste buds.
Love the lobster scallion, the Peking duck, the garlic snails, the fresh boiled shrimp, the variety of seafood soup to choose from. Although the menu is mainly in Chinese, there is an American menu. If you want to try something different, just ask, they will recommend their best.
The main chef is awesome and I have been coming here for a very long time. Services are always friendly even if the language barrier is there.

If you are looking for authentic Chinese food this is the place to go. My parents ordered the prefixed menu, which is nice because you don’t have to worry about what specifically to order.
The veggies are usually greasy so I would stay away from the greens if you are trying to look for something healthy.
Overall decent food, they could use a change in décor.

Staff is rude and food took forever! Three people came and went with there food and I I ordered was steamed dumplings and lo main.

Great food in Philly amongst Chinatown restaurants. Very convenient located ina corner. Only encountered one problem… language barrier. Verrrry crowded which confirms it’s authentic cuisine.

Their Chef’s Special «Honey Beef» is some of the most succulent meat I’ve ever had.

Above Average Chinese food in Philly Chinatown. Food quality is decent and they have all the traditional dishes you would expect along with americanized items such as general tso’s chicken.
Service is standard for asian restaurants as there is minimal interaction besides ordering. Parking is street parking or the number of parking garages neraby. I don’t believe they do validation.
Important thing to note — If you’re asian they will typically give you the cash price first! it’s kind of a hidden rule. I made the mistake by taking the cash and paying with my credit card. When I did that they «accidentally» forget to add tax and charged my card then. They would prefer cash all the way so make sure you bring it!
We got peking duck, snow pea leaves, clams, fried crab, fish and house soup. I recommend all the dishes especially the house soup!
Take a look at some of my pictures for recommendations!

Food is good but even when requested spicy it really wasn’t. The bubble tea is like a frozen slushie and juice balls not tapioca balls.

We order 5 dish but only got 4 dish, check out time they charged us for 5, the waiter did not said sorry for messing up with our order, service was not that great, food was also not that great, too many good place to good in Chinatown, stay away from here.

The best authentic chinese food in China town arguably. The staffs are very nice compare to other Chinese restaurant lol. You have to know what to order though, please don’t go there and order lo mein like you would in a corner Chinese restaurant. My favorite dishes are eel with sweet and sour sauce, fresh boil shrimps, jelly fish heads, crabs with mince pork, and deep fried frogs with garlic yummy, and also they have very good deep fried chicken too.

Came here for a banquet style event, and I have to say I was impressed with the food (and the ordering). Given it was a large-​ish event for their small-​ish upstairs banquet room, the quality and quantity did not disappoint.
I tried the:
cold cut appetizer platter — while the jelly fish was not the best cuts, it hit the spot when you are hungry
soup — some egg drop chowder type soup, could do without it
steamed fish — standard
ginger scallion lobster — pretty standard, but meaty and delicious!
roast chicken — standard, maybe even slightly dry.
snow pea shoots — standard
tofu with mushroom sauce — I really enjoyed this one. A great vegetarian choice
beef (on a sizzling platter?) — loved this one. lots of flavor, vegetables and plenty of beef. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
fried rice — hehe, to fill up your stomach space if you still weren’t full.
I waver between 3 – 4 stars for this place, but bumping it to 4 because I was pleasantly surprised by the banquet experience.

Came here for a late night snack on NYE, and found myself feeling full and having a great time, but feeling mediocre about the food. We got a table upstairs, which was really fun cause we put all the food on the lazy susan and ended up trying everyone’s. My friends and I got the honey beef, general tso’s, and pan fried noodles.
I really loved the sauce of the honey beef, but found the meat itself was a bit greasy. The sauce was sweet and rich, but the grease of the meat really made it tough to eat.
The general tso’s was good. The sauce was your typical general tso’s sauce but I still really enjoyed it. Again, meat was kinda greasy.
The pan fried noodles, I loved! It was kind of like pouring sauce on ramen noodles to make them soften, and then piling it with vegetables. The noodles became soft, but still a bit crunchy and the vegetables really added freshness to the dish.
I am not saying I won’t come here again, as the restaurant seemed pretty busy – and it was NYE, but there were some things that I didn’t enjoy. Maybe one day I’ll come a bit earlier on a calm day and see what I can get :)

I haven’t been here in years. We used to come here after the clubbing nights at 2am with a group of people and make such a ruckus (sorry staff for that). We no longer come at 2am or make a ruckus.
And I’m happy to see the food never disappoints. We usually order our «regulars», fish maw soup with crab meat and salt baked shrimp, scallops and squid. Our third entrée is usually clams with black beans sauce but we decided on something different, so we ordered grouper with black pepper sauce and it was amazing
Everything is always good but definitely try the grouper; you will be happy and full. Service is very fast; we were in and out in about 1 hour! And the prices are affordable! We ordered 2 of the fish maw soup (one to take home), the grouper and salt baked seafood for $ 85 including a $ 15 tip!
On another note: no brown rice options, which kind of suck but the flavors of the food more than made up for that.
On a positive note: they give you a free bean soup dessert, not too sweet, just perfectly delicious

Get ready for an authentic Chinese dinner.
The food seems to be very Chinese, as my parents demand Jade Harbor every time they’re in town. I think the prices are okay (sometimes the portions are small though), but I always find the menu overwhelming and end up not being able to find anything I want. Which is obviously okay with my parents.
My issue lies within the authenticity of the place – it feels like China! The tablecloths and seats are usually dirty, and I always find myself back to back against other patrons. The service is efficient but rude, and we often have to ask for things multiple times. At least they usually offer us a free soup of some sort – sometimes it’s the best dish of the meal!

My family’s go to place for genuine Chinese dinner. We’ve been hopping from restaurant to restaurant in Chinatown looking for the best Chinese dinner place. Jade Harbor is the longest one we stayed with, so that says something. It really depends on what you order for the best experience. Stay away from the typical Americanized Chinese take-​out dishes.
My favorites are the fried squid, walnut shrimp, garlic sauce fish fillets, Chinese watercress, sizzling beef short ribs with peppers and onions, and beef chow fun noodles. These dishes are flavorful and never disappoint. The food is cooked really fast. Portions are a little smaller than what other Chinese restaurants serve, but the quality and taste are better. If you’re Chinese and order in Chinese, you usually automatically get free soup of the day. Dinner comes with complimentary dessert soup, which I always skip after one sip. It just tastes like sugar in thick water, which is not how «tong sui» should be.