Royal Unicorn

For Washington chinese food this is the only place I will eat. I am accustomed to chinese from California and just prefer how it’s done there. My biggest complaint is the batter always has too much flour. So you get these small pieces of chicken/​pork/​shrimp/​beef wrapped in a huge amount of batter drenched in sauce. Chinese is already super unhealthy… why make it worse? I also like to taste my food. So ya, this place has great prices, great food, clean (well as clean as it gets for chinese spots) If you’re going to eat a horrible food for your body I say do it right and get the best.

Great food and fast, friendly service has made this my go to place for Chinese delivery. The honey walnut prawns are amazing and their potstickers are a meal unto themselves. The thing that really sets them apart from the other places I’ve tried however is their service. My food always arrives quickly, I don’t think I’ve ever waited more than half an hour and the young man who delivers it is without fail very pleasant and genuinely appreciative of my patronage.

First time coming here and I don’t have any expectations about the food. Turns out that this hidden restaurant with a funky name has one of the best honey walnut shrimp I’ve ever had!
Now I believe in «Don’t judge a book by its cover».

The food is better than it was a few years ago. The chow mein is only meh. The tofu dishes are good. Food is flavorful here without MSG. The brown rice is excellent. The hot and sour soup is the best I have ever had and is vegetarian. On Sundays, the owner makes a spicy beef noodle stew that is not on the menu. He made it extra spicy for me because he knows that is what I like. The first few bites convinced me this was not going to be spicy enough. However the heat and flavor increased as the meal progressed. The stew was a complex savory dish that I really enjoyed. It left me with a warm rosy glow from the heat that lasted for hours. If you want more heat at the Royal Unicorn, the owner makes his own chile sauces

My fortune cookie says… never come back. The food was greasy and lacked flavor, but was very generous with the sodium.

This place would get top ratings for their tasty food had they given us all we paid for. We have frequented the place semi-​weekly in recent months and the proprietor is friendly, The food is Americanized to our liking and the portions are generous and flavorful. We are pleased until he packs the Take Home boxes. We head home with missing portions and Almond Chicken that has no Almond Gravy. Literally half of our leftovers are not packed. (paid for w/​20% plus tip) The Proprietor will NOT allow the customer to box the items nor will he box them in front of you. We eat very little at their table, hoping for a relaxing re-​heated meal in the comfort of home. We will try elsewhere and no longer be subject to this practice.

Decent. Not my favorite but it was good. (Except for the almond chicken which either was missing the sauce or was just plain fried chicken.)
Delivery was quick and arrive piping hot!

The good old RU. (As the locals refer to it) This place used to be the best Chinese food in Shoreline… Then they changed owners. Now the food is so so. Ordered once since the chance and not impressed at all. The bar is so run down, the chairs don’t even have passing anymore. Some are missing legs, it’s definably a dive. Too bad this oldie but goodie is now no longer a goodie. ;(

Royal Unicorn has improved immensely since my last review. The food is awesome and so is the service. I am very happy to update my review to 5 stars.

Just moved to the area, and expected to try a few different delivery places until I found a good one. Got it on the first try! Delivery was quick (much faster than I expected — maybe 15 – 20 minutes). Delivery guy was polite. I got the chicken chow mein, nothing too complicated but easy to mess up. The noodles were cooked perfectly and weren’t drowning in sauce AND not dry, but nicely in-​between. The chicken wasn’t overcooked (a rare find!) and was nicely proportioned to the noodles. Prices were reasonable for delivery. Also got some egg rolls — they weren’t anything spectacular, but then again I’m not the biggest egg roll fan, so I’m never too impressed.
Haven’t been to their restaurant in person, but I will say for delivery, they’ve definitely become my go-​to in Shoreline.

I’ve never had better egg foo yung. The prices are reasonable and it’s very quiet.

We recently gave this place a try. It was the blandest Chinese food I’ve ever eaten. And very greasy. Everything we got would have been better if they had cut the oil by half and doubled the salt.

I only come on weekdays I like the EggFlower Soup. Quick Service. They’re connected to a bar if you want a beer it’s there or watching a Game. After eating some Szechuan Chicken, Or General Tso

I really wanted to like this place. We just moved to Shoreline from North Seattle and were hoping the Royal Unicorn would become our new go-​to spot. Ugh.
The bad:
1) The surly teen who sat us and took our order. We were his only table and yet we were barely acknowledged.
2) The filthy tablecloth. The tablecloth had a piece of glass on the top, so you can tell they rarely change the cloth underneath. It was dripping with the remnants of past diners meals. When I mentioned it to said surly teen waiter, he grunted a «sorry» and rambled off. The whole place seemed very shabby and sad.
3) The food. Panda Express is better, honestly. It all seems like it was purchased frozen from the Generic Americanized Chinese Food Factory and just reheated in the back. Nothing horrible but nothing all that good.
The good:
Our meal was served by an older gentlemen who was really fantastic. If only he’d been our server all the way through! He gave each of my daughters a bag of Skittles to take home with them, which they loved. It’s because of him that I’m giving this a 2 stars instead of 1.

I am on a gluten free diet for three months to check for celiac, so had really been missing Chinese food. Husband and I decided to see if the royal unicorn had a gluten free menu. They did not, but the waiter was extremely helpful. Offering us options that were gluten free and running to check with the cook when he had doubt. We decided on the cashew chicken and honey walnut prawns and they were both absolutely delicious! We will definitely be coming back!

It’s Christmas Day, and just about everyone is closed… except for Royal Unicorn!
This was my first visit, due to them being a little out of the way from my place, but it was worth the slightly longer drive than normal drive. Ordered the Szechuan Beef, General Tso’s Chicken, Wonton w/​Chili Hot Sauce appetizer and some steamed rice to go.
Just a five minute wait for the food and I was out the door and on my way home.
Everything was great.

Maybe I’m spoiled from having lived inside Seattle my whole life – or maybe that’s got nothing to do with it – but the Royal Unicorn is NOT good.
I always deemed all cheap American-​Chinese restaurants to be about the same, with some places marginally better than others. This is possibly the first Chinese restaurants that made me think, «Whoa, this is truly crappy» (and this is coming from someone who loves Panda Express).
Having just bought a house in Shoreline, I’m systematically trying all the area restaurants. One night Royal Unicorn’s number got called… literally. A mistake. First of all, the portions were relatively small. Luckily I didn’t end up caring because I didn’t want much due to the poor quality. The beef and broccoli had that very low-​grade, spongy meat you’d find in a buffet, and the sauce was totally unremarkable. The salt-​and-​pepper chicken was grossly caked in batter before being fried, so perhaps 30% of the matter I was eating was gooey uncooked flour-​slime. Also, some places put a little minced garlic or basil on their S&P chicken, but this version was extremely plain, besides being terribly executed. Finally, the gyoza had perhaps the least inspiring meat filling I’ve ever seen in a gyoza, but they DID have dough wrapping that was about 10x thicker than what’s typical. Blech.
I prefer not to write off a restaurant after just one try, but in this case, I’m completely confident I’ll be better off if I do.

Although parking was almost impossible (I parked several businesses away in the small parking lot), the main dining area was almost empty when my wife and I arrived. However, there was a large group in the bar area, which is separate from the dining area. The furnishings were upscale, although you could easily dress casually. The service was prompt and courteous. There General Tso’s chicken is Gluten-​free and delicious. The fried almond chicken was delicious, but not gluten-​free. We also ordered a veggie friend rice, which came with small pieces of well-​cooked zucchini (yum!). They have both booths that give privacy and tables that could easily seat 6+ people.

Consistently good food dining in or delivery in my experience.
They have become our go-​to Chinese food delivery restaurant to our home in Edmonds. I didn’t think they delivered that far but they do, and they have always been timely.
Service in the dining room is very good and the servers (I think managers too?) are very friendly.
Good prices on bottles of wine.
The bar could use a cocktail waitress during Karoake. The bartender was not knowledgeable (I swear she was brand new to bartending) and had an attitude to boot. The drinks were strong and decent though.
4 out of 5 stars in the northend Chinese restaurant category for me.

Rockin!
The food, meh, if your hungry go ahead and get some, but that’s not worth seeking this place out certainly.
The drinks, however, were strong and served quickly with a smile.
But…we came for the KARAOKE, of course!
The karaōke book was spotty, which was a red flag for me, but perusing it before the witching hour of 9, we eventually found a few to sing and put in slips.
Then hilarity ensued! The hostess, the patrons were not your typical karaokers, making watching funnier than usual, even if painful a few times.
Like Rickshaw, this place has Asian food and some ‘Northend’ karaōke, but both are better, with nary an annoying ‘cooler than thou’ crowd in sight and service is much friendlier.
Try it, you’ll like it.