Does Jade Garden Use Msg

It was touch and go today getting out of work, but in the end 7 of us headed out for Jade Garden with Erin joining in from her perch on the hill. All of us have been to this spot many times and everyone was looking forward to it today. The last MSG150 non-veggie Dim Sum lunch experience was not good.

Jade Garden, Seattle
Address: 424 7th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Dim Sum
Average rating: 4.6 chopsticks
Lunch date: 2/11/2008 @ 12:08:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 1 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 2 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 20 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Hong Kong
Number of tables: 33
Number of occupied tables: 32 (96%)
Number of business lunch tables: 5 (15%)
Number of "local" tables: 25 (78%)
Healthcode Score: 10
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Family Style Dishes

Pork Spare Ribs
2 x Shu Mai
2 x Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf
Beef with Rice Noodles
2 x Pork and Ginger Dumpling
Shrimp-stuffed Eggplant
Shrimp and Chive Dumpling
Pork, Shrimp, and Mushroom ball
Scallop and Shrimp Dumpling
Honey Walnut Prawns
Chinese Broccoli
Fried Calamari
Pan Toasted Sesame Shrimp & Scallion Balls

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 5 Chopsticks

Adam's Review

Probably the best dim sum in the city. I was split on whether to give this place a 4 or a 5... and I settled on a 5. This place is really good. No matter how busy Jade Garden is, I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes to get a table... even with groups as big or bigger than 10 people.

All of the food was delicious. The pork spare ribs seemed bigger and tastier than normal. But, the highlight of the meal for me was the Pork and Ginger Dumpling. I'd never had one before, but they were simply awesome. Very tender and well flavored pork along some tasty ginger.

Good price for dim sum. The dim sum restaurant in the ID.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Emmett's Review

Jade Garden is where I come when I want Dim Sum in Seattle. This place has huge tables, is always crowded, and the selection of food on the carts is terrific. And you never have to wait more than 30 seconds to get your food. They use liberal amounts of Pork and Shrimp in everything, which just plain rocks. Compared to other places, the dim sum here just tastes a little fresher, a little more flavorful.

My favorites are the Sui Mai, the little bits of pork spare ribs, and the rice in lotus leaf. You can also order a plate of fresh fried calamari, which tastes terrific. I also tried the garlic pork buns for the first time, they were also good. And then everything with shrimp in it and sesame seeds on it - good.

As much as I love this place, it's missing something that I can't put my finger on. The service is kind of rude, but that doesn't bother me. I think I'd just like to see more specials - new dim sum every time. In any case, it doesn't matter. The dim sum here is good every time.

By the way, I had dinner here, and it sucks. Stick with the Dim Sum.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 5 Chopsticks

Geary's Review

Jade Garden is large, yet it still somehow maintains the feeling of a small restaurant. The 30+ tables are packed into five or so distinct eating areas, some at slightly different elevations and one, at the back of the maze, in what was once a neighboring restaurant. It is exactly how I expect a popular Hong Kong dim sum restaurant would be: always packed, lots of dim sum carts, great food, and lots of locals. It doesn't have the splashy decore or the bright fancy exterior that others use to cover up their sub-par offerings. But what it lacks in style, it more than makes up in taste and attiude. Also unlike its neighbors, Jade Garden is packed for lunch every day and by mostly Chinese speakers. It is not unusual to have to wait a few minutes for a table. However, since hot carts are always passing by, it's easy to get in and out in forty minutes or less.

Today we walked right in and got one of the large tables in the far back room. (Note: If you get stuck back here, make sure you get an early seating when the carts are still moving through. If not, you have to be a bit more assertive to get food flowing past.) We started with dumplings, shu mai, and noodle rolls, then the sticky rice and spare ribs and more dumplings. We topped it off with Chinese broccoli, deep fried calamari, and honey walnut prawns. Everything was great. The standouts today where the Pork and Ginger Dumplings, the Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf, and the Calamari. The dumplings were hot, with a nice meaty wrapper and tangy, gingery pork filling. Yum! The sticky rice is always great and today was no exception. It has the perfect combination of rice, pork, mushrooms, and tiny shrimp. The calamari was amazing. It is spiced with diced fresh red and green hot peppers that add just the right bite. Every piece I was able to sneak away with was hot, tender, and tasty (just like I like my... er, other types of things). The Pan Toasted Sesame Shrimp & Scallion balls are usually a highlight, but today our order was a bit cold. Still delicous though.

The other great thing about the Jade Garden is the price. We ate more than we should have today and walked away paying $9 each after tax and tip. Usually it's only $8. Again, that's all you can eat of the best Dim Sum in Seattle, for well under $10!

Luncher: Jeff

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 5 Chopsticks

Jeff's Review

The Jade Garden may be nearly the perfect ID dim sum experience. Before I even get to the food – let me clarify. It's fair and affordable. There is plenty of seating. During lunch, the service is nearly immediate. The food is hot, fresh, and readily available. The establishment is staffed to support large lunch rushes. The table service for extras like beverages is good. Payment check-out is efficient. The only potential complaint is that it's busy and somewhat loud. If you're looking for a quaint personal lunch with soft ambiance... this isn't the right choice.

About the food - this is where I show my naivety. Essentially any time I go to dim sum with Geary, I simply default to whatever he pulls from the cart and I try everything. In this lunch I ended up eating more than I should and didn't have a single bad item. I had seafood, pork, vegetables, rice in varying combinations. Everything was warm, well cooked, and appropriately flavored. Even though I don't know what everything is called, and I don't even know what some items were - I feel confident that a dim sum rookies could randomly select just about anything from the carts and end up with a great lunch. The Jade Garden just makes great food - and makes it easy to enjoy your lunch experience.

Luncher: Al

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 5 Chopsticks

Al's Review

"Fast food" that tastes great

Luncher: Laurent

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 5 Chopsticks

VIP Luncher: Erin from Harborview Medical Center

Lunch: Family style - $8.00
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Erin's Review

Jade Garden is yummy. Today we had an excellent selection of dim sum, all of it tasty and fresh. Although the selection is somewhat standard for dim sum, we did have a delicious pork and ginger dumpling, which was my personal favorite today. I also enjoyed the stuffed eggplant. I think this is one of the best places for dim sum in the ID. I burned off all of the calories walking back up the hill to Harborview!