Hong Kong Pearl Seafood Restaurant

Went here with friends recently, and we were pleasantly surprised that they serve late night dim sum. This is a game changer for us and we will definitely be coming back.
We were originally on the hunt for Peter Changs but a miscomm about a reservation and an hour wait brought us here. There was no wait– because the place is HUGE. Just think HUGE banquet size. I can see lots of wedding receptions being held here– they even have the dragon/​phoenix dias.
In addition to the dim sum menu, they also have a regular menu– so it took us some time to figure out what we wanted. But we could order dim sum and regular food which was nice. Their beef noodles were the most popular dish of the night.

Went here for late night dim sum and had everything I was craving for. My friends got simple pork and shrimp dumpling along with chicken feet plus shrimp crêpe. Everything was great and satisfied my craving

This place was great! It was clean, service was fast and staff was friendly. Priscilla was our hostess and she went above and beyond. We were new at Dim Sum and she was helpful in talking to us about the dishes, making recommendations and checking on us to be sure we were satisfied. Very friendly and helpful. We really enjoyed the food as well, it was all very fresh. We will definitely be back
Thank you Priscilla you were wonderful!

Too expensive for the quality they serve. 2pax $ 40++. And the waiter is very particular about tipping amount. Which is a total let down.

in a nutshell, i felt that this restaurant was very middle of the road. my parents’ friends had highly recommended this restaurant for our extended family dinner of 9, and from a size perspective, this was spot on as the dining area was massive with many large round tables, all of which featured the signature lazy susan.
my father proceeded to order a variety of dishes including:
+tofu vegetable soup
+shrimp with spinach
+stir-​fry noodles
+crispy noodles with assorted seafood
+steamed pork dumplings
+fungus platter (aka mixed mushroom species)
+fried crispy fish
the soup was nice and warm, great way to start off the dinner since it was a cold and rainy day and we had spent part of the day outdoors and were in need of warming up. taste-​wise, it was just average, not a whole lot of flavour.
the jumbo shrimp in the shrimp/​spinach dish were tasty and i had several pieces of this along with the sauteed spinach which was quite tender and flavourful.
the fungus platter was something new to me, but i enjoyed trying the different species of mushrooms in this dish which included the black mushroom. after decades of eating at chinese restaurants with my family, i can’t believe i actually ate something that i’d never tried before!
although the fish was mostly fried, on the outside, the inside was scooped out, and seasoned (not fried) which i enjoyed. this was a white fish which was quite tender and paired well with the green vegetables that were added to the dish.
i didn’t touch the noodles or dumplings, since i was going low carb after several straight days of high carb meals (and desserts and snacks). my cousin really enjoyed the dumplings and the noodles though!
at the end of the meal, we were brought dessert in the form of a hot soup, not sure what it was called, but it was a nice way to end this meal, with a little warm, slightly sugary liquid in our tummies.
communication with the wait staff was a bit dicey at times since my family doesn’t speak cantonese, so we resorted to english which wasn’t always understood by the staff. when ladling the soup into the individual bowls, my father was trying to tell the waiter to serve 7 for the time being and save 2 more servings for the late comers in our group, but the waiter misunderstood and served all of the soup (made for 9) into 7 bowls, so the last 2 in our group didn’t get any soup. ;(oh well, guess some things just got lost in translation.

Food poisoning alert!
Went to this place on Saturday with my friend and had bad food poisoning! Vomited along with diarrhea for one hour ruined my afternoon visit to the LOC…
Be careful!

Look at my face. LOOK AT IT! I am one upset customer.
After my first round of Dim Sum I decided to give this place four stars because the food was pretty good and it was really clean, but then that all changed as my meal went on. I use to work at a Chinese restaurant so I know when the soy sauce containers are being cleaned regularly, this place just mixes all the soy sauce together in one big container. The proof is on the lid of the soy sauce container. Weeks worth of nasty soy sauce. un-​wiped. I’m completely OCD, so it’s normal for me to find little things annoying, but even my boyfriend thought it was nasty.
The service is horrific. Read the other reviews on Unilocal and you’ll find the common problem is service. Here are the offenses:
–One of the ladies pushing the cart kept putting food in our faces, we did not ask for them. It was as if she was trying to convince us to buy more. nope, not today woman!
— I thought the carts kept making rounds to each table, but they only come to you if you ask them to. Even if they see you with no food left and you’re just sitting there, no one comes by to ask if you want more food.
— I asked for a dish that wasn’t cooked yet, I was willing to wait for it. While I waited for the dish, no other carts passed by. of course. When the dish came out I was just sitting at my table with no food on my table, waiting all hangry (hungry and angry). My boyfriend had to raise his hand to summon the ladies over, when he raised his hand they knew right away what we wanted. So I have to ask, why was I sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for that dish when the lady knew I was waiting for that dish?
–When we paid for the bill the waitress started hounding us for tip, because our tip was «not 15% tip». I know waiters are not allowed to ask for more tip, tip isn’t even mandatory. I gave her a sufficient amount for the amount of service she decided to give me today, it was fair. We gave her an extra dollar and then she gave us this tone ungrateful tone. Our waitress Sonny, not only harassed my boyfriend and I for more tip, she harassed the table behind us too.
Food was good, but it doesn’t matter when service is terrible.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
Really solid place for dim sum around Fairfax/​Arlington if you don’t want to go into DC. The place is always pretty packed, so it might be a bit difficult to get a table at first, but the tables should go by fast enough, as you don’t need to order off the menu.
I will say, I have a bit of a problem with dim sum places that charge for tea. However, I will only take a half star off because the tea that they serve is really, really good. But when we opened the top of our teapot (the signal to show that you would like a refill) they never came and picked ours up :/​
Most of the dim sum they had was really good. The Har Gau was probably some of the best I’ve ever had and the juan fen (sorry for my northerness: P) was also really nice, although I wish they had some more variety in terms of fillings. Also, the egg custard was really nice and flaky, and not too sweet.
There are a few misses though when ordering. The cha shau bao was mostly bread, the garlic chive dumplings had a really thick dough and either frozen or really old garlic chives. It might have been a bad day for those dishes, but for staples at a dim sum place, they should all be up to par.
The service is also rather unique. For northerners like my family who speak Mandarin and with a heavy accent at that, there is a good mixture of people from all over China that you can communicate comfortably with all of them. The lady that was driving the dessert cart around was from Shandong province and was able to talk to the lady driving the steamer cart who was from HK and didn’t speak Mandarin that well. However, if you don’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese, it may be best to bring a Chinese friend along.
Overall a really pleasant lunch and very fairly priced. We’ll be sure to mark this place when we go back to the DC area again.

I cam here for Dim Sum with two other friends during lunchtime (1:30pm). Surprisingly we got a table immediately and could order our option of dim sum or from the menu.
The dim sum options on the carts were pretty decent and expected in terms of variety and options. The range of foods were from steamed dumplings, fried meats, pork, noodles, chinese broccoli, soups, ect. In terms of quality of taste, it was pretty decent. I wish some of the dishes were more hotter/​warmer, hence some of them could have been out a little bit longer then usual. In general, everything tasted fine. I enjoyed the tea as well~ The price is very fair and standard as well, we ended up getting a very decent amount of food for three people for only @ $ 65.
I could tell the ambiance and environment was very lively upon entering. Very spacious dinning room, round tables and t. v’s on the walls with fish tanks in the bank. Nicely dressed workers and hostess area. Expect your surroundings to be loud and bustling because that is very common in any dim sum style restaurants. If you want a quieter meal, go at later times when they don’t have dim sum times. The staff/​waiters/​cart ladies were very nice and pleasant and were not pushy about having you get everything.
I would recommend this place as the go to for the «DMV dim sum» area at this moment because Marks Duck house has unfortunately deteriorated in quality in recent years. I still love Marks, because they have the best bo lo bao’s (pineapple buns) desserts in the area.

I’ve been to Hong Kong Pearl twice in the last three months and with each visit, I am more disappointed. The place is as busy as ever, and in fact when I arrived this past Sunday at 11:45am, there was already a 30 minute wait and a huge crowd near the hostess stand!
Thankfully the rest of my party had snagged a table, but the quality of the dim sum was really sub par. The har gow shrimp dumplings actually tasted «sour» and the texture was really mushy; this usually occurs if the shrimp is old. I complained to the nice dim sum cart lady and she replaced my order, but the next batch tasted exactly the same. The shu mai was almost all fatty pork, contained very little shrimp, and was overly salty. It’s highly likely that the kitchen recently switched dim sum chefs due to the uneven preparation of the dishes.
It seems to me that Hong Kong Pearl still garners large crowds based upon its reputation, but I really hope they resolve whatever consistency issues are occurring in their kitchen before they become known as the place that «used to have the best Dim Sum in the DMV»

When my friend and I arrived, we were seated in about 5 minutes. Immediately, we were able to order our items, so the service was fast. The food and business practices, however, don’t live up to the same standards. Most of our meal was forgettable except for two things.
1. The dumplings we had were stale.
2. We ordered duck. The woman, however, gave what appeared to us as pork. We each tried a piece and determined it was indeed pork. Hence, we brought this up to the attention of another waiter. He agreed to give us duck in place of the pork. Since we had already touched the food, we expected them to throw out the pork. To our horror, they took our plate to the front counter where they had all the meats. We can only presume that they added two more chunks of pork to our old plate, as within 15 or so seconds, the waiter walked back from the counter holding what appeared to be the same plate and then placed the plate back on the service cart.

Overall Hong Kong Pearl is pretty good, but be prepared.
I didn’t like that it’s noisy, cramped, drab and the hot tea was lousy.
I really liked the fast attentive service, wide variety of dim sum, the taste, and the aggressive selling of food.
We two were seated very quickly and refills came without asking. The check wasn’t rushed and you pay table side and they were quick with that too. The seats are close but the tables are wide so you can pile on the food. I liked how they sell some items it because it gets you excited about those dishes.

I came to this place a few times for dinner and dim sum. I was never impressed with the food or service.
If you come here during weekend for dim sum, come early! They won’t sit incomplete party. The restaurant is quite big and has many tables but there is usually a wait. Parking lot is a mess and gets full in the weekend.
It’s definitely not a place I would go when I crave for chinese food. Most dim sum dishes on the carts such as fried taro dumplings, fried pork dumplings, fried shrimp balls, etc are usually COLD. The steamed shrimp dumplings were pretty warm when we got them but the skin was too thick and all broke apart as you try to pick them up. Flavor of most dishes are pretty bland. Not recommending any friend to try this place.

I have not been back very much since I find another Cantonese restaurant in Wheaton which I like very much. I found I will drop in and see if this is as good as before.
The menu has changed a little, price has gone up, now any seafood is mostly market price. I ordered Chinese Roast Duck, Spicy Calamari, and Tofu and Grouper Hot Pot. It was so so, the duck is ok, but the calamari is not as good as before, it is very chunky and the batter is think. The grouper is not bad, but very few shiitaki mushroom. Service is good with some staff. You do get complimentary dessert, which is Green Bean Paste, and that was lovely.

This is my go to place for dim sum for its over all qualities. It’s clean, large enough to always accommodate small or large groups and a nice selection of food.
The service is always up to par. I do not have to wait too long for one of the staff to come by to refill water or tea. Today I went with a few friends around 1pm… on a sunday. It was crowded but the food was hot.

All of the pork buns and pineapple buns in my belly. Not mixed together though.
I came here to enjoy Sunday breakfast with some classmates. We made a point to arrive early, and for good reason. By 11 am there will be a long line waiting to have a table. When we left a little before 1 pm, that line was out the door.
When I’m not with someone who knows what they’re doing, I point to random things on carts and hope that it doesn’t have something I’m allergic to. If that’s your thing, then have fun! The ladies can be a bit intimidating when they’re pushing food in your face, and there’s a cart everywhere you look and it’s frogger time trying to get to the restroom.
This time thankfully I did go with a friend who knew better, and basically she knew the group’s dislikes/​allergies and picked accordingly. I ate what she put in front of me. That’s how friendship works.
Four of us gorged for about $ 20 each person. I think that’s on the more expensive side of dim sum, but we all hadn’t been in awhile, so it was money well spent. I think if you go frequently enough, you can spend much much less per person.

Dim sum all day!!! If you eat dim sum after the morning/​brunch hours, you have to order the dim sum off the menu. There are no charts roaming the restaurant floor during their dinner service.
On a different note, this restaurant opens at 10am. I was pretty excited about this restaurant’s business hours because other dim sum locations typically opens at 11am. The extra one hour is exciting because I get to eat dim sum for breakfast instead of brunch or lunch.
The lo back go is pretty good. They have it frying on a portable grill on a modified dim sum chart. I do wish they offered the plum sauce for the lo back go. The Baos are not as fresh as ones I usually eat at my to go dim sum location. However, the Baos are tasty. The buns have a caramelized layer and a soft bite. The Dan tats are so so so good. The egg custard is sweet but not overly sweet. The slightly sweet Dan tats allow you can literally eat three pies all by yourself. The crust of the Dan tats are super flaky and soft. The crust is super buttery and melt in your mouth soft.

*this review is for dim sum only*
I usually get dim sum once every couple of weeks and this is my go-​to place! There’s a nice variety of food on the carts and the steamed dumplings are pretty big. It’s also a large establishment, so there is plenty of seating. But even so, it can get crowded.
Tip: if you want in and out of this place quickly, come way before noon! People get started on their dim sum early.
Although the food is good most of the time, the quality can be inconsistent. Recently, I’ve noticed food hasn’t been as warm, and even the classic steamed dumplings aren’t what I’m used to (e.g. the shrimp in the steamed dumplings was actually quite tough and chewy during my last visit). Hopefully, it was just a one time thing. It hasn’t deterred me from wanting to go back though!
Also, warning: the service can be a little aggressive here, so if you’re not good at saying no… good luck.
*~3.5 stars rounded down*

We go for the Dim Sum on weekends. I believe they open at 10 am. The restaurant is HUGE and they do get busy so be patient when you have to wait.
Always get hot tea to counteract the greasy oily food of dim sum. Most of the dim sum menu items range from $ 3 – 5 per plate. But for seafood, meat, noodle dishes, they can run up to $ 8 per plate. So kinda keep track on what you order (from the order tracker/​aka your bill) or you can go overboard and spend $ 60 – 80 all of a sudden.
We love the service and the hostesses are friendly. I guess my beef is with the food. It’s inconsistent when it comes to the variety and the freshness of the dim sum place. Most of the time, the food is hot and fresh. But on occasion, some dishes are cold and stale.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this place but the food sometimes doesn’t float my boat.

Yum Cha (Chinese word for Brunch) has become a weekly occurrence at Hong Kong Pearl. Saturday and Sunday right before lunch time is the best time to sit down drink the Pu-​erh tea and get rid of that nasty hangover from the night before with a series of handmade authentic dim-​sum dishes. If you’re going in a group you need to all arrive on time; basically pull-​up with all of your homies and homettes in the same Toyota Corolla. The parking lot looks like a used Toyota dealership. The spaces are tighter than your regular strip mall so park within your lane or you’re gonna get a handwritten note on your windshield (At least the person was nice enough to not key my car). Once you’re in the restaurant, you get attended by some fly shorties working the front. The Fanfu (chinese traditional dress) are on a hunnit.
Now onto what you’ve been waiting for the food. The food is spectacular if you know what you’re getting. Me and my buddies stick to the small/​medium dishes. The typical dim sum dishes Ha Gao (shrimp dumpling), Shao Mai (steamed pork dumplings), and my favorite spicy chicken claws. On the sweeter side of things you have the Dan Ta (egg tart) and Nai Wong Bao (egg custard bun), which are a must. The restaurant doesn’t serve regular dessert like your mango puddings and other classic dessert dishes, or the cart lady with the desserts been playing splinter cell on me the entire time. There are some dishes that are hit or miss including the Radish cakes (freshly warmed over the grill), Baked Cha Shu Bao (pork bun), and basically anything the waitresses try to push on you. Most of the less popular items get cold; it’s just a different feeling when the food doesn’t burn the roof of your mouth.
The service could see some improvement; make sure you ask for cold ice water at the beginning when you first sit down or you going to feel like you just ran a marathon. All of the salt in the food drys you up and hot tea can only go so far. On a side note, there are tons of hot tea options. There’s the regular green tea, chrysanthemum (had to google the spelling), jasmine, Pu-​erh, and some other ones that I can’t translate because of my elementary school Chinese. Once you’re seated, you get hoarded by all of the ladies pushing the carts. A pack of hungry wolves ready to take your money. I’m not sure how the pay system works at the restaurant but every time I wave someone away there’s always the faint sign of disappointment.
Anyways, this place is a must visit on the weekends with your crew. Optimal group size is 4 – 5. If it gets any bigger then you need to start ordering 2 dishes of everything. The check usually comes out to $ 20 a piece and you’re stuffed for the entire day.