Hai Du Seafood Restaurant

Wow! I don’t even know where to begin. The dim sum was so bad. It tasted like it was made a few days ago and reheated, and not thoroughly. We normally go to Ocean City, but decided to try this place because it was on our way downtown. Mistake.

I wouldn’t order the dimsum. The prices are reasonable but it’s one of those «you get what you pay for» situations.

We came in for dim sum… the place was completely empty when we got there and still empty when we left. (HINT HINT) Yes this place has the cheapest dim sum in Portland but believe me… what you pay is what you get. Nothing we got here was any good. The shu mai and hai gow were very bland and the size of each piece were very small. We also ordered some deep fried dim sum, lobster rolls which would of been good if they didn’t over deep fried. We also got the deep fried shrimp balls with sugar sticks which was the only thing made right. There was some questionable dishes they also brought out which seemed to me it was frozen and they just microwaved it. Overall I do not recommend this place to anyone.

Happily surprised by tasty chinese at Hai Du.
Stopped in near closing time for dinner a few nights ago.
After perusing the huge chinese/​thai/​viet menu, we decided on green beans with black bean sauce and seafood/​tofu.
The green beans were perfect! I assume the fried them up dry and tossed in the fermented black bean sauce. The seafood/​tofu came out 2 seconds later on a massive sizzling platter — there was so much food some nearly wiggled right off. Now like most of you you’ve seen tofu cubes come and tofu cubes go — deep fried, raw, stir fried, braised, whatever. I don’t know what they did to these cubes but they were crispy on the outside and custard-​like on the inside. And it wasn’t egg tofu either. So good!
Is the food exceptional? it’s pretty good. On par with Zien Hong and others. It’s a little bit less expensive. Go try it for lunch or dinner. I’ll be going back!

I read the reviews on this place and they didnt look good, i have no idea what these people have to complain about. I had a wonderful experience eating at Hai Du. I ordered all sorts of tasty treats and they didnt take that long to hit the table.
Who ever complained about the beeping noise coming out of the kitchen and saying the food was microwaved is totally wrong. I listened for beeping and didnt hear one beep. The ignorance in that review is laughable since the steamer baskets they use are made of metal it would make no sense to transfer food from the microwave to a steam tray that would cook the food in just a few minutes anyway. Im sure this business appreciates your uneducated two star rating though ;)
The service was great. We sat down to a pot of hot tea on the table that tasted great and it was free. It also wasnt a small pot, it was a decent sized tea pot and we didnt even finnish it even though i tried. The plates are only 1.95 a piece and you order on paper and the server brings you the plates as they come out. She was really nice, and not in the fake server smiley B.S. way, she was genuinely nice to us and had a heart warming smile or maybe it was the tea :)
The atmosphere was that of a typical china town restaurant which i like. Theres a crab and lobster tank in the place which is always nice. Nice large tables would be great for groups and no t.v.s thank god.
The food was exactly what i expect when going out to a dim sum place and more. Dumplings were great, steamed buns were great, sugar cane popsicle shrimp balls, stuffed tofu, spring rolls, tempura seaweed rolls, chicken feet, all great. The big hits were the stuffed tofu and the chicken feet. The tofu is deep fried with stuffing and comes in a garlic black bean sauce, oh ya! The chicken feet has a sweet red chili and black bean sauce that was stellar! Chicken feet are always daunting and can be done so wrong. These wernt done wrong at all. Once i got past the first toe they were just like eating chicken wings. For those whove never tried them, you suck the toes off and then spit out the bones on the plate after you suck the meat off. An order of feet is four and i ate them all.
Our bill was going to be 13 bucks for two people but then my friend ordered lunch to go because he love it so much and it came to 17 something for three meals. I was totally stuffed and didnt have a heavy feeling in my stomach at all. Tipped the server 8 bucks because we enjoyed ourselves so much and there werent very many people in the place surprisingly. Ill be back for sure and i highly recommend trying the place out for a very affordable brunch, lunch, or lobster dinner. Five stars.

Really not sure where the 4 and 5 stars are coming from. When we walked into the vestibule we almost turned around because we thought it was closed. There didn’t seem to be any lights on and there were zero customers. As we were about to turn around we saw the waitress through the doors and she motioned us in. We ordered only dim sum, about 10 plates worth. Sure it was cheap and that was nice, but it was cheap and that was NOT nice. There was this continual beeping sound coming from the kitchen between our orders coming out. Then everything was mysteriously super hot… oh yeah because it was all microwaved. Per another review, it did all seem to be bulk bought frozen asian food. I was highly underwhelmed by the food, lack of atmosphere/​lighting and just general experience. I would not recommend by any means, even as a last ditch effort to score some Chinese food. I hesitate to give one star because there was nothing «wrong» per se, but two as nothing was right. Disappointing, underwhelming, off-putting…I could go on.

Me and my girlfriend stopped in here on a whim when everything else was closed. walked in I knew we were in for a. treat, and here is why.
THE PLACE WAS EMPTY! accept for two employees, a few lobsters and crabs in their water dungeon, and a overly aggressive drunk Chinese argument between to decrepit old men.
The food… phenomenal. fresh, hot, and fairly quick. They even gave us a coupon for the next visit. The overall experience was great.

pretty good actually. No cart witches either so that was awsome. spare rib, broccoli and hot mustard are my only gripes. Not nough meat on the ribs (yes i realize they are tiny but bones does not cut it for my fam), Broccoli was just not good and hot mustard tasted like chinese dijon (my sisters and mother agreed) other then that food and service were great!

The Dim Sum here was not good. I have a strong suspicion that everything came from the frozen food section of a bulk Asian market.
It was cheap, and mostly empty.

The Mr loves dimsum so he has been in search of a good dim sum place. We usually go to Wong’s King but I was honestly just tired of the food, the wait, and the terrible service so we decided to try this place based on Unilocal’s recommendation.
The goods:
–cheap. Not just the dimsum, but the food in general is very reasonably priced
–good service even though there is only one waitress running around
–no wait (we were one of the only tables occupied and this was on Saturday at noon)
— loved the porridge
The not-​so-​good:
— the dimsum. Plenty to choose from but nothing tasted good. We ordered a few and I didn’t care for any, even shumai. How can you mess up shumai?
We will not recommend this place for the shumai but it looks like the regular dishes maybe okay. Granted we only ordered porridge and it’s hard to mess up porridge.
We will most likely not return. Despite the cheapness, we can’t justify spending our hard earned money on food we don’t enjoy.

Bud F. was right-​on about the flounder here— huge lightly battered filets (bones in— caveat emptor!) w/​no fishiness about them at all. Very solid recommend!
The shrimp fried rice was middling— soggy, and all 6 little shrimps at the top of the carton, giving a misleading impression of what to expect for the rest of it…
As for the Salt/​Pepper squid, my all-​time go-​to dish for Chinese-​American, it too was ok: middling, but not a stand out. The rings were cut into rather rubbery squares and breaded. Plenty of grilled white onions, but I didn’t see any scallions in this version.
The man-​woman duo working the shop were quite pleasant and loaded us up w/​coupons. We’ll be checking out more of this menu, no doubt about it. Maybe check out that highly-​touted dim sum. Shay-​shay!

The Pros:
The foods are not bad.
The single waitress is capable and accommodated.
The dining experience is acceptable but marginally memorable.
The double entryway with double doors is a plus.
Some nice dim sum dishes and regular dishes are available.
The Cons:
The muggy smothering smell lingered in the air is suffocating, the odor given off from the carpet and furniture are overwhelmingly uncomfortable.
The supporting ingredients of some dishes are too many and messy.
The decors are way too rustic and low class; out dated random and low taste.
The shape of the dining area is awkwardly irregular.
The motor noise coming from the live fish tank is too loud.
The paint colors are speechlessly ugly, a typical exposure of the owner’s lousy taste.
No Discover credit card is accepted.
Summary:
An alternative convenient eatery if you do not like driving too far to Beaverton or, if you do not like to be served by those stupid morons at that lousy Shandong restaurant.

Great dim sum!

Hmmm, this is a squeaker. They are just under 4 stars, and I’ll sum up why. Firstly. The service was great, friendly, warm, accurate. The timing was quick, cold beer, and clean typical larger chinese décor. A few extra points for the actual tanks the seafood were in being clean.
Lunch menu was bargain priced, as well as weekday dim sum. My fried shrimp balls were juicy and flavorful and full of shrimp. Chinese broccoli was okay, but very cheap (can be up to 7 bucks other places, was 1.95 here). I must admit that the chinese broccoli had a contributing factor in them not reaching a 4^th star. Just this weekend I enjoyed some of the best I’ve ever had at Best Taste. It was more expensive, but this dish at Hai Du wasn’t even in the same neighborhood of quality or flavor. Similarly, the rice noodle with shrimp was sticky, and the sauce was waaaay over salty compared to normal.
All in all though, I think they deserve a second trip, the whole experience overall was much better than I had expected!

Great Service & Cheap Dim Sum!
This place has been through many owners over the last 5 years and in my opinion as the place changes owner the food just gets better, especially the service!
This place provides you with coupons whenever you place an order, you’ll get like $ 1 – 2 off on your next order and it doesn’t expire! They greet you with ALOT of enthusiasm and are very sincere with their friendliness. Their goal is to make sure you come back again and w/​the coupons, you can’t help but to wanna try more on their menu!
My mom LOVES their Hong Kong Crab, its so delicious that she gets me to order it at least once a month so she can eat it all to herself. The crab has a thin batter on it seasoned with jalapenos and their secret dry seasoning, you can taste it with every bit of their crab meat. I usually order this to-​go for her because she likes to relax and make a mess at home and not worry that someone is watching her.
I sometimes come here for their dim-​sum, which is less than $ 2 a plate, which is very cheap compared to ALOT of dim sum restaurants. I think they can compete w/​most speciality dim sum restaurants, even though their main focus isn’t all about dim sum. It pretty much taste like every other dim sum dishes i’ve eaten in the past, just ALOT cheaper. The only con (not sure if it is a con) is that they don’t have tons of little carts running around shouting what’s in it, like most of the other places. All you do at this place is write down your order and within minutes your dim sum is presented to you. I prefer this style a lot better because i don’t have to point and shout my order nor wait until my cart comes around, which could be a while.
Overall, they’re really REALLY nice there and I really enjoy their main menu and dim sum. The only bad thing is its not as full as it should be, especially for the price of their dim sum!

After having Dim Sum in a number of places around Portland, I would recommend Hai Du only as a third or fourth option. The made-​to-​order menu sounds like a good idea but most of the standards (Har Gow, Siu Mai, Hum Bow) taste perhaps more thawed and steamed to order. As mentioned in other reviews, many of the items seemed decent but with something just a little off. The sticky rice looked great but tasted completely unfamiliar. Service was attentive, almost to the point of hovering, but welcome as in other busier locations you can wait awhile to get a refill of tea or water.
Overall, Hai Du could be a good place to go for the Dim Sum initiate, nice visual menu, helpful staff and you’ll likely stick to the less adventurous (i.e. fried) options. For the experienced though, stick to the places you know.

We took advantage of Hai Du’s much Unilocaled about $ 1.95 made-​to-​order Dim Sum from Monday thru Friday. Although, their dim sum menu is vast, we find it was difficult to call to call more than two (2) of the items our favorites this Friday night.
As other dining patron said, «Everything’s pretty good, but something’s just a little bit off in taste and it’s in just about every dish.»
The «bads» first: The Bean Curd Rolls are supposed to be savory and a little bit sweet, but at Hai Du, they were sour; from my experience, this happens when the ingredients are old. The Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow) were not really plump and didn’t taste like shrimp. The Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf and Steamed Pork Buns were unbelievably salty. The Chive Dumplings fell apart easily and the dumpling wrapper wasn’t smooth or silky but grainy and thick. The Congee was watery and was missing slivered ginger. The Egg Tarts were dried out and needed more egg custard filling. The Tripe tasted watery and dull. The Turnip Cake tasted a little sour, but not as sour as the Bean Curd Rolls. The Sui Mai were hard, not tender, not fresh and absolutely not visually appealing; worse tasting and looking than the stuff in the Asian markets’ frozen aisle.
The «goods» second: The Sugar Cane Shrimp Balls were perfection and accompanied with Americanized Chinese Sweet and Sour Sauce. The Sliced Fried Tofu with Shrimp was delicious. From tonight’s experience at Hai Du, it appears that their food strengths are in fried foods.
The service at Hai Du should not be overlooked. There were two large parties in the first dining room and even though each party had more than 10 people each, we received AMAZING service from Hai Du’s staff. They went the distance to fill out waters (maybe because they knew a lot of the dishes were salty) and checked on how our dinner was went throughout the evening. They anticipated our needs, and we never had to ask for extra napkins.
We maybe back for dinner off their main menu. Perhaps their dinner entrees are created by a different chef and executed better than their dim sum options.

Put 11 Yeeps at a big round table at a Chinese restaurant, give them sushi-​style check-​off lists for $ 1.95 dim sum and let ‘em go wild. The waitress (friendly, helpful and attentive) kept saying, «Dim Sum coming» as she brought more and more plates. «Careful they’re hot»! We couldn’t spend $ 80. I did learn one thing. I don’t have to order chicken feet again.
I hope folks come back to try the dinner menu.
Great time. Cheers!

Um, so, yeah. All day on Monday thru Friday, their made-​to-​order dim sum is only $ 1.95 USD each. This is for anything on the vast dim sum menu. Anything.
Win.
If this doesn’t smell like weeknight UYE for dim sum lovers, I don’t know what will.

«Do you, Nader A., take this Chinese seafood restaurant, to be your new favorite place for dim sum in the neighborhood? To have and to hold, to order then devour, forsaking all others when you need inexpensive $ 1.99 dim sum on a weekday? Do you promise to honor, patronize, and tip well for as long as you both shall live (or at least until you find a better/​cheaper/​more convenient dim sum restaurant)?»
«Hai Du!»
I’m far from the most experienced connoisseur of dim sum — though I’d heard of the term, I didn’t even really know what it was until about 5 years ago — but for now Hai Du has become my go-​to place for dim sum in pdx!
It seems like by now everyone knows and loves dim sum, but if like me you’re a little behind the Chinese cuisine curve it’s really simple: dim sum is just a collection of smaller sized dishes, traditionally offered in the late am until early afternoon, and served with tea (think Chinese tapas). You can order just a few for a snack, or a bunch for a whole meal, and typically the dishes are a little more exotic than your average Chinese-​American fare. For me it’s a great and inexpensive way to try new things that I might not be ready to gamble on for my entire meal.
It seems the «trendy» way to serve dim sum here in the States is via a rolling cart making the rounds to your table, but I prefer how they do it at Hai Du where you get check list (like in some sushi places) and a picture menu that substitutes pretty well for the visual appeal of seeing what you’re ordering on display before you actually make up your mind. It also means that your dim sum will be super fresh rather than sitting on a cart for god knows how long before it comes to your table. And at Hai Du they bring it out your plates as they’re cooked, so depending on how much you order you can have an endless stream of plates delivered to enjoy, rather than everything all at once.
We had been eyeing this place for some time now, but often were lured away at the last minute by the fabulous Cha Ba Thai just a few steps west on the same stretch of NE Sandy (
); however this past Sunday we arrived few hours before Cha Ba opened, and decided to finally give Hai Du a shot (they open @ 10:30am 7-​days a week!) — so glad we did!
Since we’re still exploring the world of dim sum, and we’d never been to Hai Du before, we decided to anchor our meal with an entrée of Kung Pao Chicken, and supplement it with a number of dim sum plates. As it turned out the Kung Pao, while fairly tasty and very cheap ($ 5.50 on their lunch menu), was not terribly spicy, didn’t have any zucchini or squash, and was only average; certainly not good enough to tear me away from my favorite Chinese place in NE Portland (
). They do offer cheap $ 5 – 7 lunch combos (with fried rice, crab puffs, fried shrimp and soup), as well as reduced price entrees without all the extras; probably the way to go if you’re also ordering dim sum, which in truth is what really made this meal.
Some was a little hit or miss, and due to my lack of experience with many of these dishes I can’t say if it was poor execution or just a well-​prepared item that’s doesn’t really float my boat, but most of what we had was fantastic. On the weekends they price each dim sum plate differently, and while it’s all quite inexpensive, it’s a crazy cheap flat rate ($ 1.99/plate) all day M-​F. At those prices I might even get adventurous enough to try the Chicken Feet!
Item’s we loved included a Turnip Cake (sorta like a mildly seasoned hash brown), Siu Mai, Potstickers, and Fried Shrimp (in a soft, bready, almost pretzel like batter — though it was included as part of our Kung Pao combo, I think it’s also available on the dim sum menu). They really cook tofu well, searing it on the outside and leaving it soft, though not mushy on the inside. The only dish we wouldn’t order again was the Steamed Shrimp roll; imagining it would be sort of like a salad roll, we were disappointed by the gelatinous, translucent substance in which a few small shrimp hid.
Many of the dim sum items come with their own sauce, and while I’m sure they were tailored to compliment the specific item, it was fun and tasty to mix ‘n match. The service was very attentive, frequently refilling out water, clearing away empty plates, and even asking how we’d like our leftovers boxed up. The place was rather empty at midday on a Sunday, but I’d say roughly 80% of the other diners or take-​out customers were Asian, so take that for what it’s worth.
All in all Hai Du is decent enough if you’re looking for «regular» Chinese-​American food, and really good for dim sum — especially if you’re a newcomer to the cuisine. For lunch, even on the weekends, their prices are hard to beat, and we’ll definitely be back often.