Shai Lai Seafood Restaurant

Above average dim sum. Portions have been scaled down, but still worth it. It’s one of my favorite places.

Best dim sum I’ve had in the Bay to date, very authentic, good quality food, reasonable price and surprisingly good service for a Cantonese joint!
Good for families with small kids and love the conversational din and festive and lively atmosphere!

Came here for dinner and don’t see this place staying open long.

First time coming here since it changed from the Mayflower Restaurant.
Came here on saturday noon and there was no wait.
Immediately sat down and served.
Ordered the typical plates, Beef Chowfun, Siumai, Chicken Feet, XO noodle rolls, chicken sticky rice, seseme balls and fried pork.
All plates were tasty and had good flavor but most of the orders were more expensive the KOI Palace. The Beef Chowfun was an extremely large order so plan appetite accordingly.
Will probably come back for round dos but my taste buds say that there are better locations in the city.

Been coming here for years for dim sum when it was Mayflower. Great place for dinner and banquets also. Outer Richmond has more parking than Inner Richmond, just get here early. Still the same familiar faces working here, it’s like family. We still love everything about this place. I hear Dragon Beaux (Koi Palace owners) moved into the former Video Café space (for those who remember). How the city has changed, I miss Cala Foods across the street. There are many dim sum places in the avenues to choose from and then some. This place is nostalgic for my family and I.
My kids love all their tasty items and entrees. My mom goes a little hog wild when ordering the entire menu. I see where I get it from. We always have leftovers for the next day, tastes even better. Highly recommended for dim sum on Geary. We will continue coming here for dim sum for many years to come. They have quite a selection and no different than Yank Sing, definitely not Yank Sing prices if ya know what I mean: p
Keep calm & drink tea!

Seriously yummy authentic Chinese food that’s just a little bit different than your standard.
We came with the Gramps, and we let him have carte blanche with the ordering. We started with soup with fish paste and veggies, two clay pots (!). Everything was excellent (though a bit salty). Waiters were also really great, but I think my grandfather might be a regular here.

Sad to say the cost of doing business in San Francisco ruined this business for us. Prices have gone way up, portions are smaller.
Why do restaurateurs do this time and tme, again? We would stay loyal if they change either way, just not both. I wish them luck.

After a lovely morning at the Brooklyn Fashion exhibit at the Legion of Honor, we are a little strapped for time. I’d wanted sushi, but K needed to get back over the bridge, so we strolled over to Geary, and this is the first place that looked halfway decent. We got baked bbq’d pork buns, which I like better than the steamed bao, shanghai pork soup dumplings, shrimp and chive dumplings and a scallop variety, plus potstickers and a plate of gai lan with oyster sauce. I liked the scallop one the best, with real crab roe on top. The dumplings were a little too large for me, making eating them tricky. All the fillings were tasty, but I think the skins were a little too thick and chewy. I loved the way they did the gai lan; they lightly steam it instead of stir frying. It avoids the woodiness problem that often comes up, but I would have liked them to toss the veg in the sauce, instead of just placing it there for dipping. The bill was a pleasant surprise. You never know when you’re getting dim sum.
Contrary to some of the other reviews, we (the only non Asians there at the time) got great service and servers kindly answered our questions. It’s not a stand out in this crowded Bay Area Dim Sum landscape, but it was good, and reasonable.

The food here is mediocre and not worth price. Dim Sum doesn’t meet the minimum standard. Shrimp dumpling skin too thick, blend and no taste. Noodle crepes too thick and chewy. Most dumplings are tasteless. Dinner dishes not particular tasty but pricey. Service is below average. They don’t know what customer service mean and still use the standard from the Far East. If you are not ordering something expensive, they don’t really care about the service.

The dim sum was fresh but not particularly tasty. A couple dishes were excellent, though, notably the roast duck.

So sad Mayflower is gone, but the new place makes decent dim sum for a higher price. Not too expensive, but not Mayflower cheap either.
I was super happy to see some of the same excellent Mayflower staff are still there and still just as charming (thank you for coming over to say ‘hi’ darling waiter-​boy.)
What to get: all of the rice rolls were great (cilantro, and the scallops were both delicious.)
The deep fried taro was a miss. I am only willing to eat this and gain 20 pounds if its straight out of the deep fryer. This one was not worth the calorie intake: it was lukewarm and not all deliciously gooey inside.
The steamed pork buns (normally kinda fine elsewhere) were awesome! No fatty bits, super hot, and excellent flavor. Yeah, I know… pedestrian, but they were really good!
Mushroom Shu Mai was meh… not fab, but ok. I might maybe get it again. Same with the shrimp and chive dim sum. Looked beautiful, whole shrimp, but the taste was only ok.
Free good jasmine tea.
Overall, a pretty satisfying lunch for two cost about 35 with tip. Not as cheap as I like, but not astronomically expensive either, and I’d go back (and will) but will order carefully.

Here it goes, my first (and hope only) rage review. Here we are on Memorial Day showing up at this place at 11:00 nobody is there waiting other than us and another person. We are 4 adults and 3 children, white and asian. Time goes by and people arrive and suddenly a large table is given to a man sitting by himself, another large table is given to another large party 10 minutes later. At this point the man at the big table is still sitting by himself. And us what’s the matter? Why aren’t we getting seated. When I ask, I am told that’s the way it works there and if I don’t like it I can leave. Maybe it’s because I’m white and pissed off maybe it’s because there are too many children in our party for them to be making money, but that’s the treatment I got.
Fellow Unilocalers I suggest you not go to this establishment.
I hope karma gives that man a month of disgraces, because he is a total jerk.
Also the woman that works there and told me «Me speak no English» with a perfect accent, she deserves a week of disgraces too.

A hole in a wall restaurant, it is not. The wait time for getting a place to sit here on the weekends is a test of ones patient and motivation in trying to get a meal here. Once your seated, its seems like a victory for those still continuing to wait to get a table. The food is tasty, delicious, and hot especially if you come here for Dim Sum. When seated you’re provided with an «order» list full of descriptive menu items to choose from, and your dim sum dishes are served to you when ready. Seems pretty efficient, however chasing down a server can be challenging, especially when you need more tea or you want to order additional food dishes. Regardless, this is a typical stereo-​type Chinese restaurant with no frills, moderately priced food, and a bathroom that you should probably avoid if your definitely a germa-fob…good luck

The best Chinese food I have ever had. Mine was not the 3 star experience haha. Super great

Dim sum 4 stars! Pork tongue soup, only 1 star! Salty as hell, if you do not want hypertension, avoid this soup! I was thirsty for the next 5 hours even though drank 5 glasses of water and 2 cups of ice tea! Also, 2 stars for their service! Their service overall was okay! However, it was super annoying when a family of four just want some simple dim sum for lunch on a weekend, the waitress kept trying to up sell for seafood and soups!
The waitress asked if we want some pricy steam fish! My mom told her we just want to have some dim sum! Then she tried to ask the same question again but a different kind of fish! My mom told her, my brother always goes fishing, we have those fish all the time! We wanted dim sum! Then, she asked if we want some (elephant’s nose clam), my mom told her no, we just wanted some dim sum! Okay, she took our dim sum sheet and walked away!
5 minutes later, she came back to us, tried to up sell again! This time, she asked if we want some soup! My dad felt the pressure maybe we were too cheap only ordering dim sum. Made him feel quite embarrassing, so he said okay! Therefore, we ordered a pork tongue soup around $ 16! The soup was not soup! Sorry! It was salt-​water only!!!
I am okay for up selling but please know the limit! We have 4 people for lunch, parents are seniors! Already ordered a pan fried chow mien and more than 7 plates of dim sum! I think the order was more than average! I wasn’t happy about it! Made me feel very annoying! Too aggressive for up selling will only end up with bad customer service because the customer did not feel comfortable! I think my parents were very generous and kind, they felt maybe the waitress had pressure from her boss? They said she was usually not that aggressive and they did not want to give her a hard time! That’s why they ordered that (salt water)! If I am by myself or with my friends, I will not be that generous to her!!!

OVER PRICED AND TERRIBLE FLAVORING!
4 people, ordered a geoduck plate, lamb pot, sweet and sour pork, 2 squabs, and a soup — $ 175! No drinks!
The sweet and sour pork was a complete fail, not sweet or sour. But super SALTY! The manager explain the new chef might’ve added salt. Instead of redoing the whole plate, they just re-​tossed it in extra sauce. Still salty as heck.
The lamb pot was also doused in salt, no other flavors. The lamb was also a weird grayish brown instead of the fresh sienna brown that fresh lamb should be
The geoduck plate was decent, but I don’t like it. It was more for my parents
The only decent plate was the 2 squabs (mini pigeons) but it was $ 25… So like $ 12.50 per midget bird!
The soup was boring but technically «complimentary»
Our total bill was $ 175, not including tax
Onto my gripe about the service. This lady that waited on us was pretty much a SALESPERSON and not a waitress. The suggested dishes that weren’t even to what we were asking about and never told us the price for the lamb pot ($ 50?!)
came here for dimsum one day and it was okay…
Never coming back here ever again. Paid the bill and wanted to throw everything back up

My parents used to love Mayflower. We’d come here all the time for dim sum and dinner. Super convenient since it’s in my neighborhood! After Shai Lai took over, we decided to check them out back in January 2013.
We ordered:
A1. Black mushroom sumai ($ 2.50)
A2. Chicken claw w/​black bean sauce ($ 2.50)
A3. Pork ribs in garluc sauce ($ 2.50)
A14. Steamed beef ball ($ 2.50)
B6. Pot stickers ($ 3.20)
B8. Deep fried taro dumpling ($ 3.20)
B18. Bean curd skin roll ($ 3.20)
C1. Shrimp dumpling ($ 3.85)
C3. Sticky rice & chicken in lotus leaf ($ 3.85)
C8. Shrimp noodle roll ($ 3.85)
D4. Spiced beef varieties ($ 5.50)
D8. Steamed beef tripe ($ 5.50)
Everything was okay. Not as good as Mayflower, but average dim sum. Some of the staff remain from the old restaurant, so service was about the same. Shai Lai is convenient because it’s close to my house, but there are so many other dim sum places in my neighborhood that are better. Shai Lai was just alright.

First things first, parking is a complete bitch in the Richmond. Circled literally 45 mins before getting tired (since the whole family has been waiting for that long) and parked in front of that bargain grocery with a good 10 inches of the bumper still sticking out because we gave up and were desperate. So be warned. (oh don’t worry, we weren’t complete douchebags, made sure we left enough room for cars to still be able to go in and out of course).
Oh yes, we came for dinner.
I think the food is just okay here, not too much of a pizzaz going on in my tongue.
Peking duck with buns — there was NO MEAT. It was a nice layer of pretty skin, and under that was a thick chunk of fat, and literally 1 measly cm of «meat». CMMON. Where did they even get the duck in the first place? sounds like its just been locked up not allowed any movement and just stuffed with food. Thumbs down. I’ve seen more meat on leftover chicken bones (If you know what I mean).
Fried Rice — Kind of plain.
Soy sauce chicken — overly salty? I know it’s suppose to be salty, but I chugged my whole glass of water after eating that piece. Even if I had eaten that with rice, half a bowl of rice would’v accompanied that single piece.
There was also this dish of minced meat sort of thing where you wrap it in the lettuce leaves and dip some sauce. That was kinda nice for aesthetics and it was pretty good too.
Everything else was just okay (yes, I did take into account of how the food would’ve tasted better if we had arrived on time and the food was fresh, but above reasons for not liking this place aren’t affected by the temp of the food.)

I came in for dinner. It was okay. I’ve had better and worse.
It was authentic and on the greasy side. Those two terms are close, but not exactly interchangeable. I think the cuts of the meat they use can be a little better, too much fat at the end of the day.
The service was what you would expect for a Chinese restaurant.

I know it’s customary to order tea at dim sum and we usually do, but that day we just didn’t want to drink anything caffeinated so we declined on tea. After our meal, I saw the $ 2 charge for tea and told the host that we didn’t order tea. He gave me a scowl and then walked over to our table to see if there were indeed tea leaves I our pot, which of course was just hot water, I felt like he thought we were trying to cheat them off of two whole measly dollars. Then he goes in a very hostile tone «TEA AND WATER IS THE SAME THING» then walks away. He did take off the two dollars but the way he did it made us feel awkward enough that we will not be back.
It’s too bad bc we have given Shai Lai a lot of business since they opened, had banquets there, etc., but this leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. I can understand a hole in the wall treating us this way but this is a relatively upscale Chinese restaurant, and for two dollars, and regular customers, you can fake a smile.