Review North Sea Village - Albany

A year ago the lady manager was very ill and her staff were not following processes.... She was very frustrated and had no support. We took the time and patience to ask her when we first saw how upset she was at them. We have been a patron for over 4 years since moving to Albany, and have seen the changes through the business; the yum Cha selection of food is Hong Kong style and taste is as it should be. Lovely!!! We can't comment about the main meals as have not ordered those as we have always enjoyed the yum-Cha. We have taken the time to build a mutual relationship wherever we patron and come to understand how difficult it is to run a restaurant when during peak times everyone wants everything "now". So if you are rushing with everyone during peak time, pls be patient and have consideration as well. From our observation, patrons themselves are not friendly but expect waiting staff to be? Currently the lady manager has battled her sickness and she is getting better; we are very happy for her. Her current regular staff are mature and helpful. Yes sometimes the kitchen takes a bit to bring the ordered items out; but it's worth the wait and patience. What we love most is that; they are able to speak English and if patrons lend a smile first and be courteous; wonders happen. The portion of food can sometimes be smaller than other times, we are not sure why. So perhaps consistency could be worked on. We have brought many visitors and friends to this place as we continue to support our local businesses.

Had a lunch here with few people from work and had a good service and food. Had a good experience but would have been great to have a background music to add a little touch to the food and atmosphere.

Yum cha is very nice. Price is reasonable. The environment is average, weekend lunch time are always crowded.

Lovely dim sam. Definitely one of the best one in Auckland i have had. Great and not over cooked dumplings.

This is an excellent place to take the family for dinner or go for a date. The food is good and it has a very nice atmosphere.

Good service, great food and decently priced. Good yum char selection during the day

Love the food, I come here every couple of weeks, great service

Good food, good sevice

Excellent food if you love yumcha 😊

The food is absolutely amazing

Probably my favorite Asian restaurant. I have been coming here for years and never get sick of it. The service is friendly and efficient and the food, amazing. The Peking duck, prawn siu-mai, pork dumplings, BBQ pork steamed buns, meat spring rolls, beef ribs, black bean and pork mince green beans are a must have. My eyes are always too big for my stomach when eating here!

Yummy place for yum char, steamed dumplings is always yummy, pastry doesn't stick to plate like most places. Carpet needs re do but overall food is yummy and staff are friendly and get food in minutes when you sit down. Yum char the best on the shore, great quality

If you're after a nicer version of Chinese takeaways for a casual weeknight dinner, I'd highly recommend this place. <br/><br/>We came here at 7:30pm on a Monday and it wasn't busy at all. Service was good (we had the super friendly lady-boss), food was nice, and you get good portions for the price. Sometimes they give you complimentary vegetable soup as a starter for dining in, too. <br/><br/>I love their Yang-Zhou fried rice (has bits of BBQ pork and prawn). It's not as salty or over-fried as the fried rice from the takeaways. <br/><br/>Their fried squid appetiser was alright; I would've liked the batter to be crunchier. It's nice as a snack while you're waiting – but not as nice as calamari rings + aioli from a Western restaurant.

Not the best yum cha place I've been too unfortunately. I'm still trying to find the best, but if your near the location and craving yum cha give it a try. Service is pretty good, compared to other yum cha places I've been too.

One of the best places to have yum char in North Shore. Because it is one of the best, it can get quite busy and hectic, leading to disorganisation and disappointment. I suggest you to get there early (11AM) and just chilax before mad lunch rushes.

Yum cha is very good here, as any Chinese dining establishment this place does not have a good atmosphere. Especially the yelling lady at the front counter. When they are not busy she is nice of they are busy she goes into panic mode and won't even acknowledge that you are by the front counter and would rather answer the phone than speak to you.<br/>The yum cha is good, and seems like it has improved over the years. If I was rating the food then I would give a 4 out of 5. Maybe if the lady at the front counter maintains a good attitude the next few times I dine here then I will up my rating.

Went for Sunday afternoon yam char, the service is slow, only three ladies there to push the dim sum for serving. The pork bun is average. Not baby friendly cause high chair provided can't be tightened.

We used to come here a lot years ago, but since then the quality of the food has gone down and the prices have gone up by quite a bit. This wouldn't have been a big issue had the food quality not dropped. One big issue I have now is that the restaurant is not baby friendly. It doesn't have any high chairs and when we enquired they said theirs was taken and they haven't bothered getting another. They did have booster seats without any sort of harness so if you want to bring your baby, have a stroller ready or use your car seat as the waitress kindly recommended. The food was average and didn't taste fresh. There were only around five tables so only two or three carts were being circulated. All in all was pretty disappointed.

Best yum cha ever!!<br/><br/>My family have been coming here for years, it honestly never fails us. Consistency is definitely what you get here which we love.<br/><br/>Could never fault it 😁

Been here few times for yum char and dinner. Food is cooked fast and taste good. It is the usual hearty chinese food which enjoyed together with family. You always order a lot and tapao (pack the leftoevers) for lunch the next day. Service is so so, don't expect royalty treatment as they always so busy. Rice and tea cost about $2 pp extra for each. They gives you complimentary soup and fruits/dessert when you dined in for dinner though.

Had an awesome dinner here. Generous portions and tasty food, and not that expensive either. Nice and clean and quite a cool view of Massey uni. Super fast too. I'll be back to try their yumchar next time.

Good food for our dinner. Came here several times and the food anyways meet our expectations. Service is not very efficient mainly because they always seem to lack manpower but definitely not too bad given the situation. Would recommend this restaurant for authentic Chinese food.

We live close-by and it's a good place for yumcha<br/>Spacious and food comes quick so we don't have to wait long till we find something we like<br/>It's very busy and unfortunate some don't speak English but we usually manage fine :)<br/>Clean interior

The Northern Sea Village is a good little Yum Cha spot looking over Albany Mega Centre.<br/><br/>Me and my son are huge Yum Cha fans so we try a lot of places and this place is a cheap eat, always fresh, food comes out real fast and it helps with English speaking Chinese staff. <br/><br/>I'm a big fan of crab and these guys do a crab sumi as many other places don't.

I went here for yum cha on a Saturday at around 2pm with my family and "Wow" was in my head when I left the place, not because how good the food is, no, it's because how terrible the place is managed and how inconsiderate the owner/manager was. <br/><br/>The manager seems to be very unhappy with her staff, she has never stopped yelling or telling some waitress how to do every single thing and clearly they can never do things the way she wanted. It's not a pleasant experience and I felt sorry for the waitresses. <br/><br/>There was long wait for food.. it's not about how busy the place is, there are only one big table and 3 small tables. The food was there but only the big table get service. Trolleys walk pass us and go straight there. Fine.. they are big customers but surely we can have the left over, but no.. the trolleys were parked after that, leaving us waiting for over 15 minutes, while we watched the two trolleys full of food in bamboo baskets just 5 meters from us. No waiter to push that over. I asked the manager if we need to place order for our food as some yum cha restaurants do when they are not busy and she yelled again at waitress to come and take order from us, while she was standing there, optimising the stacks of food on that trolley. Just push that trolley over, I thought. The waitress did come and take the order. When finished, she said that most of our order are on that trolley so just wait for it to get here. I knew that already! just push that over. It was another good 10 minutes before that trolley is finally with us. <br/><br/> Food was okay, pretty average, 4 out of 10 maybe? the deep fried stuff are a bit soggy, Tofu jelly had terrible consistency and tasted funny so I only had one sip. Dumplings were reasonably ok.  <br/><br/>The one thing on my mind, besides why no one bring me that troylley, was why couldn't the manager take our order or push the trolley over. There were no other customers waiting for her at the counter and clearly all her staff are busy. Later I know.. she is the owner, not the manager. I guess that means to her she is there to yell and micro manage everything, not to actually assist customers. <br/><br/>At the end of my meal, I don't blame the waitress for ignoring me and left me waiting anymore, I just felt sorry for them, having to work in that environment.

Headed there for xmas lunch with workmates.awesome food and many dishes to choose from. Loved the squid dish was really yummy. Will visit again. Thanks

Been here twice. Food is ok and service is average. Not much parking space for cars when it gets so busy. Wine selection is average as most they have are supermarket wines.

Located in a busy place just off the Albany highway, but there were not much people dining on Friday morning. Some dishes were ready-to-pick but most need to be ordered. That was not a typical yum cha experience. Some meat dish were greasy and oily, dumpling dishes were fine, porridge tasted yuck, fried dishes were ok. Overall experience, not reach my expectation.

9 years ago, the first restaurant we ate at when we arrived New Zealand, nothings changed. Food still good! Green Beans, Sio Mai, Ha gow (shrimp dumpling), rice roll and the tentacles ! all delicious! <br/><br/>I agree with the reviews re this place getting crazy busy during weekends, come early to get a good table and enjoy!

This is definitely a good place to have Cantonese Cuisine!! They have good food with good price. The staffs are friendly and patient to explain what's in their dishes! I've been there at least 6 times and I love all the food I've ordered! Highly recommend you guys to try the hot sago pudding and spare ribs with black bean sauce!

Struggling to even give the place a one after the horrendous service given by the head matriarch of the restaurant. Pretty much being yelled at upon entering, and then beckoned to the back of the place with our own menus in hand and to a table with no table cloth you could say the first impression/experience of the place was very awful to say the least. After spending $60 at the North Sea Village a THANKYOU or an acknowledging look was not even given. Couldn't imagine working for the women, the poor staff! Will be never returning!

The owner is horrible. Constantly yelling at her minions. She refuses to acknowledge that you are there and ignores you. Waiting at the counter for 15 mins without any form of salutations. Nothing g is good enough to be treated like a piece of shit as a customer. There is a place in William Pickering where they antually treat you like a human called haka hut. <br/>What a glorious biatch!

I come here 2-3 times a week the food is always delicious. Especially the BBQ pork steamed buns, pork siu mai, prawn siu mai and the green beans. They get extremely busy on Saturday/Sunday, so much so that the line goes out the door, so I suggest going as early as possible if you're planning to go during the weekend. The staff are always very friendly. Definitely recommend!

Food 4.5/5<br/>Always consistently good food,<br/>Always Super busy for yum cha <br/>Lady on the front desk is awesome too😃. <br/> <br/>

A typical Yum Cha place that offers food in consistent manners. I believe most of you would know what Yum Cha is and have an idea that the food served are not TOO different between different restaurants. What I like about North Sea Village is their occasional creativity, reflected in the dishes that they serve. Instead of normal dim sims, they have something called "spinach dim sims" (dim sims in green) and it was really interesting! Also, normally people have the durian ice-cream balls, but here you can also get a taste of things like "rockmelon ice-cream balls". Their service is quite good and usually the wait isn't too long. :)

Well well what can I say - they are all the same - yummy food, packed out and seating can be hard to get if you havent already prebooked. The staff can barely speak english but hey, the chefs food makes up for a large portion of the waiters lack of training in this area. The decor is Chinese inspired appropriate, however one thing that does need a little of attention is the toilets, I believe with the large masses of people that come and go for lunch contribute to the bathroom and its dirty state, so perhaps a regular checkup during peak hours would be recommended. The pork dumplings / prawn & coriander dumplings are my ultimate picks at this place by the way. MMMMMMM Im so hungry but I just ate. What the hell is wrong with me? <br/><br/>Wait I'm not finished just yet....<br/><br/>Can I just say before I leave ..... Try the sugar puff donuts- aaaaaaaamazing.

Interesting or more correctly curious name for a resturant. Not the usual inviting pronouns or adjectives inviting prosperity, elitism or peacefulness. Anyway, yum cha is code for yummy chow (hehe) so time to eat and not be so cognitive. Good rice paste crepes with prawn. ( har chuen fun) 4/5; standard prawn dumpling,(har gaow) again glutinous rice paste 4/5 ; and with chives ( gow choi gaow); average included:<br/>tripe still yum; steamed beef testicles oops I mean beef balls; and pork spare ribs a little fifty otherwise didn't try anything too adventurous but not a bad light business lunch alternative to the kreems and coffee club meetings. Good service and can be noisy.

I am a big fan of Yum Cha and have tried most big places in Auckland. This however stands out from the crowd. It has excellent service and food to match. Very frequent trolleys coming at you with a lot of variety on offer. Price is very reasonable. Plenty of parking both on and off road but for "non North Shorians" it can be a bit of a drive. This place is very very busy and it will definitely help if you call them in advance. Try this place and you will not regret if you like Yum Cha. Highly recommended.Food 4/5, Service 4/5, Price 3.5/5, Location 3.5/5, Portion 4/5

This is a bit of a distance to go to for me but it's easy to find, directly off the motorway, and has lots of convenient free parking so doesn't actually take that long time-wise. Went for early yum cha on a Sunday and was very pleased. Stupendous fresh dumplings with springy wrappers that don't disintegrate. Possibly the best dumplings in Auckland? The chicken feet were lovely and licorice-y and the salty, smokey green beans were a big favourite of the table. They had a large selection of dishes that come around frequently as well as a yum cha and special dishes a la carte menu.<br/>Service was friendly and they came around with regular top ups for the teapot. However, when I actually used the universal yum cha signal for requesting more hot water for the teapot (positioning the lid on a tilt), they completely ignored it! This was when they were getting busier and we had almost finished eating but it's really no excuse. It was still a good dining experience overall so not a big deal.<br/>Handy hint for yum cha: If you want extra things like a fork or some takeaway containers for the leftovers, don't ask the staff who are wheeling the food trollies around. They're focused on getting the food to the tables so will promptly forget your request. Ask the runners who are clearing your dirty dishes and refilling the teapot. This is what happened to us and I had to trot up to the reception desk to ask (for a fork and then for some containers) but again I forgave them because my requests were responded to so promptly and cheerfully. 12 dishes (including one dish that was a special) for $73, so pretty good value.

We come here regularly and would recommend to all, the food is great and the green beans my daughter likes and orders specially always come quickly. <br/><br/>The prices are cheap and the staff helpful especially the lady on the reception cashier area. It is always busy so you must book or the wait can be long. Recently we ordered takeaway yum char and it was exceptional too. Just give them lots of notice. We are European and have never had a problem here with English spoken.

The quality of food has drastically decreased over the years. I used to love going here for lunch with my family, however won't come here again. The food now tastes more artificial, mass-bought and reheated, not very nice. The boss is unfriendly, treats you more like a robot than human being. Only plus is you don't have to wait long for food to arrive.

The absolute worst dining experience I have ever had.<br/><br/>The Yum Cha service runs from 9am to 4pm on a Saturday, I work till 2pm so we booked a table for 2:20pm, we got there as a party of 4 people and the place was packed, for the first 10 minutes they came around with about 20 different dishes on offer, which is what Yum Cha is supposed to be like, But then, withing about 10 minutes the majority of the tables emptied out and by 2:40 there were only 4 tables with people still eating, including us who only got there at 2:20.<br/><br/>By 2:50 they stopped bringing food around and they started cleaning the restaurant all around us, Manageress fighting with her poor staff in Mandarin, shouting from one side of the place at someone on the other side..<br/><br/>Staff all over the place pulling table cloths off tables, literally bumping into us as they do it!!<br/><br/>By 3pm when we realized that we were not going to be seeing any more food come around, I called on the Rude, Loud, Aggressive Manageress and asked her when they will be bringing more food around, and she simply said, no more food will be brought around and that if we wanted to eat anymore we had to order off the menu!! <br/><br/>All four of us were still hungry, but we decided to leave because the experience with the staff cleaning and chatting and making a racket all around us was just Crap! The other 3 tables also left at this time.<br/><br/>VERY DISAPPOINTING EXPERIENCE, we will never be back!

Another favorite place for yumchar. Good service which is rare for yumchar place. Very reasonable price and great selection of yumcha. Always busy so better book ahead although several times we came here without booking and were fine.

Food wise is good. One of the yumchar places we would go in north shore. But just don't like seeing the floor manager yelling at waiter and waitress all the time while we waiting.

Always great yum cha & dinners here. You know it's good when there's consistently a line out the door for Saturday/Sunday yum cha! Food is delicious however staff speak little English which can come across as rude, manager is very friendly and helpful though!

I quite like this place. The food is generally good quality. I don't think they bring around enough of the good dishes and I often have to request for my favourites (including chicken feet, chicken with rice, prawn dumpling etc...).

We had yamchar at 11:30 am <br/><br/>When we received our food from the food trolley they were cold. I had to recheck what time we had arrived there. and it was only an hour later that they have opened the shop yet the food already gone cold. And I absolutely disappointed with their pork bun they shrunk down as if they were cooked in a microwave. <br/><br/>I usually enjoy going there for a delicious yum char. However, this time it was just horrible. We left the table ten mins after. But their service was very nice.

We Four Generations. (Myself and Wife, Daughter, Grand Daughter and two Great Grand Sons) went for Yum Cha on New Years Day (1-01-2014).<br/>Food and service was 10 out of 10.<br/>Fantastic food and the service was superb.<br/>On behalf of all my family. "A Very Big Thank you" <br/>We all look forward to our next visit to North Sea Village Restaurant.<br/>Happy New Year to the Management and all there Staff.<br/>Regards Malcolm and Selma Hart

Love the food at North Sea Village. We go there frequently for dinner and yum cha.<br/>- Good consistency in their food quality, servings and service.<br/><br/>Yum Cha - Lots of variety. But be warned: they are usually quite busy especially on special occasions. My advise is to make a booking beforehand if not you won't be able to get a table.<br/><br/>Dinner - Their signature tofu, pork in black bean sauce, and egg yolk squid are yum. To end the meal, they always serve us complimentary dessert.<br/><br/>Taste: 4/5<br/>Variety: 4.5/5<br/>Price: 3.8/5<br/>Service: 3.5/5 (they should definitely improve on this point)

We go to North Sea Village frequently for yum cha. The service is good. They really go out of the way for my toddler and get him milk and anything else he wants.<br/><br/>The food is excellent. The congee (rice soup) is awesome, the dumplings taste great and there is always something new to try.<br/><br/>This is a great place for families and catching up with friends. Highly recommended.

Went on a Tuesday night as heard they do a great Yum Cha but found its on during the day and end of week. Regardless,we had a great dinner with our BYO wine (Recommend the Pork in Black Bean sauce!) Was quiet on a Tuesday night but the service was better than average,food good and cost very reasonable.

I went there when i want to eat Dim Sum . Everything always serve great taste on a great deal .. like when i entered after 2.30 or something they will charge lower prices!!!! LOL

Good food,nice atmosphere<br/>Not the cheapest but still ok.<br/>Went there for several times staff always seems a bit grumpy

Food was great tasting, good sized portions. <br/>For some reason however, we kept being offered dessert items right away even though we were one of the first groups of people in there - maybe some people go just for dessert ? :)<br/>At no point we were offered anything to drink (apart from the usual green tea).<br/>Staff were friendly, however English is not a strong point so some of the food being offered was bit of a mystery to us - but tried it anyway and found we enjoyed most of it.<br/>We will be returning again :)

good shizz

good food yummy selection that has even been growing and there's more choice of din sum's now. just the worst freakin service you could find in auckland!!!

Made a booking here for yum char lunch. The service was really good, they were super accommodating of any allergies or not knowing what items on the menu were, although their English was mediocre. They were mindful of us always, bringing out plates and spoons when they saw we were getting the birthday cake ready, and so on.<br/><br/>They did have carts going round at first, but eventually they just asked everyone to order what they wanted from the menu, which isn't very yum char style. It was quite deserted, probably five tables occupied max at any given time, so that's probably why they didn't want the carts going round and the dishes inside getting cold. <br/><br/>I feel like the prices aren't very good, particularly for the food. The siu mai, to my amusement, had prawn at the base. That's pretty unusual because prawn isn't cheap stuff, and most definitely are not a traditional component of siu mai. Not complaining, but it was pretty unusual. It also meant a companion with a seafood allergy had to avoid it. The siu mai are probably the best stuff they offer, as well as the cheong fun. Those were good too, particularly the Chinese pork ones. The chicken ones were so-so, but rather bland. The texture of the cheong fun was smooth and slightly al dente but still translucent, so that was good. I was disappointed by the translucent dumplings such as har gow, where the skins were far too sticky and broke when you were trying to get it away from its fellows in the dish. The fillings were a little mushy too.<br/><br/>I think it's a good place to visit in the area when you just want a quick hassle-free local eatery, but it wasn't a standout yum char for me. They did have very good service though, although I would attribute this to the place not being very busy.

one of my usual dining place over the shore, even this place is not so busy as other YumCha, but we enjoy their service and love the beijing duck.

Couple of years ago, when I first visited this place, it was just great! Good service, great food and everything! However, these days, I refuse to go there due to the customer services. Food is still great but they know how to make me feel terrible. My boyfriend almost commented on the behaviour of the manager but since we didn't want to cause any scene, we just came out of the place. If you don't mind the behaviour, than I do recommend the place as the food is still good, but personally, I would go to other restaurant for a good food AND good service.

They need to improve their service...