Review Star Cafe Seafood Restaurant

William Lin

Had dinner on a Sunday night. The restaurant was not overly busy. Ordered the food and it came out fairly fast in regular intervals. We did have to check on our last dish, which seemed like they had forgotten until I asked about it. The free soup was lukewarm. Overall, the food was pretty good and tasty. Have been for yumcha in the past and it can be quite hectic.

浩哥-奥克兰

A famous Chinese restaurant on the north shore. I think there is a change of owner but the taste of food remains. It cost $62 for two of us for a yumchar a little bit pricy but it’s the new status quo.

Eric Chou奧克蘭寶哥

Been here for different occasions for several times, I can only say nothing for me to complain about. Owners are very dedicated to the business, service is beyond average Chinese restaurants. Food is yummy with no question. They even have installed one Karaoke machine on the second floor private dinning room. They open for business in most days in a year which is very thoughtful. Love it!

Jeongran Kim

It is delicious. We had four different dumplings. Just perfect for me. Highly recommend 👌. We also had sweet and sour pork. Crunch and sweet. Yummy !!

Dins R.

My go to yum char place 😋 love their siu mai, friend pork buns, fried squid, and prawn dumplings. Love the mochi vanilla ice cream as well. Service is pretty quick and staff is usually friendly. Highly recommended! 👍

Harif Mul

I went there for my friend's mom's birthday hence we did not have dimsum instead we had normal dishes. I have not been there for quite a long time. It was very crowded and I can tell you that the dish was very delicious. Not sure if the owner is still the same but the dish is still very good and yummy. The drawback is only too noisy, it was lunch time hence can't complain as long as the foods are delicious. 😊😀😀

Annie Ling

Peking duck was beautiful. Nice crispy skin and soft pancake. Other dishes were nice and well flavoured. Portion sizes are good so great for big family dinners. Service was pretty average hence the 4 stars.

Ella J

Delicious food, good service. We went there two Sundays in a row. Too busy on Sunday midday for yumcha. I was feeling I’d better eat fast seeing so many people waiting for their tables.

violette vo

Came back for yum cha after years and the Dimsum here are still good. Price is relatively higher compared to other dimsum places

Tongxin Chinese School

It’s great to have authentic Peking Duck in Auckland!

Natasha W

My grand parents take me and my brother here all the time, the food is lovely and so are the staff (:

Jas GL Ng

Good place to dine especially with big families, our family always have parties here, food is good at reasonable prices. the boss and staff are friendly, great location with plenty parking. definitely recommended for Chinese food goers.

Lyn Hormann

Yum char at lunch was incredible especially the prawn dumplings and the food came out very fast and their was a great selection , family and I enjoyed especially the tea.Highly recommended 😁👍

Matangaro Vaneijk

The best yum cha lunch menu on the North Shore.. A great dining experience @ affordable prices..one of my most favourite Chinese restaurant in Wairau Park 😍😁

Andre de Wet

Great Yum Cha and affordable. Wide selection and friendly service. We go there regularly and they are consistently high standard.

JUAN WU

Been there few times - I would recommend their dim sum menu. Plenty of car parks outside. The crayfish was a little under my expectation but Peking duck is absolutely delicious.

Chris Chundau

Delicious and plenty of choices (especially the fish congee!) best yum cha in the North Shore/Auckland. Very reasonable price, will definately recommend!

Yan Huang

牛肉肠粉真的是我吃过最好吃的肠粉！服务态度也是非常好，以后就吃着一家早茶了！再接再厉！

Jackie Lu

Ive ordered peking duck and few other dishes from this place twice now, both were disappointing. Both times the vegetables for peking duck were poorly cut - spring onion was barely cut apart. The duck had a lot of fatty bits on it which tasted foul if youve ever had a mouth full of duck fat. And the wraps you get with this is dusted in so much raw flour, my hands were caked in dust after eating a few. The sui mai had some hard bit in it which were not pleasant, the spring rolls were very greasy. I can tolerate the rice porridge that came out luke warm as i love rice porridge but definitely not what i expected. I was very dissatisfied both times and both times i spent $100+, it was not worth the money. I hope the staff reads this and makes changes because i do like the variety of food they offer and is a bonus they are on Ubereats.

Xuqing Zhou

We order 8 dishes and they charge us $72. It’s ridiculous !

Alice In New Zealand

Bejing duck was great. Love the veggie. Kind staff

Wei Qizhe

Excellent service, very friendly team and Perking duck is so tender and succulent! Highly recommend.

Asianfoodie

A pretty reasonable yum cha place located on the Shore. Service was a little down from some staff members but it was good food in the end

Sophie Wang

This is a our regular yum cha restaurant. It's always busy so be prepared to wait during 12~1 o'clock hours. The shrimp dumplings are delicious and well made. My only gripe is if you're seated on the second floor, expect less options to come up. Otherwise, tea is legit and variety is good. Update, new owners now, the food is still very tasty and the service has even improved. Food was prompt but we did go on a Friday. Ingredients were fresh and decent portion sizes.

Carmen

Great place for yum cha, good selection of dim sum, fair price. Friendly staff and service. Would recommend before going before 2pm, otherwise dim sum will be made to order from the lunch menu.

Jen Lee ( Zomato Gold Using JENL 8447 For 20% Discount)

We come here often in the past and the food was quite oily. Surprised to say it has improved. The portion size is pretty good and price is reasonable compared to other places we’ve tried. Corkage is $2 per glass and a big bowl of rice for 9 people ( 7 adults and 2 child) is $20. Ideal for big family gatherings and lots of mouths to feed especially with big appetites. The waitresses don’t speak fluent English but we still managed to communicate what we wanted.

BAbyWin

Super busy yamcha place at North Shore. They have many varieties to choose from but its probably better to be seated downstairs as some waiteresses didn't bring the food to second floor. Better to make a booking or go earlier on weekends. Service level is always varies as their waiteresses change very often.

Food2belly

What a satisfying meal ❗The flavours for all the dishes were exquisite. The portions were large and quality was amazing. Nothing bets a authentic Cantonese meal, what I love about this is I get to try a range of dishes and bond over sharing family gossip 😂😅

Jenna

i saw the white plastic hair at rice roll dishes. i found 5 plastic hairs. but manager just said sorry insincerely. after this accident i never been there.

OTPNZ

Had yum cha here and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food I guess I’d call this place a hidden gem. The food was quite delicious. Staff were friendly and efficient. Was affordable and enjoyable. Will defiantly be back.

Ang Sarap

This place is one of the most accessible restaurants to us but we never had dinner there before, mostly we only go here for Yum Cha. The price is quite affordable and the place is clean compared to most of the Chinese restaurants here in Auckland but does how does their dishes compare to others?. We had dinner here with several friends, I guess we had 3 huge round tables at that time for us, my wife already pre booked the place and pre ordered so when we arrive they know what to serve us, no need to scour through the long list of Chinese Menus. Each table have at least one order of each photo below apart from the noodles where she asked for two.

Rachel

The service at this restaurant is absolutely horrendous. I would definitely not recommend eating here. The staff are rude and inattentive. One girl even had earphones in while serving tables. We also got charged extra for certain dishes that prices weren't updated on the menu and when we tried asking the manager about this, they got angry and refused to believe us instead of trying to solve the issue. Additionally, we ate here on Queen's Birthday and there was a 10% surcharge which we were not informed about beforehand. Overall, terrible customer service and would not come back again.

Oden

Had Yum Cha here on Queen's birthday. Food was average and very overpriced. Charged us a lot at the time and didn't give a receipt. We calculated the cost based on the menu we were given and returned to ask about this. We were told that two of the items we had were actually "specials", not "large" as advertised. They were unable to tell us specifically which items. We were also told that there was a 10% surcharge for public holiday (fair enough but this was not made known to us at any point). The owner started getting angry and attempted to argue with us rather than give a coherent and acceptable response . Abysmal customer service and when compared to the numerous other available yum cha locations, average food.

Patrick Wong

Went there once, and I will never return there. The owner was extremely rude to me when I was happily paying after my wife and I had yumcha, but was returned with a yelling simply because The credit card transaction appeared to have gone through without the need to key in my credit card passcode (no, it wasn’t a payWave but was via the micro chip) in which I asked him about it as I was worried that there was an error in the transaction. He may be swarmed with many other customers at the counter during that time, But that doesn’t give him the right to yell at me (in mandarin by saying “that’s just how it worked!”) with no further explanations and receipt. The yumcha is mediocre and the staff were inattentive, definitely not impressed.

Navneel Naicker

I was in the area and wanted to find the nearest yum cha restaurant. This popped up so we went along, sat down and basically starved. The service was so bad no trolleys came close to where we were. The tables in front of us got served except for us (multiple time) I would make eye contact with the lady but still she’d go elsewhere. We ending up leaving hungry because we weren’t served for 20mins. When I told the cashier at the front he said this was yum cha so you have to wave your hand in the air and get their attention. We’ve been to Yum cha at other places, and this clearly wasn’t close to what you would call a restaurant. If your non- Asian then sorry this is not the place for you.

“Dailee” 25% Off Zomato Gold

Family came here for Lunar New Year dinner in the end because we didn’t do booking elsewhere. Regret it! $440 for whole fish (too salty), lobster with yee mien (tasteless and charged exorbitant price), crispy taro with veges (standard, oily), peking duck (decent). Overpriced, underwhelming, rude staff, unattentive and food taste average.

Chris L

This restaurants been here for so long that doesn’t change any menu or decor. Average service average food mind you all yum cha’s nice so it wasn’t bad but nothing special.

Whiskyncigars

Absolutely over priced and horrendous yum cha. Tendons were tough. Chicken Feet were tough. Dumplings flavourless. 4 regular items cost me 28bux. I would never go back. What a mistake. Rip off for what you get.

Rita Ge

Highly recommend this one for yum cha! Everything is so flavourful, makes me feel like I'm in China again 😋 My favourites are shumai and salt&pepper prawn: the prawns are deep-fried, can eat with the skin on, crispy and perfect flavour😻 The atmosphere is good for family and friends to catch up over lunch. The place is clean and the staff there are super nice.

Julia

I thought it was a food restaurant in terms of mutual friendship, but it seems that Yumcha restaurant is more accurate expression. The fun of choosing various dishes is very cool. Just one thing .. there are a lot of guests, it is loud enough not to hear the conversation

Brian Choi

Went for Yum Char lunch today, was seated upstairs as downstairs dining room full. Usually upstairs nearly full, not today, maybe because it was long weekend. Service very poor, we had to flag down the food servers for the dishes, even then didn't have our choice, had to pre-order. Food Good, as usual.

Annie Ren

Great place for family dinners! We came to celebrate mid-autumn festival. They have big tables to cater large groups and their serving speed is also very fast. The portion sizes are decent and there's a good range of seafood, meat and vegetables on offer. They also have fried buns with condensed milk which I absolutely love!

Kyeong Eun Kim

Pretty nice place to eat chinese food! Here is always busy but the staffs are always hard work and tables should be tidied. I like to eat stird dumplings and the other foods are a bit oily or greasy, and salty so I should drink with rongjong(?) tea :-) Try here if u like to pick up chinese food ramdomly!

Its Me

Just not tasty and fresh enough for me.. will go elsewhere but ! If you are waiting for your movie and want some quick dumplings it works ! They serve some yamcha at dinner too so it's convenience!

Scott

◽Good food ◽Poor service ◽Unhappy staff We went for Dinner here today as a group of five of us and ordered 5 dishes to share. Firstly the service was very poor, grumpy and rude staff. The food while is tasted good, came out at random times over the space of one hour. They forgot to cook one dish and we had to remind them 1 hour 10 minutes later...no apology offered at all While I give it a 3*, I would not go again, the service is significantly better at other places in Auckland and the food is no better than those places. It's not a western friendly restaurant as a side note

LoveLims

Originally we didn’t go here, but since the other resto closed we switched to this place. Came around 5.15 pm and it was still closed, but one of the employee saw us through the glass door and let us in. Portions were huge and enough for 8 of us, taste was also good. Maybe next time we will try the yumcha.

Anonymous

Very disappointed. Rang up today in the morning to make reservations for yum cha. The man took my booking details but when we turn up at the restaurant the lady told us that they don’t take bookings, I even explained to her the situation and she said “it doesn’t matter you have to wait in line” If they didn’t accept my booking and explain then I would understand but in this case they did and so we expected to drive there and get a table. Will never go back there again as the lady does not know how to do customers service and her attitude was filthy. When she talked to me, didn’t let me finish and didn’t even look at me and told us to wait in line.

JeannePTang

Been going to this yum cha place often for lunch but this time we tried to go for dinner to celebrate my birthday. We ordered lobster, steamed fish, fried pork and stir fried choi sum. Lobster is the bomb!! My husband almost finished all of them haha it’s a bit pricey because it’s lobster but we’ll order that again for special occasions.

Tabitha De Guzman

This place is our fave yumcha place - everything is good! Good portions and many food options, they pretty much have it all. Although, it can get a bit pricey. We typically order the same food every time: rice rolls, prawn dumpling, prawn on toast, prawn spring rolls, pork buns, pastry with pork and coconut jelly. YUM. They have the best steamed pork buns, I've tried many yumcha restaurants and theirs are incomparable. Service is okay, its not really there when you need it but its not like they're rude or anything. The place is neat enough and they're pretty quick on cleaning dirty tables as they're always busy anyways. I recommend coming around 11.30am or 1.30pm, there'll be a huge wait if you come during peak lunch.

Gnxsta23

Wow!!!!! What can I say!!!! Went here for dinner with a few friends , place was clean and staff here a very polite and welcoming, they pretty much served us straight away when we were seated, we ordered a lot food lol , massive portions and the food was 10/10 very impressed!!, we definitely be back, thank you!!!!

Rud Ster

one of the hidden gem for yumcha in the shore. good foods for yumcha but OK for their menu dishes. prices as other says are on the high side although the portion is quite generous - so it's probably best place to eat for group or gathering. service is also OK.

IMwatermelon

It's very convenient for me to visit this restaurant. There are plenty of car parks but it's still hard to find a place to park in peak time. Once we sit down, the waitress or waiter would ask us what Chinese tea to drink. If it's lunchtime, the waiters always bring out a lot of dim sum for us to choose. We had to pick food as soon as possible or we would feel sorry to make the waiter waiting for our decisions. There are not much choice as Asian Wok which located at Browns Bay,but the food still tasted good. It's a little pricey.

Kishore Mitra

I have lived in the neighborhood for years now but just been here a couple of times. This however only means that its a bit tucked away from plain sight. its got a lot of space inside and the food here is okay at best. The prices are quite high but the portions are quite large. My only real complaint is about the service. Both times I felt ignored for quite a while before someone came upto me while the joint was reasonably quiet.

Grace Huang

This is just your basic chinese restaurant with average yum cha options. We can here as we were in the area and craving some dumplings. Service: 6/10 We were instantly seated but after we were seated we were ignored quite often because the workers didn’t notice us. The waitress let us order whatever we wanted out of the menu as it was getting late. Food: 7/10 I think that the dinner menu is better. The dumplings would fall apart when you tried to lift them up and the soup would drip everywhere. The chicken and beef were both great and everything was quite filling. The meat balls were pretty average. Ambiance: 5/10 It’s not super clean but they try their best to keep the tables clean and they change tables to clean cloths. It’s very busy and loud so if you want a quiet meal, this isn’t a good option. You can’t have high expectations for the service and ambiance when coming to places like this. This restaurant gives a variety of traditional and westernised to cater to different people.

Emma

Bad customer service always! Went there for lunch! The staff are so rude. Asked for dish and the staff are chatting ignore your requests. You need to speak louder or shout so that they can hear you!! So rude! Never come again!

Margaret Teariki

Love the service here, and the food. Maybe you need to update your Menu and prices. Got disapointed that the prices on this website were not the prices I was charged..It was more..

Jesse James .

Two adults and a 1 year old so they charged us for 3 people. We were hardly going to give a 1 year old a cup of boiling water for himself. Food was good, some a bit cold. Unfortunately we did not get our favourite dish because the server kept only taking her trays to one half of the restaurant before returning the food to the kitchen. The food went around quickly though which was good.

Paul O

I reckon this is the best place for dim sum on the Shore. The quantity and quality of the food coming out of the kitchen is impressive. Hard to fault.

Emma

Used to come here fairly often with family. After about a year of not coming, I came with my mum a few days ago. It was pretty much exactly as I remember. Food is decent for the price. Definitely quite tasty and makes good leftovers. We ordered the salt and pepper pork chops and a deep fried tofu dish for two people. Both dishes were tasty and the deep fried tofu is one of my favourite dishes (and they definitely do it well). Portions were more than enough to have leftovers for 2 meals (they also have free takeaway boxes). The starter soup was your typical cantonese restaurant complimentary soup - not amazing (although I did use to love it as a child) but can't complain as its free. The decor of this place is fine, it's a clean and decently large location. The service is nothing to complain about and I'd go so far as to say on the better side for Chinese restaurants. But then again, if you come to a Chinese restaurant expecting good service then you're doing it wrong. Overall, it's a decent Chinese place, I wouldn't be dying to go back though as in Auckland theres no shortage of similar restaurants with better quality.

Kmozarte

I came here on a Sunday during peak lunch hours (1pm) for Yum Cha and was unfortunately left disappointed. We arrived and were surprisingly seated straight away. The food came quickly but a lot of the staff could not speak English so we were unsure what we were ordering. Most of the food we got was oily and too salty. We also ordered a taro dumpling which had a hair in it. We told one of the staff, who took a long time to understand and bought us the manager. Once he came to us, he didn't even apologise, just took the dish and replaced it with something else. We ended up ordering 8 dishes (for 3 people) which came to a total of $70!! Unfortunately, I will not be back due to a number of reasons. There are plenty of yum cha places that have much better service, food and atmosphere.

Raymond Tiong

I’ve been coming here since ages ago and it seems to be popular even nowadays for yum cha. On my last visit, I liked most of the dishes we ordered. The baked porks buns were good, and the black pepper beef short ribs were on point. Their turnip cake was almost perfect; it was peppery like it should be, but I would've liked the cake as a whole to be slightly firmer. I didn’t find the chicken feet as good as the ones at Hakka Hut in Rosedale. Wasn’t a fan of the twin mushroom rice roll either. The mushrooms tasted like they came from a can, and there was too much soy sauce. The congee/porridge was a bit watery for my taste. I had to dip my 'doughnut stick’ (yu tiao) into it for a while so that it would soften. Perhaps a sign that it wasn’t freshly made? Overall, the service is pretty friendly but they do get quite busy and therefore inattentive. For example, they don't always clear away the dishes, and they were so busy we had to get our own take away box from the cupboard. We noticed people were really filling the restaurant after 11am on a Saturday morning. As you would expect, most of the customers here are Chinese. But on the weekend that I last went, I noticed a multicultural vibe with some Caucasians and Indians too, which is great.

Annemarie M

Yum Cha here is great! It's authentic and always busy. Be prepared to wait for a table on weekends. Its always bustling and noisy which adds to the charm of a good Yum Cha!! The food is great with all the usual dishes. The Prawn Rice Rolls, Prawn and Coriander Dumplings and Squid are all excellent!! There are just sooo many dishes to choose from. Highly recommended for a weekend lunch!!

Maverick

Great yumcha choices and services. Food taste good too and clean as compared to other Chinese restaurant in Shore. Ate dinner twice and food portions are reasonable with the price.

Joseph Vergel De Dios

What a wonderful place to celebrate a birthday dinner on a Monday night. The only concern is the language barrier as staff are not well versed in english.

Imperius Malekith

Went for lunch at 1pm on Sunday. Was busy, had to wait 10 mins for a table (which was fine, we went during peak lunch hour.) Very noisy though, people were talking way too loudly, made the atmosphere slightly uncomfortable. Wide variety of dishes available, taste wise was good, but definitely unhealthy, and all the dishes were a bit too oily, some were also too salty. Would recommend the duck and bbq pork buns. Was a bit pricey at $25 per person for the food we got. I would not go back, only because there are many other nice restaurants on the North Shore, this one was only ok-good.

Priscilla Khang

Definitely one of the best Chinese yum cha's in Auckland along with Grand Harbour! This restaurant is always jam packed so highly recommend to book your table in advance to avoid waiting in the long queues. The quality and portion sizes is great, getting good value for money there. Also the steamed dumplings are very enjoyable as this place has truly mastered the art in the pastry as it has a great texture and doesn't stick to the paper and other dumplings. Would recommend ordering long bread/Chinese long doughnut as it's available by request so it's very crunchy and fresh.

Alexmei0226

Came here for dinner tonight. Spent approximately $30 per person in pretty mediocre dishes, for example, the mixed vegetables were rather undercooked and tasted horrible. One thing that surprised me was that the owner came to our table twice to ask "how the food is" which is typically unheard of in Chinese restaurants.

Mei Studio

In the beginning, the waiters attitude was quite disappointing. We asked for some extra bowls for rice, but she persisted that we use the ones we used for the soup. We had to grab our own. However, the price and quantity of food is reasonably good, with well portioned dishes. The dishes were tasty and well made. The only negative about the food was the soup, way too weak, tasted like water......

Debbie Breedt

Been for dinner and for yum cha, both times were excellent! We will certainly be back again. Friendly staff, quality food at the right price!

Vik Singh

Excellent yum cha food .. have been there many times (regular yum cha eatter lol) ... havent been there for dinner yet ... but highly recommended for yum cha 🍜 😆

Angela Gray

Honestly. The service here is ... Top notch. When we said thank you, the older lady said 'your welcome', and they even poured our tea for us after having refilled the pot..! I have never ever experienced this before in a yum cha place! Continuing on.. There was a great variety of food here and all really tasty. They had a lot more of the expensive options floating around too, which was nice to see, but you just gotta be careful. Highly recommend this place. (Thought birkenhead was 'the one' but this place for yum cha is just as good as the birkenhead place, if not better!!!

Eve Espino

Our usual haunt for yum cha goodness! I've also been here twice for dinner and both times did not disappoint, a few dishes to note: Peking Duck (1 course) - generous and the duck was not oily; skin deliciously crispy and came with plenty of crepe/pancake. Only downside was not enough cucumber/spring onion, and we had to pay an extra $6.00 for more of the veges! Sizzling black pepper beef - amazingly tender and I must recommend. Yang chow fried rice - yum. Plenty of prawn, not like some places where they skimp. Salt and pepper squid - tender, crispy light coating with a delicious chili/garlic garnish. During lunch/yum cha service, I always order steamed rice cake (bak tong gou) and this place has the right texture and tang to their rice cake; at other restaurants they're gluggy.

Korrie Chapple

The service was good here we were seated straight away. Host was very prompt informing us what the dishes were everything a new one came out. Absolutely loved the amount of wide variety, if you don't like any form of spice make sure you let the host know as I got blown away by this beef soup it was crazy hot other then that spectacular night.

Emish

I was truly disappointed with the service given, I have been there twice and I can officially announce that it was a disrespectful experience and a complete waste of my time. The first time I marched into that place I saw the pleading costumes eyes calling out to me saying "sos". I Waited in the huge line for a good fifteen minutes until I was finally given the smallest amount of attention. Prior too me coming here I had made a reservation the previous day. The waiter then told me that there was no tables left because they had given The one we had reserved to another costumer. By this time I was furious and just left without another word. The second time that I enter that place I actually got a table to sit at but I must say that food was not to bad but I have tasted better! Like bruh the diary down the road would of given me better service.

Jamie Murray

Surprised to see several negative reviews! My family used to come here when I was little and to this day I still come to dine with friends. Sure you can find cheaper Chinese restaurants but for quality and consistency Star Cafe is awesome :) it's a busy spot with an authentic vibe to it. If you can't decide what to get go with the set menu!

KwonO Chul

Terrible place. Had yum cha at this place but poor service, rude workers(one of the worker yelled at us!!!) and overcharged. I found long hair in my food(bottom left part of the photo), told one of the worker and he said sorry and will not charge for the food but he charged it!. Worst experience ever and recommend others not to go this place.

Daniel Y

Would I come here again? Yeah Nah mate. Here's why. Family (including toddlers) came here for dinner. I found a piece of steel wool in my food, told the manager but no apologies were given. Was told that the dish would be FOC though. They also waited till the very last moment to tell me that one of the dishes we ordered could not be prepared because they didn't have the ingredients required. The food that we did get was average. Service was probably the worst that I've ever had. From their body language, I felt unwelcome in the restaurant. No smiles, no "how's everything going?", abrupt "okay okays" to name a few. All in all a poor experience.

L G

I found the food to be average. I think its too expensive for the meal i got. The yang chow did not have enough shrimp or bbq pork in it and was worth $20, i reckon takeaway shops have better quality than this. The shu mai was better than i expected though.

Toru Tres

Typical chinese service. Dont expect good customer service from staff. Yumcha food was probably from yesterday's left overs. Not happy and wont come back again.

Stefanie Kouch

Went out tonight for a family function with a booking of around seven 12 seater tables. I've been there a couple of times already, but I've always found it average. Excited to go out tonight, I starved myself and the moment I got there I was drooling seeing the food coming out 😱😱 I was only able to get some photos before everyone began to destroy everything in sight. Presentation was definitely better than the actual food itself. The seafood ( shellfish, prawns) was too salty and the vermicelli that came with it was not cooked properly as it was still hard and dry. Everything else was average and in all honestly my reaction was just 'meh'. Service wasn't that great. I like it when my servers are smiling with a happy vibe, but today it felt like they were just ready for everyone to leave. I wouldn't mark them right off the map just yet because maybe it was just one of those off days. I've definitely had better from them but tonight was just not my cup of tea.

WeiTing Ashley Shyu

This isn't exactly the cleanest place to dine but hey, the food makes up for it. I looooove love love their food. This place brings back memories of Taiwan for me. I love their duck pancakes SO MUCH! You have to try it. I also love their San Choy Bow (you wrap duck mince in lettuce cups). They have such a wide variety of items to choose from. Yum Cha here is also great! Bare in mind, Star Cafe can get quite noisy during the busier hours but it still caters for everyone and anyone. The service and food grade is also a bit iffy but somehow I find myself always coming back here with the family. We always leave happy, full and looking forward to our next visit.

Suyuan Liu

I had lunch of Yum Char. The place is very popular so sometimes when I come alone, I am asked to be seated with others and then move from one table to another if needed. The good side is the servant are very kind to compensate that inconvenience of you. The dishes are good, speaking of the only 3 I favor most: beef short rib, pork rib and chicken foot 牛仔骨排骨和凤爪. The price they charge is a bit higher than peer Yum Char restaurant, including tea charge. They also have 10% surcharge on public holidays.

Steph

The lunch food tasted wonderful here. If you get there early before 11:30am you can get the food before it is gone as the restaurant starts to get very busy which i am not surprised as their food is delicious. However their bathrooms were shocking and they need to do something about it but the food was worth the money. I will definitely come again for the food.

Romy Lee

The lunch Yum Cha was delicious. A wide variety of dim sums. The actual restaurant itself does look a little uninviting but don't fret, the food absolutely makes up for it

Amy Stack

Was really disappointed, place seemed dirty and in need of refurbishments.I was taking my boyfriend somewhere new for his birthday dinner. We stood at the door, staff looked at us - but didnt seat or greet us. I went to the counter they told us to take a seat... then we waited for someone to bring a menu or acknowledge us again. I felt completely discriminated and we got up and left without any customer service.

Mrpuna

Yum cha is great here... We have had much better here on other nights. Different Chef?? maybe?? You must try Yum Cha!!

J

Best yum char by far. The prawn toast is excellent as is the siu mai, the stir fried green beans were great & I hate green beans :) iv also been there for dinner & the Kung pao chicken is delishious.

Lemonslimesoranges

Group Yum char lunch here. Overall it was ok. But nothing special. Food was good. But we didn't get much variety and trolley didn't come around as often. To be fair it was very busy but when there's a group of people. Finger food dissappear pretty fast. We ordered some dishes and those came out speedy. I love the marinated eggplant. Strangely I left feeling a little peckish. Normally I can barely breathe when leaving yum char became I'm soo full. But not today. Meh.. I'ld eat there again but would be my first, second or third choice :)

Pamela Minaz

Went there over four years ago and it was great.. Looks like it has changed, sadly not so good. Disappointing as we had arranged a business meeting, costly and low quality.

Jeffois

I love this place for it's unashamed asian-ness - pushy, loud, cheap, decent food (but not excellent) Definitely in my top 3 Yum Char restaurants in Auckland! Get there early though - if you arrive any time after 11.30am you'll probably be stuck upstairs, which is a bit like the naughty corner and you tend to get missed for much of the good stuff (they can't take the carts upstairs). If you're on the 'Shore, maybe doing some shopping at Wairau Park - check this place out.

Tim

Great food,authentic and cheap,went there for several times and was never disapointed

Missy Davidson

Having read the previous review I can agree with the hygiene. The toilets leave a LOT to be desired but to be honest the yum char food is to die for and I have eaten here many times and always been very satisfied. I do cross my fingers every time though that I don't get food poisioning! Jut an update to this review which I left some time ago - a Herald article today (18 Dec 12) has noted they have a D food grade rating from the council. You need to sort your hygiene out guys!

Tracey Corps

cant review the food as would be unfair given that ive never had chicken feet anywhere else BUT they lied to me over the phone about their council hygiene rating , its a c which is 2nd from the lowest , ive phoned them today and suddenly he didnt understand anymore , i told him that i think people should know , so here tis

Review Star Cafe Seafood Restaurant - Auckland Central