Review Star Seafood - Auckland Central

The Chinese cuisine here is really good. All the dishes we had were top quality and 100% tasty. Service was very good with the waitresses being very attentive and polite.

Quick service. Pleasant staff. About 15 tables. Please reserve a table if you are a large party. Hot house soup was served to all customer & we had a tasty lotus soup. Prawn fishball was a lovely sight. It was freshly made and has a springy bite with natural sweetness. Sweet & sour pork was crunch coating and tender meat on its inside. A surprisingly crispy tofu coating with soft melting centre. The tofu is a must have recommendation. Fried French beans with salty marinated pork mince was slightly over salted. Rice was served in a refillable pot. Complementary coconut milk cooked with sago & bits of pumpkin was delicious. A good place to dine

Good yum cha. Very busy - therefore the lack of atmosphere. Food is good. Enjoyed a good feed for the price I paid.

went there, for a new taste, wow we order three different dishes from three shops that was open all perfect and so delicious we love it, from the Asian Great Chef, and Thailand and the Malaysian was so perfect. we definitely come back.

Good customer service and food. I always came here ... good environment. Always full house. I will recommend to my friends and relatives.

For me shu mai is the best ever. So fresh and no pork smells. All dumpling I had I can feel fresh and texture great great great. Will visit more.

Best yamcha place in East Auckland! Been there 5 times already :)

Amazing food have gone here for awhile now and the food is always top teir I highly recommend this place! It's consistent and fresh!

Cam here with friends the other night by accident. We enjoyed our evening food was good and made quite quickly so we didn't have to wait long for our meal to arrive. They are huge platters so we each grabbed one dish each to share amongst 4 of us.

Went here with the Mrs ,had the chicken feet ,pork buns ,prawn & corriender ,pork plus vegetable siu mai ..nice big servings & flavours ,came out pretty quick too ..decor needs a freshner but overall pretty decent

Service very frendly, food fabulous

Great food and tea. Can get busy as it isn't the largest restaurant. First re-visit in years, since Covid. Prices are up, but the quality seems better, and the portion size of each dim sum item is very generous.

A good place for Cantonese dim sum and food, so relax and eat.

Nice yumcha

Excellent Cantonese food! Didn’t expect everything to be so good, but it really was. Big portions but without skimping on quality - everything was done well except for maybe the pork belly/taro, which was a bit underwhelming. <br/><br/>Duck pancakes was a highlight, with homemade pancakes that were delightfully chewy. Salted duck egg shrimp balls were super egg-y and satisfying! Big fan overall 🥳

I didn't used to like this place so stopped coming here, but recently it's gotten a lot nicer. Even though the staff still get feisty, the quality of the dishes offsets this. Today we ordered chasiu pastries 叉烧酥, deep fried taro dumpling 芋头角, cow reticulum 牛肚, white sugar cake 白糖糕, steamed prawn vermicilli roll 虾肠粉, chicken feet 凤爪, and egg tart 蛋挞. The best part about these dishes were their pastry, it's fresh, crispy, light, fluffy, and not at all oily, which is hard to find in many yumcha places. Their white sugar cake and the vermicilli part of the vermicilli roll were springy and not mushy, also a hard find. The flavours, needless to say, were authentic and everything was well seasoned. The bill came to be ~$50, so pretty good pricing as well.

My partner found a sharp steel wire (from scourer sponge) with his last piece of beef tripe. Lucky he was able to spit it out before swallowing. It could have resulted in more serious complications if a child swallow it. We told the staff about this, she said she will ask her manager. She came back with no apology and said there’s nothing she could do because we have finished the whole plate already. So it is our fault for not checking the dish thoroughly before we start eating😐....

Went there for my husband' birthday, the dishes are not as tasty as before, the lobster tasted not very fresh, wierd that it was taken alive from the tank, yum cha is always good, would go back for it but not the dinner.

Love this little hidden spot locked away behind the foodcourt. Be warned, it still gets busy. To be honest, we prefer this yum cha over the the other neighbouring places in botany. We in particular enjoy their Lo Mai Gai glutinous rice - theirs is white unlike brown in the other yum cha places. Also prefer it’s xiao Mai pork dumplings over other places.

Better service this time food was good too. Nothing too outstanding. Just how you would expect. <br/><br/>Service: 3/5<br/>Presentation: 4/5<br/>Environment: 3/5<br/>Food Quality: 4/5<br/>Food Quantity: 3/5<br/>Price per person: $100

This rating is for the durian tarts only as we went there specifically to purchase them to go. Their durian tarts are so good even when they are no longer warm.

Pretty good crayfish and roste duck. Crayfish was alive and still very fresh when it cooked. Noodles were pretty flavourful too, staff more friendly than morning yumcha time.

Patronised this restaurant quite frequently.<br/><br/>Their stir fried lobsters with yee mee at the bottom was really very toothsome! The lobsters were very fresh, fleshy, spongy and yet chewy. The way the chef cooked this dish was just superb!<br/><br/>The roast duck was marvellous too. The roast duck was so flavourful, juicy, fleshy and succulent. It was just heavenly! I always miss these two dishes very much.<br/><br/>The rest of the foods were tasty too. Customer service was average.<br/><br/>Food & Beverage : 8/10 (9 for both their stir fried lobster with yee mee, and roast duck)<br/>Service : 5/10<br/>Price : 6/10<br/>Ambience : 6/10

Came here for yumcha with the family and kids. Ordered a bunch of food. <br/>This is honestly one of the worst yumcha places in all of Botany. The staff are extremely rude. They almost don’t bother asking or showing you the dim sum they have. The staff literally stand at a corner screaming the dim sum names in Chinese. And if they ever come up to you to offer some dim sum and you refuse they get pissed and give the ‘angry stare’ <br/>Now the food quality and taste is just mediocre, I would score it a 2/5. Everything is just dry and tastes like it’s been sitting in the kitchen for 4 hours. You feel like you’re eating leftovers they didn’t finish selling from yesterday. Furthermore the selection they have on their menu is vast which is a good thing but unfortunately they only ever make serve 40% of the items on the menu. Most of the dim sum on the menu is either unavailable or a 20-30 min wait. Only the classic siumai, hargow, chicken feet are ready and this is what they keep pushing out, we ended ordering 3 portions of each cause there was literally nothing else to eat. <br/><br/>To make matters worse when I paid the bill I realised I was overcharged which I went back and told the lady at the counter, she gives me a reply saying “oh you’ve already paid I can’t do anything, you should’ve told me before you paid” This is just unacceptable and horrendous. <br/><br/>Overall I wouldn’t go back for anything. Terrible service and food. Plus I get overcharged. I honestly can’t recommend this place to anyone. However if you want to prank someone or give them a bad day this is the place to start.<br/><br/>这地方服务真的不好，服务员态度特别差，做的点心不新鲜不好吃像是昨天剩下的。真的不建议来这家店吃早茶。

Service was appalling although taste was ok. We were literally pushed to leave because we were not busy eatting, instead chatting to each other that perhaps annoyed one staff. She abruptly interrupted us by asking us to be quick into eatting in order to leave the table to other people in waiting. It definitely was not enjoyed experience.

We were seated upstairs so food and service was slow. We already knew what we wanted to eat so asked if we could order and the waitress rudely replied that we can’t order items, we can only wait for them to come up. Meanwhile other tables around us were making orders and getting their food. We asked several different servers when certain items would be coming up and the answer was always “soon”. <br/><br/>The servers would come to our table last or often not at all even though we were seated amongst the middle while tables around us had plenty of dishes. An hour later, we left hungry and angry. <br/><br/>tl;dr Only come here if you like being treated like shit while starving

CS and Hygiene,To be honest, I did not expect any customer service or Hygiene from a Chinese restaurant.. this place is NOT too bad... <br/><br/>Food,<br/>I have been living East Auckland for years, and NOW this restaurant is the best yum cha place in east Auckland. (just now, not sure about later)

I frequent here a lot around 11.00-11.30 on weekends. This ensures I get nearby parking (unlike the city n Newmarket) and a ground floor table. A sunny spot by the windows is my favorite. The food is good here and piping hot this time. Everyone has their favs when it comes to yum char so I wont harp on about what is best? I enjoy the atmosphere here as alot of elderly groups eat this time of the day along with "mom n the kids" Great yum char here. I'm gone by 12pm before the masses arrive and clog the doorway. Worth a shot here and then you wonder off to buy appliances and furniture!

My family always comes here for yum char. Their dishes are delicious and inexpensive, the servers are all very friendly for a Cantonese restaurant. <br/><br/>It's always busy though, be sure to come early or book a table

Ive been here a few times already and I absolutely love it. Ive recommended it to family anf friends who have only now realised that this is proper chinese food. Such an awesome range. I suppose its the best yum cha Ive been too in south auckland. Five stars my new friends. 👍🏼

My family love Star Seafood. Been regular customer for many years. Only a couple of Chinese restaurants around that we will go to, and it is the best restaurant we know. <br/>Mostly full around weekends and people waiting outside.<br/>Need booking in advance, otherwise you may have to wait some time until you get a table.

Went here for Yum Cha.<br/>Food was pretty good but there wasn't much variety. It was just the same 3-4 items that kept coming around and around again.

This place is worth the visit. The food was delicious, had generous portions and good value for your money. The service is nice and fast, our food came out rather quickly but it was cooked just right.

We came for lunch a couple of weeks ago. While it was really busy we were still able to get a table straight away. The yum cha that we had was really fresh and delicious. Unfortunately our table position meant that we missed out on lots of good items as they constantly ran out before getting to us. I'll definitely return for another meal.

The food is delicious and the serving sizes are ideal.<br/><br/>Great value for money.<br/><br/>The food is full of flavour. <br/><br/>The staff were friendly and helpful.

Not as good as most of other 14-15  Yumchars we have tried in AKL region. Immediately you know this is not from HongKong, but Southern China, Food is crude and not so hygienic, one dish of beef tripes had a gone-bad odour or wasn't cleaned for cooking.  No confidence that they won't us tons of MSG or salt or.....anything goes here.  A far cry from Pearl Garden, 1 Teed St, New market which is one of the best.

My family and relatives are regulars here. Service is fine and dishes come out quickly. Serving sizes are ideal and great value for money overall. My personal favourites are the deep fried crab balls and star cafe special bean curd! See you guys next month!

This place does decent Chinese food if not for a considerable price.<br/><br/>The service was average and nothing to speak home about.<br/><br/>I did like the taste of the food. <br/><br/>The ambiance was relatively good compared to other Chinese restaurants which has people yelling like its the flea market.

I went here just this morning for yum cha. It was actually my first time here and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I went with a group of girl friends and we selected several meals and shared it amongst ourselves. the selection of food they had was amazing. The waitresses continued to come around our table presenting different meals and also explained what was in some of them, which was helpful. I liked how each meal had a different flavour and texture and it was just a great experience for me. I will definitely like to go there again, but the only thing is that they do not do reservations, so it is best that you get there early. Other than that, I had a great time ☺

First time visit and to very disappointed! <br/><br/>We rung them early in the morning, were told they don't take booking for 4 people for Yum Cha. We showed up and were told the waiting time would be 20 mins . We didn't mind that, but while we waiting, someone walked in and said they had a booking for 3 people and were seated pretty much straight away. Seems like they only take bookings from people who can speak Chinese- Double standard!<br/><br/>The food was very average and greasy. Nothing special about it . There are tones of other better yum Cha places than this.<br/><br/>The services we received were horrible ! We were left with an impression that they can't be bother serving you if you don't look Asian. Most waitress who walked around serving food ignored us deliberately. The only food we got served were deep fried stuff (I was the only Asian face at our table ). When we said no to the deep fried food they tried to push onto our table, they seemed surprised.<br/><br/>When my friends asked for the more traditional Cantonese food, they got mocked by the waitresses. Every time!! Several waitresses tried making comments about out choice of food and almost reluctantly served us with what we ordered. One lady took my order and 20 mins later, came back with the wrong dish! I spoke Cantonese to the waitresses, they all pretend not understanding what l was saying and laughed at me ( Cantonese is my first language)! <br/><br/>The whole experience was awful and we didn't enjoy it at all! We found it very frustrating and stressful .<br/><br/>Well, there are many other nice Yum Cha places we could go in Auckland. It's not worth wasting our time and energy at this place !

Have been there for 2 times for yum cha.  Food was average, but waitresses' attitude was really rude and uncouth.  They liked shouting near your ears and didn't act politely to customers.  Not a comfortable seating environment and places there were quite dirty.

Came here for dinner last night. We had the sweet and sour chicken, a tofu dish, beansprouts and mince dish, an eggplant dish and a few others. The food took a little while to come out and wasn't exactly piping hot. The food was alright, didn't really taste of much though. The service is alright. Waiter bumped into someone at our table and didn't even acknowledge them. They also gave us oranges for dessert which was a nice touch, but was way too early in the meal. definitely seemed like it was a "hurry up" gesture. Great fun in terms of the people i was with, but I would probably stick to yum cha for lunch though.

Beautiful dim sum. We waited for a seat for 15 mins and the wait is worthwhile. The 猪肠粉 & 萝卜糕 are the highlight. Kids love the 虾饺. Overall service is good too. The staff are responsive and friendly unlike many other dim sum place. Recommended place to have dim sum.

We came here for a very early yumcha and everything had to be ordered so the food was quite fresh. The lady who served us was very friendly and helpful.

Had a Friday work yum cha lunch here and was a little surprised that they don't offer booking unless a head count of 8 plus. It is a bit risky if you only have a lunch time limit especially during the rush hours.<br/><br/>We were lucky to have a table available right away. Trays and trays of food were circulated to each table relatively quickly which was perfect for us.<br/><br/>We had a mixed nationalities and the food were suitable. However pork and prawns are usually found in most of the dishes. <br/><br/>Dumplings are my favourite and followed by BBQ pork pastry. The must have is the ice cream balls, each dish comes with 3 balls, be prepared to order two if you like a sweet ending :)<br/><br/>

This is one of the earliest opening yum cha restaurant I know. The food they service are like any other yum cha, however their service is probably one of the best. They're extremely friendly, but only a few would be able to speak English, though this doesn't hinder their servicing abilities for non Chinese speakers. <br/>Their dinner menu is also very typical, but the chicken they serve is a lot better than other places I've been. They serve their food in a timely manner, and the place never really gets fully booked unless it's a festive day for the Chinese. The prices here are also very reasonable for the portion of their food.

If I could give this place a worse rating I would. This place is absolutely disgusting. The waitress there should be fired. Disrespectful and bad mouths my family thinking I cannot understand what she is saying. I asked her to give me a minute to decide on dishes, she responds with some colorful language and says, "Oh is it too hard to order?", "Can you not order 2 more dishes? is that too troublesome?". <br/>Management has the same attitude. If you can tolerate being bad mouthed and shitty service be my guest, food was overpriced but will definitely not recommend going unless the waitress is fired. <br/>Buzz off and learn some manners. You would expect her to after 50 odd years.

My family come her once a month for yum cha. <br/>This restaurant has fast service, delicious food at reasonable prices. This is in our opinion in of the best places to go to with your Asian family on a Sunday morning. There is reasonable car parks. The restaurant is busy but not overwhelming and the staff are hygienic and polite. I like how they have young waiters because we love Chinese food but don't speak mandarin or canto and they speak English. <br/>The food is seasoned well and offered in decent portions. We'll be coming back in a few weeks.

Star Seafood is a family favourite of ours, we used to frequent this for yum char every week or so, but this has reduced to at least once a month as everyone has been quite busy. We did stop going for a few years because they went through a period where their quality decreased dramatically, but I'm happy to say that it was short lived. Their prices have increased yes, but still very reasonable. My favourite is their spinach har gau which is massive, twice the size many other places, crammed with generous amounts of prawn and wrapped in a translucent sheet of rice flour so it's absolutely worth it. <br/><br/>Other family favourites include the custard tarts, custard/red bean mochi, char siu fan (bbq pork rice noodle roll), siu mai, fried squid, and eggplant. Their service is quite fast too, trolleys are constantly rotating through the tables so you never have to wait too long for food.<br/><br/>Sarah Reynolds #challenge

Came here for Yum cha with a group around lunch time and were seated downstairs. All the tables started to become full and the place seemed to fill with life and conversations. It is a Chinese and seafood cuisine with large round tables that can fit a big number of people so it’s nice for a large group to eat at. It has fast and adequate customer service. The staff visited our table frequently to offer us their wide variety of food options. They were also happy to talk to us when one of us enquired about something. The food was very good with nice flavour. It was crispy, crunchy, juicy and filling in the end. We also enjoyed some Chinese tea to go with the meals. Overall we had a pleasant experience and I love to come here and meet up with relatives while having a delicious meal.

A regular yum cha stop for me and my family on the weekends we spend lunching together.<br/><br/> Staff is friendly and caters to your needs such as getting sauces, clearing empty dishes, pouring tea.<br/> Food is usually abundant it depends on what time of the day you go as its busiest around 12-1pm <br/><br/> But overall the food is good, not too long of a wait to be seated.<br/> Will be back for more ☺️

Four of us went there yum cha this morning, the food was so so, not many choices and the service was slow.The customer service was horrific, one of the waitresses insisted that we have to pay for a dish which we didn't order/ eat. Her attitude was kind of ' I have delivered you  the dish, you have to admit and pay for it ' . Her boss who tried to resolve this incident have the same attitude as her staff, she said " since you don't want to admit....". With this kind of appalling and terrible customer service,  sure enough this is our last visit to this restaurant, no more next time. We would like to give negative 10 rating  in our reviews instead of 1 if we could.

I have been to this place lately for dinner with friends, and unfortunately I think the same ol' lady is still there. Yes very unfortunate having to put up with her impatient demeanor and horrible service. If the place served exceptionally, out of this world, tasty dishes I would not mind coming back here again, but alas, the food here is very average. Some dishes are below average even, like the seafood dishes with clams or lobster. They were not fresh or tasty at all. No, I won't be back here again. Lastly, I reckon the ol' lady needs to consider a career change or contemplate an early retirement for the sake of the restaurant....

The food was averagely decent, but one of the older serving ladies needs to sort out her service. Presented as if she was in a rush, and put dishes on the table when we did not confirm we wanted them.

Star Seafood Restaurant has really improved it's Yum Char menu lately, including my favourite Shark Fin Dumplings and Prawn Toast. The food has been very consistent for the last few months, and it has been getting busier each time we go back. If you are going with a group, I would recommend booking. This has now become my favourite Yum Char near Howick.

I agree with the first poster, this was one of my favourite places for yum-cha but ever since the changes in ownership this place has become increasingly bad, the food is not as tasty or plentiful.

Good quality of food and service. It is one of the better yum cha options, if not the best, in the area. My family and I have become regular customers.

A great selections for Yum Char/Dim sum. Had great improvement since my last visit. "A" grade from City Council gives me peace of mind for hygiene. Bookings for Sunday will be recommended otherwise about 10-15 mins wait. Very interested in the live seafood in the tank which I may try for dinner next time.

This was one of the best places to dine in the Botany Downs area for a long time, however, due to a recent change in ownership, the place has gone downhill. Slow and unfriendly service, Poor value for money and worse of all, the food is bland and not worth the visit. The seafood ain't that fresh either. Below Average.

Went to this seafood restaurant as Grandma had enjoyed yumcha there, and now wanted to try the lobster.<br/><br/>The lobster turned out to be disappointing as it was coated in a thick layer of batter and was relatively bland, as was the copious noodles underneath it. When asked how we wanted the lobster prepared, there was no mention of an extra charge for noodles, so we didn't realise until we went to pay the bill that it cost something like $15 extra.<br/><br/>Having said that, the other dishes that we had were tasty. Our favourite dish was the shredded salt-baked chicken, but the clams with vermicelli ($7.50 each) and silk melon (xing gua) with fungus were good too.