I had mapo tofu with meat. It was fine. The fried chicken was not my favorite. Very tough and chewy. My least favorite was shumai. They are much smaller and very dull. read more

Early Bird Cafe - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

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Walked in mid morning and wasn't busy so I was able to order right away. The lady at the counter was sweet and helpful. I ordered the wontons in hot sauce and the shu mai (how I base any place that sells dim sum). Just waited 14 mins to get my food which was hot and fresh. The wontons were generously covered in chili oil. It was juicy, perfect amount of chili oil, and topped with scallions. I did enjoy the shu mai more as it was much more flavorful as I tried it plain first and then dipped it in the chili oil after. It's a hefty size and comes with four to an order. I would like to try more dishes if they are just as good as these two items. It is casual dining and they have plenty of seating. Also to note, the menu is extensive AND they serve bubble tea and smoothies which I'll be trying next time! I only come to Kirkland when I have a doctors appointment but when I'm in the area I will definitely be paying them a visit. I will make it a nice routine of going to the doctor and then getting yummy food after (or before). read more

Early Bird Cafe - Wontons in hot sauce (chili oil) - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

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Hahaha I've never been so fawned over at a restaurant. It's got like 4 tables but man, the owners want to treat you right! I had the spicy fish and a couple other dishes. It is legit, authentic Chinese food. I can handle my spice, but the fish had my crying at the end. And then they gave me a raffle for an extra 10% off next time. Wish I had my crown and cape that day cuz that's how I felt. read more

the lunch special Monday thru Friday from 10:30AM - 3pm is the tastiest deal ever. Pair that with a DIY tea drink also offered here and it's a lunch to remember! The beef chow fun is flavorful with giant slices of beef and onions. It has that authentic charred flavor :) I paired that with a classic milk tea and loved how the boba was cooked nicely. Lunch special Mongolian beef was stir fried in a hearty sauce, and that was devoured fast, needing a bit more rice at the end but the owner was more than happy to oblige, giving us a little scoop extra to round out the sauce at the end of the dish. We appreciate the care and generosity put into this entire restaurant. All the tables are clean and neat. The service is fast and excellent. You can use at the self-order pad or order at the front counter if someone is available. Overall, love the vibe of this place. I always enjoy getting a special milk tea with my food so I'll be coming back to visit their extensive menu for different drinks and authentic canto dishes! read more

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My office building was doing a delivery from here, and have always wanted to try out the place. I already had lunch, so I just ordered the Wontons in Hot Sauce, since I like to try these everywhere. I also ordered one for my bf. My bf and I really liked it. Lots of chili oil, and good texture of the wonton. The filling was good. Would order them again. And lots of other stuff I want to try. read more

Early Bird Cafe - Wontons in Hot Sauce - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

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Great Sichuan food made by a lovely family. Delish!! Mapu tofu, beef rice, carrot salad, yumz! read more

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I'm a student from a school and sometimes my friends and I after school love to go together and get boba and chat. The environment is wonderful, the staff is really nice and very sweet, and the food is really good and it makes us always come back for more! We have celebrated birthdays, holidays, and we come almost every other week. thank you Early Bird Cafe for everything! I highly recommend this place. read more

Their MaPo tofu is very tasty. Egg rolls are small but are good to eat. Prices for meals are reasonable. D sum prices are a bit high though imho Service is good read more

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Today I ordered something different from Early Bird Cafe and it was a disappointment. I ordered the Mongolian Beef lunch. First of all this Mongolian beef is too dried and chewy. Most other place I had Mongolian beef, they are tender. Some restaurants can do it right and lots can't. If I order again in the future, I will try something different. For this dish I didn't even finish it . Couldn't eat it anymore. read more

Early Bird Cafe - Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

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Best food!! Best service !! Hong Kong Chinese style and also Asian fusion soon. Amazing ambience and vibe. 10/10 recommend. the bathrooms be clean. And the loco moco is my favorite. Chicken wings too. *ask for the secret menu special kungpow poodle read more

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great food and service! The staff are very patient and sweet. Me and my friends often go to eat and hang out here and we've made many great memories. I highly recommend Early Bird Cafe read more

Quick and easy place if you are in the mood for some simple quick Asian dishes. The Xiao mai is huge and the congee is tasty. We enjoyed the Szechuan cold noodles was tasty but a bit overpriced. So if you aren't in the mood to drive all the way to Seattle, I think this place will meet your cravings. read more

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Cute little cafe at the corner of the plaza across the metropolitan market Breakfast is legit for a pretty good price Roasted duck 5/5 delicious! Ordered again during our second visit Beef Chow Fun Century Egg & Pork Congee Pumpkin with salted duck egg: my favorite!!! Sour and spicy shredded potatoes Matcha boba milk tea: pretty good read more

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Ordered Chicken Curry special and boba drink. Really surprised at how good my curry was -met/exceeded expectations. Good amt of meat and veg. Always taking a gamble when ordering boba at a non-boba exclusive restaurant, but the boba was tender and chewy. My drink met my expectations. The gentleman that took my order was very nice. The food came out in a very reasonable amt of time. There were several to-go orders going out while I waited for my food. I will be back to try their other items! read more

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A wonderful little Chinese place having a mix of dishes from both North and South of China, dim sum in the morning, plus special bubble tea drinks. Oriented for take out, but they do have a few tables too. We stopped by around 4pm and ordered a snack of spicy wontons and crispy chicken, and diet coke. The wontons were home made and full of large pieces of shrimp, and the chicken was just perfect. We would have ordered more, but we had a big family dinner coming up at 7. Will be back to try more dishes...highly recommended read more

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Their current rating is a solid 4, maybe even 4.5 stars. I think they have the ability to become a 5 Stars rating because I find their food to be largely authentic, even if regionally mixed. I still need to try their dim sum. Early Bird Café, as the name implies, opens early to attract a morning breakfast crowd who wants some authentic dim sum. Their chefs, cooks, and some staff members spoke Hoisan and Cantonese, which is always a comfortable starting point for some Southern Chinese cuisine. Their menu extends beyond Southern Chinese, encompassing some Hakka dishes, as well as some Taiwanese dishes. For this first order, I ordered a mix to test them out, and the results were a bit of a mix. They need to improve their consistency. For a very small venue (ex DIY Tea Lab, ex Wah Luck location), they are outperforming. I think they can be stellar, if they streamline for consistent output. I ordered in person, which can be via the giant screen or with a staff member. There is minimum seating inside, so it's mostly a to-go venue. The Food: Beef Noodle Soup, $15.95 - 4.5 Stars The portion size was generous. 3 large chunks of meaty beef accompanied pieces of bok choy and noodles. In an unusual turn, there weren't enough noodles in proportion. Luckily, that is easily solvable. The broth was very, very fragrant, though it was a tad salty. Also, easily solved with some hot water. This dish impressively became hubby's lunch and dinner with some added noodles, veggies, and water. (He has a BIG appetite.) Sour & Spicy Soup (aka Hot and Sour Soup), $4.75 - 4 Stars I was first of all impressed with the price. In Kirkland, there isn't much for $4.75. The soup ingredients are legit, with tofu, cloud ears, bamboo shoots. What I don't like is the consistency of the soup - thick/gelatinous commonly due to added corn starch. Soup as a liquid without the corn starch is always better. Salted Pepper Tofu (aka Salt and Pepper Tofu), $8.50 - 3 Stars By the time I was home, it has lost its crunch; I'm not surprised though. Covered in red chili flakes, this dish was also salty. This is what I meant by the lack of consistency. Neither the beef noodle soup or a simple fried tofu dish should have been salty. It's fixable! The portion size and the tofu quality are otherwise good. Curry Rice Noodle (aka Singapore Rice Noodle), $11.75 - 5 Stars This dish was EXCELLENT! Perfectly cooked noodles, perfect curry flavor, with the right amount of bean sprouts and meats. Thumbs up! For self-pick-up orders, this site works. The staff also said I can phone in the order. Note that the menu is time adjusted to show only Breakfast or Lunch/Dinner menu. https://www.ordertogo.com/restaurants/earlybird/mesh read more

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This place has replaced the DIY tea across from metropolitan market in Kirkland. I was really excited to have some dim sum food in Kirkland so had to check them out. A couple of things before food: 1) people here are really nice 2) you can order in advance for pick up or you can order there as well We got: Hargow --- for $7.5, you get 4 Really plump and juicy dumplings filled with shrimp. The price seems high at first, but take in account of inflation and how big these dumplings are, they are decent Siu Mai - same price for 4. They have both pork and shrimp fillings in these. The outside is a little mushier than I would like but it's not too bad Hot and sour soup - $4.75 for a serving, not bad pricing. The hot and sour soup is more gelatinous/thick than I would like though. The flavor is pretty good though, just not a fan of the texture. It had bamboo sticks, mushroom, tofu and other fillings in the soup as well. Overall, I want to come back and try their other items :) read more

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Home style Chinese food, a wide variety from popular southern to northern style of food. Nice portions too and very friendly staff. Highly recommended. read more

I came in at a pretty odd time for a meal aka 3:45pm on a Saturday. It wasn't super busy although there were people. There was a decent amount of dimsum items that were no longer available. I hadn't had lunch and had originally come in for popcorn chicken. Looking at the prices, I decided to get the fried chicken steak in hopes that it would be a good enough substitute. I also added in a taro milk tea with boba since it was only $2.50 which feels like a miracle these days. The food came up relatively quickly and in a takeout box although I ate it in the store. They have a total of 4 large table but given the closeness of 3 of the tables, if there are people occupying seats closest to the middle table, it isn't really feasible to use the middle table. I ended up just sitting near the windows. Overall I don't feel this particular meal was worth getting. The chicken didn't have a significantly distinct flavor to me beyond too salty in certain bites. The broccoli was as bland as I expected. The boba wasn't bad and was reasonably chewy. The taro milk tea was the expected powered taro milk tea that I wanted. Perhaps I'll give them another try if I'm in the area but for now this is my opinion. read more

Early Bird Cafe - Fried Chicken steak - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

Stopped by for dim sum while visiting Metropolitan Market only to find out dim sum is a mornings menu on weekdays and until 2p on weekends. Ordered shrimp fried rice and fried calamari. Very much like home cooking. Good sized shrimp fried rice portion with decent shrimp to rice ratio. Crispy fried calamari. One outdoor table which was empty for me fortunately. I ordered to go just because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish. read more

Early Bird Cafe - Fried Calamari - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

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I won't soon return. This is one of the few restaurants in town that I have left without eating. Communication is bad and ordering may become a chore. The giant digital board to order on is terrible and some attempts at ordering dishes spelled out and printed with pictures posted on the wall results in a shrug. Try any number of places up the road first. read more

Lovely spot with friendly service. I love coming here for boba! The owners are so sweet and kind.

This is basically a take out restaurant. They have four tables but all food is served in takeout containers. This is the third time we've been there and we have never seen more than two other customers and yet, our order prep time was slow. The quality of the food was mediocre. The Shu Mai had a spongy unpleasant texture. The Congee was just so-so. I am not optimistic about it's future. read more

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Been hoping to try lunch here for some time since it's close by a work spot of mine. Today was not too busy. Parking lot is small and always busy. You order at a counter and pay (and tip ) first. Small dining area. They were very friendly. Food takes a while because of Togo orders. I often try twice cooked pork at new Chinese places. Theirs was not the best I've had but certainly not the worst. Average size portion and rice with a cucumber salad. Too many tough greens and no cabbage. The only service is a nice lady bringing you a styrofoam clam shell with your meal . Self serve water and condiments. After tax and minimum tip(18%) my rather average lunch without any soup was over $22! This is not usually what I spend for a simple work day lunch! I'll splurge sometimes if it's really great food but this place might not get my lunch business again. Toshis two doors over gives much bigger lunches for less money in the same clam shell. Really wish I could be more excited about this place! Might try it for a dim sum snack instead next time. read more

The new owners are bringing an update to this local staple. the new menu items are wonderful. the space is very bright clean very cute & has plenty of parking. Perfect location to grab lunch and they open 30 mins before anyone in the area if you need that early start. read more

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3.5 stars. Nice to have dimsum options on the east side but I don't think I'd call this a true dimsum place. Lots of variety on the menu including small snacks and Taiwanese options and bubble tea/drinks which is nice. The shrimp dumplings and siu mai and deep friend dumplings were great. I think the ratio for beef chow fun noodles were off and flavor lacking. Same for pork rice rolls. Staff were super friendly though. We got take out, just a few small tables to eat in. Make sure to ask for the house made soy sauce and hot sauce, these were delicious. East strip mall parking. Next time interested in trying their bentos and lunch specials if I'm ever in the area but I don't think I'd drive just to come here, esp if I'm craving dimsum. read more

Early Bird Cafe - Roughly $50 worth of food - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

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Was nearby at Met Market and stopped by to take out a late lunch seeing that Early Bird Cafe is here. Was excited to see another authentic southeast Asian spot near DT Kirkland. Tried: - taiwanese beef noodle soup (3/5): Solid but nothing special. Doesn't come with pickled mustard as we're used to having as a topping - beef chow ho fun (3/5): good 'wok hai' and not overly oily, but needed more salt/seasoning Passing, but definitely average to my experience w Cantonese and Taiwanese foods. Good enough to stop in when not wanting to venture far, but not worth going out of my way for. read more

Friendly staff and helpful with ordering since it was my first time. Price seems to be high. Everything was expensive compare to others around the area. Food is ok. Nothing amazing to talk about. read more

Went in once. The ambiance was mellow as it was also empty. The lady at the counter was nice, though a little pushy for me to buy more. The food I got was delicious.. Though the portions could be bigger to match the price. Spent about $35-$40 for basically side dishes. read more

Haven't had food this bad in a while, so was a pretty wild experience. The shrimp dumpling completely sticks to the bottom of the paper so you can only eat it deconstructed. The shrimp rice roll was not rice roll. It's clumped together rice noodles sprinkled with overcooked shrimp. The sauce isn't right as well. Fried shrimp ball is raw inside. They tried again and still raw Curry tofu is bland and the tofu is very hard. It takes skills to make curry bland and tofu hard I guess. Kudos to them. The thousand year egg congee is the only edible one. We finished it. At least the staff was apologetic and nice. They refunded us part of the meal. I won't show up again. read more

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I was really excited to try this spot but it ended up being just okay to me. I tried the beef and broccoli lunch special which comes with rice and crab puffs. This one was definitely the best deal and they give you I think 5 crab puffs with the meal! The broccoli was cooked really well which is nice that it wasn't soggy as takeout broccoli often is. The sauce on this dish was a bit too sweet for me. I also got spring rolls, I wish the crab puffs and spring rolls came with something to dip them in. Luckily I had a sweet chili dip at home but they definitely need something. The spicy wontons didn't have much flavor and weren't too spicy. The beef chow fun was good and had a nice flavor. I think I would try it again but order different dishes. read more

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We were wanting Dim Sum for brunch on Saturday. We got there at noon and there was no wait for our party of 4. We were surprised to learn that they had ipad ordering and a self service order kiosk like McDonald's. 5/5 for ambiance and updated tech for a cantonese dim sum spot. Ordered the har gao (shrimp dumplings) and radish cake for dim sum. They were pretty good but on the pricier side $9.95 for four dumplings. 3/5 for the pricing. Also ordered the fish congee and the salt and pepper shrimp and the chong qing chicken combos. The spices on the sichuan dishes were just right and i liked the light but crunchy breading. 4/5 for the taste. read more

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I don't usually write review unless I felt the strong need to warn other . I have a high hope on this restaurant as it looks nice on the outside. However I feel so disappointed after ordering two items to go. I ordered popcorn chicken- it is extremely oily , and taste sour, it feel like it has turn bad already . Costed me $11!! I ordered stir fry potatoes with vegetables too. This dish have absolutely nothing but only potatoes !! WTF! It costed me $13! Other than being pricey , it is in a very small portion!! Not only they are in very small size , very pricey, and it is very bad taste !! I am very disappointed and please don't do. You will regret ! read more

Early Bird Cafe - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

They kept pushing for their dim sum. We didn't try dim sum because they are not cheap at all and also very limited selection. We tried Beef Chow Feng (干炒牛河)，century old egg porridge, and curry rice noodle. The porridge is the best among the three. The curry rice noodle is ok, but very little meat or shrimp; it does have lots of eggs. The Beef Chow Feng is the biggest disappointment - it's very pale in color, it doesn't even look like the photo... the only reason why I gave 3 stars are for the porridge & the rice noodle. If I had only ordered Beef Chow Feng, I would only give 1 star! read more

Early Bird Cafe - Beef Chow Feng (the color in the photo is darker than the actual) and century egg porridge - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

New pick up to go (with limited dine in tables) Chinese breakfast and stir fry place specializing in steamed rice roll, congee, and limited dim sum. On the beverage front, in addition to traditional soy milk, it also has a large bubble tea menu. It's still their soft opening so most menu breakfast items were sold out by the time we got there at 1pm (as the restaurant name suggests, it's really for early birds, not lazy afternoon customers). Of the few items we were able to taste, egg tarts, soy milk, mango smoothie, and red bean purple rice coconut milk drink, everything tastes fresh, good quality, and authentic. We will need to come early next time, can't wait to try their freshly made steamed rice roll! read more

Early Bird Cafe - Menu - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

New dim sum/Chinese deli type of restaurant (replaced the old DIY tea lab). Small place with about 5 tables, self order kiosk, and big menu (for a small place) and obviously having issues in soft opening. We ordered and the communication alone during ordering was about 5 mins. Order took another 15 - then they forgot our congee (but gave us someone else pastry) and when we asked they said it was out so we got the refund. In addition to this, menu on paper does not match menu above the cashier. Cashier input wrong order that would have charged us more if we didn't clarify. Food was all right - I am glad though to have authentic food in downtown Kirkland area because god know this area lacks authentic minority food. However I think this place can use a lot of improvements on the operation part and I do hope they work it out because I would love for them to remain in the area. read more

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A boba tea place became a Cantonese restaurant called early bird cafe in Kirkland. The shredded potatoes, bamboo shoots and pork, roasted duck dish were all good if you are craving for mom and pop type food restaurant. What I couldn't do was this complementary soup, which had a very gamy flavor like a liver. There is very little food that I cannot eat, so it surprised me! Employees are friendly. read more

Early Bird Cafe - Roasted Duck Bento Box was flavorful but there is hardly any meat besides fatty skin and bones. If you don't mind that, try it. - Dim Sum Near Me - Kirkland, Washington

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4.5/5 newer than the established Chinatown dim sum locations, but throwing down some of the greatest hits quite well. They have a good mix of spicy, simple and clean. The interior is bright and cheerful and the staff is friendly and helpful. The menu is easy to read and has pictures if you're not as familiar with traditional Cantonese/Chinese food. This location used to be a bubble tea place and I'm happy to report they still have a great selection of drinks! This has become our usual quiet Sunday morning dim sum place when we don't want to go into Seattle! read more

The OG boba was hella sweet and the fruit ones were SOUR? food was better. service was good

I can only base my review from getting the Too Good To Go deal from this place. For the price of the Too Good To Go, it's worth it. Came out to like $5 for a bowl of congee and some dim sum treats or pastry variety. I like the xiao mai the best. It's super big and filling. I can definitely taste the MSG in it though and in the congee so there's a reason for it being "that tasty." Would I come here with the original prices without the deal? Mmmm... probably not. It's a bit over-priced in my opinion. read more