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    Looking For Chai

    4.2 (391 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 3:00 pm, 5:00 PM - 9:30 PM

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    LOOKING FOR CHAI ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Looking For Chai

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    Rose E.

    This place was bomb, we loved our quick little dinner here after I got my hair done in the area. It was especially a good sign that it was primarily locals and families coming here for dinner. We were the only non-Asians, but we felt that we were not treated any differently, and we highly appreciated that. The food was fresh, well-priced, surprisingly high-quality, and came quickly. They have their own free parking, and the restaurant itself is nice and clean, which we appreciated. The servers were all very sweet and efficient, we would definitely be back in the area again.

    Fenny C.

    Always love this place. Our first time we tried out was in edmonds location. Plenty of free parking in Bellevue location. Today there's no line. Perfect. Restrooms: men and women restrooms Today we ordered: Taiwanese oyster pancake Shredded chicken cucumber cold noddle sesame sauce Popcorn chicken w rice Sliced lamb water cress with satay sauce Everything is great. Not a fan of the cold sesame noddle. Wish they have stinky tofu. Apparently, they only serve stinky tofu in edmonds location

    Joy Q.

    I got the bamboo pork stir fry (great flavors but portion was small); pork bun (pork was a little dry, but I loved the nice touch of pickles to cut though the fat); and the black pepper pork chop over noodle (my favorite dish of the night!!!)

    Sakura Shrimp Fried Rice
    Alex N.

    Takeaways: salt n pepper fish and sweet and sour pork, winter melon tea Not bad safe corolla option: oyster pancake Straight mid af: popcorn chicken (i mean come on), fried rice Gonna come for the tea and fish. Stuff I normally go to my ex for Cut approved

    Taiwanese pork burger
    Esther L.

    We went for dinner and were seated pretty quickly. We hadn't been here since precovid and were happy to be back to eat some of our favorite Taiwanese dishes. The clams with basil was a favorite, with plump clams and a yummy sauce. The cold noodles were also nice and we liked the sauce and the egg ribbons, carrots and cucumbers, it was very refreshing to eat. We appreciated that the popcorn chicken came with fried basil as well, though the portion was smaller than expected and some of the pieces of chicken could have been larger. The pork belly in the pork burger and braised pork over rice was pretty disappointing. The meat was too 柴, it was very difficult to chew and eat. We liked the thinness of the wonton wrapper and the filling. The sauce on the spicy wontons could have been less sweet though.

    Taiwanese Special Beef Noodle Soup
    Kimmy L.

    Updating with my post-Covid dine-in experiences at Looking for Chai. On my most recent visit, my friends and I came here after a long climbing session at Bel Red Edgeworks, which is only 5 minutes down the road. We were fortunate to get a table for 6 people at 7pm with no wait, which is a rarity at this place, considering that the last time I was here with my family in November, it was at least a 30 minute to an hour long wait (they have a wait list sheet at the entrance and a very small entry way). Perhaps people were just out of town for the long weekend or maybe there is more competition now that several other Asian restaurants are popping up in the area. Over my past few visits at Looking for Chai, I've tried the... CHIVE FLOWER SAUTÉED WITH TAIWANESE SQUID ($19.50) - this dish is unique and one of my dad's favorite dishes. I personally don't care for how oily it is. As this dish consists mostly of chives, the flavor is overpowering in my opinion and you definitely will be left with stinky breath after eating it. The squid is a little rubbery and doesn't add much to it in my opinion. TLDR- if you absolutely love the taste of chives and green onion, you'll enjoy this dish. If you only like the taste or meh about it, skip it. SIZZLING PLATTER WITH CHICKEN STEAK ($18.50) and SIZZLING PLATTER WITH PORK CHOP ($18.25)- these two dishes are essentially the same, minus the meat. You can also order it with steak for $21.95. This dish, as stated in the name, comes out on a sizzling hot dish with your choice of noodles or rice and choice of black pepper sauce or mushroom sauce. It comes with fried egg, onions, and broccoli. I recommend the pork chop as the chicken was not properly defatted. TIP: if you order rice with this dish, it's served on the side. If you order noodles, it's served on the platter which gives it a little extra crunch! BRAISED PORK OVER RICE ($15.95)- this is one of my favorite Taiwanese dishes, along with the minced pork over rice. They are generous with the pork and give you maybe a half pound or so of juicy and marinated pork belly. It comes with a little bit of minced pork underneath the pork belly, so you get to have the best of both worlds! It is served on top of white rice which soaks in the flavor of the savory meat marinade and comes with a side of pickled mustard cabbage, Bok choy, a marinated hard boiled egg, and a sprinkle of cilantro. You can't beat the flavor of this dish! TAIWANESE SPECIAL BEEF NOODLE SOUP ($15.50)- this is a classic Taiwanese dish. However, I must say that I thought the soup was just okay and that the broth lacked richness. If you want superior beef noodle soup, I would recommend going to Monga off Bel Red instead. This dish contains msg, but I'm sure several other of their dishes also contain msg. SAKURA SHRIMP FRIED RICE ($15.95) - the rice was nicely fried and came with a good XO sauce flavor. However, the shrimps were super tiny and so there wasn't a lot of protein in this dish. TAIWANESE SPICY HOT POT ($17.95) - Looking for Chai serves a variety of different hot pot options with optional add ins. They are served boiling hot over a Bunsen burner. While they are decent portions, I've yet to be impressed by the ones I've tried, including this one. We ordered the broth in mild spice, and there was just the right amount of kick to it, but didn't have much taste to it otherwise While I enjoyed the pork and emoji mushrooms, I think that Boiling Point is a better option if you're looking for individual hot pot. The interior and bathroom are clean. They have a parking lot, but it isn't the best lit at night. Service is decent and we usually get our food within 15-20 minutes after ordering. Overall: 4/5 for food, 4/5 for service, 4/5 for atmosphere

    Taiwanese special beef noodle soup
    Vinh M.

    The food here is always done right whenever I go, so I'm never surprised to see all the tables filled and people waiting outside whenever I come here on a weekend. All that being said, I did expect a little more here. I was on the waitlist for a bit when I came here with my friend, and we got seated promptly. The inside is noisy with a ton of people, and you're provided with a very extensive menu that has things like rice/noodle dishes, mini hot pots and chef's specials. I've tried some of their rice dishes, their popcorn chicken and even some of their drinks too. This time around, I got their Taiwanese special beef noodle soup and got a side of popcorn chicken. The chicken is bomb as always; very well flavored with a slight touch of spice. The beef noodle soup felt really mild though. The soup base was bland, and that made the already-bland noodles even more bland in this case. The beef was surprisingly flavored well despite all that, and I love how they provided some condiments for my noodles if needed. Despite my recent food experience here, I love how quickly food came out and how service was just speedy and prompt with how many people there were inside.

    Fish cake
    Dennis D.

    This is one of my favorite Taiwanese spots in Bellevue. Located in a more quiet area not that far from Downtown Bellevue. The menu is pretty diverse as far as single items and sharable items. I recommend the braised pork rice and also the pancakes. Service is fast and prompt, and the ambience is great for groups or family.

    Wendi K.

    We were starving after playing tennis, and I was craving hearty Taiwanese comfort food. Looking for Chai hit the spot. They also have bubble milk tea along with the extensive food menu! We tried: Braised Pork Bowl ($15.95) - Fatty chunks of braised pork belly served on a heap of rice, accompanied by a soy-seasoned egg, bok choy, and pickled radish. Delicious! Pork Burger ($11.75) - I found the bun a bit heavy, but the pork was nice and fatty. My friends raved about these, though! Beef Noodle Soup ($15.50) - Yummy and flavorful! :) Such generous portions all around! The staff is attentive, and the interior is casual and simple. Overall, a solid experience!

    Hendra T.

    Looking for Chai in Bellevue is great. The crispy chicken is super good, and the stir-fried chives are tasty. The noodles hit the spot too, especially when it's warm out.

    Eggplants with Basil Sauce
    Linda W.

    Came here with a group of 3 looking for a fast dinner. Service was fast and there is plenty of parking space. I personally really love eggplants, and although their dish was good, it could've been more flavourful. The portion sizes were pretty big as well. If you're sharing family style, I'd recommend getting two dishes + rice to share for two people.

    Sakura shrimp fried rice

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    Ask the Community - Looking For Chai

    Do u have the wrong time listed for open? Went there at 430pm and it says close between 3-5there

    Sorry about this, we just fixed the hours.

    Is indoor dining available?

    Sorry, not yet

    Are they open on tuesdays?

    Hey! We currently are not open on Tuesdays.

    Can you adjust the sweetness of the milk tea?

    Yes, most of the milk tea can do 75%, 50% and 25% of sweet.

    View All 5 Questions

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    Water Grill - Bellevue

    Water Grill - Bellevue

    4.3(591 reviews)
    1.4 mi
    $$$

    Coming in for last call and the staff was still super friendly and attentive, great options for…read moresingle bites if you don't want a dozen of something minimum. Great selection of different oysters. The prawn was gigantic, all the accoutrements were great. Rockefeller were on point!

    Good sushi and excellent oysters, served by the most condescending and hostile server I've ever…read moreencountered in my life. Server: "Welcome! Would you like to start off with some sourdough and butter for the table?" Us: "Eh, we have a lactose issue, so maybe not" Server: "That's not a problem. We can just bring out some olive oil instead with the bread" Us: "That would be awesome thank you" (Bread gets dropped off while we are reading the menu and its got butter instead of olive oil. No biggie) Server: "How's the bread?" Us: "We haven't had any. They haven't brought olive oil to the table yet" Server: "No problem" [Returns with olive oil] Us: "We're big fans of your Kumamoto oysters, but we have a little trouble with spicy food. Would it be possible to -" Server: [Interrupting] "No. I already know what your question is going to be, and the answer is no." Us: "Can we order oysters without any of your horseradish sauces?" Server: "No. All our oyster sauces pre-mixed with horseradish, and they cant make a new sauce just for you" Us: "Could we just have an order of the oysters with your migonette?" Server: "There's horseradish in that too, and you're not going to like it" (which is untrue - Migonette is not made with horseradish) Us: "OK well we'll keep looking over the menu for some options then. While we are looking things over, can we order the Trojan Sushi Roll without wasabi?" Server: "Will you be having any wine tonight?" Us: "Just the sushi for now please, we're going to look at the menu some more." Server: [Snatches the wine glasses off the table, and is clearly agitated] "Fantastic." Server returns with the sushi: "I went ahead and told the kitchen to take out the cilantro from the roll for you too. Did you guys want to take this to-go?" Us: "Why would we want the cilantro taken out? We just asked for the horseradish to be removed." Server: "You guys told me you cant handle spice and cilantro is pretty spicy to some people." Us: "We just wanted the wasabi left out. Everything else was fine." Server: "You know what, I'll just bring you some cilantro stalks, so you can decorate it yourself." Server comes back and drops a ramekin of micro greens in the middle of the table. I've waited tables myself for over 10 years, from diners to fine dining, and I wouldn't have dreamed of ever acting like that with a guest. At this point I spoke to the manager and he took the server off our table. The manager was very understanding and acted quickly to switch us to a new server, and they let us order the oysters with just the migonette. Even though the manager comped the oysters, and was trying to salvage our experience, our visit was pretty much ruined by that server. I've never been openly disrespected by a waiter like that before, and I've played the interaction out in my mind multiple times, and I still have no idea what made him crash out like that. Servers are the face and the personality of any restaurant. And to see a waiter get so openly hostile when someone is trying to I ever encountered a server who was even a fraction as rude as this guy was - he went from zero to hostile in a matter of seconds, and I still have absolutely no idea why.

    Photos
    Water Grill - Bellevue - Bar

    Bar

    Water Grill - Bellevue - Cookie dough!! So good

    Cookie dough!! So good

    Water Grill - Bellevue - Calamari (Yum) it was actually the highlight!

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    Calamari (Yum) it was actually the highlight!

    Crawfish Chef - Green Mussels

    Crawfish Chef

    4.7(241 reviews)
    1.2 mi
    $$$

    We had a great meal at Crawfish Chef. We ordered Combo #7 and it was so yummy! The house sauce was…read morea highlight- mild had just the right level of spice- at least for me, and was full of flavor, and the extra spicy on the side was also really good. Everything tasted fresh, especially the Dungeness crab, which was clean and well-prepared. For kids, the menu options were a bit limited for our taste, so we went with shrimp fried rice instead--and it turned out to be really good as well. The service was great, and the ambiance was okay. So far, this is the best seafood combo spot!

    Vietnamese-Style Cajun Seafood Boil is one of my favorite Fun Foods. Ever since I moved up here, I…read morehaven't tried very many places. It's nice that Crawfish Chef is fairly close to where I live. My party of 5 came here at 1:45pm on a Sunday. Parking was plentiful at this time in the strip mall. I was surprised at how many people were there considering it was just past lunchtime, but we were able to get seated immediately. The menu has the usual Viet-Cajun flare, where you want to eat seafood boil or items cooked from the kitchen. I noticed that there was the option to order headless shrimp for those of you who are squeamish about shrimp heada. I ordered a pound of head-on shrimp with added corn tossed in House Sauce at Medium Spicy. The shrimp had nice texture, the corn was sweet and the sauce was pretty decent. We were provided gloves which was very nice. The server was very attentive and refilled my drink when she saw it was getting low. Overall, we had a nice experience and thought this place was pretty solid. If I had one suggestion it would be to have a stock of wet naps considering that this is the type of establishment where you eat with your hands and there is no sink outside of the bathroom.

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    Crawfish Chef
    Crawfish Chef - Live Dungeness Crab

    Live Dungeness Crab

    Crawfish Chef - Comb #4

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    Comb #4

    Local Market - Lunch Omakase specials

    Local Market

    4.8(116 reviews)
    1.4 mi
    Family-owned & operated
    Grab-and-go

    They started having specials with their fishes and it was such a great deal we couldn't resist…read more Wednesday special was hand rolls for 99 cents each!!!! You can choose from a variety of fishes as well. They were pretty fresh and yummy. The guy working there was really nice. He had a lot of advice and suggestions. The place is literally a fish market so not a dine in place. Parking is ample. Otherwise, it's pretty quiet and calm. The stuff is sometimes pricey but when they do deals like this, it's worth it. Will probably be back for their sushi and sashimi special as well.

    Unfortunately this was disappointing. It might be cuz I didn't have time to pull up the…read moremenu/reviews before hand and I asked for the lunch special and received the poke bowl. But the lunch omakase special is what I really wanted I think. But even so. The poke bowl was mixed. I have to unfortunately knock off the stars/taste because the rice I got was literally the worst rice I've ever had touching raw fish. The rice was like hard and stale. I even had a clump that looked like it was the burnt part from leaving it on the cooker for too long and it couldn't bite it. I know this place is for the fish, but there's a bare minimum expectation on rice quality. And the fish itself was good? Maybe cuz it's the poke and not the omakase (so mixed chopped pieces) but there were pieces that tasted super fresh and delicious and then there were pieces that had so much tendon I couldn't bite through it. The folks there were super nice and friendly especially since I had no idea what to order. Just wish I was more delighted by the meal, especially cuz it was like $18 poke bowl. I'll give it another try with hopes it's better next time.

    Photos
    Local Market - Poke bowls

    Poke bowls

    Local Market - Lunch Omakase specials

    Lunch Omakase specials

    Local Market - Lunch Omakase specials

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    Lunch Omakase specials

    Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar - Coconut Cream Pie

    Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar

    4.1(1.3k reviews)
    1.5 mi
    $$$

    Coming here at a young age and being so impressed by the food and service, this place became a core…read morememory of mine. Almost 20 years later and now married, I wanted to bring my husband here and share this experience. Of course, we both had a great time. The atmosphere, the service, the food. Again, all wonderful! Parking is in the garage, and they validate. We got the Torched Salmon Belly (be sure to eat the leaf it comes on! it's part of the experience). Delicious! 10/10 would get again, mostly because the Shiso leaf was something I've never had before. The Grilled Octopus was wonderful and not chewy at all. Loved the Greek lemon caper pepperoncini vinaigrette that came with it. I read that a lot of others were recommending the Deviled Eggs, which we also got and enjoyed. I think one set was salmon and the other was tuna. You honestly cant go wrong with either. I feel like getting the Coconut Creme Pie is a must here. I love coconut, and oddly enough really dislike pies, so this wouldn't be something I would normally get. But with a presentation like this, how can you pass it up? I do remember getting this back in 2008 and loving it, and it seems my tastebuds haven't changed. 10/10! Get this! But only if you love coconut.

    Very fancy seafood restaurant with a nice ambiance as expected for a place like this. We were…read morespecifically looking for some seafood to round out our first night in the Seattle area, and Seastar was both the most convenient and the one with reservations available. For two, we got a few appetizers (ahi tuna poke, crab cakes, raw oysters) and an entree to split (Jambalaya). Service was very attentive, checking in after each meal and even pre-splitting the entree which was great. Overall though, the appetizers failed to impress. The highlights of this meal were probably the raw oysters followed by the Jambalaya, which meant the rest of the meal left something to be desired. 3/5 stars for the average meal but +1 star for service.

    Photos
    Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar - Appetizers the tower and sushi( not so special but ok) and the amazing salad

    Appetizers the tower and sushi( not so special but ok) and the amazing salad

    Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar - Panna cotta

    Panna cotta

    Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar - Excellent wine

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    Excellent wine

    La Mar - Third dining experience

    La Mar

    4.2(227 reviews)
    1.7 mi
    $$$$

    Excellent Peruvian fusion place recommended by Eater 38, Yelp Elites, etc. They draw on influences…read morefrom Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and African cuisines. Many of their dishes include Chocio corn (similar to hominy), and they even served a crispy version as an appetizer. We came here for dinner with a dozen people, shared 20 plates, and absolutely loved everything. It was a Monday night, which happens to be half priced wines by the bottle - we got a great bottle of Sagemoor Reisling for just $22.50, regularly $45. Service by Raquel was very attentive, and she made great recommendations. We ordered 20 dishes to share: (1) two Festival de Cebiches -- 3 types of ceviche: Classico (halibut), Popular (crispy calamari, shrimp, octopus, halibut) and Nissei (tuna, seaweed - my favorite) ; (2) two Tiradito Criollos - Hamachi sashimi w/ sweet potato in tiger milk sauce - incredible; my favorite dish of the night; (3) two Antichuchos de Pollo; (4) 2 Antichuchos de Res; (5) 2 Golden Chaufa -- fried rice with Dungeness crab and shrimp); (6) 2 Pescado al Pilpil - halibut w/ roasted garlic and crispy kale - my husband's fave; (7) 2 King salmon charapitas w/ roasted sunchokes and rainbow potatoes - wow; (8) 2 Lomo Saltados - wok fried beef tenderloin, tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, oyster sauce, soy sauce w/ potatoes and rice - wow; delish, (9) 2 yuca fries; and (10) 2 wok fried broccolini - delicious flavor. For food (drinks separate) was just $93/person including 20% tip and 2.5% employee well-being surcharge, which we all that was very reasonable for the quality and quantity.

    Appetizers -( in happy hour), there are "cold - small dishes", which are more seafoods! On part two…read moreappetizers of hot dishes for meats or fried ! Mixtures of citrus bars drinks tasty. From after happy hours times at to do " los plates", or onto regular size meals. Blends in seafood or meat dishes, or with more costs To be into sweet desserts of many choices.

    Photos
    La Mar - Inside the lounge

    Inside the lounge

    La Mar - Pork belly fried rice

    Pork belly fried rice

    La Mar - Golden Inca

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    Golden Inca

    Looking For Chai - taiwanese - Updated September 2026

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