My sister had a big bash last Sunday at Tram Chim fresh crab restaurant. It was a great venue for parties, it had a stage, nice lighting, big screen like in a theater for slide shows. We had about 30 people, 3 tables.
It was not my 1st choice when she called to consult with me, as stated in my previous review, my #1 favorite cuisine is Chinese food AKA Cantonese, not from Fukien, Schezuan, Shanghai, Beijing or worse yet Yunnan but it's her party and it's important for her to have a big stage as she loves to dance and karaoke too, unlike her I cannot dance, skate, ski, roller blade or karaoke, LOL! If it were my party, my #1 concern would be good food with an average stage. She fell down the metro stairs in Paris and has mobility issues but still loves to dance, a real party girl!
She is waiting to read my review and expect a 4 or 5 stars review but I promised everybody that my reviews can be taken to the bank, she might slap me down! Just kidding, her next big bash is her husband birthday in December. Ok so let's get to the PROS 1ST THEN THE CONS!
PROS:
1) Beautiful interior decoration, nice party setting, big mini Imac theater sound system good for dancing.
2) Ample parking, it's very important as if it were Seafood Cove, good luck, you can circle 5x before finding a parking.
3) Wonderful customer service.
4) Reasonable pricing vs all the cutthroat pricing everywhere else.
CONS:
I'm a galloping gourmet aka fussy eater so my idea of a party would have to start w good food, authentic Chinese, Tram Chim is a Chinese inspired cuisine essentially an elevated Vietnamese cuisine.
1) The appetizers were good.
2) The lobster was huge but I could not eat much as it was chewy, honestly to be fair, it's just more or less chewy in every restaurant bc they are literally not fresh off the ocean. I went to Alaska twice and the lobster was succulent and tender. I went to a cruise from NYC to Quebec, dining on fresh lobster at every port, all lobsters were tender. It was too dry here, not enough sauce and the noodle was not quite cooked!
3) The crab was huge too, same problem, not enough sauce, it was quite bland so I did not eat much.
4) The soup was too sweet, the fried pineapple rice was OK
5) Fresh fruits rambutan were appreciated by everybody.
I brought a tiramisu cake, 2 others friends brought mango cakes, I did not eat much bc I'm fussy! LOL I cannot eat cake with OJ or water! My sister doesn't drink anything except hot water. I took 3 slices of cakes home and made myself an Italian expresso.
I was hoping for a sweet and sour fish or fish in ginger, it was only 8 courses so there was no fish. Their preset menu does not have the usual menu like in every Chinese restaurant. I can only rate this restaurant 3 stars bc of many reasons stated above but 1 thing that should be mentoned is it lacked the flambe flavor typical of wok cooking with a big flame licking the food, It can be 4 stars if you consider customer service and nice venue as not every restaurant has a nice stage but I sure did not get fat! reviews should be based on food, everything else is secondary, if you want a party and an elegant setting and ambiance, this is your restaurant. Most Chinese restaurants are extremely noisy lately, people were so loud, I felt deaf in 1 ear after dinner and Seafood Cove was the worst offender, lousy service and it was very stressful, I can't get over why anybody would want to wait 1 hour just to get a table. Last year my sister spent $1,000 for a magician to entertain the guests, this year she had ELVIS PRESLEY IMPERSONATOR! She sure knows how to throw a party. Thank you for reading my long review. read more