Food was so good and innovative,service was accommodating and informative, clean and impressive would will go back, loved the spring rolls, cheese corn, Kirsten Salad was incredible!
James C.
The House Special Fish Filet is very good. I like the orange chicken more than most places as it wasn't overcooked as I hate when places over fry it to chewiness, it was tender here. I liked the green beans as well the Kung Pao. Its' outsides are under construction but the inside looks fine.
Yonnie C.
We used to come to Royal Capital all the time before the pandemic but recently heard they changed owners. They are now owned by Garlic and Chives, have different servers and new management but the kitchen team and chef is the same. Their house lobster with noodle is still the same and tastes awesome, the price is super expensive at $29.99 per lb of lobster. We ordered two female lobsters at 5 lbs each. Their tapioca dessert was disappointing because it tastes watered down compared to how they served it at Royal Capital 3 years ago. All the dinner plates and portion sizes seem smaller than they were before the pandemic too and before the new ownership.French beef is good, pea sprouts is good. The basil mint clam dish seemed on the smaller end with limited number of clams.We ordered steam fish but it was undercooked and had them back it back to the kitchen for more cooking time. We call the restaurant between 10:30am to 10:45am but no one ever picks up the phone, even though the website says they open at 10:30am. They should have more attentive new staff!
Chris A.
I went to Royal Capital for over 20 years. Now it's Garlic and Chives, I'm not impressed. The food was OK. A bit bland for my taste. The service was OK...nothing spectacular. They weren't sure about a lot of the items on the munu and needed to ask. BTW...if you're gonna give dessert, please give more than a tablespoon full. I felt that their lunch special dessert should have been served in a shot glass. Overall, I'm giving this place a thumbs down. Gonna look for another spot.
Mary V.
Formerly Royal Seafood restaurant but still the same kitchen staff so the food is still delicious!Interior has been updated. Clean, new and inviting. Service is welcoming and friendly.
Elizabeth S.
A lot of people don't know about this place but it used to be royal capital seafood and they recently changed owners but the kitchen staff remains the same. My family and I had gotten the house special lobster with noodles, salt n pepper shrimp, and fried whole fish. The food comes out so fast and is pipping hot. The service is amazing and they check on you very often along with swapping out your dirty plates for clean ones. For a family of 5 it was really filling and the bill came out to 209 including tax. I highly recommend this place for family dinners!!!!!
Peter T.
We normally go to the Garden Grove location so decided to try Royal for a more traditional Cantonese experience albeit with a Viet accent. We ordered the Canh Chua Ca, Deep Fried Tofu and Stir Fried Eggplant with Pork. The delicious tofu dish is silken tofu battered and fried with both a soy based and fish sauce based dipping sauce. The sweet and sour soup with sliced catfish was also on point. The eggplant was amazing with a distinct wok hei note. We ate everything with steamed rice.They gave us complementary che dau (mung bean pudding) for dessert. They were doing renovations when we were there. I hope the fake flowers go. Our waiter was super nice.It was a very enjoyable lunch.
Lisa L.
2nd time at Garlic and Chives by Royal, and the food was so delicious! The menu is HUGE but I recommend getting the fried tofu, house special fish, house special shrimp with noodles (the batter on this made the shrimp taste like lobster, idk howwww?!? - but it was so good!). I will definitely be back to try more items on the menuHonorable Mentions: -Plenty of parking -Accepts credit card -Great for groups/sharing family style
Dennis L.
For sure 5/5 stars. It has been awhile since I've been to royal capital seafood. I was very sad when I heard they were replaced by garlic and chives. Little did I know that they have maintained the same menu!! I got the lunch special! Now .. you must realize that the serving size has gotten smaller but it makes sense in this economy. 11.95 and 12.95 for all the lunch special items. I ordered:1. House special fish filet 5/5 extremely flavorful. Nice big pieces of fish. Extremely delicious. My favorite item by far! 12.95$ for this dish2. Shaken beef: 5/5 stars also. Nice and tender beef cubes. Flavorful with the raw onions. 12.95$ for this dish 3. Salt and pepper shrimp 4/5 stars. Big whole shrimp. Downfall of this dish is that there were only like 8-10 pieces of shrimp. Super small serving compared to what the old royal capital used to serve but it's ok. Still damn good haha $12.95 for this dish 4. Kung pao chicken. A staple because my son eats this like crazy. 4/5 stars. Can't go wrong with this. My son loves it. 11.95$ for this dish! Yay!It also came with a good amount of rice. Yummy I'll be back. So happy that I can still enjoy Royal capital food. Yes!!!Ps. It was take out but they still had top tier service. I was carrying my daughter on my shoulder bc she was sleeping and the server actually brought it out to my car! Such amazing service. 5/5!!
Cheryl N.
Royal Capital Seafood was our family favorite place as they gave an extensive lunch menu for $11.95 each. We had so many family reunions there my sister came fr San Diego, my brother came fr Phoenix n one even came from Paris. It was a disgrace gruesome Newsom caused the closure of so many good restaurants n now he has the gall to want to do that to the other 49 states. Imagine my excitement when it reopened, the new owner is the same as the Garlic n chives restaurant in Garden Grove but the restaurant will remain a Chinese restaurant n I was thrilled to hear that chef Kevin remained with the same menu. Lunch specials are available 7 days a week, it's understandable price went up n portions are smaller. Their eggplant w pork in garlic sauce us my favorite. The Peking pork chops were so delicious, shrimp w garlic sauce also good. Unfortunately the hot n sour soup was bland but 3 out of 4 were a good record. If you eat in, you will still get their phenomenal mung bean desert. Overall it's a solid 4 stars, I highly recommended this restaurant. By the way I'd consider giving a 5 stars if they have some heat, I thought I was in Siberia, I had to wear a winter coat n it was uncomfortable eating w a bulky jacket. Maybe other people also objected to this too.
My family comes to Royal Capital Seafood for all our family celebratory dinners. This time it was my sis-in-law's birthday. Came to find out Royal Capital is now Garlic & Chive. So, I sat out a day before writing this review because there were a couple of things that did not make sense:FOOD. Understood that this restaurant is now under different ownership but all exterior signage still says Royal Capital Seafood, so there's an expectation that there's some remnant of the previous eatery. Food was NOT the same quality, but strangely, they presented the same Royal Capital pre-printed menu with a Garlic & Chive hardcover. PRE-FIXE FAMILY DINNER. My fam typically orders the pre-fixed menu family meal for $165.95 with additional add-ons. The pre-fix meal comes with white rice, soft shell crab, Vietnamese style hot and sour soup, a vegetable dish, clams, French style shaken beef, stir-fried chicken in kroeung (Cambodian lemongrass paste)...HOUSE SPECIAL FRIED RICE. My sons enjoy fried rice so I ordered two of these--one to eat here and one for take-out. Noticeably smaller portions at the same Royal Capital pricing. This was ordered as an add-on. BRAISED CRAB MEAT & FISH MAW SOUP. I ordered this dish as an add-on after requesting a menu. As a child I loved shark fin soup. Fish maw is the closest substitute soup. Too salty for me, and tasted much better with a little ground white pepper stirred in. BEWARE: menu l was provided listed this as $15.95, but when we received the receipt, they charged $20.95. A whole $5 mark up from what they presented when I ordered. AMBIANCE gave "under construction" vibes and it probably was in the literal sense. The counter that used to be the cashiers station no longer exists and they were using folding tables. The women's restroom used to have several stalls. Now it's one room with two toilets. I'm not understanding this concept. It's literally two toilets, not a toilet and bidet, but two toilets as if two women will go use the restroom at the same time without a partition. OVERALL--I WILL NOT RETURN. Table service was poorly run. We were left flagging down service and left unattended. I arrived late to meet my family there, but they arrived at 6pm, which should be peak dinner hours. Restaurant was not full of people either. Luckily there was a table busser who was very attentive to our table. Likely because we had a Spanish speaking guest who communicated very well with him. At the end of dinner, I ended up walking to get additional boxes and bags on my own since service was absent. Bags are in the front and boxes are on the shelf the back. The biggest disappointment was the overcharge on the soup. Imagine if they snuck that in with every consumer who walked through. It's bad business practice. Really. When I brought it up to the cashier/hostess, she told me they didn't get to update their menu, but was like--see, that's why we give you this menu attached to your receipt. I was like whoaaaaa---But that's not the pricing when you provided me your menu when I ordered. A disgusting bait and switch. Typically actions like this gets reported to the State Dept of Weights and Measures. So, yeah, not coming back. Sad that the business my family usually frequents for Teo Chew and Cambodian dinners has turned into this.
Paul T.
Royal Capital Seafood has been around for as long as I remember for over 30 years but was looking extremely tired so it's a welcome change that Garlic & Chives is now the new owner. The exterior definitely needs A LOT of work but the interior has seen some welcome updates. The menu is quite extensive and this is one of the few Vietnamese Chinese restaurants that still offers a classic lunch menu. To keep the lunch prices reasonable, lunch portions are a reasonable size but not large. The House Special Beef Ribs was a standout, using thinly cut short ribs, marinated then fried and glazed in a semi sweet garlicky sauce. The flavors of this dish were very addictive! I don't recall a dish quite like this at other restaurants so I'd definitely get this again.
Andy Nhu Dinh
Went there last nite, the food was bad,eggroll was oily cause refried, Bo luc lac was so salty
Tiffany Mai Hang Ta
Best service and consistent food prep every time on every dish. We love coming here for all occasions. Kristin is genius in expanding her menu so that when we you come back, you can try a new dish on the menu. Thank you Kristin and staff.
Food was so good and innovative,service was accommodating and informative, clean and impressive would will go back, loved the spring rolls, cheese corn, Kirsten Salad was incredible!
The House Special Fish Filet is very good. I like the orange chicken more than most places as it wasn't overcooked as I hate when places over fry it to chewiness, it was tender here. I liked the green beans as well the Kung Pao. Its' outsides are under construction but the inside looks fine.
We used to come to Royal Capital all the time before the pandemic but recently heard they changed owners. They are now owned by Garlic and Chives, have different servers and new management but the kitchen team and chef is the same. Their house lobster with noodle is still the same and tastes awesome, the price is super expensive at $29.99 per lb of lobster. We ordered two female lobsters at 5 lbs each. Their tapioca dessert was disappointing because it tastes watered down compared to how they served it at Royal Capital 3 years ago. All the dinner plates and portion sizes seem smaller than they were before the pandemic too and before the new ownership.French beef is good, pea sprouts is good. The basil mint clam dish seemed on the smaller end with limited number of clams.We ordered steam fish but it was undercooked and had them back it back to the kitchen for more cooking time. We call the restaurant between 10:30am to 10:45am but no one ever picks up the phone, even though the website says they open at 10:30am. They should have more attentive new staff!
I went to Royal Capital for over 20 years. Now it's Garlic and Chives, I'm not impressed. The food was OK. A bit bland for my taste. The service was OK...nothing spectacular. They weren't sure about a lot of the items on the munu and needed to ask. BTW...if you're gonna give dessert, please give more than a tablespoon full. I felt that their lunch special dessert should have been served in a shot glass. Overall, I'm giving this place a thumbs down. Gonna look for another spot.
Formerly Royal Seafood restaurant but still the same kitchen staff so the food is still delicious!Interior has been updated. Clean, new and inviting. Service is welcoming and friendly.
A lot of people don't know about this place but it used to be royal capital seafood and they recently changed owners but the kitchen staff remains the same. My family and I had gotten the house special lobster with noodles, salt n pepper shrimp, and fried whole fish. The food comes out so fast and is pipping hot. The service is amazing and they check on you very often along with swapping out your dirty plates for clean ones. For a family of 5 it was really filling and the bill came out to 209 including tax. I highly recommend this place for family dinners!!!!!
We normally go to the Garden Grove location so decided to try Royal for a more traditional Cantonese experience albeit with a Viet accent. We ordered the Canh Chua Ca, Deep Fried Tofu and Stir Fried Eggplant with Pork. The delicious tofu dish is silken tofu battered and fried with both a soy based and fish sauce based dipping sauce. The sweet and sour soup with sliced catfish was also on point. The eggplant was amazing with a distinct wok hei note. We ate everything with steamed rice.They gave us complementary che dau (mung bean pudding) for dessert. They were doing renovations when we were there. I hope the fake flowers go. Our waiter was super nice.It was a very enjoyable lunch.
2nd time at Garlic and Chives by Royal, and the food was so delicious! The menu is HUGE but I recommend getting the fried tofu, house special fish, house special shrimp with noodles (the batter on this made the shrimp taste like lobster, idk howwww?!? - but it was so good!). I will definitely be back to try more items on the menuHonorable Mentions: -Plenty of parking -Accepts credit card -Great for groups/sharing family style
For sure 5/5 stars. It has been awhile since I've been to royal capital seafood. I was very sad when I heard they were replaced by garlic and chives. Little did I know that they have maintained the same menu!! I got the lunch special! Now .. you must realize that the serving size has gotten smaller but it makes sense in this economy. 11.95 and 12.95 for all the lunch special items. I ordered:1. House special fish filet 5/5 extremely flavorful. Nice big pieces of fish. Extremely delicious. My favorite item by far! 12.95$ for this dish2. Shaken beef: 5/5 stars also. Nice and tender beef cubes. Flavorful with the raw onions. 12.95$ for this dish 3. Salt and pepper shrimp 4/5 stars. Big whole shrimp. Downfall of this dish is that there were only like 8-10 pieces of shrimp. Super small serving compared to what the old royal capital used to serve but it's ok. Still damn good haha $12.95 for this dish 4. Kung pao chicken. A staple because my son eats this like crazy. 4/5 stars. Can't go wrong with this. My son loves it. 11.95$ for this dish! Yay!It also came with a good amount of rice. Yummy I'll be back. So happy that I can still enjoy Royal capital food. Yes!!!Ps. It was take out but they still had top tier service. I was carrying my daughter on my shoulder bc she was sleeping and the server actually brought it out to my car! Such amazing service. 5/5!!
Royal Capital Seafood was our family favorite place as they gave an extensive lunch menu for $11.95 each. We had so many family reunions there my sister came fr San Diego, my brother came fr Phoenix n one even came from Paris. It was a disgrace gruesome Newsom caused the closure of so many good restaurants n now he has the gall to want to do that to the other 49 states. Imagine my excitement when it reopened, the new owner is the same as the Garlic n chives restaurant in Garden Grove but the restaurant will remain a Chinese restaurant n I was thrilled to hear that chef Kevin remained with the same menu. Lunch specials are available 7 days a week, it's understandable price went up n portions are smaller. Their eggplant w pork in garlic sauce us my favorite. The Peking pork chops were so delicious, shrimp w garlic sauce also good. Unfortunately the hot n sour soup was bland but 3 out of 4 were a good record. If you eat in, you will still get their phenomenal mung bean desert. Overall it's a solid 4 stars, I highly recommended this restaurant. By the way I'd consider giving a 5 stars if they have some heat, I thought I was in Siberia, I had to wear a winter coat n it was uncomfortable eating w a bulky jacket. Maybe other people also objected to this too.
Restaurantji Recommends
My family comes to Royal Capital Seafood for all our family celebratory dinners. This time it was my sis-in-law's birthday. Came to find out Royal Capital is now Garlic & Chive. So, I sat out a day before writing this review because there were a couple of things that did not make sense:FOOD. Understood that this restaurant is now under different ownership but all exterior signage still says Royal Capital Seafood, so there's an expectation that there's some remnant of the previous eatery. Food was NOT the same quality, but strangely, they presented the same Royal Capital pre-printed menu with a Garlic & Chive hardcover. PRE-FIXE FAMILY DINNER. My fam typically orders the pre-fixed menu family meal for $165.95 with additional add-ons. The pre-fix meal comes with white rice, soft shell crab, Vietnamese style hot and sour soup, a vegetable dish, clams, French style shaken beef, stir-fried chicken in kroeung (Cambodian lemongrass paste)...HOUSE SPECIAL FRIED RICE. My sons enjoy fried rice so I ordered two of these--one to eat here and one for take-out. Noticeably smaller portions at the same Royal Capital pricing. This was ordered as an add-on. BRAISED CRAB MEAT & FISH MAW SOUP. I ordered this dish as an add-on after requesting a menu. As a child I loved shark fin soup. Fish maw is the closest substitute soup. Too salty for me, and tasted much better with a little ground white pepper stirred in. BEWARE: menu l was provided listed this as $15.95, but when we received the receipt, they charged $20.95. A whole $5 mark up from what they presented when I ordered. AMBIANCE gave "under construction" vibes and it probably was in the literal sense. The counter that used to be the cashiers station no longer exists and they were using folding tables. The women's restroom used to have several stalls. Now it's one room with two toilets. I'm not understanding this concept. It's literally two toilets, not a toilet and bidet, but two toilets as if two women will go use the restroom at the same time without a partition. OVERALL--I WILL NOT RETURN. Table service was poorly run. We were left flagging down service and left unattended. I arrived late to meet my family there, but they arrived at 6pm, which should be peak dinner hours. Restaurant was not full of people either. Luckily there was a table busser who was very attentive to our table. Likely because we had a Spanish speaking guest who communicated very well with him. At the end of dinner, I ended up walking to get additional boxes and bags on my own since service was absent. Bags are in the front and boxes are on the shelf the back. The biggest disappointment was the overcharge on the soup. Imagine if they snuck that in with every consumer who walked through. It's bad business practice. Really. When I brought it up to the cashier/hostess, she told me they didn't get to update their menu, but was like--see, that's why we give you this menu attached to your receipt. I was like whoaaaaa---But that's not the pricing when you provided me your menu when I ordered. A disgusting bait and switch. Typically actions like this gets reported to the State Dept of Weights and Measures. So, yeah, not coming back. Sad that the business my family usually frequents for Teo Chew and Cambodian dinners has turned into this.
Royal Capital Seafood has been around for as long as I remember for over 30 years but was looking extremely tired so it's a welcome change that Garlic & Chives is now the new owner. The exterior definitely needs A LOT of work but the interior has seen some welcome updates. The menu is quite extensive and this is one of the few Vietnamese Chinese restaurants that still offers a classic lunch menu. To keep the lunch prices reasonable, lunch portions are a reasonable size but not large. The House Special Beef Ribs was a standout, using thinly cut short ribs, marinated then fried and glazed in a semi sweet garlicky sauce. The flavors of this dish were very addictive! I don't recall a dish quite like this at other restaurants so I'd definitely get this again.
Went there last nite, the food was bad,eggroll was oily cause refried, Bo luc lac was so salty
Best service and consistent food prep every time on every dish. We love coming here for all occasions. Kristin is genius in expanding her menu so that when we you come back, you can try a new dish on the menu. Thank you Kristin and staff.