Where to eat in Santo Domingo, Quezon City? There are a lot of restaurants in QC but not in this specific area. The only Chinese restaurant that’s big enough to cover your craving for noodles, dimsum and lauriat must be Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant, which looks like a great lunch and dinner spot, especially for foodies and Chinese food fans. My uncle took us here on a Sunday before visiting their new condo unit nearby.
Review of Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant (Santo Domingo, Quezon City)
Ambiance: β β β ββ
The space Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant occupies is brightly lit, economically packed with group-sized tables and seats. The ambiance generally feels like a typical Chinese restaurant that is sparse in decor but relatively clean. In short, it’s not exactly the kind of place you want to linger around, even if they do offer a big screen LCD TV. Yet “legit” may be the best word to describe it, if you’re looking for a restaurant with the standard Chinese flair in QC.
Service: β β β β β
Staffs were fast and attentive, not overly friendly, but not necessarily rude. Expect to receive the no-smile, get-in/get-our service. Our orders came almost simultaneously and we were not left unnoticed. Certain requests needed to be flagged down but it was fine.
Food: β β β β β
We deserved something hot for starters: a medium-sized bowl of Nido with Quail Egg Soup (PHp 420) made the cut. Known to promote youthfulness and long life, this soup is typically eaten during Chinese New Year. With crab meat and corn, the bird’s nest soup was not at all disgusting. Judging by the price, I think it’s not the real bird’s nest that was used as ingredient here. Nonetheless, the slightly sweet taste and the gelatinous texture were okay.
I liked that the vegetables in Lohan Vegetables (PHp 198) were crisp and colorful. This is a great dish to order this Lenten season as well as when you feel the need to detox. π Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant’s version is a showstopper, packed with earthy mushrooms, bamboo shoots and hearty peas and carrots. The layers of flavor are well-developed, starting from the sticky and yummy sauce that’s good to be paired with rice.
The Sweet and Sour Pork (PHp 210) is a simple dish with a lot of tangy flavor thanks to the pineapples and caramelized onions. Entrees with this kind of zesty sauce are good to be eaten as leftover the next day when the fish has sopped the juices more intensively; that is, if you have any.
The Beef Tenderloin Chinese Style (PHp 250) was lean and supple. It’s not too chewy, so it’s not hard to swallow but a mouthful to get through. The moisture and juiciness of the meat as well as the well-spiced sauce definitely played the wow factor. This beef dish bucks the crowd-pleasing trend of sweet and sticky in favor of distinct and creative flavors.
Next, we had the Seafood Misua (PHp 208) composed of finely textured salted Chinese noodles made of wheat flour stirred with an ample portion of mixed seafood.Β Some people say that you can tell a lot about the quality of food a Chinese restaurant serves just by judging their fried rice and noodles as these two are most basic. If I were to judge Luck Garden based on this, then I give them a thumbs up.
The Fish Fillet with Beancurd Hotpot (PHp 260) was simple enough but the quality of both the fish fillet and beancurd was top-notch. With all other dishes served at the same time, we took our time and let the fish fillet slowly soak more in the broth. The fish became more tender and luscious while the beancurd joining the party only made the entire dish more acceptable to my palate. (Beancurd is one of my favorite food!) π
The skin and batter of the Buttered Chicken (PHp 210) was crunchy with a light exterior. The crust did not overwhelm everything else. The white meat was tender and had the discernible chicken flavor despite that the chicken pieces were overdressed in butter which dominated its delicacy. Ah, sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference.
Price for Value: β β β β β
We’ve eaten our fair share and thought that Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant is a Chinese eater’s paradise, with a good array of affordable dishes to choose from. If you know which food to order, it’s possible to taste your way across most of Chinese cuisine.
About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco
Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.
Lohan vegetables looks so delicous. Looks very similar with a chinesse food π
Whenever we go eat at any Chinese restaurant, this is the one we order for our dad so we have already tasted several variants of the same lohan vegetables dish. Yup, it’s cooked Chinese style.
Both the foods and the place looking wonderful.
This place is not in Chinatown yet their food was great.
love the interiors and the food looks mouth-watering. definitely a must try.
They’re even more mouth-watering when you’re there and you smell them especially when you’re hungry. π
wow!! Now I got hungry while reading your blogpost too.. I appreciate your blogposts always well thought of and always honest.
Thanks, Leira. I’m always happy to feature and review “real” Chinese foodβbeyond orange chicken and lo mein. π
The place had the elegant restaurant ambiance in China and also the authentic Chinese food in it.
Yeah you can say that. With so many people, it makes sense that there are numerous regional cuisines in China that differ dramatically from each other. Some may prefer the spicy addictive kick, while others go for the funkier offerings. Luckily, Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant manages to cover a lot of ground.
Yeah, I remember they have different specialties per place. i remember in China they made all the types of beer from different areas in China.
Oh yes. The Chinese love drinking haha.
Yeah, and their beer has less alcohol content so they can have more except for their rice wine.
I’ve never drank beer in a Chinese restaurant though so I can’t add on to that.
China ambiance in the heart of the metro. Those who are craving for Chinese food should try and visit this place.
Yup, it’s nice to visit this restaurant. A happy meal awaits. π
I don’t if I mentioned this before in my comments but sweet and sour pork is among my favorite meal.
Oh not yet. Good to know. π
I think we visited it once – the food is great and cheap pa!
Great! Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant is a pleasant place to have a meal. Prices are slightly more expensive than other typical Chinese restaurants in Ongpin but a little more peaceful and with higher culinary standards.
It is worth a visit. :’)
Consider bringing your family and friends here. Just go with a bigger group so you can try a little bit of everything on the menu. Hehe there’s plenty of fried and sauteed entrees. You’ll find yourself in a mode of eating that’s easy to love.
All the meal looks delicious and I suddenly feel hungry while browsing the pics.
Hehe I bet that every plate will be to your liking! π
Ooooh! The Beef Tenderloin looks very delicious! I want to try that too! Thanks for sharing! π
You’re welcome, Prince! Quality of the beef is top-notch. Great to order this. π
We’ll try this place when we go visit my mother one of these days as its very near our family home.
Nice. π On the menu, I’m sure you will have a rather long time reviewing sweet and fiery dishes, mouth-numbing ones with warm spices of all kinds and figuring out which to order. So plenty!
Something worth trying when I’m back in the metro.
Sure. You might want to consider this restaurant the next time you head out to QC. π
nice restaurant review i love that soup now im craving for one! the place looks very nice and clean
Thanks, Jane! π I know there’s plenty of Chinese restaurants in Malaysia that would quench your thirst for the nido soup. π
I love Chinese food! I’m surprised that it’s really inexpensive. Have to look for this in QC π
Sure thing! Chinese food is my fave. π
I pass through Sto. Domingo St. everyday but I have not noticed this restaurant. Where is it along Sto. Domingo? Near the church? Near Retiro?
I didn’t see any church in the area. It’s along a small aisle/ pasilio and it’s near Q. Ave.
We’ve just passed by this Luck Garden recently but we chose to eat at Kowloon house. Anyway, even the foods are expensive, these looks yummy and I wanna try these.
They are must-tries. π I haven’t eaten at Kowloon house but hear that food there are likewise tasty.
It’s interesting to see that most no-nonsense Chinese restaurants looks so similar, no matter where they are located. It’d be hard to guess which country one Chinese restaurant’s is located *LOL*. I’m not a fan of Chinese food in general, but i love some sweet & sour pork and this one looks yum!
Oh yes, most Chinese restaurants look similar and there are only a few that stand out. Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant is one of those ordinary-looking ones but serve great food. π
My mom is a Chinese Food fan, so I think she will love this restaurant. I’ll make sure to take her there next time.
You can see Zomato online for the menu to give her a preview of the items you want to order.
Chinese foods are always yummy. Would like to try this.
Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant is just one of the many Chinese restaurants that can fulfill our craving for concoctions from the Orient. π
The food looks so nice & I love how it is presented. I love having chinese, it so nice and I love eating cultural food π
Agree. The food presentation makes one pay attention as it looks good. π
The buttered chicken looks yummy. And I like the design of their ceiling. Nice review. Good job! Hugs from Pink Heart String!
I didn’t even have noticed the ceiling closely like you did. Yes, it’s beautiful! π
Great review. Might visit based on what you said about the Sweet and Sour pork haha. For me, its either a hit or a miss.
Thanks! Critical and meticulous – that’s how I like it. π
Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant looks like a great lunch and dinner spot, indeed. I do love Chinese food so I guess I could indulge in these great meals for hours!
Yup, this spot can accommodate large groups and function rooms / VIP rooms can be reserved specially for events.
I would like to dine there just to taste the Lohan Vegetables. It looks delicious!
It is one of my all-time favorite vegetarian dishes. It’s dead-simple, comes together in a matter of minutes, and I can bet that you have the ingredients sitting in your pantry right this minute.
Thanks for this detailed review Roch! I love the soup and two things I look for a restaurant are customer service and food taste. If these two are not well rated, and in your case you had given a generous stars, then I might be looking for that restaurant in I got a time. π
It’s my pleasure to share, Earl. For sure, those two are also what I’m looking for in a restaurant as well. π
And I thought all the Chinese restaurants are along Banawe St. There are good ones rin pala along Sto. Domingo.
This is the only Chinese restaurant you can find in Sto. Domingo. π Yup, most are in Banawe.
The misua I knew is different from the misua I saw here in your post.. I want to taste the one posted here!
Misua can be cooked in different ways and even if there are same recipes, the texture of the noodles become the dealbreaker/maker depending on how it’s boiled in water and the duration.
mejo misleading– sto. domingo is also a major avenue a kilometer away. so best to say it’s in kanlaon street, within welcome rotonda range π
mejo misleading– sto. domingo is also a major avenue a kilometer away. so best to say it’s in kanlaon street, within welcome rotonda range π