Located in the heart of New York City at 103 Mott St, Royal Seafood stands as a testament to the enduring culinary traditions found within the vibrant streets of Chinatown. For those who appreciate the delicate balance of fresh ingredients and time-honored cooking techniques, this establishment offers a welcoming atmosphere that bridges the gap between classic preparation and the bustling energy of Manhattan. Whether you are a long-time resident of the neighborhood or a visitor exploring the rich cultural tapestry of the area, the restaurant provides an authentic setting to enjoy a meal that prioritizes quality and consistency.
The philosophy behind Royal Seafood is rooted in the belief that great food should be accessible, comforting, and prepared with a deep respect for the ingredients themselves. By focusing on the natural flavors of the sea and utilizing traditional methods, the kitchen staff ensures that every dish reflects a commitment to excellence. The dining environment is designed to be unpretentious, allowing the focus to remain entirely on the culinary experience and the company of those sharing the table. It is a place where the simplicity of a well-executed meal takes center stage, inviting guests to slow down and savor the nuances of every bite.
Navigating the diverse food landscape of New York can be an overwhelming task, yet Royal Seafood maintains a steady presence by staying true to its core values. The restaurant serves as a quiet anchor amidst the constant movement of the city, offering a space where the rhythm of the day can be punctuated by a satisfying dining experience. By maintaining a consistent standard of service and culinary integrity, the establishment has become a familiar landmark for those who value a straightforward approach to seafood dining in a historic part of the city.
What Defines the Royal Seafood Experience
Commitment to Freshness: The kitchen emphasizes the importance of sourcing quality ingredients, ensuring that the natural characteristics of the seafood are preserved throughout the cooking process.
Traditional Culinary Heritage: Each dish is crafted with techniques that honor long-standing culinary practices, providing guests with an authentic taste that reflects the history of the region.
Welcoming Atmosphere: Situated in the iconic Mott Street area, the restaurant offers a comfortable and approachable setting suitable for casual gatherings, family meals, or a quiet dinner in the city.
Focus on Simplicity: By avoiding unnecessary complexity, the menu highlights the purity of flavors, allowing the quality of the preparation to speak for itself in every serving.
The dedication to maintaining a high standard of quality is evident in the way the restaurant operates daily. From the initial selection of ingredients to the final presentation on the plate, there is a clear intention to provide a reliable and enjoyable experience for every guest. This focus on the fundamentals of cooking is what allows the establishment to remain a relevant and respected part of the local dining scene. It is not about trends or fleeting popularity, but rather about the enduring appeal of a meal prepared with care and attention to detail.
As you walk through the doors at 103 Mott St, you are greeted by an environment that values the communal nature of dining. The layout and service style are intended to facilitate conversation and ease, making it an ideal spot for those looking to enjoy a meal without the distractions of a overly formal or complicated environment. The staff understands the importance of hospitality, ensuring that guests feel comfortable from the moment they arrive until they depart. This human element is a crucial component of what makes the restaurant a staple for many who frequent the area.
In a city that is constantly evolving, Royal Seafood remains a steady reminder of the importance of consistency and tradition. The restaurant continues to welcome patrons who seek a genuine dining experience, grounded in the simple pleasure of good food and a welcoming space. Whether you are seeking a place to unwind after a long day or looking for a reliable spot to enjoy a meal with friends, the doors at 103 Mott St remain open to those who appreciate the timeless art of seafood preparation. It is an invitation to experience a piece of the city's culinary history, served with sincerity and a focus on what truly matters: the quality of the food and the satisfaction of the guest.
A Culinary Destination in the Heart of Chinatown
Ultimately, Royal Seafood represents a harmonious blend of location, tradition, and culinary focus. By remaining dedicated to its roots while serving the diverse community of New York City, the restaurant secures its place as a meaningful contributor to the local food culture. We invite you to visit us on Mott Street and discover the straightforward, high-quality dining experience that has defined our presence in the neighborhood. We look forward to providing you with a meal that is both memorable and satisfying, reflecting the very best of our commitment to the craft of seafood cooking.
Amenities and More
Accessibility
Wheelchair accessible entrance
Wheelchair accessible restroom
Wheelchair accessible seating
Wheelchair accessible parking lot
Service options
Delivery
Takeout
Dine-in
Highlights
Fast service
Great tea selection
Serves local specialty
Popular for
Lunch
Dinner
Solo dining
Offerings
Alcohol
Beer
Comfort food
Quick bite
Small plates
Wine
Dining options
Breakfast
Brunch
Lunch
Dinner
Catering
Dessert
Seating
Table service
Amenities
Restroom
Atmosphere
Casual
Crowd
Family-friendly
Groups
Tourists
Planning
Dinner reservations recommended
Accepts reservations
Usually a wait
Payments
Credit cards
Debit cards
NFC mobile payments
Credit cards
Children
Good for kids
High chairs
Parking
Free street parking
Paid street parking
Usually difficult to find a space
Menus
Photos
Reviews Royal Seafood
Lily E W
30-05-2026
Excellent Cantonese style cuisine - we had the double lobster, fried rice (ingredients include salted fish and grape bits which was surprisingly good), crab meat vermicelli noodles, tofu with conch, braised short ribs and lots of sauteed … More
Miramar Lee Choy
30-05-2026
Came here on a weekday at 5:30pm and it wasn’t busy. Service was attentive and quick. … More
Kentaro K
30-05-2026
Classic Chinese restaurant with cart service and great dumplings. You can also order from the menu, not just from the carts, but it’s fun to share a variety of delicious dumplings and try different dishes together. The service is about what … More
W Gmail
30-05-2026
Good place for dim sum. I don’t think the quality is top notch but the variety is large and they’re always packed - am if you’re looking for that traditional dim sum experience this is good. Waiters are fairly friendly too. Favorite dishes: rice rolls, char siu pastry and salted egg custard buns
J C
30-05-2026
Best place for dim sum. Long wait on weekends. Cash preferred, make sure to leave tip for the waiters on the table before you leave. Super good and freshly made food for all ages More
Mark Ma
30-05-2026
This is one of my favorite Chinese food restaurant in NYC. They serve not just great and delicious food but also excellent service. All staff are so friendly and relaxed, so they make you feel eating at home. Also the after-meal … More
Noah Langford
30-05-2026
Wonderful place to have Dim Sum right before the Lunar New Year parade. Bit of a wait and crowded but it was well worth it. Had a few dumpling dishes and pork buns. Love the decor as well. Great service. More
Judy Chu
30-05-2026
Dim sum is fresh and delicious! The staff is friendly, efficient, and helpful. I appreciate that the prices are reasonable and restaurant is well maintained and clean. Sometimes there's a wait on weekends but it's worth the wait. More
Jessica Schnell
30-05-2026
Dim sum and also other dishes. Seafood casserole in bird's nest, walnut shrimp, vermicelli, crab fried rice, etc. More
Khoi Pham
30-05-2026
Came here for a quick bite during non-dim sum hours. The spot has that classic large Chinese restaurant layout. The fish & eggplant dish was okay. More
Alan Varghese
30-05-2026
An authentic and delicious Dim sum place that is best enjoyed if you go with someone who can speak Cantonese (or at least Mandarin). Prices are quite decent and you can easily fill up for $20 per person. Definitely recommend. Although it … More
Ruenom
30-05-2026
Pretty delicious Cantonese style food. Their crab soup was amazing and would recommend. The snails were savory and the crispy chicken was mouth watering, perfect with a bowl of rice! The clams with taro was decent. Came with a group of friends and had a good time before the dinner rush! More
Susan J H
30-05-2026
Authentic dim sum - delicious food! Enjoy the atmosphere and embrace dining with others while choosing from a vast array of foods. Carts moving throughout at a steady pace so if the first doesn't have what interests you, just wait a minute for the next one! Great value too! A must try 😊 … More
Eddie Moy
30-05-2026
I booked this restaurant for my grandmother’s 96th birthday. Ordered 18 courses per table and had 8 tables. They sectioned off 1/2 the restaurant for us which was great. Felt very private. They also accommodated our family picture … More
Jamie L
30-05-2026
Coming back to this restaurant was such a nostalgic experience. As a little girl, I used to come here for dim sum with my parents, and now, returning as an adult and ordering whatever I want feels completely different. … More
Mark
30-05-2026
After trying the golden cake for the first time, I decided that I must try all the Cantonese dim sum dishes from this restaurant sometime. They are all exquisitely made. Chive and egg dumplings, sesame rolls, beef balls, spare rib noodles, shrimp and tofu skin rolls, and beef brisket and radish. There are too many individual items. I also want to try taro and plum duck, steamed meatballs, braised double dragons with scallions, and crab roe vermicelli casserole.
Meal type
Brunch
Price per person
$10–20
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Group size
5-8 people, 9+ people
Seating type
Indoor dining area
Sofia
30-05-2026
Do not eat here if you want good food. Im not saying its not authentic food its just bad for my standards. Although the environment was fine, the overall experience was not. This place is quite literally a fast food restaurant, the moment … More
Wasabi Chan
30-05-2026
The service is not bad. They serve dim sum during morning and lunch hours. But their evening dinner is good to try too. I always like to order takeout from here. Their beef chow mein is the best to order from here too that I highly recommend. More
J Y
30-05-2026
Came here because of the Google map reviews, but really disappointed by its obsolete dining atmosphere and not great dim sum. 😮 … More
Kelly C
30-05-2026
There’s not that many big Chinese/dimsum restaurants in Chinatown anymore. Glad this one is still around. I come here for dim-sum and dinners. Dim-sum are served in the mornings/early afternoons and then they serve dishes for lunch and … More
Xia Wang
30-05-2026
The Chinese male server /waiter who usually calls out numbers at the front has a super negative atrocious demeaning attitude towards me and his customers. I witnessed him talking down to people as well as towards me. He should be fired as his customers come here for occasions and want to be treated with respect and kindness. More
L. Tran
30-05-2026
The dim sum was cold. Service was bad. Not sure why crowded. Perhaps, there are few dim sum restaurants nearby despite being in Chinatown. More
Nang Kham Phoo Lay
30-05-2026
Love it but in the weekends and at lunch time, you have to be patient to get a seat. You have to tell them how many people and they will give you a token number. Authentic and delicious! We had like 8 different dim-sum and it costed around 50 which is not bad. Make sure you give tips to the server at the door before you leave! More
Kevin Zeng
30-05-2026
Update: terrible diarrhea after going here. They need a better cleaner policy.
Great food and try to seat in the middle room . … More
Wil Yuen
30-05-2026
During our trip to NYC we came here on 2 separate occasions once for dinner than later for dim sum. Food was pretty good, much better than at home. More
George Knezek
30-05-2026
A really fun place to eat. The dining room holds about 200 and we were the only 4 Caucasians in the place. Seating is as available, you could get a table for 4, as we were, or be seated at a 6 with other diners. Everything is in Chinese and is served from carts. You point at what you want and get charged based on the number of items you take.
Meal type
Brunch
Price per person
$10–20
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Noise level
Moderate noise
Wait time
10-30 min
Recommendation for vegetarians
Somewhat recommend
Vegetarian offerings
Large vegetarian selection
Parking space
Difficult to find parking
Parking options
Paid street parking
Parking
Do not go if you expect a "traditional" Chinese restaurant. This is truly a dining experience.
Mark Satlof
30-05-2026
I've been eating at this spot for probably 30 years! As I recall it had another name years ago. If you are looking for terrific, traditional dim sum this is the spot. They still have the classic carts (tip if you can get a table near the dumb waiter, you'll get first shot at the freshest plates). I just celebrated New Years with old friends and ordered a plate of long life e fu noodles for good luck. They have always been welcoming to non-Chinese such as myself, you just have to keep an ear open for your number to be called. And don't panic if it's crowded, they will get to you!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Solange Hansen
30-05-2026
Here’s the good - this is a large space in Chinatown - lots of tables, seating for large parties. The restaurant was popular, had many full tables but no wait if you suddenly showed up with 20 people. They did not charge a corking fee 🍷🍷Lobster and crab are market rate and so we asked and learned lobster 🦞 was $25 which we thought was very reasonable and in line with other establishments in Chinatown. Royale offers a large banquet menu starting at $498-$900+ - which is on the table to consider, different menus to choose which level works for you (each was enough for 8 to 10 people) the banquet menus are in Mandarin so use your google translator to view.
The not so great - we should have read the reviews and ordered dim sum. We ordered lobster with garlic and scallion, salt and pepper lobster 🦞 seafood soup and fried seafood basket. Lobsters were lukewarm, we strongly feel that our ginger scallion lobster - which came out first - was a send back order as it arrived quickly after we placed our order, before our soup and was only warm - also on the small size ☹️ the table next to us also ordered the same lobster 🦞 dish, it was almost double in size and we could see the steam and smell their ginger and scallion…not ours. The ginger scallion was the best flavored item. If you like it not spicy this is your place. The fried seafood basket was fresh seafood which we appreciated.
The level of service also was just okay - we asked for hot sauce and soy sauce and never received the soy sauce. We couldn’t get soy sauce, in a Chinese food restaurant.
I would say this was probably one step up from your neighborhood Chinese delivery, the seafood was fresh just not hot and if you have sauces you like at home, this would be a good take out and use your sauce at home place.
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$20–30
Food: 3
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 3
Group size
9+ people
Wait time
No wait
Rovik Robert
30-05-2026
Hearty Chinese food which is all you want sometimes. Service can be a bit hard to grab but they’re fast here. Soft shell crab was good, short ribs were a bit tough and the Siew Mai was comforting. Overall decent place for banquet dining.
Food: 4
Service: 4
Atmosphere: 3
E. L (Ny Foodie)
30-05-2026
This place has been around for like 40 years the staff and vibe is from the 1980/90s era and the food has change.
Good traditional Cantonese dim sum with the push cart serving you in quick succession.
Almost like a buffet and numerous dishes one after another, the standouts were the beef Rice rolls, Shrimp Rice rolls, stick rice w mixed meats, the egg custards, the chicken feet’s and Lotus wrapped Rice specials, the flavors and taste have changed and the people primarily Chinese are also from Another Era, now everyone is older and still going to the same place.
Like Americans going to that old Diner its just so familiar for Asian old school food that our parents took us too, many decades ago.
Now it’s our turn to show hospitality to the new generations of friends that will enjoy Dim sum and all its pomp and ceremony.
Meal type
Brunch
Price per person
$10–20
Food: 5
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 4
Noise level
Loud, but you can still talk
Seating type
Indoor dining area
Recommendation for vegetarians
Would not recommend
Vegetarian offerings
Not sure
Parking space
Difficult to find parking
Parking options
Paid parking lot
Kid-friendliness
Lots of families.
Wheelchair accessibility
Easy for wheelchair.
Reviews Royal Seafood