Asian Pearl

Grade: B+

We had our 2nd bay area reception at Asian Pearl. We had a lot of compliments about the food from our guests. My husband's parents were very pleased with the food as well. Husband and I were just relieved that everyone was happy. :)

We booked the smaller, private room for 11 tables. Actually, I didn't do any of the planning for our bay area reception. I let my MIL take care of the details. The room was pretty tight, but it was nice to have privacy from the main restaurant. Depending on the size of your party, they probably book one side or the other.

The banquet prices were very decent, as it's a relatively new restaurant. The decor was clean and modern. Since hub's mom did most of the planning, we didn't even see the place before booking. The nice bonus that we found out 2 days before our dinner was that the place had 2 flat screen tv monitors and a sound system. Thus, we were able to play our favorite songs and also our Same-Day Edit and wedding video! It took them a good full hour to figure out how to get sound to play on our side of the room though, so it was a bit stressful. Oh, and beware, the floors are a bit slippery when wearing heels!

Service was good throughout our dinner. The wait staff was friendly, helpful and quick.

Our menu:

Assorted Barbeque Platter (good)
Sauteed Conch and Coral Clams in XO Sauce (good)
Shrimp Stuffed Crab Claws (good)
Braised Shark's Fins Soup with Bamboo and Chicken (forgetful)
Braised Abalone with Mushrooms (good)
Crispy Fried Chicken (good)
Stir-fry Lobsters with Ginger and Scallions (i prefer the larger lobsters)
Steamed Live Fish (a bit bland)
Yang Zhou Fried Rice (good)
Dessert (almond cookies were good)

They charge a flat corkage fee per table ($20) and $5 per soda, which is ridiculous because they are usually included at a lot of restaurants here in the OC. So talk to the catering manager and see if you can bring in your own soda.

Overall, if I were looking for a simple Chinese banquet dinner place, this would be a solid choice. The decor was not loud and tacky, so I appreciated that! We stayed very low key for our second reception, and this was a perfect choice. And we got a lot of compliments from guests that the food was good, so whew!

The other venue we were considering was Koi Palace. Beautiful interior but pricey compared to many other restaurants. But had I not had our SoCal reception and I was absolutely stuck with choosing a Chinese restaurant, I would have been fine with Koi Palace. And that says a lot! :P