Neptune Palace Seafood Restaurant: Michelin-recommended Chinese restaurant in Burnaby
There are many Neptune Palace locations across the lower Mainland, but the one located in Brentwood Burnaby stands out because they are the only location that landed a spot on the Michelin Vancouver guide. They are a standard Cantonese/Chinese restaurant that offers dim sum in the daytime, and classic Chinese dishes and dinner sets at night time.
I came here twice – once for Mother’s Day and a second time for my mom’s birthday. This review is mostly based on my second visit (regular dinner service), but I will also include my thoughts on the special Mother’s Day dinner set meal.
The vibe
Neptune Palace Seafood Restaurant is located in the new Brentwood plaza. To get to it, you will need to exit from wherever you parked, walk to the outdoor plaza where they sometimes hold events and stages, and the restaurant is located on the second floor of a building on top of the Earls restaurant.
Inside, Neptune Palace doesn’t look too different from other Chinese restaurants in the Lower Mainland. They have white tablecloths, fancy light fixtures, and a plush chairs.
On Mother’s Day, we felt pretty warm/hot inside and asked them to turn the AC on higher but they already said it was the highest 🥵 (that day was very busy – almost every table was full). But during my second visit, there were not any temperature problems (it was kind of empty on a Tuesday night).
Food review
Here are all the dishes I’ve tried at Neptune Palace, Brentwood location.
Supreme dinner for 4 people ($488)
Neptune has a variety of different set dinner menus for X number of people (most of them are for 6 people or more). We only had 4 people so we ordered one of their 2 dinner combos for 4 people – one is priced at $488 (I don’t remember), and the other one is slightly cheaper in the $200 range.
Swallow’s nest soup with fresh crab meat
The first course in this set menu is a soup. Swallow nest soup is the same thing as bird’s nest soup, a Chinese delicacy that is often considered expensive. What is actually in it? It’s actually lowkey gross 😂 because it is made from the hardened saliva of swiftlet nests and then dissolved into a broth for us to eat/drink.
I’ve had this kind of soup many times before and I actually don’t think it’s gross because I think it tastes really good. It’s got this thick consistency and a jelly/smooth texture. The one in this set menu includes crab meat, making it a bit more decadent.
Serving size is for 4 people but bowls in Chinese restaurants are really small and almost all 4 of us had a second bowl.
Whole braised abalone
The second course arrives in a really big rectangular plate for each of us. On there is 1 braised abalone and a side of snow pea leaves (I think). I thought it was kind of funny how fancy the presentation because the actual food items are not that big and do not require such a big plate.
I’ve had abalone many times before but this was probably the best abalone I’ve tasted at a Chinese restaurant. It was cooked really well – not too chewy and had a savoury sauce that coated it.
The side snow pea leaves were also very yummy and was also seasoned well with the sauce as a complement.
Steamed open face lobster with garlic sauce
Next we have a whole lobster, steamed in garlic sauce, a very common way to cook lobster in Chinese restaurants. I liked that they cut up everything so it is easier to eat.
Taste-wise, it is very similar taste and standard to all the other garlic lobsters I’ve eaten at Chinese restaurants. It is a good portion for 4 people, but nothing extraordinary about it.
Roasted truffle chicken (half)
I was kind of surprised to see the truffle chicken dish because usually when you order a truffle chicken at a Chinese restaurant, the dish is served cold and the chicken skin is white (just either boiled, steamed or poached). This one has some crispy skin on top and the truffle sauce is also very dark, making it a bit different.
Unfortunately, my mom and I did find this truffle chicken to be too salty.
Napa cabbage with cured ham in supreme broth
This dish is the vegetable dish and has some napa cabbage and ham in a broth. I thought this combo was kind of weird because I’ve never seen it before, but it turned out ok because the broth was so good. No idea what kind of broth it actually is though.
Fried rice with seafood and sakura shrimp
Lastly, we have our starch. Seafood fried rice with egg is a popular rice dish set menus end with, but Neptune Palace makes this one a little more unique again with the addition of small sakura shrimp. The sakura shrimp gave the fried rice more dry texture and umami – I really liked it!
The fried rice itself was also quite good – lots of flavours and seafood meat.
Signature dessert for 4 people
The dessert changes all the time, which is why they just label it as the “signature dessert”. On the day we went, it was a sweet porridge/soup with tapioca pearls and a coconut flavour.
Mother’s Day set menu
This was the entire Mother’s Day dinner set menu for 6 people. The items in this set include
- Cold appetizer platter – my favourite is the jellyfish
- Bird’s nest soup with crab – this is basically the same dish as the soup in the 4-person set menu
- Lobster – Also cooked with garlic but not cut in an open face manner
- Soy sauce chicken
- Sea cucumber intestine with vegetables – very interesting dish because I had never tried sea cucumber intestines prior to eating this dish
- Fish liver with mushroom and snow pea leaves – another interesting dish because I also had not eaten fish liver before
- Fried fish – this was one of my favourite dishes. It had great flavour and was fried well on the outside (thin, not thick batter) with flaky fish meat on the inside
- Fried rice – this one is with egg white. I prefer the sakura shrimp one over this one
- Tapioca pudding – not sure if you need to pre-order this dessert (some Chinese places require a pre-order for this dessert), but it’s basically kind of like the soup we had but baked with pastry on top. Tastes better!
I didn’t review the Mother’s Day menu because neither me nor my partner paid for it, but I estimate the total to be close to $1,000 after tax and tip.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I eat at a lot of Chinese restaurants with my family and my fiance’s family, and I am also Chinese myself, but I have to say I have mixed feelings about Neptune Palace.
First of all, I have been to other Neptune Palace locations in Coquitlam and Richmond but never thought they were that great (kind of always salty). This Brentwood one has a different Chinese name and branding, but it is still part of the same restaurant chain. It is the only location that is Michelin-recommended and they are promoted as having more unique/different dishes you cannot get at other locations. The set up of this restaurant chain confuses me a little.
Second of all, my 2 experiences at the Brentwood location were quite different in terms of the food. I thought the regular 4-person set menu we ordered for my mom’s birthday was just average and actually not worth $600 after tax and tip. This is a pretty expensive total for a Chinese restaurant for 4 people (~$150 per person), comparing similar set menus with competitors. In this menu, I mostly liked the abalone and the fried rice the most. The rest were just average.
Compared to the Mother’s Day menu, I found the food to taste better and be more special/unique because it had items in it I’ve never tried before. The price is still very high (~$160 per person).
So overall, I will give Neptune Palace Brentwood location 3 stars. The main reason for it not being 4 stars is the value – I don’t think the price of their dinner menus are worth it, especially when you compare it to one of its direct competitors, New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant, which is also a Michelin-recommended Chinese restaurant but with lower prices.
Recommended: Read my full review of New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant: Suckling pig and king crab set menu, or my Lunar New Year review in 2021.
I may consider visiting Neptune Palace Brentwood in the future to try their dim-sum menu, but for dinner I probably would only return if I have 6 or 10 people and if there’s a special set menu I want to try.
Sincerely, Loewe