Chinese banquet in Philadelphia

cloud2poof

Hi
  I'm trying to plan a Chinese wedding banquet in Philadelphia.  I'm in california, so
am unfamilar with the restaurants in chinatown there.  Anyone have an
recs?  I've looked online on yelp, but haven't found many reviews.

Thanks
-M

ring_pop

I've never been to Philadelphia so I can't help you with specific recommendations, but try looking on chowhound.com for reviews.

Stuffing

Hm, I actually don't know people who actually had their banquet in Philadelphia restaurant.  I knew some people who had them in parks, suburbia, etc.  I don't know if it's because Philadelphia Chinatown is an older Chinatown, and a lot of the restaurants' looks are not as updated.  I think even more so than the New York and San Francisco Chinatown, the nicer restaurants/ chefs have moved to the suburbs.
How big of a wedding are you having?  The only one that comes to mind that is a decent size is Jade Harbor.  It has decent Chinese food, but particularly popular for Dim Sum. 

clearheavens

My FSIL & FBIL's wedding was in Chinatown in Philadelphia.  I know I'm no help because I don't remember the name.  But there's tons of banquet halls in Chinatown in Philly you could choose from.  The trickiest part is how to provide parking for all of your guests!  For my FSIL & FBIL's wedding, we paid our own valet parking in a garage next door.

cloud2poof

Not sure how big the wedding will be yet.  Was just researching chinese restaurants. It doesn't necessarily have to be in chinatown, but thereabouts would be good.  I don't know the area.  Drivable from DE.  Under an hour doesn't seem long to me, but that's because I'm from bay area in CA.

clearheavens

Try the Philadelphia board and yelp.com.  Sorry, we're from everywhere on this board, so we know much less than the locals.

strawberryazn

Hi M -
I'm getting married on Philadelphia and am very familiar with the restaurants in Chinatown.  How many people do you plan to have at your wedding?  The most popular place to have a wedding is Joy Tsin Lau (this is where I am having my wedding).  They have the best food for the value.  Another popular place is Ocean City Seafood Restaurant which is also in Chinatown.  If you're looking for a massive space (500+), the best place is to have it at Saigon Maxim.  It's about 5 minutes from Chinatown...the food there is OK but they have the best space.  Joy Tsin Lau can hold max 420 on the 2nd floor (the typical wedding floor), but can hold up to 800+ if you book the 1st floor and the basement floors (they will show your wedding on TVs for your other guests).  I believe Ocean City holds around 350 guest.

Hope this helps!  Let me know if you have any questions...I live in Philly so it would be no problem for me to refer to you.

-Jennifer

gxw139

I've been to a lot of chinese weddings in phila and I would say the two nicest restaurants are located outside of chinatown.  Lai Lai Gardens www.lailaigarden.com/">www.lailaigarden.com and Golden City http://www.goldencity.biz/home.html .  Saigon maxim in south phila would be your best bet for a better looking venue in phila though it's not in chinatown.