Located in Brooklyn, amid the bustling population, distinct culture, and independent art scene, Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant has been thriving since 1995. The restaurant can accommodate up to 400 people and has no problem doing so in its two-story building with a large, private dining hall on the first floor for weddings and other group celebrations, and the five rooms on the second floor for more intimate dining, small parties, and karaoke.

The large restaurant has a simple décor. The main feature is the large aquarium standing in the doorway to attract customers. And above the aquarium are many photos of the owner, Ricky Chen, with his regular customers and also celebrities who have dined at the restaurant.

Fact Sheet:

• Name: Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant


• Owner: Ricky Chen

Location:  6720 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11204-4734

• Cuisine: authentic Cantonese cuisine


• Capacity: 400


• Offers: dine-in, take-out, delivery, banquet room, VIP room


• Signature Dish: Seafood with Lobster, Mixed Seafood with Oyster Sauce, Crab Meat with Bamboo


• Year of establishment: 1995


• Phone: (718) 232-0833

The Food:

Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant specializes in authentic Cantonese cuisine. The owner feels that Cantonese cuisine enjoys great prestige among the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine. Cantonese cooking is also generally healthier—using more vegetable and seafood—than other cuisines, such as Hunan and Szechwan cuisines. It is also less spicy, but this does not mean Cantonese food as less flavor—Chen uses ingredients from all over China.

Joy’s K Seafood is very proud of their menu. When asked to discuss signature dishes, Chen boasted about the following two in particular. The Mixed Seafood with Oyster Sauce is one of their most celebrated dishes and it is also a typical representative of Cantonese cuisine. The dish is a mix of prawns, scallops, crab, and mussels that are covered in a bean curd wrapper and topped with oyster dipping sauce. The plate is later garnished with fresh vegetables and fruit. It is hard for customers to resist the temptation of uncovering the dish to see what is inside. Their other signature dish, the Crab Meat with Bamboo, is quite the exquisite creation. The ingredients are rich and varied. The dish consists of crabmeat, shrimp dumplings, and bamboo. The presentation is very delicate and each bite of the wrapped crab is tender and crispy. In addition, there is a large selection of live seafood available in the fish tank that customers can choose from.

In addition to the seafood dishes, Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant also specializes in dim sum. They serve it early every day at 7:30 a.m. Customers can choose from the dim sum on the carts around the restaurant or they can also order specials from the kitchen. Some of the more popular choices are the shrimp dumplings, deep fried shrimp balls, pork buns, and steamed melted egg yolk buns. The chef, having 20 years of experience, delicately models the dumplings to represent different animals, such as rabbits and swans. All of the dim sum is prepared in house and are always fresh. The tradition Cantonese tea, Yum Cha, is also offered with dim sum.

While seafood and the dim sum are the two main attractions, Cantonese-style BBQ food is also available at the restaurant. These dishes are popular among the local Chinese and Americans as well.

While the kitchen uses many methods of cooking, such as stir-frying, steaming, shallow-frying, double boiling, braising, and deep-frying, special requests of customers are also met at Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant. The kitchen offers additional vegetables and dishes with less oil to those who ask. The kitchen also tried to change the menu seasonally to give the customers more options. As the winter chill approaches, people tend to ask for something to warm their stomachs, so the mutton is often recommended.

The Service:

“I know that change is required for every restaurant, especially in this new era that calls for innovation and renovation. Anyone who is conservative and reluctant to change will lag behind,” says Chen. This is a philosophy he always keeps in mind when making future plans for the Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant. In addition, he pays close attention to the food quality. He chooses only the freshest ingredients available and any dishes that are over or undercooked are immediately replaced for the customer. The customers’ requirements are the staff’s priority. With all of this in mind, Chen hopes that the restaurant’s food and service quality will continue to thrive.

He also believes in organization. With twenty years of experience, Chen believes organization is key in running a successful restaurant. For example, the kitchen is divided into several sections and each cook has a specific assignment: Dim Sum, Cantonese-style BBQ, seafood, and so on. “If everyone can perform a good job, our restaurant is neat and in order,” explains Chen.

The restaurant is also kept very clean. A quote from a recent Mystery Dining Report states, “The restroom was clean. All certificates were on the wall at the counter and the tables were spotless. The utensils appeared clean.”

The Owner:

Ricky Chen has over twenty years of experience cooking Cantonese cuisine and he opened Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant in 1995. He believes that the friendliness, sincerity, and teamwork of his staff and the reasonable prices on the menu are what make his restaurant thrive. Furthermore, he believes that during this grim economy, it is especially important to keep restaurant prices reasonable without sacrificing food or service quality.

Joy’s K Seafood Restaurant has recently been awarded “Top 100 Overall Excellence” in the 5^th Top100 Chinese Restaurants in the USA competition, organized by Chinese Restaurant News (CRN). This award is setting the standard for excellence, aiming to present the very best of Chinese cuisine, which has become a part of America's daily dining scene.