Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon

authentic tastes that comes straight from Judy Fu's kitchen

Posted 08/03/09

I was recommended to snappy dragon by a friend two years ago when i moved to seattle who said to try judy's homemade egg noodles and that was the day i fell in love! the staff is very educated on the menu and were able to give me great recommendations on which dishes to eat! you can't go wrong with anything on the menu here from their deliciously spicy kung pao chicken to the sweet almond cranberry chicken and don't forget to try the onion pancake dipped in peanut sauce! YUMMY! snappy dragon is definitely one of the best chinese restaurants around, expect to come here without disappointment because dishes are consistently delicious!!! mandarin fried rice or mapo tofu anybody?!?!

Pros: jiao zi, homemade noodles, kung pao chicken!!!

Posted 08/02/09

Everything i had today was nothing short of great taste! Service was very good as well. Got in and got out. I'll be back

Posted 12/19/08

i went there the other night and the service was great. two of the employees, bennet and i believe nicholas were really accomodating. i am a recovering alcoholic and nicholas highly recommended a buckler... excellent choice to go with excellent food. having never been here before i asked bennet what to eat and he highly recommended the general tso, sesame beef, eggplant and sesame chicken and sweet and sour pork, so i got all of them... yum !!!! I can't believe they don't use msg. and a lot of left overs. the sauces were excellent and complemented each other well. the decor felt like my own living room and nicholas in fact informed me that many of the decorations came straight from the native sescatchwan province of china. much like the sescatchwan style of food. thanks again. the servers had a little trouble with their fluency in chinese but overall pretty good. it's nice to see a hip young wait staff at a chinese restaurant. go maplehill neighborhood.

Posted 12/12/08

I'll say this much. The owner does a very good job of making sure the kitchen is always clean. That being said, this place is not real Chinese food. If you think it is, you're being fooled. There are some dishes that are passable, but still not great. If you do like real Chinese food, obviously go to China Town. But if you can't make it that far, I would suggest the homemade noodles, and ask for light on the oil (they can make it spicy too which will add some flavor--certainly not authentic, but it should suffice). The dumplings are alright, and supposedly the beef noodle soup is good, but I never tried it. The egg plant is an abomination, as well as all the chicken dishes. They don't use dark meat in the chicken so they try to supplement that with just disgusting amounts of msg in order to add flavor. The --- stickers are atrocious. (Stupid sit wouldn't let me use the actual word here, flagged as "inappropriate"--gimme a break)
The dried sauteed string bean is actually alright too. Oh, and the won tons in peanut sauce--unforgivable.

Listen, if you want really good chinese food, take the time to drive down to the International district. If you like fatty and disgusting americanized chinese food, go to Snappy Dragon. That's really all there is to it. None of the other Chinese restaurants in North Seattle are gonna be good.

And if you do like Snappy Dragon well---you just have really bad taste in Chinese food. But apparently a lot of people do because it's usually busy in there. So i guess enjoy your crappy general tso's chicken (which is not real chinese food).

Posted 12/06/08

This place used to be fail safe great Chinese Restaurnat and always really busy too. I was there on Saturday night and figured there would be a wait but there was no one waiting and we were seated immediately at one of the many empty tables. that was my first clue.... also the entire staff was made up entirely of what looked like fresh out of high schoolers doing their first job. I saw one actual Asian person the whole night..... and my suspicion grew. The service was lame ...... slow slow slow and they took our drink and dinner orders at the same time.... and brought them out about the same time too. But, the food though was actually awful. The sweet and sour was too sour and the spring rolls basically were filled with shredded cabbage and thats it.

I know I used to love those things because they were full of flavor but there was none to be had last night except the taste of the slightly burnt oil they were fried in. The barbequed pork was flavorless and actually tough, not tender. We also had the general tso's chicken which I remember used to be a real treat but again the flavor was wrong and the peices of chicken over coated. We also had prawn sweet and sour. The prawns were actually good quality but they were over sauced with very little flavor but sour and a few onion and green pepper chunks that seemed under cooked.

And the chow mein with black bean sauce and few vegetables lacked the essentail flavor it used to have. The home made noodles were pretty good but the whole dish just lacked flavor.

I don't know what has happened, but it has changed. I will not be going back to my favorite Chinese joint unless I hear it has changed back. Its really pretty sad!

Posted 11/21/08

Every time I order from here my food always comes drenched in some sort of sauce. So much to the point that I can't even taste my food, just the sauce. The atmosphere is awesome but the food always leaves me dissatisfied.

Posted 11/15/08

I don't get it. Why does this hole keep showing up in "best of" sites? It is strictly American food attempting to pass itself off as Chinese. ENORMOUS chunks of vegetables (seems everything gets diced in three or less slices) swimming in some of the most flavorless sauces I have ever encountered in Chinese or any other cuisine. Service was mediocre in attentiveness and snooty in attitude. What do you expect when eveyone keeps telling them they're the best in town?

OK, you cattle, keep going to Judy Fu's. That way I know a table will always be open at the REAL best Chinese restaurant in town. No, I'm not telling.

Posted 10/11/08

I took a friend to Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon after reading the review in the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine since I am always looking for good neighborhood places around Seattle. After reading the other reviews of Snappy Dragon here on this board I was a little weary about trying it but did anyway. I am glad that I did now. First thing you will notice upon entering is the friendly wait staff. They were very helpful in offering their recommendations when asked. We ended up ordering the pork dumplings (Waiter Rec), the Snappy Dragon Chow Mien, and the Pineapple chicken w/ cashews and pea pods. The food was delivered to our table in record time and was nice and hot. The dumplings were super and the dipping sauce was great too. They also came with a small side dish of some spicy chili paste that was super spicy that went well with the normal dipping sauce. I ordered the chow mein with made to order hand cut noodles and it was absolutely wonderful. It is not like the plain old chow mien noodles that you get at other Chinese places. The pineapple chicken was also great. A new taste from your regular Chinese restaurants. Slightly sweet that went great with the chicken and cashews.
All in all I highly recommend the Snappy Dragon to anybody looking for a fun new place to get good Chinese food that is not typical run of the mill that you can get at the 100 other Chinese places in the city. If you are looking for Chinese food that you would get in Hong Kong, like one of the reviewers states that they were looking for, you will need to keep looking. The last time I checked the Snappy Dragon is in Seattle and in no way do I think that they portray that there food isn't Americanized. I actually can't believe some of the bad reviews of this place because our experience tonight was all together great.
The prices were great for the amount of food that we received. The wait staff was friendly and I will be going back soon!

Pros: Great Food, friendly wait staff, great price for the amount of food you receive.

Cons: That I hadn't found out about this place before today....

Posted 07/19/08

My fiance and I have been searching out the Chinese restaurants in N. Seattle since we moved here almost a year ago. We tried this one for the first time recently. It's a bit far from us, so I doubt we'd order there often, but when I get a craving for American Chinese food, this is totally the place I think of now.

The fried rice was fantastic, the sweet and sour pork was cooked almost perfectly (only a few smaller tough pieces, which is a miracle with Pork) though the sauce is a bit strong, and the price (while not cheap since it was dinner) was not outrageous for the amount of food. The white rice was a bit on the dry side, however.

I will admit that I haven't tried any of their more exotic Chinese dishes because that's not what I was looking for, but the food we had was great, there was plenty of it, and the service (we picked up takeout) was good from what we saw.

Pros: Huge portions

Cons: Dinner can get pricey

Posted 07/02/08

Love the lunch specials for their value, for dinner the food costs a bit more than I'd like to spend on take out and can sometimes be a bit greasy.
Love the salt and pepper shrimp and sauteed green beans. Can be super busy on weekends, so we like to order take out. Always get extra fortune cookies!

Pros: Lunch Specials

Cons: No parking, spendy dinner for chinese take out

Posted 05/27/08

I have been going here for years and I love this place!! The veggie pan fried potstickers are the best in seattle and the duck with hoisen and light and delicious little buns....i'm drooling right now!! I love the wait staff most of them have been working there forever and the family is right there as well. It can get a little packed on some nights and getting a table can be a wait...but its totally worth it!!

Pros: good food, great wait staff

Cons: waiting for a table

Posted 05/19/08

After seeing that the Snappy Dragon won several "Best of Seattle" awards, my husband and I decided to give it a try...HUGE MISTAKE!!! The first bad sign, not a single Asian customer!! The "crisy eggplant" had a sauce that was practically florescent red! Each dish was excessively salty and the tea was flavorless...brown water. You are better off going to Panda Express. At least there you expect to get mediocre "trashy" Chinese food. "Best of" award...what the heck Seattle!!!?????

Pros: fast

Cons: the food

Posted 05/08/08

I've never been a fan of Judy Fu's however, on my pregnant sisters' craving for Chinese and our combined laziness, we decided to order. I thought maybe it will be better this time as we haven't ordered from there in a year or so... NOPE. The food is extremely greasy, and sweet and sour chicken and shrimp are so heavily breaded there is barely any meat in there. The only dish that was okay is the fried rice, however, it is very greasy so you will need papertowels to literally strain it first.

Pros: None

Cons: Expensive, Greasy tasteless food

Posted 04/16/08

I don?t know how so many people can rave about this place.. the food is absolutely tasteless, greasy, and uninspiring. We ordered the chicken chow mein with home made noodles, the chicken was bland and undercooked. So we decided to try one of their vegetarian dishes that the waitress recommend? It was an egg plant dish which was supposed to be spicy? instead it was deep-fried extremely thin eggplant slices in a dangerous red color. And yes, if you like oil oozing out of your food when you bite into it, it is your kind of place?

It was a royal waste of $25? I can?t fault their portion sizes, it is huge.. but who can eat that stuff?.

Pros: Portion sizes if you can eat their food

Cons: Greasy, tasteless

Posted 03/25/08

I heard it used to be good. The LAST time I ordered from there, the chicken chow mein was 99.9% noodle and a piece of chicken grizzle thrown in for fun. It's a major gut-bomb. Not much flavor.

Posted 03/14/08

So I've been down to Judy Fu's once, and look forward to going back. Very often when you order the hot and sour soup at an unfamiliar chinese restaraunt you're going to get a mouth full of salty vinegar. Not at Judy Fu's! We each ordered a different soup and traded tastes -- all of them were great!

The dumplings came out and they were freaking awesome! While we were eating those we were speculating about how great the meals were going to be. And then we got them.

Salt.
Salt.
Salt.

That's all we could taste in three entrees. Awesome soup. Awesome dumplings. Gonna go back for both. But not going to bother with the rest of the menu.

Pros: dumplings

Cons: salt, salt, salt, salt

Posted 03/24/07

Their food is acceptable for being chinese food but I will tell you if its raining hard or even the threat of rain or snow, they will cease all deliveries. Ridiculous especially since they could make even more tonight because people don't want to be out & about. The threat of snow has then ceasing all deliveries. The funny thing is...there's no snow on the ground and I live 2 miles from the restaurant. So, they're either hella lazy or just hella lame. If I owned that place, those drivers would be out and about until it started to stick to the roads.

Ridiculous.

Posted 01/09/07

I am Chinese, and I know what Chinese food is supposed to taste like. The food at Judy Fu's is some of the worst Chinese food I have ever had. I really don't understand why so many people rave about them.

Posted 10/07/06

We went to Snappy Dragon last night and had one of the worst dinners I have had in a long time . The soup and spring rolls were fine, but the noodles were bland, the meat was rubbery and the beans were incredibly salty. And it was overpriced to boot! What a waste of money -I will never go back.

Pros: fast service

Cons: horrible food

Posted 09/30/06

This place got lots of hype from friends. We had an average wait. Servers were friendly but not very present. The food...was just ok. It tasted too oily and I regretted not asking for the omission of MSG. I ordered the handmade noodles but found them to be lacking in general flavor. He had the mongolian chicken which was nicely spiced but overall...average. Go to Shanghai Gardens if you really want some decent Chinese food. This made me remember why we usually just get Thai.

Pros: large portions, easy parking

Cons: greasy, bland

Posted 09/28/06

I went to Snappy Dragon during its grand opening years ago. Never went back.

I was born in Taiwan, so I know what good Chinese food is supposed to taste like. Snappy Dragon isn't it.

Posted 08/21/06

Can you say "mass carbs?" Wow! It reminds me of the bright pink Chinese food I had as a child when authentic Asian restaurants were few and far between. Seattle now has a plethora of outstanding Mandarin, Cantonese and Szechwan restaurants. Judy Fu claims to serve Szechwan cuisine, but I'd say that claim is a stretch. For people who like high-carb, high-sodium, high-MSG, high-sugar, high-cholesterol, high-oil content food, this is your joint. They even mess up bbq pork--it's dry and tasteless with crappy mustard. Their specialty "dumplings" are solid globs of dough, void of flavor/contents and dripping in melted peanut butter with a few dried chilie flake thrown in for good measure. They have cocktails, but good luck getting one. The servers are young, unexperienced and generally unfamiliar with their product. Go to the International District and get the real thing.

Pros: 2 or 3 parking spots, Non-smoking, Easy-to-read menus

Cons: Not Chinese, Not healthy, Crappy service

Posted 03/28/06

Having eaten here on many occasions with children, I would agree that it was a good place to go with children. They are quite accommodating and the service is okay. I ordered delivery the other night and was in shock. I paid over $60 for terrible food. Seriously, I tried to order a variety of foods and everything came covered in the same, bright red, acidic, disgusting sauce. No one in my family could eat any of it. That is shocking as all of my family members are great eaters. I had to throw away the rest of the food. What a huge waste.

Pros: decent service

Cons: not worth the money, terrible taste

Posted 03/16/06

I've had dumplings (pork dumplings only) from 243 restaurants nationwide, and about 10 internationally. Judy Fu's was my 243rd.

For me, the experience has two factors: the dumpling itself, and the sauce.

Scale of 1-10 on the dumplings: an honest 4

Scale of 1-10 on the sauce: an honest 3

Although I commend them for making the dumplings homemade, they are in fact, virtually tasteless. Other reviews are right about the dumpling skin thickness (picture, the thickness of a CD jewelcase). The sauce is basically soy and vinegar in the wrong proportions. The potsticker sauce that they sell in the bottles is not the same sauce that they actually serve in the restaurant.

Will I go back? aboslutely not. Note, this review is only a dumpling review and I can't comment on the rest of the food, but the place was pretty packed and people really seem to like it.

Posted 03/09/06

After years of hating chinese food my boyfriend convinced me to try Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon. I went in expecting to hate the expierience, but the food ended up being delicious enough to change my mind. I would recomend Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon to anyone - whether they love Chinese food or hate it! And according to my boyfriend they have the best moo shu pork(sorry if i misspelled that!) he has ever had!

Pros: Inexpensive, Location, Delicious!

Posted 07/20/05

Mama Fu as she is called in the area offers an excellent menu, fast service and a staff that knows and respects their customers. The excellence is proven by the lines of people willing to wait for a table. Mama Fu teaches her staff humility and service to the patrons by her own example. Delivery is swift and reliable even in the iciest weather. We prefer to call in an order for pickup just to get the warm greeting that is offered when we arrive.
Doug

Pros: food, service, promptness

Cons: parking

Posted 02/16/05

two times consecutively my delivery took over 1.5 hours. when i called to complain this last time, the owner told me he would cover my bill but to never order from snappy dragon again. this is a far cry from the level of service when judy fu ran the shop. you decide if this is the type of service for which you would like to pay.

Pros: delivery, food is pretty good

Posted 01/14/05

Up until a few years ago we would get takeout from Snappy a couple of times a week. It was always great. in the last few years the quality of their food has gone WAY down. All of the entrees are incredibly greasy and the last time I ate there I wasn't able to even finish a quarter of my food because it was so disgusting. I wish they would read these reviews and take them to heart. Please bring back the old Snappy!!

Cons: , uncomfortable seats

Posted 12/07/04

We ordered a seseme chicken for take out and when we reutrned home to eat it, it was the most fake and disgusting thing we ate. The dish was a BRIGHT RED color and the breadin gof the chicken was soggy and falling off. The chicken was mushy and way too chewy, it felt like rubber, and the sauce was tastless. Very disappointing and will not return.The portion was small and overpriced.

Cons: , overpriced, tasteless

Posted 08/30/04

I ate at Judy Fu's yesterday for the first time, after hearing a lot of hype. We got there early enough so it wasn't too crowded. There were 5 of us and we ordered- Salt and Pepper Prawns, Ginger Beef, Mongolian Beef, General Taos Chicken, Cashew Chicken, and Shrimp Fried Rice. It was all delicious!!! (Especially the Cashew Chicken- the best I've EVER had!) I can't believe the reviews I read about it being bland and tastless, it was very flavorful, and both of the beef dishes were VERY spicy. I've had better General Taos, and I'm not a big fan of fried rice, but even those dishes were fresh and delicious. The dining room was kinda cramped, and the service was only okay, but I would still recommend it to anyone based on the yummy food!

Pros: fresh, delicious food, nice portions

Cons: , a little pricy, mediocre waitstaff

Posted 07/18/04

Definitely overrated. I had the pot-sticker, string beans, and the tea-smoked duck. The pot stickers were extremely disappointing: the jiao zi were enormous, but there was 3X as much wrapper as filling. The wrapper was tough and doughy. The pork filling was dry and crumbly. The duck was a wierd red color, way too salty and dry. The beans were disappointing: gooey, salty, and greasy. Although the portions were large, the prices were to expensive for the quality. Having been to Sichuan province and lived in a nearby province for a year, this was nothing like the food I encountered in China. There are better northern China/Sichuan restaurants in Seattle.

Pros: large portions, Englishspeaking waite

Cons: , Crowded, Bad food

Posted 05/29/04

A few years ago the food at Judy Fu's actually tasted good. Lately it is horrible. Perhaps they are too busy trying to satisfy the long lines.

Florescent colored eggplant? Should a spicy sauce glow in dim light? No thanks.

See the line to get in, that is your average American with a herd mentality. Drive 10 minutes down I-5 and visit the I.D.

Pros: clean, tables, chairs

Cons: bland, tastless, slow

Posted 12/11/03

I dont know how people can say that it is flavorless! Have you tried the Mongolian Tofu? it is to die for! their hot and sour soup is great! My dad loves the dumplings! I've had so many tasty meals here! True sometimes you have to wait to be seated but its worth it! I usually have leftovers too. I dont understand these negative reviews, I think the people must be crazy. I love this place.

Pros: Mongolian Tofu, Good Food, Decent Price

Cons: Crowded, Parking

Posted 11/23/03

I've gone to Crappy Dragon a couple of times because I keep hoping it will be better. Wrong. I vow never to go again.

It's the poorest excuse for a chinese restaurant ever (I'm chinese). The service is horrible. The food is worse. Greasy, bland, and just plain unsatisfying. Come on, they can't even cook decent chow mein. The noodles taste like they're just boiled and thrown in with sauce and the rest of the ingredients. The sauce doesn't even stick to the noodles. And if they can't even get there normal noodles to taste good, who wants to take a chance on their specialty noodles ($2.50 more)? And their dumplings? Too much unflavorful dough! I wanted real dumplings, not dough balls. Plus, the prices are a complete rip off for what you get.

Do yourself a favor and get some real chinese food in the International District.

Posted 10/20/03

Snappy Dragon is the freshest and most delicious Chinese food around! It can get VERY busy, though, and when it does, parking can become a problem. Make reserveations and get there a little early. Generous portions of food served family-style so you can share with your friends and get a bit of everything!

Pros: tasty!, funky!, intimate!

Cons: busy busy busy!, make reservations!, I'm so full!

Posted 10/11/03

My wife is Chinese, from China, so we wanted to see what all the hype was about. That's all it is. HYPE!!

Judy Fu's best creation is her public relations campaign, not the food. Her food, while not bad, is not authentic Chinese, which is OK, if American-Chinese is what you are looking for. We have found many much better Chinese restaurants in Seattle. We'll pass next time.

Posted 09/20/03

After much anticipation from all the rave reviews I had gotten via word of mouth, I was hyped to try the food at Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon. I am eager to go back already and am already planning what I'll order!
Don't pass up the homemade chow mein noodles and the delicious string beans! I would also recommend the sesame chicken--delicious nuggets of white meat immersed in a rich, slightly sweet, and visually pleasing sauce.
Its popularity is well deserved, and the service was prompt and cordial. Make reservations and enjoy!

Pros: great food, good service, lively atmosphere

Cons: small waiting area

Posted 03/28/03

I had consistently heard great things about the food here, so I was really excited to try it out. I probably should have kept my expectations to a minimum because the food was bland and unexciting. I was especially unexcited by their "House Special" noodles, what they are supposedly known for. The noodles were gooey and unflavorful. It's one of the closest Chinese restaurants to me and they deliver...but unfortunately I won't continue partaking in their services.

Posted 02/03/03

I love Snappy Dragon. I have been going there for years and it's always crowded. I recommend getting there around 5 if you want to get seated right away. Not only is the food excellent, but it isn't greasy like typical Chinese food.

Posted 01/08/03

The food is great. Don't believe some of these bad reviews...they must have something personal against the restaurant. I've eaten there so many times with my wife and although we had one experience with a dish being undercooked, everything else is always exceptional.

Yes, you will likely have to wait in line for a seat if you dine at a "normal" time. It's popular for a reasonthe food is so great! If you don't want to wait in line, call in your order and pick it up! Delivery can take a while, but if you pick it up, you'll get it very fast.

Park nearby on a cross street as their lot is always too crowded. Be sure to try our favorites: the chow mein with the homemade noodles, and the crispy eggplant.

Pros: excellent food, fair pricing

Cons: the lines

Posted 12/18/02

I have gone to Judy Fu's about once a year for the past five years, just to see what all the fuss is about and hoping, each year, that it would get better or that I would find a dish that would warrant all the great reviews of this place. Unfortunately, I still don't get it. The food is always terribly bland and mediocre. Even the vaunted jiaozi (dumplings). I'm Chinese and I hate the idea that this is what many people hold up as the standard of good dumplings! What's the big deal about this place?

Posted 12/18/02

Bland, flavorless food! Get in line for some of the most bland food you'll ever eat. See the long line, get in, it must be good if this many people are lined up?

Have had better food off the steam table in shopping mall food courts. That shouldn't be possible, but something is wrong with Judy Fu's. Must have a new chef?

Pros: easy parking, nice wait staff

Cons: bland, no spice, icky

Posted 11/19/02

I've had tastier Chinese out of a tin can. The food there has no flavor. Ask for spicy, it will be about as spicy as a cinnamon roll, and nearly as sweet.

Pros: long lines, plastic food, no flavor

Cons: crowded, tastless, bland

Posted 11/19/02

pretty good food, but not worth the wait or the poor service.

Cons: crowded, slow service, noisy

Posted 11/19/02