First off, an explanation of the name of the restaurant. "8" is considered a lucky number in the Chinese culture because the word "eight" sounds like the word for "prosperity", so it's common to see a lot of 8s in various store and restaurant names. Guess they thought 3 eights was a good choice. And indeed it was as they seem to have prospered greatly. The restaurant is usually quite crowded. We usually go on a weekend, but I've also been there on a weekday, and there was still a wait, even though it's a fairly large restaurant. I noticed recently that it has even taken over the space of an adjacent business, so it's an even bigger restaurant now. The restaurant is located in a mini-mall that has a number of other businesses, including numerous other restaurants, so parking is usually difficult to find. On several occasions now, we've resorted to parking on a nearby residential side street, which is a short walk away but much less hassle than dealing with looking for a space in the lot.
If there's a wait for a table, they ask for the number of your party, and then they'll give you a slip of paper. When it's your turn, they will call your number in three languages: Cantonese, English and Mandarin. I like the atmosphere of the spacious dining room, which is nicely carpeted, and unlike some other restaurants, everything looks very clean and new, and they even have matching dishware, which is sometimes unlikely. I've only ever been there for dim sum, so that's what all of my comments are based on.
Once you're seated, they'll ask what kind of tea you want - I always ask for Jasmine. For those unfamiliar with dim sum, women (I don't recall ever seeing a male doing this) will push carts around the restaurant with various dishes, and you can choose what dishes you want. Each dish has a particular price, and when they put the dish on your table, they will put a stamp for each dish in the appropriate price point of the ordering ticket, which stays on your table. In addition to the cart pushers, this restaurant also has a large staff who will bring trays of specialty items, and it works the same way with the stamps. If you're unfamiliar with the names (and most of the cart pushers don't speak English, or at least not very much or well), you can just ask to see what they have. Most of the dishes are in metal steamers with lids over them, so they'll just uncover the lids so you can see what's underneath, and you can point to what you want.
Other dishes will be on plates, sometimes covered, sometimes not, and there are also specialty items that need to be further cooked and/or otherwise prepared or ladeled. And yes, the stuff you can't see is generally the "scary food" - tripe, beef stew and tendons and the like. I think they're yummy, but some people are afraid of them. There's also a bigger cart with more big-ticket items like soy sauce chicken and roasted duck and jellyfish, and there's also a dessert cart. We've not usually had a problem with carts going by regularly. The only time I can think of was when we were there later, when they'd have fewer carts out and some of the items will already have sold out. In some cases, if we're waiting for something that hasn't come by, I'll stop a waiter to ask, and they will either send a cart lady over with the item or just bring a plate of it themselves, if the item is still available.
Once you've had your fill and you're ready for your check, you can alert a waiter, and they will calculate your check based on the number of stamps in each price category, as other staff will have been clearing the dishes as you've finished with each. I've found that they're pretty efficient with that. They also tend to be good with refilling water and tea - if your teapot is empty and you want more hot water, just move the lid of the teapot so that it sits on the side of the opening. That's the sign to the wait staff that you need more hot water.
I've generally found the selection of dim sum to be very good here, and they even have some specialty items that are hard to find nowadays. And all of the food is very tasty. I can't think of anything I've had there that I didn't like. My difficulty usually lies in deciding what I want, since it's usually just the husband and me, and each dish usually comes with 4 or so pieces, so there's only so much we can eat and only so many varieties we can have. With a larger group, you can have just one of each item, thereby allowing you to have a wider variety of items, and there are some dishes that the husband doesn't like, so if I were to order it, I'd have to finish the whole dish myself.
One problem I can see would be for vegetarians or those who don't eat shrimp for whatever reason. Quite a number of years ago, I'd noticed that they started to put the little dried shrimp in a lot more things, so some items which would have been vegetarian previously are no longer so. The majority of the meat used in dishes is beef and pork, which would also present a problem for those who don't eat those meats. There are a few dishes that are chicken, but not many. One solution would be that since you can still order off the regular menu, a vegetarian could supplement their dim sum choices with something off the regular menu.
For dim sum, a price is charged per person for tea. For dinner or for people ordering off the regular menu and ordering rice, they would then charge a per person fee for rice and not charge for tea.
As I mentioned, the only real downside to the restaurant is that it's usually very crowded. This past Father's Day, I attempted to go there with my parents, and since we hadn't gone super early, it was already about a 2-hour wait (they don't take reservations for lunch), so we ended up going elsewhere.
I'll have to try dinner there sometime, but in the meantime, it's one of my favorite places to go for dim sum.
888 Seafood Restaurant
8450 Valley Blvd., Suite 121
Rosemead, CA 91770
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