Popular dim sum spot in Chinatown scales back service after 10 years, citing crime concerns

A popular dim sum restaurant in Seattle’s Chinatown International District (CID), Joyale Seafood Restaurant, announced an abrupt closure on Thursday.

The restaurant, located at 900 S. Jackson Street, has closed its weekday dinner service for an undisclosed amount of time, and will only be open for weekend brunch, according to The Seattle Times.

Last week, the owner, Vince Zhao, said he told staff and community leaders that Joyale would shutter after 10 years, and pointed to rampant crime in the CID and poor sales.

“The crime and drugs are imprinted into customers’ heads that this is no longer a safe place to come and dine,” Zhao told The Seattle Times. “We tried to keep it as long as we could, even through FIFA. They just come back the next day and trash the area again. And the city would clean it again.”

Empty nighttime dining rooms, rampant crime prompted Zhao to end weekday service

Zhao coordinated an agreement with his landlord to keep Joyale open for dim sum service running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. over the weekend, beginning this Saturday.

The decision to shut down weekday dinner service came after Zhao noticed his dining room would be “entirely empty at night” and saw no purpose in having staff working at those times.

Zhao noted he had to cut roughly 70% of the staff who would tend to customers in the 600-seat restaurant. Zhao is the owner of another dim sum hall in Lake Union, Seattle Harbor, formerly known as China Harbor.

Zhao stated that Seattle Harbor is booked out each weekend until October with weddings and private parties, leading him to believe his business model may not be the problem.

“I know it’s not my product,” Zhao told The Seattle Times. “It’s the location.”

Zhao also partly owns two Chinese restaurants in Bellevue, Top Gun Seafood and Dim Sum Factory.

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