Dinesty Dumpling House

The first page of the menu has some of my favorite food items — I was so excited to eat here and the prices were definitely fair (though the daily vegetables are pretty spendy compared to everything else). The wait was only about 20 minutes on weekends around noon, but seating seems to be a lot quicker if you come around 1pm.
Xiao Long Bao here is really good — I felt the soup was not as rich in flavor as what I’ve had in some other places– it was a little watery, but it was still very good. Servings of ginger and soy sauce were a little lacking so we had to ask for a couple more.
Green onion pancake — this was crispy on the outside, layered flaky on the inside and satisfyingly filling.
Shanghai noodles were a bit on the oily side, but were flavored well. Could have used more vegetables but the pork was good.
Fried pork buns were tasty. Not as juicy as I was anticipating but still fresh and good.
Bean curd and spinach — this was a fresh contrast to the other dishes we ordered and far much more affordable than the vegetables of the day.
Fried pork pot stickers — these were just ok. Mainly wrapper with some filling, and flavor wise, just didn’t stand out. Would far rather have more XLB or other dishes instead.
Overall I really enjoyed eating here and look forward to coming back!

Went there on weekend when i was in vancouver.
It was busy on sunday night but Not many people waiting. Im a big fan of dimsum but its not the best dimsum you can get in town. Franchise restayrant so well organized and seemed clean but overall quality was normal at its price.
Food 2.5
Price 3.5
Service 3
Location 4

Dinesty gets 5 stars for their XLB alone. My go-​to place, and IMO the best place. The wrapper is thin, the meat filling is tasty, and there is lots of soup inside.
Disclaimer: I don’t think any other dish deserves a 5-​star rating (perhaps a ¾ overall average), but Dinesty is a dumpling house. They are great at what they specialize in. I’ve tried many other places in Richmond, and yes, the flavor has been better elsewhere, but the thinness of the wrapper and amount of soup is key!
Other dishes I normally get include: chinese spinach and bean curd, stinky tofu, stir fry rice cakes or shanghai stir fry noodles.
Service is not great here, but the same could be said about a lot of asian establishments.
There is also a Dinesty in Aberdeen Center, but my family prefers this location. They claim the food is better.

Here I am at Dinesty, and the hype about it is that it was one of the new upcoming chains of getting XLB. So I went in there to order the usual XLB. According to my tongue, the skin of the XLB is thin. The beef has a light flavour and the soup inside covered the flavour of the beef as it was just salty. Would I say I would comeback to this place? I guess I would come back. However, I am one of those guys that would consider Din Tai Fung or Joe Shanghai’s in New York as my locations of XLB.

If you’ve ever been to Din Tai Fung in Taiwan, Seattle or LA, this place is similar. I’d stick to the steamed soup filled buns only… and for that it’s worth it alone. We ordered 10 trays to the waitresses shock and ate them in the course of about 5 minutes. I’d avoid the noodle dishes as they seem to have a high ketchup content. Servers were far below average in terms of politeness for your average Canadian establishment but far above average for your average Chinese restaurant.

(XLB Score: 45.5÷50)
I’ve heard so many positive feedback about the Xiao Long Bao at this place that I had to try it out. Rumour has it that the chef from this Dinesty used to work at Top Shanghai (across the street which also happens to be my favorite Shanghainese restaurant) so my expectation is quite high for Dinesty.
Service was way faster than Top Shanghai. The xiao long baos came out quick and fresh. This place filled up quickly and the turnover of tables is very efficient.
The bao was good. I still prefer the soup from Top Shanghai, it tastes less MSG-​y and less salty. There was also less soup than Top Shanghai. But the skin was thin and the yay for 8 dumplings in each order! I ordered 3 orders for my table of 4.
Score for Xiao Long Bao:
Soup and Meat Flavor: ⁸⁄₁₀
Amount of Soup in Bao: ⁹⁄₁₀
Dumpling Skin Thickness: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Dumpling Size: 8.5÷10
Value: ¹⁰⁄₁₀ ($ 6.99 for 8 XLB — great value!)
Total Score: 45.5÷50 (close third on my XLB list!)
Vegetable and Meat Steamed Dumpling (⁵⁄₅)
I actually fell in love with the vegetable and meat steamed dumpling. It was tasty and not salty at the same time. Lots of filling. Fresh and came out piping hot. Tasted like they were freshly made and not frozen. I am a bit ashamed to admit it but I ate 7.5 out of the 8 dumplings all by myself. I could eat these everyday!
Pan fried chives and meat dumpling (²⁄₅)
This was ok. 2 pieces for $ 6.99 was a bit too much. The filling could be warmer and less salty.
Beef Roll (¹⁄₅)
A little sad when they came out. They looked so skinny and only had one piece of beef in each roll. One roll had ALOT of sweet sauce. One roll had no sweet sauce.
Vegetable in Cream Sauce with salted ham (¹⁄₅)
Top shanghai has a similar dish, but done way better than Dinesty. I wouldn’t order this again. The sauce tasted weird — too sweet and all I got were stems of the vegetable (bak choy). No leaves. None at all.
Beef Wrap (⁵⁄₅)
The other star of the night (aside from Xiao Long Bao). Flavourful. The wraps were thin and fresh. Reminded me of peiking duck, but a less fatty version. I would love to have this again soon!
Xiao Long Bao is still the best at Top Shanghai, but the other dishes here at Dinesty are quite good.
Eating at Dinesty means I don’t worry about finding a cockroach or a rubber band in my food like I do at Top Shanghai (
Cleaner and better priced than Top Shanghai. I will definitely return!

Do not go here. Horrible service and horrible food prep. Ordered the stewed duck leg and it basically came out of chicken at room temperature. Dry. And seem like they just threw some soy sauce on there. They didn’t even cover all the meat areas. When I looked up to request it be sent back the servers avoided my looks. They were all on their phones. Sleeping in the corner or hurrying cleaning tables nearby.
I should have waited until fisherman terrace reopened the next day for some better food and service.

There once was a place named Dinesty,
Who promised dumplings in their finesty.
There were lines out the door,
And at the table we waited more,
But patience we felt was a virtue,
As we awaited those dumplings to bite into.
Imagine though our shock,
Our expectations they did rock,
When the server us did inform
That the dumplings, they were no more!
«Come earlier next visit»
(1pm isn’t that late, is it?)
Over an hour we waited,
Our soup dumpling cravings never sated.
Next time in the city,
We shall have no pity.
Yes now shall we seek a venue,
Which offers dumplings on more than just their menu.

Getting here is just a drag. Heavy traffic and bad drivers.
Parking is limited.
Had a reservation so seated immediately.
Individual Vinegar and shredded ginger per person.
Had to ask for soy sauce for shui Mai and hoisin.
All good:
Steamed crab meat and pork soup dumplings: wrapping was not as thin and delicate as expected but good flavors.
Shrimp shui mai: moist and flavorful.
Stir fried rice cake with salted vegetables and pork: nicely fried and a good chewy. Not overly greasy.
Noodle soup with beef: Delicious!
OK:
Spicy shredded pork: not that spicy and bordering on too salty.
Won’t order again:
Gai lan (Chinese broccoli): stir fried with garlic. Chewy and fibrous.
Tea smoked duck: while the crispy skin was nicely done, the flesh was dry.
Service is excellent.
Bathrooms are really nasty.

Among all the dimsum places I’ve been to in the Richmond area, this is by far my least favorite. There’s just no umph in the flavor. The service and the restaurant itself just didn’t deliver.
I guess for starters, we just decided to check out this place without checking the ratings. The place looked promising because you see employees making the dumplings. It really looked authentic and it’s expansive. The big plus is the servers were very efficient although not as friendly.
One of the cooks seem to have a cold as he was placing the dim sum in the bamboo steamers. My husband noticed him sneezing but didn’t alert me knowing I would have walked out (how dare he).
We ordered several dimsum in here including the chicken soup dumplings and pot stickers. Like I said, wait wasn’t long. However, it seems the meat in the dumplings wasn’t seasoned well and it wasn’t as satisfying as we’re used to. Price is comparable but I suggest to skip this place if you’re on the hunt for good dim sum in Richmond. I just had better dimsum somewhere else.

The XLB were pretty good, in terms of the skin and the fillings. It’s true that they are a little small. The Sheng Jian Bao weren’t as flavorful as I’ve had.
The dish of duck with the cilantro and the small white buns was really good! The lions head meatball dish was pretty good as well, although you will likely need rice to balance out the salt of that dish (which is typical of this dish).
Not the cheapest, but we enjoyed it!

Friendly service and interior design is nice. You can actually watch the chefs prepare soup dumplings through a glass door.
Menu is in Chinese, but it has pictures of every item they offer!!! Of course, I had to get some soup dumplings. They’re a bit on the smaller size than the ones I’ve had in NYC. Wish it had more soup/​meat, but taste was amazing! Also, had the spicy pig ear… Yum! The perfectly marinated fish in spicy hot oil is a must have!!! Was not impressed with their stinky tofu though… Not as flavorful as I was hoping and not as stinky!
Definitely plan on making a trip back!

Having tried many different dumpling restaurants in different places, Dinesty is probably one of the best places to get not only dumplings but other chinese dishes as well. The xiao long bao’s are very tasty and you can definitely tell it’s fresh and made to order considering that you can see them making them through the glass window into the kitchen. It’s neat to watch them making the food, and seeing the authenticity and technique they use to make it.
The dam dam meen or Peanut flavour noodles are alright, maybe too much peanut-​ty sauce and not enough thick noodles to soak up the sauce. But overall not bad. The salmon fried rice was pretty good too. Not too salty and I liked the portion. It was pretty good portion. Good value for price.
Dinesty is like a Ding Tai Fung whether you ate it in the US or even in Canada. Personally I feel like its better than the Ding Tai Fung’s in America.
The service is very quick there which is very good since they are so busy, I can’t see them having a slow day. Good place for Shanghainese food.

Came here for dinner tonight with the family (although I originally told them not to go here…) had a so-​so experience in the past with the food but when I saw the rating for the place on Unilocal,figured I might as well try it again. Alas, I was disappointed again tonight and will likely not be coming back.
Most of the dishes are a little smaller (not your typical full size asian dish) but makes for easy sharing if you have a large group. (PS. Not sure the names of my dishes are 100% correct… Am translating from chinese and from memory).
XLB: while moderately soupy and a decently thin skin without a giant piece of dough on the tol where they seal it, flavour was only average and the meat inside the dumpling was puny! I get that it’s the «smaller» type of xlb, but I really feel that the meat is way too small for the size of the dumpling — and it doesn’t have a good «meat» flavour or texture compared to some other XLB’s.
Stir fried clams in spicy soy sauce: this was a decent sized plate of clams and the sauce had a nice kick to it. I was surprised because they used quite a bit of thai basil in the sauce (silly me never thought shanghai places would use that kind of flavour) so I wasn’t really expecting it when I ate it.
Deep fried tofu with garlic sauce: this was my favourite dish all night! Super soft tofu was breaded and deep fried so there was a nice crust on it with a delicious garlic sauce that it sat in (without making it too soggy). It was piping hot when it came out which is always a plus!
Drunk chicken: the interesting thing about their drunk chicken here is they only serve boneless pieces which I don’t really prefer… I guess it makes for a nicer presentation when all the pieces are uniform. However, the «drunken» flavour is pretty minimal in this dish.
Stewed duck leg in brown sauce: while the duck definitely looked like it’d been cooked in the brown sauce, the meat itself was dry and not easy to eat. It was already a small dish and on top of that, several pieces were pretty much purely bone or a tiny piece of meat with a ridiculously large amount of fatty skin.
Green onion pancake: this was definitely freshly pan fried as it was piping hot throughout, but I feel like they rushed the frying process as it was barely crispy on the outside and super doughy on the inside, without much green onion flavour.
Cold jelly fish on cucumber: this was not too bad! The jellyfish was nice and crunchy without being too hard or chewy, well seasoned and they took the time to use a fancy cutting edge on the cucumber so it actually looked pretty. They use a different piece of jellyfish/​cut it differently than those cold cut platters you get at chinese restaurants — comes in chunks rather than strips.
Dan dan noodle (spicy sesame noodle): I was horrified at this dish… Okay horrified is a mean word to use but it came and looked nothing like the usual look that you would expect. Sauce was barely to the top of the noodles, and there was just a bit of chili oil at the top of the bowl around the edge of the sauce. Once you mixed the sauce and noodles though, the chili oil completely disappeared making the noodles look essentially just like a brown, soysaucey looking colour (definitely darker brown than a peanut sauce would look). I took a bite of it and it was such a weird sauce flavour: zero sesame flavour, minimal peanut flavour and no spice at all. Instead, I was hit with saltyness reminiscent of soy sauce. I do not understand. It was strange :(the one saving grace for this was the noodles were decently cooked and it was a pretty big bowl of noodles.

Be prepared, this place is very busy on weekends so make sure you make a reservation. Their food is quite delicious and pricing is fair. They have a few speciality dishes on the menu. If you are not sure what to order, just look over next table’s and see what looks good! Parking is available at the plaza.

Good. Very busy — sometimes long lineups. Service is curt, sometimes friendly if you catch a good one. Nice to see people making the food through the glass windows.
Looking for spicy food? You won’t get it here.
Looking for good noodles and dumplings? Yes, come here.
Ordering small dishes add up, so I’d say you can expect to pay $ 15 – 20 per person for a decent sized dinner. That said, they have lunch specials on weekdays that are a good value — my favorite is the Wednesday beef noodle and Gyoza for $ 8 or something.
Try to call in and get a reservation if you are coming in a group — they take reservations the day of or even a half hour ahead (one of the rare pluses in a chinese restaurant).
I tried the ancient boiled beef this past weekend and it didn’t have any flavour, just lots of flavorless, bland chili oil, with a ratio of 80% cabbage and 20% beef, so avoid that one.

Pretty good Shanghai dumplings, but not near the level of Din Tai Fung. However, there are no lines if you go when they open, and they have accommodating service. My friends and I came here when they opened at 11am for a quick lunch before our flight home that day. Although there was a small crowd waiting for them to open, we were all sat quickly and there was still plenty of open seating at that time. I loved that their menu had photos for all the dishes, and we tried:
–Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings ($ 5.95): Pretty good– this was my favorite out of the two flavors we tried, although the pork filling was a bit overcooked and needed more salt. I liked that the dumpling skin wasn’t too think. The dumplings had a good amount of soup, although some had already burst by the time we got them.
–Steamed Shrimp, Scallop & Pork Soup Dumplings ($ 6.95,
): Just ok– the shrimp and scallop made the dumpling taste a little fishy, so I wouldn’t order these again.
–Noodles with Minced Pork & Mushroom in Spicy Sauce ($ 7.50,
): We ordered the wrong type of noodle, and this wasn’t my favorite dish since I usually don’t like so much sauce with my noodles. The flavor was just ok, but at least it had a decent amount of spice.
Surprisingly, the service was solid– they were very courteous and spoke good English, and helped us get out of there as soon as possible so that we could make our flight. Overall, I wish we had more time and more people to order additional dishes to try (especially the red bean dumplings!). I would definitely come back here again to try more food if I were back in Vancouver. There is a giant parking lot for this center, so parking seemed plentiful (although it may not be super close to the restaurant).

I can’t speak to how this restaurant compares to others in Richmond, as I was just visiting vancouver for the week. But, we were definitely pleasantly surprised at the yumminess of every dish, considering its a chain and it definitely didn’t have that hole-​in-​the-​wall/​grandma cooking in the back feel!
Got there around 6:30 on a sat and there wasn’t a wait yet (line looked like it started forming shortly after we arrived). Service was quick and to the point. Read: no fuss and don’t expect them to constantly be checking up on you.
All the food we ordered was piping hot and freshly made, so that’s a definite plus to the large restaurant/​high volume.
Minced pork noodles: not that great, sauce was almost bitter tasting, noodles were good
Green onion pie: yummy!!! Really thick and lightly crisped.
Fried tofu: again, so nicely crisped and the sauce was really fragrant.
Xia long baos: good, nothing spectacular, but the freshly cooked, piping hot aspect was nice.
Fried Beef pucks? Idk the English name: weren’t the best ones I’ve had, the dough was a little thick and the meat wasn’t super juicy.

For a restaurant that can do wordplay so well (haha, not Dynasty, but Dinesty), their English is pretty lacking. Our waitress spoke very little, but I guess it didn’t really matter as we were given an order sheet and we just checked off whatever we felt like ordering. There was no English, which really baffled me and my mediocre Chinese language skills can only do so much.
Now, the food was good and tasty, for sure. An easy 4 stars — not sure if the xiao long bao is worth the hype I’m reading and they were smaller and had less soup than I had hoped for, but it’s definitely flavorful. However, they didn’t give us a pot of tea nor refilled our tea cups (please do one or the other, I have no preference as long as my tea addiction is satisfied).
Overall, given the chance, I’d come back for a repeat visit. I think the food is worth it, though service is pretty non-​existent. I mean, I don’t think Chinese restaurants have a good rep for giving you good customer service, so expectations weren’t high to begin with.

I’m writing this updated review because I was quite disappointed by my most recent visit. Just last week, I came here with my friend to have a simple dinner and we were very unimpressed.
We requested for our traditional Taiwanese beef noodles to be spicy but when we got them, they weren’t spicy at all and the soup was almost cold! The little dragon dumplings (xiao long bao) were also very mediocre and the spicy sesame peanut noodles (dan dan mein) weren’t very flavourful. The only good dish of that meal was the green onion pancake wrap beef roll, which is a dish that’s quite hard to screw up.
Anyways, I’m not sure if their chefs have changed or not due to their recent expansion, but I probably won’t be coming back for a while! (The dinner was almost $ 20 per person and we left unsatisfied) I want to give them a 2.5 star rating but I’ll be nice and round up to 3.