Order the Szechuan Beef Noodle and Xiao Long Bao. While the XLB were juicy and well textured, the flavor was off(pork tasted a little stale and salty) and the skin was too thick. The beef was also stale and the soup had too much spiciness(probably to mask the low beef quality).
Cole A.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Richmond, Canada
Disgusting. Simply disgusting. I am Caucasian male but I have been to Asia quite a few times and I know what good, fresh and tasty food should be like and this is not it. To start the place is a dump. There is nothing clean about this location. Additionally even the menu is out of date and the menu we had been given for the three times I have gone to his place is dirty, stained and last time falling apart with one of the pages barely staying on. I suppose I should’ve been considered lucky that the server got our order correct and there was no mistakes but we only ordered three items so that should have not been that hard. The first item that we ordered was ginger beef. I have been told by quite a few people that this was a good dish. It wasn’t. I have come to this place three times and each time this item has gotten worse and worse. The sauce was bland and beef itself was Wayover cooked and it was basically eating charcoaled beef. Next we ordered a Taiwanese chicken dish. It was so incredibly bladder and no it taste actually don’t remember much of it. The third item we ordered was vegetarian chow mein. I do not know if they were using fresh vegetables or not but the vegetables in this chow mein were bland and just had the taste of disintegrated mush. But the worst part of the chow mein was it was so so incredibly greasy!!! Good and authentic Asian food does not need to be «thermal nuclear greasy!» It was so greasy that I was feeling sick with stomach aches and headache for several hours after the meal. This place is disgusting do yourself a favor and go one more block and go to the food court at the shopping center if you’re looking for a quick meal as this is not worth your time. Disgusting, simply utterly disgusting.
Vivian R.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Vancouver, Canada
I try to rate places that I have been to at least once. I came here twice within 3 weeks and my overall rating will be 2⁄5 — Meh I’ve experienced better. But, let’s talk about the food first: We read the reviews first and were SUPER excited and went with the recommendation of the Fried Fish with Chili sauce — the sauce is AMAZING, especially if you like vinegar(which I love) but the fish was just MUSH. It was an absolutely disgusting texture. Between both visits we also ordered the Szechuan steamed chicken, shanghai rice cakes, shanghai fried noodles, lamb tibet style and the pan fried pork buns. Steamed chicken sauce — GOOD. I think it’s the same sauce as the Fried fish actually. Pan fried pork buns — really big, cheap and juicy. Good, would order again and from the other tables, everyone orders these when they come here. The rest were lacking in flavour. I would rate most of the food as 2, but with some menu items at a 4 for flavour. I might come back to try their Dan dan noodles and pork buns again(Dan dan noodles only $ 3.85), but only if I’m in the area and starving. Overall the place is pretty dirty, ugly and it’s really impossible for someone who doesn’t speak Chinese or Mandarin. There is only one lady that waits and she doesn’t speak a speck of English. She got our orders wrong twice, so we just ate and paid for it because I had no way of communicating with her. Then, apparently some of their prices on their menu are out-dated and they added an extra 2 bucks when the bill came, which would ordinarily enrage me, if it hadn’t been a small local joint. Come, don’t come, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t speak Chinese, I suggest bringing a pen and paper to write down your menu items and price to make sure they get it right.
Tom Y.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Richmond, Canada
Came here last night with my family. Been hearing a lot of good news on the review on friends recommendation. Because it was our first time, so we ordered several of the recommended dish. The dishes we ordered were Mix Soup, Chili pepper beef, sweet/sour chicken, chili wonton, and a special tofu dish. The mix soup was quite pleasant, the flavor was just as I remember back in Asia, well seasoned and full of delicious ingredients. Chili Wonton was AMAZING, haven’t had such unique wonton in a while, a definitely must try. Sweet/sour chicken wasn’t what I expected, but it was still tasting in a sense that the sour is different than others. I suspect it was mixed with a little of sweet bean paste, which made well with rice. Chili pepper beef and the tofu dish were good in a sense that you can’t get anything like it anywhere(as far as I know). Unfortunately, the service was quite slow, because they were packed during dinner time. However the owner was kindly enough to apologize and gave us free cold cucumber for treats. One more serious TIP, before you come, make you have an iron stomach or peptobismol with you. All three of us(my friends, my brother and I) got a mild case of stomachache after the meal, my brother wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweat and serious stomach cramp! I would definitely try the place again, but just be ware!(Or maybe is just me, or has anyone else experiences the same thing??) P. S.: New to Unilocal,anyone give me a tip on how to add photo?
Lauren L.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
It’s been awhile since I’ve been here. I’m glad that the staff are still the same and they recognize us. Just read Davids review here, and I totally agree! Tonight we finally had their spicy fish. It wasn’t on the English menu, but we saw someone else have it and we pointed to it and asked for that. I put a pic of it up on this page. My Japanese Tomadachi aka the«Food critic from Nihon» loved the fish. 5 stars thumbs up and a yahoo of a Unilocal.«OMG This is the best I’ve had! It’s better than You know who’s.» she Unilocaled. I replied, «Huh? Oh You mean the place that shall not be named, that we can’t mention, „You Know Who“ which is close by you know what. Ahhhh, I see,.» with recognizable understanding and a nod of my head, «wink wink». Then came out the Wuntun spicy, but it wasn’t the regular wuntun that we ordered, What we got here was the one she said wasn’t sour, but spicy. There was about 15 pieces of wuntun inside in a slightly sour soupbase garnished with green onions and cilantro and brocoli. It wasn’t what we thought we ordered, but it was very very good nonetheless. I’m thinking that if I did a Unilocal UYE here, I’d have to bring my dear friend Grace to do the ordering for me in Mandarin. Now, back to the food… Where were we? Ahhh yes! The Szechuan dumplings came out next. Not bad, had alot of the garlicy sauce and slightly sweet, it definately was a filler-upper. We did order the Tan Tan noodles, but it didn’t come and we cancelled it instead of asking for it. The highlight dish of the night was the Fish. I will definately order it again. And this true hole in the wall is definately worth checking out if you like Szechuan food. It’s not really Chongqing style, but it’s what I like. Great way to finish the night.
Wendy Y.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Richmond, Canada
I couldn’t write my Unilocal review based on my virgin visit to this restaurant with my girlfriend back in January 2012. Amongst the two of us we had 4 dishes which the reviews were all very mixed. The Xiao Long Bao was excellent(4⁄5), wontons drenched in chili oil were plentiful in quantity but lack in quality(2.75÷5), deep fried fish with sweet and sour sauce poured on top was not bad(3.5÷5), and the final veggie dish with julienne black fungus, mushrooms, medium-firm tofu was alright(3.5÷5). I know the place has much to offer so I gave this place another shot but this time taking my partner and my parents(for dinner). We ordered a Xiao Long Bao which was not as good as the first time I had it(3.75÷5) but nonetheless — above average. We ordered mini pan fried pork buns, a clay pot of sliced pork belly in thin noodles(green bean flour) in Chinese sour cabbage and tofu soup, a clay pot of fried fish head in glass noodles, and steamed pork buns. The mini pan fried pork buns were a solid 5. The dough was soft, hot, and fresh. The skin was pan fried to golden brown and the meat inside was juicy. I can pop these bite-sized treats any time of the day. The sliced pork belly was VERY good. The sourness of the cabbage cuts the grease of the pork belly very nicely. This soupy dish was the highlight of the meal. Hey for $ 10.95, this price is a steal! The fried fish head in glass noodles was heavier on the flavor but it was still good — not salty. The fish was fried to crispy and cooked in a stew. The steamed pork buns were excellent. Again the«bread» was soft and very fresh. The meat was fresh as well — minced pork and minced cabbage. This place is cheap and definitely worth a try. Do give yourself some benefit of the doubt if some dishes didn’t turn out the way you want/expect. You ought to find somethin
Edward L.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Vancouver, Canada
Came here on the recommendation of a friend. This place is freaking GOOD. Most people come to this strip mall to go to Chen’s(also reviewed), and ignores this place, which is literally next door. The place is definitely not the best for large groups. We took the biggest table in the place, and it had 8 chairs. I recommend 4 – 6. The food is definitely authentic. The staff barely speak English, but this is how you know they’re the real deal. No Panda Express here. As an appie, they give you a dish of sliced cucumbers with sauce. It’s not bad, but it’s inconsistent. We had 2 plates given to us, and they actually tasted distinctly different. It was almost as if they had forgotten some herbs or something in the 1st plate. Chili wontons — surprisingly bland. Maybe it’s different from Shanghai, but there wasn’t enough sauce. But the tradeoff is that that the wontons were not mushy at all. Chili fish — oh wow this is good. Some would argue that it also wasn’t spicy enough, but the sauce I found was excellent. I highly recommend this dish. The biggest difference between this place and the competition is that they didn’t just drench this one with a puddle of oil. Garlic cold pork — another surprisingly good dish. Excellent presentation. The pork wasn’t too fatty, and the herbs on top really make the difference. Sweet and sour fried fish — just the right amount of sauce. The fish wasn’t mushy, and they did a good job deboning it. Shanghai-style noodles — tastes like any take-out place, except that the pieces of meat here are HUGE. It’s like they just cut strips out of a steak. Xiao long bao(Shanghai-style dumplings) — HUGE. They come in sets of 6, so it’s something to keep in mind. Fresh, hot, filled with artery-clogging soup. what more could you ask for? And the best part? When we were done, the final bill came to only $ 10 a person, which included tip! I was really shocked. I would’ve gladly paid double that for the quality of the food. One last thing worth mentioning: they use a TON of peppers here. We watched their supplier drop off several baskets on the way out. Spicy fans rejoice. Highly recommended.