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Golden Rice Bowl
Category: Restaurants Chinese Dim Sum Dim Sum [Edit]
5365 Gateway Blvd NWEdmonton, AB T6H 4P8
(780) 435-3388
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11 am - 11 pm
Fri 11 am - 11:30 pm
Sat 9:30 am - 11:30 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
26 reviews for Golden Rice Bowl
Review Highlights
26 reviews in English
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Review from Derek F.
4/17/2012
I came here for lunch with a fellow Yelper and given his A-OK review, I wonder why? We arrived at 1:55 and Dim Sum ended at 2:00...yet, they were happy to cater to us. So, we dove right in and ordered about 6 or 7 dishes and all but one were excellent. The 6 that were excellent were freshly cooked and you could tell; the 1 dish that wasn't so great was a bit cold and that (I'm guessing) led to it's gummyness and blandness. Not only were the dishes good, but the sauces that came with them were nice too. I've never had great Dim Sum in Edmonton (out of about a dozen tries) but this comes close...good, but maybe not great. I'll have to come back (and I will) to try more of the menu and maybe when they are busy. I'm starting to think that the problems I've been having with Edmonton Dim Sum is that the food is left on the carts too long. Next time...I think I'll sit by the kitchen.
The price was okay, but not great, about $4.50 a plate and they didn't have egg tarts! Sad....I was very sad for the lack of egg tarts. -
Review from Alan C.
2/28/2012
Went here on a Sunday morning for dim sum with some friends. Parking was a bit of a nightmare, but with our reservation we got in no problem - a lot of people were waiting in line, however, so a reservation might be a good idea!
This was my first time having dim sum, and luckily one of my friends had come several times before and knew exactly what to order. While I have no other experiences to compare to, I thought everything we had was excellent!
The staff were accommodating even though it was extremely busy - some were harder to understand than others, however. We were able to track down forks for the chopstick-challenged in our group and the staff were happy to get us some fortune cookies before we left, albeit with some thinly-veiled giggling.
Great food, great staff, great experience. We'll be back again, but we'll make sure we have another reservation for such a busy time. -
Review from Violet P.
2/19/2012
I came with my family for dim sum and it was close to 1PM and there was a line up almost to the door. That's a good sign if it's busy so the food much be good. We didn't wait longer than 10 minutes but I recommend that you elbow your way to the front and let the hostess know how many and then stay close to the front.
The restaurant is beautiful with the red covered chairs and I'm sure it's a popular place for special occasions. We were told there were 3 events; wedding, one month baby celebration, and a birthday, that evening!
We were seated in a corner but I didn't mind as it can get noisy in there. The carts of dim sum came out steadily and there was variety. We ordered the usual dim sum; dumplings, shrimp cakes, tofu, and bbq pork buns. I was disappointed they didn't bring stick rice and next time I'll have to try the rice noodle roll. The prices are a bit higher than other places but I'm sure it's to cover their decor costs.
It's a good idea to come earlier at 10AM or later at 1PM if you don't like waiting. If you do go later though, there's not much selection and food around 2PM.
If we're looking for a change from dim sum on the west end, I would definitely go to Golden Rice Bowl. -
Review from Jonny M.
Edmonton, AB
5/22/2012
Been to Golden Rice Bowl a few times with the fam jam and have to say that the chinese food here is very good! It is a bit more pricey than some of the places you can go to in Chinatown but it's worth it if you don't want the same old dishes (this coming from an Asian that eats a lot of Chinese food). Plus the place has a pretty nice decor/cleanliness for an Asian restaurant (did I mention the washroom are the nicest I've ever seen in a Chinese Edmonton restaurant?)
Anyways, back to the more important part of this review - the food. Went here on Sunday for a slightly earlier dinner. We were there around 6pm and by the time it was 7-7:30pm, the place was absolutely packed with other families and people eating! Maybe it was just because it was the long weekend?
So for food, there were 6 of us and we shared the set dinner menu for six (the Asian menu at the back for total of $159). Total of 7 dishes which included:
* Seafood soup (my favourite)
*Sweet and sour shrimp with lychee (really good. Much better than the typical sweet and sour pork. Order this if you don't get the set menu)
- Fried pork chop
* Crab with yellow noodles in a creamy sauce (lobster cooked perfectly)
- Crispy chicken
- Deep fried swordfish (nicely fried with a great crunch on its skin)
Also came with pot of steamed rice (the usual).
We also ordered three more dishes a la carte style which were:
* Steamed fish in black bean sauce ($16) - One of my favourite dishes. This one is sea bass with some black bean sauce AND tofu on the bottom. Yummy!
- Stir fried mixed vegetables ($10) - variety of broccoli, mushrooms, snow peas, cabbage and carrots
* Fried rice noodle with chicken (dry style) - normally this comes with beef but we switched it to chicken. Always a great noodle dish to order (for me at least).
Obviously, we had WAY too much food so we had lots of leftovers to bring home. Definitely recommend if you are looking for some tasty, better quality Chinese food than the norm.
Note: * is for dishes that I would order again :) -
Review from Jessica D.
Edmonton, AB
1/19/2012 4 Check-ins Here
One of my absolute FAVORITE restaurants to go to for Chinese.. a little on the emptying your wallet side.. but consistently delicious. My family took me here on my birthday earlier this month and got all of my favorite dishes.. starting with peking duck.. the bird was very juicy and the skin was crisped to perfection... with the peking duck meal we got the lettuce wraps ($5 charge :( ) but they were definitely worth it ! I won't describe everything we got. but this place is not cheap.. the 8 of us ate for about $200.. but we did get QUITE a bit of food.
One dish I will REALLY suggest though is a spicy beef tenderloin dish that has some kind of fried greens and cashew as the garnish, very delicious!
This place is great for a big group... I wouldn't go with less then 4 people. -
Review from Brittany K.
Edmonton, AB
1/19/2012 1 Check-in Here
Very high hopes heading into Golden Rice Bowl. It was a very chilly night in Edmonton and I was tired, cold, hungry, etc. A high-rated Chinese restaurant? Yep, that sounded just about perfect.
Michael J and I ordered the dinner for two. It's usually what we order when we head out to a Chinese restaurant (they all seem to have some kind of variation on it). The list of dishes it came with sounded alright, but there wasn't a list of dishes to choose from, just a set menu. I wanted to swap something (wonton soup for hot and sour) but it was going to be an extra charge, and they wouldn't bring us two different soups, only two bowls of the same. (I like hot and sour, Michael likes wonton.)
The wonton soup was alright, and my egg roll was surprisingly greasy. The pork was pretty good so we finished off that entire plate, but the rest of the food we saved for leftovers (which I didn't even eat as leftovers).
It was definitely a lot of food, but at $53, it was pretty expensive, too, especially considering that we didn't get to choose what to order.
The staff also hovered awkwardly about a foot from our table until our bill was paid. Uncoooomfortable to the max.
I think we'll stick with Mandarin restaurant near Windsor Plaza from now on. -
Review from Jo-Ann S.
1/2/2012
I was very impressed with this place! We had takeout on New Year's Day for supper. It took a while to get here (just over an hour) but it was New Years after all. The food arrived piping hot and large in size!
I had the seafood hot pot. It was awesome with lots of juicy plump seafood cooked perfectly, juicy button mushrooms, and some kind of lettucy green that was still crunchy despite being cooked in a soupy liquid. It was like high end China Town takeout. There was enough there for two to three meals. I had it for breakfast too! Yum!
My husband had the schezwan noodles and he said they were good. He also liked the wanton soup. I thought the broth was good.
We will be back for sure and try the dine-in experience. It looks like they have a nice restaurant. -
Review from Lil F.
Edmonton, AB
2/27/2012
We had Dim Sum at the Golden Rice Bowl on Sunday and enjoyed the great
variety of food being offered. However, we were disappointed that they did not
honor our SwarmJam voucher that we had. The cashier said that there was an
error in the coupon and "Why should they give us a deal when they were already
busy." Not a good way to do business. I am not impressed with their customer
service. BEWARE other SwarmJam voucher holders. You will not get the deal that
you thought you would,
Because of this incident, I would choose another restaurant for Sum Sum next time-
one that is customer friendly. -
Review from Sylvie C.
Calgary, AB
Service: We were seated instantly being only 2. We were served well, which isn't always the case in places this busy for dim sum. We ate leisurely & to our satisfaction and were in and out 45 mins. This was perfect for us as we were on our way outta town. They brought the bill & the cordless card reader to our table, which I've never seen done at Asian restaurants. It was a nice touch and must help with their turn around.
Dim sum: Cart service was good, with a decent amount of choice. Sometimes being a table for two at carted dim sum we have had a hard time getting full carts to pass us by as they focus on the bigger tables, but no such problem here. The dishes were standard for the most part. I did try a dish that I haven't seen before - the veggie bean curd roll. It was delicious, I loved the mixed mushrooms with the bean curd. (but I am an avid bean curd fan).
Atmosphere: very ornate decoration and atmosphere with lots of traditional chinese red & gold. more thought put into this decor than most asian restaurants. Also the washrooms were recently renovated and done very modernly, which was a pretty big shock for me. I was so impressed that I had to take a picture and share as from my experience Asian restaurants leave the washrooms behind by a couple decades.
It was pricier than our fav dim sum spots in Calgary, but worth it for the service, speed & atmosphere. -
Review from Edda O.
5/18/2011 9 photos
No doubt that Golden rice bowl has good Chinese food BUT it is a little pricier than other similar standard Chinese restaurants and the service is horrendous. I mean, when walking into a Chinese restaurant we expect mediocre service, but here is it just plain bad.... They r abrasive, rude and just not very nice! But onto the food:
Peking duck 3 ways - the duck was ok. There was too much fat between the skin & meat (peking duck should not have the greasy fat stuck on the duck) but it was juicy with a nice crispy outside.
the noodles were ok but had a generous amount of the duck in it which was nice.
The soup was just blah... Bland and forgettable.
House special fried rice - not bad
Pekingese Sweet sour pork - Ok. the pork was a little over cooked so it was tough.
Beef w ginger & onion hot pot - my favourite of the night. The beed was really tender and it came with generous amounts of mushrooms, corn and green onions.
Pea sprouts w garlic - very good, veggies still had a nice crunch and seasoned well. -
Review from H C.
12/29/2011
This place has decent food but the service is so hit or miss. We pre ordered a Peking duck and when we got there they said they had no more, even though we pre ordered. They proceeded to serve what seemed to be ever other table around is Peking duck. We ordered other dishes and some of them never came out. they kept saying they were in their way but when the rest of the dishes came and got eaten we no longer wanted the other ones. When we asked to cancel the other dishes they suddenly appeared. This happened more than once to the point where I will never return.
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Review from Farees K.
2/17/2011
Driving by this place at least once a month has always had me curious and the good reviews put this on my to do list.
Ambience was nice and if you are into aquariums they have some really nice exotic fish.
I was with a group that didn't want to be adventurous and my group of Chinese speaking friends were not in attendance. Unfortunately we ordered the preset menu which had me worried.
I was expecting the typical dishes that are horribly adapted for North American tastes and was not disappointed. To my surprise though, even these dishes were very well done, with good cuts of meat, fresh vegetables and slight twists to make them stand out from the crowd.
I will be back to try their dim sum and some of their other dishes for sure. If they are as good as I hope they are I will definitely be giving them another star or two. -
Review from Aditya R.
11/1/2010
A chinese restaurant that has a lot of chinese patrons has to be good! And yes it was. Golden Rice Bowl is a pretty big dim sum restaurant with ample seating capacity and a several kinds of dim sums, as expected. From what I could tell, it seems to be quite authentic.
It's worth mentioning that the staff are very friendly and have fun while drawing their carts of dim sum. Although dim sum isn't the healthiest form of Chinese food, there seem to be plenty of healthy items on the menu (like steamed shrimp balls, for example). I thoroughly enjoyed everything I ate. Try the chicken feet. It's delicious!
It's great to go there in a group of at least 4. That way you get to try out a lot of different dim sums. I have had dim sum in several other cities and it's fair to say that the Golden Rice bowl is among the best I've had! -
Review from Katie F.
6/18/2011
Good memories... came back here again last weekend with family as this used to be one of my regular dim sum stops when I lived here... great for those who live on the south side!
Service is typical of many Chinese restaurants and the menu is Cantonese in influence. They stil do the cart-style dim sum which is fun. Good selection of the classic dishes (har gow, sticky rice, egg tarts, etc...) and some new vegetarian dishes that I got to try for the first time since we had a vegetarian in the group.
Food quality is good. Not a great selection of more unusual/creative dishes here.
Busy restaurant with a good amount of seating... I've found there's less waiting here compared to the downtown dim sum places. -
Review from Mike W.
2/3/2011
We went here for Christmas Banquet once and was it ever fantastic. From what I remember we tried the Peking duck skin with crepes, raw oysters and creamed lobster,,,WOW Everything was very so fresh and yummy. I would highly recommend this place...it is not your typical deep fried Chinese food you find everywhere else. I will definitely go here again.
Everything was pre-ordered by the company so I cannot comment on the prices or rest of the menu but the food and service was awesome for the big crowd we had. -
Review from Noah B.
Edmonton, AB
11/7/2010
Since a few of my caucasian colleagues were curious about an authentic Chinese experience, I enlisted the aid of the cloud in my search. The reviews for GRB were ver favorable, therefore we checked it out. I must say, it was a fantastic experience.
When we came in, there was a customer (despite his vast mass) whom was complaining to a server about service or whatnot. Since it was only around 5:45pm, I assumed it had not picked up yet so service was still resting its muscle. We were about to be seated in a secluded place but I asked for a better place with greater view, and was promptly led to a fantastic spot. The place filled up as time passed on. I am glad we went early with reservation so that we won't have to deal with the rush.
We order the Beijing Duck 2 course (I did not know you had to reserve one but they still got one so all's well), Beef Tripe, Wonton Soup, Fried Chicken Balls, Szechuan Beef, Vermicelli, and Stir-Fried Vegetables. The service was above average. The free dessert was great too. Red Bean Soup with Almond Cookies was yummy. Clean plates replenished often, tea refilled often, and service was very courteous and helpful. The food wasn't greasy at all, did not taste MSG, authentic, and well done.
The bill for our party of seven came to $180 including tax and ~15% tip. That's $25 for each of us. Compared to the inflated fare at Lister Centre of University of Alberta, this is f***ing luxury well worth its price. We are definitely coming back... soon. Maybe next time we'll check out the garlic prawns and lobster dishes. We will also be reserving a duck - just in case! -
Review from Alan D.
9/10/2011
I have only been for Dim Sum on weekend mornings. The best I have had in Edmonton, especially the Century Egg Congee and pork & bok choy dumplings. Friendly happy staff and really bright, clean and well-decorated. One of the higher end Chinese restaurants in Edmonton, and priced a little higher than most, but totally worth it.
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Review from Lauren N.
Updated - 3/5/2010 1 photo
Seriously, this is authentic, high-quality Chinese food, not some kinda weak fusion version of Chinese food. If you want the real stuff, it's Golden Rice Bowl (aka GRB), baby.
I thought it was pretty good the first time, and since my recent visits here again, I firmly stand by my original review -- truly, as good as it gets. We've made it our go-to restaurant for Chinese from now on, seeing as our old joint just doesn't measure up anymore.
New dishes I've tried are the peaches and prawns with rice, which is delicious! The prawns are large and fresh, and they don't add too much mayo sauce to the dish that it takes over the flavor. The wor wonton soup is great too. Basically, you can't go wrong with any dish you order from here.
Dessert is included with every meal, and is served buffet-style at a table near their front desk. They recently came up with a new dessert recipe, it's basically a dessert pudding that has pumpkin, tapioca, and taro, I think. If they have it out when you are there, make sure you try a bowl ... it's delicious! Sweet and creamy, not too rich. I was disappointed when I came back a second time and they didn't have it ...
And for those who get a kick out of fancy bathrooms (and let's be honest, who doesn't like a nice bathroom in a public place), GRB does have the ooh-ahh-worthy frosted glass bathroom stalls. One of the cleaner bathrooms I have seen, I must say. And that's a huge plus in my book.Listed in: Best Eats
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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12/31/2008 First to Review
We recently had dinner for the first time at the Golden Rice Bowl with my family and friends, and it… Read more »
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Review from Jack G.
Edmonton, AB
6/18/2010 3 photos
Golden Rice Bowl is definitely authentic Chinese food. After experiencing many spots that aren't quite up to par you get an understanding of what Chinese food is suppose to taste like after you try the Golden Rice Bowl.
The dinner menus has so much to offer and it's a bit hard to choose. You will want to try mostly everything you see. I would suggest including the garlic prawns along with anything else you choose.
The staff is very friendly and like I said the menu has a lot to offer, so come here on an empty stomach. -
Review from Jason L.
Edmonton, AB
5/25/2010 6 Check-ins Here
This is definitely one of the best Southern Cantonese style restaurants in the city and the best on the Southside both for Dim Sum and dinner.
Edmonton's Chinese food scene is limited. China is a big country and home to a billion people. There are varied and diverse cuisines from China. Edmonton does Cantonese and Hong Kong style really well and this is one of the jewels in the crown. Easily as good if not better than anything in New York, San Francisco or Vancouver. What we miss out on is really good Schezwan, Hunan and Shanghai.
The restaruant was recently renovated and has a spacious well appointed dining room and newer clean washrooms. The food is fresh, hot and well seasoned and executed. Southern Cantonese is more about subtle flavours with good use of garlic, ginger, onion, tomato, oyster sauce and black bean. A lot of the food is braised, steamed or wok fired. A wok needs to be white hot to cook food properly, leaving the incredients firm, crisp and flavourful. They do this very very well. Dim Sum is fresh with a good variety. They have a Dim Sum chef and the food is made for service, not frozen and thawed. Prices are really quite reasonable and a bargain for the quality.
Service is prompt and attentive. Chinese do not have a service culture akin to French service, but wait staff are reasonably available and really helpful with the menu. The best food, like all Chinese restaurants, are off the English menu. Ask for suggestions or for what's good off the Chinese menu, or look around at what the Chinese tables are eating and ask for those dishes and there are a lot of Chinese patrons.
There is only a couple of comparable restaurants downtown and on the Westside. The Golden Rice Bowl is definitely worth a visit. Come with a large group, sit around a big round table with a lazy susan and order a variety of the excellent dishes. -
Review from Curtis L.
2/24/2009
Great decor, above average food, fair service, and on the pricier side.
I'm from out of town in to check out the restaurant that I will be having my wedding banquet at and talk to the owner. I've been told that they are probably one of the nicer Chinese restaurants in town. They are located down south so may be out the way for some but they do provide one of the larger facilities great for banquets. I will update the review after the wedding this fall. -
Review from Yum E.
6/19/2009
Came here for a wedding banquet and dim sum the following day.
The restaurant interior is upscale, despite the somewhat ghetto neighborhood in the middle of the boonies.
The food here was sub par, especially for a wedding banquet. The roast pork on the appetizer platter wasn't fresh, neither was the lobster on the lobster over stir fried noodles.
The Snow Pea Leaves were overgrown and didn't taste good... The abalone that sat on top of the Snow Pea leaves were small and had a funny texture to it....
Service was decent for a Chinese restaurant... probably due to the mandatory 12% gratuity tacked on top of the banquet bill...
...Word on the street is that this is the fanciest, if not the best, Chinese restaurant in the area....I've had better.... try Los Angeles! :D -
Review from Walter T.
6/18/2011
We are visiting from San Jose California and this was recommended to us. We speak cantonese and ordered 3 dishes and the house soup.
The food was sub par but that's not worst. The service is horrible.
One of the dishes we ordered was "clay pot" which in Cantonese crusince means food is served sizzling in the pot it is cooked in. In this case the food was just stir fried and served in a stainless steel wok-like container.
The service was mixed througout the meal. After the meal the waiter inform us there is dessert -- a fairly common practice. When one of us asked what are the choice for dessert he does not have an answer, then carry on a 3-stooges act with one of his co workers (".. how would I know, I am already busy..") and eventually walkd away with out giving us a stratight answer. We assume he went off to fetch whatever-the-desssert.
Instead he brought us the check, signaling end of his service. When we called him back to ask where is our dessert, he acted surprised that we did not go get it ourselves from the "self service area". When we ask how we are supposed to know that, he offer some excuse that "most frequent customers know" and he assume we know --- instead of an apology that he neglict to tell us that dessert is "self service".
The fact that even if he had informs us outright we would be disappointed anyway --- the class and decor of the kind of restaurant it professed to be would not have customers fetch anything themslves buffet style.
We would never return to this restaurant. -
Review from Tim D.
2/21/2010
After reading other reviews we tried their Dim Sum. Was a nice atmosphere and restaurant was busy, a good sign in my opinion. Their service was fast, efficient and the staff very pleasant; quality of the food was very good as was the range of Dim Sum offered.
Living now on the SW side of town makes this restaurant very convenient. -
Review from George L.
8/7/2010
A friend brought us to Golden Rice Bowl, a great Chinese restaurant. The dim sum, especially the Chinese barbeque pork rolls were very tasty inside a huge, clean restaurant, efficient staff, high quality food.
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Review from Michael M.
4/23/2010 2 photos
Golden Rice Bowl in Edmonton is one of our favourite restaurants for both Dim Sum as well as a full course REAL Chinese supper. We recently enjoyed a dinner for six that included egg drop soup, garlic prawns, lobster. pork chops in a cream peach sauce, chicken with pea pods, fried fish a medley of Chinese greens with herbs and mushrooms. It was YUMMY!
