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Kirin Seafood Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Chinese Dim Sum Restaurants Seafood Dim Sum, Seafood [Edit]
1172 Alberni StVancouver, BC V6E 3Z3
Neighbourhood: West End
(604) 682-8833
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 2:30 pm
Mon-Sun 5 pm - 10:30 pm
Sat-Sun 10 am - 2:30 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Validated
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Classy
- Has TV:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
91 reviews for Kirin Seafood Restaurant
Review Highlights
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"...udon) with pork and vegetables in a semi spicy sweet sauce." In 2 reviews -
"Make sure that you check if King Crab is in season though." In 4 reviews -
"Now that's how you do Peking Duck DAMNIT." In 6 reviews
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91 reviews in English
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Review from Suan J.
Vancouver, BC
4/17/2012
Our family loves this place and the g/f's Uncle claims it's the best Dim Sum in the city. As for myself, having only ever ate dim sum in Hong Kong at the Michelin Star Lei Garden in IFC Hong Kong this place actually holds its own against one of the world's best.
Make reservations, and have a seat eating delicious food while hearing the unique sound of SO many chopsticks and dishes hitting against each other.
In the right season you can snag an amazing king crab meal here that is completely worth the price. Drooling on the keyboard from the memories good. -
Review from Tina L.
5/10/2012 1 Check-in Here
Terribly slow service. We came here upon recommendation from the concierge at our hotel. The food wasn't anything special. We only ate it all because we were so hungry from waiting between servings of food.
I highly do NOT recommend. -
Review from Marilyn T.
4/22/2012
I'm usually not a dim sum person because I find it pretty greasy and heavy, but Kirin does everything in a more delicate way, much more reflective of the refined dishes traditionally served in Hong Kong.
There isn't the usual cart pushing craziness here; rather, you just order of the menu. Sometimes I like being able to peer into carts and smell the food as it's going by, but then you're also constantly looking around the room and trying to flag people down, so this experience felt more relaxed. On the other hand, if you're not familiar with the menu items, maybe seeing them in person could help you better decide.
We got all the regular items, including shrimp dumplings, shu mai, daikon/radish cake, various other dumplings, steamed custard buns. One of the more unique items is the shark fin dumpling in soup (no shark fin in California now!) Each savory item had a lot of flavor without being overly salty. The buns were fluffy, dumpling skins had a bite but weren't gummy, and none of the sweet fillings were too sugary. Everything had a pretty good balance.
They have an online reservation system that's easy to use, so take advantage of it to prevent an excessive weekend wait! -
Review from Carl N.
5/26/2012
Maybe we visited on a bad night. The duck skin was amazing, and it ended there. Our other dishes showed up late, sloppy, and burnt.
Food aside, I must say the service was disappointing. We were ignored the entire night. Had to ask multiple times for the check. Our food came out over 30 minutes apart (in contrast to other families in our area that received theirs much quicker). The family next to us was checked on and attended to every 5-10 minutes. We were there for over 2 hours. Not because the meal lasted that long, but because we were given almost no attention by our waiter or anyone, even when we asked repeatedly. -
Review from Florence C.
Vancouver, BC
3/21/2012
Dim sum is art, and I think Kirin meets my standard. Most items have very good thin skin like the prawn dumpling and rice rolls. The sauce is delicate, correct consistency, some restaurants serve the thick sweet sauce, disgusting!
Other favourite items are:
- Turnip/ daikon cake: It's real daikon, I swear to God, not corn starch!
- Shark fin dumpling soup: Again, the shark fins are visible, you won't feel robbed
- Stir-fried rice noodle with beef: Tender beef, soft rice noodle and still keeps its shape, this is not easy! -
Review from Ronald A.
3/23/2012
We are up in Vancouver, BC to attend a wedding reception for my cousin's oldest son. It snowed as we walked to the hotel yesterday; today, the sun was bright and the sky cloudless.
Nine of us attending the event had dim sum here for lunch today. We sat around a typical round table and there was plenty of room. Two of our group had never had dim sum before and one had gone once. Everyone left a convert. The dim sum was good and we enjoyed everything we ordered. No carts here; we ordered off the menu. all items came just as we expected, was the right temperature and tasted just right. Nothing gourmet here; just good dim sum. We had not had the daikon cake before and it was a new treat for us.
I would not hesitate to come back on our next trip to Vancouver. I anticipate we will try somewhere else later in our trip, most likely in Chinatown. -
Review from Jeff S.
Vancouver, BC
3/17/2012
I have always considered this place over-rated. We go quite a bit because it opens at 10am. If we can wait until 11:30, there is better.
There is nothing wrong with Kirin, there is just nothing really outstanding about it. The Xia Long Bao is mediocre and the service is hit and miss. The staff don't like working there an it shows. -
Review from Theresa W.
Vancouver, BC
2/9/2012 1 Check-in Here
This is a pretty difficult place to order from unless you know what you're doing. I went with some friends, and none of us can read Chinese and my spoken Cantonese is borderline terrible, but we all know what delicious Chinese foods we like to eat. I was pretty sad when I went through their menu to find they didn't have stir fried snow pea tips, one of the best basic veggie dishes you can find in a restaurant. Their menu looked pretty lacking, with some pretty fancy but expensive items. But then we asked a server, and he was like "yes, we have that". It was pretty surprising that they have these items and it's not on their menu. I wonder if there's a different menu that's entirely in Chinese for people who are very fluent in it. Bah.
Anyways, we ordered that dish, along with a squab, a seafood chow-mein and ginger honey beef. It was good, but the portions are smaller than your hole in the wall places, and I honestly don't feel the prices reflect well for your everyday menu items. The table next to us was feasting on seafood though, and their dishes made my mouth water. Oh if only I knew what to order! They had a fantastic large lobster, a steamed crab, and a beautiful green bass. Clearly they knew what they were doing.
I think it's time I went back to Mandarin school or something, I'm certainly at a disadvantage here. The staff was somewhat friendly, though I feel they completely left us alone a lot of the time because the two other tables in my area were spending much more cash than we were. Our sever seemed pretty unimpressed when I told him we didn't want dessert. It was hard to get anyone to come to our table for anything and in the end we were feeling extremely out of place and neglected even, which kinda sucked.
I suspect though, that if I were to come here for a full on banquet or something, that I'd have a fantastic time and get some mouth-watering food. I should also say that I've been here for dim sum before, and while their dim sum is good, I still don't think it warrants the price. I'd rather take the extra time to head to Richmond or outside of downtown and really pig out. $30 somewhere else goes a long way (with take outs for dinner), whereas here we don't even get full. Not-full Theresa is a sad Theresa.
Kirin Alberni is a short walk from Burrard Station or any bus stop that runs through that area (2, 22, 44 down Burrard, the 5 on Robson, or the 240, 241, 246, 250, 251, 252, 253, 257 on Georgia) -
Review from Paul Z.
3/12/2012
Sunday Dim Sum. Awesome.
I can see how this place can be a little intimidating if you do not know your way around the menu.
Definitely the best Chinese food I have had outside of China / Hong Kong / Taiwan. Had jellyfish, shark fin dumpling soup and several dumplings - all were excellent.
Service was warm and patient, may have to ask a couple times for your beer. -
Review from Wendy Y.
2/2/2012
My colleagues I were treated to a wedding-banquet-like lunch sponsored by a mutual fund company at Kirin's in Downtown. I walked out with a big satisfied smile. The food there - is top notch.
I think we had at least ten dishes and all had a flare of Chinese New Year. How so? The pronunciation of the ingredients. Dry oysters sound like "goodness" in Cantonese; whereas iceberg lettuce sounds like "making money" etc. It was quite an amusing experience to learn things like this as I don't speak the language nor I am (too) familiar with the culture.
Our appetizer came with jelly fish (or as my Persian colleague puts it - seasoned rubber bands), chicken soaked in rice wine, pork sausage. Then we had a soup full of seafood goodness such as fish mow, sea cucumber, with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, chicken bits. It was so good I had 2 bowls. The other dishes, in no particular order, were a crispy-skined chicken with deep fried shrimp biscuits or shrimp crunchies I call them, noodles in sweet soy sauce, seafood rice, lobster, abalone mushroom and green bean sprouts, iceberg lettuce with dry oysters, beef tongue, pork belly, black hair-like seaweed, and a whole steamed fish. As if that wasn't enough, we had sticky rice balls (liquid sesame paste inside) in date soup as well as taro jello and balls of biscuit covered with lots and lots of white sesame seeds.
It wasn't a surprise to see my fellow colleagues falling into food coma towards the end of the two-hour lunch. All the dishes were prepared with quality ingredients and cooked with superb skills. The servers were quick and attentive, filling tea pots, changing plates and all.
If you had the budget I would recommend this restaurant for hosting wedding receptions. The decor is classy and presentable but not exaggerated. The high ceiling and the windows allow a good amount of natural light to shine in with no glare.
The only problem is the parking. I am not sure if Kirin's has its own parking lot but be prepared to pay for parking, and it's not going to be cheap. Bring coins.Listed in: Cantonese Food
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Review from Erin J.
Updated - 2/27/2012
OMIGOD!!! What happened Kirin? I loved this place on my previous visits, but the last time I came to the downtown location, it was a SERIOUS disappointment. The food was horrible - not just one dish, all of it. It was like a junior chef just started and made our food. It was not good :( We ordered a black bean chicken chow mein and the noodles were horrible! all of the dim sum wasn't as good as well - it was seriously off from the usual high quality I am used to from Kirin.
Interestingly enough, I went to the Cambie St location a couple of days later, and it was top notch.
I hope this was just one off day.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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1/22/2012
I've already written a review of the Cambie City centre location of Kirin, but i have to give the… Read more »
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Review from Maha E.
1/6/2012
Ni-and-HOW.
I dared not walk into this restaurant without an entourage who knew and understood Chinese due to a horrible dim-sum experience that I suffered years ago. I always feared that every dish would be pork-infested and that I could only order from a small portion of the menu.
However my initiative was not sought from my own means; my friends chose this venue for their 10-course dinner reception and had considerately accounted for my diet restrictions.
I was also joined at my table by vegetarians, vegans and alerted allergens- coincidence? Doubtful.
Somehow Kirin accommodated us. I was glad that my usher responsibilities held me back from partaking in all 10-courses and not my food restrictions.
Each dish was presented on-time and in great succession; I quite liked how they served my favourite dish in the middle when I still had room in my belly, rather than at the end.
All praises aside, there were a few mishaps. Though refills on non-alcoholic beverages were complimentary at the wedding, one of my ginger-ales tasted completely off and I had to excuse myself and freshen up in the washroom.
The bride and groom were also rightfully upset when we arrived at the venue and Christmas decorations were litered throughout the room and it was not wedding-ready as previously discussed.
The servers were quite nice, but the management seemed to have them wound-up toiter than the year of the tiger. I encouraged our server to take several desserts and her manager yelled at her for taking more than one; once I explained the situation, he apologized. It's fair that he wants his employees to be professional, but there wasn't a need for his hastiness in judgement.
Recommended main deal: Crab with Ginger. FINGER. LICKING. AMAZING.
Score: I "sea food" one minute, and the next minute, it was gone. -
Review from Taylor K.
1/9/2012 2 Check-ins Here
Awesome dim sum.
My friends and I got there at 2:25, five minutes before dim sum is done.
We felt really bad and the host was pretty nice about it. He didn't appear annoyed that we were so late but he did inform us that the kitchen was going to close and we needed to order right away. This was no problem for me as I knew what I wanted.
I got Chicken feet and shu mai. I had a late breakfast before I went so I wasn't super hungry. My friends ordered the Hot and Sour soup, prawn dumpling, shrimp spring roll and sesame buns.
All the stuff tasted really great. The service was good and another great thing was, it wasn't super busy so we got our food pretty fast.
I am definitely coming back!!! -
Review from Paulina L.
3/26/2012
The dimsum is better than Seattle's dimsum. I really like the clean after taste, not oily and greasy dimsum. It was a little it pricey, but I'll think twice to come back.
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Review from Habu H.
1/15/2012
Dim sum was filling, good distribution of salt, and light oil.
Overall: Second refer -
Review from Mike B.
3/17/2012
I have been here for both lunch and dinner, and both are fantastic. Their peking duck is extremely high quality and inexpensive compared to the $100+ I have paid for this dish at the same quality. The drunk chicken is a great starter and the rice cakes are also good. The seafood is all fresh and made from the tanks they have in the restaurant (the fish don't look too healthy though).
For lunch, we have gotten an assortment of dim sum, and it is also very good. Not nearly as expensive as their dinner menu and each dish comes with about 3 of each item.
I highly recommend trying Kirin if you are in Vancouver for a little while and want to try some high quality dim-sum/seafood dinner. -
Review from Sonia C.
9/5/2011 2 Check-ins Here
I love the dim sum here but the waitstaff weren't very nice. Granted it was super busy but they continually ignored us and kept us waiting for like 20 minutes before we could order. However, I'll probably keep coming back because it is only place that I know of in North America that serves spicy beef tendon - I literally dream about this dish because I've never had it as good anywhere else.
The other dim sum is really good too. They seem to be missing some dim sum staples like the saltwater dumplings (fried glutinous dumplings filled with minced meat) and changfen (rice noodles). However, what's there is mostly super, so I'll keep coming back even if they keep giving me the shaft when it comes to service. -
Review from Russel M.
7/21/2011
After walking by Kirin for years it was time to try it.
We ordered Dim Sum, XO Dumplings, Live Prawns and Hot and Sour Soup. Everything was very good.
One of the nicest Bathrooms in Vancouver as an added plus. -
Review from Jessica K.
5/31/2011 1 Check-in Here
Waivering between a three and a four on this place... The dim sum was pretty freaking delicious. Alas, this place appeared to be a little too nice for cart service.
Our service was pretty good and our dishes were brought out at a good pace, even though it appeared a bit chaotic. The quality of the ingredients and flavors were high, as were the prices. The one drawback came when we were pondering another dish and my boyfriend asked our server what one of the dishes at a nearby table was. She didn't understand so she got another server who told us that "we would not like it". I appreciated his honesty but not sure how he arrived at that conclusion. Unless he decided our dim sum stuffed bellies would soon outgrow the dining room...
Delicious food, eccentric place, I would still recommend overall. -
Review from Marje B.
Burnaby, BC
Sunday dimsum!
Positive: Hot, fresh, yummy food, clean, nice decor. finish meal with hot towels (: nice touch!
Negative: service was ok, we asked for hot sauce 5x, it was 11am was not busy we expectd better service. Selection of dimsum wasnt that great. 3 regular dimsum items they didnt have
Tips: make reso, go early esp weeknds -
Review from Jaye L.
Vancouver, BC
3/14/2011
If there's one thing I can't stand in all my years dining out, its these haughty hostesses who think they're doing you a favour by having you spend good money in their restaurant! I've lived in New York and dined in Morimoto and Flay's Mesa Grill, never have I experienced such rudeness! I think the Kirin upper management should teach their staff a lesson in BASIC manners.
There was a wait, I had this hostess named EMILY write my name in the waitlist. She said the wait would be 20 minutes so my family and I sat down in the chairs. 45 minutes passed and they were seating everyone except us. I followed up with her and she would stare blankly at me and answer me back with attitude. I tried being patient but I totally blew it when they seated two later parties who had NO reservations before us. My 2 year toddler was crying already. I asked to talk to the manager, my request was ignored and this guy named Andrew came and said he'll seat us right away.
And to think the dimsum was just mediocre -salty at BEST...
All I can say is, Kirin just lost a well paying customer for good! -
Review from Carol L.
Vancouver, BC
9/6/2011
Before you scorn at this 3-star rating, please hear me out.
The food here is not bad, but not great either. That's all. I can't give it 4 stars because that would mean "I'm a fan", which I'm not. But I won't tell you that it's horrible. It is not.
I read many complaints re the service here. Please understand that this is the way service is given in HK. You are being served by people from HK and they will serve you the way they are used to doing it. It can be considered "rude" but hey, it's the way it's done in HK. Go to Joey's or something if you want your waitress to visit you every 5 mins to check on you or smile (insincerely) at you every time they see you. -
Review from K.S. A.
Vancouver, BC
5/12/2011
I live in the neighbourhood and I've been here many times. Their food is good.
However, two employees at the front desk were so rude last time that I walked out. Usually, food trumps service for me, but this was so severe it jolted me out of my usual pattern. If they cut corners with customer service in this way, who knows what other corners they cut.
I was planning a special occasion here, but those plans have been relocated. I would never trust them to make a good impression on my guests. -
Review from Jen L.
5/23/2011
3.5 stars. Decent. You order from the dim sum menu so it's great that everything comes piping hot, though I'm very visual, so I would love to see everything on a cart first. Clean and classy.
Shrimp dumplings, crab/pea dumpling, sticky rice, chinese broccoli, all good. The dipping XO sause is amazing though. The shark fin in consumme was my fav. Make a reservation. Service wasn't the best, they seemed confused. -
Review from Mar W.
8/28/2011
I read a lot of good reviews about this Chinese restaurant and was happy we were there right when it opened for lunch at 11 am on a weekday. Service was friendly and attentive despite the huge tour groups that came in at about the same time.
The dimsum was excellent! Hits were the xiao long bao, steamed bbq pork buns, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, pork siumai, and crab and prawn dumplings. The dipping sauce was fabulous, too. Misses were the fried pork spareribs (too sweet and fatty), dan dan mian (large portion but the flavoring was more spicy than "peanuty") and the spicy eggplant (the prawn topping was too hard on the soft eggplant rounds).
We spent about $50 for a really nice meal. This place is worth the money. -
Review from Denise H.
12/7/2011
Good Chinese in Vancouver should be easier to find! I got the inside scope (ok, not so "inside" but still) from Bill, our resident foodie. He took us here on a quite Monday night. We ate our way through a pretty extensive menu. The hot and sour soup, the spring rolls, the half duck and the honey beef were the standout favorites. The food is undeniably good. The service, :-| Slow. Inattentive. Nonchalant. Poor.
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Review from Hae A.
1/11/2011
I came here for dinner and dim sum.
Both experiences were subpar.
Dinner was dungeness crab and Shanghai style noodles.
Crab with soy sauce and ginger - the sauce/coating was slimy. The crab itself was good.
Several reviewers referred to Szechuan style noodles but there is no Szechuan style noodles at this location. There was Shanghai style though. The Shanghai noodles were bland and tasteless.
Dim sum was okay. On the level of decent (not good) dim sum in Alhambra/Monterey Park area near LA. Whoever compared it to dim sum in Hong Kong obviously did not have good dim sum in HK because it is nowhere near that level. The only thing that was tasty was the egg tart fresh from the oven.
My friend from Vancouver said that this location was their Mandarin branch. I'm not too sure what that means, but I've gleamed that not all the Kirin Seafoods are the same. I would stay away from this specific location. -
Review from K D.
Vancouver, BC
12/24/2011
The experience that I had at this restaurant was perfect. The food was so fresh - we ordered lobster and prawns and this was some of the freshest seafood I have ever enjoyed. The taste was exceptional. Unlike some other reviewers, our service was definitely above average. Our server, Eric, was super friendly and incredibly efficient, as were all of the other staff that served our food or cleared our table. And, I actually found this restaurant inexpensive, when considering the quality of meals. Would definitely go back and recommend to others.
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Review from Arianne R.
1/19/2011
Oh, hello my sweet-- It's been awhile.
Since I am now living south of the border, it takes just a little more convincing to get me back to a few of my favourites in Vancouver. Kirin, however, is a place which generally requires very little in the way of persuasion.
Three nights ago I braved ornery customs officials, pouring rain on the I-5, and BC drivers (I'm sorry, but this is a distinction that I can make, as I was one for 10 years. I am now a"Washington driver"...with a dirty secret). My mission? Dinner at Kirin with three of my favourite people (also Seattle-ites on a mission).
We enjoyed ginger lobster, shitake mushrooms with bean curd (my personal favourite), salt and pepper cod and some delicious green beans. The wine list is small, but to the point. We ended up with a couple of bottles of a French Pinot Noir that was surprisingly complementary to our meal (I'm one of those people who basically closes my eyes and points at a wine list. The people in my life who actually claim to know something about wine are appalled by this, but they're snobs. No one cares what snobs think).
The space itself (now I sound like a snob-- who the eff says 'space' unless they're writing a pseudo-pretentious review that no one will read anyway?) is understated-- and by 'understated', I mean borderline mundane-1990's-living-room decor, not the somewhat chic 'understated' that occasionally comes back into vogue when designers need a vacation.
The series of rent-a-paintings on the beige wall sets you up with somewhat lowered expectations-- which you completely forget when you taste the food.
Go to this place. It's worth it. -
Review from Justin L.
8/9/2011
I'm a fan of Kirin at City Square, so it's unfortunate that the Alberni location, which makes for convenient business lunches or meals with visiting guests, is marred by bad service. To add insult to injury, I think the waiters actually treat Chinese customers worse. Is that some kind of reverse racism? Is it because the genteel white folk tip more, won't stand for rude service, and order more alcohol? Maybe. But maybe I'm also just trying too hard to rationalize this restaurant's rudeness.
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Review from Allen W.
1/16/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Food is ok. Service is usually abrupt and without any friendliness.
My biggest annoyance with this Kirin location (which I've now dined at four times) is that we are alway seated in the most awkward table available.
Usually, we are placed in the lower level 'room' in the corner next to the waiter station. It has all the ambience of a broom closet.
This last time (and I do mean *last time*), it was a table in the far back corner next to the exit door and a waiter station. I was wedged into the seat which was pushed up against a chair being stored in the foot and a half of space next to me. I complained but the staff didn't offer to re-seat us.
Seriously, for a restaurant which is considered 'upscale' and offers a pricey menu ... creating crappy seating and then offering it to customers (who could be weekly dining guests if they were comfortable when dining) just isn't right.
Just because you can shove two-person tables into the far reaches of your restaurant, doesn't mean your guests will enjoy them or seek to ever return. I've given you far too many chances and each time the restaurant let me down.
Even though this Kirin is only a block from where I live, we now go to the 12th street location which offers better service and seating. -
Review from Lisa K.
2/27/2011
I was pretty intimidated to find good dim sum in Vancouver. That might sound pretty ridiculous - "there's good dim sum everywhere!" is one outlook on finding it here. But then you do more research, and it seems like any place that has potential is actually deemed horrible, totally inferior, and/or not even CLOSE to anything you can find in HK! There's sort of the same situation in SF, as far as I can tell.
So, I just decided to bite the bullet and go to something close, convenient, and with English on the menu. (I couldn't find a menu online but it was pretty broad - although I wouldn't recommend it for vegetarians as they only seemed to have 3 items in the "vegetarian" section of the menu.) We went on a Sunday around noon, which I would think is primetime for dim sum, but we were quickly seated with no wait, which was great. Also, this is classified as "dressy" but I'd say about half the clientele were wearing jeans and did not seem out of place. We found the waiters really easy to interact with and the service to be quite good and prompt.
We were very satisfied with the dim sum. Almost all of the dishes were larger than we expected and we definitely had waaaay too much food. I felt like the price was pretty fair, given that it was very sit down and fairly nice. The only disappointment, both by taste and price, was the shanghai style noodles - they were pretty plain and oddly expensive (~$12.80 if I recall). I would skip that.
I really liked the flavor of the pork potstickers, although for a connoisseur (which I am not, but even I could detect this), the skins were WAY too thick! The char siu bao (steam bbq pork bun) were great, and the fried chicken wings were done well but not flavored too much. I liked the fried tofu, which was a bit bland but the outer crust was nicely salty and crisp. I also enjoyed the peanut dusted black sesame rice balls, which were a great gooey sweet treat.
I'm sure if I leaved here this might not be my go-to place, and I'm sure other places have better specializations etc, but for a safe, easy dim sum meal, this seems to be a good spot. -
Review from Jason D.
Vancouver, BC
12/21/2010
Okay, this place has to be one of the best in downtown Vancouver. The food is very tasty and always consistent. It is the same every time I go. You can't go wrong with the price either, it is very reasonably priced. The food tastes great.
However service can be a bit of a hassle, sometimes it is hard to get someone to assist you unless they are serving food to your table, so sometime you are forced to wait.
I always leave Kirin happy every time and I will keep going back there. I highly recommend this place for lunch, Dim Sum and Dinner! -
Review from W Z.
10/12/2011
Both food and service were meh at best. The wait was long and the food was overpriced for what it was.
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Review from Bo T.
7/6/2010
The hostess was quite cold when we entered, but given the Yelp reviews we decided against out instincts and ate at Kirins. I'm cannot speak about their other menu, but if you want dim sum, I'd go elsewhere.
It's an order menu for the dim sum. So we ordered several types of steam dumplings and the snow pea tips with garlic sauce. There was a pork dumpling with consomme and we ask if it was xiaolongbao - a Shanghai soup dumpling specialty; the waitress told us it was. Let me tell you that it is not. It was pretty tasteless.
Overall, Kirin was a disappointment. The only bright spot was our witty waitress. Then come to think of it - she didn't know her food. -
Review from Katie S.
9/29/2008 2 photos
Excellent formal Chinese dining in the middle of Vancouver. The Salt n' Pepper Soft shell crab could not have been any better and the Szechwan spicy noodles (udon) with pork and vegetables in a semi spicy sweet sauce rocked my face off. The orange beef was delightful and spicy, and the pork dumplings had a nice flavor. I wasn't wild about the prawn vegetable dish, but that was only because the other entrees were so tasty, it just wasn't my favorite.
The service was just okay, as we had to go and ask to be helped.. But they were attentive with refilling the water and our beverages once they knew we meant business..
and by business, I mean ordering way too much food for four.. and then finishing almost every last bite.
Not cheap, but the quality is quite high. We'll definitely be back when we're here next, I could eat the soft shell crab all day long.Listed in: Oh, Canada..., Vancouver Eats!
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Review from Gavin N.
5/8/2009
Went here for a really late night dinner. I'll admit at first I was a little skeptical, because 1) when I think Kirin, I think of the beer...which is JAPANESE...and then 2) it says Mandarin restaurant on the outside, and we all know the best Chinese food in the world is Cantonese not Mandarin. Luckily my Dad (who is real Cantonese from Hong Kong not like my lame ass), convinced me Kirin (or Kay-lin as he pronounced it) is a real Chinese mythical creature (oh that explains the label on the beer...those mythical creature stealing Japanese beer companies lol), and upon walking in the restaurant he discovered everyone working there along with most of the menu items were all Cantonese. So that works for me.
We ordered a lot. Peking Duck, crab, chow fun..etc. etc. You know what I let my Dad take the order, and since it was Christmas Vacation he ordered all the good expensive stuff that us 20+ year old kids could never afford. YAY!!!
Anyway everything was absolutely delicious. I felt bad cus we walked in like 30 minutes before closing and stayed REAL late. But they gave us excellent service (and not just for a Chinese restaurant). Constantly checking on us, serving us fantastic fresh food, AND even the proper way. IE. Peking Duck came with the wrap not those stupid steamed buns you get in Seattle AND they wrap each one individually for you on a separate plate and serve you AND they only use the duck skin AND they make a separate entree out of the duck meat for you. Now that's how you do Peking Duck DAMNIT!!!
The bill was expensive but if it were in Seattle it would've been 20-30% more and the service and quality would've been significantly less. Nothing against Seattle Chinese food (I love it), but now I know why people drive to Vancouver for real Chinese food. BTW I went to the award winning Sun-Sui-Wah for dinner the next day and it didn't compare to Kirin. Kirin is my #1 choice for my next Vancouver Chinese food trip.
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Review from Sean T.
8/7/2008 1 Check-in Here
This place was recommended by a gentleman we met on the lifts in Whistler. He mentioned that it served some of the best Chinese cuisine in Vancouver. I haven't tried many other places, but Kirin Mandarin would be hard to beat.
Entering from the street into the downstairs lobby the place looks nice but unimpressive. Then we moved upstairs into the dining area, which was incredible. Also incredible were the food and the service.
I will definitely return on my next trip to BC.Listed in: Top Restaurants
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Review from Steven M.
Vancouver, BC
Updated - 8/31/2010
This is my first update and I'm not even sure what will happen when I click "post".
Went again to Kirin today, and it was just as good as the last time.
Very fresh. Reasonably priced.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/20/2010
Great dim sum. Very fresh ingredients. Very interesting dishes.
The tea is kept heated by a little… Read more »
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Review from Dennis C.
1/2/2009
Vancouver has the reputation for having some of THE best Chinese food in North America. It is especially full of good Cantonese restaurants, serving great dim sum. Frankly, it's an embarrassment of riches that one place would have so many good Chinese food options.
We tried this place out on the recommendation of friends. We were told that Kirin puts some unique twists to dim sum dishes. Housed inside a downtown shopping mall, this place was a bit more "upscale" than we were expecting. Sometimes, an inverse-snobbery takes ahold when it comes to our Chinese food tastes. For example, the fancy looking places usually don't have the best food...or at least less authentic food, while the dirty, run down places are where true tastes can be found. You know, crap like that.
Anyway, this place was clean and nice, but had outstanding dim sum. Really, it was a great experience. They have some creative and unique takes on traditional dishes and everything tasted fresh. It's not cheap, but I've also had more expensive dim sum that didn't come close to the taste. Loved our meal there and wouldn't hesitate to go out of my way to eat here again, the next time I'm in town.
