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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:
- Garage, Street, Validated
- Attire:
- Casual
- 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
- Has TV:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
82 reviews for Kirin Seafood Restaurant
Review Highlights
"...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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82 reviews in English
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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 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 Erin J.
North Vancouver, BC
1/22/2012
I've already written a review of the Cambie City centre location of Kirin, but i have to give the downtown location a full 5 stars. The food is amazing, just like the other Kirin restaurants. What makes this one a better experience is that I find the service is really good and spot on each time I dine in. In addition, they renovated the restaurant a little while back, so they restaurant is really nice with great bathrooms!
If going for dim sum on the weekend, try to get there before 12pm as it gets busy (or make a reservation). -
Review from Taylor K.
Vancouver, BC
1/9/2012 1 Check-in 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 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 Habu H.
1/15/2012
Dim sum was filling, good distribution of salt, and light oil.
Overall: Second refer -
Review from Amy S.
Maple Ridge, BC
1/2/2012
We decided to get a variety of dim sum items as well as some noodle and rice dishes to share between all 15 of us. The first item up were the BBQ pork buns. Pork buns are my guilty pleasure and one of my favorite dim sum items. I love these they were so amazing. The buns were very soft and melted in your mouth and there was a decent amount of pork filling inside. The filling had a nice flavor and it wasn't too sweet like some buns are. This was one of my favourite dishes.
The pork dumplings had a nice crispy texture on the outside and they weren't too thick. The pork mixture on the inside was really juicy. These were well executed dumplings and I enjoyed them.
Next up were the shrimp dumplings. I don't like shrimp dumplings that are too thick and sticky but these ones had a good consistency. The shrimp mixture inside tasted fresh and not too fishy like some of the cheaper stuff out there.
Another one of my favorite dim sum dishes is spicy wontons. There were tons of them in this dish and I liked the size of them. The sauce was nice and spicy and they were topped with green onions.
The first noodle dish we ordered was beef, spinach, and mushrooms on top of crispy noodles. I'm obsessed with crispy noodles so I loved this dish. The noodles came out hot and crunchy but absorbed the sauce nicely and the beef topping was delicious. I liked the spinach on top too. This was my favorite noodle dish of the day.
My second favorite noodle dish were the flat rice noodles topped with a beef black bean sauce. The sauce was so tasty and there was tons of beef on top. The rice noodles were perfect for soaking up all of the yummy sauce and there was a slight smokey flavor in the dish which I really enjoyed. Everyone at the table liked these noodles a lot.
Overall I enjoyed the food and most of the dishes were delicious! The service however was underwhelming. At a table with 15 people they only gave us one pot of tea and we had to ask for another one and for refills constantly. I have been to the Kirin in Coquitlam and experienced way better service at that location and this location has been consistently bad.
http://thefoodqueen.co... -
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 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 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 Sarah O.
5/31/2011
Yes the food was pretty good here and the decor was elegant.. but each dish kept coming out one....by......one... ever so slowly...I'll tell you, that doesn't make a group of 12 hungry people very happy. To add to the insult, 4 of our ordered dishes never came out. Wtf? I understand if it was just one dish.. but FOUR? And how come those old restaurant owners in fancy suits are so proud they can never apologize and admit they made a mistake?
Lameness. -
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Allen W.
Vancouver, BC
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 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 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 Fiopo F.
West Vancouver, BC
11/25/2011
The food and service of this location is of a much lower quality than their cambie location. Whereas the servers at their cambie location are friendly and hospitable, the servers at their downtown location are cold and indifferent... and the same dim sum itemsjust didn't taste as good at this location for some reason.
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Review from Bill H.
7/5/2011 1 Check-in Here
I came here in a hunt to find good dim sum near the Waterfront in Vancouver. As I poked my head in I was a bit scared; you can't see any tables from the front door, and the restaurant itself is in the middle of an office building. The interior is pretty, though, and the dim sum is tasty. Prices are definitely too high as other reviews have mentioned. If you're in the mood for decent dim sum, and you don't want to trek down to Richmond, this stop ain't bad.
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Review from Veronica C.
6/30/2011
I really wanted to like this place since I've always heard such great things about Kirin. I'm just glad I can finally say I've tried this place out. The food was really delicious, but service was not good. I know it's a chinese restaurant and you're not supposed to expect much, but for the ambiance and price you pay, I really thought service could have been a lot better. They didn't really bother checking on us, no tea refills, I had to ask for our last dish (the siu mai) 5 times even though they kept assuring me they were steaming them, but it took an extra 30 minutes to come out? We actually came at a very late time, 2:30pm, so only 1 other table was still in the restaurant. Maybe they do better when they have to handle more of a crowd.
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Review from Farshid S.
8/25/2011
The short version of our dimsum only review:
1. Excllent staples, likely made on the premises. I cant comment on exotic options as I couldnt identify them on the pictureless menu
2. Absolutely abysmal service until our food arrived even by our low standards for a Chinese restaurant. When the service is this poor, it distracts from the food experience.
The long version: We were in the mood for dimsum. Our hotel recommended a couple of places and Kirin was within walking distance. It has a rather narrow entry and can be easily overlooked if you are walking down Alberni street. Once through the door, we were impressed with the modern decor and lighting and high ceiling leading to the main dining hall.
We were asked if we had reservations, something we didnt anticipate at a dimsum restaurnt. They took our name and ceremoniously put it on a blank sheet with the number in our party. At the time there were only 3 other groups waiting. They were seated, and then another couple of gorups who came after us. Some 30 mintues had now passed and we were getting hungry. How did the late arrivals skip us? The seaters had accidentally made two sheets of names and totally forgotten about ours! When I pointed out the error, the Maitre D'y made no effort to rectify the situation. After another 20 minute wait, we were unceremoniously seated in a small table by the kitchen! The reaction was a silent way of saying we dont need your business, we are busy enough.
The dimsum is ordered and delivered from the kitchen, so no carts. Ordering anything besides the staples such as shumai, har gao, bbq pork buns, etc was difficult as I couldnt imagine what the plate would look like based on the descriptions in somewhat broken English, and there were no pictures. After some additional 15-20 minutes our waitress took our order. They were busy, but I have been to busier dimsum places with rapid ordering. The dishes were excellent and home made. If not for the good quality of the food, the poor service would hve doomed this review to one star! -
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 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 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 Tim H.
9/9/2010
I have to say I was stunned at how bad this place was. It had been highly recommended by a Chinese friend who lived in Vancouver for many years and it certainly looked like a very nice place--nicely decorated, white table cloths, etc.
We went there at the end of an Alaskan cruise to arrange dinner for our group of 20. Early in the day, we visited the restaurant and talked with the host at his station downstairs. He was not too helpful and instead of helping us pick from the menu, pushed us to order a set menu. We did so, picking one of the more expensive sets, and customizing it a bit to accommodate some of our group.
Unfortunately, the food was just average. I've certainly had better, and I've certainly had worse, but I've never had food so bad that was so expensive. For example, the fish we ordered, a grouper wrapped in lotus leaf, was severely overcooked. This place does bill itself as a seafood restaurant, right? One would think that they would know how to get the fish right. Most of the other dishes were just OK, although the lobster was very good.
But it was the service that really ruined the evening for us. Some of the serving persons seemed to have very little English at all. Now, I've eaten in Chinese restaurants for years, but I've found that serving people almost always understand the basics, even in Hong Kong and China. This is the first place where one could not even order a drink (a beer!) without confusion. Thankfully, many of us speak Chinese or else we would have been in far worse shape than we were.
One member of our party had a partially eaten pigeon on their plate long after the rest of us had had ours removed, and their plate (with the sad dead bird sitting there staring at her) was left in front of her for a ridiculously long time until one of us finally TOLD the server to take it away.
Because two of our party didn't eat seafood (yeah, I know--it was a seafood restaurant, what can I say?) we had made sure to order several dishes and substitutions just for them. We tried to make the serving staff aware of who those two were, but it seemed to be an impossible task as dishes were repeatedly placed on the wrong tables and substitutions were forgotten or given to the wrong persons.
Although most of our servers seemed to be trying hard, one seemed to be just surly and unhelpful. I thought maybe it was just my imagination until someone else, unprompted, used the "B" word to describe her.
The host who had consulted with us earlier in the day was working during our dinner, but never once visited our table. Given that the total bill for our two tables was around $1600, one would think that it would have been appropriate for him to have at least checked in once with us.
All in all, an awful, disappointing, experience. We plan to visit Vancouver more often in the future, but you can be sure we will never be back to Kirin. In a city full of wonderful Chinese restaurants, one can easily do better. -
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 T F.
Vancouver, BC
1/14/2011
I like their food very much.
They use good oil and fresh foods.
Also I think this restaurant is used to people who don't speak Chinese.
So I am very comfortable there. -
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.
~G -
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 Helen W.
4/5/2010
Kirin was on our list of Dim Sum places to try on our recent trip to Vancouver. The restaurant is in a great location and it's clean, beautiful and offers free parking. I love how part of the restaurant is in an atrium so it made it feel open and spacious.
You order the Dim Sum off of the menu, it was not the most expansive menu we've seen, but everything we tried was very tasty. The staff was friendly and our waiter had the good sense to tell us that we had ordered enough food :). Dim Sum prices here is $1-$2 more than other places, but with the cleanliness and the friendly staff, it was totally worth it. We had a table on the lower level near the stairs so it made great opportunity to people watch. -
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. -
Review from Peter H.
5/19/2011
came here on a weekday. had to wait approx 5 minutes for a table. This place was definitely occupied (but not jam packed) even for weekday lunch. The decor was very nice for a chinese restaurant and very clean. the dim sum is not pushed on carts and you have to order it from the menu and they steam it to order. I felt the 3 items I had were simply phenomenal and worth the price. I had the har gow, siu mai, this noodle with beef tendon/flank on it. The noodle dish was the best ever!!! It was a clear cellophane type noodle but wide like ho fun with a super soft beef tendon on it . The waiter told me this type of dim sum is relatively new and has been out for about a year in HK. Anyways, I was very pleased with the experience. It was worth the 18 dollars for lunch. Food quality was amazing.
