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Lucky Tao Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Chinese Dim Sum Restaurants Seafood Dim Sum, Seafood
8077 Alexandra RoadRichmond, BC V6X 1C3
Neighbourhood: Golden Village
(604) 233-1219
- Hours:
Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri 10:30 am - 10 pm
Sat-Sun 10 am - 10 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- 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:
- Dinner
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
9 reviews for Lucky Tao Restaurant
9 reviews in English
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Review from Daphne H.
4/10/2011
I was so lucky that Alaskan King Crab was in season for my birthday. When I went back home to spend time with family and celebrate my birthday, my only request was Lucky Tao for my birthday dinner.
Yes, as Asian as it sounds, I wanted nothing more than the 3 course Alaskan King Crab meal. This deliciousness comes served 3 ways, the first being my favourite: Garlic Steamed Alaskan King Crab Legs. Fresh garlic, piled on top of these juicy, huge, king crab legs, My mouth is watering just writing this...
The second is the Deep Fried King Crab - served with lotsa fried garlic chips, chilli and peppers. It's fresh, crunchy and so satisfying. (Save the garlic chips for the next course!)
Which is the fried rice with Alaskan King Crab - sprinkle the previous course's garlic chips and you're good to go!
Also a must-have is the winter melon soup. I think this needs to be ordered ahead of time, or unless you're like my bf's mum and has an in with the restaurant ;)
This is THE best place for Alaskan King Crab in Richmond. DO IT! -
Review from B L.
Richmond, BC
5/16/2012 1 Check-in Here
My four star rating is during king crab season. So I can't say much about them beside my one visit.
The king crab was amazing and pretty cheap. I believe each person paid around $90. But we had so much food.
For those who haven't tried Asian style kin crab you def have to try it. It makes the bellagio buffet and places like that seem like a waste of crab.
Parking is terrible so be rdy to pay Parking on the street.
The place is also pretty crowded when it get busy, with tables and chairs pretty much almost touching. If you come here with your mind set on inexpensive and awesome king crab, you're good to go.
Ask your Asian friends to see when king crab is cheap. I'm not even really sure myself. -
Review from Theresa W.
Vancouver, BC
Updated - 4/2/2012 1 Check-in Here
After hearing that Lucky Tao offered dim sum, I became pretty curious because I'd only ever been here for King Crab dinner, but I mean... why not, right? So I was determined to give it a try, and on a lovely Sunday morning showed up shortly after opening to an already bustling scene. If you're looking for cheap prices, this is a solid win: it's $2.95 for all their dim sum and 15% off if you order before 12. Don't get too excited though, the quality is down a bit due to the great prices.
For example, I ordered the shrimp spring roll, the scallop roll, and the siu mai. All three featured the same shrimp paste (the siu mai with a bit of a minced pork mixed in). But it's so pastey that you really can't tell how much shrimp is actually in there, zero pieces of shrimp at all. Surprisingly, the shark fin soup dumpling had actual shark fin (though small, and not the stringy part - still good though).
The better dishes included the mushroom in bean curd - a bit greasy but with good filling, and the pan-fried shrimp and taro pancake - if you like the mix of textures. We also ordered the black sesame paste deep-fried dumplings for dessert, but they really just tasted like a regular black sesame glutinous rice soup ball you can buy at T&T, covered in sesame seeds and deep fried. I wasn't very impressed with it.
It's cheap, no doubt - 7 dim sum dishes and a duck with soup noodles came out to $28 in total. But after three or four dishes I felt like I was eating the same things over and over again.
They're still offering King Crab, and the price was $16.88, which is pretty reasonable since nowadays restaurants are charging a ton more.
They accept credit cards, and it's an easy walk through the Lansdowne parking lot if you're taking transit. You could also drive, but there's limited parking in their small lot and the street parking on Alexandria is.... well, you know.Listed in: Richmond!, Dim Sum!, King Crab Feasting, The Underdogs
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/14/2011
When March comes around, I have an itch for king crab. Without fail, every year. But usually I have… Read more »
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Review from Herman E.
11/27/2011
I come here too much. My parents like the place. I must admit though, the food here is pretty decent when compared to similar establishments.
As other Yelpers have noted, the three course king crab is quite a delight. One other outstanding dish is the fried sticky rice. I have not had it better anythere else, except..... in my own kitchen.....ahem. -
Review from Jon L.
12/31/2010
Christmas in the Golden Village seems like any other day. Whereas most shops everywhere else in Vancouver are closed for the holiday, it is almost like it is unacknowledged as many places are open.
Thus, finding a restaurant to eat Christmas dinner should not be that hard. But, it could be if you are unfamiliar with your surroundings driving in pitch black darkness like I was. Tried Shanghai River at first, but learned they were fully booked. Note to self: Make Reservations!!!
After a few additional minutes of driving into the unknown, my parents happened to notice Lucky Tao and come to the conclusion that it was good enough. Not even having done any research on this place. I was skeptical to say the least about this place they picked out.
The dining room was fairly empty, though to be fair it was early in the dinner service period. Perusing the menu, you will find that it is unlike the Chinese restaurant menus in Seattle. The obvious indicator was squab.
Perhaps it was the way that the dishes are transcribed into English that made it hard to pick out things worth trying. This place is definitely for the authentic Chinese eater. No Canadianized/Americanized stuff here.
In the end, chose three familiar items for dinner which were the Beijing pork chops, a seafood fried rice and an assorted seafood with tofu hot pot. There apparently was a mix-up so we did not end up getting the hot pot, which was fine since the fried rice already had seafood in it. Instead, we were served a soupy bean curd roll dish with watercress and fishcake.
The verdict on the meal was that it turned out to be quite good. The Beijing pork chops were tasty. It seemed to have some vinegar preparation on them which was fine. Though I much prefer the fried pork chops at Fook Yuen in Honolulu.
The seafood fried rice is not your typical version. They actually cook the fried rice separately from the seafood. Once complete, the seafood portion is doused on top of the fried rice. Picture scallops, shrimp, squid and asparagus in a soup like fried rice mixture. This turned out to be my favorite of the meal. I have had this preparation before at other restaurants and always enjoy it. A crowd pleaser.
Lastly, the bean curd roll dish turned out to be a great alternate dish. The watercress was a good equalizer as it evened the veggie versus meat ratio. I was expecting the bill to come shortly after we were done, but it turns out they offer a dessert of almond tofu and a berry gelatin dish. Particularly enjoyed the gelatin, even though I do not usually do not like Chinese desserts.
Though the dishes here are a little on the relatively pricey side, we left feeling full with leftovers and it was only $52 which includes tip for four people. Lucky Tao turned out to be a fortuitous random restaurant find. -
Review from I live to eat ..
4/30/2011 1 Check-in Here
The three course king crab and the pecking duck here is amazing. Would definitely come back for it.
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Review from Kevin Y.
2/22/2010
I can't believe no one's reviewed this yet. Unassuming on the outside, but ended up being by far the best king (and possibly in general) crab I've ever had in my life. We had a party of 18 and split two gigantic king crabs. Worth mentioning is the fact that they brought both out live and let us inspect (and photograph them) before they went for cooking. I've never seen any place serve fresh king crab and believe me, you can definitely tell the difference. So juicy, so sweet, so flavorful. It was served in several different dishes -
first, the legs were steamed with a lot of garlic - the sweetness of the meat was incredible
second, the upper legs lightly breaded and fried similar to salt and pepper shrimp - even better! even fried it was so sweet, juicy, and tender.
third, body and scraps with fried rice and some fish roe
fourth, stock was made from other scraps and noodles were poached in the liquid - very nice finish
beyond the crab dishes themselves, the several other courses (two vegetables, a fried tofu dish with chilies, a garlicky honey pork short ribs, a sweet and sour pork chop, two vegetables (gai lan, and another similar stalky vegetable), a extremely tasty, succulent fowl that was nicely flavored (tea-style), a black herbally chicken, two soups, and another juicy and flavorful chicken that i think was boiled/steamed in chicken broth. there mighta been a few others but i lost count after so many. needless to say it was a ton of food and each person ended up paying 42 bucks after tax and tip which is pretty freaking fantastic - especially for fresh king crab.
i would definitely consider this a must-have life experience that i never knew i needed until eating there. do yourself good and go now. -
Review from DineOutOften C.
Vancouver, BC
4/10/2011
I am still confused by the filtering criteria. Some of us are trying to contribute and make sure people know the good and bad of our experience, and hints for others to enjoy the experience more. I don't know why this is filtered out.
:(
We usually have several King Crab dinners a year. Some friends wanted to go for King Crab, but when we called up Excelsior (real fantatsic ways of cooking King Crab there, esp the Aberdeen stye knuckles!), they were selling it for a lot of dollars a pound. Since the price was too steep, we decided to do some research and gave this place a try. They are selling it at thirteen dollars a pound and a few weeks ago, it was even twelve dollars. They did a great job for both the steaming legs with garlic style (buttery) as well as Salt & Pepper & Chilli deep fried joints. We had fried rice in the crab body - tasty and gingery. The rest of the dishes were solid. I was definitely surprised how well they did the king crab. I tried a few other places where the price was lower, but it just wasnt as well done. This place offered good cooking of king crab at good value. Okay, sometimes, it does take a while to find the waiter, but once you get their attention, they are good. Pretty much what you can expect from regular Chinese restaurant service. If someone asks me to have another king crab dinner again, now I will recommend Excelsior and this place! -
Review from D T.
8/21/2010
I had low expectations when I went in given the outside appearance (old, worn down, awful parking lot) and inside appearance (old, not very comfortable seating, low ceilings, typical chinese restaurant interior). However, the Alaskan king crab was quite literally and figuratively out of this universe. The garlic cream sauce with the crab legs was like nothing like I've had before, and as well, the second crab course of salt/pepper fried crab meat was unbelievable. Fried but not the "I take two bites and I can't eat any more" fried. Then to top it off, the noodle dish in the crab shell. Amazing. Simply amazing.
Almost every dish presented a very unique flavor, something distinct and surprising. The only dish I wasn't blown away by was the veggie with preserved egg. It was average, but certainly not bad enough to spoil the rest of my meal. Even the desserts, mango pudding and chinese-style jello. All light and delightful. Left me wanting more even though I was absolutely stuffed.
A real gem!!!
