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Vivacity Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
8351 Alexandra RdRichmond, BC V6X 3P3
Neighbourhood: Golden Village
(604) 279-1513
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 9 am - 3 pm
Mon-Sun 5 pm - 10 pm
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
5 reviews for Vivacity Restaurant
5 reviews in English
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Review from Joe L.
Vancouver, BC
9/16/2009 2 photos
Amidst the stiff competition of an abundant number of Chinese restaurants in Richmond, Vivacity serves a respectable dim sum faire.
I went there for the first time for dim sum lunch today with my partner and my parents. They offer 20% discount off your bill (excluding the "kitchen specials" on the dim sum menu) if you:
- settle your bill between 9am and 3pm Monday to Friday, and
- place your order by 11am on Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays
Vivacity takes order of your dim sum requests from a bilingual order sheet that you check off and present to the wait staff. Menu ordering for dim sum is being more and more common with many Chinese restaurants. It beats ordering from carts being pushed around so you don't have to ask what it is in the basket every time the carts come around and your conversation will not get interrupted every time a cart pusher asks if you this or that.
The only drawback of menu ordering for dim sum is that you don't know how many pieces of dumplings there are in each order so you can order accordingly based on the number in your party.
We order 9 dishes for lunch based on the naming of the dishes on the menu by the restaurant:
- Steamed pork dumplings (aka siu mai) - 4 big flavourful pieces.
- Pan fried water chestnut cake (squares) - 4 pieces of lightly sweetened gelatin squares with water chestnut chunks in side. They are good dessert alternatives to the popular egg tarts or sesame seed balls.
- Steamed pork dumplings with peanuts (aka Chiuchow dumplings) - The order came with 4 pieces. I am not a fan of this type of dumpling because there are a lot of ingredients in the stuff (ground pork, vegetables, peanuts ...) and there are just too many things going on for me.
- Steamed spareribs with Japanese pumpkin - If you like fatty meat and crunchy cartilage, it is a common dim sum dish with a twist using Japanese pumpkin in lieu of black bean sauce, offering alighter alternative in terms of flavour (definitely not calories but you shouldn't be counting calories when you have dim sum anyways).
- Steamed pork roll wrapped with bean curds (not really bean curds but soy bean sheets) - 3 solidly good pieces.
- Steamed duck tongue with special sauce (technically braised, not steamed) - the tongues were very flavourful. Allen had an obligatory one but I don't think he'll have another one because he doesn't like the texture nor the idea. I liked it.
- Steamed chicken buns - There are 3 pieces in the basket. I usually don't like the BBQ pork bun type of buns but the introduction of ginger in the chicken buns won me over.
- Deep fried pork dumplings (aka salt water dumplings or ) - 4 solidly good pieces. Flavour was a bit on the light which was what I preferred.
- Homemade style baked pastry - The name doesn't really tell you much. It is a regional item from northern and central China called or yellow bridge baked pastry. They are little pastry with a flakey outer crust sprinkled with roasted sesame seeds stuffed with pork. My parents liked it but I didn't - just my personal preference.
The bill came to just under $35 for the 4 of us before gratuities. Not bad for lunch! We will definitely return to try the other items on the menu. My parents did the ordering so my partner and I did not order our usuals. -
Review from Edward L.
Decided to check this place out, based on a friend's recommendation. Haven't been here since the 90s (when it was Grand Buffet), so what do I know.
The parking is pretty ample. With that said, I literally took the last spot in the parking lot.
The interior decor is somewhat high-class, with wooden accents.
Items are pretty pricey. Pretty shocking, considering restaurants are a dime a dozen here. But you get 20% off before 1100, or something like that. But items here are $4.50 here on average!? Even with the discount, several places in East Van are a MUCH better deal.
Now if the food were what I call "$4.50 good", then sure, maybe a few extra bucks would cut it. Unfortunately, this is definitely not the case. The food was mushy, and not that fresh in general.
Many people complain about the wrong items showing up, but this didn't happen to us. Service was actually pretty decent. They brought us whatever we needed, quite promptly.
Unfortunately, I won't be back here anytime soon because of the lack of value. Many better alternatives out there. -
Review from Cody S.
2/22/2011
This restaurant had a better day. Unfortunately, now is not the time to come to this place for dim sum.
I honestly don't like the flavour of their food. It is almost always overcooked and many times has no taste whatsoever.
The staff is friendly but argumentative. I say this because on many occasions they have brought out the wrong food. They are very quick to tell the people at the table that they are the ones who are wrong. When they realize their mistake, they walk away quickly and finally bring the right item.. I don't think this is the right way to do business.
Once upon a time, probably before the current owner, this place was delicious and worth coming to as a first choice. I hope the ownership understands this and stops expecting business, like many of these places does. That's why we have so many restaurants going under and reopening all the time.Listed in: Saturday Morning Food in…
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Review from Annie M.
Vancouver, BC
It used to be wonton noodle soup house for a decade. They expanded and moved to Alexander Rd in Richmond few years ago.
It was the first time been there for dinner. I was quite disappointed.
The dishes portion were huge but taste ok. The service was slow and we had to chasing them for few times in order to get what we wanted. -
Review from Anthony M.
Grimsby, ON
5/17/2011
I feel like the quality of the food has been going down. Considering it's in Richmond and there are enough alternatives, I'm not sure I'll be returning too many more times.
