Get dining news including restaurant closures and qualify for giveaways.
This is the first time I did a tasting menu (6 courses) so was in for a surprise when after 3 hours our dinner was not over. Also found it strange that our first course came out before our wine. Seems like our server was not very interested in serving us. Groupon people beware. Of the 6 dishes, he actually only served 2. He did pour all the wine though. Since it is a tasting menu, portions are small. I get that. And the food was increasingly good. But it takes > half an hour for each course to come out. We got a bit tired at the 3-hour mark and dessert has yet to be served. Dessert finally came out when we commented on the time. When we got the bill, they overcharged us on the tax. Thanks to Nicole's post earlier, we got it adjusted. Everything was on the good until I went to get my jacket. My bf had to go out earlier and the manager could not find his jacket so he asked him to go into the coat room and fetch it. When our server went to get mine, he brought out the wrong one as well so my bf told me to just go get it. Another server blocked me and was pretty snippy with me. So good food if you have 4 hours to spare.
Food is ok, sometimes bland. Fountain pop that is charged by the glass taste pretty much like water.
2 of us ordered set meal for 4 people and I noticed our dishes got progressively smaller. I am eating some left overs and found a piece of wire that's about an inch long in my food. Yummy.
We went for an early dinner on Saturday. The place was really quiet, only a few customers. Server is sitting in front chatting with a (customer?). Everything was ok until one of my group complained that he did not get mushrooms he asked for. Server proceeded to point them out and "accidentally" touched the food. Food was sent back and we were not charged for it. But they charge you for every single thing they put on your burger. And server got a bit hostile when asked about the charges. Food is not that great, pretty close to frozen dinner.
My bf and I went there for brunch and though we had a reservation, we waited several minutes to be seated. When we asked if we could get the empty table by the window, our host said they need to save it in case a party of 4 comes in. 2 minutes later, the main host sits 2 people there. We asked him why and he moved in to a few inches of our faces, face red, eyes bulging and told us menacingly that if we wanted a window table we have to wait for one to open up in the next room. He quickly left and when he passed by again, I asked him why he is being rude. He told me that he is very stressed out in the same tone of voice as before. Then he proceeded to tell the people at the other table that we are "adamant" we want that table and asked them to move, which they graciously did. The rest of the staff were very friendly and after I told our server what happened, she gave us a free meal.
Sangria was on special but since I'm using a coupon we get charged full price.
Water cups don't get filled maybe because there are only 2 servers who doubles as bartenders.
Small tapas come out every 15 minutes which is long considering it takes 2 minutes to eat them.
Place smelled strongly of fish. My jacket still reeks after I sprayed febreze on it.
Lately I have noticed that the taste of the americanos is getting weaker, even inthe Broadway branch. I had to ask for an extra shot of espresso. So I asked how many shots are in it and they tell me there are 2 shots in all their coffees, no matter what size. So 2 on tall and 2 on grande. We are paying extra .30 for hot water for americanos. Seems like the quality of the beans have gone down.
This chain used to be my fav, but the Starbucks across the street has gotten better.
Went here for brunch and again for dinner last week. Both times they told us the wait for a table was about 20 minutes but both times we had to wait over an hour. (Went at noon for brunch and 7:30 pm for dinner).
The food is good and service is friendly. Mussels and Caramel Napolean are amazing. But not sure I want to go back and waste another hour.
As with my review for the New West location, I don't see anything spectacular about this chain of restaurants. For what I had, it is comparable to Hon's (on Robson). I guess we cheaped out. I think the only reason people love this place is this is the first Chinese restaurant they went to and it is good enough that they just keep going back, period. There are a lot of comparable, even better, restaurants around. Sun Sui Wah has the best pigeon/squab in town, also has nice Chinese-style beef (red sauce).
I have been to Kirin a few times and each time I come out feeling like I had Chinese take out. I don't understand why this chain is so popular. One comment I got was we did not spend enough to merit an outstanding meal. The one time I went to this location, they did not have the taro puffs (only reason we went there) and the turnip cake was rotten. Never had sour turnip cake before. Same friend and I went to the downtown location for dinner and friend almost choked on chicken bones.
I went during the Dine out event. It was a bit of a disappointment. The head waiter keeps rushing us to order, then goes off and chats with another table. When asked for suggestions, he basically said everything was good. Great help. He did suggest the pasta for appetizer which turned out good. For entree, I had the veal which was a bit dry in parts. All 3 desserts were good, but service got worse. I asked for Earl Grey tea and he forgot about it. So 10 minutes later we asked to cancel it, but he said it's "ready." So he quickly made it and served it to us (Service station was directly beside us, we can see him making it). Then it turns out he gave us the wrong tea. When I asked him about it, he took some empty bags of the right one and lied about it. Suffice to say, I will not be going back to this place.