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East Passion Bistro & Lounge is committed to delivering the highest quality Asian-fusion cuisine with exceptional service. Our goal is to introduce the East Passion concept and to share our passion for food through a variety of delectable flavors. We want you to leave with an unforgettable experience, a desire to return, and that lingering taste of passion.
As excited as I was to try out East Passion, I was also very worried. Having had a less than good food experience at Shota shortly before, I was worried to see that EP was more or less the same kind of restaurant.
Unfortunately, I was right. The restaurant is absolutely gorgeous, especially with the traditional chinese antique furniture and other furnishings. The HSBC entrance and the hallway to the washrooms really makes one feel like they've actually time travelled back to old China. I guess they incorporated the fusion part with dishes also, using english china tea cups and high-tea 3-tier trays.
However, I did not like the tacky rose wallpaper and the hologram art. Mostly, I did not like the huge flat screen LCD in the back eating area. Also I found it weird that this chinese restaurant only had 1 asian server so eventhough it was a fusion restaurant, I couldn't tell if they were leaning more towards east or west.
The food girlfriend K and I ordered was okay, but some complaints from others in our party like cold lamb shanks and rock-hard "soft baked buns". We also thought it was pretty expensive. Between the two of us, we had 4 cocktails (special at $7), 2 cups of soup, and 3 appies costed $80.
On a good note, service was really good. However, I can't see this restaurant lasting, especially with its location.
I really think it should be a new rule that Chinese "fusion" restaurants just don't work. If you're going to invest that much money in the decor, make sure you invest equally in the food.
Title says it all.
Never thought I will say this, but the food at Hon's is better. McCain fries with your $12 eastern burger. What more needed to be said?
Service was just decent, but this is probably because they are still new (2 weeks old).
Ambiance is incredible. Traditional and modern at the same time. I believe this is the first time I have given 5 stars for ambiance.
Return? Not for the food, maybe for drinks to enjoy the room.
This is the new restaurant which used to be Koji in the HSBC Building.
Wanted to try something new and decided to go here for lunch. We tried the appetizers/dim sum and these were very good. Try the yam cakes and the spring rolls - they're excellent. The main courses are a different story. The "spicy" beef is bland and not very good value for the cost. My lunchmates weren't impressed with their mains either - teriyaki chicken... just a bunch of meat thrown on top of some iceberg lettuce.
The highlight is definitely the ambiance. There's a profusion of dark wood, leather and chinese motif furniture. It looks like something straight out of Hong Kong.
The low-light is the service. Our waitress forgot my drink, didn't write anything down. She came for a drinks order. After we ordered appetizers and she was going to come a third time for mains... but we stopped her. The lady who brought our San Pellegrino put the bottle on the table and didn't even open the bottle and pour it out...
We go here once in a while for the dim sum and asian tapas. The atmosphere is lovely, lots of beautiful decorations. The service was quick and attentive. The food is always very fresh, and the dim sum items are really nice to share. They are always adding new items, which gives you new things to try everytime.
Thumbs down! Worst Chinese food in the DT area. I don't get the ambience either. Hon's got no ambience, but food is miles ahead. Had the pan-fried buns, it's acceptable, but not meeting expectation; Guangchow beef fried noodles was a complete disaster. It wasn't your typical long, crispy egg noodle, but rather the short, flat, non-crispy type; was too oily & sweet and the beef were overly starched. Simply flavourless, dour and flat. Very dissapointing and amateurish. It seems that BIG money were spent on the decor, but not on the kitchen's staff/talents. Will never return, even if they convert to a museum or antique furniture store. Simply a waste of time and effort. Won't last.
food:
had the dan dan noodles for lunch and it was very good! price for food is comparable to lunch elsewhere-around ten. also ordered a pot of tea-very good, albeit a bit expensive...
service:
would've liked it a bit faster, but thats probably because its a young restaurant. attitude was very good though-smiled a lot. was also patient with ordering (i always take a long time thinking)
ambience:
ADORE the bathroom! so clean and unique, which resembles the restaurant i guess. everything else is very unique with wood and chinese paintings and such. but also modern with big-screen tvs. location is also convenient since its quite close to where i work.
i dined here during a family birthday and enjoyed the nice lounge but the food was pretty average for what you are paying.
we started off with a variety of appys, but none were very memorable except the yam fries which were fried to perfection. it came with a strange dipping sauce tho (condensed milk).
the fiery beef was decent but is pretty much what you could get at a pearl castle or vogue in richmond for 1/2 the price and doesn't even come with any rice or anything. almost every dish came with this celery/corn/carrot parboiled mixture on the side. after a while, it was getting pretty boring.
the chonging chicken was defintely overcooked (deep fried) and had no flavour at all.
the beef steak looked like something you could get at golden award, definitely a cheap cut of steak with a spoon of mashed potatoes and 2 asparaguses.
we ordered the mooshoo pork which wasn't very good and strangley came with french fries. apparently the fries were the best part.
this might be a good place to have drinks and appys and enjoy the lounge, but the entrees definitely need more work.
We went as a group from the office to try out the lunch menu. Some of us went the dim sum route; the rest ordered a la carte. In short, the dim sum was okay, not bad but definitely overpriced. We all agreed we've had better elsewhere. The hot & sour soup was neither hot or sour, nor even hot in temperature. The pad thai was nothing to rave about. You're probably better off going to the Thai House for it.
The restaurant may look very nice but the food is just average.
I usually go here maybe two or three times a month. They've changed the menu a few times since they opened. First the food got dramatically better, then the last time, they actually lowered the prices, and made them quite a bit more affordable. I was very surprised, usually restaurants in Vancouver lower the quality and up the price, not the other way around. I was blown away by some of the stuff we ordered. We had the coconut vegetables (It was only 8$, and was a full entree) the calamary and shrimp, the mussels (Only 7$, and they were very fresh) and a couple of satays. the service was very quick, and helpful with our questions, and the room has always been gorgeous.
i just went to east passion last weekend for the friend birthday party and i wasn't planning to eat. but after i saw the menu and i notice they have a new chef and the menu are totally different. i order the grilled scallop on portobello mushroom and it was present artfully and taste so naturally fresh. you should give them a try again.
east passion, keep it up and good luck, you will do good!!!!!
Nothing to say. See my rating.
Those dim sum are just reheat from Microwave, not good ones.
I had their Chong Ching Chicken. It taste ok but overcook.
For those whatever burger, I can put down ridiculous for my comment.
I had their dessert. I wonder they made it or bought it somewhere else. It just doesn't fit their food.
The wine list is good. that's a plus.
Other than that, the only thing that I amaze is the decor. It is just amazing. If the restaurant cannot go on, I suggest the owner to turn it into a private museum or a funiture store.
So you walk into this sophisticated and modernly decorated "asian-fusion" restaurant on a friday night and automatically, an excitment of decent standards, good food and expectations come into mind. Unfortunately, I could not describe my experience as such.
Lets begin with the menus. There were so many items and descriptions on their menu, it was frankly hard to choose something because you couldn't possibly read through everything and even if you did I doubt you fully comprehend what you were ordering without asking the server who couldn't properly answer me herself. Hence the menu may have looked pretty but it was poorly designed and communicated.
Lets move on to the service. You would think an asian fusion place would have hot asian girls working there. There was not one asian girl there and instead we were served by caucasian people forced to wear cheesy chinese dim sum uniforms which brought down the atmosphere of the place. The poor girls. Whoever picked out those uniforms unfortunately had no fashion sense.
The Food. For $15-$30/plate, I expected good asian food. Instead the food was mediocre at best and presentation was lacking. McCain fries anyone? The Seafood udon was plain, the duck was normal. In the end, you can probably get way better chinese food at Pearl House any other chinese place in Richmond for half the price. If you're DT, you should just go to GUU/Eibisu for awesome asian food.
Cleaniness. I saw someone drop a fork onto the ground and still have the nerve to put it onto a table was a table setting. NO COMMENT.
I have to say, I would never come back for the food or people. Maybe, just maybe for drinks and to enjoy the decor. Other then that, this new restaurant has A LOT A LOT A LOT to work on. good luck.
I don't know where the other reviewers were at, but it wasn't the East Passion that I went too. I work in the building where the restaurant is at, and decided to get some white rice and hot & sour soup for lunch from there. I went down there and was informed by the hostess that I had to wait for a server to take my order and get me the food. I waited almost 10 minutes for a server to take my order. Then another 10 minutes to get my order. The rice was fine (how do you mess up plain white rice), but the soup was terrible. I had two sips and threw the rest away. It was neither hot nor sour. It was terrible.
But being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to give it another shot and just order rice and figured if I ordered it ahead of time, there would be no wait. I called the restaurant and ordered sticky rice, and then specified that I did not want the chicken sticky rice wrap, I just wanted plain, white rice, and the woman on the phone said she understood that I wanted plain white rice. I remember turning to my co-worker at that point and saying "I bet they're going to give me the chicken wrap."
I walked down there 15 minutes later, b/c I wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to get my order ready for me. I walked in and and waited for my watiress to get my order from the kitchen and then she says "One chicken sticky rice wrap to go." I walked out. I could not believe how amazingly incompetent they were. There are plenty of Asian fusion restaurants in this city who have better service, better food, and better prices. This is not one of them.
My boyfriend suggested this new restaurant near his company last night. We went and to my surprise, the restaurant changed my perception of traditional Chinese restaurants. The décor is perfect mix of modern and classical designs. It’s as though you are in the middle of a paradise bar, but with leather sofa and big HDTV to top it off. The waitress also showed us their VIP room, although we did not stay there this time, it is definitely something that I would go back for, just to try it out.
As for the food, I liked it. We ordered the spicy platter for starter, roast duck & peppery tiger prawn for entrée. It tasted great and the quantity was quite generous too. Two glass of red wine and a dessert called blueberry panne cota made our dinner complete and flawless. Judging by the food, ambiance and service, I say it was money well spent.
My boyfriend also said that the lunch menu is also worth trying out for, since the restaurant incorporates the traditional Chinese “dim sum” for their lunch menu. They also have a lounge, we might consider taking our group of friends to watch some games and hang out there.
My friend and I had stumbled upon this restaurant in downtown and decided to give it a try. As soon as we walked into the restaurant, we were taken aback by the phenomenal atmosphere. Beautiful curtains, exquisite lights, and leather sofas!
I ordered the Spicy Platter as a starter and it was soo amazing! (Although my friend found it a bit too spicy.) The appetizer came stacked in a tower of 3 plates, with spicy beef on the top, cucumbers on the middle, and chicken on the bottom plate. I also had the Mongolian Lamb Rack, which was super tender and delicious. I've had lamb in a lot of places, and I can honestly say lamb at this place is soft and juicy.
The waitress was very attentive, which we appreciated. She also made great recommendations about her favorite dishes on the menu.
It's an ideal place to visit on breaks or after work. The lounge is a great place to hang out and relax with friends. This place has a really extensive drinks menu, which is always good.
All in all, definitely worth trying!
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