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Kirin Mandarin Restaurant has extravagant and tasty offerings during the evening and well crafted dim sum during the day. At the downtown location, parking can be a challenge.
Located in downtown Vancouver, Kirin Mandarin Restaurant is within walking distance of most major hotels. Established in 1987, this magnificent restaurant, with its three-story high ceiling and giant Kirin statue on the wall, has received numerous acclaims over the years.
My friends and I wanted to enjoy a big Mandarin feast, so we decided to give Kirin a try.
Food: One reason we chose this place was that they had Peking Duck, and it was tremendous. All of the other dishes (crab, soup, others) we got were of good quality and quite tasty. I was happy to get the quality I expected. The menu is big, with many options for picky eaters. The one downfall is the small options of alcoholic drinks available.
Service: Kirin is very good about spacing out the dishes, and we were never rushed. We were given plenty of wet cloths and the servers were very patient about explaining the many dishes on the menu.
Value: For the food we got, and the amount of time we spent, it was a great value. Most above-average restaurants and chains would cost us about the same, yet this type of food is a bit more special than your average place.
Ambiance: As a previous reviewer put it, the place was COLD! It is very clean and upscale when you walk in the front door, and I found it pleasantly quiet enough to have good conversations in, but turn up the damn heat!
Overall: If you want good quality Mandarin food, I'd recommend Kirin. The Peking Duck is certainly worth it.
I went here with a group of 5 on Sunday. They take reservations here which is why we came; turns out it wasn't super busy anyways especially for a Sunday just before noon. They just finished renovating the front and it looks pretty good. The first thing I noticed when we were seated was how cold it was. I guess it was pretty cold (for Vancouver) yesterday so maybe they were having heating issues, not sure.
Anyways, on to the dim sum. We ordered a bunch of dishes including the usual dumplings, pea tips, fried tofu, and a bunch of other items. All of them were very good. The quality is definitely high. The only issue is that they are definitely not cheap. The pea shoot tips dish was over $20. Wow. (It was very tasty though.) The total bill came to just under $100 plus tip. Definitely not cheap but, as I said, the quality is high.
It took about 30 minutes to get the dishes rolling but once they did, they pretty much all came one after the other. Overall, an enjoyable food experience but a little on the pricey side and they could turn up the heat a little.
I don't trust Vancouver Magazine much anymore, because apparently their judges' opinions about what's the best in Vancouver are a lot different from mine. But, I think they got it right by giving Kirin such high marks. Everything we had there was really good, and FINALLY a downtown restaurant that gives you value for your money without cutting corners, without sacrificing on quality, taste, and quantity. There was a mixture of Western and Asian diners when we were there, and I noticed that most of the Western diners ordered similar "safe" and familiar-to-Western-people things, rather that be adventurous and eat what the Asian people were eating. If you order the specials, guys, or if you look around and see what Asian people are eating, then order the same, you won't be disappointed. It's a good place.
I am bemused by the bad reviews of Kirin. I see that, for some people, bad experiences began with an overlong wait. On the service front, I will only say that I was treated well by friendly waiters.
But the Dim Sum! It is from a menu (not a cart) and so comes out freshly made for you. The rice noodle, so often gluggy from over-steaming as its whirled around on the cart - is firm. The filling is delicious. Fresh seafood, delicately seasoned.
The other reason why this Dim Sum joint has it over all the others (including the celebrated Sun Sui Wah - which is, in fact, a slightly up-market Pink Pearl) is the XO sauce. This chili-garlic-shrimp sauce is amazing. I also order soy sauce with fresh green chillies in it.
We've also had dinner at Kirin. It is good, fresh and consistent. But while dinner is good, dim sum is great. Avoid the queues and get there at 11 - 11:30am. It's the best time for yum cha anyway.
I went around 1pm on Friday, and my first impression was loud. As I walked in, saw many tables everywhere, and found the tables where close together.
My server was polite, friendly and helpful with her suggestions. I didn't see her very much during my meal. I ordered the Guylan in oyster sauce, steamed prawns & bbq pork.
I did like the steamed prawns & bbq pork, it was hot, fresh, great taste. As for the guylan in oyster sauce, was disappointing, since the sauce was on the side and didn't find it had any flavour. I was better off going to Hons for that dish.
The place, service and food was okay. If you're bringing people who are hard of hearing, or want to converse, this place is loud.
They've since gone downhill after being absent for several months, we decided to return for an overdue mid summer visit. It was not a positive experience.
6 of us were crammed into a tiny table (sure, 2 of us were elementary grade kids but they too needed a full sized chair!) located at the lower level of the restaurant. We were told the mid sized round table across from us was reserved. About an hour later, an old couple totalling TWO ppl were seated there. They must be regular enough... there were only 2 table settings so they weren't expecting more guests. In the meantime, while our table was crammed with food & later required a separate stand next to my seat to place some of our dishes, those two were still casually sipping tea on their mostly empty table...
More recently, last month, I figured they're due another trial... could have been a bad day, busy and all, and it wasn't the usual cheery manager who led us to that tiny table & refused us the larger one. Albeit, our server was one of the usual ones we got before. Well, this time around, other than the same bunch of managers in suits, the rest of the servers & bussers changed! There were more women around & the guys who used to be there nearly every day (as we've dined there on weeknights & weekend day & evenings) were absent save, maybe, one. I know they do sometimes have the servers help out at the busier locations (Richmond, etc) as they've told us in the past, but I can't help but wonder if maybe they all quit... maybe. But in either event, service was slow to absent & forgetful when we did get it.
It's no longer the same experience. I find no reason to return except maybe after the Shangri-La is up & running, I'll be back to see if they've gone back to the good old days of superb service w/ quality food though not as much variety in dimsum options, what they offered, they did well enough.
have been to Kirin many times. This is the first time to the downtown location though I used to live two blocks from here. have heard that this location is not as good as the Cambie/12th location. Now I know why.
went there with a business client. parking is hard to find. and the underground parking is hard to get to. only validate for one hour parking. the next hour was $5. this location is set in an office setting. looking up you see glass windows with blinds and offices. kinda weird for a finer dining chinese restaurant. the spacing of the tables are a little tight and offer little privacy.
went in for lunch and ordered some dim sum items. also got some congee. the congee was palatable but have had better at many other places. there were not any highlights to the food that we had ordered on this day.
i'll prob stick to the cambie and 12th location for now.
I haven't been to this location of Kirin for at least a year now and came for a friends and family dinner. There were a lot of items unique to this location of Kirin on the menu and we decided to do order randomly rather than do the set banquet dinner for our group of 11.
Food: Awesome. Best abalone, rivaled only by another restaurant on Granville, known for this delicacy. We also had the king crab three ways - I liked the spices used in the hot and spicy rendition but thought the garlic king crab was not garlicy enough. The coconut rice in crab shell was very flavorful though. Beef tenderloin was so tender it literally melted in my mouth. Peking duck, seafood and geoduck with veggies, and several other dishes were consistent in quality and all very good.
Service: Excellent. Attentive and professional with no delay or lull between dishes. Plates cleared frequently and hot towels presented were hot (as opposed to some places where it's warm or cold) Our server ended his shift half way through but came to wish us a good evening before he left. His replacement server was just as good.
Ambiance: Used to look pretty nice but the decor is getting dated and in general the restaurant looks a little worn out. Not the best looking but I hear from the manager they're renovating in a few years.
Value: Hard to rate but I gave them 4 stars because they do have featured dishes on special (beef tenderloin was one of them for just 10 bucks) to offset some pricier menu items. The crab and abalone were a little pricier than other restaurants but the quality is unmatched - this is where the chef's skills really shine and I thought it was worth every cent. Also, complimentary dessert was included (I know, a lot of Chinese restaurants do this - but it was a GOOD dessert that I would even pay for: roasted walnut sweet soup with sesame filled dumplings.) We also received complementary roasted nuts as appetizers in the beginning. No corkage charge. Entire dinner for 11 was under $900 before tip. Keeping in mind the drinks, 2 king crabs and abalone, I think the price is very reasonable given the quality.
Would definitely be back especially for banquets and celebratory dinners.
We went there for an early lunch and ordered the set meal for four. Service was fairly fast, except for the dessert, which took some time to arrive. Teapot was filled promptly. The food was well prepared in taste as well as in presentation. We enjoyed our lunch very much. We will be back.
I can't believe that I haven't yet written a review on this restaurant. I have been there countless times over the years, and have had only one disappointing experience, but there were unusual circumstances that time, so they can be forgiven. Otherwise, this restaurant consistently delivers great quality food at deserving prices, at lunch and at dinner. I will have no hesitation recommending it to others or returning to it the next time I want to have Chinese food downtown.
I shared a birthday dinner with a dear friend at the downtown location, the very location that started it all in 1987. I had chosen this restaurant because I had been to other locations and have been treated from mediocre to superbly, and served with excellent food. I guess locations play a role, because this was the worse dining experience of the year.
We arrived on time for our reservations. I went up to the hostess to let her know another individual was coming, and was answered with a quick "yep." I had not told her which reservations she could add the seat to. After minutes of pondering of whether she knew which table, I approached her again, this time with a "Hi, we had reservations under - "
"Okay just go in." She interrupted me.
"Oh okay, I just want to let you know there will be one more person."
"Okay just go in and tell the waiter."
I led my thirteen friends into the dining hall, expecting someone to greet us or at least an empty table ready. No one and no table. A server told us turned us back to the hostess, and then the hostess turned us back to the dining room. Then finally a server diffused the situation.
Yes, it took over a half hour for us to be seated. The next challenge was to get an extra dining set for my last minute friend. Not understanding our request but assuming so, our server rolled her eyes, sighed, and moved the dining sets on our tables around, giving the friend with someone else's set. Yea, that took a little bit of time to diffuse too.
They gave us a kind of competent server who made a few mistakes. I admit, as the 10+ courses came by, my mood may have dampened from our super-difficult seating what I thought about the food: meh. Same Chinese food you can get anywhere else. Except it didn't feel like super greasy, I guess.
My fiancée and I had the terrible misfortune of being swayed by reputation and price when we decided to part with $150 for a combination of desperately average food and woeful service at Kirin.
The restaurant is very beautiful; the decor is very pleasant and the carpets and staircase look warm and, upon entering, one certainly feels invited. If our meals had followed the standard of my starter - the shark fin soup - then we'd have been delighted. The soup was utterly sumptuous with a beautiful texture and a flavour to die for.
From then on things didn't just go downhill, they hurtled down to with an almighty crash. Our entrées - a balanced selection of meat and rice dishes - were unbelievably bland. I wondered if I had something wrong with my sense of taste until I looked up at the good lady, who also looked rather upset. Specifically, the food was hopelessly dry and the sauces oozed nothingness.
Even worse than the food was the fact that our waiter stayed within ten feet of our table for the entire time. I'm not exaggerating. He did not budge. When we were served, we were actually served by different members of staff. This one particular waiter watched over us from the moment our entrées were delivered until we paid the gargantuan bill.
It may very well be that we caught the restaurant on a bad day, and the other reviews certainly suggest this was the case. I can only vouch for my own experience, though, and mine completely ruined my Sunday afternoon.
Service always fast and courteous, just a knotch below since we have to wave a server down. However, they are never too far or too few. Food is greasy and msg per usual, but ingredients and dishes platting is amazing and very creative. I love their fresh alaskan crab spot prawns, it was melt in your mouth fantastic.
I had gone to Kirin with my girlfriend today and was put in a tiny table in a corner right beside a storage closet, so I asked if we could get another table and they said all other tables in the restaurant was booked up and no one would be going into that closet. Only about 1/4 of the restaurant had patrons, so I said fine and sat down then they left us alone with no tea or waiter even bothering to check up on us. After flagging a waiter down for some tea, they left us alone for quite some time again and not even bothering to take our order. I had to stand up and wave at a waiter in order to get their attention. The food came and was average but during our meal we had a staff member come by and open the closet door hitting my girlfriend's chair only then she said, "excuse me." After this meal I was left with a horrible after taste of this experience. For a restaurant in this area downtown and price, one would assume that service would be much better. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone and warn others to stay away.
I took my Mom here for Mothers day (big mistake). I made reservations about a week ahead for two pm. We showed up about 20 mins. early to be greeted by a waiting room packed full of people. I'm not sure why, but in the last few years they've decided to make the waiting area about half the size it was before so when you're in there you're like sardines in a can. I approached the hostess stand and tried to check in...I was compeletely ignored...the hostess wouldn't even aknowledge that I was talking to her. I let it roll off my back, it being Mothers day and all. I finally got her attention and she just jotted my name down on a piece of paper, I wasn't sure if my reservation even mattered to her. Surprisingly, we were seated on time. I thought that things were looking up. Ha! We sat down and pretty much knew what we wanted to order as we've had dim sum before. Finally, another hostess came to our table and took our order. I was surprised that it wasn't a server but figured it was because they were busy. We ordered about 10 items in total. The dining room was crazy busy and loud. It didn't help that the servers station was right behind us and the servers were almost yelling to eachother. 10 mins go by, 15, 20 and we finally got one serving of dumplings. At this point about 3 new were recently seated. We finished the dumplings and sat with an empty table for another 10 mins at which point one of the tables that was seated far later than us was already eating a few of the items that we had also ordered! One of the servers noticed that we were unhappy and sent the manager over. I explained that we had been waiting for our food for about 40 mins and every table around us was eating. He tried to explain that "the items we ordered took longer to prepare because they had to be steamed", when I pointed to the table that was seated 20 mins later than us and told him that they were eating the same items we ordered he threw his hand to his forehead, let out an exaggerated sigh and went to the kitchen. The fact that we had our entire order on the table 5 mins later didn't really help, infact, it just showed me that they could have brought us our food but just didn't care enough to. No one ever apologized or offered us anything to make up for dropping such a HUGE mothers day ball. Needless to say, I will never, ever step foot in that place again. Oh and another gem - When we told the Manager what had happened all he said was "At least the food was good". Ummm....No actually it's not that good. Imperial is WAY better. BUYER BEWARE
After my last disappointing dim sum, I decided to try some place "safer". I was not disappointed.
The food was good and service outstanding. You know the chef take pride in their food when the porridge is this good. Also, it is nice to have dim sum in a quiet room for a change. If they "modernize" the room like Prima or Wild Rice, it will be my ideal Dim Sum place.
However, there is a price to pay for all these. I would probably only need to pay a small portion of the price to have the same meal in one of the Dim Sum places in Richmond. But the room will be noisy and crowded and food not as fresh.
The food was weird! I've never had anything stranger than the chinese food here! The service was tired! It was my first time at the restaurant and me and my friends didn't know what to order. Luckily, the waiters there were eager to suggest expensive stuff which defeats the reason anyone goes to oriental food. AND, they don't force you to stop ordering the expensive stuff and tell you when to stop ordering because you've ordered too much...hahaha! It was not a busy night that day and we had waited approximately 5 minutes for the food.. i dont think it was worth it!
This by far is the tastiest dim sum one can get their hands on in the downtown core. All the items are served pipping hot. The menu items are pretty standard for kirin. I used to love their little pork dumplings (xiao long bao) but something has happened to them-- and not in a good way. The portion is now smaller and all the dumplings are broken so that there is no 'soup' inside. Granted it is more expensive than Victoria, but it is well worth it since everything comes out hot & fresh. the service is trypical of a chinese restaurant but must give them points for trying. Ambiance is alright, like a previous reviewer, it is like sitting inthe hallway. It's weird to be sitting inside a building 'courtyard' and have office windows looking out directly to the restaurant. All in all, great dim sum in the downtown core
We've been here about twenty times and Kirin is now our favorite spot for dim sum. Everything is cooked to order and the quality and freshness of ingredients are always evident. The restaurant is spotlessly clean and service is prompt and attentive without being overbearing. Five choices with tea for two comes to a bit over $20 before the standard 20% tip. Highly recommended.
We went to Kirin for dim sim with a group of 12 people and I was a little disappointed about the ambiance - having been to the spacious Kirin on Cambie and 12th, I felt a little cramped here. Nevertheless the main character is the same - big tables mostly used by big Asian families, which is a good sign for the food quality.
Food was good, although not as good as in the Kirin on Cambie. My favorite are the mixed seafood congee, the prawn or pork dumplings and the deep fried spring rolls (although I did not have them this time).
Service is very fast at dim sum time, although not particularly friendly. They always seem a bit rushed and expect you to know the menu. It was the 3rd time that we asked the waiter about some items on the menu, and he not tell us anything more than what we could read ourselves: "What kind of vegetables are in this dish? - What? Ehem. Yes. Vegetarian." Not very helpful, especially as the menu contains some items you might like to try if you only knew a little bit of what is in there...
Value is OK for dim sum, not so for dinner - then it is really too expensive for Chinese food in Vancouver.
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