I invited my in-laws to join us at Kirin for the Lunar New Year feast, and we were glad it finally fell on a holiday so we could celebrate together and dine out. However, I was so embarrassed by the service and food. After two hours of waiting, we had only one of the 5 dishes we ordered, and we were told that our food might never come, that we had to cancel it, or that we couldn’t ask how long it would take. We finally finished after 3 and a half hours. Besides our first fish dish that was delicious but very small considering it was 2lb, the rest of the four dishes were presented poorly and of very low quality. The pork hock, a common Lunar New Year dish, was very limpy, fatty, and dry, which I would not have expected be served in any restaurant. The whole experience was quite surreal. At the end, I was more sad and disappointed than angry, as Kirin is one of the places we go to for celebrations because of its service and food. With many places go off the scene, losing Kirin is just another punch in the gut.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Calvin Chow
Came here for dinner. Got a B.C. Dungeness Crab as well as a chicken dish. Chicken dish was great, crab was actually overcooked and slightly dry. Not the worst, but for the prices you are paying here, you’d expect a little better. Overall there are much cheaper Chinese restaurants you can go to and get the same if not better quality of food.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Julian Tsang
Food came out very slow. It took us 2.5 hour for our meal, very average food for a downtown high end Chinese seafood restaurant.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
andrew raptor
Excellent traditional Chinese restaurant we, two families, like very much especially some dishes recommend by the waiter, i.e. Kirin noodle, Kirin beef, etc.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lia vonKlingspor
Went for dinner before a show on a Friday evening. Had cashew chicken, vegetable chow mien, and spring rolls. Spring rolls were good, ( the plum sauce was the best part of the meal imo), the cow mien was crispy but tasteless and very little veggies,. The cashew chicken was also tasteless, except some how the chicken, which tasted and felt like fish???
Definitely not worth the 30$/dish. Won’t be back there again! To be fair the staff was very attentive. Although (not that we wanted to) they didn’t offer to pack the leftovers, just whisked them away.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 4
Laura C
Very poor service.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Ron
used to dine at Kirin Restaurant with my family years ago, so we were excited to return for Lunar New Year 2026. We made our reservation a month in advance and were looking forward to a nice family dinner.
Unfortunately, the experience was very disappointing. Our server, Camilla, was quite rude and repeatedly tried to upsell us on expensive dishes we weren’t interested in. Our first dish took over 70 minutes to arrive, and when we asked how much longer the rest of our food would take, we were told to order something else instead.
This was not the welcoming or family-friendly experience we expected, especially for a special occasion. Based on this visit, I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a pleasant family dinner.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Melanie E
It’s suppose to be their busiest time of the year and it was a challenge getting a decent reservation time. We had a 7:30 pm reservation.
Food: 3.5/5 overall the food was above average. We opted for their set menu thinking it would not take long to get our food. We were wrong.
even though we had a 7:30 pm reservation, we were seated late. Our food came 50 minutes later. They were probably short staffed. TIP: if you are planning to dine here, save yourselves time and a growling tummy by preordering. I was feeling cranky. I saw a group of 35 people arrive after us, and got served within 10 minutes. I don’t mind paying more money if the food and service are good.
place was clean and had a nice decor.
I doubt I’ll be back.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Howard Ng
My first time here for dinner, and it did not disappoint. Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly. Service here was top notch. Very polite, and professional. They weren't busy, but all the servers tended to us. We were never rushed , unlike a lot of other Chinese restaurants that want you put quickly.
We had the set menu that was $69/ person. The food was plenty, and very fresh. I thought was a tad on the bland side, but all the other guests said it was seasoned well.
Great place!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ailsa Siemens
Excellent dinner for our party of 10. Huge choice of dishes. I really appreciated all the green veg! Will definitely return.
We visited a few times for lunch and were promptly seated. Steamed pork dumplings filled with consommé, stir-fry beef, tofu - everything was delicious! Portions were a bit small, but the tea is free and of good quality.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Jiasong Yuen
Limited dim sum menu, okay quality. Servers are not the most friendly.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Ning Jiang
horrible experience during chinese new years- upon entering the restaurant, without all party guests even being fully seated, the servers asked us for “red envelopes” as a part of a chinese tradition. even though we understand it’s customary to tip extra or to provide envelopes during the chinese holiday season, and we would’ve happily done so, it was a little shocking to have the waiters literally thrust out their hands and demand a red envelope before anyone had the chance to take off their jackets
furthermore, the rice papers to wrap the peking duck came out frozen, and several of the dishes were poor quality for the price; all dishes were pretty unmemorable. might’ve (maybe?) been understandable as it was a busy night, but the dismissiveness of the waiters regarding the entire situation made it a lot worse on top of that. also they seem to have a worse attitude towards certain racial demographics
Stanley Yuan
Good choice of traditional Hong Kong style dim sum in Vancouver downtown.
Kirin in great Vancouver area is famous for its high quality dim sum choices. I have been to their Richmond store but not the downtown one. This visit of their Vancouver downtown branch did not disappoint me.
Environment is excellent for Hongkong restaurant. It's clean, not too noisy, and the distance between table is reasonable.
The service was good. The staff was very attentive. They do try to promote fried pigeon for lunch. It's a signature Hong Kong dish but a little heavy for lunch.
Dim sum dishes are very decent. Shrimp fillings are very fresh, and the skin is in right the texture. We ordered around 5-6 dishes. All are in excellent flavor and texture. It's a solid choice for Hongkong style dim sum.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Greg Helbeck
The absolute best Chinese food I’ve ever had. I was told about this place from a recommendation from a friend. Came here. Fantastic food, excellent service and an overall great experience. If you’re looking for the best Chinese food in Vancouver, this is the place!
I invited my in-laws to join us at Kirin for the Lunar New Year feast, and we were glad it finally fell on a holiday so we could celebrate together and dine out. However, I was so embarrassed by the service and food. After two hours of waiting, we had only one of the 5 dishes we ordered, and we were told that our food might never come, that we had to cancel it, or that we couldn’t ask how long it would take. We finally finished after 3 and a half hours. Besides our first fish dish that was delicious but very small considering it was 2lb, the rest of the four dishes were presented poorly and of very low quality. The pork hock, a common Lunar New Year dish, was very limpy, fatty, and dry, which I would not have expected be served in any restaurant. The whole experience was quite surreal. At the end, I was more sad and disappointed than angry, as Kirin is one of the places we go to for celebrations because of its service and food. With many places go off the scene, losing Kirin is just another punch in the gut.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Came here for dinner. Got a B.C. Dungeness Crab as well as a chicken dish. Chicken dish was great, crab was actually overcooked and slightly dry. Not the worst, but for the prices you are paying here, you’d expect a little better. Overall there are much cheaper Chinese restaurants you can go to and get the same if not better quality of food.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Food came out very slow. It took us 2.5 hour for our meal, very average food for a downtown high end Chinese seafood restaurant.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Excellent traditional Chinese restaurant we, two families, like very much especially some dishes recommend by the waiter, i.e. Kirin noodle, Kirin beef, etc.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Went for dinner before a show on a Friday evening.
Had cashew chicken, vegetable chow mien, and spring rolls.
Spring rolls were good, ( the plum sauce was the best part of the meal imo), the cow mien was crispy but tasteless and very little veggies,. The cashew chicken was also tasteless, except some how the chicken, which tasted and felt like fish???
Definitely not worth the 30$/dish. Won’t be back there again!
To be fair the staff was very attentive. Although (not that we wanted to) they didn’t offer to pack the leftovers, just whisked them away.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 4
Very poor service.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
used to dine at Kirin Restaurant with my family years ago, so we were excited to return for Lunar New Year 2026. We made our reservation a month in advance and were looking forward to a nice family dinner.
Unfortunately, the experience was very disappointing. Our server, Camilla, was quite rude and repeatedly tried to upsell us on expensive dishes we weren’t interested in. Our first dish took over 70 minutes to arrive, and when we asked how much longer the rest of our food would take, we were told to order something else instead.
This was not the welcoming or family-friendly experience we expected, especially for a special occasion. Based on this visit, I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a pleasant family dinner.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
It’s suppose to be their busiest time of the year and it was a challenge getting a decent reservation time. We had a 7:30 pm reservation.
Food: 3.5/5 overall the food was above average. We opted for their set menu thinking it would not take long to get our food. We were wrong.
even though we had a 7:30 pm reservation, we were seated late. Our food came 50 minutes later. They were probably short staffed. TIP: if you are planning to dine here, save yourselves time and a growling tummy by preordering. I was feeling cranky. I saw a group of 35 people arrive after us, and got served within 10 minutes. I don’t mind paying more money if the food and service are good.
place was clean and had a nice decor.
I doubt I’ll be back.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
My first time here for dinner, and it did not disappoint. Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly. Service here was top notch. Very polite, and professional. They weren't busy, but all the servers tended to us. We were never rushed , unlike a lot of other Chinese restaurants that want you put quickly.
We had the set menu that was $69/ person. The food was plenty, and very fresh. I thought was a tad on the bland side, but all the other guests said it was seasoned well.
Great place!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent dinner for our party of 10. Huge choice of dishes. I really appreciated all the green veg!
Will definitely return.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
We visited a few times for lunch and were promptly seated. Steamed pork dumplings filled with consommé, stir-fry beef, tofu - everything was delicious! Portions were a bit small, but the tea is free and of good quality.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Limited dim sum menu, okay quality. Servers are not the most friendly.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
horrible experience during chinese new years- upon entering the restaurant, without all party guests even being fully seated, the servers asked us for “red envelopes” as a part of a chinese tradition. even though we understand it’s customary to tip extra or to provide envelopes during the chinese holiday season, and we would’ve happily done so, it was a little shocking to have the waiters literally thrust out their hands and demand a red envelope before anyone had the chance to take off their jackets
furthermore, the rice papers to wrap the peking duck came out frozen, and several of the dishes were poor quality for the price; all dishes were pretty unmemorable. might’ve (maybe?) been understandable as it was a busy night, but the dismissiveness of the waiters regarding the entire situation made it a lot worse on top of that. also they seem to have a worse attitude towards certain racial demographics
Good choice of traditional Hong Kong style dim sum in Vancouver downtown.
Kirin in great Vancouver area is famous for its high quality dim sum choices. I have been to their Richmond store but not the downtown one. This visit of their Vancouver downtown branch did not disappoint me.
Environment is excellent for Hongkong restaurant. It's clean, not too noisy, and the distance between table is reasonable.
The service was good. The staff was very attentive. They do try to promote fried pigeon for lunch. It's a signature Hong Kong dish but a little heavy for lunch.
Dim sum dishes are very decent. Shrimp fillings are very fresh, and the skin is in right the texture. We ordered around 5-6 dishes. All are in excellent flavor and texture. It's a solid choice for Hongkong style dim sum.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
The absolute best Chinese food I’ve ever had. I was told about this place from a recommendation from a friend. Came here. Fantastic food, excellent service and an overall great experience. If you’re looking for the best Chinese food in Vancouver, this is the place!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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